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“Little key, do you have something you want to ask? Paimon? He’s only around eight years old. He is cute, but in my eyes, you’re definitely much cuter. Oh, I just can’t stand it any longer! Don’t you want to be eaten by me right now?”
“Why would you even ask that? You’re saying that simply because you want to be of help to the Master? Hmm, then, him being talkative and loud is just bad. But he’s kind of sociable. I’m not really that interested, so I wouldn’t know anymore.”
“Sociable? Brother, have you finally gone senile?! That stupid bastard. If you were to give me a piece of land in the west, I’m definitely going to play King and stay right there. Why would he come all the way to the nest itself?”
“Julia, it’s better to not get close to Paimon. He has recently been gifted with rare magical powers, but he can’t really control that power of his. He will surely have problems one day that you might not be able to handle at all.”
The next day, Julia was eventually able to hear things about Paimon from the surrounding demons without much difficulty. As the ninth highest ranked demon, he had a relatively favorable reputation with the strong demons, but not a very good one amongst those of the lower ranks.
‘Even so, the Demon King had already noticed Paimon’s true nature.’
As Julia was on her way to meet Paimon, whom she had promised to from the day before, she could hear an urgent array of footsteps that was following her through the hallway. When she turned around, Kimaris was already there standing right behind her.
He asked Julia her matter of business, perhaps because he was rather uneasy about her asking about Paimon previously.
“The reason why Paimon got called as the King of the Four Realms was the fact that he had been born with the power of fire, one of the four elements. In terms of fire magic, there is no other demon that could compete with him and his resistance to fire is, of course, very strong. His attribute resistance can still be destroyed completely though, but probably only by Bael or Agares.”
“But still, he’s just an eight-year-old child. He’s not that dangerous…”
“Julia.”
Kimaris, who took a step ahead of her, immediately stood while facing her. He began to stare at his beautiful yet fragile Master along with a serious face.
“If anything should happen to you, the lives of your enemies will definitely pay for it.”
“Mister Kimaris.”
“And not just myself, but everyone else too. In regards to Paimon, really, stay away from him and make sure to have me or even someone else with you wherever you go while he’s still in the nest.”
Kimaris was aware of Julia’s altruistic nature. She wouldn’t bat an eye if she had been told that she was in grave danger, but when she heard that someone else would be in danger, she would have definitely reacted right away. She was certainly too ill-suited to survive in this underworld.
Julia nodded her head quietly as she adjusted her expression in order to avoid revealing her own mixed feelings.
“Yes, I know. I’m a rather important material for turning the Demon King into the Demon God. Until then, I’ll be much more careful not to get hurt at all.”
“That’s not what I meant…!”
“Still, please watch over me today. That’s a promise, right?”
Julia softly smiled and walked past him. Kimaris let out a rough breath as if he was blaming himself, but there had been nothing more he could actually do.
After making their way across the castle, the two soon arrived at Paimon’s residence. Somehow, it was already dazzling right from the beginning of the hallway, but his bedroom had boasted a different level of splendor from the door itself. It wouldn’t even be strange to call it a gold bar rather than a mere door.
‘I’m pretty sure that my hand will definitely break if I were to knock on it.’
Julia, who was hesitant in front of the doorknob, eventually decided to speak out loud.
“Lord Paimon, are you inside?”
“…”
“Excuse me, Lord Paimon?”
While Julia was waiting for a reaction from the inside, Kimaris, who had been standing behind her, opened the door with such ferocious force and entered the bedroom first instead. And at the same time, a sharp voice began to erupt from within.
“What—why did you come in without permission?!”
“As expected, you deliberately ignored her while you were simply inside. The sun has risen in the middle of the sky. Is it not enough to tell Julia to come here on her own—so why are you still being like that?”
“What does it matter where this body is or what it truly does! Even if this body were to simply lift its hand, you should have already been crying and screaming as well as pleading to be saved all the while kneeling down as you beg! Why are you even attending to a lowly human being anyway! Aren’t you just a slave who will soon die either way?!”
Julia, who was still treading in the hallway, eventually realized that the air inside had subtly become frozen. She then carefully opened the door. Paimon, who seemed to have just woken up from his slumber, was currently glaring at Kimaris with a fierce gaze.
“What, you actually dare to look down at this body right now? You, who’s just an insignificant worm that can’t even reach the tip of this body with your own magical powers?”
“……apologize to Julia right this instant.”
“Why does this body have to do something like that? How utterly arrogant.”
The corners of Paimon’s mouth twisted ominously. A lump of lava blazed in his grasp, rapidly growing in size. It soon turned into a huge spear and aimed at Kimaris’s head.
“Now, if you want to live, kneel before this body. Kimaris.”
“I told you to apologize to Julia.”
“I heard that Agares had stolen your heart? So, you’re not going to die all at once—that’s actually even better.”
The moment Paimon’s fingers had snapped, Julia quickly rushed in between the two of them.
“Command. Transfer!”
A bright white light instantly emanated from her hand. It escaped from Julia’s body in the form of a sphere before it completely wrapped around Kimaris. The fast-rushing spear hit the shield and eventually shattered. The fire that had moved to the surrounding furniture started to burn away fiercely.
Puffs of smoke and blazing heat swiftly overtook her. Nevertheless, Julia couldn’t even afford to be surprised.