God-Tier Enhancement: My Upgrades Never Fail-Chapter 252: Episode _A Born Swindler (2)

2.

There is a saying: “Even in the Demon World, you can survive as long as you keep your head on straight, you dumb bastards.”

“Somehow, hearing you say that, Mr. Simin, makes it sound believable.”

“Yeah. Sure, we don’t have any way to get back right now, but so what? It’s not real life. Just think of it as being stranded on a deserted island in a game. At least we’re not alone, and we’ve got Simin. He’s got tons of food stuffed in his magic pouch, and worst-case, we can get used to Demon World cuisine. We don’t even have to worry about real sleep; we can just crash on the ground here. As long as we can satisfy the three basic human needs, we’ll be fine.”

“And where are we supposed to take care of the sex desire?”

“You’re here, aren’t you, Simin?”

“...There are three guys here. Why me?”

“Let’s just say you’re my type.”

In any case, the situation was bad, but they had people they could trust and rely on. That alone was a huge comfort. The more extreme the situation, the more strength it gives you to have someone you can lean on. Why else would people say cancer patients managed to pull through thanks to their families’ devoted care? It might not be scientific, but that was how important the heart was.

And above all, there was someone here for whom the Demon World was not unfamiliar.

“Hey, Kile. Talk. Since it looks like we’ll be here for a while, give us a basic briefing.”

Grokile glared at him.

“Tell me who’s the easiest to mess with around here, who’s got money, and if there are any spots where, if a Gate opens, we can jump through right away.”

Local guide Grokile.

Even low-rank demons trembled and watched their surroundings carefully depending on which region of the Demon World they were in. Seeing a mere human acting this relaxed rubbed him the wrong way. He found it extremely displeasing.

But he took a deep breath and opened his mouth.

“The Demon World is ruled by survival of the fittest.”

Even if this damned human was infuriating, he was still, for now, the master Grokile was bound to by contract.

He would endure it.

Even in the human world, it had been infuriating enough to be trampled on, ignored, and humiliated. There was no way he was going to let that happen again here in the Demon World.

Getting beaten? Fine, that could happen. But if other demons—especially demons who knew him—happened to witness such a humiliation, his life in the Demon World would be over.

’Grokile, an upper-rank demon, getting his face smashed in by a human!’

Demons ranked below him might not dare laugh to his face, but they would surely gossip behind his back and flash him nasty little smirks every time they saw him. The higher-ranked demons would tease him relentlessly and slap a nickname on him like “Disgrace of the Demon Race.”

Of course, before it ever got to that point, he fully intended to kill every last witness. Still, he couldn’t afford to leave even a one percent chance of it happening.

He had already learned the hard way that the thought, ’There’s no way that’ll happen,’ was exactly how a demon ended up getting conned. He’d signed the contract thinking, ’Who would ever dare scam a demon?’ and had been paying for it ever since.

’Just play along, flatter him a bit, and find some way—any way—to get him out of the Demon World.’

He conveniently forgot that if the Demon World had any method of opening a Gate to the human world on its own, the demons would have long since stopped bothering with troublesome warlocks and simply invaded the continent outright.

’If it doesn’t work, make it work!’

Grokile’s speech began.

*

The speech was long, yet short.

“Short and sweet. You’ll be our guide anyway.”

He remained silent.

’Is this a sightseeing tour?’

He wanted to ask, but Grokile wasn’t even the subordinate party in this arrangement; he was less than that. All he could do was nod.

He was also full of complaints about why he had been made to explain anything in the first place if this was how it was going to go, but he held his tongue, following the advice of Kardian, who was practically his senior.

So, they decided to move.

They had decided to move, but once again, they were brought to a halt.

“I will not travel with a demon!”

“Hey, will you just listen to me for a second?”

“Hmph! You lured me in with all kinds of sweet talk, and I gave you my body and my heart, only for you to tell me you’re a demon’s dog! I refuse to follow you any longer!”

Aria flopped down on the ground and threw a full-on tantrum.

Her face was a mask of resentment.

She even refused the robe Jeong Seolah held out to cover her, stubbornly refusing to budge. A sigh escaped Simin’s lips.

“Why are you being so difficult? I keep telling you, I’m not the demon’s dog; he’s my dog.”

“I don’t care who’s whose dog. What matters is that you used the Saintess as a front to hide that you were on the demons’ side and deceived me!”

He was at a loss for words.

He had nothing to say to that.

It’s true what they say: the hardest person to argue with is someone who refuses to listen. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝒆𝒘𝙚𝓫𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

All he could do was sigh. Even if he wanted to forcefully subdue her and drag her along, there was unfortunately no one here who could actually overpower her.

If they really wanted to, Grokile, Specialist, and Han Simin could all gang up on her and probably pull it off, but what would be the point?

If they had to listen to her nonstop whining the whole time, it would just eat away at their sanity.

“Don’t make me subdue you by force. Get up. Now. I told you, this place is dangerous. In hunting-ground terms, this is an upper-mid demon zone. You and Grokile could eat the locals for breakfast without breaking a sweat, but if we get hit by a stray attack while you two are fighting, we’re dead. You know that, right? You’re the one who stabbed me and erased my extra life without a word, remember?”

“...That was because you were on the demons’ side! I don’t feel sorry at all!”

“Unbelievable.”

At Aria’s outburst, Han Simin’s expression suddenly hardened.

“This is unreal.”

“You can make that face all you want. I’ll never feel sorry for a demon’s dog.”

“I knew it. Grokile and the warlocks told me, but I refused to believe it. I really wanted to think it wasn’t true, but I guess they were right.”

“I have no desire to speak with a human who falls for the demons’ attempts to sow discord.”

“They said Celestials are no different from demons in the end. That you pretend to care for the humans of the continent, but in truth, you wouldn’t bat an eye if humans were dying in droves, so long as you could focus on slaughtering demons. I didn’t believe that at first. But seeing you, Aria, I think I get it now. They say if you want to know the forest, you look at a single tree. They say to judge the quality of a nightclub by who gets rejected at the door. Wise words, it seems.”

“...What are you talking about?”

“You’re an upper-rank Celestial, yet just because you don’t like a human, you didn’t even bother to check the facts and simply decided he must be a demon’s dog and killed him. That proves you see humans as nothing more than insects. And now you refuse to even listen to my explanation, condemning me as a demon just because I was standing with warlocks. That makes you no different from demons who think anyone who doesn’t serve them deserves to die like trash. Right?”

She fell silent.

Of course not.

Aria’s convictions were not so fragile as to be shaken by mere wordplay.

But she couldn’t bring herself to voice a rebuttal.

“Be quiet and listen.”

She did not respond.

The dog collar around her neck wasn’t just for show.

If he wanted to make things easy on himself, he could have subdued her much more simply.

He didn’t even need to use Grokile’s brute force.

However, Aria’s stubbornness didn’t seem like something that would break just from being overpowered. That was why he was bothering with this tedious method.

Grokile would later tell him that she had been ready to throw herself into the Black Crystal and self-destruct. What could you expect from a Celestial like that?

She had to change on her own.

So he sat down, making himself comfortable.

“Alright. Listen up.”

She waited.

It was the beginning of a long brainwashing—no, a long speech.

It was on a completely different level from Grokile’s: more boring, longer, and duller, yet somehow, the more you listened, the more plausible it all sounded.

3.

The war was over.

Although the forest behind the warlocks’ camp had been locked down again by the returning Imperial Knights and other elite units, the rest of the battlefield was busy with the postwar cleanup.

Naturally, this wasn’t some eco-friendly cleanup concerned with the environment.

It was the victor’s privilege, which included recovering the bodies of fallen comrades.

They stripped the corpses of countless monsters, taking only the valuable parts, and buried those who had sacrificed themselves for the war.

They collected the equipment the fallen had dropped and picked up items from the defeated monsters and warlocks.

Each and every item was part of the process of recouping the costs of the war.

It might sound cold to those who had fought with all their might, but every last speck had to be recovered.

The Emperor might be rich, but regardless of his wealth, this was a necessary process for ruling the continent.

Only by doing this could they reward those who had earned merit and prevent warlocks from sneaking back later to reclaim what they had left on the battlefield.

So, they worked just as hard on the cleanup as they had during the war itself.

The soldiers’ faces were relaxed.

They weren’t fighting enemies; they were picking up valuable items, even if they wouldn’t get to keep them personally.

The faces of veteran soldiers were even lit with smiles.

A new recruit, seeing their expressions, asked a question.

“Why does everyone look so happy, sir?”

“Shh! Kid. You can’t just say that out loud. Not with the brass walking around.”

“Ah, I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine. It’s not like the dead can hear you. The problem is if some high-ranking officer happens to walk by and overhears. Then we’re screwed.”

“Yes, I’ll be careful.”

“Good. And as for why we’re happy, what other reason could there be? If you work hard and happen to find even a small gem, you could be set for life.”

“Are we even allowed to take that... Mmph.”

“Are you nuts? I said keep it down, kid. Damn it. If you weren’t one of the ones I actually like, I’d have skinned you already.”

“I-I’m sorry.”

“Forget it. Just keep it to yourself.”

“Yes, sir.”

“It’s not exactly a secret. As long as you don’t get caught and hide it well, pocketing one or two things isn’t that hard. Not that a greenhorn like you could pull it off. Just remember it for later.”

“Yes!”

“Right. So if you do find something, bring it to me. It might sound cold, but that’s how it is. If you don’t like it, then get a higher rank.”

“Understood.”

There were so many people working the cleanup, and right after a war, everyone was frazzled.

There was no itemized list of what was being recovered, so if you hid something well on your person, you could slip it past the cursory searches and smuggle it out.

How could their faces not be bright?

They were already glad just to have survived, and now they might be able to line their pockets and go home with a nice haul.

That was why they were more enthusiastic now than they had been during the fighting.

The soldiers who knew how things worked had their eyes blazing as they searched for anything that glittered.

Of course, to keep up appearances, they also picked up regular items, but with corpses and loot scattered everywhere, that part wasn’t much of a problem.

’Just find one!’

’Just land one big score!’

Naturally, it wasn’t only the soldiers who were thinking that way.

Users!

Even though no rumors had spread through the community yet, the quick-witted users who knew how to play the game had all flocked to the battlefield.

Even users who hadn’t participated in the war came, and there were even people who had never played the game before who went so far as to create accounts just to be here.

That was how much of a bonanza this place was—a hidden jackpot that everyone was flocking to, despite the lack of any official announcement.

However, as time passed, this land of hope slowly turned into a field of despair.

It wasn’t because someone shouted anything in particular.

There was just... nothing.

Even if it wasn’t them, someone should have found something by now, but there wasn’t even a hint of a score.

You might think they were all just acting perfectly, but the mood didn’t feel like that at all.

It was strange.

Simply strange.

It felt eerily like someone had already swept the place clean.

That strange atmosphere lingered for a long time.