196
I Killed the Demon King. It Was a Mistake.
Chapter 196
Raven found Agatha's anger unpleasant.
Raven's reason for joining the demon realm war wasn't simply for greed like Mitchell.
Raven understood well the responsibility that comes with having great power.
Raven believed that strong power shouldn't be shelved like sleeping books in a library, but should be used in the right direction, and that direction was the demon realm.
"Really? Then you must know that you also have responsibility, Agatha."
"What do you mean?"
"For the past 200 years, you've been feeding on humans' energy and blood, plundering them. Some died from having their blood drained, others went insane from having their energy stolen while sleeping. Do you have anything to say to those people?"
Raven was repeating exactly what Arang had said in the past.
However, when Raven said it, it had a different impact than when Arang said it.
Because Raven was human, not a beast people.
Blood vessels appeared in Agatha's eyes.
"So you're saying you attacked the demon realm because you felt sorry for the people we killed? No, you started this war because you wanted our damn magic stone mines."
"Do you think soldiers gathered because we advertised 'We must kill all demons to mine the magic stone mines'? Unlike vampires, humans are capable of empathy. They gathered after hearing about the unimaginably high number of people who died horribly from having their blood drained and energy stolen, understanding the severity of the problem. I'm one of them!"
"So that's why you were so angry that you tortured, violated, and trampled our friends? If you waged war for such noble reasons, you shouldn't have defiled us. Why don't you go outside the castle right now and ask the succubi planting flowers? See if you can still say that after hearing what happened in that hell of a prison camp?"
Caesar thought this was an issue that had to explode eventually.
To be honest, neither demons nor humans had done anything right.
Demons continuously plundered humanity and lived off it, while humans defiled and tortured demons.
That's why Caesar thought they should stop here before emotional wounds deepened further.
"Wait. You're both too excited."
"Caesar, what do you think? Do you really think we demons did something so wrong that we deserved to be defiled by humans? Do you think my mother deserved to die like that?"
Raven couldn't hold back either and snapped at Caesar.
"Barre! You know why Yan decided to become a hero, right? His entire village was burned down by demons and he lost his family in an instant. Didn't that story affect you at all?"
BANG!
Caesar slammed the table.
The table split in two, spilling tea and dishes.
Raven and Agatha stepped back in surprise.
Caesar spoke while suppressing his boiling anger.
"What are you two trying to do with me?"
Raven fell silent at the low, calm anger flowing from Caesar's body.
"Are you asking me to judge who did better or worse? So if I say one side did well, that makes it right, and if I say they did poorly, that makes it wrong? Is that what you want?"
Caesar wiped the spilled tea from his hands with a towel.
"I'm not as great as you think I am. I just have enough stability now to look around me. That's why I could listen to how hard it was for you, Agatha, and empathize with Yan's pain."
"And do you think I came here to judge right from wrong? Or for the magic stone mines? The mines are secondary. I came because I don't want humans and demons fighting anymore. Of course, even humans fight among themselves at every opportunity, so how could different species not fight? But at this rate, one side will have to be completely destroyed, and I don't want that."
At that moment, tears fell from Agatha's eyes.
"Caesar..."
Agatha's eyes, full of grief, were directed at Raven.
"But these people killed my mother and tortured my sister..."
Agatha's sadness pierced deep into Raven's heart.
The emotion was so sharp and intense it made him nauseous.
"Caesar, I didn't tell you anything about the shipwreck island because I didn't want you to worry, but that island was hell. The cold sea wind and hunger weren't even the main problems. We could endure those somehow."
"But the humiliation and shame experienced by the rescued succubi and vampires remained in their dreams, tormenting them every day. The echoes of those painful screams and resentment resonated every night and tormented me."
Through Caesar's psychometry, he could hear the crying sounds Agatha had heard.
Those cries spread out, rode the waves back, and remained on the shipwreck island for a long time.
"Some friends couldn't bear the shame and committed suicide by jumping off cliffs, and others tried to endure without absorbing energy until they finally turned into devils. I had to kill my friends who became devils myself, and I had to collect their bodies and give them funerals."
Blood dripped from Agatha's palm.
Her nails had dug into her palm.
"So how can I not seek revenge... Caesar..."
Agatha burst into tears like a child.
"What am I supposed to do then? What about my poor mother? What about my friends! They come to me in dreams every night crying for help, what am I supposed to do!"
Aaaaaaaah!
Agatha, unable to bear her grief, rushed to Caesar.
Caesar could not avoid Agatha who came crashing into him with his whole body.
Agatha entered Caesar's arms and cried like a child.
The sorrow flowing from Agatha's hot body became Caesar's.
Caesar did not turn off his psychometry.
Agatha did not want that.
Agatha wanted him to deeply empathize with the sorrow she experienced.
Caesar stroked Agatha's head.
Caesar went deep, and deeper into Agatha's heart.
The death of mother and the death of friends.
And the sound of resentment sweeping across the shipwrecked island was fading away.
Only Agatha's pent-up resentment remained and infected Caesar.
"You've been through a lot."
Aaaaah!
"You've been through so much."
Caesar gently stroked her hair like Agatha's mother used to do.
He patted her small back and buried his nose in her hair.
And he hugged her until she might break.
"I... I was so struggling, Caesar. If it weren't for you... If it weren't for you, I couldn't have done anything."
Agatha hugged Caesar's waist tight enough to break.
"Thank you so much. That's why it's hard."
Until now, Caesar had supported and helped Agatha's dream.
But when he reproached Agatha's sorrow, it was hard to endure.
"I wish you felt the same as my heart."
For a moment, Caesar's heart hurt as if it was being squeezed.
"I wish you would stay by my side."
At the same time, his body felt weak.
This was such a familiar feeling.
'This is...'
Caesar looked at Agatha's horns.
Agatha's black horns were starting to turn white.
From those white horns, he felt the presence of the previous Demon King who had commanded him.
"You are..."
Caesar was deeply drawn to Agatha.
He tried to break off the psychometry but it wasn't easy.
Caesar had fallen too deeply into Agatha.
Then, Caesar and Agatha were suddenly pushed away.
When Agatha was suddenly pushed away, she looked at Caesar with blank eyes.
"...Huh?"
Caesar also couldn't understand why he was pushed away.
Raven stepped between Caesar and Agatha and said.
"Both of you come to your senses. Especially you, Agatha."
Raven's green eyes were burning fiercely.
"Do you know you just used charm magic on Caesar?"
"What? I, I did?"
"Yes. And you tried to control Caesar."
Agatha looked at Caesar with surprised eyes.
"N-no. I really didn't do it on purpose."
"I know, Agatha."
Caesar turned off his psychometry while calming his trembling heart.
"I know you really didn't do it on purpose."
That's why Caesar felt dizzy for the first time with Agatha.
It was because of the thought that the young Demon King's immaturity might break him.
"Let's take some time to think for now."
"...Okay. I'm sorry, Caesar."
"No."
Caesar turned his back and escaped from Agatha as if running away.
Because if he looked at Agatha, he might want to stay by her side as she had asked.
***
Caesar left the succubi castle and headed to the flower garden. From afar, vampires were busily building their own houses, while succubi were tending to the flowers. Caesar sat on a nearby bench and blankly stared at the beach.
'That was dangerous.'
Just now it was really dangerous. He could have easily been led astray by Agatha. It would likely get worse from here on, not better.
'Now I understand why Elijah never appeared before the Demon King.'
If the Demon King had tried to control Elijah, the tide of the demon realm war would have completely turned. That's probably why Elijah intentionally stayed hidden during the demon realm war. Though Agatha is fine now, if she tries to control Caesar... The current Caesar has no way to respond.
'What should I do about this...'
He thought he just needed to negotiate with Agatha and return, but now he's embraced another problem. Just as he was wondering if he really needed to go on a journey to find Flawless, a woman as quiet as a cat sat beside Caesar.
"Are you okay?"
Caesar took a deep breath while looking at the magnificent garden before speaking.
"For now. By the way, thank you. If it weren't for you, something quite serious could have happened."
"You should think carefully about meeting Agatha one-on-one for a while, Caesar."
"Yeah. I didn't expect things to turn out like this at all."
"...By the way, does she usually cry so easily?"
Does she cry well...
The fundamental question behind this would be different.
She's probably asking if Agatha is such an emotional person.
Like when they met the beast people, Raven felt her preconceptions gradually breaking down.
She had thought demon race were a race that held unconditional hostility toward humans, but now she learned they cry, laugh, and love too.
No, to be more precise, her heart must be complicated after realizing they're not much different from humans.
"The Agatha I've known was like that. Though of course, after becoming queen, she holds back her tears because she needs to be strong."
Raven looked at her feet with a subtle expression.
"To humans, succubus and vampires are like living disasters."
Raven recalled the battlefields attacked by Monmas and vampires.
Surprisingly, battlefields swept by blood-drinking vampires didn't smell of blood.
Because the vampires had completely drained all human blood, there was more ash smell than blood smell.
Battlefields attacked by life force-draining succubus were quiet.
There was no need for much fighting since they quietly drained soldiers' life force by entering their dreams as they slept at night.
The people of Friedrich's borderlands, who had to experience this for over 200 years, couldn't help but hate succubi and vampires.
"No one likes earthquakes or typhoons. Similarly, no one likes succubi and vampires. They are fear itself."
That's why there was little resistance when war was declared on the demon realm.
People were relieved at the possibility of escaping the terror of succubi and vampires.
"But now I'm not so sure..."
Succubi shed tears and vampires have aesthetic sense.
Once Raven recognized them as 'humans' rather than monsters or beasts, her heart hit the brakes.
It was clear that from now on, whenever Raven faced succubi and vampires, Agatha's tears would follow like a nightmare.
"Caesar, what exactly do you want? What are you plotting?"
"What do you mean?"
"I understand wanting to regularly supply magic stones through deals with demon race. I also get wanting to prevent war between demons and humans."
Raven focused on the magic waves emanating from Caesar's body.
"But that can't be all. Your picture can't end here. What is it you really want?"
"You already know."
Having seen this much, Raven must understand.
Succubi and vampires are working together to build castles, construct walls, create villages, and tend flower gardens.
Given a little more time, the cold-hearted vampires will create their own art pieces and show them off, bragging about whose work is better.
The Succubi too will serve their queen and set their own goals to work toward.
In other words, they too have lives and culture like humans.
"Through exchanges between demon race and humans, I want to show that demon race are equal beings to humans. Going further, I want to make humans and demon race coexist peacefully."
Vampires unavoidably need blood to live, and Succubi need life force to survive.
If this can somehow be regulated, humans and demon race can coexist peacefully.
And through this coexistence, they can also prevent the devils of Niflheim from conquering the world.
"I want to completely eliminate the term 'demon race.' I want to group everyone under the single large category of 'human.'"
After hearing Caesar's dream, Raven seemed deep in thought.
"...I'll think about it."
Raven stood up and headed alone toward the coastal cliff.
She probably needs time to organize her thoughts.
Caesar decided to give Raven time alone.
***
Soon after Raven left, a man approached Caesar.
"Did your talk with Queen Agatha go well?"
As expected, it was Borden.