Chapter 1: The Demon King’s Strongest Trump Card (1)

Slap. A pale white hand vigorously smacked a desk.

Underneath it was nothing but a white piece of paper.

The hand, which stayed like that for a short while, slowly lifted, leaving behind only the paper.

There was a man watching the hand move away, looking down at the paper left behind on the desk. At first, his eyes seemed to imply it wasn’t such a big deal, but they appeared slightly hesitant when the man saw the words “Letter of Resignation” written on it, before soon growing to the size of saucers.

The white-haired, red-eyed man who watched the process unflinchingly hurriedly raised his head, facing the shocked figure before him, and spoke in a voice as firm as his expression.

“I’m resigning.”

* * *

If the Empire had its “Heroes,” the Demon King’s army had the “Corps Commanders.”

If the Empire put forth competent generals, the Demon King would also send forth the Corps Commanders.

As such, the Corps Commanders were the swords and shields of the Demon King, as well as symbols of strength.

Officially, the Demon King’s army had twelve commanders, one for each corps, from the 1st to the 12th—but there was, in fact, one more corps, which was treated like an open secret despite being considered “elusive.”

The 0th Corps, which was strictly treated as confidential even though everyone in the Demon King’s Castle—as well as their enemy, the Imperial Army—knew about it.

Actually, the one who killed the “Last Hero” was that corps’ commander, the Demon King’s most powerful trump card. He was the kind of person one would feel reassured just to have by their side. However, he suddenly wanted to quit.

“No, you can’t!”

The Demon King couldn’t just let go of someone as talented as him! With that in mind, the Demon King Cavert grabbed the waistband of his trousers, stretching them out in the process.

He usually didn’t talk that much, so when he came all the way to his office, Cavert wondered the reason for his visit. He was even happy about it.

He was most likely just saying that; he probably didn’t mean it. He had to be mentioning it in passing, like usual. That had to be the case.

Cavert still held onto his trousers tightly and raised his head. Cavert met his red eyes, silence falling over them.

He probably realized what Cavert was trying to say just by looking into his eyes.

I’m going this far for you, so you can’t actually mean that you’re quitting, right?

His eyes, which had been firm the entire time, trembled slightly, as if Cavert’s appeal had worked. It wasn’t obvious at first, but the Demon King, who was absolutely focused on him, was able to catch it right away.

They shook. That meant Cavert shouldn’t give up.

He let go of the leg he was grabbing onto and jumped up. Instead, the body parts he grabbed now were both shoulders.

“Just why? What’s wrong? Are your subordinates not treating you well? Are they discriminating against you because you’re human? What kind of bastards would do something like that?! I’m going to execute them right away…!”

Contrary to his rather intense voice, Cavert was internally convinced that it shouldn’t be the case.

He was a powerful existence that couldn’t help but receive recognition from the others, even though he was human.

No, could it even be called “recognition”? To the demons, his strength was so overwhelming that it could even win their favor. What tough guy would even dare touch him, when everyone was—far from just friendly—in awe, and felt the utmost respect towards him?

Still, he had a reason for acting like that.

Deon Hart—the one called “Demon Arut” inside the Demon King’s Castle, with only the Demon King himself ranking above him—was, in fact, a human.

He didn’t know what other humans were like, as he was the only one in the Demon King’s Castle, but he was definitely a lot more reluctant than demons to see someone’s blood.

So, if Deon came to him acting like that, the Demon King had no other choice but to react in such a manner.

And, as expected, his wrist was grabbed just as he was about to leave the office. As he looked back, red eyes—reminiscent of fresh blood—stared at him. The Demon King tried his best not to raise the corners of his mouth.

…Looks like he’s finally willing to talk.

The Demon King was easily able to shake off that hand if he wanted to. However, the other party was the one he cherished the most, and that person had just submitted his letter of resignation. So, as that was what Cavert aimed for, rather than shaking off the hand he sat back down with a deep sigh.

“Let me ask you again. What are your reasons?”

“…Will you kill me?”

The Demon King had been genuinely curious, but instead of an answer, what came back was a question.

Did the Demon King plan on killing him? What scary words.

He was startled by those words and raised his head, meeting Deon’s eyes. Those eerie red eyes stared at him without blinking. An empty laugh escaped his mouth.

While I didn’t mean to do this, if you push me even further, I really will shred your throat to pieces.

Even though he was the Demon King, with no other equal except for the Hero, the man before him was threatening him in such a manner.

If Deon was determined to aim for the Demon King’s throat, he’d definitely take a lot of damage. Things might get quite annoying.

A voice aiming to calm down the other party smoothly flowed from his mouth.

“There’s no way I would want to kill you. So, what’s the reason? I’m just curious.”

“…It’s…”

After a period of silence, Deon opened his mouth. Then, a loud bang sounded out.

…Bang?

“Blood! Blood!”

“Ah.”

Blood poured very naturally onto the paper-covered desk.

He reflexively reached out to the blood. His head was spinning with so many complicated thoughts that he wasn’t able to come up with any other action.

Was it poison? No, the moment he saw the blood he had used poison detection magic, but there was no reaction. There was only one option left:

The aftereffects.

Officially, Deon Hart had killed the Hero.

But what was a “Hero”? Naturally, Deon had taken a lot of damage in the process, and because of that, his body—which had been in very good condition prior—was completely ruined. There were times when he would cough up a lot more blood than he did now.

Actually, that’s not completely right, but the aftereffects of the fight do happen, so the results are the same.

It seemed that he had suffered from hemoptysis a few times before, but its frequency was clearly increasing significantly.

He ground his teeth at the thought that he might lose his precious talent.

At that time, Deon, perhaps belatedly aware of the situation, covered his mouth and took a few steps back from the desk. A labored voice that seemed to have been suppressed because of the blood rang out.

“I’m sorry about the documents…”

“That’s not the problem right now! Doctor! Get the 0th Corps Commander’s doctor! The patient they’re in charge of is sick! What the hell are they doing?!”

At the roar that resonated throughout the whole Demon King’s Castle, a commotion broke out.

* * *

The attending physician, Ben, came running from a distance, panting.

The thoughts running through my mind when looking at the dirty red stains on the carpet laid out in the Demon King’s room were simple.

Fuck, I’m screwed.

I was just going to resign from my job after handing over my letter of resignation, but then blood came out of my mouth, dirtying some documents and the carpet, not to mention causing trouble for the attending physician… Anyone with eyes could see that such events would absolutely get me beaten up.

I’d even say that it would be a positive outcome if I were just punched.

My opponent would be a demon. If they were human, they would simply get angry and move on with their life, but these guys would brandish their swords saying things like, “Apologize with your life!”

For that reason, I desperately accepted Ben’s examination, my face pale and stiff.

“Sir Demon, can you hear me? How many fingers can you see?”

“Three.”

Instead of struggling for my life and trying to give him a steady answer, I reminisced about what led up to this.

My name is Deon Hart. There had been a slight misunderstanding, so I was now known as “Demon Arut” in the Demon King’s Castle.

No, no, that was an understatement. It wasn’t just a slight one. I wanted to submit my resignation because of that “misunderstanding.”

The misunderstanding everyone in the Castle, the Demon King included, was under was that I was extremely strong.

Hah, what a joke. The cook of the castle was probably stronger than me. The cook was at least part of the Demon Race, after all.

Anyway, that wasn’t what was important.

The continued overvaluation of my abilities gave me extreme anxiety and just served as a warning that I had to get out of there before it was too late.

Isn’t it good to be so highly valued, you say? It would be good if it was in moderation.

Too high an evaluation made me fear for my future. Especially in the place I was currently in, the Demon King’s Castle. Even the Demon King overestimated me far too much and treated me accordingly. Just imagining what would happen if the truth were revealed scared the living daylights out of me.

That day might be the day I’d die. And that death would be anything but peaceful.

I want to run away.

However, if I were to just run away without a single word, the Demon King would surely send his army to chase after me, saying things like, “I can’t lose someone as talented as you!” And if I were to get caught, he might actually imprison me, or in the worst case, I might end up dying.

There were some humans who said things like, “If I can’t have it, I’ll just destroy it!”, so there was no way that some of the Demons didn’t have similar thoughts.

While I had never heard that enemies actually resembled each other, the Demon King was very similar to the Emperor of the Empire when it came to holding onto talented people.

Even if I told him the truth, he wouldn’t believe me, and even if he believed me, he might just cut off my head immediately saying, “So you’ve been deceiving me all this time?!”

So, I tried to confront him and cut ties. I thought that I could just disappear like the wind, only leaving behind a letter of resignation telling him that I’d resign.

I didn’t expect the Demon King to hold onto my pants like that.

“No! You can’t do that!!”

I was expecting him to protest to some extent.

But this wasn’t part of the plan!

He was hanging on the waistband of my pants. Didn’t the Demon King have any pride left?!

Even while screaming inwardly like that, I wasn’t able to move.

Yeah, cause I was scared.

The Demon King is holding onto my leg! Shit, the Demon King!!

The other party was the Demon King, and he was even called the strongest Demon King of all time, who protected the Castle without taking much damage even after facing the Heroes all the time. Just by lifting a single finger, he could snuff out my life.

So what would happen if I made the wrong move and accidentally kicked him?

Even without trying, the result was predictable enough.

Therefore, I remained motionless like a statue until he took his hands off me first.

I was so nervous that, if the Demon King had let go just a little later, I would have gotten cramps.

Anyway, the Demon King, who finally took his hands off of me when he met my eyes, jumped to his feet—maybe having a change of heart. It was great that he let go of my pants, but then he actually grabbed onto my shoulders!

He put his hands on both of my shoulders, as if he were trying to appeal to me somehow, and started to rapidly shoot out words while maintaining eye contact with me.

By the way…

“Just why? What’s wrong?”

The reason why I gave him my resignation in the first place was…

“Are your subordinates not treating you well? Are they discriminating against you because you’re human?”

…because the Demon King and the others have treated me so well, to the point that it felt like a burden.

They might think that it was treatment befitting of my skills, but that wasn’t the case. I really didn’t have any of those skills!

Rather, I was just a weak human whose physical ability was even inferior to normal people.

They should have gotten suspicious right when they first tried to recruit me.

The man should have doubted how skilled my human self actually was.

I couldn’t help but accept, because I felt like they would kill me on the spot if I refused, but…

……Huh? That’s right. Now that I think of it, I never had a choice from the start.

……My life.

I swallowed the deep sigh that was about to come out. I had to get out of there at the very least.

The final boss, the Demon King, was treating me better than I thought, so it wasn’t that impossible…

“What kind of bastard would do something like that?! I’m going to execute them right away…”

No! No, no!!

I grabbed him in fright as he strode towards the office door.

Who did he want to get? Who would be to blame if he killed off his men for no reason? Of course, it would be me, the cause, who’d get targeted!

I mean, look, aren’t you treating me too well here? Damn, why did I feel like I was about to cry?

Fortunately, the Demon King simply sat down with a sigh, which was probably his original intention.

“Let me ask you again. What are your reasons?”

Somehow, seeing that his voice seemed calmer made me feel that I might get out of there alive.

That might have been just my delusion, so I thought that it would be better to be careful. So, instead of answering him straight away, I looked right into his eyes and asked.

“……Will you kill me?”

Ah, not that. I was so nervous that these words just immediately came out.

As expected, his eyes with pitch black sclera, the symbol of the Demon King, were now looking straight at me.

What did that look mean?

Was it something like, “How did you know?” or “Should I kill you or spare you?”

Maybe it meant something like, “That’s why underlings that are too quick-witted are annoying…”

D-did I have to apologize right away…? No, before that, would he even spare me if I apologized?

No matter how hard I thought about it, nothing but a bleak future seemed ahead of me.

I couldn’t even avert my gaze from those intense eyes. I simply felt restless, my lips trembling.

“There’s no way I would want to kill you. So, what’s the reason? I’m just curious.”

I hesitated, but only for a moment.

Since I planned on negotiating anyway, it was a necessary procedure. I couldn’t run away from the situation, and I shouldn’t.

For that reason, I started by opening my mouth.

“……It’s—”

Bang.

The familiar, metallic scent of blood spread from my mouth to the tip of my nose.

“Blood!! Blood!”

“Ah.“