Volume 1. Chapter 14. Shadows of Betrayal.

In the morning, they made a small farewell. The hero and his new party will head to the Gerna kingdom, while his friends are asked to stay in the city of Norf.

"Mr. Hero, we pray for your safety until you return."

Nita prayed for their safety.

"Thank you, Nita."

Mansa felt helped by the prayer said by one of his friends.

"We will wait for you here. Nita and I want to find out about the city of Loren. Hopefully, there are clues there about Una's mysterious earrings."

"I'm counting on you, Sara."

Mansa was so happy that Sara and Nita wanted to help him get information about the Onxy gem earrings.

"Elia... I am going on a long journey and don't know when I will return. Can you wait for me?"

Cini indirectly expressed his feelings.

"I will wait for you, Cini, no matter what."

Elia accepted Cini's feelings of love, and they officially became a couple.

"Tell Erik to prepare himself when I return."

"We will, Mr. Hero. Don't worry."

Nita received the message that Erik wanted to convey.

After the small farewell was over, they shot up into the sky like rockets and headed west, which was their destination.

"Is there something bothering you?"

Rii was curious why Mansa seemed like someone who was thinking about something and looked regretful.

"Nothing. I just regret my actions, which made me look like a selfish child who wanted a toy."

"Maybe I should think of a way to make Una forgive my mistake."

Mansa told the reason for his flight while contemplating.

At the same time, Vail saw a mysterious woman dressed in green and stared at him.

"Now you... what's the problem that made you look down?"

Cini wondered why Vail focused his eyes on the ground when they were flying toward the Gerna kingdom.

"Maybe it was just my hunch before passing through the forest. I saw a woman dressed in green with a crown on her head. She waved at me."

Vail told the reason for his looking down.

"Maybe you're just tired. I didn't see any women when we passed through the forest."

Rii was unsure because he didn't feel anyone in the Haran forest.

Meanwhile, the goddess of love waved her hand to Vail. Feeling the presence from behind her, it was the demon king Neii.

"So it's you, the figure behind the summoning, that I should have failed."

It was clear from what was said that the goddess of love was behind the first summoning.

"What do you mean, mortal?"

"Gods like us are forbidden from interfering in worldly affairs—"

"Nonsense, I know what you're planning to do to one of those heroes, and I won't let you succeed."

"I won't allow gods like you to play with the lives of mortals like us."

Neii's words made the goddess glance at him with an unpleasant gaze.

"Demon king Neii... if you don't interfere in my business. I will make a deal—"

"No, thank you."

Neii immediately refused outright and interrupted the goddess' words.

"What made you refuse it?"

The goddess wanted to know why Neii refused her offer.

“Just think that I don’t want to be killed by the darkness that came ten years ago.”

“As a demon king, you are so cowardly towards that mysterious newcomer. He does have a very dense darkness, but as long as the newcomer doesn't interfere.”

“I will not consider him an enemy, and neither will you.”

The goddess told him that she would not consider Neii an enemy if he did not interfere with her plans.

“Interfere? Don’t be ridiculous... What I do is observe and speak up about the conclusions I have reached.”

“But I warn you not to attract the attention of the mysterious figure, or the incident that happened to Zerk will come to you.”

Neii left the goddess of love, who was angry because a mortal wanted to interfere with her plans.

As time passed, they arrived at the Gerna kingdom in the afternoon. The new demon king had calculated their arrival and ordered his soldiers to take them to the castle.

They were treated quite well, there was no coercion or commotion as if they were important guests who had made an appointment with the king.

“Welcome to the Gerna kingdom, hero.”

Among them, only Mansa was surprised to see King Ligt transformed into a demon race with horns like a bull and a purple triangle on his forehead.

“Seeing your reaction, I'm sure you want to know what happened, right?”

King Ligt stepped down from the throne and approached Mansa.

“King Ligt, why did you betray us?”

Mansa asked without hesitation and filled with curiosity.

At the same time, Cini felt another presence behind the pillars holding up the castle.

"I..."

“You over there... come out.”

King Ligt and Mansa were confused, but soon, the demon king Dorf emerged from one of the pillars accompanied by laughter.

“Unexpectedly, you managed to find out, even though I had concealed my presence.”

“Demon King Dorf, what made you do such a thing?”

King Ligt was displeased with Demon King Dorf’s actions of eavesdropping on the conversation and disturbing the peace.

“Naive, so naive… Demon King Ligt. Just because the ancestors made you their subordinates doesn’t mean you won’t be asked to fight the human race.”

After speaking with arrogance and annoyance, Demon King Dorf disappeared.

King Ligt apologized for Demon King Dorf’s actions and invited them to a better place to talk.

Several servants came with a banquet, among them a teenage girl who worked as a castle maid to support her family.

“I apologize in advance for what happened,”

“It’s okay, King Ligt, in fact... we are grateful that you protected us.”

Mansa was pleased that King Ligt's nature and attitude remained unchanged, even after becoming a demon king.

“And my King... the Union has informed me that you betrayed us. Is that true?”

“Quite the opposite.”

“On the contrary?”

Cini was curious about what King Ligt meant.

“A month ago, the Gerna kingdom was attacked by the demon army. I sent a message to the union to ask for help, but their help never came.”

They were silent for a moment before King Ligt spoke again.

“My actions are indeed unforgivable, but hearing of their betrayal, which cost me my territory, cannot be forgiven!”

King Ligt held back his anger and clenched one of his hands on the table.

“This is different from what was told.”

Mansa was a little shocked by the different truth.

“Of course... all the kings in the union only care about status and territory. They even occasionally bring up the idea of ​​fighting for the imperial seat that is currently still empty.”

King Ligt told of the conflict that often occurred when all the kings gathered. They did not care about the current situation.

“Then how can humans become a demon race?”

Vail was so curious about that.

“Before the demon king Dorf was about to kill me, the sound of a jingling bracelet was heard from the throne door. Instantly, the demon king Dorf knelt before the mysterious woman and released me.”

“Every sound the bracelet made created a terrifying demon army ready to eat my people.”

King Ligt recounted his experience of meeting the ancestor of the demon king, who was a mysterious woman.

“That’s all I can tell you,”

The king touched the banquet that the servants had previously brought and enjoyed it.

“Demon king Ligt, may we ask something that has nothing to do with this kingdom’s calamity?”

Vail wanted to ask something about the attack on Nia’s hometown.

King Ligt lowered his cup and invited Vail to ask.

“Do you want to ask about the incident that happened ten years ago?”

They were surprised that King Ligt knew the gist of the question that Vail was going to talk about.

“Seeing your reactions, my guess was right.”

“Not only you, but the ancestor also wanted to know about it. For her, the darkness that saved the city of Loren was a disaster.”

They were made curious by King Ligt's words.

"Did the ancestor of the demon king feel the threat of that mysterious darkness?"

Mansa had been made curious and became even more curious about it.

"I don’t know much other than what I’ve heard. If you know something, can you tell me too?"

King Ligt wanted knowledge about the incident ten years ago.

"Elia... our friend who works as a guild receptionist, shared with us that ten years ago, the city of Loren was attacked by a demon army led directly by the demon king Zerk."

"If I remember correctly when they were cornered. A mysterious ball of darkness shot from the sky and slammed into the ground, instantly eliminating the enemy without a trace."

King Ligt fell silent for a moment after hearing Rii's explanation before finally speaking.

"It does sound mysterious. Why did the darkness come and save the city of Loren from the attack of the demon king Zerk."

They were surprised by the sudden arrival of the demon king Neii, who joined them.

"You...!"

"Hold your anger, hero. Didn’t I tell you I’m no longer interested in fighting?"

After speaking, the demon king Neii sat next to King Ligt and helped himself to Cini's drink.

"What is it that you seek by coming here?"

Mansa asked in an annoyed tone, holding back his desire to fight.

"Seeing new faces and your conversations are interesting to hear."

"I'm curious about you. Do all demon kings and their ancestors’ followers enjoy eavesdropping?"

Cini was both surprised and slightly annoyed by the demon king she encountered.

"Don't compare me to Dorf, who has no thoughts and put that aside. You should immediately return to Norf city before it's too late."

The demon king Neii warned the four of them to return to Norf City.

"Why should we listen to you?"

Vail was a little annoyed by the words of the demon king Neii.

“That’s because the demon army... led by Demon King Dorf, is heading for the city.”

“What...?!”

They were all stunned by Neii's words.