006 Son

　　Next, Evelyn learned some brief information about the Old Empire from Baymont.

　　The Old Empire is an endless land with no boundaries, stretching out in all directions, with the capital city where the Demon King resides as the center, and all kinds of demons grow in it, and when they reach a certain limit, they become the "Abyss," where the signs of creatures are extinguished, and where no demons have ever set foot, or where there is no way to return. Therefore, no one knows exactly how big the Old Realm is.

　　At the same time, the "isolation" of the Old Realm is one-sided for all of space and time, so it is not impossible for other realms to come to the Old Realm, but it is impossible to leave the Old Realm after arriving.

　　In addition, it is also true that demons can force people through "consciousness projection" and then take them away. Here, only strong and high-ranking demons can do this, so breeding humans and taking them for fun is something only the strong can do.

　　"No wonder you don't seem very surprised to see me." Evelyn walked beside Baymont with her hands behind her back and asked in a slightly curious tone, "So Baymont does this kind of thing too?"

　　"Capture people, breed them, and then take them for fun?"

　　Baymont unconsciously denied, "No, I haven't done anything like that and I have little interest in it."

　　Evelyn looked at him, "Oh?"

　　"......" Baymont realized immediately what she meant and had to correct himself, "You are an exception."

　　Evelyn's eyes rose like crescent moons, high and beautiful. She asked again, "What exception?"

　　Baymont: "......"

　　Baymont had to sternly correct himself, "Taking you prisoner is an exception, Queen."

　　"Then you must know a lot about humans," Evelyn guessed, "And you speak the common language of the continent ......"

　　Baymont: "A human magician once came to the Old Empire and wrote many books about the human world. All these writings are collected in the royal capital, and I have read them many times, so I have learned something about humans."

　　"Even the language, compared to the language of demons, the common language of humans is not difficult to learn."

　　So he's a high-level intellectual, no wonder he looks so smart - er, even though you can't see anything but his black robes.

　　The entire palace was made of grayish-white stone, both monotonous and plain, vaguely exuding a sense of oppression, and every stone brick, stone pillar, and wall Evelyn saw was several times larger than what she had seen in her own temple, giving her the illusion of being an ant that had accidentally entered a human's palace.

　　Along the way, Evelyn didn't see any demons other than Baymont, and the entire palace was terribly empty. It was as if the fiercest and most terrifying beasts were roaming and patrolling a territory, leaving the other weak and pathetic creatures to hibernate quietly in the dark and damp corners, afraid to come out.

　　Baymont led them to a ten-meter-high, grayish-white stone door and said, "This is the Demon King's residence. You are invited to reside here temporarily, Queen, until the succession ceremony."

　　Evelyn cocked her head, "Doesn't the queen have her own residence?"

　　Baymont's voice was cold, "Generally, queens live in a cage at the feet of the demon king."

　　Evelyn couldn't help but spit out, "............. That's a pet, right?"

　　Baymont said in an ancient voice, "I will arrange the cage properly for you if the queen requests it."

　　Evelyn: "Thank you, no. I would still like to sleep in a bed, or a soft blanket, please, I appreciate it."

　　Baymont didn't answer her right away, he just pushed open the huge ten meter high door with one hand and gestured politely for Evelyn to go in first.

　　Evelyn cautiously stepped inside and found that it didn't look like a normal living room at all, except for a large, extraordinarily comfortable looking bed in the middle.

　　It was a circular room, the walls around it more like built-in cabinets to make it easier to admire the collection, the off-white stone walls densely carved with storage compartments neatly arranged with glass jars where the collection was stored in jars soaked in strange liquids.

　　At the top of the room, the ceiling was removed, and when Evelyn looked up, she saw a red moon hanging high above her head. The moon in the Old Realm looked bigger and rounder, and didn't seem so far away. Evelyn also saw that the surface of the moon was covered with a spider web of crimson cracks, like a bloodshot eye.

　　"...... So what the hell is the purpose of this room?" Evelyn turned her head and thought from the bottom of her heart that the room was not well designed, "There's only one bed in the room, not even a roof, what if it rains? And it'll be sunny when the sun comes out.

        Baymont also tilts his face, looks down at her, and says, "It won't rain here, and there won't be any daylight.

　　Evelyn: "...... Sorry, I was being paranoid."

　　Evelyn: "Then why is there no roof?"

　　"His Majesty the Demon King has a dragon," Baymont replied, "and sometimes His Majesty sleeps with his dragon."

　　"Wow, that's kind of cute to think that way." Immediately, Evelyn's mind conjured up scenes of the ever-so-silent and aloof Irzey and the dragon cuddling together, looking at the moon, and perhaps lying on the dragon's belly - it was really cute!

　　Evelyn tilted her head back, gazed at the dark night sky and the single red moon, looked around a bit more, and asked, "What about the dragon? Where did it go? Turns out there are dragons here and there where we come from, they usually like golden, shiny things, and when I was sixteen I cut off my hair and gave it to a dragon in exchange for getting to touch its belly. A dragon's belly, I want to touch it so much ......"

　　Baymont doesn't understand why she is so enamored with the dragon's belly and shows a lack of interest, "Niederhogg was left unchecked after His Majesty's death, and it ate all the servants in the palace before leaving. He should be hunting somewhere now, he always had a big appetite and wasn't very well fed".

　　Evelyn: "......"

　　Were the dragons in the Old Empire so mean?

　　The dragons in their place were obedient as hell, and for a gold coin they could touch hot, soft bellies and help with deliveries.

　　Of course, there are dragons that are arrogant, brutal, extremely selfish, and shady.

　　Baymont: "I will recapture Niederhogg if the queen requests it. But the daily feeding will have to be arranged by the queen herself, as I am very busy.

　　Evelyn: "...... That's not necessary yet, just set him free."

　　The room, large and empty enough to hold a dragon, was devoid of any other furnishings except for a large bed in the center, and Evelyn was left to her own devices as she walked up to the wall and curiously examined the various collections tucked away inside.

　　Evelyn had expected the items carefully collected by the Supreme Demon Lord in the sitting area to be some sort of precious treasure, but they were not.

　　Some of them looked like tiny pieces cut from the carcasses of creatures - Evelyn guessed probably something like trophies - and some of them were just plain, pretty-looking gems that, despite their rough workmanship, glowed with a bright, shiny, fine light.

　　There were also a few things that even Evelyn couldn't guess why they had been placed here, small stones that could be found anywhere by the side of the road, a small plant that had completely dried up. ......

　　All in all, there were a variety of oddities in the collection. It could be seen that the owner of this collection was quite loose and capricious, as long as the slightest thing that could interest him would be snatched back by him and put here, even if he got bored after a few moments, he wouldn't throw it away, so the collection of things here had grown more and more, and even the ten-meter-high storage wall was hardly able to put it away.

　　Evelyn remembered that when Irzey came to visit her one day, he still held a small, half-dying flower in his hand, the reason being that he was walking on the street and the flower happened to be stepped on by his feet, so even though it was almost completely dried up, Irzey still thought it was a rare and beautiful flower.

　　Later, she made a bookmark out of the flower and put it in her notebook.

　　Evelyn looked around and suddenly realized something.

         "Baymont," Evelyn pointed to one of the storage compartments that held a glass jar, "is this your horn?"

　　Inside the jar was a horn identical to the one on Baymont's head, but smaller, half the size of the one on Baymont's head.

　　Baymont nodded, "Yes."

　　Hearing the other's answer, Evelyn became more interested. She examined the horn, which was a collector's item, and asked, "Did Irzey pull it off?"

　　Baymont nodded again, "Yes."

　　"Why?"

　　"No reason." Baymont replied calmly, observing the puzzled look in Evelyn's eyes and realizing that his answer might not be understood by the other, he had to continue, "If I have to say it, it was His Majesty who liked it. His Majesty wanted my horn, so he took it."

　　"So, do all the demons here do that?" Evelyn doesn't take her eyes off the glass jar that reflects a slightly distorted face, "Just see something they like and grab it?"

　　Baymont: "Most do."

　　"It's simple and crude, but kind of convenient ......"

　　Evelyn says, picking up the glass jar with both hands and pushing it back into Baymont's hands, "In that case, Baymont, you can just grab it back too, right? Is that what you mean?"

　　Baymont hung his head and looked into the glass jar in his hands, which was soaked with his own horns, plucked off when he was a small child. It was clearly part of his own body, but Baymont treated it no differently than he would a small stone at his feet.

　　"Indeed," Baymont puts the jar down, "but there's no need.

　　Evelyn: "Because it's no longer necessary?"

　　Baymont: "It's not 'now,' it wasn't necessary all along."

　　Evelyn thought back to the record in the book.

　　The human magician had noted that demons were creatures of extreme emotion, with an overwhelming desire for exclusivity and greed. But in contrast, the demon before Evelyn seemed to have no desire, and didn't even care about the part of himself that had been taken from him.

　　"Anyway," Evelyn blinked, "can you tell me about Irzey's four sons? I'd like to think long and hard about which one I should please, after all, I don't want to die yet."

　　Baymont's voice was cold, "As a matter of fact, I don't think you are worthy to be chosen as the successor of either of them."

　　"Too much, are you saying that His Majesty the Demon King's vision is bad? Be careful not to tell the Demon King when I die."

　　"I didn't mean it that way," Baymont paused, "I was just being honest."

　　"The Great Highness Agarez just likes to fight, and has been challenging the strongest since birth to surpass his father; the Third Highness Asmodeus is an idiot; as for the Fourth Highness Sagon ....... I would suggest that it's best not to get close to him, even from a demon's point of view, his personality is too harsh."

　　"And these three highnesses aren't at the palace and will probably wait until it's time for the succession ceremony."

　　Evelyn thinks for a moment, a look of curiosity spreading across her face as she asks, "What about Irzey's second son?"

　　Baymont: "......"

　　Beneath the black, face-obscuring hood, Evelyn is aware of the other man's eyes falling vaguely on his face.

　　Baymont says politely, "He'll just think you're superfluous, Queen."

　　Evelyn: "......"

　　Evelyn looks at him deeply.

　　"By human endurance, you should be almost exhausted, Queen," Baymont nods at her, his calm voice inaudible, "call me for anything.