In a high mountain peak northeast of Jinan City.
A being in a cloak hood with arms crossed looking at the dark sky, he was the 4th Guest of MS Group.
Beside him was a blonde European-dressed man with a unique form. The blonde man carefully spoke to the hooded one.
“Sire.”
“Did you get the signal? Marquis Cawl?”
“No.”
“Then what is it?”
“Sire. I am sorry to ask. Do we really need to wait for all the nobles to arrive on this planet? He is strong, but I think that the nobles here can handle him well.”
The blonde one called Marquis Cawl asked. At the bottom of the mountain were twelve men and women with exotic forms waiting. All of them belonged to upper Count levels.
“How about having the other nobles search for the other three of Arisha’s Armor and find the traitor?”
In addition to them, there were 30 nobles down here. And all of them were searching for the armor.
The only weapon they knew for sure was in the video of MS Group. In the opinion of Marquis Cawl. The hooded one shook his head.
“The sword is the best treasure of Arisha’s Armor. It can be dangerous if the owner of it learns its true powers. It’s better for us to move.”
“…alright.”
Unable to disobey the orders, he backed off. Marquis Cawl again picked up some unique-shaped terminal and gave out a signal. But then a sudden beep came from it.
Woong! Woong! Woong!
A circle of wavy marks appeared on the screen along with a terminal. It was more like a passage.
“Sire!”
Marquis Cawl seemed startled as he called.
Before the content was even relayed, the hooded one calmly opened his mouth to speak.
“… the Gate is open. What is the state?”
“D-duke title. In addition, more of the many higher ranks seem to be moving.”
At those words, the hooded one’s eyes turned sharp.
“That side has…moved too.”
“Seems like it. It must be because you have been here for a long time.”
“We can’t help it.”
“Then?”
“Hurry up. Retrieve the sword and helmet right away.”
“Yes, your grace!”
In the Vice-chairman’s office in Yongchun Group.
“Then the picture on this belongs to the Demon King?”
Shakena nodded her head at the question.
“As far as I know. In the past, I have seen the Demon King roaming the fields wearing Arisha’s armor during the Third War based on the recordings.”
As a demon above Count level, she didn’t have the right to meet the king, so she only looked at him through videos.
At that time, he definitely had this armor on it. Although it was just a video record, the Demon King looked amazing to her eyes.
“The Demon King wearing Arisha’s Armor was truly a strong person. No one could stand in his way.”
“What does Arisha mean?”
He had been wondering about the word since the first time he came across it. He wondered if it was the name of the one who made it, Shakena answered.
“Ah… I know that the armor that only a Demon King can wear is Arisha’s.”
“… so, the meaning?”
“Ah! Arisha is a great-being worshiped by our clan. In human language… right. It can be God.”
“God?”
In the demon’s language, Arisha meant absolute strength or God.
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇtChun Yeowun didn’t even think that beings of other planets would even worship someone else. This was because he was too harshly brought up as a member of the Sky Demon Order.
“Then you will know this too.”
Chun Yeowun touched the armor on the picture with his finger. And when he touched it, the helmet moved like animation and disassembled and changed into a wheel.
“Ah?”
Shakena was confused and surprised.
“This was that?”
“Hm?”
“I don’t know well. But I have seen the Demon King handling various weapons on the battlefield, but this is the first time to see it change.”
“First time?”
“Yes.”
Surprisingly, even Shakena didn’t seem to be aware of it. All she knew was that this armor was a treasure of the Demon King.
This time she asked.
“Master, you said the traitor had it…”
“Yes.”
She hesitated to continue, so Chun Yeowun asked.
“What is it?”
Pondering a lot, she couldn’t decide.
‘Can I talk about this?’
The information she knew was a clan matter. Everyone was away, but this was the hottest issue in their clan.
“Answer me.”
‘After all, Master is a human, so it doesn’t matter if he knows.’
At Chun Yeowun’s urging, she spoke.
“Actually, before I set my foot here, there was a rumor going on in the clan.”
“Rumor?”
“Yes. A rumor that someone was behind him. Someone helped Hagar escape and sent him here.”
“Helped him escape?”
“Actually, Hagar was considered a traitor for preying on his own kin, but a low-ranking noble would never suddenly turn strong enough to be able to escape.”
A Gate that allowed one to cross into another planet; it was an important place that only the Marquis-level nobles would protect and guard, but such a thing had fallen into the hands of a traitor way too low in title?
Many questioned it.
Chun Yeowun, taking the scroll, said.
“The most suspicious person is the Grand Duke then, the one whose emblem is here.”
Listening to this, he could make a rough guess.
“Right. Huhu. Master is smart. As you said, Grand Duke Kaliaf is one of the three Grand Dukes and is the one under suspicion.”
“Why?”
She hesitated at the question; she thought talking to Chun Yeowun was fine, but it was a sensitive issue in the clan.
“… Grand Duke Kaliaf is aiming to be the next Demon King.”
“Next Demon King?”
This confused him. Shakena was here to catch the traitor on the order of the Demon King, so what is this plot twist?
“Will the Demon King retire?”
“No, it is a bit more ambiguous.”
“How?”
“The Demon King hasn’t appeared in public for a long time.”
“How long?”
“Before I was even born.”
Shakena was 820 years old.
“Hmm?”
“I heard it has been two thousand years.”
“Two thousand!?”
Even Chun Yeowun was shocked. He knew the average lifespan of demons was long, but this was huge.
‘So they are long-lived ones.’
According to Shakena, no one had seen the Demon King since the Third War that occured two thousand years back.
“Then who gave you the order?”
“There are the four Dukes who assist the Demon King. One of them, Sir Ludwig, ordered me.”
“Huh? And only they see the Demon King?”
“Yes. They are the only ones who can see him. Other than them, no one had seen the Demon King for years, so they are called unturnable doorknobs.”
“Doorknobs?”
A title that wouldn’t stick if the Demon King had come out.
“The head of the clan hasn’t appeared in public, so…suspicions rose.”
“…”
She didn’t answer Chun Yeowun’s words; it meant agreeing with him.
The authority of the Demon King was absolute for the clan, but now they were all wondering if their king was alive or dead.
“I have a rough idea as to what it is.”
“Huh?”
“Normally, the title of authority would be Grand Duke from the Demon King. However, it is said that four Dukes are close to the Demon King and don’t let others see him, which makes it natural for a riot to occur.”
“Woah… Master. You are so smart!”
Chun Yeowun shook his head at her words. Anyone could guess this much.
“Right. As Master said, dissatisfaction rose among the Grand Dukes.”
It had been two thousand years. Even if they were demons, their head had been missing, so it was natural for the Grand Duke to be discontent with it and aim to be the next one on the throne.
“Then the four Dukes came and announced the condition for the Demon King.”
“What is this now?”
“They said that those who Arisha chose are the only ones to challenge the next title of Demon King.”
Chosen by Arisha.
It was as if a member had to be chosen by the god their clan worshiped.
“What qualification is that?”
At Chun Yeowun’s question, she pointed to the armor.
“Arisha’s Armor. It was said that those who find the armor will be given a chance to challenge the Demon King.”
Authority fell due to the absence of their King, and the only thing to control the warlike demons and Grand Dukes was the existence of Arisha.
And once the announcement fell, the Grand Dukes rushed to find the armor.
“Ha!”
Chun Yeowun sighed and said,
“Now I see it clearly.”
“Huh?”
“If Arisha’s Armor isn’t found in the end, no one will be eligible to challenge, right?”
“Right.”
“Those Dukes close to the King were one smart bunch.”
“Ah!”
At Chun Yeowun’s words, Shakena understands what happened.
“If no one can find Arisha’s Armor, the Dukes closest to the King will continue to maintain the power and control the clan.”
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏm“Right.”
“What is right?”
“Even after the announcement, no one had been able to find the armor for decades. Because of that, rumors went around that maybe Arisha’s Armor might not even be on our planet.”
“So?”
“The problem was that one couldn’t enter another planet on their wishes without a specific reason.”
It was forbidden to use the Gate. The approval had to come from the Demon King.
“I think I can see why the rumors went that Grand Duke Kaliaf supported the traitors.”
“There was a reason.”
“Right! For our clan, preying on a clan member means the culprit should be executed.”
Killing their own clan members would never be forgiven by them. The traitor who did it managed to cross the Gate and hide in another planet.
Then, there was a great reason for the demons using the Gate to another planet to catch that traitor.
“For some reason, it felt really strange that only one person was sent each time.”
The Duke closest to them placed a limit on the pursuers, saying that the clan’s power in their planet shouldn’t be wasted to catch a low-level demon despite the contact with the sent demons always getting cut off.
“It was to make sure that they don’t find the armor.”
Grunt!
In the end, it was a battle between Grand Duke Kaliaf and the Demon King’s men.
Shakena gritted her teeth in anger. Due to these chases, countless demons were sacrificed.
“There is a power struggle everywhere.”
Chun Yeowun clicked his tongue.
And their power struggle had spread to earth.
‘If Shakena is right, then Arisha’s Armor must have been with the Duke’s closest aides.’
It was likely. Even when looking at what Chun Yeowun saw in the memories, the weapons suddenly fell from the sky, too randomly.
‘Huh?’
However, Chun Yeowun thought it was strange. Something didn’t feel right.
If they hid Arisha’s Armor, it had to be at the time the decree was announced or before it was announced, but the armor fell on earth long before such an announcement had come.
‘Strange.’
When Chun Yeowun was puzzled at the thought, a small light shone from the cylinder that contained the scroll.
“What is that?”
Seeing that, Shakena looked inside the cylinder.
She said with a puzzled face.
“Master…this is a tracker.”
“Tracker?”
Even if he had Nano, Chun Yeowun couldn’t know what was in it since this was an item of the demons.
However, the question was, why didn’t it react till now?
“I’ll remove it right away.”
She put her hand into it and tried to remove it.
It was then…
Shhhh!
Suddenly, the space shook in the room, and numerous people appeared.
Shaken was taken aback and quickly moved at the sudden appearance. In an instant, 50 beings appeared in the Vice-Chairman’s room, all demons.
“This…”
Shakena couldn’t hide her shock as she looked at one of them.
“D-Duke!”
The white-haired man with the most splendid armor among the demons was the highest-ranking being with only ten demons obtaining the title.
It was the Duke.