episode_0018

The Demon World is proud of itself.

Strong demons have everything, and weak demons are constantly exploited by the strong. Even, your life.

When you hear it this way, it sounds like a very ideal society that runs according to each person’s abilities, but in reality, it is not a particularly good system.

The strong are the minority, and the weak are the majority. Most of the lower-level demons residing in the demon world are unable to find a mate in their lifetime.

On the contrary, high-ranking demons like my father monopolize multiple females by themselves. The strong enjoy polygamy, but weak demons may not be able to mate even once until they die.

I was a strong person from the moment I was born. It wasn’t my strength that was strong, but the name of the Northern Duke, ‘Lucifer’.

However, that is only the case when looking at the entire Demon World. In the Northern Duke Lucifer family, I belong to the weak side.

This is because competition for the right to succeed to the position of head of the family is very fierce. The fact that the father, the head of the family, did not clearly decide on the succession also played a role.

My siblings and I are three sons and one daughter. At the top is Adela, the eldest daughter, and below that are my eldest brother, Leonard, and me.

As I said before, the Demon World is proud of itself. By definition, the position of head of a family should be held by the strongest.

The problem is that the strongest person is a woman, Adela. To begin with, Adella alone is over 1,000 years old, so how can I, my eldest brother, or Leonard surpass her?

Originally, in the Northern Dukedom, there was no need for a successor because an absolutely powerful man called the father ruled as the head of the family. Because my father had such powerful magical power that he didn’t need an heir.

That is why, after giving birth to only his daughter Adela, he did not have any more children.

However, the curse of old age finally came to my father who ruled for too long. Although I was told that I would die soon, I wondered if living for nearly 500 years was really old age, but anyway, my father quickly called in female demons and made three children. That’s how my eldest brother, Leonard, and I were born, aged 20, 9, and 9 respectively.

And, of these three heirs, I am the weakest.

When I was young, I thought the reason was that I was born with no power to manipulate magic.

Who would have guessed that the reason lies in the food my uncle cooks?

Rattling-.

Dab the meat with a fork and cut the meat into bite-sized pieces with a knife.

When you put a piece of meat in your mouth, the salty flavor of the seasoning and the juiciness of the meat combine to fill your mouth.

Who would have known that in this exquisite paradise, there was a mysterious poison that blocked magical power?

They say the worst thing in the world is playing with your food, and my uncle has been doing that for over ten years.

In order to establish his son as the head of the family, he attempted to eliminate his rivals. Both the eldest brother and the younger brother knew this and went along with it.

As a result, in my previous life, I had to spend most of my childhood and adolescence disconnected from magic, so it wasn’t a bad attempt.

In the end, their plan fails miserably. While going out to subdue the monsters in the forest, both the eldest brother and the second brother were killed. From then on, my restraints disappeared, and my talent for manipulating magical power also began to bloom as if in full bloom.

Looking back now, I find it truly deplorable.

I couldn’t kill those who touched me with my own hands.

In this episode, we will never make such mistakes.

“Tsk tsk tsk… .”

“Oscar, you must not make any noise while eating.”

After tearing and chewing the turkey meat with passion and passion, Adela spoke quietly. After all, a principled person is a principled person.

However, I don’t hate Adela. Although she doesn’t like being strict, Adela has her own beliefs. This means that they do not commit acts of infidelity, which is the biggest flaw of principled people.

“Ah, I’m sorry. My uncle’s cooking is so delicious that I don’t know what to do.”

“Is it that much?”

“Little Mother’s cooking skills are the best in the Demon World. Especially when it comes to cooking turkey, be the best in the world.”

“I didn’t know you were so good at cooking turkey. Let’s try it too.”

Adela held out her fork with an expectant expression. It was just as her sharp fork was about to touch the tender meat on my plate.

“Wait! Adella!”

The younger mother jumped up and urgently grabbed Adela. Dry sweat was beading on her forehead.

Hey, this is kind of fun too. It’s so sad to see my uncle sweating profusely.

“Mine, eat mine.”

“No. How could I eat adult food…? .”

“But does that mean you have to steal it from the youngest to use it?”

Adela waved her hand and refused, but her mother recklessly ripped off her share of the turkey and handed it over to Adela.

I guess so. Even though it’s a demonic world of survival of the fittest that whoever suffers is the bad one, it’s impossible to tell Adella, who is a strict principled person, that she poisoned her meals to keep her eight-year-old youngest child in check.

You may ask why I take the risk of eating a family meal together, but from my uncle’s perspective, I have no choice but to do that.

Since I was a little boy, I had been very cautious, so I never dared to eat food given to me by others.

The only opportunity my uncle had was when we all ate together as a family.

“Umm… If you say that much… .”

Adela reluctantly took the meat handed to her by her uncle in her mouth.

And then he tilted his head. It’s delicious, but I wonder, ‘Is this worth making such a fuss about? He seems to be asking the question, ‘?’

“Giggle.”

“Why are you laughing so frivolously?”

“The situation is really interesting.”

“… As expected, I got hit on the wrong head… .”

Adela has been having a strange misunderstanding since a while ago. My head is perfectly fine, so why do you keep treating me like I’m sick?

“So do it, sister. Isn’t the youngest a bit naive?”

I was about to tell him that I never hurt my head, but a sturdy demon sitting in the front seat interrupted me and came in.

This is my eldest brother, Letavis.

Letavis, Leonard, and me. You can think of these three as three half brothers.

“You talk a lot during meals. Just concentrate on eating calmly.”

“Yes, I will take care of myself.”

“I’m sorry, uncle.”

When the eldest mother, who was sitting at the head of the table, spoke softly, Adela and Letavis politely apologized and began to scoop up the food on the table.

Rattling-.

From the outside, it was just an ordinary table. We are a good, harmonious family.

However, you should not be fooled. Everyone except Adela and her mother is dark on the inside.

Even now, he’s probably holding his breath and peeking to see if I’m swallowing my food properly.

They made a big mistake.

Don’t get caught up in the bond of family, make enemies, and kill them.

Even if you cut off a limb, it can be solved by biting it off with your teeth.

After returning, I plan to reattach even those limbs.

“Giggle.”

“Oscar.”

“Oh, I can’t control my laughter. Giggling.”

happy.

I am happy to imagine that I will be able to avenge what I failed to do in my last life, in this life.

I’m already looking forward to that day. I kept imagining what impact my actions would have on the future, and how I would kill them as soon as possible once I got the information from the Southern Grand Duke.

Oh my, the habit of smiling doesn’t disappear even when you get younger.

Still, I need to exercise some restraint now. Because the worry and concern in Adela’s gaze toward me is getting worse.

Jeokjeok-.

To suppress the arsenic that continues to leak out, they gorge themselves on foods such as soups, sandwiches, and rye bread. The sweet flavor, spicy aroma, and chewy texture fill your mouth.

I’ve been taking it all this time, so there’s no problem with taking more poison now.

Above all, it compares so well to the poor food we ate in Tartarus for 111 days.

okay! This is food!

How about mixing it with poison? It’s delicious!

Even if I complete my revenge on Letavis and Leonard, I will never kill my precious little mother. Because you have to cook it for me for a long time until it dies.

*****

“Lord, my great and noble godmother.”

“Saint, are you praying again?”

“You, who always showed me the way, have placed me in such a dark place.”

“ By the way, the one who imprisoned the saint here is not the Lord, but the devil? Why do you keep confusing the devil with the Lord?”

“You probably gave me the task of finding my own way forward.”

“It seems to me that they are just going to quietly cut off their heads… Ugh, what should I say to the saint.”

The saint was a person standing in a utopia.

A utopia pursued by those who pursue and revere goodness. The person who seemed to have been created from that ideal was the saint.

“Do you feel like Tartarus is dark to Joker?”

“Yes, a lot.”

“That’s right. Tartarus is an abyss filled with darkness.”

What can I say, I was deep in thought. A person called a saint.

“Because I saw it with my physical eyes. Since it is a space where not a single ray of light enters, it is natural that it is dark when seen with the physical eyes.”

“But it got a little brighter after the saint came.”

“However, if you close your eyes and see it in your mind’s eye, it’s a little different. Warmth and softness, love like a stone flower even in this miserable prison, become visible only after you close your eyes.”

“Hmm… I don’t quite understand what you just said.”

“I, this foolish servant of the Lord, realized that I was looking at the world only after I foolishly lost my physical eyes.”

Not a single word or action was wasted.

“Aren’t you just saying you’re going to watch the saintess do whatever she wants? You see what you want to see.”

“If you say so, I will say yes.”

“Ah, what is it.”

“One, that is the path I am walking. In the darkness where I cannot see an inch ahead, I have found my own path and am trying to pioneer it.”

Whether dealing with the hero, the demon lord, the traitor Vincent, or the Duke of the West, Lilith, she always kept the future in mind.

It was different from simply saying it was extraordinary. No matter what object she saw, the saint saw it straight through, and with her small head she was able to see through everything in the world.

On a topic that you can’t even see ahead of time.

“No matter what difficulties you face, never forget.”

“What.”

“Joker finds his own path and moves forward. Because it is humans who live life, not the Lord. Of course, Joker is a demon.”

“Isn’t that a blasphemous remark just now? Can I just say that? It means ignoring God and living the way you want.”

“The Lord gives us direction in many ways, but He never gives us a definitive answer that that path is the only way. It is our responsibility to decide, execute, and take responsibility.”

When they were together in Tartarus, the saintess would often say random things.

At that time, I just ignored them without thinking much about it.

Now that I am in the current situation, the words from back then come to mind for some reason.

Right now, I am standing at a crossroads.

Hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands of futures unfold before me. As I know information about the future, I am not omnipotent, but I am omniscient, and I can succeed in this life where I failed in my previous life.

There are many futures.

The ultimate utopia that I aim for is chaos and madness, just like my previous life.

In this life, I would like to add a slightly different seasoning to it.

light.

Or, love.

I thought that even evil should have a level of elegance.

Now, I’m going to mix love into it.

Lovely evil, how novel is this? This is a truly interesting goal.

Some may dismiss it as a madman’s bullshit, but dreams are meant to be ambitious. Even if it makes little sense.

However, all of the above are just abstract concepts. The attitude of living life and the attitude toward life cannot be the final goal. Even if you don’t have a plan, you should have a goal.

So, what should I aim for?

What should I look forward to as I go back in time, 500 years before I died?

… … .

It’s a stupid question.

Didn’t the saint tell you? Join the reading club at Eden Academy 500 years later.

Didn’t you realize it when you got to the guillotine? I would never be able to realize the love that the saint showed me on my own.

500 years.

It is still unclear what to prepare and what to prepare for in the meantime.

That goes by faster than you think. I know because I lived it once.

So, saint.

I will wait faithfully for 500 years at most.

Let’s meet soon.

I’m already looking forward to it.

“Giggle.”

I stood up, shaking off my pants. In order to slowly depart towards the southern part of the Demon World.

First of all, I need to dig up information about this strange phenomenon I just experienced. Information is the most important and useful thing in the world.

Rustling-.

So, I went to the closet, took off the clothes I had been wearing, and changed into full street clothes.

Tuk-.

As I took off my pants, I heard the sound of something hard hitting the floor.

Wanting something, I put my hand into my pants pocket and felt something hard like a rectangular parallelepiped through my palm.

No, it was different from a cuboid.

“Huh?”

I fiddled with it, making dumb noises. The more I kneaded it, the more clearly its appearance became, which shocked me.

Slowly-.

I grabbed it with trembling hands and took it out of my pocket. And I confirmed it with my eyes.

It was quite a familiar item.

I had seen it so many times in Tartarus that I couldn’t help but be familiar with it.

A stick in the shape of a rectangular parallelepiped, and another stick stretched horizontally about half the length of the stick.

A long string measuring 12 cm long and 7 cm wide, with beads connected to each other to form a shape.

Light but heavy weight, sharp edges, and pitch black color symbolizing the people under the shadow.

The object was a black cross that the saint always carried with her.