After his initial moments of surprise, the Demon King’s expression darkened. “Where have you heard that name?”

I had thought that, hearing Earth, he might have grown excited. I also felt a surge of excitement when it occurred to me he was from Earth. If I was wrong, then he would have just given me a strange look like I was speaking garbage, and we would have moved on. However, his violent and sudden reaction meant that Earth meant something to him.

It was only then I remembered that he was the Dungeon Master of the Twilight Dungeon, and not the original Demon King. So, that led to the question on whether it was the Demon King who had heard Earth, or this approximation of the Demon King created by the dungeon. Either way, I didn’t expect him to suddenly grow angry. I suddenly worried that maybe being from Earth wasn’t such a good thing.

“I.. my friend came from Earth.” I gave a weak excuse. “You just.. suddenly reminded me of him?”

I really didn’t expect this to work at all, but then the Demon King nodded and sat back down calmly. “I see.. it is the same with me. I also knew a woman who was from Earth. She’s gone now.”

I didn’t know if he was telling the truth or not, but it seemed like he had calmed down and I was worried about upsetting him again.

“General, my people need a home. There was once a time when the country of Twilight believed that our world’s could unite. I still believe that this is possible. After all, your world has united with so many in the past.”

“What does that mean?” I asked.

“The esmere, the elves, the osteria, the giants, the animalkin, the merfolk, the dwarves, even the humans, you have all managed to integrate yourselves into this foreign world.”historical

“What?” This time I was surprised.

He sneered. “I know how you humans love to hide history, but surely you remember that it was once your species that emerged from the cursed dungeons and pushed back this world’s inhabitants. You then welcomed all of the otherworlders, including us. Only later did you suddenly decide we were evil, all thanks to that wretched church.”

My mind was moving a mile a minute. This broke everything I knew about this world. I had always thought that all of these species developed on this world, perhaps through some kind of natural selection. However, if you really thought about it, what kind of natural selection would have led to such a diverse range of completely unique species?

The answer was that these species all came to this world at various points in history. It seemed like humans were in the majority, but every other species had come at some point and settled here. Who were the original inhabitants? I didn’t even know!

My silence seemed to urge the Demon King on. “If the humans won’t give my people a place in this world, then we will take it! The country of Twilight is already ours. Demon’s control the valley, and by extension 70% of the defensible land. Admit defeat, and urge your soldiers to surrender. If you do this, I will spare your lives, and allow the remaining humans to live among us.”

“Your commander made me a similar promise, and he slaughtered my men.” I responded, acting how I thought the General would.

The Demon King looked up at the Commander who was still standing next to me. “Is this true?”

“My lord.” The commander grew flustered. “I felt it necessary to instill a sense of control and fear into the general, or he might think he can..”

The commander never finished his words. The Demon King went from his chair to standing on the other side of his room. There was the shing of a blade being pulled out ringing in the air. Compared to Aberis, who I had already thought was fast beyond comprehension, this guy was even faster. The commander was making a strange noise, but a second later, his body split in two. This was the power of the Demon King, and the real one was even stronger than that. I had a long way to go.

The Demon King turned back to me, his expression showing nothing after just cutting a man in two. Even if his expression had been angry or cold, it would have been something. However, it was the same blank friendly expression from when I had entered.

“Do we have an agreement?”