TRUE LOVE...?
TRUE LOVE...?
006
In truth, the emotion of surprise had long decayed within me.
28-year-old cargo truck driver Kim Taeyoung was a driver, but he did not wield a sword.
Even though his mind had been worn down by shitty clients embezzling or abusing their power.
That is to say, he hadn't fought three days and nights straight against monsters coming to take his life like demonic fiends.
Therefore, under normal circumstances, there was hardly anything that could surprise me.
If I were to be surprised, it would be something like this.
"Mmmph- Mmmph-! Ehph-!"
"......"
The former Hero captured a high-ranking officer of the Demon Army alive.
Tied up tightly with ropes like a caterpillar, her appearance was ghastly.
She wriggled her body and desperately made noises like "mmmph-", but escaping was impossible.
"Yeah, Deron. Welcome back."
"What is that, Hero-nim?"
"Ah. I picked her up right in front of the house. She looked a bit suspicious."
Tremendous circumstances were surely condensed into those words.
...... However, I didn't particularly want to know.
Wriggle, wriggle—
"Mmmmmmph!!!"
For what reason the Demon Army executive hanging in place of a chandelier had been captured.
Whether Amelia actually knew that girl's identity.
Such curiosities were dismissed as somewhat trivial in the face of that pathetic sight.
"Shall I prepare dinner then?"
"Yeah, I already warmed up the bathwater!"
Aren't vampires originally similar to bats anyway?
Since she was just roughly hanging upside down in a high place, she had merely returned to her natural original state.
...... If I didn't think like that, I couldn't endure it.
"Ooh... mmm..."
"Quiet."
"Ooh."
That sorrowful sound echoing faintly was cut off by a single word from Amelia.
Truly, a magnificent authority.
Needless to say, the (former) Hero Party lost its authority.
Of course, officially, the position of Hero was passed down.
For the female knight 'Carmilla', who was one of the party's vanguards, was proclaimed the Hero and received the crest.
"...... Fuck, I really can't fucking do this."
"Naturally. I told you, that's not something just anyone can do, right—?"
However, she could not use the bestowed crest.
It was an already foreseen outcome.
"Unless a bitch is extraordinarily pure-headed, it's impossible. Amelia, that child was born pure, but you..."
"What about me? Are you saying I'm some fucking filthy bitch or something?"
"I didn't want to go that far, but... isn't it pretty much spot on?"
At that smirking face, Carmilla shot her a glaring look before putting away the crest.
"The others won't be able to use it anyway."
"Absolutely. Geralt-ssi is pure, but his direction is a bit different."
"Being empty-headed isn't what people call 'pure.'"
Thus, the position of Hero tentatively became vacant.
This was a fact known to only a few, but the aftermath struck faster than expected.
The manifestation of the Demon King.
As that news spread across the continent, they had no choice but to take action.
"Damn it, why of all times right now—!"
"You dumbass bastard! Snap out of it!"
But there was no way a Hero Party without a Hero could function properly.
Amelia's absence was immense.
The Hero who had endured those excruciating dangers alone on the battlefield until now was gone.
Although not known to the public, the empty spot left by Deron, who was practically at the level of a regular member, was also felt acutely.
The people recruited afterwards were strikingly inferior in quality.
Casualties began to occur in the Hero Party nearly every single day.
"Such a trash bastard. We should've thrown this bastard out long ago."
"Kugh... ughhhhh......"
Clang-!
Huu- Huuu-
A man of massive stature was rolling around on the floor.
Beaten black and blue to the point he couldn't even groan properly, all the members of the party were looking at him with cold detachment.
"Aaaaaah-! So annoying. That guy Deron had to act up without reading the room."
"Indeed. If Deron were here, the crest would've been useful too."
The Hero Party's brilliant military achievements were gradually losing their luster.
In reality, the Demon Army's influence was not all that grand.
Of course, the frequency of magical beasts overflowing from the demonic realms and strange phenomena had increased.
However, the outline of the so-called 'Demon Army' was far from clear.
An organized invasion did not exist.
Some questioned whether it even existed, giving rise to conspiracy theories that it was a smear campaign leaked by the Boltria Empire, which was the first to be attacked by the Demon Army.
Under such circumstances, the cause of this current pathetic state was obvious.
The former Hero Party was no longer the Kingdom's greatest asymmetric asset.
Ultimately, the current Queen was an accomplice in the matter, so the truth was being suppressed, but change had already begun.
The reorganization of new knight orders and the royal guard was becoming complex.
And that news was not delivered to any of the party members first.
They could not help but feel to their very core that a clear detachment from political power was being enacted.
Puk—!
"Kugh......"
Kick him one more time—and Geralt fainted, foaming at the mouth.
All recent abuse was being concentrated on him.
It seemed as though they might carry out a corpse any moment now, but nobody raised an issue.
Because that was how it had always been.
Of course, while they hadn't inflicted such overt violence on Deron as frequently (though they did occasionally), any way you looked at it, it was worse, not better.
Even back then, those were glorious times when the Hero Party functioned without issue.
Every single one of them was individually sensing it.
'...... Our time is running out. It might be better to back out quickly.'
'Worst-case scenario, I can just defect. I'll be next after that bastard anyway.'
'I want to cry. I miss my omma......'
"Ahhh— Deron was the hottest when I bullied him like this. I miss you, Deron. I miss seeing him grit his teeth and endure without complaining even when I intentionally healed him painfully. When I rearranged the positions of his ribs last time, that was the absolute best. Gritting his teeth to hold back his screams... How cute he was! Just thinking about that time makes me wet—"
"You dumb crazy bitch, don't say shit like that out loud."
"Ah, I did it without realizing."
...... In short, the former Hero Party was already heading toward catastrophe.
"Is he dead? Can't you revive him?"
"No matter how exceptional my holy power is, I can't do anything if the brain is crushed, you know—?"
"Useless piece of shit. I knew it."
"What do we do with the corpse, Carmilla?"
"You want us to collect garbage like that? Leave it!"
That became glaringly obvious three days later.
Geralt, the warrior of the Hero Party, did not return to the Kingdom.
Instead, that day, goblins inside a dungeon near the demonic realm managed to acquire a giant lump of meat.
981-year-old True Ancestor Venerable Charlotte had various hobbies.
In truth, the position of Great Duke of the Demon World was a position with damn near nothing to do.
The dukes of other territories might have had different circumstances, but at least for Charlotte, that was the case.
She was born from the bloodline of nobility from the very beginning.
Meaning she was already pre-designated as a Great Duke of the blood lineage from birth.
Consequently, her various hobbies saw her skills increase in proportion to the overflowing time she had.
Most notably, reading romance novels and fantasizing.
Stalking fresh young couples and fantasizing.
Secretly sponsoring the two of them, enjoying herself, and fantasizing...
The fact that such things occupied 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place was a secret known only to her close aides, but—
"...... Oh, impressive."
"Something of this level is nothing, you know!"
Her hobbies ranked 4th and below had also long passed the level of ordinary experts.
'Cooking', ranked 6th among Charlotte's hobbies, was also at a level sufficient to elicit admiration.
"You're good at cleaning and laundry too. You're definitely useful, aren't you?"
"...... It's a little sad that my usefulness is limited to that level though, yeo."
Venerable Charlotte was displaying a look of regret suitable for her age on her face for the first time in a while.
From the perspective of one who had spent most of her life living as the noble Great Duke of the Demon World, such treatment was so very unfamiliar.
But on the other hand, it was a relief.
In any case, this too was Deron's mercy.
Thanks to that, she was able to prove her usefulness not as a moving chandelier on the cabin's ceiling, but as 'Maid Rotty'.
"At this level, I can hire you. Passed."
"Woo.ow.ah.ah—"
Charlotte clapped her hands dryly while making a face as if her soul had been completely drained.
However, the moment her eyes met Amelia's, that soul instantly returned.
"Woooahhh! I'm really so happy, yeo!"
"......"
What on earth was done to her?
Deron pushed aside Charlotte, who was clapping her hands so hard they might catch fire.
"Maid. Go clean up the front yard a bit."
"I'll be right back, yeo!"
Charlotte zipped off as if being outside was preferable.
For the record, a curse binding cast by Amelia was already left on her body.
Meaning that if Amelia set her mind to it, escaping was absolutely impossible.
Click—
Thus the door closed.
Amelia and Deron looked at each other.
"......"
"......"
Silence for a while.
The one who broke it was Amelia.
"...... I'm sorry."
"Well, no. People can be like that sometimes."
"Still. Even if that was a real date... who am I to interrogate you?"
Amelia flushed red with a shamefaced expression.
Though it appeared no different from usual, Amelia was genuinely embarrassed.
"No, I... just. Because I was worried! You haven't dated anyone until now either, Deron."
"I heard everything earlier. I told you I understand, Hero-nim."
In summary, Amelia revealed her inner feelings to Deron.
Of course, she didn't spill everything.
The totality of those feelings was such a gigantic, sticky desire that her mind could not tolerate exposing such a massive flaw.
Only a fraction of it.
Even with just that, Deron could summarize Amelia's state of mind in a single word.
Possessiveness.
There might be various factors that caused it, but that was not particularly important.
I made her like that.
Deron clearly recognized this.
The Hero Amelia had to depend on and be obsessed with her former companion Deron.
All the design for that was his life after possession.
So this current reaction, even if slightly more intense than originally expected, was in a good direction.
'I really am a trash bastard.'
By his own assessment, the other party members almost looked like noble gentlemen in comparison.
Amelia's desire to possess Deron.
It was he himself who had induced it.
She was mistaken, but in reality, the Hero's life was conversely being controlled by him.
If at any moment Deron were to become the Hero's, that too would be a part of his control.
"When the sun rises, the stars do not shine."
".....?"
At those out-of-the-blue words, Amelia wore a puzzled expression.
But from the content that followed, she could realize his true meaning.
"To me, the sun has always been you, Hero-nim. Being born and raised in the same chapel as you, Hero-nim, was my pride. Through that alone, I didn't consider having no parents to be a flaw."
"Ah......"
"Every morning, I get to be with my sun. With what kind of feelings do you think I greet each day?"
"......"
According to Lahel's (alias) mention, these were words belonging to 'an outdated, antique way of talking' or 'an old-fashioned, unpleasant flirting style'.
But Amelia felt all those words slowly soaking into her heart like spring rain.
'...... I am trash.'
Deron recalled that fact once more.
She was a twenty-two-year-old woman who had spent her entire life solely dedicated to training.
Plunged into the abyss of life and suffering in agony, with what kind of eyes would she look upon the man who appeared and reopened the world for her?
Anyway, meeting one's first love well was also one of life's luckiest blessings.
However, his thoughts ended entirely kept within his own mind.
What appeared on the surface was a boy expressing reverence, and a girl holding back her desire toward that boy.
Before long, Deron and Amelia embraced each other.
Plainly simple, an appearance no different from that of close friends.
"Th-That... isn't he a complete piece of trash, yeo—"
But it was also a moment where passion so glaringly obvious accompanied them that a certain True Ancestor through the window gap gasped in shock.
It was scary enough that she could not endure it without voicing her condemnation of that pathetic mess out loud.
As someone with roughly 900 years of experience as a romance novel reader, she could declare with absolute certainty.
"I'm getting scared, yeo......"
981-year-old Venerable Charlotte shuddered at the wickedness of humanity.
Gremory, wouldn't it be better to give up on conquering the continent altogether?