Chapter 20
I have to run!
The goblin overseer didn’t know where that crazy human had heard about this, or why she was doing this.
But if things stayed like this, he was finished.
For now, I just have to talk my way out of this!
He decided to insist he knew nothing, promise to “fix the problem” with the supplier, and get rid of her.
Then, once she was convinced, he would escape to another territory and never come back.
Step. Step.
Just then—
A man stepped out from the bushes behind him.
“Ah!”
The overseer gasped.
“Huh?!”
The workers were just as shocked.
Black hair, as dark as a moonless night.
Skin pale like cold ice, eyes sharp.
Pupils like deep, mysterious red jewels.
A perfectly drawn face, sharp like it had been cut in one stroke by a pen.
The goblin knew that face.
“L–Lord Demon King!”
“Why is the Demon King here?”
Ludwig had been with Ariella the whole time—just hidden.
They’d planned it this way so that word wouldn’t leak. If the overseer had known the Demon King was coming, he might have hidden or switched the wood in advance.
That plan had been Ariella’s idea.
The overseer trembled.
Ludwig’s face looked calm at first glance.
No frown, no smile, no twitch at the corner of his lips.
Yet everyone present could feel it.
The Demon King was furious.
Furious beyond what they could imagine.
“D–Demon King, I…!”
The overseer tried to speak—but his throat locked tight.
The new Demon King had only been in power for a year. To the people of the territory, he was a mystery.
Few had even heard his voice. When he toured the land, he stayed silent.
But rumors said this quiet ruler was merciless to his enemies.
On the battlefield, he fought like a madman.
That’s why the people had given him a nickname—
The Silent Lunatic.
A berserker who cared for nothing but battle.
And now, that man’s eyes were blazing like fire.
The goblin’s knees shook.
The Demon King’s heavy magic pressed down on them all.
What is this?!
The overseer felt as if an invisible weight was crushing him.
Ludwig didn’t touch him.
He just looked.
But even that was enough—the air itself felt like chains wrapping around him.
The pressure was so fierce it was as if his skin would tear apart and his bones would break.
“Ugh… grrk!”
A groan escaped the goblin’s lips.
Finally—
Thud!
He collapsed to his knees.
Vampire Bephar did not like the situation.
In fact, he felt threatened.
That woman… she’s becoming a real problem.
Bephar didn’t sleep well at night to begin with. Now it was even worse—thanks to Ariella.
The Demon King had brought her from the human world as a contract partner.
I thought he didn’t care about contracts at all.
Ludwig had been an easy target. Young, inexperienced, and obsessed only with fighting.
Bephar had easily manipulated him—taking charge of the territory’s affairs while Ludwig went out to defend the land.
It had worked perfectly. Ludwig never noticed what Bephar had been doing.
So why bring in such a troublesome woman?
When she declared she would investigate the accounts, Bephar felt both anger and fear.
If she really could read those records, he had to stop her.
Bephar had been stealing from the territory for many, many years.
The previous Demon King hadn’t cared about internal affairs. The current one didn’t know how they worked.
It had been perfect for Bephar’s greed.
The decline of the territory and the loss of its people didn’t matter to him—if the land collapsed completely, it was the Demon King who would suffer, not him.
There’s no time. I have to do something about those library records.
In them were decades of his corruption, laid out in black and white.
He had never bothered to hide it much—no one in the territory could understand the numbers anyway.
But if someone who could read them looked? The truth would come out.
Numbers didn’t lie.
And now that construction work has started, everything’s a mess!
Bephar had sent his men to the library to retrieve the documents—destroy the evidence.
But the butler, Gruve, had acted first.
Gruve’s public announcement brought in a flood of workers, filling the once-empty library. There was no way for Bephar’s men to sneak the papers out.
When the work was done, Ariella immediately took the records to study. Stealing them now was impossible.
Her quick action had left him no chance to respond.
“Lord Bephar!”
A voice came from outside his room.
“What is it?”
His voice was sharp—he was already irritated.
“The goblin… has been arrested!”
Bephar almost laughed.
A goblin? Now? How was that important?
But then—
“Wait. Who did you say?”
When he heard the name, his face hardened.
He usually didn’t bother remembering goblins’ names, but this one he knew.
“You said he’s been arrested?”
“Yes! The Demon King went to the site himself and took him into custody!”
As the explanation continued, Bephar’s expression grew darker.
That goblin was one of Bephar’s front men—a puppet.
Bephar had ordered every deal he made, and taken huge profits from them.
And now Ludwig had caught him.
“They’re interrogating him in the underground prison!”
“…I see.”
When the servant left, Bephar sat in silence.
So, the boy bit back hard.
That fool of a Demon King couldn’t have planned this himself.
The one behind it must be that human woman.
They were already dangerously close to the truth.
If the goblin had been found, it was only a matter of time before more evidence came out.
No. I can’t let it end like this. I’ve worked too hard.
There was still plenty to steal from this land.
And Ludwig… Ludwig was the perfect fool—someone you couldn’t find anywhere else.
Bephar made up his mind.
It’s all because of that contractee.
If she disappeared, everything would return to normal.
He didn’t know that killing Ariella would also kill Ludwig.
No sane Demon King would ever make such a contract—or so he thought.
Decision made, Bephar called to his people outside—his own kin, who shared his blood.
“Come in. I have something I need you to do.”
