Return of the Calamity-Class Death Knight-Chapter 378: SS 26

[Translator - Pot ]

[Proofreader - Kawaii ]

Side Story Chapter 26: Demon Lord (3)

And so, the demons all accepted my uncle’s restriction seals.

It seemed it did not particularly hurt.

No wounds appeared, and they did not scream.

“Ugh, I feel nauseous.”

“It feels like there are foreign objects moving around in my blood.”

That said, they were not completely fine either.

They were all pale.

The kids and I watched the scene from a distance.

Everyone watched with great interest.

The sight of high-ranking demons receiving restriction seals, even fighting each other for them, is not something you get to see easily, is it?

“Orobos.”

“Yes, Lord Damien!”

At my uncle’s call, Orobos stopped dry-heaving and quickly ran over.

It may be rude to say this about a Lord of Inferno, but he was like a… loyal dog.

“The kids must have been bored from waiting, so from now on, give them a tour of the castle and the capital.”

“I understand. I will call the soldiers…”

“No, you will do it yourselves.”

Orobos looked as if he had misheard something.

“You want us to guide them… personally?”

“You ask the obvious. How can I trust demon bastards and entrust the children to them.”

“We are demons too, though…?”

“You all have restriction seals on you. You won’t be able to touch the kids, so I can at least trust you.”

Orobos and his subordinates did not seem to like it very much.

Well, being high-ranking demons and being told to act as nannies, it is understandable that they would be dumbfounded.

“You don’t want to?”

When my uncle asked while taking out a sword from his subspace, Orobos quickly shouted at his subordinates.

“Did you all hear that? Each of you will be in charge of one child! Grant them everything they need! Anything and everything!”

“Now that’s a proper attitude. I like it.”

My uncle wore a satisfied expression.

But unlike my uncle, the kids’ faces were dark.

They must be scared.

No matter if they have restriction seals on them, they still have to entrust their safety to demons.

“I know what you are all thinking. But there is nothing to worry about.”

My uncle beckoned with his finger and called one of the demons.

“You, come closer.”

The demon approached my uncle with a clueless expression.

“Stand in front of the kids, not me.”

“Ah, yes.”

As the demon came closer, the kids’ faces froze stiff.

The demon, on the other hand, was about to look down at the children with a greedy gaze…

“Kkeuaak!”

Suddenly, the demon’s body burst into flames. A blue flame engulfed the demon’s entire body.

“Fire! Put out the fire! Kkeuaaaak!”

The blue flame quickly subsided. The demon did not die, but its entire body was charred black.

“As you can see, the moment the demons harbor even the slightest ill will, the restriction seal will activate immediately.”

At my uncle’s words, the demons were all horrified.

It seemed they had no idea the restriction would activate in this way.

“L-Lord Damien… no matter how you look at it, a restriction like this…”

Orobos protested in a low voice, but it did not work on my uncle at all.

“You’re high-ranking demons, aren’t you? I need to have at least this level of restriction on you to feel at ease.”

“B-But…”

“You don’t want to?”

The moment my uncle made a motion to open his subspace, Orobos and the demons shouted in one voice.

“We have no complaints whatsoever!”

“You should have just said so from the start. Well then, go and give the kids a tour.”

It seemed my uncle showing them the effectiveness of the restriction seals worked, as the kids obediently followed the demons out of the great hall.

Orobos also tried to follow them.

“You stay here.”

“Yes?”

“Right, I have something to talk to you about.”

“Yeees?”

Orobos shouted in surprise.

Seeing him like that, it seems he wanted to escape from my uncle’s side as soon as possible.

“Theo, why are you still here?”

“I’ll just wait for you here, Uncle. It’s only fun when I go around with you.”

“It’ll be boring if you just stay here.”

My uncle only said that, but he did not send me away. It seems he was inwardly pleased that I stayed.

While looking around the great hall, I eavesdropped on their conversation.

“Orobos, do you know why I had only you remain?”

“I do not know, sir.”

“You dim-witted bastard. I wasn’t expecting much anyway.”

Oh, that sounds offensive even to me, I wonder how the person himself feels.

As expected, Orobos wore an offended expression.

“Are you going to take a swing at me?”

“How could I possibly harbor such an irreverent thought! Absolutely not!”

Of course, he changed his expression the moment my uncle glared at him.

“From now on, spread what happened today throughout all of Inferno.”

“Y-Yes?”

“Don’t pretend you didn’t hear me. Announce that you have submitted to me.”

At my uncle’s command, Orobos’s eyes trembled greatly.

It seemed this, at least, was difficult for him to obey.

If what happened today spreads throughout Inferno, he would not be able to save face as a lord, would he?

“That way, the demon bastards will fear my existence.”

“Th-They already fear you now!”

“And yet those bastards are running around inciting people, calling me a fraud?”

Orobos kept his mouth shut.

It seems even he thought it was a ridiculous excuse.

“I know what you’re worried about. You’re worried your authority as a lord will fall.”

“N-No, sir. That is not the reason I am trying to refuse Lord Damien’s command…”

“So you were trying to refuse.”

“Huk!”

Orobos hastily covered his mouth with both hands.

But that could not put the words that had already come out of his mouth back in.

“Even if you follow my command, your authority will not fall. Rather, it will become even more solid.”

“S-Solid, what do you mean by that…”

“I will eliminate all the demons who do not follow you.”

My uncle uttered these fearsome words as if they were nothing.

Well, he is someone with the ability to do so.

“In the end, I will place all of Inferno under your feet.”

“I-Is that really true?”

My uncle nodded his head without a moment’s hesitation.

“Then the demons of Inferno will remember you not as a loser who submitted to a human, but as the second-in-command who stands at Damien Haksen’s right hand.”

Orobos’s expression went slightly blank.

It seemed he was imagining the future my uncle had promised.

“Now, what are you going to do? Will you follow my command?”

At my uncle’s question, Orobos immediately knelt and shouted.

“I pledge my loyalty until the moment I die!”

“Yes, that’s the spirit. I like it very much.”

“But Lord Damien, why are you going to the trouble of conquering Inferno?”

Orobos asked as if he were genuinely curious.

To be honest, I was curious too.

My uncle does not usually use such troublesome methods.

If the demons were the problem, he could have just wiped them out, so why go to the trouble of making them submit?

“Demons are quite persistent. Even if I were to get serious, it would probably be difficult to exterminate them. They would surely survive somehow and build up their forces again.”

Hmm, now that I hear it, he has a point.

If they survived in a barren and dangerous place like Inferno, their adaptability and life force must be incredible, right?

“If I can’t get rid of them all, it’s much better for me to control them. And while I’m at it, I plan to manage the dark mages through you all as well.”

“Yes? The dark mages?”

“Dark mages inevitably have to deal with demons. If they contact you to make a deal, inform me immediately.”

Oh, using this method, he could manage two dangerous elements at the same time.

It seems I was not the only one who was impressed. Orobos also exclaimed in admiration.

“T-To think of such a demonic idea…”

“Why, you got a problem? Should I kill you and put another bastard in charge?”

“Hehe, how could I possibly have a problem.”

Orobos quickly bowed his head and said.

It is a thought I have been having for a while now, but this demon who calls himself the Lord of Inferno acts so weaselly.

* * *

My uncle kept the promise he made to Orobos.

He went around Inferno, punishing the demons who did not follow Orobos.

“What? If I don’t pledge loyalty to the likes of Orobos, you’ll kill me!”

“Has this corpse bastard gone mad! Did your brain rot after being abandoned by your master?”

“Khahat! This is so absurd I can’t help but laugh!”

Of course, the demons did not obediently follow my uncle’s words.

They were bastards who ignored the words of the Demon Lord, so their rebellious spirit must have been quite strong, right?

“Kraaak! He’s a madman! A crazy Death Knight!”

“N-No way. A corpse bastard is this strong?”

“I’m sorry please save me I was the crazy one I didn’t recognize Lord Damien Haksen and acted arrogantly from now on I will be your loyal dog so…”

Of course, the resisting demons did not see a good end.

They either died or were beaten to death.

“From now on, you are Orobos’s loyal subordinate. Understood?”

“O-Of course! I will do so!”

My uncle forcibly placed all the demons he did not kill under Orobos’s command.

How did he force the demons to obey? Well, of course, he just slapped a whole bunch of restriction seals on them.

“Hahahat! You foolish bastards! Do you understand now? Just how great Lord Damien Haksen is!”

Orobos, who had followed my uncle, was greatly delighted watching the demons get beaten.

Watching him, I was a little dumbfounded.

Even if they were the opposition, is it okay to be so happy when your own kind is getting beaten up? A person who is, for all intents and purposes, the Lord of Inferno?

And what about us?

We did not think much of it. We were just having fun sightseeing in Inferno and eating delicious food.

“Today, we’re going to this place. I heard there’s a famous lava waterfall in Inferno.”

“A lava waterfall?”

“Yes, they say lava endlessly falls from a huge cliff.”

“Ooh.”

The sleeping arrangements were also comfortable.

My uncle did not just let us sleep anywhere.

He only let us sleep in the castles of high-ranking demons that were nearby.

Did the owner of the castle willingly give it up? Of course not. But what could they do when my uncle was with us?

Today too, we were to spend the night at the castle of a high-ranking demon that my uncle had obtained consent from, half-coercively.

“Uuuumm.”

Strangely, I tossed and turned a lot that night.

In the end, I dozed off for a bit but eventually got up from the bed.

I definitely did not sleep well, but my mind was wide awake.

It felt like I would not be able to fall back asleep even if I lay down on the bed again.

“Should I go to the bathroom.”

I got out of bed and went outside.

It was the middle of the night, so the corridor was dark. Nothing could be seen outside the window.

“Where was the bathroom…”

I had definitely heard the explanation from the demon servants before going to sleep, but I could not remember well.

“Huh, I don’t think this is the right way.”

As I wandered the corridor, I ended up forgetting the way back to my room as well.

What a predicament. A fork in the road appeared before my panicked self.

“Which way should I go?”

I was just standing at the fork, deliberating.

Knock, knock.

I raised my head at the sound of knocking on the window. Then I saw a black ghost outside the window.

Strangely, it was not scary. I did not even find it strange.

I was accepting it as if it were a matter of course.

The ghost came in through a crack in the window and stood before me. It then raised its hand and pointed to the left.

“You want me to go that way?”

The ghost nodded its head and walked ahead. I hesitated for a moment, then followed the ghost.

It was not like I would find an answer by deliberating on my own anyway.

The ghost glided through the corridor.

Then it stopped in front of a certain door.

“This place is…”

If my memory is correct, this is the room my uncle was supposed to use.

The door was so luxurious that I could recall it easily.

“Are you telling me to ask my uncle for directions?”

The ghost did not say anything. I let out a short sigh.

If this was the case, it should have just guided me back to my room. What a strange ghost.

“But who on earth are you… Ah.”

The ghost slipped through the crack in the door. Having no choice, I opened the door as well. 𝗳𝗿𝐞𝕖𝘄𝗲𝕓𝗻𝚘𝚟𝕖𝐥.𝚌𝕠𝕞

As I entered, I saw my uncle right away.

My uncle was not in bed, but sitting with his back against one of the walls.

He was clutching a longsword tightly.

I approached my uncle. My uncle was letting out low moans.

“I’m sorry… it’s my fault… that day… I shouldn’t have… it’s all my fault…”

My uncle was still in agony. Cold sweat was continuously pouring from his forehead.

I rummaged through my pocket and took out a handkerchief.

I went closer to my uncle and wiped the sweat from his forehead.

-As expected, I was right.

I heard the ghost’s voice from behind me. I turned around and asked.

“Right about what…”

And I almost screamed.

The ghost had come right up to my face and was shoving it in mine.

-You were the answer.

Grin.

The ghost’s lips curled up in a smile. Sharp teeth were revealed within its long, split mouth.

-It’s you! You were the key! If I have you, I can do it again!

The ghost began to laugh in ecstasy.

The chilling laughter continuously scraped at my eardrums.

“Uwaaak!”

In the end, I could not take it anymore and screamed as I shot up.

Huh?

When I came to my senses, the ghost was nowhere to be seen.

No, forget the ghost, I was not even in the castle. It was not the middle of the night either.

I was riding on the turtle demon’s back. The other kids were around me as well.

“Why are you suddenly screaming and making a fuss?”

Geisel asked me as if he were dumbfounded.

Could it all have been a dream? For a dream, it was overly vivid.

I pondered for a long time, then said.

“Uh… it’s nothing.”

It seems that even if my uncle is by my side, Inferno is still Inferno.

Seeing how unsettling my dreams are.

[Translator - Pot ]

[Proofreader - Kawaii ]