Chapter 9: The Demon King Helping the Village Chief Solve Problems
Translated by Addis of Exiled Rebels Scanlations
Editor: Karai
“Weak bodies need nourishment, injuries need bandages, and the directionally challenged need medicine.”
—By the last Demon King
Awakened and struggling for a long time, the Demon King finally got up.
The reality was harsh—
The window in the Demon King’s room was open, and outside, people were walking by. The passersby constantly greeted each other with good mornings and exchanged small talk, all of which naturally floated into the room through the open window. It quickly became unbearably noisy around the Demon King’s ears.
“Good morning~ You look great today.”
“Good morning to you too, the weather’s nice today.”
What was so important about looking well or the weather being nice?
“Good morning, Tom, do you still have eggs? I want to buy some for cake.”
“Good morning, Susan, unfortunately most of them hatched successfully.”
Why talk about buying and selling here instead of going to inspect or purchase on site? Why lament it here?
“Good morning, your clothes…”
…
The Demon King had had enough. Feeling increasingly uncomfortable physically and mentally, he suddenly sat up and glared resentfully at the window. Outside, people came and went, heading to their various tasks around the village. Right after sending the Hero off, the village chief came by.
Seeing the Demon King awake by the window, the chief greeted him from the doorway. “Good morning, Joshua.”
The Demon King replied flatly, “…Good morning.” There was no warmth in his tone.
Seeing the Demon King’s expression clearly showed how unwell he felt, the chief only exchanged a few words before stepping out and sending his grandson to bring the villagers’ usual breakfast.
Some time later, after tending to himself, the Demon King stepped out as the village chief was about to take a walk. After changing into his own clothes, he felt much lighter. Composed and calm, the Demon King nodded in greeting as he left the room. The village chief, noticing the freshly cleaned clothes and the Demon King’s departure, said, “What a coincidence, let’s go out together.”
The Hero—the first victim—had been temporarily entrusted to the fisherman, leaving the Demon King—the second victim—under the chief’s care and greeted as they stepped outside. Originally planning a casual walk and to ask around about where exactly this village lay within the human territory, the Demon King smiled and replied, “Hmm.”
He followed the chief out and, recalling the answer he’d gotten after borrowing the headband—that the village lay downstream of the neighboring village—prepared to ask the chief about the local situation. Before he could speak, a small interruption happened.
Two children ran up to the chief, demanding some kind of reward—fried peanuts—as they bounced and shouted, completely capturing the chief’s attention. The chief happily teased them for a while before giving them the treats. While waiting, the Demon King silently watched the children play, feeling both bored and disdainful.
“Tsk~” Human cubs.
Amid the laughter and noise, the Demon King quietly compared them to the demon cubs he knew—those well-behaved young ones who knew how to fend for themselves.
Brave. Resilient. Self-reliant. Disciplined. —Clearly the backbone of the demon race’s future, much more promising than those human cubs who only ran wild or pouted for attention. —Except for their rarity and high mortality rate, they had almost no other flaws.
After counting these virtues, the Demon King sighed over the low birth rate and high infant mortality of the demon offspring. By the time the two children finally bounded off and the village chief returned after coaxing them away, the Demon King roughly learned where this village was located. Or rather, what kind of place it was—
One among many villages, a half-day’s journey west from a small town in a minor country. A country he had never heard of, and a town even less familiar. His earlier pride and melancholy quickly turned into confusion—
This pinpointed description of country and town wasn’t much better than the vague “downstream from the neighboring village” he’d heard yesterday. The village chief, seeing the question marks all over the Demon King’s face, explained kindly, “It’s somewhere south of the Orland Empire, if you remember that name.”
The Demon King replied, “Oh.” His face still full of questions. The chief smiled warmly, assuming the Demon King’s amnesia had erased any memory of the Orland Empire. As they walked, the chief introduced the surrounding areas and other village spots.
When they reached a point where the village start and end were clearly visible, the chief pointed out the general directions and told the Demon King where he could go to recuperate and rest, where upcoming events would be held, and on which days he’d have to leave with others if he planned to go beyond the village.
The Demon King listened, nodding occasionally, glancing around at his surroundings and the village square where the gathering would take place.
He then decided to mark the day of the event as his rest day, replacing all plans except returning to the demon realm with a day off. Upon hearing that some villagers would travel to the nearby town that day to buy supplies, he changed the event day to a travel day.
“Thank you, chief,” the Demon King said sincerely. The chief nodded, offering words much like those that had disturbed the Demon King’s rest before. Soon after, someone came to fetch the chief, explaining that problems had arisen in the village’s farmland that urgently required the elder’s experience and judgment.
With only the chief, the petitioners, and three children making a ruckus nearby within his sight, the Demon King thought for a moment as the chief looked his way.
He guessed the farmland issue probably involved some plants or crops. So when the chief hesitated on how to involve him, the Demon King followed. When they arrived, the chief looked troubled, and the Demon King casually offered a few words based on “intuition.”
The chief said, “Hmm…” The petitioners and other villagers looked on with question marks in their eyes. The Demon King thought, Take it or leave it.
He fell silent after sharing a bit of his experience from raising the little ones and felt no obligation to the chief anymore. The chief replied, “Then let’s try it.”
Satisfied, the Demon King tapped his hand lightly on the back of his hand and, when someone announced it was lunchtime, turned and left the scene. Behind him, the chief divided the problem farmland into several plots and began testing various proposed solutions separately.
Unaware, the Demon King left early and didn’t realize his suggestion was just one among many being tested. Later, after waking from a nap, though he still didn’t feel his magic returning despite his efforts, he maintained a healthy complexion in front of the chief.
The chief’s expression, however, darkened. “Night’s coming, but Owen still isn’t back.”
The Hero wasn’t back yet. The fisherman who had taken the Hero out was replaced after someone checked on him and informed everyone concerned about what had happened that morning.
The Demon King didn’t care much about this but was nonetheless briefed by the concerned chief. After listening, the Demon King nodded, “Hmm,” and forced himself to eat and drink, replenishing his nutrition despite all the debuffs weighing on him.
He felt no reason to worry and stayed behind as a patient while the chief and others went to search for the Hero. Even the elderly chief stayed behind with him, albeit reluctantly.
So, when the Hero was finally found near the neighboring village thanks to everyone’s efforts, the Demon King was already asleep in bed.
The Hero said, “Sorry to have worried everyone.” He had marked the route and left signs behind, but it seemed like something unexpected had happened. The village chief said, “Good that you’re back.”
In any case, it wasn’t yet late at night, and everyone had returned safely. The Demon King remained silent. Has the noise outside finally stopped? He looked disdainfully at the dim light beyond the closed window, covered his ears against the lingering sounds, and after a while, finally heard the villagers gradually disperse.
Soon after, the Hero came back. The Demon King’s irritation grew, and he simply turned over and closed his eyes. The Hero was quiet too. He actually had some things he wanted to say, but didn’t quite know how to start.
Since leaving his hometown—where even if he got lost, people who had watched him grow up would just point him in the right direction; where he could ask for help or find landmarks when he made a wrong turn—this was the first time he had ever encountered such a large-scale search.
His hometown folks knew him well and never found it strange when they saw him somewhere at the wrong time; they would just help him find his way. Strangers on the road didn’t know where he was headed or where he belonged and never worried if he didn’t show up.
But today was different. The Hero sat on the small bed and, once the outside noise was gone, slightly opened the window. Moonlight and hope still shone outside.
“Remember to close the window, and don’t open it in the morning again.” Hearing the sound of the window opening, the Demon King’s voice interrupted the Hero’s late-night thoughts. The Hero closed the window. “Sorry,” he said. The Demon King continued to face away with his eyes closed.
“I actually did mark the route and left signs at the forks,” the Hero spoke quietly to the Demon King’s back. “I just… I didn’t expect to be so hopeless and cause this kind of trouble.”
The Demon King repeated the phrase the Hero had used the night before to refuse communication: “Good—night—”
The Hero let out a sigh, discouraged and downcast. After some time, he decided to encourage himself, treating today’s events as another lesson learned, and— He went over and placed a fruit on the Demon King’s bedside. “I found some fruit when I got lost to stave off hunger. I brought some back for everyone. Yours is by your bed. Good night.”
After saying this, the Hero turned back to his own small bed, just as something was thrown at him.
“No need.”
Since “Joshua” and the Hero’s interactions had never been very harmonious, the Demon King, annoyed after being disturbed for so long, threw the fruit back, hitting the culprit. The Hero picked up the fruit.
The Demon King lay back down and, feeling the weight of the Hero’s gaze, reluctantly explained, “Enough. I don’t need this. You eat it yourself. I mean, I’m going to rest now.”
Can he understand? As an “ordinary person,” good rest and good nutrition were truly important for healing.
“Good night.” With that, the Hero finally said good night.
…
After a long day, the Hero lay down to rest. After a while, he was suddenly pulled up by the Demon King. The Hero blinked in surprise: “?”
He looked at the Demon King with curiosity, his frustrated mood from earlier now mixed with confusion. The Demon King, noticing the Hero’s puzzled expression, also felt puzzled: “?”
Staring at the Hero, the Demon King saw that he didn’t seem to intend to switch beds, so he said, “Never mind. Good night.”
Suppressing the unspoken words with a dark smile, the Demon King assured him it was nothing and let him go. “Rest well.”
The next morning, as usual, the Demon King woke up amid the chatter of the villagers. Having only slept half the night for two nights in a row, the Demon King groaned silently: “…”
The Hero returned from chatting with the village chief and grabbing some things, noticed the Demon King was awake, and greeted him cheerfully, “Good morning! Also, I heard from the chief about your suggestion yesterday. You seem pretty amazing.” After saying good morning, the Hero politely found an excuse to compliment him.
Rubbing his aching head from lack of sleep, the Demon King responded sincerely, “Yeah, I’m pretty amazing.”
The Hero was momentarily stunned, then nodded and smiled. He took the fruit and went outside, and that day, he didn’t venture any further upstream.
Author’s note:
I just suddenly remembered I forgot to say something ＿(:з」∠)＿
This novel is an expansion based on a segment from one of my earlier works (from “Quick Transmigration” Chapter 141 “The Heart of Creation (Part 2)”). The overall framework shares some similarities, but the details and subsequent developments differ quite a bit.
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