The Demon King Always Wants to Surrender
Chapter 4
To Anomis’s left was the raven that Seleinu had transformed into, now with several feathers plucked out, its patchy appearance somewhat comical. To Anomis’s right was the hero Noah, who had been dragged out of the pit. During his struggle with the raven, his face had been scratched up, making him even more laughable than the bird.
Anomis applauded them both in his heart—truly evenly matched opponents!
The campfire made a CRACKLING sound, and the harsh cold of the desert night was beginning to envelop them.
“In any case, we are few old, weak, sick, and disabled…”
Estimating that both sides should have calmed down by now, Anomis cleared his throat.
“At times like this, we should set aside our prejudices and look for opportunities to cooperate…”
Seleinu frowned:
‘Wait, is two hundred years old considered old?’
Tyr nearly cried:
‘Weak? Is His Majesty calling me weak?’
Marta covered her mouth in surprise: ‘Did he discover the menstrual cramps? She didn’t want to be a burden…’
Noah maintained his fake smile:
‘Is this hinting that my injuries are severe, trying to manipulate me?’
Anomis had no idea these people had so many thoughts. He just felt that if he didn’t seize this opportunity, there would never be another chance to surrender.
If Seleinu’s main body arrived first, Noah would surely die, and the hero’s death would inevitably be blamed on the Demon King. If Noah recovered first (he seemed like he could move already), everyone present might die. Considering the Holy Empire’s attitude toward the demon race, Anomis didn’t dare gamble on whether this hero would be willing to listen to their explanations.
“Let’s start with Sir Hero then.”
Anomis showed a kind smile.
“Would you like some jerky?”
Noah didn’t answer. Neither affirming nor denying, maintaining an attitude of ‘I have nothing to discuss with demons.’
“Your Majesty, perhaps he damaged his brain in the fall and is completely useless now,” the raven mocked.
“A defeated opponent can naturally only show off with words,”
Noah retorted sarcastically.
“Crow-ge! Forget it, forget it!”
Anomis hurriedly soothed the ruffled raven. Seeing the wounds on his hands, Seleinu reluctantly quieted down. He couldn’t oppose this human too obviously—it would undermine the so-called Demon King’s dignity.
Seeing that the indirect approach to build rapport had failed, Anomis could only get straight to the point.
“How did you fall down here?”
Noah looked down at the dried blood on his chest, then looked up at the Demon King’s red eyes. His lips curved upward, and Anomis knew it definitely wouldn’t be anything nice:
“Are your eyes just for decoration?”
So—so sharp-tongued! So that ‘old bastard’ wasn’t a hallucination!
Anomis fell into brief silence. As a shut-in, he naturally possessed social anxiety attributes. He wasn’t the type who could brazenly continue looking for topics after being clearly rejected. He began frantically recalling how those socially confident people he used to know would create conversation from nothing. He remembered one time—
Ah, that’s it. When he first went to report to his history department advisor, the advisor just stared at the computer typing and completely ignored him. At that time, his socially confident friend stepped forward and said with incomprehensible confidence:
“Hey, what brand is your keyboard? It sounds really nice when you type!”
Right! That’s it! Compliment something the other person treasures!
“The Holy Cross emblem of the Empire.”
Anomis pointed directly at Noah’s chest, at that twisted and deformed emblem.
“You treasure it so much, constantly polishing it, wearing it on your chest. It saved your life, didn’t it? From those betrayers’ hands, making the dagger deflect.”
“…”
“You will definitely return, I can see it in your eyes.”
Actually, he heard it from that memorable ‘old bastard’ comment.
“Let’s cooperate, how about it?”
“What do you want to gain?”
This was the first time Noah looked at him directly.
“A ceasefire agreement.”
Anomis smiled slightly.
What Anomis didn’t notice was that when the words “ceasefire agreement” came out, the seemingly very confident and fearless hero Noah quietly loosened his clenched fists. He had originally thought the Demon King would take advantage of his vulnerability and demand he sign a contract betraying the Empire to join the demons, but it was just a ceasefire agreement?
The first line of defense had been breached.
With the previous groundwork laid, information exchange became smooth.
After returning from the battlefield, we stayed at the garrison to rest and prepare for the second round of attacks.
When Noah spoke normally, he really did look holy, his bloodstained appearance like a tear-inducing fallen saint.
“Although we had confirmed the Demon King’s descent, considering that you didn’t pursue us, His Highness the First Prince judged that you don’t yet possess complete power, making this the best time to eliminate you.”
“…You don’t have to be so honest about it.”
“However, at that moment, the Empire’s airship arrived, bringing Cardinal Adrian.”
“He stabbed you?”
Noah nodded.
“I don’t understand why. I have no conflicts of interest with him—he was even the one who introduced me to the Holy See.”
He gently touched his chest, where he had been pierced through the heart by the dagger while completely defenseless. Even now, it hurts like rust grinding in his muscles.
This plot seems familiar… Anomis looked strange.
“I think I know why.”
“Why?”
Noah was stunned.
“Your emperor is dead.”
“…”
If Noah had experienced the internet age, he would definitely feel this statement had an inexplicable sense of déjà vu, like those trolls who say ‘your mom is dead’ when trash-talking in games. But Noah hadn’t experienced that era. He only saw the Demon King announce the emperor’s death sentence in a casual tone, as bland as discussing that the jerky for dinner was a bit tough.
What Anomis was thinking was: Isn’t this just the script of Emperor Qin Shi Huang’s death, with Huhai sending eunuchs to kill Fusu! History doesn’t repeat, but it sure does rhyme!
Anomis’s words left Noah completely silent.
The Holy Empire’s emperor was over sixty, which honestly was still considered prime years. Although he couldn’t lead military campaigns personally, his mental state seemed quite good. So initially, Noah hadn’t thought in this direction.
But thinking carefully, if the First Prince succeeded in leading troops to defeat the demons this time, he would naturally inherit the throne upon return. Those unwilling to see this outcome had no choice but to act during this campaign.
Anomis was actually starting to get a headache too… The current situation, applying the old Qin Empire script, would result in the Holy Empire rapidly falling apart after a young son inherited. This was very likely, for three obvious reasons:
- The Empire’s finances were tight, tax collection difficult, and conflicts sharp.
- The First Prince was now over forty and clearly had a group of loyal ministers occupying important positions in the Empire. If other princes inherited, they would definitely purge the old ministers, turning the entire leadership into complete amateurs with no experience.
- A prince who gained power illegitimately would face challenges to his legitimacy for a long time, inevitably causing unrest.
If the Holy Empire was gone, then the surrender plan wouldn’t work either. At least he still hoped the Empire could survive a while, survive until his natural death…
Anomis immediately perked up, like a pyramid scheme leader selling his pitch:
“Sir Hero, have you heard of Ottoman succession law?”
“…Go on.”
The so-called Ottoman succession law was the “Fratricide Law”—killing all brothers and sisters to inherit the throne. But in their history department, this thing had several funny nicknames.
“Ottoman succession law, also called ‘proximity succession law’ or ‘fist succession law.’ ‘Proximity succession law’ means that when the old emperor dies, whichever lucky prince happens to be in the nearest location immediately forges an imperial edict to inherit on the spot, then kills all other heirs. This is the script currently being played out.”
“What about ‘fist succession law’?”
Noah couldn’t help asking.
Seeing this guy seriously asking about this stuff, Anomis couldn’t help but laugh.
“‘Fist succession law’ is simpler—whoever has the biggest fist inherits.”
And now, the one with the biggest fist was the First Prince leading the army.
“The most urgent thing now is to save the First Prince before he’s murdered.”
“If the First Prince leads troops back to the country to compete for the throne, the Empire will be in a divided state for a short time, which would benefit the demons. The best scenario would be for the First Prince to become an ally of the demons, signing a long-term ceasefire agreement. For you, you wouldn’t need to betray anyone either. There’s nothing better than this, is there?”
The firelight flickered, and Noah looked at the Demon King’s smiling profile. Behind the Demon King, his shadow was cast on the rock wall by the firelight, and also fell into Noah’s heart—vast and profound.
If it were just about having power, then no matter how strong the opponent was, Noah was confident he could defeat them. But the Demon King before him could so quickly deconstruct the situation and guide everything toward directions favorable to the demons… This was actually more troublesome than a powerful Demon King.
Anomis’s face was almost stiff from smiling. He really wanted to say: Saint, don’t hesitate anymore, I’m afraid your boss really will get killed, then we’ll all be screwed.
Faced with such a smile, Noah knew he had no choice.
After a long while, Noah sighed:
“Honestly speaking, I’ve been sucking up to my superior for several years and finally got somewhat familiar with him. If I have to change to a new one now, I’d be quite troubled too.”
Anomis: “Wait—did you just say something?”
Noah continued: “Although I could start sucking up to the next one. But if I don’t make that old bastard (the bishop) and little bastard (the little prince) drop some gold coins, I can’t swallow this humiliation.”
Anomis: “ Stop destroying your image!”
Noah extended his hand: “Where’s the jerky? I’m hungry.”
…This guy’s loyalty to the Empire doesn’t seem very high either!
Anomis handed over a piece of jerky, but saw Noah’s lips curve up as he grabbed Anomis’s wrist in return. In a flash, their positions reversed, and Anomis found himself pinned under Noah.
“Quite bold, being completely unguarded against me.”
What—did the negotiations break down?
This guy recovered this fast?!
Noah slowly gripped Anomis’s throat, his emerald eyes staring at him, deep and mysterious. Too weak—this generation’s Demon King really wasn’t the power type. He suddenly released his grip, leaned down close, and whispered in his ear:
“You’re smarter than the previous Demon King. But not smart enough.”
“Do you know how the former Demon King died?”
Anomis’s eyes widened: ‘Holy crap, another gay guy!!!’
“Alright, I surrender.”
Noah suddenly raised both hands and sat up straight.
“Tell your doggy to be nice to me. After all, we’re allies now.”
He grinned, unafraid.
“Right, doggy?”
Behind him, the raven had already transformed into human form, his hand forming a blade pressed against Noah’s neck. He loomed like a dark curtain, seemingly ready to pierce Noah’s cervical vertebrae at the slightest movement.
In the backlit shadow, his bewitching heterochromic eyes glowed faintly.
Anomis immediately scrambled up and hid behind Seleinu.
Then he thought about it and realized this was wrong—this one was also gay!
“Lady Marta, please come out for a moment, I have something to discuss with you.”
Anomis shamefully fled.
“Tyr, you come too.”
How terrifying. Hopefully the two gay guys can get along well.
Leaving the warm cave, the temperature dropped sharply. Anomis sneezed and rubbed his arms. The wind had stopped, and the air outside was relatively fresh. Seeing Marta following, Anomis turned around and took off his outer coat to give to her.
“That’s not necessary, Your Majesty!”
“Take it.”
Anomis turned his head away. Under the sparse starlight, his ears were a bit red.
“That… you’re bleeding, right?”
Marta instinctively covered her dirty skirt, then realized what he meant and was too shocked to speak. His Majesty meant…?
“Actually, I wanted to tell you this afternoon, but forgot with everything that happened… You must have a way to handle it, right? Although the outside is already dirty, the lining should still be fairly clean, you can tear it into strips or something…”
The more he spoke, the more embarrassed he became. He shoved the coat into Tyr’s arms.
“Go help your mother.”
Under Tyr’s bewildered gaze, Anomis fled in panic.
Marta stood frozen in place.
Perhaps she was the first to realize it. Under the Demon King’s profound and strategic mask, he was actually just a child with a soft heart.
As for how Anomis later gained the inexplicable title “Friend of Women”… that would be a story for much later.
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