So, What's the Price?

The Demon King Revival Society was an organization that operated mainly by stirring up wars, creating slaughter, and brewing disasters. From the very first day it appeared, it had never made any effort to conceal its purpose.

They often cooperated with certain evil organizations or pushed powerful individuals into the spotlight, hoping to create a new Demon King and restore the golden age of adventurers.

But the Demon Kings they produced either lacked enough renown to make all the planes feel threatened like the Demon King of Tyranny had, or they were not strong enough. They would declare themselves Demon King one day, only to be hung up and beaten senseless by the regular army a few days later.

Even now, they showed no signs of success. After all, they lacked the most important thing: a banner to rally behind.

This organization had emerged after the Demon King of Tyranny vanished, gradually growing stronger as time passed.

At the time, adventurers' generous benefits had been abolished, while large numbers of people had joined the profession to fight the Demon King of Tyranny. To survive, the industry descended into frenzied cutthroat competition. That gave the Demon King Revival Society fertile soil to grow in. Many famous elite adventurers joined them, and their influence swelled like an inflated balloon.

But before long, they suffered several large-scale crackdowns. As the number of adventurers in the industry began to stabilize, the Demon King Revival Society's strength shrank further, and it gradually faded from public view.

That did not mean they had been crushed beneath the wheels of history. Even today, there were occasional rumors of this or that person declaring himself a Demon King with their support. The stories spread far and wide; even Naspar, a remote little town long forgotten by the world, had heard of them. Ask anyone on the street about the Demon King Revival Society, and they could chatter on about it for half an hour.

So even Lavna, who occasionally came here in the past to buy daily necessities, had heard of them.

To most ordinary people, the Demon King Revival Society was merely dinner-table gossip. But after hearing about them, Pei Renli felt that...

There seemed to be profit in it?

The reason the Demon King Revival Society had failed to achieve anything so far was that they lacked a banner—the most crucial piece of all: a Demon King.

And Pei Renli happened to be the new Demon King. If he found them and revealed his identity, these people would probably bow their heads and pledge themselves to him on the spot. Then Pei Renli would have a group of subordinates he could more or less command, instead of remaining a bare-pole commander all by himself.

His safety would also improve greatly. These people dreamed every moment of restoring the golden age of adventurers. They would absolutely not allow anything to happen to Pei Renli before he had grown strong. If something happened to him, they would likely panic as though their ancestral graves had been torn open.

And the potential benefits were not limited to manpower. There were more direct material gains as well.

For example, powerful spells.

The Adventurer School library had far too few books related to magic. Not only were the spells it collected all low-level, they were also the kind one could easily buy from a magic shop in any big city with enough money.

Though there was a saying that there were no useless spells, only useless mages—that a spell's suitability, rather than its level, was not the sole measure of its value—it was inevitable that high-level spells were more powerful.

He might also be able to acquire magic items through them.

So-called magic items were special objects made through alchemy and imbued with magical effects. They could provide a considerable boost in combat power, but they were simply too expensive.

An ordinary longsword from a blacksmith's shop cost around eight silver coins. But once enchanted, even with the weakest enchantment, its value would soar. If the magical effect was particularly practical and the sword itself was a fine piece of work, the price could easily double again.

For Demon King Castle's current finances, that was an absolutely unaffordable astronomical price.

If he could establish contact with the Demon King Revival Society, he should be able to obtain all those things and use them to help him face the coming Demon King Arena.

As for how to get in touch with them, that was not difficult either.

Lavna had been created by the Demon King of Tyranny. She herself possessed some of the Demon King of Tyranny's power, such as the ability to control monsters.

As long as Lavna approached the Demon King Revival Society and showed them a trick or two, they would have no reason to doubt that Pei Renli was the new Demon King.

It sounded great, but there was one problem.

—Then what was the price?

There had never been such a thing as a free lunch in this world. If one wanted to gain something, one had to give something in return.

Cooperating with the Demon King Revival Society would inevitably mean revealing his identity. If one of them disclosed Pei Renli's information for the sake of personal gain, he would very likely face danger both openly and in the shadows.

After all, adventurers wanting to return to their golden age did not mean every nation wanted the same. Those nations would certainly do everything in their power to strangle the threat in its cradle.

And Pei Renli was, at the moment, little different from a baby in a cradle. Once exposed, he would basically have no ability to protect himself.

Besides, their way of doing things showed that the Demon King Revival Society was hardly a group of good people. Setting aside the mental pressure of working with them, who could say what they would do after learning Pei Renli's true identity?

After all, the human heart was hidden behind the belly. The idea that they would assist Pei Renli was merely a guess based on their past deeds, with no guarantee whatsoever. Rashly approaching them would be no different from seeking a tiger's skin.

Should he make contact, or play it safe?

This was something he had to consider carefully, and he needed to make a decision soon.

Because Lavna said that she could still track the members of the Demon King Revival Society currently passing through the Great Tree Sea. But by tomorrow, or once they left the Great Tree Sea, tracking them would be virtually impossible.

The opportunity was right in front of him, yet Pei Renli hesitated for half an hour before finally making up his mind. It would be better to ignore them.

Powerful spells and magic items could certainly improve his combat strength, but Pei Renli himself was still too weak. Even with a boost, he would merely go from one to two. It looked like a doubling, but in truth it meant very little. What he could not defeat before, he still would not be able to defeat.

And the consequences of contacting them were filled with uncertainty. It would be like drinking poison to quench thirst. Even if he managed to survive the next Demon King Arena, he might face countless troubles afterward. In the long run, it was deeply disadvantageous.

Pei Renli's original plan had been to muddle through at the Adventurer School for two years and, in any case, first grow into a qualified full-fledged adventurer. That path was certainly very safe. Precisely because he was weak, the Adventurer School was the right place for him to lie low.

Another important reason had to do with Lavna's attitude.

No matter what Pei Renli said, the girl would carry it out unconditionally, without the slightest hesitation. Yet when it came to the Demon King Revival Society, she told Pei Renli, "Please consider this carefully, Your Majesty." Under normal circumstances, she would never have reacted that way. When Pei Renli had said he wanted to attend the Adventurer School, she had handled it immediately without a second word.

Taking everything into account, Pei Renli decided to pretend he had never seen this matter. At least until he had the ability to handle the trouble, he would not consider getting entangled with the Demon King Revival Society.

Although quite a few people had gone out on assignments yesterday, the Adventurer School's classes clearly would not take into account whether its students had exhausted themselves half to death the day before.

Perhaps it was because he had changed worlds, or perhaps the herbs Lavna had summoned to relieve fatigue had worked. Though Pei Renli had also been quite tired yesterday, he had somehow managed to keep up with the high-intensity training. Even he was surprised.

Sure enough, unless humans were pushed, they never knew where their potential lay. With the threat to his life hanging over his head at every moment, Pei Renli had no room to slack off.

Come to think of it, he wondered whether this method would work for training the national soccer team too. Like, if they played too terribly, they would be shot the moment they came back...

That was a digression. Back to the main point.

With the final weapons training session over, the morning classes were officially finished, and most people rushed toward the cafeteria.

All that exercise naturally worked up an appetite. Everyone had been hungry for ages.

Pei Renli was starving too, but instead of going to the cafeteria, he first returned to the dormitory, picked up his proof of enrollment, then turned around and headed for the teachers' offices.

"Pei Renli!"

Hearing someone call him halfway there, he turned around and saw Gary jogging up after him, his chubby face drenched in sweat.

"You heading to the cafeteria too?"

The guy was still decked out in full heavy armor. No matter how intense the training got, he had never taken it off, and he was still carrying his helmet in his arms.

To be fair, his stamina was insanely impressive. If Pei Renli had to wear that armor, never mind training—even walking would be a struggle.

"I'll go later. I need to ask a teacher about something first."

The cafeteria and the teachers' offices happened to be along the same route, so the two chatted as they walked.

"The teacher was way too strict. He chewed me out for over ten minutes."

That was also why Pei Renli had been able to run back to the dormitory first and still run into Gary halfway there.

"Maybe the teacher thought you were doing it on purpose."

"I really wasn't. Weapons training is just too hard for me."

Gary's greatest strength was his physical ability, but for some reason, he always fell flat in weapons training—even Pei Renli was better than him.

"Only shields feel natural in my hands. The teacher knows that, yet he still insists on making me learn all kinds of random stuff."

That was true. During practical combat classes, Gary never used any weapon other than a shield.

But the teacher had good reason to scold him.

There were indeed adventurers who used shields as their primary weapon, but being skilled only with a shield did not mean he could rely on nothing but a shield.

Anything could happen during an adventure. What if his shield was not at hand? What if there was no weapon that suited him?

Weapons training taught students how to use every common weapon available on the market, precisely so they would be prepared for any eventuality.

A qualified adventurer not only had to be able to grab a blade and cut someone down, but also had to know how to use whatever weapon they picked up—ideally even be skilled with bow and horse.

Pei Renli could only pat Gary on the shoulder in consolation. If Gary did not find a way to change, plenty more scoldings awaited him.

As they talked, the two reached the area near the school auditorium. Whether they were going to the cafeteria or the teachers' offices, they had to pass through here.

Driven by hunger, neither could be bothered to take the long way around. The auditorium doors were never locked anyway, so they decided to cut straight through and save themselves the trouble.

But just as Pei Renli was about to push open the door, the auditorium's side door opened by itself, and a furry head poked out from behind it.

—It was Litia, the spotted catfolk girl.