The Demon King Who Draws

Chapter 88

The Seven Deadly Sins.

They were the descendants of the first Demon King, beings who could reach the pinnacle of all living creatures solely through the power etched into their blood.

Pride, Greed, Envy, Sloth, Lust, Wrath, Gluttony.

They were a group of world-class entities, strong enough to rival even the archangels who served the Sun King, Solomon.

Most of the surviving demons now wanted to hold humanity accountable for the horrific incidents they had committed, under the command of these Demon Lords of the Seven Deadly Sins…

“Damn it…”

The events unfolding here in the land of the witch were caused by Lust, one of the Seven Deadly Sins.

And as for me…

‘So I’ve been involved in Lust’s scheme.’

Now that the situation had escalated to this point, I was starting to become curious about that guy staring up at the moon.

“Why did you deceive me?”

“Deceive you? Me?”

“That this was a matter involving the Seven Deadly Sins… Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Well, if I’d told you beforehand, you wouldn’t have taken any interest, would you?”

He wasn’t wrong.

In the original story, Enis served as a guide for this episode, but for now, she was nothing more or less than the last Blue Witch.

A disposable pawn.

That was her position and her significance in my future.

It would be right to cut ties even now.

“Actually, I was already unsure of how much to allow your meddling.”

“…”

“But now I’m sure. Leaving you alone back then was the right choice.”

“What…?”

“This situation has turned out to be quite entertaining.”

Leon spoke as he counted the stars.

“Lust planned this a long time ago. About 8 years ago? So, the one pretending to be a witch hunter now has been preparing for this for 8 years.”

‘They’ve been preparing for a long time.’

Heh-

“But, how much do you think Lust is interested in this matter now?”

It was an unexpected question.

A scheme Lust had been preparing for 8 years.

Of course, they would be interested…

“Not interested?”

“Heh heh… That’s right. To be precise, it’s not that they’re not interested; it’s more like they’ve forgotten about it. How many puppets like that one do you think Lust has under them?”

“More than ten, at least.”

“To be exact… more than a hundred. Maybe even hundreds. I’m not sure of the exact strength of each of the Seven Deadly Sins, though.”

“That’s…”

“There are many who would die at her command. Lust is particularly skilled in that area.”

That meant there were plenty of Lust’s minions, like Büttner, who had been dispatched alone to the wilderness.

“Then what’s with this secret letter?”

“May I check it myself?”

Flash-!

When I handed over the letter, Leon skimmed through it and then broke into a wide grin.

“See, I thought she might have forgotten.”

“What?”

“When Lust is interested, she leaves a direct message. Lust probably heard about the situation in the Frozen Lands a long time ago. Most of the work would have been handled by her subordinates.”

Alright, fine, whatever.

But what I really wanted to know was…

“…Hey, Leon.”

“Yes, Faust.”

“Who are you?”

“…”

“Not only do you know a lot of unknown facts about the Seven Deadly Sins, but you also seem to know about hidden schemes here in the witch’s land…”

It had seemed strange to me.

No, this had been a question in my mind for quite some time.

“Who… are you?”

He had known about the collapse of the decaying root in advance, and he had appeared after several months in a frosty nest that had settled.

And… he was the one who had warned me about getting involved in the Seven Deadly Sins’ affairs. Of course, he had kept the connection between this situation and the Seven Deadly Sins a secret.

I had to find out who he was.

“…I see, I suppose it’s time for introductions.”

Woooosh…

Leon’s hair and pupils gradually began to turn black.

“…A demon.”

A change was also occurring in Aita.

Rustle…

Her hair was also gradually turning black.

I had expected they might be demons. If you ask when exactly I started thinking that, it was when I learned that Büttner’s plan was related to the Seven Deadly Sins.

Leon removed the mask that he had used to disguise his face.

Sssssk…

What was revealed was a beautiful face with an androgynous allure, making it hard to tell whether they were male or female.

“Allow me to formally introduce myself.”

Flap-

Leon bowed gracefully, folding one arm inward.

“I am Arkad, of the Greed faction of the Seven Deadly Sins.”

“…What?”

My mind went blank for a moment.

…A member of the Seven Deadly Sins?

Roooaaaar-!

Leon… No, Arkad’s aura suddenly exploded, dominating the surroundings.

It was a terrifying and disgusting aura…

Not just the aura of someone with killing intent, but of one who had already taken too many lives.

Not just the mere release of power, but an aura filled with too many stories.

Ssshhhhh…

It felt as if living tendrils were lurking all around, ready to devour me at any moment. If I didn’t resist, it seemed like I would be sucked into his aura.

Sigh…

Even though I resisted with all my might, I could still feel the dark and ghastly aura tickling my cheek.

Thump…

Thump…

A pressure weighed down on my heart.

‘This is… the Seven Deadly Sins I’ve been searching for….’

It wasn’t by chance that I couldn’t remember a character named Leon. After all, Leon was not in the original story.

But… there was no way I could be unaware of the name Arkad.

‘The Greed of the Seven Deadly Sins… the one from whom Faust inherited the most blood.’

The one standing before me now was a Demon Lord.

“What is it… that you want from me?”

Aita suddenly stepped forward, almost convulsively.

“Show respect! How dare you behave like this in the presence of Greed…!”

“Enough, Aita. I want to have a relaxed conversation.”

“But…”

“It’s a secretive relationship. It’ll be fine.”

She glared at me for a moment before stepping back again.

“Now, where should I start…?”

Arkad began recounting events from quite a long time ago.

“The first time I saw you… was when Romwell introduced you as someone useful.”

The memory of that time when I was lingering in the Rotten Root flashed by.

“Your clumsy disguise, your passable guts… and the aura I felt from somewhere before. I recognized you at once.”

“…You recognized me?”

“Of course. I thought the plan was fairly decent. Who would’ve thought that a discarded experiment would return alive and well.”

“You…”

I, along with the other experiments, had been discarded by the Seven Deadly Sins. We were supposed to die on the guillotine as illegitimate offspring.

“Earlier, I mentioned that Lust probably forgot about her plans in this Frozen Land, didn’t I?”

“…”

“You experimental subjects were forgotten by the Seven Deadly Sins much earlier than that. It was such a long shot of a plan… and there was only one person who paid any real attention to it.”

“And that person… is you?”

Swish!

Arkad raised his index finger as he spoke.

“That’s right. It was I, Arkad.”

“If that’s true, why didn’t you send reinforcements to Victory Island?”

“Why? Didn’t I tell you? You were abandoned by the Seven Deadly Sins. It wouldn’t make sense to retrieve something that’s already been discarded, would it?”

“…”

In the midst of this cold rationality, a small flame of anger began to rise within me. But that small flame soon died out as well.

‘If I were one of the Seven Deadly Sins, I would’ve made the same choice.’

It was logical.

The Seven Deadly Sins weren’t in a position to waste resources on a defective result.

‘However… these statements are meant to provoke me.’

It was as if he was testing whether I would lash out against the Seven Deadly Sins in a fit of emotion.

Naturally, I wasn’t going to take the bait.

“Oh… it doesn’t seem to bother you?”

“Those experiments were meant to die. I’m well aware of that.”

“…What? Heh… Heh heh heh… Hahahahahaha!”

For some reason, Arkad seemed quite pleased.

“I’ll keep it short. There’s only one reason I’m helping you. I need someone who can understand what I’m saying.”

“Are you asking me to become your servant?”

“Not exactly. Think of it as me becoming your patron.”

A patron…

Well, even Lust was sending hundreds of minions to the far reaches of the land just to increase her stock of useful servants.

“I don’t think I’m capable of carrying out tasks for the Seven Deadly Sins.”

“Not at the moment, no. But that’s something you can work on. Let’s go to Malasis.”

Malasis!

The headquarters of the Seven Deadly Sins and the vast underground kingdom buried beneath it. It was the base of operations introduced after Episode 10, also known as the Underkingdom.

Malasis, true to its role as the headquarters of the Seven Deadly Sins, was a place where new generations of demons were nurtured. Naturally, it was much more effective for growth than wandering around the wilderness and occasionally devouring the souls of adventurers.

That’s why I wanted to make contact with the Seven Deadly Sins or Malasis as soon as possible.

‘However… this leaves a bitter taste.’

All I’d gained from coming to the land of the witch was a handful of magic stones and some broken relics. It felt like I was leaving with a pitiful report card in hand.

“Of course, I’m not suggesting we go immediately. I have a proposal for you.”

“A proposal?”

“It’s something you’ll find quite tempting once you hear it.”

Arkad calmly began to explain the proposal he had in mind.

“The reason I’m here in the Frozen Land is solely because of you, Faust. I knew about Lust’s plan, but I didn’t think much of it until you got involved.”

Why was he bringing up Lust now?

Hadn’t he decided not to interfere with that plan?

“The one who’s been masquerading as a human among the witch hunters…”

“Are you talking about Büttner?”

“Yeah, Büttner. He’s going to fail.”

“…What?”

“Büttner’s plan is going to fail.”

“Why? Do they know who he really is…?”

“No, no. There’s still the most important hurdle left. To subdue Eckelart, he has to be stronger than Eckelart at the very least.”

Could it be that Büttner would lose to Eckelart?

“No way… why would he get involved in a fight he can’t win…?”

“Because this plan is outdated. Do you think nothing has changed in the past eight years?”

“Are you saying that Eckelart’s prowess… has increased?”

“Yes, it seems he’s reached the rank of a Transcendent. He’s only just crossed the threshold, but still.”

A Transcendent.

In Lemegeton, when five-star familiars reach their peak level, they hit a wall. The moment they break through that wall, they are called Transcendents.

It’s a system that was to be introduced in an upcoming update. There’s no need to ask why such an important system was released only after the game had already launched—it was one of the reasons Lemegeton failed.

Anyway, this meant that the currently sealed Eckelart bore the title of Transcendent, a title not yet even available in the game.

“My proposal is this: the situation in the Frozen Land will unfold according to Büttner’s plan, but at a critical moment, things will change dramatically. Büttner will die, and when Lust realizes this, she’ll send even stronger subordinates to subdue Eckelart.”

There’s an opening.

A gap in their plans.

“There’s a window of time, then.”

“Exactly! With communication cut off, it’ll take at least a week for Lust’s subordinates to arrive here. Now, you understand what I want?”

“To subdue Eckelart.”

“Exactly!”

“Why don’t you do it yourself?”

“If Aita or I step in, we’ll leave traces. Pretty obvious traces that Lust won’t miss.”

I didn’t bother asking why the Seven Deadly Sins were wary of each other. It was the same in the original story. Even as allies, they constantly doubted and kept each other in check.

“What’s in it for me?”

“Subduing a Transcendent like Eckelart would be a significant gain on its own, wouldn’t it? Far more valuable than those paltry magic stones.”

“And it’s not like I could use them anyway with Lust’s eyes everywhere…”

“You can, if the soul is refined. I’ll help with that. How about it? The final part of this plan is crucial…”

Arkad grinned slyly.

“Whether or not you can defeat Eckelart…”

“I’ll do it.”

Aita’s eyes widened as she asked,

“Are you out of your mind? I knew you were brave, but I didn’t realize you were reckless. Arkad! This is going too far…”

The hidden intent behind this proposal.

Greed, one of the Seven Deadly Sins.

This was his final test for me.

“I’ll do it. I’ll subdue Eckelart. But… if I succeed in this…”

I locked eyes with Arkad.

“You’ll have to abandon any thought of using me as your pawn.”

“Heh… Hahahahaha!”

Arkad laughed wildly, his eyes gleaming.

“Well then… let’s see how it turns out.”