Even Today, the Ranker Dreams of Retirement

After a brief silence, Ipsine finally answered in a careful voice.

-……She’s too warm to be called a Demon King.

-Pardon?

-And kind.

-P-Pardon?

The maid’s response was one of shock.

The reaction was the same on this side.

[What? Kind?]

“Warm?”

Jiseok and Ahezar, who were eavesdropping, were astounded.

“Which part exactly was warm? Demanding the carriage and food? Telling them to eat it all themselves because it tasted bad?”

[The standards of demons!]

Habin and Libe also tilted their heads in confusion.

“Sheesh. If I accidentally show any kindness, won’t they all burn to death from the warmth?”

-Piyaaak…….

It’s not easy pretending to be trash, huh.

The four shook their heads and fell silent again to listen to the next part of the conversation.

◆◇◆◇◆

At that time, in Ipsine’s bedroom.

Ipsine was listening to the grumbling of the maid beside her.

“Geez…… Warm and kind? The mansion’s alcohol supply was nearly depleted because of her.”

The maid pouted, apparently still bothered by the evening’s events. Ipsine hastily shook her head.

“No, listen! Above all, I’ve seen the Demon King of Greed when I was young, and the feeling was completely different. Can’t you sense what kind of person she is just by looking at her eyes?”

“I can’t…… To be honest, I was too scared to even think about looking at her eyes.”

Our lady is so brave. How could you look straight into the Demon King’s eyes?

The honest maid sighed heavily as she answered. Seeing this, Ipsine rose from her seat. As she approached the bookshelf in the corner of the bedroom, she continued speaking.

“Moreover, I felt it during dinner. She immediately grasped the meaning behind my words with just a single comment. She even empathized with my situation…… Originally, the position of the Demon King of Greed is for someone whose greed has reached its extreme. It’s a place where there’s no reason to care for underlings. For such a person to have that level of empathy…”

“Are you saying she might not be the Demon King of Greed?! That’s impossible. But her aura was already that of a Demon King! It’s a rule that no one can imitate a Demon King’s aura. No magic can perfectly mimic a ‘Demon King’. That’s the principle of the world!”

“No, there’s exactly one being who can do such a thing.”

Reaching the bookshelf, Ipsine pulled out a silver book.

“Pride, Greed, Envy, Avarice, Wrath, Sloth, Lust. The seven Demon Kings we always encounter.”

“……”

“However, there are 8 seats in the Demon King’s castle, not 7. There’s always one empty seat.”

On the cover of Ipsine’s book, only the number ‘0’ was engraved.

“The 0th, the ‘Demon God’ in charge of ‘Nothingness’.”

If it’s that person, everything makes sense. The maid rebutted with a startled expression.

“But the Demon God hasn’t appeared for the past five thousand years! Isn’t it speculated that they’ve just remained a legend or have already passed away…… How…!”

“The Demon King of Nothingness doesn’t usually reveal themselves. Even when they do, I’ve heard they dislike drawing attention, so they hide their appearance by pretending to be another demon.”

Ipsine wore a serious expression. It was a story she had heard from her late parents, like a legend. It could be dismissed as just a legend, but…….

“N-No way, could it really be……”

The maid who had been listening covered her mouth in surprise. Ipsine nodded.

“Yes. If I dare to guess, I think we might be hosting the legendary Demon God right now.”

◆◇◆◇◆

“……”

“That’s not it.”

[That’s not it.]

“No way.”

-Piyaak.

They were still eavesdropping on the conversation. Habin, who had been mistaken for the legendary Demon God, crossed her arms.

“I pretended to be a Demon King, and they’re elevating me to a Demon God on their own?”

“I thought we’d been found out, but they’ve come to their own conclusions.”

Jiseok exhaled, whether in a sigh or in admiration. Habin nodded.

“Hmm, that’s right. It’s truly an impressive imagination. Our Ipsine, I’m seeing her in a new light.”

She seemed like a frightened pink rabbit, so I might have underestimated her, but I didn’t expect her to have so many thoughts in that small head of hers.

[If she had been born in modern Korea, she would surely have become an excellent web novelist! Then I could have supported her with cash. What a shame for such talent.]

-Pii pii, pii!

Libe nodded vigorously in agreement. Seeing this, Jiseok had a momentary doubt.

‘Does it really understand everything and nod along?’

Anyway.

Jiseok took out the Demon Realm guidebook he had put away. He hurriedly flipped through it.

“Actually, I did see something about the Demon God briefly in the guidebook……”

On the page about the ‘Demon God’ that Jiseok opened, there was only a ‘?’ drawn instead of a picture.

‘No demon can pin down his appearance. It’s questionable whether he really existed.’

“…By the way, Hyun Habin, can your skill copy even a Demon King’s aura? According to Ipsine and the maid, that’s ignoring the principles of the world.”

Honestly, even when Habin was imitating the appearance of a Demon King, he didn’t know it was such an impressive skill.

But seeing Ipsine and the maid’s surprise, it seems this skill couldn’t be used by anyone less than a Demon God-level being.

Jiseok looked at Habin with a suspicious expression.

But.

“Ah, I missed an important scene while eavesdropping! I need to rewind!”

Habin hurriedly turned her attention to the beam projector and her phone.

“Hey? Hello? Listen to me……”

“Hmm. Where was I?”

Hyun Habin frantically pressed the ’10 seconds back’ search button.

Having finally found the section she was watching, she calmly spoke.

“…Ah. Don’t worry too much, Chae-ssi. Isn’t this good anyway? If we went to the Demon King’s castle in this Demon King of Greed form, we’d run into the real Demon King of Greed. That would be troublesome and annoying, right?”

If we went there and encountered the real Demon King of Greed…… We’d either have to figure out who’s the doppelganger or eliminate the other.

Either way, it’s a disaster ending.

“It would be a very annoying situation.”

“That’s… true.”

Jiseok nodded. Habin twirled her hair, lost in thought.

“So, in conclusion. Since our Ipsine is already making such a fruitful misunderstanding. It might be good to change our job at this point.”

“To what?”

“To the Demon God.”

“……!”

At this point, disguising as the legendary Demon God.

A silence fell over the room at that statement. Habin continued.

“Honestly, it’s hard to act like trash half-heartedly. There’s also the doppelganger problem. So from now on, instead of the trivial ‘Greed’ Demon King……”

“The legendary ‘Nothingness’ Demon God?”

“Let’s change the concept.”

“……This is really going to turn the Demon Realm upside down.”

With a wave of Habin’s hand, her appearance changed again. Not the Demon King of Greed, but closer to her original face.

Her eyes were still the red of demons. Since the legendary Demon God was said to appear in a different form each time, it wouldn’t matter if she looked similar to herself.

Seeing this, Jiseok opened his inventory.

“Then while we’re at it, I should change too. Earlier, we encountered an unexpected situation, so I met them in this form, but I can’t keep walking around as a human forever.”

Chae Jiseok took out lens items that change eye color and items that conceal smell and presence from his inventory.

This much might not be able to copy a Demon King’s aura like Habin, but it should be enough to appear as a weak demon.

“But, is this really okay? A legendary Demon God, even the demons’ reactions won’t be mild. What if we’re discovered?”

“Don’t worry. If we’re discovered, we can just jump into interdimensional space right away!”

Habin rested her chin on her hand nonchalantly. She had her reasons for being so bold.

Jiseok flipped through the guidebook, lost in thought.

“Still, since we’re doing this, it would be better if the disguise was more plausible, so let’s incorporate the information we got here and from Ipsine. According to this, the Demon God uses a ‘new appearance, new name’ every time they appear, so that part won’t be a problem. Another characteristic is that they symbolize ‘Nothingness’.”

Jiseok tapped the guidebook. After a moment of thought, he spoke.

“Wait, doesn’t the word ‘Nothingness’ sound familiar……? When I briefly saw your skill name with ‘Penetrating Eyes’ in the Mirror Dungeon before. The skill you used then was probably-“

Void Contagion.

Jiseok’s expression froze as he recalled this.

◆◇◆◇◆

After all the maids and servants had left the room, Ipsine was left alone in her bedroom, unable to sleep and lost in thought.

The wind blew through the open window, rustling the curtains. Ipsine stared blankly at the pitch-black sky visible outside. Occasionally, the desperate howls and screams of magical beasts pierced the silence.

‘……Ipsine. You know what? The night in the Demon Realm is endlessly dark, but in the human world, there are things called stars and the moon.’

When she was young, her parents would sit her down and gently tell her stories while looking out the window.

If other relatives had known this, they might have scolded them for coddling the heir who should be raised to be strong.

Her parents had a softer, more tender side than the typical demon parenting style.

‘What are stars and the moon?’

‘They’re beings that light up the night so it’s not dark. Ipsine, are you scared of the dark?’

‘……I’m scared of the dark. I don’t like sleeping alone.’

‘I see. That’s why Ipsine always sleeps with the lights on.’

For Ipsine, who was particularly timid, her parents always placed a lamp by her bed at night.

Glow-in-the-dark slimes, luminous insects, twinkling lights provided by magical beasts. Magical flames and beautiful, diverse scented candles.

And they would stay by her side, talking about various things until she fell asleep.

‘When your mom and dad were young, we secretly visited the human world by chance, and in the night there, lights like these lamps were embedded in the sky. So it wasn’t as dark as here.’

‘The ground there wasn’t as hard, and the air was warmer. So it was easier for plants to grow, and food was abundant.’

‘Then they probably didn’t fight as much as here, right? Here, everyone fights because everything is scarce.’

‘No……. They fought even though it was more plentiful there. Just because it’s abundant doesn’t necessarily mean there’s an excess of generosity.’

These fairy tale-like stories they told her every night.

Recalling this, Ipsine brought back the book she had shown the maid earlier. She closed her eyes as she stared at the title ‘0’ written on the spine of the book.

This book, and the legend of the Demon God, were among the stories she had heard from her parents when she was young.