Demon King

Guild Growth – 9

The chaos of the underground castle began to subside quickly once Rain and A took over. I tried to join them, but Mireina began to cry and cling to me as soon as I tried to.

“It’s really too much! It’s like I’m invisible!”

“No, I just have no reason to notice you.”

“Fate is so cold…”

Katsuragi was still fascinated by Mireina, and Lee Chan-yu and Cain were working in different places.

“Katsuragi.”

[Yes?]

“…Mireina, go somewhere else first. Help the dwarves.”

“It’s really too much…”

[Ahh.]

It’s not that I didn’t understand his feelings. He was stuck in the boss room of a dungeon with no change in the environment. It was hard to get it out of your mind when you saw a beautiful woman. But those loose thoughts didn’t suit the situation. Even with his basic knowledge of the current situation, it was problematic. I made up my mind.

[Cheh…]

“It can’t be helped?”

[What does that mean?]

I turned away from Mireina and approached Katsuragi, who had a sad expression on his face, and grabbed his head.

[…You said you wouldn’t kill me!]

“I won’t. I’m just trying to guide you so you can better handle your abilities. I was going to postpone it, but I think it would be better to educate you and increase my workforce.”

[So, why is your expression scary?]

I laughed bloodily.

“You’ll figure it out soon.”

By the time five hours had passed, he was barely able to understand how to express magic with his mana. The process was surprisingly helpful to me as well. I continued to beat the knowledge into his existence, so his understanding would grow.

[Belkena Spell became Lv5.]

[Blackmine became Lv4.]

[Space Destruction became Lv4.]

It was more important for me to know how to use my skills rather than focus on their rank. It was difficult to grow them, but when they did increase, it was easy to see the increase in power, especially for Space Destruction and Blackmine. The overwhelming increase in my skills brought a smile to my face. And, unlike his first impression, Katsuragi was crumpled on the floor like a piece of tissue paper. Green mana bloomed around him and healed him, making me even more satisfied with myself.

“Do you understand now?”

[Save me…]

He let out a pitiful cry.

“I can save you, but those you meet later will not, no matter how much you beg. That mana of yours will make you a tasty prey.”

[I don’t want to die. I don’t even want to fight.]

“Give up on one of those.” If you don’t fight, you die. If you don’t want to die, then you must fight. That was how everyone had lived now. The mask of social morality and norms, formed over hundreds of years, had been stripped away to never return. Even if only humans were left, they would just begin to fight amongst themselves.

[Damn, I want to go home and play games.]

“If you don’t learn to survive now, you’ll be wasting your potential. You can miss the everyday stuff when you’re strong enough.” Lee Chan-yu had already long lost his place in society, and Cain never talked about his hometown once. They had come to an understanding with the reality they had been thrown into after becoming fallen. Most of the fallen were usually lower or middle class, and their families were the same. Unless he was quite lucky, it was unlikely that Katsuragi’s house remained the same as he remembered.

[…Captain is right, but can you teach me a little more kindly…]

I didn’t have to say it. He was like a child with unusually strong abilities. I needed to tell him the reality of the situation, but if I hit him with it all at once, he may never get up again. So, now he needed time. The time to go through it with his own body. Not that I was a mentally mature adult myself, but at least I’d endured through a lot of reality. I could only hope he, too, would grow enough to endure.

“From now on, you’ll also work. First, manage the monsters that belonged to your dungeon and take part in strengthening the walls. You do it to survive, okay?”

[Okay…if I do, will you introduce me to that elf?]

“When you’re stronger.” I let out a deep sigh and threw a blackmine orb bearing the power of Space Destruction and Predation at his direction, to absorb the mana blooming around him. It exploded in front of him, frightening him away. There was no way to escape from it, however, due to how fast and unpredictably it moved.

“After that disappears, get to work.”

With his help, the reinforcing of the walls went quite swimmingly. Through the absorption of the Devil’s night and the many dungeons, my realm had expanded to a level that it could be called a manor. It was difficult to protect the land, given how wide it was, even with the walls we had built. But it was fine. The walls were just to make the castle like a cup, to filter out the visitors.

When the Devil’s Night arrived, the defensive team would form around the first wall, and a large number of monsters would be released in all directions to exhaust the enemy’s forces. The members of Rebellion would become a commando unit to fill in where they were needed, killing each and every one of the enemies. It may have been heartless, but I had no hesitation in offering up the dungeon monsters. If a hundred thousand of them dying could save one of my companions, I would. However, since they were indirectly under my control, they would be affected by my strength and gradually grow if they survived. That way, they could become elites.

“Not everyone under you will be able to use Predation, but that will change sooner or later. Honestly, I was looking at this situation a bit negatively, but perhaps this was a good time. You’ve brought this dramatic change.” Rain supervised the construction of the western border wall with a gentle smile.

“It’s as if someone is looking after you. If there is such an existence, it must be a creator who knows of your greatness.”

“I’m still too weak to imagine such a vague thing.” I left after replying, using Lunatic Trickster to set up traps at key points. The dwarves were staring wide-eyed at me as I did, but I ignored them. As I moved, night eventually came down upon us. I had to briefly conduct some secondary education for Katsuragi, who tried to sleep. Lee Chan-yu came up to me as I was dealing with him.

“Good job, captain.”

“You’re quick.”

“I’m good at moving when I have a goal before me. I did suffer the damage of Korean education.”

“…Thanks to that, I’ve been able to survive.”

“Oh, you think so too?” He replied with a bitter smile. At that point, I noticed he was looking uncomfortable.

“You’ll become a higher entity soon. As I said before, your growth has only slowed because you’re sharing energy with your subordinates. Once you become a higher-level entity, you’ll be a dominant force among Rebellion, and so will your subordinates.” He blinked, but then shook his head as he digested my words.

“No, it’s not because of Katsuragi. Well, it kind of is, but it’s a little different from what you think. But he’s our teammate, and I believe in you, captain.”

“Alright.” I wondered what the problem was then, and Lee Chan-yu seemed to pick up what was going on in my heart.

“The fallen. I was thinking about the other fallen. Watching Katsuragi, it was hard not to think about it.”

“…”

“My friends who died. The other fallen I don’t even know. What the hell does it even mean for us to be in this nonsense? Why couldn’t I talk to my family, why couldn’t they help? Is there some stupid guy up there playing with us?”

“… I’m curious about that too.” He lifted his head toward me, silent anger burning in his eyes. It was easy to forget, given his always pleasant appearance, but he had probably suffered even more than I had.

“I listened to what you said when you took Cain as your subordinate. You said you’d get to the heart of all this. Did you mean it?”

“If you’ve seen me, you know. I will face it one day, even if I don’t want to.” He took a deep breath, exhaling all of his doubts and worries before facing me once more with a smile.

“I’m glad. I’ll trust and follow you.”

“As always.” He let out a laugh and nodded.

“Oh, also…it’s not a good idea to hide unconditionally. What you fear won’t happen, so do something about it before it’s too late.”

“What?”

“Your sister, tell her the truth.” I stiffened immediately, but he continued.

“Didn’t know I knew, huh?”

“Until a little while ago, you thought I saw them as someone of the opposite sex.”

“I figured it was one of the two. Once I concluded it wasn’t that it had to be the other.” I was flabbergasted at how reasonable his thought process had been.

“…I understand you’re worried she will be in danger, but all humans are in danger. That risk won’t change significantly just because you tell her.”

“But…” There was one reason, however, that I didn’t want to tell her. I wasn’t Si-yeon’s real brother. Our only connection was that human body, and now, that was gone.

“Don’t worry about it. Can you really just stand by, watching her who so desperately wants to save the fallen?” He didn’t know all the facts, but…”

“Don’t make it harder. You know she’s alive, but she doesn’t know you are. That’s selfish.”

“…”

“There are people who can’t even meet their family though they want to. This isn’t the place to watch her peacefully…this is the best advice I can give you on behalf of those people.”

Only

“…Alright.” He was right. Of course, he was.

“Thank you. I’ll be back soon.”

“The captain is a great man who can admit to his mistakes. Take your time.” I opened the door to Earth right away. My sister’s voice filled my ear as soon as I did as if she had read my heart.

[Fate!]

[Hey, I need to see you…]

[Something big just happened! Everything is going crazy. One Flag is waging war with the other guilds!]

‘Damn it.’

I jumped straight through the open door.