Anything to Survive in Hell: From Weakling to Tyrant-Chapter 18 My #1 Subordinate

For a long time, drunk on joy, I gave Bimzi an airplane ride.

Bimzi. Maybe it was the cute nuance of the name, but Bimzi started to look cute to me.

It was fun.

"Kereuk-kereuk!"

Now that I had come to the Mortal Realm, I had gained my first subordinate. A Demon King was inherently a being who dominated monsters and reigned. And the first one was Bimzi.

I couldn’t help but be happy.

This was a very significant achievement. It was an achievement so immense it felt like I was going crazy. Now I was no longer alone. Because I had a subordinate. That meant I could now make my subordinate work or stand guard.

Thinking of him, I felt nothing but thrill...!

"Huu! Let’s come down now!"

"Kereuk...!"

Bi-teul-bi-teul.

Perhaps because I had spun him around for a long time, Bimzi, having come down, staggered while holding his head. Seeing a small person like a child do that made him look certainly cute.

"Ah, that’s right."

First, this bastard was injured. My domination magic had taken effect, and due to the injection of ether he was recovering, but he wasn’t yet in perfect condition. To use him as my subordinate, I needed to get him into proper shape.

Good.

From now on, let’s set priorities and act.

Water? Yes.

Shelter? Yes.

Food? Yes.

The conditions were absolutely perfect.

"Alright, let’s go inside. Let’s prioritize his recovery."

"Kereuk."

I needed to restore Bimzi to full health. If I was hungry, ether recovery was almost impossible. I needed to eat well to recover ether.

And right now.

Thanks to Bimzi, I could eat the fruits. There were still many fruits left, so if I gobbled them all down I should be able to last today somehow. And once something was in my stomach, ether would recover, and I could use that to heal Bimzi.

"Go on in."

"Kerereuk."

Bimzi entered the shelter pit, making "kereuk" sounds. Was this a goblin’s cry? Kereuk, keureuk? I had no idea what he was saying for now, but I supposed I’d find out if we lived together.

The shelter pit, which became even more cramped because Bimzi came in. As soon as I entered, I gobbled down the fruits.

"Delicious...!"

The bursting juice filled my mouth!

Honestly, it wasn’t very sweet. How to put it, I only felt a sweetness like a little fruit juice had been added to a bottle of water.

The sweetness of wild ones is low. These fruits now had that inherent wild taste.

"Still, it’s delicious!"

Because I only had water yesterday, it tasted incredibly good!

"Bimzi, you eat too!"

"Kereuk-kereuk."

And so, Bimzi and I devoured all the fruits in the blink of an eye.

"Kkeo-eok."

Having crammed everything I could into my stomach, my belly felt like it would burst.

Good.

Let’s give up on repairing the shelter pit today. If I performed such high-intensity labor after filling my stomach for nothing, my stomach would empty, and that would significantly hinder ether recovery.

I could go collect fruits again, but... it seemed difficult to drag Bimzi, who was still recovering, along, and it was too unsettling to leave behind my first subordinate, whom I had just managed to get.

So, well.

"Hey. Today, let’s just sleep here together."

"Kereuk?"

There was no choice but to conserve stamina inside this shelter pit.

"Sleep."

"Kereuk..."

As I ordered him to sleep and closed Bimzi’s eyes, he, too, seemed tired and simply relaxed.

"Hehehe, this bastard. Look at him sleeping."

"..."

He slept well.

After confirming that.

I, too, relaxed, closed my eyes, and focused on my body.

As I concentrated, I could feel the ether within my body. Feeling that, I slowly inhaled, concentrating to prevent the ether from moving as much as possible.

It was a meditation method that promoted ether recovery.

Of course, the meditation method Karla taught me... Karla. Karla came to mind. Although she only said harsh things until the end, she was a small and cute child.

If I could see Karla now, I would have proudly told her about today’s achievement. I would have fucking boasted that I dominated a goblin.

With such thoughts, I continued my meditation.

Let’s recover ether intensely!

"Keueu...!"

The next day.

Because I had been in the cramped space continuously, my body was fucking stiff, but my mind was fucking refreshed.

"Alright, Bimzi, you do it too. Keueu!"

"Kehuuuk...!"

Bimzi imitated stretching with his small, child-like body. Truly monstrous skin and an aquiline nose. With a face like some shriveled old thing, seeing him do such adorable actions was enough to drive me crazy.

"Alright, anyway. Bimzi. Is your body okay?"

"Kereuk?"

He didn’t understand all my words. Of course, there was no inconvenience. Anyway, I examined Bimzi’s injuries.

"Hmm... He’s better than yesterday."

This bastard also had improved body condition because he gobbled fruits and rested well. Still, he wasn’t at 100%. I immediately made Bimzi kneel, and stood behind his back.

"Good."

"Kerereuk?" 𝕗𝐫𝚎𝗲𝘄𝐞𝕓𝐧𝕠𝘃𝕖𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝚖

Honestly, I didn’t know any monster healing methods. But if I injected ether, it would work out somehow. This was worth testing.

And so.

Goooo...!

I concentrated my mind, and focused ether into the hand I placed on Bimzi’s back.

"Keruuk...!"

While doing so, I meticulously observed Bimzi’s condition. He was startled, but didn’t particularly move. After injecting ether into Bimzi like that, I removed my hand.

"Hey. How is it?"

"Kereuk?"

I immediately laid Bimzi down and checked his injuries.

"Oh...!"

It’s getting better!

It definitely has an effect!

For such weak monsters, simply injecting ether could significantly increase their natural healing power!

"I had the talent of a healer!"

This much was perfect!

Let’s rest for about an hour and then start acting.

"Oh. Bimzi, rest inside. I’ll repair the shelter pit for a bit."

"Kereuk?"

"I said go in?"

"Kereuk-kereuk."

"What, you don’t want to go in? Then sit there."

Bimzi immediately sat down. Well, sitting was also rest. Let’s just let him watch. Because I’d probably make Bimzi dig a lot in the future.

"Then rest and watch closely."

I immediately took out my hand axe and dug the ground around the shelter pit. If Bimzi and I were to live together, it needed to be wider. But living together, the two of us?

A place where a Demon King and his subordinate lived together. That was a dungeon. It could be called a dungeon.

"A dungeon, huh."

When you thought of a Demon King, you thought of a dungeon. Honestly, this shelter pit was just a dugout. It couldn’t be called a dungeon. If I got a fucking lot of subordinates someday, wouldn’t I be able to dig a real dungeon?

Thinking such thoughts made me a bit happy.

I had to create a dungeon.

Usually, in games, you saw monster lairs or something. Wouldn’t it be better to just take those over...? Huh? No way? Seeing that Bimzi was here, weren’t there goblin lairs or something around here?

"Eueum."

I’d have to think about this again later. It was important, but I couldn’t carry it out right now.

I focused again on the task of expanding the shelter pit.

Indeed, after about an hour, Bimzi seemed to have fully recovered!

It was a truly encouraging situation! Because the goblin I got as a subordinate was completely fine!

"Then let’s start our daily routine! Bimzi!"

"Kereuk!"

At my shout, Bimzi leaped up and cheered! This bastard... his ability to express emotions was so touching! His reactions were good, so even I got happy.

"Kereuk-kereuk."

Whatever made him so happy, Bimzi stroked his healed area and laughed grotesquely. Since his face was that of a goblin to begin with, even when he laughed properly, he looked grotesque. Still, I hoped he laughed more. Because laughter brought good fortune.

Anyway.

What I had to do now was very important.

"Alright, Bimzi. Look me straight in the eyes."

"Kereuk?"

Bimzi stared at me.

According to what Karla told me, when speaking directly while looking into the eyes of the dominated subject, they understood better. From now on, I intended to test how much Bimzi could understand my words.

"Bimzi, right hand."

"Kereuk."

Bimzi immediately raised his right hand.

"Good. Well done. Now, turn around once."

"Kerereuk."

Bimzi turned around once. Good. It seemed he understood most things if I spoke while looking him in the eyes.

"Then turn around."

"Kereuk."

Bimzi immediately turned around.

"Bimzi, sit."

"Kereuk?"

Seueuk.

This time, Bimzi didn’t sit, but turned to look at me.

"Kereuk-kereuk?"

And he made a crying sound as if asking me to say it again... As expected. Did he not understand my words when his back was turned?

"Oh. Look forward again."

"Kereuk."

Bimzi’s head returned to its original position.

"Again? Bimzi, sit."

"Kereuk?"

He turned to look at me again.

Meeting his gaze, I re-ordered.

"Sit."

"Kuru-reuk."

Bimzi sat.

"Good. I understand clearly now."

Bimzi was not understanding my "language" right now. When facing me. It was clear he was reading my will by looking at my eyes, my face, my mouth.

This was operating through a kind of magical effect.

"Then Bimzi! Run to that tree over there and come back!"

"Kereuk!"

Bimzi immediately ran to the tree. Was he able to perform such orders easily? Soon, Bimzi returned.

"Well done! Bimzi!"

"Kereuk!"

When I stroked his head, he laughed as if pleased.

This bastard really got cuter the more I looked at him.

"Then Bimzi! This time, go to that tree, do two in-place jumps, punch the tree three times, kick twice, then do three in-place jumps and come back!"

Could he do this?

"Kereuk!"

Bimzi ran to the tree again, jumped twice, and performed punches. Oh. Did his memory extend this far? Or was he remembering because of ether?

But then.

Bimzi, who was punching, paused for a moment. And then, making some unknown gestures, he clutched his head and returned to me.

"Kereuk. Kereuk-kereuk. Kerereureuk. Kereuk-kek."

"What the fuck are you saying, you bastard."

He was trying to explain something diligently, but I couldn’t understand him.

"Kereuk-kereuk. Kuru-reuk. Keureu-reuk."

Bimzi continued to speak diligently, as if he had no idea I couldn’t understand him. Well, that was fine. Because I roughly knew how it worked. And what he was saying also roughly felt like he had forgotten the order he received.