Demon Lord Gallery

After staring blankly at the ark for a moment.
I quickly gathered my wits and spoke haltingly to the android, no, the planetary information terminal.
“….Is that the rescue team?”
“Yes. As a result of back-calculating along that ark’s path, the initial departure area is Manmajeon in the 666 series dimensional depth. When compared with the records of the dimensional communication community called Demon Lord Gallery that the visitor mentioned, there’s a 99.84% probability that ark is indeed the rescue team.”
“Wow─”
It was quite amusing to ask someone who wasn’t a member of the gallery, ‘Is that really the rescue team?’, but there was a reason why I had to.
Logically, to visit on such a scale to rescue an individual like me, and just a fragment of spirit division of a Demon Lord who had awakened not long ago.
No matter how I think about it, isn’t this excessive investment?
In the first place, the rescue team I had imagined was magic-type Demon Lords like Odin/Wolf Viscount opening something like a dimensional gate and appearing to take me away, not a huge ship that looked like it popped out of some myth coming to rescue me.
‘….Am I being valued higher in the gallery than I thought?’
I was in the middle of seriously considering whether I should revise my overall value.
Creeeeak─
With a sound like trees screaming as they slide, a small door opened on the side of the ark that was half-filling the sky, and a wooden ladder started to drop down.
The identity of the rescue team that came down the ladder connecting to this metal planet one by one was─
“Nice to meet you. I’m called the Ferryman in the gallery.”
An old man.
“Ah, hello.”
I reflexively shook hands and exchanged greetings with the friendly greeting offered by the kind-looking grandfather.
I couldn’t help it.
How could I not accept when such a harmless, truly countryside-like kind grandfather was laughing and greeting me right in front of my eyes?
As someone from the country of Eastern courtesy, I couldn’t help but automatically react with the Confucian DNA imprinted in my body.
Of course, I was an orphan when I was young, so there were no elders at all, but anyway.
Only after naturally exchanging greetings like that could I come to my senses in my own way.
If there was one doubt and suspicion that came to mind first after coming to my senses, it was about the appearance of the figure in front of me.
I had just exchanged greetings so naturally, but in any case, isn’t the old man in front of me also a Demon Lord?
That means this old man could also be seen as a strong person hiding tremendous power like ‘Ten Commandments’, that is, Moses, whom I saw in the arena.
It was time to recall once again one of Odin’s words that are rarely wrong, ‘Most Demon Lords who take on old character designs are crazy’.
“Um… Are you really the rescue team from the gallery?”
“That’s right. As soon as I got the call from Vassago, I prepared right away and rushed here. It took quite a while, didn’t it?”
Hearing the answer of the old man, ‘Ferryman’, who nodded with a kind face, I felt needlessly guilty.
“….Thank you for your hard work. Going through so much trouble for just me─”
“Hoho, it’s no trouble at all. The Manmajeon meetings never suited me anyway, so it was always a hardship every time they were held. I should be thanking you for giving me an excuse to escape the meeting this time.”
The sight of the ‘Ferryman’ bursting into hearty laughter and waving his hand was truly the very image of a harmless countryside grandfather.
‘..Is he just someone specialized in movement-related things?’
“Still, going through so much trouble for just one spirit division like me….”
“What do you mean just one spirit division! The experiences and encounters of a spirit division all become blood and flesh. You should see the Manmajeon meeting at least once too, shouldn’t you?”
The conversation continued like that for a while.
The planetary information terminal, who had been watching the conversation between me and the ‘Ferryman’ from the side, interjected and opened its mouth.
“I apologize for interrupting the conversation. It seems we don’t have much time left, so we need to have a quick conversation. I’m sorry for the rudeness of interrupting.”
“Hmm, it’s fine. You are… called a planetary information terminal belonging to the Dimensional Empire? What do you have to say?”
“Yes. It’s about the mode of transportation for the visitor and the rescue team… I mean the ark up there. Calculations show that due to causality and dimensional stability, it won’t be able to stay for long.”
It was indeed as he said.
In the sky that the planetary information terminal pointed to with a raised finger during the conversation, the ark that was still hugely blocking the sky was visible, and fine cracks could be seen around it.
“…Hmm, even the ark can’t withstand it. We didn’t have time to spare, did we?”
“That’s right.”
“Then we should depart right away. You, you know how to climb a ladder, right? Quickly get on the ark.”
“Ah, yes!”
At the ‘Ferryman’s’ words, I hurriedly ran towards the ladder.
The cracks that were growing moment by moment, visible as I climbed the ladder, seemed to foretell only bad things.
While climbing the ladder, I couldn’t sense the ‘Ferryman’s’ presence, so when I looked down, the old man was talking about something with the planetary information terminal.
“─so you have a lot of problems too. Even the empire that seemed omnipotent ultimately stumbles here. Well, we’re also finding our own solutions…”
“….Please help us. Ferryman.”
“Alright. I’ll drop by if I have a reason to visit next time.”
This is all I heard by momentarily focusing my hearing.
I finished climbing the ladder while organizing in my mind that some kind of request-like conversation had taken place.
When I finally arrived at the ark, I couldn’t help but feel puzzled.
“….Is this really all?”
A huge ship made entirely of wood, not just appearing to be made of wood on the outside, but inside as well.
Moreover, it was utterly bleak with no separate furniture or interior decorations.
On top of that, it was so enormously huge that it was like seeing a giant cave made of wood.
It could be said that this ark was just a wooden ship made focusing solely on transportation, enlarged hundreds or thousands of times.
As I walked up to the deck with admiration and doubt, surprisingly, the ‘Ferryman’ who had been down below until just now was sitting in the center of the deck.
“Oh my…”
“Surprised?”
“…Weren’t you down below just now?”
“This ship is like my avatar, you see. The ship is me, and I am the ship.”
The old man who had been uttering puzzling words burst into laughter and came over to lightly pat my shoulder.
“I’ll explain everything soon, so don’t make that face. Come on, just relax. It’ll take quite a while to get to Manmajeon.”
“When do we depart?”
“We’ve already departed. Take a look up.”
Surprised by the words that we had already departed, I looked up, and the clear blue sky that had been there just a moment ago had disappeared, replaced by something black and rippling.
“This is the sight you’ll see throughout the dimensional movement. It’s nothing special, so just rest well.”
As he said, the ‘Ferryman’ was already lying down on a sun bed that had suddenly popped up from the floor.
This old man is definitely not ordinary either.
“…Um, please help me too.”
As I cautiously approached and made a few requests to the old man, soon a part of the wooden deck rose up and transformed into a sun bed that fit my size perfectly.
After lying down on the sun bed created like that and enjoying the rest for a while.
I had to get up realizing that I hadn’t gone through one very natural process.
“…Um, I’m sorry. I just realized I haven’t properly thanked you. I’m the Demon Lord using IP ㅇㅇ(111.432) in the Demon Lord Gallery, Shin Su-hyeon. Thank you again for rescuing me.”
I had been feeling like something was off for a while. I felt incredibly stupid for only now realizing that I hadn’t even made a simple greeting and introduction.

“Didn’t I say there’s no need to stand on ceremony like that? But I’ll gratefully accept your greeting offered like this. I’m the Demon Lord using the fixed nickname ‘Ferryman’ in the Demon Lord Gallery, Noah. I look forward to our short journey together.”
“Pardon?”
And I couldn’t help but pause my thoughts at the old man’s words.
If it’s Noah, could it be.
The Noah as in Noah’s Ark from the Bible?
*
The shock of learning that the old man in front of me was named Noah quickly passed.
Noah, who had noticed my momentary confused expression, must have had something in mind as he asked a few things and made some requests at the same time, and I had to move busily to fulfill those requests.
“I’ve sent everything to you!”
“I received it. Thank you.”
What I’m operating right now is the Demon Lord Gallery.
And what I just did was send a few messages to the gallery fixed nickname ‘Ferryman’.
The content of the sent messages was none other than the Bible.
This Bible was one of several historical books/myths that I had personally copied into the gallery message box during the 7 days of preparing for the Manmajeon meeting.
Of course, the message sent to Noah wasn’t the entire Bible, but just the part where Noah’s Ark appears, extracted and delivered.
After reading the messages for a while lying on the sun bed, Noah laughed briefly and closed the gallery window.
“Hoho, quite an interesting content.”
“…How was it?”
It was a question I asked because Noah showed quite a good expression.
I was curious about the simple reaction, and I was extremely curious about how it might be related to the myths of my world.
“First of all, it seems excellent as research material on the connection between dimensions. The research I was doing with Odin had recently hit a wall, but this will be a good breakthrough.”
“Come to think of it…”
I clearly remember Odin saying last time to ask the ‘Ferryman’ about dimensional similarities.
“Ah, if you mean Odin, he must have mentioned my name to you at least once”
“Yes.”
“I thought so. Anyway, it’s useful as academic material, but─”
“But?”
“To me, as the person involved in this story, it seems like an absurd novel.”
“Pardon?”
An absurd novel? Which part?
And as if to answer my question, Noah slowly began to unfold his story.
“The world before being swept away by the great flood… Oh, my. May I tell a bit of my old story?”
“By all means, please do.”
“Then I’ll continue. The author of this Bible described the world before being swept away by the great flood too simply. They say humans became corrupt, but it wasn’t something that could be brushed off like that.”
“Corruption?”
“Yes. Imagine a world full of beings where the relationship between children and parents disappeared, where everyone only cared for their own safety, and sold everything for power, longevity, authority, and wealth. That place was no different from hell.”
“Hell….”
“They were truly things not worthy of being called living beings. Not just humans, but all the beasts at that time were like that too. Horses and dogs mating, zebras eating lions, and so on. There was nothing that wasn’t crazy.”
Noah’s face was gradually splitting as he said these words.
Should I say it was an expression of forcibly holding back sadness or anger?
“And in that world, I was very lucky, or maybe not lucky, I don’t know. I had a sane mind and a healthy body. Thanks to that, I was going crazy moment by moment every time I saw the state of the world.”
“….”
“Just as I was about to go crazy like that. A revelation came down to me from somewhere. To build an ark and prepare for the great flood. To load a pair of every beast and find righteous people to board the ark.”
Noah paused for a moment and looked up.
After looking at something rippling black for a moment. Noah briefly clicked his tongue and then continued speaking.
“That’s how it’s written in the Bible you gave me. Noah built the ark, but the wicked people mocked it, and in the end, Noah could only board all the animals and his family on the ark.”
“..That’s right.”
“But I didn’t do that. There were many quick-witted and cunning people in the world, and there was nothing good in the world. Including myself, that is. And I had no family.”
I couldn’t help but flinch for a moment as Noah’s words were uttered.
It was just for an instant, but I felt an tremendous killing intent.
Soon Noah’s mouth opened again, and the story that began was truly shocking.
“So I… built the ark without anyone knowing. I made it big enough to escape the world. And I, I didn’t load a single person or animal on the ark.”
“….”
“Then the great flood came, and everyone in the world died except me. Not long after, I heard that I had awakened as a Demon Lord. After some time passed, whether it was divine punishment or some other side effect, my body and soul became bound to the ark, and I became a kind of earth-bound spirit.”
“……”
“This is the true story of Noah’s Ark. What do you think?”
I couldn’t easily open my mouth.