Chapter 10: Hero, Conference, and... (1)
Chapter 10: Hero, Conference, and... (1)
As they watched the intruder being dragged away unconscious with grim eyes, the legion members were frantically repeating 'I am so dead today' inside their heads.
When they were resting briefly after their meal and some guy came in from outside shouting for them to assemble immediately, they'd thought it was a joke.
And why wouldn't they? The Legion Commander had come, he said. That person only stopped by occasionally, very, very occasionally.
But the face of the guy, pale as a blueberry, held not a shred of falsehood, and the moment they realized it was true, we panicked and sprinted madly toward the training ground.
And we were able to face our Legion Commander.
"I was curious."
The answer that came back to the courageously ventured question of why he had come was deeply meaningful.
Curious about what, exactly?
The question didn't last long.
As if taking a stroll, Demon-nim walked leisurely somewhere.
Then in an instant, he ducked at an unbelievable speed, dodging a sword aimed at his neck, and then twisted his upper body to strike the enemy's solar plexus with his elbow. Every single movement was swift and flowed as naturally as water.
Only then did we understand. The meaning of the word 'curious'.
'I was curious.'
—Whether he truly hadn't known.
Whether he really hadn't known, having allowed an intruder all the way into the training ground.
And whether, despite that, he had been resting so leisurely.
Without sparing a glance at us frozen in shock, Demon-nim leisurely raised his wooden sword as if intending to knock his opponent unconscious.
And then, a light, crisp sound echoed throughout the training ground.
[Crack!]
* * *
I barely managed to dissuade the legion members who kept bowing their heads in apology and self-flagellation, and holed myself back up in my room.
All my tasks were done.
I'd taken a walk in the garden, checked on the legion. I'd also eaten at the dining hall as Ben had demanded, so I wouldn't have to go outside for a while.
I was rolling around on the bed in a happy mood at the peaceful daily life that had finally arrived, when I heard a knock.
"Demon-nim, this is Ed."
Ed? That's my adjutant, isn't it? He'd gone all the way out to the human world to find unique puzzles or cubes for me, since I was dying of boredom. He's finally back.
My heart full of anticipation, I sprang upright in bed.
"Come in."
Ed's expression, whom I hadn't seen in a while, was oddly stiff.
Had he run into some bad trouble outside? No, wait. The Demon King himself had selected a guy who was even considered a candidate for Legion Commander for the position of the 0th Legion Commander's adjutant, saying the post required a talent befitting it. So with Ed's skills, he could chew up and spit out most ordinary guys and still have room to....
"I've brought a new cube. It's called a Mirror Cube, a slightly unique one."
"Oh."
"And...."
Sweating profusely, he glanced furtively to the side.
Since he'd only opened the door and was still standing in the hallway, I couldn't see what he was looking at at all.
At length, having swallowed dryly, Ed slowly opened his mouth.
"......His Majesty the Demon King, has come to see you."
"Oh."
......Oh?
"If you're not busy, do you have a moment?"
Clunk. With a heavy footstep, a familiar someone entered the room.
The Inverse Eyes, having scanned the room once, turned to me sitting on the bed and soon curled into a crescent moon-like smile.
After a brief silence, having finished grasping the situation, I tossed aside the pillow I was hugging and sprang to my feet.
Wh-Why is the Demon King here? I didn't cause any trouble this time....
......Though there was one thing that bothered me.
"Is it perhaps about that intruder?"
"That's right."
As if I'd lived up to expectations, he gave a pleased smile and gestured with his chin toward the door.
"I have something to say about that. If you don't mind, let's go see the prisoner together for a moment."
In other words, he meant we should go to the underground dungeon together.
What's going on? Did that intruder bastard say something weird about me? Being a fellow human, there would have been some credibility to it.
Whatever it was, I refuse to die a futile death like this. I glanced back at Ed with a silent plea for help.
And I could clearly see him avoiding my eyes.
That damned bastard.
The underground dungeon didn't let in a single ray of light. It was even damp.
Yeah, I ended up being dragged here after all.
"Open it."
At a single word from the Demon King, the sturdy-looking iron bars swung open in an instant.
The soldier who opened the door bowed deeply at the command to withdraw and disappeared.
The Demon King, who had been watching his retreating figure, shifted his gaze to the 'human' inside the cell.
The intruder, already soaked in blood, glared at him with fierce eyes, but the Demon King paid no heed and strode in, kneeling down in front of him.
"Deon."
My real name, spoken because he'd dismissed those around us.
At the same time, the intruder's eyes turned to me.
It was a look that said if he could, he'd chew me up and swallow me. Was it just my imagination that his eyes held more killing intent when looking at me than when looking at the Demon King?
Regardless, the Demon King roughly grabbed the intruder by the hair and pulled his head up, then turned only his head to look at me.
"This one. Take a good look. Isn't he familiar somehow?"
Aside from him being human, I-I really don't know....
When I answered with silence, the Demon King began to explain step by step, as if giving a hint.
"Despite being human, he has the martial power to take down most demon-race alone, and a strength that grows uniquely stronger against me, the 'Demon King'."
I'd noticed the bastard's physical state was a mess; it seemed the Demon King had been playing with him in the meantime.
But that wasn't what was important right now. Hearing the Demon King's explanation, I unconsciously stiffened my expression.
"You don't mean...."
"Yeah."
The Demon King released the hair as if tossing it aside and smiled, dusting off his bloodied hands with a clap.
"The dregs of a Hero. What the Empire calls the fragments of a Hero and glorifies as—"
"......A hero."
"Ridiculous, isn't it?"
* * *
When a Hero dies, they can make two choices.
To speak of just one of them first, it would be scattering the 'Hero's power', which would otherwise crumble and vanish upon death, across the entire continent to create, however faintly, those who can oppose the Demon King.
It would be nice if the power itself could be passed on whole to one person, but it cannot be transferred while alive, and the Hero's power begins to crumble the moment they die. So in the end, all they can do is scatter those fragments at the cost of a life already doomed to die, creating beings who each possess a portion of the Hero's power.
The Empire tried to gather those who possessed such fragments, calling them 'heroes'.
Of course, the title of 'hero' wasn't given to just anyone. Unofficially, all who possessed a 'Hero's fragment' were called heroes, but officially, only those among them who demonstrated exceptional ability and achieved great merits were granted the title of 'hero', bestowing glory of a different dimension.
The blood-soaked human before my eyes was, unfortunately, the 'former'.
'A Hero's fragment who failed to become an official Hero.'
Still, even if he couldn't be called a 'hero', he was someone called a 'hero candidate'. A piece valuable enough that it would be a waste to use and discard him carelessly.
And such a guy had infiltrated the Demon Castle.
'Why on earth?'
His bright red eyes glistened with a chilling light.
The emotions faintly reflected within them were none other than confusion and doubt.
Not simple curiosity about why, or how he had fought his way here. It was a question about something incomprehensible.
There was no reason for a hero candidate to come here. He had carried no message, seemed to have no special purpose other than eliminating the demon-race, including the Demon King, and decisively, he had attacked Deon himself.
'What was the reason for attacking me? Is there a meaning behind this?'
──Just what is 'he' thinking?
"...And so, there will be a Legion Commander meeting scheduled for this afternoon. I'll come escort you personally, so let's see each other then."
"......."
At the lack of an answer, the Demon King looked back at Deon, who had not moved from his spot.
A figure that didn't even blink.
It seemed he was deep in thought about something. His usually rigid expression had frozen even more stiffly, arrested mid-thought.
'Looks like he has no intention of coming up together.'
Shaking his head internally, the Demon King casually broached the subject, intending to confirm anyway.
"Do you plan to stay a bit longer?"
"Yes."
"Alright, then I'll wait outside."
The Demon King strode out of the iron bars and slowly disappeared.
......The deliberation was over.
Deon, who had been gauging the distance by the fading footsteps, lowered his gaze to look at the intruder.
An inscrutably dry gaze. Red eyes glistening as if coated in blood turned toward the intruder.
But the intruder did not avert his eyes. Rather, he stiffly raised his chin and glared at Deon.
Those eyes were clearly studded with hatred and anger, grounded in a feeling of betrayal.
At length, his blood-caked lips slowly parted.
"Deon Hart."
A full name I hadn't heard in a long time.
A glint of interest flickered in Deon's eyes.
The intruder clenched his teeth and spat out words seething with boiling anger, hatred, and a chill grudge, as if chewing them up and spitting them out.
"You traitorous bastard."
"......."
Aha.
That gave him the answer.
The eyes that had narrowed with sharp tension eased as if the motivation had drained out of them. Likewise, his voice, much more relaxed and devoid of tension, let the words spill out.
"You're a discarded piece."
"What?"
He was a guy not even worth the concern. Just wasted time for nothing.
As if the dumbfounded counter-question wasn't even worth answering, Deon asked a question without hiding his pitying gaze.
"What sin did you commit?"
"What nonsense are you spouting?! Discarded piece? Sin!"
"I'm asking what you did to fall out of the Emperor's favor."
"Nonsense! His Majesty bestowed a critical mission upon me! If I had fallen from his favor, he wouldn't have even assigned a mission!"
Even as he said it, the bastard's eyes began to tremble minutely, as if something had struck a nerve.
In the space lit only by a candle that looked ready to go out any second, Deon, who had keenly caught that tremor, stepped through the iron bars and into the cell.
Like the Demon King, he knelt down in front of the intruder, but unlike the Demon King, he did nothing.
He just stared at him quietly,
—And spoke.
"No, the fact that you called me a 'traitor' is proof of that. You fell out of the Emperor's favor, and now you've been cast aside, just like this."
"That can't be...."
Having pointed out reality in a calm, instructive voice, Deon decided there was no need to waste any more time here and stood up.
A conclusion was reached.
There was no need to keep this bastard alive. No, it would actually be better to kill him for certain.
But knowing that the authority to decide that wasn't his own, Deon looked down at him and pulled up the corner of his mouth.
Then, a forceful voice, clearly intended for someone else to overhear, resounded through the underground.
"His Majesty knows all."
"!"
With the widening of the bastard's eyes as the final image, Deon turned away, having no more reason to watch.
A desperate, fierce outburst followed at his back.
"That Emperor son of a bitch!!"
It was truly a remarkably shallow loyalty.
With a sneer on his lips, Deon took a step but stopped upon finding the Demon King waiting for him at the entrance of the underground dungeon.
As if wondering when Deon had ever smiled, the Demon King scrutinized his expressionless face and slowly parted his lips.
"I heard."
Then, letting out a deflated laugh, he said,
"That's too harsh. If you say that, I have no choice but to kill the guy. He might have been useful somewhere, if handled properly. You did that on purpose, didn't you?"
"......."
"Forget it, forget it. I told you inside, but you seemed not to have heard, so I'll tell you again. There will be a Legion Commander meeting scheduled for this afternoon. I plan to come get you myself, so wait in your room."