Chapter 221: The Demon King’s Research
Seeing Ireta’s look of understanding, her dark eyes filled with admiration, Qin Chu felt a little awkward.
You understand nothing, he thought.
He wasn’t as noble and virtuous as she imagined. He just wanted revenge, to see this world burn, to make everyone pay.
This woman was truly a master of making assumptions.
“Miss Ireta,” Qin Chu asked, blinking, “do you know someone named Demiurge? Are you two related by any chance?”
“Demiurge?” Ireta looked puzzled and thought for a moment, then shook her head. “Who is that? I don’t know anyone by that name, and there’s no one called Demiurge among my descendants.”
After a pause, she continued, “What about this person?”
Nothing, it’s just that you two are both good at making assumptions, Qin Chu thought. He wasn’t one to take credit where it wasn’t due.
He took a deep breath. “You saw through me?” he asked, shamelessly admitting it.
A smug look appeared on Ireta’s face, pleased with herself for guessing correctly.
Then, Qin Chu’s expression turned somber, and he sighed dramatically. “Miss Ireta,” he said, his voice filled with mock regret, “do you know how much I regret the words I spoke?”
“‘Are kings, dukes, generals, and ministers born or made?’”
“What a joke!”
“Perhaps I only gave them a hope they could never reach.”
“Without hope, they might have continued to live their difficult but peaceful lives. But with this hope… only death awaits them.”
Qin Chu’s feigned sadness made Ireta flustered. She took his rough hand in her lace-gloved ones.
It had been a thousand years since she had touched another human.
She seemed a little shy, but since her body was already dead, no blush colored her cheeks.
Suppressing a slight tremor in her soul, she looked at the Hero with concern. “Hero,” she said, “please don’t think that way.”
“Hope is what sustains human life.”
“A life without hope is just an empty shell.”
“I can’t speak for everyone, but I believe most people would want a chance to be a hero, even if only for a fleeting moment, rather than live a life of quiet desperation.”
“Please don’t feel burdened by bringing hope to this world. In my opinion, hope is the most precious, the most lacking thing in this world.”
Somehow, the distance between Qin Chu and Ireta had closed.
This displeased Shaye, who muttered complaints in Qin Chu’s mind, cursing him for being a fickle-minded scumbag.
Qin Chu also felt a twinge of guilt. Even with his thick skin, he couldn’t quite meet Ireta’s innocent gaze.
He coughed slightly, changing the subject, “Miss Ireta, you should also know about my deal with Lomond, the Seventh Demon Prince, and how I caused the deaths of Ronald, Benson, and Karsus. Knowing this, why do you still think I’m a good person?”
Ireta’s ability to conceal her presence was truly remarkable.
Her body was dead, no heartbeat, no breath, her existence almost completely merged with the darkness. When he was tormenting Ronald, Qin Chu had carefully scanned his surroundings, confirming that no one else was present. Yet, he hadn’t detected Ireta.
Even Anthea hadn’t sensed her.
Although Ireta didn’t seem hostile, this still annoyed Qin Chu. He had to be more careful next time.
And since Ireta already knew about these things, there was no need for him to hide them.
Ireta shook her head slowly and said:
“Dealing with a Demon Beast, harming Ronald, these things don’t negate the fact that you are a good person.”
“On the battlefield, the souls of the soldiers were purified by me. You saw that, didn’t you, Hero?” Ireta asked.
Qin Chu nodded. “The countless flickering lights? Yes, it was a beautiful sight.”
“Every soul, regardless of who they are, has both good and evil within them. The evil resentment is absorbed and intercepted by me. That is purification. Those flickering lights are the purest parts of their souls, cleansed of all evil.”
“Some lights are bright, some are faint.”
“And the souls of the Hero Squad members… there was no need to purify them.”
“Their souls were almost completely tainted, a dense darkness, whether it was Ronald, Benson, or Karsus… Not a single spark of light could be extracted.”
“They did fight the Demon Beasts, they did kill some, but that couldn’t atone for the evil they committed.”
Qin Chu’s eyelids twitched.
He knew that the members of the Hero Squad harbored intense malice towards him, but he hadn’t expected that, in Ireta’s eyes, their souls were already completely rotten, beyond redemption.
Ireta judged a person by their soul.
“For those people, this ending is just the punishment they deserve.”
After a brief pause, Ireta continued, “And the reason you chose to cooperate with Lomond must be because you saw that among the Demon King’s sons, his soul is the only one still worth saving, right?”
Huh?
Qin Chu was even more confused.
What was she talking about?
But Ireta actually said that the soul of a cruel and violent creature like Lomond was still worth saving, while the souls of Ronald, Benson, and Karsus, members of the Hero Squad, were completely tainted.
Damn, those guys were worse than Demon Beasts!
“The next Demon King can only be one of the Demon King’s sons, and these princes are all cruel and cunning. Although Lomond is also quite brutal, his mind is relatively… ahem, well…”
Just say he’s stupid.
“In short, Lomond is relatively easy to control.”
Ireta didn’t know how to describe Lomond. She tilted her head and skipped over it, “You’ve put in a lot of effort for the sake of humanity, Hero.”
Wait, how did this shift back to humanity? It seemed that Ireta’s train of thought jumped around a bit too much.
“You must be worried that if the seeds you planted in those soldiers’ hearts sprout, and they start to rebel against the rule of the Empire’s nobles, then if the Demon Beasts invade again, there will be rivers of blood. So you deliberately supported Lomond, creating conflict within the Demon Beast ranks.”
“That way, the Demon Beasts will be too preoccupied with their internal struggles to invade the human world, giving the human spark time to ignite.”
“Even if the human world is weakened after the war and needs time to recover, the Demon Beast world will also be weakened and need time to recover, which gives humanity enough time.”
Ireta’s eyes shone with admiration as she looked at Qin Chu.
“To have considered everything so thoroughly, even events so far in the future, you’re truly amazing, Hero.”
Ireta’s gaze and praise made Qin Chu feel a little guilty.
Huh? So that was what I was thinking?
Wasn’t I just trying to stir up trouble?
He even began to doubt himself, feeling that what Ireta said seemed to make sense. Could this be his true plan?
“Ahem…” Qin Chu felt that he couldn’t continue dwelling on this topic, or he might develop a split personality.
“Miss Ireta, you seem to know a lot about the Demon Beasts’ affairs. Can you tell me about their current situation?” He changed the subject abruptly.
Although he had the experience from the first playthrough, his understanding of the Demon Beasts was still far less than his understanding of the human world. Ireta, as the Daughter of Death, seemed to be responsible for dealing with the souls of not only humans but also Demon Beasts, so she seemed to know a lot about them.
It would be good to get some information from her.
“The Demon Beasts?” Ireta tilted her head, her slender finger tapping her cheek, “The Demon King has been in seclusion since his duel with the First Hero…”
“Since then, he hasn’t interfered in the conflict between humans and Demon Beasts, he has no interest in the war, and he’s practically in semi-retirement, only maintaining his title as Demon King.”
“He seems to be researching something. I tried to pry, but he discovered me. I could only vaguely sense that it seems to be related to space.”
Qin Chu frowned. The Demon King was researching space? What was he planning?
“Because the Demon King is effectively inactive, his sons believe that this is a test, a way for him to choose his successor.”
“These princes all want to ascend to the throne, and the First and Second Princes are the most powerful contenders.”
“They are the strongest, and their influence among the Demon Beasts is the greatest. Originally, these two princes didn’t take their other brothers seriously, but Lomond has recently risen to prominence, capturing two members of the Hero Squad, one of them even alive.”
“This has greatly increased Lomond’s prestige, making the two princes see him as a threat.”
“They desperately want to increase their own strength, influence, and power.”
“But the whereabouts of the Hero Squad members are not easy to obtain. They don’t have accurate information sources and can’t capture them like Lomond did.”
“So they can only turn their attention elsewhere. The First Prince has set his sights on Flame Mountain. He wants to control the Flame Witch. If he can control a Witch, his prestige will surely skyrocket.”
“He has already taken his elite forces to Flame Mountain.”
Qin Chu’s eyes narrowed slightly. Because of his interference, things were developing differently in both the human and Demon Beast worlds.
In the first playthrough, the Demon Beasts usually didn’t actively provoke the Witches.
But that damned First Prince actually dared to target the Flame Witch? Didn’t he know that she was Qin Chu’s target? Was he trying to steal her from him?
Ireta, not noticing Qin Chu’s strange expression, continued, “As for what the Second Prince is targeting, it’s…”
Her voice suddenly became hesitant and shy…
“Traitor, die!”
At this moment, a roar suddenly came from the distance.
The next instant, a sharp spear tore through the space like lightning, heading straight for Qin Chu’s back!
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