The Tale of Hero Alice’s Social Death

Alice didn't have to wait for long before a small car drove up to her along the road. Initially, Alice thought that whoever had taken up her order to journey to Demon King City would be a ruthless character. However, when she saw the approaching car's appearance, she couldn't help but revise her thoughts.

The approaching car had a girlish appearance, and its shape resembled a Beetle from Earth. The car was painted light-blue in color, and it even had animal stickers covering it. If it wasn't for the order confirmation displayed on her phone, Alice would've thought that this car and its owner might be visiting the forest for an outing.

While Alice was in a daze, the blue Beetle smoothly stopped in front of her. The smuggling team had specifically chosen this forest as their drop-off point because of its relatively remote location. Hence, Alice was the only person standing by the road, and the car's driver quickly determined her to be the client. Then, after the car came to a full stop, the driver's door opened, and a young woman stepped out of the car and greeted Alice, "Hello~ Are you the customer who's going to Demon King City?"

Alice took a look at the courageous warrior who dared to take on the challenge of visiting the dangerous Demon King City. It went without saying that the driver was a demon. However, unlike Bifrons, this demoness demon didn't have anything. Instead, she had a sleek, black tail that ended in a heart-shaped tip. Fortunately for Alice, the fake demon horns she wore had seemingly fooled the demoness, the other party not suspecting her to be a human at all.

Strictly speaking, apart from the strange organs they've grown to cope with the polluted environment, demons didn't look all that different from humans. Based on this point, it might not be far-fetched to say that the humans and demons of this world had evolved from the same species during prehistoric times.

"Yes, that's me," Alice answered.

Alice carried a backpack with her, so she looked very much like a traveler. Although her age was on the younger side, it shouldn't be a problem. The sympathy demons held for the weak was entirely dependent on their mood. If they were in a good mood, they might not mind helping a weakling. If they were in a bad mood, though, they would utterly ignore weaklings.

Hence, Alice wasn't too worried that the demon in front of her would get nosy and start asking a bunch of questions. After all, her current image was the standard of a weak person. Unless she came across a lolicon demon, her existence would be as uninteresting as a rock on the roadside to demons.

Unfortunately, Alice's expectations were a little off when it came to the silver-haired demoness named Heris. The next moment, Heris's eyes glowed in excitement as she reached out to pinch Alice's cheeks. Then, she let out a squeal of joy as she said, "Wow, how cute! You look like a doll! Are you out here traveling by yourself? Where are your family members? Did they not come with you?"

"..."

Alice had forgotten that while demons showed little sympathy for the weak, they also had considerably arbitrary personalities. Pinching a stranger's cheeks out of the blue might be considered rude in human society, but it was normal in demon society. After all, this was an act of the strong bullying the weak in a certain sense. Not to mention, Heris wasn't bullying Alice. She was merely pinching Alice's cheeks and praising her. So, it naturally wasn't something to make a fuss about.

However, that didn't mean Alice would just allow Heris to do whatever she wanted. After slapping away the hands pinching her cheeks, Alice glared at Heris and grumpily said, "That's none of your business. You just need to take me to Demon King City."

"Okay, okay, okay~ No problem~"

Heris raised her hands in submission and giggled with a smile. Her silver hair paired with her slightly tanned skin gave her the look of a standard gyaru. However, the fact that Heris managed to get a tan in a place that only received subdued sunlight showed that she was a talent in a certain sense.

"At least tell me your name. You should've already seen my name on the app. My name is Heris, Heris Agarez. A university student. I occasionally pick up some ride-sharing jobs to earn living expenses."

"My name is Alice," Alice reluctantly replied. She could tell that if she refused to answer, the other party would probably continue pestering her until she did. However, she honestly didn't know how to interact with this carefree gyaru, so she briefly satisfied the other party's curiosity and got into the back seat of the car—She dared not sit in the passenger seat as Heris would certainly bug her incessantly. If she took the back seat, it would create a minor inconvenience for Heris to communicate with her.

"Alice, is it? That's a good name. It sounds like you stepped out of a fairy tale," Heris said, laughing happily. After seeing Alice getting into the car, she quickly returned to the driver's seat as well. Then, she added, "If it wasn't for the lack of wings on your back, I would've thought you were an angel."

Alice was startled by Heris's comment. She even thought that Heris had seen through her disguise for a moment. However, she immediately relaxed when she looked at the rear-view mirror and saw that the demoness was still wearing the same ignorant smile. However, when she recalled what Heris just said, she couldn't help but grow curious and asked, "Do angels exist in this world?"

"Huh? You don't know?" Heris asked in a surprised tone. While skillfully handling the Beetle, she explained, "Angels are the subordinate of gods. When the Heroes and Demon Kings of past generations fought, angels would often appear to help keep the Four Heavenly Kings busy so that the Hero could focus on fighting the Demon King. Although angels aren't anything good from the perspective of demons, angels are very beautiful creatures, according to historical records. Meanwhile, Alice is as cute and beautiful as an angel."

Alice found Heris's explanation to be reasonable. From what she had learned about this world so far, Heroes were chosen by gods. And since gods existed, it wasn't surprising for angels to exist as well.

After thinking up to this point, Alice couldn't help but wonder if her right hand's ability had anything to do with this world's gods. And if there wasn't, she wondered if her right hand could turn gods into garbage... Though, if she wanted to satisfy her curiosity, she would first have to knock a god unconscious since her ability only worked on inanimate and unconscious objects. However, if she had the strength to knock a god unconscious, it wouldn't really matter whether she could turn a god into garbage.

After silence enveloped the car for a short moment, Heris's mouth started growing restless again as she asked, "By the way, what do you plan on doing at Demon King City, Alice? Don't tell me you're trying to complete that commission pinned on the Mercenary Union's homepage? Unless you have the legendary Demon King's Power, you won't be able to destroy that crystal. Even the Four Heavenly Kings can't destroy it. It's best if you don't try, Alice."

"That's none of your business," Alice said, frowning. Heris's incessant yapping was starting to give her a headache. According to the ride-sharing app, it would take over half a day of continuous driving for them to reach Demon King City, and she couldn't help but worry that Heris would be trying to talk to her throughout the entire trip.

"Seeing as you don't even know about the existence of angels, you probably don't know how dangerous Demon King City is, right?" Heris suddenly said with a smile. "For example, did you bring anti-radiation magic stones?"

Alice was suddenly rendered speechless. She indeed hadn't brought along such an item. Of course, she also knew that the black crystal in Demon King City emitted dangerous radiation. This was something everyone living in the demon realm knew about. Alice had also found information on this topic through the demon realm's internet.

However, Alice's idea was that she would be fine so long as she held a pair of panties in her right hand. Even if the panties didn't provide radiation nullification effects, the massive boost to Mana should be more than sufficient to repel any irradiated mana near her.

"You didn't, right?" Heris's smile deepened. "But it's fine. When I saw your order, I brought a few anti-radiation magic stones with me just in case. If you let me pinch your cheeks a few times afterward, I'll give them to you, Alice."

At this point, Alice finally understood that despite having the appearance of a gyaru, Heris was, in reality, just an ordinary girl who liked cute things. Meanwhile, her appearance just so happened to be in the demoness's strike zone.