TPDGR 31

TPDGR

Posted by Zoe, Released on October 2, 2025

Chapter 31 …

“Your Majesty, Your Majesty!”

The general ran into the royal palace where the king was. In his hand was a crumpled piece of parchment.

“What’s the matter?”

“Y-Your Majesty! It’s….”

“Have you finally captured Griffith?”

King Gregor asked with a hopeful expression.

But only the general had arrived at the court.

No matter how much he looked, there was no sign of Griffith being captured.

“You mean… you didn’t catch him?!”

“Th-That’s not the important part!”

“What? It’s not important?”

Such arrogance! The king was about to scold the general when he spoke up:

“Griffith and a mysterious man appeared, delivered this letter, and left!”

“…A man?”

The king read the letter from the knight with a puzzled expression.

“No, this is…”

[To King Gregor,

I will get straight to the point.

Do not act disgracefully toward Griffith, who has become my subordinate.

I am the Demon King in the Demon King’s Dungeon, stronger than any monster.

I know your forces are already faltering against the Monster Alliance.

‘If only I had a hero!’

‘Bring Griffith and Joanna before me, kneeling.’

And so on.

I know you’ve said all this.

Don’t ask me how I know. It will hurt you.

My eyes and ears are everywhere and nowhere.

I command that the war be ended swiftly.

Does it sound like a suggestion? No. It’s an order.

If you dislike it, come and invade my dungeon.

But remember:

In my dungeon, there are a hundred elite Demon King troops rivaling Griffith,

orcs who enjoy torturing humans,

my pets, scarier than a three-headed Cerberus,

a devout and beautiful saint blessed by God,

and my personal guard stronger than Griffith.

Furthermore, my forces, including cavalry, exceed 1.5 million!

I will not explain what will happen if you defy me.

Make a wise choice.

—The Demon King]

“Th-This!”

Gregor’s face flushed red and purple.

He gripped the parchment, trembling violently.

“How dare they make such an outrageous threat against me!”

“…Your Majesty, the situation is not favorable. Capturing Griffith should be postponed.”

“Since when are you speaking weakly?”

The king shouted, and the general flinched.

“B-But, Your Majesty, the enemy has over 1.5 million troops, including cavalry. That’s comparable to a small nation raising an army.”

“What? That must be a lie! You think 1.5 million is a joke?! Bring that arrogant Demon King to his knees before me immediately! I will not let him live!”

“Y-Your Majesty… are you serious?”

“Yes!”

“Th-Then…”

The flustered general stiffened, stood up, and said,

“Then I must disobey orders.”

“What?!”

“I am already stretching our forces thin. I cannot risk further harm to the kingdom or disturb the people’s livelihood.”

“Nonsense… Hey, come back! You’re not coming?! What are you doing?! Attack him immediately!”

“Hmph! I have no manpower left to attack! Everyone is out on the battlefield!”

The king and the general continued shouting at each other.

Meanwhile, Ana watched the scene through a mirror and giggled.

“They’re complete idiots.”

Ah, how sweet.

The Ma-pitnoon juice she drank tasted like the king’s tears.

“Everyone’s back safely!”

I stood in front of the gate in advance to welcome the villagers and Han Hyunjin.

Of course, I knew they would return safely. After all, they had the dungeon’s chief guard and an S-class hunter from Earth accompanying them. Nothing to worry about.

Griffith and the older men walked ahead while a reluctant Han Hyunjin entered behind them.

“Everyone thought I was your messenger,” he said.

“Well, that makes sense,” I replied.

Just a few hours earlier, Griffith and I had spied on King Gregor through the mirror.

“If only I had a hero!”

“Bring Griffith and Joanna before me, kneeling. Capturing them will secure our victory in the war.”

Of course, this was a record from a few days ago. But astonishingly, the mirror servant had a so-called ‘rewind’ function that allowed one to view past events. Not exactly X-Tube, but still.

I couldn’t believe that Gregor had such a skill yet stayed silent all this time. Probably too lazy to speak up.

Anyway, this guy Gregor was timing things perfectly—planning traps and operations to capture Griffith.

Apparently, he judged that the war was faltering without Griffith.

They were desperate to catch Griffith…

But strike first, win guaranteed. So we decided to deal with them before they could snatch Griffith.

And by chance, Han Hyunjin arrived at my castle, allowing us to finalize the plan.

First, we would send a warning. Ignore it, and everyone gets obliterated.

Since the warnings were sent to both Earth and the continent, things should stay quiet for a while.

Besides, with the mirror servant, surveillance was easy.

Even if someone ignored the warning… well.

“By the way, Han Hyunjin. You said you’ve always been curious about worlds other than Earth. How is it?”

Han Hyunjin looked as if asking, ‘Why am I involved in this plan?’ But he was curious about other worlds too.

“People live similarly, but it was quite fascinating.”

“Hm.”

“Everyone seems to live harshly there too, so it wasn’t a pleasant feeling.”

Apparently, even an S-class hunter who enforces justice notices social injustices.

“Anyway, good work. Go rest.”

“Right.”

“And…”

“?”

I looked down at Han Hyunjin from my newly elevated position, ruffling his fluffy black hair.

He stared at me with an expression that said, What is this?

“Well done, my messenger!”

“……”

Han Hyunjin glanced up, then averted his eyes.

By now, Orc #1 was lying like a staircase at my feet.

Of course, a little display of subservience is necessary for obedience.

I smiled proudly at the reluctantly obedient Han Hyunjin.

If brains existed in these people, the guild and the kingdom wouldn’t dare enter my dungeon for a while. A civilized person knows not to poke a sleeping lion’s whiskers.

So, while the dungeon stayed peaceful, I planned to return to daily life and finish what I hadn’t.

“This is the forest, huh?”

Looking at the map, we had arrived at the forest to the right of the dungeon.

Tall trees easily five meters high and lush greenery stretched before us.

This place could provide wood for repairs or firewood if needed. It also contained various herbs.

I left Griffith in charge of security and wandered through the forest with the orcs.

Ah, the phytoncide is amazing.

Upon entering, the fresh air and soothing greenery relaxed me. Truly a dungeon version of Bijarim Forest.

“If there were more people, we could charge an entrance fee and run a tourism business. Right, guys?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

Fortunately, there didn’t seem to be any supernatural entities in the forest.

We settled down and took out lunch: bread and Ma-pitnoon jam packed by the puppeteer ladies.