"What could the last reason be?"
Ivar muttered to himself. He paced back and forth across the spacious room. It was a habit that emerged when he was immersed in pleasant deliberation. When mired in thoroughly unpleasant thoughts, he would simply sit by the window and gaze outside. Right now, Ivar was feeling a slight thrill — it had been a long time since his mind had been stimulated like this.
Dantalion's teasing words came to mind.
— I can tell you. Because the two of us are accomplices.
Ivar let out a short laugh.
'How dare he threaten the Kunkuska Trading Company.'
He had instantly grasped what Dantalion truly meant by declaring "we are accomplices." He had simply played the part of a naive young man, responding with befuddlement. Even when he was flustered and shouting at Dantalion, Ivar had been rapidly assessing the situation in his head. And he had reached his conclusion on the spot.
This could absolutely be used as leverage.
They had the power to save the Demon Lord, yet they had just stood there doing nothing? The Kunkuska Trading Company, which made a specialty of catering to Demon Lords? No matter how preeminent Kunkuska was as the Demon Realm's foremost trading company, there were quite a few firms that could take its place. If Kunkuska's credibility fell, the Demon Lords would switch partners immediately. Who would want to do business with a company that might one day kill them?
For a merchant, trust was heavier than life itself.
The moment he realized that the other party had seized the company's lifeline, Boopheh — no, Ivar — felt cold sweat trickle down his spine. And the opponent happened to be a Demon Lord, someone who could not be confronted through conventional means. Yet the other side had simply brushed it off, saying it was a joke.
'In other words, Demon Lord Dantalion doesn't want to threaten us — he wants to forge a closer relationship.'
That was how Ivar interpreted Dantalion's words. I'll let this mistake slide. In return, show your sincerity in your own way.
At the same time, Ivar realized something else. Demon Lord Dantalion had not told Boopheh, his manufactured persona, to relay the threat to his superiors. He had only dropped a faint hint. What did that mean?
'He was testing our company's capabilities.'
Whether Boopheh had realized he was being threatened or not — whether the agent dispatched by the company was competent enough — Dantalion had tested them, all while smiling and letting it pass as a joke.
Why on earth? If he had simply delivered the threat, it could have been resolved easily. So why deliberately take the hard road? A Demon Lord possessed the power to command demonkin. He could have used that power to threaten. Yet he chose the more convoluted path.
The two-thousand-year-old Vampire concluded that this was where Dantalion's true intention lay.
'If our capabilities fall short of his expectations, it means he will deal with another company instead of Kunkuska…….'
Ivar smiled. It was the smile of a strong man. He had the composure to willingly offer a smile to anyone who dared challenge him.
Information that the Kunkuska Trading Company had assisted in a Demon Lord's death would certainly sell for a high price. Rival trading companies would trip over each other to serve Dantalion. Unlike his treatment as a mere average customer at Kunkuska, he would be welcomed as a top-tier client at the competition.
'This is the third reason the Demon Lord spoke of.'
Quite meticulous. What made it even more interesting was that the other side had handled this meticulousness with ease. As Dantalion himself had said, threatening the Kunkuska Trading Company was neither the first reason nor the second. It was merely the last. He had dealt with everything else and thrown in the threat on top for good measure.
By retaliating against those who insulted him, he preserved his authority.
By dealing with those who caused trouble in the city, he gained honor and reputation.
And by threatening a partner who had made a mistake, he secured profit.
"Heh heh."
Ivar laughed. He couldn't help but laugh. It was like standing before a master painter's clean brushwork and feeling a certain kind of sublime awe. In a single move — killing Andromalius to seize authority, reputation, and profit all at once. In that brief moment, Demon Lord Dantalion had calculated everything.
Very well. He would gladly accept that threat.
Ivar smiled. He found it intriguing that even as a Demon Lord, Dantalion had not resorted to coercive means but had approached purely through strategy. A Demon Lord who was un-Demon Lord-like.
"Last time it was the worst plague, and this time……"
Ivar murmured to himself, gazing ahead. The room was dark. For a Vampire like him, darkness felt incomparably comfortable. Today, it wasn't just comfort — an inexplicable anticipation seemed to bloom from the darkness as well. Of course, it was an illusion. A pleasant one.
"And what exactly is the reason he's trying so hard to obtain our assistance."
Naturally, no answer came. But Ivar nodded once, as if he had heard one, running through several methods of making Dantalion an absolute ally.
At that very same hour, in Dantalion's quarters ——.
"Why did you kill a Demon Lord? Are you out of your mind?"
"Ah, no. Lapis! Just listen to me."
"A Demon Lord should be in the sacred and inviolable realm. That Your Excellency would shatter that yourself is incomprehensible. Are you perhaps a pervert who deliberately enjoys suffering? Is that it? Honestly, it's disgraceful. Disappointing. Despairing."
"I'm sorry……"
Had Dantalion known that Lapis was tearing him apart in real time, Ivar might have shaken his head instead of nodding.
I spent a solid week having fun.
Even though Niflheim was a city brimming with crime and violence that could put Johannesburg's meanest streets to shame at sixteen times the speed, there was never any threat to the Demon Lord. The Demon Lord, so to speak, was the all-you-can-ride pass that let you roam freely through a rather deadly amusement park called Niflheim.
What's more, every citizen of Niflheim — men, women, young, old, merchants, thugs — showed me nothing but goodwill. The rumor that I had killed Andromalius had spread to the very last cobweb in the farthest corner of the city.
Andromalius must have made some seriously bitter enemies in his day, because demonfolk with shoulders wider than doorframes kept approaching me to say "thank you." Never in my life did I imagine I'd be getting thanked by gangsters. By gangsters with wolf heads, no less.
I especially became a regular at the casino.
Even as the Demon Realm groaned under the late-summer heat, the air inside the casino stayed cool all day long. The casino had hired mages who took turns casting ice-type magic — a colossal waste of money, but what did that matter? Thanks to them, I was having the perfect summer vacation.
"Waiter."
"Yes, Your Excellency."
"One cold beer, please."
"Right away, Your Excellency."
A neatly dressed Goblin waiter bowed politely. Incidentally, drinks at the casino were free too. You didn't even have to get up yourself. You just flagged down one of the waiters drifting around the floor and, with a slight slur to your pronunciation, said "one beer" — that was all. The key at that moment was the gaze. If you narrowed your eyes just a little and smiled, then no matter how much of a Goblin they were, they would be utterly smitten by my charm, transcending the limitations of their species.
"Here you are, Your Excellency."
I grasped the beer mug with dignified poise. The cool wheat beer slid down my esophagus. I nearly let out a sigh of pleasure — but caught myself at the last second, because there were onlookers nearby and I had to maintain at least a shred of my authority.
Cool air, games to play, and money to be made.
Could this possibly be… heaven?
Why on earth did I wall myself off from casinos and live that so-called model life back in the original world?
"Hah."
I scoffed at my own past foolishness. The crushing stress I had endured as a Demon Lord had long since melted away. I could say this with absolute certainty: right now, I was more full of joy than I had ever been. Goodbye, old me. Goodbye, hellish dungeon life. And welcome, heavenly days.
"Your Excellency. It seems your chips are almost all gone, sir?"
Across the table, the lizardman grinned. He had two cards flipped face-up on the table and was nimbly spinning a betting chip between the fingers of his right hand. It was a lot like elementary school kids showing off who could spin a pencil better.
I flashed a leisurely smile and fired back.
"Could be I've run out of moves, or could be I've got too many. But as for you, it looks like two pair is the best you can hope for."
"That, I wouldn't know."
"Hmm. So you are aiming for a straight, aren't you?"
The lizardman's expression flickered for just an instant. The corner of his left eye twitched ever so slightly. Someone ought to let him know he had that tell.
"Did I hit the mark? I'd advise you not to try to win by words alone."
"Heh heh, I don't know what you mean."
The lizardman flashed a sleazy grin. I grinned right back. And then I tossed my card toward the dead center of the table.
"Read 'em and weep."
"Guaaaaah!"
The lizardman shot to his feet.
"A straight! It was a straight, and it was only worth 5 gold! 5 gold! When's the last time I hit a straight!"
The lizardman was jumping up and down in outrage. The players around us burst into hearty laughter. We were all regulars at the casino and had already become like old friends. Different races, of course, and appearances ranging from old men to little kids, but when it came to gambling, we were all the same.
"Give it up. His Excellency is unbeatable."
"That's right. If His Excellency weren't a Demon Lord, he'd have been born a card shark."
Right now, I was playing poker with these guys. In truth, I'd spent most of my time at the casino at the poker tables. Compared to other games where sheer luck played a huge role, poker was a game where skill mattered that much more. Of course, being a gambling game, poker's outcomes were still decided by fortune to some extent.
But I was the exception.
"Hah. Your Excellency, you haven't actually mastered mind-reading or anything like that, have you? What kind of person sees through every single hand as soon as they sit down to play?"
"You're killing me here."
I flashed a generous smile and spoke.
"There's no such thing as mind reading in this world. It's all superstition."
"That may be so, but... ugh! It's seriously weird, I'm telling you."
The lizardman grumbled as he took his seat. I couldn't say I felt no guilt about it. After all, I really was using mind reading.
Right before my very eyes, crystal clear.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Name: Raikal
Race: Lizardman Affiliation: -
Alignment: Neutral (-15)
Level: 31 Notoriety: 72
Class: Gambler (B+)
Leadership: 7 Strength: 25 Intelligence: 24
Politics: 11 Charisma: 10 Skill: 47
Affinity: 32
Current Mindset: 'Damn it, there's no way I'm turning a profit today either!'
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
The residents basically viewed me favorably because I'd taken down Andromalius. The gamblers were no exception. From what I'd heard, that guy had caused a scene at the casino hundreds of times. Even when he lost games, he'd use his Demon Lord's authority to recklessly take money anyway. Even if you called gambling dens a gathering place for trash, he was trash that surpassed all trash — in short, a mega-sized piece of trash.
Thanks to that, I was able to effortlessly push my Affinity up to 20. Would you call it the contrast effect? Because Andromalius had built up such a negative image, when I displayed clean manners at the tables, my Affinity shot up exponentially. They'd never realize that very fact was why they kept losing. Ahahaha.
"Forget it! Next round! Let's go, next round!"
"Don't put on a brave face for no reason. Tsk, tsk. At this rate, whatever luck you had left is going to run away too."
"I guarantee he'll be dead the moment he gets his cards."
"What a coincidence. That's what I was thinking too."
"What the hell—these lucky bastards!?"
Laughter erupted again. Not just our table—even the people at the neighboring table were laughing. The Vampire dealer stifled giggles as she dealt cards to all of us. I maintained an attitude that was appropriately mature yet appropriately humorous, and kept the game going.
My mind, to use a metaphor, was an infinitely clear and serene pond. The epitome of composure. These people could never beat me. At the very least, I wished they'd challenge me after reaching a state of absolute mental stillness. And even after achieving that state, if they still wanted to gamble, well…
The dealer was just about to reveal the first community card.
"All right, let's open—"
"Your Majesty! He's—he's here! 'That person' has come again!"
A Goblin waiter approached the table and spoke in a highly tense voice. I was inwardly startled. I needed to get out of here fast. Maintaining a semblance of composure on the outside, I slowly rose from my seat.
The other players watched me with expressions that were half disappointed and half pleased. The disappointment probably came from the fact that I was a pretty entertaining guy, and the joy from the fact that a formidable rival had just disappeared.
"Sorry about this. I've got to get going. Consider this round a wash."
"Nothing to be sorry about!"
The Lizardman was just grinning from ear to ear. Good lord, I didn't even need to check the Status Window—I could see right into his head. I really felt like I'd mastered mind-reading.
"Come back anytime, Your Majesty. As long as it's not Friday, I'll be right here."
"Farewell!"
"Treat us to cocktails next time too!"
I nodded. Then I hurried along the path the waiter guided me on.
We opened a door in the corner of the casino and stepped through. A narrow, winding corridor stretched ahead. The waiter's footsteps were hurried, but his voice remained confident.
"This is the emergency exit. A passage known only to the staff."
"Oh-ho. How fortunate."
"Even He wouldn't know about this place. Now, we're almost there. Once we turn this corner, the exit is……."
Click.
Our footsteps came to a halt at the bend. I could feel the waiter's shock. But I couldn't spare a single thought for the waiter's emotions, because a tremendous storm of feeling was bearing down on us from ahead.
There stood Lapis, dressed in her usual black uniform.
"Good day, Lord Dantalion."
Lapis bowed her head politely. Her politeness made it all the more terrifying, because I knew exactly what state her heart was in. A chaos bordering on the incomprehensible occupied Lapis's chest.
Hostility, rage, hatred, contempt, disappointment, despair, pity—every negative emotion under the sun was there.
And Lapis was expressionless.
Not a single crack in her expression.
An expression as flawless as a marble statue.
It was terrifyingly, horribly scary.
I couldn't keep my voice from trembling. The poker face I'd maintained up until just moments ago had evaporated somewhere without a trace.
"Ah, ah. Lapis. Hard at work?"
"Yes. I've been working quite hard. I'm also rather curious about just who I'm working so hard because of."
Lapis stared this way, expressionless. The waiter flinched at that gaze, shoulders twitching all the way up.
"Y-Your Majesty. I think I'll be going now……."
"No! You're going to run away and leave me here?!"
As I scrambled to grab onto the waiter, Lapis spoke, her voice cold.
"Run away? What exactly would I be running away from, Lord Dantalion?"
"Huh? Ah, that, that is……."
"I trust you don't mean to suggest you're trying to flee from me."
"Of course! Of course not! Goes without saying, right? Ha ha!"
While I was distracted by Lapis grabbing onto me, the waiter made a run for it. What a shameless bastard — the tips I'd gotten from that guy alone could've built a mountain of gold!
In the end, only Lapis and I remained in the narrow passage.
"Ha ha, ah ha ha."
"……."
"Ha ha……."
"……."
Silence descended. It was an agonizing stretch of time, like the moment you just got caught by your mother after losing a fortune gambling — only to realize the money was supposed to pay for your college tuition. Unable to bear the pain any longer, I finally hung my head.
"I'm sorry……."
"Aaah."
A long, drawn-out sigh pierced straight through my eardrums. Along with it, guilt burrowed deep into the very depths of my gut. It truly was the sigh of a mother.