I Picked Up the Abandoned Hero

Chapter 59

59 – 59. Impossible

“So what do you want to do? I need to hear your answer.”

Alfred waited for Clen’s answer in the hallway of the temple.

His mission is to bring the Vampire Queen, or Clen, an answer to whether or not she will be loyal to her demon lord.

Clen pondered for a moment.

It’s not about whether you can trample the demon lord with your own power. From the first time he saw the Demon King, he was already convinced that he was an existence that could not be defeated.

The demons cannot defeat the demon king no matter what.

So Clen was looking for another best option.

“Come to think of it, you must have told me you were coming to extort taxes from me.”

Then I remembered what Alfred had said.

-Ah, you are the demon, the owner of this land? Nice to meet you, my name is Alfred. I came to extort taxes from this land like a robber on the orders of the demon king.-

It seemed that the Demon King wanted to hear from Clen whether he would be loyal to him or not.

But Alfred didn’t say that to Clen, he said he was coming to extort taxes, so you can guess that it’s not just bullsh*t.

“That’s right, you’ll get a lot of tax money every month, but it’s cheap enough for your life.”

“Are you saying that you don’t have to be loyal to the demon lord if you replace it with taxes?”

Alfred nodded his head as he snapped.

“The demon king has strong demon tribes under him, and some of them try to use them as direct subordinates to show off their power to humans.”

Alfred said.

The Demon King is currently gathering his men.

Among the demons, especially those with a high family prestige and strong power, they said that anyone, whether they wanted to or not, was forcibly dragged into their demon king’s army and used as his subordinate.

The right to veto does not exist and if you disobey orders, your life and everything you own will be right.

“…But if you swear allegiance to something else, it’s okay to substitute it, so there’s no need to go under the Demon King.”

Clen nodded his head in agreement.

“Rather than conquering the world under the command of the Demon King, isn’t your purpose in life just to cultivate your territory and make it high enough to reach the sky?”

“Yes. I know you well.”

“Then you say that you cannot directly go under the devil under the pretext of managing the territory, and instead show your sincerity with taxes.”

But it was also a bit unexpected.

In the end, if you put yourself aside and threaten, you will be able to extort as much money as you want, not taxes, or you can just take it by force.

But why insist on such a cumbersome method?

“Isn’t it foolish to cut open the goose that lays the golden eggs? I and the demon king know that among the demons, you are the only one who can create such a territory.”

Alfred said, sitting in the air.

There are no chairs, but it feels a bit strange to sit down naturally.

“Is that the goose that lays the golden eggs, ha ha ha! To see me as the goose that lays the golden eggs… You’re such an interesting person.”

“You can think of me as a clown if you like, because clowns are always surrounded by smiling people.”

Clen stroked Alfred’s cheek.

The goose that lays the golden eggs is also a humiliating horse whose eggs are exploited by its owner for the rest of its life.

Still, Clen strangely liked the words.

Why was it even though it was a demeaning statement?

Maybe it’s because Alfred boldly said that, but thanks to that, I felt like my hair, which was complicated as a demon king, became somewhat cleaner thanks to that.

“Yes, I understand. Then charge the required amount of tax to my last name. And…”

Even though you can’t drink blood, you’ve got something you want.

Clen said that although she was limited only within her own territory, compared to the demon lord, her greed was more, never less.

It is the same with greed for people.

“…If you get tired of that rowdy little king, come to me. Because if it were you, it would be nice to stay by my side for the rest of my life.”

A demon the size of Alfred was not only rare, but also a mixed-race demon with a lot of personality.

Especially, normal demons are simple and often lack intelligence, but Alfred was of mixed blood, so he couldn’t find any flaws in demons even after washing his eyes.

Rather, he must have been born with only his strengths.

If you had a demon like that next to you, it would definitely be convenient in many ways, and even if you didn’t have to use it as a subordinate, it was worth using personally.

That means treating them as a man, not as a demon.

“Umm… Is that what your mother said?”

“Mother?”

Alfred suddenly brings up the word mother.

“It’s nothing. Anyway, since I heard the answer, I’ll send you back to the territory. Customer? The exit door is to the right.”

Soon as if it’s not a big deal, he smiles and escorts you.

Then, a familiar door appeared on Clen’s right side, and he realized that it was the door leading to his manor.

Before Clen opened the door and left, he looked back briefly.

It wasn’t to see Alfred.

‘Is that the new demon king?’

Demon King.

Contrary to his profound voice, he is a being with the appearance of a child.

Her own subordinates could be crushed and killed with a single gesture, and it smelled of being more greedy and dangerous than any demon Clen had ever seen.

Maybe the reason why I thought I couldn’t win was that the vampire’s unique sense of smell had sensed the natural enemy.

That’s an existence that can’t be defeated beyond being a demon.

And there is no one more worthy of the name of the Demon King, an absolute thing that cannot be denied.

‘Are demons unwinnable?’

Clen smiled slightly and turned his head again.

I don’t know anything else, but I can be sure of this.

Neither I nor other demons could resist or reject that demon lord.

The fear imprinted from the level of the gene dominates even thinking, making it impossible to dare to rebel.

‘I’ll have to find the holy sword called the warrior’s sword. According to the records, the holy swords used by the warriors of the past will also remain.’

Then you just have to create a means to resist.

An entity that is not a demon.

In particular, the most representative example is a warrior-like being created by humans to survive.

Although the hero who was said to have defeated the enemy’s demon lord had disappeared a long time ago…

There was no guarantee that the hero was created only in a human country.

‘I need a human to use the holy sword next…’

All you need to do is find a human child with decent qualities.

Of course, after obtaining the holy sword, you should receive something called ‘choice’ as in human legends.

‘Wouldn’t it be bad to make it inside without having to get it outside?’

Clen smiled when she remembered Alfred.

Thanks to that, I was able to return to the territory with a smile.

It would have been okay to lay something other than a golden egg.

The ancestors were already old enough, so they were bothering me by asking me to make them quickly, but maybe I can solve one more annoying problem.

But at the time, Clen didn’t know.

The fact that the mother of that half-blooded demon named Alfred was the Witch of Ash, and that the next day, an enormous amount of tax notices would come flying in her eyes, enough to burst the blood vessels in her eyes.

Of course, it was fine up to that point.

The fact that her mother was a witch rather intrigued her, and the tax was ultimately charged by the demon king, not Alfred’s extortion like a robber.

It was later, not now, that Clen’s feelings for Alfred changed.

It was a day she created terrible memories that Clen never forgot and would regret for the rest of her life.

†††

“…The demon king I saw was like that. He was an unknown existence until the end, and he possessed a power that even I and other demons could not resist instinctively.”

Clen was telling the story of her past with her data on her holy sword out.

“Is it the end?”

“Are you finished?”

Arcel and Stella listened intently to the story, but they seemed disappointed that nothing was more important than they thought.

“Besides that, there’s another thing. That wouldn’t be the first and last time you met that goddamn demon…”

Especially Stella.

Of course, Arcel was the same.

Stella was listening intently as if she was interested, but she expressed regret for Clen, who only spoke about the important parts.

“Why do I even have to say that? I just let you know what I felt and thought when I met the Demon King. I don’t even want to think of a guy who wouldn’t be happy with a change of drink like that.”

And Clen glared at Alfred fiercely, red glare pouring from her eyes.

“…Ah, what are you done? After all, Grandma Clen’s old stories are very effective for insomnia. The one that makes her sleep better than my grandma?”

Since Alfred, who doesn’t even bother to sleep, deliberately prepared a blanket and pillow to lie down, Clen seems to be full of thoughts of wanting to change Alfred right away, revealing her fangs.

“Other than that, has the demon king ever crushed, trampled, or chewed that demon? I want to tell you as vividly as possible. I’m a little bit, but I liked the Demon King.”

“Unfortunately, what I saw ends there.”

“Then why did you bother to meet that demon? It was enough to just tell you the story with the Demon King.”

“I wanted to remind myself of that demon king grinding that damn guy. The Demon King didn’t like it either, but he really reminisces about what happened back then.”

“I agree with that.”

It refers to the demon king crushing Alfred alive.

Especially Stella cheered loudly when she heard that the demon king had stepped on Alfred.

– Yes!! That’s it!!-

The quiet Clen also must have smiled contentedly in her heart.

It really felt like the stuffiness that had been blocked for decades was swept away all at once.

“You talk bloody things as soon as you wake up, so what is the main point? Granny Clen.”

“Yeah, I was going to get to the point anyway.”

Alfred asked, getting out of bed.

“…”

Meanwhile, Arcel remained silent with his face blushing slightly.

It was because I was worried that the thoughts in my heart would come out of my mouth without my knowledge.

It seems that Stella was simply interested in the demon lord stepping on Alfred, but Arcel was more concerned about the relationship between Clen and Alfred.

‘They were quite close.’

Of course, it was said that the Clen side hated Alfred to the point of wanting to tear them apart, but it would be a lie if they said they didn’t care.

In Clen’s story, Alfred even humiliated himself when he was a warrior.

Besides, I still fit in quite well.

Even though we are complaining about each other like that, on the contrary, it feels closer and more friendly.

“Thinking about it again, the story seems to have been written in a slightly different place. Anyway, what I will tell you now is how I got the holy sword. At that time, I was concerned about what the hero said, so I researched and found out a lot of information.”

Arsel said that the demon king also used the warrior’s holy sword.

The holy sword was originally made for peace and is said to be usable only by the chosen warrior.

From noble mtl dot com

But the fact that the demon king used it is a terrible nightmare.

As long as they were swords for making peace, all the holy swords possessed tremendous power.

“Yes, and I have known that.”

“It’s not you, it’s your maternal grandmother.”

“Is that what I know?”

Alfred grinned and took out a fairly large jewel in one hand, while holding Arcel’s shoulder with the other hand as if reassuring him.

In addition, he reassured Arcel with a wink, saying, ‘It didn’t happen like you think.’

‘Could it be that my thoughts were read?’

As a bonus, he said without words that it was all exposed on his face.

Looking at Alfred shaking his head, it became as if Arcel could no longer hide his emotions in his expression.

“Are you okay? Are you sick? It looks like you have a lot of fever, but it’s not like the wound is festering, is it?”

“That can’t be. I called the most effective medicine available in my estate and the best doctor.”

“That, it’s not like that… You don’t have to care…”

In the end, it turned even redder, so I covered my face with my hands and lowered my head, worrying about Clen and Stella for nothing.

Stella even pats him on the back.

But now it was even more counterproductive.

Thanks to her, blood circulation everywhere except her head is better.

“Won’t everyone take a look here? Granny Clen must have seen it already, but it’s pretty important.”

Soon Alfred puts magic into the jewel, and a mysterious light shines on the table.

It was a burning scene somewhere, a village adjacent to the elven realm that Alfred and Shion had admired before.

“What is so important?”

Stella didn’t show much reaction at first, but soon calmed down as the elf figure appeared in the light.

And then he bit his lip hard enough to bleed.

It’s because humans as well as a few elves were being horribly slaughtered by unknown people.

“…Where is this?”

“It was already too late when I went, and if I went now, there would be nothing but a heap of charred ashes. But this doesn’t matter now, what’s more important is this.”

Alfred adjusts his magic power to further expand the shape of the light.

The scene of the massacre was projected closer and more detailed.

“How dare some damn bastard take an elf…”

“Calm down and look at this, demon.”

Alfred forcibly grabbed Stella’s head and pointed to one of those who slaughtered humans and elves.

Clen turned her back with her eyes closed, and Stella was furious and looked like she was about to run outside.

Only Arcel watched it closely.

This is because I already roughly guessed who the people who were slaughtering humans and elves were.

That was something he should never turn away from.

“…Huh?”

But was it for nothing?

“What is that, no way-“