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?!"

breathing, the

you doing this to

him, the Duke's cold voice

a second that you would live after hearing what

eyes opened

'He knew!'

was this possible? He had taken all possible precautions to hide this fact, how was it possible for the

"Your excellency!"

He screamed.

"I won't tell anyone—"

you? Asking me this and that, you think I

as the pressure coming out of his

lay down on the ground, like a helpless prey that had been caught by

case. But it didn't seem as though the

servant

"Your…excellency, please, I can…exp—"

won't kill

words, the servant's

didn't last for long as his face hardened completely

now, that bastard will find out that something is

***

At the same time.

"This is not bad."

at the room in front of

decorations in the room before me, it had a bed big enough for me to fit in, sofas, paintings, and all types of

my new

was only now

Quite the lazy bunch.

entering my

course, as I did, I made sure to keep note of

so I need

SilverMoon not

had done most of my preparations

was carry them

little

and covering my eyes with my arm, I slowly started

point, but since I had forced my way to rank, I

reason why I was mostly okay was because of my

it been anyone else, they would've been

my arm covering my face, I thought

be going

the arena was that the winner would take all of the loser's possessions, including their resources. It essentially crippled

contestants' resources, I found most of

if I had to be honest, I really didn't hold any interest in

since I would

"Oh well…"

Dragon's resources. It wasn't because I

of things that I needed to say

of very

***

or

phone in his hands. He was currently in a tough

he held the phone with one hand, staring at himself reflected on the screen, Kevin's thumb hovered over a small green button on the

through the rain

won't

post he sent as

talk to me, what

"Ugh."

out a distressed

"Damn it, Ren."

be blamed for sending his previous

something on the web, he

least a

due to his past achievements, he

almost reached a point where he had

him to get