Chapter 159: The Nostalgic Castle
Good day, this is Jilbagias, still in the swaying carriage heading toward the Demon King Castle one day after leaving Reiju clan territory.
The journey back was quite comfortable. I got to relax with Liliana and Lyla, and since Vigne had brought along a board game, there was no room for boredom.
It was a simple game where you roll dice to move pieces, making it easy for even Lyla and Garounya—who weren’t familiar with this kind of activity—to join in and have fun. If you ignored the fact that the events triggered on each square were strangely gory, it was actually a pretty entertaining game.
However, I couldn’t help but laugh when Liliana, who only spat out the dice casually, kept crushing Vigne with ridiculously pinpoint accuracy.
『The game mechanics are surprisingly simple for a game created by the night elves, eh?』
When I curiously asked the question, Vigne—who was on the verge of tears after being crushed one-sidedly by Liliana—responded,
『Most night elves can manipulate the dice rolls with their dexterity, so the game usually revolves around cheating and interference,』
Or so she explained.
『… Does that mean you're manipulating the number that appears on the dice?』
If she had cheated, she might've stood a chance against Liliana.『I'm… not that good at cheating…』
… I figured it out. She probably brought along a board game she was familiar with, thinking she could easily win against other races, only to get utterly crushed by her natural enemy, a high elf (and an inexperienced one at that)…
Well, Vigne, half in tears from the humiliation, was the cutest she’s ever been. Watching a night elf struggle in vain like this never gets old.
Thus, we arrived at the Demon King Castle.
As we stepped off at the outer carriage drop-off point, the three idiots stood there with their eyes and mouths wide open, gawking at the castle walls like fools.
「Woow…」
「Huge…」
「So this is the castle of His Majesty, the Demon King…」
It seemed they were overwhelmed by the sheer scale of the Demon King Castle. Well, considering it was carved out of a rocky mountain, it might be the largest structure in the world.
「Is this your first time coming to the royal capital?」
「Yup!」
「Small fry like us had nothing to do with this place…」
「When we go to battle, we usually head straight to the front lines…」
The three idiots’ eyes were sparkling upon knowing that they were going to live in this place starting today.
Their room might not be prepared at this point… So they would be lodging in the castle town for the time being…
Well, no need to spoil their excitement, I'll keep that to myself for now.
Besides, once they were inside the Demon King Castle, they wouldn't actually see much of it. The castle town offers a better view and is more of a tourist destination.
After leaving the luggage to the servants—a moment that made me glad to be royalty—I went around informing my acquaintances of my return.
I didn't feel like paying a visit to the night elves' residence, though.
「Welcome back, Your Highness.」
The one who greeted me with a deep bow was Shidar, who was steadily establishing himself as a fixer (leader) within night elf society.
「Anything unusual during my absence?」
「There have been no significant movements on any front line recently. It seems that a lot of reinforcement forces from the Holy Religion have arrived in the Defteros Kingdom, but the stalemate remains unchanged.」
"They're probably gnawing through their meager rations by now," said Shidar with a cunning smile.
「I see…」
I took a sip of honey milk tea and nodded solemnly.
「That being the case, fortunately, there have been no seriously injured individuals requiring Your Highness' attention.」
「That's a relief.」
――No, that was not good. I'm glad I didn't have to wear myself out with the transpose curse, but I wanted the Night Elves to die in droves—about 5,000 trillion of them, to be exact.
Since there were no injured people in need of treatment, I simply had some tea before excusing myself. Carrying Liliana in my arms, I passed through the Night Elves' residential area. By now, the residents had come to recognize me, and they respectfully bowed their heads as I walked by.
As Liliana and I walked, a group of curious young, though most of them were actually older than me, night elf children eagerly followed us.
…Only the young ones, not yet fully steeped in their cruel values, would be allowed to survive. If we instilled a new sense of ethics in them, the possibility of coexistence wasn't entirely out of reach.
Maybe.
――Next, I made my way deep into the underground of the Demon King Castle.
「JIL-KUUUUUUUUUUUUN!! I MISS YOU SO MUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCH!」
I instinctively took a step back as I met—rather, was charged at—by none other than the No Life King, Enma.
「O-Ou… Welcome…」
「I'm back.」
Enma greeted me with a smile so perfect it could be framed and titled 『The Brightest Smile』. Claire, who appeared a moment later, looked exasperated—meaning that this might be a specially prepared expression just for today.
「This is the longest one month I've ever felt in my entire life!」
As Enma squirmed and wriggled, Claire heaved a sigh that was somewhere between exasperation and acknowledgement.
「Maybe it's because you were marking off days on the calendar and counting down every single day till His Highness returned, Master.」
Claire kept a straight face, but her eyes were filled with cold indifference.
「Not too long ago, you were saying things like, 『Due to my eternal life, my sense of time tends to get haywire, and a year passes in the blink of an eye!』 …And now this…」
「No need to say unnecessary things, plea~se.」
Enma unleashed a lightning-fast forehead flick on Claire—only for Claire to dodge it just as fast. Whoa… these two… their physical abilities were no joke…!!
After chatting and sipping tea, I left the No Life King's stronghold and headed to the palace in the upper levels of the Demon King Castle for my final stop.
「Welcome, Jilbagias-sama. And welcome back from your travel.」
The usual devil butler greeted me.
「Is my father available for a meeting?」
「He's weary from his administrative duties, but I believe it is about time for him to take a break.」
「As I thought.」
When I nodded, the goat-faced devil grinned playfully in return.
「I'll lead the way.」
I was already used to it, so I was escorted straight to the office.
「Ooh, welcome back, Jilbagias.」
The Demon King, nearly buried under a mountain of documents as usual, was taking a breather with a cup of milk tea.
「Long time no see, Father.」
「Hmm. I believe I told you not to break off any more horns, didn’t I?」
And the moment our eyes met, I was hit with a preemptive strike.
「Well… That's… actually the other party's fault…」
The Demon King stared at my flustered self with a straight face but soon broke into a smile.
「Just kidding. I’ve already been informed of the details through a letter from Platy… Well, let’s just say it's an unavoidable circumstance.」
After some light conversation, I straightened my back.
「Father, may I ask for your permission to lend me a land in a remote area under your jurisdiction?」
――Preferably somewhere only accessible by dragon.
Somewhere far from human habitation.
===
===
My first CN project, why waifu though? Well, coz the main heroine's job is buying soy sauce till the end of act 1
New Project:
Harem, Hero, Demon King, Seven Deadly Sin, Seven Virtue, Sacred Beast, Sword and Magic, Dystopian Future, DESTINY PROJECT HAD IT REALIZED!, Dungeon, Dragon, 72 Demons, Reincarnations
More and Cheaper(10/$10) Advance Chapter :
(~’.’)~Support Me With Ko-Fi~(‘.’~)