Chapter 82: Jackson’s Secret (Part 2)Jackson kept telling me the story of how the devils got to our world.

    After Xalathas ordered all of his generals to conquer different regions, they all split up and did their work their own way.

    One of those devils was called Jaterno, and he was tasked with conquering the Sephyr Kingdom long ago. However, this devil fell in love with the way people lived in this new world.

    He enjoyed seeing how most people tried helping others in times of need, while in the world of demons, everyone stomped on each other to get ahead.

    The new world felt peaceful and complete, so he didn’t see a reason to mess with it and even desired to live among them like a normal human.

    This devil, Jaterno, would turn out to be Jackson, the man who had become my first friend after my companions.

    The guy that taught me how to read the language of this world and the one that has supported me and kept my secret safe.

    It was during those times that he met the knight Karla.

    Karla was the knight turned adventurer who helped us fight against the goblin king and the only person in the world who knew of Jackson’s secret.

    They had met during a mission where Karla was tasked with killing a monster. But when they arrived, they found Jackson had already completed the task.

    After they became good friends, Karla didn’t judge Jackson for who he was and even supported him in his choice of wanting to become a human.

    After wishing to get rid of his demonic powers, Xalathas placed a curse of pain on Jackson that he had to endure to get rid of his powers. However, the amount of energy that he expelled was too significant for the knights to ignore.

    A group of knights was dispatched to check on the anomaly, but Karla went ahead of everyone else, wanting to reach the place first, knowing it was her friend causing the commotion.

    With Karla’s words and support, Jackson was able to cope with the trial and became a human, leaving a massive burnt-out area in the vicinity.

    When Karla had to report her findings, she didn’t want to compromise Jackson’s happiness and decided to lie for the sake of her best friend.

    The King and the Supreme Commander understood that Karla was hiding something that wasn’t malevolent, but they couldn’t allow one of their knights to lie to them, so she resigned and became an adventurer with Jackson.

    That’s how Jackson ranked up to the Mithril level as an adventurer.

    "Wow... That’s a lot to take in." I said, my eyes widened at all the information that he had given me.

    "Ichiro, I never wanted to lie to you. You confided with me your biggest secret, and I kept hiding my real self from you, thinking you would ask me to leave or kill me..." he said, his tone sad.

    "Man, what are you talking about?" I said with a carefree tone to defuse his depressed emotions.

    "Huh?" he mumbled, gazing at me.

    "What do you mean you never showed me your true self? You ARE Jackson. This already is your true self!" I replied with a smile.

    My words weren’t hollow either. The person in front of me, Jackson, was my friend. Another human that wanted to live peacefully. Just like me.

    Jackson seemed to appreciate my words and explained more of the situation.

    A few years after he became a human, another devil took on his old mission of conquering the Sephyr Kingdom. That devil was Armaros.

    Jackson explained that Armaros was one of the weakest generals, which is why he relied on the creation of powerful monsters to conquer the land. However, I couldn’t help thinking that if Armaros had simply decided to attack a random city by himself, he could have succeeded.

    He said that even devils had a limited amount of power, and while Armaros could have destroyed an entire city by himself, he wouldn’t have been able to conquer the whole kingdom like that.

    Hearing his story reminded me that there was a kingdom that had been occupied by a devil. It was the Kalusia Kingdom, where the battle-maids Gina and Carli were originally from.

    However, I couldn’t remember his name.

    "It’s Zagor..." Jackson said.

    That was the name of the demon general that had taken control of the Kalusia Kingdom and had its inhabitants enslaved as mine workers.

    He was also one of the most powerful generals, which is why he was able to conquer Kalusia, a kingdom known for its fearsome warriors, in only a few years.

    "Ichiro. If you are planning on fighting other devils, I can help you. I know them and their weaknesses. While I can’t cast much magic anymore, I can still fight!" he exclaimed.

    Truthfully, I was definitely a little curious about looking for the other devils. But I also didn’t want to go on a suicide mission while leaving End Town to fend for themselves.

    Armaros, the devil that had been breeding the high-ranked monsters to attack the cities of the kingdom, was finally put to rest, meaning that the residents would have an easier time. Nonetheless, something else worried me.

    "If the Sephyr Kingdom was supposed to be your mission at first and then was replaced by Armaros after you quit... What’s stopping another devil from picking up where Armaros left off?" I asked.

    From what Jackson said, the other generals were already busy with their own territories, and while there was a chance that one of them could show interest in expanding, he thought it wasn’t likely to happen for at least another decade.

    There were six generals in total, counting Armaros. Meaning there were five that were still alive, and three of them had already completely conquered their assigned territories.

    Zagor had conquered Kalusia and enslaved their people as miners. He was described as an extremely strong individual with an evil aura that could intimidate even greater demons. Not that I knew what those were either way.

    He conquered Kalusia by declaring war against them and mobilized an army of monsters and hell spawns, occupying the capital and enslaving all of the citizens.

    The royal family managed to escape thanks to the battle-maids and secretly took refuge in the castle of the Sephyrs.

    Then, he mentioned a devil called Baelzor. A cunning demon that had taken control of the Northern Empire thanks to his ability that allowed him to manipulate people.

    An approach less violent than Zagor’s but still morally awful. Apparently, the emperor had been under the devil’s mental control for a few years.

    The next one on the list was a female devil called Vyrazul. She had gained full control of a kingdom in the eastern continent by... sleeping with the king.

    "Wait, what?" I asked Jackson, interrupting his explanation.

    "You heard me right. Vyrazul may be a demon, but she can take the shape of the most beautiful woman in the world. She gained the king’s affection and made a contract to give her full control of the kingdom as long as she was his queen..." he elaborated.

    "So, devils really just do things their own way, huh?" I said, not fully believing what I was hearing. Not because I doubted Jackson, but I just simply didn’t want to believe that someone would be dumb enough to sell out their kingdom for sex.

    After, he talked about another female devil called Nexa. She was a demon with no interest in conquering, breeding monsters, controlling people, or anything. All she cared about was having fun.

    Jackson described her personality as "pretty childish." Always looking for a thrill and something to laugh at.

    "Huh, that doesn’t sound very frightening..." I muttered.

    "Honestly. If there is one devil you could potentially talk to and have a friendly conversation with, it would be her..." he said.

    Those words seemed important, so I ingrained them in my head, as Jackson looked like he didn’t want me to fight that devil called Nexa.

    The last general on the list was called Drakzen. Nicknamed the "traveling devil," as he couldn’t stay in one spot for more than a few days, King Xalathas gave him the mission to wander the world and look for anything that could benefit them.

    "That’s a pretty vague mission. What does ’looking for anything that could benefit them’ even mean? They could benefit from having gold, but I’m guessing that’s not what he is looking for, right?" I asked.

    "That’s right. He is looking for magical relics or rare powerful monsters..." Jackson said.

    Seeing that I raised an eyebrow when he mentioned the relics, he explained that they were items with magical properties or special abilities. S~ea??h the N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    "You know that delivery tablet thing that you made? That could count as a relic," he said.

    Now that I knew how many other devil generals were out there, I wasn’t exactly sure what to do with the information.

    Jackson himself said that Armaros was one of the weakest, so I didn’t see myself taking them down any time soon. But knowing that we had someone who knew the details behind them gave me a little bit of hope.