Chapter 7
Gruev tilted his head slightly, then agreed to guide her.
The castle was so small, it didn’t even take an hour to walk through the whole thing.
After that, they stepped outside the castle gates.
The demon soldiers guarding the gate were still busy joking around and barely nodded when they saw Ariella.
‘The discipline here is awful.’
Ariella memorized their faces and kept walking.
‘This area is supposed to be the center of the territory, right? But it looks just like the place where the orcs attacked.’
There were a few more houses, but the overall atmosphere was the same—dry, neglected, and lifeless.
‘If this were a kingdom, this would be the capital city…’
The roads were eerily empty.
Even assuming most people were out working in the fields, it was strange.
“There are barely any people around.”
More and more questions filled her mind.
How does this place even function?
Her curiosity wouldn’t stop growing.
Naturally, she pulled out a small notebook and a pen from her robe.
It was a habit she’d had since she was young—always carrying them just in case she needed to jot down magical theories or ideas.
Opening the notebook, she fired a series of questions at Gruev.
“Do you have money in the demon realm?”
“Are the homes provided by the government, or privately owned? How much would someone pay to live in one of those houses?”
“Is your food completely self-grown? Are there any marketplaces?”
Each time Gruev answered, she quickly wrote everything down.
He watched her with a grin, sharp teeth poking out between his furry lips.
Ariella realized—it was her first time seeing a kobold smile.
Adjusting the monocle on his right eye, Gruev joked:
“You sure ask a lot of questions. You’re not a spy sent by another Demon King, are you?”
Ariella answered playfully:
“Is there anything here to even spy on, besides a few crops?”
From their earlier conversation, Ariella had figured it out.
Ludwig’s territory was part of the southern demon lands, known for being the least developed.
And his land sat at the very southern tip—a true backwater.
What other Demon King would even want to take over this place?
Gruev shrugged.
“There is something valuable. The people.”
“…What?”
When Ariella looked confused, Gruev pointed up toward the sky.
She followed his hand and looked up.
‘Oh… the sun!’
Floating above was a soft-glowing sun—not as harsh as the sun in the human world.
Strangely, there were several suns in her line of vision, not just one.
“There’s only one sun in the human world, right? But in the demon realm, we have over a hundred—one for each Demon King.”
Each sun gently shone over its own territory.
And where that light reached, it marked the boundaries of that Demon King’s domain.
“Each sun is connected to a specific Demon King. The area that the sun lights up becomes that King’s land.”
Ariella had read about this before in old books—descriptions of the demon realm’s strange environment.
But she hadn’t fully understood how the suns and Demon Kings were linked.
“So how do you grow your sun? Does the Demon King just need to get stronger?”
“Strength matters, but there’s something even more important—the number of people living in the territory.”
Ah. That’s why he mentioned ‘the people.’
Ariella leaned in, her eyes sparkling with curiosity.
“The better a Demon King rules, the more people come to live there. Then their sun grows brighter, and their land expands. In turn, the Demon King becomes stronger.”
“It’s a good cycle.”
Yes, Demon Kings could grow stronger through contracts or magic, but in the end, it all came down to population.
“That’s why people are everything. In the demon realm, there’s no such thing as patriotism. If life is hard, people just move to another domain. That’s why every Demon King has to work hard to make their land livable.”
Ariella fell silent, then muttered:
“This place makes it easier for good rulers to rise. Since you have to help your people to survive.”
“The human world isn’t like that?” Gruev asked gently.
Ariella didn’t answer.
Instead, she stared at Ludwig’s sun—the one connected to his domain.
It was clearly smaller than the other suns in the sky.
The land it covered wasn’t much either.
Ludwig’s sun looked so weak… like a candle flame that could blow out at any moment.
“Can a sun go out?”
She had never read anything about that happening.
“We don’t say ‘go out’—we say the sun is ‘extinguished.’ And yes, it happens sometimes. If a land loses too many people, the sun vanishes.”
A chill ran down Ariella’s spine.
She thought about the farmland that was attacked.
And how empty the town was—even right outside the castle.
“Wait. So this land’s population trend is…?”
“You mean the ‘decline,’ yes.”
Gruev gave a bitter smile.
“The outflow of people has slowed a little since Lord Ludwig took over, but we’re still not growing.”
So the population was still shrinking.
“If the sun goes out… what happens?”
Gruev scratched his chin, fluffing his fur.
Then, after making sure no one was listening, he whispered:
“The Demon King would die.”
What?! Ludwig… would die?
“The sun is tied to the Demon King’s life. It’s a burden every king must accept.”
Wait, wait—hold on!
Ariella felt her blood rush to her head.
Even in panic, her brain made the connection.
One – If the Demon King dies, the contractor dies too.
Two – If the sun dies, the Demon King dies.
So…
If this land falls apart, Ariella dies too.
The realization hit her like a bucket of cold water.
That dream she had—the peaceful life where she just studied magic and lived in comfort?
Gone.
That colorful, sweet fantasy had started to fade into dull gray.
‘…No. It’s too early to give up!’
A moment of despair passed.
Ariella pulled herself together.
Now that she understood the situation, she knew exactly what she had to do.
‘Running from the Empire wasn’t the end—it was just the beginning!’
She had just gone from one mountain to another.
‘If I want to survive, I need to fix this dying land—no matter what it takes!’
Just keeping the sun alive would be enough.
That became Ariella’s new top priority.
The Next Morning
Early in the morning, Gruev came to get her.
“Did you sleep well?”
Ariella looked like a zombie—her dark circles were obvious.
She almost broke down on the spot.
But she held back and stayed composed.
“…It was definitely a unique experience.”
The inside of the Demon King’s castle was just as bad as the outside.
The food? Awful.
The bread was so hard it almost broke her jaw.
The soup tasted like dirty mop water.
The bed? Worse.
The sheets had mysterious brown stains.
And all night, rats kept running around on the ceiling.
“Ah, I see. I’m glad you slept well.”
Gruev’s calm answer told her everything.
Passive-aggressive sarcasm doesn’t work here.
‘Well… I chose this. I’ll just have to get used to it.’
She had no illusions about being treated like royalty.
She stared out the window, reminding herself:
Her position was different now.
There was also another reason she hadn’t slept.
In the demon realm, the sun doesn’t fully set at night.
Instead, it dims in color and brightness.
That was natural.
If the sun vanished every night, Demon Kings all over the realm would die constantly.
So even during the deepest night, the land was bathed in soft, silver light—brighter than a full moon.
In that glowing room, Ariella tossed and turned until she gave up sleeping altogether.
Instead, she spent the night writing down everything she’d learned.
“This way. The Demon King is waiting.”
Gruev knocked on a door and called inside.
“The contractor has arrived.”
