“Thank you so much for helping me out, Lotus. It is definitely easier to make meatballs with someone else rather than doing it alone”

“Is that what we are making? In that case, you are welcome, husband”

Ren, at first was weirded out by her calling him her husband, but by now he got completely used to it.

Despite how scary the scene looked like when Lotus entered the kitchen, she was surprised to find out just how benign Ren’s true intentions were.

Apparently he wanted to make breakfast for his clan and was working on it at night when everyone was asleep.

“Yeah, considering Akjan seems to be having trouble sleeping lately, I thought it would be for the best to let her rest, rather than ask her to help me out in the kitchen.”

Recently, Ren has been noticing that spots underneath Akjan’s eyes are growing darker due to the lack of sleep, so he thought she was having trouble sleeping.

He did not know it was mainly due to his sleep walking that she was so sleep deprived.

Making sure that Ren returned to his clan territory safely nearly every time he sleepwalks away was no easy task.

Yet for some reason, Akjan kept doing so, unbeknownst to none but Master Korgan, who simply watched it happen with silent amusement.

To Master Korgan, seeing Akjan’s actions was a definite proof that she loved Ren.

Seeing their supposed ‘love’ bloom reminded Master Korgan of Ymit and Raushan, his son and future daughter in law.

Sadly, he never saw their love bear fruit.

But perhaps, theirs will….

“You chose your right hand man rather wisely”

“Right hand man? Oh, you mean Akjan, I see, like the most loyal ally, huh. Yeah, that would be Akjan, all right”

Ren was not aware that Lotus did not know of Akjan’s gender and in his ignorance, he did not clarify the confusion.

“You must be delighted, being the leader of a great clan, you must be really proud of yourself and the things you have accomplished.”

“Uhm, actually, no”

“How come not? Are you not proud of being the leader of your clan? Isn’t it wonderful to lead so many demons? Being the one in charge and all?”

“It is more of a pain in the ass, to be completely honest”

“But your clan members clearly adore you”

“They adore who they think I am, not who I am. In reality, I am not half the demon they think I am.”

“I understand you rather well, husband.”

“Do you?”

Ren was a little skeptical of her statement. How could she possibly understand his situation?

“Before becoming your vassal, I was the one left in charge of my clan after my father passed away. So, yes, I know quite well what you are going through”

“Oh, so you do get me. Finally! Someone I can talk to about this!”

Ren ended up hugging Lotus.

“Everyone is crazy! They think I am trying to become some big shot or something but I just want to be left alive at the end of the day! Is that too much to ask?!”

“Husband, please wait, calm down!”

And just like that, Lotus ended up losing her balance and fell, with Ren now being on top of her.

‘Eeh, what kind of a situation is this?’ Lotus couldn’t help but think.

If anything, this was a rather bold situation to be in; it was her first time being with a male demon, so she was not sure what to do.

Come to think of it, she was twenty three, and from what she heard from Master Korgan, Ren was around sixteen to seventeen. She was clearly older than him, which made her worry that he might lose interest in her.

“Uhm, husband, do you mind if I ask….Do you dislike older women?”

“No, I prefer them older”

Ren bluntly admitted his type.

“I see, by the way, how long are we going to be in this awkward position?”

“Oh, my bad”

Ren stood up, allowing Lotus to sit up.

“Husband, if conquest and domination is not what you want, what is it that you truly desire?”

“To never lose my family again. Keep them safe. Protect them. To me, the entire Tengu clan is my family, and by extension, that makes all of you, members of Draco clan, my family.”

‘You are serious? Are you playing some mind games with me or trying to break me by making me let my guard down?’

Lotus was not sure what to make of this.

From what Korkau and Kizilkoz have told her, she got an impression of Ren as some manipulative warlord bent on conquest of all the opposing clans.

But after talking to Ren, he gave off an impression of someone who wouldn’t hurt a fly.

‘The gap between the impression he is giving off right now and what others have told me about him is too big. Which is the real him?’

Lotus chose her words carefully.

“An honorable goal, husband”

“Thank you”

“Still, in order to protect anything, one needs strength. And by becoming your concubine, I have all but declared myself as a weakling. Now, I have no right to claim the throne of the Demon King. Still, no matter who becomes the Demon King, he or she would have to deal with the Frost Emperor after a year or less, so I am not envious of the one who ends up…”

“Wait, hold on a second. Frost Emperor? Who the heck is that?”

Ren could remember Korkau once mentioning Frost Empire, but other than that, he knew next to nothing on the subject.

“The leader of Frost Empire of Yokai and Kalkan Kingdom’s greatest adversary. How do you not know of him?”

“I spent most of my life in human world, some things I managed to catch up on in this world, but some I haven’t”

“That is understandable, then I might as well tell you about it, husband.”

“Thank you, please do so”

“Do you know of what a Yokai is?”

Ren shook his head.

“They are not the same as demons, unlike us, who look relatively humanoid in our base forms and assume our True Demon Forms, their base forms are non-humanoid and only the stronger ones can assume humanoid forms.”

“Huh?”

“Maybe if I start from the beginning, it should clarify some things up.”

Lotus began.

“Before the time of the First Demon King, this land had four prominent species in it. Humans, demons, Oni, and Yokai. There were others, of course, but these four were the most significant. The dominant force in this world was Frost Empire, led by the Yokai.”

“But then, the First Demon King liberated the demons from the human world and transported them along with the human lands into this world. With the transported land combined with the land in this world, the Kalkan Kingdom led by demons, was born.”

“Insulted at demons usurping control of the lands they thought were rightfully theirs, Yokai armies marched against the demons, but the Demon King and her Demon Lords repelled them. Ever since then, every thirty six years, Frost Emperor leads a charge against the Kalkan Kingdom, but Demon Kings have stood up to him, time and again”

“But why every thirty six years?” Ren asked.

“That’s how long it takes for the three suns to be aligned again, this phenomenon makes their powers grow exponentially stronger”

Ren couldn’t help but ask.

“Wait a darn minute! For one of the trials of Selection, the condition for end of the trial was the alignment of three suns! So why didn’t the Frost Empire strike then?”

“Temporary alignment of three suns that lasts a single day or so happens every so often, but the one that happens every thirty six years is different. Every time that happens, for a single month, the three suns move as one. And during this time, the power of the Yokai is at their strongest.”

“The last attack happened thirty five years ago, long before either of us was born. Back then, Akil Ras and his Demon Lords fought against the forces of Frost Empire. My father told me that Akil Ras personally fought the Frost Emperor. Demon King managed to inflict serious wounds on Frost Emperor and win the battle.”

“But Akil Ras did not achieve his victory unscathed, the injuries he suffered from Frost Emperor, they crippled his power for life. Father told me that ever since that power, Akil Ras was nowhere near as powerful as he once was. That was the reason father started to lose faith in him, a leader who was getting weaker and weaker with each passing day”

“So whoever becomes the next Demon King will have to finish what Akil Ras, 56th Demon King, had started. Protect the Kalkan Kingdom from invasion by the Frost Empire, and face against the Frost Emperor”

“But couldn’t the Frost Emperor attack any time he wants?”

“Frost Empire is not aware of what is going on inside the Kalkan Kingdom, as far as they know, they most likely think that Akil Ras is still alive, and Frost Emperor would not dare to attack unless his forces were at their strongest. Yokai live for hundreds of years, so he can afford to wait. The one who will face him will be the next Demon King.”

“I feel a little sorry for the guy who will end up becoming the Demon King”

Ren had to agree with her reasoning. But one day, he would look back on her words with terror.

“Me too. Sounds like the future Demon King will have a lot on his plate, on top of keeping all clans from killing each other”

“While the Yokai did rule this land before the First Demon King, it is not like demons having their own kingdom is a bad thing, right? But having two large powerhouses makes them constantly in conflict with each other”

“Are the Kalkan Kingdom and the Frost Empire the only kingdoms in this world?”

“By far not, but they are the two that are most consistent and long lasting. There were countless kingdoms, established by humans in this world, but they were crushed and turned to ruins. They even have a saying that every fifty years or so, a human kingdom dies and a new one is built on top of it. By now, we don’t even bother with the name of their territory, simply Human Kingdom is enough. The home of paladins and Pishak Priests”

After hearing her explain things, Ren curiously asked.

“So, is every demon in this world descended from the ones that came from the human world of Alem?”

“Not exactly. While our ancestors, of many of our clans, came from the world of Alem, there were already demons in this world. Our ancestors may have been from Alem, but now, every demon has Sulum blood in their veins. Frost Wolf demons of Jou clan in particular, are descendants of Yokai and Wolf type demons, which is why they have ice based powers.”

“Wow”

“Yeah, that is the reason why I used to think of Korkau as extremely dangerous opponent, before you broke him”

“It was not intentional, he kind of got in my way, and I may have drop kicked him. After that a bunch of weird things happened and for some strange reason he tells me he wants to work for me along with his sister, and I said sure. Kind of all there is to it”

‘Drop kicked him?! You mean to tell me, you beat Korkau Jou, with a single drop kick?!’

He may be talking like a weakling, but the more he spoke, Lotus became more and more aware of how abnormal this demon was.

Ren Karatengu was hornless, that was plain as day.

But somehow, that did not stop him from doing deeds that seemed to defy imagination.

‘If breaking Korkau’s body and will is no big deal for him, then it might not be too much of a stretch that he really did kill Kizil’s father, Demon King Akil Ras!’

After what Kizilkoz told her, Lotus could not quite believe that Ren Karatengu, as powerful as he was, was capable of slaying the Demon King.

She always imagined Demon King as some sort of a deity-like force, the true guardian of Kalkan Kingdom.

For someone like that to be defeated by a hornless demon like Ren….it was rather hard to believe.

“Worst part is that everything piles up, and my clan members don’t know that I am not some great demon or something, sometimes I feel like they expect me to perform a miracle, while I struggle to even cook properly” Ren admitted.

“Being a leader of a clan is not exactly an enjoyable job or even one you do by choice. It is always because it must be done by someone and you just happened to be the best demon suited for the job.”

Lotus knew Ren’s situation all too well.

It was exactly the same situation she was in until recently.

And now, the only clan leader in the room was Ren.

He was the poor chap carrying the entire burden.

‘Is that why I ended up in this situation? Because they think I am the best suited demon to lead this clan?! Are they insane?’

Ren gulped in fear.

“It seems like we both are leaders that have followers with sky high expectations” Lotus remarked.

“It seems so”

“Uhm, husband?”

Lotus seemed a little hesitant with her words.

“Yes?”

“For the sake of the future of our clans… we might want to have a child together soon….”

Ren Karatengu, for once, was left speechless.