Demon King – Chapter 6 – The Demon Lord Becomes An Urban Legend!

Given the way it had been described, Eiru definitely knew that the so-called giant bat being talked about… was definitely her.

No way, right? She had always been careful to fly high among the clouds, and at night too—plus, she wore black on purpose. How could anyone have seen her?

She quickly searched online and discovered that about a year and a half ago, a photography enthusiast had unintentionally caught sight of her in the sky during a shoot.

Although she was mistaken for a bat and wasn’t captured clearly in a photo, the photographer casually mentioned the incident to some friends.

He didn’t mean anything by it—but they took it seriously. After hearing about it, a few of his friends came out and patiently waited to catch a glimpse of the “bat.”

Even though Eiru didn’t fly home every week, she still flew a lot over the past two years. Those people eventually succeeded in spotting her and even figured out her flight pattern.

From then on, the rumor spread. More and more people began saying that a giant bat often appeared over East District on Saturday nights.

The more people paid attention, the more often she was “seen.” The story snowballed. About two weeks ago, someone even managed to snap a blurry photo—and the media finally caught wind of it.

If Eiru fully spread her wings while flying, they spanned nearly two meters. From a distance, she really did look like a giant bat.

When she clicked on the photo, Eiru was sure—it was her. Thankfully, it was taken from high among the clouds, and only a blurry outline of her wings was visible.

“Experts are coming this week to confirm its existence… and they might even try to capture it???”

Eiru felt a bit of relief—thankfully she saw this post in time. Plus, her family was coming to take her home this weekend anyway… Otherwise, if she had flown back like usual, she might’ve ended up getting caught.

If that happened, she could already guess tomorrow’s headlines. And if she really got captured, who knew—maybe she’d be dissected for research. That thought sent a chill down her spine.

Scratching her head in frustration, Eiru started thinking about alternative ways to get home in the future. Just then, a knock came at the door—her parents must have arrived.

Eiru hurried over and opened the door.

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As expected, it was her parents and grandmother. Eiru pulled out the slippers she had prepared from the shoe cabinet and went to help her grandmother walk in.

Carrying bags of groceries, the family entered and settled down on the sofa while Eiru brewed some tea.

“Eiru… have you been skipping classes lately?” her father asked casually while sipping tea.

“Do you even need to ask? That brat couldn’t possibly not be skipping.” Her mother gave Eiru a pointed glare, making him hastily serve the tea before quickly sitting down next to her grandmother.

“Eiru, how’d you suddenly grow taller? And weren’t you just white-haired a moment ago?” Grandma suddenly reached out and started rubbing her head.

Eiru froze for a second, unsure how to react. Meanwhile, Eiya was covering her mouth to stifle a laugh on the side.

“Say something. We came all the way over here and you’re just sitting there in silence. Also, the neighbors say you brought a girl home?”

“Honestly, at your age, you should be focused on your studies. Don’t go ruining some poor girl’s future… Do you really have the nerve to go poaching someone else’s precious daughter?”

Here we go again. Faced with her mom’s nagging, Eiru activated selective hearing mode, becoming a lifeless nodding machine that could only grunt in response.

His mother kept going on and on, but Eiru didn’t register a single word.

He was used to this. The usual speech—something about enduring hardship now to enjoy life later, men needing to build a career before starting a family, studying hard to land a good job, and only then being worthy of marriage… blah blah blah…

But I’m not even a boy anymore… Eiru thought, exasperated. Forget courting girls—at this rate, I’m the one at risk of being courted.

“Alright, alright, I know you’re not listening. Go back to your room. We’ll take you home after lunch.”

“Mhm.” Freed at last, Eiru fled to his room like a prisoner escaping a death sentence.

“When will that kid ever grow up…” her parents sighed as they watched him retreat.

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Looking over at Eiya sitting obediently, they couldn’t help but compare the two. Boys were just too wild—girls were far easier to raise.

Back in his room, Eiru flopped onto the bed like a starfish, sighing in relief.

He was really bad at talking to family. Not just his parents—he had no idea how to talk to any of his relatives. It always felt awkward.

The gap between generations was too big. No matter how the conversation started, it always ended up becoming one-sided lectures and scolding. Family questions always boiled down to:

How are your grades? What rank are you in your class? Have you figured out where you want to go to college?

Sometimes they’d even ask: Are you dating anyone?

And if you dared to say yes—your life was over.

His parents would at least ask about meals and the neighborhood, but even those questions were kind of pointless…

Of course, what’s considered “pointless” is subjective, but it was clear that they had no shared interests. They simply had nothing to talk about.

Online friends were just way better… Not that his family was bad or anything—but when it came to chatting, they were just so incompatible.

Eiru’s hobbies were mainly games and anime. If he dared to bring that up at home, he’d get roasted instantly.

As for his little sister Eiya, she’d been keeping her distance ever since fifth grade. She wouldn’t even let Eiru step into her room. How would Eiru possibly know what she liked, let alone hold a conversation with her?

“Bro…” came a voice, followed by a knock at the door. A small crack opened and Eiya peeked in.

“What is it…” Eiru was a little surprised that his sister came to him proactively—but he already knew why.

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“Can I borrow your computer for a bit?”

Called it. Eiru put a hand over his face. His little sister only ever talked to him when she needed something.

“Don’t stay on for too long…” he said, not even bothering to lift his head as he closed his eyes to rest.

“Thanks, bro…” Eiya said cheerfully as she skipped over to the desk.

Right after she sat down, she noticed that Eiru had left a forum page open. Curiously skimming through it, she suddenly turned and said:

“That giant bat, huh… Come to think of it, someone in our complex did say they saw a huge bat land on the roof. Yesterday I even saw the property managers setting up nets on several rooftops.”

“What? Seriously?” Eiru shot up in alarm. They’re setting up nets on the roof? How was he supposed to go back now?

“Why are you overreacting so much?” Eiya frowned at her brother’s jumpiness.

“And it’s not that surprising. Who knows if that thing’s dangerous? It’s as big as a person. What if it attacks someone?”

“I doubt that bat would hurt anyone…” Eiru muttered as he lay back down, face full of despair.

“Don’t sound like you’ve seen it or something… Bats are omnivorous, you know. That size? Pretty high chance it could attack someone.”

Seen it? Eiru groaned internally. Sweetheart, your darling sister —yes, sister —sees that “bat” every single day…

Since Eiru didn’t reply, Eiya stopped talking to him and went back to the computer. The room fell into a quiet lull, both of them doing their own thing.

As Eiru laid there, drowsiness crept in. After getting woken up so early, he was tempted to take a nap. He could almost see Dreamland’s gates opening and Lord Zhou Gong ¹ Zhou Gong, also known as the Duke of Zhou, is a figure in Chinese history and mythology who is revered as the “God of Dreams” waving him over to chase butterflies…

Suddenly, he jerked awake—startling Eiya.

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“What the heck is wrong with you today? Jumping like that—are you okay?” she grumbled.

“No, I just almost dozed off… Sorry. Keep playing, don’t mind me.”

Thank goodness he hadn’t fallen asleep. If he lost consciousness, he wouldn’t be able to maintain his transformation magic. Once it deactivated, his loli form would be fully exposed right in front of his sister.

And that would be a massive problem. His current body wasn’t even human. How could he tell his family? What if they didn’t recognize him as family anymore? He’d cry his heart out with nowhere to go…

“Then go sleep, jeez. Why are you wandering around? I’ll call you when lunch is ready.” Eiya rolled his eyes and went back to the screen.

“No, I’m good.” Eiru sat up and grabbed a jacket.

“Where are you going? Aren’t we heading back after lunch?”

“Just stepping out. I’ll be back before then.” With that, Eiru left the room.

He gave his parents a heads-up in the living room and left the house to his mom telling him , “Be back before lunch!”

He was outside now, but had no idea where to go. His mind blank, Eiru wandered down the stairs and aimlessly strolled through the streets.

Truth be told, the East District didn’t have the best public safety. It was an older area, with tons of narrow alleys. Delinquents and thugs often hung around, robbing passersby or extorting students.

While walking, Eiru spotted someone who looked like a thief being chased by a police officer. The two dashed past a nearby intersection.

Then he suddenly remembered what the officer said that morning. Eiru reached into his pocket and pulled out that little slip of paper.

“…Should I go talk to the police?”