Demon King – Chapter 8 – The Demon Lord Is In Trouble!

“Yo, fresh wallet incoming.”

“Just what we needed—been running low on cash these past few days.”

Seeing a kid walk into the alley, a few thugs immediately set their sights on Eiru.

Ugh… looks like another fight. I really wanted to save my magic this time.

Looking at the clearly ill-intentioned group, Eiru sighed. Judging by the looks in their eyes, this was definitely going to end in a fight.

“Wait, isn’t this guy Eiru?” one of the thugs suddenly blurted.

“What? You know him?” The others turned toward the speaker.

“Boss, we should back off. He’s not someone we want to mess with. All the gangs around Seventh High are under his control now. If we pick a fight, we’re in for trouble.”

The thug tried to dissuade his boss, and though he spoke quietly, Eiru heard every word.

At that moment, Eiru was completely baffled. What kind of rumor was that ?

Seventh High was arguably the most chaotic school in Huanghai City, swarming with delinquents and gangsters inside and out. There were at least a dozen gangs operating there. The school barely cared, unless you crossed a top student; so even the Disciplinary Committee and Student Council were essentially useless.

When had he ever done something like that? If memory served, apart from ditching class, the only time he tangled with a gang was when they tried mugging him once and ended up beating a dozen guys to a pulp—including their boss.

He got dragged to the Dean’s Office afterward for that incident, and once the story got back to his parents, he was grounded and thoroughly chewed out.

Ever since, Eiru made it a habit to avoid any thugs whenever he saw them. If he really had taken over all the gangs around Seventh High, he would’ve been expelled already.

His transformed appearance didn’t enhance his physical abilities—he was still as weak as his loli form—however, he could still use magic while in disguise. While his control and output were reduced, he could easily overpower a dozen thugs with quick bursts of magic and his inhuman reflexes.

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The boss of the group glanced at Eiru after hearing the warning, and his eyes showed a bit of hesitation. He knew the kinds of freaks Seventh High produced. After a moment’s pause, he waved his hand, leading his crew deeper into the alley, running away.

Eiru dissipated his gathered magic and let out a breath of relief. He wasn’t sure what was going on, but for now, he was grateful for the strange rumor.

Once he confirmed that there weren’t any other people around, and no security cameras in sight, blue light flashed as he fluttered his wings and retracted both them and his tail into his body.

After all, she needed to get used to interacting with others in her true form eventually. Thinking that, she reached up and touched the horns on her head, using magic to conceal them. (That shopping trip didn’t count—she was glued to her phone the whole time and didn’t pay attention to anything else.)

Straightening out her clothes, the Demon Lord walked out of the alley and continued her journey home.

“Sweetie, what are you doing out here alone? Did you get separated from your family?” an older woman stopped her shortly after.

Did she just get mistaken for an elementary schooler? Eiru wasn’t even surprised. She responded politely to the concerned woman.

“I live not far from here. Just heading home. Thanks for checking on me.”

“That won’t do, little one. Things have been really dangerous around here lately. And you’re such a cute little girl—anything could happen. Let auntie walk you home,” the woman said as she pinched Eiru’s cheek.

“…Alright, thank you, Auntie.” Even though the woman’s overly familiar touch made her a bit uncomfortable, Eiru didn’t refuse. Better to avoid unnecessary trouble.

She figured as long as the woman only walked her partway, that’d be fine. Older ladies like this were notoriously stubborn. Refusing would probably lead to a full-on lecture.

But what Eiru failed to notice was a van with blacked-out windows creeping behind them from a distance…

Along the way, the woman kept bombarding Eiru with questions. How many people were in her family? How old was she? How long had she lived in the area? Eiru found it a bit annoying but answered out of politeness.

When the woman learned she was already 16, a flash of surprise—and something else—glimmered in her eyes. Eiru, who had already grown tired of the questions, didn’t notice.

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“So you’re in high school now?” the woman asked again, still feigning interest.

“Yes… I go to Seventh High,” Eiru replied.

“Seventh, huh…” A gleam of satisfaction passed through the woman’s eyes, like she’d just confirmed something important.

“See that intersection up ahead? Go through it and turn right into the alley, and I’ll be at my building. You don’t need to walk me further, Auntie.”

“Alright then, be careful out there, sweetie…” the woman waved goodbye, which surprised Eiru a little. She expected the woman to insist more.

Still, she didn’t think much of it. She stepped into the alley—only for disaster to strike.

A hand holding a cloth reached from behind and clamped down over her mouth and nose.

The pungent smell hit her nerves hard. She tried to struggle but found her strength quickly vanishing as her consciousness faded.

Human traffickers? And wait… this stuff actually works on demons? That was Eiru’s final thought as she blacked out. The last thing she saw was the old woman across the street, running toward her with a panicked expression…

Her senses slowly returned. The vibrations, the sound… She was in a vehicle?

Eiru tried to sit up but found she couldn’t even move her head. Her limbs were useless.

There were several people speaking around her, but their words were fuzzy. She realized that while her mind was awake, her body wasn’t responding.

She couldn’t see, she couldn’t hear clearly, she couldn’t move. It wasn’t just physical weakness—her entire body was paralyzed.

Just her luck… And now she had no idea what time it was. If she didn’t make it home before lunch, her parents were going to kill her.

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Was she kidnapped? Or trafficked? Probably the latter—her family wasn’t rich, and her current appearance didn’t really connect her to them anyway.

Sure, she might look like some pampered rich girl, so maybe this was a spur-of-the-moment thing… Then she imagined the classic ransom scene:

The kidnappers using her phone to call her parents: “We have your daughter. If you don’t want her dead…”

Only for her parents to stare at Eiya in confusion on the other end of the line.

No, just thinking about it made her want to laugh—even if she physically couldn’t right now.

If it really was a kidnapping, she just hoped they wouldn’t use her phone. Using their phone, they might just be seen as idiots. But if they used hers … She had no idea how she’d explain that later.

But if this was human trafficking… that might be worse. Who knew where she’d be taken? If she couldn’t find her way home, that would be a nightmare.

Please let it still be within Huanghai City… If so, flying back wouldn’t be too hard. But if they took her out of town…

As her hearing improved, she could finally make out their words:

“You gave her way too much of the drug. What if she doesn’t wake up? That kind of quality…”

So it was human traffickers, then.

Now that she understood her situation, Eiru’s first concern was—how the heck would she explain all this when she got home?

“Didn’t you say this brat was 16? I just used a bit more than usual…”

“Are you blind? Even if she’s 16, look at her. And with that dose? Even a full-grown man would be out for a whole day. If she doesn’t wake up, this deal’s dead.”

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“Relax… I checked. She’s fine. She’ll just sleep longer… which makes it easier to find a buyer.”

The voices argued. One of them sounded vaguely familiar, but Eiru couldn’t focus on that right now.

So they gave her a heavy dose of some anesthetic? Strong enough to knock out a grown man for an entire day? She was just a tiny thing—what if she’d already been out for over a day?

If her parents noticed she was missing and reported it, that police officer would definitely take it seriously. And if he escalated it…

Her head was spinning. She had to get up somehow.

She couldn’t move her body, so she couldn’t use magic. Without magic, she couldn’t purge the drug from her system. Her demon physiology let her wake up mentally first—but her body showed no signs of recovering.

She’d probably be stuck in this state for a while longer. Right now, the most important thing was figuring out the time…

Her ringtone suddenly echoed in the vehicle. It was her phone.

“Turn that brat’s phone off, or chuck it. That damn beeping is driving me nuts,” someone grumbled.

Eiru’s heart relaxed a little. Judging from that reaction, not much time had passed. If it had, they would’ve already dealt with her phone.

Still, it’s not like that changed anything. She was still paralyzed, and—

Please, oh please, just don’t break my phone! I really, really can’t afford a new one right now…

The Demon Lord cried on the inside, praying for mercy on her poor, innocent phone.