There was no clichéd plot where a dying demonman suddenly had a last burst of strength and stabbed you in the back, and a little demonman only a few years old also couldn’t suddenly “burst” and erupt with power enough to threaten Muen.

Ignoring the little demonman’s intimidation, after leaving that stone house like that, Muen continued following the map in his hand, circling and circling through this demonfolk tribe.

Very soon, Muen arrived in front of a building that looked like a shop.

It was hard to imagine that in a tribe with such a backward system, there would be something like a shop, but judging from the history of this stone building, it had existed for a very long time.

"Knock, knock."

Muen knocked on that rickety, tottering, broken wooden door.

The somewhat creepy knocking echoed across the wilderness. Muen waited a while, and there was no response at all from within the wooden door.

"Knock, knock."

Muen knocked again.

This time he used a little more force. The knocking sound also changed slightly, becoming dull, completely unlike what wood should produce—more like a thickened cowhide drum.

There was still no response from within, as if no one lived in this dilapidated building that looked like it had been completely abandoned.

"Knock. Knock. Knock."

Without impatience, Muen knocked once more.

This time, he knocked three times, very solemnly.

And finally, a hoarse responding voice came from inside the door.

"Who?"

"Demonman."

"For what?"

"Buying meat."

"What meat?"

"Human meat."

"How much?"

"Thirty pounds."

"..."

Creak.

The door was finally opened.

A tall figure appeared behind the door, cautiously sizing up Muen outside the door.

When he saw the crimson pupils and horns revealed from beneath Muen’s black hood, the tall figure’s expression changed abruptly. His hand immediately reached behind him, and the sharp corner of a massive cleaver knife for chopping bones was revealed.

"Don’t be nervous."

Muen took out a seal stamped with the Campbell family crest. "This is just my disguise."

The tall figure’s movements paused.

After he carefully discerned it and confirmed that the aura belonging to the Lion King on the family crest absolutely could not be faked in the slightest, only then did he let out a breath of relief.

"Come in."

The tall figure stepped aside.

Muen didn’t hesitate. He lowered his head and slipped through the doorway.

With a creak, the broken wooden door closed again. Darkness fell, then candlelight flickered up, barely driving away that darkness. The room was still dim, but you could more or less see clearly.

This actually really was like a tiny little shop. On the broken counters, large and small clay jars were neatly arranged—some held precious materials only found in the Abyss, and some were the scales or claws of some kind of magical beast.

"Demonfolk will come here to buy things too?"

"Barter, that’s all. Demonfolk don’t have a fixed currency. Magical beast fangs and claws, precious ores—here, those count as hard currency."

"Even those low-ranking demonmen will?"

"Not all low-ranking demonmen are completely mindless. Their intelligence often has a directly proportional relationship with the degree of their mutation—the more severe, the stupider—but most still retain a tiny bit of intelligence. Simple exchanging of goods is still something they can do."

Using a small, delicate ceramic jar, the tall figure brewed a cup of hot tea and handed it to Muen.

Muen lowered his head to look, and discovered that inside the jar there really were only tea leaves, not some weird Abyss specialty.

"The last bit of tea leaves. Normally I can’t bear to drink it."

The most low-grade tea leaves, yet the tall figure clearly treated them as extremely precious. Even for Muen, this “guest,” there were only a sparse few pieces inside the jar.

The tall figure sat cross-legged in front of Muen like this, holding the jar in his hands, then lifted his chin at him. "What’s going on with your disguise? It’s actually that convincing. You really scared me just now."

"Just a little bit of light refraction plus aura handling. It’s not some brilliant method."

Muen snapped his fingers. The faint light dispersed, revealing his true face.

The tall figure couldn’t help but freeze for a moment, because even under candlelight that wasn’t all that bright, that face still didn’t lose its handsomeness at all. It was completely the kind of style that shouldn’t appear in a place like the Abyss.

"Running around blindly on demonfolk territory, you have to make some preparations."

Muen smiled.

"And you?"

"Me?"

Only then did the tall figure seem to realize something. He lowered his head, looking at himself reflected in the tea water.

That was an extremely ugly face. Mutated pustules covered half his face, and the skin exposed outside the tattered robe was even pitch-black. His tall, huge physique also completely didn’t look like an ordinary human.

It was a terrifying appearance that could make a child cry, and also an appearance similar to most low-ranking demonmen.

"Ah, I forgot."

As she spoke, under Muen’s stunned gaze, that enormous body actually began to writhe, then, as if it had lost all its bones, suddenly collapsed to the ground.

And within that limp, soft meat mountain, a figure that was the complete opposite from before—thin, frail, and short—tore open that massive flesh body and crawled out, her movements somewhat stiff.

And under the candlelight, that figure’s skin still had a sickly pale color, clearly having not seen sunlight for a long time.

From the curves, you could vaguely tell it was a woman.

"This time, the liaison the Empire sent over is actually a little brat like you who doesn’t know anything? It’s just a specially-made puppet demon corpse. What’s there to make such a fuss about?"

The short figure took a sip of hot tea and said slowly.

"Imperial military special scout unit, Jessica Fran. If I’m not wrong, right now I should be the only military scout you can contact in the Abyss."

"...Muen."

Muen was silent for a moment, then extended his hand. "Muen Campbell."

"I know you, the Duke’s son."

Jessica didn’t shake Muen’s hand. Instead, she looked into his eyes and sighed.

"I didn’t expect that a pampered young noble like you would actually come running into the Abyss’s depths on your own."

"I came to walk the stretch of road my father couldn’t finish walking."

Muen smiled, withdrawing his hand. "What, you also think I’m unreliable?"

"...No. Quite the opposite, I’m very glad."

Jessica shook her head. "The Duke’s son coming personally—this means that on the Duke’s side, they still take what’s happening here very seriously."

"Of course they take it seriously, it’s just that over there they really can’t spare any manpower anymore. Not just Gutongs Fortress... the entire Empire can’t spare any manpower anymore. So in the end they could only send the person most suited to do this kind of thing—me."

Muen looked a bit helpless.

Since even in this outer area, he could only contact one Jessica, that meant the situation was even more complicated than he’d thought.

"You snuck over, didn’t you."

Jessica glanced at Muen. Perhaps because she’d lived too long with her head tied to her belt, she didn’t show Muen much respect, speaking bluntly.

"Hm? Are scouts’ information-gathering abilities already that strong?"

Muen said in surprise.

"With the Duke acting like that, spoiling you so much he wishes he could brag about his son a hundred times a day, using your toes you can tell he’d never proactively send you to carry out such a dangerous mission."

Jessica set the jar aside and sighed softly.

"Of course, it was precisely because of this face of yours that I relaxed my guard so easily just now. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have let you in directly. Being a scout in a place like this, the slightest slackness will get you killed. I don’t even know how many idiots I’ve already seen die in stupid ways."

"Sounds like my face is pretty recognizable."

"It’s not recognizability, it’s fame. Not long ago, you killed Demon General Chiheniro one-on-one. Because of that, demonfolk have raised your danger rating quite a bit again. If they find out you actually entered the Abyss alone, I’m afraid at least more than three Demon Generals would come, throwing everything away to hunt you down."

"Three... They really think highly of me. I’m obviously just an ordinary fourth-tier martial artist, and I don’t even know how to use magic. Looks like I can’t show my face for now, either."

Muen propped his chin. "So then, what’s the situation with Gutongs Fortress now, exactly?"

"If you want me to answer the specific situation and origins of Gutongs Fortress, then I can only tell you—you asked the wrong person."

Jessica stood up and rummaged around on the shelf to the side.

"Whether it’s the scouts who first discovered Gutongs Fortress, or the guy who sent out the words ‘Demon King,’ they’ve already completely lost contact. That line I said earlier, that I’m probably the only Imperial military scout you can find—that wasn’t an empty statement."

"In short, I also don’t know what the hell that place is. I only know that a lot of demonmen are gathering there. A lot."

After rummaging for a while, Jessica handed Muen a blueprint and a round, smooth stone together.

"This is..."

"This is what was sent out after those words ‘Demon King.’"

"Wasn’t contact lost?"

"The items were sent out one-way, but there was no information or text for contact at ➤ NоvеⅠight ➤ (Read more on our source) all—only these things."

"...Is that so."

Muen lowered his head, examining the things in his hands.

The blueprint was a terrain map. From its complex structure, you could tell it was a magnificent building, nowhere near the demonfolk’s current rough, back-to-nature style.

And that round, smooth stone...

"A specially-made voice-transmission stone. It can’t transmit voices, but when two stones of the same frequency get close, it will give off a signal."

Jessica explained.

"So that’s how it is. Looks like it’s telling me to take this to the place on this blueprint and look for the person emitting the signal?"

"Probably so."

"And the infiltration method?"

Muen thought for a moment, then said, "A disguise like mine can deal with a small tribe like this, but for a place like Gutongs Fortress, where demonfolk powerhouses are stationed, it probably won’t work. Otherwise, you have something even more convincing than mine—this puppet demon corpse—yet you still don’t dare approach that place."

"That’s right. Gutongs Fortress’s guard is extremely strict right now—so strict it doesn’t resemble demonfolk, who’ve always been lax in their style. With your disguise just now, if you try to mix in, you will be discovered one hundred percent. Among high-ranking demonmen, there are plenty of guys even more shrewd than humans."

Jessica paused. "But fortunately, at a time like this, I can still be of a little use."

"Go on."

"Based on the information I got, a few days ago, one of demonfolk’s eight Grand Dukes, the Enchantress Grand Duke, suddenly returned from the front lines and is stationed at Gutongs Fortress."

"You even know information of that level?"

"After she returned, she acted rather ostentatiously. I have no reason not to know."

"Ostentatiously?"

Muen asked again. "What do you mean by that?"

"It means exactly what it says. After the Enchantress Grand Duke returned, she began hunting human adventurers on a large scale in Gutongs Fortress and the surrounding areas. But the strange thing is, unlike demonfolk in the past, she isn’t doing it to clean out the bugs that invaded her territory, but..."

"She captured these adventurers alive, and transported them into Gutongs Fortress."

"Captured alive?"

Muen’s eyes lit up, excited. "That seems like a very good breakthrough."

"That’s right. This is a breakthrough. Mixing into those adventurers captured alive to enter the city has a far higher success rate than sneaking into the city directly."

That was the reason Jessica told Muen this intelligence.

But...

"There’s one small problem."

"A small problem?"

Muen asked, puzzled. "What problem? If it’s a relatively simple problem, maybe I can solve it myself."

"It really isn’t a big problem. It’s just that although that Enchantress Grand Duke is a female demonman, her hobby is a little strange..."

Jessica sized Muen up from top to bottom a bit strangely, and her gaze even suddenly carried a trace of some indescribable scrutinizing meaning.

"Strange?"

"It’s not really anything. It’s just that Enchantress Grand Duke only captures female adventurers, and she only sends female adventurers into Gutongs Fortress. Male adventurers generally get chopped up on the spot, the kind where not even a whole corpse is left."

"...Huh?"

Muen froze on the spot.

"You’re saying that Enchantress Grand Duke... is a damn lesbian?"

"If she’s capturing female adventurers everywhere purely just to satisfy her lust... then I think so."

Jessica nodded seriously. "But as a demonfolk Grand Duke, I think her purpose isn’t only that simple. Satisfying her private lust is probably just incidental."

"..."

Then isn’t it still to satisfy her private lust?!

Damn it, I just got done killing one damn gay, and now here comes a damn lesbian... and this damn lesbian also isn’t someone I can easily kill. What the hell is wrong with this world—can it be normal for once?

Oh, right. The protagonist of this world is a damn lesbian. Then it’s fine.

...Muen finally understood what that scrutinizing look in Jessica’s eyes just now actually meant.

She was scrutinizing him, damn it—scrutinizing whether he had the capital to do that kind of thing!

"Can I not use this method?"

Muen’s cheek twitched.

"Of course. The choice is yours. I don’t have the authority to interfere with you."

Jessica returned to her official, businesslike attitude, and her tone finally became respectful.

She gave Muen the last piece of intelligence.

"I’m only carrying the will of my predecessors, handing these things to you. Whether you do it, how you do it—everything is up to you."

"..."

Muen fell silent.

Lowering his head to look at those things that Imperial scouts, one after another, had sent out, not sparing their lives, even though they were tiny, light objects, he only felt as if he were holding a mountain in his arms—unbearably heavy.

And he also couldn’t help but... sink into thought.