Ch.155. Look. Look at Me. (3)

The Demon King deliberately returned to Kariel’s room only after sunset.

If she had returned immediately, that perceptive fellow would have quickly figured out that she’d been spying on his parents.

So by giving off this “I don’t care~” vibe?

Even if he asked directly, she could just ignore it.

“I’ve been thinking carefully.”

-What’s this? You arrive and get straight to the point without preamble?

“I need power.”

-You know I won’t give it to you, so are you asking me to make your training even more brutal?

“With that training, I’ve realized I can become stronger. But… as you said, that would be limited to survival and social maneuvering. Isn’t that right?”

-Who knows what might happen if you keep repeating it.

Whether he finds his own breakthrough or not depends entirely on his efforts.

If he gets tired of being beaten and reaches a state where he can avoid getting hit, then truly all options except beating others will disappear.

Because the training ground’s clearing conditions were either dealing with all enemies or not.

Those were the only two paths.

“To be precise, I need the power to defeat and crush opponents… the means to neutralize them.”

-You’re making this unnecessarily complicated. You could just say you want to become overwhelmingly strong.

Well, it was a natural progression.

Just being good at dodging won’t make the opponent fall.

Subduing them is even more impossible.

Evading until the opponent gets tired?

There’s a limit to such naivety.

-But why tell me this? You have your father, don’t you? Or there are many others. Ah, your fiancée is also quite remarkable, why not ask her?

“……”

His expression suggests he thinks she’s being deliberately malicious despite knowing better.

They’ve only been together for a few days, yet she can already read his thoughts from his expressions?

While the Demon King herself excels in such matters, this is something different.

From the beginning.

…She detests the very effort of paying attention to anything.

Therefore, for her to grasp his intentions this quickly was somewhat unexpected.

It might be different if he were a complete enemy.

Or if he were a competitor or an adversary too significant to ignore.

-Why not use this opportunity to reconcile with your parents?

“…Are you insane?”

Reconcile? What reconciliation?

“What am I supposed to do with those two who always claim I’m the one with the problem?”

The Demon King chuckled.

‘Still, you respectfully refer to them as “the two of them”?’

With such deep-seated hostility, he should be cursing them privately and his speech should be dripping with animosity, yet he still maintains a semblance of formality.

-What a pitiful creature.

“What did you say?”

-Just saying.

In other words.

How much must he have been tormented by those around him to become this twisted?

Ah, just imagining it sends shivers down my spine.

Perhaps that would have been enjoyable in its own way?

Others’ curses, threats, and intimidation ultimately become the driving force that makes me stronger.

The pleasure of tearing them all apart later… that would bring a joy too intense to share even with parents or siblings.

…It’s a shame I can only imagine it without having experienced it.

“So, I’ve been thinking.”

-Hmm? About what?

“To cut to the chase, make a contract with me.”

A contract?

-Why? Are you really going to sell your soul? I told you I won’t accept it.

“Will you grant me one favor?”

-You? Ask me for a favor? What? What kind? What if I ask you to kill your father to settle my grudge?

For a moment, Kariel closed his mouth.

-You little… Did you actually consider it seriously? What an unfilial wretch! You’ll receive divine punishment for that!

“……”

The fact that he didn’t protest here suggested that the Saint had indeed instilled religious values in him.

Even so, his rebellious spirit clearly asserted that such things couldn’t restrict his will.

Judging by his bloodshot eyes, his anger and suppressed resentment seemed quite firm.

-You seem to have made up your mind. Let me hear your proposal. What will you do for me?

“That’s what I need to hear from you now.”

Huh? What’s that?

-Look at this guy! Are you disarming yourself and begging for mercy from your opponent?

“I know from records that you were generous to those who surrendered. I also know that you utterly destroyed and killed those who didn’t. And I understand perfectly that all of this… was intended to turn enemies against each other, making them weigh fear against compromise, ultimately forcing them to submit on their own.”

-Anyone with a bit of thought could understand that. But I never asked you to explain it to me or sympathize with me.

Even so.

This fellow, despite the information about the Demon King in this area likely being highly biased and maliciously edited, is surprisingly grasping the essence?

He doesn’t judge or identify others based on prejudice or fixed notions.

Racial or ethnic characteristics, regional or national affiliations, sense of belonging or community…

While such narrow-mindedness might promote internal bonds and stability, it ultimately causes more conflict.

…It’s remarkable how he’s managed to avoid prejudice and remain objective about something that would be difficult for anyone immersed in this era to grasp.

‘Ah, come to think of it, this fellow… traveled between countries as a child, didn’t he?’

As a hostage, nominally.

-But I really don’t have any expectations.

“You’re the Demon King. Surely there must be something you couldn’t achieve in your lifetime, something you regret?”

-That’s for the foolish ones. I am not foolish.

A thoroughly objective self-analysis.

After all, she had strived to be wise to avoid foolishness, so deliberately acting foolishly? That would be nonsense.

Unless one were blinded and deafened by desire, wandering in a great delusion.

Would one drink seawater just because they’re thirsty?

Such errors are repeatedly made by all races in reality.

But that’s not a standard that applies to her, the Demon King.

Does he think she chose and served under the title of “Wisdom” out of boredom?

“Then as the great person you are, show some mercy.”

-What?

Look at this bold and shameless fellow!

“If you have so much, you can afford to give some away, can’t you? Because you’re a king.”

-That’s equivalent to telling a demon to eat shit along with piss after being forced to eat dirt—it’s that level of nonsense.

Giving.

Mercy.

Altruism.

The worst virtues that demons should avoid and reject.

However.

-…

It’s not like there weren’t such demons.

-So, you’re saying I should bestow something upon you? Maintain my dignity as a king? What an impudent little brat.

As a king, you say?

-How presumptuous for someone who isn’t even my subject.

“It’s possible in name. If I become your subject, would you be willing to bestow something?”

-…Ah, I detest this clinginess.

In the past.

At the first sign of such nonsensical behavior, she would have beheaded him or somehow made him experience the worst disaster of his life.

-Are you that desperate?

“What you’ve already given me is more than I deserve. I’m grateful for that. But… with just that, I can’t convince my father, nor can I defeat him…”

-Sigh.

If he were to die a hundred times, a thousand times, ten thousand times in his dreams.

He would surely become a warrior unparalleled in this world.

If he could endure that hell.

But enduring hell and confronting the Hero are different matters.

Let alone defeating him? Vanquishing him?

That’s even more implausible.

Even if Kariel were to acquire skills sufficient to dominate and overturn that horrific virtual battlefield.

With just a gesture from the Demon King herself, even an exceptional warrior like Kariel would be reduced to a “mere nothing.”

And it was Rueldt who defeated such a Demon King.

Therefore, Kariel wasn’t harboring some childish emotion, vaguely thinking he could win, or maybe it might be possible.

…He wasn’t indulging in such naive, clumsy, dreamlike hopeful fantasies.

‘He’s a mess in many ways.’

If guided properly, he would be unparalleled hero material.

But that’s a matter of character and temperament.

And willpower and mental strength.

Without actual power, he can’t become a Hero, let alone a champion.

Even so, he’s no ordinary person.

He remains extraordinary.

However.

…Such things rarely manifest outwardly.

-So that’s why you’ve never been satisfied?

Despite being aware of his own growth.

Always feeling infinitely, infinitely diminished, outraged at his inadequacies, angry, confronting, and confronting again.

Constantly opposing unreasonable trials.

That exceptional determination that surprisingly accepted increasingly absurd adverse conditions as natural.

All of it had a plausible reason.

-What do you intend to do after defeating your father, Rueldt?

“If I’m trying to win, does what comes next matter?”

What comes next.

When even the immediate reality is hopeless, he’s thinking about what comes next?

To the extent of affirming the crazy notion that if you dream big and earnestly, it will come true.

…The Demon King wasn’t the positive type.

Only by being utterly cynical and cold.

Could one conquer intellect.

Being swayed by emotions?

Being influenced by surrounding voices?

Distrusting one’s own choices?

Being tempted by condemnation and criticism, praise and flattery.

Mistaking one’s judgments and choices as sound choices and optimal judgments?

If she had distrusted even flawed results and processes, blamed others, and avoided immediate responsibilities.

‘I would have truly become a mere wandering spirit, neither here nor there.’

Therefore, even in this dead situation, she can laugh and talk cheerfully without any lingering attachments or regrets.

Because everything made sense.

It was also an expected outcome.

Nevertheless.

If presented with the choice of whether it was the right answer or the wrong answer.

Well…

She would have responded that it was neither right nor wrong.

Didn’t the Great Demon King say this?

[We are slaves forced to solve problems without answers.]

The right answer to life, the solution, the wrong answer.

Only we can determine and pioneer them.

[The meaning of life is up to you. Everything you do is followed solely by your responsibility. Once fallen into this world, that is the only unchanging truth.]

-An unchanging truth.

“??”

-Alright. Let’s do it this way.

As she snapped her fingers, a contract made of light appeared in the air, just like before.

The content was extremely concise.

One. Kariel will definitely defeat the Hero, his father Rueldt, and obtain his acknowledgment of defeat.

If he breaks or loses his determination for this, he will bear the most unfortunate and painful despair in the world, which will continue eternally even after death, extending to all those he holds dear, until his bloodline disappears.

(This does not apply to his father Rueldt, his mother Ermina, or any siblings born in the future.)

Two. No half-hearted compromises or tricks are necessary here. The criterion for acknowledging this is solely the subjective judgment of the Demon King of Wisdom, her.

Three. Accordingly, the Demon King of Wisdom will present Kariel with satisfactory training methods and compensation for power enhancement.

However, her vision as the Demon King of Wisdom and the current ruler of the demon realm is excluded.

Four. Contract completion is based solely on whether it was achieved or not.

If he fails to complete it and meets physical death, he will pay an additional appropriate price.

The price for this is also determined by the Demon King of Wisdom.

-If you wish to accept, stamp it. Like before.

The contents were not just significant but frightening.

Conditions that couldn’t be contemplated without exceptional determination.

However.

If one’s determination is firm, it’s conversely a condition where the Demon King loses infinitely.

-If you don’t stamp it and just accept reality, either conform or live a life of escape…

Before she could finish speaking, he stamped it.

Despite his fingertips trembling and his complexion turning pale blue.

Look at him making that resolute decision.

Naive, clumsy.

Even pitiful.

‘That too is his own choice.’

She certainly doesn’t sympathize.

Nor does she have reason to despise or mock him.

Anyone can make a resolution.

But continuing it is incredibly difficult, and completing it is another story altogether.

Therefore.

Whether his current determination is special or extraordinary, she won’t bat an eye.

She won’t be impressed, let alone admire it saying “not bad,” or privately commend it as growth.

That’s obviously impossible.

Countless people proclaim oaths before her.

But how many actually keep and fulfill them till the end?

‘If there ever comes a day when I truly respect you.’

That will be the day when you completely fulfill this contract.

-Try your best to at least provide some entertainment.

May this small expectation not turn into regret over wasted time.

May it not rot and decay disgustingly.