Chapter 72: The Turning Wheel (4)
Chapter 72: The Turning Wheel (4)
Only then did Siia's head lift.
Facing her vacant eyes that seemed to look at him yet not see him at all, Pol pressed his lips together once and forced a distorted smile onto his face. His voice came out deliberately bright.
"Come with me."
Be friendly, but don't get attached. Was that it?
Recalling the unspoken rule that circulated through the slums, Pol let out a derisive snort.
'It's already too late.'
A child younger than himself, the first he'd ever found in the slums.
At first it was curiosity and interest, but before long it transformed into a particular emotion that clung thickly to one side of his heart.
If having a little sibling felt like anything, would it feel like this?
It was dangerous. Even before he could define the identity of the emotion he felt, Pol could sense it instinctively.
So he deliberately kept his distance. He circled around her, reminding himself of the rule not to get attached, and only helped out on the rare occasions she seemed to be in danger.
But what use was that?
He knew now. What this emotion was.
He'd already given his heart away long before he'd put any distance between them, and now there was no reason left anywhere to turn his back on this child.
He held out his hand to Siia.
"Let's go together, Siia."
"......."
"Please......."
"......."
No answer came. Meeting Siia's eyes, Pol slowly withdrew his hand, his expression set stiff.
As if to hide his face, he ducked his head low. His lips, which he'd bitten down hard to compose himself, only stirred sluggishly after several seconds had passed.
"......Fine."
"......."
"Go on and keep living like that then. If you don't come, you're the only one who loses out, really."
In the end his voice never rose, coming out more like a murmur.
Having finished speaking, Pol turned away. He walked off in anger, just like that time before.
Unlike that time, Siia did not chase after him, and neither did he come back to lend her a supporting arm.
Walking slowly right up to the very last moment, Pol came to a stop in front of a certain man. He was staring fixedly at the tips of his own shoes with his mouth pressed tight, when a warm voice fell from above his head.
"You came alone? Didn't you say you were bringing your little sister?"
Having no immunity to warmth, he ended up raising his head. The moment he met eyes as kind as the voice, tears came pouring out in a rush as if by magic.
"Hyuung......."
"......Oh dear."
Clear liquid dripped onto the ground at his feet. Startled, Daniel hurriedly pulled out a handkerchief and wiped Pol's face.
Seeing such a young thing, who had barely experienced the world, already weeping in silence without making a single sound, he felt so pitiful he couldn't say a word. He just wiped away the tears before gently pulling the child into an embrace.
"Sorry, I'm sorry. I spoke out of turn. It was a slip of the tongue. I should've been more tactful with my questions too, right?"
"Hic!"
"It's alright, it's alright......."
As if unaccustomed to another person's warmth, the child squirmed, and Daniel slowly patted his back. The tremors gradually quieted—whether it was having an effect or not, he couldn't tell.
"There there, it'll be okay."
"......Hic."
"If your little sister won't come along, so what? You just have to get stronger and protect that child yourself. Isn't that right?"
"......Yeah......."
A voice that seemed to crawl its way out.
Wondering if he still hadn't calmed down, Daniel checked Pol's face and, with a quiet laugh, took a step back.
It seemed belated embarrassment was catching up to him. After confirming the boy's bright red face once more, Daniel forcibly suppressed his laughter and opened his mouth.
"Shall we go, then?"
* * *
As always, beneath the dark sky where three moons hung, Lirinel, the 11th Legion Commander of the Demon King's army, sat perched atop the castle wall, swinging her legs with a sullen expression.
Unfortunately for her adjutant, her discontent had reached its absolute peak.
And no wonder—the one she wanted to come wasn't coming, while only other bastards kept pouring in one after another!
In the first place, entries into the Demon Castle were rare, and even those were regular.
Any unscheduled entry meant it was either an intruder or someone of high enough rank to freely enter and exit the Demon Castle.
If you had to name a representative example of such 'high-ranking personnel,' it would likely be someone around the level of a 'Legion Commander.' So every time there was a reaction from the barrier set up around the Demon Castle, she'd come rushing over in a flash, but.......
'The 9th Legion Commander Trover and the 5th Legion Commander Oel. And Oel's adjutant Derniban... was it.'
She'd already been disappointed, and then Trover had gone and smashed through the castle wall with his body, declaring he'd pass by magic without even bothering to open the gate, which had infuriated her even more.
That damned bastard, what part of that was magic! He just broke his way in with brute force! I clearly said, "If you can breach my barrier with 'magic,' then go ahead and try!"
'Oel had come lugging all sorts of strange things, intending to have a conversation, so I ended up fleeing first.......'
It was just about tolerable when she rattled off all the interesting information she'd come across, but if you gave her one wrong answer, you'd be subjected to an endless barrage of "Why?"
And conversations with her never seemed to end, either.
'I don't know how Derniban puts up with her personality.'
Ah, I miss Demon-nim.......
Just like that, while she gazed up blankly at the night sky, longing for Demon, at some point Lirinel's eyes went round and she sprang to her feet.
There was a reaction from the barrier. The direction was the north gate!
Since she was currently at the western wall, it wasn't that far away.
The faint sliver of hope that surged back to life was apparently unavoidable, despite how many times she'd been left empty-handed. Lirinel immediately grabbed the broom beside her and leaped down from the wall.
A fierce wind greeted her, and her tiny body closed in on the ground at terrifying speed.
Just before she collided with the ground like this, she mounted the broom and sharply pivoted direction, soaring upward.
'Right, I got scolded by His Majesty the Demon King for using magic recklessly.'
Even when she'd gone to greet Oel and Trover, she'd flown over using magic and gotten a thorough scolding.
Because the barrier's reaction wasn't only relayed to the caster—it was also transmitted to the guard unit. Since the person's identity would be reported if she just waited a little bit, that was a waste, he'd said.
Magic was a violation of the world's laws. The world, unlikely to stand idly by while its laws were openly broken, would send a Hero in response.
In the end, the more magic was used, the sooner a Hero's birth would draw near, and only the Demon King knew how much time remained.
With this use of magic just now, the Demon King had probably sensed that the time had been shortened once again, even if by a little.
Recalling the Demon King's cold expression, Lirinel hunched her shoulders, then stretched them straight out as if nothing had happened.
'So this time, I even used a broom as a medium!'
If the one coming this time was Demon-nim, wouldn't His Majesty let it slide just this once?
Lost in these and other thoughts, she arrived at the north gate.
In the area just a bit farther outside the Demon Castle from the north gate, Lirinel hurriedly turned her head this way and that, searching for the being the barrier had reacted to.
She didn't have to wander long.
Far off in the direction of the forest, someone was striding in a straight line toward the castle gate.
It wasn't the black robe that was someone's trademark, but a thoroughly common traveler's robe. Still, it wasn't hard to be reminded of that someone from the silhouette.
It was the same for the gatekeepers.
"C-Could it be...!"
"Don't freeze up, stay sharp! If we mess up, we die today."
Those who'd been killed for offending a Legion Commander by trying to inspect them were far from few.
Things would be serious enough with any of the other Legion Commanders, and of all people it had to be the 0th Legion Commander—the one they had the least information on.
Of course, since he was still wearing a robe, it was only speculation for now, but their one and only life was far too precious to entrust to such flimsy hope.
If that truly was the 0th Legion Commander, they had no clue how to deal with him, so in the end there was only one thing they could do.
Act with careful tact!
First, follow the rules so they couldn't be faulted for anything, and if the moment they tried to inspect him, the slightest hint of displeasure crossed his face, they'd just let him through.
'Still, please, let it not be the 0th Legion Commander.......'
Meanwhile, the figure who had reached the front of the gatekeepers pushed his robe's hood back.
To give the result first, their humble wish was mercilessly trampled.
White hair was revealed beneath the moonlight, and blood-red eyes stared straight at them.
They'd never seen him even once, but the appearance was familiar.
Since he was someone who stayed only in the inner castle of the Demon Castle, they'd never once seen that face in person, but the description of his looks was one they'd heard so often they couldn't possibly not know it.
"Demon Arut."
"C-Confirmed."
The 0th Legion Commander, Demon Arut.
To the demon race, an object of both reverence and terror had returned.
And there was someone screaming a silent scream in the sky.
'Demon-niiiiiiim!!'
* * *
There had been some minor trouble with the mad dogs when I departed, but either way I'd arrived safely at the Demon Castle.
As expected of the Demon Realm, even though the Legion Commanders were likely hunting demonic beasts constantly, I still had to encounter countless demonic beasts but.......
I brushed my fingertips lightly across the mark on my neck, just above the collarbone.
A tracking spell personally engraved by the Demon King.
In a way it was only natural—thanks to this spell imbued with the Demon King's aura, the demonic beasts avoided me on their own. So I supposed it could be seen as a kind of aggressive travel pass.
'Anyway, I felt like I was being watched up until I entered the Demon Realm.......'
And it seemed like there'd been a bit of a commotion behind me too.......
'Was it just my imagination?'
I'd arrived at the Demon Castle without any particular incident, so it must have simply been my imagination.
I must've been too tense since it'd been a while since I was in the Demon Realm.
Come to think of it, I'd even used casual speech with the gatekeepers a moment ago from being too on edge. Fortunately they let it go without picking a fight, but... honestly, my heart was pounding.
But speaking without my voice trembling was the limit of what I could manage.
During my stay in the Empire, I'd barely gotten used to it, but now the Demon Realm had become awkward again. No—it had become terrifying!
'It'll probably take a little time to adjust, so for the time being I shouldn't run into any of the Legion Commanders.......'
"Demon-nim!!"
Eeeek! You startled me!
A little kid tumbled down from the sky along with a broom.
At the appearance of the familiar face, I inwardly despaired. Why? Because in the Demon Realm, a face that's familiar to me means it's inevitably one of the dangerous bastards.
'No, in the first place, there's no way any beings in the Demon Realm aren't dangerous.'
The 11th Legion Commander, Lirinel.
Considering it a stroke of fortune that she was, relatively speaking, the least frightening being among the Legion Commanders to me, I opened my mouth toward her as if nothing was wrong.
"It's been a while."
"Yes! It has been a while! Though it's late, I heard that when you were dispatched for the city's defense, you didn't just handle it perfectly, you even swept away the demonic beasts cleanly! As expected of Demon-nim!"
"Ah... yes."
So I'd heard.
Let me just say for the record, at that time my memory had been completely gone. I drank, my memory cut out, and when I came to my senses I was enthusiastically coughing up blood.
According to my adjutant Ed and my personal physician Ben, I'd been tearing through the demonic beasts, got attacked, and went flying two meters.
"Oh right! More importantly, are you injured anywhere?"
"......?"
"It's just... last time, I got a signal that the necklace I gave you had broken, so I was worried. I'm relieved you seem to be unharmed."
"Ah, is that so... wait, pardon?"
Necklace?
"Ah, ah! Of course, it's not that I was doubting Demon-nim's abilities... I just......."
"No, that's not what I......."
Come to think of it, the necklace Lirinel gave me had disappeared at some point, hadn't it? Roughly judging by the timing, it seemed like it was even before I went to the Empire.......
Probably at the boundary line with the human world, where I went because they said a new Hero had appeared. Seems I lost it in all the chaos there.
But broken, she said. Didn't she say that thing would save my life at least once? There's no way it would break that easily.
......Well, either way, it's better than saying I lost it.
"......I put it to good use. Thank you."
"Tha... Ah, ah, ahhh it was nothing! I'll! I-I-I'll make you another one! If you need it, please tell me anytime!"
What the, that was scary.
Seems I'd unconsciously taken a step back. With an oops sort of expression, Lirinel quickly composed her emotions, then cleared her throat with a couple of coughs and changed the subject.
"How was the mission? Ah, I'm asking purely about your impressions—not trying to pry into what kind of mission it was......."
"It was exhausting."
"Pardon?"
It was exhausting. Especially wiping out the Salvation Church—that was truly dreadful.
"I met people who created a false religion, held something up as the truth, and believed in that alone blindly."
"......?"
Ah, does the Demon Realm not have the concept of religion?
Come to think of it, the demon race believed in and followed only their own progenitor, the Demon King.......
It wasn't exactly a secret that I'd gone to the human world, and it didn't matter as long as I made sure no one knew what mission I'd been given, but explaining was a pain.
But looking at the question-filled eyes of this child, it wasn't easy to just gloss over it either.
In the end, defeated by her gaze, I gave her an explanation in easy-to-understand terms, and she nodded, saying,
"Ah... how stupid. If they were going to believe in something so meaningless, they'd be better off believing in Demon-nim instead......."
"Ye... yes?!"
"Huh...? Now that I think about it, this is kind of good? Demon-gyo... Demon-gyo, huh......."
"Um...?"
I feel like you just muttered something extremely ominous just now.