I Picked Up the Abandoned Hero

58 – 58. Scary and Unknown

“So, why don’t you go see the Demon King?”

“Right now?”

“Yes.”

Clen was surprised by Alfred’s words again.

Even though she was staring at Alfred as if she had been bewitched until just now, when the word “Demon king” Came out, she immediately came to her senses.

She remembered what position she was in.

“…Are you trying to forcefully drag me to the Demon King right now?”

“No? I’m just going to take a look at it for a light refreshment, and what I’ve been ordered to do is to get an answer from the owner of this land. If it helps to answer, there’s nothing I can’t come and see.”

“Hmm…”

I’ve seen the demon king before.

At that time, they signed a non-aggression treaty with the demon king and treated each other as ordinary demons versus demons.

Anyway, the enemy demon king was a conversation partner, so it was just a simple neighbor relationship with Clen.

If necessary, the demon king came to visit us as a customer.

‘He’s someone I’ll have to see at least once.’

In addition, no matter how strong the demon king is, it is certain that he will be weaker than himself.

In the first place, it is said that the demon king this time is not too old.

A demon is a race that gradually accumulates mana and strength in its body as it lives, so if it is a demon that has lived for a long time, it is inevitable that it will be strong.

On the other hand, newly born demons are weak.

Occasionally, there are cases of being born with overwhelming strength to be born like Clen, but this is the same as the probability of a meteorite falling on your head after being struck by lightning while walking down the street.

“Good. I’d love to see that face one more time. But how are you going?”

“I’ve prepared a shortcut.”

“What is that?”

“The one your deceased mother made?”

Alfred pulled something like a doorknob from his pocket.

From what I’ve heard, it looks like a keepsake from my parents, but I don’t know what purpose it’s used for.

However, Alfred takes Clen in his arms and goes to a place where there are few people, and he attaches a handle to an empty wall.

Pajijik!!

‘A door was created?’

Then a door appeared in the empty wall.

Obviously this is just an old castle wall, but as soon as you attach the handle, a door is suddenly created.

At first, I thought it was a door that could go through a wall, but it doesn’t seem like it.

“Lady First.”

Alfred said as he opened the door.

I couldn’t see anything on the other side.

There was only endless darkness.

“…”

Young looked suspicious, but went inside.

Just when you think it might be a trap, your vision returns and the wind starts to blow.

Alfred followed right in.

The place where the two came out was a place with a large castle above and below the sky.

“Where is this place?”

“Demon King Wii, put a spell on it so you won’t get caught, but please refrain from making noise or touching other objects.”

Alfred went downstairs, squinting one eye.

‘Is this the Devil Castle?’

Following Alfred, Clen quietly looks around her and sees what kind of place the demon castle is.

The castle has many similarities with human architectural style, but in the end it was built by demons, so you can often see things similar to your own castle.

‘It’s a strange place.’

It is quite large, but there are not many people inside the castle.

There were very few guards, and besides that, only human women who were thought to be slaves were seen everywhere.

“This is like the bedroom of the demon king. Yes, there are two demon castles. One is a castle used to rule the demons, and the other is a castle used for the private use of the demon king. This place belongs to the latter.”

Follow Alfred through the castle.

When the guards saw Alfred, they saluted, and Alfred responds by shaking his hand lightly.

Like Alfred said he put a spell on, he doesn’t seem to notice Clen’s existence.

“Alfred!”

“Huh? Oh, it’s Cecily. What’s the matter?”

At that time, someone called Alfred and ran, and soon a human woman came into Alfred’s arms.

Judging by the leash around her neck, this woman was also considered a human being as a slave.

Clen’s eyes narrowed a bit as she held Alfred close to her slave subject and fawned over her.

For a slave, he has a rather nice appearance, but he seems to have lost his fear of humans.

Perhaps it’s because Alfred greeted me with a big smile.

“Well, Maou-nim says my food doesn’t taste good. Other princesses and demons say it’s delicious, but why?”

“Don’t worry too much about it. Anyway, the demon king doesn’t need food and it doesn’t taste good, which is different from what you humans say.”

“Really? Then what standard?”

“It’s the way it is, you can’t taste anything. The Demon King hardly senses taste. So, try putting some of this in your food next time. Do not feed anyone else.”

“Okay! Thank you. Alfred!”

The human who received one spice bowed his head and ran somewhere.

I think he went to the kitchen.

‘Isn’t the demon king unable to taste this time?’

Perhaps the slave just got some unexpected information.

“It can’t be, because I just lied to the demon lord and told him to eat sh*t.”

I don’t think so.

Alfred explained that it wasn’t like that, smiling as he did when he had just greeted the human.

So, what did you give to the humans just now?

“It’s poison, and it’s a very deadly poison. Even an orc will go away if you touch it lightly with the tip of your tongue.”

Poison.

In other words, giving poison to a cooking human was the same as giving poison to the demon king.

In one word, it is the intention to poison the demon king.

Clen was silent now as she blinked her eyes to see if she had heard it right.

“Of course, only deadly poison doesn’t work on the demon lord, and if you eat all of that, you’ll probably just get a little stomach ache.”

Even so, poisoning one’s followers is a felony, equivalent to rebellion.

Wasn’t Alfred a subordinate of the Demon King?

“No, I am the Demon King’s subordinate. Right arm as well. In the Demon King’s Army, I’m directly under the Demon King. Everything else is under me.”

But why are you poisoning the demon lord?

Alfred said he was second only to the Demon King and could move mountains with a single gesture of his hand without magic.

Clen was confused in his head because there were a lot of things he couldn’t understand, but it was difficult for him to understand all of one race.

Besides, maybe Alfred isn’t very loyal to the Demon King.

It was rather good for me.

This half-blood demon named Alfred was very interesting from Clen’s point of view, and I personally liked it.

Although, he doesn’t seem to be able to drink his blood, but he doesn’t have to drink it either.

“Anyway, I’m going to see the demon king soon, but no matter what happens, don’t react. If I do something wrong, I will be scolded.”

I won’t be surprised no matter what happens.

As Clen lived for a long time, he had seen various types of demons, and he was confident that no matter what kind of demon king the rumor was, he would not be surprised.

‘Is it possible to become a monster at the root?’

Perhaps the identity of the demon king was a gigantic monster.

Asmodians are actually relatives of monsters, and if monsters have the same level of intelligence as humans or higher, they are sometimes referred to as demons.

Maybe the demon king is a huge muscular monster.

‘Or is it the same classification as the enemy demon king?’

Maybe it doesn’t look like much.

Right now, the previous demon king, the enemy demon king, was a red skeleton.

Because of this, many demons looked down on the enemy demon king and tried to inherit the name of the demon king, but they were all lightly torn, so they couldn’t even become a skeleton.

It was surprising that such a demon king was defeated by a hero.

Still, the enemy demon king did not rise to the throne simply because he was strong, and he defeated even stronger competitors than himself by using various cunning strategies.

“Judge yourself what kind of existence the Demon King is, and think about the proposal I said. Well, as long as he is confident, he can appear right away and succeed to the throne right away from the demon king.”

Clen and his ancestors, who were not interested in the position of the demon king, had a cooperative relationship with such an enemy demon king.

I heard that it was quite helpful in bringing in things from outside.

‘What kind of demon is the demon king this time?’

Still, I was confident that I would win against the enemy demon king even if it took some effort.

“…I can’t guarantee my life then.”

Perhaps this demon king is similar to or worse than the enemy demon king, so Clen headed towards the room where the demon king was with a rather light heart.

After passing through a hallway of a temple, a huge room appeared.

‘Why did you make it this way?’

And it seemed that the demon king was sitting on the throne made of black gold.

There was no one next to the Demon King, and not even a single guard could be found in this room.

Because the interior of the temple was dark and the distance was far away, Clen could not visually confirm what the demon king looked like.

Most of all, scorpions have poor eyesight.

‘It’s not as big as I thought.’

This seems like an advertisement asking you to inherit the throne.

His name is the Demon King, but there were no guards around, and at least there were no slaves to wait on him.

There were quite a few human slaves outside, but only the Demon King was here.

At this point, I thought it would be better for Clen to deal with the demon lord himself.

“Welcome, Alfred.”

“…!”

At that time, a profound voice came from the throne.

‘Is that the demon king!’

Still, I feel the heavy pressure that weighs down my whole body, probably because of the name of the demon king.

It’s quite heavy, but it was manageable-

“Yes! I’m back!”

“Did you get an answer from the vampire queen?”

… Was unfortunately just an illusion.

‘No, what-‘

Thump!

She was a clen who was able to hold on at first, but her body gradually got heavier and it became difficult to even lift her head.

The reason was probably because the demon king had risen from his throne and was getting close to Alfred.

The closer her demon lord came, the more the pressure grew on her, and eventually Clen got down on her one knee and barely managed to hold on.

‘How dare you get me on her knees?’

At first, she was furious and was about to trample on that Demon King right away.

This was a level that could be ignored if he transformed himself into a monster.

“No? Why me?”

But Alfred stopped Clen with his hand.

‘Do you mean stay still?’

Fortunately, I didn’t get caught by the Demon King, but it’s still the same that I can’t understand.

Is there anything you can’t win at that level?

“…As expected, you don’t disappoint me, Alfred.”

The demon king seemed to be laughing at Alfred’s answer.

Suddenly, the Demon King came right in front of Alfred’s nose, and now Clen was close enough that he could see his face.

‘Wait… A child?’

However, the demon king’s body was smaller than expected.

In terms of human standards, a boy who was only about 12 years old was the shape of the demon king.

If you listened to his voice, it wouldn’t be strange to have a huge stature like that of an orc, but it was very surprising that he had never thought about the identity of the demon lord.

“This is a prize.”

“Huh? Really? Suddenly, what prize-“

That moment.

“…Aha, are you mad?”

At the same time as Alfred laughed, the Demon King stretched out his hand to him.

Puff!

‘My God-‘

Kwajik! And the whole body was twisted and crushed.

Alfred, who had been standing still until just a moment ago, died just as the demon king stretched out his hand for a moment.

Arms and legs disintegrate, everything inside the body is scattered on the floor, black blood and intestines spill out.

Clen, who was watching the scene from the side, felt chills run down her spine.

‘Did he kill his subordinate?’

Under his feet, Alfred’s head is rolling around, bleeding black blood from every hole in his eyes, nose and mouth.

To be called a subordinate, his loyalty was a bit questionable.

Still, to execute a summary execution like this right away, and that’s Alfred, who is the highest officer in the Demon King’s army.

Even Clen, who had a strict set of rules, was shocked.

Clen couldn’t help but look at Alfred’s dead face.

…He was a wasteful man.

“A reward given to loyal subjects is painful…”

Kung.

“Um…? Has anyone else been here?”

But when Alfred’s head, which he thought was dead, suddenly opened his eyes and spoke, Clen was startled and sat back.

Thanks to that, I lost my voice.

I had the dignity of a vampire, so I barely managed to keep myself from screaming, but it was impossible not to be surprised.

Thanks to the structure of this room, even though it was a small sound, it resonated several times and was clearly audible.

What should I do now?

In the end, is it better to be quick-witted than being caught like this?

Even though he had just crushed Alfred with a gesture, it was barely enough to frighten him.

I don’t know what method you used, but if you want to do it, you’ll be able to do it.

‘Damn it.’

But why… Don’t you think that you can fight and defeat that demon lord?

Besides, why is my body shaking…

“Still, thanks to you, I got new arms and legs, although I like the legs I had before. I like the new arm, though.”

But this is something else.

Alfred, with only his head remaining, seemed full of life beyond simply talking.

Soon after, the body regenerates from the head to wake up with light stretching.

Clenn’s thoughts seemed to be paralyzed by the series of unbelievable sights.

Jerbug. That buck

Then, the demon king approaches Clen and stretches out his hand.

It was just like a blind person trying to locate.

Still, it seems strange that the Demon King is not blind.

“Did you bring the princess with you, I don’t know what kind of princess it was… But it looked ugly.”

“Then why don’t you change that face first? I feel a sense of dissonance with my voice, so it’s ugly.”

“Alfred, if it’s ugly to you, you should keep it, since you’re the only one who can see this body anyway.”

That wasn’t the only strange thing.

‘Couldn’t it be that you don’t know me?’

The Demon King did not know that Clen was Clen.

Of course, she has never met each other, so it’s only natural that she doesn’t know, but even a child can tell that she is a vampire if she just sees it with her own eyes.

Even so, the demon king just thought Clen was one of the many slaves in his castle.

As Clen’s unexpected situations happened again and again, many, many questions flooded her mind.

“Go away, don’t come back until you get an answer from the Vampire Queen. If you disobey me this time, there won’t be a next time.”

“Okay, then I’ll come back. I’ll be late on purpose and come back slowly, so don’t sleep and wait for me!”

Alfred left the demon king’s room holding Clen’s hand after he fell down.

A lot of things happened in one moment.

Even recognizing them all was not easy.

A monstrous Demon King who seems to deviate from common sense.

A half-blooded demon who casually walks around the demon king.

“How was it? How do you feel seeing the Demon King?”

Clen was terrified of Alfred, who she thought she wanted until she saw the Demon King.

Even though his limbs had been ripped out a few minutes ago, Alfred was smiling and asking for comments.

“…A monster.”

“Yes, he is a monster. Do you think the monster has become a monster?”

I still wanted to have him, but now I felt a strange sense of alienation along with possessiveness.