Published: March 21, 2026
"Um, excuse me! Is it true that someone named Aurum Trace is of the Demon Clan?"
As our speed through the night increased and the wind whipping past my ears made normal voices hard to hear, Ria shouted from behind.
I had forgotten about Ria’s presence and froze for a moment.
When I’m thinking, I have a bad habit of focusing too much.
"Yes. Yoru confirmed it. No doubt about it. I checked too. That residual magical power could only belong to the Demon Clan."
Where Amelia’s bloodstain had been, there remained traces of magical power I didn’t recognize.
Blood might retain magic, but for the air itself to be so thick with magical residue like that — even with my capacity for magic, it was impossible.
There are very few who possess magical power greater than mine, and none among the Elf race. In short: Demon Clan.
"I see… If the Demon Clan is on the move, that means the demon king is acting. I don't know if there’s been a change of demon king, but when the demon king moved before, demonic beasts became active and poured out of labyrinths across the continents. …So this Demon Clan attack could have meanings beyond just abducting Lady Amelia."
I nodded at Ria’s words.
Then a simple question popped out of my mouth.
"Why does the demon king attack other races?"
Because demon kings are thought of as villains and the Demon Clan and demonic beasts as their minions, I’d never really considered why demon kings, the Demon Clan, and demonic beasts assault other races.
Do they want to conquer the continents? Make humans into Demon Clan slaves…?
"The heart of the demon lord is beyond my understanding, but the first demon king attacked other races out of revenge for being driven to the Volcano Continent."
Come to think of it, Commander Saran had told me a myth with that scene.
If I remember right, the Demon Clan, who alone can control demonic beasts, were loathed by other races and driven off to the most inhospitable place, the Volcano Continent.
Maybe because these past months have been the most intense of my life, my memory’s a bit fuzzy.
It hasn’t even been a year, but it feels like ages.
Back then I never imagined I’d ride demonic beasts with a Beastmen princess to rescue an Elf princess.
I really wasn’t thinking, but the group was intense.
With Amelia and Aurum Trace together, that’d be all the races represented.
"I see. Other demon kings were the same?"
Yoru kept looking ahead as she nodded at my question.
At the same time, she stomped out a demonic beast in our path.
Because we’d been cutting and crushing so much, Ria barely reacted now — she’d gotten used to it. Our pace was much quicker than when we reached the tenth layer.
At this rate we might reach the lowest layer in a few hours.
That’s my partner for you.
"Among them, a demon king a few generations back had his wife killed by an intruder."
Yoru’s voice turned pained.
Even with the wind in my ears, Yoru’s words came through clearly.
"That demon king hated conflict. He didn’t touch humans, Beastmen, or the Elf race. He even tried to propose a peace treaty to the other races; he avoided fighting. He loved his wife, loved his children, loved his comrades, and even loved demonic beasts — a gentle demon king. Yet simply because he was a demon king, his wife was murdered."
I understood what she meant.
It felt a little like how relatives of a murderer, who themselves had done nothing wrong, are subject to the world’s cold scorn.
"So a fool with a hero complex did something stupid."
Mass psychology is simple.
Those who do evil are evil; those who do good are good. Backgrounds don’t matter. People latch onto a single label and decide everything about someone with it — praise or blame.
There are truly cruel, irredeemable people, but there are also those who had no choice.
"Exactly. …Afterwards, that demon king rescinded the peace treaty he was about to sign and destroyed two Beastmen cities — the same race as the man who killed his wife."
He returned the harm done to him many times over.