The massive golden doors of the great hall burst open as five figures walked out of the darkness into the light of a large number of Chandeliers. 

“Come out Maou! I am the hero Trivian who will bring peace to our world by ridding it of you!”, out of the five, the man in the middle shouted into the hall.

Hidden in the dark, as his dramatic entrance was yet to be unveiled, Maou rolled his eyes. It was the most iconic moment in a hero's life when he finally reached the demon king. He knew they would privately repeat it to perfection before the moment of truth, which is why he was utterly disappointed with his newest guest. Alas, heroes weren't chosen for their eloquence, so he promptly shifted his attention on his guest's bearings.

The hero's short, unkempt hair was held up by a bandana. He wore simple leather armour and bore what appeared to be an unenchanted iron sword. His appearance was no different from that of a regular adventurer but since he had announced himself as a Hero, Maou knew not to underestimate his foe.

“Are you looking for little ol' me, perhaps?”, replied Maou as the other end of great hall lit up. On a plain-looking throne that could only be described as 'out-of-place' with the grandeur of the Great Hall, sat a man that looked no different from a human. His neatly combed black hair and formal black suit stood in dark contrast with his amused expression.

“You have long tormented the people of our lands! Today we shall have vengeance!”, spoke another man in the party of the self-proclaimed hero. 

Better, Maou mused.

“Hmmm?” Maou looked upon each and every one of the five individuals one at a time. Even though his 'guests' were distant, he could perceive each one of them with explicit details.

The one in the front was the hero Trivian with his normal-looking equipment. To his left was a human spearman, the one who spoke earlier of vengeance. He also seemed to have ordinary gear but Maou knew better than to belittle a hero’s party by its appearance. The two at the back were both human females, one healer and the other an archer. They also had similar looking equipment in quality, except the blonde healer had a pair of nature-gifted equipment that would put many others to shame, especially the petite archer at her side. The last was another man on the right of the hero. From his looks, most would have claimed that he looked the most threatening of all the five with his bulky build and a great sword that was more for shattering bones than for slicing. 

Yet, another thing that was common among the hero’s party other than the ordinary-seeming equipment were signs of a hard journey. Their weapons could have seen better days and their armours were ripped in many places, especially at the back, as if they had made their way here by running away from scary things that would eat them alive. Maou had no problems examining them from all angles without moving an inch.

“It seems you have had a perilous journey.” Maou spoke lightly but his voice reverberated seamlessly in the great hall.

“It concerns you not, Maou! We have but one task here and that is to take your head!” The hero shouted again, his sword at the ready.

“But, my dear guests, you cannot possibly be intending to fight me when all of you are so weary. Come, let me prepare you some tea.", Maou said as he got up from his seat and made his way down the throne. "Come", he repeated.

"We won’t fall for your cheap tricks! We know you have poisoned the tea!", shouted the hero again with his sword at the ready.

"Don't be like that", Maou waved his hand and a huge dining table appeared at his side with perfectly set cutlery. A teapot stood in its midst, wisps of steam visible from its mouth, "Don't you anyways have Poison Resistance?"

The hero ground his teeth but didn't answer. As if some magic at play, the smell of the tea had already reached their party and Maou could see their will wavering. The tea had indeed been prepared with a strong and captivating scent.

"Dada, what ij going on?", suddenly a squeaky voice appeared from a side path in the hall. 

The hero's party regained their vigilance and quickly turned their weapons towards the new entry.

"Eeeeeep! He's so cuuute!!", The blonde healer screamed in delight at the sight of the human kid not more than 2 years old with black hair, big black eyes and the cuddliest of cheeks possible that could be found in the whole wide universe.

The hero's party flinched at their comrade's squeal but they themselves couldn't deny the adorable sight in their eyes.

"Dom, what are you doing here! I told you not to come here at this time!" Maou looked panicked and ushered the young boy over to his side.

The young child called Dom ran over to Maou as he picked him up, completing the scenic picture of a father with his loving son.

Dom turned around to look at the hero's party, "Dada, ale they hele to fight?" 

"No Dom, they're just here to rest and enjoy some tea with me. Right?", The party flinched as Maou leaked menace for the first time since their arrival.

“Y-yeah.. We just want to have some tea.”, the Hero party quickly put their weapons away except for the bulky man with the greatsword who complied as well after an insidious glare from the blonde healer.

“That’s right. Hmm. Good good. Now come over.”, Maou beckoned them again. The party hesitated for just a bit but the big black adorable eyes looking at them from Maou's arms were hard to resist. 

Maou skillfully poured the tea into 6 cups as well as one cup of milk for Dom.

"Be careful now, it's hot.", Maou said as he placed the cup in front of Dom.

"Yesh, dada." Dom puffed his cheeks and started to blow on the milk. Everyone in the room inadvertently smiled at the sight.

The hero party slowly took their seats on the other side of the dining table and Maou soundlessly placed a teacup in front of each of them.

"Thank you.", Each gave their thanks for the hospitality.

Lastly, Maou took the head seat at the dining table with Dom to his right and the hero party to his left and took a small sip of his tea. 

"So, my dear guests, it seems you have come through The Bottomless Marshes?"

The hero's party flinched at the name of the place. A few drops spilt from the spearman's cup.

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"And The Forest of The Laughing Witch?"

More flinching.

"And The Abandoned Towers Where All Rots?"

Even more flinching.

"Haaah.." Maou sighed, "Did you know there are perfectly safe ways to arrive here if you just go around those places?"

"But! We had to reach here as early as possible!", The hero blurted through grit teeth.

"Haah.. And why would that be?", Maou sighed again. He could already tell what was coming.

"Because you're evil!"

The female archer who had been quiet up until now stood up. Maou looked up at her with disinterest.

“You, you! You torture and torment people!”, she continued when Maou didn’t reply to her outburst.

“And have you met any of these people whom I have personally tormented?”, shot back the Maou finally.

“I-I haven’t.. But how could I!? You kill them all!”,

“And pray do tell, why on Earth would I do any of that?”, Maou briefly glanced at the hero when he said that but he only made an awkward face at the unknown figure of speech.

“Because you’re evil!”

“Haah..”, Maou sighed, “See woman, if you answer with that to everything, this conversation will go nowhere. And while we're on the subject, allow me to enlighten you; I lack absolutely nothing in my castle. To leave my lavish home to travel all the way to the human lands just to torture one of you? There is no way I'm going through all that effort for such a mindless task.”

“Still, everyone says you’re evil!”, the archer pointed at Maou, unwilling to back down from this contest of words.

“Yes, everyone says that because they have nothing better to say. Someone once told an old lady, that the demon lord is evil. She told her grandchild who told their friends, who told their parents, who told their colleagues, all of which told their young children as a bedtime story and it continued for generations. Now here we are.”, Maou shrugged innocently and smiled. He was gaining an edge and he knew it.

The archer grit her teeth. “Can you prove that you’re not evil!?”

Maou’s smile broadened.

“Can you prove that you’re not evil?”

“Wha-! I’m in the hero’s party!”, exclaimed the archer at the preposterous implication.

“So? My butler has been telling me that you like to eat little kids for breakfast.”, claimed Maou. He felt someone smirk in the darkness in the corner but decided not to pay it any heed.

“What! No! I would never!”, shouted back the archer, incredulous.

“Dada..”, Dom looked at Maou with scared eyes.

“No! I don’t eat little kids!” Dom’s eyes started to wet as the archer shouted at Dom defending her position.

*smack*

“Don’t worry.. She doesn’t eat anyone. I’m sure it’s just rumours. In fact, she’s a vegetarian..”, the blonde healer smacked the archer on the head and said to Dom in a cooing voice. 

“Yes Dom. Don’t worry. Dada was only joking.”, Maou said as he patted Dom’s head, bringing a smile to the boy’s face. He turned to the archer, “See what I mean? Rumours.”

The archer grit her teeth but didn’t say anything.

“So I stand my ground, that you should have taken the safer path. Many of the other kingdoms are doing it these days.”

“....”

The hero party was quiet for a moment.

*slam*

“We will not fall for your petty tricks! Can’t you guys see!? This is all a ploy by him to corrupt our minds! We will be branded traitors as well if we fall for his words!”, the archer stood up once again, pointing at Maou. Everyone turned to Maou inadvertently. He had been conversing peacefully till now.

…

There was a pause as the hero party waited for Maou to reply. Meanwhile, something clicked in Maou’s head.

“You folks are from The Kingdom of Nuttlebaggart?”

“That’s right.” replied the hero.

“I should’ve known…” Maou facepalmed. 

In the next moment, there was a flash of light. Their last expressions stay plastered on their faces even as each of their heads slowly slid off their necks and fell down. 

“Dada?”

“And I even bothered to bring out all the cutlery. Haaah..” Maou sighed yet again.

“Leave it to me, master.”, a man in a butler’s suit appeared next to Maou and started applying magic. The heads and bodies of the hero’s party contacted into space and disappeared into oblivion while the blood coalesced into a small uniform sphere before the same phenomenon happened to it.

“Excellent work with serving the tea. Master would have been delighted.”, said the butler before disappearing himself as well along with the table. The reference to ‘master’ this time was clearly referring to someone else.

She would’ve been. Maou thought.

“But the one who was really excellent this time was you, Dom!”, Maou picked up the boy and rubbed his cheeks against his.

“Hehehehe.. Dada.. That ticklesh..”, Dom laughed as he enjoyed the love of his father.

“I did aj you told. There waj a woman in the party in the with big bleajt! Sho I came out!”, exclaimed the boy seeking more praise from his father.

“She was blonde and she was a healer as well! The perfect character of an airhead motherly figure who can’t resist kids. And it was a very good performance, my dear son! How you took the cue when I said that flat woman ate babies was perfect!”, Maou once again rubbed his cheeks against Dom’s causing another elicit of ‘hehehehe’ from the boy.

“But dada, how did you know they wele flom Nuttie..?”

“Haah..”, Maou sighed as he mentally activated Teaching. He started walking out of the great hall as he hadn’t received reports of any more hero parties arriving any time soon. “It’s Nuttlebaggart. It's a small kingdom and the people there are very ignorant. Not exactly their fault. The king and his counsel there are messed up. They rule by using the propaganda of defeating the demon king. Every year, they grab a bunch of random teenagers, hail them as heroes and send them to their death. When I started out with my peaceful tactics, they were the easiest to convince and they went back. Next year when another party arrived, they accused me of mind controlling and told me the previous ones were labelled traitors and publicly executed.”

By being burned alive, but I don’t need to tell Dom that., Maou thought.

“And just to be clear, I did not mind control them, though it could have been interesting. It was most likely a ploy by the king and his counsel to increase their popularity by making me seem even more evil. It also had the side effect that the parties of Nuttlebaggart never listened to me again. I should have understood when they claimed I poisoned their tea, but many heroes do do say that so I didn’t notice. In fact, it was very weird. The hero parties from Nuttlebaggart have never really agreed to the tea before. I wonder what chang…”, Maou looked at Dom who was busy examining the empty walls as the two made their way towards the inner castle.

“Dom.”

“...”

“Look at me, Domantius K. Sugarplum.”, Maou spoke it with Command. The boy slowly turned to look at his father.

“Did you use Charm?”, asked Maou.

“.....I am never able to get good experiensh in it. Using it on a new Enemy givej mole experiensh!”, the young boy defended.

Suddenly, it clicked. At Dom's Level, he could have only used Charm on three people at a time. That explained why the hero, the spearman and the blonde healer were so amicable wherein the archer was the only one against him. Well, there was the bulky man as well, but he had seemed content in just following the others. Though he had been reluctant to put away his weapon at first.

“Dom! Didn’t I tell you not to do that!? If even a single one of them had Charm Resistance, they would have found out and attacked you immediately!”, Maou reprimanded.

“Bud they looked so weak.. I knew it would wolk…”, Dom defended again, more sulking this time. 

“My dear son, I have told you before. Never underestimate a Hero. Your mother made that mistake and paid for it with her life.”, Maou’s expression darkened as he reminded Dom of his mother’s last folly.

Dom looked down sad. “...Yes, dada. I know.”, he answered.

“Haaah..”, Maou sighed again. He’d been sighing a lot today.

It’s all because of those idiots in Nuttlebaggart, he concluded in his mind.

“Well, I will allow you to use Charm against the hero parties from Nuttlebaggart. There is hardly any danger from those morons. In fact, you can try all non-combat skills against them to get more experience. I can handle idiots like that easily even if they try to attack you. They’ve never once sent an actual Hero against me anyway. I’m starting to think they don’t have anyone who can use Hero Summoning in their kingdom.”

“Ale they really sho weak?”, Dom asked curiously.

Maou looked at the red bar in the corner of his vision and the ten digit value against it. 

He smiled, “I could let them hit me all day and they wouldn’t make a scratch.”

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Supplementary teachings:

Maou: Hey fellas! Since it's your first day, instead of teaching you something boring, I'll tell you a secret of mine! You know, so we can get closer as teacher and student!

...

Maou: Excited, aren't you? Wait for it..... My name is not actually Maou!! Mwuahahahaahahaha...haha..ha?

...

Maou: Wait, what's with those faces?

...

Maou: You already knew!?

...

Maou: And here I thought the author did a very clever job at mixing things and you'd be duped. Hmph, the joke's on him!