The Demon Queen's Shattered Peace
Humans called it the world's one and only absolute evil.
The Demon King—whose very name sounded so vicious—was lately enjoying days of peace as serene as could possibly be.
Yes.
Utterly at odds with the foul epithet humans had slapped on her.
"What fine sunlight. This'll make for a lively day."
The reason was simple.
For the Demon King who ruled over the demonkin, the one eternal headache had always been humans.
But now that they were self-destructing and tumbling into the gutters on their own, they no longer even registered as pests that needed extermination like in the old days.
Humans had always been that way.
Inferior creatures with pointlessly high fertility rates.
Even when told to quietly submit to the long-lived demonkin, they never listened to reason.
They'd spawn offspring in some corner, then come buzzing in like moths to a flame, burning with inexplicable hostility.
And at some point, they even started producing these "heroes" wielding so-called holy swords—sharp hunks of metal.
For the Demon King, the only concern had been how to efficiently wipe out these termite-like tumors infesting the demonkin world.
Who could've guessed that the dilemma she'd pondered for eons would resolve itself so neatly and quietly?
Thinking back, it was a stroke of genius.
Twisting the male-to-female ratio across the entire human realm to 1:60,
naturally castrating their power to resist.
And in the long term, steering them toward a gentle extinction…
Frankly, no matter how long she'd lived, the Demon King never could've dreamed up something so ruthless.
She pictured that brilliant figure, so superior it made even her—the archetypal pure evil—feel shabby by comparison.
"Hero, time to eat."
Today, too, she carefully mixed his meal and handed over the bowl herself.
"………."
Right now, that being knelt there naked save for a ragged sackcloth,
chained at the neck, locked behind iron bars.
Considering how he'd resolved the demonkin's greatest worry,
it wasn't such a hardship for the demonkin's supreme ruler to personally prepare and deliver his meals every day.
It was like a human pampering their pet dog.
To the long-lived demonkin who viewed humans as vermin, it was exactly that—no different.
Feeding Seradion just enough to keep him alive was the same as tossing kibble to a dog caged in the yard.
"………."
But.
Today, Seradion didn't eat.
Even though he'd understood long ago—centuries back—that resistance was pointless.
Clang! "Don't just sit there! You've been like this for three hundred years—I thought you'd adapted by now! If you keep this up, it'll make things difficult for me!"
"Your Majesty… Your Majesty…."
"You've skipped meals for days now. Keep it up, and I'll have to shove a tentacle monster down your throat for liquid feeding like old times. I know you hate that, so I've been holding off—but why force my hand!"
The magic that set the human world's male-to-female birth ratio at 1:60
stemmed from Seradion's fervent wish.
To maintain it, he had to stay alive.
Thus, the Demon King had meticulously arranged for him to live on without clinging to his lifespan.
And that was the core reason she fretted over his meals.
But Seradion, who called out to her so desperately, clung to her like a beggar,
smashing his forehead against the bars in plea.
"Your Majesty, Your Majesty!! I beg you from the bottom of my heart!!"
"If it's another pointless demand like tossing a woman in here, forget it! Our deal was just to keep you breathing—why are you acting up lately?"
"No, it's not that, Your Majesty. Please, I implore you to closely examine the human world, which you've ignored amid this long peace…!!"
"………."
"It's been months now. From the direction of my homeland, the human realm. A chilling sensation has been gripping my entire body. And it's only gotten worse these past couple of days!"
He'd started making these pleas,
as he said, months ago.
The Demon King couldn't fathom why he'd fixate on a world that would crumble on its own if left alone, so she'd ignored him until now.
But seeing him persist without tiring today,
she figured she might as well hear him out.
"Fine. So what do you want me to do?"
The nice weather had her in high spirits, too.
It was probably nothing anyway.
And maybe he'd finally eat if she humored him—a simple thought.
"If—if that's true, then please investigate the movements of the Blood Apostles."
"…Blood Apostles? Ah, it's been two hundred years since I last heard that name. The ones who followed that Sword Ghost, right? But I personally crushed their forces myself."
"Yes. They've already lost most of their power, but the chill I'm feeling matches exactly what I sensed facing them. Something must've gone wrong in their ranks—I'm certain!"
"Hmph. Probably nothing, but fine. Finish your meal. I'll check later."
"You must! Please, you have to!"
At Seradion's words,
the Demon King snorted in amusement, thinking as if, and returned to her office.
But today, her steps toward the office were unusually swift.
Why?
Why, indeed….
A flicker of unease—forgotten for centuries—had ignited the embers in her heart.
The Demon King didn't bother memorizing human names unless they stuck in her mind.
Even after keeping Seradion like a pet for three hundred years, she barely recalled his.
"…Valter? No way."
But as she walked the corridor,
a name slipped unbidden from her thoughts.
"—Oh. Oh no."
And then.
The Demon King, who slayed humans and demonkin alike without mercy,
deployed a detection spell,
scanning the sites where she'd sealed the Blood Apostles.
The statue at the site sealed via contact with Valter lay shattered.
It was a sort of alarm she'd set.
That elusive man required preemptive identification,
so during the anxious days right after his death, she'd planted it to spot him early.
By now, so much time had passed, she'd completely forgotten it.
But now that it had broken,
the meaning was clear: the seal was undone.
"Valter's back…? How. Damn it. Damn it…."
In that moment, she wiped the moisture from her brow,
realizing it was cold sweat of her own.
Just as humans dubbed her absolute evil,
the demonkin called him the Sword Ghost.
The Demon King now faced the one primal fear her kind could feel.
And in that instant, she had only one option.
"Chief of Staff…."
"Yes, Your Majesty. Reporting for duty."
"Today was the day to execute the plan we've prepared for centuries. Assemble the extermination army and wipe the human realm from the map."
"───What?!"
The chief of staff's retort cut off.
Probably something like, Humans will die out anyway. Why now, in this age of peace?
She understood.
The chief was a new-generation demonkin who hadn't lived through those times.
But for the Demon King,
she could only fervently wish he'd reflect on who had eliminated the previous chief—the one before he was even born.
"Don't make me say it twice—do it!"
"Y-yes, understood!"
Trembling with anxiety, the Demon King
was about to issue her second order.
"And one more thing. Send the assassination commandos into the human realm to take out the Sword Ghost—."
This time, her own words faltered.
"Uh, should we assassinate him, then?"
The chief tried to finish her sentence, gauging her mood.
But how could she cheerfully order that?
After all.
After all….
Even if they rushed in with fanfare, they'd just die faster.
She knew better than anyone—having issued countless such orders three hundred years ago—that they wouldn't succeed.
"Haa…."
But.
Better than doing nothing.
She didn't even know how Valter had returned.
Maybe he was weakened.
It pained her to waste the elite commandos she'd been raising.
Most new-gen demonkin, born after his death, only knew him by rumor and would charge in eagerly, clueless to the horror.
For the Demon King, who knew his true worth all too well,
there was no choice but to grit her teeth.
"…Fine, better than nothing. First, carve out Tak County where his tombstone stands. That'll flush out wherever he is."
"Carve out, meaning…."
"Kill them all. It's an extermination op."
"As you command."
But.
Unlike the chief of staff's gleeful-yet-confident expression,
the Demon King doubted even as she spoke.
So, still seated, she jittered her legs grotesquely,
spread the tarot cards on her desk, and drew one for the expedition's fate.
"………."
"…Your Majesty, your face looks grim. What card came up?"
"What good does telling you do? Never mind."
Of all the cards,
who could've guessed it'd be The Tower upright?
The Demon King swallowed hard.