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 servant murmured in

doing this

Duke's cold

for a second that you would live after hearing what I said

eyes opened

'He knew!'

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

"Your excellency!"

He screamed.

"I won't tell anyone—"

a little impudent recently,, haven't you? Asking me this and that, you

Duke's face sunk as the pressure coming out of his body rose even

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

didn't seem as though

the servant continued

"Your…excellency, please, I can…exp—"

I won't kill you

words, the servant's face

for long as his

I kill you now, that bastard will find

***

At the same time.

"This is not bad."

the room in front of me,

decorations in the room before me, it had a bed big enough for me to fit in,

my new

been given to me before, but it was only now that they had decided

Quite the lazy bunch.

thing I did upon entering my room was head straight

as I did, I made sure to keep note

probably heavily surveilled, so I need to keep

leak in the conversation I had with SilverMoon not too long ago was

I had done most of my preparations

was carry them out at the

a little bit

on the bed and covering my eyes with my

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

a breakthrough and expect their bodies to be okay with it. The only reason why I was mostly okay was because

been anyone else, they would've been

the bed with my arm

also be going to get

of the loser's possessions, including their resources. It essentially crippled the loser of the fight, but these

taking other contestants' resources, I found most of them to

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

I would be able to

"Oh well…"

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

of things that I needed

of very important

***

or should I

his nails, Kevin gazed at the phone in his hands. He was currently in a

hand, staring at himself reflected on the screen, Kevin's

have to look through the rain to see the

won't go well

every new post he

talk to me, what is

"Ugh."

let out a

"Damn it, Ren."

first place, he couldn't be

on the web,

of money. At least a couple million

of fame he had due to his past achievements, he had a lot of followers. And they were growing each

he had more followers than most high-profile

was only natural for him to get sponsorship and endorsement deals from famous