Damn Reincarnation

ing,” Edmond sighed.

“In fact, there’s no real need to call it a meeting,” Gavid corrected him.
“My only intention was to casually discuss our opinions on the current situation.
Demonfolk and humans have very different senses of time, so if we don’t have appointments like this, it might be decades before we all see each other again.”

Edmond shrugged, “If it’s just a few decades, that would be fine with me as well.
Perhaps even longer than that might still be acceptable.”

Gavid asked, “Are you still searching for eternal life? You should already be close to it.”

“Haha… the eternal life that I have currently obtained is nothing more than extending my own human lifespan,” Edmond said dismissively.
“Can that really be compared to the demonfolk, who are truly eternal beings?”

“It’s not that different even for us.
Just as strong humans can live for a long time, strong demonfolk live longer than the rest,” Gavid muttered softly, but Edmond just smiled broadly without saying anything in response.

Gavid was well aware of his reasons for this.
The Three Mages of Incarceration, the three black wizards who had signed a personal contract with the Demon King, were all eccentrics….
No, they were all people who, while human, possessed an insanity that was inhuman.

The Tower Master of Aroth’s Black Tower of Magic, Balzac Ludbeth, wanted to see the very peak of all magic.
He wanted to go far beyond the limits of what humans had managed to reach and was obsessed with the peak of magic that any human should surely be unable to touch — no, the question was whether such a peak even existed in the first place.

Vladmir’s owner, Edmond Codreth, wanted to improve his genus as a human and become an entirely new species.
He aspired to become a new breed of human by abandoning everything that made him humanlike, such as his thoughts and behaviors.
By refining his demonic power to the extreme limits of what mana could reach, he planned on undergoing metamorphosis and becoming a new breed of human.

As for the Dungeon Master of the Desert, Amelia Merwin….

“Hm,” Gavid’s eyes, which had been completely still, suddenly trembled.

He stared at an object in the night sky that was flying toward them from a distance.

For a moment, Gavid wondered if he was hallucinating.
He even suspected whether or not he might be dreaming right now.
This was the first time he had been so astonished since he was last pushed back by the Stupid Hamel’s rampage three hundred years ago.

“Edmond,” Gavid called out.

“Yes, Your Grace?” Edmond responded.

“Come here… and take a look at that,” Gavid instructed.
“Just what on earth does that look like to you?”

Edmond tilted his head to the side in curiosity at the sudden summons.
He got up from his chair and walked over to Gavid’s side.
He then stood there with his face pressed against the glass wall as he looked up into the distant night sky.

Whatever it was, it was fast.
Even at this very moment, the flying object was quickly drawing closer to them.
The closer it got, the better the view they had of the flying object’s appearance.

Edmond gasped in surprise and took a few steps backward.
Had he made a mistake with the spell? No, it couldn’t be.
Edmond shook his head, rubbed his eyes, and then gazed out the window once more.
Now the flying object was so close that he didn’t even need to use a spell to see it very clearly.

But that….

It was a gigantic head.

How else to describe it? Made from expensive and rare metals such as Orihalcum, Mithril, and Adamanitum, a marvel of magical engineering that had been made into a flying airship… no, a flying head.
With that head alone, you would have enough money to buy ten of the buildings in Helmuth and still have some left over.

“It appears… to be a head,” Edmond choked out in disbelief.

It wasn’t just a simple head.
Curly hair sprouted from the head, writhing like tentacles and flapping like wings.
A red horn also sprouted from the top of the head.

The huge eyes were just as large as the head they were set in and twinkled as if stars had been embedded within them.

“Ahahaha!”

The forehead split open.

The Queen of the Night Demons, Noir Giabella, raised her arms in glee from where she sat on her velvet throne.

Noir cried out, “What do you think of my Giabella-Face?!”

Her cry was met with silence.

“It was originally planned to be shown during the completion ceremony of Giabella Park! But it was completed much sooner than I expected, so what else could I do? That’s why I’ve decided to show it to you first.
Isn’t it amazing?” Noir asked excitedly.

Edmond and Gavid stayed dumbstruck.

Unimpeded by their silence, Noir continued, “The Giabella-Face will be the mascot of the Giabella Park! The Giabella-Face will float above in the skies during the mornings, noons, evenings, and nights… at all times, the guests of Giabella Park will be able to look up at this face and be filled with love and awe.
Tormented by their lust for me, they will squander their savings at the casino and even spend their life-force….”

“I’m ashamed just looking at it,” Gavid muttered to himself with a shake of his head.

Edmond, who was keeping to the rear, also looked like he felt the urge to say some things that he really couldn’t afford to be saying.

But Noir didn’t feel the slightest offense at their dry reactions.

Click.

With a snap of her fingers, the metallic expression of the Giabella-Face slowly began to change.

Gavid and Edmond kept their silence as they watched the Giabella-Face smile.

Gavid was slightly afraid that the citizens of Pandemonium, who lived far below, might still be able to see this shameful display.

“Smile,” Noir sang cheerfully as she lifted the corners of her lips with both index fingers in a smile of her own.

Then she stood up from her velvet throne and walked out of the cockpit.

Claclack clack clack!

The carpet on the floor of the cockpit extended forward on its own.
Noir walked gracefully down the red carpet and approached the glass wall.

Then she casually passed through the glass and entered the inside of the room.
Noticing the empty seats, the corners of Noir’s lips curled upwards in a sneer.

“So the master of the Dragon Demon Castle is absent this time as well?” Noir unknowingly repeated.

“It can’t be helped,” Gavid replied.

“Humph, I’m really, really curious.
Just how much longer are you going to allow the problem of the Dragon Demon Castle to fester? Isn’t it enough that you overlooked them for the past two hundred years?” Noir demanded.

“Two hundred years might be considered a long time, but it isn’t that long for a dragon,” Gavid argued.
“Even if the young master of the Dragon Demon Castle is unsuitable for his position, we still need to wait another hundred years.”

“And why exactly should we wait any longer?” Noir insisted.
“Because of how rare Demonic Dragons are? See here, Gavid, three hundred years ago, fallen dragons were rare and worthy of being used as a symbol of our strength.
But aren’t things a bit different now?”

Gavid reminded her, “No matter what the era, dragons have always been seen as great and noble existences.
It’s difficult to give up on the symbolic importance that comes from having had such an existence fall and be bestowed a title from the Demon King of Incarceration.”

“Three hundred years ago, dragons were indeed such an existence,” Noir readily agreed.
“But now? It has been three hundred years since the dragons disappeared into hiding.
Are there even any dragons still active in modern times? In any case, dragons are like beings from their distant myths to the people of this era.
Don’t you think that, instead of such an obsolete symbol, it would be a better symbol to have someone who has successfully become a Duke while still being a human?”

As Noir said this, she turned to Edmond and addressed him, “What do you think, Edmond? If you so wish, I will gladly lend you my strength.
You understand what I ’m trying to say, right? I’m telling you that I will gladly rip apart the young dragon of the Dragon Demon Castle with my own hands.”

Edmond awkwardly laughed, “Haha….
I’m quite grateful for the offer, but….”

“Hmph, why are you acting so innocent,” Noir said poutily.
“I like you so much because you’re a freak.
What if the master of the Dragon Demon Castle does end up being defeated, and we need to choose a new Duke? Rather than one of those fucking marquises who snoop around me, trying to keep me in check even as they dream above their station, I think it would be better to raise a Count like you in to become a Duke.”

“I didn’t know that you thought of me so highly,” Edmond humbly prevaricated.

“If you didn’t know it before, then keep it in mind from now on,” Noir insisted.
“If you want, I can personally send a message to the Demon King of Incarceration.
In exchange for my help, I’ll take the corpse of the young dragon for myself.
After all, you already have Vladmir, right?”

Gavid, who had been silently listening to this conversation take place, sighed and waved his hand in dismissal, “Don’t bring up such things to our Demon King of Incarceration when he’s sure to disallow it.
Also, Noir, just what would you even do with a dragon’s corpse that makes you want it so?”

“Every piece of a dragon has its uses, no? First of all, I plan to process its scales, leather, and bones to make weapons and put them on display as prizes for the Giabella Park Casino,” Noir revealed, her reply exceeding all imagination.

Gavid stared at Noir, unable to think of what to even say to this.
Noir just smiled happily in the face of his surprise.

“The Giabella Park’s Casino will be the best casino in all of the past, present, and future,” Noir proudly declared.
“There is surely no other place in the world where weapons made from a dragon can be exchanged for casino tokens.”

“It’s sure to be a shocking facility in many ways,” Gavid eventually said drily.

“Also, the Dragonheart will be transplanted into the Giabella-Face.
The magic generator I currently have installed in it is great, but if I can transplant a Dragonheart into it, wouldn’t it be even more amazing?” Noir said with greed in her eyes.

Edmond stared at the Giabella-Face floating outside the window with narrowed eyes.
At first glance, that flying object practically drowning in narcissism looked ridiculous, but as an Archiwizard, Edmond realized that it wasn’t simply a head given the ability to fly.

‘For her to have even thought up the idea of linking the eyes of her flying vehicle to her own Demon-Eyes, regardless of whether it is even magically possible, I’m forced to acknowledge just how absurd Duke Giabella’s mana truly is,’ Edmond thought.

Demon-Eyes, which could be activated with just a glance, all consumed large amounts of mana.
The Demon-Eye of Fantasy possessed by Noir Giabella was one of the strongest among all the Demon-Eyes that were said to have existed in the world.
Her Demon-Eye, as its name suggested, had the power to turn reality into fantasy and fantasy into reality.

Noir was planning for this gigantic Giabella-Face to float in the skies above the facility that also bore her name, Giabella Park.
When it was eventually completed, numerous tourists would be coming to Giabella Park every day.
If a floating object as bizarre as the Giabella-Face was hovering around in the sky, one would have no choice but to look at it at least once, even if one didn’t want to see it.

At that moment, the tourists would be captured by the Demon-Eye of Fantasy and fall into the illusion crafted by Noir Giabella.

“I know that I am repeating myself, but the Demon King of Incarceration will not rescind the title of the young master of the Dragon Demon Castle,” Gavid reminded Noir.

“Then what about a hunt? I don’t like that young dragon, so if it’s for my desires, then the Demon King of Incarceration won’t stop me from hunting it, will he?” Noir asked.

“If you do that, I will be the one to stop you,” Gavid said in a calm tone.

However, deep within his eyes, a red light was shimmering.
It was the light emitted by Gavid’s Demon-Eye of Divine Glory, a Demon-Eye on the same level as Iris’s Demon-Eye of Darkness and Noir’s Demon-Eye of Fantasy.

“I guess a lot of time really has flown by.
You, who were once called a slayer, are instead acting as the guardian of a young dragon,” Noir commented sarcastically.

Gavid told the truth, “It’s not about protecting the young master of the Dragon Demon Castle.
It’s to keep you in check.
Even if they aren’t fully grown yet, a dragon is still a dragon.
For someone like you, who’s already powerful enough as it is, I don’t want you to become intoxicated by the power of the Dragonheart.”

This was just a light warning of Gavid’s power.
Noir was also only acting tough.
She probably didn’t have any intention of seriously hunting the young master of the Dragon Demon Castle.

“Fiiiine, I got it.
So can you stop with that creepy gaze of yours?” Noir whined as she brushed back her thick, wavy locks of hair with a smile.

At this, Gavid also shrugged and deactivated his Demon-Eyes of Divine Glory.
Edmond, who had just been watching the two of them, also laughed politely and returned to his seat.

“Once the two Dukes start playing mischievous pranks and pretending to be angry with each other, it’s hard for me to even breathe properly.
So please, let us talk about something else,” Edmond proposed.

“Has there been anything interesting going on lately?” Noir inquired.

“I think it depends on your opinion of what counts as interesting,” Edmond said as he pulled a hand out of his coat and held it up.

When his hand lightly stirred in the air, a whitish orb the size of two fists appeared above it.

This was the soul of a human.

“I’m not fully certain of this, but…,” Edmond touched the soul with his fingertips as he spoke.
“It seems that a Hero and a Saint have appeared.”

Gavid narrowed his eyes.

1.
The original Korean idiom literally translates to ‘a person whose front doesn’t match their back.’ ☜

2.
The original text uses the hanja for ‘Demon Territory.’ ☜

3.
The original text uses a koreanized version of the English word ‘dream,’ probably in allusion to the ‘American Dream,’ a concept that used to attract a lot of immigration to the US.
☜