< Evade the Hero and Flee! 195 #23. Policy Meant for My Dream! (2) >

The preparations proceeded quite quickly.

The overflowing wealth of the Demon God’s temple was put to good use to rebuild the demon king’s castle into something even more flashy than before. Messages were sent to all the other temples, ordering them in the name of the Demon God to attend the coronation. That alone was enough.

The best-quality material from all corners of the demon continent was being brought in every day to repair the demon king’s castle. Meanwhile, many temples found throughout the continent began sending envoys.

This world might not have social media, but rumours still had a way to spread everywhere. Just like the old proverb from my ancestors about the legless horse travelling a thousand leagues! [1]

Then again, half of all the demons were in Belegrea’s faction, to begin with. Obviously, they would’ve known what was going on. And the remaining half was in the now-dead Aggreahrt’s faction, so unless they were as blind as bats, they must’ve realised the truth by now, too!

“Do you really think your scheme will work, instructor?”

“Everything is according to Demon God’s..”

“I’m sure that might work with the demon race, but it won’t fool me, sir. And I certainly don’t have a reason to fall for it, too.”

Ria’s glare had gotten a lot colder lately. I sneakily averted my gaze away from her.

My workload had increased, sure, but her workload had increased three times.. no, make that five times worse than before. She wasn’t even an office worker, yet she now had to do overtime, too!

My conscience had no choice but to acknowledge the depth of her rage.

-M-master, you.. actually have a conscience?!

-Hey, you! You’re getting too shocked by this, you know!

The metal bat’s shock and agitation transmitted through our mental link were far too strong for my liking. She wasn’t trying to put me down like usual, but really was freaking out right now.

-B-but, I thought you discarded your conscience back in the human continent, master!

-Hey! Where would you find a more conscionable man than me! At the very least, I’m in the top five, I’ll have you know!

-But we’re in the demon continent, master! And there are only three humans here! Obviously, you’ll be in the top five, then!

Dang it, she saw right through me. I was being clever with the top-five comparison and tried to fool the metal bat with it, but she didn’t fall for it.

-This is Goddess Aru’s power of observation! Thanks to an evil master, this goddess’s eyes can now see through all sorts of lies!

What a pride-filled reply that was.

If she had been standing next to me in her human form, I thought the metal bat would stretch that flat chest of hers while trying to put on airs. Since she was just a lump of metal in the first place, I didn’t know where her eyes really were. But if I come out and say that out loud, she and I might end up in a war of words.

If this had been in the past when I could’ve easily run laps around her, then fine. But now, there was a risk of getting hit by her painful counterattack, so I should be the adult in this situation and back off.

This was what people called the strategic retreat. I might yield this particular battlefield, but I shall triumph in a different one.

Indeed. Right now, I don’t need Lu Bu (the metal bat), who was basically useless in internal affairs. But I certainly needed someone like Xun Yu, who worked hard at home and contributed significantly to the governance of his country!

“This is all for the sake of world peace.”

The words I came up with after much brain-racking to appease the troubled heart of my own Xun Yu were..

“Lies.”

#1 Their circumstance: Ria el Nermia’s circumstance

“Hah-ah.. Hah-ah.. Hah-ah..”

The moment I stepped into my room, a heavy panting broke out of my mouth.

My heart was pounding madly away.

So terrifying. Terrifying, but..

[1]: The Korean word for “words” is the same as “horse”, hence the proverb of legless horse(words).

[2]: There was a Korean pun here that got lost in translation. A kabocha (sweet pumpkin) is called “???” while ‘firm and decisive’ is “??”.