Chapter 70: This Idiot Demon King
Misha glared fiercely at Lance.
But Lance met his gaze with a look of clear conscience. No matter how Misha glared, he resolutely refused to answer the question Misha had just asked.
Misha had to huffily switch to another question to avoid wasting this hard-earned opportunity.
Misha: “Do you know what the Light of Truth is?”
Lance: “Uh…”
He looked like he didn’t want to answer.
Misha: “Then do you know the legend about humans and the two Divine Envoys?”
Lance: “Mm… I really don’t know much about that.”
Misha: “…Then what did your conversation with Ze… with him mean?”
Lance: “…”
Misha almost said Zebulun’s name out loud. Fortunately, he stopped himself in time and didn’t expose Zebulun’s identity.
But he knew very well that Lance was still unwilling to tell him the answer to this question.
“I said, I can’t prove it to you right now,” Lance whispered. “I’m worried you won’t believe me.”
Misha: “…”
But Misha felt he seemed to have vaguely grasped the key to the matter.
The questions Lance was unwilling to answer seemed to revolve around just a few things.
He said he could only tell Misha the truth after finding a way to prove it all, and repeatedly emphasized that the place he would reveal everything was among the Dragon Clan. Zebulun had said that a glimpse of the truth could be seen in the Dragon Clan’s territory, and the word used to describe the Light of Truth… happened to be “truth.”
Misha felt he had guessed something. He thought that, so far, the things the Hero was unwilling to say, or rather found extremely hard to prove at the moment, seemed to center around the “Divine Realm’s scam.” Aside from that, no matter how important the matter, the Hero didn’t seem to hide it from him.
To verify this, Misha deliberately asked Lance, “Why… did you go to the Divine Realm?”
True to form, Lance didn’t hide anything and answered directly: “That was an accident.”
Misha: “Accident?”
Lance: “It could also be considered fleeing for refuge.”
Misha: “Huh? Fleeing?”
This answer exceeded Misha’s expectations. He had assumed that since the Hero hated the gods so much, going to the Divine Realm must have been to turn it upside down, or simply to kill the God King, right?
But the Hero said he was just fleeing…
What kind of disaster would cause someone to flee all the way to the Divine Realm?
Misha hesitated and asked, “In that world… you didn’t destroy a Gate to Another World too, did you?”
Lance raised an eyebrow slightly and said, “Back then, I hadn’t discovered how interesting the Gates were.”
Misha: “…”
Right, the Hero had said that the magic attached to the Gates was extremely good at hiding itself. Unless one knew the Gate’s location clearly and went near it, outsiders would never find the Gate’s whereabouts.
And a Hero going through a normal adventure process wouldn’t encounter a Gate.
Misha thought for a moment and asked cautiously, “Then in your original world, did anything happen?”
Lance smiled and said, “About the same as everything I’m doing now.”
Misha: “…”
About the same?
That meant bullying the Demon King, bullying monsters, squeezing humans, accumulating evil deeds, making people want to slap him to death.
Wait, if there really was such a strange Hero, the Demon King Realm couldn’t have been silent. Teacher Alisa should have added him to the Demon King curriculum long ago!
Misha frowned, somewhat doubting the truth of Lance’s words.
If there really was such an outrageous Hero, the Divine Realm shouldn’t have received zero news.
“I never went to your Divine Tower,” Lance said very self-righteously. “Instead, I visited all the cities.”
Misha: “…”
Misha remembered the investigation report Ashby had submitted.
The eccentric human in the report, who operated similarly to the Hero, had traveled to almost all major cities on the continent, done many strange things, and left a thick stack of records that gave one a headache just looking at them.
Right, that record.
Misha realized he had forgotten to read that record.
“At that time, I didn’t know the Divine Realm had such a strange habit of selecting Heroes,” Lance raised an eyebrow, seeming to feel a little regret for his actions back then. “If I had known, I might not have wandered around so randomly.”
Misha: “…”
So weird. This Hero was this weird from the very beginning!
But following Lance’s logic, Misha discovered another obvious inconsistency.
The Hero didn’t know about the Gate and had no identity connected to the Divine Race. In that case, he absolutely shouldn’t possess an Otherworld Stone.
Without an Otherworld Stone, one couldn’t pass through the Gate. Even in the Divine Realm, only a small number of people had Otherworld Stones.
It was a supreme honor recognizing one’s ability. Misha didn’t have one. If Arlo hadn’t specifically shown it to him back then, he might not even know what an Otherworld Stone looked like.
An Otherworld Stone was something that absolutely would not end up in the human world.
The Hero shouldn’t have an Otherworld Stone, nor could he pass through the Gate to come to another world.
This naturally made Misha feel very strange.
He didn’t know if Lance would hide anything from him on this matter, but he thought the people of the Divine Realm would definitely not tell him everything. Since he wanted to know the truth, he could only get the answer from Lance.
Misha asked hesitantly, “You don’t have an Otherworld Stone. How did you get to the Divine Realm?”
Lance: “…”
Misha felt he had vaguely hit the core of the problem.
“Since you didn’t know about the existence of the Divine Realm’s Hero System back then, why did you go to the Divine Realm?” Misha asked softly. “What you wanted to do didn’t require going to the Divine Realm, right?”
He couldn’t figure out why the Hero went to the Divine Realm. And the Hero said his going there was just an accident. Could it be… he didn’t go to the Divine Realm using his own Otherworld Stone?
Misha scratched his head, feeling things were getting messier. He hoped Lance could give him some explanation, but Lance didn’t seem to want to answer questions related to this. He just shook his head at Misha and said, “Next question.”
Misha: “…”
The ominous feeling in Misha’s heart grew stronger. He thought that all the questions Lance avoided talking about were related to the Divine Realm. He already knew the Hero opposed the gods, and Zebulun said the Dragon Clan’s territory was the only weak point where a glimpse of the truth could be seen. Could the Light of Truth… represent the gods?
The Hero didn’t seem to have an Otherworld Stone anymore. He couldn’t go to the Divine Realm, yet he was insistent on going to the Dragon Clan. That meant he was very curious about this legendary weak point. That weak point might represent a connection to the Divine Race. After all, dragons could fly. Besides the Gate, if one had to think of another way to go to the Divine Realm, the most likely place was with the Dragon Clan.
Combining this with the Hero’s many past remarks targeting the Divine Race, Misha felt… was the Hero planning to go to the Divine Realm through the Dragon Clan?
Is he planning to invade the Divine Realm?!
Misha was terrified and uneasy, quickly running through his conjectures in his mind.
Although some details didn’t match up, overall, he felt his guess shouldn’t be wrong.
Zebulun and Lance had discussed the unchanging celestial phenomena. Misha didn’t understand what this meant. After all, stargazing wasn’t considered a good thing in either the Divine Realm or the human world. The Church forbade studying celestial phenomena, and in the Divine Realm, only certain gods could participate in stargazing. As a Demon Lord with a clearly defined identity, Misha certainly wasn’t in that group.
And just now, the Hero wanted to bring him “on board.”
Although Misha was flustered at the time and rejected the Hero’s request outright, not clearly hearing what the Hero had said, if the Hero’s goal was to forcibly enter the Divine Realm, then he absolutely could not associate with the Hero, nor could he continue his identity as an accomplice.
He thought, his current identity was a Divine Envoy. The Hero seemed to truly believe he was a Divine Envoy, which was why the Hero accepted the human oracle regarding the two Divine Envoys and the Light of Truth. That meant, as long as he revealed his identity as opposed to the Hero, perhaps… the Hero wouldn’t keep pestering him.
Misha felt his logic was clear and very reasonable.
He thought, the Hero already knew about the existence of the Divine Realm’s training system. But currently, it seemed the Hero didn’t know about the part of the Hero System related to the Demon Lord.
He seemed to only know that the Divine Realm selected Heroes to become kings through this system, but didn’t know that his nemesis, the Demon Lord, was also someone from the Divine Realm.
But to be safe, Misha decided to probe a little to understand Lance’s perception of this matter.
If Lance really didn’t know, he would execute the old plan immediately upon returning: find a random excuse to resume his Demon Lord identity, then turn around and flee, resolutely refusing to become the Hero’s accomplice in breaking the barrier and fighting the Divine Realm.
Of course, during this time, he should also try to persuade the Hero.
If the Hero could give up those unrealistic ideas, and he didn’t have to be enemies with the Hero or betray the Divine Race, that would be the best outcome.
Misha was apprehensive. He coughed a few times, cleared his throat, and began to probe.
“Actually, I think the Divine Realm’s Hero System is pretty good,” Misha nodded, trying to make his words sound more convincing. “It can kill the extremely evil Demon Lord and rid the human world of a scourge. That counts as a good thing… right?”
Lance: “…”
After saying this, Misha immediately looked at Lance, carefully noting Lance’s expression.
With such a probe, the Hero should express his stance on this, right?
But Lance neither nodded nor objected; he just sighed silently.
Misha: “…”
Strange, what does that mean?
Misha continued his diligent probing.
Misha: “Those monsters are heinous and truly detestable!”
Lance: “…”
Misha: “The Demon Lord is the most evil creature in this world!”
Lance: “…”
Misha: “The gods planning to get rid of the Demon Lord is a good thing!”
Lance: “…”
No matter how he probed, Lance just looked at him with that slightly subtle expression, not saying a word from beginning to end, making it impossible for Misha to discern his thoughts.
In the end, Misha fell silent.
He widened his eyes and looked at Lance. Lance paused for a long time, then sighed heavily with infinite helplessness.
Misha: “Hmm?”
Misha didn’t understand what he meant.
“You know,” Lance said softly. “Sometimes, I think you’re very smart.”
Misha puffed out his chest proudly.
To be able to complete a deduction from such limited clues, he also thought he was very smart.
“But sometimes, like now,” Lance added a sentence. “I think you’re not smart at all.”
Misha: “?”
Damn it! Insulting him again!
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