Chapter 148: Cruel Truth, Cruel Fate (1)
Chapter 148: Cruel Truth, Cruel Fate (1)
The captain had vanished.
Thanks to that, they were able to temporarily break away from the battlefront and rush back, but it wasn't a happy occasion at all.
The members of the Murderer Knight Order, gathered together in a corner of the backyard and seated, each let out deep sighs.
"Where could he have gone in that body."
"He wasn't kidnapped, was he? If... if that really is the case... is the kidnapper at least providing proper meals?"
"You're worried about food at a time like this?"
"It's important."
"Well, that's true."
"......."
Is our Marquis-nim eating properly?
"......More importantly, what do we do now? Marquis-nim isn't here either."
"Shall we go look for him ourselves?"
"We don't even know if we could find him, and above all, we'd get caught right away. For desertion."
"Then what?"
The answer came from Cleter.
"......Until the Marquis-nim returns, we follow the Emperor's orders. A full-fledged Hero has disappeared, so he'll be searching frantically too."
* * *
Deon Hart was dying.
The horrific memories he had forcibly separated had merged back together, and the extreme stress that surged in laid on top of all the stress accumulated so far, triggering a crisis.
His fever spiked madly and he kept retching up blood at random. The situation, where he crossed the line between life and death several times a day, did not change even after he was safely transported to the Demon Realm.
"Do something!"
Lirinel, the very person who had received the signal from the necklace she had given him, rushed over, and transported him to the Demon Realm, snapped at Ben.
Her voice held a sobbing tone as if it would burst at any moment.
"This is the domain of the mind. All I can do is... keep his body cool and replenish his blood......."
"You, you're his personal physician! You're Demon-nim's personal physician, so why!"
She had been horrified to see him collapsed in the snowfield and brought him to the Demon Realm. She had moved with only one thought in mind: that everything would be resolved once they arrived at the Demon Castle.
She wanted to burst into tears right then, but knowing that crying would solve nothing, Lirinel instead picked up a handkerchief. She examined his unfocused, utterly bloodshot eyes, wondering what on earth he was seeing, and dabbed at the corners. Blood stained the handkerchief.
"If it really doesn't work, just try magic, please......."
The sight of him not even blinking when the handkerchief touched the corners of his eyes made him look truly like a doll with its spirit pulled out, and the tears finally surged up.
"He's crying......."
She had definitely just wiped them, but the blood was leaving tracks and flowing down again as if asking when it had ever been clean.
If only they were tears, it would have been better, but the red liquid trickling down his cheeks was so alarming that she ultimately could only wail like a child.
"......The Magic Prohibition Decree has not yet been lifted."
"Is that what you're saying right now!"
"And."
Ben looked down silently at the 11th Legion Commander, who was choking his neck tightly with both small hands.
Whether her throat was constricted from the grip or choked with emotion, a tight, blocked voice followed.
"If it could be resolved with magic, I would have used it long ago."
Magic or not, the top priority was Demon-nim's life. Would he, who had already once fled the Demon Castle and gone to the human world because a strong signal came, now worry about the consequences? If there had been a method, he would have used it sooner.
In other words, it meant he truly had no way.
A personal physician who could do nothing with a patient before his eyes. The most wretched demon-race here was none other than Ben.
"More importantly, Demon-nim's body seems to be heating up again, so would you mind letting go of my neck."
"......."
"......Thank you."
Feigning indifference to the arms that fell away powerlessly, he approached Demon-nim.
His entire body was boiling fiercely. With a fever so severe it made him wonder if he might truly die, Ben bit his lip until it bled and pulled out a towel he had soaked in ice water.
As he wiped down the stripped, scar-riddled upper body to lower the fever, he muttered as if lamenting.
"Of all times, His Majesty the Demon King had to go out......."
He had said he would return soon after hearing the news via communication stone, so why had he still not come?
He had sent Ed ahead to wait and provide a detailed explanation, but had some problem arisen?
── No sooner had the thought crossed his mind than the Demon King appeared right beside him.
At the same time, a thick scent of grass filled the room.
The Demon King, who had appeared with Ed, surveyed the room heated by the fever emanating from Deon Hart, the crying Lirinel, and then fixed his gaze on Ben.
A voice so cool and calm that Deon, had he heard it, would have asked who it was, flowed out lowly.
"I was a bit delayed after hearing the news because I went to receive medicinal herbs from the Fairy King. How is his condition?"
"......Critical."
Mouth that should have reported the patient's condition at length spat out only a single word.
Ed, belatedly seeing Deon Hart's state, let out a faint groan. Ignoring this, the Demon King rolled his eyes to glance over Deon Hart and nodded quietly.
"He looks it. I urgently received various herbs, but I wonder if they will be effective."
"......."
"You would know the nature of these better, Ben. Here, try classifying and using them appropriately."
Fairy clan herbs are highly effective, so if used well, he might get better. First, lowering that fever was the priority.
Ben's movements became busy.
The one who took over the role Ben was originally responsible for was Ed. Having dipped the towel in ice water again, wrung it out, he wiped Deon's upper body.
Watching all this silently, the Demon King took a stride forward.
He stood at Deon's bedside after only a few steps and reached out a hand. His fingers delicately wiped the blood flowing from the corners of the eyes, and a low voice followed.
"What on earth did you see."
To make you cry so painfully.
He shook his hand to roughly flick off the blood and peered into the eyes of the human who was panting, wide-eyed, as if he might stop breathing at any moment from the high fever.
The whites, so bloodshot red they seemed to be seeing something, and the pupils even redder than that.
The answer came easily.
"......You stopped, didn't you."
Averting your eyes and rationalizing.
The Demon King, who had paused briefly, straightened his slightly bent back as if nothing had happened.
In the meantime, Ben hurriedly approached, holding a single small pill he seemed to have just concocted. The Demon King took the medicine from him.
"It's a fever reducer."
"Hmm... I think a sedative or a sleeping pill should come first, actually."
......Still, it's better to try it.
He examined the medicine and approached Deon. In that time, his mouth area had become a mess, as if he had just retched up blood.
He gestured for Ed, who had hurriedly turned Deon's head to the side and was wiping his face again, to step back, and called him.
"Demon. Can you hear me?"
"......."
"You need to take this medicine. Can you swallow it?"
"......."
"......Of course you can't."
In the first place, in a situation where he's vomiting blood, there was no way he could swallow anything.
The fairy clan's herbs are effective, but this is where the problem lies.
He briefly considered forcing his mouth open and pushing the pill down his throat, but since it could cause a serious accident, the Demon King gave up cleanly and threw the medicine away.
The small bead containing Ben's effort rolled away across the floor and vanished somewhere.
"......I don't think you'll die easily, but it would be troublesome if you die already."
It had only just gotten interesting; he had no intention of losing a rare opportunity so futilely.
"Right, checking your fate at this moment would also be entertaining. Will you die in this very spot, or will you not?"
"......Your Majesty."
Ed, sensing what he was about to do, urgently called the Demon King. In stark contrast to the silent Ben, the Demon King reached out and covered Deon's two eyes.
──Every living being that walks this land has a thing called a fixed lifespan.
Generally, most humans fail to live out their fixed lifespan due to issues like unforeseen accidents and die early, to the point that they say of those who fulfill their lifespan that they 'lived out their allotted time.'
Are you currently dying because you have fulfilled your lifespan, or are you dying from an 'unforeseen accident'?
'If it's the former, then no matter how much I lower your fever, calm you, and put you to sleep, you'll die.'
If not, you will live.
Even in the latter case, the Demon King's current action could be seen, in a sense, as changing the 'future' of a human's 'death.' Since he would be saving someone who might have died.
Changing a 'future related to a life' like this required no small price, after all.
'The price is 9 parts out of 10 of my demonic energy.'
Any other demon-race would have felt considerable inconvenience continuing their daily life, but the Demon King was different. Far from inconvenient, he would likely still possess the most demonic energy among the demon-race even after executing this.
To begin with, the size of the vessel itself was different; how could one compare 9 parts of water in a basin to 9 parts of the ocean water?
The only problem, perhaps, was that the difference in demonic energy quantity between him and the second-ranked demon-race would no longer be overwhelmingly vast but narrowed to the difference of a single bucket of water.
'Ah, it will become quite bothersome later when dealing with the Hero.'
......Well, he'd think about that when the time came.
He focused his mind.
"......First, get a deep sleep."
What you need right now is mental rest.
A bright light emanating from his hand filled the room.
* * *
Coming out and leaving Deon Hart, who had fallen asleep sobbing, the Demon King immediately assembled the Legion Commanders. To be precise, 'those who were close to Demon.'
With Commanders who couldn't come due to work connected via communication stones, and Ed, Ben, and even Hien present, he opened his mouth gently.
"Who, among those here, is the demon-race Demon Arut trusts the most?"
"......."
A heavier silence than ever descended.
He had clearly expected them to rush forward and assert it was themselves, but faced with a situation completely off the mark, the Demon King raised one eyebrow.
"Why is there no answer? I'm asking whom Demon trusts the most. If you don't know about trust, the closest demon-race to him is also fine."
He needed a demon-race who could help restore Deon Hart's shattered mind.
If a demon-race he trusted most or had the deepest bond with was by his side, he would stabilize quickly.
But.......
'Deon Hart, just how have you been living?'
For those assertive individuals to only be eyeing each other without stepping forward.
He looked around at the demon-race who couldn't easily step up, then fixed his gaze on the information specialist, the 2nd Legion Commander Dvelania.
"Dvelania. Don't you all considerably respect and follow Demon?"
"......Well, feelings aren't always mutual. I can confidently say my fondness for Demon-nim is second to none, but if you ask whether Demon-nim trusts me the most, it would be difficult to give a definite answer."
"He always treated us with an invisible wall between us."
The 3rd Legion Commander Asild nodded and added.
Silence descended again.
The Demon King, at a loss for words at the unexpected situation, quietly turned his head to look at Ed, Ben, and Hien. As if this was no exception for them either regarding Deon's behavior, they each shook their heads the moment his gaze touched them.
The Demon King opened and closed his mouth several times before letting out a deep sigh instead of words and waving his hand.
"Alright... I understand, so you're dismissed."
* * *
Although the memories that had crumbled and poured out as the wall collapsed were roughly sorted, that didn't determine the state of his mental health.
No sooner had Deon Hart woken up than he began frantically scraping together information.
He was even abandoning his meals and doing this, so how could his body be healthy?
The tears of blood had stopped, and the frequency of coughing up blood had decreased to nearly what it was before, but the fever the Demon King had barely managed to lower spiked again the moment he came to his senses.
Drip.
A cold sweat fell.
Ignoring it, Deon Hart dragged his staggering steps with difficulty and stood before a massive door on some floor.
A place he had visited once before. The place where the information organized by the 2nd Legion Commander Dvelania and the 4th Legion Commander Idelia was kept.
"Open it."
"De...mon-nim?"
"Now!"
A sound like a beast growling burst out through his throat.
What kind of spirit was this, when he was deathly pale and dripping with cold sweat?
It was starkly different from his usual gentle demeanor. Had his nerves become sharply on edge due to his illness? The gatekeepers hurriedly opened the door.