What does it mean that the Demon King was killed by a wheelchair?

"Rudik is your brother? Then what's your name?"

"Ruyak... My name is Ruyak."

House was a little disappointed: "Oh... really? I thought you'd be called something like Lupus."

"What is that...?"

"Cough cough! It's nothing, it's not important... Let's talk about business. The smell of blood all over the place is making my nose hurt. Come with me, we can continue talking back at your camp." With that, House pushed his wheelchair around and headed towards the cave.

Although Ruyak behind him was reluctant, he had no choice but to follow him unwillingly.

"Sir...why do you know my brother? Is he still alive?"

House saw no need to hide anything and answered directly:

"Alive, living well."

"Well...!"

Upon confirming that his older brother was still alive, Ruyak's face instantly turned ashen, as if his father had died, and the little goblin's eyes immediately lost their luster.

Seeing its reaction, House pursed his lips in puzzlement: "You're not happy that your brother is still alive?"

Kruak couldn't hear a word he was saying; its face was contorted in agony, and its whole body trembled uncontrollably with fear.

"No...no...!"

"How could... how is he still alive... how could he possibly still be alive? He should be dead! This can't be! This can't be!!"

The goblin's voice grew louder and louder, and with each step it took forward, its emotions became more and more volatile, a fact that seemed to be both torturous and terrifying to it.

Overwhelmed by its emotions, it began to frantically tear at its own face with its fingers. Its already injured and disfigured face was scratched even more severely by its sharp nails, leaving the skin torn and bleeding, which was extremely frightening.

"Pfft!!"

But a thunderous blow struck its cheek, forcibly silencing its cries. House glared at it with disgust and roared:

"Don't act crazy here."

But seeing Ruyak's elderly-like, overreacting reaction, House's expression became complicated. After all, he had thought this was just an ordinary beginner's task.

Kill a monster, complete a quest, and then get a power boost from a cheat code—it's such a familiar formula... But now it seems there are a lot of events and secrets involved behind this quest...

With both a monster alliance and a goblin family feud, all these signs led House to a heartfelt thought: he was still at a disadvantage.

This task is definitely worth more than 30 silver.

Damn! They got someone else to do a lot for a little money again!

"Ugh...uh..."

Ruyak covered his bleeding nose. Although the method was violent and the process was not aesthetically pleasing, the result was good. The light in his eyes immediately returned after being hit.

House, seeing this, didn't bother arguing with it and continued pushing the wheelchair on his way.

"Why were you so scared when you found out your brother was still alive?"

Ruyak stammered, head hanging low: "Lord Kevis said family scandals shouldn't be aired in public..."

House rolled his eyes, speechless. "Didn't your Lord Kevis tell you that patience has its limits? If you keep being a riddle-maker, you might as well die right now."

As expected, threats of violence are the most effective. Upon hearing this, Ruyak trembled with fear and dared not utter another word.

"Two years...two years ago! He should have died two years ago! Killed by those orcs themselves. I was there...I was right there watching! There's no mistake!"

"Flutter..." As Ruyak said this, House was looking up at the sky. At that moment, he saw the silhouette of a bird darting through the gaps in the tree canopy. House had never seen that kind of bird before; its feathers were as white as snow, but its eyes were a thick black.

Why did the beastmen want to kill your brother?

"Because... I betrayed him."

"Damn it, you backstabbed me."

Ruyak's tone unconsciously became urgent again. He clutched his chest and said, word by word:

"My lord! My lord! You must believe me! My brother... he's a traitor! Lord Jevis said so too, he's a traitor to our demon race! He's been sowing discord and brainwashing the goblins every day! I had no choice... I'm heartbroken too!"

House scratched his chin, a hint of helplessness in his expression:

"Uh...who asked you?"

Ruyak was taken aback by the retort, while House frowned and said to it, "No way, what the hell are you asking me to believe? I'm just someone who's getting paid to gather some information. What does your brother's personal feud have to do with me?"

After passing through two intertwined trees, the two finally made their way back to the cave.

"Never mind, go ahead and tell me. It's still early, I'm not in a hurry to go back and report."

As soon as House entered the cave, he smelled a pungent, scorching odor, which was comparable to the sweaty feet of a certain Xiaoyu. It was so spicy that he could hardly open his eyes.

"Tsk... Can't these highly intelligent reconnaissance soldiers pay attention to personal hygiene?"

He pinched his nose and went inside. The cave was very small; at most, it could only accommodate three or four people lying down together.

In a corner of the cave, there was a worktable made of flattened logs, on which were piled several sheets of papyrus.

These papers were covered with a lot of information written in red ink. The handwriting was neat and clear, and even a fool could guess that it was Rune's handwriting.

It's a pity House can't understand it... Is this orc slang?

House licked his lips, trying to decipher it, but quickly gave up; it was completely different from the writing system he had learned.

"Ruyak, what's written on these papers?"

The goblin shook its head blankly from side to side: "I... I don't understand. Did Lord Rune write this?"

"You two spend every day together, don't you know if it was written by him?"

"I guess... I guess so! We can't live in the cave. Only Lord Rune can live in this cave. I'm not sure either. Besides, none of us goblins can write... so it must have been it that wrote it."

House crossed his arms and squinted... looking at Ruyak's blank stare, which was exactly the same as his own in high school physics class, House believed it wasn't lying.

"Alright..." He folded the paper in half and stuffed it into his pocket. "I'll ask you again, you're soldiers of the Monster Alliance, right? Then why aren't you on the western front lines, but instead camped in this primeval forest?"

At this point, Ruyak suddenly trembled like a frightened bird, his eyes began to dart around, and his pointed ears drooped.

"This...this...this..."

House had no interest in playing torture games with it, so he simply picked up his spiked club and smashed the large wooden table to pieces, saying in a cold tone:

"Stop dawdling and tell me now, or you'll die right now."

Ruyak's face turned deathly pale. After a mere 0.01 seconds of struggle and hesitation...

This tough goblin perfectly solved the problem of how to avoid torture after being captured in war.

The method is simple: once you confess, you won't be tortured anymore.

"The Royal Weapon! The Royal Weapon! We're here to find the Royal Weapon!"

House gave an awkward laugh. Well, actually he was prepared to interrogate this goblin, but he didn't expect him to confess so easily...

This is the third time he's brought this up... There's a reason these selfish, despicable, lewd, and cowardly goblins are enslaved.

Serves him right.

But this was actually a good thing for him: "Tell me, what is a royal weapon?"

"Uh... let me see... a Royal Artifact... ah! A Royal Artifact is the secret treasure that maintains the barrier of this forest! Legend has it that it was a sacred object forged by the Elven Archer King Hothlau with the pure soul of an Elf. It can make thorns of rejection grow on the outer edge of the forest, and those who are not recognized by the thorns will be forever rejected. The Royal Artifact is shaped like a crown, made of thorns, and its color is not very bright..."

"No, you fucking wait a minute!" House snatched the note from the other person's hand. "What the hell is this?"

"Ah... this is a note that Lord Rune wrote for us, explaining what a Royal Weapon is."

"I really thought you could memorize so much information..."

House finally got the information he wanted to hear... He finally understood why the monster alliance couldn't get into this forest.

Therefore, the mission of Rune and his group is actually to find and plunder the Royal Artifact, so that once the barrier disappears, the monster alliance can swagger in.

Wait... then let me put it this way.

Is this the real reason Rudik put up this bounty...?

But why exactly?

House still couldn't understand why a goblin would help humans.

House briefly recalled Rudik's situation in the village. The rubbish church and the rubbish environment showed that Rudik was not well-liked by the villagers.

That makes even less sense, doesn't it? If they're not well-liked, why would they help humans?

The only reason House could think of was that Rudik hated his own kind who betrayed him more than the humans who discriminated against him.

At this moment, Ruyak took the initiative to speak with House, asking urgently, "Sir... could you tell me what my brother is doing right now?"

"Your brother? He's a priest in the human village now."

"...ha?"

It seems that this news shocked not only House, but also Ruyak, who stared in disbelief: "Father...a human village...?"

House shrugged: "Don't be so shocked yet. Tell me how you 'tricked' your brother two years ago. I'm more interested in that now."

Luyak gritted its teeth and nodded. After a huge internal struggle, it asked, "Then... sir, could you grant me one request after you've heard my story...?"

House chuckled, "Wow, that's impressive, daring to negotiate with me?" He actually found it quite amusing, though. "What are your demands?"

"Take me...take me to see him!"

"See him? And then what? You're going to kill him?"

"I...I...maybe." Ruyak's eyes were bloodshot, and he was gritting his teeth in anger, but his words were ambiguous.

This reaction only piqued House's curiosity further. He figured he'd just treat it as a bit of fun, and he could always back out later. So House nodded.

"Okay, I promise you."

Luyak nodded gratefully, then let out a soft sigh and said, "It all started on the day the Monster Alliance was born..."