The demon elders exchanged glances at one another.
Although they still resented Toad Swallower's death roll call for dragging them out of the Demon Domain, and dearly wished they could skin the ugly bastard, tear out his bones, and hack him into eight pieces!
They had to admit, however, that Toad Swallower's few remarks made sense.
The eight of them had already made their unwillingness to cooperate perfectly clear. That was tantamount to tearing away the last shred of civility between themselves and Hangenor.
They were no different from death-row prisoners who had been sentenced to execution.
Fleeing into the outside world and evading the Demon King's pursuit was only a matter of time.
And there was absolutely no way to change that.
So there was no need to worry about making enemies of the Demon King's lackeys!
As Varimathras listened in, the gazes of the demon elders grew increasingly dangerous. Knowing that things would go badly if he did not say something, he hurriedly cleared his throat and spoke in a deliberately calm tone.
"That's not how it works."
"If you all see the light and cooperate properly, then once the mission is complete, it wouldn't be impossible for me to play deaf and dumb before the Demon King."
"After all, as long as I say nothing and you say nothing, there'll be no way for the Demon King to know what happened after we left the Holy Domain."
"But if you remain stubborn and kill me... then you'll truly have confirmed your own guilt!"
"At that point, no matter how much I want to help you cover up the lie, I'm afraid I won't be able to do it."
The demon elders were stunned again, their exchanged looks full of conflict and hesitation.
Varimathras had a point too!