Chapter 91

Since ancient times, among the lesser demons who served demon nobles, there had been retainers who swore genuine loyalty to their lords rather than submitting to force.

They were known as “demon attendants.”

“An attendant? That horse?”

“Yes. That's the demon I always used to ride. A shapeshifting demon who can turn into a horse like that at will.”

Esil's eyes sharpened.

“Could it be... they're staying disguised as a horse for fear of being enslaved like the other demons?”

“But they're shackled just the same. I don't see much difference.”

“At least they won't be worked to death like disposable tools.”

Just then, a demon slave in the distance finally died under the overseer's whipping.

The magic beasts pulling carts, on the other hand, seemed to be in shorter supply than the demons. As Esil said, they probably wouldn't be so quick to kill one in horse form.

Suho surveyed their surroundings as he listened to Esil's explanation, then nodded.

“Let's get closer to that horse first. They can talk, right?”

“Yes, of course. I need to ask what's going on here.”

Suho and Esil stealthily approached her horse. Fortunately, there weren't many overseers, so it wasn't particularly difficult.

“Nukira.”

“...?!”

As Esil drew close and whispered, the horse recognized her, eyes widening. Then, after a hurried look around, Nukira spoke to her.

“Lady Esil! You're alive! I heard long ago that you'd passed away...!”

Tears suddenly welled in Nukira's eyes, as though the demon might burst into sobs at any moment. But afraid that stopping the cart would draw an overseer's attention, Nukira kept pulling at the same pace while talking to Esil.

Under the circumstances, the words could only come out urgently.

“Lady Esil! It's dangerous for you to be here! Why have you come back?”

“Nukira, what in the world is happening here?”

“Well...”

Nukira glanced around once more and answered rapidly.

“Not long after all the nobles died, another demon took control of this place.”

“Another demon? One who isn't a noble?”

“Yes. Rumor has it that this demon grew powerful by devouring the demons killed in the War of the Monarchs.”

“Devoured demons killed in the war... A defeated soldier who deserted during the War of the Monarchs?”

“That seems very likely.”

CLUNK!

Just then, Nukira's cart came to a stop.

“Lady Esil, please hide somewhere for now. An overseer will be here soon.”

At that, Suho and Esil quickly concealed themselves in the darkness. An enormous demon overseer approached, glanced over the ore Nukira had brought, and nodded.

“Empty the cart and go back.”

“Neigh!”

A horse's whinny escaped Nukira's mouth. Then, tipping the cart with a hind leg, Nukira sent the ore tumbling onto the ground and started back the way they had come.

Once the overseer had moved away again, Nukira looked toward Esil's distant hiding place.

“... Lady Esil, you must flee this place at once. If the tyrant hears that a demon noble has survived, something truly terrible will happen.”

“I see. Where is this tyrant, then?”

At Suho's question, Nukira's eyes turned toward him. As though he hadn't paid the slightest attention to anything Nukira had said, this human looked ready to seek out the tyrant right that instant.

“Who are you...?”

As Nukira hesitated, Esil pressed for an answer.

“Another overseer is coming. Just answer quickly.”

“L-Lady Esil. Yes. He never comes to this labor camp. Since he fears the other demons might betray him at any moment, he usually stays in his own quarters and only very occasionally shows himself at the colosseum.”

Traditionally, the colosseum had been a place of entertainment for demons who relished blood and combat. Now, however, it had become nothing more than a site for the public execution of demons who defied the tyrant's orders.

“The tyrant keeps growing stronger by eating those who die in the colosseum. He only appears when someone appetizing shows up there.”

The colosseum, then.

Suho's eyes gleamed.

Just then, another overseer began approaching them.

“Nukira, keep working for now. We'll talk again later.”

“Lady Esil...”

Watching Esil disappear into the darkness out of the corner of their eye, Nukira's gaze was filled with unease.

* * *

Esil watched their surroundings as she spoke to Suho.

“The overseers aren't the only ones we need to watch out for. If the demon slaves spot us, that'll cause a huge commotion too.”

Esil was a demon, so she was relatively safe. Suho was the problem.

“If they discover that a human has sneaked into the Demon Realm, every demon you see here could attack us at once. Suho, for now you need to do your best to pass for a demon... Huh?”

She turned to find Suho already stripping off his shirt like the other slaves, revealing his firm muscles.

Thanks in particular to Ammut's recent brutal training, his muscles had been torn and destroyed countless times, developing his physique to the extreme.

Suho stored his discarded clothes in his inventory, then draped himself in some rags lying nearby. There were plenty of demon races that resembled humans like Esil, so that made him look reasonably similar to them.

One crucial problem remained, however.

“This should fool the weaker demons, but the problem is demonic energy. Those with keen senses will quickly realize that they can't feel any coming from you.”

“How about this?”

In response, Suho raised Vulcan's Horn. Thanks to all the demons he had hunted earlier, it currently contained more than forty demon souls.

Not only was Vulcan's Horn itself a demon's horn, but demonic energy surged within it as well.

Realizing what Suho wanted, Esil couldn't help balking.

“Don't tell me you want me to go inside again?”

“It's not like you can afford to be seen either, is it?”

“Well... that's true.”

When Esil entered Spirit form and inhabited Vulcan's Horn, she could change the sword's size at will. Being able to make it larger meant she could also make it smaller.

“If we make it small and hide it somewhere on me, won't they think the demonic energy is coming from me?”

“... Fine, I suppose. That would be the simplest solution.”

In the end, Esil could only sigh and nod. As a demon noble, entering the horn of a demon beneath her was actually quite a blow to her pride.

But this was hardly the first time, and she'd come too far to start talking about pride now.

Once she finally nodded, Suho thought of one more question.

“Oh, in that case, could you change its shape too, not just its size?”

“Its shape? Into what...?”

“For example...”

Suho gave a knowing smile.

Beru had once told him that the demon Vulcan had been enormous. Naturally, the horn had been enormous too.

But demons capable of entering Spirit form could freely alter the size and shape of their bodies, so Vulcan's horn had been compressed to its current size while being forged into a weapon.

Which meant...

'Maybe something like this would work too?'

[Vulcan's Horn devours a demon's soul.]

WHOOOOSH...

As Esil seeped into Vulcan's Horn like a ghost, it gradually began to change in size and shape.

Then...

“I knew it would work.”

Vulcan's Horn had transformed and attached itself to Suho's head “like a real demon's horn.”

[You've been using Spirit Possession all over the place lately, and now you're even thinking of sticking a demon's horn on your head.]

Esil's sigh-laden voice echoed inside his head, as though she truly didn't know what to do with him.

“If I'm going to pretend to be a demon, I might as well do it properly.”

Suho grinned and felt his horn. Now that he looked like a demon through and through, Beru poked his head out and gave him an emphatic thumbs-up.

[The disguise is absolutely flawless! As expected of our Young Monarch...!]

[All right, now get to work with a pickaxe like everyone else. Don't get yourself whipped by an overseer for slacking off.]

* * *

CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!

'I've suddenly become a mine slave.'

Suho had purchased a pickaxe from the shop window and blended naturally into the ranks of the slaves, mining alongside them. With his high Strength stat and experience as a miner, swinging a pickaxe wasn't difficult at all.

'The daily quest is much harder than this.'

CLANG! CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!

But an unexpected problem arose. Suho was so good at mining that the other demon slaves gradually began glancing his way.

“Who's that one-horned demon? How is he so strong?”

“He really goes at it with that pickaxe.”

From Suho's perspective, he was taking it easy, but even that was an incredible pace to the other slaves.

As the demons murmured among themselves, Beru quietly appeared and spoke to him.

[Young Monarch, your flawless disguise is all well and good, but shouldn't we find the colosseum first?]

“Hold on. I'm thinking.”

[You seem to be working awfully hard with that pickaxe for someone who's thinking...]

In fact, Suho was so good at mining that the slaves ended up meeting their daily quota far earlier than usual.

“Woooow...!”

“W-we're done!”

“We can finally rest!”

“It's all thanks to you!”

Freed from their endless labor by Suho's outstanding performance(?), the demon slaves gathered around him and cheered.

Drawn by the uproar, an overseer strode over from a distance and began threatening them.

“You lot again! Slacking off instead of working... Hmm? What's all this?”

“Overseer, we've met our quota!”

“May we rest a little now?”

The demon slaves proudly showed the overseer the ore Suho had mined as they spoke. But apparently displeased by their insolence, the overseer's face instead twisted into a savage scowl.

“You insolent bastards! How dare you ask to stop working already? If you could work like this all along, you must have been slacking off until now! Go mine this much again!”

“B-but...!”

“That's completely unreasonable...!”

“Did you just call me unreasonable?”

BAM!

“Gah!”

The overseer kicked one of the slaves protesting the injustice, sending the demon flying into a wall. Terrified, the demon slaves hastily grabbed their pickaxes and shovels again and scattered.

Suho quietly mingled with them and tried to move out of the overseer's sight.

But just then...

“You there, One-Horn. Stop.”

The overseer abruptly called him to a halt. When Suho turned, he found the overseer glaring resentfully at him, the cause of this whole incident.

'Did he figure out I'm human?'

[No. He just looks offended that the slaves dared ask him for a break because of you. Mediocre types like this are always more authoritarian. Besides...]

Before Esil could finish, the overseer looked Suho up and down and bared his teeth viciously.

“I've been watching you. You're pretty strong. I'll make a special exception and send you to the colosseum.”

“Gasp!”

It wasn't Suho who was horrified by the overseer's words, but the slaves nearby.

“What? He deserves more than a reward, and you're giving him such a cruel...!”

But here, the overseer was the law.

“Follow me.”

Having singled Suho out, the overseer immediately turned and strode off somewhere. Suho began following without a word of protest.

Then Beru exclaimed in a voice only Suho could hear.

[My goodness! Were you painting this grand picture from the very beginning? No wonder you've shown such outstanding talent for art since childhood!]

“...”