“Honestly, I was a bit surprised. Not Astaroth, and certainly not you—I never expected you to come all the way here.”
In the darkness, a demon dressed sharply in formal evening wear melted into the shadows. His voice carried a faint tone of reproach, but he shrugged it off as if it didn’t matter.
“Well, have a seat. It’s a shame you didn’t give notice beforehand. I could have prepared a more comfortable space for you.”
“I apologize for the unannounced intrusion, Lucifer.”
Satan apologized without resistance. Lucifer’s eyes widened in surprise, then he gave a dismissive chuckle and scratched his head. If anyone else had done that, it might have seemed childish, but coming from the impeccably dressed Lucifer, it somehow retained an air of dignity.
Satan strolled over slowly and settled into a patch of suitable darkness. He glanced briefly to his right, then fixed his gaze forward again. The spot he had just looked at was where Lucifer had been sitting moments before. Noticing this, Lucifer gave a faint smile.
“Are you worried?”
“Hm?”
“No, I assume you’ve already heard the rumors.”
“…You mean Pluton?”
Satan let out a low sigh. Pluton—not just any demon, but one of the fourteen great demon lords. And recently, Pluton had vanished. It was a significant loss, needless to say, and even for a great demon, it was a bitter pill to swallow.
Yet Lucifer, who had Pluton under his command, was the first to speak, as if it were no big deal. Satan crossed his legs leisurely.
“So, how is it?”
“Ah, it’s a huge problem. The grief over losing Pluton is immense, and Proserpina is desperately trying to seize control.”
Lucifer laughed bitterly. Satan suddenly felt a flicker of irritation. Lucifer must know exactly what Satan wanted to say. Yet by bringing up such trivial talk, he was silently signaling that he still refused to bend his will.
Satan pondered whether to change the subject or confront him directly.
In the end, he chose the latter.
“The situation isn’t looking good.”
Lucifer’s eyes widened again. If before it was just a polite expression, now genuine emotion surfaced—albeit subtly.
“That’s quite something.”
Lucifer gave a dry chuckle.
“I’ve been hearing bits and pieces. I understand things are going fairly well in the southern continent? Recently, under the Odin Clan’s leadership, you won a war against the Arcono Orcs and paved the way to Ragnarok…”
“That’s right. We put some effort into it.”
“But—”
“But it’s slow.”
Satan cut straight to the point. Lucifer tilted his head, then gently stroked his chin. What did Satan mean by ‘slow’? Lucifer seemed to understand.
“If that’s the case, there’s no reason to force me, is there? As far as I know, I’m the only great demon meddling in the northern continent.”
“Not meddling—holding it tight, perhaps?”
“Why do you say that?”
“I thought you’d learned a lesson from Pluton’s disappearance. Was I mistaken?”
Lucifer began to laugh quietly. The eerie chuckle echoed through the silent room, and Satan’s crimson pupils narrowed like a serpent’s.
After a moment, Lucifer wiped his tears and spoke.
“This is quite the dilemma. There are two choices, but neither will improve the situation.”
“Still, there’s no need to make things worse on purpose.”
“Are you certain I will fail?”
“Are you certain you will succeed?”
Lucifer shook his head leisurely in response.
“Oh, no. It would be ridiculous to claim certainty after Pluton’s disappearance. I’m just…”
“Just?”
“…finding our predicament amusing. Ha ha.”
“……”
After a brief silence, Satan closed his eyes and reflected. He was wrong. As he’d suspected, Lucifer was enjoying the current situation—not because it held some profound meaning, but simply for the fun of it.
Come to think of it, that made sense. Lucifer’s epithet is ‘The Fallen Angel.’ When asked why he fell, he said, “Because it seemed fun.” And as Astaroth had said, his personality was stubborn to a fault—once he made up his mind, it was nearly impossible to change it. Though he appeared polite and harmless on the surface, among the seven great demons, Lucifer was the most unpredictable.
Having sorted his thoughts, Satan quietly rose. Lucifer looked surprised.
“Oh? Leaving so soon?”
“I don’t think continuing this conversation will be productive.”
“Ah, seems I’ve upset you.”
“…Not really. Well then, I’ll be going.”
Satan bid a brief farewell and slowly turned away.
Lucifer watched him go with a vacant gaze.
Until Satan completely disappeared.
The moment I tilted my head back, a massive shadow blotted out the sky.
“That’s…”
It wasn’t just a shadow. Its overall shape resembled a bird, but it was no ordinary sparrow.
About five meters wide, it must have weighed several hundred kilograms. Its back was adorned with wings resembling those of a bat, and its glowing blue body looked like a drake straight out of a fantasy comic. Calling it a monstrous bird seemed fitting.
Still, it made no sense. No monster would approach a city without extreme recklessness. Unless it was a coordinated attack by a group—but this was a lone creature.
As countless thoughts swirled in my mind, the beast circled gently and approached the castle. Was it about to attack?
“Dragonkin… huh?”
Just as I prepared to use my dragon transformation, I squinted involuntarily. Something familiar appeared on the beast’s back as it spun through the bright sunlight.
Raising my mana, the image became clearer.
“Suhyun~!”
I gasped loudly as I saw my brother waving at me.
“Phew. Finally, I can breathe.”
“Hyung?”
“Ah, wait, wait. Let’s sit down first. …Ah, that’s better.”
Seeing my brother flop onto the sofa, I couldn’t help but feel a bit exasperated.
“I really thought you were dead. Did you make it back on time?”
He looked rough from all the hardships he’d been through, but the situation was more important.
Looking out the terrace, I saw the monstrous bird sitting quietly in the garden with its wings folded. Clan members kept a wary distance, and outside the main gate, an uncountable crowd buzzed with curiosity. Meanwhile, the baby Pegasus fearlessly bit at the beast’s long tail… Wait, why are you doing that? Aren’t you scared?
At that moment, the beast, watching the baby Pegasus with curious eyes, suddenly turned its head and locked eyes with me.
—Hmm, so you’re the younger sibling that human spoke of.
…Huh? Was that Hwa-jeong’s voice? No, it wasn’t her gentle tone.
—You like my voice? Hehe…
—Hmph. Not as good as I expected.
Following Hwa-jeong’s shy voice, a strange voice echoed in my mind again. Only then did I realize the rough voice belonged to the beast itself. It was staring at me intently. Wait a minute—was there a spirit in the Steel Mountains?
—Human, don’t stare like that. That human called you the most beautiful, coolest, handsomest, and all-around best little sibling in the world, but you’re a disappointment.
“?”
—Anyway, I look forward to working with you.
“W-What?”
I’d just heard something incredibly embarrassing, and my head spun. Holding my dizzy forehead, I turned around to see my brother smiling slyly. I dashed over to him immediately.
“But Suhyun, your vibe’s changed a lot…”
“Explain.”
I slammed my hand on the table, startling him. He quickly regained his composure and exhaled deeply.
“Ah… it’s nothing really.”
“Nothing, yet you rode that monster here? How did you even manage that? It’s a monster!”
“Suhyun, I’ll explain everything, but why don’t you sit down? You’re all over the place.”
“Ugh…”
I reluctantly sat down. He glanced outside, then straightened up from the sofa.
“Alright. First, that beast is definitely a monster, but it’s intelligent. Meaning it can communicate with humans. You know that, right?”
I nodded. It wasn’t unheard of to encounter talking monsters, and I’d just experienced it myself.
“It’s not a big deal. I just went into the Steel Mountains, found the beast, talked to it, and we ended up forming a cooperative relationship.”
He summarized it simply, but that hardly cleared up my questions.
“You went into the Steel Mountains to find it? So it was intentional?”
“Yeah. I had a bit of a connection with that beast during the Steel Mountains campaign. You know, when we were fighting the giants…”
When I mentioned the giants, my brother’s expression darkened slightly. Now that I thought about it, I recalled the scene during the assault on the Third Region—some strange flock of monstrous birds had attacked the giants from behind.
“No matter what…”
“……?”
“So this is what you really wanted to do in the Steel Mountains?”
“Yeah, that’s right.”
He nodded firmly, as if confirming something to himself. Then, the shadow that had clouded his face earlier slowly began to lift. I stared at him, lost in thought. And then, suddenly—
‘I’m sorry.’
‘My abilities weren’t enough.’
‘There was nothing to fear in the Northern Continent… everything went according to plan… I thought it would be the same this time…’
‘Now I understand. How narrow-minded that was. I’m not fit to be the Supreme Commander.’
‘…Are there really that many monsters like giants?’
‘A whole species, huh. Back in the first run, after we discovered their existence, what happened to everyone?’
The words my brother had said to me after the Third Region assault flooded my mind all at once.
“Why are you thinking about this now?”
“Why? Well, Kushan… no, that’s not it.”
He started to say something but suddenly shook his head.
Kushan. Could it be that he had some kind of connection with the giants back then? It was just a fleeting thought.
“Why? Do you think it’s a bad idea?”
A bad idea? I didn’t think so. Or maybe I wasn’t sure. It was just bewildering. Monsters cooperating with us? If they were slaves, maybe, but this kind of strange alliance was unprecedented in both the first and second runs.
“No, it’s not that it’s bad… I was just curious about what you were thinking. There must be a reason behind it.”
Even I felt my words sounded awkward, as if I was trying to justify something without a clear cause.
“A reason? Of course there is.”
His answer came as naturally as if it were obvious. I glanced up and saw him quietly gazing out over the terrace with calm eyes.
“…What is it?”
“Now that I think about it… hmm. Well, I was planning to talk about it once we got back.”
“……?”
“Su-hyun.”
His voice suddenly grew serious. Then he turned his gaze from beyond the terrace to meet mine.
“About us.”
“Yeah?”
“It’s time we start preparing, don’t you think?”
“Preparing?”
At my question,
“Yes, preparing.”
He spoke with conviction, then gave me a clear, charming smile.
“Preparing to go home.”
---------------------------= Author’s Note =---------------------------
Today’s note will be a quiet one…