“Hey, Robert, the work at the Palace is over, you can head back now.”
The green-skinned demon standing at the palace entrance glanced at the burning candles not far away, urging the professional employees of the Demon King’s palace to leave.
These candles had time scales, allowing the demon clan, who rarely saw sunlight in the Eternal Frozen Land, to estimate time. They also provided warmth.
Although there were watches available, this type of candle clock was still more popular in the Eternal Frozen Land.
The middle-aged man had already become somewhat impatient upon hearing the guard at the entrance call his name and immediately joked, “Alright, my lord, I’m leaving right away.”
Robert was the middle-aged man who initially brought the children to mine the Holy Corpse of the Demon God, but the mining work had recently been suspended.
Because the snowstorm was too severe, only two of the children Robert had brought down were still alive. In such weather, it was impossible to work outdoors. The Demon Lord could not bear to see humans die in vain, so out of compassion, he arranged for these people to have somewhere to rest in this cold winter.
However, the so-called accommodation was merely a slightly larger cave, devoid of even a flicker of light, where people were thrown in like objects, huddling together for warmth.
Demons would come by daily to check on the situation and deliver meals, but only one meal a day was provided, just enough to prevent starvation. If someone fell ill, they would be ruthlessly cast out to perish in the heavy snow.
But at least there were still people alive. Humans are such beings that a small wound can take their lives when they are weak, yet when they are strong, they can survive on minimal resources if they have the will.
The real reason for the work stoppage by Antipa was not out of compassion for the humans, but because of the failure of the Northern Border invasion war, leading to a significant decrease in labor supply. They had to find ways to keep these humans barely alive. Antipa foresaw that capturing people from the Northern Border might not work as it used to.
Robert was an Honorary Demon Man, and naturally did not want to cram into a cave with those lowly humans, waiting every day for the demons to bestow them a meal. Otherwise, what good was being an Honorary Demon Man?
Thus, Robert and the other Honorary Demon Men proudly accepted the work of adding firewood to the various fireplaces within the palace of the Demon Lord during this coldest winter.
Although there were special magic circles and human professionals to provide heating for buildings or rooms, Antipa still preferred the specially made charcoal brought in from the Eastern Border, so that he would not feel cold no matter which room he walked into. All the fireplaces in the castle operated around the clock.
The Honorary Demons did not see this as wasteful; they even considered it the Demon Lord’s benevolence, specially arranging a job for Honorary Demons where they would not freeze in winter, and they were all grateful for this.
“Why are you dawdling? Get out of here!”
After checking Robert and confirming that the Honorary Demons had not tried to take advantage of the Demon Lord, the guard at the entrance kicked Robert out and then tightly shut the door.
Even though he was an Honorary Demon, the guard could still speak harshly to Robert, but no one thought there was anything wrong with that.
There were other Honorary Demons huddled together outside the main gate, seemingly waiting for Robert, but it wasn’t that they had a good relationship with him. When they saw Robert finally emerge slowly, they hurriedly removed their capes and, after everyone huddled together, the tattered capes formed a moving tent, protecting the group’s warmth.
Everyone moved slowly through the wind and snow, centered around Robert, and although the north wind had ceased its howling and the white ocean seemed calm at that moment, the weather in the Eternal Frozen Land was as unpredictable as the waves at sea, and no one knew what would happen next.
Moving this way was slow, but very safe.
Robert did not know how the situation between the demons and humans was progressing. Although the Demon Lord said the demons had won, the atmosphere in the palace felt quite different from the propaganda outside. It seemed unusually gloomy, almost not like a winning scenario. Robert even saw a nobleman with a large bump on his head exiting the Demon Lord’s main hall.
But Robert did not care about that. He understood that the more one concerns themselves with such things, the sooner one could meet their end. It was best not to listen to anything at all.
Thanks to the propaganda of the demon victory, Robert finally had time to reunite briefly with his wife and son.
Now, humans no longer lived in communion with the demons. Instead, every human had to serve the demons. Currently, the vast majority of humans lived as servants in the homes of demons, which was no different from before, just changing from communal slaves to personal slaves.
Antipa touted this as his political achievement, planning to vigorously promote it within the demon ruling territories.
Why call it a political achievement? Because the benefit of doing this meant that humans did not have to worry about unemployment; they wouldn’t starve to death, after all.
But the downside of saying they wouldn’t starve wasn’t entirely true. After all, for the demons, humans were merely tools for labor; who would genuinely care about the lives of tools? The best situation would be merely to keep them from starving to death.
However, this policy was not proposed by Antipa, or rather, it wasn’t completely of Antipa’s intention. After all, the enslaved humans were under Antipa’s unified management. Thus, this meant that these humans had become the private property of a certain demon, and Antipa could no longer dispose of them as carelessly as before. This was tantamount to giving away part of his power.
This was also a reluctant measure. After the defeat, to maintain internal unity, Antipa always had to pay a certain price, which didn’t have much to do with the amount of power he held.
Robert was different from those ordinary people; he was an Honorary Demon. Therefore, while Robert’s wife and son served the demons, their treatment was somewhat better, and even the status of the demons they served was significantly higher.
When Robert returned home, he saw his mute wife busy sewing clothes. He couldn’t help but feel that he had indeed made the right choice in marrying his mute wife. Not only was she skilled, but she had also altered two sets of clothes for their son from the old garments of the demon lord that Robert picked up, and had even woven a scarf for Robert from leftover fabric.
Seeing Robert come home, the mute woman happily put down her work and came forward to embrace him. Feeling his wife’s warmth, Robert covered her with his still warm cloak, and the two enjoyed the precious heat together in the house.
“Is everything at home alright?”
The mute woman nodded, but looked a bit worriedly at their son, who was sitting on a pile of straw, gnawing on a large flatbread.
This son was indeed not very clever; the flatbread he hung around his neck was already frozen, yet he still silly held onto it to chew.
At this age, he could already attend the school set up by the demon lords. After all, Robert was, after all, an Honorary Demon, and their son would naturally get priority for enrollment, but this foolish child did not seem to be very promising.
Their son was still quite clever, but ever since they arrived in the Eternal Frozen Land, he had become increasingly dull. Perhaps he was frozen stupid, or maybe it was just Robert’s one-sided wishful thinking. After all, a child not even of school age, how could he be clever?
Robert thought for a moment, should he have another child with his mute wife?
But having a child in the Eternal Frozen Land was indeed a high-risk endeavor.
