Chapter Fourteen: Saying Goodnight at the Demon Lord’s Castle

Click.

As the key slid into the lock, the heavy prison door creaked open effortlessly.

Mino tiptoed out, taking a quick step and inhaling the fresh air with excitement.

He spread his arms wide, as if embracing the vast blue sky—

“Stop pretending. You just stepped out the door. Let’s go!” Alto Tai snapped immediately.

Mino quickly hushed, glancing down the dim corridors on both sides. The cells were neatly lined up, all empty except for his own, with the occasional skeleton lying inside.

He hurried along the hallway until he reached the junction where a spiraling stone staircase twisted downward endlessly, seemingly connecting countless floors.

Up or down?

Mino knew it was time to make a serious decision. According to the storybooks, the Demon Lord and his high-ranking minions usually reside at the very top of the Demon Lord Castle. So… if you’re a hero, you go down a hundred floors!

Of course, the castle didn’t actually have a hundred floors. Mino descended the spiral stairs, passing about sixteen or seventeen levels before reaching the bottom.

Whether it was his imagination or not, though it was late at night, the light had noticeably dimmed.

Only a few wall lamps hung along the surrounding walls at the bottom, casting a faint glow over a very small area.

The nearest lamp was just a few meters away. Mino quietly crept toward it, his hand feeling along the stone wall until he suddenly touched a wooden door with a handle.

His heart skipped a beat… Could it be? A one-life clear?

He took a deep breath, slowly pulled the handle, and pushed the wooden door open.

To his disappointment, it seemed to be a closed room. With only the faint light of a small lantern inside, Mino made out the sparse furnishings. Then a shock struck him—

The room was simple, with no extra decorations. In the corners stood a desk and a wardrobe. On the desk lay a row of exquisitely crafted silver needles and silk threads, but there were no knitted items like handkerchiefs or scarves.

At the center of the room stood a coffin-shaped rectangular wooden box.

“Could this… be Egypt?!” A spark of insight lit up Mino’s mind, reminding him of an elderly man over a hundred years old.

He tiptoed to the coffin and confirmed it was indeed a coffin—the classic sliding-lid style. After a moment’s thought, Mino placed his hand on the lid and gently pushed it open, then peered inside.

The inside was not empty as he had expected. The monster within had already awakened as he slid the coffin lid.

A demon maid dressed in simple, adorable pajamas lay inside, her innocent eyes meeting Mino’s quietly. Then she blinked.

“Fi…Fim,” Mino whispered.

“Mino, what are you doing here?” Fim lay like a well-behaved doll in the coffin, blinking her eyes at a slightly faster pace.

“Uh, why are you inside the coffin?” Mino coughed a few times.

“The strategist said zombies should stay in coffins,” she replied.

“Nonsense! That’s how vampires make their entrance!”

Fim tilted her head in confusion, then watched as Mino slowly closed the coffin lid.

“Well, you keep resting… just pretend I was never here. Good night,” Mino laughed awkwardly.

Darkness fell once more inside the coffin.

Fim blinked, her expression blank.

After a while, a soft voice echoed quietly from within the coffin:

“Good… night.”

Outside the coffin, Mino wiped the cold sweat from his brow, finally understanding the situation: this was not an exit, but Fim’s bedroom.

So, the lowest level of the Demon Lord Castle wasn’t an exit at all, but actually housed demon officers of the Demon Lord’s army?!

Was this some kind of joke? They might as well be giant tree guards!

Mino suddenly turned his head toward another room lit by a wall lamp. Was it really like that? He considered pushing that door open to find out… but the hero’s intuition throbbed strangely at that moment.

Mino had a feeling that if he opened that door, he’d die a terrible death.

“Well… let’s go back to the cell and check out the top floors first.”

He thought it through—he couldn’t count on escaping on the first try, so he’d follow his instincts.

Looking up at the spiral staircase twisting upward, a determined look appeared in his eyes.

If you’re a hero… you ascend a hundred floors!

Removing the holy sword Alto Tai, he stuck it into the steps like a walking staff and began climbing upward again amid a string of curses echoing in his mind.

The Demon Lord Castle was truly immense—

Facing the room opposite Fim’s chamber, the wall lamp flickered with firelight…

Inside the room,

Cletina gently pushed open the wooden bathroom door. Steam billowed out from the crack as she wiped her wet hair.

Her skin, just soaked in hot water, still glowed faintly red like a dew-covered rose. A few droplets trickled from her ankle onto the floor.

“I feel like I just sensed the hero’s presence…” Cletina tilted her head, puzzled.

“Never mind. It’s time to pay homage to the Demon Lord.” She shifted lightly, her slender figure wrapped in a delicate pale yellow rose-patterned dress, exuding a faint moist sweetness.

Cletina let her long hair cascade down her back, her expression soft and gentle, then stepped out and approached a nearby room.

“Demon Lord…”

…

Moonlight poured down gently.

Mino paused at the stairway in the prison corridor.

He was about to change direction and explore the upper floors but stopped in his tracks.

Under the stone window bathed in moonlight stood a small shadow.

A tender face no older than five or six years. White, silky long hair framed a cherubic face, golden eyes full of innocent purity. Her skin, smooth and glowing like milk under the moon’s glow, was carefully wrapped in a pure white adorable dress.

Seeing Mino, the little girl pressed a finger to her cheek and uttered a soft sound: “…Hmm?”

“A white-haired loli!” Mino exclaimed.

“Wow! You just summed up such a cute creature in four words!” Alto Tai shouted in surprise.

Mino jogged over, curiously tugging at the girl’s soft hair. She shook her head, a look of comfort on her face.

“Little one… why are you here all alone? Where’s your mother?”

The white-haired girl stared at Mino, seeming to understand but still a bit confused.

“…?”

A sharp pang twisted in Mino’s heart. Suddenly, he realized that such a little girl appearing alone in the Demon Lord Castle could only mean a few things.

He thought for a moment, then cautiously asked,

“And your father?”

“Ba… ba…?” The girl’s voice remained puzzled.

Mino slapped himself, his face full of sorrow and regret.

He really deserved it!

So this meant the little girl was all alone…?

“What is your name?”

This time, the girl seemed to understand, smiling warmly like a little sun and uttering a simple sound.

“Mi… Mia!”