The Invasion of Sepia (3)
Looking at Redrago hanging limp and lifeless, I could not keep my head straight.
"Re... Redrago!"
I grabbed his back before I knew what I was doing, voice cracking, and he toppled weakly onto his side.
"Redrago, s-snap out of it...!"
I glared at Deriel with pure hostility; he only stared back as if he had no idea why I was crying.
I thrust my hand toward him and unleashed every offensive spell I knew.
Every last one of them sank into his body the moment they touched him and vanished without a sound.
What good was mastering the pinnacle of magic if I could not even leave a scratch on the demon standing right in front of me?
How was I supposed to take Deriel down?
Why were demons this strong?
I had no mana left. Using Meteor had burned through far too much of it.
One idea surfaced.
If I used that spell that absorbed the mana around me and drained the demon standing before me dry—
maybe an attack would finally land.
I dragged the words I had spoken that day out of memory and shouted them, determined to pull every drop of mana from the creature in front of me.
Deriel's eyes widened a fraction and he put distance between us.
"Wait, wait—that spell—"
I felt mana flowing into me, cool water running through my veins.
It was working. I was steadily draining Deriel's mana.
He opened both hands as if to calm me down.
"I-I think there's been a misunderstanding. I only put Redrago to sleep. Honestly."
Put him to sleep?
I forced myself to settle and looked carefully at Redrago lying limp on the ground. His chest was rising and falling.
He was breathing, barely. He really, truly was only asleep.
Thank goodness. He isn't dead.
"You seemed a little too worked up, you see. I had no choice but to put him under."
Deriel kept talking, but none of it reached my ears.
The only thing that mattered was that Redrago was not dead.
The sheer relief that he was alive finally cracked me open, and I burst into tears.
Whether they heard my wretched sobbing or not, Hugo and Hwia came out of the barrier-warded house.
"T-Tiable!"
"Oppa! I told you not to go outside!"
What Hugo saw was a weeping Tiable, Redrago collapsed in front of her, and a broken-horned demon standing tall and unbothered.
Hugo already knew demons had invaded Sepia. The only conclusion he could reach was that the demon before him was the enemy.
"D-d-demon...!"
"Oppa!"
Even with a demon right there, Hugo boldly drew his sword.
Maybe because Redrago was down. Maybe because Tiable was crying. Or maybe both.
What was certain was that even Hugo, sword drawn so bravely, was terrified.
The demon in front of him had dropped Redrago, and Hugo was weaker than Redrago; picking a fight meant certain defeat.
Still he did not back down.
"Hu-Hugo, no. It's okay."
I did not want him attacking Deriel over a misunderstanding.
Deriel had genuinely helped Sepia, and Redrago had struck first. The fault was entirely ours.
I could not cause Deriel any more trouble.
I scrambled up and hurried over to Hugo, who was gripping his sword in both hands. Up close, those hands were shaking hard.
"Hugo, it was a misunderstanding. Th-that person helped Sepia."
"What...? Helped Sepia? Demons attacked Sepia. Why would a demon help?"
"And Lord Redrago is lying there right now!"
Hugo snapped at me at the top of his lungs. I had not heard that tone since the interrogation on the day we first met.
Even after hearing me out, he still would not let go of the sword.
"Tiable. This is more than enough reason to jump to conclusions."
"Could you stop the mana drain for a second? I'm starting to get dizzy."
Deriel spoke with perfect composure, as if Hugo's shouting did not exist.
"Ah, s-s-sorry..."
I hastily canceled the spell. Just as I had heard, a demon's mana reserve was enormous. I had been siphoning for a long stretch and he still looked fine on the outside.
Everything else had lost its color and turned brown in an instant.
"Redrago is only asleep. He attacked Deriel the second he saw him."
"What...?"
Perhaps because he was doing the exact same thing, the grip on his sword loosened a little.
Hugo checked that Redrago was breathing, then sheathed his blade.
"Can we finally talk this over calmly?"
Deriel looked toward the house Hugo had come from.
Hwia, who had been peeking just her face around the doorframe, vanished the moment Deriel's gaze touched the doorway.
Hugo grunted and hauled Redrago inside; Deriel and I followed.
"We'll talk once Redrago wakes up."
"I could wake him right now, if you like."
"Th-then do it!"
Deriel gave a casual flick of his hand, and Redrago, still sprawled on the floor, opened his eyes. He had been breathing quietly in sleep; the instant he woke he sucked in a huge lungful of air and shoved himself upright.
"Hah... hahh... the d-d-demon—what happened to the demon?"
Redrago propped his head up with one hand as he spoke.
He staggered to his feet, still dizzy, then spotted the demon—Deriel—right in front of him, and the fire returned to his eyes.
"Th-the demon is a good demon. He got rid of the thralls."
"He said he wanted to talk."
"What?"
"Hmm. Still not quite calm, are we? Attacking the moment you see someone... if I had a short temper..."
Deriel was about to continue, but he shut his mouth the second I glared at him.
Redrago swayed and dropped heavily into a chair.
The aftereffects of the fight still clung to him.
Even so, he was holding himself together by sheer will so he could speak with the demon before him.
"Fine. Talk is good. Let's hear this story of yours."
Eyes still burning, he clasped his hands together and set them on the desk.
"Hoo... first of all, why attack Sepia?"
Deriel pulled a chair over and sat with easy grace.
Hugo, Hwia, and I watched from a little farther back.
"Ah. For that part, I should probably explain who I am."
"I am Deriel, an exiled demon. This broken horn is the proof."
He pointed at the shattered left horn with his index finger and continued.
"There are two kinds of demons. Other races have similar divisions, I imagine—those who are friendly toward other races, and those who are not."
"I refused the order to attack Sepia, so they broke my horn and banished me."
"I don't know whether humans know this, but there is a village where the exiled demons live."
"It's called Aldmed. There are so few of us you could hardly call it a country. A gathering would be more accurate."
Deriel smiled.
"So the ones who attacked Sepia were demons of the other sort—not yours."
"Oh. You look half-dead, yet your grasp is quick."
"I truly regret that Tilia attacked Sepia."
"Sepia is already far too ruined. The citizens who survived will probably flee to other countries."
"On that point... all I can offer is an apology."
Deriel bowed his head slightly to show his regret.
"If I had known sooner, I might have stopped Tilia beforehand. I am truly sorry."
Redrago seemed to have nothing to say either; he simply stared at the desk in silence.
Deriel carefully opened his mouth again.
"If it is all right with you, may I help rebuild Sepia? We exiled demons—all of us—wish to open exchange with other races. Demons have had far too little of that for far too long."
Redrago answered with a slightly aggressive edge.
"Why say that here? There are other human nations."
Even faced with that attitude, Deriel kept the same careful tone.
"I already tried elsewhere. Most of them would not even listen."
"Our race caused the damage, so we want to help make amends ourselves."
Hearing that, Redrago sank into deep thought and said nothing for a long while. After a stretch of time his mouth finally opened again.
"This is not a decision I can make alone. I will speak with you later."
"In any case, thank you for helping Sepia, Deriel."
"And I sincerely apologize for attacking you earlier."
Redrago held out one hand for a handshake; Deriel still smiling, took it.
Once the conversation ended, Redrago dragged his unsteady body outside, saying he still had work to do.
...
"S-so, mister, when are you leaving?"
In the awkward silence where no one wanted to speak first, brave little Hwia addressed Deriel.
Hugo smacked her on the back in horror, but Deriel only laughed without the slightest offense.
"I'll go after Redrago myself. To help with Sepia's reconstruction, among other things."
"Ah—and I won't lay a finger on him, so no need to worry."
Deriel paused just before stepping through the door, turned his face, and looked me straight in the eyes.
"Tiable. I would like to speak with you alone sometime."