The Demon King is Unfathomable

Chapter 11: It’s Fine, Just Do Better In Your Next Life

‘Sword and Broken Blade? That’s a nice name.’

Roan settled down in the tavern and placed his luggage next to his leg.

A waitress wearing a short skirt quickly rushed over with a serving platter and asked with a euphonious voice, “Sir, what would you like to drink…”

Her words trailed off to silence. The customer’s dashing face had stolen her complete attention.

From his purplish-black, slightly curly hair, his black eyes, to his sharp nose, he gave off a sharp impression despite looking slightly unkempt from his travel.

She had met hotties working here, but a face this dashing and full of stories was unusual.

‘Is he a noble from the Ors Empire? He must be often cooped up in a castle to have such a pale complexion…’

While the waitress was in a daze, Roan quickly looked through the menu and ordered a few simple items. “Give me a cup of honey water and ten loaves of bread. Bring me a bag too if you have one.”

The waitress quickly snapped out of her daze and warmly replied, “Coming right up! Sir, we provide accommodations too. Do consider us too if you haven’t found a lodging yet.”

Noticing his luggage, she took the chance to advertise their guest rooms.

However, it was much too dangerous for Roan to stay here. He had heard of murderers returning to the crime scene, but he had never heard of a murderer marching into the police station to get lodging.

The Adventurer Guild was less than ten meters away, and everyone seated around him was an adventurer!

These people might be pitying the deceased old demon king now, but if they ever find out that the new demon king was seated among them right now, he would be floored right away.

It was a long story about why he risked his life sitting here.

Hours ago, he traversed through space via a portal to travel from the Demon Capital in the extreme west to the center of the Ors Continent, to the northeast shore of the Whirlpool Sea.

But something went wrong.

Roan didn’t expect the Ministry of Internal Affairs to be this unreliable. The portal’s destination should have been Thunderbuzz City’s underground labyrinth, but it spat him out on the surface instead.

By the time he recovered, he was already standing in an alley not far away from this tavern.

Duke Campelle’s procession happened to be passing by.

When he met that pair of sharp eyes, he thought his heart was going to stop in its tracks.

Luckily, he wasn’t too eye-catching as a Copper-tier necromancer, and the crowd was too focused on the flaunting knights to notice his sudden appearance. Otherwise, he would have drowned in the sea of people even before the knights could make a move.

On that note, the humans’ reaction verified his long-time deduction—a Copper-tier necromancer wouldn’t pique the humans’ vigilance

And having already crossed paths with a hero, he was also confident that the old thing wouldn’t be able to smell the slightest underworld scent even if he held him up close and took a big sniff.

Not that Roan would ever let anyone sniff him up close, of course.

The adventurers in the tavern quickly became aware of the unusual guest, but none of them associated him with hell. Instead, they thought that he was a noble and unconsciously toned down their coarse way of speaking and switched to whispering.

“What’s that fellow’s background?”

“Who knows… Probably an outsider. Maybe the Campelle’s guest?”

“Why in the world would a Campelle guest be here? It’s more likely that he’s the mayor or Andes’ guest…”

“But what’s he doing here?”

“Maybe he’s here to post a request. Let’s wait and see.”

Roan was unbothered by their whispers and probing eyes as he didn’t think they could see through him.

As much as they were observing him, he was also observing them.

‘Short swords, battle axes, bows, and guns… Their equipment is so-so, though I guess they don’t need anything fanciful in the labyrinth either. The actual situation on the surface pretty much tallies with what’s in the books. These guns are probably Isaac the Fourth’s handiwork, but they don’t seem to be a threat to the knights’ rule.”

This was a world with transcendent powers, after all.

Transcendent powers were fixed to one’s soul and grafted to one’s bloodline. The creation of guns didn’t significantly shake this world’s power balance.

But these weren’t important.

As a demon king from hell, there were more important things for him to deal with.

“Speaking of which, the Draculs’ demon king domain looks more complicated than what the Ministry of Internal Affairs thinks.”

Roan tried to sort his thoughts while the waitress served him his honeyed water.

The chance of the portal going awry was extremely slim, and the teleportation wasn’t a failure either as he had been transported over. The only mishap was his landing point.

There was only one possibility.

Someone had erased the portal in the labyrinth and drew a new one in the city’s alley, waiting for the new demon king to teleport over and fall right into their lap.

And their reason for doing that was obvious!

Roan had only gotten away scot-free because he was too weak and his arrival didn’t cause a stir. Had the Ministry of Internal Affairs sent a Diamond-tier demon instead, they would have been pummeled till their head was oozing juice.

‘Tsk… Those buffoons can’t be counted on. This works too. Spares me the effort of sounding out their loyalty. I should just use them as bait to buy time.’

While Roan was evaluating the situation, a nearby group set their eyes on him.

Adventurers were a diverse bunch coming from all walks of life. Some took requests from the Adventurer Guild in the day and moonlit at night as pickpockets.

However, the group knew that it wouldn’t do to make a commotion here as the Adventurer Guild was right beside.

These brawny men in the group exchanged looks before their gaze finally fell at their only female member dressed in a small leather coat.

‘Theses asses.’

The female member rolled her eyes at her companions. Under her companions’ urging eyes, she stood up, made her way toward Roan’s table, sat down, and began chatting with him as if they were acquaintances.

“Hey, bro. How did ya make ya money?”

She pulled her neckline down to reveal the valleys of her not-that-abundant breasts. This trick was usually effective on men who thought with their lower head, but it was inferior to the means of the succubuses.

‘Those guys eyeing me must be her companions.’

Roan awkwardly put down his cup, pretending to a nervous first-timer in this situation trying his best to maintain his composure.

“Do I look rich to you?”

The woman subconsciously glanced at the ring Roan wore on his right hand.

‘It’s gold, but is it gilded or pure? The gemstone looks expensive.’

Greed flashed across her eyes, but she nonchalantly moved her gaze away and continued the conversation, “Are ya looking for a way to strike it rich?”

“You know one?”

“Of course.” The woman offered her right hand with a smile. “Chris.”

“Qin Shihuang.” Roan grabbed her hand and shook it.

He wanted to retract his hand, but the other party didn’t loosen her grip. Instead, she gently touched the center of his palm with her forefinger.

“Ching See-wang? What an unusual name. Ya from Ors? Or the northern fiefs? Wow, ya have such good skin. No calluses… Let me guess. Ya a mage?”

“Just an Iron-tier one,” Roan shyly pulled back his hand.

His embarrassment had Chris bursting into laughter. She smacked his shoulder.

“All right, I shan’t tease ya. Iron-tier mages are pretty common here since stronger mages can work for fief lords instead of risking their lives out there… Our party is missing a mage. Ya want to join?”

“You have a party?” Roan asked.

“Silver Scimitar. Ya would have heard of us if ya a veteran,” Chris replied.

“Is your party… famous?”

“Very much so. We’re labyrinth veterans,” Chris spouted bullshit. She suddenly warily looked around before leaning to his ear to whisper, “Tell ya a secret. Don’t let anyone else know, kay? We just found a new secret passageway in the labyrinth. It could be linked to the demon king’s treasury.”

Roan stared at Chris in astonishment. “Is that true?”

“Of course! Would I lie to ya?” Chris guffawed as she smacked Roan’s shoulder. “How ‘bout it? We need a mage like ya. Do ya want to come with us?”

“Definitely! Please bring me along. Ah, give me a second. I’ll get the bill.”

Overjoyed, Roan shot up from his seat as if he was giddy with happiness from the sudden bout of fortune. It was only when the waitress walked over that he belatedly remembered his bill.

He reached into his robe, but Chris beat him to it and tossed enough money into the serving plate to cover the bill and the tips.

“Let me treat ya this meal. It’s my way of welcoming ya to our Silver Scimitar! Ya can treat me back when ya strike it rich a few days later!”

At the same time, she turned to the side and glared viciously at the waitress who tried to get in her way.

The waitress trembled with a pale face. She was thinking of warning the handsome lad that the woman with him wasn’t a good person, but she succumbed to fear and lowered her head.

She was just a normal person. This was something she couldn’t get involved in.

Roan quickly followed Chris out of the tavern with his luggage.

‘Not bad. I was still wondering where to find a guide to the labyrinth!’

The clanging of mugs in the tavern never stopped in the meantime. A few adventurers noticed the lad being led out and chuckled.

‘That poor child. For Silver Scimitar to have set their eyes on him. Oh well, we can only hope he learns his lesson and does better in his next life…’