Chapter 00037: A Clean Cut
# A Clean Cut
Chapter 37
Novel: AFK Game: Portal to Another World
Chapter 37: A Clean Cut
Demon Lord Calendar, Year 648.
April 11th, Morning.
A carriage pulled to a stop in front of Lord Leon’s villa.
Royal Guard Knight Xuelin hopped down from the seat beside the coachman, placed a wooden step stool beneath the carriage door, and Princess Viola descended under the protection of two other Royal Guards.
Unlike the armor she usually wore, or the ceremonial robes she donned during prayer, Viola today was wrapped in a heavy and stifling dress, so bulky it needed to be lifted at the hem to keep from touching the ground.
A short while earlier, Lord Leon had sent an invitation.
Though the castle was a mere fifteen-minute walk from the villa, protocol demanded a carriage—formality had its flair, after all.
It wasn’t that she didn’t want to walk—this was all for appearance’s sake.
The guards stationed at the door lowered their heads the moment they saw the princess step down.
This time, Princess Viola carried herself with the dignified air befitting royalty and walked slowly toward the entrance.
“Welcome! Welcome, Your Highness, thank you for coming,”
Lord Leon came outside beaming, his face full of enthusiasm.
Some of the commoners watching from afar were nearly convinced the lord had taken the wrong medicine—not every day did they witness him this warm.
“We are grateful for Lord Leon’s hospitality,”
“The honor of Your Highness gracing our home is the greatest glory to me and my family. Please, come in.”
Leading Viola and her escort of Royal Guards inside, Lord Leon spoke nonstop—talking about honor and bringing glory to his house.
So far, everything fell within the expected conduct of royalty visiting a noble's residence.
The spacious dining hall had been redecorated with fresh polish, and the long table overflowed with inviting fruits and pastries.
Lord Leon personally had Princess Viola seated at the main position, while he took a seat beside her.
“Your Highness, may I present a red wine from my family’s private collection.”
With a snap of his fingers, the butler—waiting behind the door—stepped forth carrying a decanter and poured the fragrant wine into a golden goblet.
By the rules of noble etiquette, though the princess’s status was supreme, this was, after all, Leon's estate.
The butler poured Leon’s wine first, only afterward filling Viola’s goblet to the brim.
“Your Highness has been in Leon Territory for nearly half a month now. I noticed how occupied you’ve been with affairs, so I dared not disturb you until today. Please, allow me to properly welcome you to our lands.”
The words weren’t off the mark.
When higher nobles visited the lands of the lower, a formal welcome was expected.
The trouble was, on the very day Viola had arrived, mountain bandits had struck, followed by an unending chain of events.
Lord Leon raised his goblet:
“Please, try it. I know you lack no fine wine in the capital, but I believe you’ll find this enjoyable.”
He deliberately drank half in one go, as if to show it was safe.
But Viola didn’t touch hers.
She stared straight at Lord Leon, her gaze so unwavering it made the lord squirm.
“Your Highness?”
Viola slowly released a breath, then met his gaze with newfound resolve.
“Lord Leon, I know you may not believe this, but when we arrived in your territory, our intention was only to rest briefly and allow the injured soldiers time to heal, then purchase some supplies and leave. I know your territory cannot endure war, and so we never intended to stay long.”
She continued:
“To gain the attention of the Lord Demon God was something I never dreamed of. Everything I have done from that moment on, was in the hope that more people might know of His glory, so that more might believe in and revere Him. Even now, I have no intention of taking over your land.”
Lord Leon’s smile froze.
He struggled to keep up the noble façade:
“Your Highness... I... I don’t understand what you’re trying to say.”
“I’m saying,” Viola’s voice remained calm, “that all your efforts are meaningless. Perhaps worse, they’ll only harm you in the end.”
She gave the goblet a light push.
Crimson liquid spilled across the tablecloth.
“Your scheme was already seen through by the Lord Demon God. He revealed everything to me through a Divine Oracle. And perhaps you don’t know—I have resistance to toxins. Your poison has no effect on me.”
High-ranking Demon Race nobles such as her possessed high resistance to most poisons.
Saying they could eat arsenic for breakfast was exaggerating—but not by much.
Viola shook her head:
“I’m sorry. I truly am. I prayed to the Demon God, hoping you’d come to your senses. I even returned the ledger on purpose, hoping you’d behave. But it seems you misunderstood my intentions. Things have come to this—I can only protect what remains of your dignity.”
Among nobles, preserving “final dignity” meant death via “sudden illness.”
Poisoning a royal was a capital offense.
Execution by hanging awaited the entire household.
Allowing a death to appear natural—and dignified—was a gesture of mercy.
In this way, Count Leon’s title could still be passed on.
Though he had no son, so long as he had living relatives, they might still inherit the title.
Now knowing he was exposed, Lord Leon dropped all pretense.
“You lie! You came to steal my land from the very first day! This land has belonged to my family for generations!”
With a crash, Lord Leon threw his goblet to the floor, rage boiling over.
“And you! You dare try to bring that hideous monster, the Demon God, back into this world! My family’s oath—our ancestral law—has always been to keep the Demon God sealed away! For generations we have guarded this land to prevent His return! But you... you dare pray to the Demon God!”
These words gave Viola pause.
She’d never heard this before.
The stories she had grown up with spoke of how the Royal Family of Avarus were of the Demon God’s true bloodline—that one day, they would surely usher His return in glory.
“The Ring of the Demon King, sealed within the ruins of the Mythic Era—you’ve already sent men to retrieve it! If you continue to strengthen that monster’s power, a catastrophe beyond recovery will descend upon us all!”
“What are you talking about?”
Viola genuinely didn’t understand.
She’d assumed the ledger and the treasure map were two separate things—they were found at the altar together, but not bundled in the same volume.
“The god you worship is the embodiment of greed! He will seize everything, all creation itself! He will make every living thing His possession!”
Though his words swerved wildly, Viola folded her hands and replied calmly:
“What is wrong with greed? Are we not, the Royal Family of the Avarus Demon Kingdom, also greedy? It is because of our greed that we cherish what we already have.”
The secret hidden in Lord Leon’s house was something that must never be discovered by the Avarus Royals.
If they learned the Ring of the Demon King was here, they would stop at nothing to bring about the Demon God’s return.
But now, there was nothing left to say.
“Roy! Kill her!”
A gust like a razor gale fell from the rafters, aimed straight for Viola’s back.
A burst of sparks and a shriek of steel—Royal Guard knight Shelly blocked Roy’s strike with her longsword.
“Your Highness! Are you injured?”
“Well, if it isn’t the little one. We meet again.”
Roy gave a casual whistle, looking quite pleased.
A dose of High Grade Healing Potion had mended all his wounds within minutes, which was how he managed to perch atop the rafters for his ambush.
“What are you waiting for? Kill her!”
Lord Leon shouted in fury as the sound of commotion brought guards rushing to the dining hall.
“Don’t just stand there! Kill the princess!”
Though sworn to the lord, none dared move against royalty—they stood frozen in place.
The butler, however, slipped right back into the kitchen, carrying the wine decanter with him.
“Oh, give it up, Lord Leon. Haven’t you realized? Your entire plan was exposed from the beginning.”
Roy knocked away Shelly’s longsword and flipped backward.
It looked more like a sudden circus trick—but no sooner had Roy dropped behind the low wall of the dining hall than three muffled thuds rang out.
Three black-fletched arrows embedded into the wooden wall near him—had he not dodged, he'd now be a human pincushion.
“My, my, Your Highness,” came a voice, “if this guy got out, it’s hardly our fault. The prison staff reports to the lord, after all.”
From the dark edge of the dining hall, Hill stepped into view like a ghost, shortbow in hand—clearly she’d loosed those arrows.
Her meaning was clear too—wasn't my fault, don't dock my pay.
Roy gave her a sidelong glance:
“Your interrogation skills are solid, but I didn’t know your stealth game was this good. Almost got me.”
Viola rose from her seat and addressed Lord Leon:
“You have no cards left to play. My Royal Guards have already surrounded this villa. I can still grant you a dignified exit.”
Lord Leon clenched his teeth, wanting to speak, but anything now would be nothing but impotent rage.
“Kill her! You hear me!? Kill her now!”
He was like a wounded lion—nothing left but to roar.
“Well, looks like my part here is done. Thanks for the potion, lord.”
“Roy! You—!”
Roy didn’t even glance at him.
He cast a cheeky smile at Viola:
“I’ll take my leave. But who knows, one day I might come for your head.”
Then he slipped into the shadows.
In a blink, his body vanished into darkness.
It wasn’t mere stealth—more like some kind of teleportation.
No one in the room reacted fast enough.
“Goodbye, dear Prin—...urgh!”
At that moment, Roy felt a chill at his waist—and his legs, he realized with horror, were gone.
He knew he’d been ambushed from behind.
As he tried to turn and see, he found his upper body sliding down a smooth, sloped surface, view getting lower and lower until he lay flat on the ground.
He couldn’t even move a finger.
In the darkness ahead, he saw it—a massive, door-sized cleaver stabbed into the ground at an angle.
His lower half clung to the blade’s backside, kneeling under the slick of his own blood.
It had arrived silently, like a blade shot from the void.
Roy’s mind was still awake—but darkening.
“This... this is the Demon God? What a cruel… god…”
The blade withdrew, vanishing into the shadows, rippling the air behind it like waves until it disappeared entirely.
(End of Chapter)