Imp to Demon King: A Journey of Conquest

Blood drained from John's face, and panic seized him by the guts, squeezing them. His confident smile and steady gaze collapsed, replaced by a pained grimace.

That's by how much Adam's clever solution took him off guard. Worse, the repercussions could be fatal. A few testimonies were all the citizens had to provide for him to be labelled guilty, and then the demon would end his life.

His eyes sparkled calculatingly as Ifrit stopped before him. With the djinn's arms crossed and the cruel smile plastered on his fiery face, he thought twice as fast to escape his predicament.

Before he found a solution, he heard a dress flutter in the wind and spotted a female walking through the crowd—her head lowered and fidgeting with her fingers nervously.

He remembered her: she had tried to join the King of Heroes' harem a few days ago. But he had convinced the clown against it and then had abused her trust and body. An icy shiver ran down his spine, and his heart almost exploded in his raging chest.

He couldn't let her testify!

Immediately, he scrutinised her and caught the insecurities gnawing at her. Each step felt like she fought against a river's torrent. Drops of anxious sweat dripped down her forehead, and her lips quivered in hesitation.

A vicious smile split his face. He found a solution!

Grey mana wafted from his eyes as he glared at her and applied a subtle pressure onto her trembling shoulders.

Struck by the almost imperceptible interference, she shuddered in her boots. She clasped her hand over her racing chest as dread's icy fingers caressed her spine and whispered her words of doom.

However, the feeling disappeared a second later, causing her chest to heave in relief and confusion.

Then, a horrifying scream chilled her blood again. Slowly, she turned to its source: John.

Screaming like a pig being gutted by a butcher, he clutched his cheek. Dark smoke wafted from his trembling fingers and permeated the air with the scent of burnt flesh.

And before him, bright orange flames flickered on Ifrit's finger. Everyone swallowed as his fiery voice echoed next.

"Next time you interfere, I'll take your right eye. Then? Your left. I'll take your tongue and ears if it's still not enough. You'll live in a world of silent darkness, unable to speak your mind. So, please, do it again."

Instead of seeing fear in the man's eyes, Ifrit tilted his head at the smirk broadening across his face.

"Did you all see? Will you trust demons who attack at the slightest suspicion? Will you all accept this senseless violence and a life of terror under their rule?" He raised his fist, exposing his charred cheek, his voice thundering with valiance. "No! Let's fight them back together! Even if we all die, we'll show them human tenacity by rejecting their tyranny!"

Many citizens' backs and fists tightened. Their eyes sparkled with defiance, and their hearts drummed in their ears. Inspired by his words, they stepped up to join the soldiers in the center.

"Sigh."

However, their determination collapsed when the demon lord seated on the wall sighed.

Then, he pinched the bridge of his nose and shook his head.

"Didn't I offer you to leave with your possessions? Can't you see what he's aiming at?" He pointed at the woman. "Finally, if he's innocent, why is he trying so hard to stop this lady from talking? Don't fall for his silver tongue! He wants to use your lives like disposable tools to escape through the chaos you create."

He leapt next to the lady. Without consideration for her terror, he seized her by the waist and landed back on the wall.

Then, he offered her a gentle smile and sat back at the edge to give her as much space and comfort as possible.

"Speak without fear. If he tries anything, I'll burn him myself."

Courage blossomed in her heart, and her tremblings subsided as she felt the genuine care in the demon's smile and voice.

Her chest rose as she took a deep breath and gazed at her fellow citizens below. Tears she had suppressed for days rolled down her cheeks, and her voice cracked with raw emotions.

"Don't believe John! Three days ago, h-he forced himself on me in the lord's manor and stole my dignity and purity!" She pointed at the dark circles under her eyes. "I feel his hands on me every time I close my eyes, every moment I try to sleep. The nightmares... they never stop.

I've even thought of throwing myself into the sea just to escape them." Her grip tightened on her dress, her knuckles whitening. "I'm not the only one. Others... so many other girls have vanished or hanged themselves. I know he did the same to them."

Everyone looked at John, their jaws wide in disbelief as silence settled. Oppressive and heavy, it pressed on the accused before he roared in outrage.

"Lies! That woman begged to join the lord's harem three days ago! When he rejected her, she threw herself at me." He sneered, shaking his head. "But I'm a man of worth, not some fool easily seduced. I turned her down without hesitation." His voice sharpened as he spat on the ground. "She has no witnesses, nothing to back up her pitiful accusations.

She's nothing but a liar, grasping for sympathy. A woman like her? She'd say anything, do anything, for a chance to profit. She's no better than a common whore."

Adam rolled his eyes, tempted to use his keyboard warrior skills to answer that his mom was one. But he refrained despite knowing that John was trying to bullshit his way out. Instead, he scrutinised a trembling man in the crowd.

Blood dripped from his bitten lips, and his fingers looked on the verge of breaking under his clenched fists' pressure. Worse, he was an aged man well past his sixty.

Without wasting a second, he fetched and placed him next to the lady.

"I know something is crushing your heart. If you don't speak now, it will continue to poison your thoughts and body until your death."

The man shuddered, his wrinkly face a maze of sorrow, regret, and humiliation.

Yet, spurred by the lady's firm gaze as she gently patted his shoulder, his lips parted to release a horrifying truth.

"I once worked in the salt refinery. Due to my advanced age and expertise, I handled logistics and accounting. I-I falsified the reports to help John embezzle a quarter of the production last week." He held his forehead, the weight of his crime crushing his heart and tears rolling down his old cheeks. "I shouldn't have, but the lord's tax was too much.

I-I just tried to make extra money to live a little better."

His lips quivered, and his voice turned somber.

"But even then, he broke our deal and swallowed the benefits alone. As if it wasn't enough, he fired me under the lord's authority and put someone else in my position when I confronted him. Because of him, I've lived in misery, carrying a guilt I never want to know again." He fished two wooden planks from his shirt and handed them to Adam. "On the first, I engraved the real production result.

The second is the falsified version he used to make a fortune."

Despite his empathy for the two victims, Adam's lips curled into a victorious grin as he gripped the planks.

Meanwhile, John's face palled, and icy sweat glistened on his forehead. He knew the man would expose him the moment he started speaking. Worse, Ifrit's fiery finger still pointed at his right eye—a clear threat that he would obliterate it if he dared to interfere again.