Demon King: Hero, don’t run away!

Lux Year 415, June 15th.

In the Luoze Empire, within a certain pastry shop, a grand ”Gourmet Convention” was underway.

After presenting exquisitely crafted invitations, they were invited by the owner of the cake shop, Chilom, acclaimed as the world’s premier culinary genius, into a special room to taste luxurious delicacies.

But, this so-called tasting of delicacies.

In actuality, it was a grand intelligence exchange meeting.

It was the secret gathering of the Peace Faction of Luoze Empire.

Here, under the guise of savoring fine foods, they discussed the war between the Luoze Empire and Wansheng Country and how to steer this war toward the peace they so deeply desired.

To prevent infiltration or eavesdropping by those with ulterior motives, the gathered Peace Faction used names of various pastries to represent places and characters, different flavors to represent the directions of various events, and the methods of preparation to articulate their views.

In the industry, this practice is called speaking in coded language.

It wasn’t that these members of the Peace Faction wanted to speak in such a manner; it was because the higher-ups had been investigating too frequently of late, and they couldn’t afford to give away any trace.

Over the years, in an effort to halt Luoze Empire’s encroachment on Wansheng Country, members of the Peace Faction had been actively obstructing.

In the past two years, as Luoze Empire launched fierce attacks, more and more members of the Peace Faction stood up, drawing increasingly serious attention from the higher-ups to the Peace Faction’s movements.

If they could speak openly and boldly, who would willingly speak in such riddles?

Unfortunately, this world didn’t have Morse code; otherwise, they would have used the frequency of sipping water to substitute for speech, and a single meeting would have inevitably led to multiple trips to the lavatory.

However, convening meetings too frequently under the pretense of enjoying fine food could likewise make one’s teeth hollow with cavities, causing pain for several weeks.

This time, there were two high-ranking ministers who had indulged too much in sweets and could not attend due to cavities.

Unfortunately, up until now, Chilom and the others had not found a more effective, safer way to exchange intelligence, so they had no choice but to continue organizing meetings of this nature.

As mentioned before, every character and item was represented by a type of food.

In this meeting, two types of food were repeatedly mentioned.

One was referred to as Rainbow Marshmallow, this dessert symbolized the colorful-haired masked man who emerged last winter and began causing ripples in the war.

The other, called ”Dark Cuisine,” represented the sabotage conducted by the non-Peace Faction within the Luoze Empire.

It’s currently deduced that at least two other forces are secretly operating within this war.

Their goal is to prevent the war from tipping in any one side’s favor.

But to mistake them for allies would be a grave error.

While they may be stopping the war from tipping, they have no desire to quickly bring about peace; rather, they wish for the war to remain sustained indefinitely.

Alongside Luoze Empire’s Main War Faction, trying to get all three forces to concurrently agree and bring about peace would be impossible solely with the efforts of Luoze Empire’s Peace Faction.

To forge ahead, one must be strong themselves.

If Wansheng Country doesn’t strengthen itself and reclaim the lands that rightfully belong to them with their own power, the Peace Faction will be unable to stir the waters and push both sides toward a ceasefire agreement.

But because of a series of strategies adopted by Luoze Empire, Wansheng Country has been completely played with by Luoze Empire.

The stupidity and savagery of the beastmen often become the laughingstock of the nobles, as if taking over Wansheng Country was already a foregone conclusion.

In previous years, within Wansheng Country, there were numerous brave and strategic individuals.

Now, the ranks of Wansheng Country’s forces are increasingly filled with mediocrity taking the stage of war.

Even someone like General Marco, with formidable strength but too young, was pushed to the center of the war.

Every time they thought about this, members of the Peace Faction couldn’t help but clench their fists and sigh.

Compared to the centuries of accumulated knowledge of humanity, Wansheng Country, which had only been in existence for three hundred years, was still too naive.

Many people from the Peace Faction even began to have an extremely pessimistic attitude about whether Wansheng Country could recover all its lands.

However, at this moment, the appearance of one individual injected a strong dose of encouragement into their hearts.

”How does cotton candy taste, General Skaler?”

Chilom adjusted his hat and looked towards General Skaler, who had once overseen Benliang City.

”Cotton candy is tough and exactly what we need.”

”Such a favorable evaluation. Would you care to try this freshly made White Rabbit Creamy Candy as a token of my thanks for before?”

General Skaler had previously watched Yang Yu’s battles in Benliang City.

This individual who seemed to be an aggressive member of the Main War Faction was, in reality, a rather gentle member of the Peace Faction.

To infiltrate the Main War Faction, he had to feign a hot-tempered character.

Chilom was, in fact, showing gratitude to General Skaler for sparing his men by specially making this milk candy to welcome this ”rare guest.”

To avoid revealing his identity, General Skaler rarely attended the gourmet meetings held by Chilom.

To cover for the general, Chilom often invited other members of the Main War Faction to the actual gourmet gatherings under the guise of taste-testing.

To outsiders, this amiable genius pastry chef of the Peace Faction seemed to have completely given up his affiliation with the Peace Faction, devoting himself entirely to new food products.

However, he still held a grudge that the Luo Ze Empire had not adopted his suggestions, and he had made his position clear on public occasions.

But in the end, due to the extensive chain stores, he was forced to provide financial support to the Main War Faction.

Inviting the generals of the Main War Faction was simply to discuss how to provide funds in the future.

No one would suspect.

Even now, as surveillance of the Peace Faction became tighter and a slight slip could lead to a military tribunal, Chilom’s culinary gatherings remained an exception.

Here, General Skaler’s tense expression gradually relaxed.

”I won’t be polite, then.”

General Skaler popped the White Rabbit Creamy Candy into his mouth, the pure milky flavor filling his palate.

At that moment, a handsome young man in splendid attire approached the two, smiling:

”This colorful cotton candy is really delicious; I wonder if it can surpass the Snow Ball, breaking through barriers and spreading across the world this winter.”

On seeing the handsome youth, both Chilom and General Skaler couldn’t help but show their respect.

Chilom shook his head, ”Your Highness, it might be a bit difficult.”

”But, it’s worth looking forward to, right?”

The handsome young man smiled, then his expression changed as he leaned closer to Chilom’s ear,

”At the ball held a few days ago, I confirmed that there’s an issue with the second daughter of General Wolishi.

Now, how should I proceed? Should I pretend to be obedient to her words,

Or should I drag out those who dare make trouble within our Empire!”