Chapter 49: He from Another World
For the first time in days, Ashby felt he had found someone who shared his suffering, someone he could confide in.
With tears in his eyes, he threw himself forward and grasped Zebrun’s hands tightly.
“I knew it would be like this,” Ashby wiped the corner of his eye. “It’s so tragic. We are both so tragic!”
Zebrun: “…”
Even though Ashby was wearing clothes today, being this close to him still gave Zebrun goosebumps all over.
Zebrun tried to pull away, attempting to extract his fingers from Ashby’s grip, but Ashby had always been strong. His efforts were clearly futile.
“Zebrun, were you forced to sign a contract too?” Ashby sighed deeply, looking at Zebrun with uncontrollable sympathy. “What did he use to threaten you?”
Zebrun: “…”
Zebrun had no idea what Ashby was talking about.
But he felt it would be a complicated story, and he… didn’t really want to know any stories related to the Incubus Ashby.
Yeah, anything related to an Incubus is probably not a good story suitable for sharing with outsiders.
“I understand.” Ashby didn’t seem to mind Zebrun’s silence. He patted Zebrun’s shoulder and said, “That Hero is simply an evil Archdemon.”
The real Demon King, Misha: “…”
“Let me think, did he discover your secret?” Ashby took a breath. “If it’s the Dragon—”
His gaze darted toward the end of the corridor, and his voice cut off abruptly. He stiffened, stood up straight, and swallowed the rest of his words.
Misha: “…”
Wait. Dragon? What dragon?
Does Zebrun’s secret have something to do with the Dragon Clan?
He followed Ashby’s gaze and turned to look down the corridor.
The only thing that could terrify Ashby like this… yes, it was indeed Lance approaching.
“The room is ready.” Lance frowned slightly, unsure why Ashby was here at this hour. “What are you all doing standing here?”
Ashby was panicked. Due to the contract he had signed with Lance, he couldn’t refuse Lance’s questions. He spoke almost subconsciously: “I… I just came out of Sweetheart Baby’s room…”
Lance: “…”
Misha: “…”
Zebrun: “…”
Ashby: “We just—”
Lance: “Enough.”
Ashby immediately shut his mouth.
Lance turned to Zebrun and said, “The room is ready. Go get some rest.”
Zebrun: “…”
He had countless questions in his heart.
He didn’t understand why Ashby was here, nor did he know what contract Ashby was talking about. And this human Hero—he was certainly strong, but to say he was like a Demon King? Zebrun couldn’t help but glance at the real Demon King, Misha… Well, neither the human Hero nor the Demon King really looked like Demon Kings, did they?
But…
Forget it, there are too many questions. Better not to ask.
So Zebrun nodded slowly. With a face that clearly said “I have something to say,” he turned around. After Lance told him the location of the room, he walked in the direction Lance pointed.
Lance stood there, frowning as he looked at Ashby and Misha.
Misha was anxious to know the results of Ashby’s investigation into Lance’s movements. He had questions for Ashby, and all of this needed to be done away from Lance. But he didn’t have a good excuse. He could only look at the departing Zebrun and suddenly blurt out, “He might not know the way.”
Ashby couldn’t wait to get away from Lance. He practically nodded along with Misha instantly, saying, “I’ll go see him off!”
Misha couldn’t wait to follow: “I’ll go too!”
Lance: “…”
Lance’s expression looked even stranger.
He seemed faintly unhappy, yet he said nothing. He only gave Zebrun’s retreating figure a meaningful look, as if giving tacit permission.
Of course, Misha didn’t need Lance’s permission. He had already quickly caught up to Zebrun. Ashby nodded awkwardly at Lance and followed without hesitation.
Lance didn’t follow them.
Misha let out a small sigh of relief.
He found the room prepared for Zebrun, pulled both Ashby and Zebrun inside, and then slammed the door shut.
“Zebrun,” Misha explained. “There are things we need to discuss away from Lance.”
Zebrun: “…”
Zebrun nodded solemnly.
Then he turned around, walked directly to the bed, and sat down with his back to them.
Misha: “Eh?”
Ashby: “…”
This reaction was completely unexpected. It seemed he wanted to tell Misha and Ashby that he had absolutely no interest in what they were about to say. But expressing it so abruptly… regardless, it was definitely weird.
Misha felt Zebrun was overthinking things, but Ashby nodded seriously and said, “Zebrun is just a weirdo like that.”
Misha: “…”
Forget it. The important thing right now is business.
Misha coughed lightly, put on his “serious business” face, looked at Ashby, and asked, “About the matter I asked you to investigate…”
Ashby paused, as if finally remembering the heavy responsibility the Demon King had entrusted to him. “It will take at most another day or two to get results.” He hesitated for a moment, then couldn’t help but say, “But… Lord Demon King, this Hero might be a little strange.”
Misha: “…Not a little. He is very strange.”
But what Ashby wanted to discuss wasn’t the Hero’s eccentric behavior.
Although his investigation wasn’t deep yet, and he hadn’t obtained a final, concrete result, the current data and situation were enough to make him feel extremely odd.
Misha had wanted him to check if anyone with the Hero’s appearance had been deliberately avoiding human towns and monster settlements, wandering in the mountains and wilds over the past few years. This wasn’t a difficult task. Lance’s appearance was too conspicuous; if he appeared where there were people or monsters, he couldn’t have gone unnoticed.
But precisely because of this, Ashby felt that the Hero would never wander around randomly without a disguise.
His investigation results seemed to confirm his suspicion.
He couldn’t find any information about someone with the Hero’s appearance wandering around, but he discovered quite a few deeds that fit the Hero’s style of conduct.
These deeds were performed by different people in different places. Their physical characteristics were different. The only consistency was—it was a rather tall man.
If a human wanted to disguise themselves, height and weight were difficult factors to hide. In most cases, they could only use clothing to make themselves look taller or fatter, but it was hard to become shorter or thinner. Ashby should have suspected that perhaps it was Lance, but the strangest part was… these events did not avoid human towns. Some even happened right inside the human Royal Capital.
Misha was stunned and subconsciously said, “Maybe that wasn’t the Hero.”
The Divine Realm’s system monitored the Hero’s movements. They could record every time the Hero entered or left human towns and monster settlements. According to the system’s records, before following Misha into Sky City, the Hero had no record of entering any human city.
Ashby muttered softly, “Could there really be a second person as detestable as him?”
Misha: “…”
The voice in Misha’s heart had already answered for him.
Impossible.
There can’t be a second Hero this strange.
“In a few days, I will investigate the whole story clearly,” Ashby said seriously. “I still need some time right now.”
The mysteries surrounding the Hero hadn’t decreased; instead, they seemed to have multiplied.
Misha sighed deeply, nodded, and walked to the door with Ashby. Then he suddenly remembered another thing.
Misha stopped Ashby, lowered his voice, and said, “Lance doesn’t know Zebrun’s identity yet.”
Ashby froze.
“He thinks Zebrun is just an ordinary Dark Elf,” Misha said. “Be careful in front of Lance. Don’t expose Zebrun’s identity.”
Ashby’s hand on the doorknob trembled.
He turned back, tears welling in his eyes.
“Damn it,” Ashby said. “Why am I the only one getting hurt?”
Misha didn’t need to sleep.
He remembered that back at the farm, he had seen magical radiance flowing around the Hero with his Demon King’s Eye. It seemed to be residual divine power. He needed to find Arlo, the righteous Divine Envoy who understood the Divine Realm, to ask about it and figure out which Superior God that strange magic belonged to.
Arlo had just woken up. After hearing everything Misha described, he was incredulous and could barely suppress his astonishment.
As far as he knew, Superior Gods almost never left the Divine Realm, and certainly wouldn’t contact a Hero who refused to leave the Starter Village. If it really was a Superior God, there should be a record in the Divine Realm, and Arlo had never heard of such a record.
Arlo frowned and asked, “Can you describe what that residual magic looked like?”
Superior Gods were few in number, and each deity’s magic was vastly different. The differences were stark. Even without using the Demon King’s Eye like Misha, one could see the difference in the glow and form of the magic with the naked eye when a Superior God used divine power.
But at that time, Misha was in such a hurry.
The Hero had turned around almost immediately, leaving him little time to observe carefully. He had only roughly seen that it was a faint purple light, a very slight fluctuation of magic. As for exactly what it looked like… he couldn’t say clearly.
“The residual magic was too faint,” Misha said guilty. “He interrupted me, so I didn’t get a clear look.”
Arlo nodded. “Then let’s go take another look together.”
Misha finally noticed something was wrong.
Misha whispered, “Arlo, you can’t see it?”
Arlo paused, then answered, “Most of the God Race don’t have this ability.”
Misha opened his eyes wide in surprise. “I thought the God Race would be stronger than Demon Kings.”
Arlo shook his head.
“Not all Demon Kings have this ability either,” Arlo thought for a moment and said. “At least I know your teacher, Alisa, didn’t have it.”
Misha instantly straightened his back, feeling for the first time that he was actually quite amazing.
Arlo added, “Actually, this is the first time I’ve heard that a Demon King has this ability.”
Misha’s back straightened even more.
Arlo: “…”
To be honest, aside from that overly annoying, strange Hero, having this cute rookie junior Demon King made Arlo feel that this mission should have been quite pleasant.
He sighed again and asked Misha, “Where is the Hero now? Let’s go take a look again.”
Misha nodded vigorously.
Lance was a normal human who needed sleep.
Last night, he had pulled an all-nighter for the farmer’s commission, and now he was resting in the room the church had prepared for him.
Having learned from the lesson of having his tail grabbed last time, Misha was cautious. He first used an illusion to knock the Hero out, then picked the lock with magic, pushed the door open a crack, bent down, and squinted to peek inside.
Arlo, who had followed him, was stunned.
He nervously watched for movement in the corridor, terrified someone would see Misha sticking his butt out and peering through the Hero’s door crack. Fortunately, it was still early, and the corridor was empty, save for two small birds perched by the window, looking curiously in their direction.
Misha didn’t dare use an illusion that was too strong, fearing his own magical signature would overshadow the faint residual magic. Therefore, the Hero could wake up at any moment. With his heart in his throat, Misha carefully activated the Demon King’s Eye and looked toward the Hero lying on the bed.
That faint purple light still lingered around the Hero, carrying an aura of terrifying, powerful divine power. Misha narrowed his eyes slightly and whispered, “It’s pur—”
His voice cut off abruptly as he realized that he seemed to be surrounded by that same purple magical glow.
This light was several times stronger than the faint residual magic on the Hero. Misha slowly turned his head, following the glow—the source of all the purple magical light was condensed in the shape of a pendant on Arlo’s chest.
Misha: “…”
It was the Otherworld Stone Arlo had once shown him.
The Otherworld Stone capable of opening the gates to all worlds.
Misha held his breath, suddenly realizing the source of the dark purple glow on the Hero.
Many questions seemed to find a reasonable explanation in that instant, but the conclusion was so bizarre that for a moment… Misha found it hard to believe his own judgment.
The residual dark purple glow on the Hero wasn’t the magic of a Superior God.
It was the residual magic from using an Otherworld Stone. That meant—
The Hero had traveled through an Otherworld Gate.
Arlo whispered, “Purple? And then?”
Misha swallowed hard.
He really didn’t know if he should tell Arlo this result.
This wasn’t just a matter of a disqualified Hero anymore. This might not even be a Hero from this world.
Suddenly, the bells of the sanctuary tolled.
The sound startled the birds outside the window and made Misha jump, causing him to slam into the Hero’s door with a bang.
Arlo: “…”
Misha: “…”
To avoid covering the Hero’s magical signature, the illusion Misha used was extremely light. A slightly louder noise would be enough to wake the Hero from his slumber. First the sanctuary bells, and now him crashing into the door… Misha saw the Hero on the bed stir slightly, looking like he was about to wake up.
Crap. How do I explain my sudden appearance here?
Misha turned his head frantically to look behind him—
Wait, where’s Arlo?
He only saw the corner of a white robe flashing past at the end of the corridor.
Aaahhh! Arlo, how did you run so fast?!
Misha hastily turned his head back.
Lance had propped himself up on the bed and was frowning slightly as he looked at him.
Misha swallowed another mouthful of saliva.
“I…” Misha said nervously. “I just came to check…”
Lance: “What happened to your eyes?”
Misha: “…”
Lance: “Hmm?”
Misha: “………”
Crap.
He forgot to change his eyes back to their human appearance.
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