“W-wait… hold on!” I was so shocked that even my voice came out trembling. “What do you mean?”

I’d thought the hidden class I’d gotten through that loophole would definitely be taken away, and I’d be able to create a new character. That would’ve been the best-case scenario. But things had turned out completely differently from what I’d expected.

“I mean exactly what I said. They originally planned to have my clone take the role of the ‘Demon King,’ so they added it to the classes at the last minute. I didn’t expect you to take my place, but this works out pretty well. It saves me a lot of trouble.”

“Besides, I think this’ll be really fun. At the very least, it’ll be a lot more interesting than dealing with those stiff old fossils. Just think of it as playing a game with me. I’m looking forward to it, too.”

A curious gleam flickered in Alice’s eyes as she looked at me.

“You just want to slack off, don’t you!”

“Instead of complaining about me, you should worry about yourself. As the Demon King, you’ll have to lead the Dark Faction in its fight against the Light Faction. If you don’t work hard, the players will break through Herentis.”

“So what?” I pursed my lips. I wasn’t getting to experience the game anymore anyway. It wouldn’t be so bad to just bring it to an end.

“It’s not like the consequences would be that serious.”

Alice took a sip of tea without a care. “It’s just that you, as the Demon King, might get ○○’d over and over by the players. They’ll force you into ○○ ○○, and they won’t spare your ○○ or ○○. They’ll keep forcing ○○ on you, and even your ○○ ○○ will get ○○…”

“That’s way too many censored words, hey! Do you have ten gigabytes of porn in your head or something?” I was horrified.

“What do you take me for?”

Alice answered with a perfectly straight face. “If anything, it’s a hundred terabytes.”

“…That’s not the point! And it’s not something to be proud of, you idiot!”

“Anyway, you don’t get to refuse.” The girl spoke with an ironclad resolve, apparently unable to think of a comeback. To me, she sounded like an unreasonable little kid.

“Wait, I don’t even know what I’m supposed to do!”

If you put an Iron V in charge of a raid, the Dark Faction getting wiped out wouldn’t be my fault, no matter how you looked at it.

“Hill will help you with that.”

“As Lady Alice commands. I will do everything in my power to assist Your Majesty, the Demon King.”

Only then did I notice a tall demon woman standing beside Alice. She had silvery-white hair and pale gray eyes with a distinctive, almost textured look. With the beauty mark at the corner of her eye and her cool expression, she looked just like a no-nonsense head maid.

“Another cup, please. Your tea really is the best.”

“You’re too kind, Lady Alice.”

So it really was tea!

“If you have any questions, just ask Hill. I’m off to take a nap— I mean, I have lots of things to do, so I’ll be going.”

You were definitely about to say you were going to take a nap, weren’t you? Weren’t you!

“Wait, don’t you think this is way too rushed? Shouldn’t you give it some more serious thought?” Though honestly, I was more concerned about how I’d somehow become the Demon King in the first place.

There was no way the intelligent supercomputer running Era would be this careless about handing such an important role—one that could affect the entire game—to an ordinary player.

“Oh, no! It looks like the Light Faction is attacking!”

“Huh? Where? Where…? Wait, there’s nobody here at all!”

When I leaned out the window and turned around, I found that Hill was the only one left.

I felt I had to take back what I’d said earlier.

“…So you really are an elementary schooler. What a childish trick!”

“And the Demon King who fell for it is a child too, isn’t he?”

“Hill, we’ve only just met. Don’t tease me yet.”

“My apologies.”

Damn it. If that woman was going to be so careless, she couldn’t blame me for doing whatever I wanted.

Thinking about what Alice had described happening if players from the Light Faction defeated me, I couldn’t help shivering. She’d probably exaggerated, but still. I gritted my teeth and made up my mind. “Hill, our target is the Light Faction, right?”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“Then I order you to take every Demon King army in the Dark Faction and launch a full-scale attack on the world of light!” NPCs were always stronger in the early game, while players became the deciding factor in the middle and late stages. So we had to strike decisively and nip the threat in the bud before the players had a chance to grow stronger.

After all, I didn’t think the villains in anime who existed to give the protagonist experience points were particularly smart.

“Your Majesty, we don’t currently have any armies.”

Hill delivered some bad news.

“Wait, are you joking? How could the Demon King be so pathetic that he doesn’t even have one army?”

“I’m not joking. By Lady Alice’s design, Your Majesty must build the power of the Dark Faction through your own efforts.”

“So this is a hell-difficulty city-building game!” Sure enough, that woman wasn’t going to give me that much power.

I grumbled to myself, then suddenly seemed to think of something and looked up at Hill. “You’re a pretty high level, right, Hill?”

But she saw right through me and shot the idea down at once. “Lady Alice’s orders are to protect Your Majesty and assist in developing the Dark Faction.”

I couldn’t help rubbing my forehead. If this kept up, I’d get high blood pressure sooner or later. “Honestly. Fine, then I’ll go myself.”

With the Demon King’s power, I should at least be able to destroy a city, right? And Hill would definitely step in to protect me if things got dangerous. That meant gradually dismantling the Light Faction’s forces shouldn’t be difficult.

This time, Hill didn’t object. She only offered a suggestion. “Your Majesty could start by learning about your own abilities.”

Oh, right. I’d almost forgotten. That would help me attack the Light Faction more effectively, too.

With that in mind, I excitedly opened my character screen. In my previous life, I’d only learned about the Demon King’s power from the descriptions posted by experts on the forums. Now I had the chance to see that terrifying strength laid out in numbers. Anyone would’ve been excited.

【An Anesto Liana】

Level: 0

Race: Primordial Demon

Title: Nineteenth Demon King of Herentis

Reputation: 0

Attributes: Strength 1, Agility 4, Vitality 5, Intelligence ⑨, Spirit 7

HP: 80/80

Attack: 3, Defense: 8

Talents: Lord of Darkness, Demon King’s Authority (I)

Skill: Demon King’s Intimidation

Hmm… In a way, this really was terrifying…

Just not for anyone but me.

The rest didn’t matter. The moment I saw that big fat Level 0 and noticed that every attribute was in the single digits, I knew the game was over before it had even begun.

“Hill, can we surrender now?”

That woman had gone too far.

I slumped over the table. After taking several fatal blows in a row, I couldn’t muster even the slightest emotional reaction. If I had to put it into words, I was pretty much a complete wreck.

But one thing Hill said made me sit straight back up.

“Your Majesty can put this on.”

“What’s this?” I looked at the pleated dress I was wearing, with black velvet stockings hugging my perfectly shaped legs. I didn’t need to think about it to know I must look pretty cute right now.

I was embarrassed to be dressed so girlishly for the first time. But then I thought of a possibility, and my excitement returned. “Could this be a divine outfit that makes me hundreds of times stronger when I put it on?”

“It’s just ordinary girls’ clothing. It’s cute, so I thought the invaders might be a little gentler with Your Majesty after they break through Herentis.”

“…”

Maybe I should’ve realized sooner that Hill was a perfectly qualified deadpan snarker with a sadistic streak.

“So what kind of absolutely awful situation is this supposed to be?”

“Your Majesty keeps avoiding reality. If you don’t try to work hard, things will only keep getting worse.” Hill hit the nail on the head and pointed out exactly what was wrong with my defeatist attitude.

“But…”

“No buts. Your Majesty may not have a huge army or great strength right now, but the adventurers are just as weak. You have a much better starting point, so why not have faith that you can work hard, grow stronger, and defeat them?”

Hill’s words brought me to my senses.

That was right. Wasn’t the whole reason I played Era to get stronger through hard work and eventually get ahead of everyone else?

Things had changed a little, sure, but when you got down to it, it wasn’t all that different from leveling up. Besides, I had the experience from my previous life. No matter how I looked at it, I had a huge advantage over those players in the Light Faction. I might even be able to use the Demon King’s powers to make them suffer.

Heh heh. This was going to be the hardest game you’d ever played.

With that, I made up my mind and looked up again. “I understand, Hill. Please teach me how to get stronger!”

For some reason, I thought I saw a faint smile on Hill’s otherwise expressionless face. It vanished in an instant.

“Please follow me, Your Majesty.”