manynovel Page 112
Page 112
With great satisfaction, Mino watched the two demons, one big and one small, depart. She stretched lazily on the bed and looked at Altothai again: "What did you glean from this?"
Artotai tilted his sword hilt, and said somewhat uncertainly, "So... you're going to take a nap, my lord?"
"No way!" Mino said, waving a finger around his neck with a smug look on his face.
"Even you think I'm so carefree now, do you think those demons... still have the most basic sense of vigilance towards me?"
"Oh?" Altottai suddenly stood up in surprise:
"My lord, could it be... that you've been deliberately pretending to be 'so comfortable that you don't want to leave the Demon King's castle' all along, in order to lower the guard of those cunning demons?!"
"That's right!"
Mino laughed heartily upon hearing this:
"If you, who are my bedside sword, still treat me this way, then others probably... already consider me one of their own!"
"As expected of my lord, truly despicable... no, incredibly cunning!"
Altotei, somewhat excited and full of anticipation, asked, "My lord, what are your plans for carrying out our escape from the Demon King's castle?!"
"Escape the Demon King's Castle? Why would we want to escape the Demon King's Castle?!" Mino suddenly looked serious.
"Altotai, life in the Demon King's castle is so ideal, how can you still have thoughts of going back to the human camp to eat rye bread?!"
"Uh……"
Altothai paused for a moment, then cautiously looked around. Finding no new demons, he asked hesitantly, "My lord, we... we shouldn't be being monitored now, right?"
"Hmm? I don't think so, what's wrong?"
"Then what did you just say?" Altottai was completely confused.
“Sigh—” Mino waved his hand and explained in a serious tone, “If we don’t pretend to be so comfortable that we don’t want to leave the Demon King’s Castle, how can we gain the trust of the demons and leave the Demon King’s Castle?”
"But... there are no demons here, are there? It's just the two of us, so we don't need to pretend anymore, right?"
"Who said that! It's precisely at times like these that we need to maintain the professionalism of actors! We can't afford to be careless in the slightest!!!"
Mino clenched her fists, and tears suddenly welled up in her eyes:
"I have to pretend 24/7 that I'm enjoying the prisoner's treatment in the Demon King's castle, pretending to revel in the soft beds, delicious food, silky milk tea, adorable lolis, and fragrant, soft maids... Do you know how much this condemns and challenges my conscience? Do you really think I'm enjoying it that much?!"
"—Am I really as happy as you look?!"
Looking at Mino's resolute face, Altothai began to doubt itself. Cautiously, it tried asking:
"Uh, no...is that so?"
"No! Of course not!!!"
Mino's tone was quite firm, as if he had never forgotten his ideals and beliefs, and that it was others who had misunderstood him from beginning to end!
Hearing this resounding answer, Altottai's doubts completely vanished. Just as it was feeling ashamed and apologetic for its irresponsible suspicion of Mino, it heard Mino slowly speak from the bed:
"The pleasure I experienced will exceed your imagination..."
Chapter 148 Give it a freebie, Artotai!
"Hey!"
Artotai was so enraged that his sword hardened again. Looking at Mino's utterly bewildered face, he snarled, "You'd better really be faking it, my lord! Otherwise, I'll ask the Holy Grail nine times to wipe out your teeth!!!"
"I was just kidding." Mino instantly became honest, looking at his holy sword, he held up three fingers and swore, "My plan is from the bottom of my heart!"
"That's more like it." Nodding in satisfaction, Altottai asked:
"So, what do you plan to do next, my lord?"
"Next step?" Unexpectedly, at this moment, Mino raised her head with a puzzled look:
"What's the next step?"
……
The cell suddenly became quiet.
After a long pause, Altothai stiffly twisted the blade, realizing something, and said in disbelief, "Don't tell me—"
"Your so-called first step, 'pretending to be so comfortable that you don't want to leave the Demon King's castle,' really only has one step left! It's all just an act!!!"
“Otherwise,” Mino spread his hands innocently. “We have no power, no connections, and no inside help… It would be a real miracle if we could escape.”
"Use your invincible, mysterious power to think of a solution!!!" Altottai seemed unusually agitated: "Then what was with all that inexplicable confidence you had earlier?!"
Mino proudly raised her head and casually replied with two words:
"bedding."
"I'll slap you @%E#$@$!!!!" The Holy Sword Altotai finally unleashed a string of profanities.
"Sigh." Mino sighed, "Altotai, your willpower is still a bit lacking... Escaping the Demon King's castle is destined to be a long road. Even Star Andy, who escaped from prison, took a full 19 years. You have to believe: some heroes cannot be confined!"
Altotai squinted and retorted, "You think you can get the protagonist's halo by quoting some famous sayings? What's the point of taking any real action then?"
"You're so comfortable sitting in your cell! Look at me, the treatment I get is worse than that of a human or a dog!!! Rough floors, sparse maintenance, dim lighting... If I stay here any longer, I feel like I'll get moldy!!!"
Altotai complained, his voice a mixture of bitterness and anger.
“What you say is indeed true…” Mino fell into a deep thought.
"Don't worry, we're all on the same side, I've already made arrangements for you!"
At this point, Mino clapped his hands again.
A crisp sound rang out from outside the corridor, and under Altottai's puzzled gaze, the cell door creaked open again.
This time, however, it wasn't the zombie maid who appeared, but the pitch-black demonic sword, Apophis.
Mino raised her head, a look of pride on her face:
"I knew you might be a bit bored lately, so I bribed the demons to arrange torture for you—how about that? Surprised? Unexpected?!"
"You've clearly been bribed by the demons, haven't you?!" Altottai exclaimed in shock.
"Why do I have to be tortured by demons when I'm already exhausted from being angered by you? Are you even human?! Are you even human?!?!"
“This is a high-stakes gamble, Altottai,” Mino said in a deep, weathered voice, arms crossed.
"While I've been enjoying the comfortable services of the Demon King's castle, whether my spine has been corrupted and I've become too easily given away with information... you will be the one to take the torture and find out!"
"Do you want to hear what you're saying?! This is the first time I've ever seen someone take bribes and then perfectly shift the blame!"
"Hehe, long time no see, Artotai." At this moment, the demonic sword Apophis, radiating demonic energy, interrupted the conversation:
"But there's no need to struggle anymore. Our target for interrogation today is you... the core holy sword who is well-versed in the secrets of all the holy artifacts and relics of the Holy Church."
"What do you want to know?" Altotai immediately became alert. No one comes to a temple without a reason. The moment it saw Apophis appear, it knew that it would probably be skinned alive by Apophis today!
Since they're interrogating themselves, it means the other side is going to target the Holy Church's power. Who are they targeting?
Saint Lena? The Pure Heart? The numerous holy artifacts in the crypt of the Holy Church? Or Pope Brad?!
"It's very simple."
Apophis stated without hesitation, "I need to know all the effective methods to undo the backlash from the Heart of Ice."
"The Heart of Ice...backlash..." Altotai was immediately jolted, and the answer became clear in his mind:
"You still succeeded? Under such harsh conditions?"
A chilling aura surged from the blade of Altotai's sword. He knew that if the other party had this problem, it meant that Saint Lena had likely been secretly framed and severely harmed by the Heart of Ice! And now, the demons were going to strike first, completely severing any possibility of Saint Lena's resurrection!
This... is an unprecedentedly serious situation!
Altothai gritted his teeth. No, he absolutely could not let these evil demons do as they pleased.
This time, it absolutely cannot yield!!!
"Heh heh, it seems we've encountered an extremely difficult challenge, my lord... my lord?"
Altottai turned to look at Mino, and his sword suddenly turned to stone.
"Come on, place your bets! How long will it take for Altotai to go broke? Within an hour, the odds are 1.5 to 1; within one to two hours, 1.7 to 1; beyond two hours, 2 to 1!!!"
On the neatly made bed, Mino enthusiastically called out, roughly dividing the bed into three areas with scratches.
Beside the bed, a zombie demon dressed in a classic maid outfit took off her little leather shoes and obediently knelt on one side of the bed, close to Mino; on the other side was a twin-tailed girl dressed in a dark gold Lolita dress, her pale legs turned inwards as she sat to the side.
"Hmph, there's really no other way... I'll bet one or two hours from now, one hundred gold coins."
“Fim, two hours, one hundred.”
"Hey!!!!!" Altottai's eyes widened in fury: "Are you fucking watching a show?!?"
"What kind of time is this to be gambling? Can't you see how dire the situation is for the human camp? Our fate rests on my shoulders!!!"
"Don't worry, Altottai." With two adorable demons flanking him, Mino turned to Altottai, giving him a firm thumbs-up:
"I won't just stand by and watch you give it away for free!"
“My lord, I knew it…” A warm feeling welled up in Artotai’s heart.
Mino jumped off the bed with a thud, then bent down and pulled a small bag of gold coins from under the bed. He immediately threw them all onto the "gambling table" on the bed with a beaming smile, and said imperiously:
"I bet Altotai, he'll give away ninety gold coins for free within an hour!"
"I knew it!!!" Altottai exclaimed in exasperation.
"—You're just hoping I'll give it to you for free, aren't you?!"
Chapter 149 Sword Warrior from a Thousand Years Ago
"Believe me, Artotai, I support you in spirit."
Mino looked at Altottai with a sorrowful expression and said, "So... even if you really can't hold on and give up, I won't blame you."
"Who's to blame?!" Altottai roared in fury.
"If I really do lose for free, you're absolutely responsible for the whole thing, especially since you started with this 'sword mentality' strategy!!!"
"Heh, youth is truly wonderful..." Apophis, without interrupting, quietly watched this scene, a look of nostalgia on his face.
"This reminds me of the swordsman I followed a thousand years ago. When he confronted the demons at the Demon King's castle, he also had a similarly unyielding and indomitable appearance..."