1. The Devil's Strongest Hand (1)

A pale, white hand slammed down on the desk.

Underneath it all is a blank sheet of paper.

After a short pause, the hand slowly withdraws, leaving only the paper.

As he watched the hand move away, his gaze dropped to the paper on his desk. His eyes stare at the paper nonchalantly, but when he sees the words "resignation" scrawled across it, his eyes widen.

The white-haired, red-eyed man, who had watched the whole thing without the slightest faltering, looked straight at the bewilderment on his face and said with a voice as hard as his expression.

"Work, I quit."

***.

If the Empire has "heroes," the Demon Army has "legionnaires.

If the empire has competent generals, the devil will have 'legionnaires'.

The Legionnaire is the demon's sword, shield, and symbol of power.

Officially, there are twelve Legionnaires of the Demon King, ranging from the First to the Twelfth, but there is one more that is hidden from public view, and it's not exactly a secret.

A closely guarded secret known to everyone in the Demon Kingdoms, even the enemy Imperial Army.

The man who killed the Last Warrior is in charge of the Legion, which is effectively the Demon King's most powerful hand.

It's the kind of hand that makes you feel good just to have it, and then suddenly you're done with it.

"No! No stirring! No stirring!"

We can't afford to lose a talent like you like this! With that determination, Demon King Caber grabbed his subordinate's crotch and stretched.

He's usually very quiet and doesn't move around much, so when he showed up in person, I wondered what was going on. I was even happy to see him.

But the best I can say is this.

He probably doesn't mean it. As always, I'm just throwing it out there, and it should be.

I looked up, still clutching my crotch. Red eyes met his, and silence fell.

If you did, you probably realized what the look in his eyes was trying to tell you.

"If I'm going to do this, you're not really going to tell me to quit, are you?

His eyes twitched slightly as he checked to see if his intentions had worked. It was barely noticeable at first glance, but the Demon King, who was focused on him, was quick enough to catch it.

It wobbles. So why stop there?

I let go of my leg and scrambled to my feet. Instead, I grabbed his shoulder.

"What the hell is wrong with you? What's wrong with you? How are your people treating me? Are they discriminating against me because I'm human? What kind of asshole are you?! I'm going to...!"

Despite the somewhat vehement tone of his voice, inside he was convinced that they weren't.

A power so strong that even humans can't help but recognize it.

To the demons, his power is so overwhelming that they can't even look up to him. How could any big guy dare to touch him when he's not only favored, but revered by all.

But there's a reason we did this.

Deon Hart. A "human" in Demon City, called a "Daemon Arut," who is effectively second in status only to a Demon.

He was the only human in the Demon Castle, so I don't know what the other humans were like, but he was definitely not like the other demons in general, extremely reluctant to see someone's blood.

So when you see something like this, you're bound to react in some way.

─Is it any different?

Just as I was about to leave the office, I was grabbed by the wrist.

You turn around, and blood-red eyes stare back at you. The corner of the demon's mouth twitches upward.

"...I see you're finally in the mood to talk.

If you want to uproot it, you can.

The other was his favorite subordinate, the one who'd just handed in his resignation, and since that's what he'd intended in the first place, he sighed heavily and sank back into his seat in defeat.

"I ask you again, why?"

"Are you going to kill ...?"

I was just genuinely curious, but what I got back were questions, not answers.

You're going to kill me, or something scary like that.

He looked up, startled, and made eye contact. Eerie red eyes stared back at him, unblinking. A chuckle escaped him.

"I didn't mean to, but if you push me any further, I'm going to rip your head off.

He was said to be unbeatable except by warriors, but even he was intimidated by the man in front of him.

If he's going for your throat, you're going to have to deal with some damage of your own, and it's probably going to get pretty annoying.

He spoke softly, intent on calming her down.

"I'm not going to kill you, so what's the reason? I'm just curious."

"...that."

After a moment of silence, he opened his mouth, and it snapped.

"...Wham?

"Blood! Blood!"

"Ah."

Blood spilled. Quite casually, onto a desk full of papers.

Reflexively, I reached out and caught the blood. My head was spinning too much to think about anything else.

Is it poison? No, you've been using your poison detection magic since the moment you saw the blood, but there's been no reaction. Then there's only one thing left.

Aftereffects.

Officially, Deon Hardt has killed a warrior.

He's a "warrior. Naturally, he had to take a lot of damage, and it completely destroyed his body, which wasn't very good to begin with. He often coughed up blood, as he does now.

"It's not, but it's the right aftereffect, and the result is the same.

I think I've had a few hemorrhages before, but I can clearly see that they've increased in frequency.

Ouch. I gnashed my teeth at the thought of losing valuable talent.

Then, as if realizing the situation in hindsight, Deon covered his mouth and took a couple steps back from the desk. A voice that looked like it was trying to hold back blood crawled out.

"Sorry. The paperwork can be found at...."

"That's not the issue right now! Get the attending physician! Get the attending physician for Corps 0! What are you doing when your patient is sick?!!"

A roar echoed through the Demon Castle, and an uproar broke out.

***.

In the distance, Ben, your primary care physician, comes running, panting.

My reaction to the messy red stain on the carpet in the devil's room was quite simple.

"Oh, shit, we're screwed.

I was just going to hand in my resignation and quit my job, but then the blood came up, stained my papers, stained my carpet, hassled my doctor... It's a pretty bad situation to be in.

You'll be lucky if you get hit.

Your opponent is a demon. What a human would simply get angry about and move on from, they'll swing their swords at you and say, "Apologize with your life!

So I stood white and stiff, desperate to be examined by Ben.

"Daemon, can you hear me, how many of these do you see?"

"Three."

Instead of fighting for my life with a good answer, I replayed the situation from earlier.

My name is Deon Hart. Due to a slight misunderstanding, I am known as Daemon Arut in the Demon Kingdoms.

No, no, no, it's not "a little bit." It's this "misunderstanding" that is the reason I handed in my resignation.

The misconception is that everyone in the Demon Kingdom, including the Demon King, thinks I'm incredibly powerful.

Ha, funny. Perhaps the cook in this castle is stronger than I am. At least the cook is a 'demon'.

Anyway, that's not the point.

The constant overestimation fills me with dread and warns me that I need to get out before it's too late.

Generous reviews are nice, but only in moderation.

Excessive praise makes you fearful of repercussions, especially in Demon King's Castle. Imagine if the truth were to come out, even the Devil himself overestimates me and treats me accordingly.

Perhaps that will be the day I die. And if I die, it won't be a pretty death.

"I want to run away.

But if you run away without telling him, he'll say, "We can't afford to lose someone like you!" and bring his army after you. At best, you'll be captured, at worst imprisoned, and at worst killed.

Even among humans, there's a guy who says, "If I don't have it, I'll break it!" and it's not called a demon.

I've never heard of enemies resembling enemies, but when it comes to talent, they resemble emperors.

If I told you the truth, you wouldn't believe me, and if you did, you'd probably go "You've been fooling me all this time!" and blow my head off....

I was going to tie the knot face-to-face, and if I had to, I was going to gauge the mood, hand in my resignation and disappear like the wind.

I didn't expect the devil to grab me by the crotch and make me sag.

"No! No stirring! No stirring!"

I expected it to dry out a bit.

"But this wasn't in my plan!

Vajjitgarang, the demon king has no self-respect?!

Screaming inside, I couldn't even move.

Yeah, because it was scary.

'There's a demon on my leg, damn it, there's a demon on my leg!

My opponent is a demon. He's the strongest demon ever to defend his castle against the warriors without suffering any damage. If he lifts a finger, my life will be snatched away.

So what happens if you make the wrong move and end up kicking him?

This was predictable enough that I didn't bother to test it.

So I stood there like a statue, unmoving, until he released his hand first.

I was so nervous, I'm pretty sure I would have gotten a rat on my body if the demon had released his grip a second later.

Somehow, he had a change of heart, and when our eyes met, he released his grip and jumped to his feet. It's good that he let go of my pants, but what he grabbed this time was my shoulder!

He put his hands on both of my shoulders in a sort of appeal to hold on to me somehow, and then he looked me in the eye and started spitting out words.

But, you know what, Devil?

"What the hell, what don't you like?"

The reason I handed in my resignation in the first place,

"What are they doing to you, discriminating against you because you're human?"

It's because they're so good that it's almost overwhelming.

You may think you're getting what you deserve, but I'm not. I'm not good at anything!

Rather, they're just frail humans with less than normal physical abilities.

'I should have been suspicious when they first tried to recruit me.'

I should have been skeptical that someone like me would have any use for it.

I felt like they would kill me on the spot if I said no, so I had no choice but to....

...? Yeah. Come to think of it, I didn't have a choice in the first place.

'...life.'

I pressed a sigh into my throat and swallowed. I must escape this place now.

The final boss, the Demon King, is being nicer to me than I thought, so it's not entirely out of the question....

"Which asshole?! I'm gonna get you a quote right now...."

No! No! No!!

She caught him in a panic as he headed for the door to his office.

Who's going to blame you if you get rid of your men? I'm the one who's going to get blamed!

See, even when you're nice, you're too nice. Oh shit, why do I feel like I'm going to cry?

Luckily, in true form, the demon sighed and sat down.

"I ask you again, why?"

Somehow, the calmness in my voice seems to have come to life.

I might be mistaken, but I'd better be careful, I thought, and instead of answering, I looked him in the eye and asked.

"Are you going to kill ...?"

I was so nervous that the words just came out of my mouth.

As expected, the emblem of the devil, the reverse eye, faces this way.

What does that look mean?

Is it a "how did you know?" look, or a "kill or save this?" look?

Maybe it means, "This is why smart loads are annoying.

Zee, should I apologize now... or before, but will it save me?

The more I think about it, the more I see a bleak future.

I can't avoid his intense gaze, and I can only purse my lips nervously, but he shakes his head as he searches my face as if he's trying to find out what's inside.

"I'm not going to kill you, so what's the reason? Let's hear it."

There was a moment of hesitation, but only a moment.

You were going to build a wall anyway, so this is a necessary step. You can't run away, and you shouldn't.

so I just opened my mouth.

"...that."

WALK.

The familiar, sickening scent of blood wafted from my mouth to the tip of my nose.

"Blood! Blood!"