Finally, That Feels Better

"Huh?"

Hermes's eyes widened. He looked as if he'd seen a ghost.

"This!" Even the beautiful Brittany was stunned.

Hermes was shocked because he hadn't known Hell had people so shameless.

Not only did it have them, but more than a dozen had shown up at once.

Brittany was shocked too,

because she felt those dozen or so crawling creatures had sullied her beautiful vision of the sacred Follower Ritual.

"How dare you?"

Brittany extended a hand as pale and smooth as jade and a scallion, trembling as she pointed at the dozen or so Middle Gods kneeling in disarray on the ground.

"Get out~!"

"Get out of here!"

She was furious. What kind of filthy wretches would dare defile the sacred Follower Ritual in Brittany's heart?

"We want to follow Hermes. What does that have to do with you?"

One of the Middle Gods still kneeling spoke with righteous conviction. He thought this ritual was just a transaction where both sides got what they wanted.

He figured it was only a matter of asking the Supreme God of Destiny to bear witness, and that it wasn't a big deal.

Little did he know,

that this was the followers' eternal service to the one they followed, and it also meant the latter had responsibilities to fulfill.

In Hell,

it was extremely rare for a sacred Follower Ritual to take place.

And almost every ritual marked the beginning of a legendary story.

Of course, Brittany couldn't rule out the possibility of survivorship bias.

But she'd grown up reading those legends, and the Follower Ritual was profoundly sacred to her.

She would never let these dozen-odd nobodies sully it!

"Hermes? Do you agree to let us follow you? If you do, then swear the oath of the Supreme God of Destiny with us."

Seeing Hermes remain silent, the Middle Gods impatiently urged him on.

They acted as if Hermes were getting a fantastic deal by gaining their allegiance.

"What if he's a High God? He's just as miserable as we are, isn't he? Even all his brothers under him are dead!"

That was what they truly thought. People could be so utterly clueless sometimes.

Gods were no different.

Becoming a god didn't mean you improved in every way.

Intelligence was a good thing, but it wasn't something everyone had.

"Can I kill them?"

Hermes didn't answer. He only looked up at the white-haired middle-aged man and asked.

Aiken. That name belongs to another extraordinary figure, too.

Hermes didn't know what was going on. Ever since his rebirth, there always seemed to be one coincidence after another.

Like this time,

he'd even run into Bamer, a Five-star Demon from the Fire God Realm, and made him his follower.

What a coincidence!

And then there was

the ochre-colored bead he'd obtained from Blocking Castle. Hermes still hadn't had time to study it.

It was probably another unusual treasure!

Otherwise, it wouldn't have been able to absorb the entire Blocking Castle. That was no simple matter of storing things in a Space Ring.

"You can't kill them, but they haven't completed their Demon Assessment missions. You can throw them out of the Metal Life!"

The white-haired middle-aged man, Aiken, said.

He was getting a little sick of these people, too.

Anyone with even a shred of self-awareness wouldn't have made such a request.

What did they think the Follower Ritual was, some kind of business contract?

Even business contracts had entry requirements. Did they think just anyone could sign one?

Just look at Bamer and Hermes!

One was a veteran Five-star Demon, while the other, though a Middle God, had the strength to easily kill another Five-star Demon.

They'd recognized each other's worth and formed a pact, becoming brothers for eternity. What were you lot thinking?

Just as the Purple-haired Youth had thought:

What kind of sorry bunch were these, trying to piggyback on a Follower Ritual?

"Throw them out!"

Hermes said.

He followed the rules, so he'd asked the person in charge of the Demon Castle first.

Actually, that wasn't strictly necessary. They weren't in a city, so even if Hermes killed those shameless fools who didn't know their place,

the white-haired man couldn't do anything to him. That was simply how things worked in Hell.

Forget killing a few failures of the Demon Assessment. If he had the strength, he could kill Aiken himself, and that would still be acceptable.

Only the dead man's friends would seek revenge.

That was because Hell's rules were like this: life was about fighting. As long as you weren't a child of a Sovereign God, and you weren't inside a city, everywhere in Hell was a battlefield.

"Thwack! Thwack! Thwack~!"

As soon as Hermes finished speaking,

Bamer reversed his long saber and struck the backs of the dozen or so kneeling Middle Gods with its flat.

"Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh~!"

As they flew out, an equal number of openings appeared in the Metal Life's walls.

There was no collision or delay. The openings formed exactly where the Metal Life's walls predicted their trajectories.

"Huh? We came to Yilan City to take the Demon Assessment! We paid Ink Stone! You can't throw us out!"

Their miserable shrieks rang out for only an instant before the fast-flying Metal Life left them behind.

Then they could no longer be heard.

They were in the wilderness, tens of millions of miles from Yilan City. Even the Metal Life would take months to get there.

Could they fly back on their own?

It would probably take them years to make it back to Yilan City.

Besides, this was the wilderness. Without Demon Medals, and without being High Gods, they'd face the same endless bandit attacks that even Hermes found bothersome.

Those people?

They probably wouldn't survive long enough.

"Hahaha~!"

Hermes grinned, showing not the slightest awareness that he was responsible for what had happened.

No one else minded, either.

Even the Purple-haired Youth sitting in the back felt a sense of satisfaction.

"Finally, that feels better!"

He couldn't help muttering.

"Being shameless doesn't really make you invincible!"

Hermes said something no one quite understood.

But because of his strength, even the white-haired middle-aged man smiled politely.

"Exactly!"

"That's how a real man should be!"

The Purple-haired Youth gripped the Space Ring in his hand, his eyes filled with envy.

Inside the Space Ring was the Blocking Gold Saber he'd bought.

"No rush. As long as I return to the Demon Castle and successfully submit the Blocking Gold Saber and the Demon Emblem, I'll become a powerful One-star Demon."

The Purple-haired Youth encouraged himself.

"But I still can't help feeling so envious~!"

In the front row of the Metal Life's cabin, Hermes sat with his legs planted wide apart, while Bamer sat beside him.

He leaned over and whispered to Hermes:

"My lord, once we return to the Demon Castle, all you have to do is submit Basim's Withered Wood Scepter, and you'll immediately become a Five-star Demon."

"Hahaha!"

Bamer laughed after saying this.

"I'd love to see the shocked looks on the faces of those people at the Demon Castle."

"Huh? You can go straight from a One-star Demon to a Five-star Demon? You can do that?"

Hermes exclaimed.

He made no effort to hide his words from Aiken, the white-haired middle-aged man.

This was a test!

Hermes wanted to see if Aiken, as someone from the Demon Castle, would react to him and Bamer openly farming Demon Points like this.

He didn't!

Aiken didn't react at all.

"Aiken, we're conspiring to farm Demon Points right in front of you. As an official of the Demon Castle, shouldn't you try to stop us?"

Hermes asked.