Chapter 260
The three Lycans chasing us were easily subdued by Blanshe. The captured ones were dragged by the maids to the cave where the Yeti used to live.
Probably by tomorrow, they’ll be interrogated there about the forest’s situation.
“Wow. Did you see how Blanshe just acted? I got chills! I really thought she was a rabbit!”
“Please don’t tease me. I’m so embarrassed I could die…”
“Pyoing? Pyoing not attached? Pfft—cough!?”
Blanshe’s hand chop cleanly landed on Helga’s side. It was so fast that it looked like Helga was the only one clutching her side and collapsing.
“Owwww. It hurts so much. What if you hit my bones for real?”
“If you’re a bodyguard knight, don’t whine over something this trivial. And from now on, if you say ‘pyoing,’ it won’t just end with pain.”
Blanshe warned with a terrifying face.
But we had to hold back our laughter because the poorly made rabbit ears she forgot to remove were still on her head, making her look ridiculous.
Meanwhile, the rabbit-eared girl, thinking we were talking about her, turned pale and spoke up.
“S-sorry if I bothered you, pyoing! Pyoing is just a habit of our kind…”
“Ah, no. Don’t mind it. I wasn’t talking to you…”
The rabbit-eared girl, who introduced herself as Vanilla, thanked Helga.
Normally, demons would be hostile to humans, but her attitude showed exactly what kind of race the rabbit-eared tribe was.
Helga cleared her throat and pointed at me.
“Ahem. You should thank our young lady, not me.”
“Young lady… pyoing?”
When Vanilla’s eyes met mine, she flinched. It’s no wonder—I was wearing armor and an eye mask to hide my identity, so I must’ve looked suspicious.
But it seemed like I looked more than just suspicious.
“Eeeeeek! S-save me, pyoing! Save me, pyoing!”
“Huh? Where are you running off to? You didn’t even finish your thanks.”
Vanilla, trying to bolt away, was caught by Helga and flailed in the air. She looked exactly like a rabbit caught by a hunter.
“Gah! I-I’m not tasty, pyoing! I’m not tasty, pyoing!”
“Ahaha. Who said anything about eating you?”
“T-that scary person is going to eat me, pyoing! Let me go, pyoing!”
For some reason, she was completely terrified.
Did I really look that scary?
Well, the rabbit-eared tribe is at the bottom of the food chain, so it’s not an exaggeration to say they fear every race… but she seemed especially scared of me.
Vanilla’s face turned from pale to ghostly white, and she was desperate to escape.
Eventually, Helga intervened.
“Don’t worry. Our young lady is human, so she won’t eat you.”
“D-don’t lie, pyoing! Where would you find a human that scary, pyoing!”
Hearing Vanilla’s words, I remembered something. The rabbit-eared tribe has an instinct for sensing danger, honed over years of fleeing from predators.
Tristan, who carries the traits of the Seven Deadly Sins and is a descendant of demons, has demon blood flowing through him—something even demons fear. Maybe her instincts picked up on that.
“Looks like you’ve never met a truly scary human, huh?”
“Eeeeek! M-my ears hurt, pyoing! Don’t grab them so hard, pyoing! I’m scared, pyoing!”
“Listen. If I or the young lady wanted to eat you, we would’ve done it already. Right? And have you ever heard of humans eating demons?”
“N-no, pyoing…”
“See? Our young lady won’t eat you, so relax.”
“Then… is it really true, pyoing?”
“Of course. It’s true. If anything, it’s her who might eat you.”
Out of nowhere, Rian appeared next to Vanilla, sniffing her.
“Hey… can I take just one bite?”
“Eeeeeek!? A-a vampire!?”
Vanilla was horrified at the sight of Rian’s fangs.
Meanwhile, Helga calmly tried to calm Rian down.
“Of course not, Rian.”
“Aw, why not? Just one bite. Just one little bite?”
“If you bite her, she’ll die.”
“I’ll bite gently.”
“Do you want to get hit gently by me?”
“Helga’s ‘gently’ isn’t gentle at all.”
“No, it’s gentle for me, but not for the person getting hit.”
“Hmph… I’m hungry…”
Rian reluctantly gave up.
Come to think of it, the blood I gave her ran out today. She’ll hold out for a few days, but I should replenish it when we get back. For a vampire, blood is like the elixir of life.
We decided to give Vanilla some time to calm down. If we pushed her any further, she might’ve fainted or started foaming at the mouth.
The reason most rabbit-eared tribe members are cowards is simple: to survive predators.
Their fearful and flighty nature is how they’ve managed to survive in this demon forest so far.
“Ahem. Listen up, little rabbit-eared one.”
Once Vanilla had calmed down a bit, Helga formally introduced me.
“The person who saved you is none other than Trinity, the young lady who will soon become the Demon Lord after conquering the demons of this forest.”
“D-Demon Lord, pyoing!?”
Vanilla’s face turned pale again.
Even the weakest demons know how significant that title is. The Demon Lord is a figure of fear for both humans and demons, a powerful being said to bring the world to ruin.
I spoke as gently as possible to ease her fears.
“There’s no need to fear me. As long as you don’t oppose me, I won’t oppose you. You—”
“Demon Lord! P-please save our village, pyoing!”
Huh?
Suddenly cutting me off, Vanilla bowed her head deeply. Her rabbit ears were trembling.
“Please help us, pyoing… If this continues, everyone… everyone will die, pyoing…”
Her voice was filled more with desperation than fear.
I was curious.
What kind of situation could be so dire that she had to bow her head to a Demon Lord?
“…What happened?”
I could at least hear her out.
*
According to Vanilla, the rabbit-eared girl, the various tribes living in the demon forest had always been careful not to encroach on each other’s territories.
The peace in the forest was disrupted when a certain demon appeared.
A man of unknown origin began urging the demons to cooperate in driving out the humans from the south.
The forest demons resisted the stranger’s appearance, but after a few villages disappeared at his hands, the situation turned hostile.
Soon, some tribes submitted to him, while others continued to resist.
The weakest rabbit-eared tribe was caught in the middle, being harassed from all sides.
One day, Lycans would come to hunt them, and another day, Orcs would take them as laborers.
To escape this life, the rabbit-eared tribe had to move their homes several times, but they still live in constant suffering.
After hearing Vanilla’s story, I asked her one question.
“Do you know what the man who suddenly appeared looks like?”
“Sorry, pyoing… I only heard about him from the chief… Oh!”
Vanilla clapped her hands as if she remembered something.
“Now that I think about it, he was said to be a knight wearing ice armor, pyoing!”
That description confirmed my suspicions.
It was undoubtedly Aaron, the “Winter Knight,” who would later become one of the third Demon Lord’s subordinates.
During the first expedition, he led the demon forces to reclaim Northern Garden and inflicted heavy losses on the retreating Imperial Army, delivering a defeat to Bella Izakhel.
As I had vaguely guessed from the original story, Aaron was behind the demons’ cooperation during the first expedition. He was already expanding his influence by urging the demons to unite.
From what Vanilla told me, Aaron’s goal was to attack the humans in the south, the Empire. But his other goal was to make the one he served the Demon Lord—the return of the third Demon Lord.
Aaron is no ordinary demon.
Considering Bella didn’t lose easily and was defeated in swordsmanship, Aaron’s combat abilities are strong enough to create variables.
And now, he’s trying to take control of this forest.
In other words, he’s my first competitor.
After hearing Vanilla’s story, I understood why she asked me to save her village.
She saw the Demon Lord not as a figure of fear, but as a savior who could rescue them from their desperate situation.
“This way, pyoing!”
Vanilla was gesturing for us to follow.
She was guiding us to the rabbit-eared tribe’s village. True to her tribe’s specialty, she was running much faster than us.
I wondered if I could keep up with that using “Jealousy.”
“Count. Do you really intend to help them?”
Blanshe spoke up as I was thinking.
“Realistically, even if we help them and take them under our wing, they won’t be of much use.”
“Hmm.”
That’s true.
Originally, our first targets for recruitment were powerful Polar Bears or the Fox Tribe.
On the other hand, the rabbit-eared tribe, as the weakest demons, are no different from humans and have no special skills other than running.
As Blanshe said, helping them wouldn’t be of much use.
The reason I decided to help the rabbit-eared tribe was this: seeing a demon call me the Demon Lord and beg for help made it hard to turn them away. Even though I’m not the Demon Lord yet.
It’s funny, but that’s the reason.
So, instead of being honest with Blanshe, I decided to spin it with the image of a king I had in mind.
“Blanshe.”
“Yes.”
“The Demon Lord I envision… is someone who can embrace all demons.”
“Huh?”
“There are many demon tribes, and their values are all different. To become the Demon Lord, one must be able to embrace them all.”
Blanshe hummed and then spoke.
“But unlike you, Count, they’re not human. Wouldn’t it be difficult to understand and embrace them?”
“No. They’re not much different from humans.”
“Huh? Not much different from humans…”
“Humans also have vastly different values. In the end, standing above others is a position only those who understand them well can hold. Whether they’re human, demon, or monster… to me, they’re all just subjects I need to understand.”
After I said that, Blanshe looked at me as if struck by lightning.
“I see… I understand what you mean.”
“Glad you understand.”
Truthfully, I’m not even sure myself.
“What’s going on? What are you two talking about?”
“Nothing. Let’s catch up to the rabbit-eared tribe.”
Blanshe, who had the heart of a beast, dashed ahead with incredible speed. We quickly followed, running through the forest.
After running for a while, Vanilla stopped in the middle of the forest.
“…?”
But she was talking to rocks and the ground.
“Everyone, come out, pyoing! Someone who can help us has arrived, pyoing!”
Ah, now I remember. The rabbit-eared tribe lives in burrows dug into the ground.
Looking closely, I could see holes under trees and rocks, just big enough for a person to squeeze through.
And voices came from those holes.
“Forget it. No one can save us.”
“Why are you saying that, pyoing!?”
“We’re done for… The ones who fought back were all captured or killed. The rest of us will meet the same fate…”
The voices from the holes were all lifeless.
“We can’t do it…”
“Yeah… We can’t.”
“B-but, pyoing!”
“You should hide in the hole too, kid. It’s safe in here…”
It’s good that they’re not afraid of us strangers, but…
Listening to their conversation, it’s just absurd.
At this point, it’s not just fear—it’s laziness.
Even Helga, who was listening, couldn’t take it anymore and shouted.
“Hey! How long are you going to live like cowards? You said some of your tribe were captured, right?”
“Eeeeek… Scary woman…”
“So scary… I’ll live in this hole forever.”
“What the…”
Their helplessness was even too much for Helga.
They seem determined to live as cowards, even though their tribe members are being hunted and captured.
No. And it’s not like they’re shut-ins or something…
Vanilla, who had brought us here as saviors, looked extremely troubled.
‘I just talked about understanding values and all that, but this is just too much…’
I looked around the forest and took a deep breath. Then, I ignited the “Wrath” within me.
I’ll embrace your laziness with my “Wrath.”
