How hard can it be to find one person?

A week had gone and went, and Abigor still didn't have even a single clue on the summon's whereabouts. They had been vigorously searching throughout the continent and even sending spies to human cities, yet they couldn't find even a single sign of a strong person anywhere. No sightings of battle anywhere or no landscapes being altered by magic. It seemed like they had summoned a ghost.

Abigor was inside the Demon King's castle along with three of the most trusted assassins. They didn't dare to hold a meeting inside the throne room. Instead, opting for Abigor's personal room on the first floor. The room was around 10 square meters big, filled with expensive decorations and had double doors connecting to a long hallway.

After the Demon King's death, most demons were following Abigor's command. His charisma wasn't even close to Asmodeus', but it was enough for other demons to look up to him. The assassins were no different.

"Sir Abigor, we have searched the entire continent and found nothing. The only area left to search is the Black forest."

"Dammit! There's no choice, we'll have to search the forest as well."

"Searching the forest with our current skills is impossible. Even Asmodeus avoided the forest as much as possible. I doubt the summon would even be alive if he was summoned to the forest."

The assassins spoke logically without much emotion. They trusted Abigor, but wouldn't throw their lives away for no reason. They weren't going to enter the forest without a plan.

That's when the double doors burst open, and a messenger rushed inside. He was breathing rough as if he had just run a marathon. Without delay, he delivered the message.

"THE BLACK FOREST HAS JUST BURNED DOWN!"

"WHAT? How is that possible? The Black forest is immune to fire!"

Abigor was shocked. How could a forest that's been haunting demonkin for centuries suddenly burn down?

The messenger was in just as much disbelief as the others, but he had witnessed the incredible scene himself. The Black forest had indeed been burned down.

"I don't know how, but... gasp... it has completely burned down. There was a survivor with red horns. He came out of the forest towards the town of Medoea and fell unconscious just outside the city. We believe he is connected to the fire and are currently waiting for him to wake up."

"A red horn?"

The horns are an important facial feature for all demons. They rarely have any practical use, and instead, work as a racial distinction between demons. It works similarly to humans having different skin colors.

Most demons have gray or white horns. White horned demons often lived in cold places to the north, while gray horns inhabited hotter areas. In the town of Medoea and Eldham, most demons had gray horns, while nobility had black horns. Nobles with black horns often looked down upon commoners with only gray horns.

A red horn, on the other hand, is an extremely rare case with less than one in ten thousand having them. Demons born with red horns are often gifted in magic and seen as prodigies. The formed Demon King Asmodeus also had red horns.

Finally, a long-awaited clue had appeared. Abigor got goosebumps as he imagined how someone managed to set the forest on fire.

"So, what happened? Where is this person now?"

"He was holding onto some poisonous plants longer than himself and wouldn't let go of them. He was carried into the castle along with the plants by a soldier who first witnessed the scene."

Finally, we've found you! Burning down the Black Forest, what a fitting birth for a demon king!

"Did you measure how much magic power the person had? It must have been at least Asmodeus' level in order to light the forest in fire right?"

"The thing is, we couldn't sense any magic power out of him despite his red horn. Not even a single drop. I've never seen such a thing before."

"What? How is that possible? Even grass has magic power. Don't tell me he has less mana than grass!"

Abigor was disappointed for a second until he remembered something Asmodeus had shown him. It was a ring, which hid all the magic power from the wearer without leaving even a single drop behind. Asmodeus had personally crafted the ring just days before his death. He called it "The Ring of Disappearing" or something like that.

"By any chance, was the person wearing a colorful ring with a blocky pattern on it?"

"Hmm... Now that I think about it, he was indeed wearing a ring like that on his left hand. Is this ring important to you, Sir Abigor?"

Abigor had confirmed his suspicions. The person was indeed the next demon king without a doubt. It was unknown how he received Asmodeus' ring, but all that mattered was that he was found.

"Looks like we've found the person we've been looking for. Let's depart to Medoea immediately!"

Abigor couldn't wait for the birth of a new demon king. Once again, the demon race would rule the world leaving humans in despair. He laughed under his breath as a carriage departed towards Medoea.

Inside the castle of Medoea, Cole was about to wake up from a two-day slumber. He was still sleepy and couldn't figure out what was going on.

Ughhh... Why is it so bright... Where am I... What happened...?

As he slowly woke up and looked around, he found himself sleeping inside a small room.

Oh yeah, I passed out just outside the city. Did those people bring me here?

He was sleeping inside a bedroom, with medieval decorations all over the walls. The bed itself was single sized and quite luxurious. In the middle of the room was a table with a glass vase filled with roses inside.

Cole's clothes were filled with kief and smelled like weed, as he had been tightly holding onto the cannabis plants while sleeping. It seemed like he hadn't been robbed and still had his wallet and phone in his pockets.

A few moments later realization hit Cole, as he thought about having to face consequences for his actions. He had burned down an entire forest and was brought into an expensive-looking building to sleep for who knows how many days. In addition, he was probably taken care of and would have to pay for that as well. In total, the damages and hospital bill would probably exceed millions of euros, while Cole only had around a hundred in his wallet. Most likely, nobody even accepted euros in this medieval world, so Cole was essentially penniless.

Fuck that! There's no way I'm paying for all of this shit. I just tried to save my life from mosquitoes and didn't ask to be put into a hospital. Is there any way I can escape?

Cole looked around the room and saw an open window. A perfect escape opportunity. He was confident in his jumping ability and could probably survive a fall from even the top floor. Looking out the window, he saw a small garden with someone in a maid costume watering flowers. The maid was a young woman with long blond hair and gray horns sticking out of her forehead. She was really pretty, but Cole wasn't interested in demons. He still hadn't accepted the change in his own body and considered himself a human.

Good, now I just need to wait for her to leave in order to escape.

Cole sneakily peeked out the window hoping for the maid to leave. It wasn't looking good though, as two more people entered the garden.

The two were young males wearing expensive clothing this time with black horns on their heads. Judging by their looks, Cole assumed they were princes. It seemed like Cole wasn't inside a hospital, but instead a noble's mansion or a castle.

The two princes approached the maid with dirty looks on their faces. The maid had a fearful expression as if she was scared of the two. Cole couldn't hear their conversations, but it seemed like the princes were ridiculing the maid together. This was confirmed as one of them kicked the maid's watering can, spitting on her in the process.

Jeez, that's terrible. Ganging up two against one, don't they have any shame?

Cole wasn't planning on playing the hero, but after a few more minutes of one-sided bullying, he couldn't take it anymore. He stored a little bit of mana in his hand and blocked excess mana from reaching his hand.

Let's see if this will work.

"Rock!"

It was a success! A rock the size of a tennis ball appeared in his hand. If Cole had kept channeling mana through his hand continuously, the rock would have flown forward like a projectile. Instead, he had purposefully stopped the flow, so he could throw the rock himself. He created a few more rocks before taking aim.

Cole threw a rock aiming at the prince's head who had spat on the maid. It hit right on the mark, and the prince fell over on his face. After getting up, both of them were furious. They kept looking around trying to find whoever threw the rock.

"Jackpot!"

Cole was laughing and threw a second rock, this time aiming for the other prince. The rock hit his knee, and the prince started jumping on one leg while holding the other in the air. While this was happening, the maid was trying to hold back her urge to laugh. This made Cole happy until he remembered that he actually had to escape through the garden.

As he was reconstructing the escape plan, the worst situation came to hand. The door behind him had opened and an older demon entered the room. Cole didn't bother talking to him and immediately jumped out the window along with his cannabis plants.

FUCK! THE DEBT COLLECTORS ARE ALREADY HERE!

Escaping sneakily was now impossible. Instead, Cole bolted out of the castle running as if he'd just stolen the newest graphics card and trying to outrun the police

The two princes saw Cole jump down and immediately panicked. Surprisingly they bowed down and started apologizing. They had seen Cole's horns and weren't stupid enough to challenge a red horn. Cole, however, paid no attention to them while running past like a flash of light. He sped through the gate and disappeared from sight.

Cole ran along back alleys in order to not get spotted by law enforcement or anyone who would report his whereabouts. He didn't know if the city had police or some other system, but it must have at least some type of guards patrolling around. After he'd been running for over 10 minutes, he stopped.

He was now behind a large building on a dark backstreet. He could hide here for the time being without being spotted.

Sigh... There goes the last hope of living a calm life.

Cole felt like a criminal and thought living a normal life was going to be impossible now. He would either have to escape the country or serve his time in prison. After resisting arrest, he thought even a death sentence might be possible.

As he was thinking, a group of people approached him.

"Well, well, well, who do we have here? A lost little puppy? You dare step afoot in our territory?"

A group of thugs armed with knives had completely surrounded him.