"Indeed," Terrell nodded, slowly continuing, "From the fifth layer downward lies the core area of the entire labyrinth, mainly ruled by the old forces of Reggie Dragon... The specifics of that place are unclear to us."

The old forces of Reggie Dragon...

Luo Yan fell into deep thought.

It must have been those guys who secretly painted the teleportation circles into human settlements.

That said, there might still be their collaborators in Thunder City on the surface.

I'll have Jack look into it later.

Silently noting this, Luo Yan raised his wine glass, smiling as he spoke.

"Let's set aside the matter of the labyrinth's depths for now; they will receive their due punishment, and the punishment has already begun. For now, let's not let those spoilsports affect our feast."

"I feel the same way, Lord Demon King," Qianqian chuckled, her flushed face wearing an intoxicated smile, "Qianqian thinks these foolish guys are no match for even a little finger of yours... You don't need to bother yourself about them. Since they like infighting, let them destroy each other."

Terrell nodded, immediately agreeing with the Land of Nightmare's lord.

"I also support the approach of letting them be; the Gray Wind Tribe needs to recuperate, and we really can't afford a second full-scale war... Besides, it's not necessary to waste our strength by turning it inward."

Luo Yan laughed and said,

"You're right, instead of wasting our time on those traitors, we should spend it expanding outward."

Terrell was stunned.

"Expanding, expanding outward, you say?"

Weren't we not going to expand anymore?

"To conquer our foes in spirit," Luo Yan said with a smile, "to make the surface humans unable to live without us, dependent on us... and eventually to become us."

He paused, then continued.

"Speaking of which, I might need your help with this."

...

The guests were merry, the dishes in disarray, and some Little Demons and skeleton soldiers lay together, completely drunk.

The banquet had reached its concluding stage.

Adhering to a doctrine of temperance, Charles and other members of the Knight order had not drunk much, thus remaining sober until the end of the feast.

Looking at the group of drunkards, Charles cleared his throat and spoke.

"Are you going back with us, or are you staying here?"

Lying before him were human adventurers, hired guards from Mist Town, and civilians who had survived a catastrophe.

The adventurers, needless to say, would need to return to complete their missions. As for the hired guards and civilians, many had their homes here; going to the surface meant finding relatives to take them in or looking for new jobs in the city.

With winter fast approaching, finding work would not be easy.

Moreover, considering the future "understanding" between them and the Demon King's forces, he also hoped that some of these people would choose to stay as a lubricant between monsters and surface humans.

At least they had fought side by side with the monsters at some point.

Startled by Charles's voice, many lying on the ground sobered up and scrambled to their feet.

"Stay here?"

"Mist Town?"

"Are you joking, staying here with monsters?"

Faced with the flurry of comments, Charles pondered for a moment, was about to speak, then suddenly closed his mouth and turned his gaze to Alex.

Some things were not for him to say.

Seeing the former looking at him, Alex immediately understood and stepped forward to speak.

"The situation is actually the opposite... The Demon King warmly welcomes you to stay as... uh... as a testament to the friendship between the residents of Thunder County and the Great Graveyard."

Hearing Alex's words, people exchanged surprised glances, looking at each other in disbelief.

"Friendship?"

"You mean the battle just now?"

"Forgive my bluntness, but I fear we've clashed more times than we've shaken hands... "

Skepticism was written all over everyone's faces.

Even if they believed this Demon King was different from the previous one, no one dared to gamble with their lives.

"Precisely because of that, the time for handshakes is all the more precious and worth commemorating," Alex coughed, interrupting the murmurings, regaining control of the conversation.

"Anyway... that Demon King thought it would be a pity to destroy this town, so he plans to designate this as a 'safe zone.'"

"Those of you who have businesses can continue to run them, and those who don't can keep doing whatever they were doing before. For example, if you are a shop owner, you can continue to run your shop. If you are a chef, and your boss was unfortunate enough to perish, now you can buy his shop and keep it running... "

"Don't worry if you don't have the money, the Demon King can lend you some to buy back those shops from him, and the interest can be compensated by taxes, with the first three months being tax and interest-free. The town hall will have someone responsible for managing this service, and those interested can go there to learn more."

All of this was told to him by Luo Yan.

And it wasn't just told verbally; relevant flyers were also posted at the entrance of the town hall and the four gates of Mist Town, replacing Miranda's wanted posters.

Honestly, upon hearing these conditions, Alex was so shocked he nearly dropped his jaw.

A loan without collateral, what's the difference between that and giving it away for free?!

And what surprised him even more was, could a Demon come up with such an idea?!

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