Good Night, Sleep Tight
The Ice Lord"s heart shattered.
He had never considered that His Majesty the Demon King could die. He had always seen the great Demon King as someone possessing endless vitality like a c.o.c.kroach… cough, like a phoenix. Not even the so-called divine punishment tens of thousands of years ago had managed to destroy him. No one in this world could ever kill His Majesty the Demon King.
Therefore, the Demon King could not be dead—right, His Majesty must be trying to trick him—no, this is part of a plot! Everything is going according to His Majesty"s will! …In the past, a hero had indeed claimed he would challenge and defeat His Majesty though—that Hero hadn"t been very strong, but he had many tricks up his sleeves. Perhaps he used some underhanded tactic and—im-impossible, His Majesty the Demon King could not be…
Dead.
The Ice Lord swore on his life that His Majesty the Demon King could never die to the hands of those petty, lowly humans.
His thoughts thrown into disarray, the Ice Lord was unsure of how to proceed. If the Abyss Lord had been present, he most likely would have contemptuously derided the Ice Lord. After all, that fellow loved to watch drama, the bigger the better.
Thinking of that fellow, the Ice Lord became irritated—now, however, wasn"t the time to be thinking about him.
The Ice Lord frowned, a layer of confusion floating onto his icy and handsome face. He thought to himself, His Majesty the Demon King was now a corpse. If this were a part of His Majesty"s schemes…why would His Majesty do such a thing? Furthermore, what was with the wooden stele with something about real silk innerwear written on it? How could His Majesty"s handwriting be that ugly?
His Majesty, Demon King Rozenke"s handwriting was extremely1 beautiful and alluring!
Once upon a time, he had the role of announcing His Majesty the Demon King"s decrees. However, because the words had been too gorgeous and too alluring, he hadn"t been able to read any of it. The Ice Lord pursed his lips. In the past, the greatest troubles in his life had been that His Majesty the Demon King was a heavy sleeper, was too fierce in his methods, and that the other three lords weren"t in their top condition. Tens of thousands of years ago, they were not like they were now! Back then, the climate had been far colder; it was during this time that peoples" fear of the cold gave birth to the Ice Lord, the first among the four lords to possess a physical form. Afterwards, due to the presence of fear and resentment, the Fear Lord came to be. At that time, the Fear Lord had yet to grow into a careless, lazy, and beautiful girl. Thus, the Ice Lord had raised this lazy loli.
The third one was the Flame Lord, born from the Burning h.e.l.l tens of thousands of years ago. After her birth, the Ice Lord also brought her up. He saw her grow up from a small, cute loli into a beautiful and hot girl. However, hot didn"t just describe her appearance, but also her temperament, something which caused quite a few headaches for the stoic Ice Lord.
The climate changed: the frost receded, ice and snow melted. The Dark Abyss, once filled by snow and ice, was now exposed, giving rise to the Abyss Lord.
Most legends tell of how deities equal to the Bright G.o.d had been the first to appear, followed by the Demon King, who later created the Four Great Lords…but the order was actually reversed. In reality, the first to appear were some races who had set up primitive civilizations. Following after, the Four Great Lords were born due to various reasons. Finally, the fear that the various sentient races had towards the world and its dark nature gave "birth" to the Demon King.
From then on, the demons became increasingly stronger.
Back then, the other three lords had all been relatively obedient and listened to the words of their big brother, the Ice Lord. Additionally, because the Demon King had yet to become aware of his surroundings, they had all been extremely cute and cuddly. In those times, the Ice Lord had led a happy and fulfilling life.
Now, everything has changed.
The Flame Lord began to enjoy brandishing a leather whip and wearing scanty, leather clothes. The Abyss lord became a rotten b.a.s.t.a.r.d. The Demon King… turned even more mature. Although His Majesty had been defeated and killed once before, his elegant demeanor had not diminished in the slightest after his rebirth. Although the Ice Lord often feel gratified, he also felt that time was like running water, always proceeding forward without a single glance back. He had become a subordinate who no longer had the right to care for the food and clothing of these "children."
The result was this: the Demon King"s life or death was unknown, the Flame Lord beaten to the point where only her soul was left and unable to transmit even messages. The Ice Lord furiously ground his teeth. He was no longer willing to indulge these people.
Oh, except for His Majesty the Demon King. His Majesty the Demon King was, of course, a supreme existence.
—Thus, let"s have the Abyss Lord, who keeps leaves his duties for no reason, write a hundred security reports, the Ice Lord coldly thought.
The clueless Abyss Lord, who was staying in the demon"s northern camp, inexplicably and suddenly sneezed.
…
The supreme Demon King Rozenke was having a dream.
For him, this was an extremely fresh experience. He rarely dreamed, rather, he rarely experienced fanciful illusions. Many people who dreamed were often confused and disoriented within their dreamscape. Demon King Rozenke, on the other hand, was indifferently taking a stroll. He knew where this was.
He was in the depths of his soul.
Stretching out in all directions was a plane of calm, dead water. The water was dark and viscous without a trace of a ripple. Here, no divide separated the sky and earth. Darkness enshrouded everything. Not a glimmer of light existed here, yet Rozenke could still see everything clearly. Perhaps it would be better to say he could "feel" everything.
The "ground" gradually changed, a thin layer of frost coating its surface.
The Ice Lord has discovered my corpse, Rozenke thought.
Demon King Rozenke complained, it took this long for even one of his subordinates to discover that he was dead…what was the point in having these subordinates?!
At least he had always been thinking about them…
Wait a second, the great Demon King suddenly gave a start. It would seem that he had never once thought of those four lords and their situation after arriving within Hero Xu Jun"s body…
Demon King Rozenke discovered that he was feeling a bit embarra.s.sed (…).
He brought his consciousness out of the depths of his soul and immediately landed within a warm place, Hero Xu Jun"s soul. In Demon King Rozenke"s countless years of life as a demon, he had never known the difference between cold and warmth. Most people couldn"t stand the biting cold or raging heat, but he had been born as a Demon King. He possessed the strongest defense and resistance against all types of magic. Therefore, ordinary temperature changes weren"t even worth mentioning as he wouldn"t even wrinkle a brow if he were to be placed in lava or frozen into a popsicle.
However, emerging from his own silent and icy soul into the warm and slightly noisy body of the Hero, he actually let out a long, comfortable sigh of relief.
There was no way to describe this feeling. It was like a jungle dwelling black panther suddenly experienced the sun"s rays and turned into a cat.
The Demon King, who had turned into a cat and was feeling lazy, asked, "Hey, Xu Jun, are you going to follow that holy son to the Holy Light Elves?"
Xu Jun, who had been falling asleep but was startled awake, immediately attacked with a "motherf.u.c.ker, who dares to interrupt yours truly"s sleep," before realizing that he was talking about the high and mighty Prince Ryan…cough, that"s good. He should be used to this already. After all, Prince Ryan should have understood his true nature by now.
Demon King Rozenke: "…No, I don"t want to know about your pee"s traits2."
Since he was awake, Xu Jun exuberantly cried out "Prince Ryan," and began to chatter. "Obviously I"m going to the Holy Light Elves. When I was in the Demon King"s treasury, I found a lot of black lotuses, you follow? The Holy Light Elves use these flowers to make potions that can cure excessive light element disease…selling these to them is perfect! The elves have money!"
Rozenke really didn"t know how this Hero had been raised. The other"s mind was forever full of eating, drinking, and having fun. Rather than a hero, wouldn"t it be more fitting for him to have become a gangster…The Demon King felt that he shouldn"t waste time deliberating this issue. He forced himself to not care about how this hero wanted to take apart his treasury and sell it off—After all, his silk innerwear was safe for now. In the short term, there was no need to worry that this hero would go back and expose this emperor"s naked body to the elements. This was already extremely gratifying for Rozenke.
The stuff in the treasury are merely worldly possessions. It"s fine if he… sells them _(:зゝ∠)_ .
"However, we should first take care of Wilderness City"s situation—no, we"ll discuss our plans after this situation pa.s.ses." Xu Jun"s voice became serious. "Prince Ryan, how much do you know about the n.o.bles?"
The former Prince Ryan harrumphed, no one understood human n.o.bles better than him. They were a group of fellows who prioritized face over life, led sinful lives, and were hypocritical, contemptible, shameless villains. "What are you asking about them for?"
Xu Jun solemnly stated, " I want to contribute to the friendship between humans and beastmen."
"…speak human."
"Look at situation, Sir3 Ryan, why do you think of me like this? As a human, is it wrong to have such thoughts?" Xu Jun was speechless and thought that he should give a clear explanation to let Prince Ryan realize how righteous he, Sir Xu Jun, was. After all, he had even killed the Demon King in order to save the world! "—I think that a certain human n.o.ble family—most likely the Ester family—was consorting with the beastmen to attack a weakened Wilderness City. If the city had really been invaded, the Snow Blade Kingdom would have lost a line of defense. Following that, would the conspirators convince the demons to attack Snow Blade Kingdom from the south? Tch, the black hand behind all this might even be a demon…"
Demon King Rozenke thought, as a Demon King, I had never even considered that this was a viable option. Thank you for helping this emperor think of this. What are the benefits of attacking the Snow Blade Kingdom? How would breaking through the Snow Blade Kingdom"s southern defense be helpful? The demons mostly waged war in the north; a ma.s.sive invasion from the south could overextend their forces. Although the hero"s idea was clever, it was clear that he couldn"t see the larger picture and was instead overa.n.a.lyzing small details.
"The Demon King would never do such a thing," he replied.
Xu Jun thought, it"s not like I don"t know about your little romp with the Demon King, Prince Ryan, but do you really need to paint the Demon King in such a good light? Xu Jun rolled over on the bed, twisting the covers into an absolute mess. Yawning, he retorted, "Whatever, you"re just going to speak up for him anyways."
He buried his face into the pillow. With a m.u.f.fled voice that carried the tone of a spoiled child, he complained, "I"m so tired, I want to sleep. Don"t disturb me anymore."
Demon King Rozenke thought, what do you mean disturb you!? Your sleep talking has already disturbed me multiple times already à_à.
For many people within Wilderness City, it was destined to be a sleepless night.
After the battle today, the Sand Leopard Tribe, as a neutral tribe, hadn"t fallen out with the humans. As long as their cub was returned to them, there were no major issues to be had. Furthermore, many sand leopards had followed Xu Jun around in the city, eating and drinking. After a meal of meat and wine, they became on familiar terms with the Wilderness City"s Lord. The two exchanged words with each other; this side stated, we of Wilderness City love peace and would never abduct your children; the other side said, we of the Sand Leopard Tribe also love peace and will not give you any troubles.
In truth, this was a case of the soft cotton concealing a sharp needle. Although Kanaman"s mind wasn"t the sharpest tool in the shed, he still had a sense for danger. While calm, at least, he possessed a sort of unpolished wit.
In the dead of the night, Kanaman was not sleeping.
The group of Sand Leopard Beastmen, the guy named Xu Jun, who claimed to be an ordinary hero, the feminine person who claimed to be an ordinary priest, and the priest"s follower, were all living in the City Lord"s mansion for the time being. The hero named Xu Jun was extremely popular and would engage in small talk with casino owner. Apparently, Xu Jun had taken Ti Na to play at the gambling house. At first, Kanaman hadn"t known what kind of place a gambling house was. After he became aware of what it was, he thought, humans are really know how to have fun; that Xu Jun actually brought a small child to that kind of place. He really isn"t a good person.
"Brother, you"re still not asleep?" Ti Na spoke softly, his little hands grabbing onto and playfully pinching his brother"s fingers. “Everything is my fault. Please don"t be angry. Even after playing so much outside, I really am still cautious about humans…" ,
The words comforted Kanaman"s heart slightly. Although his sleeplessness wasn"t because he was seething about his brother"s actions, knowing that his younger brother was so obedient, he, as an elder brother, felt relieved.
"I"m not angry at you." Kanaman rubbed the small child"s head. "Go to sleep."
Ti Na consciously threw his caution to the wind. "Alright! Then let"s play around for another day tomorrow! Xu Jun said that human cities have a lot of fun stuff in them! He said that he would bring me to shop at the auction house…"
—Uh oh, Ti Na thought, I haven"t even finished saying half of what I wanted to say and brother"s face has already turned as black as a pot"s bottom.
Translator"s Niche:
[1]This is a pun in the raw. The author had it written as ‘炒鸡" (chao ji) or ‘fried chicken", which sounds extremely similar to ‘超级" (chao ji) which means ‘super" or ‘extremely." Apparently its supposed to me a more cutesy way of saying the word.⏎
[2]So, the chinese words ‘尿性" (niao xing) has a meaning of ‘true nature" in slang, but can also literally translated as ‘pee"s traits."⏎
[3]Original chinese is "老爷" (lao ye) which is usually used to refer to a man of higher standing/age. There were so many different ways I could"ve translate this…why can"t Chinese and English have word for word translations QAQ ⏎