PWH C10

“My lady, let’s just go back now.” Jessie clung to me, her voice trembling.

After deciding to plunder, I put my thoughts into action right away. I headed out immediately. Jessie said I needed the Duke’s permission to leave, but I easily ignored her.

Strangely, no servant tried to stop me. Jessie explained why.

“There’s a rumor that the young lady tried to behead a servant for being rude.”

No wonder everyone avoided me as soon as I approached.

With no one stopping me, I confidently stepped out the front gate and got into the carriage. The carriage soon took the two of us to our destination.

The Dunkeld estate was located in the center of the capital. As the carriage moved toward the outskirts, the buildings became increasingly shabby, and the roads grew rougher.

“You don’t need to follow me.”

We were now at the entrance of the slums. The area was filled with dusty streets and buildings on the verge of collapse.

The streets were empty, but I could feel numerous gazes watching Jessie and me from within the buildings.

I looked down at the clothes I was wearing. I had picked the plainest outfit from Isabella’s wardrobe, but even so, it was still noble attire and stood out in this place.

“Don’t follow me,” I repeated to Jessie. I didn’t feel that this place was dangerous to me. Though my body was that of a noble lady, inside, I was a demon who had survived hundreds of years on the battlefield.

In this state, I could easily overpower a few humans. But Jessie was just an ordinary human. She would only be a burden.

Jessie shook her head vigorously at my words. “I can’t let you go into a place like this alone, my lady. Besides, two are better than one, aren’t they?”

No, being alone is better.

I pouted. Oblivious to the fact that I considered her a burden, Jessie clenched her fists resolutely.

“I’ll protect you, my lady.”

I sighed and entered the slums with Jessie in tow.

“So, why are we here?” Jessie asked cautiously.

“Plundering should always target those who won’t cause trouble afterward.”

“But plundering the slums…?”

“Of course not.”

How could I accumulate wealth by robbing the poor? Plundering should always aim for a big target.

And I knew just the right person to plunder. It had been quite some time since we last made contact, but I was sure he was doing well in the middle realm. He should have amassed quite a fortune by now.

I strode forward and began rummaging through a pile of trash in the corner.

“My lady, please don’t touch that!” Jessie gasped beside me, but I ignored her and continued searching. Eventually, I found my target.

Squeak!

A rat. I smiled at the familiar magic emanating from it.

“Lead me to your master,” I whispered to the rat.

***

“This rat will guide us,” I said.

Jessie looked at me as if I had lost my mind. But when the rat led us to a shabby pub, her gaze changed to one of astonishment.

“How did you know, my lady?”

“Trade secret,” I replied, then kicked the pub door open.

Bang!

As I stepped inside, everyone in the sparsely occupied pub turned to look at us. I scanned the interior. It was as rundown as the exterior, on the verge of collapse. There was a bartender and five patrons: two middle-aged women and three middle-aged men.

At a glance, it might have seemed like an ordinary pub.

‘If this were just some random pub, they wouldn’t all be on guard the moment I walked in.’

They were ready to attack me at any moment.

I smirked. The rat had done a good job.

“I’m here to see the master of this place,” I said to the bartender. He looked me up and down before speaking.

“Hey, you. You’re not from the slums.”

“So?”

“You’re not my customer. Get lost,” growled the bartender in a threatening tone.

I tilted my head. Did he not understand what I was saying?

For his sake, I explained again, more clearly, “I’m here to see the master of this place. Take me to your master.”

“I said you’re not my customer. Leave.”

“No.”

“You little—!”

The bartender shouted at me. As the atmosphere grew increasingly hostile, Jessie whispered to me.

“My lady, let’s just leave, please.”

“It’s fine. The master of this place will welcome me.”

Was it a hundred years since I last saw him? A century was quite a long time for an ordinary demon. Still, I was sure the master here hadn’t forgotten me.

“Do you really know our master?”

The bartender, who had initially treated me as a madwoman, now spoke in a tone of suspicion, perhaps doubting if I really knew the pub’s owner.

I nodded and uttered the name of their master, “Sher, the King of Rats.”

The bartender’s demeanor changed completely when I spoke the true name of their master.

“You must be an important guest if you know the master’s true name. The master is downstairs.”

“Jessie, stay here,” I instructed.

The master of this place was a demon like me. It would be problematic if Jessie overheard our conversation and realized I was a demon.

The people here thought of me as a valued guest, so they wouldn’t harm Jessie in my absence.

‘But I should still give them a warning.’

Jessie was currently under my protection. In the Demon Realm, touching another demon’s subordinate was a grave insult. Plus, a demon who couldn’t protect their subordinates was ridiculed.

Following the bartender’s lead, I descended the stairs. At the bottom was a thick iron door.

“Go through here,” the bartender said, gesturing toward the door.

I whispered in his ear, “While I’m talking to your master, no one is to lay a finger on the girl I brought. If anyone so much as touches her…”

I added menacingly, “You will beg me to kill you.”

The bartender flinched and stepped back.

“Then, I’ll be on my way.”

With that, I opened the door and stepped inside.

***

Inside was a cozy-looking sitting room. Unlike the slums, the interior was quite luxurious. In the center of the room sat a man with ash-gray hair. He never took his eyes off me from the moment I opened the door and sat down across from him.

“It’s been a long time, Sher.”

He was Sher, the King of Rats.

Sher was a weak demon, born with little magic, making it difficult for him to survive in the Demon Realm.

In most cases, demons like him would become subordinates to a more powerful demon to survive. But Sher was different. Perhaps it was due to his unusually strong pride.

He gave up living in the Demon Realm and crossed over to the middle realm. Rather than being looked down upon among demons, he chose to reign among humans.

Sher had a talent for controlling rats with magic. He used that talent in the middle realm, living as an informant. Many of the rats living in the capital were Sher’s informants.

Seeing Sher for the first time in a century, I found myself talking more than usual.

“You’re still living like a rat here in the middle realm. I was hoping you’d be caught by the angels and skinned by now—what a pity.”

Sher blinked. At first, he looked flustered, then shocked. I watched the myriad of emotions play across his face.

“That strange way of speaking… Could it be, Bella?”

“Your speech has grown quite short over the years. Be careful if you don’t want your tongue to be shortened as well.”

I warned Sher, then chuckled.

I wasn’t truly angry. Among demons, I was relatively tolerant, so I could overlook such rudeness.

“Lady Bella. It’s been a very long time,” Sher corrected his tone immediately, then cautiously asked me, “What brings you to the middle realm? And that body… isn’t it Isabella Dunkeld’s?”

True to his role as an informant, he recognized my host body as soon as he saw me.

“Circumstances have brought me here, and so I came to find you.”

Sher showed little interest in my situation. He just kept smiling as he stared at my face. “I’m really curious as to how the Lord of the Demon Realm ended up in a human body. But, you know—”

Sher’s smile vanished in an instant. His previously amiable tone turned cold. “If I’m not mistaken, there’s hardly any magic coming from you right now, as if your power is sealed.”

He was right. He had reached the correct conclusion.

“Am I right?”

Sher lifted one corner of his mouth as he spoke. His tone had grown short again. I gave a hollow laugh in response. Demons followed the law of the jungle.

Sher was clearly provoking me, knowing that I had weakened.

“Sher. Do not cross the line.” I warned him.

“How could I be disrespectful to Lady Bella?”

Despite his words, Sher wasn’t heeding my warning. If I let my guard down for even a moment, he would attack without hesitation.

I couldn’t blame him. I would have done the same in his position.

But Sher was underestimating me.

“Sher. Though most of my power has been sealed, I…”

I had something prepared for this situation.

I pulled a table knife hidden beneath my skirt and pointed the blade at Sher. Of course, just threatening him with an ordinary table knife wouldn’t be enough.

I gathered the magic within my body to the tip of the knife. As a demon, Sher would be able to sense the flow of magic. The tip of the blade trembled slightly.

“With this level of magic, I could still kill you in an instant. Understood?”

I gave Sher one final warning.