What if you are reborn as a demon after a funeral?

"Nonsense? Is it really nonsense? Clearly..."

"One more time?" Celia smiled, but her eyes flashed with an indescribable ferocity.

This forced him to swallow the words he hadn't finished saying.

"Excuse me, I suddenly remembered I have some things to take care of at home, so I'll have to take my leave now." He, who had been sitting on the ground pretending to be seriously injured, immediately stood up, dusted himself off, and turned to leave without saying a word.

This time, to his surprise, he wasn't stopped. But after walking past a broken wall, he saw Celia, who should have been behind him, suddenly appear in front of him, leaning against the wall with her arms crossed, looking at him. Startled, he instinctively took two steps back.

"Are you a ghost?! You appear and disappear without a sound?!"

"What's the rush? Seriously, it's been so long since we've seen you, and you're already leaving? That doesn't make sense."

"Uh...actually, I wanted to go to town to buy some gifts, since we haven't seen each other for so long...it's only right to show some courtesy, isn't it?"

"I do not mind."

"I care!"

"Bullshit."

"...Actually, I've lost too much blood. I'm a little dizzy now, ah, I can't stand up straight." As he spoke, he swayed and fell to the ground with a thud, once again feigning a serious injury, clutching his head and saying regretfully:

"Excuse me, Celia... I feel like my body really can't take it anymore. Could I go back and rest for a bit before we talk about what happened before?"

"Can't hold on any longer?"

"Yes, after all, you injured me like this... Of course, I don't blame you, after all, you are my master, right, so..."

"Don't try to play the emotional card with me!" Celia interrupted him coldly, mercilessly exposing his lies.

"Isn't most of your body covered in chicken blood? Or did you smear it on yourself when I wasn't looking...? Are you afraid of blood?"

The Burial of Frilian: A Thousand Years Later: Chapter Sixty-One: Who is More of a Demon? · Half a Century Has Passed in the Blink of an Eye (3K)

It wasn't at the moment of the attack, but when he encountered Celie, that Ash had a premonition that he was going to be in big trouble.

Amidst the shockwave and smoke, he rushed into the kitchen without a word, hastily smearing some blood on himself, trying to make himself look as bad as possible so he could get away with anything. However...

"Tsk... I was actually seen through?" Even though he was unexpectedly and easily seen through, the other party was this cunning old fox, so he was not embarrassed at all. He still clicked his tongue and turned his face away: "...Old ginger is spicier, this saying is indeed true."

“You don’t need to resist like this, I won’t force you.” Celia tried to reason with her, to appeal to her emotions, but…

"Then I refuse." He was completely unceremonious, refusing without even thinking.

This caused Celia's slightly relaxed expression to instantly turn cold again:

"...What do you mean by this? Rejecting me so quickly, are you not going to give me any face at all?"

“Uh, I meant to say…” He paused for a moment, looked around, and then pulled out a piece of paper and a pen from the ruins. He wrote a series of words in a flowing hand and then respectfully handed it over.

"What?" Celia took the letter and frowned after just one glance.

As I pick up my pen, my heart is filled with gratitude and awe.

Since I began my studies, I have been fortunate to receive your meticulous guidance. You not only imparted all your magical skills to me, but also gave me endless inspiration and guidance in how to conduct myself in society.

Your wisdom, patience, and noble character have illuminated my path like a lighthouse, from which I have benefited immensely. My gratitude is beyond words.

However, after careful consideration and self-examination, as I face the precious inheritance that you, Master, are about to bestow, my heart is filled with complex emotions and struggles...

The string of text was mostly flattery, the most hypocritical and clichéd words, which gave Celie a headache.

Looking at the letter and then at his beaming face, Celia was so angry she almost twisted her mouth in disbelief. In the next instant, she tore the letter to shreds, threw it on the ground, and angrily shouted:

"What have you been doing for the past thousand years? Did you spend your time learning aristocratic hypocrisy? What kind of nonsense is this? Say it to my face!"

"Then I refuse."

"You, you bastard...!"

Celia's face instantly turned incredibly gloomy.

Sensing danger, he quickly got up from the ground and knelt down in front of Celia, placing his hands on her shoulders, and solemnly said:

"Actually, we can have a good talk, or... how about we calm down first and then talk?"

"Alright, I'd like to hear what else you have to say."

"...Normally, isn't it because you have something to say?"

"What do you mean?"

"Of course I refused! Why should I take on this mess? And that suicide note wasn't written for me, was it?" Facing Celia's warning gaze, he remained nonchalant, even lecturing her:

"It's not that I wanted to criticize you, but isn't this really inappropriate? It's not right to just casually shift Vlame's wish onto someone else! And what if it gets ruined? Her spirit in heaven..."

"I just tested your abilities. An ordinary level one mage would have died by now. This is definitely not casual. You have the ability, believe in yourself."

"...Aren't you afraid I'll die too?" He asked, but then seemed to want to hear no answer, letting out a long sigh and continuing, "Let's put that aside for now. To be honest, I have my own things to do, I really can't help it."

"Tell me first? What exactly do you want to do?"

Seria, who was annoyed by having to personally teach people and build her own power, had casually postponed Vlame's will for a while. Now that she saw Ash as a free source of labor, she naturally didn't intend to let him go easily.

But since he was so unwilling, I relaxed my attitude a little and didn't intend to force him. I just urged him to tell me his reasons with my eyes.

However, it's clear that she won't let Ash go easily without a suitable reason.

Even though he admitted to controlling the kingdom and intending to manage the country well and accumulate strength, Celia's attitude remained ambiguous, both agreeing and disagreeing. She probably didn't intend to continue pressuring him, but...

"You've really made something of yourself, managing to control the entire kingdom. So, I'll leave the reconstruction and expansion here entirely to you." On a wooden chair amidst the ruins, Celia crossed her legs without any regard for appearances and grinned mischievously. "Let me see how sincere you are in showing your respect to your teacher."

"That's all the people's hard-earned money! I can't do something like sucking the blood of ordinary people!"

"Commoners? What money could commoners possibly have? Go find the nobles and have them donate, right? You control quite a few nobles anyway, right? In the end, this place will all belong to you anyway, so what's wrong with you making it look good?"

"But I don't want to take this thing at all, it's just..."

“I won’t force you, but you should think it through.” Though she said this, Celia raised her voice, causing him to sigh deeply, “I mean…you’re a devil.”

"Ha, a demon who controls others, telling me this?" Celia retorted with a look of disdain, leaving him speechless.

There's no way around it; whether it's his body or his behavior, he seems to be the more demonic one.

Left with no other choice, Ash, who had only come to expose frauds, ran into a brick wall and was forced to temporarily settle in the magic city, where he also organized the construction of a branch of the Continental Magic Association.

Those he saved within the Magic Association saw this and seemed to genuinely regard him as Seria's future successor and branch manager, or even a very generous "donating" nobleman.

Aside from the empty titles, he also gained the opportunity to continue reading Seria's collection of books... Faced with the ticket to freely browse all the magical knowledge in the world, money really didn't seem that important compared to that?

...........................

...........................

Several years passed in the blink of an eye as I studied and dealt with Celia.

Ash also took over the Demon King's castle, which had lost its master, but only in the first year of his occupation... he encountered the challenge of the strongest warrior of the demon race—one of the oldest living demons, the bloodstained war god Livale.

"What a promising young talent! No wonder they dared to occupy this place!"

When the demon uncle with a slicked-back hairstyle and thick eyebrows with horns saw him, he laughed heartily and gathered magic power into a giant sword between his hands. Without saying a word, he slashed at him head-on.

Bang——! ! !

The greatsword and the longsword clashed, sparks flying everywhere, and Ash, who was already off-balance, was moved backward at an alarming speed.

In the instant when it suddenly takes a step forward to stabilize itself while moving backward uncontrollably, the shockwave still lifts the ground behind it, creating a magnificent inverted waterfall-like spectacle.

This made Livale grin from ear to ear, smiling so happily:

"Not bad! You're really good! That dwarf Aize couldn't stop himself after taking a punch from me, but you managed to control your body after taking a sword from me?"

"...I've heard of you, but you're actually stronger than the rumors say." Ash looked utterly frustrated, while Levalle seemed to genuinely enjoy fighting, his eyes burning with fervor as he looked at him.

"Come on! Young man, if you can defeat me in strength, this old man will acknowledge you as the new Demon King!"

"Wait a minute... are you serious? I'm a mage, you know. You, a warrior, want me to fight you hand-to-hand?"

Ash stared blankly at Livale, utterly bewildered as to how he could have the audacity to say such a thing.

"A mage? I feel you're more like a warrior, and a mage couldn't possibly block my sword!"

"My main profession is magician, and I also know a little bit of martial arts. Ah...right, how about this! You teach me how to fight? That way, I can improve and better deal with you."

"Well... let's leave it at that!" Surprisingly, after only a moment's thought, Livale actually agreed to his outlandish proposal, even muttering to himself with unbridled joy:

"To personally nurture and comprehensively defeat one's outstanding juniors and rivals—that's an excellent idea!"

"Uh... even though it was my proposal, you actually agreed to it."

“Instead of searching for opponents everywhere, it’s definitely better to train one directly, and… I really can’t think of anyone better than you! Although you call yourself a mage, this power—is something no human can even begin to describe!” Rivalei sized him up, raised his greatsword once more, and a bloodthirsty smile gradually crept onto his lips.

"—Come on, let me give you some pointers."

"No, wait a minute, what you're doing doesn't look like guidance, but rather..."

"You can only improve the fastest through real-world practice!!"

The greatsword was swung with great force by Levalle, while Ash could only smile wryly, unsure of what expression to make. But... he had no choice but to bite the bullet and go for it.

And so, the days that followed...

He was learning magic from Celiae almost simultaneously with training as a warrior with Rivale.