Chapter 7
02. Take that brat and get lost already
Thud! Thump!
Every step Martin took made the ground tremble. It wasn’t just his massive size—the sheer amount of mana infused into his movements caused it.
‘Why did I forget about this guy?’
Leaning comfortably against Martin’s chest, I grinned.
At first, I wasn’t sure—but now that I could feel his power firsthand, I was certain who he was.
Martin Jonasei.
Just like his name—ridiculously strong.
The commander of the 1st Legion of the Demon King’s army, and second only to the Demon King himself in Raising the Hero.
Even the hero had to spend three months and ten days to barely defeat him. That’s how strong Martin was.
Some guy named Riat seemed to be in control right now, but there was no way he could handle Martin.
If this guy took my side, moving around the Demon King’s castle would become much easier.
And considering I’d eventually pass my knowledge to the Demon King, getting close to Martin would be beneficial.
Heh heh. Everything is going exactly as I want.
After returning to my room for the first time in two days, I lay down on the bed and smiled brightly at Martin.
His rough-looking face stiffened slightly.
“Ma? (Smile, you bastard.)”
“……”
Martin stared down at me in silence for a moment. Then he slowly extended a finger toward me.
“I… scary. But baby… no cry. Strange.”
It seemed like he wanted me to grab it, so I tightly held his finger.
His eyes widened even more.
“Even demon babies… scared of me. But you… not scared.”
To be fair, Martin did look terrifying. His size alone was intimidating, and his sunken eyes and scruffy beard practically screamed, ‘I’m scary as hell.’
But honestly, I wasn’t scared.
What was there to fear? The truly terrifying thing was me—someone who had lived and died six times before turning fifteen.
Compared to that, this was nothing.
“Byaaak! (Stop messing around and give me food!)”
So I cried out louder, thrashing around.
I hadn’t eaten anything since before going to that court thing.
“Byak! Byak! (Food! Give me food!)”
I pointed at my stomach. Even if he couldn’t understand my words, he should get the gesture.
…Or so I thought.
“I… sleepy. Must sleep.”
“…Bya? (What the hell? You’re going to sleep?)”
I’m starving!
“Uwaaa! (I’m hungry! Give me food!)”
“Yawn.”
“Mak! Myaak! (Food! I said food!)”
Despite my desperate cries, Martin simply yawned and plopped down heavily.
“Mya… (Oh man, this is bad.)”
Grrrrrrr.
Am I going to starve to death like this?
Hey, system. Got anything? If communication’s this bad, I’m going to die before I even start the quest.
[SYSTEM]
…Hehe.
‘?’
Is this thing insane?
I could feel a headache coming on. Aaaagh! I’m hungry! Should I just go out and find something to eat?
Just as I was thinking that—
“Commander!”
Bang! The door burst open and someone rushed in.
“If you had business, you should’ve said so! What do you mean you just don’t show up? Everyone’s waiting for you!”
The man stomped his feet angrily, but Martin didn’t move an inch.
Clicking my tongue, I observed the demon who had barged in.
Surprisingly, he looked pretty ordinary. Judging by his clothes, he was part of the Demon King’s army—brown hair, fair skin, a solid build, and a gentle-looking face.
Finally! A normal-looking guy!
I stared at him with sparkling eyes.
The man, who had been sighing at Martin, slowly turned his gaze toward me.
“Oh, oh!”
He strode over.
“So you must be Lady Sekina!”
“Byaa…? (Oh, you know me?)”
“I heard about you on the way here. You personally chose our commander!”
Yeah. He looked the strongest.
“Hahaha! Excellent choice! From now on, Lady Sekina, we’ll be working together!”
“…We?”
What does that mean?
A chill ran down my spine, and I tried to back away—but his eyes were shining with burning enthusiasm.
“Our 1st Legion will do everything we can to improve your abilities!”
Improve… what?
“Come on, let’s go!”
Go where?
“The training ground is quite large. We’ll start with crawling practice!”
“….”
“Let’s go, let’s go! You can become strong!”
I’d rather just die.
“Oh dear, if you were hungry, you should’ve said so! I had no idea!”
“Byaak! (I said it a hundred times, you idiot!)”
“Haha. It’s tasty, right?”
The man, who introduced himself as Arthur, fed me milk and held me in his arms.
“I may not look it, but I’m a father of two. I’m very used to handling babies.”
Maybe that’s why—the milk’s taste and temperature were perfect.
“But…”
Arthur’s face suddenly hardened.
“Because of some fing piece of s, I got dragged here by the Demon King and dumped in this shitty human world. Hahaha.”
“…?”
Did I hear that right? That sounded like a whole lot of swearing.
“So I have very, very high expectations for your abilities, Lady Sekina. Not just me—everyone in the demon realm does. Please help us kill that f***ing bastard with our own hands. Please.”
“….”
Ah. Right. He’s a demon too.
I’d been looking at Martin so much that I momentarily forgot Arthur was insane as well.
“Byak… (I’m the only sane one here.)”
Unaware of my sigh, Arthur skillfully tied up the still-sleeping Martin with rope.
“Our commander has trouble waking up once he falls asleep. And yet he sleeps like crazy… ah, never mind.”
Is he really sleeping? Not dead?
I stared at Martin, who didn’t even react as he was tied up.
“Haha, he’s not dead. If he could die from something like this, I’d have killed him long ago. Haha!”
Still holding me, Arthur grabbed the rope and started dragging Martin.
Thud! Thud!
He dragged Martin through the hallway and down the stairs without hesitation. Arthur’s strength was impressive—but so was Martin, whose head kept banging on the stairs without even a scratch.
“This is the training ground.”
Arthur tossed Martin onto the ground and carried me inside. The demons who had been playing around rushed over, shouting.
“Oh! Is this her?”
“The one who binds relics?”
“The one who will save us from this shitty human world?”
They all stared at me with sparkling eyes. I knew my ability was special, but this much attention was a bit—
“Hey! What are you doing?! Anyone with spare mana, hurry and pour it into Lady Sekina! She needs to grow fast so we can escape!”
…not unwelcome.
“Uwaa! (More! Give me more!)”
Feeling the pure mana flowing into my body, I smiled in satisfaction.
Wow… I’m getting mana here in the Demon King’s castle that I never had in my previous lives.
“This is great.”
“Alright, now that the commander’s here, let’s start training. Line up.”
“But the commander is sleeping.”
“When is he not?”
“Ah.”
The demons nodded and scattered into groups. Arthur placed me carefully at one side of the training ground.
“Lady Sekina, watch our training carefully. You’ll be joining us soon.”
I had no intention of training in the future, but I nodded quietly anyway. I was curious how demons trained.
And what I saw was—
“HAHAHA! Die! Dieeee!”
“You missed, right? I dodged that perfectly, didn’t I? You can’t beat me!”
“Get that bastard!”
“Nope, you can’t catch me! You’re slow as hell!”
What a mess.
Their swordsmanship was incredible—but their trash talk was even more impressive.
I let out a hollow laugh watching the lunatics shouting around.
‘Let’s never get involved with them.’
Arthur had said something about training earlier, but yeah—no thanks.
‘I’ll just stay with them while I’m a baby, then leave when I grow up.’
Thinking that, I slowly turned my head—
Ding!
The one notification I least wanted to hear rang out.
Main Quest <Let’s Get Close!>
You’ve entered Martin Jonasei’s camp! Now that you’re here, you must squeeze everything out of them. However, these shy demons won’t easily let you get close.
What nonsense.
Shy? Them?
So here’s a friendly mission for you!
Become close with all the demons under Martin Jonasei.
Objective: Gain favor with all 1st Legion members (1/36)
Time Limit: 240 hours
Reward:
- Favor from the demons
- Bonus points for job advancement quest
Failure: Death
…Fuck.
When I was starving earlier, it just went “hehe,” and now it gives me a quest?
‘I’m going to kill that system. No matter what.’
And now it doesn’t even ask if I accept.
‘I swear, I’m going to lock that system in a room someday and go, “Would you like to eat dumplings for 30 years? Just kidding—you’re eating dumplings for 30 years.”’
And what’s this bonus for a job advancement quest?
Is the next quest about choosing a class?
‘Whatever…’
I’ll kill it later.
Grinding my toothless gums together, I took a deep breath and started thinking hard.
How do I get close to these insane demons?
Back before I got stuck in this damn game, I was a loner. My phone contacts only had the class president and the teacher… not even invited to group chats… the kind of person people would say, “Oh, they existed?”
That kind of zero-social-skills personality doesn’t just disappear. Even in the game, I had no friends.
Which means I have no idea how to raise someone’s affinity.
‘Is it really fair to die for being a loner?’
Millions of loners would riot over this, you stupid system.
‘What do I even do?’
For the first time in my life, I seriously tried to figure out how to get close to someone.
And then—
“Byaaak!”
A huge face suddenly appeared right in front of me, making me fall backward in shock.
It was Martin.
“Bya! Mabyabya! (Turn on your blinker before shoving your face in! You scared me!)”
Clutching my pounding heart, I shouted.
Martin’s eyes slowly moved.
“You… still not cry?”
He looked genuinely surprised.
Ha…
I was really trying to hold it in, but—
“Mak! Myaa! (I’m not crying, damn it! Stop asking!)”
Don’t ask the same thing over and over.
You know what my strength is? Not crying.
“Byaamya! (Ask again and you’re dead!)”
I growled, clenching my tiny fist.
“……”
Martin stared at me for a moment, then suddenly held out his palm.
“Hand.”
What?
“Byaaak! (Am I a dog?!)”
Are you kidding me?
You bastard, I’ll kill the system and then you—
Main Quest <Let’s Get Close!>
Gain favor with all 1st Legion members (2/35) — NEW!
…Yeah, right.
“Foot… give?”
Of course I will.
I gently placed my tiny foot on his palm and squeezed my eyes shut.
For now, until I grow up, I might as well throw my dignity away.
