After Being Sold Out By The Empire, I Decide To Assist The Demon King

"Clap! Clap! Clap! Clap! Clap!"

Lying on the bed, Vera cried loudly amidst the sound of the slaps. "Waaah, I'm wrong~ I'm wrong~ Stop hitting me, if you keep hitting me, I'm gonna die! Waaah waah waah~"

But Yila just had a dark expression on his face, raised the birch stick in his hand, and looked at Vera, whose tongue was hanging out, pretending to roll her eyes. He simply poked Vera's temple with the stick.

"Ve! Ra! Ya! I! Er! Me! Ni! O! Sa! Ya! To! Si! What were you thinking? Huh?!!"

Yila gritted his teeth as he spoke, and while he spoke, he gave Vera's big butt a smack and said, "Didn't you promise me you would behave? I said I believed you, didn't I?"

"..."

But Vera didn't respond... Strictly speaking, she didn't move at all.

"Mr. Yila, don't you think you're being a bit too harsh?"

Satan Ye said, looking a bit pitifully at the seemingly pitiful Vera as she got her butt quickly smacked by Yila's scattered blows. Every smack made Satan Ye's tail tense up.

It sounded and looked like her butt was about to be torn apart.

Feeling a little compassionate, Satan Ye looked in Yila's direction and said, "Miss Vera has already passed out. Maybe you should stop hitting her for now... Besides, her robe is about to be ruined. The maids will have a hard time repairing it."

As she said this, Satan Ye pondered for a moment and suggested, "Why don't we wake up Miss Vera, take off her robe and pants, and then continue hitting her?"

Wasn't that even harsher?! Was she naturally cruel?

Yila thought as he looked at Vera, whose body twitched at Satan Ye's words... Her eyes were tightly closed, but as a witch demon, sweat was still dripping from her forehead like beans.

*She seemed genuinely afraid that Yila would follow Satan Ye's suggestion.*

"..."

"Being harsh... it really isn't all that harsh."

Yila said, using the professional stick meant for disciplining disobedient children, poking Vera's face with an unhappy expression as he said, "Satan Ye, take a closer look... Is she really unconscious?"

To this, Satan Ye blinked almost immediately.

Eh? Could Miss Vera be faking it?

Thinking this, Satan Ye began to carefully observe Vera, but no matter how she looked, she could only see Vera, whose body didn't even show the slightest rise and fall of breathing... It looked like she was completely dead.

But since she was a witch demon, she probably didn't need to breathe in the first place, right?

Thinking this, Satan Ye worriedly looked at Vera's butt. She thought of reaching out and giving the area that had been whipped earlier a poke. If Vera was still awake, she'd jump from the pain.

Satan Ye: Poke poke~

Soft and squishy, in a way, Vera really was a bundle of "extra flesh." However, contrary to what she imagined, Vera didn't cry out in pain... Instead, her whole body went stiff.

Satan Ye: "..."

The reaction of "her whole body going stiff" was too obvious, so Satan Ye noticed it. But she didn't understand why the reaction was so strong, as there was no reaction when she got hit before... Was it ticklish?

Satan Ye: Poke poke poke poke~

In the end, Vera couldn't hold it in. She panicked, turned her head, and looked back, quickly flipping her lips: "Yila, what are you doing? Why are you suddenly poking my butt? Don't do that, I'm scared... Oh, it's Satan Ye. Never mind, I'm dead."

Like hot words, when Satan Ye's innocent fingers were still hanging in midair, Vera quickly returned to her nearly-dead state... with her tongue hanging out and her eyes rolling.

"Did you see that?"

Yila asked, and Satan Ye nodded, reaffirming Vera's true nature... Vera, who liked to play dead and act pitiful, really was just like a pool of mud.

She'd recognize her mistakes, acknowledge them, cry and apologize, but never say "I promise I won't make this mistake again."

But even so, Mr. Yila didn't use his real strength to hit her... Or rather, because Vera's attitude of admitting mistakes had always been good, Yila never used the strength that could incapacitate her.

This way of interacting might have been inherited from the empire to the Demon King Territory.

Satan Ye judged, looking at Yila, who seemed to have no mood to continue punishing Vera and sighed helplessly, and then at Vera, who smiled because she recognized the familiar sigh.

"Mr. Yila, if you're tired, you can let me do the hitting. I'm pretty strong now."

So, Satan Ye said this, giving Yila a step down... Vera's smile stiffened immediately, and Yila realized Satan Ye's intention. He patted her head and said, "No, it's enough for now."

Sighing helplessly again, Yila expressed his frustration.

This time, however, the sigh wasn't due to Vera but to the current situation... Vera's big mouth had spread the news to the whole world. The serpent, the world, the inevitable destruction was all known.

Yet, things hadn't gotten any worse at all.

In fact, the world had become even more harmonious, even considerably "happy," "free," and "equal"... Citizens' happiness might have reached 100%.

Nobody had any anger or fear, sorrow or disappointment... After long struggles with calamities and constant farewells, people's spirits had become numb, and they didn't care about the predetermined end at all.

In their perspective, though "everyone is doomed" undoubtedly wasn't a piece of good news at all... However... However... However... The other news was "Yila could survive and take everyone's souls away," which was indeed a great joy.

The deciding factor wasn't the latter but the former.

"Yes, Yila, don't be angry."

Vera grinned ingratiatingly, rubbing her butt with her hand, rubbing her hands like flies and said, "Everyone loves and respects you! I already knew this. I made you see how people think! I made you get out of your anxiety early!"

Saying this, Vera burst out with rare eloquence, seriously looking into Yila's eyes, and said, "Every deceased person, and those about to die, probably haven't been afraid, because..."

"Everything they are, their souls, their will, won't be like duckweed in the wind, but will have a destined place to go. Everything they are can be passed on... And Yila, you are the extension of everyone's lives!"

It was well said.

Even knowing that "Vera was making it up on the spot," Yila found it hard to find an excuse to refute.

"..."

"Sigh..."

Helplessly, Yila could only sigh and nod, admitting that what Vera said was indeed the truth. He thought of something, then looked at Satan Ye, and said, "Satan Ye..."

"Hmm?"

"..."

Yila: "There are some things I need to talk to you about in private."

Vera: "Huh?"

Satan Ye: "Huh? Okay."