Chapter : 55
Among countless monsters, the Demon King, who was naturally endowed with powerful magic, lived commanding the creatures around him.
One day, a monster came running, out of breath, to report to the Demon King that a human had appeared.
A woman, who had simply taken a wrong turn while picking mushrooms, looked around calmly, unafraid of the bizarre-looking monsters.
The Demon King tried to scare her by radiating his magic, but the woman widened her eyes in wonder and stared at him.
“Are you… a person?”
Even the monsters had trouble handling his power, yet she was strange.
The woman decided to stay in the monster mountain only until her leg, injured while climbing, healed.
By chance or fate, as they spent time together, their feelings deepened, and eventually, they confirmed their love for each other.
Then one day, the woman’s family came searching for her at the monster mountain.
Overjoyed to see her family after so long, she chatted happily and soon went to the Demon King, holding his hand.
“Let’s go live in the empire now.”
Although the Demon King didn’t want to leave the monster mountain, he couldn’t disappoint her.
So he decided to leave the monster mountain and head to the empire.
The moment they packed their belongings and left the monster mountain, a sharp sword pierced the Demon King’s back.
He turned his head and looked at the woman first. She was already pinned by the sword drawn by her family.
“Greedy empire scum… Somehow, they knew that sealing my magic would produce a magic stone,” he said.
However, sealing the Demon King, who resided at the center of magic, was not an easy task.
The empire had set a trap using the woman.
When the woman was taken hostage, the Demon King chose to be sealed willingly.
The seal wasn’t perfect, so he could still see what was happening outside.
“They promised they would save her if they got the magic stone…”
The Demon King stopped speaking there.
Then, the illusions around him changed to scenes of the empire people killing the woman. The Demon King spoke in a low, threatening voice.
“Tell me. What part of me is evil?”
I stared at the Demon King carefully. His expression was grave, and the scene of the woman dying kept repeating in the background.
I took a deep breath and spoke.
“Do you have proof?”
“See, evil is relative… what?”
“Do you have proof? Hey, you’re a good actor, huh?”
I tried to make my voice sound as mocking as possible.
I almost got convinced.
Seeing the visual evidence, it felt like it really happened. But I had discovered the flaw in this story.
All of this came from carefully reading the guidebook to get information on Sirinew.
The guidebook said that the Demon King had been sealed by Sirinew’s parents. Sirinew was the only son of the Lifrix family.
The “woman” the Demon King mentioned didn’t exist.
Moreover, since the Demon King had been sealed during Sirinew’s childhood, it hadn’t been that long ago.
The Demon King had fabricated the story as if it had been long ago, claiming monsters had always existed and that the empire was the one who disrupted peace.
I crossed my arms and spoke with a voice laced with a sneer.
“If what you’re saying is true, what’s that woman’s name?”
“…….”
“You said you loved her?”
The Demon King’s expression changed instantly to one of sadness. Then, curling one side of his mouth, he said:
“Ah, I thought you’d fallen for it all.”
As soon as he finished speaking, the illusions vanished, and the clearing returned to its original state, filled with gray smoke.
The Demon King stared at me intently. I glared back without yielding.
“Magic doesn’t even affect you, and you’re smarter than I thought.”
Smarter than expected? That’s real.
The Demon King shrugged his shoulders and said as if conceding:
“Yes, I embellished a few things for fun. But not all of my story is a lie.”
“Hmph.”
I scoffed and pulled out a talisman.
The Demon King’s expression hardened as he saw it. He waved his hand at me.
“It was a joke. I’m really reflecting. I promise I’ll use my magic for the empire from now on!”
“You really deceive everyone to the very end.”
I clenched my teeth tightly.
“Sealing me isn’t going to bring back the dead. Everyone makes mistakes. Can’t I be one of them?”
“…….”
“I’m telling you I’m really reflecting! What do you want? If you let me out of here, I’ll give you anything you want. Wealth? Honor? Pleasure? Just say it.”
I took a long breath to calm the anger building inside me.
“Alright. Well, you must have had your reasons too.”
“That’s right! Forget what I said earlier. You’re really smart!”
I extended the hand holding the talisman. My body moved naturally. The bracelet on my wrist seemed to guide me.
As I took a step forward, the Demon King frowned and stepped back.
Yet, whether due to the talisman’s effect or because he couldn’t move far from the sealed box, he couldn’t step too far.
“So, do I need to know your reasons?”
“What?”
“Sealing you won’t erase people’s suffering. But if it eases their resentment even a little, I’ll chase you and seal you every time you try to escape.”
As I tried to stick the talisman to the Demon King’s body, he grabbed my hand.
“You won’t go alone.”
The spot where his hand touched burned like fire.
“Ugh……”
I wanted to pull my hand away immediately but couldn’t. I twisted my body, trying desperately to attach the talisman to him.
Thump.
Someone fell behind me.
I gritted my teeth and put all my strength into it. My hand, moving slowly like in a dream, finally touched the Demon King’s body.
The area where the talisman touched started to turn transparent.
Looking at this, the Demon King clicked his tongue and spoke regretfully.
“Even so, my time has started moving. You’ll regret what you did today.”
“Cliché. Try a fresher line next time. Oh, maybe there won’t be a next time?”
Once the talisman was fully attached, the Demon King’s body was drawn into the box.
The smoke filling the clearing whirled and was sucked into the box as well.
The narrow box swelled as the smoke rushed in, almost bursting. Smoke that couldn’t enter the box flowed onto the ground.
When the gray smoke touched the ground, it became sparkling gems.
I took a reed rope from my pocket and wrapped the sealed box tightly.
The sound of the swirling wind stopped abruptly.
I collapsed onto the ground.
Sunlight shone into the clearing, and the scattered gems sparkled brilliantly under it.
“It’s over……!”
Finally, thinking that everything was truly finished, all the strength drained from me. I pressed my hands to the ground to avoid falling backward and felt something.
“What’s this?”
Turning over the hand the Demon King had grabbed, it was unharmed, not burnt as I had feared.
Instead, a large gem lay on the ground.
“So pretty……”
I stared at it absentmindedly, then suddenly remembered the others.
“Ah! Sirinew! Eloy? Brother!”
I quickly turned my head, and those who had fallen to the ground were now groaning and slowly getting up.
“Ugh……”
I ran to help Eloy, who was crouched on the ground.
Eloy looked at me with a confused expression.
Noel, sitting on the floor and blinking, asked in a subdued voice:
“What happened?”
Sirinew also got up, pulling the sword out of the ground, and said:
“……Where’s the Demon King?”
“I sealed him.”
When I answered, all four of them looked at me in shock.
It was no wonder they were bewildered.
I collapsed onto the ground and tried to figure out where to start explaining everything that had happened.
“First… chaotic magic? That’s what they said. That’s why everyone lost consciousness… I…”
I glanced at the bracelet on my wrist. No need to mention that it had glowed.
“I guess I was okay because I had the talisman.”
Sirinew strode over to the sealed box where the Demon King was trapped.
Viviana tried to get up from the floor but staggered, putting her hand down for support. I looked surprised, and she waved her hand.
“Did you really seal him, Miss Selene?”
“Yes!”
It was hard to believe. How could they be convinced that the seal really worked…?
As I looked around for evidence, I heard Arcas’s flustered voice.
“But how are you unharmed?”
I looked at Arcas in confusion.
Could this really be coming from Arcas, who always worries about me?
‘Shouldn’t I have been hurt?’
Flustered, I hesitated, then understood the situation.
Arcas had faced monsters before. Fear of the Demon King was understandable.
Even fighting one monster was extremely dangerous; capturing the Demon King unharmed seemed impossible.
When I looked at Arcas, he covered his mouth with his hand.
Except for the faraway Sirinew, everyone stared at Arcas with wide eyes.
Caught in their gaze, Arcas stammered, unable to control his shaking eyes.
“I didn’t mean… no, what I meant was… I just thought it was dangerous…”
I waved my hand, reassuring Arcas.
“The talisman really worked well.”
Noel looked at my hand and hurried toward me.
“Miss Selene, that’s…?”
