Chapter 97: The Time Has Come (2)
Chapter 97: The Time Has Come (2)
Sparring among the demon-race was different from sparring among humans. They used magic, they transformed their bodies—how could their rules possibly be the same as the rules I knew?
I briefly worked my jaw, only my lips twitching as I racked my brain, figuring I'd just irritate them all if I clumsily applied human-world rules.
'For starters... even if this is the Demon Realm, one of the sparring partners is a Legion Commander, so killing moves are probably off the table, right?'
Yeah, let's just say something for now. The silence was dragging on longer and longer.
Under the pressure that I needed to speak up quickly, I blurted the words out raw before I could refine them.
"......Killing is not permitted."
Those words had been chosen with consideration for their personalities and dispositions, but the atmosphere turned distinctly chilly.
The Legion Commanders stared at me with slightly stiffened faces, and I caught the sound of murmuring.
It was obvious I'd said something wrong.
"So long as we don't kill... as expected."
"......Terrifying. Harsh."
"Then it ends when one side surrenders or is rendered incapable of combat?"
"Would Demon-nim even acknowledge a surrender, I wonder...?"
They'd lowered their voices so I could barely hear, and multiple people were talking at once, so I couldn't make out the full content—but I could at least tell it was about me.
'What, what's the matter? Don't tell me this was a death match? Is that why you're all reacting like this?'
Anxiously, I was debating whether I should correct myself right now when a booming laugh erupted from one side.
"Puhahaha! Good! That's what makes it worth it! As expected of Demon-nim, you really get it! Well, Derneban? You going ahead with it?"
"It makes no difference to me."
"Good, that's the spirit! This is how sparring was always meant to be! Now's my chance to show off all the magic I've been honing, so watch closely!"
Trover, who'd been spouting incomprehensible nonsense, turned his grinning face toward me.
His glittering eyes made no secret of what he wanted, so I had no difficulty producing the answer he was looking for.
"B-begin."
As if he'd been waiting, Trover lifted his foot and drove it roughly into the floor. A bizarre cry followed.
"Earthquake!"
KWAHAAANG!
Around him, the training ground floor split apart, tremors radiating outward.
I steadied myself by leaning on the hands that had caught hold of me, then exhaled a breath of sheer disbelief.
'What the hell kind of magic is that?! He just stomped on the floor like a brute!'
No, in the first place, the demon-race didn't even call out magic names when they cast spells—what was with this unheard-of incantation...!
Anyway, who was it who'd caught me?
"Are you all right?"
"Ah, Ed? Why are you here...?"
"I heard that Demon-nim had returned. Would it not be only natural for me to come see you?"
That's... right, I guess? He's my adjutant. Wait, do other adjutants do this too?
Unsure how to respond, I just looked at him blankly for a moment before quietly shifting my gaze back to the training ground.
In the meantime, Derneban, his nails sharpened into talons, was lunging at Trover. Trover wasn't about to just stand there and watch, either.
He extended his index and middle fingers and made a straight thrust at Derneban's eyes.
"Blind!"
Even in the middle of that, he didn't forget to yell out a magic name.
I-is that really okay?!
Before my silent shock could fully surface, Derneban ducked low, aiming to meet Trover's fingers with his forehead. Trover pulled his hand back just in time, then clenched his fist and shouted.
The muscles in his forearm bulged.
"Body Enhancement!"
"......He's literally just tensing up."
Trover, throwing a menacing punch loaded with full force, and Derneban, dodging it yet again....
I shook my head from side to side.
'Let's just not think at all. Give up, and it's easier.'
I was watching them with an attitude of vacant resignation when I abruptly turned my head to look at Ed.
He had been standing at attention, nerves tuned sharp in case the aftershocks of the battle reached me. The moment he felt my gaze, he turned his head at once to meet it.
Seeing him poised and ready to listen, I threw out a question without reservation.
"Ed, aren't you going to spar with Trover?"
"Pardon? If you command it, I shall, but... my abilities are ill-suited to sparring, so I avoid it whenever possible."
"......?"
"It's difficult, you see, to moderate things so no one dies."
As he spoke, he scratched the back of his neck somewhat sheepishly, and a chill ran down my spine. That gesture alone was so utterly ordinary it made it even worse.
Right, he's demon-race too. His outward appearance is close to a neat-featured human, so I'd briefly forgotten.
'......Let's just tuck myself quietly into a corner.'
I sat down quietly on the spot and pulled my knees up with my arms, hugging them as if curling my body into itself.
Ed, who had no way of knowing how I was feeling, stepped back half a pace as if to stand guard behind me, then lifted his head again toward Trover and Derneban, who were still deep in their sparring.
"Are you aware? The 9th Legion Commander didn't always have mana so low he couldn't even use magic."
"......Then?"
"The problem was his personality—a boundless, bottomless pursuit of amusement. Mana expended on magic cannot be recovered, so it ought to be used sparingly, when needed. He wasted it purely for fun and entertainment."
Just as sorcery required offerings, magic required mana.
And just as the offerings used in sorcery could not be recycled, mana expended on magic could not be recovered.
That alone was ample reason to conserve mana, but Trover apparently hadn't even possessed much mana to begin with.
The moment I heard that, only one word came to mind.
"In...."
"Yes, insane, isn't he."
"......I didn't say that."
I'd almost said it, though.
Ed seemed to treat the matter as nothing of consequence, but a guilty prickle made me hastily toss out another question.
"So the 9th Legion Commander can never use magic for the rest of his life?"
Thankfully, Ed focused on the question without resistance.
"That's not the case. No matter how devoid of mana a demon-race may be, there is one magic they can use at the very end."
"What kind...?"
"I'm sure you know what the origin of the demon-race's birth is."
Of course I did.
"The Demon King's power."
"Yes. From another perspective, that means the bodies of the demon-race are composed of His Majesty's power."
Substitute the Demon King's power into other terms, and you got mana.
Mightier and purer mana than that of any other demon-race.
"That is precisely the mana they use."
"Then... wouldn't they die?"
"Indeed. So the magic performed at that moment is typically the most powerful magic usable in a demon-race's lifetime. It's fair to consider it the price of their life."
That was when it happened. At the edge of my vision, Trover, who'd been hammering at Derneban, hoisted up a boulder that had been sitting at the edge of the training ground.
I flinched, cutting off my conversation with Ed to stare at him. As if he couldn't bear to not live up to being called a madman, he stomped all over my faint hope of "surely not" and hurled that vicious thing without a shred of hesitation.
"Hrraaaah! Meteor!"
I vaguely registered Derneban's nails grow sharper, the back of his hands becoming covered in grayish fur.
KWAHAAAANG!!
Choking dust veiled my sight, and shrapnel flew in every direction.
What on earth had just happened? I thought I'd glimpsed the boulder getting smashed to pieces. Was Derneban still alive?
Coughing as the dust tormented my airways, I caught a glimpse of a fragment the size of a human head hurtling into view. Given its vicious speed, my future—getting hit and kicking the bucket on the spot—automatically flashed before my eyes.
'......Fuck.'
I had to get out of the way, fast, but my legs had cramped up from sitting too long. On top of that, a fit of unstoppable coughing finally tore at my throat, and I started to see blood.
"Cough, cough... Urgh! Ku-koff!"
Have you ever been caught in a vicious cycle where coughing triggered by dust causes more coughing because of the coughing?
Where the blood from coughing triggers nausea, and the nausea in turn brings up more blood, a catastrophic spiral?
"Demon-nim!"
Ed deflected the unnaturally large fragment—the very thing that had made me sense a threat to my life—with the casual ease of shooing a fly. Then he urgently checked on me.
Remarkable, really, that what felt like a mortal crisis to me was trivial to these bastards.
Just as a faint sense of futility was about to set in, Ben shoved his way in—when had he even come running?—and shouldered Ed aside.
Waving his hands to disperse the dust, he clapped a damp handkerchief over my nose and mouth and exploded in irritation. Fortunately, the irritation wasn't aimed at me.
"What is with all this dust?! Who brought Demon-nim into this filthy environment?! No wonder he's vomiting blood! Are you insane? Do you not have brains in your heads? Is this some new assassination method? You lot make me want to pour sand down your windpipes and see if that's enough!"
Um... most of the people here are Legion Commanders....
Apparently, from the perspective of their attending physician, this dust-choked environment was enormously objectionable. No, at this point, it was outright loathing.
At words steeped in full-blown fury, Trover flinched and clutched his throat. Derneban quietly returned his hands to their original state.
Even the 3rd Legion Commander Asild, who had nothing whatsoever to do with this, surreptitiously rubbed at his own neck.
Even after reducing the two who'd been flaunting terrifying combat prowess just moments ago to silence, Ben's rage showed no sign of abating, and at last it found another victim.
"Ed, what the hell were you even doing?! Leaving Demon-nim unattended in a place thick with dust and filth! Do you even deserve to call yourself an adjutant?"
"......."
Ed's expression twisted mercilessly.
He had every right to feel wronged. Honestly, what fault of his was there? The sum total of his actions was coming here after hearing the news of my return.
If you were determined to manufacture a sin, maybe failing to whisk me away from here immediately? But even so, I had been seated as the judge of the match, so as a mere adjutant, that would've been difficult for him.
Before his resentment could transform into anger directed at me, I hurriedly interjected between the two of them.
"I'm fine. And it's not Ed's fault."
"But—!"
"Ed just arrived a moment ago."
"......Let's return to your room for now. The environment here is truly poor."
Thankfully, perhaps because his priority was getting me away from this place, Ben wore a sulky expression but still stepped back.
Afraid he might go after another innocent demon, I forgot all about my cramped legs and hurriedly tried to stand—only to stagger severely with a massive lurch, grinding my teeth against the brutal muscle pain.
Ed caught me at once as I nearly fell, propping me up. With a rigid expression, he looked down at my legs.
"Could it be, did a piece of debris strike your leg?"
"No, it's...."
"I! Will give you a ride on my shoulders!"
......What?
"It's partly my fault, after all. Meteor is something that should only be used on the battlefield... I'll be more careful going forward."
Before I could even doubt my ears, Trover reached right over, lifted me up in one motion, and set me onto his shoulders.
For a moment I glanced around dazedly, trying to grasp the situation. When I realized what kind of spectacle I was currently making, my face went rigid.
Put me down, you absolute lunatic.
"My-m-my legs are perfectly fine."
"I know full well that's a lie!"
"I'm telling the truth!"
"You don't have to spare my feelings."
"I mean it, seriously!!"
Why the hell are this bastard's shoulders so wide?!
I struggled to jump down somehow, but his shoulders were too broad to manage it easily, and he had my legs in a tight grip—I couldn't budge an inch.
I sent Ed a look pleading for rescue, but he, wholly unaware of my feelings, only spat out some truly lousy words.
"Seeing as you're using informal speech, the injury appears to be at quite a dangerous level. 9th Legion Commander, could you please hurry?"
"Honorifics, at this point. Just talk like you normally do. It's creeping me out."
"How could a mere adjutant like myself use informal speech toward a Legion Commander?"
"Boring."
He grumbled, but quickened his pace all the same. Ed and Ben fell in behind him. I, who'd been squirming frantically trying to get down somehow, spotted the shocked and horrified gazes of the Demon Castle's servants and quietly buried my face in my hands.
Humiliating, I want to die.
"......Ah, wait."
A thought suddenly struck me, and I lifted my head and twisted around to look behind. Even though we'd put a fair distance between us and the training ground, the Legion Commanders' gazes were still fixed on me, without exception.
They must be angry. Annoyed, at the very least. The rare spectacle had been ruined entirely because of me, alone.
Realizing I needed to placate them somehow before leaving like this, I hurriedly opened my mouth.
Trover, from whom I'd expected nothing, had the good sense to stop, and so my voice just barely managed to reach them.
"For today, I'll consider it a draw. We'll continue the rest next time."
I confirmed that their expressions shifted, then immediately turned my head back to face forward.
As I roughly patched up the situation, another worry surfaced.
The 9th Legion Commander Trover. This mad bastard.
He'd even seen me coughing up blood. Surely he wouldn't come pestering me to spar a week from now.
'......Surely not.'
The chill that crawled down my spine made me shudder, and so I failed to notice in time.
That the change in the Legion Commanders' expressions after hearing my words hadn't been particularly positive. That the hands Trover had been holding my legs with had twitched.
The murmuring drifting from behind.