The Author's POV

"Your excellency, if I may ask…"

Taking a knee on the ground before Duke Azonech, the demon paused halfway through his sentence, waiting for the Duke's confirmation.

He got it soon enough.

"...You may ask."

"Thank you."

The servant thanked the Duke. Secretly, he tried his best to stop himself from smiling.

'As expected of the Duke, he does not suspect anything.'

In reality, he wasn't merely asking out of curiosity. He was asking so that he could report what was going to the other Duke.

It was a secret order that he had received before he had left.

By doing this, he was treading a thin line, but as soon as he remembered the rewards promised to him by the other Duke, all of his fear dissipated.

It was simply too tempting.

With his head lowered, he proceeded to ask something that he had been curious about.

"Why did you tell that human to keep the Overlord alive?"

It was well known that the current Overlord was close to breaking through to the next level. What the servant was curious about was why the Duke didn't have any intentions of killing him directly.

His question was answered not long after.

"It's because I'm planning on giving him a contract."

Upon hearing those words, the servant looked surprised.

But it soon replaced it with a look of understanding.

"….Understood your excellency."

Everything quickly puzzled itself together inside of the servant's mind as he made sure to remember everything.

The Duke's plan was rather simple. He was planning on taking the Blood Prince to his side. Everything was starting to make sense to the demon as he came up with one conclusion.

'He wants to be the sole owner of the arena.'

In spite of this, he immediately began to sweat profusely after coming to such a conclusion.

His command over the Blood Prince would inevitably give him more power than the other Duke thus forcing him to give him control over the arena.

As his thoughts paused there, the demon felt cold chills run down his spine.

'As expected of Duke Azenoch, ruthless as ever.'

Unfortunately for the Duke, what he didn't know was that the demon he shared this information with worked for the other Duke. He was simply crippling himself.

"Do you have any other questions to ask?"

Jolting him out of his thoughts was the Duke's voice that reverberated throughout the whole room.

Lowering his head further, the servant quickly shook his head.

"…No your excellency."

'This is enough. The Duke will certainly reward me after I tell him this.'

Thinking such thoughts, he tried his best to suppress his excitement.

"Good."

But it was then that a powerful force suddenly permeated the air, causing the servant to feel a rush of energy.

"Ughk."

With a pained groan, he suddenly found himself stuck on the ground, unable to lift his head due to the sheer pressure that was bearing down on him from above

"W…what?!"

difficulty breathing,

you doing this

him, the Duke's cold voice

think for a second that you would live after

servant's eyes

'He knew!'

all possible precautions to hide this fact, how was it possible for the Duke

"Your excellency!"

He screamed.

"I won't tell anyone—"

you? Asking me this and that, you think I don't

sunk as the pressure coming out of his body rose even more. Rendering the

ground, like a helpless

his case. But it didn't seem as though the Duke was

the servant

"Your…excellency, please, I can…exp—"

won't

hearing those words, the servant's face

that didn't last for long as

kill you now, that bastard will find out that something

***

At the same time.

"This is not bad."

in front of me, I looked around the

bed big enough for me to fit in,

was my new

should've been given to me before, but it was only

Quite the lazy bunch.

upon entering my room was

did, I made sure to keep note of every little

place is probably heavily surveilled, so I need to keep

with SilverMoon not too long ago was confirmation

I had done

do was carry them out at the

a little

and covering my eyes with my

at this point, but since I had forced my way to rank, I needed time to stabilize

to be okay with it. The only reason why I was mostly

been anyone else, they would've been in

my arm covering my face,

be going to get my

rule of the arena was that the winner would take all of the loser's possessions, including

contestants' resources, I found most of

if I had to be honest, I really didn't hold any interest in any of their resources. Having just consumed some,

while since I would be able to use

"Oh well…"

planning on collecting Lightning Dragon's resources. It wasn't because I wanted them, but because I wanted

things that

of very

***

or should

Kevin gazed at the phone in his hands. He

he held the phone with one hand, staring at himself reflected on

the rain to see

a feeling that things won't go well

he sent

don't talk to me, what is this

"Ugh."

out a distressed

"Damn it, Ren."

first place, he couldn't be blamed for

web, he

least a couple

to be expected. With the amount of fame he had due to his past achievements, he had a lot of followers. And they were growing each

almost reached a point where he had more followers than

to