Demon King – Chapter 422 – A House That Eats People

This world does contain supernatural phenomena. On that point, the current Eiru could say she believed it without the slightest doubt.

After all, setting everything else aside, she herself was a textbook supernatural being. This pile of strange abilities of hers even touched on the level of concepts, enough to make a whole group of physicists and chemists claw their way out of their coffins.

Even though she could be considered directly involved in supernatural phenomena, up until today, Eiru had truly never encountered anything similar before.

“Listen carefully, little princess. That village is extremely, extremely sinister. You absolutely must not stay there until night. You have to leave before then, understood?”

Before Eiru and Yuki set out, Ziyu had specifically pulled Eiru aside and privately warned her.

At the time, the little Demon Lord had not understood what Ziyu meant. The warning itself was vague and unclear. But after arriving at the place, the strange atmosphere surrounding it made her somewhat understand his meaning.

While playing around with the little sparrows inside the house, Her Majesty the Demon Lord had also spread out her magic power and conducted a round of probing. The result made her scalp crawl. In this not-so-small village, there was not a single living person.

Beyond that, she could clearly feel that the village seemed to be influenced by some unknown force. As for what it was, or what kind of effect it caused, even she could not say.

“Just now, did you feel scared? Like your hands and feet or your back going cold, or goosebumps coming up?”

As if she had thought of something, Eiru asked Yuki, and received a definite yes in response.

Combining Yuki’s answer with Ziyu’s earlier, roundabout description, this village seemed to not welcome outsiders other than the elderly and children. Making outsiders feel fear appeared to be one of the village’s methods of driving them away.

“Since you asked like that, Lu Brat, does that mean you felt it too?”

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When they were still inside the house, Yuki had not really realized it, but thinking back now, his reaction earlier really had been fear.

“No. I’m a Demon Lord. If the level isn’t high enough, it can’t break through my defenses. My physical resistance is bad, but my magic resistance is very high.”

Explaining it in extremely straightforward terms, the little Demon Lord waved her hand, drawing several magic circles that wrapped around Yuki.

“Just in case. Who knows what kind of weird stuff is around here?”

Seeing the uneasy look on Yuki’s face, Eiru spoke while reaching out to hold his hand.

The moment their hands met, the sound of the wind stopped. The sparrows that had been chirping and fussing just moments ago suddenly went silent, as if they had never existed at all.

Staying outside was not going to yield any results. As the surrounding environment fell quiet, the two of them also noticed that the vague sense of discomfort that had been influencing them earlier had disappeared.

Exchanging a look, they tightened their grip on each other’s hands. Yuki reached out and gently pushed the door open once more, intending to go back inside with his little girlfriend to investigate properly.

“By the way, why did you tell me to leave the fruit behind earlier?”

The outer hall looked exactly the same as before. While letting out a sigh of relief, Yuki asked the question that had been bothering him the whole time.

“I’m not completely sure either. Let’s go to the inner hall first.”

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Although Eiru looked calm on the surface, the tail trembling nonstop behind her had long since betrayed her true feelings.

Oh right, this girl was afraid of ghosts. Yuki naturally could not fail to notice Eiru’s tail. Thinking of that, he could not help but find it a bit funny.

You are a dignified Demon Lord. Being afraid of ghosts is really something else. Then again, this place really did feel haunted. Yuki himself felt uneasy as well, his body already prepared to scoop up the girl and run at any moment.

“Waaahhh.”

The instant she lifted the curtain to the inner hall and saw the scene inside, the little Demon Lord was so frightened that she immediately threw herself onto Yuki.

“What’s wrong? You’re a Demon Lord. Have some backbone.”

Using teasing words to ease the tension, Yuki, full of question marks, looked toward the inner hall.

But after seeing the scene inside, Yuki frowned. Not because there was something strange inside. The situation was exactly the same as when they first arrived, without the slightest change.

Just as Yuki was about to muster his courage and step inside again to investigate further, despite finding nothing, Eiru reached out and pulled him back.

“What are you trying to do? Are you trying to get yourself killed?”

“What’s wrong? Could it be that you saw something only demons can see?”

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Faced with Eiru’s intense reaction, Yuki was full of confusion, but he suddenly remembered a certain folk legend, something called the yin-yang eyes.

Even if he could not see it, perhaps Eiru, as a demon or even a Demon Lord, could see things that many humans could not. Was that why she stopped me? Thinking of this, Yuki’s expression turned serious.

“Are you stupid? The fruit. The sparrows. They’re all gone.”

Seeing that he had not noticed the real issue, Eiru angrily knocked Yuki on the head several times.

‘This idiot was usually pretty sharp. How did he lose his edge here? Such a big pile of fruit disappeared, and you did not even notice.’

At this point, it was basically confirmed. This house either had the ability to devour foreign objects, or it periodically forced the environment to reset to the state it was in at a certain point in time.

If that was the case, it was very likely that all the houses in the village were like this. That would explain why the houses looked dilapidated on the outside but clean inside. Looking at it this way, they might have arrived too late. The villagers might have already become victims of these houses.

“Let’s go. This place is not suitable to stay. The inner hall eats things. Who knows if the outer hall does too.”

As she spoke, the little Demon Lord grabbed Yuki’s hand and hurried toward the outside, because just now, she had once again felt that same sense of discomfort.

But before the two of them could take a step, a sound came from the inner hall behind them, which should have been completely empty.

“This village hasn’t had visitors for many years now. It’s rare to have guests come, and even bring gifts. I suppose you’ve come because you need something from this useless old man.”

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The two of them turned around, and in the very center of the inner hall, an elderly man with white hair and a cane had appeared out of nowhere.

Eiru and Yuki were completely stunned by this surreal scene. Although they did not know what was going on, one thing was certain. The old man in front of them could not possibly be alive.

“Since you’ve come all this way, there’s no need to rush off. If there’s anything you need this old man to help with, just say the word.”

As if he had not noticed their terrified expressions at all, the old grandfather spoke slowly with a kind smile on his face.

The old man’s gentle smile seemed to carry a kind of infectious quality, the closeness of a friendly neighbor. Without even realizing it, Eiru and Yuki were influenced by it, and their tense emotions gradually eased.

Translator Note

Are there any of you who are afraid of ghost stories~?