Chapter 4: Navigating Chaos: Shadows of the Demon Continent

1. Demon Continent.

The continent, divided into Eastern Forces, Western Forces, Northern Forces, and Helators (Central Forces), was so chaotic that there was never a quiet day.

The main reason was that the Demons liked fighting, and an additional reason was that they were confined to one continent.

Thanks to this, problems like ‘war’, ‘rebellion’, and ‘terrorism’ were commonplace on the Demon Continent, and the Northern Forces were at the center of these problems.

In other words, they were called the fighting race, and they strongly opposed the ‘survival of the fittest’ theory and the system of Satan, the current real power of the continent.

The reason was that their ideology and Satan’s ideology were different.

If Satan’s system prioritized order and unity, then the only doctrine they put forth was the survival of the fittest.

The two ideologies were like water and oil, not being able to mix together, and were prone to causing explosions at any moment.

And that problem continued to the current situation, and it ended up interfering with Satan’s reunion with his daughter.

Dalgrak-Dalgrak-

As soon as he heard the news that the Northern Forces had invaded his territory, Satan led the Fourth Knight Division and headed north.

With Satan at the forefront, the Fourth Knight Commander Lovolf and his 1,000 knight troopers followed behind.

Satan’s face, riding across the forest on horseback, looked particularly more unpleasant than usual.

It was common for the Northern Forces to cause trouble, so why was he so unpleasant today?

His close associate, Dragos, one of the great demons, could easily guess the reason.

“This provocation was not well-timed.”

“Well, I guess I’m a little excited this time.”

“Well, then, we can go on this alone.”

Satan smiled bitterly at Dragos’ consideration.

After a moment, he shook off his thoughts and put on a serious expression again.

“The conflict zone this time is Berhelm, so that guy might come, but you can’t just send them on your own.”

“If that’s what you mean, we’ll just follow.”

“Of course, we plan to make them pay dearly for this incident with death.”

“Then this battle will be spectacular.”

The two men rode side by side, conversing.

Eventually, Satan looked around carefully and asked, “Dragos, what kind of child did Lucy look like in your eyes?”

“How could I possibly evaluate Satan’s daughter?”

“I’ll allow it, so tell me.”

At Satan’s repeated urging, Dragos coughed a few times and honestly revealed his thoughts.

“… What more do I need to say? In terms of appearance and charisma, she showed a clever temperament that was not appropriate for her age, but…”

“Only?”

“I may be presumptuous, but I think she lacks the aspects of a girl her age.”

“Why do you think that?”

“This is a story I received just before the expedition, but it is said that she not only refused to wash, but also caused a commotion by wanting to wear pants.”

“Hmm…”

“Isn’t that proof that she has such a difficult past that it’s hard for her to live a girl-like life?”

“That’s definitely… something to consider carefully.”

The two men exchanged pitiful glances as they thought of the girl who was no longer here.

While they were fumbling around like that, Lucy, who was in Satan Castle, was shoving the teddy bears that filled her room into the closet.

     2. The bell rings at midnight.

Before she knew it, the day filled with strangeness had ended, and it was time to go to bed.

However, Lucy couldn’t sleep like that.

There were too many things to worry about.

What happened to her original body, and whether there were any players in the same situation as her here.

‘I should gather more information when I have time.’

Thinking so, she glanced out the window.

Outside Satan Castle, she could see the lights of the endlessly spreading metropolis.

The metropolis located in the capital.

It would be perfect for gathering information, and she was also curious about the unknown world she had never seen before.

Soon after, Lucy decided to go out and took out a few items from her inventory.

‘Death Evasion Ring [Mythical]’

A consumable equipment that can nullify any attack once.

Immortal’s Pendant [Mythic]. A resurrection item that revives you immediately after death.

Bracelet of the Dead [Mythic]. -30% increase in magic recovery, magic absorption effect of the dead.

Hermes’ Robe [Heroic]. A floating cloak that flies in the sky.

After arranging the items on the table, Lucy put her hand on her chest.

She could feel the warm body temperature and the sound of her heartbeat.

This body was definitely alive.

In other words, no one knew what would happen if she died in this state.

It would be nice if she could come back to life like in a game, but what if that wasn’t the case?

The items in front of her were for that kind of situation.

“At least I won’t be easily defeated by this…”

After finishing the selection, Lucy began to put on the listed items one by one.

Finally, she put on the cloak.

After finishing her preparations, Lucy used the illusion skill ‘Dream’ in the room.

The smoke rising from the ground began to transform into the shape she wanted, and soon she created an illusion of herself sleeping soundly on the bed.

With this, there was no problem even if the maids suddenly came in, and Lucy finished using her ‘upper transparency skill’ on herself and escaped through the window.

“Fly.”

She flew out of the castle while transparent.

The cool night air that she had never felt in a game greeted her.

Just as she was about to pass through the castle walls and enter the city center, Lucy stopped in midair, feeling a sense of discomfort.

From her ‘spiritual eye’ that could sense magical power as an aura, a barrier surrounding the castle was detected.

“Is this a siege barrier?”

It was a barrier skill commonly seen in Ragnarok.

Judging from the thickness of the wall, it was probably an intermediate barrier.

It would be easy to break through with force, but if you did, you would be caught by the magician who set up the barrier.

In that case, it would be okay to just leave it alone.

Lucy chanted while looking outside the barrier.

“Magic Skill. Teleporter.”

As soon as the chant was over, Lucy’s body was transferred outside the barrier with a blue light.

In this way, it was enough to use the teleporter to get to the intermediate barrier.

After safely completing the transfer, Lucy looked at Satan Castle once and then headed outside the castle.

Helgen, the capital of Helatores.

The view of the city center from the air was reminiscent of a wealthy city during the Renaissance.

There were stone buildings decorated in various colors, neatly laid brick roads, and a canal dividing the city center at its center.

The city was so large that it was hard to estimate the population, but it was obvious at a glance that it was quite developed for the Middle Ages.

After landing in a dark alley, Lucy released her invisibility magic.

From now on, she planned to blend into the city.

She roughly covered her face with her robe and exited the alley.

She headed toward the brightly lit street first.

An intersection.

The street lined with bars was crowded with residents even after midnight.

Lucy walked through the streets and glanced at the residents’ faces.

The residents, made up of demons, were divided into various races such as ‘Beastmen’, ‘Dark Elves’, and ‘Aliens’ in addition to the demons.

‘Are Beastmen also classified as demons?’

Lucy walked through the streets.

Then she stopped in front of a bar.

At the entrance of the store, men who had just finished eating were handing the owner a coin.

Lucy looked carefully at the coin the man took out.

A coin with an Ouroboros engraved on it.

It was the same currency used in Ragnarok.

Lucy’s mouth curled at that fact.

There were 70,000 gold coins stored in her inventory.

If she could use that here, at least she wouldn’t have to go hungry.

Maybe I’m incredibly rich.

As she continued walking down the street while caught up in such fantasies, she found herself leaving the street lined with bars.

The next thing she came across was a dark and gloomy street.

Compared to before, it was lacking in energy and the roads were dirty.

“I only walked a few more blocks, but what a difference in temperature…”

On one side of the gloomy street, a middle-aged man was sleeping on the street using a shabby cloth as a blanket.

His beard and hair, which had not been maintained for a long time, had grown thickly and covered half of his face, and he had wolf ears sprouting from his head.

Lucy approached him.

“Excuse me~”

“Huh!?”

The man jerked up at Lucy’s call.

After a brief moment of confusion, he immediately began to frown.

“What are you doing!? Why are you waking up a sleeping person?”

“Why are you sleeping in a place like this?”

“Are you kidding me? I can’t tell just by looking at you!?”

“… Are you homeless?”

The man glared at Lucy as if he had only just realized that.

“I wanted to ask you a few questions.”

“Don’t bother me and get lost, kid.”

“I was planning on giving this to you if you answered correctly?”

“Huh!?”

Lucy pulled out a gold coin from her sleeve.

The man’s eyes widened at the sight of the shiny gold coin and instinctively reached out his hand.

“Give me that… that… thing.”

“I told you, if you answered correctly, you’d just give it to me.”

Lucy put the coin back with a devilish smile, but the man’s mouth trembled as if he was impatient.

“Wha…what is it! Ask me anything, and I’ll answer anything!”

Lucy had the will to answer with this.

First, she asked about the prices of goods in this world.

“What can I do with this gold?”

“What can I do with gold? Of course, I can do anything. With one gold coin, I can easily buy hundreds of meals.”

“Hundreds of meals. Roughly speaking, how much would a worker have to work to earn?”

“I’ve heard that it takes several months for a commoner to work, but I’ve never worked myself.”

Roughly speaking, even one gold coin is a lot of money.

With this, he could see how ridiculously large his capital was.

“Okay, then the next question is… Do you know about the existence of players?”

“Players…? What are they?”

He didn’t seem to know.

Lucy didn’t expect much either, and Dragos didn’t know either, so she ignored him and moved on to the next question.

“Next, about the Demon Continent….”

She then asked about the current state of Helatour, the existence of the surrounding countries, and even the small details of their cultures.

These were questions that could have been considered a little suspicious, but the man was so focused on the gold coins in front of him that he answered her questions without any sign of suspicion.

Thanks to him, Lucy was able to obtain detailed information about the Demon Continent she was currently on, and as promised, she handed over one gold coin and left.

A back alley in the slums.

As she was walking down the street, she had come to this impressive place without even realizing it.

She had gathered enough information, and a lot of time had passed, so it was time to go back.

“Hmm?”

Just as she was about to do that, men suddenly appeared from between the alleys and began to surround Lucy one by one.

They were all men with a certain impression.

Judging from their appearances, they all looked like street thugs.

Soon, Lucy realized why they had surrounded her.

“Brother, it’s that kid!”

Among the crowd was the man Lucy had given the gold coin to earlier.