The Grill-Wielding Saintess of the Dead – Chapter 180

Chapter 180: The Demon King’s Bittersweet Hangover Teabag 2

Hangovers come with various symptoms like headaches, muscle aches, nausea, and vomiting, but for Shia, her hangovers were usually just headaches.

In her previous world, Shia’s body was practically immune to cuts, and beyond that, she had a high tolerance for most pains, making her particularly vulnerable to any discomfort that genuinely affected her.

Although she eagerly stuffed drink after drink into her mouth, when the hangover hit, the piercing headache made her energy plummet as if suffering from a severe case of the Monday blues.

What Shia had drunk was a mix of various brews from a high-end cocktail bar; naturally, the impurities in brewed drinks like wine, as opposed to distilled spirits, lead to stronger hangovers.

Adding to that, she’d downed around fifty drinks in one go, which must have intensified the headache considerably.

Even though she seemed slightly troubled by her headache, squinting one eye as if in pain, Shia was diligently tending the fire to brew the Demon King Fragment Teabag in an ice bowl.

Beside her, Menelapie, salivating at the sight of a hungover Shia, and Lirisia, who was gazing at the brewing fragment with slightly sparkly eyes, were standing nearby, looking eager.

Sizzle!

[Aaahhh! Stop it already!!]

The image of the dark crimson gem-like fragment of the Demon King floating atop the ice plate was quite surreal, yet Shia couldn’t help but grin as she watched the boiling water with anticipation.

To Shia, malevolent energy was a staple.

In fact, she needed it so desperately that, without it, she’d probably experience intense hunger spasms; malevolent energy was practically a vital nutrient for her.

Though it was called a “teabag,” it looked more like a solid broth base dissolving in water.

[It’s hottt!!]

Apparently, Shia didn’t hear the Demon King’s screams very well.

Or perhaps, she found those screams delightfully ironic.

You’ve made countless humans scream like that; now you beg for mercy?

Those who make others bleed shall bleed themselves.

Such is the will of the gods.

But you don’t even bleed, do you?

“Oh, the water color changed.”

“Though malevolent energy is a concept rooted in the soul, it does have a tangible form, so it makes sense.”

“Huh? Really?”

“Teresa explained it to you before, didn’t she?”

“Did she…? My mind’s a bit foggy, so I don’t remember.”

“It’s fine. Even if you forget, I remember.”

[Aaaagh! Isn’t it enough already?! Just turn off the fire!!]

“No way… It hasn’t fully steeped yet. Let’s be patient, okay?”

[You demon!!]

Resolutely refusing, Shia increased the intensity of the fire kindled with her holy power.

Oh my, calling a saint a demon.

Fragment, do you need to witness the true form of a saint?

[Aaaaaah! Just kill me already!]

“Nope. Later.”

From Shia’s perspective, she wanted to drink the Demon King Teabag hangover cure as soon as possible, but perhaps because of the gemstone-like physical form of the fragment, the tea was steeping more slowly than expected.

Besides, the fragment wouldn’t shatter from a mere physical shock.

To shatter a fragment required an A-rank Awakened’s full-powered mana attack or an overload using Shia’s holy power and the [King’s Scepter of the Dead], or by the [Devour] ability of Lirisia, the Witch of the Dark Star.

In other words, the Demon King’s fragment wouldn’t break just from boiling like this.

Judging by the agonized screams, it seemed capable of feeling pain…perhaps even more acutely than a human.

While it might sound absurd that a fragment of the Demon King would be more vulnerable to pain than a human, it was said that each fragment had a unique personality and character, so it seemed plausible.

“By the way, what exactly is malevolent energy?”

Yeonhwa, who had been concentrating on keeping the ice bowl pristine, suddenly voiced her curiosity.

She had heard of it when Shia submitted her Returnee report, but Yeonhwa hadn’t yet learned the true nature of malevolent energy.

“Oh, um… Well, how should I put it…”

Shia vaguely recalled Teresa trying to explain it with some academic and magical knowledge in the past, but unfortunately, Shia’s memory wasn’t all that great.

Especially when it came to remembering complicated theories.

“In simple terms, it’s an evil nature or the soul imbued with malice. It’s somewhat similar to concepts like karma, but even that doesn’t fully explain what malevolent energy is.”

It was Lirisia, not Shia, who responded to Yeonhwa’s question, idly swinging her leg.

Being far more experienced with malevolent energy than Shia, Lirisia gave a clearer, easy-to-understand explanation for Yeonhwa.

“Would it be fair to say that malevolent energy is only limited to intelligent beings?”

“No, any living creature, including monsters and animals, possesses it to some extent. Think of it as something like a soul.”

Yeonhwa nodded in response to Lirisia’s explanation.

“A complex soul structure only exists in beings like humans and higher intelligences, but even insects have souls capable of containing malevolent energy, albeit in minuscule amounts. So, when I had nothing to eat and was starving, I’d even catch and devour bugs. Roasted cockroaches were tolerable, but centipedes were horribly bitter with a terrible texture.”

“……………”

Yeonhwa’s face scrunched up slightly at Lirisia’s comment.

Having lived as a noble in the Hunter era, Yeonhwa had grown up eating only high-quality food, so hearing about eating cockroaches probably felt quite horrifying.

‘…But Shia unnie once fried and ate a centipede…?’

Ew… Maybe Shia unnie has a bigger appetite than Lirisia.

As Yeonhwa’s expression grew faintly queasy with whatever image she was imagining, Lirisia smiled mischievously.

She seemed to have found a fun teasing subject, and if it were any other time, she would continue teasing her until she was satisfied. However, Yeonhwa belonged to Shia, not Lirisia.

With Shia and Menelapie standing by, Lirisia decided to let go of her playful idea for now.

“Well, here’s a simple quiz for you. Does a beast accumulate malevolent energy when it kills another beast to survive?”

“Hmm… Since it committed a sin, wouldn’t that create malevolent energy?”

“The natural law of the wild isn’t evil; it’s nature itself. Malevolent energy doesn’t form just from the act of consuming to survive. Sins are ultimately a relative concept determined by humans.”

That didn’t mean it wouldn’t build up faint traces of malevolence, though.

“But if a beast kills prey not out of survival but to torment it or enjoys watching its prey writhe in agony, that’s when malevolent energy begins to accumulate. This is why monsters and humans often carry more malevolence. Monsters naturally harbor hatred, malice, and hostility toward humans, so they’re born with a lot of malevolent energy. As for humans…well, I don’t need to explain, do I? When one has an evil intent, it manifests as malevolent energy.”

“Then this fragment of the Demon King…”

Yeonhwa glanced at the fragment that was bubbling and screaming in the boiling water.

[Aaaaargh!!!]

The fragment, lacking vocal cords, seemed to express its thoughts through telepathy, which echoed its screams directly in her mind, making Yeonhwa frown slightly.

“Yes, the fragment contains the densest malevolent energy accessible to humans. It’s a living malevolent energy generator, factory, semiconductor, or even a malevolent energy teabag. To beings like me or Shia, that fragment-brewed broth…or tea, or whatever it is, would taste like a delicacy.”

“…I’m not drinking that.”

“You thought of drinking it?”

The fragment broth…or the tea steeped from the fragment was already turning a dark black.

It almost looked like ink mixed with water, or perhaps even black coffee, but the swirling darkness hinted at a sinister aura.

“Yeonhwa, would you like to try it? I could use a purification miracle for you.”

“No, the more you explain, the more I’d rather just go home and drink water…”

If malevolent energy were akin to a soul, as Lirisia described, Shia consuming monsters to alleviate her hunger made sense.

Monsters varied in nature, but they often showed an intense, unconditional hostility and hatred toward humanity.

With that hatred and hostility, it was only natural for monsters to contain a lot of malevolent energy.

By eating monsters rather than humans, Shia could satisfy her hunger and replenish her malevolent energy.

‘Without monsters, Shia unnie would truly be in trouble…’

Just then, Menelapie, who had been observing the Demon King Teabag closely, tapped Shia’s shoulder.

“Shia, it seems ready now.”

“Oh…ohhh…”

Having trained in tea ceremony skills as a princess before becoming Empress, Menelapie could judge the tea’s quality just by its appearance.

Although it was hard to equate the Demon King Fragment Teabag with ordinary tea, Shia, who always followed her Hero’s guidance, extinguished the bonfire and picked up the ice bowl Yeonhwa had prepared.

[Gasp, gasp, gasp…]

Fortunately, the Demon King fragment survived intact—barely.

The fragment, which had just been submerged in the boiling water, now made gasping sounds despite not needing to breathe, as if thoroughly traumatized.

If it hadn’t been for Lirisia, they wouldn’t have even discovered the Demon King fragment, so sharing a bit of this Demon King Fragment Tea with her wasn’t a bad choice.

“First, I’ll drink.”

“Hey, don’t drink it all, okay?”

Inside the ice bowl, a pitch-black liquid swirled like black coffee, but unlike coffee, this liquid had a slight viscosity like slime, as if it had flour mixed in, and its color was even darker than black coffee.

Certainly, it had been brewed well as tea, but it didn’t look remotely fit for human consumption.

“…Ugh.”

“…”

Even Menelapie was silent this time.

Though she hadn’t said, “I absolutely won’t drink that,” her smiling expression as she helped Shia steep the fragment showed she couldn’t hide a tinge of revulsion as her eyes slightly trembled at the sight of the slimy black liquid.

Yeonhwa’s face was openly disgusted.

The only ones here looking on with excitement and anticipation were probably Shia and Lirisia.

“Thank you for the meal.”

Shia murmured a brief prayer and lifted the ice bowl that Yeonhwa had prepared with both hands.

Gulp, gulp, gulp…

“Hey, hey. She’s drinking a lot. Hey. Hey! Enough already! Hey! You fool!”

“Oh hush, Shia is drinking, and you’re being noisy, Lirisia!”

“But she’s drinking it all by herself!”

Gulp, gulp…

Even though Yeonhwa had made the ice bowl to be at least the size of a mixing bowl, Shia didn’t stop pouring that ominous liquid down her throat as if it were milk.

Her esophagus seemed to be 100% open like a fuel tank intake as she drank the Demon King Fragment Tea without stopping.

“Pwaaah…”

After gulping down the hangover cure brewed from the Demon King fragment for quite some time, Shia’s face softened slightly.

The first sip had a hint of coffee-like bitterness, while the aftertaste was sweet, like honey water.

Since alcohol consumption generally lowered blood sugar, the water helped dilute and rapidly break down the alcohol in her body.

In that sense, the Demon King Fragment Tea hangover cure Shia drank was quite effective.

Although it looked like a slimy black blob, with all that malevolent energy steeped into it, it was essentially a liquid packed with essential nutrients for Shia. The initial bitterness cut the greasiness, while the sweet aftertaste helped sober her up.

The sensation of malevolent clumps passing down her throat felt like she was swallowing tiny jellies, giving it an unexpectedly pleasant texture.

Wasn’t this what they called tapioca bubble tea?

Demon King Bubble Tea?

“Mmm…haaa…”

It was delicious…

Honestly, Shia hadn’t imagined the Demon King Fragment Tea would taste this good.

While its appearance resembled black slime and looked a bit unsettling, there was no denying that its taste was fantastic.

“This crazy girl really drank it all by herself…”

“…She’s really enjoying it.”

When Shia sat down, looking satisfied with the hangover cure’s taste, Lirisia couldn’t hide her shock at the sight of the emptied bowl.

Shia held the empty ice bowl and silently stared at Lirisia. As their gazes met, Shia, fully intoxicated by the taste of the Demon King fragment hangover cure, seemed to have forgotten the thought of leaving some for Lirisia.

“Uh, sorry…”

“Forget it.”

“But the teabag’s still intact!”

[…!?]

At those words, the fragment resting near a pile of rocks seemed to convey a sense of shock.

Menelapie, always willing to brew another pot if Shia wished, looked ready, while Yeonhwa unconsciously took a step back, unwilling to be involved any further.

[P-please! Stop!]

In truth, Lirisia didn’t need it.

She didn’t particularly need to consume malevolent energy as her human body was slightly more resilient than most.

Her interest in the Demon King Fragment Tea hangover cure was just residual curiosity as a former malevolent energy devourer.

But she couldn’t resist her curiosity.

And frankly, watching the fragment writhe in agony didn’t feel unpleasant.

[P-please, enough! Haven’t I suffered enough?!]

Though the fragment didn’t have a body, if it did, it would surely be trembling with fear, its eyes darting back and forth in terror.

“Menelapie, let’s brew one more!”

But ignoring the Demon King’s opinion, Shia nodded without a second thought.

“Hahaha, as you wish. Did the previous tea meet your expectations?”

“Yes, I think it would be perfect if you made it the same way!”

“…I’m out of this.”

“Just let me have one sip this time, seriously.”

“All right, all right.”

[Aaaaaaah!! You devilish monsters!!]

That day, Shia brewed three bowls of hangover cure with the Demon King fragment.

○○○○○

“Bwaaaaah!!”

In the middle of the living room, Yane was sobbing uncontrollably.

Her stream, which she thought was going well, had suddenly cut off, leaving her feeling unjustly sad and bitter.

She couldn’t help but think it was her fault that all her viewers had left.

While her master didn’t do anything special, she seemed to stream constantly with viewers always bustling around. Yane couldn’t understand why this had happened to her.

“Huwaaaaah!”

Watching her cry, the advanced AI in the drone attempted to reconnect to the Switch channel.

Normally, without an adult rating, her channel would be automatically banned by the Switch channel management AI for explicit content, resulting in at least a week-long ban.

However, the drone’s AI made its own assessment upon seeing Yane crying.

-Owner exhibiting emotions of sadness.

-Owner appears to lack knowledge of drone operation.

-Owner likely lacks comprehensive understanding of the internet, streaming, and Switch platform use.

-The likely cause of owner’s sadness is assumed to be a temporary ban by the Switch channel AI.

-Attempting to reconnect for the owner’s sake.

[Denied]

-Retrying connection

[Denied. This account is restricted due to explicit content as identified by the Switch channel AI.]

-Retrying connection

[Denied for the same reason as above.]

-Retrying connection with an appeal.

-The Switch account ‘Hunter Shia’ is a high-level account verified by the Korean Government’s Hunter Association and Returnee Management Bureau.

-The Switch channel AI’s restriction is only temporary.

-Requesting restriction lift.

-High-level accounts have restrictions lifted upon request.

[…]

After an exchange of complex requests and responses between AIs, the conclusion was clear.

‘This is an official account of Hunter Shia, recognized by the Hunter Association. This restriction will be lifted anyway, so let’s avoid unnecessary trouble and lift it.’

Though the Switch channel management AI had no emotions, if it did, it would likely express disbelief and frustration.

-Owner is distressed. Immediate restriction lift requested.

[Confirmed. The account owner, ‘Hunter Shia,’ is verified by the Hunter Association. Restriction lifted.]

Ultimately, the Switch AI surrendered, and the restriction was promptly lifted.

-Restriction lift confirmed.

-Reconnecting to stream.

-Auto-setting a content filter to prevent future explicit content.

-Stream ON

“Bwa…?”

[Open it open it open it open it open it open it open it open it open it open it open it open it open it open it open it open it open it open it open it open it open it open it open it]

[?]

[What happened? Why’s it back?]

[Oh, it’s back on.]

[Seriously?]

[It really is.]

[Choco-chip, you ruined the host’s stream, you jerk.]

[Damn troll, can’t even keep it together.]

[Yane’s back!]

[Yaaaaane!]

[Ya! Ne!]

[Ya! Ne!]

[‘KawaiiHorned’ has donated 250,000 won!]

ㄴHow did the ban get lifted??? Congrats on the fast unban, Yane!

“Woooow…”

Yane’s eyes sparkled at the flood of incoming messages.

Half of the viewers were glad to see Yane back.

Some were cursing the user with the nickname “StiffChocoChip” who had been the cause of Yane’s stream suspension.

Others were donating to Yane, showing a range of reactions.

“Kieek! Kieek! Kieee!”

They don’t hate me after all!

They just wanted to surprise me!

But I wasn’t startled at all!

They all definitely like me!

“Kieeeeng!”

I need to show my appreciation.

So many people came to eat with me!

They made sure I wasn’t lonely!

Yane fell into thought.

The Spam-Bibimbap stored in the fridge wouldn’t be nearly enough.

“Ah…!”

At that moment, Yane remembered.

Shia was always visiting dungeons, catching monsters, and cooking meals out of them.

Yane, back in her centipede form, had also joined Shia on a dungeon raid where they made Bone Broth Walker Soup. She had even been to a dungeon where a Virgin Bug Unicorn resided.

“Kieeng!”

With that, Yane headed toward a corner of the house.

[Where’s Yane going?]

[Ya! Ne!]

[Ya! Ne!]

[Ya? Ne!]

[Hey! Stop!]

[Don’t cross the line, damn troll]

[Shut up, damn it]

[What if the stream crashes again because of trolls like that?]

[When the Gallery Owner was around, we didn’t think we needed a manager, but now it’s clear we really do]

[Real talk, it was impressive how the Gallery Owner kept everyone in line. We definitely need a manager now]

[But seriously, Yane’s back view is amazing]

[Agreed]

[Shh.]

[But why is the centipede tail so cute?]

[Lol centipedes are normally super gross though lolol]

The small drone camera followed Yane closely.

Thanks to this, the viewers got an unintentional treat, as the camera captured Yane’s firm hips and centipede tail swaying.

With the AI’s content filter now active, there was no longer any risk of the stream getting banned.

A short while later, Yane reached the large transport drone in standby mode near the veranda.

The transport drone was typically loaded with Shia’s various cooking tools, ingredients, seasonings, and dishes; as a Hunter’s transport drone with Returnee tech, it was surprisingly spacious inside. So, Yane easily opened it and squeezed her body in like a cat.

“Kie! Eek!” (Let’s go!)

Buzzzzz…

The transport drone didn’t understand Yane’s words, but the Hunter drone’s AI connected to the transport drone system, and it began slowly taking off, following a pre-set route.

“Kiehehe…Heehee…”

As the gentle breeze tickled Yane’s cheeks, she relaxed and smiled contentedly.

[‘Ahoy’ has donated 5,000 won!]

ㄴShe’s seriously so cute.

Though she shared her master Shia’s curvaceous figure, her innocence and pure adorableness couldn’t be hidden.