Demian Drake. After looking at his face, the Crown Prince's knight put on a stern look. Having a messy appearance and wearing a sloppy outfit, the knight glanced up and down at Demian and said to him with a look of disapproval.
"Appointment?"
"None."
"Go back. No matter how generous His Imperial Highness is to you, we cannot let you in at such a late hour."
The word 'slave' was yet to be omitted in the middle of his name, but Demian still acted like he did not know what they were talking about.
"You'll get in trouble though."
"You bastard…!"
The knight who noticed Demian's smirk tightened his grip on his spear.
"What's wrong? What's going on here?"
"This slave bastard comes as he pleases at this late hour and dares to demand to meet His Imperial Highness."
"Chase him away."
Someone who appeared to be the superior of the knight appeared and sneered at Demian.
Demian was in conflict. It was easy for him to knock these two down. However, it was a serious crime to hurt the Crown Prince's knights. If he could cover it up with his immunity, he would just overpower them and go in, but he hesitated because he did not know which side was greater.
"Get lost."
The knight pushed Demian's chest with a shield. However, he was not pushed back. Even though he had a beautiful face, a slender body, and pale skin, Demian was not knocked over at all. The knight's hand was like a pot lid and the shield he held was made of cast iron. On the other hand, Demian was dressed in simple travel clothes without any protective gear.
The knight who had his pride scratched raised his voice.
"I told you to get lost."
In the past, there was an incident that had involved the Crown Prince's knights, one that left them with a lasting scar that could never truly heal. It was an incident in which their liege, Acerus, was kidnapped by a demon right in front of them. It would have been better if someone had died or had been injured, but the cunning demon laughed at the knights and ran away with Acerus alone.
At that time, it was the slave Demian, who entered the demon's nest and saved the Crown Prince.
The knights were grateful to Demian, but they failed to manage their damaged pride. They only thought he was quite good despite being just a slave, but they could neither respect nor serve him. He could not be their superior just because he saved the Crown Prince's life.
"I already told you I have something important to tell him."
Demian stared at the knights. As the tussle was prolonged, all the waiting knights gathered there.
"Just go to him and tell him something for me."
"What?"
"I brought the girl."
It was a misleading sentence. The knights glared at Demian with eyes that said 'as expected'.
"I thought so. What else is there to order a lowly slave?"
Some people murmured openly.
'Should I kill them all?'
Demian was in conflict again. Acerus was the one who called him a friend and had him at his beck and call. Demian was actually not interested in whether the country was destroyed or not. If Acerus had not forcibly held him, he would have disappeared as soon as the war was over.
"Oh, Demian!"
Fortunately, just before the fight, Acerus' aide ran from the other side of the hallway. He was on his way home after working overtime, but as soon as he saw the knights being noisy in front of a messy man, he knew that Demian had arrived and rushed quickly.
"Oh my! I told you not to do this. Do you want to see His Royal Highness get mad again? Demian has a really important mission…"
"Aide, we're knights."
"I know, I know."
"We cannot let a war slave into His Royal Highness' palace at this late hour."
"Oh, what's wrong with you all? You are well aware he's not a slave anymore. His Royal Highness personally gave him a surname! Everyone, relax. I will take him in. There would be no problem, right?"
The aide was an outgoing person. Although he did not manage to relieve the knights' hurt feelings, he managed to take Demian inside safely.
The Crown Prince's palace was also quiet because it was already late. Knowing that this spacious building turned into a battlefield for officials during the day, Demian greeted the aide who saved him from a difficult situation.
"You're working hard.
"Oh, well."
"Is he still the same?"
"Of course. Still as annoying as ever."
Demian smirked. When he smiled, his violent temper that had been poking his flesh faded like a lie.
The aide let out a sigh.
"I'm sorry. No matter how much I try to persuade them, their prejudice against you won't go away."
"I'm fine."
"I'm really sorry."
"I told you, I'm fine."
Even though Demian said he was fine, the Crown Prince's aide knew that was not necessarily the truth. If he wanted, he could just kill them all and run away. So, Demian just carelessly gave his answer. Both Acerus and Demian were the people that the aide wanted to stay far away from.
"Next time, I will personally pick you up. I'll be tired, but at least it will make me feel at ease."
"There's no next time."
"Pardon?"
"This is the last time that I will accept Acerus' request. You also won't have to suffer like this in the future."
"De, Demian. Hold on. What do you mean? Huh? Hold on!"
No matter how much the aide tried to stop Demian, it was useless. Demian pushed the aide's hand away and stood in front of the Crown Prince's room. There were knights there too. The eyes behind the helmets shone furiously. There was none of them who did not know Demian's face.
A war slave—a consumable resource that was raised to kill enemies, most despised by knights. A beast that killed anyone whenever the owner changed. That was Demian's existence to them.
"Open the door."
Ominous energy wriggled from the knights' bodies. They could not tolerate this arrogant slave at all.
"Oh my! I, I will open it. I will do it."
The aide intervened in between them and opened the door."
"Your Imperial Highness! Please come out!"
"Why are you still here?"
Acerus was about to go to the bedroom. Despite it snowing heavily outside, he was only wearing his pants, revealing his upper body bare as it is. As soon as he saw Demian, his chest muscles soared.
"Demian?"
The aide moved faster than light. He quickly slammed the door so that the knights would not see the next scene.
Acerus ran with his arms wide open and hugged Demian as hard as he could. He had a silly smile on his face.
"Demian! What the hell? Why are you alone?"
"Acerus."
"The saintess! Why didn't you bring my saintess?"
Who are you calling your saintess?
Demian frowned. Then after forcefully pushing Acerus away, he patted off his disheveled body.
∘₊✧──────✧₊∘
Acerus came out of his palace with Demian and went to the hotel where Lara was staying.
"The demon Valac is in the body of the Prince who ran away after committing treason in Hautean. And now he is in the hand of my saintess? And for unknown reasons… he is pretending to be a weak and pitiful person?"
Acerus was smiling furiously. His face revealed deep anger.
"He came to play in the human realm because he is bored?"
"Calm down."
"How can I possibly calm down now? He came to play? This isn't even their playground. Hundreds of people die every time they come out to play… What?"
"That's what demons do."
"Ha! I'm glad he thinks that being a King is no fun. If they had enjoyed war games, the continent would have been destroyed."
"That's right."
A cold snowflake fell on Demian's face. Acerus, who was on a horse side by side with him, suddenly became anxious and asked.
"What about the saintess?"
"What?"
"Is she too kind that she would tell us to treat demons with love?… Will she be asking us to abandon our weapons and hug our enemies on the battlefield? If she's like that, I'd be so flustered."
Lara?
Demian snorted.
"If she were born as the daughter of the Emperor, she would have been a much better successor than you."
"Ha! As expected!"
Acerus smiled pleasantly, saying he already expected that. The demon that he was worried about eventually appeared, and he was so frustrated that he was about to go crazy thinking that the humans would not even want to deal with them. Now he wondered if those frustrating Gods were finally doing their work.
"It's here."
A huge building that was built 20 years ago by Thousand Gold Isadora in Dandelion, the capital of Tarragon.
"Good for her."
Acerus said.
When Demian asked what he meant, he sincerely said it again this time.
"Because she has a rich mother."
"What?"
"Having an Emperor as your father is not that good of a thing to have, you know?"
Demian was not someone who would laugh easily, but after hearing that, even he ended up laughing out loud.