The Tale of Hero Alice’s Social Death

Chapter 246: Golden Spirit

"This is the full view of Demon King Castle! For those interested, make sure to subscribe, and we'll explore the castle again next time to see if we missed out on any locations!"

Outside the castle, Alice could see a girl, who looked like a live streamer, standing by the castle's entrance while holding up her mobile phone. The girl also spoke in a very modern speech. If it weren't for the large castle behind the girl, Alice would have thought that she had been transported back to Earth.

In addition to the pink-haired female live streamer, many other people were sightseeing around Demon King Castle. This showed that many people were interested in exploring the castle that used to be home to two Demon Kings.

In the past, due to the Radioactive Soul Stone's presence, nobody could enter the castle without being exposed to deadly levels of radiation. One wouldn't be safe from the radiation even if they had an anti-radiation magic stone. Hence, nobody had dared to visit Demon King Castle.

However, now that the radiation was removed, those originally interested in Demon King Castle had flocked to the castle.

Moreover, Alice could see that quite a few other people were doing the same thing as the pink-haired streamer. Only, they didn't make as much noise as the pink-haired girl. Even so, with how many of them there were, they still caused the castle's surroundings to become quite noisy.

Out of the many live streamers present, Alice noticed one wearing a magic robe casting magic at the castle's walls, proving to his audience the sturdiness of Demon King Castle and why even the Four Heavenly Kings had failed to demolish the castle.

"How chaotic..."

Alice felt her head aching a little when she saw the situation outside Demon King Castle. She had forgotten just how much of an attraction Demon King Castle held toward demons. To make matters worse, after Wintas had bought back Demon King Castle's territory, he did not task anyone to guard the castle. Hence, Demon King Castle had now become something akin to a carnival. There were even quick-witted merchants setting up stalls outside of the castle.

While it was nice to see that Demon King Castle was no longer deserted, this situation also meant that Alice would face a lot more trouble if she wanted to find Grant's hidden room inside the castle.

Alice's arrival didn't cause much disturbance since she had put on a large cloak to conceal her appearance. The cloak's hood also covered her face. So, from others' perspectives, Alice was merely a well-covered midget. Nobody would bother to wonder about her purpose in visiting Demon King Castle.

Had Alice come here without a cloak, there was a high chance that someone would recognize her. After all, the average person in the demon realm might be ignorant of the ongoings in the human realm, but there were bound to be curious people who'd bypass the barrier separating the two realms and learn about Alice's appearance and identity as the Gryffin Kingdom's princess. If such a person were present in Demon King Castle, they would definitely recognize her.

"To think they would use so much mana to reinforce their house... Did the past two Demon Kings have nothing better to do?"

Andusia was hiding under Alice's hood, her body sticking to Alice's face as she looked at the large castle. As a Demon King herself, she could naturally sense the large amount of dark mana stored within the castle.

However, this was also why Andusia found this situation even more exasperating. As far as she knew, all of her predecessors had spent their mana strengthening their weapons or creating mechanisms to fight the Hero. Not one of them had bothered wasting their mana strengthening their house.

"Every Demon King became a Demon King for different reasons. You can't expect every Demon King to be wishing to abolish slavery all day, every day, right?" Alice said, chuckling. Then, she walked past the castle's entrance.

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Due to the large number of tourists here, Alice's strange appearance did not catch anybody's attention. Those around her merely treated her as a tourist who didn't like to reveal her face. After all, her short stature really made it difficult for anyone to raise their guard against her.

Upon walking into the main hall, Alice saw many people taking pictures of the spot where the Radioactive Soul Stone used to sit. As for the Radioactive Soul Stone's fragments, they were nowhere to be seen. Evidently, some tourists had taken the liberty of doing some spring cleaning inside the castle.

In fact, every piece of furniture and decoration in the hall was gone. The only thing left in the hall was the pedestal that was used to hold the Radioactive Soul Stone. Of course, the reason the pedestal was still here wasn't because the tourists had deemed it sacrilegious to take it away or something. Instead, it was because the pedestal was connected to the castle. Hence, it was also strengthened by the castle's mana, and nobody could move it from its position unless they had the strength to overpower two Demon Kings' worth of mana.

"Hm...?" Alice suddenly noticed something when she looked at the small pedestal. Then, while lowering her voice, she asked Andusia, "Do you think Grant's secret room is hidden under that pedestal?"

"Wouldn't you know if you checked? Don't you have that taboo that gives you a clairvoyance ability? What was it called again? Psychokinesis Transcendence?"

Andusia wasn't familiar with the Demon King named Grant, so there was no way she would know whether he had hidden his secret room under the pedestal. It was also difficult to search the castle with Mind Search since this simple spell would have difficulty penetrating the castle's defenses. However, it was a different story for Psychokinesis Transcendence since it was a taboo capable of analyzing even world laws.

"Demons worship strength, so most of them are capable warriors or magicians. I'll attract a lot of attention if I use Psychokinesis Transcendence at full power," Alice explained. Then, she looked toward the staircase in the distance and saw quite a few people going up to and coming down from the second floor.

Alice felt that the likelihood of Grant's secret room being upstairs was low. After all, if Grant were to construct his secret room upstairs, the room would have to be very small and cramped to avoid raising suspicion. However, Demon Kings were tyrannical individuals. Alice found it hard to imagine that Grant would be willing to keep his things inside a cramped secret room. Hence, rather than construct a cramped secret room upstairs, Alice felt that Grant was more likely to construct a spacious secret room underground.

"Why are you being so timid? Even if Grant's secret room turns out to be under the pedestal, you can't possibly sneak inside without anyone's notice, right?"

Andusia was rendered a little speechless by Alice's behavior. She could understand that Alice was trying to avoid exposing her identity as the Hero and the Demon King. However, if Alice refused to reveal even a little bit of her strength, she'd have no chance of entering the secret room.

"I guess you're right," Alice said, sighing. Andusia was right. Judging by the demons' reaction, Demon King Castle would likely remain a popular tourist spot for months. If she refused to use even an ounce of her strength here, who knew when she'd find an opportunity to sneak into Grant's secret room?

Thus, Alice decided that so long as she kept her identity as the Hero and the Demon King hidden, it wouldn't matter even if she revealed some strength. With the demons' nature, they were unlikely to investigate her if they realized that they couldn't afford to offend her.

"But even if I verify that the secret room is beneath the pedestal, how am I supposed to sneak inside?" Alice asked. "I can't let others know that I am the Demon King yet, so I can't just ask everyone to vacate the area. Do I wait until nighttime to sneak in?"

However, Alice couldn't help but be skeptical of this idea. Judging by the demons' enthusiasm, she doubted that the people in the castle would reduce by much, even at night.

"Isn't that simple? Just knock everyone unconscious, and you'll be able to enter the secret room without anybody's notice."

After all was said and done, Andusia was still a Demon King. Alice might have the beginnings of a Demon King, employing small tricks to achieve her goals, but she was still inexperienced compared to a full-fledged brute like Andusia.