Ch.45Chapter 45. The Resignation Letter of the Most Loyal Servant

“I must speak.”

There was no choice.

For the Demon Tribe, that which is built through desire is their foundation, their vision, and everything they have.

If there exists a past where one swore loyalty to him, then for a new beginning, one needs to put an end to that past.

Even if that act might lead to one’s death.

‘I must speak, to my lord…’

While feeling such anxiety, as the bowed head gradually lifted, the figure of the lord being served began to faintly come into view.

-Woong, woong.

No, only the outline was barely visible.

The torrent of power filling his body was devouring the form that should be visible, making it impossible to discern his appearance with the naked eye.

Depending on how one looked, he could appear like an adult, or like a child, and it was impossible to tell whether he was male or female, human or beast…

“…Four Heavenly Kings.”

As they faced him in such an unrecognizable form.

Soon the Demon Lord slowly began to open his mouth, as if cutting through the heavy silence.

“My loyal vassals… are all, all gathered here?”

In that moment when the distorted voice in the torrent sent chills down the spine.

In such a situation, the first to speak was Beelzebub, who served as the chief administrator of the Demon Lord’s army.

“Yes, Demon Lord. All Four Heavenly Kings have responded to your summons. Please tell us why you have called us.”

Though continuing with his characteristically respectful attitude, he still couldn’t suppress all the trembling in his body.

It was natural. The being before him possessed such overwhelming power that just by standing there, he could crush everything around him.

Conversely, if one simply followed the path he took, there existed in everyone present the belief that they could indirectly achieve what they desired.

Such expectation was the reason they could face the being before them without feeling only fear…

“Demon Lord, before hearing your command, just a moment…”

“Ah, wait a moment. Hey, Demon Lord! I have something to say, is that okay?”

As he was about to express his intention by borrowing such leisure, Grizzvill raised his hand first.

Mephistopheles, who had withdrawn his hand holding the resignation letter, quietly turned to look at the one who had stood up first.

Even at this moment, the most greedy demon who was constantly eyeing his position.

“Now, everyone here, pay attention! I’m going to make a declaration right here in front of the Demon Lord.”

Soon he spoke, focusing everyone’s attention on himself.

Somehow overcoming even the energy emanating from the Demon Lord with the power of his innate strong desire.

“Mephistopheles Rage. I challenge you to a duel right here in front of the Demon Lord!”

After that, Grizzvill turned his gaze toward him and said exactly what he had expected, wearing a sinister smile.

As Mephistopheles stood quietly in place receiving that gaze, Grizzvill burst into laughter with momentum, as if even that silence was contemptible.

“You’d better not think it’s strange. Considering what you’ve done in the Demon Lord’s army until now, everyone here knows that the position of second-in-command is too much for a mere clown.”

“…Oh my.”

“Puhehe~”

At Grizzvill’s words, Beelzebub shook his head as if troubled, while Yasmo Deus burst into laughter as if amused.

Such emotions applied equally to the other demons around them.

Interest rather than bewilderment, or admiration and envy for the fact that he could openly say such things in front of the Demon Lord…

The atmosphere formed as a result was generally in favor of Grizzvill.

‘But I don’t care about that.’

Yes, because he was a clown.

Rank, achievements, strength…

If all those things didn’t help make his lord laugh, they were outside his interest from the beginning.

“Demon Lord, you think so too, right? Don’t you think it’s ridiculous that a damn clown who doesn’t contribute anything to your army claims to be your right hand?”

Yet the reason he didn’t step forward was one.

He thought he should first check how his lord would receive the current words.

If he even showed sympathy for the current words.

“I…”

If he expressed any emotion at all to those arrogant words.

He could consider tearing up the resignation letter in his possession.

“Why should I care about such things?”

But what was finally uttered was exactly what he had expected from the beginning.

When that voice suppressed the disorder in the space, bewilderment began to bloom on Grizzvill’s face, who had been confidently talking until then.

“…What?”

“I don’t understand why you’re asking me such a thing.”

The Demon Lord said, looking down at Grizzvill.

“Ranks and such are things you should decide among yourselves, so why should I care about such trivial matters?”

Thud.

In an instant, the murmuring in the space subsided.

Only two people in this place maintained their composure, anticipating those words.

The clown who had predicted his state from the beginning.

And the Reaper Succubus who was now staring at the clown, not the Demon Lord.

“Demon Lord, what are you saying? If you don’t like the ranks, it was you who said to crush them with power and prove it in front of you…”

“D-Demon Lord!”

Before Grizzvill, who hadn’t noticed it and was spewing out his bewilderment, Beelzebub urgently began to shout.

“F-first, ignore Grizzvill’s proposal and tell us why you called us. There must be a reason you summoned all Four Heavenly Kings!”

If they unnecessarily made him uncomfortable, his claws might extend toward them.

With such judgment, Grizzvill belatedly understood the situation and hastily began to force a smile at the urgently uttered words.

“Y-yes, Demon Lord. Let’s hear it! What’s the reason you personally summoned the four of us here!”

After all, everything they had achieved so far was possible because of the Demon Lord.

If he found his current behavior displeasing, everything he had achieved so far might become nothing.

The cold sweat flowing down his face was teaching the Plunderer that his arrogance did not apply to the Demon Lord.

“We’ve destroyed many worlds so far, but you’ve rarely summoned the four of us personally like this, right? T-that’s because there’s something that can only be achieved by summoning us. Right? Am I wrong?”

“…Yes, certainly, I had something I wanted from you.”

Thinking he had managed to please him well, Grizzvill smiled brightly.

It was an expression of relief for somehow getting through this situation, as well as expectation for what would happen next.

“Kuhehe! Come to think of it, this world was completely different from the places we’ve been through so far. Not just weak human scraps, but moving corpses and monsters that transcend humans… And even those things called heroes have appeared!”

A world overflowing with things of a different caliber from the trivial worlds they had been through so far.

So there would be much to achieve in this world.

Grizzvill, who guessed that it was stimulating his desire and had called them, began to burn with enthusiasm as if claiming to be his close aide.

“So, just give us any order, Demon Lord! We’ll achieve whatever you desire with our hands!”

They could destroy, plunder, violate, do anything.

If the entire army joined forces, it would be nothing to dominate this world, to crush and destroy it.

“For me, you’ll do anything, is that it?”

At such a proof of loyalty, Demon Lord Solomon rose from his throne.

Soon he flashed his red eyes and said to Grizzvill.

“Then die for me.”

“…What?”

-Kwang!

A thunderous sound.

As the body that shot out from the throne fell, blood fountained up from that spot and began to spread in all directions.

At a speed that no one present could perceive.

“Uh, uhhh…?”

By the time they barely traced the afterimage with their eyes, everything had already ended.

Limb fragments writhing on the floor, and blood spreading stickily underneath…

That the demon called the Plunderer had met his end in such a miserable state, just like the weaklings they had trampled on until now, was all there was to his final moments.

“Looking back, I’ve done everything I could in life.”

As everyone watched in silence.

The Demon Lord who stood above raised his head and spoke softly.

“I fought to live, and finding value in that fight, I repeatedly roamed battlefields. I destroyed everything I wanted to destroy, and when even that wasn’t enough, I broke even the walls of dimensions and moved forward.”

-Squish.

Even the meat being crushed under his foot.

Soon it evaporated in the torrent of power and turned into smoke and ash.

“Men, women, beasts, monsters… and something else beyond them, I destroyed, violated, ate, played with, or created with these hands as much as I wanted.”

From the spot where even the powder and smoke disappeared with the wave of his hand.

Through the fingers of his hands that gripped his face, a hollow voice began to leak out.

“All of it means nothing. I feel nothing, no matter what I do, no matter what I try…”

“D-Demon Lord. Please calm down. I-I don’t know what’s going on, but… Kuhek!”

Perhaps he still hadn’t grasped the situation?

Beelzebub’s neck was grabbed by the Demon Lord’s hand as he reflexively approached him, and soon his body began to twitch while fixed in mid-air.

“And then, when I heard that Mephistopheles had returned, I realized there was one thing I hadn’t tried.”

-Crack!

“Ah, yes. Come to think of it, I’ve never killed my loyal vassals who swore allegiance to me with my own hands…”

“Kah, aah, aak!”

In that moment when he felt his neck bones dislocating despite maximum protection with magic power.

The corners of the Demon Lord’s mouth, seeing such a subordinate’s struggle, began to gradually turn upward.

“But still, I can’t tell with just one. What it is that I’m feeling right now.”

It was certainly something that could be called a smile, but Mephistopheles, who was watching the scene, guessed.

That it was not derived from joy, but merely the result of tracing memories of when he had experienced joy in the past.

“Then, more slowly…”

Yes, the Demon Lord was expecting.

For the first time ever, if he dealt with his most loyal subordinates with his own hands, what kind of feeling would he experience?

The expectation that the intensity caused by it might satisfy his emptiness.

“Then… if I kill more slowly, wouldn’t I know?”

“Ah, aaaah! D-Demon Lord! Please calm down! I-I don’t know what you want, but p-please calm…”

As Beelzebub’s agonizing screams echoed.

He too would guess with his head that the Demon Lord’s state was not normal, but nevertheless, his attachment to possessions was still maintaining his loyalty to him.

For him, who had collected valuable items while roaming through various dimensions, betraying loyalty to the Demon Lord meant losing everything he had protected so far.

“Beelzebub, my loyal vassal… please, die for me right here!”

“N-no, that can’t… Kuhek!”

“No, struggle more… resist for me, even if it’s just struggling to live, make the feeling of killing you all at this moment more vivid…”

“W-what are you all doing! Q-quickly calm the D-Demon Lord down!”

In the moment when he felt even that desire being swallowed by survival instinct, the power released from his body began to spread to the demons trembling all around.

It was pheromones. A power created by the collecting desire that could exercise absolute command over those who willingly accepted his body fluids.

It was a power that could only be exerted with the consent of the other party, but Beelzebub had established many under the pretext of ‘transactions’ and had a vast number of subordinates under him.

Among those belonging to the Demon Lord’s army, those who hadn’t borrowed his treasures could be counted on one hand.

“Kk, haak!”

“W-what is this. My body is moving on its own… Uaah!”

The demons who were led by the pheromones began to collapse under the pressure of the torrent of power, or fell down with their breath blocked and began to gasp.

Even if they barely narrowed the distance, the result was the same.

With just the flick of the Demon Lord’s finger, their bodies were compressed into lumps of blood by the released power, creating only bloodshed.

“Ah, aah. T-this, this is…”

There was no way with these small fry.

In such a desperate situation, as Beelzebub’s eyes sought a way out, he soon caught sight of a woman in a tuxedo taking out an instrument from afar.

“Shall I help you?”

Mephistopheles, the mad jester.

In the moment when a violin and a bow to scrape its strings were summoned and gripped in her hand, Beelzebub felt his heart sink.

“M-Mephistopheles. What are you trying to…”

“I feel too sorry for you.”

There was no malice.

Just in case, with her performance.

“But if you stay like this, you’ll just die, shouldn’t I at least give you a chance to struggle?”

Because there was an expectation that perhaps, just perhaps, she could somehow amplify and awaken even just the emotion felt while killing his loyal servant.

“D-don’t do it. Y-your power is dangerous in this situation…”

-Screech!

“N-no. S-stop!!”

“I have no ill intentions.”

An honest answer.

And the power applied to her hand, ignoring the restraint.

“From beginning to end, I am merely a clown who wishes for the Demon Lord’s smile.”

If even the slightest possibility were to appear in this final moment.

-Screeeech!!!

With such will in her swing, the chilling sound of scraping the strings echoed.

The demons stimulated by that performance soon began to rush toward the Demon Lord, led by Beelzebub’s pheromones.

Like moths flying toward a flame.

-Crash!

Into a disaster that destroyed everything visible.

Until the very end, forgetting fear.

***

“Ah, aaaaaaaaaah!”

Yes, it wasn’t even a massacre.

A result so obvious it could be called collective suicide.

“Nothing, I feel nothing…”

The living disaster that created such a desperate situation began to wail above the lake of flesh where not even a form remained.

“My subordinates, the loyal servants who believed in me…”

It’s painful.

The reality that he feels nothing despite destroying what he built with his own hands.

“Even if I kill them with these hands, I feel nothing. Nothing… nothing at all!!”

The Demon Lord howled, gripping his throat with both hands as if parched.

But his attention was never directed to the blood pooled on the floor.

It was something he had realized long ago that his thirst would not be quenched no matter how much blood and flesh he consumed.

“What on earth do I need to do to quench this thirst? What on earth…!!!”

It was something he had suspected for a long time.

As great as his powerful strength is, so too is his vessel of desire enormous, so no matter what he does, his desire is never filled.

Because of this, he lost his smile and became a ruler who couldn’t feel stimulation from anything.

It wouldn’t have been strange if the day came when he destroyed everything he had built with his own hands.

“…Demon Lord.”

That limit was finally reached after coming to this world.

Sensing this, Mephistopheles threw the resignation letter in her possession in front of the Demon Lord who was sitting on the floor.

“…What, what is this.”

“It’s a resignation letter. I heard that when humans quit their jobs, they give a document to their master.”

A single sheet of paper with nothing written on it.

Something too shabby to even be called a stage prop, merely maintaining a pretext.

“…Quit, you say.”

“Demon Lord. I am disappointed in you.”

To the extent of trying to get through this situation with just such a pretext.

His oldest loyal servant felt nothing seeing him so broken now.

“You are nothing to me anymore.”

There was no sadness, no despair, not even a sense of betrayal or resentment.

Having anticipated such a situation from long ago, she was already prepared to express resignation in accepting it.

“And I, too, am probably nothing to you now.”

“The reason I’m leaving your side, isn’t that enough?”

Yes.

To conclude a trivial story that couldn’t even become a tragedy, isn’t this just the perfect item?