Chapter 63: brainwashed weapon

Holding the phone out and panting slightly, he said,

"You... you left your phone at home."

​For a few moments, the demon just stood there. Her eyes were wide, and her breath seemed caught in her throat.

The gaze of the people around them was fixed solely on the two of them.

A gentle breeze from the side made both of their hair and clothes flutter lightly.

​Relaxing her fists, the demon finally took a breath. Then, narrowing her eyes in her usual manner, she said,

"You need this more now."

​Himanshu blinked twice.

"I... I don’t understand."

​Turning toward the elevator without stopping, she replied,

"Anyway, it’s of no use to me anymore."

​The demon didn’t even realize why Himanshu wanted to give her the phone. She still mainly used the AI to understand things. But lately, she was starting to grasp most things on her own.

​Himanshu shrugged in frustration.

"No use? What if you accidentally get on the wrong train, how will I find you? You don’t even know what city you’re living in right now!"

​"We are in Visiturn Country, Velaska City,

Postal Code: ZR-7049, The Silvercrest Building name.

It was obvious that the demon would have wanted to ask the AI this first. Who would want to remain in the dark about where they live? And she was a ruling demon, after all.

​Himanshu’s next words hung in the air.

The elevator door was slowly starting to close.

There was no reason left to give her the phone.

​But at the last moment, Himanshu stuck his hand into the elevator.

The demon’s eyes widened again.

Because Himanshu had grabbed her wrist.

​"I don’t want to hear it, you’re taking this phone with you. That’s final!"

He pressed the phone into her hand.

​The demon was left staring at him with wide, unblinking eyes as the elevator doors closed.

​Himanshu couldn’t understand why he had done all that. Especially when it wasn’t even necessary.

It was obvious he didn’t want to leave her alone. He wasn’t just afraid of her getting lost; he was also afraid of accidents, kidnappings, and those creepy guys whose eyes are always glued to lone girls.

​Sure, she was a demon. But the technology of this world was far beyond her comprehension.

Having the phone with her eased that fear in Himanshu just a little bit.

He only realized the extent of that fear when he saw the demon turning away from him in that empty elevator.

​°°°°°°°°°

​As soon as he got home, he drank a large glass of water and placed The Demon Queen on the study table.

It was clear that Himanshu couldn’t delay this any longer.

​"Right, so where was I?"

"Okay, so the demon had annexed 13 states into her empire."

​Even after reading 100 pages, some things were still bothering Himanshu.

Because he had never seen the male demons fighting in a war. Yes, they were soldiers, but he had never seen them use powers. On the other hand, he had never seen the women among the humans fighting.

​The answer was clear: the powers were held only by certain girls among the demons. Girls chosen by nature.

And the demon was one of those girls.

​In the manga, he hadn’t seen anyone other than seven or eight demon girls using powers. And mostly, it was those same girls who went to fight alongside the demon.

​Most of the time, the demon was surrounded by young girls or power-wielding women. The surprising part was that most of the ministers were old males.

It seemed as though the girls with powers were deliberately being kept away from young boys.

But what was even more surprising was that these girls didn’t seem to care. It was as if they didn’t even feel the connection between males and females.

​Himanshu’s eyes kept going back to one old demon. His beard was white, and his horns were white, but he mostly wore white clothes too. He was the one the Demon Queen listened to very carefully. She didn’t just listen; she respected and honored him.

Whenever a major decision or direction was needed, everyone looked toward him. The relationship between the demon and him felt like that of a father and daughter.

​And then Himanshu saw the academy, where the demon was seen with an old, retired power demon.

Himanshu narrowed his eyes, because this was the place that held the answers to all his questions.

​The academy was massive. It looked like a whole city in itself, where nothing was lacking. Except for people.

The place was quite beautiful, but it held nothing but emptiness.

The soldiers just stood there like silent statues, and the teachers were few and far between.

Their age was no less than 25,000 years (around 55 in human years). From a distance, it seemed like the academy would be full of children, but the truth was that thousands of girls went to that academy.

By the end of the year, barely three to four girls managed to become power demons.

And some years, not a single student passed the academy.

​It was obvious that it wasn’t an academy; it was hell, through which the students were forced.

Sometimes they were left among hungry wolves, and sometimes they were told to mercilessly kill their own companions.

Lies, betrayal, deceit, cunningness, backstabbing—all of this was just commonplace.

​The most painful part was... killing their emotions.

Giving them no chance to think about compassion, kindness, or right and wrong. Only one thought was hammered into their brains:

"Protect our people from the humans. Your birth is a boon from God, for all the people.

Which you must protect until your dying breath."

​This was repeated every day, every moment, in every situation.

Before making any decision, this was repeated, regardless of whether the decision was right or wrong.

​Still, out of 1,500 girls, at least 50 or 25 could have survived.

So why was it that only three to four girls, or sometimes none, managed to graduate from the academy?

The answer was, becoming addicted to the powers.

Actually, this power never really existed; it was just like a disease that made you powerful while killing you from the inside.

Mostly, this disease only let go after taking your life.

​Today was the last day of the year, where out of 1,500 girls, only two had survived.

​Reading this, Himanshu wanted to pull his hair out, because there was no logic or sense to be found in this story.

"Even with a population four times larger, only 1,500 girls? And if they are so rare, why make their training so tough? They should be taking care of them!"

​"You idiot! If no girls survive, who will rule your kingdom?"

​"I knew it, this book is trash!"

Himanshu banged his forehead against the book.

​He groaned,

"Priya, how can you even like this book?"

​After flipping through the pages without reading for a few moments, Himanshu saw some faces with protruding bellies and clothes so soft they’d slip through your fingers.

They wore enough jewelry to open an entire shop.

These were people who looked at everyone with eyes full of greed and self-interest.

The scattered pages of the story and its logic were slowly starting to make sense to Himanshu.

​The academy wasn’t preparing warriors to save innocent people; it was just preparing weapons for those deceitful, selfish rich people.

Weapons that had power, but no understanding of right and wrong.

​Himanshu couldn’t believe that he had been living with a brainwashed weapon and was still alive.

It was a good thing he hadn’t read this earlier, or he probably would have died of fright.

​It was obvious that the demon was different from all those other girls. To her, that line between right and wrong seemed blurry.

She had a sense of doing the right thing and a deep desire to understand every emotion. Maybe that was why she was different from the rest.

​Now Himanshu was slowly starting to understand why Priya had said that line—the line about knowing oneself.

But now, he also started feeling a deep, inner fear of the demon.

​Himanshu glanced at the clock. Two hours had passed. Now he was waiting to ask the demon the answer to this question.

Did she know the difference between right and wrong?

​But somehow, Himanshu didn’t want to ask her about the manga again. Still, he had to do it. For her sake.

Z*z*z*z*z*z*z*z*z*z*z*z*z*z*z*z*z*z*z*z*z*z*z*z

[Author’s Note]

New alternate Chapters are free!

Chapter 60 — 100% free

Chapter 62 — 100% free

Chapter 64 — 100% free

All free Chapters are available in Vol. 0: Auxiliary Volume.

You can find all these free Chapters before Chapter 1.

These alternate Chapters are completely free for all readers. No payment is required to read them.

Enjoy these bonus Chapters, and thank you for reading and supporting my story!]

And do not buy Chapter 60. because its free.