Chapter 581
Grid lowered his head, and Su-ho’s eyes widened.
He was so startled that he quickly tried to make him stand upright.
But Grid would not budge.
- I ask this of you.
“Come on, seriously, why are you doing this? Fine, fine, I get it, so raise your head already.”
Only then did Grid raise his head and grin.
Seeing that expression, Su-ho said, sounding dumbfounded,
“You bowed on purpose, didn’t you?”
- What do you mean, on purpose? I bowed because I was sincerely asking you.
“Oh, please. You obviously knew I’m softhearted and did this on purpose. Anyway, you designed this in a really petty way, didn’t you? This isn’t giving me the Demon Realm. You’re just dumping your burden on me.”
- Now, now, dumping my burden? I am asking politely.
“You’re going to pretend otherwise? You’re a Constellation too. Then you could just bet on me, so why go out of your way to make things complicated?”
- There is a reason I am doing this. If you do not want to, you do not have to.
“As if I don’t want to.”
A laugh slipped out of me.
How could I possibly not want to?
I had watched him from beside him and come to know all too well how much he loved the Demon Realm.
That was why I accepted right away.
Because if the world I loved were forced by someone to repeat the same pain, there would be nothing more horrible or miserable than that.
“So, what do I do now?”
- There is not much you need to do in particular. First, we should hold the succession ceremony.
“Succession ceremony?”
- Possessing the world as King of a Fallen Nation is fine, but before that, it would be better for you to become a king in the true sense first.
[ The Demon King of Greed fully acknowledges you. ]
[ The Demon King of Greed wishes to place you on the throne of Demon King in his stead. ]
[ Will you accept the Demon King of Greed’s proposal? ]
[ You may refuse the proposal. ]
A notification similar to the one for betting.
Until now, promotions had been forced, but since this was still the position of Demon King, it gave me a choice.
A meaningless question.
What was the point of asking?
Obviously, yes.
The moment I accepted coolly, the next messages followed in a line.
[ You have accepted the proposal. ]
[ The trait information for “Avatar of the Demon King” changes. ]
[ You have become “Demon King of the Eastern Demon Realm.” ]
[ As you have become Demon King of the Eastern Demon Realm, you can now use all the powers of a Demon King. ]
[ “Demon King Castle Belkanuel” is bound to you. ]
[ “Demon King Palace” can be summoned. ]
[ As you have become a Demon King, you have acquired the “Domination” stat. ]
[ Due to the effect of New Blood, some stat information changes. ]
[ The Domination stat changes to the Command stat. ]
[ The Command stat grows even stronger. ]
[ For achieving a great accomplishment, the system gifts you 10 bonus stats. ]
[ You have succeeded in becoming the first Player to become king of another world. ]
[ You have achieved a truly tremendous accomplishment that no Player has ever achieved. ]
[ In recognition of your supreme accomplishment, the system gifts you 30 bonus stats. ]
System notifications appeared one after another.
But if I was Demon King, then I was Demon King. Demon King of the Eastern Demon Realm?
Around then, an additional notification appeared.
[ Your level has increased. ]
[ All stats have increased by 1. ]
[ You have acquired 1 bonus stat. ]
I wondered what it was, but it was a level-up notification.
It seemed experience had gathered in the meantime, and my level had risen.
‘Then I’m 399 now.’
One step away from level 400.
There was no need to get impatient.
If I waited like this, it would go up on its own.
More important than that was the matter of the Demon King.
Su-ho checked his status window.
[ An Su-ho ]
Su-ho asked Grid,
“It changed from Avatar of the Demon King to Demon King of the Eastern Demon Realm. But isn’t there a bit of a problem with this? The East-West War is over, so why am I still Demon King of the Eastern Demon Realm?”
- Why would the East-West War be over?
“It’s not over?”
- Have you never experienced war? A war only truly ends when the victorious nation declares its end.
“Then...”
- You are now the king of the Eastern Demon Realm, so you must declare the end of the war.
“Ah?”
I thought the notification that Lucifer had been defeated was basically the end of the war.
But there were more procedures than I expected.
- You are now a Demon King. One could call you the ruler of this place. So if you think you must convey your will to everyone, it will be done exactly so.
What was he telling me to do?
Think it?
- Like this?
At that moment, Su-ho’s voice rang out inside the minds of everyone in the Eastern Demon Realm.
“......?”
“Hm?”
“I just heard something.”
“Did I hear wrong?”
At the sudden voice, the people of the Eastern Demon Realm lifted their heads.
Su-ho immediately clapped a hand over his mouth.
Thanks to that, he had learned how to use it, but due to poor control, he had caused a broadcast accident.
Grid grinned.
- You are doing well.
“You could’ve explained it properly. I had a broadcast accident because of you.”
- What of it? Something like that is hardly important. More importantly, why not finish what you were about to do?
“Ahh, fine, sure.”
Ahem.
First, clear my throat a little...
After clearing his throat, Su-ho began transmitting his voice to every inhabitant of the Demon Realm.
- Nice to meet you. I am An Su-ho, the new Demon King.
Su-ho’s voice reached everyone.
At the same time, the eyes of every person in the Eastern Demon Realm widened.
“Demon King?”
“An Su-ho?”
“The new Demon King?!”
“If it’s An Su-ho, he’s the hero who defeated the king of the Western Demon Realm...!”
“He’s the otherworlder Leihian was talking about!”
A horse without feet travels a thousand ri, as they say, and Su-ho had already become a famous figure known by nearly everyone among the inhabitants of the Demon Realm who had reason to know.
Of course he had.
Leihian playing the role of herald aside, the moment Su-ho defeated Lucifer, the system notification had appeared before everyone’s eyes.
Grid chuckled at the Korean-style inauguration speech, but Su-ho paid him no mind and continued speaking, just as he had during his inauguration speech as president of Save the World.
- First of all, I imagine you must be confused by the sudden change in Demon King, so to explain what happened, the previous Demon King offered me the position of new Demon King to succeed him. After much thought, I accepted this position.
Su-ho slowly explained the situation.
The inhabitants of the Demon Realm quietly listened to him.
- Some of you may know this already, but I am an otherworlder. Through my connection with the previous Demon King from another world, I came to participate in this East-West War, and I protected this place with my life as if it were my own country. And if anything happens to the Demon Realm in the future, I intend to risk this life again to protect the Demon Realm, just as I did during this East-West War. So even if you do not like me, I ask that you please watch over me for the time being.
It sounded like something he was saying on the spot, but he had still thought carefully about it.
That was because while he now had most security restrictions removed and knew nearly everything, the Players of the Eastern Demon Realm did not. He therefore thought he had to give an inauguration speech that they could accept within the bounds of their common sense as much as possible.
‘Honestly, it wouldn’t really matter whether I gave an inauguration speech or not, but given the system’s nature, it’s likely to cause events like this in the Demon Realm again. I can’t keep operating every time as a mysterious otherworlder Player.’
If it worked out well, then all the better. This place was his partner’s homeland, after all.
He had said more or less everything he needed to say.
Now all that remained was the most important declaration.
- In that sense, I will formally inform you all. As of this moment, I officially declare the end of the East-West War.
“Oh!”
“Ooh!”
“Finally!”
“At last!”
“Waaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!”
The Demon King’s declaration of the end of the war.
At that official statement, the Demon Realm continent boiled over once again, shaking the air.
“An Su-ho! An Su-ho! An Su-ho!”
“New Demon King! New Demon King! New Demon King!”
“Grid! Grid! Grid!”
“Former Demon King! Former Demon King! Former Demon King!”
Su-ho’s and Grid’s names rang across the entire continent.
They expressed their gratitude for Su-ho’s efforts, but they did not forget the labor of the former Demon King Grid, who had worked and arranged the board until this entire process could happen, and praised him as well.
Su-ho grinned and looked at Grid.
“Hear that? Everyone’s busy praising your name.”
- I hear your name as well. I suppose you do not hear that part? In any case, let me take this opportunity to thank you once more. Thanks to you, we were able to prevent the same tragedy from repeating.
“I accepted because I wanted to level up. You designed it well.”
They clasped hands and shook.
Su-ho had not known.
He had not known his bond with Grid would continue this far.
Was that why?
He felt his chest grow strangely warm.
“But if you’re not Demon King anymore, what happens to you now?”
- Since I stepped down from the Demon King’s seat, I have become a Great Demon again.
“Huh? Is that allowed?”
- It does not matter. It is not as if my career disappears. And I have already risen to the position of Constellation, so how important could the Demon King’s seat be to me?
True enough.
The ones obsessed with the Demon King’s seat were the other Six Great Demons and the like.
It was then.
[ The East-West War has ended. ]
[ Achievement settlement begins. ]
[ Congratulations! You have become the one and only Demon King existing in the Demon Realm. ]
[ The trait information for “Demon King of the Eastern Demon Realm” changes. ]
[ You have become “King of the Demon Realm.” ]
[ As you have become the sole king of the Demon Realm, the Demon King powers you possess are greatly strengthened. ]
[ The Command stat grows even stronger. ]
[ You have achieved a truly tremendous accomplishment that no Player has ever achieved. ]
[ In recognition of your supreme accomplishment, the system gifts you 20 bonus stats. ]
The title changed.
From “Demon King of the Eastern Demon Realm” to “King of the Demon Realm.”
And 20 bonus stats came as a free extra!
In high spirits, Su-ho refreshed his status window again.
[ An Su-ho ]
After personally declaring the end of the war as Demon King of the Eastern Demon Realm, he had now truly become the one and only Demon King of this land.
Now the only thing left was to proclaim a domain over this land and officially incorporate the Demon Realm into Suholand through the system.
Right before proclaiming the domain, Su-ho spoke with a slightly nervous expression.
“I’ve done it with rivers and islands, but this is my first time proclaiming a domain over an entire continent.”
- From now on, you will be proclaiming domains over many more worlds.
“Ah?”
Su-ho understood Grid’s words and grinned.
Right.
Now that you had taught me this method, perhaps I would incorporate even more worlds into Suholand, if only to screw the system over.
Su-ho shouted,
“I formally proclaim this Demon Realm as territory of Suholand.”
At that moment.
[ You have proclaimed a domain. ]
The full-scale territorial expansion began.