Chapter 6_Yes, That's It!

Lister's original impression of the Demon Lord's Castle should have been a gloomy, towering, Gothic-style giant castle, with few windows, little sunlight, as if it was always night.

But in fact... it was not so.

From the outside, it looked not much different from the castles where human nobles lived, only generally much larger in scale, and magic runes written in red patterns could be easily seen in various parts of the castle.

However, the lack of sunlight was true, because the flow of magic in the demon realm was very different from other regions, often resulting in magic fields blocking sunlight, leading to a whole day of darkness.

If an ordinary person with a weak constitution rashly entered the demon realm, they would feel dizzy and vomit at best, and directly faint at worst, while monsters leaving the demon realm had no effect.

This also led to the inability to carry out large-scale farming activities in the demon realm, basically the entire demon realm was in a state of lack of clothing and food.

What did the lack of food and clothing bring? Lister knew it all too well.

That was chaos and disorder.

This was perhaps one of the reasons why monsters were demonized in the outside world.

Tap tap, tap tap.

Lister and Priscilla walked side by side inside the Demon Lord's Castle.

At the same time, Lister, as a human, also attracted the attention of many monsters in the castle.

The female beastman soldiers in charge of guarding, from the gaps in their black armor, some fur could be seen, constantly cast glances at him from the eye slits of their helmets. The Arachnes in charge of weaving and various chores observed Lister with their compound eyes, their eight spider limbs constantly tapping on the ground, making a tapping sound.

There were also succubi with sheep horns and heart-shaped tails, comically petite little imps, half-dragon soldiers with hands and feet having dragon characteristics... all of which made Lister exclaim in amazement.

"Hey, is he the human that the Demon Lord has been talking about?"

"That's right, I heard he's been a weirdo who mixed with monsters since a long time ago..."

"I know, I know, my sibling's sister's husband's third lover seems to have been helped by him, and now she seems to have broken up with her husband just to find him..."

"You guys, shut up! The Demon Lord is looking over here!"

The monsters whispered to each other, not letting Lister hear, but Priscilla's slender dragon ears grew longer and longer.

I have to say, as expected of the Demon Lord's Castle, there are all kinds of monster girls.

And the quality is so high... Hiss...

Lister suddenly felt a pain in his waist, and when he looked back, Priscilla poked him with the tip of her tail with a blank expression.

Lister followed Priscilla all the way up to a room with two tall doors.

Magic flashed in Priscilla's hand, and the door opened, revealing a huge council hall inside.

And in the center of that council hall, there was a succubus dressed in a classic maid outfit.

She had long black hair and black pupils, which were quite rare colors among the succubus race. At the same time, she wore a pair of round-framed glasses and walked towards the two with an unhurried pace, bowing slightly in greeting.

"Welcome back, Demon Lord, and respected Mr. Lister."

"You know me?"

"You are not unknown among monsters, Mr. Lister. By the way, my name is Anko, I am the head maid serving the Demon Lord."

"Is that so... Hello, Anko."

It seems that the impact of what I did in college should be greater than I imagined.

But...

What Lister was more interested in at the moment was the succubus named Anko in front of him.

Her face was cold and upright, even surpassing that nun Helen.

At the same time, her various manners were also impeccable. Even if you grabbed the most image-conscious noble from the capital, they probably wouldn't appear more polite than her.

Moreover, the strangest thing was that he actually saw qualities such as rationality, calmness, and restraint on the face of a succubus...

If it weren't for the horns and tail on her body that couldn't be faked, Lister would dare to believe that she was the most devout nun in the church.

"Alright, Anko, I brought back a huge piece of good news this time."

Priscilla said while holding Lister beside her, her tail tightly wrapped around his leg.

"From today on, Lister is one of us in the Demon Lord's Castle."

"...Congratulations on getting your wish, Demon Lord."

"Mm. So, I'm in a very good mood today."

Anko glanced slightly at the dragon tail that made Lister want to struggle but couldn't move, and silently withdrew her gaze.

"I can see that, indeed."

"Priscilla..."

"Alright, I'll let you go."

The dragon tail loosened, allowing Lister to breathe a little.

"Demon Lord, the room arranged for Mr. Lister is ready."

"Good, then let me take him there. Anko, you continue with your own business."

"Yes."

Anko bowed again, watching Priscilla lead Lister to the side.

...

Soon, a person and a dragon stopped in front of a door. Although they hadn't entered yet, the intricate golden decorations at the entrance had already demonstrated the extraordinary nature of this room.

And after opening the door, the furnishings inside surprised Lister even more.

Because...

That thick wooden table, that side-by-side large bookshelf, and the chandelier, chair, bed with white sheets...

Everything was exactly the same as the furnishings in the room he stayed in when he was still by Aurola's side.

This was a... very incredible piece of information.

"How is it, Lister? The furniture here was specially bought from the human world by me, and there's also your favorite soft-colored chandelier, that rocking chair, and..."

Priscilla's excited tone gradually cooled down.

Because she found that... at this moment, Lister's expression was not as pleasantly surprised as she had anticipated, but instead, it was replaced by a solemn look.

"Demon Lord... We need to have a good talk."

Lister spoke to Priscilla calmly.

...

The first problem was how she knew this information.

As Lister, who mostly worked behind the scenes, his private room was rarely visited... Except for Aurola and a few people around her, as well as some special cases, almost no one knew about the existence of this room.

But... it's not impossible for it to be leaked, although there was no need for it to be leaked at all... Anyway, this was still somewhat plausible.

The main problem was her purpose in doing so.

Lister was a mortal, an ordinary-looking mortal.

He had no extraordinary talent, nor had he shown any abilities in public that deserved such treatment from a ruler.

Whether it was the "Elf Medicine" sold by the Spring Fountain Guild to the entire southern continent, or the series of actions such as the magitech electrical devices that were beginning to show signs of spreading like wildfire, they were all secrets that only the parties involved knew Lister was involved in.

And among them... it did not include this Sinful Dragon Demon Lord who only had a few written exchanges with him.

At most, she only knew that he had helped Aurola ascend to the throne, but this alone was definitely not worthy of being treated so specially. Lister was very clear about what kind of people rulers were...

Without exception.

"Demon Lord, from your conversation with Miss Anko just now... In other words, you understand that I was active in the demon realm for a certain period of time, right?"

This was the first time Lister took the initiative to look directly into the Demon Lord's majestic red eyes.

His expression was calm, with no concession.

"That's right."

"Then, what I can tell you is... What I want to do by coming to the demon realm with you this time is the same as what I did back then."

During his time in college, Lister's research topic was monster studies, which almost no one paid attention to.

After all, at that time, the Demon Lord had just been defeated, and the monsters were in a state of disarray, so humans naturally disdained to turn their attention to these remnants of a defeated army.

And in the process of research, Lister studied the ecology of monsters while secretly providing them with some medical assistance... He did it very secretly, even Aurola, who was his classmate at the time, didn't know about it, but unexpectedly, it had a tendency to spread among the monsters.

In fact, this was what Lister really wanted to do.

He wasn't very interested in conquering the world or promoting the development of this world.

Especially after Aurola demoted him, this was even more so.

He was just an ordinary person with ordinary empathy and morals.

So, when someone was in a desperate situation and he happened to have the ability to help, he would choose to lend a hand.

That's all.

"You asked me in the sky just now if I wanted to conquer the world with you. Now I can answer you, Demon Lord... The answer is, I don't want to."

"I don't think you need my help to conquer the world, and at the same time... I'm also tired of these exhausting schemes and struggles. The only thing I can do for you now is the same as before... help those I can help, save those I can save, that's all."

Lister smiled wearily.

He used to be too naive, thinking that he could create a society of rule of law, harmony, and prosperity, just as Aurola had promised him. But the facts proved that no matter whether it was implementing reforms or finding ways to develop productivity... everything he did ultimately showed that he was just an outsider in this world.

An outsider who didn't fit in.

Let it be, freaks can only associate with freaks.

"So, if you hope that I will assist you in conquering the world like I assisted Aurola... You may be disappointed, Demon Lord. I'm tired of it, I don't want to do the same things as before anymore."

Lister gently closed his eyes.

He knew that these words undoubtedly directly turned against this Demon Lord who seemed to treat him kindly.

"If you regret it, please let me go back."

"Go back where?"

"Home."

"This is your home."