Trash of the Count's Family Vol 2. Chapter 466: Now, Let Us Begin the Deal (5)

Silence settled over the hall.

Make an offer.

Show me what you can give me.

When Cale said those words, the Demon King’s close aides could not hide their shock.

The face of the one who looked like a strategist was turning white.

Tap. Tap.

The Demon King tapped the armrest of his chair with his finger.

His gaze moved past Cale and over his shoulder.

“!”

General Mol’s pupils widened when their eyes met.

Because the Demon King was smiling.

“How entertaining.”

Mol remembered what he had said to the Demon King.

“What level was the Cale Henituse you saw?”

His answer to the Demon King’s question.

“If you meet Cale Henituse, you will find him very entertaining.”

The Demon King had not called the Wanderers entertaining. Not even during the negotiations with the forces of the God of Chaos.

He had treated even the third Emperor, Dragon King, with indifference.

“Very well.”

The Demon King’s gaze returned to Cale.

The corners of his mouth were still lifted, ever so slightly.

“What do you want?”

At those words, the expressions of the retainers behind the Demon King changed. That alone was enough to tell that this response from the Demon King was extremely rare.

In particular, the face of the demon who stood one step ahead of the others, directly behind the Demon King—the one who looked like a strategist—turned even paler.

“You’re asking the wrong question.”

But Cale’s response was no less audacious.

He answered with one corner of his mouth crookedly raised.

“What do I want? The side that wants something should be the one making the offer. We aren’t in any hurry.”

Cale shrugged. He looked as though he truly had all the leisure in the world.

“Your Majesty.”

In the end, the strategist stepped forward.

He glanced at the commander of the First Army royal guard standing at the entrance of the hall.

Receiving that look, the royal guard commander signaled to her subordinates, and the doors at the hall entrance slowly began to close.

“Sir Cale Henituse does not seem to be in good condition, so we will first guide you to a comfortable place.”

Creeeeak—

As the doors closed, the strategist gave Cale a genial smile as well.

“We will also prepare an offer that Sir Cale Henituse will find satisfactory.”

He looked so calm and natural that it was hard to believe his face had been white a moment °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° ago.

He’s buying time.

Cale realized that the strategist was trying to avoid the current situation, where the atmosphere had shifted toward Cale and become unfavorable for them, and postpone the negotiations.

Why should I let him?

There was no reason for Cale to play along with the strategist’s maneuver.

He had plenty of things he could say to pressure them.

Gray sickness should still be spreading right now. Aren’t you being a little too relaxed?

Just one sentence like that would be more than enough pressure for them.

Cale opened his mouth.

But the Demon King spoke first.

“Very well. I will make the first offer.”

The strategist opened his mouth urgently in surprise.

“Your Majesty—”

But his face went white.

The Demon King raised his hand.

“Urgh.”

The strategist swallowed a breath, and at the Demon King’s gesture, his body was shoved backward.

At that, the retainers immediately bowed their heads, and even the knights of the First Army royal guard who had been closing the entrance doors stopped what they were doing and held their breath.

Cale saw awe in the eyes of the Demon King’s retainers.

And fear along with it.

Then the Demon King opened his mouth.

“I wonder what you might want—”

The Demon King’s languid voice reached his ears.

“Shall I end my alliance with the hunter families?”

Eruhaben and Choi Han, who were watching, widened their eyes.

“......”

While Cale remained silent, the Demon King spoke again.

“Aurora.”

Aurora flinched.

Without giving her even a glance, the Demon King spoke to Cale.

“Shall I hand the next throne over to her?”

The expression vanished from Cale’s face.

As the strategist and the retainers grew even paler—

“Or should I reveal and apologize for the incidents where villages were attacked under the Demon King’s orders and demons were handed over as test subjects?”

At those words, Aurora’s and Choi Han’s shoulders twitched slightly.

The faces of the other demons turned even paler. The strategist, in particular, could not hide his look of dismay.

In the stillness, only the Demon King spoke.

“Why?”

He leaned deeper into his chair.

“Cale Henituse. You already know this, do you not? From the look of it, you people were the ones who attacked the Sixth Army last time.”

The Demon King’s army’s Sixth Army.

When Baron Deshuran attacked the village, Cale’s group had stopped them and currently had the leader of the Sixth Army imprisoned.

“Ah.”

The Demon King was composed.

“When I questioned the holy knight of the God of Chaos whom I was able to capture thanks to you, they said they had not attacked the Sixth Army. This is what I concluded based on that information.”

Slowly, slowly.

The Demon King’s voice was full of boredom. The act of explaining itself seemed to be an extremely uninteresting process to him.

But the smile at his lips did not disappear.

He looked only at Cale.

“What else shall I offer? Ah, how about money? Or land? Power?”

The Demon King spoke without inflection.

“I can give you anything. So purify the gray sickness.”

At the end of those words, silence settled for a moment.

“......”

“......”

A short silence where no one could open their mouth.

In the middle of it, Cale, who had been quietly watching the Demon King with a blank face, opened his mouth.

“I judged you wrong.”

He had thought the Demon King was a bastard who had no interest in demon lives, but at least cared about his own position.

“You really don’t care what happens to the Demon World, to demons, or to anything at all.”

This bastard is genuinely insane.

Cale’s gaze moved over the Demon King’s shoulder.

“Looks like most things have all been handled by your retainers.”

When the strategist’s eyes met Cale’s, he could not hide his agitation.

“And you simply left it alone.”

Why?

“Because it looked like it would create a more entertaining situation.”

The Demon King gave no answer to the indifferent gaze directed at him.

The Demon King of Ennui.

Cale understood that “ennui” was the perfect word to describe the demon before him.

Even fighting the previous Demon King’s faction and becoming Demon King...

Even cooperating with the forces of the God of Chaos and the hunter families.

It had not been simply to make the Demon World stronger or to raise his own authority.

Cale made his judgment about the Demon King.

This bastard was not the type of ruler who would do anything to protect the power he held.

Rather, this bastard—

His eyes are dead.

Back when he was Kim Rok Soo, he had met the heads of various organizations after becoming team leader.

At the time, he had seen a few bastards with eyes like this.

One of them had been the head of one of Korea’s top three largest guilds.

Another had used the Cataclysm well, built a large-scale corporation, and then sat in the chairman’s seat.

“You are fighting ennui.”

“......!”

For the first time, the Demon King’s eyebrows twitched faintly. Cale continued, regardless.

“That is why you want chaos and war.”

Because the only times he felt entertained—

The only times he felt alive—were things like chaos and war.

Bastards like this do all kinds of insane things.

Cale closed his eyes.

He still had a fever, and his head was still spinning.

“To think I was trying to have a conversation with a lunatic like this.”

Sigh.

A breath escaped him of its own accord.

“......!”

“!”

The strategist, General Mol, the commander of the First Army royal guard, and the others stared at him with shocked faces.

The Demon King of Ennui.

The demons who followed him believed he was the one most likely to become a demon god.

Because he was stronger than any Demon King in history.

And to such a powerful being—

“As if a normal conversation would work with someone missing a screw.”

Cale spoke without hesitation.

It was something no one in the Demon King’s castle would dare do.

Because the Demon King killed anyone who acted even a little arrogant toward him.

That was why the commander of the First Army royal guard found this strange.

Why is His Majesty letting him be after he said something so irreverent?

No.

He was even more intrigued.

As someone who stayed by his side as a royal guard, she had not seen the Demon King this interested in something in years.

Then Cale tossed out a remark.

“You find me entertaining, don’t you?”

The smile at the Demon King’s mouth deepened.

Yet his eyes were still bored.

But Cale did not care.

Right. That huge guild leader and that company chairman I met as Kim Rok Soo also found me entertaining.

Why?

No idea.

Those humans were impossible to understand.

But each of them had found Kim Rok Soo entertaining for their own bizarre reasons.

The Demon King opened his mouth.

“Yes. You are entertaining.”

Because everything was tiresome to the Demon King, there were things he saw all the more clearly. That was why he grasped Cale’s essence at once.

“Looking at you, I understand. You do not move for power, wealth, or honor.”

Cale Henituse was different from the God of Chaos and the first Wanderer.

Because everything was bothersome to the Demon King, he could see it clearly.

“You want to purify the gray sickness quickly, do you not?”

The Demon King already knew the true intention Cale had been trying to hide.

“You want to make the world, and the area around you, peaceful, do you not?”

He had realized this sincerity as well.

“That is why you struggle so desperately, is it not?”

Pff.

The Demon King burst into laughter.

While the demons were shocked at the sight, the expressions of Cale’s companions turned strange.

They looked at Cale’s back with faces they could not quite explain.

Cale, sitting in the wheelchair, breathing hard, facing the Demon King.

His back looked especially large.

What is this?

And General Mol.

He, too, felt something strangely ripple through him, and felt the divine relic in his arms vibrate.

Suddenly, the images came to him: the Dragon King, the Demon King, all those who did not care whether demons lived or died.

And alongside them, Cale, who had run wild for the sake of one companion.

As the inheritor of the divine relic passed down through his family, General Mol had followed the Demon King of Ennui, believing him the only being who could become a demon god.

Yet instead of the Demon King, Cale’s struggling figure caught his eye more.

Even as Mol’s gaze fixed on Cale, the Demon King’s voice continued.

“You are very strong.”

Ah.

The commander of the First Army royal guard let out a small sound of admiration.

It had been a long time since she had seen the Demon King call someone strong.

Those he acknowledged as strong were all truly strong.

They were beings she could not even hope to defeat.

Gods.

Gods, beings near gods, or beings with the “possibility” of standing against that level of existence.

Those were the beings the Demon King called strong.

There was a reason His Majesty left him alive.

There was a reason the Demon King had simply watched this human who spoke irreverent words without restraint.

But that man?

That person who looked so frail was that strong?

Of course, he had endured the third Emperor’s sea once, but had that not merely been him barely holding on and escaping?

And yet he was strong?

Just how great is his possibility?

As the gazes of the royal guard commander and the strategist sank deeper—

The Demon King looked at Cale and declared it.

You are strong.

“And yet your enemies are stronger.”

Even though Cale knew that.

“And still, you are fierce.”

And within that fierceness, his desire was simple.

“And yet you simply want to rest.”

I hate this ennui.

But this bastard simply wants to finish everything and rest.

That was what the Demon King could see.

Because he was the Demon King of Ennui.

“How very entertaining.”

This bastard and I are opposites.

The Demon King wanted chaos.

This bastard wanted to eliminate chaos.

Not because he wanted to eliminate chaos to maintain power, like the God of Balance.

Not because he wanted to eliminate chaos for some grand cause.

He simply wanted to eliminate it for his own peaceful days.

He wanted to rest.

The Demon King could feel that desire all too clearly.

While he himself felt as though he would suffocate in ennui.

The Demon King quietly stared at Cale, whose true thoughts had been exposed.

How will this bastard respond now?

And soon, Cale answered the Demon King’s words.

“Fine. Then let’s make it more entertaining.”

“...What?”

Make it more entertaining?

The Demon King’s eyes widened.

And Cale smiled brightly.

Back when he had been Kim Rok Soo, whenever he said this kind of thing to bastards like the Demon King, they all made that expression. Watching that had been quite entertaining.

Cale informed the Demon King, who acted as if he understood everything, of reality.

A reality that should be very entertaining.

“Hey.”

He did not even call him Demon King anymore.

Bastards like this enjoyed it more the more arrogant and unruly you acted.

“The God of Chaos and the heavenly realm joined hands.”

“!”

The Demon King’s eyes widened.

“The heavenly realm’s goals include crushing your Demon World.”

The faces of the strategist and the retainers stiffened.

Their expressions were as if they had come face-to-face with the enemy of their lifetime.

“On top of that, the Five Colored Blood family is scheming to place the heavenly realm, the Demon World, and even the divine realm under their feet.”

Cale spoke without hesitation.

You think you’re at the center of creating chaos, Demon King?

You’re the ones getting stabbed in the back right now.

You people have to struggle desperately too if you want to survive.

“And it looks like those Five Colored Blood bastards have even found a way to get rid of gods.”

Now then, Demon King.

The pandemonium you want is right in front of you.

“How is it? Entertaining, isn’t it?”

Cale shrugged and added,

“Ah. It must not have been entertaining up until now.”

Cale spoke to the arrogant Demon King.

“Because you didn’t know.”

Only you people didn’t know.

—Human, you don’t know a lot of things either, but you’re pretending like you know everything!

Seven-year-old Raon was very good at saying the right thing.

“Demon King. Are you still bored?”

For the first time, Cale saw the Demon King’s mouth close at his question.

The Demon King’s mouth no longer smiled.

However, for the first time, his eyes were smiling.

“Cale Henituse.”

He drew himself away from the backrest and leaned toward Cale.

“I will present the terms of our deal.”

Only then could he offer terms for an equal transaction.

Cale Henituse.

This bastard and I are not opposites.

No, perhaps we are opposites, but at the very least, this bastard can grant what I desire.

That was why the Demon King said what Cale wanted.

“I will actively cooperate with you for the peace you desire.”

He could feel the strategist and retainers stirring behind him, but that was none of the Demon King’s concern.

In truth, it was partly for his own sake, but for the Demon World as well, he had to escape his ennui. Contrary to Cale’s expectations, the Demon King did think of the Demon World, in his own way.

Moreover, if even the heavenly realm is involved, this cannot continue as it is.

After hearing the information he had just learned, the Demon King was forced to speak to Cale now with considerable—no, substantial—sincerity.

Demon god.

To rise to that position, the Demon King had to break free from the fetters assigned to each of them.

The Demon King of Ennui was, in his own way, struggling desperately to escape his fetters.

It was just that no one knew.

No.

He did not know what fetters the Demon King carried.

But at the very least, there was someone before him now who had seen his essence.

“You are fighting ennui.”

Yes.

He was truly fighting.

That was why the Demon King put forth these terms.

He said to Cale:

I will actively cooperate with you for the peace you desire.

Therefore, you—

“In return, until then, you must entertain me.”

For some reason, I feel as though you will give me a clue to escape these fetters.

Even while gasping for breath, even while his whole body looked exhausted.

If it is you, who struggles desperately through life to obtain your own peace—

If it is you, who charges without hesitation into chaos and turmoil for that purpose—

I feel as though you will give me the answer to escaping ennui.

And the other party—

Pfft.

Did not bother hiding his scoff.

“What bullshit. Why should I entertain you? I don’t have time to play with you.”

Cale’s confident smile entered the Demon King’s eyes.

“Instead, I’ll keep making one mess after another.”

I’ll make the board.

“So if you’re bored, come and play.”

Find your own entertainment.

“Of course, if you get your ass beaten while playing, that’s on you.”

He might very well get beaten by us. Or they might fight among themselves and annihilate each other. They had done so many vicious things, after all.

And the peace I want?