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“Ugh─!”

“Ar, are you okay, Luke?”

Damn it. How did they set up the portal to make me feel this nauseous? It feels like I jumped out of a centrifuge rather than through a portal. How am I supposed to get back?

“This is the Demon Realm… right?”

“It seems so.”

Could it be that there was a problem with the portal, and we ended up in a multiverse world? Or maybe we accidentally landed in a different novel? No, it must definitely be the Demon Realm, even if the place is strange.

The location we landed in was the original underground sewer. The only difference is that it’s a bit brighter than where we came from. And instead of the usual deep navy water, it displayed a rich pink hue.

“Let’s get outside first.”

Staying in the sewer was making me feel worse, so we headed out for the moment.

Finding the way wasn’t difficult. Even though this is the Demon Realm, the sewer pathways were identical to the Empire. Once we stepped out of the sewer, that’s when we truly realized we were in the Demon Realm.

The castle walls, which had been almost white, now looked closer to black. Moreover, the buildings that had been primarily white in the Empire were also darkened, giving a strong atmosphere that we had indeed entered the Demon Realm while their exteriors resembled those of the Empire.

The reason the sewer looked unchanged was likely because the path was made of gray bricks. Gray remains gray no matter the shade, so it would merely change in tone. That’s why it seemed like it hadn’t changed at all.

“This… is the Empire, right?”

“It seems that way.”

I was worried, but it was no illusion. This was the Demon Realm, a twisted version of the Empire that only the author might know about… or perhaps even the author might not know.

As evidence, we had clearly entered when the sunset was occurring. The sky should normally display warm oranges, yet here, it was the opposite—blue.

Not the natural colors we might see in the sky, but an unsettling blue, as if it had been coated with paint.

In the distance, the massive royal palace appeared, with black walls and a red roof, making it look like a demon lord’s castle.

“While it’s great to have come to the Demon Realm, where do we go now?”

“How should I know?”

“……?”

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

“Well… if you don’t know, who would?”

“The author might know? The Demon God knows too.”

The problem is that I don’t know.

There had only been one mention of the Demon Realm in the novel. Where do demons give birth and live? When questioned, it was mentioned that there was a place called the Demon Realm.

I had no idea the Demon Realm was a twisted world until I arrived here.

“So what do we do now?”

“What do you mean, what do we do? We need to wander around until we find the Demon God.”

That’s why I brought all the bedding and food. I suppose there would be beds here, so I didn’t need to bring the bedding after all.

The Demon Realm is a twisted version of the Empire. More specifically, it’s a twisted version of the continent. Therefore, if there’s no Demon God in the Empire, we’d have to travel across the entire continent.

To places like Alvheim where the Elves live, Marquina where the Dwarves reside, and even into the Beastman Kingdom, which I haven’t been to yet.

Or perhaps into the deep underground where only the Demon God knows. Then who knows how long that would take.

“I just have to hope it’s still within the Empire.”

“So, does that mean we have to wander around aimlessly…?”

What can we do? If you have complaints, blame the author for failing to describe the Demon Realm in detail.

“Then which place should we check first? The Demon God wouldn’t be hanging around just any lodging or restaurant. Do you have any guesses?”

“Well… there are a couple of places.”

Within the Empire, the main stage of the novel is Jeminal Academy. And then there’s the royal palace where the king resides. Those are the two places where the Demon God is likely to be found.

“Then should we go to the Academy first?”

“No, let’s go to the palace first.”

“Wasn’t the Academy the main stage of the novel you mentioned?”

“That’s true, but searching the entire Academy would take forever.”

Classrooms, training grounds, libraries, restaurants, dormitories… The Academy is just too large. We don’t even know who the Demon God is, and there are too many places to check, especially since the professors have separate lodging and dining areas.

“It seems more efficient to head to the palace first since it would take too long at the Academy.”

“Isn’t the palace just as vast as the Academy?”

“No, it isn’t.”

If there is a Demon God in the palace, there’s really only one place where they could be.

“The throne room. If the Demon God is in the palace, it would have to be there.”

So, our first exploration took us to the palace.

As we traveled to the palace, we used the path we had taken during a previous social gathering, but now the place was eerily quiet with no one around, filling me with a sense of psychological dread.

Once we arrived at the palace, it was just as deserted, with no servants or anyone around.

“This is the audience chamber.”

Of course, the throne room would be where the throne is. Riche seemed to know where it was, having come here a few times before.

Upon entering the large door into the audience chamber, a blue carpet extended all the way to the throne, where a grand throne in blue and black awaited.

However… the area surrounding the throne was drenched in a red liquid. The entire throne being blue made the red blood stand out even more.

“Ah… Is this all blood?”

“The owner of the blood is surely dead.”

Approaching the throne, I dipped my finger into the red liquid on the floor and tasted it.

“Uh…? Why are you eating that…? Are you perhaps a Vampire, Luke?”

“No, not that, I was just checking if it was really blood. And yep, it’s blood.”

I didn’t know if it was treated to turn red like in a twist or if it was genuine blood existing here.

“If it’s a twist that turned red, then it means it originally was blue. But what could that blue liquid be?”

Blue liquid… No matter how hard I think, nothing comes to mind. If this were my past life, there might have been blue drinks, but there are no food colorings in this world.

So it must really have originally been red.

“But you never know. Maybe it was tomato stew that spilled.”

“If it was a twist, wouldn’t the tomato stew turn blue…?”

“Good point.”

Why didn’t I think of that? Spit. That was dumb.

“I wonder whose blood this could belong to…?”

“But before we think about whose blood this is, isn’t there something we should consider first?”

“What do you mean… Ah!”

Exactly. Before discussing who the blood belonged to, we need to figure out why there is blood here in the first place.

There must certainly be demons in the Demon Realm, yet strangely, the demons that should have poured out when we opened the portal did not appear. Along the way to the palace, not a single demon was in sight.

And this is the Demon Realm. We are the first and only humans to have crossed into here. None of us shed blood, so who could have shed this blood? We need to resolve this contradiction first.

Yet there are no clues at all. Ultimately, all we knew was that someone had bled here and that someone other than us was in the Demon Realm. And the throne room had no sign of the Demon God.

“Tch. It would have been convenient if they were here.”

Reluctantly, we exited the palace and headed to the Academy. But as soon as we arrived at the Academy, a sigh escaped me.

“Ah~ When will we find everything~?”

Honestly, since the Demon God wouldn’t be going to places like restaurants, we could skip those areas, but on the flip side, we don’t know where the Demon God might be, so we have no choice but to check everywhere.

“It’s better to search separately.”

When are we going to search the entire place together? This is the height of inefficiency.

“Um, wait a moment…!”

“What?”

“Uh, um, when we meet the Demon God… can we win?”

I can guarantee I can win. I!

“You all wouldn’t be able to win.”

“Then I want to stick with Luke!”

“If so, how long will it take us to find him?”

“I don’t want to die…!”

I wish I had built up some confidence before coming here. I should have thrown myself into the Volcano Dragon’s lava once or twice before. Then I wouldn’t be such a coward.

“Ugh. Do as you wish.”

So, Luna and Riche all followed me without hesitation. Naturally, with all four of us together, our search speed was extremely slow.

First-year classrooms, second-year classrooms, third-year classrooms… Then checking the training grounds and the large training ground. Just in case, we rummaged through the restaurant and the library too, but we couldn’t find a trace of the Demon God anywhere.

I felt like blowing the entire Academy up, but all I had was a Magical Power Bomb. I need to save that for the Demon God.

After rummaging through the dormitories again, all that was left was the group dormitory—specifically, Luke’s room, which I had seen immediately after being possessed.

To be honest, I didn’t have high hopes. Luke wasn’t even an extra character. The Demon God couldn’t possibly be in a place where someone who wasn’t even a background character would be.

Thinking that, I opened the door.

“…Huh?”

Inside, a mysterious man was staring intently at a single photograph.

And then…

[ Main Quest ]

Eliminate the man before you. Right now!

Clear Condition: L̸̴̴̸̶̷͎̭̒ű̷̶̸̷̸̸̲̽k̶̵̴̴̸̶̩̀͒ē̶̵̷̶̷̸̹̽’s demise.

A quest that I had never seen since being possessed appeared right before my eyes.

 

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