Chapter 18

 

“Human.”

Abruptly pulled from her thoughts, Abraxas lowered his voice.

The ease he had shown until now evaporated as an overwhelming pressure filled the interior of the Demon King’s castle, as if his earlier demeanor had been a lie.

If she made even the slightest wrong move, the intense demonic energy seemed like it would coil around her neck.

“You seem to be disregarding me.”

His heavy voice weighed down on Eveline’s shoulders, and his red eyes glowed menacingly as they focused on her.

Caught in his gaze, Eveline didn’t hesitate and replied.

“You’re mistaken.”

“I see.”

Yet Abraxas was a fool.

He looked down on humans, thinking they were toys within his grasp.

So even if she boldly lied to his face, he wouldn’t notice.

His enormous arrogance made it impossible for him to conceive that a mere human would dare deceive him.

Abraxas withdrew his demonic energy and stared blankly at her.

‘He may be a fool, but he’s still a demon.’

Despite that, his red eyes scanned her expression, trying to catch the slightest tremor that might indicate she was lying.

But she quietly sneered inside.

‘I’m not scared at all.’

In the end, he was just a gauge for battle power.

Besides, she had a warrior who would come running if she called, and Abraxas was a demon unable to use his full strength.

Too afraid of the warrior, he couldn’t even lay a finger on her, a mere human.

Eveline ignored Abraxas and opened the book she had taken from the library earlier that morning.

Soon, Potato came and sat down beside her.

As Eveline stroked his soft, brown fur, she leaned against Potato and began reading.

Annoyed by her indifference, Abraxas, who had been standing idly like a bystander, tapped her shoulder.

“Hey.”

“…”

“Hey.”

“…”

“Human?”

“Ugh, stop bothering me! Go play with Potato instead!”

“Whimper!”

Potato turned his head away as if he didn’t want to, making it clear who he preferred.

See? Even Potato thinks I’m better than that gloomy guy over there, right?

Ignoring Abraxas, Eveline stretched out Potato’s chubby cheek, causing Abraxas to shout.

“Human! If you keep ignoring me, you’ll regret it!”

“Waaaarrrior!”

Who said I couldn’t shout too?

Raising her voice, she called for Adam, and Abraxas rushed over to cover her mouth.

“Waaait a miiinute!”

“Sure.”

Eveline immediately composed herself and, as if nothing had happened, calmly resumed reading her book.

She hadn’t gotten much reading done because Abraxas had been pestering her the whole time.

Realizing he had been made a fool of, Abraxas trembled with frustration before suddenly disappearing somewhere.

‘Finally, I can read in peace.’

But this time, Potato started causing trouble.

“Whimper. Whine.”

“Alright, alright, I’ll play fetch with you later.”

But Potato kept tugging at her clothes, as if that wasn’t what he wanted. He probably wanted to go outside, but this was the best spot for reading.

How nice it was now that the bothersome Abraxas was gone.

As Eveline stroked the brown fur of the sulking Potato, she immersed herself in the book.

From the very first page, the book, titled “Untitled,” described the battles between past warriors and the Demon King.

‘Why does this book feel like it’s singing praises to the Demon King?’

Adam was the 7th warrior, so the book contained information about the 1st through 6th warriors.

Each of the past warriors had entered the Demon King’s castle with at least two companions.

Seeing this made Eveline feel guilty towards Adam.

‘Maybe I should have helped him make friends…’

But that was the condition of the hidden route. Even now, being inside the game, she didn’t know why.

The condition to not kill the beasts…

“Kuu?”

Eveline glanced at Potato.

Unlike their first encounter, his once fierce red eyes now looked so round and gentle.

There was no sign that he intended to harm anyone.

It had been a long time since the control stone had been used on him, so Potato’s current behavior was purely his own will, without the warrior’s control.

‘If we can befriend the beasts, it’s better not to kill them.’

Throughout the countless timelines, the beasts only attacked the warriors who entered the Demon King’s castle to protect their own territory.

If their territory was respected and not invaded, the beasts wouldn’t attack.

They weren’t creatures intentionally created by the Demon King; rather, they were naturally born from the influence of the Demon King’s demonic energy. As such, they didn’t always obey him blindly.

Since the warriors had always killed them on sight, no one knew this truth.

“Huh?”

The book quickly came to an end.

Except for the beginning, the rest of the pages were blank. She nervously flipped through the remaining pages.

But no matter how fast she turned them, there was no text.

“What is this?”

The book only contained information about past warriors—how old they were, which companions they had brought along…

And when they died.

Except for the 6th warrior, Lawrence Evant, all the other warriors had their dates of death recorded.

‘They all died young.’

Eveline ran her fingers across the dates of birth and death. A sense of pity washed over her.

They all died before reaching thirty.

Perhaps it was because they had pushed their bodies too hard, training to become warriors from a young age.

‘Maybe that’s why the quest was given to prevent Adam from meeting the same fate.’

The last warrior, Lawrence Evant.

His date of death was left blank, but like the others, he likely died young as well.

The entry ended with: *“And the warrior entered the Demon King’s castle.”* It felt strangely empty.

There was no further story.

Of course, it would be strange for a book in the Demon King’s castle to end with *“The Demon King was ultimately defeated by the warrior.”*

‘Maybe he’s such a narcissist that he collected everything related to the Demon King.’

Or maybe it was a sign of his effort to avoid repeating the mistakes of the previous Demon Kings.

Either way, it felt like a waste of time.

Just as Eveline closed the book, Abraxas reappeared in her line of sight.

He held something unfamiliar, yet familiar, in his hands.

Eveline was about to acknowledge him when she quickly changed her words.

“What’s that?”

“It’s an ancient wine. Been here since the Demon King’s castle was first built.”

“…!”

“You know, the older the wine, the richer the flavor. Still want to ignore me? I know where there’s plenty more of this.”

“Oh, great noble lord!”

Oh no, how could I have failed to recognize such a noble being?

Eveline quickly changed her attitude and shouted in exaggerated praise.

* * *

Abraxas, who had retrieved the wine from the cellar, filled both his and her glass.

Unlike his usual sneering tone, his voice was stern enough to feel strange to anyone listening.

But Eveline couldn’t make sound judgments at the moment.

“Tell me everything you know about the warrior.”

When did it start?

It was probably when they first entered the room. When Abraxas had whispered something in her ear.

Even though she hadn’t touched the wine, her head felt fuzzy. It was like someone was grabbing her brain and shaking it.

With a queasy feeling in her stomach, Eveline furrowed her brow and started muttering incoherently.

“The warrior…”

“Yeah, you must know something about the warrior. Didn’t he tell you anything?”

Abraxas sipped the wine, waiting for the information from Eveline to roll in like it was part of his drinking pleasure. Eveline tried to regain control of her senses, but words spilled from her mouth involuntarily.

“Adam, no… The warrior… He didn’t want to become a warrior… He just wanted to grow up as a normal farmer, but what could he do? He’s the protagonist. To see the ending, he had to accept the divine oracle, and I only gave him the choices…”

Despite her will, her words came out automatically. It wasn’t the influence of the alcohol. Abraxas poured the wine from Eveline’s glass into his own and continued drinking.

“Oracle? Choices? You speak as if you were some kind of god.”