The story from 500 years ago was inscribed on the Doors of History of Listerok. But now, the tale of Muriel the Demon Lord continued to unfold. Lilith followed closely behind Muriel, casting wary glances at the dwarves walking around them, while Muriel, on the other hand, walked cheerfully beside Beldar, her dragon tail swaying lightly from side to side under her dress.

"So, Lady Muriel, how was it, sleeping for 500 years?" Beldar began.

"It was troublesome, Beldar. I woke up to find three wretched upstarts trying to take my place," Muriel replied, her tone full of exasperation for those who had dared to call themselves demon lords in her absence.

"By the way, did Melania also tell you that I’d been asleep for 500 years? If that undead woman kept her mouth shut, she wouldn’t be mistaken for being mute, you know."

"We’re truly glad you’re still alive, Lady Muriel. But three, you say? Isn’t it true that right now, aside from you, there are only two other demon lords on the Western Continent?" Beldar asked, thinking he might have misheard her. As far as he knew, there were only two dark lords on this continent—Demon Lord Reyona and Demon Lord Thorren.

"Do you know about the organization… what was it called again? Hey, Lilith, what’s the name of Samwell’s blasted organization?"

"The—Our! Organization is called Darkwarden!" Lilith stammered, startled by Muriel’s sudden question, and quickly shouted her response. Her voice echoed down the dim, narrow passageway of the cave. Both the dwarves and Muriel stopped, turning to stare at her, making Lilith pull her black-hooded cloak over her face in embarrassment.

"Ah… good job, Lilith. Next time, there’s no need to shout; it’s just us here," Muriel said before turning her attention back to the path ahead and continuing her walk with Beldar.

"Looks like this eager little beastfolk of yours is quite lively," Beldar remarked, resuming his place beside Muriel.

"You might not know this, but that organization has been ruling Veridia from the shadows. Got that? And that cunt name Satoru trying to make a name for themselves as a demon lord starting from there. Right now, I’m just playing along," Muriel’s words dripped with contempt, her hatred and disgust unmistakably intense.

"Ah, so that’s why Veridia’s orders for weapons from us have tripled," Beldar mused, piecing together the situation in his mind like a puzzle finally snapping into place.

"Does that really connect with the issue?" Muriel asked, unable to grasp why an other-worlder could influence things to such an extent that Beldar would take note.

"Over the past few hundred years, these clueless other-worlders often buy weapons or armor from rundown dwarf blacksmith shops. How can I put it… shabby shops with poorly maintained forges, but just because dwarves made them, they trick naïve adventurers into buying their goods."

"Because they’re other-worlders who don’t know better, they end up supporting these shops, in turn, these fourth-grade dwarven blacksmiths kept driving up prices, and when they actually use them, they realize the quality’s subpar, right?" Muriel smiled faintly, amused at the thought of fools getting swindled out of their money.

"If it were just swindling, it wouldn’t be a big deal. But because of those shops, we true blacksmiths are also accused of producing inferior products," Beldar sighed with frustration.

"Sounds rough huh? I bet the elves face something similar too, though I haven’t given those knife-ears a visit since I woke up yet. But I remember Fumiko once said that elves were highly popular in the world she came from," Muriel added, though the smile on her face had faded.

"By the way, from the name alone, this Satoru must also be from another world, right? And from your tone, he doesn’t seem to be a good person like Lady Fumiko," Beldar pondered aloud, noticing the clear disdain in Muriel's voice.

"He’s the most vile person. He dared to harm my sister and even took her heart. I’ll make him regret ever breathing the same air as me, mark my word" Muriel vowed, her gaze fixed straight ahead, her golden eyes burning with a dragon's intense fury.

"W-what are you talking about, Lady Muriel...?"

Lilith asked cautiously, her words stumbling. She had heard every word Muriel said about Satoru and the contempt in her voice shook her. She knew nothing about Muriel's plans and now, hearing the sheer loathing Muriel had for Satoru and his organization, she felt a chill run down her spine. As Lilith finished her question, Muriel stopped walking and turned slowly to face her. Her expression was blank, revealing nothing, but her golden eyes stared unblinking at Lilith, their intensity making her heart race and cold sweat form on her face.

"Beldar, you go on ahead. I need to have a little chat with Lilith," Muriel instructed without looking at him.

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"Alright… We’ll be waiting by the doors to the blacksmith’s hall," Beldar replied, glancing briefly at Muriel before signaling the other dwarf soldiers. They nodded and moved forward, leaving Muriel and Lilith alone.

"Lilith, from what I said just now, you understand, don’t you? I won’t let anyone stand in my way," Muriel said to Lilith in a tone so calm it was almost unsettling.

"Lady Muriel, I know I’m still young, but could you please listen to me first?" Lilith lowered her head, unable to meet Muriel’s gaze anymore. Still, she gathered her courage to speak up.

"Speak," Muriel’s voice was hard and unyielding like steel. Lilith couldn’t tell if Muriel was offering her a chance out of genuine interest or perhaps just a sense of pity for a young girl. But regardless, this might be the only chance she had to speak to the Demon Lord standing before her.

"Ever since I was a child, I’ve wanted freedom after being enslaved. Lord Samwell saved me back then and offered me a deal: if I joined the organization and served until I grew up, he’d free me from my slave collar. But now that I’m free, I have no reason to serve Lord Samwell anymore!"

"What are you rambling about, Lilith? Are you so scared you’re saying random things?" Muriel listened patiently, but when Lilith finished, Muriel’s mouth curled into a smirk, her gaze almost mocking. It was as if Lilith’s state was so absurd, that it was nearly laughable.

"Listen, Lilith, I never intended to harm you. Just now, I was only thinking of a way to tell you that. But I’m glad you don’t plan to stay with that blasted organization. Really glad I dispelled the curse magic from that mask of yours," Muriel spoke on, and Lilith was taken aback by the revelation.

"Wait, you mean the uniform mask had a curse on it?" Lilith froze, stunned by Muriel’s words. She quickly removed the half-white, half-black mask from her face and inspected it closely, trying to understand what Muriel had just revealed.

"Ah, there was a little something on it. I didn’t know exactly what kind of curse it was, but my demon lord skill detected it, so it destroyed the magic from the first time I put the mine on. And I got rid of yours when we landed in front of Listerok," Muriel explained.

"That’s amazing, Lady Muriel! But—What!?!?!? You are a demon lord?!" Lilith’s voice rose in shock.

"Ugh, why are you yelling? You startled me and by Syra, your reaction to the information is a little late don’t you think, goat horned?" Muriel flinched slightly at Lilith’s outburst.

"Well, I mean, the demon lords are the ultimate powers on each continent," Lilith replied, her legs shaking a bit from Muriel’s reproach. But by now, she felt she could sense that Muriel had no ill intentions towards her.

"I’ve had the Demon Lord Seed skill since I was still an egg, so I became a demon lord because of that," Muriel explained, feeling slightly weary of Lilith’s questions but also unthreatening towards her at this point.

"To have a skill like that before even being born… What kind of dragon were your parents, Lady Muriel?"

At that, Muriel stopped walking once more as Lilith innocently asked her question. Muriel thought for a moment before turning back to Lilith. She didn’t know how to answer—she’d only ever seen her papa and mama’s portrait, never her real dragon parents. Yet she chose those two as her parents over some unknown dragons.

"Lady Muriel?"

"My papa and mama were humans. I’ve never seen Mama’s face, but I heard her voice when I was still an egg, and Papa’s cries every night after she died. Papa raised me from when I was still an egg. And, for some reason, because Papa chose me, I’ve been a demon lord ever since," Muriel revealed.

"A… human?" For Lilith, it was almost inconceivable that an ordinary human could raise a dragon—not just any dragon, but a demon lord, the Black Calamity. But Muriel just nodded

"Yes, but he wasn’t an ordinary human. Papa was from another world too. But that’s a story for another day; it’s a very long one," Muriel said, trying to change the subject as they resumed walking. If she were to tell the whole story, the week they had might not be enough.

"Oh… alright, I understand." Lilith went quiet for a moment. An other-worlder? What did that even mean? And she still wanted to know who Muriel’s real parents were. But if Muriel said it was for another time, she could only wait, though her curiosity wouldn’t fade.

"Hey, Lilith, erm… you can conjure gold and other metals continuously, can’t you? Using transmutation magic?" Muriel asked, shifting the conversation, trying to understand more about Lilith’s abilities.

“Conjure it? No, Lady Muriel. My magic can only change one thing into another," Lilith replied as she looked around while walking. Spotting a palm-sized rock nearby, she stepped off the path, picked it up, and brought it over for Muriel to see.

"Skill Activation [Metal Transmutation]."

Muriel watched Lilith closely, from the moment she picked up the stone to when she showed it to her. To her surprise, the rock transformed into gold right before her eyes. Muriel knew Lilith could use transmutation magic, but she didn’t expect it to be this potent. She’d seen Melania use a similar spell before, and even then, it took some time to alter the type of metal. But Lilith had turned a simple rock—one likely with only trace metals—into pure gold in an instant.

"I told Beldar you could use transmutation magic, but I didn’t think you could do it so fast," Muriel commented as she picked up the gold piece, her dragon’s keen eye confirming its purity.

"How long can it last? When will it turn back to stone?" Muriel asked, tossing the gold piece back to the ground indifferently. From what she knew, if someone at Lilith's level used transmutation, the change shouldn’t last longer than an hour.

"Turn back into a rock? No, usually whatever I transmute stays that way permanently," Lilith responded, puzzled by Muriel’s question.

"What?" Muriel’s golden eyes widened as she pointed at the gold nugget. "You, you can make it stay pure gold forever?"

"Yes? None of the rocks I transmute have ever reverted. My old master had me turn stones into silver ore for him, and none of those ores ever changed back into rocks," Lilith explained, still confused. But before she could finish, Muriel quickly grabbed the gold nugget she’d just tossed away and stuffed it into her bottomless coin pouch.

"Amazing! You and I are going to be very close friends for a longggg time, Lilith," Muriel declared, draping a wing around Lilith’s shoulders to bring her in closer.

"Well, dragons do love things like this…" Lilith thought to herself with a nervous smile, feeling the wing pulling her closer.

"Alright, let’s keep moving, Lilith! We’ve got some dragonblood steel to forge and a Satoru to deal with."