Chapter 2
In the wholesome novel I had written, I was now stuck in a not-so-wholesome situation, experiencing one of the most intense events in the entire novel firsthand as the victim.
There were inscriptions at the entrances to the many rooms of the Demon King’s fortress. The script was cryptic, clearly not something I could have known, yet strangely, I was able to read it. It was the stereotypical plot armor where the protagonist could suddenly read anything they set their eyes on. Experiencing this myself felt ridiculous; being able to read something written in a language one has never seen before is a very perplexing sensation.
I wandered around numerous rooms, including the grand dining hall, the kitchen, the armory, the magical supplies inventory, the alchemical laboratory, the prison cells, and even the stable, but there was no sign of secret passages or escape routes anywhere within all these rooms. I guess it couldn’t really be called a secret passage if it was that easy to find, but I couldn’t help but wonder whether this place even had emergency exits.
Being able to read all the signs was indeed fascinating, but it was entirely useless in my current situation.
The Demon King’s fortress only appeared in the prologue of the novel and was never mentioned again after, so not only had I forgotten the way around this place, I’d forgotten this place even existed!
In other isekai stories I’d read, when the authors found themselves trapped inside the novel, they were able to swiftly locate where everything was and knew all the locations like the back of their hands. In reality, though, that was truly nothing but nonsense. Even though I was the one who wrote about this place, I didn’t have a clue where I was!
I hadn’t even considered this location before. As a matter of fact, there was no reason for me to care about a place that wasn’t even the main setting. Even assuming I had written this location in detail, it was so irrelevant to the main story that I would have instantly forgotten about it regardless!
The only possession I had was a set of elaborate clothing befitting a Demon Prince. I didn’t even have any special magical items or artifacts on me.
In most cases like this, there ought to be a secret passage somewhere within the royal residences, but I had no idea how to get to my own room because I’d randomly spawned in the corridor.
I also hadn’t seen a single guard around whom I could ask for help, but considering the urgency of the situation, it was understandable that they couldn’t attend to the Prince.
I searched my pockets to see if I had anything useful on me, but all I found were some biscuits, which served nothing but to make me even more angry.
The portrayal of me being nothing more than a juvenile Demon Prince was so literal that it was tear-jerking.
Crash! Bang!
Despite holding the title of a Demon Prince, I found myself hopelessly lost amidst the labyrinthine, unbelievably massive Demon King's castle.
I had to think. Though I had no idea what to think about, it was the only thing I could do. There was simply no way to decipher the layout of the Demon King's castle, and furthermore, I couldn’t spot any loyal subordinate who would guide me or help me with directions.
Don’t they usually have some NPC explain everything in situations like this? The NPC who needlessly goes out of their way to make sure they deliver all the essential information. “Oh, this is where you should go first, and in this situation, you should do this and that.” The NPC who offers unconditional help in the beginning and then soon dies, or remains as the “wise, reliable NPC” throughout the story.
Why wasn’t there one for me?!
Was I supposed to handle everything on my own with no help just because I was the author of this story?
The Demon King was going to die in today’s battle.
I’m not sure if there was a genre like this, but my original intention was to write this novel from a post-ending perspective. A story that took place after the conclusion, in a world of happiness. It was to be about what happened after defeating the supervillain Demon King, where everyone lived happily ever after. This story revolved around the “everyone lived happily ever after” part.
The story of the life after the war that was happening right now, where the heroes would soon defeat the Demon King, was where The Demon King Is Dead picked up. The hero party, who were the main characters of the story, all died here. They become remembered as humanity’s legendary heroes and only appear in the prologue, with no further appearance afterward.
I needed to think. I needed to find a way to survive. According to the setting, the death of my father, the Demon King, had nothing to do with me. If only it had been a day earlier, then I might have been able to do something to save him, but the situation had already unfolded and was out of my hands completely.
I needed someone. It didn’t matter whether it was a servant or someone from the castle who recognized me, as long as they were able to guide me out of this place. But there was no sign of anyone. I was on my own.
It was likely that they were all either lying dead or fighting the human forces surrounding the fortress. And the group of heroes who had infiltrated the underground passage was probably battling their way straight into the Demon King’s inner sanctum.
I could probably use that underground passage to make my escape, but I had no idea where it was. It was ironic that the Demon Prince knew less about the castle than the heroes did, and the unfortunate matter was that I was that Demon Prince.
BOOOM!
The sounds alone were terrifying enough to indicate something drastic was happening.
When the Demon King died, the castle would be captured. The magical barrier held up by the Demon King’s magic spell would dissipate, which would allow the human soldiers to flood in like a torrent. I hadn’t looked in a mirror yet, but I could feel a subtle pair of horns on my head. I didn’t know how different I was from an ordinary human, but just these horns alone would reveal the fact that I was a demon.
How in the world was I supposed to survive in this situation? My knowledge of the future didn’t help right now! Even if I knew a car crash was going to happen, what use would it be if I spawned inside the car at the moment of the car crash? That was exactly how I felt.
The title of Demon Prince and the advantages I had would only be useful once I survived and escaped. It hadn’t even been more than a few hours since I’d died in the real world, and I was once again on the verge of death.
“Huff... Huff...”
The endless running around the unfamiliar Demon King's castle had pushed my stamina to its limit. Maybe being of demon lineage didn’t come with boundless stamina. Or perhaps it was because I was still young? No—this body was just pathetically weak.
‘How does your stamina give out so quickly when you’re only seventeen years old? Seventeen should’ve been your prime!’
I didn’t know what kind of talent my blood granted me, but for the time being, it was clear that it was useless. After running for a while, I finally saw my reflection in the glass window along the castle’s wall.
I only took a brief glance, but besides the fact that I had horns on my head, I didn’t look much different from a human. In fact, there was something even more eye-catching to me than the pair of horns.
I had plenty of hair.
“Oh... w-…wow!”
“Lush” was the word that came to my mind when I saw the thick hair of a teenager growing on my head. I must have been crazy, since I managed to find a hint of joy and satisfaction even in such a miserable situation.
No, this wasn’t the time. Not at all. Even though it was lush and abundant, if I died, it would only rot away! I suppressed my intermingled emotions of fear and joy and continued onward.
‘If I manage to survive here, I’ll treat you with care, my sweet, abundant locks of hair. I’ve missed you more than my ex-girlfriend.’
Anyway, I had to stay calm.
First, the horns.
The horns attached to my head were a problem. If the human army came across me, I’d be lucky if they just cut my throat without doing something even more horrifying to me.
If only I knew some magic, I might have had a chance to do something with it.
‘Huh?’
On a sudden whim, I stopped in my tracks.
“There!” I shouted.
I started running back in the direction I had come from. The solution was actually surprisingly simple.
I did not know the layout of the Demon King's castle, but I’d passed by several rooms during my flight. I didn’t know where I should go and what to do there, but there was surely something that could help me somewhere inside any of those places I had passed.
Ssss…
The vibrations surrounding the castle began to settle down. It seemed like the fighting had stopped. Once the Demon King died, it was only a matter of time before the castle fell.
There was no time to waste.
***
“Hurry... Hurry...”
The first place I arrived at was the magical supplies inventory. I had no idea what was inside, but there had to be at least one thing I could use. Countless magical items were scattered about, but I wasn’t looking for anything of that kind.
I entered the area with shelves stacked with scrolls. Some scrolls were missing, but fortunately, they were neatly organized, and each scroll had descriptions indicating the spells contained within.
The top priority was, without a doubt, to find a teleportation scroll. I had no idea what my next step would be, but that was a problem to think about after I got out of there.
[Inferno]
[Glacial Strike]
[Blizzard]
[Blaze Storm]
.
.
.
There was a scroll cabinet that undoubtedly looked like it contained powerful magic, but it was empty. Shamefully, I was the author who’d written this novel and yet I knew almost nothing about the current situation. Fortunately, at least, I knew the general lore of this universe.
Scrolls that could easily manifest spells were inherently incredibly expensive and difficult to make. Scrolls containing such powerful offensive magic would be considered strategic weapons in modern terms, and could be used even by those who had no knowledge of magic, as all they had to do was unroll them.
Hence, these were highly valuable items. However, the scroll cabinet filled with powerful offensive magic was completely empty. A full-scale battle was underway, so it made sense that the defenders had taken everything that could be of help.
Damn it, what if the teleportation scroll had been taken too? I didn’t know how they were trying to use it in the battle, but there was a high chance that it had been taken regardless.
I rummaged through the massive scroll storage room, passing by numerous scrolls. Time was running short. I had to hurry. Most of the offensive scrolls had been deployed, but there were still plenty of scrolls in the storage room. There were so many small and unrecognizable scrolls that I couldn’t even tell what kind of magic they contained.
Charm, enchantment, illusion, and various auxiliary scrolls filled their cabinets to the point where they were spilling onto the floor.
Clearly, teleportation was considered a top-tier magic scroll in this world. It might have been difficult to find any remaining, but this was the Demon King's castle, so I had hopes of finding one somewhere. Besides, I had also just found the high-level scrolls cabinet in the corner. There undoubtedly had to be a teleportation scroll!
“I found it!”
Amidst the piles of countless scrolls, I finally found it.
[Teleport]
I had no idea where to teleport to, but I could worry about that after casting the spell. Anywhere would do as long as it wasn’t this place. I wouldn’t even mind ending up amidst human civilians, just anywhere else but this castle. Death was approaching slowly but surely, so I needed to act quickly.
I unfurled the scroll and attempted to use it. However, nothing happened.
[Teleportation is not possible from your current location.]
“Damn it!”
The barrier around the castle was preventing both teleporting into this space and teleporting out of it. Did the barrier still exist and manage to scatter the coordinates of this space even after the Demon King’s death? It made sense that the barrier blocked any teleportation; otherwise, the hero party would have entered via teleportation rather than a secret passage. The brainless plot I had written turned out to have some logic behind it.
In the original novel, I wrote that the hero’s party entered the Demon King's castle through secret passages and not teleportation. Instinctively, one would think “Why did they use secret passages instead of teleporting?” and criticize me for nonsense regarding the plot hole. But this world had naturally added the reasoning of the barrier not allowing teleportation to cover up the plot hole I had written.
Damn, if someone had defended me with such reasoning when I was alive, all my problems would have gone away and I wouldn’t have ended up in this miserable situation.
I didn’t know if this place had a warp gate system that let people in and out, but scroll teleportation wasn’t it. And even if there were warp gates, I didn’t know their locations.
“Waaaaah!”
A distant scream echoed through the air. The human army was surely taking advantage of the collapsing morale of the demon army and running over them like fallen leaves.
Did I have to die like this?
I could at least do something with offensive scrolls, but the only scrolls that were scattered about here were auxiliary spells with no combat relevance. Despite being the Demon Prince, I was inexplicably incompetent, with no significant powers. The luxurious attire I wore only served to announce my status as a major figure in the castle and didn’t grant me any real abilities.
Wait a moment.
Fancy attire, the appearance of a demon, and magic scrolls scattered around.
There might still be a straw to grasp at.
***
An idea came to me. I didn’t know if this would work, but at this point, it was the only option left. There was probably some other method out there that was better, but at this point, I had no choice but to take a risk to survive. In a situation where I was surrounded by enemies and didn’t know the location of the secret passages, my sole purpose was to stay alive.
I had arrived at the location.
“Huff... Huff...”
[Prison Cell]
As I descended into a place shrouded in darkness with a nauseating smell, I stripped off all my clothes, leaving me completely naked.
It would have been nice to have a few extra scrolls as a backup, but my plan required me to discard everything I had. Because my plan was to become someone who didn’t have anything. In fact, having anything was bound to be considered suspicious. I unfurled a scroll and cast the spell. It was a low-level one, but it didn’t matter as it was precisely what I needed, and was more valuable than any top-tier spell at the moment.
[Casting Magic: Camouflage]
Disguise was my plan. To disguise myself as a human prisoner who had been held captive in the Demon King's castle.
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