—————————————————————–
Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: TushChen
—————————————————————–
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
A little while ago.
Before the contaminated zone was created, Nias was consumed with worry.
No matter how many times she cleaned and did laundry again, Nias repeated the same actions.
‘If Young Master finds out….’
Then what would happen to her?
Would she be scorned, hated, and… forever abandoned?
At least, that’s what the people in her village did in the past.
As soon as her powers contaminated the village, they immediately expelled Nias.
They even killed her beloved family members.
Avoiding human eyes, she created a space called the Demon Realm where only selfish and twisted creatures gathered.
Since then, Nias had lived alone forever.
All magical beasts served Nias, but it was only out of reverence for power.
She was lonely.
That loneliness was so piercing that she became used to it and numb.
Nias thought she might not actually have emotions.
It was the same after her reincarnation.
A father who hit her, a mother who neglected the abuse.
It seemed there was no one anywhere who would love her.
But after meeting the Young Master, Nias felt a small emotion blooming in her heart.
A hot, suffocating feeling like swallowing a burning stone.
That feeling was so precious that Nias always wanted to embrace it.
Someday, she just wanted to have an ordinary daily life.
Nias felt like she was slowly sinking back into that swamp of loneliness.
The sensation of the past grabbing her ankles and dragging her down to the bottom.
That’s when it happened.
Nias turned her head towards the forest at the ominous mana that suddenly mixed into the chilling air.
She saw the forest, clouded with mana, twisting bizarrely.
And she saw the barrier of mana forming around the forest.
‘Contaminated zone…!’
Realizing what it meant, Nias abruptly stood up from her seat.
The Raven King’s contaminated zone, the Labyrinth of Illusion, was spreading in the forest.
‘To think he’d even do this…!’
Nias hurriedly got up from her seat.
She paced around the room for a moment, not knowing what to do.
And she made up her mind.
Young Master must be in that forest right now.
She had to hurry and warn him.
Nias made her decision and started moving.
However, as she approached the door, Nias sensed a chilling presence.
Slowly turning around, the Raven King Subrak was standing at the window.
“So, Demon King.”
The Raven King said with a smile.
“Now it’s time to choose. You’ve had enough time to ponder for half a day, right?”
The Raven King grinned sinisterly as he looked at Nias, who was staring at him blankly.
Seeing Nias’ agitated appearance, Subrak felt a satisfying conviction.
The conviction that he had completely ensnared those cute black eyes in his scheme!
First, by threatening to reveal that she was the Demon King, he induced isolation so that Nias couldn’t rely on anyone.
Second, by warning that even the life of that precious person was in his hands, he eliminated even the option of running away.
Third, he was now showing that he could do as he pleased with even her life.
Now there was only one choice this cute Demon King turned into a girl could make.
Handing over her power.
The three traps were all effective, so to the Raven King, this seemed perfect.
“I said in two weeks.”
“It seems I had some circumstances too. The situation changed rapidly.”
Subrak laughed.
She would know too.
What kind of beings were magical beasts originally.
“Isn’t that how magical beasts are? You should know well. O King of Magical Beasts.”
Nias gripped the black hem of the maid’s dress she was wearing.
The moment Subrak opened his mouth to Young Master, everything would change.
Their current relationship might disappear, and the relationship between hero and Demon King might begin.
“I….”
When she opened her mouth, a pain as sharp as piercing her heart with a long needle came again.
However, at the same time, she didn’t want to tell the Young Master about her true identity.
She didn’t want to receive the gazes of contempt that the villagers had thrown at her.
‘If possible, I wanted to keep it a secret forever. If possible… I just wanted to remain an ordinary maid.’
It might be greedy.
Just as Nias wished to remain an ordinary maid, wishing for Leonhart to remain just as a Young Master.
She was no longer putting hypnotic drugs in his food.
What she had been putting in the food was always a nutritional supplement mixed with the hypnotic drug.
Even though he wouldn’t eat it for some reason and didn’t get healthy easily, it was still fun to make lunch boxes for Young Master consistently.
Through Young Master, Nias learned that it could be fun to spend such useless time.
Those warm memories made up the current Nias.
So, Nias decided to muster up her courage.
She inhaled and slowly exhaled.
The pain in her heart that had felt like being pierced by a needle had now grown so much that she didn’t even know what hurt or how.
Still, Nias opened her mouth, putting firm determination into each syllable.
“Tell him. Subrak. Go and tell him.”
The Raven King’s hand gesture, which had been moving gently in the air, stopped.
“What did you say?”
With that chilling question, the room temperature instantly dropped due to the mana Subrak was emitting.
Feeling the chill from the mana, Nias also drew up her mana to endure it.
As if to show that this much power had now been recovered.
“You can tell him. Go to Young Master and tell him I’m the Demon King. That’s what you wanted to do, right?”
“What… I must have misheard you, right?”
Nias’ black eyes were glaring at the Raven King as if to crush him.
The Raven King had seen that resolute expression before.
It was the expression she made when she had made a particularly firm decision.
For example, when she decided to abandon her previous life and reincarnate.
“That… why? Do you like that boy that much?”
Subrak asked coldly.
A plucked flower.
That’s how Subrak evaluated Nias.
However, when that plucked flower raised its voice for its own pride, he felt unpleasant.
It was a feeling as if his own thing had been taken away by someone else.
Even though it was never anyone’s in the first place.
“Why?”
Nias faced Subrak.
Subrak was a magical beast in the form of a young bird that Nias had taken in, and that beast gradually grew to resemble a human.
And soon, it became such an ugly appearance.
In the end, magical beasts are stained with greed and desire and lose even their past form.
“Subrak. Just go and tell him.”
At those words, the Raven King couldn’t hold back anymore and rushed towards Nias, spreading his wings.
Even Subrak himself couldn’t understand his anger.
Subrak, who twisted Nias’ slender neck, pushed her against the wall.
“Ack…! Ugh…!”
Nias tried to resist by drawing up her mana, but the Raven King shoved a pill into her mouth as if not allowing it.
It seemed to be a type of drug that enhanced mana, as the Raven King’s body swelled even more.
“Demon King. I admired you. But now, you’ve become not even the Demon King. An ordinary girl, no, a being worse than that because you’re so selfish. To you, what are magical beasts, what are we!”
A whirlwind began to blow in the room due to the rough mana flowing from Subrak’s body.
Nias exerted strength to shake off the arm strangling her neck.
However, it wasn’t an easy task.
However, Nias discovered a lonely loneliness filled with desire in Subrak’s eyes.
Even as her consciousness grew hazy, one thought lingered in Nias’ mind.
Why?
Why can’t she?
Nias gently touched Subrak’s cheek.
A warm cheek.
However, it felt like a cheek that had been stained with mana at some point.
And she recalled his name when he was still a baby bird.
“Arc.”
Nias whispered as if to the baby bird who had lost its parents, whom she had taken in.
She struggled to utter words that were very difficult.
“…You’re not my Young Master.”
Subrak’s hand momentarily loosened its grip at those shocking words.
Nias didn’t miss that gap and simultaneously infused the mana she had drawn up with her main power and burst it towards Subrak.
Dark energy exploded and pushed Subrak against the wall.
Even then, Nias’ words rang in Subrak’s ears like tinnitus.
Subrak breathed heavily at this uncomfortable feeling.
“Demon King…! I, you!”
The Raven King tried to fly towards the Demon King again.
This time with the intention to kill.
But at that moment.
“Cough?!”
The Raven King wiped the blood flowing from the corner of his mouth.
“…This is?”
It was the blood he had vomited.
Was the Demon King’s strike that strong?
No, it wasn’t.
The power to cause internal injuries….
At that moment, a chilling sensation engulfed the Raven King.
Looking out the window at the forest, the Raven King realized that a part of the forest he had contaminated was on fire.
The labyrinth that should never burn due to mana was burning.
“…How?!”
The Raven King’s entire body trembled as if shuddering at that unbelievable sight.
Then this blood meant that his crows he had left in the forest to maintain the contaminated zone had died.
Subrak was horrified.
To think there was a monster among the hero candidates who had already gained this much power.
Subrak now realized that one of the traps he had set had failed.
However, the next moment, the Raven King smiled crookedly.
Didn’t he still have one more scheme left?
In fact, that was the most fatal one.
“…I understand. Then as you wish, I will reveal everything about you to that person. Then you will be abandoned by the one you love. I wonder what will happen to you then, Demon King. Ah, I’m so curious.”
Subrak laughed.
Yes.
Rather than just killing her, it was better to see the Demon King’s despair.
The Demon King also had to feel this sticky pain of being abandoned by the one she loved.
Subrak wrapped his body in his cloak.
The next moment, his body had disappeared, leaving only a single feather.
Nias breathed heavily and forcibly lifted her aching body.
“Ouch.”
Her hand stained red was visible.
It seemed she had been cut somewhere when she collided with the wall earlier.
Red blood overflowed from the wound and dripped down her skin.
The moment from her childhood when the Young Master personally tied her wound with a handkerchief came to mind.
“…Young Master.”
Nias made up her mind and approached the door.
And the moment she opened the door, Nias was running.
Always, always, Nias had felt guilty towards Leonhart.
Because she had never told Young Master the truth even once.
About her true identity.
About her real appearance.
So….
Nias rubbed her blurry eyes.
So now she had to tell him.
She had to tell him with her own mouth.
No matter what the result.
Even if the Young Master left her.
Even if she became the Demon King to Young Master again.
As Nias headed towards the labyrinth, she earnestly hoped.
To be able to exchange even one more word with the Young Master.
“Young Master, do you want to go see the puppy after school today?”
It would be nice if she could say these words again.
She thought.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
The fire created by the sword began to spread through the forest.
The flames of purgatory that devoured everything burned the forest covered in mana.
Without even smoke, the hot fire was taking all those twisted things to hell.
In an instant, the small magical beasts were engulfed in those flames and disappeared.
Only Aluax remained.
The gale created by Aluax’s swinging fist.
I dodged that shell-like blow that split the space and confirmed that the magical beasts that had just entered were burning.
The next moment, I appeared above Aluax’s head.
“You should have been careful with your head.”
Aluax belatedly noticed me and reflexively swung his fist at me.
However, while he was on guard against me, he couldn’t avoid Elena’s sword that came running from behind.
The moment that sword was stabbed into his thigh, the aim of his fist greatly missed.
“This can’t be! How could I, Aluax!!”
In a single moment.
Aluax, cut by the sword, was sucked into hell while screaming a cheap scream until the end.
Even magical beasts would burn forever and writhe in agony within that purgatory.
“…The usage time is much longer than last time.”
Elena said, looking around at the forest that kept burning relentlessly.
“I’m making progress in my own way.”
I smiled slightly and approached Caiden, who was trembling, and untied his bonds.
“Th-Thanks.”
Caiden stood up, straightening his clothes.
While I helped Caiden, Elena had an anxious expression.
“How do we find Elin and Miss Livia now?”
Their survival must be the urgent matter.
It was a question of whether the two were alive.
The barrier of mana would probably take a bit longer for the professors to come to our aid.
We had to search quickly even by ourselves.
Right then.
“There’s no need to look.”
An unpleasant voice was heard.
Turning my head, there stood a man wearing a cloak made of black feathers and with unusually long black nails.
It was the Raven King Subrak.
I thought he would show himself after facing one more remaining destruction-grade, but it was quite an early appearance.
“Here are the things you’re looking for.”
I confirmed the two girls in Subrak’s arms.
It was Livia and Elin.
Even if it was the two of them, it must have been difficult to face the Calamity-grade Raven King.
For a moment, heat rose to my head.
However, recalling that it might be an illusion, I dealt with it calmly.
I checked the two with the magnifying glass.
Ding!
[Checking Livia’s status]
[Checking Elin’s status]
Both of them were real.
But it was unlike the Raven King.
Clearly, he could have moved more cunningly using those two girls as bait.
It was an emotional move.
I turned my gaze and looked at him.
“Raven King, Subrak.”
At my words, the shocked Elena and Caiden could be heard swallowing their gasps.
“Oh, you know me. Ah, before you swing that sword, calm down for a moment. I’ve injected poison into these girls. As you can see, I’ve just come to talk.”
I was momentarily at a loss for words.
When I checked with their status earlier, I had confirmed they weren’t afflicted with any poison.
What a brazen lie.
I was vividly reminded of what kind of character Subrak was.
So rather, I was intrigued to hear what he had to say.
“What do you want to say?”
I jerked my chin as if telling him to speak quickly.
“Hmm…. Cheeky brat.”
The Raven King’s feathers bristled as if displeased.
But why should I care about his mood?
“I asked what you wanted to say.”
At my words, the Raven King laughed slowly.
“Well, it will be interesting if you listen. It’s a story about a girl’s secret.”
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
