Chapter 94 - 33: [Trust Me Once in a While]

Chapter 94: Chapter 33: [Trust Me Once in a While]

Like... a child. Samael felt the faint blue UI display in his helmet’s visor flicker.

"Same to you. I wish you all the best in the future," he replied. "Everything will be alright."

Talia let out another heavy *hmph*.

Ruby let go of him, turned around, and hugged Talia around the waist. Talia shifted, instinctively trying to dodge, but failed.

"Thank you too, Ms. Talan," Ruby said.

Beneath her helmet, Talia swallowed hard.

"Uh... yes... I wish you all the best in the future," she said dryly.

There was no more lingering attachment, just the wind bringing fallen leaves together and blowing them apart again. If every gust of wind required such a prolonged goodbye, how could one ever ride the wind to distant lands?

Besides, perhaps we will collide again in a distant gust of wind.

Randall and the rest waved their hands, bidding farewell to the two ascetics, and set off once more with the merchant caravan.

Samael and Talia headed toward the town’s relay station. Most of the Empire’s territory consisted of plains, and the roads were in relatively good condition. Hiring a travel carriage to go at full speed, it wouldn’t take long to cross the Empire’s Western Three Provinces.

"You are very popular," Talia said in a low voice.

"What’s wrong?" Samael smiled. "If you treat them with sincerity, they will treat you with sincerity too."

"My father was very much like you." Talia gazed absentmindedly at the Empire’s pale blue sky. "If you had the chance to meet, he would definitely like you very much.

"He was sincere to everyone around him. He was even kind to the weak Exile Tribes driven away by other Demon Monarchs, allowing them to freely station themselves in his Underground City and even letting them choose to settle down."

"Isn’t that a good thing?" Samael asked.

"It is a good thing, but also a bad thing," Talia sighed. "Even for the Demon Race, the north is not very suitable for habitation. The members of the Demon Race willing to live in the freezing far north are all the weak who were driven there, and the Demon Monarchs driven to the north are the weakest among them.

"My father’s way of treating others and his demeanor attracted large numbers of Exiles and many weak Demon Monarch allies in the north. Because of this, the unprecedentedly massive Rondolan Mountain Demon Country was built. The entire continuous Rondolan Mountain Range was covered in buildings, and the surrounding freezing snowfields, both above and below ground, were all the territory of the Demon Country. It was jointly constructed and managed by the leaders of the surrounding Exile Tribes and weak Demon Monarchs.

"Although they weren’t strong, weren’t good at fighting, and couldn’t be considered all-rounders, some were skilled in construction, some in strategy, some in breeding livestock, and some in growing special crops for cold regions. It was my father who united them, assigned them to their respective roles, and treated them with true sincerity, ultimately accomplishing such a monumental feat.

"Unlike other city-state-like Demon King’s Dungeons, the Rondolan Mountain Demon Country was not a small regional city-state, but a massive united kingdom of the Demon Race.

"It was a great miracle of unprecedented scale. At its peak, it occupied two-thirds of the Desolate Demon Realm in the extreme north of the entire continent.

"The charisma of a leader who treated people sincerely, and the beautiful virtue of being willing to share with friends, actually appeared in a Demon Race Monarch known for greed, cruelty, and the law of the jungle. This was something almost impossible, and my father was that ’impossible’."

"So, how did Rondolan collapse?" Samael asked.

"The other Demon Monarchs wouldn’t allow Rondolan to dominate alone; it was a threat. They worried that if they let my father continue to develop, he might launch a counterattack from the north, constantly occupying more territory until he conquered the whole world," Talia replied in a low voice.

"In order to counter my father’s growing power, a large number of Demon Monarchs allied with the Adventurer’s Alliance on the northern border. They used various schemes to sow discord—bribing, deceiving, enticing, and blackmailing—gradually splitting off many Demon Race allies, slowly weakening our power, and buying off spies from within.

"Manipulated by this web of conspiracy, betrayers killed my father and received the remnants of his Rondolan legacy as a reward.

"But the traitors didn’t have my father’s abilities and charisma. His Exile subordinates quickly left one after another, and the territory grew smaller and smaller. Buildings without proper protection and maintenance continuously collapsed, and the army mutinied. The Rondolan Mountain Demon Country fell apart. And the traitors quickly turned back into insignificant, weak Demon Monarchs, reduced to nameless stray dogs on the roadside amid the mocking laughter of the pack of Demon Race kings who had crusaded against Rondolan."

"Samael." She suddenly looked at him. "Sometimes, I’m very confused."

"What’s wrong, my lord?" Samael said habitually. "What do you want to eat for lunch? We are rich now."

"No, no! Stop rambling and changing the subject! You always do this!" Talia reached out her hands and held Samael’s helmet, forcing the slit of his visor to look directly at her. "With your abilities, your knowledge, your strategy, and your tactical wisdom, why are you willing to follow a troublesome exiled fugitive like me? Am I not just a burden to you?"

The two stared at each other in silence.

BUZZ—

The visual display of the helmet’s UI flickered with faint blue sparks.

[Consciousness state disorder detected.]

Cold, high walls forged from Nether Copper loomed faintly before his eyes. Upwards, there was no end. Downwards, there was no end. Left or right, there were no boundaries in any direction.

BUZZ— A scrawny girl was curled up, sitting in the dark center of the room, hugging her knees tightly, curled into a tiny ball, burying her face between her knees.

Hammer spears? A cloak? Dim crystals?