The Narrow-Eyed Villain of the Demon Academy
chapter-156

As the train pulled into the station, Rene and I disembarked.

We had already passed through Sytan and were now in the heart of the capital.

Just as I had seen before, the capital was quite bustling.

As we made our way through the streets, a group of demons approached us.

“My lady, you've arrived!”

“You there, you haven't caused any trouble for my lady, have you?”

They were servants of the Bares family.

Crete had sent them to escort Rene, who was now on summer break.

I greeted Rene, who was still blushing from our earlier encounter.

"My lady, I shall see you later. Until then, please take care."

“……You too.”

With a quick reply, Rene turned her head and boarded a carriage, moving away from me.

I kept my eyes on her until she was out of sight.

My destination wasn't the Bares estate, but Samuel's.

So I had to say goodbye to Rene first.

This was because the territories of Gluttony and Pride were located on opposite sides of the Demon Realm.

As I stood there, Samuel spoke to me.

[That was quite the storm.]

“……Weren't you asleep?”

[Ahem.]

Every time I was in an awkward situation, Samuel would pretend to be asleep.

Seeing such outrageous behavior made my blood boil.

What could I do to teach this guy a lesson?

Ah, right.

As the old saying goes,

‘Spare the rod, spoil the child.’

Squeeze.

I tightly gripped Samuel's thorn attached to my wrist.

[Let go, let go……!]

No way.

You’re going to learn your lesson today.

Squeeze.

I squeezed Samuel's thorn even tighter.

[Aaaargh!]

Samuel's cries of pain echoed loudly.

But since the eyes of the demons walking the capital were focused on us, I had to let go of Samuel's thorn.

Damn it.

Now was the time to teach him a lesson.

Samuel would soon return to his original form, so this was my only chance.

‘Tsk, what a shame.’

Still, Samuel had more than half a day before he returned to his original form.

We had to take a carriage to Samuel's territory from here.

"Let's find a coachman first. Did his family not even make any preparations?"

[…….]

Samuel seemed hurt by my casual remark and closed his mouth.

I just meant it as a joke, but seeing him so dejected made me feel bad.

In the end, I decided to postpone teasing Samuel and look for a coachman who could take us to the Gluttony’s territory.

Unlike Sytan, the Demon Realm lacked well-developed transportation systems.

Perhaps it was different before the war between humans and demons, but now, most means of transportation had disappeared.

That's why we needed a carriage, and there were several coachmen in the capital.

We just had to pick one of them.

As we were looking for a coachman, Samuel's voice rang in my ears.

[……I'll pay the coachman. You don't have to pay since you’re here on my request.]

Oh, really now?

I was dumbfounded by Samuel's words.

Even though he received financial aid from Sytan for his academic excellence, he wouldn't have much money since he had to rebuild his family.

He also had more places to spend money than I did.

And yet, he was saying he would pay out of his petty pride.

I clicked my tongue inwardly and spoke.

“Don't worry about it. I'm not so poor that I need to borrow a kid's allowance.”

[A kid? Allowance……?!]

Samuel was quite short.

He seemed to be sensitive about it.

I guess that was why.

Samuel was easily riled up by my words, which treated him like a child.

I smirked and continued.

"You should have eaten more when you were young… Ah, my apologies."

Samuel's gloomy past.

I realized I had almost made another mistake and shut my mouth.

And I explained to Samuel why I was going to pay.

I wasn't exactly rich either.

Just thinking about the price of the information paper gave me a headache, which meant I couldn't afford to waste money.

However,

“Don't worry about the money. Instead, think about how you're going to modify the Orb of the Flame Emperor to match my mana nature.”

[……Very well.]

I told Samuel that I didn't have to pay for the Orb of the Flame Emperor.

Well, that didn't mean I was going to get the Orb of the Flame Emperor for free.

There was a bit of consideration mixed in.

I had also gone through times of poverty, so I understood.

‘That aside….’

I couldn't even begin to imagine how much I would squeeze out of Samuel once he revived his family.

The interest rate at 'Adel Bank' was quite high.

Anyway,

“Let’s talk to that person.”

I pointed to one of the coachmen and spoke to Samuel.

Samuel nodded in agreement.

As I approached the coachman, I opened my mouth.

"Can we hire your carriage?"

"Hmm."

At my words, the middle-aged coachman with a stylish beard lowered his gaze as if to examine my appearance.

And as if he had noticed that I was wearing the Sytan uniform, he widened his eyes.

"I was going to refuse you because you're a half-demon, but I see you're a Sytan student. Then I can't refuse. You're the future of the Demon Realm."

"Haha, thank you for saying so."

I almost got rejected for being a half-demon, but thanks to my status as a Sytan student, I was able to get over it easily.

At first, I was very reluctant to enter Sytan, but now that I think about it, it seemed like a good thing.

...Except for the fact that I had to run into Diana.

Anyway, I talked to the coachman about our destination.

"So, where do you want to go? Are you going home for the holidays?"

"Well, not exactly. We're going to the Gluttony’s territory.”

"What…!"

The coachman's eyes widened at the mention of the Gluttony’s territory.

Then he shook his head.

“I’m sorry, but I can’t take you there. It's a ruined land where no one lives. Why would you want to go there?”

“…….”

[……Two people live there.]

Samuel muttered at the coachman's cold words.

Indeed, except for Samuel and the priest, no one lived in the Gluttony’s territory.

However, the general residents of the Demon Realm seemed to think that no one lived in the Gluttony’s territory.

High-ranking demons in Sytan must have known about Samuel's existence because they had access to information, but other demons wouldn't even know he existed.

It made me feel sorry for Samuel.

The son of a prestigious family, he had lost all his family and was left alone overnight.

Well, that’s that,

“Just because no one lives there doesn't mean we can't go, does it?”

There was no reason for the coachman to refuse my offer.

Even if no one lived there, we could still go.

The coachman replied.

“……It's not that simple. I see you don't know much about the outside world because you've been cooped up in Sytan."

“Well, that's true.”

I knew nothing about the Demon Realm, so I was grateful that he was explaining it to me.

The coachman sighed at my answer and said,

“The Gluttony’s territory is currently teeming with countless monsters. How do you plan on getting through them? There's no coachman in the capital with that kind of ability.”

“…….”

I couldn't help but curse under my breath.

Thousands of monsters?

Even if I had gotten stronger, I couldn't think of a way to overcome this obstacle.

The easiest way was to use the scroll I received from the Headmaster, but it was a waste to use it now.

As I was wondering what to do,

[Tell him to take us as far as it’s safe, we’ll move on our own from there.]

“Are you crazy? What are you going to do if we get attacked by monsters?”

[I have my ways.]

Samuel boasted.

I couldn’t help but grimace.

No matter how I thought about it, I had a bad feeling about this.

But there had to be a reason Samuel was able to safely enter Sytan from his territory.

In the end, I decided to accept.

“Who are you talking to? You sound like you're possessed by a ghost."

The coachman, who thought I was talking to myself, tilted his head and asked.

To change the subject, I quickly opened my mouth.

"It's okay if you just take us to a safe area. We’re just trying to save time.”

“……Hmph.”

The coachman clicked his tongue as if he thought I was being stubborn.

But in the end, he must have decided to accept our proposal because he got on his carriage and said,

“Get on. The fare is 10 gold.”

"Thank you… Huh?”

10 gold?

As much as 10 gold?!

I was startled by the price the coachman offered and looked at him.

The coachman was sighing heavily.

"I'm giving you a discount. It should be 20 gold.”

“…….”

[He’s right. The Gluttony’s territory is not only teeming with monsters, but the terrain is also rough.]

He wasn’t even ripping us off.

He was really giving us a discount out of the goodness of his heart.

… My wallet was going to be very empty.

I had spent all the gold I had saved up on the information paper, and now I only had 20 gold left.

And I had to spend a whopping 10 gold on this.

…Well, since the terrain was rough, it would be better to pay.

I sighed and gave the coachman 10 gold.

Giddy-up!

…And so, we headed to the Gluttony’s territory, leaving behind our empty wallets.

* * *

The Gluttony’s territory.

At the foot of the land where countless monsters roamed, there was a huge cave.

…It was lit by countless candles and filled with unidentified statues.

‘The Temple of Gluttony.’

Inside, a woman with her eyes covered in a black cloth was shedding tears.

A woman with luscious blonde hair and white skin that reminded one of a noble goddess.

After a while.

“…….”

She stopped crying and raised her head.

Her gaze was directed at a giant statue.

It was a statue that didn't move an inch, but she noticed a change and opened her mouth.

“―It is time for him to come.”

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