Zach was sitting at the top of the tower, watching the city and its citizens.
'There are other cities in the middle hell. And each city has one gate to inner hell. Apparently, it's said that the demon lord's pet guards all the gates, but that makes no sense.
I get it that they said the pet is enormous, but it can't possibly guard all the gates. The cities are far apart from each other. And just by the incomplete map of the inner hell alone, I can say that the inner hell is at least 50 times the size of my realm.
My realm is 50 kilometers in radius and 100 kilometers in total. So fifty times that would be five thousand kilometers. No monster can be that huge. Even Cerberus can, at most, get to 10% of my realm in size at his peak. I can't imagine how colossal the demon lord's pet would be.
However, there are high chances that it's all a lie and a rumor spread to scare the citizens of the middle hell from trying to enter the inner hell. Maybe there aren't that many guards, either.
Therefore, I wanted to ask someone who had been to inner hell before, but most of them are dead or missing body parts and traumatized. And even if I ask them, there would be no benefits as they only know what the inner hell was like decades ago.
I want someone who has been there in recent months. Only if there was a spy or an insider. And even if there was, I doubt they would admit it openly.'
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇtZach got up and cracked his neck and hands while stretching and twisting them a little.
"I guess it's time to do what I am best at— which is… bullshitting."
Zach jumped down and strolled into the market to blend in with the citizens. However, his stunt from earlier made him a celebrity in the city, and whenever he went, the citizens bowed down to him and gave him stuff as gratitude.
'Yeah, finding someone to help me in this city won't work. Time to switch to another city where no one knows me. Typically, my plan would be to go to the city from where the demon lord's castle is the closet in the inner hell.
However, according to the map, the castle is precisely at the center of inner hell, so no matter what city or gates I decide to enter, I would have to travel the same distance.'
Zach would leave for the next city whenever he wanted, but he was constantly being followed and gazed at by the citizens, who weren't letting him go anywhere.
The citizens of the middle hell considered Zach as their God.
'Being famous is bad.'
After eating the food provided by the citizens, Zach was taken to a garden to spend the night there.
'I will slip away at night when they all are sleeping. I can run away now, too, if I want, but I can't. They are treating me like a God and hence, worshiping me. I am cultivating soul powers for free here.So if I run away, they will lose their faith in me, and my source of free soul powers will be cut off. And even if they seem like they are showing me gratitude for what I did for them today, they actually aren't.
They are just trying to burden me with favors. Since I promised them I would defeat the demon lord, they are making sure I do that. I bet if I say 'I can't defeat the demon lord' to them. They will chase me down to the depth of hell.'
Zach lay down on the mat provided by the citizens and closed his eyes to pretend to sleep. He thought the citizens would go to sleep as well, but they had surrounded him and watched over him to make sure he didn't go anywhere.
'Yeah, these guys are going to be a problem. But oh well, I will simply brainstorm my plans in the meantime. I already have my escape plan ready. She is just waiting for my signal.'
Zach had already spent hours in the city and had gained too much information about the city and the middle hell. He even acquired a 100% authentic map of each city, which was being sold as a book in the market.
The book had tourist spots, facts, and historical details about each city in the middle hell, and it was well written and easy to understand.
'This city is the first city of the middle hell and also the poorest. And the next city is a little better than the previous one. So if I want well-mannered or developed demons, I should go to the top city of the middle hell.
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏmIf I walk, it will take me about a week to get there. If I run, then around four days. And if I use a vehicle, I can reach there within two days depending on the type of vehicle. But that was written in the book.
I could fly in the real world, so I can surely fly in this one too. Sadly, the book didn't mention anything about flying because flying from one city to another city is forbidden and a horrendous crime.
Can you believe it? That's like asking birds to not fly or asking fish to not swim— that was my initial reaction after reading that. But it was explained in the next paragraph.
Flying from one city to another is indeed forbidden, but flying within the city is not. I guess that's because if everyone just flew over the cities, how would they charge tax and shit?
However, that rule is for the citizens of the middle hell, and I am not one of them! If they chase me down or try to attack me, I will have no choice but to strike back.'
Zach opened his eyes, and as he had expected, he was still surrounded by the citizens.
'It's about time. The escape plan begins!'
Zach suddenly sat up and pointed his finger at the tower.
"Hey, look! What is that?!"