Chapter 152: Cruel Truth, Cruel Fate (5)
Chapter 152: Cruel Truth, Cruel Fate (5)
Why did the kid curse so harshly?
Was this the curse of war? It felt like the curses I'd heard right here were worse and more numerous than all the abuse I'd heard in my entire life until now.......
Dan, his face deathly pale, hesitantly stepped back.
"......Will you be okay alone? You look like you've been left behind, and you're coughing up blood too...."
"Do I have to tell you twice? I'll seriously kill...."
"Aaaagh, alright. I'm really going."
But his feet didn't leave easily.
In this war, how long could a kid that young survive, no matter how much he endured?
The small, frail-looking body, the sharp attitude as if he'd been through a lot. All of it bothered him for no reason, and in the end, Dan couldn't take more than a few steps before turning around and speaking to the boy who was glaring at him warily.
"That... the blood you coughed up, is it an injury, or a chronic illness?"
"You little shit, I'm really gonna...!"
"If it's a chronic illness, I recommend hiding it."
"......."
"You're a regular soldier, right? Fights between regular soldiers are designed to target the easiest prey first."
While moving, he had once watched a battle in a valley from a mountaintop.
"Whether you force down the blood or stuff a cloth in your mouth, you'd better hide it by any means necessary."
"......."
***
The sound of someone descending the mansion stairs was heard.
Rememver, who had been standing in the central hall, looked up and saw Deon and Dan following behind him. In the atmosphere that seemed somehow settled, the old man's characteristic playful voice leisurely flowed out, as always.
"Are you leaving?"
"Yes."
"I was just about to start teaching him the internal affairs, and here you are poaching my talent. I'm quite old myself, and I have no idea where to find a successor."
At the old man's playful complaint, noticing that Deon was taking Dan, Deon chuckled dryly. It was a parched laugh.
"If you were only about to start teaching him, what have you been teaching him up until now?"
"I only assigned him superficial, assistant-level document processing with all the key information omitted. At first, I assigned fake document processing to distinguish whether he was a spy or not."
"......Then the fact that Dan changed the document system...?"
"Even by handling fake documents, one can grasp how the document system works, can't they? In that sense, Dan was an excellent butler candidate."
"......I'm asking again, but what exactly is your identity, Rememver?"
"I am the butler of the Hart Marquisate residence."
"......."
Deon, having lost his words, began to move his paused steps again.
Rememver spoke to Deon's back as he passed by and headed for the door.
"Are you not taking the Murderer Knight Order with you?"
"Large-scale movements are easy to get caught. Besides, those bastards won't move quietly even if they're about to die......."
"That is true."
"So, I'll be off now...."
"Then what about Lady Rien?"
Are you not taking her.
Deon, who had hesitated, turned his head to look at Rememver.
"She is too righteous. She won't fit in with where I'm going. You know that, don't you."
Don't ask when you already know.
Rememver smiled kindly at Deon's irritated voice and spoke softly to him as he was just about to step outside.
"I am truly relieved that you have recovered."
"......."
After a brief hesitation, Deon went outside without looking back.
Dan, who had stopped briefly after pausing his slightly quickened pace to watch, gave a slight nod of greeting to Rememver before hurriedly chasing after him.
.......
"There's a place I would like to stop by before we go."
"......You're not asking where we're going."
Deon, who had been untying a horse's reins in the stable, looked at Dan with just a roll of his eyes.
The eerie red gaze meticulously scanned Dan's expression. Dan serenely smiled before it.
"Because I think I know."
"......So, the place you want to stop by?"
***
The people of a small mountain valley village, who had just finished packing up and were about to move away, froze at the unexpected visit from the unwelcome guests.
"Was it here?"
"Yes. It's usually a quiet place, but it's very chaotic today. As if... they're about to move away."
The man the shaman elder had called the 'Calamity,' and Dan, who was said to become the 'underling of the Calamity.'
Dan, who had put his hand on his sword and was scanning the people without emotion, spotted the person he had been looking for and slightly raised one corner of his mouth. He moved his steps just like that and approached an old man who was trembling, soaked in fear and anger.
"It's been a while."
"Y-You...!"
"I suddenly remembered. I wanted to see your face at least once before I put the elder's prophecy into action, so I came looking for you."
Dan, having spoken that far, withdrew his smile.
"But why are you trembling?"
Shamelessly.
With a spine-chilling, expressionless face devoid of any emotion, he took a step closer, lowered his head, and whispered softly into the elder's ear.
"It was you who made me this way."
So you shouldn't have said such things carelessly. I've gone this far astray, haven't I.
It wasn't for nothing that shamans were reluctant to speak of the future out loud. Dan smiled, making her kindly experience the price for breaking the shamans' implicit rule.
"I won't kill you. You must live and watch me realize your prophecy."
"......."
"So live the rest of your life drowning in guilt."
May you live your whole life as if suffocating, and at the very last moment, die more painfully than anyone else.
His words were like blades. Even though it wasn't directed at him, Deon felt his heart ache and gently closed his eyes.
It was when someone approached him that he opened his eyes.
"......!"
"......What is it?"
Deon, who had snapped his eyes open and snatched the hand that was about to touch his shoulder, glared at the other person full of irritation. It was because she had no killing intent and was someone he had received help from before; otherwise, he would have plunged a knife in immediately.
Ran looked intently at Deon without even attempting to pull her caught wrist away. Just as Deon, growing impatient, was about to snap, she whispered in a small voice that others wouldn't hear.
"Beware of the snow."
"......Snow?"
Snow, what in the world did that suddenly mean.......
Besides, it was unclear whether she meant the snow falling from the sky or the eyes that were a part of the body.
She couldn't have not known Deon's questioning expression, but Ran pretended not to, tapped the hand holding her wrist as a signal to let go, and then quickly blended into the crowd and disappeared.
'......Questioning her further won't make her say anything more.'
The words came from an outstanding shaman. Deon, having stored her words in a corner of his mind, turned his head to look at Dan.
He was standing three steps away from the trembling elder, looking this way.
"......Are you done?"
"Yes."
"Then let's go."
As abruptly as they had visited, the two of them disappeared just as suddenly.
Ran, walking among those leaving the village at a much faster pace than before, watched them ride off into the distance on horseback and murmured softly.
"Please, do not commit too many sins."
Though this too was likely just a futile wish.
***
The 0th Legion Commander had brought a human with him!
In the Demon Castle, already abuzz with all sorts of rumors and news due to the war, a rumor that overwhelmed everything else spread.
If the human he'd brought had been a prisoner or hostage, it wouldn't have caused such an uproar. But since the human clearly looked like the 0th Legion Commander's aide to anyone, the demon-race couldn't help but go wild in various senses.
[I couldn't even be a footrest, and a mere human gets to be an aide?]
[In the name of the Demon Cult, I will not forgive this.]
[De-mon!]
There were those who were jealous.
[How competent must he be for Demon-nim to bring him personally?]
[And he's even a human. I've never seen a proper human who isn't an intruder besides Demon-nim.]
[If possible, I'd like to have a conversation with him at least once.]
There were demons who showed pure curiosity.
[Letting a human into the Demon Castle?]
[Demon-nim is a special case, but another human is a bit....]
[Since Demon-nim brought him personally, killing him is a bit much, but wouldn't it be better to kick him out?]
There were also demons who showed a conservative tendency and expressed displeased reactions.
And the hot potato of the Demon Castle who had elicited all these reactions, Deon Hart.
"I heard the news that your fever went down, but are you really feeling better?"
He had left Dan behind and was facing the Demon King alone.
Deon, having substituted an answer with a rough nod, lowered his head, clenched and unclenched his fist for a moment, and then looked at the Demon King again. The red eyes that had lost their vitality and thoroughly hidden their emotions met the Demon King's Inverse Eyes for a long while.
A low, subdued voice slowly flowed out.
"A long time ago, a shaman predicted my future."
"Hmm... The fact that you're telling me this must mean it came true, right?"
"......Yes."
Strictly speaking, that's the case.
The Demon King, leaning back comfortably in his chair with his arms crossed, rubbed the corner of his mouth as if intrigued.
"A prophecy, then."
"......."
"Lest you get confused, I'll add that prophecies are different from seeing the future."
A prophecy is absolute, something that cannot be changed no matter what you do.
Seeing the future is fluid, something that can be changed depending on effort.
"A prophecy is a future that those who can violate the world's rules see and speak of. That's how absolute it is."
"That means, that shaman was...."
"A person skilled enough to violate the world's rules if they set their mind to it. They were impressive, for a mere human."
The conversation topic, which had no meaning or decipherable intent, continued. If it were anyone else, they would have cut him off long ago to ask the main point or gotten annoyed, but the patient Demon King willingly narrowed his eyes and played along with Deon's words.
Whether he knew this or not, Deon cast his eyes down as if lost in thought for a moment, then slowly posed a question.
"Does that mean you can also make prophecies?"
The Demon King was the most representative figure who could violate the world's rules.
The Demon King raised one eyebrow at the term 'you,' but it was only for a moment before he laughed as if it were laughable.
"Of course. Not just me, but all demons basically have the ability to make prophecies."
The demon-race is a species born from the errors of the world, ignoring the world's intentions.
The very fact that they are born from the Demon King's power is proof that they can violate the world's rules, and if their very birth is like that, what more is there to say.
Deon furrowed his brows as if he couldn't understand.
"But... I've never seen demons make prophecies even once...."
"They simply don't do it. An unchangeable future is meaningless and boring even if you see it, right?"
For a prophecy, even the attempt to change it becomes the foundation for its fulfillment.
Rather than experiencing such a disgusting thing, it's better not to make the prophecy itself.
More than that.
The Demon King looked at Deon and smiled pleasantly.
'He always strictly sticks to business and minimizes small talk. I wonder what's gotten into him.'
But this isn't bad either. No, it's become more entertaining, so I have no complaints.
Deon, who had been silent for a moment as if he was finally about to get to his point, slowly began to speak.
"Previously... when I captured the Hero Candidate who infiltrated the Demon Castle, I postponed my reward because there was nothing I wanted immediately. Do you remember that?"
"Of course."
"I would like to use that now."
"By all means."
The Demon King readily nodded.
The undeniable interest was revealed in his two eyes, but since it wasn't harmful to him, Deon spoke without hesitation.
"Please destroy the Empire thoroughly."
"......What?"
The Demon King's eyes widened.
Deon paid it no mind and continued speaking like a runaway carriage.
"I've thought about it. What could be a way to take revenge on the Duke and the Emperor."
What is the Duke's most precious thing?
What was it that the Emperor valued the most?
"The Empire. The Emperor always said that he is the Empire. Bringing down the Empire would be the same as bringing down the Emperor. I'll have to investigate the Duke's side more, but he probably also values the Empire greatly."
Because the Duke seemed to be aiming for the Emperor's throne.
So if I thoroughly destroy the Empire, it would count as revenge on both of them.
If I succeed in the goal of bringing down the Empire, their lives will easily fall into my grasp as well. And if I sever those lives with my own hands, my revenge will be close to perfect.
"Therefore, I humbly request. Please thoroughly destroy and trample the Empire so that it can never rise again."
"......Hahah!"
"......."
"Ahahahaha! Hahahahahaha!! To think you'd use it like this! Very good! I like it!"
Finally, the Demon King couldn't hold back his laughter and burst out loudly.
Truly, it's the best! What an amazing request! As expected, I picked one hell of a toy!
"You said you needed more investigation on the Duke's side, right? For such a purpose, you can investigate as much as you like! I'll help you!"
"Such a purpose...?"
Oh dear, I got too excited and made a slip of the tongue, unlike me.
Pretending nothing was wrong, the Demon King smiled broadly and hastily added.
"You know that request is far too great compared to the merit you've achieved, right?"
"......Yes."
It wasn't a demand worthy of merely capturing a single Hero Candidate.
"I'm going to conquer the human world."
Deon Hart's eyes darkened heavily as he realized the intention behind those words.
He knelt on one knee. He lowered his head and bowed deeply.
"......I will follow with all my heart and sincerity."
"Good."
Foolish human.
If the Emperor was a pseudo-villain, the Demon King was a hypocrite.
The Emperor was the same inside and out, but the Demon King was different inside and out.
The Emperor's sins were nothing but a firefly before the full moon compared to the Demon King's sins, and yet he was deceived by the mere shell.
The Demon King folded his eyes and smiled, as if hiding his true intentions.
Finally.
After a long wait.
The toy fell into my hands.