“This…where are we?”
Mutters of confusion were the most prominent symptoms among the demons at the moment as they looked at their surroundings. Until now, they had been confined within a strange space that even the Demon King couldn’t escape, but now, it was like they were transported to a new world.
Tall grasses grew and spread as far as the eye could see, to the west there was a large forest where the faint outline of a shabby treehouse could be seen. To the east, there was a large body of water reminiscent of an ocean, and to the north was a mountain that overshadowed the entire continent.
Comparatively, the space was generally small, but it was still large enough to house several hundreds of thousands of people comfortably without clutter.
“That brat must’ve done something…” Lucius muttered as he surveyed the realm. Sadly, his realm was still suppressed so he could only do so with his eyes.
“I forgot how annoying life is as a mortal.” He sneered.
His maid stood by his side quietly with a curious glint in her eyes. As for Elitra, she was marveling at the astonishing methods of her Master. Aside from these three, the rest were showing varying degrees of panic.
“Hey!”
Suddenly, a loud shout woke them up from their frenzy. The voice was filled with youthful exuberance and spirit. Accompanying it, a black blur shot through the air and landed in front of them.
“Who are you guys?”
A little girl no more than five years old stood before them with her hands on her hips. Her attitude was pompous, but combined with her stature it was simply too cute.
Elitra smiled sweetly when she saw this. “Little girl, why are you in this place? Are you Master’s daughter?”
“Master? Who’s that?” Xue’er responded in confusion.
“Ah! His name is Damien, but he likes to be called Master, so I call him that!” Elites happily answered.
“Big brother’s friend? Big brother likes to be called master? I’ll try it too!”
Xue’er happily spoke as the spirits around her laughed uncontrollably. Their intelligence seemed to have been heightened in recent days, as they could completely understand and respond to the ongoing conversation.
“Girl, where are we?” Lucius interrupted their conversation and asked. Even in front of this little girl, he kept up his stern appearance.
Xue’er glared at him for a while before suddenly exclaiming. “Bad man!”
“Bad man? Me? Hmph, a little girl who can’t see Mt. Tai.”
“I can’t hear you! You’re a bad man! Xue’er will fight you so you don’t disturb Big brother!”
Xue’er put her fists up and glared at Lucius. Lucius’s maid and Elitra giggled on the side as they watched the interaction.
“Hoh? A little girl like you wants to fight me? Aren’t you afraid I’ll beat you up?”
“Hmph! Hmph! If you beat up Xue’er, big brother will beat you up too!”
She proudly declared it as if it was only right. Additionally, she seemed to have come to a liking of using ‘hmph’ as the Demon King had done before.
“What can your big brother do to me?” Lucius sneered back. “Even if there were hundreds of him, he still wouldn’t be able to touch a hair on my body.”
“Don’t insult big brother!” Xue’er shouted. Enraged, she shot forward with astonishing speed for a girl her age and threw a punch at Lucius.
‘This little girl isn’t simple.’ He thought inwardly as he put his hand out. Even if her speed was great, she was still a mortal. Lucius wasn’t afraid of her attack at all.
But when her fist impacted his hand, he felt an overwhelming force transfer into his body, causing him to get pushed back 10 steps.
“You…” His eyes widened in shock. This girl was only a child. Even with his strength suppressed, there was no way for her to overwhelm him, right?
The surrounding demons also watched the scene in shock. Their all-powerful Lord was being suppressed? By a five-year-old?
And of course, Elitra and the maid were still giggling to the side.
“Does he not realize how goofy he looks right now?”
“He’s too caught up in the momentum. He hasn’t even realized he’s been arguing with a five-year-old for so long.”
“Hehehe, Master has really annoyed him so much that he even does something like this! It’s truly admirable.”
“Keke, little lass, taking someone who could push the Lord to this extent with mere words as your Master might not be a bad decision after all.”
As they conversed, the Demon King’s face became increasingly black. His eyebrows were twitching uncontrollably.
“Brat! I know you’re there! Come out and face this King!” He suddenly shouted into the air.
Damien, who was watching the whole fiasco while concealed, wondered whether he should actually listen. After all, if he didn’t come out, wouldn’t that embarrass the Demon King even more?
‘Kek, the urge to tease him is too strong. It’s his fault for always acting so stern.’
But in the end, he decided against it. Too much antagonizing wasn’t a good thing. He soon appeared on the scene not far from Little Xue.
“Hahahaha! Lord Father-in-law, how could I come out and ruin your grand performance? How did you like the beating my little sister gave you?”
“Big brother!”
When Xue’er saw him, she immediately wanted to dash into his arms as she did last time, but unfortunately, the distance between them wasn’t far enough for her to gain speed. Instead, she had to settle for entering his arms normally.
But since she received the hug she wanted either way, she didn’t mind much.
“Master~!”
Another endearing call rang out as Elitra tried to do the same. But when she got close enough to hug Damien, a little hand reached out and blocked her way.
“Hmph! Big brother is mine! You can’t have him!”
Elitra suddenly felt irked. ‘This little girl…is she scheming against me?’
Soon, a silent glaring contest ensued between the two girls, causing sparks to fly in the air.
“Brat, you’re finally willing to come see us?” Demon King Lucius once again interrupted.
“Father-in-law, why must you speak like this? If someone was unaware of the context, they would mistake you for an indignant concubine!”
“Stop calling me Father-in-law! Also, who the hell is an indignant concubine?! Don’t go too far!” Demon King Lucius exploded.
“Calm down, calm down! Don’t take your anger out on me just because you got beat up by my little sister!”
“Argh! Let me out of this realm so I can set you straight! Don’t think I don’t know it was you pulling strings behind the scenes!”
“Hahahaha!” Damien burst out laughing when he saw Lucius’ fuming look. Little Xue soon joined him.
Every time a peel of laughter came out of their mouths, the Demon King’s face turned a different shade of red as he tried to contain his anger. Unfortunately, this only made them laugh even harder.
“Lord, perhaps you should restrain your anger? Your behavior is very unlike your usual character.” His maid suddenly whispered from the side.
It was only after her urging that he finally managed to calm down. He knew he wasn’t usually like this, but there was just something about this brat that always managed to rip away his calmness and aloofness and forced him to act out.
‘And he keeps calling me father-in-law! Who the hell is his father-in-law? How can my daughter be so subservient to a little brat like him?!’ Lucius inwardly lamented. He closed his eyes and started adjusting his breathing.
It took a few minutes for him to finally calm down, and when he opened his eyes again, he saw Damien playing with little Xue as if nothing had happened.
“Big brother! That big sister said that you like being called Master! Should Xue’er call you Master too?” Little Xue asked curiously.
Damien’s face immediately paled. “Never! Don’t even think about it! Listen, little Xue, this big sister is a bad girl who will teach you bad things! Don’t listen to her, okay?”
As he spoke, he sent a silent glare at Elitra, who responded with an aggrieved look. But the sly smile she was concealing couldn’t be hidden from him.
‘I’ll have to thoroughly punish her later.’ Damien noted inwardly.
He soon turned his gaze away and noticed that Lucius had managed to calm himself. Seeing this, he nodded to himself.
“Little Xue, these people will be living here with you from now on, so why don’t you give them a tour of the place? Big brother is going to have a chat with that bad man over there.”
“Mm!”
Xue’er might’ve liked to act willful, but she had already greatly matured due to her experiences before Damien saved her. She knew when to give him space.
Lucius’ veins seemed ready to pop out when he heard Damien refer to him as a ‘bad man’ in front of the child, but he held it in and stayed silent as little Xue led the rest of the demons to explore the Main Realm. Soon, only Damien and Lucius were left in the area.
“Sigh. Alright, it’s just us now. Brat, tell me what happened in Acier.”