WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Chen
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Our Precious Demon King ◈
Chapter 1: Return
──────
The world of Belheim was in danger from the Demon King’s invasion.
Belheim’s deity asked the many gods of the universe for help, but only Earth’s god answered.
In exchange for sending 10 million heroes from Earth, the goddess of Belheim promised to bless them.
Ten million Earthlings were summoned to Belheim and received the goddess’s oracle.
[Quest!]
Defeat a servant of evil and unlock your status window.
Most died within a day and were sent back, but many others completed the quest and received the goddess’s blessing.
[Level Up!]
Some of the summoned Earthlings continued down the path of a hero. Others simply tried to settle into life in Belheim, while some sought power. A few even became villains who did society no good at all.
As time passed, many Earthlings were sent back. But those who steadily grew stronger became true heroes. They hunted demons and gradually worked their way toward a raid on the Demon King.
One hundred years after the summoning.
Only seven of the original 10 million heroes remained. They formed the final strike force.
Stronger than anyone else, they made one last attempt to defeat the Demon King, but failed in the end.
There were no summoned Earthlings left.
Earth’s god fell silent, and the goddess of Belheim sank into despair.
Then, one day, another 100 years later.
[The Demon King has been defeated.]
The world of Belheim was saved.
Shocked, the goddess hurried to the scene…
* * *
The Demon King’s Castle.
The table in the vast banquet hall was long enough to seat 100 people. From the head of the table, it was hard to make out the face of someone sitting at the other end.
There was only one dish at the end of that long table.
Bubble, bubble.
The black-haired man at the head of the table looked full of anticipation.
“Wow, it smells pretty close!”
His excited voice filled the hall, but few were left to share his enthusiasm.
Rattle, rattle.
The best chef in the Demon King’s army, who had made the stew, could only tremble with their head pressed to the floor.
And why wouldn’t they?
They were the only survivor in this enormous castle.
The very person who had slaughtered everyone, including the Demon King, lifted the lid off the stew.
“Ooh, it looks pretty close too. Mmm, it really does look like kimchi stew.”
His excitement grew.
The black-haired man picked up a spoon, scooped up some broth, and brought it to his mouth.
“Hoooo.”
The rising steam scattered.
“Sluuurp.”
He savored the broth in his mouth.
“Mmmm.”
At his voice, the chef lying flat on the floor grew twice as tense.
Please, please…
“It’s good. Nice and savory.”
Yes! Yes! I’m saved!
“But this isn’t the original flavor.”
Huh?
The man snapped his fingers.
Whoosh.
At that moment, someone appeared out of thin air.
It was a pale man in a black cloak. The longsword at his waist was famous beyond measure.
“Shall I cut them down?”
“A bet’s a bet.”
Slash! Thud.
The last survivor in the Demon King’s Castle was gone.
Only corpses remained…
“Shall I clean up?”
“Nah, leave it.”
“Then I’ll be off.”
Whooosh.
The cloaked man vanished in a cloud of black smoke.
His most trusted subordinate, and a devil.
“Ah, our Remi is so fucking cool.”
Left alone, the man picked up his spoon again.
“Sluuurp.”
It wasn’t the taste of home that lingered faintly in his memories, but the stew itself was excellent.
The chef hadn’t worked for the Demon King for nothing.
Now that was skill!
“Was it you?”
“Huh?”
The spoon stopped on its way to his mouth.
He glanced up.
A woman.
A woman so beautiful that the word sprang to mind at once.
“What the hell?”
The man set down his spoon.
His expression was perfectly relaxed, but inside, he was full of questions.
I didn’t notice her.
What is she?
Who is she?
Should I kill her?
What the hell?
“I am Goddess Belheim.”
“Huh?”
That unexpected introduction left him stunned for a moment.
A goddess? Belheim?
“Is this your doing?”
The goddess looked around.
Corpses, corpses, corpses…
All of them were high-ranking demons.
The powerful demons who had divided the world of Belheim among themselves and ruled it.
“I asked whether you were the one who defeated the Demon King.”
“Yeah.”
“…”
The goddess gazed at the man with eyes full of kindness.
“Thanks to you, this world has been saved.”
The man stood up.
His face began to twist into a vicious scowl.
“Well, look at that. I kill the Demon King, and now the goddess shows up.”
“…?”
“You’re the one who summoned me to this fucking world, aren’t you?”
Vrrrrrm.
The force pouring from the man was shockingly savage.
The goddess felt such crushing pressure that she might as well have been facing the Demon King.
No, since he had defeated the Demon King, was it only natural that he was stronger?
Crack!
The man’s body blurred for an instant, and he appeared right in front of her. The moment his hand touched her forehead…
Boom! Fsssh.
The goddess burst apart in an explosion.
The sight made him feel a little better.
“Whew. Fucking bitch.”
Wasn’t she the reason he had ended up so broken?
Over 200 years, his identity as an Earthling had been worn away until only a single fragment remained.
“Calm yourself.”
“What the fuck?”
He was genuinely startled.
The goddess who had just exploded appeared before him again without so much as a scratch.
Just as before, there had been no presence, no sign of her approach, and no warning at all.
“I am Belheim. This world is me.”
Those words carried a great deal of meaning.
For instance, the goddess before him was merely a form she had taken. No matter how often he blew it apart or tore it to pieces, he couldn’t kill her. Her fate was tied to the world, or rather, the planet Belheim.
With 200 years of experience in this world, the man understood at once.
‘We can’t kill each other.’
It was as foolish as trying to grab the air.
And wasting his strength was no hobby of his.
The savage energy surrounding him vanished as though it had never been there.
It was an astonishingly quick change of attitude.
“Yeah, I get it. Now get lost.”
“…”
He waved her away and spat.
He was still angry, but if there was nothing he could do about it, he would rather not have to look at her.
Sluuurp.
Ignoring her without a care, he sat down and went back to eating his stew.
“What is your true name?”
“For fuck’s sake, lady. I’m eating.”
“…”
“What do you want my name for?”
“…How else am I to bless you?”
“Heh, what blessing?”
Goddess Belheim smiled kindly.
“The hero who saved the world deserves a reward.”
“A reward? What’s there that I can’t have?”
The man leaned back in his chair, put his feet on the table, and crossed his legs. His face, which suited a smile so well, looked utterly arrogant.
“Nothing. In this world, my word is law and truth. I can order an emperor around with one finger. Treasure? Beautiful women? Youth? What do you think I don’t have?”
“What of your longing?”
“…?”
“Do you not wish to return to Earth?”
“…!”
For the first time, uncertainty flickered in his eyes.
“…Is that possible?”
“All those summoned who failed to defeat the Demon King returned to Earth. That is the natural order.”
“…Then why am I still here?”
“You never received my blessing, so you fell outside the contract between Earth’s god and me.”
The goddess looked at him warmly.
“Why did you not hear my voice?”
“Hah.”
The man recalled memories he had no desire to revisit.
His first day after being summoned to another world.
Those hellish days when a damned dark mage had kidnapped him and put him through one ordeal after another, whether they were torture or experiments…
Rather than tell that long story, he opened his palm.
Rrrrrumble.
The corpses shook and released their souls. They gathered in his hand, forming a black sphere.
“As you can see, this is what I am.”
“…You wield a power that rejects order.”
“Yeah. I’m a dark mage.”
How else could he have survived being kidnapped by one? He had secretly learned by watching, gotten lucky enough to surpass the bastard, and somehow kept himself alive until he ended up like this.
“Is there a way you can bless me?”
A hint of desperate hope entered his voice.
Could a priest’s healing work on a dark mage?
No.
Divine power was poison to him instead. It wasn’t hard to understand why the goddess’s blessing had passed him by.
The man wielded the power of chaos.
“…It should be possible, but…”
The goddess thought hard.
Should she call him a hero because he had defeated the Demon King?
Or should she call him the next Demon King because he wielded power equal to the old one’s?
The power of chaos within his body was far too strong.
“Just try backing out now. I’ll take you down with me.”
“…”
Though he delivered it with a smile, his threat did not sound empty.
“To bless you, I must push through the power of chaos within you and allow a seed of order to sprout… A sacred relic should be more than capable of that.”
“Oh, a sacred relic.”
An object containing a god’s power.
Since she couldn’t bless him directly, she meant to solve the problem by giving him ownership of an object that already held her blessing.
The goddess held out both palms.
“Choose. These scales bring balance, and this is a sword that protects order.”
Golden scales and a golden sword.
“The scales will temporarily suppress the chaos within you and allow a seed of order to sprout. The sword will cut out every last trace of that chaos.”
The man gave a dry chuckle.
One would suppress his dark mana, while the other would get rid of it entirely.
Neither sounded appealing.
When he couldn’t choose, Belheim smiled.
“You are still attached to your power.”
Greed was a basic human desire. If anything, she was glad to see him hesitate.
For now, he was still human…
“Sacred relics may be precious, but I have already given these to you, so I have no regrets. If you truly dislike your choice, return to Earth and destroy it.”
“Huh, I can get rid of it? That’s pretty cool of you.”
“However, whichever you choose, it will lead you to a world on a higher plane… It would do you no harm to make good use of it.”
After a moment’s thought, the man nodded.
“All right. Hand it over.”
“You stand at a crossroads. Will you become a guardian or a judge?”
“I’ll be a guardian.”
Of course. Sealing his dark mana was better than losing it all.
The goddess nodded, then continued like an attendant reading out the terms and conditions.
“These are the Scales of Order and Chaos. They once served to maintain the balance of the world, but now they will take their place within your heart instead, bringing balance to you.”
His achievement was great enough to deserve a sacred relic.
The goddess truly let go of her attachment to it.
It belonged to the man now.
“What is your true name?”
The man barely managed to recall the name he had last used 200 years ago and repeated it aloud.
“Kim Junyong.”
“Will you, Kim Junyong, protect my scales?”
“Okay.”
The goddess smiled in satisfaction.
Flash, flash, flash.
A pale energy rippled outward and wrapped around Kim Junyong.
“As the Guardian of the Scales, you shall find balance and cleanse yourself.”
[Quest!]
Defeat the Demon King and return to Earth!
The main quest he should have received long ago appeared, then immediately checked whether he had succeeded.
[Quest Complete!]
Returning to Earth.
Fsssss.
Kim Junyong felt his body float upward.
Holy fuck, so I’m going back just like that.
They had dragged an innocent man into this and left him wandering another world for 200 years! They could call it a return if they liked, but he had basically been kidnapped, held hostage for 200 years, and finally released. The thought made his stomach twist with anger.
“Thanks for putting me through all that fucking hell.”
“I am grateful for your efforts.”
Kim Junyong smiled, raised both hands, and gave her the middle finger.
Even so, the goddess offered her solemn thanks.
“You who stand on the brink. May you find balance and rise to a higher level of being…”
Roughly 200 years after the day 10 million people had been summoned to save the world of Belheim.
Not someone being sent back.
The first person to truly return was on his way to Earth.
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