9 Chapter 6. Part 2.

"Me? No way! Impossible! Being a hero was already annoying, isn't it fine if Chi becomes the demon lord? He's definitely far more suitable even if he is still human!"

"You don't have a choice in the matter now that I am your master. I don't mind if you want to resist though. Disciplining a disobedient servant is the master's job after all."

"Hey, my little Yueliang, if she's so against it, how about you just make her the acting demon lord on the surface and make me the real demon lord in the background. She'd basically just be a figurehead."

"Why do you want to be a demon lord so badly when you're just food? Can't you just sit tight by my side obediently and allow me to enjoy my meals in peace?"

"As a man from another world, I cannot possibly not adventure throughout this world and one day conquer it."

"Why must you waste energy on something pointless like that?"

"You clearly haven't ever heard of the great sayings from my world. Why did man climb the mountain before him? Because it was there! Why did man go to the moon? Again, because it was there! This is obviously the same as that. That is a man's romance after all."

"Hey servant, he started spouting a bunch of nonsense. Is he okay in the head?"

"Tch. Women just can't seem to understand the romance of a man's adventures when summoned to another world."

"I think he's fine. A lot of men from our world were like that. By the way, don't call me your servant."

"A servant's a servant."

"I'm not."

"Hand."

Some sort of compelling force that I was unable to resist forced my hand out towards Yueliang. As if by instinct I rested my hand on top of hers.

"I'm not a dog either!"

She looked at me with utter confusion and asked, "when you said you weren't a servant, you weren't implying you wanted to be my pet?"

"Of course not! I'm human!"

"You're really not human though. Look."

She held up a small mirror and directed it towards me. When I looked in the mirror, I saw my reflection. At least I really wanted to see my reflection, but there was nothing there. The blood drained from my face. Sorry that was a mistake, I couldn't see my face. Instead it was probably more accurate to say rather than paling due to lack of blood, my face was probably deathly pale from the start.

"What do I do?! What do I do?! What do I do?!"

Of course I panicked, there was no way I could accept this.

"What's wrong? Why are you freaking out so much? You just don't have a reflection, is it that big of a deal?"

"Of course it is! How am I supposed to brush my teeth in the morning? How am I supposed to do my makeup(not that I use any as a dorky glasses girl)? What about my hair(again, who am I kidding)? What if I have a nose hair or booger sticking out and I go an entire day in public without ever being told(it's happened before)?! My life is over! If that ever happens aren't I better off dead?!"

"Aren't you freaking out about the wrong part here?"

"As a guy you wouldn't understand!"

"You could just hire a personal painter to paint your face in the morning. I've had one of my minions do that occasionally."

"No way! It's bad enough looking awful when I wake up, you actually expect me to have someone capture my most embarrassing moments when I wake up and eternalize it on paper? Are you bloody daft woman?"

Yueliang scrunched up her brows in clear displeasure when she heard my outburst.

"You really have quite the rebellious side for a mere servant, don't you?"

Yueliang stood up from the ground and sat down on top of the shogi board with her legs crossed. With her right leg on top of her left she stuck it out towards me while she pressed her right elbow against her upper thigh. She then rested her chin on the palm of her right hand. She looked at me with bored unamused expression and said, "kneel."

The moment she spoke, once again that compelling force had me drop to the ground on my knees in front of her. With a lackluster indifferent expression on her face, before I could react to what was happening, she continued flatly, "pay your respects to your master."

Out of my control my body moved towards the delicate looking bare foot that hovered in the air directly before my eyes. In some sort of strange trance, I registered that there was a strange silky soft sensation pressed against my lips.

It was then I came to a shocking realization. After a moment, that sensation left my lips and with my mouth ajar with wide opened eyes I asked, "Is your skin natural?"

"Eh? Girl, are you okay in the head?"

"Please! Answer my question!"

With a troubled look on her face, seeming unable to understand the situation, Yueliang nodded her head hesitantly.

"Then as your servant, will my skin also be naturally soft like that as well without any type of skin care products?"

It seemed almost as if she didn't know how to respond. She just awkwardly nodded again silently.

"My great master Yueliang, I have seen the light. Whether it be becoming the next demon lord or slaying a god or even walking through a sea of fire, this humble servant shall not let you down and will definitely repay this great kindness."

Thus, this was how I began my story as a puppet demon lord controlled by this scary vampire and my self proclaimed rival.

Rather than possessing the desire to become a demon lord, as shameful as it may sound, I was bribed by soft and fair skin without the need for cosmetics. For a glasses wearing dork like me who hated those sorts of products, this was truly a godsend.

"Chi Kaban, is this how all people from your world are like? Do they not know the meaning of pride? How can she look so happy after kneeling and kissing my foot like that?"

"Well, I suppose some people in my world would take that sort of thing as a reward."

"A reward?! How? If a noble vampire like me were to ever do that, I'd be better off dead than to suffer through such outrageous humiliation!"

"Humans are creatures who know not of shame though."

"Aren't humans a bit scary then? … Can you please stop looking at my foot like that?"

"I was just curious about how soft it was."

"Lecherous pervert."

"It's just pure curiosity though."

"Don't lie, you were already graced with the opportunity to kiss the back of my hand earlier."

"Did I? I seem to be having short term memory loss, maybe you should let me try again since my memories are a bit foggy."

"Hey, what are you doing?! Why'd you take my brain again? Can you please return it to me? It's not nice to always take people's brains out of the blue like that."

"I was just wondering if you hit your head somewhere and your regeneration didn't work properly."

"Well, if you want your brain back, go and get it."

Just like earlier I witnessed an absurd scene. At some point she had stolen his brain and left a bloody gaping hole in his head. The scenery in the background was fully visible through the side of his head.

I never even saw when she did it either. Just how strong was this vampire? Wasn't she way stronger than that so called demon lord who died of a heart attack?

Wouldn't humanity be brought to its knees if this vampire was released into the world as the next demon lord?

I steeled my will and ignored Chi who was literally brainless at the present. I felt I needed confirmation as to just exactly who this vampire really was. "Uh... my great master Yueliang, I get that you're the vampire progenitor and all, but who are you really? Are you really only the vampire progenitor?"

For some reason she looked a bit smug like she had been waiting to strut her stuff and answer that very question.

With a grin and half squinted eyes she casually tossed the brain in her hand far off into the distance like she couldn't care less for it. She then said, "one identity of mine is definitely the vampire progenitor, but my other identity would be that of the true demon lord in this world. The demon lord you were summoned to defeat was just a subordinate of mine."

Ugh. What is with this stereotypical development of defeating one demon lord only to be told they were just a subordinate? Well, to be honest I didn't really defeat the demon lord, they just kind of died of natural causes out of the blue with no warning.

"My servant, why don't you look shocked by the sudden plot twist?"

"It's an overused twist. What's there to be shocked about? Rather than being shocked, it should be me saying, as expected."

"Chi Kaban, are all humans from your world infuriatingly annoying like this?"

"Well, she's right though. In our world it's a common turn of events that behind the big baddie is an even bigger baddie."

"Humans in your world are a real pain in the ass."

"We get that a lot."

"Even your pouting face when things don't play out as you expected is adorably cute, my little Yueliang."

That pale white skin of hers turned slightly rosy. She extended her hand out fast enough that my eyes didn't register what she had done again. The next thing I knew some strange shriveled up thing was floating above her hand. I wasn't quite sure what it was to be honest, but there was blood flowing out of it.

Did she suddenly get hungry for blood or something?

In an endlessly cold voice she asked, "is it this thing that gave you the nerve to dare call me adorably cute?"

"Uh. That's one thing I really need, my little Yueliang. Can you please return it? You can take any other part you want, but without that I'd really be in a bit of a bind. Even you may find yourself troubled in the future if I don't have those."

"Hmmp! You really dare have such thoughts towards me? I've never met such a repulsive human who even as a frog, lusts so greedily for the meat of a swan."

Are these two really like that after all?

In spite of how she said all that and how her face only displayed utter disgust and aversion, for a while now I realized that there was some sort of strange connection between Yueliang and I. Perhaps it was because I was now her servant, but I somehow felt that deep down she was a bit joyful and happy to have company.

Was she actually a weird cross between a tsundere and kuudere? No, the world of deres is vast and deep, there probably already exists a term for her. With my inexperience I just can't pitch it.

But that's beside the point, if she is this powerful why doesn't she escape from this pit and bring destruction to the human race herself? Why does she go about the roundabout approach of bringing up demon lords and sending them out? Why not take up the position herself? Could it be because she can't leave this place?

"Uhm my master Yueliang, if you are so powerful, is there a reason why you live down in this pit? Could it be you are unable to leave?"

She looked towards me with an expression that would have looked much cooler if not for her holding that thing in her right hand behind her back while holding the desperate Chi back with her left hand pushing away his face.

"Seriously, just give it back to me, my little Yueliang."

"There exists a seal here, that is why I've been unable to leave up to this point. However, thanks to my never ending supply of food I received a month ago, that shouldn't be a problem for too much longer. I should be able to break out of the seal within the span of a year. It's actually a rather short time in comparison to the thousands of years I've been imprisoned down here for."

"Get lost already. I'm trying to look good in front of my new servant."

"Pfft hahaha."

"What are you laughing at my servant? You have the nerve to laugh at your master?"

"Nothing, it's really nothing. I just thought for a moment the two of you looked a bit cute together in a weird twisted way. That was all."

The moment I said that, she showed an ugly expression with extreme annoyance in her eyes and said no more. Thanks to the connection between us, I could tell she felt embarrassed by my words though.

After Chi was played around with for some time, Yueliang left somewhere with a satisfied look after sucking out all the blood from his body ten times.

By now I had come to the realization that Chi's recovery ability was far from it merely being simple regeneration, it was more appropriate to call it straight up immortality.

No matter how Yueliang toyed with him or cut his body up, he instantly regenerated once the detached body part was destroyed. At first it was amusing to watch the person I formerly thought of as the inner demon in my heart as he was played around with nonchalantly like this. But after I observed him for long enough, I was horrified when I realized that he was definitely unkillable now.

I thought I'd long surpassed him, but if he truly was immortal, then if given some time he would effortlessly leave me in the dust once again. Well, now that I thought about it, it didn't really matter anymore though. There wasn't much point to being first or second any longer, was there? Really, why was I so obsessed with it back then in our world?

Was it just that I wanted to be acknowledged in his eyes? Did I just want him to at least look my way even if it was only once? Doesn't that just make me sound like a stupid girl seeking attention from the object of her affections? A stupid girl who was unknowingly in love? I didn't love him, did I?

When I examined Chi who was sprawled on the ground lifelessly like a defeated dog as he looked far into the distance of the endless abyss above, I couldn't help but think that there was no way that was possible. It was just the desire to surpass a big wall that blocked my path. It must have been that. There's no way I'd fall for a delinquent without any tact or delicacy. Towards a man who even used the great game of shogi as a means to have a woman strip, there's no way in hell.

Not only that, he's brainless. Well, not in the sense that he's an idiot. More in the sense that his brain never regenerated after Yueliang tossed it away earlier. I really had to admit though, it was a bit surreal to watch a literally brainless human pick a fight with a vampire. Although, for some reason, what I found irritating was rather than seeing it as a fight, I couldn't help but view it as them boldly flirting in front of me in public.