CH 12

Chapter 12: The cruel and cold-hearted demon archduke

Translator: yuzu

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The Favored? What was that?

Luya remembered that in the continent of Asdra, the Empire had no official organized religion or spiritual beliefs. Ordinary people depended on science and technology for their basic lives. Her body’s memories had no recollection of witnessing magic or miracles, yet the people of the other continent believed in the God of Light. She had never seen it herself, and the God of Light had never descended on the continent of Asdra, so Luya still had some doubts.

She didn’t know what the “God of Light” over there was, but at the very least there weren’t any gods in the Empire.

Although she was curious about what Gudius meant by the Favored, she could only bear injuries in place of others. Was that supposed to be a good thing? Luya didn’t dare ask the demon archduke. For now, she just wanted to avoid drawing attention to herself.

The good thing was that they genuinely considered her to be their guest’s pet. When the demon archduke ordered the castle’s servants to bring in some food, aside from serving the red dragon, they also delivered a share for her.

She was not allowed at the table, and the servants led her to a corner of the room not far from the red dragon. They brought her a cup of tea and a plate of weird-looking food made from unknown things.

It looked like a plant, but it had an unpleasant smell, something close to rotting trash and smelly socks. In either case, it wasn’t something that a human could eat.

“Thank you, but I’m not hungry.”

Luya smiled dryly. Fearing that she would abruptly die if she ate it, she tried to decline the meal.

“It’s poor character to be so picky about food.”

Archduke Gudius suddenly laughed, and without raising a finger, the servants suddenly stepped forward and held down Luya’s limbs. They scooped up the food on the plate with a spoon and stuffed it into her mouth.

?!?!

“Wasting food is unacceptable.” Gudius looked at Luya, who was being fed by force.

What the hell?!

As the food was shoved into her mouth, a strong foul odor went up her nose. She tasted something vaguely bitter at the tip of her tongue, and the texture was very slimy like boiled okra. Luya almost spat it out, but before she could even swallow the first bite, a servant quickly stuffed a second spoonful into her mouth.

“Wu— I… I will eat it myself—!”

With her mouth stuffed full with a strange stinky plant, Luya cried out in lament. After she swallowed the mouthful of food, the servants released her, and pushed the spoon into Luya’s hand as directed by Gudius.

…What a terrifying sadist! Couldn’t she eat it by herself?!

The dragon did not stop the demon archduke’s actions, so that probably meant the food was actually edible. Luya didn’t know if she was imagining it, but the servants seemed to be eying her plate of food in envy, as if she was eating a real treat.

But Luya was sure that this was definitely not something that humans would enjoy eating. While forcing herself to swallow this dish of demon cuisine, she strained her ears trying to eavesdrop on the conversation between the red dragon and the demon archduke.

“You want me to give her permission to enter Dünbruck? That’s the most curious request I’ve received in hundreds of years… Fufu1, fine, I have no problem with it. But who knows what those monsters might do…”

“What? I was just teasing you. For such a simple request, what’s wrong with making an exception for you? This lady can be my guest. When you brought her here, I already decided this.”

It looked like they were discussing her affairs. Based on what the demon archduke was saying, it seemed like the red dragon was fighting for her rights?

Really?

In stories, western dragons were supposed to be greedy and evil, but the red dragon was totally different. It had been consistently bringing her food the past few days, allowed her to use its treasures, and treated her extremely well.

Though thinking about it carefully… if she adopted an affectionate stray cat or dog, she would also take care of it with all of her heart.

But the dragon wasn’t human, so you couldn’t use human logic to understand it.

Luya really couldn’t think of another reason why the red dragon was so nice to her, and this was the only possibility that she could think of.

…Oh well, why overthink it? The dragon was treating her so well!

Originally, Luya had thought the red dragon was going to eat her, but that probably wasn’t the case by now.

Although she couldn’t live with humans anymore, this was better than living like a refugee constantly at the brink of death. She considered herself fortunate.

The red dragon and the demon archduke started to talk about other topics. This time, there were strange terms that she didn’t understand, so they must have been unique to the demon language. As Luya thought about these things distraughtly, the demon archduke’s servants continued to stare at her. Having no other choice, she pinched her nose, and finished the remainder of the demon food on her flare in a single burst. After draining a cup of strange tea that tasted faintly of blood, she suddenly realized that the aching wound on her abdomen had stopped hurting.

When did it stop? She hadn’t even noticed… Could it be that it healed when she ate the demon food?

Luya was taken aback, and she immediately lifted her shirt. However, the ghastly wound was still there, although it had stopped bleeding.

What was going on? The pain had completely vanished, and she felt vigorous and full of energy. It was just like waking up from a night of good rest. After working 80-hour weeks for three months, she hadn’t felt like this in a long time.

As if he knew what Luya was thinking, Gudius glanced at her and laughed. “We fed you the tender sprigs of the Devil’s Flower2, harvested when its fruits are just beginning to germinate. In addition to being nutritious, it induces your body to secrete substances that make you feel happy, which is why you don’t feel any pain. Oh right, and as for that wound of yours… fufu, even though the blood of the Favored makes me excited, we’ll have a witch doctor come take care of it. Otherwise, I might not be able to resist the urge to tear your body apart.”

What the fuck was this guy saying?

Even though the demon archduke didn’t seem to be threatening her, Luya stiffened immediately.

In other words, that filthy stuff she just ate was a stimulant drug with narcotic properties… it sounded pretty bad.

She didn’t dare move. Eventually a cloaked monster holding a skeleton staff received permission to enter the room, and applied a healing spell on her.

The wound that she had taken from the Shiba Inu started to recover at a speed that was visible to the naked eye.

“Ah…”

Luya touched her abdomen that lacked even a scar, and for a moment she forgot to express her thanks.

This was a real spell! It was magic!

She was filled with numerous emotions. At least in the empire, she had never seen anyone who could cast spells. The only role of priests from the church was to hold weddings, aside from preaching. Even exorcisms were performed by sending a patient to the hospital to undergo an MRI-like procedure to separate a demon from a possessed person. It was stupidly effective, and generally the possessing demon would run away within five minutes. Technology was always the number one force of productivity.

At least before the Demonic World Eye brought about the apocalypse, the Asdra Continent was considered to be in a magic sparse3 era.

The red dragon probably had an impressive reputation, since he was able to get this excessively sadistic demon archduke who hated humans to spare her life. The demon had even healed her injuries and given her permission to enter Dünbruck.

After they return, she ought to properly thank the red dragon. Luya remembered his name, Farus the Red Dragon…

Relying on the fact that she seemed to have been granted amnesty by the demon archduke, Luya mustered her courage and suddenly raised her hand at Gudius.

“Oh great and honorable devil, I have a question.”

“Oh?” Gudius’s lavender eyes stared at Luya.

“Well, basically I really like the red dragon4, but there’s one thing that’s been bothering me this entire time.”

She didn’t dare call the red dragon’s name directly, and cautiously dropped some hints to the demon, “Even though the red dragon might not care, I really don’t want to misunderstand a single word that the red dragon says to me. Is there a way that I can understand the dragon language…?”

Please give her a translator! Even the butcher who sold human meat had one, so maybe the demon lord could give her an even better one? Luya calculated this in her heart. She looked at Gudius brimming with expectations, but Gudius simply looked at her with a hand on his chin.

“Oh? Farus won’t let you understand him?”

Gudius glanced intriguingly at the red dragon, who suddenly seemed a little nervous. He grinned silently.

“What do you mean?”

Luya didn’t understand, so she looked at the red dragon. However, the red dragon narrowed his eyes nervously, and shot Gudius a warning look.

But Gudius didn’t care. He seemed to find this very amusing. Deliberatively and provocatively, he slowly explained it to Luya.

“If the red dragon wanted you to understand him, he merely has to give you a little bit of his blood… fufu… I thought that Farus must have cared about you a lot if he was willing to go this far, requesting a favor for a mere human… but apparently, you aren’t worthy of his blood.”

Author’s notes:

The heroine is a qualified shachiku5 dog. In front of her boss, she can endure and take all kinds of rude requests.

Of course she wouldn’t be provoked by a demon!

“No no no, I’m not worthy”

I’ll mass-update the thirty chapters I’ve saved once I reach VIP! This is a FLAG, but if I receive any fertilizer6, I’ll add more to the chapters!

Translator’s notes: