“If you are with me now, others will misunderstand you. I will come back later,” Baler said these words before using instantaneous movement to disappear.

There was no time for Hyeonu or John Blake to stop him.

“That person’s words aren’t wrong. From what I’ve experienced, the nobles here are no different from the nobles in the demon world. Politics is life itself...”

John Blake didn’t finish his words, but Hyeonu understood without needing to hear what was omitted.

‘The demon kings would be even more so.’

Baler seemed very easygoing, but he revealed subtle dark thoughts at the end. The others would clearly be even more politically minded.

“Duke... do you know about the return stone? It looks like this...” Hyeonu pulled out the Penn Return Stone from his inventory. Hyeonu placed it on his palm, so John Blake could see it clearly.

“What about it?”

“In order to deal with this matter, I will have to often go back and forth between the middle world and the demon world... I can’t run all the way here every time I come, right? Demon kings have return stones to their cities so…”

“Here, take it.” John Blake flicked something out with his finger. A silver coin flew through the air and overlapped with the white coin.

[Blanc Return Stone]

[Only some nobles own a city return stone.

It has a limited number of uses but can recharge itself by absorbing the surrounding magic power.

However, it can only be used in the demon world.

Rating: Unique

Restrictions: None

Effect: Moves you to the city ‘Blanc’ once used (Number of remaining uses: 6 times, 6 hours for a single charge)]

“This is what Rubolle had as well. It is probably the return stone to this city. Well... should I give you mine as well?” John Blake asked.

Hyeonu nodded fiercely. Although he didn’t need a Quere Return Stone right now, it was for just in case. He didn’t know when he needed to go to Quere.

‘Be prepared for anything.’

Preparing for the future was never a bad choice. John Blake flicked something out with his finger once again. This time, a black coin flew through the air and landed on Hyeonu’s palm.

[Quere Return Stone]

[Only some nobles own a city return stone.

It has a limited number of uses but can recharge itself by absorbing the surrounding magic power.

However, it can only be used in the demon world.

Rating: Unique

Restrictions: None

Effect: Moves you to the city ‘Quere’ once used (Number of remaining uses: 6 times, 6 hours for a single charge)]

‘This is the third one.’

Penn, Blanc, and Quere—combined with the lord’s original authority to return to the inner office of Etono, Hyeonu could now visit four cities at will. The range of his actions had widened.

“Duke, can you send me to the middle world?”

“That is what I wanted to say. What are you doing instead of going there? You have to finish your job first before I can go to the middle world as well...” John Blake warmly welcomed Hyeonu’s words. The work in the demon world had to be settled for him to leave for the middle world. The core of the process was dependent on how well Hyeonu handled things.

“Come along. I know the location of the magic circle better than anyone else...” John Blake already knew where the magic circle was and how to use it. He had seen it with his own eyes although he hadn’t been able to use it due to Rubolle’s objection.

John Blake took Hyeonu through the lord’s castle. Nobody stopped the two of them. No, they couldn’t stop. After all, before them was John Blake—the man who had killed the former demon king, Rubolle. There was no demon courageous enough to talk to be the first to talk to a new ruler of the demon world.

“It’s here.” They walked a long time before John Blake pointed to a building made of gray stone. The building had a quaint feel like that of a temple.

“The feeling doesn’t fit the demon world...” Hyeonu expressed his feelings.

John Blake nodded in agreement. “It is the same for me. I had the same thought when I first saw it. It looks like a temple. Indeed... It is a temple—a temple dedicated to the demon god.”

“A temple dedicated to the demon god? Isn’t that the location of the magic circle that moves people to the middle world?” Hyeonu asked again with a surprised look.

“Regardless of the position of the demon kings... In the end, the one they serve is the demon god. No matter what happens, they feel they’ll be safe here, so they made the magic circles here.”

“They’re preparing just in case...” Hyeonu nodded. He understood what John Blake was saying. Rubolle was very clever.

“I just have a question. From what I heard from Viscount Garcia, you recovered the ring of Earl Carpe. Then who killed him?” John Blake stopped at the building to ask this question.

“Would you believe me if I said I killed him?”

“You? Well, it might be possible. You’d be able to do it if that bear helped you or if you had something else hidden.” John Blake nodded. He saw that Hyeonu had enough skills to kill Earl Carpe. Earl Carpe might be very strong, but it hadn’t reached the talent and strength that Hyeonu showed.

‘It seems there are more than one or two hidden things...’ The more John Blake thought about it, the more he thought this person resembled his student. Hyeonu was very insidious.

“His Majesty killed Earl Carpe. It was in an instant.”

“Alexander?”

“Yes, Earl Carpe died without even resisting.”

“Explain it in detail.” John Blake had an excited expression as he demanded a detailed explanation from Hyeonu.

“Earl Carpe appeared in His Majesty’s great hall. His Majesty saw him and reached out.” Hyeonu stretched out his arm to recreate the emperor’s actions at the time. “Then Earl Carpe flew like he was sucked in by His Majesty. The neck was caught, and it was over!”

Of course, it hadn’t ended there. The emperor had done something after grabbing Earl Carpe’s neck, and Earl Carpe subsequently died. There was just no need for Hyeonu to explain it so precisely. In essence, Earl Carpe hadn’t been able to do anything and got killed by the emperor.

“Really? His skills must’ve improved a lot. Once I go back, I will stop by the imperial palace. There are many places I have to go.” John Blake smiled and pushed open the huge door. The huge door was smoothly pushed open without a sound. The interior of the building was revealed. There were no special decorations apart from the central altar, only thick pillars sparsely scattered.

“The magic power stone is here as well?”

It was as Hyeonu said. A magic power stone emitting a brilliant light was floating in the air above the altar.

“The magic power stone is the only thing that can provide the massive amount of energy needed to drive the magic circle. Of course, it doesn’t matter if a demon king directly injects magic power, but... How can they have such a trusting relationship?” John Blake said.

This was natural. It wasn’t strange to be stabbed in the back in the demon world. Using such magic power in the demon world to activate the magic circle? It was the same as showing their back to the knife.

‘At that point, it won’t make a big difference to absorb magic power once...’ Hyeonu nodded and diligently followed John Blake, who was walking ahead. John Blake headed toward the center of the altar. There were unknown patterns and shapes carved on it.

‘So this is the magic circle,’ Hyeonu thought.

John Blake began to open his mouth like he’d read Hyeonu’s thoughts. He said, “Climb to the center of the altar. I will activate the magic circle.”

John Blake stopped, and Hyeonu continued to climb up the altar. Once he finally reached the highest part of the altar, John Blake placed his hand on the altar. Black fog-like energy flowed out of the floating magic power stone. Moments later, the altar was shrouded by the black fog, and a glow of red light was seen through it. From that moment on, the black magic power started to be absorbed by the altar. The more magic power that was absorbed, the darker the red light from the altar became.

Then the figure of Hyeonu standing at the top of the altar disappeared.

“I can’t use it even though it is right in front of me...” A sigh flowed from John Blake’s mouth as he watched Hyeonu disappear.

***

Quency’s operations team was once again busy today. No, they were very busy. They couldn’t calm down at the sight in front of them.

“I’ll be back after meeting Park Hyeonjun, the planning team leader. So keep monitoring it.” Kim Jinyeong patted Park Cheolhyeong on the shoulder and soon left the operations team.

‘What is going on? What the hell did you do in a few days, Alley Leader?!’ Kim Jinyeong thought while walking at a brisk pace.

His destination was the general planning team, just as he had told Park Cheolhyeong. To be precise, he was going to see Team Leader Park Hyeonjun there. Kim Jinyeong continued to speed up his pace. Then the man he was looking for entered his vision. It was Park Hyeonjun, a man who looked slightly brighter than before.

“Team Leader Park!” Kim Jinyeong shouted.

“Eh? Team Leader Kim?” Park Hyeonjun turned his head when he heard someone call out to him. Kim Jinyeong was standing there.

“Team Leader Kim, what’s going on?” Park Hyeonjun approached Kim Jinyeong, but anxiety had already sprouted in his mind. It was because Kim Jinyeong’s expression was too desperate. He mostly looked like this when...

‘Work bursts out all over the place.’ Park Hyeonjun sighed deeply. His heart had already sunk deep underground even without hearing the whole story.

“Don’t tell me... we have to work overtime?” He asked.

“Yes. Team Leader Park. We won’t be able to see home for a week,” Kim Jinyeong replied.

Park Hyeonjun sighed deeply again. It was terrible just hearing it.

‘Honey, I’m sorry. See you next week.’ Park Hyeonjun sent a letter to his rabbit-like wife, who would be waiting for him at home.

“How serious is it? What’s going on this time?”

“Things have happened in the demon world.”

“The demon world?”

“I think we need to make significant modifications to the main scenario. We should change the story in the future. Maybe we will need to do real-time patches for a month or two.”

This situation was worse than he thought. It didn’t take long for Park Hyeonjun to have the same expression as Kim Jinyeong. The more he heard, the more he felt like he was in a quagmire.

“Is it Alley Leader? What the hell did he do?” Park Hyeonjun wanted to identify the cause of the work. This way, he could follow up with the problem.

“He changed the demon king. The demon king! John Blake killed Rubolle and rose to the position of demon king. The invasion of the middle world will never happen like this,” Kim Jinyeong explained.

Park Hyeonjun sighed deeply without saying a word. He sighed for a long time before saying, “Use continuous monitoring to predict Alley Leader’s actions. Please.”

Park Hyeonjun caught and held Kim Jinyeong’s hand while pleading sincerely.