A young man with an ordinary impression—black hair and black eyes.
But the two horns protruding from either side of his head and his skin, which carried a purplish hue beyond mere paleness, made it clear that he was by no means ordinary.‘A demon?’Residents of the ‘Demon Realm,’ a subordinate dimension adjacent to Auterica, much like the Spirit World or the Abyss.
Naturally, he was already well aware of their existence.
Among the executives of the Army of the Undead, Succubus Siana was also one of the demon race from that realm.‘The problem is why such a being would suddenly come looking for me…’[???]-An unidentified demon. It is highly excited to encounter cultural artifacts it thought impossible to see in this place.
-Main Characteristic: Vast Magical Power
-Reliability: ???
He had barely managed to use 「Analysis」, but hadn’t learned much beyond that.
Given how high-ranking the opponent was, hoping to grasp everything after exchanging merely a few words would be asking too much.
Still, it wasn’t as though he had gained nothing.‘It is in an excited state after encountering artifacts it thought could not be seen in this place…’That single sentence contained many implications.
And considering the demeanor it had shown earlier, the most likely one was
—“…What did you just do?”
The moment Hubert organized his thoughts within his accelerated cognition.
The demon, still concealed, continued in a displeased voice.‘Damn, did he notice?’He had used 「Limit Break」 and attempted 「Analysis」 as stealthily as possible, but it seemed impossible to completely deceive the senses of an opponent who had reached transcendence.
However, Hubert, who had already roughly grasped the opponent’s identity, opened his mouth first in a nonchalant manner before the demon could react sensitively.
“I was so full of myself that I tried every means available to me. A mysterious uninvited guest has arrived without any prior warning. Surely that’s not so surprising?”
He even threw in a shrug, as if to say that from his position, it was only natural.
Though the demon showed bewilderment at such brazenness, Hubert kept a shameless face and held his head high until the end.
As if he had merely done what was obvious.
It was an attitude utterly unsuited for someone who could have their life taken at any moment, but to him, who had something he firmly believed in, it was nothing more than ordinary nerve.‘Besides, it doesn’t seem like he’ll harm me now. Of course, it’s not zero that he’ll come at me aggressively…’If it came to that, they would have to see who would regret it then.
If a frail younger brother came home after being beaten up outside, his terrifying older brothers who steadfastly watched his back would never sit idly by.
Just as had happened once in the past.
“…Well, fine. I did come without warning, so I’ll let it slide this once. But there won’t be a second time.”
Fortunately, the opponent no longer pressed him on the matter.
Perhaps because the demon was confident that no matter what trick was used, it was impossible to see through him completely.
“So, you still haven’t answered my question?”
“Well, you seem to already know, so there’s no point denying it.”
“What do you mean?”
“That’s right.”
At the demon’s renewed interrogation, Hubert nodded readily.
“I came from Earth.”
He could have devised any number of ways to feign ignorance, but he didn’t bother.
Because only by doing this
—“It seems you’re in a similar situation; shall we introduce ourselves face to face? It’s quite the fate for fellow countrymen to meet like this.”
—would the next part of the conversation proceed smoothly.
“Hoo? Aren’t you afraid of dying? I don’t know what you’re so calm about. The moment I decide to, your head will roll before you can even choose to return to Earth.”
“Didn’t you come because you want something from me? It didn’t seem like you intended to hide anything from the start.”
Hubert slowly rose from his seat.
Speaking calmly to the Earthling-turned-demon who still concealed his appearance.
And he began to place various foods taken from subspace onto the large reception table in the center of the office.
“…What is that?”
Beverages ranging from cola and cider to beer, as well as takeout staples like fried chicken, pizza, and sushi, along with all kinds of sweet desserts.
A feast that made one wonder whether this was another world or Earth was laid out across the table.
“Let’s talk while eating comfortably. Anyway, poison wouldn’t work on someone of your caliber, right?”
He deliberately displayed his ability before the demon as if showing off.
That this was the unique skill he possessed.
That he had only achieved commercial success thanks to it, and that he possessed no power to harm the demon.
Gulp
—As the aroma of the freshly prepared, perfectly preserved food spread, the slight sound of the demon swallowing his saliva could be felt.
The very fact that he could detect such a reaction from an opponent who had thoroughly concealed himself was proof that the demon’s wariness of Hubert had dropped sharply.‘I don’t know how long ago that guy was sent here, but…’The moment he discovered that Earth’s culture was being circulated, he had rushed frantically to find Hubert, the person in charge.
His longing and yearning for Earth must have been no ordinary thing.
Hubert already knew through Siana that the demon race’s sense of taste was not so different from humans’.
She could survive without eating as long as she had mana, but precisely because of that, she had been even more obsessed with gastronomy when she did eat.
If so, how much more would an Earthling accustomed to all kinds of seasonings including MSG feel that way?
“Don’t be shy, dig in. I can bring as much food as you want.”
The cold-hearted businessman Hubert pointed at the feast laid out on the table with a warm smile.‘…The Demon Realm, demons, and an Awakened from Earth. How can I exploit this material, I wonder?’While hiding his calculating thoughts busily running behind eyes narrowed to slits.***
These days, the clouds of war darkened across the continent with every passing moment.
Like everyone else, the executives of the Army of the Undead were also spending days too busy to even blink.[With this… the Rohan Archduchy front is all taken care of… Everyone, you have worked hard…][The task of converting the monsters in the mountain range into undead and organizing them is also proceeding smoothly. We have completed all preparations to invade the continent whenever the King commands.][Kukuku
—We should be able to flank them through Castle Cain of the Kingdom of Shaloti, which we recently conquered. In the process, we will be able to disperse the human forces considerably.]
They hunted monsters to endlessly swell their forces, occupied the fallen Rohan Archduchy to secure invasion routes connecting the mountains and the Empire, and unleashed continuous random waves to plunge humanity into terror.
The sacrifices incurred in the process were not few, but the Army of the Undead no longer moved lukewarmly as it had in the early days after the Undead King’s resurrection.‘I still don’t understand why he was like that back then… How would I know what the King is thinking? He must have his reasons.’And Succubus Siana was just as busy.
As the head of internal affairs for the Castle of the Undead, she managed dark mages and other humans who had defected, as well as the captive Crown Prince, while also collecting information and preparing various behind-the-scenes schemes as a noble of the Empire.
Simple information could not compare to Olivia’s, but it was true that obtaining high-level information was difficult because humans were also wary of the spectral entities under her command.
In that regard, the information Siana procured as a noble of the Empire could not be easily ignored.
“Whew, I’ve roughly finished the urgent tasks. Then, shall I go harass Simon for the first time in a while….”
-Siana? Is it okay to communicate right now?
“Huh?”
To her, who had spent another day devotedly as an executive of the Army of the Undead.
A communication arrived from a place she had forgotten for some time.
-“Seera unni? What is it? So suddenly.”
A communication from her homeland, the Demon Realm.
Naturally, since they were separated by dimensional boundaries, sending a communication across was by no means easy.
That was why they had previously used a ritual where both sides activated barriers simultaneously on set dates to reduce the penalty.‘I only contacted them a few months ago. Even though there are still 5 years left until the next regular communication, they contacted me like this…’It meant that something urgent had happened—urgent enough to endure that level of loss.
-Umm… the situation here is not so good. How about there? You said you joined the Army of the Undead to gather information? Have you had any success?
At her sister’s question laced with faint hope, Siana forced an awkward smile.
How could she be honest?
That she hadn’t gone of her own accord, but had been captured by the current Undead King and forced to join.
That rather than investigating, she had been toiling day after day, and what she had said back then was merely a shameful excuse.
-“Umm, there aren’t any significant results yet. Things are hectic here with war preparations too…”
-Sigh
—Yes. Well, the chances of success weren’t high from the start. Still, if you could find even the Queen’s Essence instead of the King’s remains, it would help a great deal.
-“I suppose so…”
That was exactly the purpose for which she had been dispatched from the Demon Realm.
To search for the remains of the Demon King who had invaded this land in the distant past, or the essence of the high-ranking executive Succubus Queen who had accompanied him then.
In truth, since that final invasion had occurred over a thousand years before the first Undead King descended, it was nigh impossible to find now.
If the target were nearby, she as a demon would be able to detect it, but something that dangerous wouldn’t just be lying around in an easily accessible place.‘It must be sealed in the Holy Land of the Church of the Lord God, the Imperial Palace’s secret vault, or some Dragon Lair.’In fact, the clan that had dispatched her had not held high expectations when giving her the mission.
It was closer to clutching at straws just in case, and sending her away as a refuge in case the clan remaining in the Demon Realm was annihilated.‘Still, I thought that with luck, it might be possible.’The Second Undead King had run rampant and thrown the world into chaos, and in the process, the Dragons, who had been a great obstacle, had suffered near-extinction damage.
She had continued her activities in secret even after the Undead King’s defeat.
Feeling the limits of working alone, she infiltrated as a noble of the Azerion Empire, which had become the continent’s strongest nation, and later rose to an executive position in a worldwide criminal organization called the ‘Oath of Reversing Heaven.’‘And up until now…’Hundreds of years had passed since she left the Demon Realm.
Yet she had achieved nothing of note in all that time.
And this was the first time such an urgent contact had come.
-“Is the situation that difficult? Didn’t you say there would be no major problems for about another hundred years?”
-I thought so too….
Her sister’s trailing voice from beyond the communication grew faint.
-The tide of war has turned, and the balance maintained for centuries has completely collapsed. Something seems to have caused a variable. Hmm, for example…
There was no certainty in that voice.
That was how serious this matter was.
-That a god other than the Demon God has intervened in the Demon Realm… or something.***
Hubert stroked his chin as he watched the young man savoring yet steadily devouring the food before him.
“Kuh
—This is killer. I can’t believe how long it’s been since I’ve had cola.”
The settler from Japan who had revealed his name as ‘Miyamoto Ken’ gulped down the cola and slowly licked his lips.
It had already been two hours since he sat down.
Although his eating speed was not particularly fast, the food first laid out on the table had long been exhausted, and the newly replenished dishes were also nearly bottomed out.
“Hmm… where was I?”
“The recent situation in the Demon Realm. You said the outcome of the war that had continued for centuries had suddenly tilted to one side.”
“Ahh, that’s right. Let me see…”
His mind seemed completely relaxed by the Earth food he hadn’t had in ages, so he answered Hubert’s casually thrown questions honestly and enjoyed his meal.
Whether it was because he wanted to talk to a fellow countryman he had met by chance, or because he wanted to pay for the food in this way, it was hard to say.‘Or perhaps it’s simply a whim.’Since demons were a race rooted in dark mana, it was extremely rare to see such a peaceful demeanor.
Even if he seemed docile for now, one never knew when he might go berserk.
Hubert made full use of his abilities as a conversationalist, extracting bits of information while carefully avoiding provoking him.
He had once worked as a pinnacle-grade mercenary, calling himself ‘Ken the Gale,’ and had ended up in his current situation after accepting a request to subjugate cultists.
The request at the time had been a trap laid by demon worshippers, a scheme to make a carefully selected offering walk right into their hands.‘And unfortunately, he had no points saved up for return at the time, so to survive, he accepted demonization and was forcibly sent to the Demon Realm.’The problem was that something seemed to have gone wrong in the process; when he came to, he had lost all his abilities as an Awakened and had been abandoned alone in the Demon Realm.
He had unwillingly become a settler overnight.‘…Is it a judgment similar to becoming undead?’Undead are recognized as completely separate beings from their living selves, so they are stripped of all authority as Awakened.
Even if they retained memories from when they were alive, those were merely recorded knowledge; they were essentially new, twisted beings born anew.‘Strange.’But there were points that nagged at him too much to let it go.
After all, on Earth alone, there were more than one or two villains capable of complete demonization.‘Is demonization in Auterica somehow different?’The foremost authority on the subject, the Undead King Hans, had examined the theory.
In just a few seconds, based on the 「Forbidden Truth」, the 「Forbidden Sage」 and the 「Path of Demons」 had conducted multiple cross-verifications.‘No, the spells on this side aren’t particularly different either. There must be another reason, separate from demonization, for losing one’s power as an Awakened.’An inexplicable intuition prickled.
That he must not let this pass.‘The Demon Realm, the demon race, demonization, Awakened and settlers…’His thoughts accelerated as several hypotheses flashed by, but clues were still insufficient.
Just a bit more, if only some thread were given…
Then, at a certain moment.
Hubert, sitting in his chair, snapped his head up.
Then, the corners of his mouth slowly rose.‘…Well now, what splendid timing.’Could this be fate?
The next stage of 『Unique Skill Enhancement』 had finally been unlocked.