Chapter 126: The World's Blessing (3)
Chapter 126: The World's Blessing (3)
"You seem suspicious."
"No, that's not...."
The Fairy King dismissed the human's denial as he organized the herb box. He hadn't spoken with any particular intent, so any answer would do.
Instead, he grabbed the human who was trying to slink away and examined him slowly from head to toe.
A small frame, a body that looked weak at a glance. Even the red eyes that set him apart from other humans were sensitive to light and served as more of a hindrance; in the end, there were no positive aspects to speak of.
'... I still can't figure it out.'
Why was the World focusing its attention on this human? He couldn't begin to understand.
As the chief of the fairy race, sensitive to the World's will and currents, he had known from the moment he first laid eyes on him.
The World expected something from this human.
He didn't know what. The World hadn't told him directly, and he hadn't been inside the World's head — assuming something like a "head" existed in the first place — so there was no way to know. All he could do was speculate.
'Since when has it been? Since when has the World been keeping its eye on this fellow.'
Though he didn't know for certain, it must have been quite a long time. Such movements from the World had been observed ages ago. The first time he detected a shift was... roughly ten years ago, perhaps.
Yet he had only encountered the human in person recently. Even that was a fleeting encounter, since neither of them had planned the meeting.
An unexpected first meeting. Though brief, the time was sufficient to assess the other, and what the Fairy King was left with were questions... and doubt.
Was this human before him truly the one the World was watching? He was nothing but a frail human reeking faintly of blood. Had the World made a mistake in its judgment?
His eyes narrowed. He could see the World discreetly reinforcing that weak body with painstaking effort.
...But at this rate, it would be like trying to fill a bottomless pit. The Fairy King clicked his tongue lightly and averted his gaze.
'If there's nothing special about him physically, is it because of a special situation that the World is watching him?'
It was too early to question the World's judgment. The World was not a sentient being with a body and emotions, but a system. A system that calculated and assessed situations more coldly than anyone had only made a mistake once to this day.
Let's see, what were his circumstances?
The only human to travel back and forth between the human world and the Demon Realm. He had heard that both the master of the Empire — the heart of the human world — and the Demon King had placed him in key positions and valued him.
'... Ah, wait.'
At that point, the Fairy King recalled one possibility.
He retraced his thoughts. He turned his gaze back to the human, examined him, and racked his brain.
Looking more closely, he could see it now. That body the World was reinforcing. That wasn't reinforcement meant to make the body sturdy or healthy.
'A type of reinforcement and modification to make him better able to receive the World's power.'
If his health had improved, it was probably a secondary result of that process.
'That's it.'
That's what it was.
Now he understood why the leader of the mermaids had deliberately placed a hand on his shoulder while saying those words.
[The Demon King will die at the hands of the Hero born this time.]
He examined the human before him with new eyes. White hair, pale skin, blood-red eyes.
Among those, he peered into eyes that seemed to hold ordinary emotions at first glance but still felt off, and the Fairy King quietly agreed.
'So you're the next Hero.'
The World had decided on you as a hero candidate a very long time ago.
***
In the not-so-distant past, there was a Hero who worried about a comrade until the moment he died.
He worried even after death: 'Now that I'm dead and gone, my comrade who doesn't even possess a Hero's Fragment will die at the Demon King's hands.'
So he devoted his soul and fervently wished.
[Please, save him.]
The World answered.
[I have been watching over him for a very long time already.]
***
But there was an unresolved question.
'The human, Deon Hart, only started traveling between the Demon Realm and the human world not long ago.'
He didn't know the details, but he understood it was two years at most.
The World had been keeping its eye on him for a full ten years. What on earth had happened back then?
'... Let's stop thinking about this.'
The Fairy King halted his thoughts.
No matter how much he pondered, no answer would come.
'More importantly, for it to have chosen this human as the next Hero....'
Since he had no way of knowing the reason, all he could think was that the World was bringing trouble on itself. The previous Heroes had also undergone physical modifications without their knowledge in order to accept the power the World granted them, but they had never been modified this extensively.
It was supposed to be just a modification to accept the "Hero's power," yet it was practically a full rebuild.
"You must have felt it without even realizing. Have you never thought your luck was strangely good?"
"......."
"You survive situations where you should have died, and even when you're on the verge of a permanent injury, you end up with nothing worse than one that can be healed."
He peeled off the muscle herbs that had been applied. Clean hands and wrists were revealed. As if checking the condition, he gently stroked around the wrist, then abruptly grabbed and pulled.
The light body was dragged forward without resistance. Calm, sunken red eyes looked up at him silently. At this close distance, the Fairy King growled lowly.
"Honestly, you must have a tendency to act recklessly because you rely on this."
"......."
The World's protection was thick. It wrapped this human up tight.
That likely meant he had brushed with death many times, and that the World had directly shielded him from death just as many times.
The World generally avoided direct intervention. It had already suffered greatly from the aftermath, problems, and unexpected side effects of intervention and had realized the danger; even now, it was struggling to deal with the side effects.
Yet for the World to go so far as to personally protect his life... this human, what in the...?
"Have you ever felt something strange about your body? A sudden surge of strength beyond what you calculated, or being able to withstand a shock better than you expected. Especially when your life was in danger, your physical state must have fluctuated in a favorable direction. But if you tried to check whether your body had actually become healthier, it would have been no different than usual."
"......."
...Well, he looks to be in confusion himself.
The World's attention was both a blessing and a curse in itself. Certain that the human before him would not have a smooth life ahead, he let go of the wrist with a touch of pity and turned his back.
Since he had treated the wounds of the human the World was watching, he wouldn't have to worry about ruining the seed that had been left in his care.
"Well then, shall I guide you now...."
"Your Majesty, Your Majesty!"
He had made a promise, and he happened to feel pity as well, so he was about to guide them through the forest as planned when little fairies came fluttering in.
Unlike their usual playful, sunny appearance, their faces looked urgent.
"It's demonic beasts! Demonic beasts have attacked!"
"......That damn Demon King...!"
He couldn't help but grind his teeth.
***
Demonic beasts attacked. In the place where the Demon King was!
And what's more, the other chieftains were here too. Had their instincts utterly dulled? Or had they suddenly gone berserk and lost their fear entirely?
Without even a moment to dwell on the gap in my memory from the conversation just before, I hurriedly followed behind the Fairy King and returned to where the Demon King was. I flinched and stopped in my tracks when I saw the Fairy King glaring at the Demon King as if he wanted to kill him. His intensity was so terrifying that even the Demon King, who never lost his composure, felt the corners of his mouth tremble slightly.
"......I'll take care of it."
"Of course you will. All the same, those things look like they've lost their survival instinct...."
To attack a place where the chieftains of every race are gathered.
At the Fairy King's mutter, the fairies flying around him added their own comments.
"They've gotten stronger!"
"They've gotten scarier!"
"They got like that after drinking some strange brown liquid!"
Huh? Wait, that last one... what did she say?
There was no way the chieftains present would miss what I had noticed. Realizing the importance of the last remark, they all turned to look at the fairy child at once.
"Brown liquid, you say?"
"Yes! They drank some strange brown liquid and got stronger!"
"......So that means it's a conspiracy targeting our kin."
Oh, great, it looks like I've gotten tangled up in something I want absolutely nothing to do with. Could you not just send me home right now?
Whether or not he noticed my gaze, or pretended not to notice, the Demon King tilted his head without even glancing at me.
"And of all times, right when I and the Mermaid Chieftain are here?"
"That's strange as well. I'll need to investigate further. Of course, after I deal with those damned demonic beasts."
Hurry up and deal with them.
At the silent urging, the Demon King sighed and nodded, then turned to look at me.
Surely he wasn't going to ask me to come along. Contrary to my tense expectation, he smiled and told me to stay here.
"It's not that I doubt your skill. It's just that this is your first time here, so you might get lost. And it's hard to distinguish things when I use wide-area magic."
In that case, of course I'll wait here. Even if he hadn't explained it like that, I had been planning to happily comply.
But wide-area magic... wasn't magic prohibited? He had personally given the order....
'Right, he gave the order himself.'
Which means the authority to revoke that order or set some exceptions is also in his hands.
So I'm allowed but the others aren't. That mindset is exactly what you'd expect of a Demon King.
Anyway, it was none of my business, so I withdrew my interest and obediently nodded.
"Please go and come back safely."
After the Demon King disappeared, I looked around to gauge the atmosphere. Perhaps because he was the one I'd run into most often among those here, Hien, clutching the seed tightly to his chest on one side and darting his eyes anxiously, was the first to catch my gaze.
'... That bastard, even in this situation....'
I only let that damn gardener linger in my sight for a moment. Let's just not think about it. In a place like this, it's best not to pay him any mind. Following the familiar command to ignore that rose in my head, my gaze slid past him to the Fairy King.
As if feeling my eyes on him, he glanced to identify the source, confirmed it was me, then turned his head and snapped his fingers. The same fairy folk I'd seen before appeared silently and offered respect once more.
"Go and retrieve that brown liquid, whatever it is."
"Understood."
With the previous experience under my belt, I was able to watch the entire process without surprise, right up to the moment the fellow disappeared. This time they'd made sure to keep their mouth shut, so there wasn't a repeat of the earlier mistake, either.
In the silence that settled once more, the Fairy King, having turned without lingering regret, looked at the Mermaid Queen. At some point—when had she gotten in?—she was gently swaying her fins in the pond, leaning her arms on the water's edge.
"Who, and with what intent, would have done such a thing?"
"I wonder as well. Even if we try to suspect a human, it's questionable whether they could even make it this far. And in the first place, humans only know of the existence of the demon-race, not of the other races, so they don't fit as culprits."
"Even if we hypothesize that someone within our own kin did it, there's no reason for it. Nor are there any circumstances that would warrant it."
"There's insufficient reason to suspect the Demon King as well. The Demon King is the type to crush dissatisfaction with sheer force, and he's already gone to wipe out the demonic beasts...."
"What about you?"
As I'd felt every time the Fairy King opened his mouth, his way of speaking was truly sharp. Should I say it had a way of making the listener feel unpleasant?
If it were me, and I were that mermaid, I'd be pretty damn offended. It wasn't even a roundabout way of asking—just straight up, "What about you?"
'Is that what they call a mouth that's asking for a beating?'
At this rate, even fights that wouldn't normally happen seemed likely to break out....
Thankfully, as her first impression suggested, the good-natured Mermaid Queen took his tone in stride. Her calm voice flowed out gently.
"I have no reason to do such a thing either. What use would I have for making demonic beasts—that I can't even control—into something even stronger? What's more, I am here. If, by any chance, the beasts pushed all the way here, I would be the one at greatest risk."
"That... is true."
"Then among those present here, the ones remaining are...."
Hien and me.
Both of their heads turned toward me, then shifted to Hien. Seeing him clutching that moldy— no, contaminated seed so preciously, they seemed to reach the same thought and shook their heads in unison.
"Not him."
"Not that demon-race."
He's cleared of suspicion in an instant. Congratulations, Hien.