For a moment, I think I saw something.

You know, like in the flashback scenes in those B rate movies.

Well, all I know is that it was something I couldn’t comprehend.

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

The ceiling broke and fell.

A large rock landed right in front of my face.

“Ugh…”

I quickly gained my senses.

Instinctively, I took a step back as I opened my eyes. However, with a thud, my back bumped against something.

It was a wall.

Tilting my head and carefully looking around myself, I realized I was in a pitch black cavern.

A long time ago, I went to see a stalactite cave during a school trip. From what I could see, the ceiling now was 2-3 times higher than that cave. It was so high up that I could just barely see the top.

“Hoo…”

I killed my breath.

Why was I here?

How did I get here?

My conscience instantly went cold. A loud siren rang in my head, even louder than the ambulances you usually hear in the streets.

Have I been kidnapped?

It must be.

“...I was sitting in my room just a moment ago… and using the computer. It was seven. Drank 2 cans of beer. For dinner I had cup ramen…”

Little by little, my breathing became calmer.

There was no problem with my memory.

“Okay. Next…”

I checked my senses.

In order; vision, scent, hearing, taste, and touch.

Without rushing, I had to make sure my senses were working properly.

“The location appears to be a cave. Definitely a cave. It’s very dark. Doesn’t seem like my vision got worse. Rock, paper, scissors……”

I moved my fingers to make the shapes.

I could see the forms properly.

Good. My vision was fine.

The problem was scent.

“...!”

A foul nauseating smell, the smell of blood, is everywhere.

I wonder if it was because of the shock, but I didn’t realize how disgusting it smelt until now. But now that I’ve realized, the smell is so intense that it’s shaking my very brain.

“This is…”

A familiar scent.

A scent which I never wanted to smell again.

Corpses were spread throughout the cave.

There were human corpses that were swollen as if they were drowned, bodies with slit throats, and even bodies with limbs bent in the wrong direction.

“Ugh…what the hell…”

If this cave was one of those art exhibitions, then the curator would undoubtedly be an absurdly perverted sadist. As if triumphantly displaying that humans could die in this many ways.

The fact that the cave was pitched in darkness was my only solace since the corpses were comparatively hard to see.

“Is this supposed to be the mystery of the human body…? Damn it.”

I had to get out of here quickly. Something was terribly wrong.

Shifting my body, I put my right foot forward– and fell, just like that.

My ankle was broken, it seemed.

I lift my leg slightly, only to find the foot hanging limply. The entire bone is shattered, not something like an adorable sprain.

“Shit.”

I unintentionally let out a curse. I had to conclude that I couldn’t run or walk. The pain wasn’t ordinary. If the kidnapper approached now, then it was impossible to escape.

Perhaps they broke my ankle on purpose. Keeping safety measures. This was probably why they didn’t use drugs.

Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

“Haa.”

Sliding downwards, I dragged my back against the wall, sitting down in defeat. Just like that, my fleeting dreams of escape were crushed. I guess I just wasn’t cut out to be an escape artist.

But why was I brought here?

Well, there are plenty of people across the world who probably want revenge against me. To be honest, it’s more than plenty.

“Hooo……”

I could only sigh and think about who the culprit was.

I guess she was right, I should've washed my hands of everything sooner rather than later.

It was at that moment that I heard a scratchy voice from the opposite side of the cavern.

“I found him!”

“The Demon Lord is here!”

Demon Lord.

It was a name that had absolutely no connections with me.

But for some reason, the voice was directed towards where I was.

I’m confused. I had been called a devil a considerable amount of times in my life, but this was the first time I had been called a Demon Lord. Must be some sort of secret code. Kind of silly if you ask me, but whatever.

“Stay right there!”

“We’ll kill you if you move!”

Around ten men came in like starving wolves. They seemed to be holding weapons in their hands, though I can’t tell exactly what they are because of the dark.

Immediately, I shoot my hands into the air, a grim expression settling onto my face.

“Hey, I surrender!”

“Get down you bastard!”

Without warning, one of the men grabbed my head and slammed it onto the ground. They’re being violent with me even though I surrendered. Not cool.

“Ack…”

A rock that was lying on the ground sharply stabbed my cheek.

“Keep your damn face down! Stay like that till we say otherwise!”

I bit back a shout of pain, barely holding it back.

Loud noises irritated kidnappers, so even if you're in pain, you must not scream. So it’s best to be silent and polite. Might seem stupid, but hey, what can you do?

“I caught him! Riff of Jalsen, has captured a Demon Lord!”

“Ooh. Our great and handsome captain, Riff. You aren’t planning to take all the bounty on your own, are you?”

The men started chatting in excitement, so I held my breath and listened in on their conversation.

“Of course not. I’ll share with everyone equally. Hehe.”

“Heh, this Demon Lord looks just like a caterpillar.”

“Let’s just kill him already.”

“What do you mean, kill him? There are things we still haven’t asked him yet.”

Someone kicked my side.

It wasn’t a genuine hit, but more done jokingly. But regardless, that alone was pretty painful.

“—but just in case, we should break him.”

“Friends! Let us beat the Demon Lord into a reasonably sized pulp.”

Merciless violence showered down upon me. Twenty people kicked me alot for five minutes.

…I’ll spare you the details.

“Good good. That’s enough.”

“Guys. Our handsome boss said to stop.”

“Hehe.”

The violence finally stopped.

While I was breathing roughly, one of the men spoke to me as a representative.

“Well now, honorable Demon Lord. There’s one thing that we wish to ask you. Where’s all the money in this castle? To tell you the truth, us village folk are in real need of money.”

As expected, I was kidnapped for money.

Wait, but they’ve been using words that I’m not familiar with. This was something that I had to confirm. There was a chance that they were mistaking me for someone else.

“What do you mean by ‘Demon Lord’…?”

When I opened my mouth, I let out a groan. My lips were torn and bloodied. They really got at my face, huh?

“Good. Very good.”

The man insinuated.

“Despite being hit so much, you’re still able to display such a nature. An excellent stance. Hehe. I don’t hate that kind of thing, your honorable Demon Lord.”

With a rough hand, the man grabbed my hair.

“Ack…”

I was forced to raise my face.

I made eye contact with the man in front of me.

The man had bent his body forward and was looking down at me. His entire face was covered in a brown beard, reminding me of a darkish mushroom that grew in a public bathroom that hadn’t been cleaned for over 5 years.

In simpler words, frighteningly dirty.

“But my friends here don’t have as much patience as me.”

“...what can I help you with?”

“Your honor. We don’t desire to use pointless violence.”

Uh huh. I'm glad we’re past that stage.

“Instead of wasting each other’s energy, let us trade. Tell us where the treasury is and we will not kill your honor immediately. We won’t cut your arms or legs off. And, of course, we won’t cut your precious horn off, either. Think carefully. In truth, we’re the ones at a loss in this trade.”

“Yeah, at a great loss!”

The kidnappers broke out into laughter.

I waited for the mood to settle before speaking again. Always courteously. Making sure to not irritate their mood.

Opening my lips again, I asked a question.

“I’m sorry, but what do you mean by horn?”

“Aah? What are you asking.”

The man placed his hand on the back of my head.

“This. I’m talking about this.”

The man had grabbed something on my head. My head that should only have hair. There, something long was attached all the way to my skull.

I felt the back of my head.

There was certainly something hard there.

The shape was, as the man had said, in the shape of a horn.

“...”

This.

Uh…

What could this thing be…?

I gazed forward with blank eyes.

Don’t tell me.

Before I was kidnapped, no, before I lost conscience. I was responding to the Saint Society survey on my computer.

When I opened my eyes in this cavern, I heard a faint voice … I’m certain it whispered ‘The tutorial shall now begin’. I ignored it because I thought I was hallucinating again.

The man had called me Demon Lord. There was something like a horn actually attached to the back of my head…

Game. Tutorial. Demon Lord.

These three words pointed at one possibility.

Fortunately or unfortunately, my mind quickly came to a conclusion.

“Now. Your honor, Demon Lord Mammon. We’ll ask you only one more time.”

I couldn’t accept the answer.

The common sense, experience, and knowledge I had gained throughout my entire life completely denied the conclusion. However, as if laughing at my escape from reality, an alarm rang.

Ding!

White words appeared in mid-air.

[1. Accept adventurer captain Riff’s offer.]

[2. Decline adventurer captain Riff’s offer.]