Ordinarily, one might associate the Demon Realm and the Demon King’s Castle with a castle of dark tones, a gloomy atmosphere, and bats flying around making eerie noises.

However, this common notion was far from the truth, and as no human had visited the Demon Realm and returned alive, no one could correct this misconception, and the erroneous legend had become accepted as fact.

According to human perception, this place was closer to the image of Heaven than the Demon Realm. The Demon Realm.

And even the gods who visited the Demon Realm for the first time couldn’t help but admire this place. The Demon King’s Castle.

The castle’s roof, which seemed to pierce the sky, shone golden, and one had to crane their neck to barely catch sight of the tower situated at one end of the castle.

Inside the castle, there were sweet fruits, which were said to grow by absorbing the unique energy of the Demon Realm.

The water falling from a small waterfall into a pond sometimes turned into wine, and sometimes into nectar, a drink of the gods, thus making it a true land of wine and meat as described in ancient scriptures.

At the very center of the castle, the residence of the Demon King, who ruled over all the demons and devils.

A man with red hair was leaning back on his throne, looking down at the person kneeling before him with his long legs crossed.

“……”

“Um, so. What did you say?”

The demon kneeling could not dare to lift his head, but he could vividly feel the aura of the entities in front of him.

The snickering sound from his side seemed to strike his heart without even passing through his ears.

The person who appeared to not understand the report given by the demon, the pinnacle of the demons ruling the Demon Realm from his magnificent throne.

It was the current Demon King, Baal.

And the one snickering as if amused by the situation was clearly the third devil, Bathago.

“The 16th legion commander, it seems like he might have perished……”

Knowing full well that he was being made fun of, the messenger had no choice but to repeat the same words like a parrot.

It was a position that could dominate all the devils and demons under them just by the title of Demon King and the third devil.

“What 16th legion commander. Ditch the cumbersome code name and just call him Zephar. There are no humans here.”

Bathago interrupted the messenger’s words with distaste.

Fundamentally, demons were considerably averse to their true names being known in the human world.

Summoning a highlevel demon was no different from summoning a spirit, and even if you knew the true name of a highlevel demon, you needed considerable dominance.

Attempts at summoning without satisfying these conditions would only drain one’s lifespan, and no one attempted it lightly.

However, whether they made a contract from an equal position or as a servant demon under control, the first step was knowing the demon’s name, so it was natural for them to be reluctant.

And so, not revealing their true name in the human world was an unwritten rule among demons.

“Hmm……”

The Demon King’s heavy magical energy fell over the head of the messenger.

The demons’ obedience granted the Demon King greater dominion.

In that sense, the power of the current Demon King Baal, who received absolute obedience from most demons, was not easy to measure.

“Zephar’s demise……”

“Didn’t you expect that the young child with only excellent abilities would be a good prey for the cunning lion?”

Baal, who was tapping the armrest of the throne and repeating the words of the messenger, and Bathago, the third devil shaking his head as if he knew this would happen, had ambiguous tones that made it impossible to guess their moods.

“Well, it seems the protection was strong. It’s worth the name.”

“Uh. I have no plans to do anything right now. What I wanted this time was not its neck.”

The conversation exchanged between Baal and Bathago was not something a mere messenger could understand.

“Didn’t you achieve your goal? If you want to enter a tiger’s den, you have to ride on a tiger’s back.”

At Bathago’s words, the corner of Baal’s mouth slightly rose.

Yes. Now that they had found the tiger, all they had to do was ride on its back.

Then they could go into the tiger’s den and kill everything.

“There are quite a few things to take care of first.”

“I will do my best.”

They realized during the first demonhuman war.

The obstacles that needed to be removed first when wanting to rule the human world.

The Arcadia Imperial Family of the Western Continent and the Artina Duke’s family.

The Harventa Imperial Family of the Eastern Continent.

And various noble families of a hundred changes. Outstanding spirit masters.

And, more than anything else.

Agares.

In order to capture the biggest obstacle, you have to knock down the relatively small enemies first.

The imperial families of the two continents and the Artina Duchy were formidable threats.