The Second Son of the Marquis Wants to Laze Around
Chapter 128: There Is No Demon

Chapter 128: There Is No Demon

...

In the Valmont Mansion — Eren’s Room

Inside the grand Valmont Mansion, nestled deep within the noble district, a familiar scene unfolded in one of its luxurious rooms.

Eren, the spoiled young master of the household, as usual, was sprawled lazily across his bed, lying flat on his stomach. His chin rested on a soft pillow as his fingers danced effortlessly over the buttons of a sleek black device — his beloved video game console. It was his usual shut-in routine, part of his daily ritual as a 15-year-old who had little interest in anything beyond his games, food, and a peaceful nap.

But this time, something was different.

He wasn’t alone.

Standing at his side, dutifully massaging his back, was a striking woman in a maid outfit. Her silver-purple hair tied neatly back, yellow eyes calm, and expression unreadable — she was Seraphina. Or rather, she now went by the name Sera, the name given by her master.

The once a fearsome Demon Lord feared across the demon realm, she now found herself reduced to a maid... or perhaps more accurately, a personal caretaker.

It had been four days since she took the maid role, as she still in a contract bound to the human.

And those four days had been, to her, absolutely humiliating.

Her daily duties? Massaging him, feeding him— yes, literally feeding him like a baby— and providing comfort services that would make even an elite noble’s servant raise an eyebrow. She hadn’t even been allowed a day to adapt before becoming something like his pampering nanny. The title "demon lord" never felt more distant.

Even now, she knelt beside his bed with practiced fingers working their way across his back, while Eren remained absorbed in his game.

That strange artifact...

Sera couldn’t help but glance curiously at the handheld device he was so obsessed with. Her yellow eyes narrowed as the screen glowed with shifting colors and fast-moving scenes.

What confusing the most was how openly he displayed it. Normally, Eren would hide this otherworldly entertainment tech items using illusion magic, disgusting it as a book of death, especially from anyone in the mansion staff.

But around her?

Nah. He didn’t bother. Too lazy to cast a spell.

That alone said a lot.

For the past three days, Sera had taken great interest in what she now suspected was not just some magic artifact — but possibly one of the most advanced magical tools she had ever witnessed. She had seen dwarven technology before, and even that paled in comparison to this mysterious "game console."

At first, she thought it was some kind of magic analyzer or reader— a tool used to read another being’s soul, records, or history. After all, the day she met him, he used it to reveal all her detail informations. But that theory quickly changed.

Because then she saw him watching moving images.

Not magic projections or memory illusions. Realistic images — of places, people, and battles — from some unknown parallel worlds. The language was unfamiliar, the setting strange, and the people... very human, but also very alien in appearance.

But what shocked her most was when Eren began controlling a figure within those moving images. He mashed buttons with his thumbs like a warlock channeling spell runes, manipulating the glowing avatar as it slayed monsters and dodged attacks.

And she, the great Seraphina, was stuck massaging his back while watching him casually slay digital dragons.

"What... even is that thing?" she’d asked more than once.

Eren never answered. Too immersed in his battles to respond. After pestering him repeatedly, he finally muttered, "It’s a game console."

That was all she got.

The rest, she had to figure out herself. So far, she had pieced together around 56% of what it could do—at least based on her own analyzing.

From what she could tell, the device was capable of accessing alternate realms or realities — not just to observe them, but to fast-forward, rewind, and interact with them. He could take control of a being from that world and use it to "play" through scenarios. If this was a magical artifact... it was beyond S-tier. It was divine.

As her fingers paused for a moment, engrossed by the screen—

"Your hands stopped," Eren murmured, eyes still locked on his console.

"Ah! S-sorry!" Sera panicked, quickly resuming her massage.

Just then—

[Ding!]

A familiar electronic chime echoed in Eren’s mind, accompanied by the voice of his System.

[Master. I have completed the data retrieval you requested.]

’Oh?’ Eren muttered, pausing his game as two glowing holographic screens appeared before his eyes.

Two days ago, Eren had tasked Useless, to dive into the architecture data of this world. Specifically, he wanted information on the ancient history: before the 3rd Era and the so-called Divine War. The deeper, the better.

Unfortunately, the effort proved expensive and inefficient. Useless needed a huge chunk of SP (System Points) to access that high-level information, and the data paths were heavily corrupted or missing.

So, instead, Eren narrowed the task down to three very specific questions:

1. How many intelligent races originally existed in this world?

2. Did the Demon Race exist before the 3rd Era?

3. How many divine deities existed throughout the world’s history?

Now, the results were in.

looking at the screens, he was able to get his answer.

First:

Four intelligent races originally existed.

No discrepancy there. That aligned with current history.

But the second answer was a contradiction.

The Demon Race did not exist before the 3rd Era.

"Huh?" Eren narrowed his eyes.

’So they just... popped into existence later?’

And yet... if the number of intelligent races remained at four, and the Demon Race appeared after the 3rd Era... which didn’t add up as the numbers should be 5 instead. So what happened?

Did something happened to the fourth original race?

Did they disappear?

Were they wiped out?

Were the demons a replacement?

That was why he had asked the final question — about the divine beings. If someone or something wiped out an entire race and created a new one, the gods would likely be involved.

Except...

"Error?" Eren read aloud.

The final screen was blank. Only a red symbol glowed on the screen: [ERROR: Data Unavailable]

’Useless?’ he asked mentally.

The system responded.

[I attempted to access the divine records, but most of the architecture data was corrupted, sealed, or deleted. The deeper I went, the more void data I encountered. Large sections were simply... gone.]

Deleted, huh?

That was enough for Eren to confirm at least part of his theory.

Someone erased the history intentionally.

Which meant only one thing.

’The demon race... wasn’t originally demons at all,’ Eren thought as he lazily tilted his head toward Seraphina.

She continued massaging his back in silence, unaware of the thoughts racing through his mind.

...

Three days ago, he had asked her a strange question out of nowhere—

"Are you really a demon?"

She had been visibly confused.

But when he clarified what he meant—asking whether her race had always been "demonic" — she had confidently answered:

"Of course. All demons like me have demonic energy. That’s what separates us from the other races."

To her, it was an obvious truth.

But Eren wasn’t so sure.

He had a theory.

One that kept circling in his mind more and more often lately.

He believed that the so-called "demon race" wasn’t actually a demon race at all—at least, not originally. Instead, they may have descended from a completely different species: a race known in many fantasy stories as beastkin or beastmen.

That’s right. A race with animal traits—fox ears, wolf tails, claws, fangs. Sound familiar?

Like... Seraphina.

Her sharp wolf yellow eyes. Her pointed fox-like ears. That fluffy tail that moved and twinge around. She could easily pass as a high-spec kitsune or even a hybrid between a werewolf and a noble fox spirit. A perfect character archetype straight out of an anime light novel or RPG game.

There was another reason this theory came to his mind too.

In the Valoria Legends game most demon enemies had similar animal features. They weren’t monstrous in the way people on Earth often imagined demons to be. Instead, they resembled aggressive beastmen with demonic traits layered on top.

There were cat-like demons with twitching ears and slitted eyes. Lion-headed warriors with hulking bodies and flaming manes. Cow-like beastmen with horns—essentially minotaurs. Snake-bodied fighters. Lizardmen. Even bunny-eared demon girls in battle armor—yes, those too.

All of them bore distinct animal traits... just tainted by darker skin or fur, glowing menacing eyes, twisted aura, and permanent "I’m-going-to-murder-you" expressions.

’So, what if...’ Eren had thought.

What if demons were just corrupted beastmen?

To confirm this, he had asked Useless to dig deeper into the world’s Architecture Data.

The system’s response?

It’ll take time. A lot of time.

Due to Eren’s current System Rank being too low, and Useless already being tasked with analyzing Seraphina’s battle data and status in detail, she simply couldn’t handle too many complex tasks at once. So Eren had told her to prioritize gathering the current data first.

But now, remembering all that, Eren asked again through his thoughts:

’What about the other task? Did you finish it?’

Useless went quiet for a moment, clearly annoyed by her master’s constant multitasking demands. A holographic panel blinked open above Eren’s face.

[Progress Report: Task 2 — In Progress (6%)]

A 3D image materialized next to the progress bar. It displayed a severed human hand — purple skin, black veins snaking through it, and a faint trace of corrupted energy pulsing from it.

If you’re guessing correct, then Yes. That’s right.

It was Eren’s own severed hand.

Stored neatly inside his System Inventory like a piece of loot.

How did that happen?

Well... it started with him doing something incredibly stupid. Or crazy. Or both.

....

Yesterday

Eren had called Sera into his room to continue their "training session." This time, the topic of focus was her demonic energy — specifically, her learning to control and releasing her mana from the demonic element that was attached to it.

At first, Seraphina thought he had gone completely insane. Using pure mana without letting the demonic energy mix in? It sounded impossible. It was like asking someone to walk without using their legs.

But then Eren gave her an "Order".

And as his blood contracted slave... and his personal maid, she had no choice but to obey.

After some Trying, to her surprise... she was able to sense a slight shift. Not a breakthrough, but it felt like the separation was possible. Difficult, but not impossible.

"Stupid"

Eren, nodded with scuff by her reaction, asked her to continue practicing it over and over for the next few days, as she can’t relay on the bracelet concealment.

But that wasn’t the end of his insanity.

He then asked her to manifest her demonic energy — so he could examine it up close, and also Touch it.

...

...

Search the lightnovelworld.cc website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.