“My dear Majesty, I was just about to come see you.”

The tide-like black mist flowed on the ground, and the Devil walked out of the thick, viscous darkness wearing his exquisite and gorgeous black formal suit. He pressed a hand across his chest and bowed slightly to salute the King.

You c an fi nd t he la te st cha pte rs at ( th e bl mu se . c o m )

“I am glad to receive your rare summon.”

The King put down his rolled up sleeves.

According to the contract he signed with the Devil, he could summon the Devil if necessary. The King asked the former Knight Templar commander and confirmed that his contract with the Devil was different from that with ordinary dark creatures. His contract would not have any visible signs that would reveal his identity as a contractor, and even the Holy Court would not be able to detect it.

Only the King and the Devil could initiate the contract.

The Devil stepped on the soft carpet, walked over to where the King was sitting, and knelt down. He stretched out his hand to take over for the King, carefully smoothing the folds on his sleeves, and did up the buttons: “Is there anything you need from me? Your Majesty.”

After the Devil finished buttoning up for the King, he still did not stand up. Instead, he took the King’s hand with the rose ring worn on it and raised his head to look up at the King.

The King looked at his hand.

“Yah.”

The Devil showed a harmless smile.

“You are wearing the ancestral ring of the Rose family on your hand…..There is nothing wrong with being cautious, yes? Your Majesty.”

The King sneered: “You say this as if you haven’t tried to throw stones at me when I am down, again and again.”

“As your loyal hell knight, I have never done such a thing.” The Devil said unblinkingly, not a speck of guilt to be had.

——He just wanted to take the King back to hell, how could he be considered throwing stones at him?

The Devil knew very well just how “hellish” his Majesty’s style of doing things was. He didn’t think that the King would summon him for nothing…..Ai, though he did hope that the King would summon him from time to time. This way he could express his loyalty to the King. However, the King did not seem to think so. What a shame.

“About the matter of the ghost ship.”

The King looked down at the Devil.

“Please allow me to know the details, Your Majesty.”

The Devil seemed to have thought of something.

The King briefly recounted what happened to the Walway pirates, and then casually mentioned the “pardon from the king of that world” in the words of the witch. He stared at the Devil with icy blue eyes, attempting to decipher any information from his countenance.

The Devil was happy: “That is really a smart witch, besides Your Majesty, who else can be called King?”

The King looked at him.

These words seemed to contain a lot of things, but the Devil’s habitual exaggerated tone and mouth full of lies made it impossible not to tack on a few question marks.

“Do you want to know?” The Devil keenly noticed the King’s examining gaze and he knew what the King was thinking. He spoke enthusiastically. “I’d be very happy to tell you everything. As long as it is you who ask me, I will tell you everything I know. As long as you want to know…..”

“Forget it, I don’t want to.”

The King interrupted him.

The Devil sighed regretfully.

His Majesty was too shrewd and never willing to be fooled easily.

“Do you have any answers about the ghost ship that the Walway pirates encountered?”

“That’s not a ghost ship, Your Majesty.” The Devil smiled sardonically, “Those poor and ignorant pirates must have likely come across the dark world’s ship and unknowingly treated it as if it was one of those half alive alchemical ships.”

After the Devil’s explanation, the King understood the cause.

The “nether ships” that the Walway pirates looked for in the past were actually the remaining creations of ancient alchemists and was an existence that was half alive. In the legendary age before the Holy Court had expanded its influence and alchemists had not disappeared from the world, there were many half alive magical ships with different tempers that sailed across the Abyss Strait.

These semi-living ships themselves belong to the world of mortals, so they could sign contracts with humans.

However, the “ghost ship” discovered by the Walway pirates in Hanler Bay was not included in this list.

“That must be a messenger ship of a Lord of Hell, and that guy is in charge of ‘greed and ill-gotten wealth’——after the people who boarded the ship step on a certain limit, they would be convicted with a crime. The curse on those pirates is actually a judgement he issued. Your Majesty, there are rules in the mortal world, the same as there are rules in hell.” The Devil replied.

He seemed to be eager to answer any questions for the King, but in fact his answers only led to more questions.

Why did these semi-living ships exist? Where were the alchemists of the legendary age? What was hidden behind the expansion of the Holy Court…..The Devil cleverly hid these questions that were enough to arouse anyone’s curiosity in the answers he gave, waiting for the King’s further inquiry.

The King looked at him for a while and said coldly, “So that’s how it is.”

Oh! A “so that’s how it is”!

And then he just wouldn’t ask anymore!

The Devil was helpless: “The witch is right. Of course you can solve this problem of the pirates. However…..”

He let go of the King’s hand and stood up.

“You need something else.”

“What?”

“An invitation.”

The Devil leaned over gracefully and reached out a hand to the King.

“Will you take a trip to hell with me? My dear Majesty.”

The King did not answer, but slightly raised his eyebrows and looked at his outstretched hand.

The dark eyes of the Devil stared at the King, and that familiar, unfathomable smile was on his face: “Relax, Your Majesty. I have no plans to break the contract now.”

In other words, you had always wanted to violate the contract?

The King thought.

He stretched out his hand.

The smile of the Devil expanded a bit wider.

The black mist, thick and tidal-like, rolled up, enveloping the entire room.

The black mist dissipated, and the cold moonlight penetrated through the window and fell on the chair by the window. The young king closed his eyes and leaned back in his chair as if he was asleep.

………………

The King opened his eyes.

He heard the frantic flapping of wings and the hoarse and unpleasant crowing of a kind of bird.

The King looked up and saw a huge door standing a distance in front of him. Inside the door was a turbulent vortex of blood red and pitch black colors. The frequency of the flapping wings increased.

The King finally retracted his gaze and looked up at his side. On a black tree on his left, a crow was hopping excitedly on a branch, flapping frantically and crowing at him in an urgent manner.

The King looked at the crow in silence.

…..Was it his imagination? Why was it that he felt that this dark crow was trying to speak to him?

The crow seemed like it was nearly about to pass out with excitement. Seeing the King looking towards it, it hurriedly flapped its wings, flying off the branches. It screeched while flying around the King, trying to express something with his actions.

The King determined that it was indeed talking to him.

“What is it saying?”

The King looked at the Devil.

“It is praising you for having the most beautiful eyes in the world, praising you for having the most beautiful face it has ever seen, but this guy has limited vocabulary, so please don’t take it to heart.” The Devil looked very apologetic.

The crow turned angrily and flew towards the Devil, flapping its wings frantically and lifting its claws. The King got a feeling that it wanted to claw out the Devil’s eyes.

The Devil remained calm as usual, stretching out a hand and slapping the crow onto the ground: “Oh, it is actually called Mela, but this is not something worth remembering.”

“Hello, Mela.”

The King looked down at the crow that was slapped onto the ground by the Devil, seeming to still be getting over the dizziness.

The crow struggled, wanting to fly back up again when it suddenly heard the King’s voice. It suddenly paused in a very human-like manner, and then with a swishing sound, its black wings folded together and covered its little head.

“What’s wrong with it?”

“Like I said! This is just an idiot, there is no need to pay it much attention.”

The Devil bent over and lifted the crow whose head was still covered with its wings, and threw it on the branch carelesy. The crow angrily flapped opened its wings to reveal its dark red eyes, wanting to peck at the Devil’s hand. The Devil’s reaction was quick, and he withdrew his hand.

“Look! Not only stupid, but also a bad temper!”

The King looked at the Devil calmly. The Devil was smiling, his face always seeming to have a smiling mask firmly in place.

The King withdrew his gaze: “What is that?”

He was asking about the door.

“The gate of purgatory, passing through it is the territory of hell.” The Devil remembered something, “Because Your Majesty does not completely belong to hell yet, you cannot enter in the nightmare carriage, so please allow me the following tiny offense.”

The King did not answer, but acquiesced by taking two steps forward.

The Devil and the King walked towards the gate of purgatory together, and the King could clearly see the words engraved on the gate. The Devil seemed to be waiting for the King to ask what happened to the two lines that were crossed out, but the King just looked at it for a while before saying to the Devil, “Let’s go.”

The Devil sighed regretfully.

He pinned a bright red rose to the collar of the King’s shirt, and then leaned forward slightly. He was much taller than the King, and when he leaned down, it was at a perfect angle to whisper in the King’s ear: “Well, then…..welcome to hell, my dear Majesty.”

The King heard him chuckle, and then he felt the other embracing him.

In his field of vision, countless black butterflies hovered and flew in the air, enclosing the King and the Devil together.

The crow that was on the tree branch flapped its wings, watching the Devil and the King disappear in front of the gate of purgatory.

——In the entirety of hell, only he could take the Majesty of now through the gate of purgatory.

………………

Chaos.

It seemed like the world was plunged into the deep seabed, surrounded by endless dark and bloody vortexes. The only thing that seemed to be real was the Devil’s power that was embracing him.

He had clearly passed through the gate of purgatory, but the King felt as if he was falling down midair.

Until he touched the ground again.

“We have arrived, Your Majesty.”

The voice of the Devil rang in his ears.

At the same time, the King heard other noises——like the sound of the wind passing over the land and its faint sorrowful wailing.

He opened his eyes.

Hell unfolded before the eyes of the King.

The dark red sky that was bleeding all the time, the never-ending rain of fire. The scorched earth, dotted lakes of sulfur and fire and white steaming mist. The sharp, bladelike mountain ridges, the countless corpses hanging from it, the white souls of the departed meandering by…..

The Devil stood beside the King. He plucked a black umbrella out of thin air and opened it with a click, holding it over the King’s head to block the rain of fire.

“This is hell.”

After a long time, the King spoke.

You c an fi nd t he la te st cha pte rs at ( th e bl mu se . c o m )

His pupils reflected the dark red sky, the ink black earth, the red gold sulfur lake, and the pale white souls of the departed.

The pupils of the Devil reflected his image.

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

This was hell.

The dead and barren hell which had been waiting for your return.

If you would like to show some ♡  then please consider supporting this translator! ლ(⌒εー)ლ

Prev