The merchant guild head’s office had become a complete mess.
“Mm.”
Hubert, who had been sprawled limply in the finest chair at the back of the room, let out a low groan.
At the same time as his head, which had been hanging toward the floor, lifted, his eyes slowly opened.
He blinked several times and looked around, then calmly rose from his seat and began stretching this way and that to loosen up his body.
“Mm, I feel stiff. Even if I was sitting in a bad posture, it’s not as if I was like that for very long…”
It was probably the aftereffect of the wicked demonic mana that had invaded him to manipulate his mind.
He had successfully blocked the attempt itself, but he could not say that there had been no backlash at all from such high-density energy forcing its way in.
Moreover, Hubert had not trained in any special mysteries, so he could not help but be somewhat vulnerable in this field.
‘If it had been any ordinary opponent, this much would have been more than enough.’
For a great merchant like him, who operated on a continental scale, assassination attempts were simply part of everyday life.
Thorough security across all areas of operation, including the headquarters building; powerful bodyguards capable of stopping even an army or special forces unit if they stormed in; and even personal ability that went beyond simple self-defense.
But in this particular case, even such measures were bound to be exceptions.
‘Tsk, it couldn’t be helped when the opponent was who they were.’
Clicking his tongue lightly, Hubert slowly looked around.
The unconscious Diana had been laid neatly on the sofa where the reception table stood, and judging by her even breathing, she seemed merely asleep, with nothing particularly wrong.
After looking at her for a moment, his gaze soon turned toward the head seat of the table.
Toward the demons who were gathered together so meekly it was hard to believe they were the same ones who had caused such a commotion just moments ago.
A young man of ordinary appearance with black hair and black eyes, the Count-class demon Miyamoto Ken.
An elderly gentleman in an all-white outfit holding an old-fashioned staff, the Viscount-class demon Frances.
And—
With those two standing respectfully behind her, the Demon King-class archdemon sitting alone on the sofa with her legs crossed—“Hella.”
The Demon King who had just descended upon this land was resting her chin on one hand, her elbow propped on her crossed leg, lightly nodding as she listened to the two demons chattering behind her.
‘…Seeing her like this, her aura really is no joke.’
The horns soaring high between her roughly tied long black hair, the black wings on her back, and the alien elements of her black-and-red reverse pupils could not conceal her beautiful features.
On top of that, since there were no women’s clothes available, even the garments she had casually thrown over herself looked like works of art upon her figure. Her presence radiated a charm and overwhelming charisma so powerful that one would not dare speak to her, and would lower their eyes without realizing it.
Inwardly admiring that sight, Hubert examined his new avatar with fresh eyes.
After all, this was his first female-bodied avatar, so even for him, who had controlled countless individuals until now, it was bound to feel unfamiliar.
-Individual Name: Hella
-Race: Demon King
-Common Traits: 「Mind Hub」, 「Persona」, 「Xenoglossy」, 「Subspace Storage」, 「Limit Break」, 「Mimicry」
-Individual Traits: 「Demon King」, 「Annihilator」, 「World of the Demonic Heaven」, 「Mana Dominion」, 「Mystic Eyes of Domination」, 「Beauty That Topples Nations」, 「Lord of Bewitchment」
-Special Notes: Han Seonghyeon’s twelfth avatar. A horn, right arm, and eyeball containing the essence of the 14th Demon King Leraye were used as catalysts. The influence of the catalysts is extremely strong, and she has inherited some of the traits from when he was alive. Not only does she contain immense energy, she also possesses strong resistance to divine power.
Not only had she attained the rank of transcendence the moment she was born, she had as many as seven innate individual traits.
And all of them were high-level traits created by merging several skills and overlapping their effects. It would not be an exaggeration to say that Demon King Hella had been born as a completed being from the very beginning.
「Demon King」, the racial trait and foundation of all her abilities; 「Annihilator」, which governed aggression and combat overall; and 「World of the Demonic Heaven」, which summoned her own unique domain into the world.
‘「Mana Dominion」 is something Hans has as well. And the remaining three are…’
「Mystic Eyes of Domination」, 「Beauty That Topples Nations」, and 「Lord of Bewitchment」.
These abilities, whose basis lay in charming and dominating targets in order to reign above them, were extremely closely connected to the bloodline of the 14th Demon King, Leraye.
‘To think the Demon King was of mixed succubus blood. I was so focused only on the performance of the materials that I carelessly overlooked it.’
That had probably had an enormous influence on the fact that he had been unable to change the individual’s sex.
After pouring in catalysts containing that kind of power, it would have been stranger if the result had been male-bodied.
‘Well, it’s not like there’s any point in debating it now. She’s a type I haven’t had until now, so she should have her own uses.’
Having organized his thoughts like that, Hubert looked at Hella with a subtle expression.
A beautiful appearance different in quality from the beauties he had seen until now.
However, his gaze as he looked at such a beauty contained nothing but a faintly uncomfortable emotion.
…No matter how pretty she was, that was still himself.
Only the exterior was different; the foundation of their existence, their soul, and their ego were one, so he simply could not perceive her as someone else.
It was like looking in a mirror at himself perfectly dressed as a woman.
If he were a narcissist, perhaps it would be different, but as someone who prided himself on having extremely ordinary tastes, it only felt deeply unsettling.
‘From an artistic perspective, I can give her high marks, though.’
Of course, objectively speaking, there were not many who could even be compared to Hella.
To somehow even be considered candidates, they would have to be at least Saint Riesta, Jin Soran, vampires such as Briki, Crown Princess Riley, the elf Shapiron, Archshaman Misty, Jegal Hyemi, Namgung Soran, the dragons of Geumodo, and Siana, an orthodox succubus…
‘…Huh? That’s more than I expected.’
In the middle of continuing that thought, he stopped without realizing it.
He had suddenly realized a new fact he had not been conscious of until now.
‘Were there always this many women around me?’
And every one of them was a beauty who boasted her own unique charm.
Once he realized that fact, one topic naturally surfaced next.
‘…Could it be that I was actually an alpha male for the ages?’
A truth no one had known… not even he himself, the person in question!
But that baseless confidence soon vanished like foam.
He had never even properly flirted with anyone, let alone dated, so what kind of alpha male was he supposed to be?
‘Tsk, figures.’
For some reason, regret welled up within him.
So he stopped his idle thoughts there and decided to proceed with the discussion.
“Hubert? If you’ve mostly grasped the situation, come over here now. I scolded these kids, so don’t worry.”
At the bewitching voice that made his ears tingle just by hearing it, Hubert slowly moved his feet and headed toward where the demons were.
Then he sat on the sofa opposite where Diana slept and glanced at Hella, who was seated at the head.
‘Facing her up close, the pressure is even more incredible. Even though she’s hiding her aura as much as possible.’
The two demons standing to either side behind the chair glared at Hubert with fierce eyes.
As if they would snap his neck the moment he committed any discourtesy.
Hubert, inwardly laughing at that burning loyalty, subtly averted his gaze.
‘Looks like there’s no problem with her control.’
Originally, even for a high-ranking succubus, brainwashing someone strong enough to reach that level would have been nearly impossible, but this time the situation was different.
They were demons whose roots lay in the Demon Realm, and Hella was the new ruler of the Demon Realm with unquestionable legitimacy—a Demon King.
“I’ve given these children a rough explanation as well, so they won’t harm you from now on. Now, you two should apologize properly too.”
“Ahem. If you had revealed from the start that you were Lady Hella’s servant, we wouldn’t have done something like this.”
“Hohoho, I very nearly made a grave mistake as well. As people serving the same master, let us forget past errors and do our best going forward.”
As expected of demons, their attitude was to gloss over the apology and vaguely move past it.
Of course, Hella did not simply let such a trick slide.
“Tsk.”
“…I’m sorry. Please forgive me.”
“Ahem, ahem. I also offer my formal apology. I will be sure to repay this debt.”
A pawn Demon King Hella had planted on the continent.
That was the new setting given to Hubert.
With this, they could explain why she had protected him.
And one very large matter was also tied into this setting…
‘When it comes to a merchant’s connections, what else would there be?’
It was to use the Demon King as his backing and expand his business area all the way into the Demon Realm.
Of course, it would not be easy, since a dimensional barrier that could not be lightly crossed blocked the way, but hadn’t he just gained capable slaves… no, subordinates, who could be put to use in various ways?
‘Hehehe, if the Hubert Trading Company can even seize control of the Demon Realm’s market…’
It did not matter if that land did not follow a normal market economy.
After all, what he truly wanted was the enormous karma that would arise from exercising influence there.
“There’s nothing to forgive when we’re all in the same boat anyway. Let us do well together from now on.”
“Oh! As expected, you’re generous. I knew it from the very—”
“Which is why I’m saying this.”
An illusion of karma pouring down from the sky filled his retinas.
Lightly licking his lips and swallowing, his eyes gleamed as he continued speaking.
“…There’s a business I’m thinking of right now, but it isn’t going to be easy to proceed with. Could I perhaps receive some help from you two with it?”
It was the moment a bloodless, tearless merchant of darkness—one who would sell goods even to demons as long as they gave him money (karma)—opened his eyes.
***
“Mm.”
Hella, who had armed her entire body with Demon Realm weapons taken out from Horus’s 「Golden Treasury」, slowly clenched and unclenched her fist repeatedly, then nodded in satisfaction.
Her awkward body had now become fairly familiar.
Had she not already controlled an undead body with nothing but bones, a stocky dwarf, and even the body of a dragon that no longer retained a human form at all?
At this point, it would have been laughable to struggle over a woman’s body.
Of course, since she had lived her entire life as a man, the lingering sense of rejection was not small, but 「Persona」, which adjusted the emotions and inclinations dwelling in an avatar, allowed her to naturally operate “Hella” regardless of the main body’s sentiments.
Just as it had with the other avatars until now.
However, even amid that, she could not help but be bothered by the individual’s disposition…
The problem was that, though her speech was a little rough and easygoing, no matter how one looked at Hella’s bearing, she could not be seen as male.
‘Could this possibly be the femininity that was latent within me, or something like that?’
Femininity, in him, a man among men?
Upon becoming aware of that, he could not help but feel unpleasantly uncomfortable.
‘Ugh! Harley… I need Harley…! Harley, gnawing and swallowing undercooked meat!’
It felt like the internal injuries he had received from Hans’s chuunibyou-like words and actions in the early days after obtaining 「Persona」 were flaring up again.
But while watching Harley roar wildly and devour meat, he desperately tried to think positively.
In any case, he had scraped up every last trace of the exceedingly faint femininity remaining inside him and gathered it all in one place, so if he could properly control this, wouldn’t that mean the main body had literally become the incarnation of a man among men?
‘Yes, if I think of it like that, it’s not bad.’
In the process of calming himself like that, some citizens of Drakal complained about noise pollution due to Harley’s roars as he violently showed off his wildness, but there was nothing he could do about that either.
‘…Well, I can just open a meat festival at my own expense. More importantly, figuring out the situation in the Demon Realm comes first.’
Hubert, faithful to his role as a merchant, immediately began preliminary preparations to open a trade route into the Demon Realm, but in truth, what was urgent right now was the problem that had arisen in the Demon Realm.
After all, the reason he had started taking interest in the Demon Realm in the first place was his unease about that matter.
The most important thing in solving a problem was, of course, gathering information, and in that sense, the two demons who had left the Demon Realm not long ago were supposed to be excellent sources of information.
…They should have been.
“Mm, the truth is I wasn’t very interested in the state of affairs, so what I told Hubert is everything I know. If that is acceptable…”
“Hoho, my apologies. It has been more than five years since I left the Demon Realm, so as for the latest information… For now, I shall tell you at least what I know.”
It was somewhat unreliable, but to summarize what he heard simply, it could be seen as “a struggle between factions over the next Demon King’s throne.”
It had already continued for hundreds of years, and by now, it had become an event that was nothing special.
The explanation was that after the 14th Demon King Leraye led the Demon King’s army and invaded the continent over a thousand years ago, this was also why the Demon Realm had been quiet during the period when the Immortal King was rampaging in full force.
‘…Come to think of it, there was also the essence of a Succubus Queen, a Demon King’s army executive, in the 「Golden Treasury」.’
He had excluded it because he feared that adding a material of lower rank compared to the Demon King’s remains might produce some unnecessary adverse effect…
‘A Demon King of mixed succubus blood and a Succubus Queen executive. Thinking about it now, there’s a high possibility their relationship wasn’t simply that of monarch and subject.’
In any case, what mattered right now was the fact that, aside from those two demons, he had one more point of contact with the Demon Realm.
And that it was a special connection suspected to have been quite closely linked to the previous Demon King.
‘Siana.’
Hans’s subordinate succubus, who belonged to the immortal army.
The lifespans of demons were also on the fairly long side, so perhaps she might know about those who had died over a thousand years ago.
Even if she did not, since they had produced a previous Demon King and a high-ranking executive, the faction remaining in the Demon Realm was likely not that small.
‘If I swallow that whole…’
Proceeding with affairs in the Demon Realm would become much easier.
Demon King Hella, nodding slowly, immediately began to act.
And the Immortal King Hans also began moving in step with her.
A dreadful collaboration that would have made everyone in the world scream if they had known began.
But for now, there was still no one who knew that fact.