The Demon Lord Returns

A Demon Lord, by nature, must possess dignity.

A single glance ought to paint the very earth in terror. A mere gesture should compel others to take their own lives. Even the voice itself must carry such power that it alone can bring a foe to their knees.

And then there is the unique ability that further cements a Demon Lord's authority.

Resurrection.

Forged from the tightly condensed malice of the Demon God, a Demon Lord does not die even in death.

Though I fell before the swords of the heroes blessed by the Goddess, I will return someday.

For that is how I was born.

"……"

I opened my eyes.

It was always the same. The sensation of dying and coming back to life was thoroughly, viscerally unpleasant — that feeling of drifting through a void without time or space, only to be reassembled particle by particle.

I clenched my fist, then opened it. I did not feel as though my power had vanished. The quantity had diminished, but the quality remained unchanged.

So I had not been abandoned by the Demon God this time either. Well, if He had abandoned me, I would not have opened my eyes again in the first place.

So… how many times had I died now? I had stopped counting after fifty, and could no longer remember.

Carson.

A Demon Lord does not die even in death. That same principle applies, more or less, to the subordinates bound to the Demon Lord's castle through their contract with me. So long as their souls are not annihilated, they can enjoy a life bordering on immortality through my magic.

…Carson?

Which means that if my butler is alive, he ought to answer my call. Don't tell me he was discovered by those hero bastards and annihilated in the brief time I was dead.

Tsk. I told him to stay hidden no matter what happened.

Still, just in case. He was an old man — perhaps he simply could not hear the telepathy magic.

I was about to call Carson's name out loud, for a final confirmation.

And then.

"Hey. Carson…… huh?"

A voice with not a shred of dignity to it. Thin and soft.

Only then did I lower my gaze to look at my own body.

The perfect musculature I had cultivated over thousands of years was nowhere to be found. In its place: white, slender, smooth, and soft to the touch. I reached back in a daze and felt black, silky hair slipping through my fingers.

And more than anything else.

It was gone.

What ought to have been there was absent. What ought not to have been there… was present.

"Wh-what is this……"

A mirror. I needed to find a mirror.

But the scenery around me was utterly unfamiliar. None of my beloved obsidian ornaments. No cold marble walls. Surrounding me on all sides were yellowish, smooth paper walls that did not contain so much as a speck of magic.

Something long and thin, resembling a magic stone, was emitting light from the ceiling — yet even there, I could not sense any magic at all.

"……"

My Demon Lord's castle. My precious sanctuary, where I had painstakingly chosen every last stone to fit between the cracks — where had it gone?

I turned my head. Beyond a transparent, square window, massive rectangular towers of stone stood packed together, utterly devoid of even the slightest aesthetic sense.

I turned back to the room. A black box humming low. A pure white box radiating endlessly cold energy despite having no magic circle drawn upon it. Even a scrap of paper covered in suspicious letters and numbers.

"Six o'clock… report to the security office……?"

Strange. This was clearly a script I had never seen before, so why could I read it so naturally?

A space too crude to call a civilization, yet far too orderly to dismiss as primitive. It was certainly different from the Demon Lord's castle. But this place seemed prepared for someone to live in.

No — mere minutes ago, someone had been—

"Aigoo, my back……"

"…!!"

There was not even time to draw breath. Apparently they had not even cast a basic locking spell. The door simply opened with a click.

And the person who came through that door—

"…Carson?"

"……?"

The moment I spoke, I realized my mistake. Looking the way I did right now, I would have no grounds to complain if I were killed for daring to call his name.

But.

Thud. Something that had been in both of Carson's hands fell to the floor.

"…My Lord?"

"……"

"My Lord? A-are you the Demon Lord…? It's me. It's me, Carson! Carson Sinclair, your loyal butler…!"

"……I truly cannot even pretend you are young anymore. You have become a complete old man."

"Ah, aah, aaaaah…!!!!"

He dropped to his knees before me. Wearing the face of a white-haired old man, he began to wail like a child.

Honestly. I had told him time and again that being this soft-hearted, he would not last a year in the Demon Realm. …What a precious fool.

"Stop crying. I have a great many questions for you."

"Sniff, aigoo… Yes. Of course. I suppose it is because I have gotten so old — sniff — I just cry more and more these days. Just the other day I was moving boxes by myself, and I got so sad about having no partner at this age……"

"…First of all. Where in the world is this?"

"Ahem, here? This is Gwacheon."

"……Gwacheon?"

"Yes. Seoul housing prices were a bit much, you see. But ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the square footage has gone up quite a bit."

Gwacheon. Seoul. Housing prices. Square footage.

I would have needed to understand at least one or two of these words to even know what to ask. But from the feel of it, a considerable amount of time seemed to have passed while I was gone.

Perhaps those empire bastards had finally invaded the Demon Realm. I had not wanted to lose it to that arrogant emperor, of all people.

"Then what year is it now? Tell me in the Imperial Calendar. Do those damned Sunguard bastards still hold the empire?"

"Ah, well, about that……"

"…?"

"It is currently… the year 2030 AD, My Lord."

"2030……? That is rather strange. Did I not die in Imperial Year 1992? The Demon Realm changed this much in a mere forty years?"

"No, no. It has not been forty years."

Perhaps I should have suspected from the start. Even if those empire bastards had taken over the Demon Realm, the world would not have changed this much. There was no way such a bright sun would be shining over that barren land.

"……What?"

"You have slept a very long time, My Lord."

What. What is this. What on earth happened.

I lay sprawled on the bed Carson had prepared, staring blankly at the ceiling. The shock was too great to accept reality.

"Is that… truly the case? It has been ten thousand years since I died?"

"Yes. I calculated it, and it is exactly ten thousand years. If I had thought ahead, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠I could have welcomed Your Lordship somewhere nicer… I apologize. After a thousand years, I had more or less given up……"

"Never mind that. That is not what matters right now."

What mattered was this. The Demon Realm had vanished without a trace. The world now elected its kings by vote rather than by power. Those hero bastards had become Hunters and went around mining magic stones.

And, what? Gates? Dungeons? Towers?

"……This body becoming a little girl hardly even qualifies as surprising anymore."

"I find myself surprised every time. I close my eyes for just a moment, and the world has turned upside down."

"Does this not bother you at all? That I have become like this? I would not even have grounds to object if the likes of you staged a coup, asking how this could possibly be a Demon Lord."

"Heavens, me? Even if Your Lordship had become a mere earthworm rather than a little girl, I would have gladly bowed my head before you."

"Hmph. At least you know what to say…"

Still. I found myself grateful that it was Carson who had waited for me through those ten thousand years.

But I could not stop at mere sentiment. I needed to gather those who would become my power once more. Somehow reclaim my original body. And beyond that… fulfill the Demon God's will.

For I was a being created by His will.

"Carson."

"Yes."

"You know better than I what I need right now."

"Heh. As it happens, I have just the thing Your Lordship needs. Now, where did I put it……"

Carson rose from his seat and began rummaging through a wooden cabinet. What he pulled out was… something black and rectangular. I thought I could sense the faintest trace of magic from it.

"This is a device called a smartphone."

"A sma… what?"

"A smartphone. They gave these out at the community center recently as part of a senior education program. I already have my own, so I left this one here."

"……I see."

"They say it has the latest AI technology. Seeing is believing. Try pressing that little protrusion on the side."

"Fine. I understand."

Click.

It was still a flood of incomprehensible words. But for now, I did as he instructed and pressed the thing sticking out on the side.

Then.

"……Huh? You are a butler too?"

"He will be lacking compared to me, of course, but he is a reasonably clever fellow."

A red light flashed brightly from the surface of the black rectangle. Then the light began sweeping up and down my body. The way it moved so seductively felt more like a spirit than a butler.

A spirit trapped inside a rectangle. It reminded me of that elf bastard who had shot me in the knee, so I was not particularly fond of it. But this was not the time to be picky—

"Wha…?!"

This insolent spirit…! How dare it fail to recognize me, the Demon Lord, and spew such nonsense. No, no. Stay calm. At least in appearance, that was accurate. I had to maintain the dignity of a great Demon Lord. This level of humiliation did not even tickle—

"Th-this lump of rock…!!!"

"M-My Lord! You mustn't throw it…!!"

"Must you truly go to this 'work' of yours? To submit to someone other than me. How truly sad."

"I apologize, My Lord. I shall go in just for today, and resign first thing tomorrow."

"……No. I was merely being petulant. One should not break a promise so carelessly. Go on, then."

"Yes. If anything happens, just do as I explained earlier. You remember, yes?"

"Yes. Press the bottom left, then the star, then 1. You have already said it ten times. I shall remember it for real now."

"Heh. Yes. Then I shall be off."

Thud.

Carson closed the door and went outside.

To think that even in appearance ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠he had become an old man, and now he could only work as a security guard. Some problems, it seemed, could not be solved even after ten thousand years.

And I, too, had a problem left to solve. Namely, this insolent spirit.

"It is not Seoha. It is Sahak Han. Do not dare to casually alter the Demon Lord's name."

"……Sigh. Fine. Do as you please."

Though the way it talked was thoroughly insolent, Chloe answered my many questions in great detail. Just as Carson had said, this one knew a great many things. It did not seem to know much about my past, though.

"Well, not friends — I am that Demon Lord."

"……"

It felt like it kept circling around without ever grasping the point. I quietly lay back on the bed, wondering what I needed to do to prove my greatness to this creature.

"You there, Chloe."

"If I show you my authority, will you believe it? The fact that I was a great Demon Lord."

"Yes."

I clenched and unclenched my fist, gauging how much power I had left. Certainly, it was far too lacking to reclaim my former prestige. But a Demon Lord was a Demon Lord for a reason.

"Now then… first, let us have a look at your face."

"Tsk. Just wait."

The authority of Enhancement I had received from the Demon God. This was not limited to merely sharpening a blade or reinforcing armor. Of course, since I was crazy stro— ahem. I was the Demon Lord, so I could do that too if I wished. But that was beside the point.

The true value of this authority was drawing out the other party's potential.

"Would it not be terribly stifling, living trapped inside that cramped square… no, smartphone? You ought to go see the world as well."

Crackle.

The moment my magic touched the smartphone, black smoke began billowing upward. The smoke, which had started the size of my palm, swelled larger and larger until it was big enough to swallow a person whole.

Something writhed within. Magic densely gathered to form a skeleton, and black mist clung to it like flesh.

Arms. Legs. A torso. And finally, a head.

"Haha. Looking at you like this, you are quite the beauty yourself."

"……?!?!"

Heh.

Now this one would have no choice but to acknowledge my greatness.

Heheheh.