Surviving in the Demon King's Army (1)
"Hah."
Once my conversation with the Demon King was over, I was shown to the room assigned to me. For a member of the Four Heavenly Kings, I supposed it made sense — the place was surprisingly spacious and comfortable. I sank into the plush bed and started thinking about what came next.
That went well.
Not that I'd expected it to go poorly, but it had gone better than I'd anticipated. Ronan had a solid reason — his party had abandoned him — and the Demon King's army needed fighting power. I'd figured they'd take him in.
"My lifespan's definitely gone up."
And in the process, I'd gotten exactly what I wanted. That miserable seventy-nine days left on the clock finally felt like it had some breathing room. I couldn't say by how much, but given that the average demon lifespan ran about five hundred years, fifty more years at the bare minimum didn't seem unreasonable. For someone who'd been living on borrowed time, that was more than enough to be grateful for.
I was thoroughly satisfied. Becoming a demon had been the right call.
"What a fool..."
Then again, the fact that becoming a demon could extend your lifespan wasn't exactly a closely guarded secret. Ronan himself had known it. Early in the story, one of the villains had been a human who'd turned demon specifically to live longer, and Ronan had learned the truth almost from the start.
"I'm never living like the real Ronan."
So why hadn't he done it? Because as a hero, he'd been hopelessly naive. The righteous hero Ronan, who put others first even as death closed in — there was no world in which that man would choose to become a demon just to keep living. Some people might call it admirable. I called it dying like a dog for a bunch of worthless women.
I'll say it again: I had absolutely no intention of living the way Ronan had.
"Alright. Enough rest. Time to get moving."
And that meant doing things properly. I pushed myself up off the bed. If I remembered right, the Demon King's army was set to invade the Empire in about a month. If I wanted to rack up real achievements when that happened, I had a lot of groundwork to lay.
"First — training to stabilize my demonic energy."
The biggest issue was that I hadn't been born a demon, so I couldn't handle demonic energy properly. If it were just a matter of not being able to use it, fine. The real problem was that the demonic energy currently sitting in my body was actively interfering with my hero's power.
"I need to get at least back to my original strength."
I'd become a demon — getting weaker was not an option. I had to find a way past this. That said, it wasn't all downside. If I could overcome it, I'd reach a level far beyond what I'd had before.
"And I need to get my hands on a demon sword..."
Separate from the training, I also needed a demon sword. There was one supposedly somewhere in the demon realm — even as someone who'd cleared the entire game, I'd never actually seen it. But it was known to exist, which meant it could be found. And I fully intended to claim it.
"Alright..."
My immediate goals were set. I got to my feet and was just about to step out of the room when—
"Huh?"
"Ow, ow..."
The moment I opened the door, something collided with me. A female demon's voice let out a soft yelp of pain.
Was she eavesdropping?
Fair enough, I supposed. A hero who'd just turned demon would look plenty suspicious to anyone. I shrugged it off, opened the door fully, and tried to walk past her.
"Huh..."
Then a chill ran straight down my spine. Goosebumps prickled across my skin, and a thin sheen of cold sweat broke out.
"Um... h-hi there. Hehe... I wasn't trying to eavesdrop, I swear..."
A pink-haired demon with a short bob beamed up at me. Small frame, disproportionately large chest, and an outfit bold enough to make anyone look twice. And yet her face was almost painfully cute — the kind of face that could reel you in if you stared too long. Any ordinary man would have felt an instant spark of interest.
"You pink-haired psycho bitch..."
I was not an ordinary man. Because I knew exactly who she was.
Her name was Lily — the demon destined to become the Succubus Queen, one of the Four Heavenly Kings.
"Huh?"
My open hostility clearly threw her. She tilted her head, looking mildly confused and a little flustered.
"Move."
I ignored her and left in a hurry. Of all the demons in this castle, she was the one I wanted nothing to do with.
"This should work for training."
I'd come outside the Demon King's Castle to practice controlling demonic energy. The surrounding wasteland was littered with rocks, so finding a spot hadn't been hard. I sat down somewhere suitable and began working on my control, though my thoughts drifted back to the succubus from earlier.
Pink hair. Never get involved.
Anyone who's read enough novels or played enough games knows the type — the pink-haired heroine. Flashy, cute, and at first glance impossible not to like. Reality is a different story. Take it from me: there is no such thing as a normal woman with pink hair.
And in this game, it's even worse.
In any game, any novel, pink-haired girls tend to have... unique ways of thinking. Mentally unstable, maybe. A strong streak of sociopathy. That's already true in ordinary fiction. Now put them in an R-18 NTR game. An already unhinged woman becomes a full-strength, concentration-grade lunatic.
"Just thinking about it gives me chills..."
In the final chapter, after you defeat the last of the Four Heavenly Kings — Succubus Queen Lily — you can enter her room. I still can't forget what I saw the first time I walked in. Covering the walls, mounted like trophies, stretching on without end: men's dicks. Thousands of them. Staring at that endless cock collection, my mind had gone completely blank. What kind of person even conceives of something like that?
Pink-haired psycho bitch...
No matter how I looked at it, every pink-haired woman in this game was broken. Ronan's childhood friend Amy was the prime example, and Succubus Lily was no better. Stay away. Stay far away. I made that resolution again and again.
"Alright... focus."
Too many wandering thoughts. Meeting Lily had been intense enough to throw off my concentration. I was here to train, and I couldn't forget that. I started drawing demonic energy into my body once more.
"Hnn..."
I began pulling in the demonic energy scattered through the air around me. As it seeped into my body, my expression twisted with growing pain.
Just endure it...
It felt like taking your first drag of a cigarette — crushing pressure in the chest, the constant urge to throw up. I'd become a demon, but after a lifetime as a human, my body still wasn't used to demonic energy. That didn't matter. I had to get used to it.
A little more...
I kept drawing it in. The more demonic energy accumulated in my body, the more my consciousness started to blur. But I wouldn't quit. Even as my mind threatened to cut out, I held on — packing demonic energy into every corner of my body, pushing past every limit.
"Hah. Hah."
Only when I was completely full did I finally release it. I'd expected as much, but even a single cycle left me thoroughly drained.
"This is filthy hard..."
Demons were born sensing demonic energy. Ronan — a human — was not. This training was going to be more painful and exhausting than I'd hoped.
"Still doable, though."
But not impossible. Keep at it, and I'd definitely learn to handle demonic energy properly.
"One more time."
I started the cycle again — drawing it in, releasing it, over and over.
"Hah... hah..."
After countless repetitions, I collapsed flat on my back. Filthy hard. I never imagined absorbing demonic energy would take this much out of me. Maybe Ronan's constitution just didn't take to it well — he had been the diligent, upright type, after all.
"Still. This is fine."
A sense of satisfaction settled in anyway. Hard or not, I didn't need to rush. Steady progress, bit by bit. Do that, and I'd become stronger than anyone.
"Time to head back."
Hours had passed since I'd started. The session had been productive enough. Pushing further in this state would only do more harm than good. Better to return to the Demon King's Castle and rest.
I dusted myself off and was just about to head back when—
"Um...! Hero Ronan!"
"Ah."
A sigh slipped out before I could stop it. That voice behind me. That presence. It was unmistakably the pink-haired menace I wanted nothing to do with.
"Wh... why did you sigh?"
"..."
I turned around, and sure enough. My reaction was ice-cold, and Lily puffed up with a look of pure grievance.
Don't tell me she waited out here until I came back.
I'd considered just ignoring her, but once we'd locked eyes like this, there wasn't much I could do. She was talented enough to become one of the Four Heavenly Kings eventually, after all.
"I'm Lily the succubus...! I have something I need to say to you, Hero Ronan..."
"...What."
Fine. I'd hear her out. Briefly.
What the hell is she about to say?
Even so, I steeled myself. Whatever came out of her mouth, I would not be surprised.
"Well, you see..."
Lily's face flushed faintly at my curt reply. She twisted her body side to side, writhing with embarrassment, and then made her request.
"Please — make me your sex pet!!!"
I hadn't expected anything normal. And sure enough, nothing about that was normal.