The Heavenly Demon and Moonviewing Hall #02
After discovering that erotic book, an awkward atmosphere began to settle between Kaien and me.
“Kaien, I keep telling you I wasn’t collecting them for that kind of purpose!”
“...I know, Artin. I’ll believe you.”
“Then why won’t you look me in the eye?! You’re the one who used to stare at me so persistently!”
“...I never did that.”
Of course, the entire reason for the awkwardness was Kaien’s misunderstanding. Just because I showed interest in an erotic book and asked what series it was, he started avoiding my gaze. And on top of that, the bastard had switched from calling me “partner” to “Artin”…!
‘This rotten bastard. After everything I’ve done for him, he’s treating me like trash just because I looked at one erotic book…!!’
It was truly unfair. The reason I had collected Diverse Breasts wasn’t because of any impure motives. There was no way I’d get turned on by orc or dwarf women.
...Though I had to admit, the first elf volume I saw had definitely been sought out for that exact purpose.
But at some point, I had begun collecting the series purely for the sake of completion. First of all, it held monumental significance as the very first book series I’d started collecting after arriving in this world. There were over thirty different editions, each with varying print runs, which made certain special issues extremely rare and difficult to obtain. That alone was enough to ignite a collector’s spirit.
Think about it. Doesn’t everyone go looking for every previous work by an author they really enjoyed? That was exactly the reason.
The second reason was far more practical. Rare special editions like the dwarf volume I’d just discovered were traded at very high prices among collectors and could even be given as incredibly valuable gifts…! In my second regression, I’d actually managed to obtain a dragon edition for a corrupt noble in the empire, which allowed me to secure supplies that Kaien desperately needed.
When I thought about it that way, it felt even more unfair. What exactly had I done wrong? Even if my intentions had been exactly what he suspected, wasn’t it perfectly normal for a man to look at erotic material?
“Uh, Artin? What are you doing?”
“What do you mean, what am I doing? I’m going to read it since I found it. Is there a problem with that?!”
Frustrated, I decided to brazen it out. One of the legendary volumes I’d never managed to obtain was right in front of me. Wasn’t I allowed to take a look?
When I glanced sideways, Kaien’s face had turned bright red after watching me. Served him right.
“Do you really not understand what the problem is??”
“Why?! Am I not allowed to look at something like this?!”
“Of course you’re not! What are you doing in your master’s room, you brat!”
A powerful impact suddenly struck the back of my head, and my vision went completely white for a moment. Startled, I turned around to find the Heavenly Demon standing there, holding a tray with tea, staring at me with a look of utter disdain.
“H-Heavenly Demon, this is…”
“What a fine sight. While your master is away, her so-called disciple is rummaging through her room. Why is it that men never change, even after a hundred years?”
“...K-Kaien was the one who found it!”
“No excuses! Weren’t you the one looking at it?!”
After ratting out Kaien, I was unfairly smacked on the back of the head once more and had the erotic book confiscated.
“Just what is so great about these things that you make such a fuss… It’s nothing but lumps of fat drawn on scraps of paper. Is that why Shao Mei likes you?”
“No, that’s… that’s only part of Shao Mei’s charm…”
“Tsk tsk. So you can’t even deny that you like breasts? You lecherous fool.”
Following right after Kaien, the Heavenly Demon now began looking at me with eyes full of condemnation. I wanted to protest against that gaze, but when I thought about it calmly, I really was in a position where I deserved to be scolded.
“...More importantly, why did you have something like this hidden under your bed, Heavenly Demon?”
“It wasn’t hidden. It was displayed as decoration. Did you really think I would use these to pleasure myself?”
At those words, an image of the Heavenly Demon masturbating while looking at an erotic book flashed through my mind. A woman pleasuring herself alone while staring at pictures of large female breasts…
“Y-Yeah, I didn’t think you would.”
“...I want to hit you for having such a perverted imagination, but since my question earlier was poorly phrased, I’ll let it slide this time.”
The Heavenly Demon sighed and organized the erotic books before shoving them back under the bed. Just like before, she left them positioned so they were ‘slightly’ visible.
“The one who put these erotic books here… wasn’t me. It was my husband.”
At that, both Kaien and I looked at her with our breath caught in our throats. The Heavenly Demon gave a bitter smile as if she had expected that reaction and set the tray down.
“Hmph. Back when he was still a student, he was young. Even though he was engaged to me, he would read these books and hide them under the bed. I caught him and gave him a proper scolding.”
“...From what I heard from Shao Mei, you chased him for ten years before he agreed to marry you?”
“That’s a misunderstanding from my great-granddaughter and grandson! Shen and I were in love! In today’s terms, it was pure romance itself!”
“Ah… I see…”
“Why don’t you believe me! Are you daring to treat your master’s words as nonsense?!”
“No way, of course not.”
When the Heavenly Demon said something so hard to believe, I almost laughed inwardly. But seeing how fiercely she denied it, I couldn’t bring myself to argue and simply nodded along.
The Heavenly Demon pointed at me and huffed in frustration, but what could she do? It really was hard to believe… wait?
‘Huh? This reaction feels familiar.’
Wasn’t this exactly the same reaction Kaien had given me just moments ago…?
“...Why did such a pure and noble love get passed down as you stalking him, Heavenly Demon?”
“That’s a good question, Kaien. It’s because there were far too many women who fell for Shen. There were so many filthy wenches trying to take my place as his fiancée. They even said the legal wife position would be theirs.”
“Cough!”
The sudden chest-piercing remark from the Heavenly Demon made me choke on my green tea. A harem aiming for the legal wife position…? That sounded exactly like…
“The princess of the kingdom, the imperial princess, the health teacher, the vampire professor, even the daughter of the dwarf chief engineer and the successor of the orc great chieftain. You have no idea how many rivals there were. And in the Republic Federation, there was even the daughter of the Namgung family and that poisonous wench from the Tang family…”
“Cough! Cough!”
“...Artin, why do you keep coughing? Is the tea not agreeing with you? I specially prepared it using hundred-year-old Hao tree leaves.”
“No… the tea seems exceptionally good…”
I wiped the tea that was dripping down my chin with a handkerchief and forced a smile.
“Of course, I fought and defeated them all. In the end, I claimed Shen for myself, held the wedding, and built a family. The Heavenly Demon does not compromise in love, after all.”
“...T-That’s really impressive.”
For some reason, I was starting to feel a sense of kinship with the Heavenly Demon’s husband who had died over a hundred years ago. Just from listening, it seemed Shen had been born with an even worse woman-related disaster than me… Well, since he didn’t have regression, it must have been even more severe.
“...But despite all that, Shen left me far too early. That’s why even after undergoing pointless body reconstruction and rejuvenation, I’ve been living alone like this.”
The Heavenly Demon smiled bitterly. Hearing her story, the tea in our mouths suddenly tasted bitter as well. Seeing the faint sorrow that crept into her expression as she spoke happily about Shen just moments ago made my heart feel complicated.
“In a way, it was inevitable. At that time, the Demon King’s army was even more active than now, and Shen was incredibly righteous. He couldn’t tolerate injustice.”
“However, Shen… wasn’t as strong as his sense of justice. That’s why I always had to stay by his side… but on that day, the day I lost him, I couldn’t.”
“After repelling the attack of the Gluttonous One, Orcoph, one of the Seven Deadly’s subordinates, I returned to find Shen’s body. He had died protecting children in the city. I cried for three days and three nights.”
“And then, together with those who held him dear, I chased Orcoph for an entire month before finally cutting off his head and taking revenge.”
By now the teacup was empty, but I found myself completely absorbed in the Heavenly Demon’s story. Because those tales didn’t feel like someone else’s at all.
…When I died, what thoughts did my women have? How did they live on?
“I got my revenge, but the hole in my chest was never filled. All that remained were my husband’s corpse and our five-year-old son and two-year-old daughter.”
“...Heavenly Demon, how did you fill that empty void in your heart?”
Kaien, who had been listening quietly, asked the question. The Heavenly Demon gave a distant smile and refilled our empty cups.
“Does it look like I ever filled it?”
“...”
“I’m not trying to blame you. If it looks that way, it simply means that even someone like me, the Heavenly Demon, couldn’t overcome the oblivion of time like ordinary people.”
The Heavenly Demon took a piece of yokan from her bag, cut it, placed it on the table, picked one up, and chewed on it. Watching her, I could clearly tell. That empty wound remained exactly as it was even after a hundred years.
“One of the reasons I want to make you two stronger is because of this. I managed to defeat even a commander of the Demon King’s army and one of the Six Great Subordinates back then… but in the end, I couldn’t reach the Demon King. No, before that, my body had already begun rotting from the inside due to demonic energy. I could no longer endure lands filled with powerful demonic energy.”
“...So that’s why you retired from the Five Great Orders and went into seclusion?”
The Heavenly Demon nodded instead of answering and picked up another piece of yokan to chew on.
“You, the hero Kaien, and your companion Artin… will face far more dangerous situations than I did. The enemies aren’t limited to just the demon race, so you won’t be able to rest easy anywhere.”
“...”
“That’s why you need overwhelming power. At the very least, strength enough to crush me in my prime.”
When the Heavenly Demon finished speaking, I finally understood why she had been so insistent on taking me to the Republic Federation. With the unsealing of the Demon King approaching, the birth of the hero would soon reach the commanders and executives. They would constantly send subordinates to interfere with us, or perhaps appear themselves like in the Rose Pavilion incident to try to eliminate us.
Moreover, the Academy where countless people gathered would naturally attract spies within. Considering how I was poisoned in the second round and burned to death in the third, it was true that humans were among the most dangerous enemies to watch out for.
“If you stay by my side, at least my grandson and I can protect you. My grandson isn’t at my prime level, but he’s strong enough to face a commander.”
The Heavenly Demon had wanted to protect us from such dangers. She didn’t want her own great-granddaughter, Shao Mei, to experience the same sorrow she had.
“Even so, you still have no intention of going to the Republic Federation with me?”
“...Yes. I understand your intention, but unfortunately, there are already many precious people I care about here.”
“I see. Then it can’t be helped. I’ll just have to win the bet and take you with me.”
My firm yet determined answer made the Heavenly Demon nod without scolding me too harshly.
“...I thought you’d say you’d take me by force next.”
“Your eyes are those of someone who has made up their mind. People with a will that cannot be broken even by overwhelming power or death tend to have eyes like that.”
“Like your husband, Shen?”
“I don’t dislike disciples who catch on quickly.”
The Heavenly Demon smiled faintly and popped another piece of yokan into her mouth. The sorrow she had shown earlier seemed to have been neatly tucked away again, and her expression was now refreshingly bright.
“Very well then. I’ll train you as harshly as possible to make you stronger, so prepare yourself. Today’s training will feel like a warm-up compared to what I have in store for you.”
“...I’ll do my best to keep up.”
“Ho? I thought you’d grumble and resist again.”
“I know how to show respect to someone who’s working hard for my sake.”
“Hmph. You don’t seem completely hopeless after all.”
I grinned back at the Heavenly Demon. She might not be such a bad person after all.
“By the way, Master. May I ask you one thing?”
“What is it? Do you want to hear how I defeated a commander? Or perhaps a love story?”
“...What exactly does that yokan taste like?”
I pointed at the blue yokan the Heavenly Demon was about to put in her mouth. With its off-putting appearance, neither Kaien nor I had any desire to touch the stuff.
“This yokan? It has a refreshing, sweet aftertaste that clears the mouth. Wouldn’t you like to try some together?”
“...No, I’m fine. It’s almost time for dinner, and I’m not craving sweets right now.”
“Is that so? What a shame. It’s quite delicious.”
Of course, that was a lie. I was the kind of person who ate chocolate cake as an appetizer before meals and drank chocolate latte for dessert. Just from the description, it sounded like mint chocolate… So I decided to stick with sipping my tea instead.