The Damned Demon

Asher realized he was getting ahead of himself since he hadn't even figured out his current situation.

He didn't care who his current body belonged to or how the previous person ended up dying. All he cared about was moving forward and finding out more about this demon realm he was in. He had only visited demon realms through the gates that appeared on Earth, but he never stood for too long to explore them since the gates would always close quickly once the quest was complete.

Those who accidentally got left behind never came back, and Asher didn't even have to guess what happened to them.

But now that he was a demon, he wasn't worried about blending in, but his ignorance about life in the demon realm could make him end up in trouble.

Still, right when he was trying his best to not feel disappointed, he noticed something he had glossed over before,

[ MP - 0 / 0 ]

'What the fuck does this mean? I am manaless? How is this possible?' Asher was devastated and realized that he couldn't really sense any mana in his body. Then didn't this mean that he was doomed despite getting a second chance? Without mana, how could he possibly dream of getting stronger? Without mana, one cannot evolve their body to the next level.

"There he is!"

Asher was distracted from his thoughts when he heard multiple footsteps and voices from behind. He quickly turned around with a wary expression, only to see multiple demon men with green skin, pointy nose and sharp teeth. He recognized them as goblins, though these didn't seem to be the less intelligent types. Goblins were usually considered as low level demons but even among them, a small fraction of them were stronger and intelligent ones.

They were wearing armor and had weapons with them as well. As if by instinct, Asher was prepared to fight them since situations like this were what he had experienced for most of his life.

His whole life, he had slayed demons, and the instinct to kill them had been ingrained in his bones.

However, now he didn't know exactly why, but he wasn't feeling any repulsion or anger towards these goblins as a whole. This was something he realized he had lost after being reborn as a demon.

As a Hunter in his previous life, he had loathed demons since whenever they arrived on Earth through the gates, they would kill, destroy, pillage and commit all sorts of evil to indulge themselves.

He had lost a lot of dear ones to them, which in turn motivated him to become the strongest Hunter. But now, that hatred that had motivated him in his past life was strangely absent. He wondered if it was because he became the very thing he once used to hate.

He decided to play it safe and was about to ask something when one of them said, "Phew, we panicked for nothing."

"I told you guys. There is no way this blockhead could get that far on his own. The Royal Consort is crippled in the head as well, after all."

"Tsk, are you blind? Look at all the blood and the bodies around here. There was definitely a battle here, but how come our Royal Consort seems alright without a scratch? His servants are all dead. Was it the Hunters? I heard that a gate opened somewhere around here."

'Eh? What nonsense are these guys spewing?' Asher was bewildered by what he was hearing. At first, he thought that they might have mistaken him, but then he felt that it didn't make sense. These guys definitely knew whom they were talking to.

"What's going on?" Asher finally asked since he wanted to get some control of this weird situation.

All five men raised their faces with expressions of shock and disbelief as if they couldn't believe what they had just heard. Their reactions only confused Asher even more when one of the men mumbled in a surprised tone, "The Royal Consort can speak?"

"What the…So I didn't imagine that?"

"We should let Her Majesty know!"

'Eh? Royal Consort?' Asher couldn't wrap his mind around what they were mumbling. And hearing how they addressed him as 'Royal Consort' meant that he was the husband of a demon queen! Did the Demon King's daughter already succeed his throne so fast?

How could a level 1 with no mana like him have such a status? What kind of person did this body exactly belong to before?

And seeing how surprised they were after he spoke made him wonder if the previous owner of this body never spoke. Was he mute or something? No...they mentioned he was crippled in the head? Did they mean he was mentally retarded before?

"Please, Your Highness. Come with us. We will get you to safety," The men hurriedly said as Asher followed them since they didn't seem like they were kidding. It was better to play along and learn more about his situation.

On the way, Asher asked the guard walking beside him, "Tell me what you know about me."

All five men exchanged surprised glances. It seemed as if they were still not used to hearing him speak or act like this.

"Ahem, Your Highness, I don't know if you remember everything that happened in your life, nor do I know if the rumors are true but based on them, it was said that you were born without the ability to think or act. And even after growing up, things never changed," The guard said while his fellow guards observed the expression of their Royal Consort.

'So the previous guy was really born mentally disabled? As if being manaless wasn't enough,' Asher mused and could only imagine how such a life must have sucked. He remembered the strange visions or memories he saw right after he had died. Now he realized that those memories belonged to this body. But these memories were still vague and blurry.

He also noticed that even these guards considered him pitiful based on their attitude and words.

Before he spoke to them, they were even talking casually around him, but now that they realized he was no longer mentally disabled, they were careful with their words, even though it was only because of his status that he was still finding it hard to believe.

Killing the Demon King still felt like yesterday, and today he was already married to the Demon Queen. What kind of joke was that?

"What about the Demon King? What happened to him?" Asher asked since he felt all this was a bit weird.

The guards again had looks of surprise as the one walking beside Asher answered with a baffled look, "Your Highness…our Demon King, unfortunately, died a year ago."

"Yes. It was all because of those fucking Hunters! They killed our king and continue to enjoy their petty lives," Another guard said with a look of remorse and seemed to have been a loyal servant of the late Demon King.

"How unfair. If only we had the strength to kill those powerful Hunters, we would have already taken up any such quests and wrecked their ugly homes. Unfortunately, we are too weak to do anything," Another guard lamented.

'An entire year passed after I died? What the fuck…' Asher didn't know how to react after realizing this fact since the memory of him being betrayed by everyone he knew was still fresh in his mind.

"Then what happened after that? Who ascended the throne?" Asher asked with squinted eyes, having two guesses in his mind about who the successor was.