‘I am never drinking again’

Dark Lord thought as the Demon Lord, Cifer Palak requested to serve him.

Apparently Cifer Palak was one of Demon Lords who served the Demon King, Arin Draco. But after a battle against the Knight of Light, several Demon Lords were killed, Arin was captured, and Cifer was presumed killed.

But apparently Cifer managed to survive and had to take time to heal his wounds.

Just to make sure his guest was not lying, Dark Lord used Kyra Kara’s demon eye within a glass to put him under an illusion.

Turns out all facts checked out.

Dark Lord had Lukalis cast a spell of truth on him just to be on the safe side.

‘What the hell am I doing? I recruited a Demon Lord, what now? How did I end up hiring Arin’s former subordinate? This is beyond belief….All I was looking for was a good bridge to jump off of….’

By now, he had become quite an expert on bridges due to how many times he had jumped off of them. He knew how hard their surface was, what kind of material they were made of, and how badly it hurts when you land on the ground.

‘Honestly…I am the Dark Lord, the enemy of the world, not the Demon King! That position is already taken, for crying out loud! So what is next? Maybe Kazan will show up next looking for a job? No way I am letting that guy into my organization, not gonna happen!’

Dark Lord sighed.

‘It’s my fault this guy is even here in the first place, the least I can do is be straight forward with him’

“Cifer, you do realize what working for me means, right?”

“Of course, after making a contract, I shall follow any order you give, as long as it does not harm the demon kind”

“But if you become my subordinate, by contract, you can’t go back to being Arin’s subordinate!”

“Not as long as you have not relieved me of my duty”

“You realize it, but you still accept it?”

“Lord Runfar, I am too weak to be of use to the Demon King, and if you are to reject me, there is nothing stopping me from going back to jumping off the bridge…”

“Ok! You made your point! No need to go that far”

“Thank you for understanding”

Dark Lord couldn’t help but put his hand upon his forehead in exasperation. This guy, Cifer Palak, he was one weird case.

“Before you join, you must understand a couple of things”

“Of course”

“First, we are not saviors, not for humans nor for demons, if anything, we are closer to being villains”

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Cifer nodded.

“Second, my orders are absolute, even if they go against your beliefs, as long as they don’t interfere with the conditions of our contract, you must uphold them”

“Naturally”

“And lastly, we are an organization that seeks to bring calamity upon this kingdom, by any means necessary. We are not here to save demon kind or aid the Demon King, if our goals align, we might cooperate, but that is highly unlikely. Our mission is only to destroy our enemy, which just happens to be the entire human kingdom. Am I clear?”

“Yes, Lord Runfar”

“For now, I am not sure just how useful you are, which is why I will have to test your mettle, to see what you are capable of. Do you accept?”

“I understand. I shall show you what you wish to see, Lord Runfar”

“Runfar is the name I use among humans, in our organization, I am known as the Dark Lord. If I deem you valuable, I will have you join us”

“Thank you, lord Dark Lord”

“Just Dark Lord is fine”

* * *

Cifer Palak entered one of the spare rooms given to her by the Dark Lord.

‘Lord Runfar is rather kind. I never realized a crow demon could be so thoughtful…It is hard to believe he is the same type of demon as Kazan. They must be relatives, on closer inspection, they do look kind of alike, both have a rather brooding look to them, but in Kazan’s case, he is much scarier…’

Kazan Karatengu, even among the Demon Lords, he is best known for his temper, every time they talked, Cifer feared that Kazan might kill her if she said something wrong.

After locking the door to her room, and closing the windows, Cifer lit a lamp.

She took all the thick clothing she was wearing, revealing a heavily damaged body, missing large chunks on the right side.

Cifer was a member of Palak clan of owl type demons, and among them, she was a special variant called the Shadow Demon.

Shadow Demons were unique in the fact that they could change their body into the element of Darkness, and at night, they were at their strongest.

Shadow Demons were similar to Darklings, who also possessed the ability to change into element of Darkness, however, in Shadow Demon’s case, that power came with a rather crippling weakness.

She was extremely vulnerable to sunlight or light based attacks, so she was forced to hide under many layers of clothing to avoid being harmed by the light.

The light was harmful to her very being, just a single ray of sunlight was enough to burn her, Cifer’s vulnerability to light was even worse than that of a vampire.

Stronger vampires might be weakened by sunlight and receive some damage, but it wouldn’t kill them. But for Cifer, a minute of sunlight could be fatal as it would destroy her flesh.

Due to the Knight of Light, whose sword was imbued with Light elemental magic, Cifer was currently crippled, with her wounds slowly healing at night.

‘After I found out Demon King was executed, I thought I had nothing left to live for, but Demon King is still alive….’

Cifer looked at her reflection in the mirror.

There were countless bandages on her body.

From the shape of her body and her low tone of voice, it is very easy to mistake her for male, which many who met her in the past have done. Cifer wearing many layers of clothing did not help her case.

“A cripple like me is of no use to the Demon King”

Cifer was not sure whether her right arm would ever grow back.

In the past, no matter what kind of damage she received, she managed to recover within days, but this injury, though she managed to stabilize it, had not regenerated completely ever since Knight of Light inflicted it.

“But, he told me that I can play a role in his plans, be a part of something significant. He saw value in someone as worthless as myself…I have to prove to him that I can be a valuable tool!”

Cifer Palak was clearly of not the most stable mind set.

Considering her circumstances, it was natural that she lost all the sense of self-worth when she was crippled and her king was taken.

All that was left was a honorable death.

But then, she met Lord Runfar, who she could tell, wanted her to live.

Cifer was puzzled.

‘Why would he want me to live? If I am worthless, then I have no reason to remain alive…But, he clearly does not seem to think so…’

More than anything in the world, Cifer Palak desired to be of use to someone, to not be worthless, otherwise, Cifer felt that her existence held no meaning.

“Come over to my side”

Lord Runfar’s words echoed within Cifer’s mind, making her face flushed.

‘Maybe it was my destiny, to have met him on that bridge’

Cifer was a little happy that someone saw value in her existence, even when she herself thought her existence was completely worthless.