TSMFTDG 06

Chapter 6

Night had fallen thick and dark. Sitting on the throne and looking down at the empty audience chamber, I spoke softly.

“System.”

At the same time, a blue system window appeared.

“Thanks for the quest completion reward.”

SYSTEM: Quests may from now on appear unexpectedly according to circumstances. Rewards will be given at appropriate times — please take note.

Somehow I had started speaking to the system informally, and it didn’t seem to mind.

“I’ve got a rough idea from what happened today. About how I should act. Now that I think about it, this could also be part of the tutorial.”

SYSTEM: Player, you have already completed the tutorial.

“Fair enough. There’s one thing I’m curious about.”

There was something I’d learned painfully during my twenty-six years of life: favors without reason don’t exist, and anything free that asks for no price is dangerous.

“I’ve already gained enough. But you didn’t, did you? You gave me this chance — what do you get out of it?”

SYSTEM: Hope.

“Hope?”

SYSTEM: I obtain hope through you, Player.

I frowned at the cryptic words.

“Why? Did you see some hope that I’ll actually bring peace to the world or something?”

No new text appeared in the system window.

Did I hit a nerve?

“I don’t hate peace. It’s obvious I have to step in to save Lian. Wouldn’t living in a happy world be great?”

I exhaled and continued.

“But you — watching me from somewhere — why don’t you act directly? Instead of hoping I’ll bring peace, why not do it yourself?”

SYSTEM: My role is limited to providing you with information. Also, I cannot convey information that goes against the laws of the world.

“So you can’t act directly, so you found someone who meets the conditions. And one lucky day, I showed up.”

If you want peace so badly, isn’t it faster to possess someone who’s a hero rather than possessing me, the Demon Lord?

A little doubt flashed through my mind, but it wasn’t important. What I had to say next mattered more.

“One last favor I want to ask.”

SYSTEM: Please speak.

I fixed a serious look on the system window.

“Raise the game rating. Make it restricted to under-19 prohibited.”

❖ ❖ ❖

It was the second day since I’d entered the game.

I thought I’d be tired after everything that had happened yesterday, but I felt surprisingly refreshed and in good spirits. And I knew exactly why.

— [SYSTEM: Age restrictions were lifted long ago. Do as you wish, Player.]

Mobile games are usually made playable for all ages or rated 15+. I had assumed that, in the game, the body I possessed would be limited to actions within a set rating, so I’d asked beforehand.

If there’s no restriction, great for me. Just as that thought muddled my head and someone in my mind began to imagine wrecking someone,—

“Lehel-nim…”

A deflated-sounding voice, Terio’s, came from beyond the door.

“Come in.”

He pushed the door open cautiously and, surprised to find me awake, widened his eyes.

“I told you not to come wake me — I’ll wake up on my own.”

He came closer with his ears folded like a chastened dog, whining as he knelt beside the bed and rested his head on it.

“…I heard you gave the human hero a room.”

“Yes.”

“I don’t like it, Lehel-nim.”

So that’s why he’d been sulking and had that sad face.

While Lian and I were spending a quiet, private time in the audience chamber, Terio had been carrying out the duties I assigned.

He’d escorted the humans out beyond the mountain range and watched them for a day to make sure they didn’t do anything foolish. When he returned, he was surprised to find a human hero in the castle.

“You may have shown mercy, Lehel-nim, but humans are ungrateful serfs.”

“Yeah, I know.”

He looked like he might burst into tears, so I sighed and ruffled his head.

Seeing him now, he looked less like Terio and more like a terrier.

“It’s not like I left him here for no reason. I detained him because I want information.”

“Information?”

At that moment the conversation was interrupted and the system window popped up in front of me.

Terio.

Lv. Max

Race: Eyeball Beast

Primary skill: Causes fear-induced paralysis in anyone who looks into his eye. Can use the skill up to five times a day. Using it more consumes his life force.

I didn’t know Terio’s skill details before — it was new information to me.

Curiosity lasted only a moment. Just as I was about to close the window, I noticed an item below and flinched.

Affection: 100/100 (max)

Why did this show up for him? And why was the affection already maxed out?

“…Lehel-nim?”

Terio called carefully, as if puzzled by my action.

“Nothing.”

The system window disappeared quickly, but the affection indicator kept nagging at me.

“You’ll have a place to use the hero, so don’t worry. Or do you think I’m the kind who’d let you worry over me?”

“No. Lehel-nim, you’re the most noble and strongest being in this world.”

Still, Terio didn’t stop whining until breakfast time.

Terio: the Demon Lord of Greed’s right-hand, and a character popular among players for his somewhat cute looks.

I roughly knew his past from how the game company had revealed it in the story long ago.

Compared to others of his kind, Terio had a hard time using his power. He was always alone. He practiced his power in solitude, but his clumsy efforts never improved quickly.

“…Let’s not give up.”

Even while he was left alone like that, he remained positive. Tomorrow he’d be better than today. The sand would be a step more developed than it was today.

Terio dreamed only of the day he could live properly with his kin.

That was, until humans crawled into the deepest parts of the mountains and destroyed the nests and slaughtered them all.

“Humans have invaded!”

“Leave no monster alive! Kill them all!”

“Do not retreat! Now is the time for blood vengeance for our kin!”

The war between humans and monsters had raged without end.

So when it happened this time, everyone thought it would go down in the history books.

Everyone but Terio, who survived alone among the corpses.

“Why…? Why only me….”

He’d survived purely by chance. He’d lost his wing and lost consciousness; the humans had assumed he was dead.

In that pool of blood and carnage, Terio had resigned himself to dying.

But then an unexpected figure stepped into that place he thought no one would ever come.

The Demon Lord of Greed, Lehel.

She calmly collected the dead monster’s wings in that place that smelled of rotting blood and spoke.

“Don’t be pathetic. There’s nothing that makes the enemy happier than that.”

Then she left, and Terio, entranced, followed her.

Lehel had unintentionally saved him, and by some miracle he was rescued by her. It was only natural that Terio developed feelings for Lehel — whether it was adoration or some unnamed something.

❖ ❖ ❖

The audience chamber was noisy with excited monsters.

“My Lord Demon King. Why keep such despicable creatures in this castle? Kill them!”

“We will kill them! Humans must all be exterminated!”

“We are worried for the Demon King’s health!”

Wow — echoing.

I hadn’t realized the monsters could shout so loudly; their voices seemed like they could punch through the ceiling.

But leaving the noise aside—

“What’s with those appearances?”

Just yesterday they’d been in roughly humanoid form, but now they looked like monsters through and through.

Some bodies were melting and flabby; some faces were distorted grotesquely. There were those who became cutely fox-like, and all these oddly-shaped beings were in the castle together — it made for a strange scene.

“We changed our looks in case humans laugh at us!”

“We must show our dignity as monsters!”

“Indeed!”

Please don’t squeeze me in between the cute and the grotesque…

When I glanced at Terio, I read something in his eyes.

‘Should I go back to my original form, Lehel-nim?’

Don’t do that. That’s not it.

“Before we decide what to do with the human hero, there’s something I want to say.”

Even though I was the Demon Lord now, I still got spooked easily; my skin crawled every time I had to meet someone’s eyes.

“Change back into human form. Now.”

The noisy audience chamber quieted down when everyone reverted to their human appearances.

I could finally breathe a little.

If I’d wandered the castle late at night and had seen their monster forms I might have fainted — that would’ve been the worst. I should build up some courage.

After a brief silence, I met their staring eyes one by one and asked.

“Do you want to kill humans?”

They answered my question without a second’s hesitation.

“Of course.”

“Humans are our eternal enemies!”

“We haven’t forgotten to avenge our kin!”

Their eyes burned with rage. They were thinking of their kin brutally slaughtered by humans.

“Then let me ask differently. Do you want this war to continue?”

Surprisingly, no one answered that easily.

No — it was more that they already knew the answer.

The moment of revenge would be exhilarating, but they all felt it: continuing the war would not benefit anyone.

“But… there’s no way to stop the war now.”