The devil queen paused after hearing those words leave his mouth.
But it wasn't just her. The rest of the devils who had heard the same thing all seemed equally shocked.
With her red eyes fixed on him, she uttered—
"What?"
Sho smiled internally. Good, he was able to get her attention.
He then looked toward the system interface, where he could already see the description it had put out for him, pertaining to the results it had gathered.
[Mana overclocking — a clinical condition primarily known to demons. It is a state where the body constantly produces more mana than it can release. Over time, this build-up causes the afflicted to explode from the internal pressure.]
Sho looked back at the devil queen.
"You are suffering from overclocking, are you not?"
The confidence in his tone was quite alarming.
He would have looked stupid if he were wrong, but fortunately for him, he was indeed right.
"How does this human know her lady is sick?"
"Can he read minds?"
"I don't trust this human. Let us kill him."
More and more of the devils began voicing their opinion on the matter, but not once did the devil queen utter a single word.
In fact, the entire time, all she did was keep her eyes on Sho, trying to guess his intentions.
"You speak of my illness. Not many of my people even know about this. Are you a spy? You mock me knowing that if I die by your hand, you too would meet your end?"
"Of course not. I would very much like to stay alive. Which is why I am offering you a proposition at the stake of my life."
"..."
Silence settled for a while.
"What do you think you, a human, could propose to a devil?" The devil queen glared a bit.
It was the type of look that would make anyone tremble where they stood.
But Sho was unlike most people.
"Easy." He snapped his fingers, sending a chilling smile back at the queen.
"Let me cure you of your illness. If I do, then you swear to let me go free. Sounds good enough, doesn't it?"
The other devils growled in anger. Truly, this human was way too cocky.
For years, many of them had suffered from this very illness, and the queen just happened to be unfortunate enough to be the next in line.
No one, throughout the entire period, had managed to find even a single cure.
Yet this weak-looking human thought he could just waltz in and claim to achieve such a feat. It felt like an insult.
An insult they were not willing to let slide so easily.
"My queen, let us kill this man!!!"
It seemed as though more devils were in favor of the plan. They truly wanted Sho dead.
As for Sho, their reactions could not matter to him any more than he was willing to allow them to.
Instead, his entire focus was on the queen, just as hers was on him.
Yes, her opinion was all that mattered right then and there.
After thinking about it for a while, the queen finally voiced her decision with a simple raise of her hand.
"I accept."
There was a loud gasp from the devils.
None of them could have expected such a response from her.
As for Sho, that answer was very much to his liking.
He smiled, knowing everything was indeed going according to plan.
But the queen didn't stop there, as she went on further.
"You should know, I do not give many people this grace. But I am willing to overlook it just this once. However, should you fail to heal me as you have claimed, your death will not be a peaceful one."
Sho chuckled nervously.
'Of course she threatens me, but this is better than being killed right here, I guess.'
Looking around, he could see the hateful gazes on the rest of the devils' faces, following their leader's decision to keep him alive.
'This is going to be hell for me.' He sighed, lowering his head a bit.
…
Later that day, as ordered, a devil showed Sho to a hut toward the far end of the village, far away from the rest of the people.
The queen was aware her people would be uncomfortable with a human around them, so she had them take him far off, to a place where he could work by himself, under the supervision of a single devil, of course.
"This is where you'll be staying."
The female devil — red-skinned, almost the same height as Sho — stood to the side and pointed at the hut with a disgusted look on her face.
Sho stood in front of it, already smelling the horrible stench drifting from inside, even though he was still somewhat far away.
'I am supposed to stay here? It looks like it has been abandoned and turned into a dumping site.'
A bit hesitant, he turned toward the female devil.
"Do I have to stay here? I mean—"
Before he could finish his words.
"Be grateful the queen even offers a human like yourself a place to stay. Animals like you should not have roofs over your heads after the lives you've destroyed." She spat out the words, hatred coating every one of them.
Sho stared at her for a moment longer.
"Your hate for humans is… impressive." He sighed. "I don't know much of your world to understand why you hate the human race so much. But you're way too pretty to have this much hate inside you."
The female devil froze for a second. It seemed as though his words had moved her, and her cheeks were about to turn bright red.
Then, from nowhere, she pulled out her spear and aimed it at his neck.
"Don't you dare use such a sarcastic tone on me. I can end your life before you even blink."
Sho stepped back a bit, caution on his face.
"Relax, I didn't mean any harm."
Not like his words meant anything, anyway.