I left in the direction I’d come from, toward the Devil King’s palace. After a few minutes of walking, we crossed back with Sally and the horses, and I instructed him to lead us. After explaining the bet, he started shouting at me.

“Are you serious?! You made a bet with demons?!” They were only a few footsteps away from his yelling, but they didn’t seem to mind.

“What’s the big deal? It’s not like there’s any real risk in it.”

“Are you kidding me?! Losing a bet with a demon is the same as failing a contract with one - you forfeit your soul for eternity!”

“Is that in addition to the pound of gold I promised them, or…?”

“Obviously they’re taking your soul, have you never even heard of a demon- wait, a pound of gold?”

“You get worked up over the strangest things. Can you really act like me getting a pound of gold would be difficult after seeing everything else I’ve done?”

The demon in business attire gave me a strange glare. “Pardon me, you made the deal not even having the gold?”

“Yeah, that’s how I roll, bitch.”

Sally looked like he’d just seen someone die. “Okay, okay, the gold isn’t important. I’m not even involved in this, I’m not in the terms, so you can just have your fun with that.”

“I will have fun with it, thank you very much.” 

For a while, Sally and I were silent. The demons were still rambling on about beer or whatever else it is that demons like, but I didn’t care enough to listen.

It didn’t take long to reach the village we had come from. Unsurprisingly, all of the residents took refuge in their homes after seeing us come out of the tunnel, but thankfully there was no incident as we passed through. It was surprising how professional the demons were about this. We followed the river upstream for some time, and eventually the Devil King’s palace came into view.

Already, the castle had shown signs of wear that weren’t there before, and I theorized that the Devil King’s magic had likely been holding the place together until we came. None of the demons could conceal their shock in seeing what was left of the main tower, now half-collapsed into the river below.

The human-like demon was especially shaken from seeing the once-great castle in a state of disrepair. I had hoped that my claims from earlier were gaining credibility, but I think he had something else on his mind. We made our way to the gate, which I had Sally open with the key he had kept in our bags. 

Sally and I didn’t bother following the demons inside; we instead decided to look around the ruins for the Devil King’s corpse in case it fell down with the rest of the tower. The demons, rushing the main hall, began frantically calling for their employer, who I suspected meant more to them than they had initially let on. The palace was as lifeless as the surrounding rocks, and their cries went unheard.

“Hey, Sally, I think I found it… can you help me carry this thing?” The Devil King’s body was charred to the point of being brittle, so I was afraid that if I tried to carry it on my own, it would just split in half. We took the body to the entrance and waited for the demons to return. 

It was well into the evening before they finally came out, first one at a time, then all at once.

“Hey guys, we found him.” We set the corpse on the ground and stepped away, the demons watching our every move. “...So I guess that means I win the bet, right?”

The demon that I had made the deal with spoke up. “Err… yes, I suppose.” He began to approach the Devil King’s remains, but in that same moment, a small meteor fragment came crashing down in front of him, as had happened in my battle against Olivia, and he fell onto the ground.

I stood firmly. “Hey, hold on a minute. We’re the ones who found him aren’t we? Let’s make another deal. If this body means anything to you, then how about you show it?”

“Erm… I beg your pardon?”

“How about, in exchange for it, I get the rest of you to work for me too?”

The crowd looked significantly less shocked than when I had imagined this in my head. Really, they just seemed annoyed.

“Oi, yer walkin’ a fine line. We don’ mean trou-ble, but if yer tryn’a take us on, ain’t gon’ be pretty.”

Oh yeah, I forgot that demons were immortal. I could’ve tried to do the same thing with the level scaling, but getting Sally far enough away for it to work would’ve been more trouble than what it was worth.

“Oh, wait, nevermind. Can you just, like, pretend that this didn’t happen?”

The humanoid demon approached the body again, realizing that I wouldn’t try to stop him. “Sure.”

Oh well.