Chapter 12

The entourage from Queen Dotorea, along with Belial, arrived at Glorieux Kingdom. As you know, the kingdom consists of houses on tall trees with bridges serving as pathways to these treehouses.

Although Belial was already aware of this from the isekai stories he had read when he was still alive on Earth, he was still excited to see the scenery of the kingdom.

"Fantasy!"

Belial exclaimed in his mind like a young child visiting an amusement park for the first time.

Ignoring Belial and having no desire to deal with him any longer, the Adventurers and Magic Casters quickly bid farewell to Queen Dotorea and hurriedly left the place.

Queen Dotorea shook her head and sighed as she watched them all depart. It was understandable why they reacted that way. After all, who would want to associate with the terrifying human now standing behind Queen Dotorea?

"We shall head to the palace."

With her words, and without waiting for Belial's response, Queen Dotorea immediately commanded the unicorn-like creature she was riding, which had no wings, to move. Her knights followed closely behind on foot.

Belial didn't care where they were going; he simply sat quietly behind the Elven Queen, still cradling Celestia on his shoulder. His eyes gleamed as he observed his surroundings.

Glorieux Kingdom had vast lands, so the distance from the gate to the royal palace was quite far. It would probably take about fifteen minutes for all of them to reach their destination.

And upon reaching the palace, Queen Dotorea ordered the knights to return to their respective homes and rest. They all responded in unison, "Yes!" and hurriedly went back to their houses. Only one knight remained, which was Celestia, who had already become Belial's 'ward'.

If Celestia's father, the Elf girl's father, were to find out that his daughter was being taken care of by someone like him, it could be guaranteed that he would immediately use his influence as a Marquis to rescue his beloved daughter.

And perhaps Queen Dotorea had already considered that. That is, informing Celestia's father about the young man who was taking care of his daughter.

"Very well, both of you should rest as well. Servant, guide them to their chambers."

The servant, who had been present all along, promptly guided Belial. He was actually surprised by the human carrying the daughter of a Marquis on his shoulder like a piece of luggage, but he remained silent and continued to guide Belial, feeling a bit afraid of the human.

Belial continued to follow her while still observing the royal palace.

Magnificent.

That one word could summarize what Belial saw from the palace.

A few moments later, they finally arrived in front of a bedroom door. The servant quickly bid farewell and left Belial. It seemed that she didn't want to spend too much time with the human.

"Sigh... Even with my current handsome appearance, they still fear me like this?"

Belial smiled bitterly as he expressed his thoughts.

However, he didn't dwell on it for long and immediately entered the room. The room was quite spacious from what Belial knew. Although this room was within the Elf kingdom's palace, the interior and furniture seemed more like they belonged to humans.

"Perhaps it's a collaboration..."

Yes, that could be possible. Maybe the Elves engaged in import-export activities with the human kingdom.

Regardless of that, what mattered was that he could relax in this room. Belial immediately laid Celestia down on the bed, while he himself sat beside her.

"Ugh... Hold yourself, Belial. Remember, you're a former demon king, so there's no way temptations like this can overcome you."

Belial strengthened himself. After millions of years, he could finally see the face of a woman in general, because in Gehenna, as you know, all the female demons were ugly and repulsive. And now, he tried not to be tempted by the unconscious Elf girl he saw.

"Huff... Haa..."

After taking a deep breath, Belial finally managed to calm his desires and refrain from 'attacking' the unconscious Elf girl.

Spotting a table and chair near the window, Belial decided to move and sit on one of the chairs.

"Yawn..."

Sitting in the chair, he suddenly yawned, feeling his eyes growing heavy.

"I may have overused my Power of Mind ability."

Unlike Belial's other abilities, Power of Mind didn't use Mana, but relied on mental strength instead. And because Belial delved too deeply into Celestia's mind earlier, even reaching her past, it exhausted his mental capacity. That might be the reason he felt drowsy now.

"Yawn... I'll just take a nap. Just a short one, not too long."

Belial finally decided to take a brief nap in the chair. He was used to sleeping in this position since, in Gehenna, he often did so on his throne.

In the end, Belial closed his eyes and fell into a deep sleep. It seemed like his sleep would be a long one.

* * *

Still in the Great Forest of Megálos. Inside a damp cave, a figure in a black robe stood at the depths of the cave. The person held an ancient red crystal ball in their hand and could be heard repeatedly uttering the same phrase.

"የሞት አምላክ አምልኮ"

The strange sentence was uttered continuously as the person raised their hand, clutching the crystal ball, repeatedly. The crystal ball was a Magic Item capable of easily resurrecting the Undead. With just a corpse, whether fresh or long-deceased, it could be easily revived using the item. However, it still required the owner's Mana as the energy source for the Magic Item.

They were the only one inside the cave. No, they were not alone, although they couldn't be considered living beings. The person was surrounded by numerous skeletons, truly skeletal creatures with red eyes. So, it could be said that they were not alone in the cave.

'Skeleton Undead.'

That was the term for these skeletal beings. And the number of these creatures continued to increase as the person continued to utter the strange phrase repeatedly.

Skeleton Undead continued to emerge from the ground of the dungeon. No, it wasn't just a cave; it was a Dungeon. How could a mere cave have so many corpses buried within its depths? It could be confirmed that the person was indeed inside a Dungeon.

This Dungeon had actually been cleared several centuries ago, and it seemed that the cleansing resulted in numerous casualties. Perhaps that was why there were so many corpses in the ground, which the person was now using to resurrect Skeleton Undead.

"Hahaha! With all these undead, I will be able to exact my revenge on that wench!"

After finishing their incantation, the person suddenly burst into gleeful shouts and laughter like a deranged psychopath. Their voice was hoarse, sounding elderly, and it was unclear who the wench they referred to was.

"Hmph! Just wait, you cursed Elf Queen!"

It turned out that the person meant The Wise Elf Queen: Glorieux eta Dotorea. Perhaps this person sought revenge against her. However, no one knew what Queen Dotorea had done to incite such deep-seated resentment in this individual.

"Gahahaha!"

They continued to laugh, imagining the expression Queen Dotorea would have when they saw them again, but with their new army of Skeleton Undead. They also pondered how they would torture the Queen.

And finally, they emerged from the cave, with a horde of Skeleton Undead behind them. There were skeletons wielding swords, spears, bows, and even those who could cast spells among the ranks of the Skeleton Undead.

With each step causing the surrounding plants to wither and die, they headed west, toward Glorieux Kingdom, ready to exact their revenge.

Little did they know that in Glorieux Kingdom, there was someone who could incinerate all of their Undead forces, without exception, including themselves.