The Game Difficulty
Is Crazy
Glenn accelerated his thoughts.
‘No, why is a high-ranking demon race being held captive in a Black Cult parish?’
But no matter how many events or scenes from the original story he recalled, nothing that could explain this came to mind.
Then he changed the question.
‘Who is that woman?’
Glenn quietly stared at the woman beyond the iron bars.
“Aah…….”
The woman reaching out toward Glenn had eyes the color of deep amber.
Her two locks of curly red hair were tangled here and there,
and the body wrapped in rags was gaunt, as if she had gone a long time without proper nourishment.
‘I can’t recognize her. Should I just deal with her?’
No matter who that high-ranking demon was, the fact remained that she was a demon.
Saving her would only add another enemy to the Papal Holy Kingdom.
But there was one strange point.
Glenn lowered his gaze to his chest.
‘It was definitely drained. My demonic energy.’
The moment the woman grabbed his collar, the demonic energy in his heart had been sucked out through her hand.
‘If she’s a demon who steals another’s demonic energy, then her innate potential ability must be… Ah!’
A sharp spark shot through Glenn’s mind.
At the same time, a list of high-ranking demons stored in his memory rapidly lined up in his head.
And suddenly, one name surfaced.
“Romina?”
The woman flinched and looked up at Glenn.
Her dried lips trembled.
“How do you… know my name……?”
‘No way. It’s actually her?!’
Glenn felt as if the back of his head had been struck by a hammer.
Romina.
Romynia el Blanditear.
A candidate for the next Demon King who appeared in the latter half of the Gray Eden scenario, and the daughter of the previous Demon King.
‘Why are you appearing here?’
Even after saying the correct answer himself, Glenn couldn’t understand why it was correct.
That was because Romynia was a character who was supposed to appear only after the current Demon King fell, near the end of the human-faction scenario.
In the late stages of the scenario, players who defeated the Demon King would have to fight three candidates for the next Demon King—and she was one of them.
Moreover, among those three, Romynia was the most promising candidate, and the one who had driven the most players to despair.
Yet now, the very same Romynia who had once looked down at players with an arrogant, seductive smile was dying in a Black Cult prison.
‘And before that, why is someone who should be in the Demonic Lands on human territory?’
“Ugh! M-My name doesn’t matter……. So please……!”
With pleading eyes, Romina reached her hand through the bars, asking Glenn for something.
‘The only thing she’d want from me… demonic energy, right?’
Glenn looked at Romina.
‘She’s the type who dies when her demonic energy runs out, and she can’t regenerate it on her own.’
All demons are favored by the god of darkness and the moon, Nox, and can wield the power of darkness known as demonic energy.
However, demonic energy is an additional power, not life itself.
Even if it’s completely exhausted, resting for a while allows it to recover—it never leads directly to death.
Just like Glenn, who often lost consciousness after exhausting his holy power, but recovered after resting.
‘But Romina is different.’
Because of her innate potential ability from birth, when her demonic energy is depleted, her heart stops along with it.
For her, demonic energy is both life force and power itself.
Yet no matter how much she rests, her demonic energy does not recover.
There is only one way for Romina to replenish it.
‘Absorbing a certain amount of demonic energy from someone else who possesses it.’
Cannibalism.
An innate potential ability that allows her to absorb demonic energy from those she comes into contact with, in exchange for being unable to regenerate her own.
Because of this, Romina must live her entire life absorbing demonic energy from her own kind or from monsters with demonic energy.
And now, for some reason, she had been captured by the Black Cult and was dying because she could not replenish it.
The one holding her life in his hands was Glenn, who had demonic energy in his heart.
‘…This might actually be an opportunity.’
The corner of Glenn’s mouth, which had been stiff with shock, slowly twitched.
In that brief moment, his sharp mind came up with a plan.
A plan to turn this sudden encounter into his own benefit.
A way to use Romynia el Blanditear, a future Demon King candidate.
Step— step—
Hiding his dark intentions behind a faint smile, Glenn approached the iron bars.
“Ah!”
Romina’s gestures became even more desperate.
“…Please!”
“You need it, don’t you? Demonic energy.”
Romina nodded weakly.
It was the only possible response.
“For someone like you, demonic energy is the same as life.”
“If you know that, then give it to me…… ngh!”
Romina glared at Glenn like a wounded beast, growling.
Glenn quietly met her sharp gaze, then slowly reached his hand toward the bars.
“Fine. I’ll share it. In that state, you can’t even have a proper conversation.”
Romina hurriedly reached out.
Her thin, white hand grabbed Glenn’s approaching hand tightly.
The demonic energy near the right side of his heart began to move, flowing through his hand and into Romina.
Afraid he might pull away, she clutched his hand and wrist with both of hers.
“Relax. I’m not running.”
Romina simply accepted the demonic energy flowing into her.
As Glenn watched her, a strange light passed through his eyes.
If someone else were to witness this scene, Glenn would be burned at the stake without a chance to defend himself.
Even so, the reason a human would save a demon—one destined to become a Demon King candidate—was simple.
‘If she has the potential to become a future Demon King candidate, then of course I should make her my ally.’
Though discovered by chance, Romina was a once-in-a-lifetime treasure.
As long as she had the potential Glenn wanted, her race didn’t matter.
If it was necessary for his survival, Glenn Wordsworth was the kind of man who could recruit even villains.
After several minutes of quietly transferring demonic energy,
Romina’s complexion visibly improved, and she slowly raised her eyes.
“…I owe you. Thank you.”
Her once-feral voice had settled into a calm tone.
As Glenn pulled his hand back, he spoke.
“It was necessary. You couldn’t even talk properly in that condition.”
“Sorry for snapping at you. I was really desperate. As you know, I die if I don’t have demonic energy… though I don’t know how you know that.”
Romina stared at Glenn.
“So, savior of my life, what do you want me to do for you?”
“You’re asking that first?”
“Then what should I ask?”
“Who I am, or how I know about you.”
Romina lowered her gaze and let out a quiet laugh.
“That’s honestly what I’m most curious about. But you saved me even though I’m a demon because you want something from me, right? So it makes sense to start there.”
“You’re thoughtful.”
“At least I know what comes first.”
“Most people don’t, and they demand repayment from their savior without shame.”
“Humans are shameless by nature.”
A brief smile passed between them.
“So? What does the human lord want, after saving a dying me?”
Romina leaned closer to the bars, clearly interested.
She seemed calmer than expected.
Even though everything happening to her must have been confusing.
“Tell me. Believe it or not, I always repay my debts. Even more so if it’s a debt of life.”
Romina’s amber eyes shone with sincerity as she looked at Glenn.
