“Haha! That’s right! You know a thing or two!”

Bathesia sat on a stone seat, delighted. Goblins around her playfully served food. Karos stood behind, looking at them with a puzzled expression.

“Hey, stop eating.”

“I don’t want to. Why don’t you join in? It’s fun.”

Bathesia replied with a smile. Then she looked at Karos with a smirk.

“How is it? My experience is more helpful than your theoretical knowledge, right? It’s better not to miss opportunities.”

“Hmm. They’re submitting too easily.”

“What’s wrong with that? Did you think they would challenge my strength? Anyway, from now on, follow my orders. Well, at least pretend to listen, considering my title as a Demon King.”

Karos scratched his head. It wasn’t because of her words but because he had other thoughts.

“Still, there’s something strange about this.”

He couldn’t quite put it into words, but something felt uneasy. While Karos pondered, a goblin approached him.

“Gee-ick. M-master. Hello.”

Karos silently looked at the goblin. It had a garish appearance despite being a goblin. He guessed it was the chieftain of this tribe.

“Yeah. What is it?”

“M-master. I’d like to guide you through the village. Th-this way, please.”

After a moment of hesitation, Karos nodded. It probably wasn’t a big deal. After all, they were just goblins. Even if they devised a plan, there wasn’t much risk involved.

“Fine. Show me around.”

Karos followed the goblin chieftain as he guided him through the tribe. Goblins discreetly hid whenever they saw Karos, their eyes filled with fear.

“Don’t be too hard on them. They haven’t seen a Demon King before.”

“Right.”

Karos replied casually as he inspected the village. It was relatively well-maintained. The quality of their weapons wasn’t bad, and the goblins didn’t seem to be starving. This tribe could be considered among the top ranks.

“Not bad.”

If the monsters he first subjugated were of this caliber, it would make his job easier in the future. While Karos was lost in thought, a goblin approached him.

“Gee-ick. Don’t be too angry, Master. This is our first time meeting a Demon King.”

“Is that so?”

Karos responded briefly as he continued to survey the village. Suddenly, something caught his eye. The outer walls of the tribe were completely shattered. The goblin chieftain hesitated before speaking up.

“Ah, um, it’s nothing. Just that an ogre went berserk, and we barely managed to subdue it.”

“…Is that so?”

‘You subdued an ogre?’

The power gap between goblins and ogres was overwhelming. Even a hundred goblins would struggle to inflict a single wound on an ogre. So, they claimed to have subdued one? Karos stood still, gazing at the broken wall. The chieftain urged him to move on.

“P-please don’t dwell on that. Th-there’s something nice this way.”

“Fine.”

Karos followed the chieftain’s lead and continued to explore the tribe. The tribe appeared more resilient than he initially thought. Still, his expression didn’t change. As they circled back to where Bathesia was, a noisy commotion filled the air.

“Haha! Yes! That’s it! Good job!”

Two goblins were playfully wrestling with each other while Bathesia cheered them on enthusiastically. Karos approached her, a perplexed expression on his face.

“Hey, what’s going on? Why are you having goblins do that?”

“I didn’t order them to do that. They did it on their own. What’s the big deal?”

“…They did it on their own?”

Karos looked at the goblins in haste. When he looked at the goblins who were playfully wrestling and then glanced at Bathesia, there was unmistakable fear in their eyes.

Most monsters were afraid of Demon Kings, but these goblins claimed they were seeing one for the first time. It was strange for them to be so terrified.

Karos sighed, “Bathesia, put that drink down.”

“Huh? Why?”

“Just do it quickly!”

“Why are you suddenly acting like this?”

As Bathesia tried to step back, a surge of energy emanated from her body. A mysterious magical pattern surrounded her briefly and then disappeared. Karos stared at it in bewilderment.

“What is this?”

“What… Just wait.”

Bathesia’s face stiffened, and the goblins started acting aggressively.

“Gee-ick! Get ropes! Bind them! Subdue them!”

“What’s going on?”

The goblins suddenly turned hostile and charged towards them. Something was definitely wrong.

Karos shouted, “Bathesia! Use magic and get us out of here!”

If she had her power, they could escape. But nothing happened. Karos looked at her in despair, and Bathesia grimly said, “My magic won’t work. All the magic power in my body has disappeared.”

“What?”

“Gee-ick!”

The goblins were closing in.

**** ****

Drip. Drip. Drip.

The sound of dripping water was the only noise in the dark and dirty cave. Two people were tied up inside, their bodies covered in dirt and filth, looking like beggars.

Drip. Drip. Drip.

Apart from the water droplets hitting the floor, there was silence. After a long period of silence, the bound man spoke.

“So, how do you feel?”

“…Shut up.”

The woman growled in response. The man chuckled and twisted his body.

“Well, it’s over. Bathesia, what are you going to do now? Are you going to keep holding onto your stubbornness, or are you going to hand over control to me?”

At his words, Bathesia remained silent. Karos shrugged.

“Say something. Those guys have left us here for two days already. No matter how tough a demon’s life force is, I’m getting tired. It’s boring with no conversation.”

But Bathesia still didn’t speak. As Karos gazed up at the ceiling, he noticed that insects were crawling slowly.

“Who knows what will happen to us? Well, your magic hasn’t returned yet, right?”

“…Yeah. How the hell did they do this? Did goblins like them manage to create something that suppresses my magic?”

“What? You still don’t know?”

Bathesia’s voice mixed with a hint of groaning, and Karos looked at her with surprise. Her expression revealed a sudden realization.

“What don’t you know? Suppressing the power of demons is quite common! It’s just that the manufacturing process is quite tricky.”

As she said, it wasn’t too difficult to suppress magical power. By combining certain ingredients and infusing them into drinks or food, one could render a person incapable of using magic for a few days.

It was simply that the cost of the herbs and ingredients required for it was beyond imagination. It was too expensive to use for low-ranking Demon Kings, and it was too costly for high-ranking ones to waste. It ended up being abandoned because there was no one willing to consume it.

“But how did the goblins… No, didn’t you avoid it? Then why… How did they know that you have no magical power?”

“That’s the point, Bathesia.”

Thud. Thud. Thud.

Footsteps were heard approaching. Both of them looked towards the entrance. An unsavory-looking goblin was slowly coming towards them with a grin.

“Hello, Chief!”

“Gee-ick! The Demon Kings look good! I’m the goblin who subdued the Demon Kings!”

The chief danced in delight, but Bathesia frowned, finding something lacking.

“Did I really get subdued by such a creature?”

“That’s because you’re naive, Bathesia.”

“What?”

Karos said with a stern face, “Goblins are foolish. Do you think they can gather the herbs and ingredients needed for magic suppression? If such things were nearby, I would have gone ahead and collected them. They’re quite expensive. But there was no mention of that in Lillis’ report. It was just an ordinary forest. There are a few herbs, but they’re no better than common herbs.”

“You don’t mean…”

Bathesia’s face turned pale. Karos shrugged.

“And while you were playing around, the outskirts of the tribe that you followed under the chief’s guidance were destroyed. The idiot claimed it was the work of an ogre, but would a sleeping ogre do such a thing? It was clearly a trace of magic, and a strong one at that.”

Hyung_Otaku

I'm currently Translating the following novels: Pick Me Up! | A Frontline Soldier Awakened as a Gamer In The War! | The 100th Regression of the Max-Level Player. If you want to support me and read more chapters please subscribe to my Patreon!