The Tale of Hero Alice's Social Death - Chapter 249

Chapter 249 – True Infiltration

Demon King Castle used to be the territory of two generations of Demon Kings. Hence, there was a chance that this secret room might not belong to Grant. If that was the case, Grant might have emptied the room and moved everything to his own secret room located somewhere else in the castle.

However, when Alice walked down the staircase and arrived inside the secret underground room, she was greeted by many magic materials and books. She even saw a rat that had died of starvation in the corner of the room, its corpse mummified.

This secret room had Grant’s magic lock keeping it sealed, so the rat naturally couldn’t leave the room. Judging by its appearance, Alice guessed it to be a Doulu Rat, a creature often used as lab rats in this world. Grant must have been conducting magic experiments in this room, so he had kept a Doulu Rat here.

“This place should be Grant’s secret room. If it belonged to the Demon King before Grant, Grant should have ransacked this place already,” Alice said to Andusia. Since there was nobody else in this secret room, Alice did not lower her voice when speaking to Andusia. “Of course, it is also possible that Grant had simply reused his predecessor’s place after finding it.”

“Let’s search around, then. The taboos developed by past Demon Kings are of great use to any Demon King, so it’s unlikely that Grant would place it at a random place. Those taboos must be stored somewhere inside this room,” Andusia said, speaking normally this time. Although the task of transmitting her voice directly into Alice’s ears was neither complex nor costly mana-wise, she found it more comfortable to speak normally. “The taboos I’ve developed should also be here.”

“You Demon Kings are really a rebellious bunch. It’s a wonder why the Demon King’s Power didn’t kill you all for targeting its essence…” Alice said, chuckling. Then, she set her sights on the large bookshelf in the room.

“The Demon King’s Power might be self-conscious, but it doesn’t seem to mind us taking some of its essence,” Andusia explained. “The feeling I got was that it didn’t seem to think that the little amount of energy we stole from it would affect it in any way… That’s also the case in reality. I’ve made several weapons using the Demon King’s Power’s essence, yet I’ve never noticed any changes to the Demon King’s Power. It’s as if I’m taking a cup of water out of the ocean.”

“Is that so? I thought Demon Kings are becoming weaker with each passing generation because you guys have been shearing it time and again. So, that’s not actually the case?”

After searching the entire bookshelf and failing to find a single taboo, Alice walked up to the experiment table and began flipping through the stack of research notes there.

“Then, why would you say that the First Demon King is stronger than all Demon Kings that came afterward?”

“To say that Demon Kings are becoming weaker isn’t exactly true. It’s just that the First Demon King is overwhelmingly strong. Demon Kings of subsequent generations should be equal in strength,” Andusia corrected. “As to why I say that the First Demon King is stronger than all other Demon Kings…it’s because of the thing that fellow has left behind. It is still functioning to this day. So, I am certain that the First Demon King is much stronger than other Demon Kings. At the very least, if it were up to me, there’s no way I can create such a long-lasting item.”

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“Something that the First Demon King left behind is still functioning even now?” Alice was a little confused by Andusia’s words. “What thing? Where is it now?”

“It’s a contraption that influences the entire demon realm. It’s buried underground in a village in the Plandy Kingdom. Oh, wait, it should be called the Acura Kingdom right now,” Andusia said. “I’m not too sure what that contraption is for. Although I tried to research it, the contraption’s complexity is absurd. It also contains a frightening amount of mana. I can even sense it forming a cycle with naturally-generated mana. If my hunch is correct, that contraption can most likely operate endlessly. I have never heard of such a mana storage method before, and I think that only the First Demon King is capable of creating such a contraption.”

Alice stopped her search when she heard Andusia’s words, a frown forming on her face.

A magic tool capable of influencing the entire demon realm?

A bold conjecture appeared in Alice’s mind. However, it was only a guess right now. She would still need to visit the Acura Kingdom to validate her guess.

While Alice was about to ask Andusia for the magic tool’s exact location, a sound suddenly came from the secret room’s entrance.

Ka-chak.

It was the sound of a camera shutter opening and closing.

The sound wasn’t all too loud, but in this quiet room, it immediately attracted Alice’s and Andusia’s attention.

Alice’s eyelids twitched when she heard this sound, and she promptly turned to the room’s entrance. Then, she found herself looking at a pink-haired girl wearing a flustered look on her face. The girl was holding her phone in her hand, and the phone’s camera lens was aimed in Alice’s direction. Evidently, the pink-haired girl had forgotten to mute her phone’s shutter sound.

“What’s going on? Why is someone still awake?” Andusia was a little surprised by this situation, but she didn’t panic. After all, since this pink-haired girl had already exposed her tracks, there was no way the girl could escape. The one who should be panicking right now should be the pink-haired girl instead. “Alice, did that person just take a photo?”

“Yes,” Alice answered, curtly resolving the old antique’s ignorance of mobile phones. “But to think we failed to notice her until now… It seems we were too engaged in our conversation.”

Alice didn’t know whether to laugh or cry over this situation. She didn’t think that neither she nor Andusia would fail to notice someone sneaking up to the secret room’s entrance. It’d be a huge embarrassment if news of this situation got out.

However, similar to Andusia, Alice did not panic. Since the pink-haired girl had already exposed herself, there was no way she would let the girl get away.

“Be good and come over here, little fellow. You should be thankful that Alice isn’t some bloodthirsty killer. If you don’t resist, we might consider leaving you with your life,” Andusia said to the flustered girl as she climbed out from under the hood and stood on Alice’s shoulder. “Otherwise, I cannot promise we’ll even leave you with an intact corpse.”