Chương 100: 97. More Skewers

Adolin still lay on the ground while his chest burned. It was much better than a few minutes ago, but the pain would still persist for most of the day. He took a deep breath. The air smelled of smoke and ozone.

"Say something!" Adolin continued ignoring the stupid brat... That sounded weird to him, since Eurynomos was at least a few centuries old. Still, by the way he acted, he was just like a brat. Adolin still wondered if there was some kind of issue with the reincarnation. The Demon King must have hit his head before waking up in the new world. There was no reason for him to do something like that.

"Oh, come on. I thought you wanted to have some fun!"

"How's your core?"

"... Umm. It could be better!"

"Did you hit your head before entering this world?"

"I don't think so. What does that have to do with anything?" He went back to ignoring him; he would have left already if he could. His core was empty, and it was really slow at recovering mana. That was another side effect of last-stand spells. The bastard a few steps away from him had it worse. That thought made him feel a little better about himself.

"Are you still not curious why I need the forest cleared?"

"No."

"Why not... are you lying?"

"No."

"Living as a human sure is, though." Adolin didn't say anything as the Demon King continued spouting nonsense. Well, maybe he shouldn't have been ignoring him, but the double-element last stand pissed him off more than he wanted to admit. There was no reason for him to do that, and it was one of the most dangerous things one could do to their core.

"Are you mad about something?" Eurynomos said.

"I kind of understood it back in my throne room, but why are you acting the same now?" A few seconds of silence passed.

"Are you mad about the void? My bad... I kind of got carried away."

"Kind of?"

"Well... it gets boring fast when there isn't anyone strong to fight... Umm... There was one a few weeks ago, but that was such a long time!"

"Who did you fight?" Adolin asked, curious who had made such a dumb mistake.

"A few idiots entered my dungeon. Corrupted idiots." His dungeon? What did that even mean? The corrupted had even managed to piss off the Demon King, and if there was one thing he knew about Eurynomos, it was that he was quite petty. He wouldn't let the corrupted go without causing them some damage. And again, how did he have a dungeon?

"Your dungeon?"

"Yeah, I went on a quest for the guild and stumbled upon one."

"The guild let a nine-year-old boy go on a quest?"

"The details are not that important!" Eurynomos said.

"Yeah, yeah."

"I thought you weren't interested?" Adolin frowned. It wasn't like he was interested—well, maybe a little, since he'd mentioned a dungeon... his dungeon, and the corrupted.

"I'm not."

"That does seem like a lie." Eurynomos stood after a minute and took out a few stones, placing them on the ground in a circle. Then he took out a few pieces of wood and lit them aflame.

"You sure you need the stones?" Adolin asked, sitting up. Eurynomos glanced at him, then at his surroundings.

"I guess not." Then he took out a piece of meat and a wooden board, cut the meat into bite-sized pieces with a knife, which Adolin found a little too mundane. Well, considering their circumstances, they would be easy prey even for bandits. In just a few minutes, the Demon King made skewers that reminded him of the ones he'd had at the city gate, mixed with two kinds of vegetables.

Then he took out a lump of bread dough—at least, that was what Adolin thought it was—and placed it on the hot coals inside a metal container to bake.

"When did you learn all that?" Adolin asked.

"Making a meal? I've always known that!"

"Sure." The boy gave him a questioning look before returning to the task at hand, grilling the skewers. Soon, the smell of grilled meat wafted through the air, mixing with the smoke and ozone.

"So?"

"Well, there is this party I met in the city. They took some pity on me after I failed to find a job for two whole weeks and... basically adopted me into their party and made me carry their bags, along with cooking," Eurynomos said as he turned the skewers over the hot coals.

"The great Demon King was adopted into a party of puny mortals?" Adolin said with a chuckle. Eurynomos ignored his chuckle.

"Laugh all you want. You have no idea how difficult living as a human is, especially as a homeless orphan."

"Hate to break it to you. That's literally how life began for me in the new world." Eurynomos was quiet for a few moments.

"At least you know how to blend in. I, on the other hand, have no idea. Everything is a new experience."

"I can imagine how difficult it is to blend in as a nine-year-old, especially the way you act." Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more. Lunch was soon ready, and Eurynomos took out wooden plates, putting all of the food on them before offering one to Adolin. Adolin took it. It smelled divine, just like the skewers he'd had at the stand outside the city. He took out the table he had received as part of his... reward, yeah, and placed it in front of him.

Eurynomos' eyes brightened.

"That's better!" Adolin sat on his knees so he could reach the food on the table, while Eurynomos decided to stand. He was too short to reach it otherwise. He would need to get a few chairs as well. At the rate his inventory space was growing, in a few weeks it would be the size of a small room. He took his first bite. It was perfect—a little worse than the skewers he'd had before, but much better than expected. He savored it for a few moments before taking another bite.

"How is it?" Eurynomos asked expectantly.

"It's okay."

"Your expression and body language say something else," he said proudly.

"You're imagining things," Adolin said as he took another bite. They ate in silence, and after they finished, Eurynomos was the first to speak.

"As I was saying, while on a quest to exterminate a goblin nest, we found a dungeon, and those corrupted idiots tried to take it from me."

"Are they alive?" Eurynomos gave him a strange look.

"I tried to keep one alive to find out what they wanted from my dungeon, but the last one detonated his core, and since then I've been unable to explore it." There was a hint of anger in his voice by the end.

"From what I learned from the guild, the dungeon resets in a month or so. After that, I can finally explore it! And the month is up tomorrow."

"Good for you," Adolin said. Eurynomos ignored the remark and continued.

"Tomorrow at dawn, I'll be heading there to explore it for the first time. You should join me!"

"Why would I do that?"

"Is this the first time you've heard about a dungeon? Let me tell you, our world really lacked places like dungeons. After clearing a room, you're awarded a treasure chest!" Eurynomos continued blabbering about how great dungeons were. He stood up and paced around the small campfire, continuing his tale.

"I only managed to reach the first room, which was flooded with goblins, but from what I understood, it should be one of the deeper dungeons."

"What do you plan to do with the dungeon anyway?" The evil look returned to his face.

"I'll use it to conquer the town." He had the usual evil grin as he stared at Adolin as if waiting for a reaction, but he didn't get one.

"Meh. I heard the dungeons in the dungeon cities make a lot of gold! I'll build my new throne through the dungeon and make the city flourish again."

"Wow," Adolin exclaimed.

"You really aren't any fun, you know that, right?" Eurynomos said with a frown.

"Anyway, the party I found is there right now, making sure no one else finds it and puts a claim on it. So I rushed back to town to get some supplies when I felt your mana signature."

"I'm curious. Why do you think you can own the dungeon? From what I heard, you only get a reward in gold for discovering one. You don't actually own it," Adolin said as he lay on the ground, looking at his ruined clothes. He was covered from head to toe in ash and mud.

"There are a few loopholes in the laws that would allow me to get it." Eurynomos chuckled.

"We spent three nights going over the laws to find a way to get the dungeon for ourselves... I did most of the reading, but that's not important. What matters is that I found a way to control it, and because of the state the North is in—the war with the corrupted—it'll be much easier to do!" Adolin just shook his head. The whole thing was pretty funny to him. He was hoping to get a few days to himself, while Eurynomos was trying to find legal loopholes to claim a dungeon.

He really needed to get his priorities straight. A house by the river and a beautiful garden. For that, he would need a lot of coins. How many? He had no clue. But if the Demon King wanted to make himself rich, Adolin wouldn't mind getting a piece of it for very little effort. Eurynomos continued explaining all the plans he had for the dungeon. His biggest issue was taking control of the dungeon core, which required Adolin's help—or the help of one of the sages.

Since he still had no clue where the sages were, he kept trying to rope Adolin into helping him.

"No," Adolin said.

"I don't have time to waste because of your greed."

"I'll make you rich! Richer than even in your previous life!" Eurynomos said.

"Imagine what you could do with all the coins I'll make you!"

"Forget about it."

"Ughhh." Eurynomos stood and walked over to the fire.

"The bread is ready!" He took it off the fire and placed it on the table. After slicing off a piece, he placed it on Adolin's plate.

"Try it!" Adolin didn't want to. He was already full from the skewers, but the bread smelled amazing, so he quickly decided to give it a try. The bread was soft, with a crispy crust. After taking a bite, he masked his expression. It really was one of the better breads he had ever tasted... It would go well with some of the jam from the Count's estate, he thought.

"What do you think?"

"Not bad..."

"..." Eurynomos narrowed his eyes.

"You're impossible. Hmph." A few minutes later, they packed up and were on their way back to the city. They had to walk because neither of them had enough mana to fly. Adolin's core still hurt, but it wasn't too bad. He couldn't even imagine how much worse Eurynomos must have been feeling. That reminded him of his Class Skill, one that didn't require any mana to use. He thought about Cleanse, and it worked. In an instant, the dried mud and ash fell from his body. Even his clothes were spotless.

The scent of his favorite flower surrounded him. The skill literally recreated his favorite perfume from his old world. Eurynomos stared at him.

"What was that?"

"Nothing..." Eurynomos sniffed the air but didn't say anything. Adolin needed to do a lot more testing with the skill. He was really curious of how it worked, and why did it take his memories from the old world to create a... perfume.

"What do you think about the new world? Isn't it exciting?" Eurynomos asked after a few minutes of silence, his whole body practically screaming with excitement. He really acted like a nine-year-old. Adolin found it weird. He wasn't sure if it was because of the body he inhabited or if he had always been like that. It didn't really matter, at least not now.

"It's not too bad. There is a certain charm to it."

"That's underselling it! It's much, much better than the hellhole we called home."

"Well, it does seem better. But this one has its own problems as well."

"What? The corrupted morons? I keep hearing about them, but they really weren't anything impressive. The ones that invaded my dungeon had two archmages, even a warrior at the same level. Only the warrior was kinda troublesome; the others didn't pose much of a threat. The core overload was troublesome, but other than that, they couldn't really do much." Adolin shook his head.

"Well, not everyone is a reincarnated Demon King with centuries of experience."

"Guess you're right. Whatever. If they ever try to cause any problems in the city, I'll wipe them out. This is my city... or will be, anyway. As soon as the dungeon is up and running! The place will be flooded with adventurers, coming to bring me my coins!"

"Did you find anyone from our world?"

"Nothing so far. It seems we're spread all over the world."

"I think so too. If my servants were anywhere close, they would have found me by now." They talked on the way back to the city, joking about their experiences in the new world. Eurynomos looked as if he genuinely enjoyed his new life. In that regard, he was quite similar to Adolin. Even though he was still adjusting to it, with all the problems the new world had, neither of them seemed to have too many complaints. Eurynomos' expression turned serious after a few moments of silence.

"You know, I keep thinking. If we had tried harder, or maybe recruited more people to our cause... Was there even a slight chance we could have succeeded against the gods? Or, at the very least, not ended up killing each other?" The question surprised Adolin. The atmosphere around them darkened, and he walked in silence. He never really thought about it—or rather, he avoided thinking about it. The subject was... the one thing that could disturb the little peace he had found and drag him back to his old ways.

Ever since waking up in this world, he had deliberately avoided dwelling on the past. There was no reason to ruin his mood with things that could never be changed. Now that Eurynomos had brought it up, it took him a few moments to push the memories back down.

"I don't think so," Adolin said.

"Even when I agreed to follow Lucien, I knew it would amount to nothing. Still, somehow he managed to convince me to risk everything and follow him. I can't say I was surprised by how it all ended." Eurynomos slowly nodded as he studied Adolin.

"I probably shouldn't have brought it up, but it's already done. I suppose we need to let the past stay in the... past."

"Probably for the best," Adolin said, the memories still a whirlwind in his mind. That was one way to ruin his mood. At least it wasn't anything a good night of drinking couldn't fix. They returned to the city in silence and headed straight for the adventurers' guild. Before entering the guild, Adolin changed into a fresh set of clothes.