WeTried Translations

Translator: Yasi

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◈ The Precious Demon King

Chapter 44: Demon Luciel

Kim Junyong accepted his first human subordinates. In Belhaim, there were some somewhat extreme groups of humans who followed the Mad Monarch, but that was only one-sided devotion.

For Kim Junyong, human subordinates No. 1 and No. 2 were Cheon Yubeom and Lee Mina.

"Hahh, hahh."

Slash.

"Uwaaah!"

Bang!

Their faces looked as if they were about to die from exhaustion. Even though they struggled as if they might go insane from not wanting to continue, they did not give up.

They've got quite a bit of grit, huh?

Gratifying. He wondered if this was what it felt like to take on disciples.

Their skills were abysmal, but their "effort" and "diligence" made Kim Junyong quite pleased.

When someone worked this hard and had the attitude of wanting to learn even a little more, you just ended up teaching them more, if only because you found them endearing.

"All right. Rest a bit while we eat."

"Hahh, hahh. Okay."

Kim Junyong immediately summoned Edmond.

Flash.

"Nyaa, did Master call, nya?"

"Yeah, let's eat."

"Nyaa! Leave it to me, nya."

Kim Junyong had granted the dungeon keeper Edmond partial authority over his dungeon. That way, like Kim Junyong, Edmond could also take dungeon items out of subspace.

Whoosh, snap!

The camping gear he took out unfolded on its own by telekinesis and set itself up in place.

"Master, please sit here, nya."

"All right."

Kim Junyong sat in the camping chair and crossed his legs. As the camping supplies were neatly set up one after another, an outdoor kitchen formed on a long table.

Cheon Yubeom gaped.

"E-Even Ed can enter the Demon Realm?"

"Nyaa! I'm a smart cat, nya."

Edmond held out a smartphone with a flick.

"Wha!"

So Edmond was a hunter too?

"W-What's your class?"

"I'm a cat, nya."

"...?"

< Kim Edmond >

Class: Cat

Mana: null

Skills: null

Kim Junyong's shoulders shook with laughter. How could Cheon Yubeom or Lee Mina know that God Earth had carelessly slapped together that hunter qualification?

"Anyway, what do you want to eat?"

"W-We..."

Cheon Yubeom was flustered by the sudden question. He was mentally exhausted, physically weary, and didn't particularly feel like eating, but...

"Naengmyeon!"

"Oh, that's good. Naengmyeon."

"I-I'm fine with that too."

When Lee Mina quickly chose the menu, Kim Junyong accepted her choice, and Cheon Yubeom agreed as well.

"Nyaa! It'll be ready in no time, nya!"

Fwoosh.

The burner was lit, and a pot of water was set on it. While Edmond bustled about, Cheon Yubeom and Lee Mina sank into their chairs.

"Hahh."

So far, the servants of evil they had killed numbered in the dozens. In their entire hunter careers, they had never hunted this many in one day.

Their hands and legs trembled. Stamina might recover, but taking lives, by nature, consumed an enormous amount of mental energy.

"Yubeom."

"Ah, y-yes, yes!"

"If it's too hard, you can stop."

"No!"

Cheon Yubeom shouted in alarm. If he quit, wouldn't that mean being forced out of the Demon Realm? Then Kim Junyong would hear the news of the chaos in Taiwan and might even go there to cause trouble. That must never happen.

"I can absolutely do it!"

"This brat."

Finding Cheon Yubeom's resolve admirable, Kim Junyong let out a small chuckle. Even when exhausted, his "sense of duty" burned strong. It was truly remarkable to hold such a deep sense of duty toward personal training. Lee Mina was no different.

It was as if they had staked their lives on this training.

"If my subordinates are this earnest, maybe I should be a little more proactive too."

"...?"

"After we eat, it's time to get serious...Ed."

Kim Junyong stopped mid-sentence and called Edmond over. Edmond was boiling noodles, mixing seasoning, and finely grinding a green orb into the mixture.

"What's that you've got?"

"Nyaa? A luck orb, nya."

"Lucky Stone?"

Kim Junyong's brow twitched.

"Nyaa! That's right."

Sensing his master's interest, Edmond pulled a handful of green orbs out of his pouch and showed them to him.

"Huh?"

Startled, Kim Junyong sprang up from his chair.

"If Master needs them, please use them, nya."

"Where did you get these?"

"I earned them through business, nya."

"...!"

Kim Junyong's eyes went round.

"You...you have Luck Plunder?"

"That's right, nya!"

"Heh."

Kim Junyong let out a short, empty breath. Seeing Edmond the cat staring up at him with wide round eyes, he grinned.

"This useful guy."

"Nyaa?"

Luck Plunder was an incredibly rare power among demons. How could he not be pleased that Edmond possessed it?

"You didn't take money–you took luck instead, didn't you?"

"Nyaa! That's right, nya! If Master wishes, I can even accept souls or lifespans as payment."

"Come on, a soul contract for a single meal is crossing the line."

As expected of a demon, trying to get something for nothing. Soul contracts were legitimate demonic contracts that required proper compensation. Trying to settle that with something as trivial as a meal was absurd.

Truly a demon, after all. One mustn't be fooled by that cute white furball.

"How many Lucky Stones can you gather in a day?"

"Nyaa? That depends on business, nya."

"Is that so?"

Kim Junyong smirked. Somehow, that smile even seemed a little wicked.

"You shouldn't be hanging around here. Go do business."

"Nyaa?"

"Don't waste such a precious talent."

"B-But what about Master's meals, nya?"

"Oh, I can just make do with whatever. Hurry up and go."

"Nyaa? But it's too much for me alone, nya."

Upon hearing this, Cheon Yubeom jumped to his feet.

"I'll go!"

Lee Mina, a step too late, wore a look of defeat.

"You two need to train."

"Ah."

Cheon Yubeom slumped back into his chair with a dazed look. Kim Junyong's gaze turned to the last remaining person.

He walked over to Remi, who had somehow set up a hammock and was lying in it. She was even wearing sunglasses.

"Remi."

"..."

The brat pretended not to hear.

"Go handle business."

"Should I cut the customers down?"

"Ugh!"

Kim Junyong was about to smack her but persuaded her instead.

"I'll share the Lucky Stones."

"...Tch."

After a moment of conflicted hesitation, Remi climbed out of the hammock.

"Ed, let's go."

"Yes, Remi."

Flash.

When the two of them disappeared, Lee Mina was left dumbfounded.

"S-Special Advisor, what exactly are Lucky Stones?"

"Lucky Stones?"

"Yes. If even Remi is stepping up...are they really that valuable?"

"They are."

Kim Junyong smirked as he held the green orb Edmond had given him.

"This is an item that raises luck."

"Eh? That's it?"

Kim Junyong laughed faintly as he looked at Cheon Yubeom and Lee Mina, who seemed to have no idea about the item's value.

"You two, when did you say you returned?"

"In Year 11."

"Year 15 for me."

"Wow, real lightweights."

"..."

They were respected in their own right, but before a two-hundred-year returnee, they had nothing to say.

"Do you know about equipment enhancement?"

"Of course!"

"What about alchemy?"

"That too."

Naturally. Any decent royal city had alchemists and enhancement specialists.

"Wait, could this be related to the Enhancement Success Potion?"

Kim Junyong grinned.

"Why wouldn't it be? No, it's not just that."

The true value of Lucky Stones lay in their unique nature.

"Luck is a kind of power we can't control."

It wasn't black mana, white mana, or divine power. Rather, it was a power born of coincidence within the world itself. The only way to interfere with it was through Lucky Stones.

"Do you see how extraordinary it is to even approach an uncontrollable power?"

As Kim Junyong rolled the green orb in his hand, his face lit up with joy for the first time in a long while.

"Ed is really useful."

Luck Plunder. It seemed he hadn't become the Demon King's chef based on skill alone. A guy with Luck Plunder couldn't possibly have avoided leaning on his "luck."

Was even his dying at my hand and coming back to life thanks to luck?

Perhaps even this strange bond was due to Edmond's power. For luck was the truly unpredictable force of connections.

With Lucky Stones, one could craft Enhancement Success Potions, Protection Talismans, Synthesis Blessing Scrolls, and more.

"I-I see."

"Hehehe, farming Lucky Stones, huh."

This was practically a factory. That Edmond. He really pulled off something amazing.

"But aren't the noodles done?"

"Ah! Y-Yes!"

Cheon Yubeom and Lee Mina hurried to the pot and scooped out the noodles.

"Ah, Team Leader, mix the seasoning first."

"Uh, right."

Watching their clumsy efforts, Kim Junyong shook his head.

"Maybe I should summon another errand-runner..."

Countless demon souls still lay in Kim Junyong's void pouch. The strongest among them, Malsun, couldn't be summoned yet. His mana core would have to grow dozens of times larger to finally match the summoning requirement.

"Besides Malsun, none of them are fun..."

All the souls he kept were combat troops. They were loyal and reliable but dull.

"Oh, right. I still have these guys."

After conquering the Demon King's castle, he met Goddess Belhaim. To prove himself a black mage, he had collected the souls that were there in bulk.

He had collected Edmond's soul then, along with countless other demons.

The banquet at the Demon King's castle. The Demon King had invited the rulers of each region.

In other words, the souls of the Demon Realm monarchs.

Browsing through the souls added to his collection at that time, Kim Junyong frowned.

No Demon King.

He must have escaped. Or perhaps the void pouch had failed to contain him because his rank was too high.

"Let's see."

Kim Junyong summoned the soul of one of the demons who had been a Demon Realm monarch.

Since it's just for errands, there's no need to grant it full power.

He deliberately summoned with moderate mana. That would lower the demon's rank, but that was the point.

Fwoosh.

A black mass of liquid drifted in the air.

[ ...Mad Monarch! ]

It looked at Kim Junyong and tried to lunge at him immediately, but it didn't stand a chance.

"Now, now."

[ Grrr! ]

The soul was completely under Kim Junyong's control. For it, there were only two choices.

"Will you be my familiar?"

[ Never! ]

"Then begone."

Flash.

[ W-Wait... ]

Kim Junyong scattered the mana as if it meant nothing to him. A Demon Realm monarch who had once ruled part of Belhaim now met obliteration.

"Next."

Crackle.

[ Hmph! I would rather die than serve you... ]

Flash.

"This isn't easy."

Indeed, demons of monarch rank had immense pride.

"At least one of them will follow."

Kim Junyong outright summoned all the demon souls he had collected back then.

Flash, flash.

No fewer than twenty-one black orbs floated in the air.

"Now then, who among you will become my familiar?"

[ Ugh. ]

[ Mad Monarch... ]

[ Traitor! ]

[ You bastard! I'll tear you to pieces! ]

Seeing their hostility, Kim Junyong smirked and raised one finger.

"First come, first serve."

Flash.

One black soul immediately prostrated itself on the ground.

[ I shall serve you, my lord. ]

"Okay, the rest, get lost."

Flash.

[ Graaaah! ]

[ I'll get you yet! ]

[ Revenge! ]

Flash, flash.

When the rest of the souls were annihilated, the lone black mass trembled.

"Materialize."

[ Yes. ]

The black mass swept its surroundings, but there were only two models.

"Huh?"

Cheon Yubeom flinched in surprise when the black soul rushed toward him, but it was too fast to avoid.

Squirm.

The black liquid soon took form. It wore the same combat uniform as Cheon Yubeom, though its physique was different.

A tall, lean man with a neat mustache stood and bowed, bending one arm in the manner of Belhaim noble etiquette.

"I am Luciel, the Demon King's shadow and butler. I humbly pay my respects to my new master."

"Oh!"

He had thought it was a Demon Realm monarch, but it turned out to be a demon who had lived in the Demon King's castle all along. He was a perfect fit for an errand-runner.

"Let's have a bowl of naengmyeon."

"Yes, Master."

Kim Junyong was greatly satisfied with the obedient reply. He had been prepared to use any violence or torture if that was what it took to help his new addition adapt, but fortunately, it wasn't necessary.

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