On The Other Side: I Quit Being Human

[Layland Kleinhaus' POV]

Whoosh!

As soon as we get to the other side of the Portal, the intimidating aura that I am extremely familiar with greets us. I feel at home—probably, Millonia also feels the same—but Lunea, Abigail, Gabriela, and Winerva don't seem to be that comfortable with it.

They have an uncomfortable look on their face, which tells me that they will spend some days being bothered by the atmosphere in my future Kingdom until they get used to it. I might be wrong, though, since the place we are currently at is one of the most highly secured places in this Kingdom.

We are at the Demon King's throne room. The density of the Demonic Mana here is five times the outside. Being humans, the girls will need some time to adjust themselves to the atmosphere, so they can tolerate and, hopefully, ignore it.

I look at the throne and find Ilschevar sitting on it. His elbow is on the handrest and his clenched hand is supporting his head that is leaning on it. He still has that faint smile on him yet his aura is completely different from usual. He now truly looks like the Demon King whose name brings terror upon men.

Valeria ushers me to face him as she holds the girls behind her. Complying immediately, I walk toward the throne and stop when I am 10 feet before it. Noting that there is no one here but us after scanning the entire room with Mana, I kneel. I look into Ilschevar's eyes as I reveal the horns that I have been hiding.

"Greetings, My Liege. Layland Kleinhaus has returned from his mission and is ready to report his achievements."

"Welcome back, my Warrior," he responds with a smile. "If my scouting team is as competent as they claim, I believe you haven't finished your mission yet. Please, do correct me if I am wrong."

"That is not wrong, My Liege. I, indeed, haven't finished my mission yet. There are still two more Heroes that I haven't killed. You shall not worry, however, for I shall end their lives for good in the upcoming war."

"I am getting the impression that you intentionally leave the two of them alive."

I smile faintly. "There were a lot of twists in this journey of mine, My Liege. I did plan to leave them for the last yet I ditched that plan after I had my fun with them. Something happened along the way, allowing them to 'distance' themselves from me. It was unfortunate yet I gained something from it, so I will personally call that a win."

"Tell me what happened, Layland. I am very intrigued." Ilschevar interlaces his fingers and leans forward. "Ah, you may stand up."

Standing up, Layland I tidy up my clothes briefly before talking. I tell him about the territories I have liberated, the situation inside them, and their yet-to-be-official allegiance with the Verniculos Kingdom.

Since Valeria has been spying on me from the first day, I am sure Ilschevar already knows what I have done. Still, he listens to it keenly and smiles from time to time as he compliments me for everything I did that he deems brilliant.

He stands up from his throne and walks at me; he only stops when he is just a step away from kissing me. Putting his hand on my shoulder, he pats it twice before saying, "You have grown. The cowardly midget from two months ago has become a man."

He glances at the girls and chuckles throatily. "You are thinking ahead. I am proud of you as much as I am jealous of you."

"I am afraid I don't understand what you are talking about," I retort as I roll my eyes.

"I don't understand what I am talking about either. I just don't know what to say after not talking to you for a month and a half."

At least, he is honest.

"Kuhum!" Ilschevar clears his throat. "By the way, I am sorry for not summoning the others to let them know about your achievement. Your reward this time has something to do with your status as a Demon King Candidate; we can't let them know, can we?"

As soon as the words are uttered, the girls murmur among themselves.

"Demon King Candidate…? Is Layland going to be a Demon King in the future?"

"No wonder he is exceptional—he is bound to be one of the strongest forces in this world."

"Demon King…. So, that is why he is interested in expanding the Kingdom's territory."

"Heh…sneaky Layland. No wonder he is gathering girls."

Ilschevar nods his head at the last muttering, which came from Gabriela, the one with the wildest thought in the group. I believe the two will get along well since the way they jump to conclusions is quite similar.

Ignoring that, I ask, "So, what are you going to reward me with?"

Grinning, he says, "First of all, take this."

Ilschevar stretches his hand forward and presents me with two curved wing ornaments. I take them and bring them closer to my Rank Necklace. The two ornaments immediately attach themselves to the necklace, joining the other six curved wings. I just got a promotion yet I find it hard to rejoice.

"Congratulations on being an Eighth Wing Warrior! You are now among the top 100 in the army."

"I see."

"You don't seem to be that excited. Maybe, the next reward will make you happy."

I am rather expectant toward the next reward, so I quirk my eyebrow, urging him to quickly reveal what it is. Ilschevar smirks merrily and then opens his mouth.

"You are rewarded with all of the territories that you managed to conquer!"

I am not amused. I regret that I even expected something. This situation is very similar to a boss who thinks he has done something magnanimous by paying his worker his due wage. I am bound to inherit every territory this Kingdom has. In my opinion, getting some of it early shouldn't be considered a reward.

"So, you don't have anything to reward me with."

"No, Layland. You misunderstood me. Those territories—"

"I conquered them myself—they are mine by default."

Ilschevar coughs uncomfortably for a few seconds before suddenly becoming solemn. He looks me straight in the eyes as he puts his hand on my shoulder.

"The truth is, Layland, we are suffering financially. You are the most brilliant person I know, so I hope you can put your superb management skill to use and bring those territories to prosperity. You can keep the money they make. I am just saying—"

"Get the money myself."

"No, no, no. It is not that. Well…it is that but I prefer calling it self-rewarding."

Deceit and shamelessness seem to run deep in our blood, Demons. Ilschevar wants to make himself look like he is rewarding me but, in truth, he is just giving me another assignment.

Luckily, managing territories is not a hard job. I have people whom I can count on. Just like how the group of merchants I assigned to take care of the second Brontes Dukedom, these people will bring the territories they manage to prosperity. I only have to supervise them once in a while to make sure they don't deviate from the paths.

Shortly, I don't have to work that much.

"I will consider this my rehearsal for my duty as a Demon King."

"That's the spirit!"

"Don't act like you have done something great, you cheap Demon King!"

"Hey, hey, don't be like that." Ilschevar holds up one of his fingers. "I will give you one thing that you want. Except for the throne, of course."

"Your head."

"All right—hey, that is off the list!"

Smirking, I shrug lightly. "Then, I will ask for some of your authority—to mobilize the army and the civilians."

"I will grant you the right to mobilize the civilians."

"What about the former?"

At this, Ilschevar smirks. "You are an Eighth Wing Warrior—you can mobilize Five Legions of Warriors as long as you report it to the General whose Legion you are taking with you."

The bastard got me good. I should have shown more interest in the army. Had I read more about the privileges of each Rank of the Warrior, Ilschevar wouldn't be able to "steal" from me. I guess I can't be winning every time.

After the matter is concluded, Ilschevar turns to the girls. He looks at them scrutinizingly, making them step back cautiously.

"Two of them are my friends and the other one is someone whom I believe you know," I explain.

Ilschevar turns to me and quirks his eyebrow as if asking if I am sure that they are trustworthy. I nod my head surely, prompting him to look at me silently before nodding his head in acceptance.

All of them have something in common—they belong nowhere. They are outcasts—the unwanted. I gave them a place to belong; thus, giving them a reason to exist. They will never betray me since doing so will make them outcasts again. They will only do it if they managed to find a new place to belong, which I can guarantee will never happen.

"Valeria, why don't you show Layland and his companions their rooms? I bet they are exhausted after their journey," Ilschevar says, awakening me from my thought.

"I will do it, My Lord," Valeria responds.

Grabbing my hand, she lets me walk beside her as she leads the girls to their rooms. We reach their rooms soon enough but none of them enters their room.

Even before Valeria asks their reason, they explain that they want to know where my room is. Valeria doesn't seem to be amused but she still takes them with us to my new room, which is big enough to fit twenty people inside.