Inside the mansion, which resembled a winter kingdom.
Duke Winterly was seated at the head of a long ice table. Around him, countless cakes of various colors and shapes were scattered across the surface.
A bright red cake decorated with eyeballs on whipped cream, a dirty chocolate cake with black cream dripping down, and mysterious, unidentifiable, perplexing cakes that a pastry chef could only dream of...
None of them looked appetizing.
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I had just been watching him from behind the curtain in the banquet hall.
Ding!
< Demon Realm Rank 23 — Duke Winterly has appeared! >
My eyes widened slightly as the status window appeared before me.
‘Rank 23 in the Demon Realm?’
Isn’t that too high?
The highest-ranked demon I had encountered so far was ranked 75th.
At that time, there were other capable holy knights with me, and we managed to survive because we met the escape conditions.
But facing the 23rd-ranked demon alone was a different story.
If the other holy knights didn’t find the Aurora Orb or whatever it was, I wouldn’t stand a chance.
This was a rather desperate situation.
‘Still, there must be a way. Let’s think this through.’
I stared intently at the scene beyond the curtain.
I had already guessed that the one sitting at the table was Duke Winterly.
His appearance certainly lived up to the name.
Was he completely devoid of blood?
His face was pale and blue like ice. His eyes were white, and his hair glowed with a transparent blue hue, as though it were sculpted from ice. It didn’t seem like hair but rather like he was carrying ice on his head.
‘He definitely looks like a bad omen. And it’s still so cold here.’
It truly felt like the master of the Winter Territory resided here.
Despite being indoors, the entire space was made of ice, so it felt no different from the outside chill.
Duke Winterly grasped his fork like a shovel and began eating the colorful cakes.
However, his gaze was far too sinister to be that of someone enjoying the taste.
“This feels like I’m chewing eyeballs! Ugh. Eating wood would be better than this. Yuck.”
He gagged and spit out the contents.
When the servant cleared the plate, he took a quick drink before returning to the cake.
“Hmm. This... crunch crunch... this is infuriating. How could I serve this at the Demon King's birthday party! It’s today, and it’s already ruined!”
Crash!
Suddenly, Duke Winterly swiped the entire table with his hand.
The creative cakes were instantly reduced to a pile of mush on the floor.
I was more startled by something else than the cakes being destroyed.
‘What? Today is the Demon King’s birthday party...?’
That meant today was the Demon King’s birthday!
How could that be...
Today was also my father’s birthday.
Could it be that the Demon King and my father shared the same birthday?
I hadn’t known that the Demon King and my father shared the same birthdate.
‘This feels awful. Wow, this feels so awful...’
The blessed, miraculous day of my father’s birth was also the terrible day the Demon King came into the world.
However, maybe it was for the best.
It wasn’t just a coincidence that I happened to be in the Demon Realm on my father’s birthday. This might be my perfect opportunity to finally celebrate my father’s birthday after so long.
Swoosh!
I stretched out my hand and immediately drew the curtains aside.
It was time to show myself to him.
With a loud sound, the curtain parted, revealing my figure in the banquet hall.
Duke Winterly and the servants turned to look at me, all of them with bewildered expressions.
I didn’t care, though, and walked straight to the center of the hall.
My opponent was the 23rd-ranked demon in the Demon Realm.
I was facing Rank 23 alone. But now that I had come this far, I wasn’t thinking of turning back.
In fact, a good plan had just come to mind.
‘First, I need to take control of the situation.’
I stared at Duke Winterly with unwavering eyes. I slightly lifted the corner of my mouth in a provocation.
“Why do you look so shocked? I came here to check on the host since I was invited to the estate.”
“Human?”
Duke Winterly’s eyes widened in disbelief.
He couldn’t believe his eyes as he looked at me.
“How did a human come here?”
I clicked my tongue softly.
“You demons always have a problem with underestimating humans.”
Duke Winterly opened his eyes wider, and his head stuck out as if trying to get a closer look at me.
Then, he blinked several times, rubbed his eyes, and stared at me again, as if trying to confirm what he was seeing.
“Really a human?”
“Yep, that’s right. I was so frustrated that I came to ask you directly. What’s this about the orb with eyes? It exists, right?”
“...”
Duke Winterly slowly began to realize the situation. His face turned a shade of red, almost as if it would explode from anger.
Then, he slammed one hand onto the ice table.
Thud!
Ice shards flew in all directions.
“How you came here doesn’t matter. It’s a violation of the rules.”
“There weren’t any signs saying that.”
“Of course not. There was no sign because there’s no way to get here in the first place.”
“Seems like your mistake was underestimating humans.”
Shudder.
Duke Winterly’s cheek and hand trembled with rage.
I asked the question I had been dying to ask ever since meeting him.
“By the way, where is my comrade Adrian? He’s not dead, is he?”
Would he answer me honestly?
But whether he heard my words or not, Duke Winterly shuddered with anger and yelled.
“Rule breaker... I’ll take your life right now! Die!”
With a shout, Duke Winterly reached out his hand toward me.
From his hand, dozens of ice blades shot out, rushing toward me.
I quickly drew my sword.
I deflected the ice blades flying at me with swift movements. The blades that passed me flew straight into the ice wall, embedding themselves into it.
Crash!
There was no time to relax.
Ice blades kept coming at me one after the other.
I destroyed the long icicles with my sword and quickly closed the distance between me and Duke Winterly.
His eyes became even more terrifying.
As I got closer, the long-range attacks became ineffective, and no new icicles appeared.
Crash!
I shattered the last icicle and lowered my sword.
I smirked at him leisurely.
“I heard today’s the Demon King’s birthday. Do you have time to be wasting like this?”
“You...!”
“How about I make a suggestion? Just listen for a moment.”
“What?”
Duke Winterly’s eyebrows furrowed in disgust, though his curiosity was obvious.
It seemed like demons couldn’t hide their curiosity.
I had figured out what this demon desperately wanted.
It was a delicious cake to present at the Demon King’s birthday party.
Someone ranked 23rd in the Demon Realm should have no problem getting such a cake, right?
But for some reason, all the cakes he had prepared were smashed on the floor.
Was he just picky about his taste?
I wasn’t sure, but I came up with a decent plan.
With the system helping me, I could pretty much do anything I set my mind to.
I had never made a cake before, but that didn’t matter.
“Actually, I’m a very talented pastry chef. I’ll make a cake for the Demon King’s birthday party. If it’s to your liking, you can send me and my companions back to the human world.”
“Ridiculous!”
Suddenly, Duke Winterly shouted and jumped up from his seat.
A chilling aura emanated from his entire body.
It seemed like he got colder when he was angry.
So, does that mean when he’s this angry, he cools down fast...?
It didn’t seem like it, as he was radiating a chilling energy.
“How could you possibly make a cake that I’d like? Even demons who are masters of desserts in the Demon Realm couldn’t satisfy me!”