The Fifth Heavenly King

Faced with the embarrassment of her preferences being exposed, the eyeball shut down completely.

It closed the pages and pretended to be nothing more than an ordinary book.

Ignoring the eyeball, Flona continued studying the scale.

In Flona’s world, there existed a race that fed on the dreams of others, the Nightmare Clan.

They shared racial traits similar to succubi.

The difference was that succubi had heart-shaped tails, while nightmares were covered in special scales.

These scales allowed nightmares to shift between reality and illusion, making it easier to infiltrate others’ dreams.

At the same time, they were also the best core material for casting illusions.

Since the eyeball claimed it had never seen a monster resembling a nightmare, then it was highly likely that someone from her own world had also arrived in this one.

Staring at the scale in her palm, Flona’s expression grew solemn.

If that was the case, things would become far more complicated.

Still, the appearance of the scale gave Flona a way to follow the trail.

If she could catch the one who created the illusion, she should be able to pry out a lot of useful information.

That was because nightmare scales retained a certain connection to their owner.

By infusing mental power into the scale and tuning into a specific frequency, one could even follow the link into the other party’s consciousness space.

Of course, that required extremely strong mental power.

Otherwise, entering a nightmare’s consciousness space would just be delivering yourself as food.

Flona was very confident in her own mental strength.

Without hesitation, she slowly injected her mental power into the scale.

She began searching for the frequency hidden within it.

At first, the sensation was like touching dense fog, with only vague fluctuations flickering in the distance.

Flona frowned slightly and applied a bit more force with her fingers.

The surface of the scale suddenly glimmered with faint light, and the connection became much clearer.

“Found it…”

Flona’s consciousness sank into the scale.

The real world before her eyes faded away, transforming into a bedroom decorated in a cute style.

It was piled full of all kinds of plush pillows.

Round bunny plushies drooped their long ears.

Chick plushies wore little overalls.

There were also several yellow dinosaur plushies, wrinkled from being hugged too much.

Flona subconsciously reached out and touched the nearest bunny plush.

A softness so real it was almost unbelievable spread through her fingertips.

When a stranger entered a consciousness space, they would normally be repelled by the owner and face fierce resistance.

Before entering, Flona had already prepared herself for a fight.

She hadn’t expected to see such a cozy scene instead.

“That aside, where is the person?”

Looking around, all she could see was a sea of plushies.

There wasn’t a single person in sight.

The appearance of a consciousness space reflected the owner’s personality to some extent.

With so many plush pillows, it seemed the owner of this space really loved sleeping.

In the end, Flona fixed her gaze on the bed by the window.

Pushing aside the plushies, Flona quickly found a lump of pink hair sleeping soundly in the middle of the bed.

Or rather, a girl wrapped up in cascading pink hair like a waterfall.

Without waking her rashly, Flona observed her first.

Demon horns, small wings.

It should be the nightmare she was looking for, and she even seemed a little familiar.

Sensing Flona’s gaze, Seriana slowly woke up, rubbing her sleepy eyes.

“Space… guest… human?”

“Seriana, long time no see!”

Flona smiled and greeted Seriana.

Hearing that, Seriana instantly became more alert, her rubbing motion freezing midair.

Without saying a word, she burrowed into the blanket like a startled hamster, wrapping herself into a tight cocoon.

As if trying to hide something.

As expected of a saint, Flona cured Seriana’s drowsiness on the spot.

“We finally meet an acquaintance, and you don’t want to catch up with me?”

Flona sat properly at the edge of the bed, snapping her fingers repeatedly.

As if the next step would be summoning holy flames and turning Seriana into a literal acquaintance.

Knowing Flona’s abilities, Seriana had no choice but to peek her head out of the blanket and face her.

“I’m one of the Demon King’s Four Heavenly Kings, and you’re a member of the hero’s party.

There’s nothing for us to talk about.”

Her wording was firm, but the uncontrollable trembling in her voice betrayed her panic.

Damn it, I already hid in another world, so why is the hero’s party still chasing me?

“First, the Demon King has already surrendered, so there’s no need for hostility.

Second, aren’t you the Demon King’s sleep assistant?

There’s no place for you among the Four Heavenly Kings, is there?”

With a serious expression, Flona counted on her fingers.

The Demon King’s Four Heavenly Kings were: the Witch of Pain, the Infernal Duke, the Headless Knight, and the Withered Treant.

None of them were nightmares.

“You don’t understand.

It’s totally normal for the Four Heavenly Kings to be five people.

I’m the hidden Fifth Heavenly King!”

As she said this, Seriana proudly tried to sit up, but under Flona’s gaze, she flopped back down again.

“You mean the Fifth Heavenly King who got swept into another world by the aftermath of the hero and Demon King’s battle?”

“How did you know!”

“Just a guess.”

If any other Heavenly King had appeared here, Flona would have had to consider whether the Demon King’s surrender was a ruse, hiding some deeper plot.

But since it was just Seriana, Flona felt completely at ease.

What bad intentions could a little nightmare who loved sleeping possibly have?

When the hero and Demon King fought to the heavens and earth’s end, everyone else fled as far away as possible, yet Seriana had been sound asleep in the Demon King’s castle.

After the battle ended, when Flona was responsible for rescuing residents, she had even wondered why Seriana’s name was missing from the list.

She never expected her to have fallen into another world instead.

“I’m going back to sleep.”

After confirming that Flona had no intention of attacking her, Seriana felt sleepy again.

Maintaining alertness consumed dream energy, and sleeping was far more efficient.

“You sleep this much, are you a pig?”

“You know nightmares all love sleeping.”

Stopping Seriana from retreating under the covers, Flona said, “I’m looking for someone who’s recklessly contracting witches, and I happened to find your scale.”

As she spoke, she placed the scale in front of Seriana.

Seriana stared silently at the scale.

So it was you who brought the saint here.

If she’d known, she wouldn’t have taken the easy route and sold her scales.

“Asking me won’t help.

To exchange for an identity and money in this world, I sold my scales to several monster organizations.

Someone skilled in illusion magic probably discovered their potential and used them as illusion cores.”

“That’s troublesome.”

There were countless monsters capable of illusions.

For Flona to track them down one by one would be like searching for a needle in the ocean.

Moreover, if the one casting the illusion was Uru, then all her efforts would have been wasted.

The trail was broken yet again.

So irritating.

I want to burn something.

Seeing Flona frown, Seriana felt a bad premonition.

She knew Flona well.

Usually gentle and holy, but secretly very vengeful.

Right now, she was probably plotting something unpleasant.

She had to do something to calm this scheming saint.

“Actually, my scales can record images.

If you check the recordings, you should be able to find the information you want.”

Seriana revealed a function of the scales known only within the Nightmare Clan.

“But…”

“But what?”

“The device to view the recordings is at my place.”

“That’s simple.

Tell me the location and I’ll go to your place right now.”

“Do you realize how late it is?” Seriana reminded her.

If she didn’t sleep enough tonight, she wouldn’t have the energy to go to school tomorrow.

“True.”

As if infected by Seriana, Flona yawned.

She felt drowsy as well.

Thinking about it, she had come to this other world to enjoy her retirement, yet she was running around like a detective chasing clues.

That was definitely putting the cart before the horse.

Once she found that Uru, she would tie it to a cross and roast it thoroughly with holy flames.

Flona’s figure vanished from the consciousness space.

“Phew.

Good thing I wasn’t found out.”

Seriana cautiously poked a hand out from under the blanket and slowly pulled a plush pillow printed with Flona’s image into her arms.

She hadn’t expected to see Flona again.

The soft fabric pressed against her cheek, the familiar image seeming to carry warmth.

She rubbed her face against the pillow, lips curving into a sweet smile, and hugged it tightly as she drifted into deep sleep.

Tonight’s dream material was secured.