Following the battle, many of the demons had knelt at the sides, along with their leader, Kara, who was proving to be quite clingy if nothing else.

She stood behind Adrian, arms wrapped around him, growling low in her throat at anyone who dared draw too close.

In truth, no one wanted to test an A-rank demon, least of all the one who had just watched her lord best her in single combat.

They kept their distance without being told, warning each other away with glances from a respectful remove.

Adrian, for his part, had a different problem entirely.

"Kara," he called out, his voice carrying the particular patience of a man resigning himself to something.

She looked down at his face almost instantly, her eyes lit with barely contained anticipation.

"What is it, Demon Lord? Are you willing to make a contract with me now?"

"I am," he replied evenly. "But how long do you intend to hold me like this?"

The excitement on her face gave way to something that could only be described as indignation.

"I am doing this for both our sakes," she said, her tone shifting into something more serious.

"It has never been recorded that a human bested a demon in open combat without the aid of holy magic. And yet you did. More than that, you carry the aura of a demon. Because of that, others will come seeking to claim you as their demon lord. Some of them hold a far higher rank than I do."

A pause followed, deliberate and weighted.

"I refuse to allow any other demon to take you from me. Not when I have only just found you."

Adrian exhaled slowly.

’She met me today, and she is already like this. Then again, demons answer to strength and strength alone. As ridiculous as it sounds, I believe every word she is saying.’

After a long moment, he finally spoke aloud.

"Very well. If you wish to be of use to me, then I will need you to start immediately."

Kara smiled, the sharp edges of her expression softening just slightly.

"What do you need, my lord?"

"Right there." He pointed at a patch of earth several feet ahead of him, unremarkable on its surface. "Several feet below that ground is something I need. Can you have your demons dig it out?"

Kara stared at the spot for a moment, a look of quiet confusion passing over her face.

Why her master would want to dig in the middle of an unmarked stretch of forest was beyond her. But she did not question it.

"As you wish, my lord."

She turned toward the demons still standing at the edges of the clearing and pointed at the same location.

"Dig. The Demon Lord has issued his first order."

The moment the words left her mouth, they moved.

Valentina watched with wide eyes as the demons threw themselves into the task, their enormous hands tearing into the earth with a force and speed that made the soldiers take an instinctive step back.

There was something almost frantic about it, a collective urgency to impress, to be the first to produce something worthy of the one who now stood above them.

Not long ago, he had been nothing more than a young lord with a struggling county to his name.

And now he was the demon lord of an entire clan.

Valentina pressed a hand slowly to the side of her head, her eyes still fixed on Adrian.

"Just what in the world are you?" she murmured, more to herself than anyone else. "Are you even human?"

Even so, no matter how she turned it over in her mind, the answer she arrived at was the same.

He was someone she wanted to follow.

Someone she intended to be of use to.

The last thing she would allow was for a demon of all things to take that place from her.

...

The digging stretched on for hours, continuing well past nightfall.

It left the soldiers with little choice but to make camp within the forest while the work carried on around them.

Apparently, so long as demons were supplied with mana, exhaustion was not something they were capable of feeling. They dug with the same relentless pace at midnight as they had at dusk.

The soldiers had built a small fire and fallen asleep beside it.

Alfred, true to form, had done the same the moment he determined the perimeter was acceptable.

Valentina was the exception.

Sleep refused to come. She lay still for a while, staring at the underside of the tent canopy, before giving up entirely and stepping outside.

Part of it was the noise.

Most of it was the fact that Adrian’s side of the tent had been empty since before she lay down.

She found him almost immediately.

He was seated on a low log at the edge of the clearing, his gaze fixed on something only he could see.

[Demonic aura has been registered.]

[The following attributes are tied to this ability.]

[Demonic Energy. Demonic Sense. Demonic Language. Demonic Evolution. Demonic Judgement.]

Each of these is connected to the demonic aura I absorbed mid-fight, Adrian thought, reading through the lines slowly.

’Demonic aura. Without it, I would not have been able to harm those demons at all.

That said, the mana drain was significant. If the fight had continued much longer, I would not have made it out standing.’

He exhaled quietly.

’Once I have gathered enough SP, I need to find an artifact that addresses the mana issue. That ceiling is going to be a problem long before I want it to be.’

He swiped the screen closed and moved to stand.

"I wonder what keeps you awake at this hour, Demon Lord."

The voice came from directly in front of him.

Kara stood there, tall and still, her red eyes catching the faint ambient light of the forest as she looked down at him with quiet curiosity.

Valentina, who had been half a second from stepping into the clearing herself, pressed back behind the nearest tree without thinking.

She was not entirely sure why. She stayed there regardless.

Adrian looked up at the demon calmly.

"The demons are still working on my behalf. It would not sit right with me to sleep while they are."

Kara tilted her head slightly. Then she laughed, low and brief.

"Demon Lord or not, you have not yet come into your full form. You are still human. You need rest."

"You are not wrong," he replied. "Even so, this is something I can do."

The amusement faded from her expression. She was quiet for a moment, something shifting behind her eyes.

Then, without warning, she lowered herself to one knee.

"Demon Lord. There is something I would like to ask of you, if you will permit it."

"What is it?"

"Please do not mistake my meaning." Her voice was measured, but the weight behind it was plain.

"Despite everything that has passed between us today, I still carry doubts. I am not certain that you intend to rule us as our true Demon Lord."

Adrian’s lips parted slightly.

She knows.