The 71st Demon King, Part 3
The village was bathed in the warm, golden glow of the setting sun.
"Thank you!"
Finn, a young Pathfinder, stuffed his purchases into his backpack and set off once more.
Wait, what was I planning to buy?
His memory suddenly grew hazy. He stopped in his tracks.
What was I trying to get...?
Just then, a flower on a nearby stall caught his eye. It was a beautiful, translucent white blossom.
That's...
Drawn as if possessed, he walked toward it.
Sensing his approach, the young girl behind the stall spoke up.
"Are you interested in the hyacinths?"
"Hyacinths?"
That was apparently the name of the flower. Even from a short distance, its sweet fragrance began to drift over him.
They look just like her.
They bore a striking resemblance to the image of the girl painted in his mind.
"How much for a single stem?"
"One copper coin per stem."
"Then... could I buy the whole bouquet?"
The girl's face lit up instantly.
"Of course!"
She gathered a bundle of the White Hyacinths, carefully arranging them before tying them together and handing them to Finn.
"Thank you."
"Um, do you want to know what they mean?"
"Huh?"
"It looks like you're planning to give them to someone special."
Finn's ears flushed a bright crimson. That reaction alone was more than enough of an answer.
"It means 'the happiness of love.' That's the language of white hyacinths."
"The happiness of love?"
"To be precise, it means 'the happiness of loving you comfortably.' I'm still too young to really get what that means, though."
The happiness of loving you comfortably...
The phrase resonated deeply within him. Clutching the bouquet of white hyacinths tightly, he bowed slightly to the girl.
"Thank you for telling me."
He wanted to give them to her as soon as possible. Lost in these thoughts, he was passing by the empty square when—
Oh?
There she was. Fair, delicate skin and hair as transparent as ice. She looked so much like the flowers in his hand.
"Wy... ss...?"
The voice rising to call her name died in his throat.
Wyss didn't seem to hear him. However, the boy sitting beside her turned his head and looked straight at him.
What is this?
Why was Wyss with that brat... and why was she making that kind of face? His head began to spin.
Why?
She was showing that brat, Alan, an expression she had never once shown him. Panic seized him.
Instinctively, he hid the flowers behind his back.
There's no way.
Even as he denied it, his feet were already taking him backward.
Only then did Wyss seem to notice his presence, turning her head to look at him.
"Finn?"
He didn't understand what was happening, but one thing was absolutely certain: this was not the right time to give her the flowers. And so, he chose to run away.
What was that about?
Watching Finn flee, a sudden, ominous foreboding washed over me. I chased after him out of the square, but he had already vanished.
"Alan? Wasn't that Finn just now?"
Wyss asked, catching up to me a moment later. I nodded.
When I had turned my head at the sudden sound of someone calling Wyss's name, Finn had been standing there. But for some reason, he had bolted the instant our eyes met.
And in his hand, there was definitely...
A bouquet of flowers. Specifically, the white flowers currently discarded in the nearby bushes.
Could it be...?
***
"Damn it! Fuck! Idiot!"
Having run a safe distance away, he spat out a string of curses.
Why did I run away?
No matter how much he thought about it, there had been no reason to flee like a coward. Wyss was bound to think he was weird now.
There's no way Wyss would like a little brat like him.
He was the one who had saved her. He had every right to stand tall and confess his feelings.
Yet, a momentary lapse in judgment had ruined everything.
Why did I do that?
It wasn't just this time, either. Lately, he couldn't understand himself. He kept doing things that made absolutely no sense.
Things that make no sense?
What kind of things? Suddenly, his mind went blank, and he couldn't remember. It was as if those memories belonged to a dream he'd had long ago.
"Ugh..."
Something was wrong. He quickly scanned his surroundings. Where even was he?
Wait.
Only then did he realize where he was standing. A desolate ruin where dark, hazy particles drifted through the air. He was outside the barrier.
When did I get here?
Suddenly, his wrist felt strangely light. He lifted his arm to check. The bracelet that should have been resting there was gone.
"Are you insane?!"
How could he have wandered outside the barrier without a Holy Relic? As an ordinary human without a Stigma, he wouldn't last more than a few seconds out here without protection. It was a miracle he hadn't already mutated into a Chaos Beast.
I have to go back!
Looking around, he realized he had wandered quite far from the safety of the barrier. He tried to scramble back in a panic, but his legs tangled, and he tumbled hard onto the ground.
"Gah! *Pant, pant!*"
He was going to die. He was absolutely going to die. Terrified, he thrashed pathetically on the dirt. But as he lay there rolling around, his panic began to subside, and cold logic returned.
Why am I not dying?
He had no sacred relic, nor did he possess a Stigma. Yet, he felt perfectly fine.
Why?
It was at that exact moment.
He whipped his head around at the sudden voice, but there was no one in sight. And yet, the voice sounded incredibly familiar.
This is...
A sharp pain throbbed in his temples. Suddenly, a flood of memories began to resurface.
"How much is this?"
"Oh, dear. I don't sell that separately."
"Would ten copper coins be enough?"
"Forget it. Just take it!"
"Thank you!"
Why on earth did I buy a pig's heart? What was I going to use it for?
"By the way, about the bandits outside the barrier disappearing recently... I heard a rumor that a Hero did it. Is that true?"
"According to the guests, a Hero was indeed staying at our inn recently. I think they called him the Rose Hero? Apparently, he's quite famous."
"A famous Hero? Is he still at the inn?"
"No, he already left."
"I see. I wanted to thank him..."
This conversation didn't seem strange at first. No, wait—thinking about it now, it was incredibly bizarre. Why would I want to thank him...? He knew his own personality well. He was timid. He was absolutely not the type of person who would dare to approach a Hero just to "thank" them.
Just when did this start?
When did he begin acting so strangely? The moment that question crossed his mind, another foreign memory rushed in.
"Um, are you okay?"
"What's your name?"
"Wyss? That's a pretty name."
"But how did you end up collapsed out here?"
It was the memory of saving Wyss and carrying her on his back. For some reason, it was a memory that had been hazy until now. And the mystery was solved instantly.
"Wyss? Something sharp touching my neck..."
Only then did he realize who the voice belonged to. Wyss? Is that you?
The discarded flowers and a fleeing Finn...
I turned back to look at Wyss. The girl who had been crying just moments ago was gone, replaced once again by her usual, politely pleasant facade.
She's definitely suspicious.
What on earth did Finn see before he ran? A thought struck me: perhaps he had witnessed Wyss trying to do something to me. At that moment, my suspicions about Wyss solidified into near certainty.
I don't care about her tragic backstory or losing her home.
I prepared to open my inventory.
If she really is a Demon King, I have no choice but to kill her.
I would strike her down in a single blow before she even had a chance to resist. I had spent a long time honing a technique specifically for this.
I was just about to draw the Gravitus Replicant.
Hm?
Something on Wyss's forearm caught my eye. It was an ornately patterned bracelet. It didn't look like an ordinary piece of jewelry, especially given the sigil engraved right in the center.
Isn't that a design often found in ancient ruins?
I immediately cast Item Appraisal on the bracelet. As expected, an item information window popped up.
Type: Accessory (Bracelet)
Grade: 1-Star Sacred Relic
A sacred relic excavated from the ruins of the Basil Region by a Pathfinder. It constantly emits a gentle, subtle warmth.
I hadn't expected this. A sacred relic?
The mere existence of this item shattered every single suspicion I had built up against Wyss. After all, Demon Kings and sacred relics were fundamentally incompatible; it was physically impossible for a Demon King to wear one.
"Wyss, that bracelet you're wearing."
"My bracelet? What about it?"
Wyss lifted her arm, displaying the band. She seemed genuinely clueless.
"Have you been wearing that all along?"
"Oh, you only just noticed! I've been wearing it since last week..."
"No, I mean, were you wearing it when you first regained consciousness outside the barrier?"
"Ah."
She shook her head.
"No, Finn gave this to me outside the barrier. I was barely conscious, but I clearly remember him slipping this onto my wrist."
Of course. That explained it. Now, only one final question remained.
"Wyss, do you remember when Finn saved you?"
"When he saved me? I remember being carried on his back, but..."
"What about before that? Do you remember your very first encounter with him?"
Wyss hesitated, biting her lip. Finally, she spoke.
"...Please don't tell Finn. But actually... I don't have any memory of that."
With that, everything clicked into place.
There are two Wysses right now.
First, the innocent, oblivious Wyss standing right in front of me. And second...
the Demon King Wyss, currently parasitizing Finn.
***
The 71st Demon King possessed the ability to shift forms through a specific power. That power was none other than Parasite.
By infecting a host through their blood, the Demon King could slowly take over their mind and body, eventually claiming them entirely.
The real problem is that it leaves absolutely no trace.
Because the assimilation process was so gradual, those around the host would never notice a thing. Furthermore, even after the parasite migrated to a new host, the previous host suffered no major side effects other than some hazy memories, allowing them to resume their normal life.
Left unchecked in the game, the 71st Demon King would eventually go so far as to possess the king of an entire nation.
Its raw combat power isn't very high right now, but if it manages to seize the body of a Hero, it's a completely different story.
That was why I had wanted to eliminate it as quickly as possible. However, the problem had started when I wiped out the bandits.
In the original game, the presence of the bandits kept the village's Pathfinders from venturing outside the barrier. Consequently, the body the Demon King chose to scout the village belonged to an outsider associated with those bandits.
Since outsiders rarely visited a remote village like this, I had planned to simply wait for that traveler at the inn. But that plan had crumbled the moment Wyss and Finn appeared.
Wyss, the outsider, and Finn, who had already made contact with her.
Moreover, Wyss's claim of coming from the Ice Valley only added credibility to my theory. In the game, the 71st Demon King's origin was indeed described as the ruined Ice Valley.
Thus, the crucial question was whether the 71st Demon King was still inside Wyss, or if it had already jumped to Finn. I had spent the past week trying to figure that out. I didn't want to kill an innocent person, and acting rashly might have tipped off the Demon King.
Until recently, I had no choice but to suspect Wyss.
For someone who had lost her home, she had adapted far too quickly. Her almost unnatural kindness was bound to raise red flags. But as it turned out, I had finally learned the real reason behind her behavior.
And now, I have definitive proof that she isn't the Demon King.
I still didn't know why Finn had run away. But seeing him flee and immediately jumping to the conclusion that Wyss was about to do something malicious to me made me feel a bit guilty. Wyss had opened her heart to me, yet I had doubted her, even if only for a moment.
In any case, if the Demon King isn't inside Wyss...
Then there was only one candidate left.
I had to stop Finn, and fast. By now, he was likely almost finished with his preparations to breach the barrier.