I Saved the Demon King Who Was About to Commit Suicide – Chapter 19

The very next day.

Evan, who had woken up early, double-checked everything one last time before heading to fetch Lucia.

According to the maid, she was already awake and outside, so Evan directed his steps not to the room but to the garden.

A short while later, he easily found Lucia sitting at the tea table in the middle of the garden.

“You’re up early.”

At the sound of his voice, Lucia turned her head. A soft smile, just like the one he saw yesterday through the window, adorned her lips.

“I was curious how the flowers looked in the morning. Yesterday, I woke up too late to see them during lunch and dinner.”

She brushed her hand over the flowers. The dew resting on the petals melted away as it touched her hand.

“Anyway, seeing you came directly to the garden means you must have come to fetch me?”

“Yeah. We’re planning to leave now.”

Evan nodded and turned his body toward the carriage.

“Let’s go. The carriage will be ready to depart as soon as we get on.”

“Sure.”

Lucia followed behind him as they walked.

“By the way, I heard that the Land of the Dead is a place you can only enter by dying. So how do you plan to get in? You’re not thinking of dying, are you…?”

“You sound just like Bephyr. I have no intentions of dying to get in.”

“Then just remember that there are other ways.”

“Why? Are you sad that you can’t die?”

Since Evan thought the response would be the same anyway, he asked half-jokingly. However, contrary to his expectations, she shook her head and answered.

“Not really. I don’t actually want to die right now.”

“Did your mind change or something?”

“If you ask that, it’s only right to say no. Once you reveal the truth, I will die without hesitation.”

Lucia’s serious response made Evan nod slowly without saying a word. Since she was following him, Lucia couldn’t see his face, but a look of dissatisfaction was creeping its way onto his features.

He wasn’t even aware of it himself.

*

From that moment until they boarded the carriage, a silence hung between the two.

Evan, with his head lowered, was lost in thought, while Lucia glanced at him before shifting her gaze out the window.

The sky visible through the window was cloudy.

As a result, the dark sky didn’t let much sunlight in.

Looking at the sky, she couldn’t help but think that today’s weather seemed most suitable for heading to the Land of the Dead.

“We’re setting off.”

The coachman in a robe announced the departure.

Lucia cast a glance at the coachman and then asked Evan, who was still deep in thought.

“Who is that coachman? I don’t think I’ve seen anyone like that around the mansion.”

“Of course you haven’t. That person… no, that gentleman isn’t a servant of the mansion.”

“What do you mean?”

“If you think about where we are going, you’ll find the answer.”

Lucia looked back and forth between the coachman and Evan before responding as if she had understood.

“I see. That gentleman is also an undead.”

“The path to Anima is only known to the undead. I wouldn’t know either if I weren’t a Death Apostle.”

“Then how did Bephyr find the undead and get the coachman?”

“He used the route that the Death Apostle informed him of. I was his companion back then, so it wouldn’t have been hard for Bephyr to get the coachman just by mentioning my name.”

“Must be nice to have the name of the Apostle of Destruction.”

“That it is.”

While the two continued their conversation, the coachman quietly drove on.

At this rate, it would take about five days to arrive.

The road to Anima had no particular danger, so Evan leaned back in his seat.

“It’ll probably be boring on the way. You can either sleep or enjoy the passing scenery, whatever you like.”

“I haven’t had much time outside the Demon Realm since becoming a Demon King, so I think I’ll enjoy the scenery.”

“Well, if that’s what you want.”

He didn’t bother trying to stop Lucia from gazing outside.

Having spent a long time riding, Evan knew that at first, looking outside was enjoyable, but it quickly became tiresome later.

So he figured it was best to let her enjoy it while she could.

Evan yawned widely and closed his eyes.

“I’m going to take a little nap. Wake me up when we arrive.”

“Sure.”

*

Three days later, around noon, the carriage came to a stop somewhere.

“We’ve arrived.”

It was a much quicker time than Evan had expected.

According to Lucia, the horses pulling the carriage didn’t rest at night, which was why they arrived so soon.

Surely it is a carriage heading to the Land of the Dead.

Now that he looked, those horses didn’t seem ordinary either.

“But wait, is this really the right place?”

Lucia, stepping off the carriage and looking around, expressed her doubts.

It wasn’t surprising.

This place looked like an ordinary empty plain, except for the ten giant stone pillars standing erect.

“This is the right place. It’s just not immediately visible.”

If it were easy to spot, it wouldn’t be the Land of the Dead.

Evan pulled out a black sword and a dagger from a pocket dimension, then stabbed the dagger into the area where the rabbit’s heart was.

Whoosh—!

Blood gushed out from the rabbit’s body where the dagger pierced it.

Evan collected the blood and mixed it with another green liquid that he had prepared beforehand.

“What are you doing?”

“A ritual to head to Anima.”

As the rabbit’s blood blended with the green liquid, it completely turned black.

The coachman continued to observe his actions in silence, as if nothing was wrong.

“I’m a bit nervous since it’s my first time doing this…”

Saying that, Evan began to sprinkle the blood onto the ground.

In a circular pattern.

“Water for the dead, the lifeblood of the living to go to their land.”

He mumbled in a low voice, and the moment he formed a perfect circle with the blood, the space in the center of the pillars began to distort oddly.

Then it broke apart to reveal a dark passageway and a staircase leading down.

“This space leads to an entirely different world.”

Lucia, peering into the dark passage, spoke up.

“Yeah. It seems the dead and the living are distinctly different beings.”

Evan said this then dipped his fingers in the remaining liquid to draw a cross shape on his wrist.

Then he did the same on her neck.

“Drawing such symbols on a demon’s body…”

“If I don’t draw this, the soul will wander in a black space where nothing exists when we enter. If you want that, feel free to go in without the symbols.”

“In truth, drawing it won’t change anything, so I don’t care. I’ll just go straight in.”

Lucia stretched her leg and stepped into the passage.

Seeing her enter, Evan followed her into the dark space.

The entrance shut immediately behind them.

In an instant, they found themselves in a completely dark space without a hint of light, so they carefully descended the stairs.

“…This staircase seems longer than I thought.”

“I heard from the Death Apostle that the living have to descend this staircase for quite some time.”

“We might end up rolling down and becoming undead if we’re not careful.”

“That’s possible.”

As they continued discussing Anima, they went down for quite a while.

After about three hours of descent, Lucia and Evan finally saw another space.

It was a river filled with pitch-black water.

By the riverbank stood a boat and a ferryman.

The guide to Anima that Ophelin had mentioned.

The ferryman, Charon.

Meeting him meant they had arrived at the entrance to Anima.

“I’ve been waiting.”

Charon greeted them with a divided voice.

His face, hidden beneath the black robe, seemed nonexistent, as if it had never existed.

“Right. You must have heard why we’re here from your subordinate.”

“You mentioned you have business with the undead. Where do you wish to go?”

“I want to meet an undead who died a long time ago—at least someone from a thousand years ago.”

After pondering a bit, Charon opened his mouth.

“If you want to meet such an undead, you’ll need to go to a forbidden area. But that requires the permission of the Death Apostle…”

“The Death Apostle hasn’t vanished for long, and you’ve already passed it down?”

“Yes. They appeared about two years ago.”

“Then guide me to where the Death Apostle is. I’ll try to persuade him.”

Charon nodded.

“Understood. The price is two gold coins.”

Evan threw two gold coins from his pocket toward him.

Then Charon led them onto the boat and grabbed the oars.

“We’ll be setting off.”

As he started rowing, the boat moved forward, slicing through the dark waters.

“Interesting.”

“What is?”

“It’s a different scenery from the Empire you live in. It feels somewhat like the Demon Realm yet distinctly different in some way.”

Lucia continued to look around as if enjoying the scenery of Anima.

“So, where is the Death Apostle?”

“Right now, he is probably outside. He’s likely with other undead. He loves to listen to stories.”

Evan recalled the Death Apostle, Ophelin; she was a natural-born mood maker.

I wonder if this Apostle is similar.

Curiosity bubbled up within him.