Chapter 2: The Demon King's Strongest Card (2)
Chapter 2: The Demon King's Strongest Card (2)
I could finally grasp the situation.
This damn body! Of all times to cough up blood, here! Shit!
I saw the documents stained with blood. And the Demon King catching my blood with his hand... Good grief.
'What a miserable life.'
Leaving a brief will in my mind, I hastily covered my mouth and stumbled away from the desk.
Not that it mattered—the documents were already ruined, and the Demon King's hand was stained with blood. Sure enough, he seemed angry; I heard the sound of him grinding his teeth.
Swallowing the scream that threatened to burst out from the killing intent piercing my entire body, I forced my mouth open.
"I'm sorry. The documents..."
"That's not the issue right now! The attending physician! Summon the 0th Legion Commander's attending physician!! The patient is in pain, where the hell is he and what is he doing?!!"
......Huh?
My mind froze at the unexpected situation.
A moment later, my brain barely managed to put forth another assumption.
Ah, he's angry at the physician.
In short, it's like this: I caused this accident because I'm sick. That means the physician didn't do his job properly, which means the reason I caused the accident is the physician.
So instead of killing me, he'll kill the physician. That must be it.
Then where will the physician's resentment, struck by this bolt from the blue, be directed?
This is the Demon Castle. Reminding myself that the physician is also a demon, I sat down on the spot with an expression of serene resignation.
Fuck, I'm dead.
* * *
"The patient is in pain, where the hell is he and what is he doing?!!"
Overwhelming demonic energy swept through the entire castle.
It was obvious without looking who the owner of this thick, heavy demonic energy was. Ben, the attending physician, prepared himself to die today and hastily grabbed his medical bag.
After all, the subordinate His Majesty cared about this much could only be his own patient, the proud 0th Legion Commander, Lord Demon.
As expected, upon arriving at His Majesty's office, he saw Lord Demon sitting on the bare floor, covering his mouth. What was dripping from under his hand was none other than blood.
The office carpet had become a mess because of it, but since His Majesty would not care about such things, he didn't mind and approached him.
Quickly helping him, who seemed to have lost strength in his legs and made no move to stand up, onto the sofa, he blamed himself internally.
To not appear promptly when the patient was in pain was disqualifying as a physician. Even if Lord Demon flew into a rage and broke his neck, he would have nothing to say.
But first, he needed to help him recover.
First, he held up three fingers.
First, check consciousness.
"Lord Demon, can you hear me? How many do you see?"
"Three."
Consciousness normal, vision normal.
Everyone in the Demon Castle knew why Lord Demon was like this. There was no way not to know.
That was because everyone had clearly witnessed it.
That figure of his, restraining the Hero who tried to self-destruct with a mere human body.
And beyond that, the scene where he took the Hero's life with a single casual gesture.
It was only natural that his body was ruined after bearing the Hero's self-destruction entirely alone.
So, did he look down on him?
'There's no way.'
Physical weakness and combat ability were separate matters. It might be different for other halfwits, but this man was different. If he felt like it, he could probably take this life right away. Then I would only realize I was dead after I had already died.
Just looking at his vividly alive eyes, even while coughing up blood, told him so.
Those eyes, so red they seemed like fresh blood pooling in a circle, even more striking against his stark white hair, unmistakably held 'Death' within them.
These were eyes that had killed countless people and witnessed countless deaths. How could anyone dare look down on him?
Suppressing the surging fear and awe, Ben calmly opened his mouth.
"As you may have expected, it's aftereffects."
As if he had expected it, a look of resignation crossed His Majesty's face. He too fell silent for a moment in bitterness. But the person in question, Lord Demon, was different.
An expression that seemed not to care at all. No, that was clearly an expression of being fed up.
Because he had heard it too many times. Because he had already heard it enough to be sick of it.
As if it was nothing new, he pressed the handkerchief given by the Demon King to his lips and buried himself deep into the sofa.
At that attitude, close to resignation or serene detachment, even Ben, let alone the Demon King, could only lose his words.
'How can he be so composed?'
If it were any other Legion Commander, there would have been a huge uproar long ago.
They would have drawn their sword, thrown a punch, or sat quietly and made threats. With eyes glowing with killing intent, they would have demanded to be cured somehow.
That's your job, isn't it?
That's the very reason for your existence.
As his thoughts reached that point, a sigh almost escaped him. A sigh closer to relief than frustration or anger.
Unconsciously, Ben was thinking how truly fortunate it was to be the 0th Legion Commander's physician.
'No, this isn't the time.'
He immediately shook off his thoughts, composed his emotions, and quickly rummaged through his medical bag.
"As always, this is medicine to help with internal injuries. I'm sorry I can only do this much."
"Thank you."
Ben confirmed that Lord Demon took the vial and swallowed it, then slowly closed and opened his eyes.
Well, his work was done. Now the unavoidable moment had arrived.
The Demon King, who had been radiating a 'We need to talk' aura since the moment he'd arrived, was there. Knowing well that the price of ignoring him was death, he carefully rose from his seat and faced the Demon King.
He had no particular complaints. Nor did he feel wronged. It was clearly his own fault for not responding quickly to the patient's condition.
Probably, Lord Demon was also angry—no, even if not angry, at least he must be displeased.
Thus, he was prepared to first endure the Demon King's wrath, and then, if he survived, the wrath of Lord Demon. But the one who stepped forward was the one who should have been the angriest, Lord Demon.
......Why?
* * *
The Demon King was about to kill the physician!
I reflexively jumped up from my seat and grabbed Ben's wrist.
Surprised, Ben looked at me with wide eyes. Likewise, the Demon King was also staring at me with rounded eyes, as if taken aback.
Surprised? I was surprised too. But I had no choice.
If the physician was killed now, wouldn't all that resentment be directed at me? No matter how mild-mannered Ben usually was, if he got chewed out for something that wasn't his fault, he'd naturally be furious.
By then, it would be too late.
To survive, I had to stop this!
With that resolve, I spoke first to the Demon King, who was still at a loss for words.
"I'm not feeling well, so I'll take my leave now. With my physician, of course. It's unfortunate, but we'll have to postpone the resignation discussion."
"Uh, huh? Resignation...? No, fine. Go get some rest."
As expected, he glossed over it, probably because he really didn't want to discuss the resignation.
I'll definitely bring it up next time! I promised myself, thinking that today wasn't the right timing, and strode out of the office.
I didn't know how long I walked.
When I stopped walking, we were standing somewhere in the middle of a fairly long corridor.
Since there was more than one corridor, I glanced out the window to get my bearings.
As befitting the sunless Demon Realm, I saw the garden under the veil of night through the corridor window. In place of the sun, the three moons that occupied its place softly illuminated the garden.
If I looked at just that, I might think it was quite a nice view, but look over there. What kind of flower has teeth? Carnivorous plants, right? And the plant next to it has eyeballs. And they're blinking!
As I shuddered at the creepiness, a faint voice came from beside me.
"Um, Lord Demon..."
"Hm? ......Ah."
Come to think of it, I was still holding his wrist. I'd been so distracted I hadn't even realized.
I stealthily let go and subtly checked Ben's reaction. Surely he wasn't offended?
Fortunately, there was no sign of displeasure on his face. Instead, what caught my eye was his complexion, as pale as mine.
Somehow, he seemed restless too...
"Are you unwell or something?"
"No. I just..."
An emotion of resignation surfaced on his face.
Wondering if he really was sick, I looked at him with a heart full of concern, and he let out a small, empty breath.
Ben's pale lips quivered, and then, as if steeling himself, he bit his lip once tightly and bowed deeply.
"Though it's presumptuous of me, I dare ask you to send me off as painlessly as possible!"
"...Uh?"
I even forgot to manage my expression for a moment. By now, my face probably had an unadulterated look of sheer bafflement. The dazed voice was a bonus.
It was a good thing he was bowing. Seeing that he hadn't moved a muscle, he must not have heard my voice either.
I quickly composed my expression and cleared my throat.
Since I couldn't bring myself to bluntly ask what the hell that nonsense was, I rephrased it a bit...
"What do you mean by that?"
"Ah... No. I misspoke. I'm sorry!"
I had kindly asked, and yet he was appalled.
Is this guy really sick? They say you can't cut your own hair—if the physician is sick, what the hell are you supposed to do?
And even worse, that physician is my physician.
With the anxiety that I might end up entrusting my body to a patient, I let out a small sigh and said,
"I won't kill you."
I don't know what you're on about, but I won't kill you. No, I can't.
If I had the ability to kill a demon, I would have ditched this Legion Commander role long ago and escaped. Why would I be living here with my heart in my throat?
This freshly realized pitiful situation only brought out a sigh.
With a gloomy heart, I left Ben behind, looking stunned, and plodded toward my room.
* * *
Contrary to appearances, I knew that among all the Legion Commanders, Lord Demon was the most generous. But to think he would even protect someone who hadn't fulfilled his duty.
No, it seemed he didn't think I had failed my duty in the first place.
Maybe because he's human-born? His thinking was fundamentally different from demons, so I couldn't fathom his standards at all.
But then I abruptly asked him to kill me without pain; how bewildered he must have been. To the point that someone who normally uses polite speech let out an informal 'What?'
But there was a reason for this misunderstanding. The other Legion Commanders. If it had been them, even if they saved me, the reason would have been 'to relieve anger by killing me with their own hands.'
Anyway, it would have been nice if I had quickly stopped there, but sadly, I cluelessly thought he was greatly offended by my words and even apologized, placing a burden on him.
In a situation where even being hit in the back of the head would leave me with nothing to say, Lord Demon instead let out a faint sigh and said,
[I won't kill you.]
Honestly, it was a shock. Wasn't this too generous, even for him?
I was always proud of being his physician, but never as much as today. I'll have to bring a bottle of liquor today and visit Setter, the official physician for the Legion Commanders.
I could already picture him clutching the back of his neck in envy, having to deal with the ill-tempered Legion Commanders every day.
Of course, there was something I had to do first.
'So that the same thing never happens again...'
Recalling the pitiful sight of his patient, Demon Arut, dripping with blood, Ben's eyes glinted faintly.