Chapter 5
Chapter 5
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 5
Chapter Title: Demon Realm # 4
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Demon King Descent Festival!
A festival held to honor the Great Demon King who once conquered the Middle Realm!
During the festival period, demons revel and party to their hearts' content, but the highlight is undoubtedly the Demon King Descent ritual!
With the Demon Realm and Middle Realm almost completely cut off these days, the demons can't exert much influence on the Middle Realm anymore. Even so, they stubbornly hold the Descent Festival at set intervals, fueling dreams of Middle Realm conquest by shoving Demon King candidates into it!
To put it simply, these Demon King candidates are just sacrificial lambs for the ritual!
It's said that not a single one of the demons shot into the Middle Realm has ever survived! Why? Because none of them became the Demon King! So they all had to die, damn it!
These demon bastards have no morals or sense at all—they don't give a shit if the ones they send to the Middle Realm croak or not! They send them off and then couldn't care less! If one becomes the Demon King, great; if not, whatever!
With that pathetic mindset, they're letting all the ritual sacrifices die off one by one!
"Uwaaaaaaaaah!"
Have you ever seen such a batshit insane ritual!
After hearing Mother's explanation, it turns out these crazy demon scum have been shoving sacrificial lambs into the Middle Realm for nearly a thousand years, all because they have to uphold "tradition," no matter how many lives it costs!
"What the hell is this!!!"
True to form for demons, they don't give a damn about the value of life! Of course they'd perform such a ritual without a shred of doubt, offering up live sacrifices!
There's no sense of problem with it, no thought of improvement whatsoever!!!
And there's no real support for the Demon King candidates either! They just figure a strong demon will naturally become the Demon King!
"Ah, no! Mama! How could I—?! Me, going out there?! Me?!"
"Yes."
This makes no sense!
There has to be some mistake!
"Why me?!"
I asked in utter despair!
"Because Qlus is incompetent?"
The Duchess said it with a look of pity!
"No!"
It's true that I'm incompetent! If I claimed otherwise as a demon, it'd be the biggest load of bullshit!
But this doesn't add up!
I was the guy stuck rotting in the corner of the South Fortress!
Why go out of their way to dig up a nobody like me for this ritual? Of all people, me? This duchy is crawling with slaves born and dying as slaves!
Statistically speaking, wouldn't those guys be better picks? It's a cruel thought, but I'm the one about to die here—what can I do! That makes sense! Plus, a egg-laying Duchess like her has a ton of kids!
"Son... I'm sorry. But you're useless, aren't you? If we have to cull one, you're the perfect fit."
The Duchess gently stroked my face with a deeply regretful expression, spouting such an absurd line as if it were nothing...!
That's not something a mother who was just treating me like her son would say!
"Why, why! Why me of all people?! What about the others!"
"Oh? You want the other kids to die in your place? What a fine mindset."
Honestly, yes!
I'd rather die than let someone else take my spot—no, better someone else die than me!
With my human memories intact, I can't see these demon scum as family anyway, and after a lifetime of being treated like shit, I have zero loyalty!
Hell, I'd say they all deserve to die!
"But that's not possible. As I said, you're the most suitable."
"How could I be suitable! Isn't this a pretty big event? If a loser like me shows up, it'll tarnish your reputation for sure!"
"Yes... I suppose I should explain that."
"Pardon?"
The Duchess tapped her head.
"Actually, you come from decent stock."
"Pardon?"
"It's an important festival, so we need to send someone worthy to save face for Mama. But with the war against Great Heaven raging, we can't waste a truly promising child on this outdated nonsense... naturally."
Her tone was affectionate, but the content was ice-cold.
"We send the ones who haven't shown any promise. The useless ones. That's the natural order, right? And you happened to be the right age for the ritual. So we chose you. Mama's heart aches to send you off like this."
"Uh, ugh. Uuugh...!"
I felt like I was gonna puke!
Demon women are lethally beautiful, but they're nothing but monsters! To discard her own child like this!
And my origins are decent?
Is that true?
"M-me, decent origins?"
"Yes."
Confirmed.
So... do I have some latent talent? Some ability that hasn't awakened yet? With Mother Duchess confirming my good origins, the odds are high.
But why is my demonic power such garbage then?
As I was thinking that, the Duchess called me.
"Son."
"...Yes."
"Mama lays eggs."
Pardon?
"All by herself."
"Uh... I know that."
Mother Duchess, with her beauty rivaling a goddess of darkness, is a succubus-baphomet hybrid. I don't know the details, but she has several special abilities.
One of them is laying eggs.
Mother Duchess can lay eggs. All by herself. Without a husband, she hatches them solo to create her minions. That's probably how she built the duchy. I can't wrap my head around it, but demons gonna demon.
"Usually every night. If I kneel on the bed, they come out naturally... eggs the size of a child's fist, one after another. Sometimes they keep coming all night."
"..."
This is getting a bit embarrassing.
Imagining a beauty like her laying eggs like that—I can't even look up.
"You were born from one of those eggs too."
"I... came from a good egg?"
The Duchess nodded at my question.
"Most weak eggs go to the hatchery, but Mama can tell their grade. Yours was pretty good."
But.
"So we kept it separate and took extra care to hatch it... but sigh. For some reason, your demonic power was too low. So we raised you a bit, then sent you to the South Fortress. Can't waste time on failures, right? It happens sometimes."
Ah, fuck.
So I was just a dud with low demonic power? That's why they deemed me useless, shipped me to the South Fortress, and raised me like that? My life is so damn tragic I can't even speak.
I just want to collapse and wail my heart out.
"Anyway, your origins are solid. A child from such an egg saves face. That's why you were chosen."
"..."
"It's unfortunate... but your incompetence is all your fault. Learning to speak took so much effort on your part—truly commendable—but the other kids master it in about two years?"
Fuck!
It snowballed because I couldn't learn Demon Realm tongue properly due to my reincarnation memories! I'm so unjustly screwed!
"It pains Mama as your mother, but it's the reality we live in. In the Demon Realm, the weak get culled—it's only natural."
The Duchess spoke with apparent sympathy for my plight, but her words were utterly ruthless!
So am I really going there to die? No way I survive in the Middle Realm! I'm definitely dead!
Begging is my only option now!
"Aigoo! Mama!"
"Uh, y-yes?"
I grabbed the Duchess's ankle and rubbed my cheek against it, clinging desperately! It's pathetic and scary, but if begging is all I have, I'll cling to that hope until the bitter end!
I can't just sit here and die!
"If it hurts your heart! Please! Please do something! Can't you pull some strings! Please! Save me, Mother! I don't wanna die like this!!!"
"Really... such a hassle... It's already decided. Just give up cleanly. At least you got to talk with Mama one last time, right? Cherish that memory."
Not cherished at all!
"Not okay at all! How can you call yourself a mother! Please save me!"
"Oh, such hurtful words."
"You're the one hurting me right now—I'm about to die from it! Please! If you're my mom, save me! I'll be good! There's others, right! I'm a late bloomer type—trash early on, but I'll shine brighter than anyone later!!!"
I beg and beg!
The Duchess is coldly culling me, but she's not without pity! If she had none, she wouldn't play the doting mom!
She's a bit kinder because I'm her blood! So I'll keep begging to stoke that maternal instinct!
"Mama please...! Don't you have a heart at all! Save me! Doesn't my begging make you sad?!"
"Though Mama uses and discards her children as needed, it doesn't mean it doesn't hurt. Look."
I glanced up slightly.
—Swipe.
The Duchess brushed her delicate, beautiful finger across her eye.
"See? I'm crying like this."
"Ah...!"
If you're crying, save me then!
This must be something I can't understand because I'm human-born. I can't follow these demons' twisted logic.
"This isn't a mom...! Waaaaaah!"
With my past life memories crystal clear, I can't accept this psycho as my mother! My real mom is Kang Mi-kyung, a Homo sapiens sapiens housewife in Gyeonggi Province!
Not some monster like this!
"Making Mama even sadder? Stop it now. You're so pitiful, that's why I granted you this final honor of time with Mama, right? Most kids never even speak to me once before they die. Now, stop and get up."
—Whoosh.
Suddenly, an invisible force enveloped me, lifting me off her ankle where I'd been rubbing my face!
Magic!
"Mama will hold you."
"Uwaaak!"
And the Duchess stood, embracing me!
This crazy bitch for real!
"Son. If you're useless, you get culled—it's inevitable. You've survived this long because... you came from a good egg. Without that, you'd have been scrapped or demoted to slave the moment you couldn't speak."
Begging doesn't work on this cold woman!
She might feel sad, but she won't reverse her decision!
"Kuhuuuk...!"
Dying unjustly once wasn't enough—now again!
"Haa... What to do with you. Such a whiny personality. Too unique, I don't even know what to say..."
"Hic, hiiic...!"
"But you're Mama's son. Don't worry too much?"
"Pardon...?"
"If you show some promise in the human realm, Mama might sneak you back out."
What?
Promise?
Sneak me back?
"Mama doesn't waste useful children. If you display talent in the Middle Realm."
"You'll save me...?"
"Yes. I'll do that. So stop crying?"
"..."
In that case.
"For real?"
"Mama doesn't lie."
—Thump.
My heart, burning with rage, sorrow, and tension, finally calms. Sneak me back. Save me. Those words echoed in my head. A judgment for survival. Slim chance, but.
If there's no other way... I have to struggle.
So I'll struggle.
"Stopped crying?"
"...Yes."
"Good boy. As a reward, Mama will kiss you."
—Mwah.
The Duchess's lips touched my forehead.
"Now you can be strong, right? Get ready then. I'll order someone to guide you, so behave until the Descent Festival."
With that, the audience was over.