The Tale of Hero Alice's Social Death (Pantsu Hero Alice) Chapter 27 - Demon King Castle's Past and Present

Demon King Castle was a landmark in the demon realm. It was once home to two generations of Demon Kings, and the castle was incredibly sturdy due to being reinforced by mana unique to Demon Kings. Even after being abandoned for over three hundred years, apart from some dust, the castle remained largely the same as it was three centuries ago.

The demon realm was constantly developing along with time. No matter how battle-hungry the demons were, they still needed a spiritual outlet. Hence, what the human realm had, the demon realm mostly had as well. Although Demon King Castle had been abandoned for the past three centuries, it wasn't as if nobody had ever tried developing it.

As the most well-known profession in the demon realm, the position of Demon King had a strong appeal in the demon realm. After the Demon Kings of previous generations grew their strength, they became existences akin to walking natural disasters. They couldn't be killed even with taboo bombs. Although there were instances where the Four Heavenly Kings refused to obey the Demon King, it was also a fact that these disobedient Heavenly Kings had suffered tragic fates. Hence, the admiration the demons had for the Demon King was no less than the humans' admiration for the Hero.

Therefore, Demon King Castle, which was once home to two Demon Kings, would naturally enter the eyes of the demon realm's businessmen. Many businessmen had tried to turn the castle into a tourist spot. And while there was a possibility that the next Demon King to appear would lay claim over the castle, by the time the new Demon King appeared, they would've made more than enough money. They could even turn the castle over to the new Demon King to earn the Demon King's favor. No matter how one looked at it, turning the castle into a tourist spot was a sure profit business.

However, when a group of businessmen finally managed to buy the land Demon King Castle sat on from the Windy Kingdom's king, they discovered that they had been scammed.

A huge black crystal sat in the middle of Demon King Castle's castle. Meanwhile, this crystal continuously exuded aggressive mana that enveloped the castle and a large part of the castle's surroundings, and the mana destroyed all life within the polluted region. Not even a blade of grass could survive within this polluted region.

If someone stayed within the polluted region for more than ten minutes, they would start experiencing chest tightness, breathlessness, and severe loss of mana and vitality. The black-hearted businessmen had even tossed a few weak demons into the polluted region as an experiment. However, they later discovered that every one of these demons had died within half a day.

Naturally, turning such a deadly place into a tourist spot was out of the question. Even if the businessmen tried to hide this deadly detail and proceeded with the development, the public would find out the castle's abnormality in no time.

However, there was no way the businessmen could seek trouble with one of the Four Heavenly Kings for a refund, either. They still weren't tired of living. Hence, these businessmen could only accept the fact that one of the Four Heavenly Kings had conned them and put up a commission with the demon realm's Mercenary Union.

The commission remained hanging on the Mercenary Union's homepage to this day. The commission's content included destroying the black crystal at the center of Demon King Castle and eliminating the radioactive mana polluting the castle. And as the commission offered a hefty reward, many demons had tried completing it. However, nobody had ever managed to do so.

Eventually, Wintas, the Windy Kingdom's king, gloatingly told everyone that he had long since tried destroying the black crystal. However, even he couldn't put a scratch on the crystal. Unless one had the Demon King's Power, one couldn't cause any damage to the black crystal.

Hence, Demon King Castle was abandoned yet again. In addition, the words "Extremely Dangerous" were used to mark the castle in the demon realm's GPS, warning all demons not to approach the area even if they didn't value their lives. After all, there were much more pleasant ways to commit suicide. Dying by letting Demon King Castle's radiated mana destroy one's vitality was simply too tragic a way to die.

"It's not far, but the radiation zone is quite large..."

Alice had gained a general understanding of Demon King Castle's situation after browsing through the demon realm's internet. Just like Rosa stated, there was a radioactive crystal situated in the castle's center that even the Four Heavenly Kings could not destroy.

However, compared to Rosa's description, the demon realm's netizens had practically described the black crystal as an urban legend. The claims they made were so exaggerated that Alice couldn't help but doubt if she could destroy the crystal using her panties. Yet, she also couldn't simply discount these claims as being boastful without having any counterclaims herself.

"But even though it looks close, that's only on the map... Walking there will still be unrealistic."

After using her phone to check the distance between herself and Demon King Castle, Alice found that she would have to walk three days straight by foot to reach the castle. Even a demon with wings would need to fly in a straight line for one whole day to reach there. Hence, if Alice wanted to travel to Demon King Castle, it'd be better if she took a taxi.

Looking through the demon realm's internet, Alice quickly found and downloaded a ride-hailing application. The application's interface had a striking resemblance to the ride-hailing application Zauna previously used. It was evident that someone had stolen coding from the human realm again.

After touching the fake demon horns on her head and making sure that it was firmly in place, Alice published her requirements on the application. She set her current location as the starting point and Demon King Castle as her destination. Then, after submitting her requirements, Alice started waiting for someone to pick up her order.

Similar to the human realm, the demon realm had roads constructed across its various forests. Alice quickly made her way to the road running through this forest by looking at her phone's GPS. However, even after waiting for some time, Alice found that nobody was picking up her order.

"I guess that's normal. Demon King Castle is basically a forbidden zone in the demon realm. It's only normal that nobody is willing to go there..."

Alice frowned when she saw the unchanging interface displayed on her phone. Although she contemplated walking to Demon King Castle, she quickly dismissed her thoughts. The castle was too far away, and walking would take her three whole days. If she had been as ignorant as she had been when she first arrived at this otherworld, she might've bitten the bullet and walked the journey. However, now that she knew that this world had convenient transportation, there was no way she'd be willing to torture herself and walk for three days.

Just when Alice was considering visiting the nearby castle to buy a bicycle, the words "Order Accepted" suddenly appeared on her phone's screen, surprising her. It turned out that someone was willing to make the trip to Demon King Castle. Immediately, she took a closer look at the app interface and found her driver's name situated on the upper left corner of the screen.

"Heris... So it's a female driver."

Alice couldn't help but scratch her head in distress when she saw the displayed driver information. This was because she suddenly felt that her driver was somewhat unreliable.

"Twenty years old... Is this fellow really alright?"