“Huuurk!!”
I woke up as if I’d swallowed a lungful of empty air.
I frantically felt my head, and when I realized I could still feel my hands and feet, I patted down my whole body.
“I-I’m alive!!”
Whoosh, thud.
Something blunt yet fairly soft flew over and covered my face. The moment it slid off, a familiar face greeted me.
“Why the hell are you screaming like an idiot first thing in the morning? Are you that happy to be graduating?”
“Pan…?”
“What, you bastard.”
The look he gave me was filled with exasperation.
“…Why are you here?”
“If you’re not awake yet, then lie the hell back down. If not, go wash your face, dumbass!!”
Pan, who had moved demonic energy to retrieve the pillow he’d thrown at me, asked,
“What’s with all the fuss?”
“…What day is it?”
“Ha… What day do you think graduation day is?”
“December 31st…?”
“Correct.”
As if he had no lingering attachment to the conversation, Pan pressed the pillow under his head and tried to go back to sleep.
Since I had no intention of disturbing him, I quietly got out of bed and walked over to the window.
‘…It really is the Academy. What the hell…?’
Had I simply had an unbelievably vivid dream?
But the humiliation I’d felt, and the countless emotions along with it, remained in my memory as if carved into my entire body.
‘There’s no way it was a dream. There’s no way I could have gone through that horrific situation… for so long. Then what on earth is going on?’
No matter how hard I racked my brain, no answer came to mind.
I was blankly staring out the window, filled with confusion, when it happened.
I saw a familiar figure heading somewhere.
‘…Selvia.’
Among those graduating this time, she was the one whose grades shone in second place—and one of the Demon Kings who would fall into that cursed place along with me.
‘Selvia, who becomes the Demon King of Corruption… Was she my benefactor?’
Thinking back on it now, if not for that fellow Talos, I had no idea how much longer I would have been forced to experience that nightmare and be mocked.
‘I didn’t crave power. I wasn’t obsessed with it, either, and because of that… I tried to settle for being sent to an ordinary dimension and living a normal, hidden life. But… it took less than three years for me to realize just how complacent that thought was….’
In a mere three years, someone had destroyed two kingdoms, while someone else had to wander the world as a laughingstock.
Misery, despair, and indescribable shame taught me that death was a blessing.
‘…Ah, damn it. This isn’t the time for this. I have to prepare… as much as possible. Because there’s nothing more foolish or stupid than repeating the same mistake.’
But what should I prepare?
I went to the desk and picked up a pen.
Then I unfurled a roll of parchment and began writing down the historical facts I remembered from the next three years.
‘…They may be events that happened in the human world, but that information will be useful to me. So it’s only right that I make thorough use of it.’
Starting with droughts, I noted what incidents occurred and how, what the climate had been like, and examined the soil and climate of the place where the Demon King’s castle—his tower—would descend.
After quickly finishing my notes, I rolled the parchment up, tucked it into my clothes, and was about to leave the room when—
“Where are you going? The graduation ceremony is soon.”
“It’s not like it’ll become a problem if someone like me is late to the ceremony or doesn’t show up at all, right?”
“Ha. You’re still someone who’s going to become a Demon King, at least in name, so why do you have to talk like that?”
Pan was a guy with fairly decent grades.
I didn’t know what he would experience in the dimension he was sent to, but at least throughout our education at the Academy, he had been quite friendly toward me.
“I’m trying to struggle a bit, even if it’s late, so try to understand.”
“You crazy bastard… Get lost.”
He said it like that, but his expression was rather gentle.
If the chance ever came, perhaps there would be a day we met again.
‘Assuming I can survive until then….’
The first time a Demon King could descend and interact with other dimensions was in the fifth year.
That meant that until then, no matter what one did, contact with the outside was impossible.
There was no problem with Demon Kings sent to the same dimension interacting with one another, but conversely, we had also learned that it was extremely common for Demon Kings in the same dimension to devour one another.
“See you again.”
Leaving Pan behind as he roughly waved in response, I headed for the supply depot.
Because what one could receive varied according to grades, even if I went, there was effectively no way for me to get anything special.
My grades were dead last. Until now, I had focused on the wrong things so much that I’d earned the nickname of the Researching Demon King.
Most of those wrong things had been studies centered on pleasures for an easy, comfortable life, methods to drive away heroes, or various ways to conceal the Demon King’s castle.
‘…It was all idiotic nonsense. Not a single thing worked.’
There was one thing I had learned for certain through actual experience: no matter what a Demon King did, demonic energy would inevitably cling to it, so a Demon King should not personally carry out any of those research activities.
One had to capture slaves and put them to work, or if not that, coax monsters into becoming retainers and have them do the work instead.
In truth, it was because I hadn’t known such things that I’d eventually been discovered by the hero and ended up like that.
[Supply Depot]
I looked up at the sign and stepped inside.
“Welco—”
The goblin who had been speaking clicked his tongue when he recognized me.
‘Treasure goblins really are unfriendly bastards….’
They were a race that traveled across multiple dimensions stealing treasures, then brought those collected treasures to the Academy and offered them up to curry favor with prospective Demon Kings.
Yet after recognizing me, who was famous as the lowest-ranked Demon King, he didn’t even bother to greet me.
He had an expression that said he didn’t even want to meet my eyes. I walked up to him and said,
“I may not be official yet, but I’m still unquestionably a Demon King. Are you sure it’s fine to treat me this poorly?”
“…What business do you have?”
In the end, the treasure goblin acknowledged me. Looking at his name tag, I saw the name “Charlie” written on it.
“I feel like when I become a Demon King and summon my first retainer to command, I’ll desperately want Charlie the treasure goblin. So why don’t you be a little kinder?”
“…Are you threatening me?”
“It’s not a threat. I’m saying that if you want us to become companions who live together in harmony, you should maintain your attitude accordingly.”
I hadn’t realized there was someone else inside, but then I heard a “pfft” of laughter.
I whipped my head around and saw Selvia.
‘Why are you showing up here?’
As I met her eyes in bewilderment, Selvia asked,
“You have a talent for threatening treasure goblins, don’t you?”
“It’s the first… no, it’s been a while.”
“It seems you know me?”
“We’re fellow prospective Demon Kings, after all. How could I not know someone of such renowned fame? You were second-ranked, weren’t you?”
“That’s right. But I know a little about you, too. They call you the Researching Demon King, don’t they?”
“It’s an empty title. It’s all meaningless anyway.”
Selvia tilted her head as if puzzled.
“Why? It seemed like you were researching quite seriously in your own way.”
“More importantly, the graduation ceremony rehearsal is starting soon. Is it all right for the second-ranked student not to be there?”
Selvia checked the clock. Then, when the treasure goblin came out carrying something, it seemed she had requested an item.
I looked at it, curious as to what it was, and after Selvia received the item, she asked me,
“Curious?”
“Since it’s an item someone of your standing as second-ranked needs, of course I can’t help but be curious.”
Previously, I hadn’t even known that Selvia had stopped by the supply depot.
Because at this time, I had overslept and even ended up late.
‘Phew. I really had been completely out of my mind…’
I had liked sleep, and if I could have continued living that sort of life, I had thought I could even become the “Sleeping Demon King of the Forest.”
“It’s a Behemoth’s eyeball. It’s perfect as a summoning catalyst.”
At that moment, I recalled the Four Heavenly Kings who had granted me my end.
‘He was of the Minotaur race….’
It seemed she had performed the summoning ritual with that, and Talos had been called forth.
For some reason, I felt envious.
“If you will forgive the interruption, please tell me what you require. Everything a Demon King may request is written here.”
I examined the document that Charlie the treasure goblin held out to me.
‘…It really is full of worthless things. Still… this might be usable.’
Only one item caught my eye.
It was an entry called “Death Worm Scales.” Generally speaking, it was a catalyst no one would take even if it were given to them for free, but for my grand objective, it was one of the things I absolutely needed.
“I’ll take this. If possible, could I ask for as much of it as you can provide?”
“…What are you planning to do with something like this?”
“I’m going to summon you. This should be enough to call you forth, don’t you think?”
Charlie turned pale and vanished into the back, and the other treasure goblins who saw it laughed. But Selvia still hadn’t left, and she was staring at me with a sullen expression.
“There seemed to be better things available, so why did you specifically request Death Worm Scales?”
“That’s a secret.”
The treasure goblins laughed with a pfft. But at that moment, an enormous amount of demonic energy erupted from Selvia’s body and pressed down on the treasure goblins.
“Who gave the likes of you the right to laugh at a Demon King?”
The treasure goblin was terrified, unable to meet her eyes, trembling with his head bowed low.
‘Incredible. I suppose it means she didn’t earn top-tier grades for nothing.’
It was an astonishing show of power, but that was all.
I flicked my finger, scattering the demonic energy, and said with a smile,
“I need it for a summoning ritual. It’s essential for the direction I’m aiming for. So let’s leave it at that. The atmosphere’s getting scary.”
“…How did you?”
She looked at me in surprise, and in that instant I realized I had made a mistake.
Scattering demonic energy was not something I should be capable of at this point, and it was not an easy feat for the other prospective Demon Kings, either.
“What are you? Are you hiding your abilities?”
“No. It was simply that Lady Selvia naturally released her demonic energy. It was a coincidence.”
Just then, I saw Charlie coming out with a large amount of Death Worm Scales.
There were more than ten pouches filled with scales, so I gathered them all up, hurriedly bid Selvia farewell, and left.
‘There’s nothing to gain from drawing attention, and she isn’t a connection I can reach. So for now, I should take care of my own affairs.’
After that, I hurried away, threw all the scales into my subspace, and took out every coin inside.
‘Damn it. Couldn’t I at least have had a lot of money? Did I not have any money at this time, either?’
It wasn’t as though I could borrow from a friend right now. The only person I could call a friend was Pan, and he wasn’t from a particularly wealthy family either.
‘Phew. For now… I’ll have to manage with what I have.’
There were eighteen coins in my possession. Since they were adamantium coins, it was a huge sum an ordinary demon could only dream of, but as funds to invest in my ideal, it was an absurdly small amount.
‘I can’t just die like an idiot.’
The place I headed for was the shopping district.