Shekina was in the greenhouse.
To be honest, she wanted to be there while Lucifer was being tortured. But the other demons strongly opposed it, so she was forced to leave.
Instead, she held a letter from Han, who had sent it asking her to investigate the death of the crown prince.
<Hey, hey. I almost died. Shouldn’t I be getting compensation for this?>
Skipping over the part where Han described how he almost died, Shekina found the main point at the bottom of the letter.
<The imperial family itself is strange. Nobles I’ve seen before don’t remember me, and they don’t recall major incidents that happened in the capital. It seems your suspicion is correct.>
Shekina’s suspicion:
The emperor is really dead, and the crown prince is pretending to be the emperor.
But it’s not just the emperor who is being impersonated.
In other words, most of the nobles alive now are impostors.
‘Seems like I was right.’
Shekina took a deep breath and scratched the back of her head.
This was different from the game scenario Shekina knew. It was completely unpredictable. The only things she could be certain of were the locations of dungeons and relics.
‘Clearing those dungeons and obtaining the relics is important.’
Shekina tried to recall the location of the nearest dungeon.
The easiest dungeon to clear now is…
‘In the capital.’
The basement in the capital’s square.
<p.s. So, you should come to the capital too. It would be better to investigate together. Bring the twins if you can.>
Shekina found the hastily written postscript at the end of the letter and grinned.
“Alright. Let’s go and see. It’s been a while since I’ve been to the capital.”
She decided to inform the twins as well. Just as Shekina lifted her gaze from the letter, she was startled by a face right in front of her.
“Ahh! You scared me!”
Shekina fell backward.
“Why are you so close! You should say something when you arrive!”
She held her pounding chest with a frown.
“I was about to, but you seemed focused.”
The person who startled Sekina, Nisha, responded with a shrugged.
“It’s been a while, hasn’t it?”
Nisha sat across from Shekina casually.
“You’ve been causing some interesting trouble.”
Nisha’s violet eyes bore into Shekina. Shekina was slightly intimidated but pretended to be calm.
“What? I haven’t done anything.”
Nisha chuckled.
“You demonstrated summoning magic in front of the Demon King, showed the passage to the demon world, and even retrieved a corpse from an ice wall. And you say you did nothing?”
“………….”
Shekina averted her gaze.
It was true that she had done everything Nisha told her not to do.
“If you want to die quickly, I can kill you right now. It would be better.”
“No, no! That’s not it!”
Shekina hurriedly waved her hands and shouted.
“If I hide my abilities as you said, I can live longer. But what if all the demons die in the meantime?”
Her desire not to lose what was precious to her.
That’s why Shekina took action herself. She couldn’t keep hiding her power and pretending not to notice anymore.
“I want to save everyone.”
This was Shekina’s true intention.
Nisha stared at Shekina’s earnest eyes for a moment, then sighed and squinted.
“Do you know what the elders are up to?”
Come to think of it, the elders had been quiet lately. Shekina tilted her head.
“They are trying to kill you.”
What?
“Why? Are they insane? I’m helping everyone right now, and they want to kill me?”
She was so shocked and dumbfounded that she couldn’t speak properly.
The elders were ancient demons who had lived for a long time. She thought they would want to return to the demon world as soon as possible. That’s why Shekina hadn’t paid much attention to them, believing they would support her.
“They told me to kill you.”
“Nisha!”
“Call me sister, not Nisha.”
“Is that important right now?!”
Shekina stood up abruptly, breathing heavily.
For the elders to give such an order even to Nisha…
Do they really want to kill me?
Why?
Did I do something wrong?
Shekina’s eyes wavered.
“Why, why do they want to kill me?”
An uneasy thought flashed through Shekina’s mind.
“Could it be that those elders… have fallen to dark magic?”
Nisha smirked, looking as if Shekina’s words were nonsense.
“Don’t underestimate the elders. That’s not it.”
“Then why do they want to kill me?”
“Do you want to know the real reason?”
Nisha also stood up. She placed her hand firmly on Shekina’s shoulder and looked down at her.
“Because they can’t stand seeing a homunculus acting all high and mighty.”
“………..”
“Because it’s irritating to see a homunculus acting as if they belong to the demon world.”
“………..”
Shekina rubbed her ears, wondering if she had heard correctly. But looking at Nisha’s stern face, she realized she had heard right.
“That’s… it the reason?”
Shekina’s mouth opened and closed in shock.
“Just for that reason, they’re willing to give up the chance to unseal the boss and return to the demon world?”
“Yes.”
“That’s ridiculous!”
“Why do you think it’s ridiculous?”
Nisha clicked her tongue.
“Maybe you don’t realize it because you’re surrounded by relatively decent demons, but most demons are like that.”
Shekina was surrounded by demons who strangely cared for her.
However, Nisha knew that such demons were a rare exception and that most demons were selfish, driven by their own twisted desires and futile ambitions.
That’s why Nisha found Shekina’s talk about ‘saving everyone’ so annoying.
She hadn’t experienced it herself.
She didn’t understand how despicable demons could be!
Nisha took a deep breath, trying to calm her agitated mind.
“You don’t need to save everyone. Change what’s your planing now.”
“You, you…”
Shekina grabbed Nisha’s wrist as she was about to leave.
“Are you really going to kill me?”
Nisha turned her head to look at Shekina.
In truth, it would be easy to slit her throat before she could use her summoning magic. If she was killed before she could summon anything, it would be over.
Shekina’s life was practically in everyone’s hands.
But…
Nisha bit the inside of her cheek lightly.
“Did you remember the condition that has been mentioned to the first elder?”
Shekina’s eyes widened.
A condition for the deal: Black Spinel.
The only gemstone that could contain demonic energy.
– It’s in the sea, in the place where the mermaids live.
– Just create a teleportation magic circle. Then you can secretly go to the mine.
She had definitely said that.
“Try to make a deal with that. It might buy you some more time.”
Shekina was curious how Nisha knew about this, but that wasn’t important. She gradually loosened her grip on Nisha’s wrist.
“Why are you being nice to me?”
She asked towards Nisha’s retreating figure.
“Do you think this is being nice?”
Nisha turned her head slightly, giving Shekina a disdainful look.
“I’m doing this because it would be annoying if you died. So…”
Nisha walked away, leaving just one word behind.
“You just have to be alive.”
“…….”
Shekina watched Nisha’s back as she walked away, thinking.
Is this what they call a tsundere…?
***
.
“De, Dehan! Dehan, where are you?”
Yuriel’s shout echoed through the northern castle’s temple.
He grabbed several priests, asking about Dehan’s whereabouts, but no one paid attention to a mere servant like Dehan, so Yuriel continued to wander aimlessly.
“I need to tell him quickly…!”
After thoroughly searching the large temple, Yuriel finally found Dehan sweeping the courtyard after an hour.
“Huff, huff… Dehan! Why are you here…! You were supposed to be in the prayer room today…!”
Dehan, holding a broom, quickly looked up at the shout.
“Yuriel?”
Dehan blinked his large eyes several times.
“The others asked me to cover this task for them today. But… you look exhausted. Are you alright?”
Yuriel frowned.
Covering this task for others on this cold day, outside without even a coat? It’s a lie. It was well known that those guys subtly bullied Dehan.
Yuriel was angry.
Angry at Dehan, who was outside until his lips turned blue and yet worried about others with a ‘but that’s okay’ attitude, and angry at the temple for neglecting and bullying Dehan.
Yuriel bit his lower lip tightly.
“De, Dehan. Let’s, let’s leave.”
“…What?”
“The central temple has called for us. So, let’s leave from here.”
Yuriel held Dehan’s arms tightly as he spoke.
“You, you’re going to become someone great…!”
