“Eh…”
“Eh eh eh?”
Faced with such an unexpected situation, even Hill—who was familiar with all sorts of magic—was rendered speechless.
For a short while afterward, the only sound that could be heard was the voice of a certain pink-haired loli who clearly hadn’t processed what was happening.
Even after snapping out of it, she still opened her mouth, dominated by an intense urge to retort.
“Wait… wait, there must be some mistake here!”
“There is no mistake, esteemed Your Highness the Demon King. We have decided to follow at your side.” Claire’s voice rang out in the hall, calm yet filled with determination.
“Then why did you put on such a huge display, hey!” I almost went to squat in the corner earlier.
“Because this is an important decision. We wanted to show you our resolve, and we also needed this to solidify our own determination.”
Claire answered seriously, like a wolf pack on the ice plains facing a blizzard—only by collectively choosing a direction could the individuals avoid hesitation and confusion.
For them, the current situation was no different from pressing forward in a snowstorm.
After all, this concerned a choice of faith.
So to me, it seemed extraordinarily unbelievable.
“Hey hey, what about the faith you follow? What about the creeds and doctrines you uphold? If you do this, the holy light will cry, hey.”
Though this pained tone sounded like admonishment coming from my own mouth…
Analyzing the situation—do you guys have to mess with someone’s mentality like this?
It felt a bit strange saying it, but I figured my thoughts were still more normal than this group suddenly declaring they wanted to join the dark faction.
After all, this development was even more outrageous than a super-unfolding plot where the gentle, pure childhood sweetheart of many years gets abandoned, only for the scheming, yandere, venom-tongued second female lead—who’s also the daughter of the father’s killer—to take her place.
But speaking of which, me complaining about my own faction like this—isn’t that a bit much too…
While someone was secretly pondering whether the dark faction’s positioning should be changed to “tsundere young lady,” an astonishingly unified voice rang out in the hall.
“To us, you are the holy light.”
I almost choked. “Pff… I’m the Demon King, the enemy of your holy light, hey!”
I knew these guys were lolicons, but a plot where the childhood sweetheart and the yandere second female lead rivals are actually different personalities of the same person—how is that normal no matter how you think about it, hey!
“The holy light can be all things; it is also the true heart we pursue. As long as we follow our true heart, we are worthy of our faith.”
“What kind of nonsense theory is this… Eh, wait, this couldn’t be…”
Just as I was about to retort, I suddenly froze, because what the other side said sounded extraordinarily familiar.
As if responding to my doubt, Claire nodded and raised her head. “Yes, this is precisely the admonition Your Highness gave us before. Because of that, we were able to awaken and understand the true essence of the holy light.”
“Following one’s true heart is where the holy light resides!”
As Claire’s words fell, everyone’s eyes in the hall shone with a pious and fanatical light akin to that of devout believers.
This isn’t holy light anymore—it’s a destruction beam!
I think I realized something.
So this afternoon, she was just casually drawing out my words—there was no so-called adventure novel about the dragon knight Alman.
Claire had known my identity long ago and informed her trusted subordinates.
However, because of their lolicon tendencies, they didn’t know how to treat me—who was both a loli and the Demon King—for a while.
Thus, they fabricated a novel, using Alman to represent themselves and Nina as me.
Whether supporting or opposing would likely yield similar results; it was just to give themselves a reason to feel at ease.
Yet unexpectedly, I directly quoted teachings from my previous life, giving them a different understanding of the holy light and combining their love for lolis with the holy light into a new faith.
Of course, the former definitely accounted for 99%.
Otherwise, how could they betray the bright faction so easily?
Lolicons are terrifying.
Once I understood most of it, this was the only thought in my mind.
No wonder the prisons are so crowded—there are always heroes rushing forward one after another.
“So that’s how it is…”
“We will swear to follow Your Highness forever.” Claire let out a breath, subconsciously assuming I had accepted them.
The others also showed relaxed expressions.
But the next moment, I suddenly spoke up.
“As if! Who would accept you bunch of lolicons? Don’t think I didn’t see that secret ritual you held a few days ago!”
Hearing my voice, most people froze for a moment.
When they came back to their senses, they subconsciously averted their gazes—after all, they hadn’t expected their secret to be discovered by me.
Even Claire fell silent for a moment. “You misunderstand, Your Highness. We simply have more care for young kindred and wish to better protect them, which is why we formed a similar organization.”
“As if I’d believe that! Doing such excessive things with young kindred’s clothing is care? You say protection, but the criminal is right among you!”
Everyone in the hall couldn’t help casting strange gazes at a certain cleric trying to sneak into the corner, giving off a strong vibe of “it’s because of bad apples like you that lolicons get misunderstood.jpg.”
Though in that situation, they weren’t guaranteed not to do the same.
Claire didn’t know how to explain it either, her heroic cheeks rarely showing an expression called embarrassment.
Just as I was about to continue retorting, I was suddenly pulled back.
Hill, who had been silent until now, finally spoke.
“Your Highness, I believe we can accept them.” Hill reminded softly. “These are considerable fighting forces, and the Demon King’s Castle is severely lacking in manpower.”
Reminded by Hill, I finally snapped out of my momentary indignation.
Hill was right—these people were elite members of the monastery, and Claire was even a hero native over level 200.
With their addition, though the Demon King’s Castle couldn’t be said to grow powerful overnight, it would at least be a significant increase in strength compared to before.
“But Hill, these guys are latent criminals, hey.” Yet I still held some resentment.
Letting them join felt like my chastity would be under constant threat.
“Then learn to control them. If Your Highness cannot even control these people, how can you speak of ruling the dark faction, or even the entire world?” Hill said calmly.
Yet my only wish was not to get pushed down.
But Hill was right about one thing—if a grand Demon King couldn’t handle even this much, it would be better to surrender early.
I looked at the crowd in the hall before me. “Hmm… It’s not impossible to let you join.”
Before they could react, I spoke again.
“But I have conditions.”
“Please give your orders, Your Highness the Demon King.” Claire froze for a moment.
Though she didn’t show much, a hint of suppressed excitement could be heard in her tone.
The people behind her also showed excited expressions, quickly echoing her.
“First, you must swear not to betray me or the dark faction.”
“Please rest assured. Since we have made our decision, we will not regret it.”
“Second, you are not allowed to arbitrarily disobey my orders.” I thought for a bit and added, “Of course, if something is wrong, you can speak up directly.”
Yet the other side showed no hesitation.
“As long as it is Your Highness’s command, we will carry it out with all our might.”
It seems pretty straightforward.
I thought there would be some debate, but unexpectedly, things resolved so easily.
My mood lightened up.
“Then third, you are absolutely not allowed to harbor improper thoughts toward me… not even with clothes or other things.”
…Don’t stay silent on this kind of thing, hey!!