Slave of the Demon King’s Castle 1

## Chapter 1 – No. 25. Sold

The small iron cage, where he couldn’t even stretch his limbs freely, was his only world. His name? He didn’t have one. Slave No. 25 was what they called him.

Having never once been outside, he never even felt that his world was small. Having never received a name, he even held a secret affection for the indifferent name of No. 25.

The dark, cramped six-pyeong room, filled to the brim with iron cages, was his friend and family. It stank of decay, but even that became a twisted affection, feeling fragrant to him.
They leaned on each other, waiting for the day they might be sold, all the while slowly rotting away.

Being sold here was, if anything, fortunate. Rather than being used as meat for monsters, it was better to become someone’s plaything and somehow survive by catering to their whims.
Saying those words felt like admitting that his existence was nothing more or less than a slave, so he didn’t say it aloud, but everyone thought the same.

– Creak

Ah, that sound again.

Someone being sold, or someone being eaten.

A despairing door sound that was no different from a death sentence announcing one of the two.

The sound of swallowing could be heard here and there.

Soon, the dark room was brightly lit, and an ogre woman with red skin and horns on both sides entered.
A giant who easily exceeded two meters, with vicious muscles all over her body.
She was the owner of this slave market. He didn’t know her name. However, she was always the one who introduced them or threw slaves with no demand or returned slaves into the monster cages as food.

The ogre came into the room, glanced over the iron cages, and then, with a rough hand, picked up the cage at the top and slammed it down on the floor with a bang!
And it was No. 25’s cage.

No. 25 felt his world shaking and was filled with anxiety. Cold sweat began to run stickily down his spine.
His heart was beating fast, and his breathing began to quicken.

Small anxiety became fear, and fear fed on anxiety and became despair. The acceleration of despair, once started, never stopped.

Soon, a huge human shadow loomed in front of No. 25. No. 25 couldn’t even make eye contact with the person who came to buy him, and he began to tremble like an aspen tree, fixing his gaze on the floor.

The ogre introduced No. 25 to the customer, revealing her sharp gold teeth, which had been added with the money she had made from selling slaves, and grinned slyly.

“It’s a bit expensive, but this guy is the best thing in our store. He’s quite cute, and his personality is docile, isn’t that just perfect?”

As the ogre said, No. 25’s appearance was decent. The gray eyes, glimpsed through the thick black hair that covered his eyebrows and eyes, created a subtle harmony, and his body was slender so that even women with weak strength could easily play with him.
A slave of this level was not something that could be easily found in this world where men were precious.

The ogre, who had been talking in a loud voice, whispered into the customer’s ear as if this was confidential. But the sound reached No. 25’s ears as well.

“Besides, unlike what you might think from his appearance, this guy has dragon’s blood mixed in him, so he doesn’t die easily no matter how roughly you treat him. Shall I show you?”

The ogre’s bulging veins began to rise viciously on her arm. At the sight, No. 25’s body began to tremble almost convulsively. He had seen too many of his family members die from being hit by that fist.
His stomach would be pierced, his bones would be broken, or his face would be distorted beyond recognition. The ogre sometimes used unwanted goods in that way to relieve her stress.

Being hit hurts. Losing is painful. No. 25 grabbed the small horns on his head and buried his head between his knees.

‘No, no, no, no!’

“No, that’s enough.”

It was a clear and pure voice like rolling jade beads. It was impossible to even imagine that it was the voice of someone picking out a slave in a slave market.
No. 25 slowly raised his head to see who the voice belonged to.

Blonde hair that grew to near her shoulder blades, golden eyes that paired with it, and beast-like pupils that were vertically slit. A body with curves that were clearly revealed even though she wasn’t wearing tight-fitting clothes.

No. 25 momentarily forgot his place and blankly stared at the customer’s face. Their eyes met, and Slave No. 25 realized what he had done and immediately lowered his gaze again.

A slave must not look into the eyes of his master carelessly. That was the unspoken rule among slaves.

‘I’m going to be killed…!’

Contrary to No. 25’s expectations, the customer showed no reaction. Rather, she crossed her arms and asked the ogre a question.

“Dragon, you said? How did you get him?”

The ogre frowned slightly as if recalling a past memory and scratched her head.

“What’s there to how we got him? We just happened to get lucky while kidnapping things from the cave. Ah, thinking about that time, we were really lucky.”

The ogre laughed heartily after finishing her words.

However, just because the ogre was laughing didn’t mean the customer had to laugh as well. Perhaps she didn’t get the answer she wanted, the customer only scratched her chin and made a hmm – sound instead of answering.
The ogre looked at the customer who didn’t show a clear reaction and scratched her head again as if she was annoyed.

“Well, if you don’t like this guy, shall I show you another one? We have vampires, werewolves, and if that’s your taste, we also have ordinary humans?”

The customer standing in front pointed at No. 25 with only her chin while still crossing her arms. Even in that small action, elegance overflowed.

“I’ll take this one. I liked his eyes.”

The ogre was satisfied with the customer’s decision and called out No. 25’s price as if she had been waiting for it.

“It will be ten thousand gold coins.”

It was an absurd price. Ten thousand gold coins was enough money to eat and play without working for the rest of your life.
But the customer took out a small card from her bosom and threw it to the ogre, saying.

“Put it on here.”

After finishing her words, the customer immediately approached No. 25 and kicked the door of the iron cage, breaking it.

For the first time, the entrance to the world that No. 25 had never even thought of leaving was opened.

He crawled out of the iron cage slowly on all fours.
His joints screamed, making creaking sounds from his body that had been stretched out for the first time.

For No. 25, who didn’t know freedom, that sensation came as fear, not freedom. It was as if he was hanging in the air relying on a single string.

“Can you walk?”

At the voice heard from above, No. 25 nodded somehow.

But his body, which had been trapped for a long time and hadn’t even properly absorbed nutrients, didn’t move as easily as No. 25 thought.

Seeing him constantly collapsing to the floor, the customer shook her head from side to side and slowly approached No. 25.
Seeing that, No. 25 was once again terrified. He thought he had finally escaped, but it was obvious that he would be abandoned if he was judged to be useless.
No. 25 had already been unable to be sold to people for a long time because of his price. If he wasn’t welcomed here either, there was a risk that he would become a monster’s meal someday.

He had to avoid that at all costs.

“I’m sorry! I’m sorry! I can stand up, so please… please give me some time!”

The customer’s movements stopped for a moment at No. 25’s tearful plea.

“I’m sorry, but I don’t have time.”

After finishing her words, the customer gestured towards No. 25.

There’s a crazy woman who pays a huge sum of ten thousand gold coins and kills a slave right away, but it’s better to be made a plaything and die than to be eaten by a monster. No. 25 thought so and tightly closed his eyes.

But even though quite a bit of time had passed since he closed his eyes, he didn’t feel any pain. Was he dead? He wondered, but denying that, No. 25 could still think. He could also move his body, and he could vividly feel the cold wind touching his body.

And from some point on, he couldn’t smell the piercing stench of his family’s decay.

“How about opening your eyes?”

At the voice of the customer, no, the voice of the one who had now become his master, No. 25 opened his eyes slightly.

What was in front of No. 25’s eyes was a huge castle.

Even No. 25, who had been trapped in an iron cage, could vaguely know what kind of being could own such a castle.

“M-Ma, Your Majesty the Demon King?”