Why I Quit Being the Demon King

Why I Quit Being the Demon King Chapter 15

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Chapter 4: Receiving the Request (Part 2)

The end of the sword wavered, and the eyes that beheld the dragon were filled with dread.

Deus noticed the change in him too.

“Well, it seems we’ve achieved our goal. Alex, run away.”

High in the sky, upon hearing Deus’s voice, Alex steered the dragon’s head to fly away from the city, navigating through the mountainous ridges.

Deus spoke to Zik.

“And you, hide. Go back to your room, change your clothes, and make sure no one discovers your identity.”

“Yes, Sir!”

Finally, Deus looked at Yulgeum and said,

“Shall we go do our job then?”

“Our job?” Yulgeum retorted with a smirk. “You’ve become a lot more affable with terms like ‘our.’”

“It’s just a value-neutral first-person plural pronoun.”

As soon as he finished speaking, Deus’s figure vanished. Yulgeum quickly followed, leaving only afterimages.

Zik rubbed his eyes, searching for the two who had disappeared suddenly, then recalling Deus’s command, he rushed into the hotel.

Unlike them, he couldn’t just vanish into thin air, but luckily, the people were hiding inside to avoid the dragon, allowing him to conceal his presence without being spotted.

“But, are dragons this common?”

With a powerful slap to knock out the dragon, Deus stroked his stinging palm and said,

“It seems you summon trouble wherever you go.”

“Me?”

“Yes, my Lord.”

“That’s impossible. I’ve been trying so hard to live quietly.”

As Deus finished speaking, Yulgeum burst into sarcastic laughter.

Alex also let out a long sigh, recalling their travels over the past few days.

“Do you remember the first thing you did when you left the demon realm?”

“I don’t hold onto memories of the past. More importantly, aren’t you going to check your armpit hair? This one has four wings, meaning four armpits.”

Pouting, Yulgeum protested,

“They’re feathers, not hair! It doesn’t only grow there.”

“Right, I know. There’s also body hair between the… “

“No, it’s not!”

Abruptly ending the conversation, Yulgeum climbed onto the body of the Jade Dragon.

However, truth be told, fungi tend to thrive in moist and dark environments, so it was likely they’d be found in places like armpits, groin, between the tail segments, or between the toes.

Yulgeum hoped they’d be somewhere more visible like on its back, but who would be foolish enough to let fungi flourish to that extent?

Reluctantly, Yulgeum lifted the wing joints, and as expected, there was a tangled mess of fungi.

“Wow, it’s like a jungle.”

Deus, who had quietly followed, remarked while standing back with his arms crossed.

Yulgeum quickly covered the wing joints.

“Get lost.”

“Why?”

“This one is a girl.”

“Pff, as if I’d feel desire seeing a female lizard. That’s bizarre.”

“Just go away!”

Firmly pushing Deus’s back, Yulgeum shooed him away.

With some distance between them, Deus joined Alex and began to describe what he saw using gestures.

He pointed to his armpit and shaped round lumps with his hands.

“It’s as lush as a forest.”

Yulgeum was about to retort but instead lifted the wing joints again.

Hidden beneath the four functional wings, there was an enormous growth of mycelium.

Yulgeum pulled out a jar from the bag to collect the mycelium and burned the remainder with holy fire.

From past experiences, just burning the fungi should be enough to stop them from becoming aggressive in the human world.

“Anyway, you owe me 2,000 gold.”

Yulgeum made no response to Deus’s statement.

After a long silence, she finally spoke,

“Hey.”

“What is it?”

“Do you also hate humans?”

“That’s a question with its head and tails cut off.”

“Sorry.”

“There’s no need to apologize. Humans are… What about you?”

“I asked first.”

“There’s no rule that says one must answer after being asked first.”

“That may be true, but…”

“Besides, if I didn’t hate them, I wouldn’t have chosen neutrality.”

Yulgeum stared intently at Deus, as if waiting for a response.

“Humans are…”

Deus paced while folding his arms.

Impatient, Alex voiced out,

“Isn’t it natural to dislike them? You are the Demon King!”

“I quit being the Demon King long ago. Why are you still clinging to the past?”

“Who gave up on their own accord?”

“I did.”

“Is that even possible?”

“In the demon realm, my word is law.”

“But since you quit being the Demon King, your words are no longer law.”

“See, I was able to quit after all.”

“Humans hog all of divine blessings, yet remain barbaric, greedy, and envious. One might wonder why the gods chose them to rule this world!”

“It seems demons do hate humans.”

Upon Yulgeum’s abrupt statement, Alex nodded.

“I despise them as much as the sight of hundreds of caterpillars swarming a path.”

“Ugh, I got goosebumps.”

Yulgeum then spoke to Deus while scratching her arm,

“Make sure to prepare a warehouse. I’ve got a shipment of about a thousand items arriving in a week.”

“It’s worth a thousand gold, right?”

“I mixed in rune stones along with weapons and armor to avoid bulkiness. Is that alright?”

“As long as I can fill a thousand gold, it’s fine.”

Yulgeum shook her head in disappointment.

“If I knew I’d be taking on jobs this often, I should’ve negotiated better terms. Thanks to you, my finances are in poor shape. And I can’t even enjoy my favorite color of gold often since its value falls if eaten.”

“That’s a shame.”

Deus’s insincere consolation made Yulgeum scrunch up her face in annoyance before she disappeared into another dimension.

“Let’s return as well.”

“Yes, my Lord.”

Before stepping away, Deus glanced at the unconscious Jade Dragon.

“It would fetch a pretty penny if we made weapons out of it, wouldn’t it?”

“Of course. It’s common knowledge that the final hero begins his journey by equipping a full set of dragon armor. Whether it’s the Dragon Set, Archangel Set, or Anti-demon Set, only with such gear can one stand a chance against your power, my Lord.”

Alex cautiously inquired, looking at his master,

“Shall we collect it?”

“Just take care of your mind. Are you planning to finish a deal with Yulgeum? And is it all right to leave it here like this? What if someone harms it while it’s unconscious?”

“Hey, who’d dare to approach a dragon lying in the woods? Also, if there was anyone, the body of a fully grown dragon can’t be dismantled with ordinary tools. Only a sword filled with the energy of a D-rank hero could make a dent.”

“Is that so? Well, they’ll manage. Let’s go.”

“Yes, my Lord!”

The two demons promptly returned to their room.

They immediately descended to the sixth-floor balcony and opened the window.

Zik, who had been waiting anxiously, greeted them with a fuss.

“Sir! We’ve got a problem!”

“What’s with ‘Sir’ now?”

“Isn’t your name Sir Deus?”

“‘Sir’ as in that ‘Sir’? So you’re Zik of the Eul family? Anyway, what’s the big deal?”

“The entire castle, the entire castle is in chaos searching for the masked hero.”

“So soon? They’re quick.”

Deus sat on the sofa and crossed his legs.

“What’s there to worry about? You’ve changed back into your own clothes. And the mask is off. There’s nothing to fret about.”

“But the evidence is right here, isn’t it?”

Zik presented a piece of a torn burlap sack.

“Alex will take care of that.”

“Yes, leave it to me.”

Alex took out a saw from inside his coat and trimmed the irregular edge, then attached it back to the original sack. Although it became slightly shorter, any sign of cutting was effectively erased.

“Ta-da!”

“Wow! Are you a magician?” Deus chortled.

“A real magician would have used magic to do it. You’re easily impressed. Anyway, go down and tell them you’re quitting your bellboy job. A marketplace will open up here within a week, so that’s where we’ll work.”

Zik stood up straight and nodded.

“Understood.”

“Remember our contract.”

“Sir Deus’s…”

“Call me ‘Lord Deus.’”

“Yes, yes. I will absolutely obey Lord Deus’s commands.”

“Good, that’s the right attitude. If you listen to me well, I’ll make sure you live as an A-grade hero.”

The word ‘A-grade’ made Zik’s eyes sparkle with anticipation.

“Thank you!”

“Alex.”

“Yes, my Lord.”

“Take the kid with you and look for a place for the marketplace. He’s a local, so he should be helpful.”

“Understood.”

After they left, Deus reclined deeply into the sofa.

Everything was going as he had planned.

Yet, what was this emptiness?

He wanted to destroy and kill.

Would it make him feel better to kill every human in this castle and crush them to dust?

Whispers echoed in his mind.

Kill the humans.

Destroy the world.

Violate the women and enslave the men.

Then the surface world will be yours.

There’s no need to crouch in the darkness underground any longer.

“Who are you, by the way?”

No answer came as his inner voice went silent.

The next day.

Alex reported that he had found a perfect location.

“It’s perfect.”

“Perfect? Or is it not?”

“Oh, can you just take it as a figure of speech?”

“How many have fallen into ruin by glossing over details with demons?”

“Between business partners…”

“Just make your report again, will you?”

“Yes, Sir. I have found a location that greatly meets our needs.”

“The price is reasonable, I presume?”

“Yes. Quite.”

“Are there any hauntings?”

“No, it’s a corner plot.”

“A corner plot?”

“It’s land inaccessible by carriages.”

“Isn’t that a drawback for transportation? Well, it’s your job to worry about that anyway.”

“But the building in front of it collapsed and opened up a path.”

“Did you do that?”

“How can you say that? Isn’t that something you did, my Lord?”

“Me? When?”

“Yesterday.”

“I may have been a Demon King, but you can’t blame all the bad things in the world on me.”

“Have you forgotten already? Didn’t several houses collapse when you beat down the dragon?”

“Oh, that place?”

“Yes, that’s the one. The family who owned the house happened to get crushed to death, and the survivors had nowhere else to go, so we managed to buy it cheaply at a lump sum. It was quite a decent deal to get two plots for the price of one.”

“It sounds good, but coming from you, I suspect there’s a catch.”

“The building is slightly damaged and will need repairs. Right now, the extras, no, the extra heroes are rebuilding the wall.”

“Can they do that too?”

“They’ve been doing all sorts of part-time work since they were young. Apparently, it costs a lot to raise a hero, and their family wasn’t rich.”

“If parents want to raise a hero, they need to work for it.”

“The pension for a retired hero wouldn’t suffice. Grave-digging, laundry, cleaning, lumberjacking, you name it. He even ended up working at some weird bar.”

“But you said that descent doesn’t matter, didn’t you? Even if you are bred close to pure bloodlines, it doesn’t mean you’ll have a high Blood value.”

“Yes, the opposite often happens. There are several instances where a child born between an F-grade hero and a saint became the ultimate hero.”

“So it’s just random.”

“Yes, completely random.”

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