CHAPTER 129: THE DEMON LORDS’ GIFT AND THE FLOWER’S SECRET

After all, it was a "gift" that these two demon lords had prepared for the Demon King.

As an "outsider," or perhaps more accurately, as a half-participant in this matter, speaking up now would truly be foolish.

Anyone with a functioning brain wouldn’t reveal it.

Illiya was looking around and he quite pleased to see that, except for the few of them who were in the know, all the other demonfolk who were aware of this "surprise" had expressions of curiosity plastered on their faces.

Hehe, I know, but I’m not going to say it.

He finally understood why his teacher always liked to pretend to be clueless despite knowing everything.

With such a "carrot" dangling in front of them, everyone’s attention was fully focused on the upcoming evaluation.

They didn’t have to wait long before two demon servants, representing Ke’Oth and N’zall, carried a box covered in black velvet onto the stage.

As for how they could be sure that these two demon servants were representing N’zall and Ke’Oth, it was entirely because their clothes had the names of the ones they represented painted in white.

White letters on black clothing—how could anyone ignore something so conspicuous?

Although, seriously, even if you want others to know that you’re here on behalf of those two demon lords, you didn’t have to go as far as writing it on your clothes! Whose brilliant idea was this anyway?

It seemed that the style of the demon realm was starting to get a bit... odd.

Illiya watched the actions on stage with dead-fish eyes, feeling utterly speechless.

He had never seen such a fresh and outlandish display.

Surely the demonfolk wouldn’t wear clothes like this on the battlefield too, would they?!

"We are here on behalf of Lord N’zall and Lord Ke’Oth to participate in this plant festival evaluation."

The voice from the stage interrupted Illiya’s "brainstorming." Following the sound, he saw that the two demon servants were already beginning to lift the black velvet cloth covering the box and ready to reveal the plant inside to the crowd of demons.

Everyone present craned their necks, eager to see what kind of astonishing plant the third and fourth demon lords had cultivated.

The black velvet cloth slipped off the box and it was carefully set aside.

The "treasure" inside the box also gradually appeared in everyone’s line of sight.

It was a perfectly formed ice flower.

...

After Juwon enduring a series of embarrassingly awkward incidents that were not for outsiders to know, he had to followed those two demons to the demon realm, preparing to help them out.

After arriving in the demon realm, he finally understood what it meant to live a life of luxury.

Compared to his previous survival in that wretched patch of earth, he no longer had to worry about sunlight, water, or living conditions.

Every day, all he had to do was show off his healthy appearance like everyone else.

What kind of life was this? It was exactly the kind of life he had dreamed of.

And he could clearly feel that the growth progress bar, which had been moving slower than a snail, was now shooting upward at rocket speed after just a short time in the demon realm.

He had a hunch that it wouldn’t be long before he entered his mature phase and would be able to take on a human form of his own.

Wuwuwu... finally, he wouldn’t have to keep up the appearance of being a mere flower anymore.

He was so sick of just drinking water every day.

He missed roast chicken, roast duck, spicy fish, braised pork, and pork knuckle so much.

Slurp.

He was so hungry.

"Hey system, how much longer until I reach maturity?"

Alone in the pitch-black box, with no one to talk to, Juwon felt extremely bored.

Even though he knew that soon he would return to a bright environment filled with ice elements, at the moment there was no one he could converse with, and he couldn’t even hear any gossip, which made it all the more tedious.

So, he could only go and bother the system in his mind.

"System, don’t pretend to be silent. I know you’re there. Don’t act like you’re offline. After working together for so long, do you think I don’t know all your little tricks."

"Do you still pretending? Don’t think I don’t know you heard me. Come on, come out! Besides, I’m not even asking you a question you can’t answer—I just want to know how much longer until I reach maturity."

"System?"

"System?"

"Oh, my dearest system!"

Juwon kept calling out to the system in his mind, but each time he doing that, it was like throwing a rock into the ocean, there’s no response at all.

Juwon: ...

Juwon snickered in his heart.

He didn’t believe for a second that the system hadn’t heard him.

"Oh? What’s this? A button that looks suspiciously like a complaint button? Hey, system, what do you think this is?"

The system that had been playing dead: ...

Even if the system wanted to keep playing dead and ignore this mischievous host, once its lifeline was in his hands, even it had to bow down.

After all, that was just the reality.

[...Tsk, it seemed you just realizes that you are illiterate.]

Anyway, he’s already been threatened, and he’s not even allowed to be a bit snarky about it.

The system had long since mastered the art of shirking responsibility on its own.

Juwon knew to stop while he was ahead; he teased the system just enough and didn’t push further—he didn’t want to see the system completely give up, because that would ultimately make things harder for him.

"Hahaha, I’m just a flower right now. How much do you expect a flower’s expression to reveal?"

Juwon quickly brushed past this topic and went back to his original line of questioning to pester the system.

"So, system, how much longer until I reach maturity?"