“Then, for the sake of the ‘fortune’ you speak of, keep up the good work, Minister Noktiluka.”
The Demon King reached out and gently patted Katy on the head.
The look in those violet eyes was not like that of a decisive ruler, but rather like an elder watching a naughty yet promising junior.
“Yes, this subordinate shall not fail your command.”
Faced with the Demon Lord’s gentleness, Katy dared not slack off and nodded twice firmly.
At that moment, she had to use all her strength to keep the corners of her mouth from lifting.
Otherwise, she was really afraid she would laugh out loud at the great joy of survival from having “actually fooled them with that lousy joke,” and then be physically purified by the Demon Lord with a line like “Corpses can’t speak.”
“At the same time, your mission can also be advanced further, Minister Noktiluka.”
The Demon King withdrew her hand, her gaze falling on the sleeping Gray, a glint of inquiry in her eyes.
“I am quite curious: how many Authorities from our kin’s strong can this ‘Righteous One’s’ body contain? One? Two? Or… all of them?”
“Um, Your Majesty.”
Katy hesitated for a moment, then decided to be a good student unashamed to ask.
“This subordinate has a question: what exactly does ‘Righteous One,’ which you always talk about, mean?”
Although asking this question in front of the Demon King had a ninety-nine percent chance of making her, the Thirteenth Calamity Pillar, look uncultured, she hated being unable to understand cryptic conversations and having to grope around blindly even more than being called illiterate.
Unexpectedly, the Demon King was not surprised or angered by her asking this piece of common demon knowledge.
She had probably remembered that Katy was from a different origin after being brought here.
“That’s true. After all, you were born late, and you have that kind of special background.”
The Demon King smiled and patiently explained.
“The story of the Righteous One is an ancient prophecy engraved on the Abyssal Stele. It says that one day, a savior will appear who can save the Demon Race from the bondage of the Labyrinth and the endless barren darkness of the Demon Realm. Such an existence is called the ‘Righteous One.'”
“Huh? The Demon Race’s savior?”
Katy’s eyes widened, and she pointed at Gray.
“If he’s our Demon Race’s savior, why is it ‘Righteous One’ and not ‘Righteous Demon’? This guy is a pure human!”
“I do not know the answer to that question either.”
The Demon King shook her head, a flash of helplessness and sorrow in her eyes.
“The Great Rout three hundred years ago caused us to lose too much knowledge and heritage. Perhaps this is fate’s joke.”
She gave Katy a deep look.
“Therefore, your responsibility is very great, Minister Noktiluka. Watch over him, nurture him, or destroy him before he fully hatches. All of this is up to your decision.”
Katy quickly nodded like a chicken pecking rice, thinking that this should count as the Demon Lord not intending for her to kill Gray.
The crisis was finally over.
‘This should count as the Demon Lord not intending for me to kill Gray, right? The crisis is finally over.’
Watching the obsequious blonde girl before her, the Demon King let out an almost imperceptible sigh in her heart.
Although Katy’s “Theory of Fortune and Misfortune” sounded like frantic nonsense, she had to admit that it precisely struck the pain points she currently faced as a ruler.
The plan to counterattack the Human Realm was imminent, but the Calamity Pillars under her command were truly incompetent.
That fool Mammon, obsessed with accumulating wealth and status, built a labyrinth and ended up getting himself killed, even giving away his Authority.
The newly appointed Demon of Greed was even more of a brute who used muscles instead of brains and combat instead of thought.
Just after assuming power, he dared to charge the human main city and almost got instantly purified by the Saint and the Chief Paladin.
The experience and wisdom of the Demon Race need time to accumulate.
However, after the Great Rout, that batch of elite Calamity Pillars, who had accumulated over two hundred years or even longer, all perished in the encirclement and kill of that captain of the Dawn Blade three years ago.
That was the most brutal battle after the Great Rout, but the Demon King did not regret it.
Because it was the most beneficial possibility for the development of the entire Demon Race that she, with the Authority of Future, could foresee at that time.
If they allowed that girl with dazzling silver hair and godlike swordsmanship to continue fighting as a Hero, within twenty years, the Human Allied Forces led by her would break through the Wall of Sighs, cross the Endless Abyss, invade the Demon Realm, and slaughter all Demons to avenge a thousand years of blood feuds.
That was a doomed, desperate future.
As the Demon King, the proudest and strongest of Demons, she absolutely could not allow such a thing to happen.
Even if it cost the majority of the Demon Race’s high-end combat power, even if it exposed the spy network she had cultivated among humans for centuries, she had to drive that girl into a corner.
The Demon King’s thoughts returned to that rainy night three years ago.
Cough.
“What, you have the nerve to let your own kind block my sword with their flesh to buy time for a spell, to let your subordinates buy you time to recover, to watch your members sacrifice themselves, and yet you, the King of Demons, hesitate at the moment of killing your foe?”
In the collapsing depths of the Zero Labyrinth, facing that silver-haired girl on the verge of death, blood drained, yet still with brilliant eyes, looking at the shattered corpses and mana crystals of her subordinates around, the blood-soaked Demon King made the boldest and craziest decision of her long life.
She did not kill that Hero.
Instead, using a forbidden secret art, she tightly bound the soul of this strongest human before her with the fate of the Demon Race.
The long recollection flashed by.
The Demon King’s gaze refocused on Katy before her.
Now she had brilliant blonde hair and clear blue eyes like a lake.
This appearance was vastly different from that silver-haired, red-eyed human limit back then.
Even she herself had completely forgotten her past memories as a human, truly believing she was the newborn “Thirteenth Calamity Pillar.”
My race’s enemy, my most perfect masterpiece.
The Demon King looked at Katy, a complex smile curling at the corner of her mouth.
“Minister Noktiluka, remember, the bloodline of the ‘Righteous One’ is also precious.
If possible…”
Her gaze ambiguously swept over the patterns on Katy’s lower abdomen and Gray.
“For the future of the Demon Race, don’t forget this important task of reproduction, okay?”
Katy’s face flushed bright red as if run over by a car, steam nearly rising from her head.
“Re-reproduction?! That kind of thing… Your Majesty, don’t joke.”
“Hehe, how could it be a joke? Usurping strong bloodlines and making them our own has always been our race’s creed.
I was just hoping that Minister Noktiluka, as a rising star of the Demon Race, would carry out that creed.”
Seeing her shy reaction, the Demon King smiled in satisfaction.
“What? If you’re unwilling, should I hand this undercover mission over to the one ranked as the Seventh Calamity Pillar?”
The woman deliberately changed her tone, tempting while also expressing disappointment.
“That child is very skilled at extracting information, you know?
She’ll definitely ensure this Righteous One provides our race with plenty of high-quality offspring.”
“No, absolutely not needed!”
Katy’s fur instantly stood on end.
She protected Gray’s head with both hands.
“Your Majesty has already assigned me to stay by this guy’s side, so naturally my results will be the best! Succubi are just a bunch of brainless bimbos with big chests; they can’t complete such a complex undercover mission!”
“Alright, alright, as you wish. Sweet dreams with the Righteous One, my cute little Calamity Pillar.”
The Demon King chuckled softly, her figure gradually fading away.
And as that aura completely disappeared, Katy felt as if all the bones in her body had been pulled out.
Her stiff body collapsed limply onto the sofa.
“Whew, serving a ruler is truly like serving a tiger. Good thing I survived…”
She wiped the cold sweat from her forehead, her heart still beating furiously.
Then, the girl’s gaze fell on the face of the youth who was still sound asleep on her lap, completely unaware of the life-and-death crisis that had just occurred.
“Tsk, a teammate as stupid as a pig. Even when he’s asleep, he causes trouble for this seat!”
The more Katy looked, the angrier she became.
Just now, to save this guy’s life, she made up lies and put on a show, almost frying her CPU!
And him?
He slept even sounder than a dead pig!
“Ora ora ora ora ora ora ora ora!”
That sleeping face swung fists fiercely, the fists stopping abruptly with a whoosh just a few centimeters from Gray’s nose.
Just then, the youth in his dream seemed to sense something.
His brow furrowed slightly, and he muttered a sleepy phrase.
“Captain, don’t go. You won’t make it back.”
Katy froze.
She remained in her punching pose, not daring to move, until Gray’s breathing became calm again.
Then she withdrew her hand as if shocked.
“Tsk.”
The girl sighed helplessly, feeling that her undercover mission had become much more arduous after today.
That guy Gray, when he saw that girl’s copy in the Labyrinth, was so pained he wanted to tear his own skull open.
Such a high-level white moonlight, and she had never known!
‘Looks like I need to step up intelligence gathering on that so-called captain…’
‘Hmph, just a paper tiger. She’s no match for this seat in serious mode!’
Meanwhile, on the Kala Continent.
Unlike the tranquility in this warm little nest, the outside world was in turmoil as Katy had predicted, stirred up by the “Demon of Greed’s surprise attack on Knox City.”
Cathedral of the Holy City, Holy Hall.
Eve, with a grave expression, had changed into a set of complex and solemn Saint’s robes.
Holding her scepter, she slowly walked into that conference hall, the symbol of the highest secular religious authority of humanity.
“Whew, calm down, Eve. Think about what the captain would do at a time like this…”
Behind her were the neatly lined-up Saint Knights.
Ingram stood at the front.
The helm forged of holy silver concealed his worried gaze.
The youth’s fingers gripping the spear and shield were white.
He knew that after this night, the brief peace might cease to exist.
He also knew that if the captain were still here, the Church would definitely have aimed their spear at her first, not at the Demon Race, just as they did three years ago.
Empire, Military Department.
Twelve urgent secret orders flew to the borders like snowflakes.
All commanders of the front armies were urgently recalled to the Imperial Capital for a meeting.
In the dim war room, generals belonging to different factions were drawing blood-red lines on the map, taking the opportunity of discussing a full-scale counterattack against the Demon Race to carve out new spheres of influence.
The gear of fate began to turn.
Although the atmosphere in the little nest was still warm and ambiguous, neither Katy nor Gray would realize that today was destined to be an extraordinary day.
Not only because Gray had killed a Calamity Pillar thought to be immortal, but also because it was the greatest turning point in human-demon relations since the “breaking” of the Dawn Blade three years ago.
A new war epoch had quietly begun, amidst the breaths and whispers inside the little hut.