209
I Killed the Demon King. It Was a Mistake.
Chapter 209
Gloria felt like a scalpel was stuck in her heart, making it difficult to breathe properly.
However, the scalpel was stopped above Gloria's stomach.
Raum smiled seeing Gloria's frightened expression.
"Yes! Yes! This is it! Now your expression is much better."
Gloria spoke as if straining her voice.
"...Stop spouting nonsense."
"Want some advice? When you curse with such a frightened expression, many people think it makes them look strong. But it doesn't. Like an insect struggling in a spider web, it looks weak and stimulates the sadistic tendencies of people like me."
Raum cut off Gloria's shirt buttons with the scalpel.
Gloria twisted her entire body, desperately trying to break free from the leather belt.
Raum was satisfied with Gloria struggling like a freshly caught fish.
"Want to hear an interesting story? I noticed you like listening to stories."
"...Stop talking nonsense and just kill me."
"Once there was a little child. Like other unfortunate children, they simply didn't have a mother or father. But this child was a bit more unfortunate than other unfortunate children. This child was captured and forced to work in an underground secret farm operated by the Dre Order."
Raum opened Gloria's shirt.
Raum smiled while caressing Gloria's smooth stomach.
Gloria's face turned pale from shame and fear.
"You know the holy oil that knights use? It's made by extracting oil from blue afterlife flowers that only bloom in ancient ruins under the Dre Order. But the problem was that to reach the blue afterlife flowers' habitat, you had to pass through underground passages so narrow that only children aged 4-7 could barely pass through."
"So they took orphans like me and made us pick the blue afterlife flowers to bring back. Of course, this was done in utmost secrecy, even from the knights themselves. It was to hide that blue afterlife flowers were the raw material for holy oil, and to avoid scandal about the Dre Order forcing orphans into forced labor."
Raum whispered into Gloria's ear while snickering.
"So here's a question, what happened to children who grew too old to enter the narrow passages?"
"...I don't know."
"How can you not know? Don't you know how evil humans are? They killed them all."
Raum took off his hood.
When Raum's face hidden under the hood was revealed, Gloria swallowed hard.
Five horns symbolizing devils had sprouted on his head, but more horrifying than that was Raum's face.
Raum's face was melted to the point of being barely recognizable.
His nose was not visible, and his right eye was only half-open, pressed down by melted flesh.
"They handed us poison, deceiving us by saying it was sleeping medicine. At the time, I happened to discover it was poison and pretended to take it but spat it out later to survive. I thought I could escape by hiding among my already dead friends and sneaking away."
"But I didn't know how the Dre Order disposed of corpses. They threw all the bodies into an incinerator and burned them. When I was thrown into the incinerator, I ran away to survive. But in the process, my face melted and my whole body was burned."
Raum placed the scalpel on Gloria's stomach.
"Isn't it funny? The humans who claimed to have the noble duty of protecting people from devils committed such horrible murders under the most sacred order."
The scalpel gently dug into Gloria's stomach.
"Aaaaagh!"
"After that, I set my own rule. Take revenge on the Dre Order. And torment those vile Dre Order priests and knights who deceived us by promising money and schooling if we worked until age 8, until the day they die."
The scalpel stopped.
"But you're neither a Dre Order knight nor a priest, right?"
Raum removed the scalpel.
"What revenge would I take on you? That would violate my rule. Unlike those Dre Order bastards, I'm someone who keeps his promises well."
Raum took out a photograph from inside his clothes.
"But this guy is different. We have our own hierarchy and a king we want to be loyal to. I have my own vision too. Why am I suddenly talking about vision? This guy harmed the vision of Niflheim's king, Lord Belial, and myself."
Gloria looked at the photograph carefully.
It was Caesar.
"I want to capture this guy alive and present him to Lord Belial. So I'd like you to cooperate a little."
Gloria now understood why she was still alive.
He was planning to use Gloria as bait to catch Caesar.
"...Just kill me instead."
"Oh... Not bad. Your spirit is still alive. As expected of a knight."
Raum stroked Gloria's cheek.
"But that's not what I want. I want you to be more princess-like. You know, like the princess trapped in a castle that often appears in fairy tales? A very attractive bait that lures the prince to the castle despite knowing it's full of traps and a terrifying dragon lives there."
Raum whispered in Gloria's ear.
"Ah, are you worried that Caesar might abandon you? Afraid that the prince might get scared and run away first?"
Gloria's eyes trembled.
Raum gently stroked Gloria's hair and said.
"Yes, it's maddening, isn't it? You want Caesar to come save you, but you don't want him to come to such a dangerous place. Yet if he doesn't come to rescue you, it feels like abandonment and it's so painful, this desperate and contradictory emotion! Humans who have such feelings don't have them because they possess noble will."
Purple magic gathered in Raum's thumb.
"It's because you love the person who will come to save you."
Unlike before, Raum smiled deeply while looking at Gloria who couldn't make any response.
"You really have no idea how much that love can torment you. Hehehehe..."
When Raum's thumb touched Gloria's forehead, Gloria's wall eyes slowly turned purple.
***
Around the time when the rain stopped and shadows began to fall in the forest, Caesar was able to arrive at the place where Gloria and Maru had fought with the puppet.
"..."
Caesar saw pieces of Gloria's chainsaw sword scattered on the ground.
The chainsaw sword was completely trampled and broken beyond recognition.
"Damn it."
Why didn't he think to follow Gloria?
He clearly heard news that Raum's puppet was discovered in the Beast People's Forest, so why did he abandon her...
At that moment, Caesar's eyes caught sight of a corpse.
It was a corpse with a hole pierced right through the middle of its chest.
Blood vessels were protruding from the holes in both hands, feet, and chest.
And for some reason, the heart was thrown outside and burned to a pulp.
It was the puppet that Gloria and Maru had killed.
And next to it was a broken broadsword stuck in the ground.
'...This is strange.'
This Raum left too many traces.
Both Raum and all devils usually try to erase their traces to avoid being tracked by holy knights.
But he openly left the chainsaw sword and his puppet behind.
Caesar looked around more carefully.
There were really many traces of trampled grass around here.
Too many footprints were left heading south from where at least 10 people had stayed.
"This is clearly bait."
Caesar touched the trampled grass traces and used psychometry.
Then puppets carrying the unconscious Gloria heading south unfolded before Caesar's eyes.
'She's not dead yet.'
As long as she's alive, that's enough.
If she's just alive, he can save her somehow.
Caesar spoke to the coordinate receiver.
"Raven, I need your help."
***
Raum looked down at Gloria, who was having nightmares while sweating.
Initially, the reason for bringing Gloria was purely because of Caesar.
It was a judgment that using Gloria would make it easy to kill Caesar.
The doppelganger he saw before had no humanity at all, but based on Caesar's actions so far, he pursued justice and had a strong sense of responsibility.
Of course, if all of Caesar's actions so far were actually just an act and his essence was closer to an emotionless machine, he wouldn't even blink if Gloria was taken hostage.
But even if that were the case, it wouldn't matter.
"How beautiful."
Gloria was extremely beautiful by Raum's aesthetic standards.
Why do people like flowers?
Isn't it just because they're beautiful?
Raum felt he could be satisfied just by obtaining the beautiful flower that was Gloria, even if he couldn't get Caesar.
When Raum stroked Gloria's face, one puppet squirmed.
Raum looked at the squirming puppet.
"What? Are you worried I might defile this woman?"
The puppet could only glare at Raum with its eyes but couldn't say anything.
It was because Raum hadn't allowed it.
"How long has it been since you became my doll? 1 month? No, has it been more than two weeks?"
When Raum touched the puppet's mouth, its words burst out.
"Ten days! You devil who deserves to die!"
"Only ten days? That's why you don't know what kind of person I am. I understand completely."
"You devil! Release that woman right now! Don't you know that all your evil deeds are being recorded in detail on Goddess Dre's parchment? On the day you die, you will suffer all the evil deeds you committed until the day you die...!"
Raum touched the guy's mouth again.
This made him unable to move his tongue.
"How pitiful are you all who truly believe in the goddess."
Some holy knights stirred at Raum's blasphemy.
"If there is a goddess, why doesn't she strike me down with divine punishment?"
As Raum gestured, the puppets raised their hands to cover their noses and mouths.
"Why am I stronger than you who claim I am so evil, and why are you being toyed with by me?"
As Raum choked off their breath, their faces gradually turned purple.
Some puppets' eyes began to roll back.
"Is there anyone who can answer? No one?"
Raum gestured again.
Then they all gasped for breath heavily.
"There is no goddess. You poor things. I realized that truth when I was 8 years old. When I was whipped by those vicious priests and the filthy hot flames of the garbage incinerator burned my skin, I already knew that no goddess existed in this world. If there was a goddess, she wouldn't have inflicted such cruel punishment on me who had done nothing wrong, would she?"
Raum gestured again.
Then some puppets flinched.
Raum sneered at the puppets trembling in fear at his gesture.
"Then why am I stronger than you and why can I toy with you?"
Raum lovingly caressed the horns on his head.
"It's because I am superior to you. The species itself is different. I too was once human like you, but I was chosen by the holy magic and reborn as a new human. Just as you control flocks of sheep and raise pigs, we were born to rule over you."
Raum looked at Gloria again.
Even in this darkness, her appearance shone brilliantly.
"That's why I know very well how to manage beauty better than you. Do you know why people press flowers between book pages? Because they know that beauty eventually fades and loses its luster over time. So they crush flowers between book pages and confine them tightly to preserve that beauty for a long time."
Raum gestured.
Then footsteps could be heard coming from outside the cave.
"But I'm not like that. I neither crush beauty nor let it fade away with the flow of time."
The puppets' eyes naturally turned to a woman entering the cave.
When they saw her face, all the puppets trembled.
Long golden hair that shone brilliantly as if melted gold, a straight nose, and deep blue eyes like lakes.
Even the beauty mark that made her beauty even more perfect.
Would there be any holy knights who didn't know her face?
She was the knight who held the 7th piece of the Baptismal Sword.
She was Tatiana, the Knight of Perfection.
Unlike other puppets, her heart wasn't removed.
Raum caressed Tatiana's face.
"I can maintain this beauty even after 10 years and 20 years pass. I can preserve this beautiful flower forever until my life ends."
The puppets wanted to force open their sealed mouths.
They wanted to ask why they were obeying Raum.
They wanted to ask if Tatiana had really betrayed and defected from the Dre Order.
Raum's hand slowly moved toward Gloria.
"I will make you that way, Gloria."
It wouldn't be as difficult as breaking Tatiana's will.
If he just throws her into a deeper nightmare, Gloria will naturally submit to Raum.
Just as Raum's purple hand was about to touch Gloria's hand...
Pause.
Raum's hand stopped.
"Caesar came earlier than I expected."
An explosion erupted at the cave entrance.
Lightning struck repeatedly and fierce winds blew.
The cave even shook dangerously, causing moss and dust hanging from the ceiling to fall.
Raum looked outside the cave with puzzlement.
"What is he thinking, rampaging like this? Doesn't he know Gloria is inside the cave?"
The cave might collapse at this rate.
Raum clicked his tongue.
"I don't know what he's thinking, but we need to get out of here first."
Raum caressed Tatiana's cheek.
"Tatiana, let's take Gloria and leave. Let's offer that rampaging barbarian's head to Lord Belial."
Tatiana looked down at Gloria.
Light returned to her lifeless eyes.
And unconsciously, Tatiana's hand gently wiped the cold sweat from Gloria's forehead.
Raum, who was about to leave the cave, looked at Tatiana with puzzlement.
"Tatiana? What are you doing?"
".."
Tatiana's eyes returned to normal.
Tatiana lifted Gloria up.
Raum tilted his head looking at Tatiana preciously holding her like a child.
"Let's go."
Tatiana nodded slightly and went outside the cave.
