7th Demon Prince Jilbagias’ Chronicle of Demon Kingdom Toppling

２６． How to Walk in The Demon King Castle

I woke up to the rays of sunlight entering my room from the window.

『Have you woke up?』

Ante was peeking at my face from above. I noticed the soft and warm feeling that was different from my usual pillow.

Seriously, you gave me a lap pillow for the entire night.

『And thanks to that, Thee got a high-quality sleep right?』

The Demon God showed an impish smile as she spoke… Well, thanks a lot.

I felt refreshed after a whole night of sleep.

Sure enough, rest was important for humans… I'm not a human though. According to the position of the sun, it's just before noon. In short, midnight for the demon race.

Upon leaving the room, a head with white hair was already waiting beside the door of my room.

「Uhm… Munyamunya…」

A maid of the white tiger tribe who sat in a small chair―― Garounya was dozing off during her duty. Another imp who was standing by beside her just shrugged their shoulder.

Aah, this girl had been standing by for my sake huh…

「O~i」

「… YEESH!」

Garounya sprung up immediately with a flustered voice.

「AH, MASTER! GOOD MORNING! P-PLEASE DON'T MISUNDERSTAND, I'M DEFINITELY NOT SLEEPING!」

「I won't blame you even if you're asleep.」

I mean, I was asleep myself… And from the perspective of the majority of the dwellers of the demon king castle, this time was right in the middle of the night.

I then asked for a beverage and a light meal for my wake-up meal… I mean, it's been a long time since I had a "Lunch". I was starting to get used to life as a demon race as of late after all.

The sunlight was too bright for the demon race's eyes. But, I-as a former human- didn't hate it. The warm sunlight of autumn was the best. Even if I died and reincarnated, it was one thing that would never change.

Come to think of it, Ante had told me before that she wanted to stroll around the demon king castle.

「Are you leaving, master?」

「I'm going for a stroll.」

「Let me to accompany you!」

Thus, I was strolling around the demon king castle at noon along with Ante and Garounya.

I had been exploring the demon king castle on countless occasions since I was a child but, this might be the first time I did it when the sun was high in the sky.

「Humph. It was a splendid structure.」

Ante spoke while knocking on the marble wall.

The outer edge of the demon king castle had many arch-shaped giant lighting windows which were made to give a sense of space.

It was devoid of any ornaments but, that alone was enough to show its grandioseness―― Which reminded me of ancient ruins. Coupled with the pure white marble, it was hard to believe that this place was the citadel of the denizens of darkness.

I mean, the obsidian castle was best suited for their image and yet, their castle was actually made from white marble… which shines in the darkness.

「It was originally the den of the dragon after all. The first demon king commissioned the Corvut clan which specialized in stone manufacturing to carve the mountain.」

Since they were out of the influence of the human race at that time, they literally bulldozing with sheer strength. Though some defects could be seen in various places such as the arches or the pillars since the demon race's construction skill was a far cry from the human race, there was no need to doubt its strength since the magic of the Corvut clan was used to build the castle.

「And right below this castle was the incubation facility of the dragon. How vulgar.」

「Yeah. Honestly, I've been wondering when will they rise to revolt.」

Thankfully we're in a rather deserted place, thus Ante and I could have such a risque conversation. Garounya, who followed behind us with a smile on her face, was now looking at us with a cramped smile.

The demon king's castle at noon was truly quiet.

Though I saw drowsy soldiers or guards every now and then, none of them was from the demon race. The night elves seem to be sleeping around this time too. The one wandering along the passage was a beastfolk maid or devil.

「So the devil isn't affected by the sun.」

Despite having a face that looks like a proper 『Denizen of Darkness』 in the demon kingdom, the devils weren't affected by sunlight at all. Well, it wasn't that bad for the demon race as they just got dazzled by sunlight, the night elves would get a sunburn, and the only one who received real damage was the undead…

「That's what we can do.」

Ante spoke with a dumbfounded face while looking up to the ceiling.

「Moreover, you have experienced how the sun of hell is cool.」

Her remark made me remember the heavenly body of that other world which cast black light.

「… Sure enough, this sun was cute compared to that.」

Yeah, the cute and adorable sun we got here. The beastfolk's servants who carried mountains of dirty clothes were walking respectfully as they passed me.

They might say that they're a darkness army and yet, their washed clothes couldn't even get dried without the sun. And then, those night elves whose clothes dried up by sunlight wore said clothes while saying nonsense such as how they hate the sun—what a hypocrite.

「Well, Ante. We've been arriving at the outer proximity of the demon king castle but, is there something that you want to see here?」

「I have no idea what's the name of that place but… can you let me see the central part of the demon king castle?」

Ante made an impish look on her face as she spoke. What in the hell are you trying to do in that place? I want to show you that if it was possible but…

「I have never entered the palace, and the central part seems to be undead territory.」

Demon King's Palace―― Was the highest place in the demon king castle with really good ventilation. It was the place where all kinds of treasures from the countries that got invaded by them were stowed in, it might be the most gorgeous place in the entire demon king castle. That place also made me recall the unpleasant memories of our landing back then during the assault operation due to insufficient information.

Things might get a little bit better if the assault team back then landed right on the palace…

And then, the castle, or should I call it the centre of the mountain, was a place that no living being wanted to approach due to the horrible atmosphere surrounding it.

「Because using fire in place with stagnating air will poison you to death. It's the stronghold of the undead who doesn't mind the damp and dark place.」

「And it's a difficult to place for you guys to live in since you can't use illumination magic.」

Well, the incubation place located in the underground was the only thing that made the dragon work up, in various meanings.

「… But we can still go to the courtyard.」

In the end, I offered a safe choice for Ante.

Only when I was walking in this way did I realize how narrow my field of vision was back when I was still a brat.

Even if I didn't enter the palace, I got a chill running down my spine the moment I imagined what would happen to me if I went too far with my touring in the outer edge of the demon king castle for exploration.

If I was obedient from the very beginning, I might get more relevant information about documents or reports of the demon king army.

The only thing in my head back then was defeating the demon king. And the one who granted wisdom to the muscle brain me back then was the devil of knowledge.

Well, let's stop being sarcastic to myself.

「This is the courtyard. If you exclude the palace, this was the place with most sunlight in demon king castle.」

There was a hodge-podge of flowers blooming in this place. Anyhow, it was a garden that screamed "Planting plants just for the sake of planting since there was a plot of soil for it!" the gardener didn't even try to be artistic at all.

「And then, there's also a medicinal garden.」

「No matter how you look at it, the style is overly emphasizing practicality. Which makes this garden too COLOURFUL.」

「Yeah. Ah, be careful of the poisonous plant over there. If poison could work on you, that's it.」

「Worry not, it won't.」

Ante was looking around restlessly, well she was unexpectedly interested in flowers.

「Oh, this is the ingredient for a truth serum. And this is for paralysis poison. How nostalgi~c.」

Nostalgic my ass. The one who was responsible for this garden was those fu*cking night elves.

The demon race detested the use of poison since they considered that as a weapon for the weak. They had the Reiju clan to heal their wounds after all.

「This one is for drugs, the one over there is for sedatives. Woah, they even have red grass. This can become a powerful hair removal agent if you boil it. The size might be small but, it has everything.」

Well as long as you enjoyed it. Rather, just how nostalgic it was for you to remember such details…

I was sitting on a bench in the garden. Strangely enough, the warm sunlight made me sleepy despite having just woken up from my sleep.

「Master… Are you enjoying basking in the sunlight?」

Garounya asked shyly.

「I don't hate it. Its just a bit too bright for my preference.」

It was a big fat lie though.

「Do you want to take a nap too, Garounya?」

「It's okay! It's still noon after all!」

Garounya replied decisively but… Aren't you being forced to change your life cycle to match the nocturnal demon race? You're supposed to take a rest around this time, right?

「In your hometown, you should've woken up at dusk and slept after the sunrise, right?」

「Yes, there's farmwork… and working as an attendant in the demon king castle too but, we're changing shift every morning and night.」

The laundry and cleaning should've finished around noon.

「I see… so you're working in shift just like soldier.」

But then, this made it even harder for me to guess the life cycle of the beastfolk. Maybe I should ask Sofia for her recommendation book in this regard.

I mean, even if their race was unified as beastfolk, they were divided into various tribes. And the fact that whether they're hostile toward humans or not would greatly change the situation.

I heard that the white tiger tribe who were once hunted down by the humans for their pelt was completely hostile toward humans. Though their status wasn't that much better in the demon kingdom, it was much better than being hunted down by humans for their pelt.

For better or worse, some beastfolks were also part of the demon kingdom. So inciting them to revolt might be close to impossible――

… And when I was thinking about such things.

A silhouette of another person appeared from the corridor on the other side of my position.

No matter how you look at it, the other party was a suspicious person who wore a robe and draped a hood over their head. And doesn't seem to be the devil or the castle employee either. Who is that I wonder? If we go by their colour of their pale skin, I would say that the other party was a night elf but――

That suspicious person then stood in the edge of the shade, and slowly, they exposed their arm under the sun. The sunlight was raining down incessantly on the skin that was already as white as a wax doll――

「AH!」

The next moment, Garounya raised a shriek.

Reason being the hand of the suspicious person was wrapped in a flame.

「Ah. This one is a failure.」

It was an indifferent voice. There was no surprise whatsoever even though their hand was on fire.

Soon enough, their hand went up with a puff, and turned into pure white ash.

That was―― It was the kind of fire that I saw on many occasions.

During my hero era, that's it.

『It stinks.』

Ante, who had returned before I knew it, placed her hand on my shoulder.

『That fellow's magical power―― Is so murky. So bad to the point that it smelled like rotten meat.』

The said stinky and suspicious person then retreated as they removed their hood with their remaining right hand.

「Yahoo. Are you surprised?」

A bright voice. The smile looked like it was pasted on the face. Ashen-coloured eyes that look like glass marbles are inserted into eye sockets.

No doubt about it. This fella was――

「A No Life King(Lich) huh.」

What in the world did the king of the undead do in this place?

===

Garounya