The Tale of Hero Alice’s Social Death

Chapter 244: Shocked Flaman

"Hahaha! Welcome! Welcome! LoAlice's friends! Treat this place like your own home!"

Flaman was the same friendly and muscular uncle as the first time Alice had met the other party a few months ago. Although he gave a frightening first impression, he was actually a very amiable person.

Meanwhile, Flaman did not show any dissatisfaction toward the friends Alice brought, even though they came from races hostile to the demon race.

Frankly speaking, demons didn't harbor any feelings of hatred toward humans, elves, and the other races living in the human realm. They were merely forced to fight by their circumstances. Hence, instead of treating Alice's friends with hostility, Flaman warmly welcomed them.

Meanwhile, Luna recognized Flaman as the Heavenly King of Fire at first glance. After all, she worked for the Gryffin Kingdom's intelligence department. While not much information on the Four Heavenly Kings was available on the internet, their images were available in the Gryffin Kingdom's intelligence department's archives.

Alice had told Luna about her plans in the demon realm beforehand, so Luna knew that Flaman believed that Alice was the Demon King. Thus, Flaman's enthusiastic treatment was understandable.

However, Zauna and Lalu didn't know about this fact. So, they assumed that Flaman was a wealthy and friendly demon uncle. Although they had been worried about staying in a demon's home initially, after interacting with Heris and Flaman for some time, they quickly realized that demons weren't as savage as rumors made them out to be.

Demons might be a race that valued strength, but that was only one of the ways demons approached life. They didn't live to fight, and neither did they need to fight to live. Aside from special circumstances, no demon would fight all day for no reason. Of course, the demons' entertainment might involve more fighting than humans, but it wasn't anything that involved bloodshed.

"We'll be in your care during this trip," Zauna politely greeted Flaman. When she saw how friendly Flaman and Heris were, she was finally able to let go of the worry in her heart. She also revised her opinion of the demons. At the very least, Flaman and Heris behaved nothing like the savage demons described in novels. They didn't even harbor any deep-seated resentment toward humans.

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"Isn't it about time you let go of me?" Alice asked Heris in a helpless tone. The demoness had been holding her like a teddy bear since they had gotten out of the car until now.

"This is a rare opportunity, after all. I might not get to be so intimate with you the next time I see you," Heris complained as she reluctantly let Alice down on the ground. While retracting her hands, she also took the opportunity to pinch Alice's cheeks. She could only treat Alice like this right now because Alice was trying to hide her identity as the Demon King from Zauna and Lalu. However, there was no saying whether she would get such an opportunity again the next time she met with Alice.

Meanwhile, after Zauna and Lalu were done exchanging greetings with Flaman, Heris brought them to the guest room. Luna also followed them to unpack Alice's luggage. As for Alice, she remained in the front hall.

After Heris brought the others away from the hall, Flaman walked up to Alice and bowed slightly.

"Welcome back, Lord Demon King."

"You don't have to act so respectfully. I'm not quite used to such treatment," Alice said with a helpless smile. "Anyway, the main reason I returned to the demon realm this time is to visit Demon King Castle. Speaking of which, how is Demon King Castle right now? Please tell me you guys didn't demolish it."

"Of course not. Demon King Castle has been strengthened by two Demon Kings. We can't demolish it even if we wanted to," Flaman said, shrugging. The Four Heavenly Kings might have the strength to reach the feet of Demon Kings, but there was still a gigantic gap between them. So, unless they uprooted the entire Demon King Castle, there was no way they could get rid of it.

"That's good. But did those businessmen turn it into a tourist spot?"

Alice chuckled when she recalled the information she had previously found on the demon realm's internet.

According to what was available on the internet, a group of businessmen had bought the land that Demon King Castle sat on in an attempt to modify it into a tourist spot. Although those businessmen were forced to abandon their plans because of the Radioactive Soul Stone in the city, now that she had already destroyed the Radioactive Soul Stone, there was no saying whether those businessmen would pop up again.

"You can rest assured on this matter. Wintas has already bought the land back by force," Flaman said, laughing when he heard Alice's question. "After all, the new Demon King has already appeared, so there's no saying whether Demon King Castle might come in useful in the future. Those businessmen can say nothing about Wintas's actions, either, unless they can dethrone him and become the Windy Kingdom's new king."

The demon realm's political system was very straightforward. So long as an individual had enough strength, they could challenge the Four Heavenly Kings. If they managed to defeat any of the Heavenly Kings, they'd be able to take over the Heavenly King's position and authority.

However, those businessmen clearly lacked the strength to beat Wintas. Hence, they could only comply and sulk in a corner when Wintas demanded to buy back Demon King Castle's territory from them.

"By the way, Lord Demon King, about the puppet on your shoulder"

After updating Alice on Demon King Castle's situation, Flaman couldn't help but turn to look at the figurine sitting on Alice's shoulder.

Flaman wasn't an ordinary demon. While he might not be able to win against Heroes and Demon Kings, as the Heavenly King of Fire, his strength still ranked at the pinnacle in both the demon realm and the human realm. Although Andusia had remained motionless this entire time and behaved no differently from a normal figurine, Flaman still noticed something strange with Andusia. Specifically, he could sense the dangerous power contained within her small body.

Of course, Flaman wasn't an anime otaku, so he naturally didn't recognize Andusia's appearance as the protagonist of the human realm's national-level animation "Magical Girl Hikari."

"You mean Andusia?"

Alice chuckled as she turned to look at Andusia. After thinking it over, she felt that it wouldn't matter even if she revealed Andusia's identity as a former Demon King to Flaman. After all, they were currently in the demon realm, and Flaman was one of the Four Heavenly Kings.

In fact, if Flaman were to find out that she had a former Demon King following her, her identity as the current generation's Demon King would be even more credible. There was no way Flaman would ever think that Andusia, a former Demon King, would cooperate with a human, least of all a Hero, right?

With such thoughts in mind, Alice shrugged her shoulders, shaking Andusia's body a little as she asked:

"Andusia, how about offering the current Heavenly King of Fire a greeting?"

"Hmph. I guess he's a little stronger than Igneel," Andusia said as she looked at Flaman arrogantly. She instantly knew what Alice was trying to play at when she heard Alice's words. Although she was very surprised to learn that Alice had the identity of a Demon King in the demon realm, since she had already agreed to cooperate with Alice, she naturally wouldn't expose Alice at this time. "But he's still weak."

"...??" Flaman was visibly surprised to see Andusia suddenly moving and speaking. After opening and closing his mouth a few times, he turned toward Alice and asked, "C-Could this person be?"

Flaman already had an inkling of an answer in his heart when he heard Alice calling out to the puppet on her shoulder. After all, the puppet's name was one that he was very familiar with. However, he still found this situation too unbelievable, so he still wanted to get confirmation from Alice's mouth.

"It's as you've guessed. This person here is Andusia, the Ninth Demon King," Alice said, smiling as she grabbed Andusia off her shoulder. Then, after sitting Andusia in the palm of her hand, she continued, "She might have shrunk down a lot, but she is, by no means, weak."