DKIE CH40: Fiefdom

The newspaper distribution went very smoothly. As per the chief editor’s request from the previous day, employees began selling them at the entrance of the opera house in advance. The photo of Luka took up more space than the article itself, and buoyed by his popularity, the papers sold out in no time.

The demons who successfully bought a newspaper immediately began to read.

“Cocoon Break in Spring.”

The artistic-sounding name didn’t really pique their interest.

“I thought it was related to the movie.” Damn newspaper employees, they misled us.

After reading the “sudden windfall” opening, they were even more inclined to scoff. Was Iliad finally worried that the movie would turn public opinion against him and affect the Return Hunt vote? So he specifically wrote a story about becoming rich to appease them?

Hah, too late. One demon angrily pulled out a weed growing from a crack in the wall. Cheaper than grass.

The late autumn wind carried a trace of harsh cold. After a quick browse, most demons left, temporarily unconcerned. But some remained standing in place, goosebumps gradually rising on their skin in the wind. When it came to projecting the article’s characters onto real people, they were far faster than Grover.

These were the academy students who had been arranged to study the inscriptions and were forced to watch the movie. Every one of them was at the perfect age for reading comprehension!

“Something’s not right.” After reading it, there was a twisted feeling. One professor’s star student read it three times, his expression turning grave.

By the Demon God, he seemed to have discovered something incredible!

After watching The True and False Young Masters several times, reading this article made the metaphor perfectly clear. He looked around and, amidst the flickering gazes of his peers, said, “Is it what I think it is?”

His schoolmates nodded heavily.

“Did you notice? The day the protagonist went to find her grandmother was April 14th. In demon history, the Festival of Revival was once held on this day.”

“No, no, no, you missed the most important sentence: [The lilies of the valley between the fields were quietly blooming].”

The grandmother died in early spring, around February. Lilies of the valley usually bloom in May. How could they possibly bloom at that time? And in barren fields at that.

“I get it!” another student realized. “The flower language of the lily of the valley is ‘a new beginning’!”

“Exactly!”

Combined with the context, the author was comparing the grandmother to the lily of the valley, having a second life in a season that was not her own.

The discussion attracted many onlookers to stop and listen. More and more demons gathered, beginning to translate the text word by word. In a short time, even a large rock outside the gate was given a new meaning by them.

…

After breakfast, Luka, who had snuck out to see the feedback on his article, stood on a street corner with a look of utter confusion.

What?!

He had just written it casually. How had even a rock been interpreted into a work of art? And the lilies of the valley.

“Do lilies of the valley bloom in May?”

His original body had been well-read among the demons, but he had never really read any books on herbaceous plants. Luka himself also lacked this common knowledge.

They suspected so many things, but they never suspected the author’s level of education.

Beside him, the Quill sneered, “Such self-righteous analysis is truly ridiculous. You only buried one clue about a magic potion, yet they interpreted so much from it.”

Luka stiffly turned his neck. “A magic… potion?”

The Quill spoke eloquently, “On the first day the granddaughter returned, she felt sleepy right after eating. I’m afraid the grandmother was already giving her a magic potion then. Otherwise, how could a person possibly get sleepy right after a meal?”

Luka, who often felt sleepy after meals: “…”

What a humiliation.

“It’s science!” On a matter of principle, he retorted through gritted teeth. Feeling sleepy after eating is a common phenomenon as blood flow concentrates in the gastrointestinal tract, causing insufficient blood supply elsewhere. Besides, who wouldn’t be tired after a long day of travel!

If even the Quill thought this way, let alone the other masters of overthinking.

The Lord of Red Banyan City read the article first thing in the morning and could only call it a masterpiece of trouble. He had no time and no way to have his guards stop it. The chief editor’s all-or-nothing gamble had the article published simultaneously in all surrounding regions.

All sorts of interpretations began to radiate outward from the major central cities, spreading much faster than ordinary rumors. In the demons’ perception, only slaughter and blood could be linked to the word “horror.” Now, after reading Cocoon Break in Spring, the feeling of fine needles being pushed into their pores was truly unbearable.

Even the guards stationed in more remote areas couldn’t help but discuss it during their shift changes.

“The grandmother said she wouldn’t let anyone bully her granddaughter again.”

“Hehe, she’s already possessed her. Of course she wouldn’t let herself be bullied. In a way, she kept her promise.”

Since the beginning of the fate observation, the royal family members who had been paying attention to Luka’s movements in Red Banyan City received the news early on. The one with the biggest reaction was naturally Alicia.

She had just returned from a fierce battle in the dueling arena; only killing could calm her down now. Her beautiful face was slightly twisted for a moment before she quickly returned to her usual composure. Alicia followed her daily training schedule, working hard until evening. Just as she was about to finish, she suddenly looked toward the shadows protecting her. “Grandpa Hari, do you think that story is true?”

An old man emerged from the shadows. He was once a loyal servant to Alicia’s father and now followed and protected Alicia.

“Miss, you need not worry,” the old man analyzed in a deep voice. “This is clearly Iliad’s attempt to sow discord and retaliate for the teleportation array incident.”

“Of course I know that.” Alicia lowered her eyes. “But don’t forget… Iliad published this work the day after the teleportation array had problems.”

In such a short period of time, how could he possibly fabricate this story without any basis? He wasn’t a god, was he?

Carefully recalling her interactions with Princess Mary over the years, many things now seemed suspicious in retrospect. Especially the fact that she had taken the initiative to cooperate with her, risking offending the Dragon Clan to arrange the attack at the teleportation array.

Alicia asked about the situation on Princess Mary’s side.

The old man replied truthfully, “I heard she was furious and has already ordered a ban on the article’s circulation and is putting pressure on the newspaper offices.”

Alicia murmured, “If she doesn’t have a guilty conscience, why would she ban it?”

The old man: “…”

She wasn’t the only one with this thought. If it was just baseless speculation, why prohibit it? When these remarks reached Princess Mary’s ears, she became even more enraged and immediately punished several of the people spreading them. The original intention was to make an example of them, but who would have thought that the related popularity would increase instead of decrease? For the first time, the bizarre event of scalping out-of-print newspaper prices appeared on the black market.

Spies from various races embedded in the Demon Clan immediately reported such secrets involving royal infighting to their superiors. Every superior had a superior, and at the top of the pyramid were leaders and special envoys. The same sentence, with the added understanding of different individuals, underwent a qualitative change after being passed through three people.

From initial speculation, it had morphed into a shocking royal scandal!

The story of the grandmother was spreading like a virus, creating a series of butterfly effects.

Luka, the one who had first gently flapped his wings, was now writing his new book day and night. During a break, he said to the Quill with a smile, “Once suspicion is born, the crime is established.”

Since the incident of the tampered teleportation array was deemed to have insufficient evidence, he would simply dispense with evidence altogether.

“From this perspective, my grandmother and I are in the same boat, both with unspeakable suffering,” Luka pretended to wipe away a tear. “My heart is linked with Princess Mary’s.”

A loving family forever.

This vengeful appearance of his was, in the Quill’s view, extremely pleasing to the eye.

Before Luka could create a new limerick, the Quill reminded him, “Now is a good time.”

Luka thought for a moment, then clapped his hands in realization. “Right.”

Originally, he would have needed the Dragon Clan’s help to communicate and get the movie screened in other territories. Now, as long as news spread that the movie’s content was related to a royal secret, getting it screened would not be a problem. After all, to a certain extent, all races would ‘demonize’ other races, and they would not miss an opportunity to amplify a demon scandal.

And the Demon Clan had always taken pride in such a bad reputation. The deterrent power of being ruthless to one’s own kin was far stronger than a friendly image. The result was a win-win for everyone.

There was no time like the present. Luka quickly wrapped things up and took the film canister to find Berlanie and the others. He wanted to ask the dragons to help him deliver the item to Cullen, who would naturally know how to handle it.

Upon meeting, Luka directly stated his purpose. “There isn’t much time left before the Return Hunt vote ends. With my current momentum, as long as my wealth accumulation is not inferior to the other crown princes, I have a chance to widen my lead.”

The central cities valued the results of the fate divination, so their votes would lean heavily toward him. In terms of wealth, the income from the movie and novels was enough to provide a safety net.

From the side, Grover interjected gloomily, “Does that story really have no clear answer?”

Luka was stunned. It had been several days, how had he not moved on yet? He changed the subject with an awkward smile. “I’ve already written the outline for the second part of the three-and-a-half-year-old book. After the Return Hunt ends, I’ll focus on writing for a few days, and it should be on the market. Once I win the vote, the previous dividends can also be…”

Grover’s gaze grew even deeper. “Did the grandmother occupy the granddaughter’s body or not?”

Luka: “…”

The Green Crystal Dragon and the Unicorn Blue Dragon were also staring at him quietly.

Luka channeled his inner Hamlet and cleared his throat. “There are a thousand grandmothers in the hearts of a thousand readers.”

Confirming that he truly wouldn’t get an answer, Grover gave the source of all evil a slightly resentful look. He took out a scroll. “The Demon King has already given compensation for the teleportation array incident.”

Princess Mary could get away clean, but the fact that the Dragon Clan had been ambushed while using a central city’s teleportation array could not be covered up.

Luka opened it. It was a miniature map of the Demon Realm, on which twenty-two cities were marked in red.

“This is?”

“The fiefdom the Demon King has granted you.” Beneath Grover’s gentle tone was a hint of ice. “He really has a good plan.”

Twenty-two cities granted at once sounded very generous, but they were all in difficult geographical locations that were hard to develop. The total value of all of them probably wasn’t even as much as the single Dark City.

Luka was already used to the differential treatment. The demon population and land area were real assets. He began to study it with great interest on the spot. “…Moke City. I have an impression of this place. It seems to be surrounded by desert, and there are often some terrifying phenomena at night.”

“Hmm, then we’ll just develop it in the direction of a tourist city.”

As soon as he said this, everyone looked at him.

A place with a remote location, surrounded by nothing but yellow earth and craters, what were you going to develop?

Grover reminded him, “Renovating an entire city is also a considerable sum.”

Luka, however, shook his head. “We’ll keep it as it is. The focus will be on cultural hype, digging up some local horror stories and spreading them.” He counted on his fingers. “The surrounding landscape will be renamed Devil’s Desert. A palace will be built near the ancient ruins, named Ghost Palace. Future promotions will follow the slogan ‘Whoever stays here will meet with disaster’.”

When his words fell, the room was silent. After confirming they hadn’t misheard, everyone’s gazes became even stranger.

The most famous tourist destination on the Holy Demon Continent was currently an island in the Southern Domain. To maintain its good reputation, a large amount of money had to be invested every year. Why would someone deliberately self-destruct their reputation?

Luka asked back, “If you had to choose between these two places for a trip, where would you go?”

Grover paused before answering. When he spoke again, he seemed to have understood something and smiled. “The Ghost Palace, of course.”

Berlanie nodded, giving the same answer.

The Green Crystal Dragon was even more direct. “If it were me, and I was passing by, I might make a special trip to see it.”

The Unicorn Blue Dragon agreed.

Whoever stays here will meet with disaster. He’d like to see if any unclean thing dared to entangle him!

At the door, the Quill, who had come looking for Luka because he had been out for too long, felt its eyelid twitch. This one was definitely a black sesame tangyuan, full of bad ideas one after another. It subconsciously put itself in that position. If it were him, he would probably scoff at such a bullshit rumor and then pay to stay with a cold smile. The more confident a powerful person was in their strength, the less they could stand this kind of subtle provocation.

Inside the room, Luka added some more ideas. “The target customers are not just the powerful, but also some horror-loving thrill-seekers.” There was no shortage of such groups in any era.

“I want us to develop it together. When the time comes, I’ll only keep sixty percent of the income for the development of Moke City’s citizens, and the remaining forty percent will go to the Dragon Clan.”

He had ideas and money now, but he couldn’t be everywhere at once. There were too many things to do, and he simply couldn’t manage it all. With the Dragon Clan’s deterrent force, he could at least ensure that as the number of visitors increased, there wouldn’t be violent incidents just for the sake of attracting attention.

A hand suddenly rested gently on his head, ruffling his black hair. “We won’t take the dividend this time.”

Luka was surprised. “That’s a separate matter. I…”

The Green Crystal Dragon interrupted directly. “Just listen to Grover. This time you nearly got into trouble right under our noses. It was too humiliating for us. Consider this compensation.” He hadn’t forgotten another important matter. “Right, keep up the good work on the second book.”

He had almost worn out his copy of the first book. The blind box merchandise he bought could fill a small mine shaft.

Luka was silent for a moment, then finally stopped haggling over the intersection of benefits and nodded. “Definitely.” He was used to keeping things very separate, but sometimes being too distinct could make things seem distant.

Berlanie was very satisfied that Luka could figure this out. It seemed yesterday’s educational lesson was not in vain.

“There’s one more thing you need to pay more attention to,” Berlanie’s tone suddenly became serious. “The Demon King.”

Luka listened carefully.

Berlanie: “The Demon King cannot interfere in the Return Hunt, but for someone of his level, it’s not difficult to pull some small tricks like Princess Mary did. Yet until now, he hasn’t interfered even once.”

Regarding this point, Luka also found it strange. This indifference was almost like letting him become the winner of the Return Hunt.

“There must be some scheme in it.” Luka frowned. “But it doesn’t affect me walking my own path.” As long as he continued down this path and kept getting stronger, no amount of scheming would be useful.

Berlanie greatly appreciated his determination. “Good child.” Then he asked, “What are you preparing to do next?”

Luka: “Persistently write books to criticize the Demon King, fan the flames to orchestrate a dog-eat-dog fight in grandmother’s family, and form alliances with other crown princes to eliminate one or two siblings. The Holy Court is suddenly targeting me, and my mother’s side seems to be brewing some nasty trick. After winning the Return Hunt, I’ll see if I have a chance to confront them.”

The Demon King only needed to scheme against him, but he had many more things to consider. He had to take down an entire family.

Berlanie was at a loss for words, finally managing to squeeze out, “Mind your daily routine.”

“Okay.” Luka started walking back with a swagger that recognized no relatives. As soon as he stepped out the door, he saw the Quill standing outside and ran right into it.

Luka: “Why didn’t you move?”

The Quill: “…”

As they walked back together, Luka yawned. The plan to send the whole family packing was just something he said. Plans can’t keep up with changes, and the future was full of variables.

“Developing a tourist city can at least give the people of Moke City hope. This hope will spread to the other few barren regions.”

With the Dragon Clan personally controlling the situation, their credibility was very high. Like at Keli Sentry Tower, if he found the right entry point, getting votes wouldn’t be a problem. He no longer needed to be busy touring other regions; he just needed to rush his wealth into the top three.

“Finally, I can relax a bit.”

Just as he said that, he found the Lord of Red Banyan City waiting for him at his room’s entrance. Luka’s eyelid twitched. He had a bad feeling.

The Lord of Red Banyan City did not disappoint him and brought bad news. “The team responsible for verifying and tallying the wealth of the crown princes outside the Demon Realm will be returning in three days.”

Luka frowned. “What?”

“Recently, our demons abroad have stirred up a lot of trouble. The human race is carrying out purges and deportations, and many places have explicitly forbidden demons from entering.”

The Quill sneered mercilessly from the side. “The timing of this trouble is truly a coincidence.”

The Lord of Red Banyan City nodded. “The work of the First Prince.”

Luka: “Doesn’t Alec also have many assets among the humans?”

The Lord of Red Banyan City smiled. “That’s what’s so brilliant about him. With the Return Hunt nearing its end, he can persuade other crown princes to transfer a portion of their wealth.”

The Return Hunt did not prohibit fighting and trading between crown princes, as long as you had the ability. For some who knew they had no hope of winning, it was better to exchange money for other tangible benefits.

Luka lowered his eyes in thought. If his wealth ranking failed to break into the top three, he would be directly disqualified, and no amount of votes would matter.

The Lord of Red Banyan City reminded him, “Alec can make deals with other crown princes, and so can you.”

Luka, however, shook his head. He never made a losing deal. If he went to trade now, he would only be extorted.

Luka thought for a moment. “Is this wealth tally in real-time?”

“Of course, and it’s very accurate,” said the Lord of Red Banyan City. “Never mind investigating crown princes; they have ways to know the financial situation of any famous person on the continent, even some high-level figures in the Holy City.”

An enhanced, other-worldly version of the Forbes list?

Luka’s eyes narrowed, his tone inscrutable. “Looks like I need to act fast.”

The Lord of Red Banyan City was stunned. Hearing this, it seemed he wanted to earn a sum greater than the combined wealth of at least half the crown princes in less than three days.

Luka made up his mind and looked up. “First, contact the newspaper office.”

The Lord of Red Banyan City subconsciously guessed, “Are you going to write another piece called ‘Grandfather’?”

Your grandfather is already dead. Let him rest in peace.

“…”

Author’s Note:

Excerpt from Luka’s diary:
 

Took some time today to write another short story and quietly placed it on the Quill’s pillow in the middle of the night [just a casual thing].
 

The story is about a protagonist whose family is destroyed. He successfully takes revenge at the beginning, dying together with his enemy. Then the protagonist is reborn, reborn to a time when the enemy isn’t dead yet, and his family doesn’t believe him. But the protagonist believes that this life will have a different outcome.
 

The story ends.
 

The Quill, who had a bizarre nightmare all night, woke up to see the short story on its pillow: …
 

Then what was the point of the protagonist’s previous revenge? Was it revenge for nothing?!

Randomly dropping fifty small red envelopes from Teacher Quill. Why is it still only one-third Quill: Because now half of my wealth is his.

Luka [peeks his head out] [confused] [is that how the math works?]