The Tale of Hero Alice’s Social Death

businessmen turn it into a tourist spot?”

Alice chuckled when she recalled the information she had previously found on the demon realm's internet.

According to what was available on the internet, a group of businessmen had bought the land that Demon King Castle sat on in an attempt to modify it into a tourist spot.
Although those businessmen were forced to abandon their plans because of the Radioactive Soul Stone in the city, now that she had already destroyed the Radioactive Soul Stone, there was no saying whether those businessmen would pop up again.

“You can rest assured on this matter.
Wintas has already bought the land back by force,” Flaman said, laughing when he heard Alice's question.
“After all, the new Demon King has already appeared, so there's no saying whether Demon King Castle might come in useful in the future.
Those businessmen can say nothing about Wintas's actions, either, unless they can dethrone him and become the Windy Kingdom's new king.”

The demon realm's political system was very straightforward.
So long as an individual had enough strength, they could challenge the Four Heavenly Kings.
If they managed to defeat any of the Heavenly Kings, they'd be able to take over the Heavenly King's position and authority.

However, those businessmen clearly lacked the strength to beat Wintas.
Hence, they could only comply and sulk in a corner when Wintas demanded to buy back Demon King Castle's territory from them.

“By the way, Lord Demon King, about the puppet on your shoulder…”

After updating Alice on Demon King Castle's situation, Flaman couldn't help but turn to look at the figurine sitting on Alice's shoulder.

Flaman wasn't an ordinary demon.
While he might not be able to win against Heroes and Demon Kings, as the Heavenly King of Fire, his strength still ranked at the pinnacle in both the demon realm and the human realm.
Although Andusia had remained motionless this entire time and behaved no differently from a normal figurine, Flaman still noticed something strange with Andusia.
Specifically, he could sense the dangerous power contained within her small body.

Of course, Flaman wasn't an anime otaku, so he naturally didn't recognize Andusia's appearance as the protagonist of the human realm's national-level animation “Magical Girl Hikari.”

“You mean Andusia?”

Alice chuckled as she turned to look at Andusia.
After thinking it over, she felt that it wouldn't matter even if she revealed Andusia's identity as a former Demon King to Flaman.
After all, they were currently in the demon realm, and Flaman was one of the Four Heavenly Kings.

In fact, if Flaman were to find out that she had a former Demon King following her, her identity as the current generation's Demon King would be even more credible.
There was no way Flaman would ever think that Andusia, a former Demon King, would cooperate with a human, least of all a Hero, right?

With such thoughts in mind, Alice shrugged her shoulders, shaking Andusia's body a little as she asked:

“Andusia, how about offering the current Heavenly King of Fire a greeting?”

“Hmph.
I guess he's a little stronger than Igneel,” Andusia said as she looked at Flaman arrogantly.
She instantly knew what Alice was trying to play at when she heard Alice's words.
Although she was very surprised to learn that Alice had the identity of a Demon King in the demon realm, since she had already agreed to cooperate with Alice, she naturally wouldn't expose Alice at this time.
“But he's still weak.”

“…??” Flaman was visibly surprised to see Andusia suddenly moving and speaking.
After opening and closing his mouth a few times, he turned toward Alice and asked, “C-Could this person be…?”

Flaman already had an inkling of an answer in his heart when he heard Alice calling out to the puppet on her shoulder.
After all, the puppet's name was one that he was very familiar with.
However, he still found this situation too unbelievable, so he still wanted to get confirmation from Alice's mouth.

“It's as you've guessed.
This person here is Andusia, the Ninth Demon King,” Alice said, smiling as she grabbed Andusia off her shoulder.
Then, after sitting Andusia in the palm of her hand, she continued, “She might have shrunk down a lot, but she is, by no means, weak.”