Beneath the Seventh Barrier
Well, either way, it was an immense stroke of luck for us. If she had joined that final battle, I couldn't have guaranteed the outcome would be the same.
“Besides, even earlier—back when you still hadn't layered so many barriers over yourself—you and the Hero wiped out Medun's entire unit.”
Medun. Right, there had been someone like that. A low-ranking commander under Denatel who kidnapped people from the rear lines and supplied them to Denatel as test subjects. He was essentially the first proper regular Demon King's Army force we faced. Back when it was just Rowell and me, we had a hell of a time.
“Wait! How do you know about that? Were you there?”
There was no way she could have learned it from reports or anything similar. I even doubted whether she read such things in the first place. More importantly, Medun hadn't properly recognized us until the very last battle in which he died. There was no chance he had observed our fighting style in detail.
“Denatel once asked me to check on some pests interfering with his recent harvests. The front lines were already quiet, so I went to take a look while I was at it.”
A chill ran down my spine.
“Th-then why didn't you do anything back then?”
At that time, our strength, equipment, and numbers had been incomparably weaker than now. If we had encountered her then, Rowell and I would have been reduced to ashes before we could even try anything.
“I did think you were fairly capable, but that was all. Also, even if he was just a low-ranking commander, I was curious to see Denatel's expression when I reported that his subordinates had been wiped out exactly as he'd asked.”
“No, but still, that skeleton face of his couldn't possibly show any expression.”
I tried to joke, but my heart was still pounding. To think we had survived simply because of such a trivial whim. No—not just survived. If she had been even slightly closer to Denatel, or if we had caught her interest even a little more back then, the world itself would have ended.
“Well, neither I nor Denatel ever imagined you would grow strong enough to bring us down.”
Of course. We hadn't imagined we would save the world, either.
“To be honest, I didn't think so either.”
Well, maybe Rowell had been different, but even after our companions gradually gathered, I had never truly believed we would save the world.
“If I'd known it would turn out like this, I should have stepped in instead of just watching. Don't you think?”
Her words were spoken as a simple joke, without a trace of self-mockery, yet the content was so close to the truth that I found it difficult to respond. Especially as the person involved.
“You're right. If you had, things wouldn't have ended this way.”
I managed to agree, but it was only after struggling through considerable emotional turmoil that I finally managed to layer on the seventh barrier.
“Haa.”
Without realizing it, I let out a genuine sigh.
By the fifth or sixth layer, emotional disturbances like this would have meant nothing, but the seventh was still a considerable burden. I had nearly broken the balance between the barriers several times, and cold sweat had formed on my brow.
“So you really did layer seven of them.”
“Were you trying to interfere?”
“No, I was just bored.”
Who would have thought that playful smile would calm my heart? It was something I could never have imagined during our travels, nor even after we saved the world and returned home with Rowell and Aegina.
“Then let's sleep.”
As she spoke, she pointed to the floor beneath her with her finger. The gesture looked somewhat—actually, quite—cute, which was dangerous in more ways than one.
“I suppose we should.”
It was late, and we really did need to sleep. Pretending to be calm, I turned to fetch a blanket when a question crossed my mind.
“By the way, Rofena, does it really have to be that spot? No matter where I sleep, I'll just be quiet anyway.”
It was a simple question, asked lightly.
“……”
What came back was an odd silence.
“…Rofena?”
Confused, I turned my head. She was staring at me, her face bright red.
“Rofena?”
She simply stood there, her face flushed, looking as though she didn't know what to do. I couldn't understand it at all. What part of my question could possibly have flustered her?
“……”
She remained standing there with her reddened face for a long while, and I could only stare back like a frightened child. As I had said before, I was weak against sudden situations or improvisation.
“…How mean.”
After a long pause, she muttered only those words. From then until I fell asleep, she said nothing more. And in that silence, I had to struggle for quite some time to force my fleeing drowsiness back into my body.
Of course, part of me wanted to pretend to be asleep and peek at what she might do, but my way was to keep Pandora's box closed.
* * *
“…Really, pretending not to know like that.”
Rofena murmured quietly as she looked down at Anak's sleeping face. What she did while he slept was not as special as he had wondered.
She simply watched. Watched the sleeping Anak.
“……”
As Anak himself had said, a sleeping person's appearance was not particularly pleasant to look at. And watching the entire duration of someone's sleep, rather than just a single moment, was even less so.
But for Rofena, it was different.
Of course, there were times when Anak tossed and turned or muttered something, which she found quite amusing, but what she was truly watching was not that.
“He only makes such a peaceful face when he's asleep.”
Anak was always somewhat tense and withdrawn somewhere, but when he slept, that appearance vanished.
Of course, even now, the unfamiliar sleeping arrangement and Rofena's presence still held onto the minimal wariness in his unconscious, but compared to when he was awake, his expression was clearly more natural and relaxed.
“…You don't have to feel sorry.”
She knew the feelings Anak held toward her.
The first emotion she had felt upon seeing Anak enter this pocket dimension was shock. The fact that someone other than Denatel—moreover, a member of the Hero's party—had entered Denatel's library and laboratory meant that Denatel was dead.
Of course, in reality, Anak had been far more surprised.
It couldn't be helped. After the final battle with Denatel, Anak had taken the key to this pocket dimension and the means to enter it as a kind of trophy, without telling his companions. Naturally, the others had no idea he was here.
Then, to suddenly encounter the Flame Demon Commander one-on-one—how shocked must he have been? As mentioned, the combat power of the Demon Commanders far exceeded that of any individual.
The look of dismay, bewilderment, and terror that had flashed across his face in that instant still made her smile from time to time. In fact, within a second of recognizing Rofena, Anak had poured all his strength into raising a shield and summoned three Guardians. Until he realized she was trapped, he had continued to cast shields and summon creatures with a grim expression.
For reference, at the time, she had summoned flames in both hands and taken an attacking stance just to tease him.
Anyway, when she later heard from Anak about the Demon King's death and Nix's defeat, she had been even more shocked, but that was all. The deaths of the Demon King and Denatel were not particularly bad things for her, either. She had only been demoted from her position as commander due to her defeat, and then handed over to Denatel as a test subject. And she knew well what fate awaited those who became Denatel's test subjects.
Of course, that didn't mean she had been favorable toward Anak. After all, it was because of the Hero's party that she had ended up in this situation, and for her, a demon, showing her powerless, trapped self to another was humiliating in itself.
However, Anak visited this pocket dimension every single day without fail, and whether she liked it or not, his was the only face she could see.
At first, it was just a few words of greeting, but eventually, their conversations grew more frequent and longer. And in those conversations, Anak always treated her with courtesy.
This was because he considered her above himself.
Though she had been an enemy, Anak acknowledged her beauty, her intense power, and her strong will. These were things he could never possess, and he showed respect for them.
Of course, Anak himself was not particularly accustomed to dealing with beautiful women, either.
Anyway, living beings were sensitive in some way to hostility or goodwill directed toward them. She, too, gradually opened her heart to Anak's attitude toward her, and while it couldn't be called favor, it was enough to regard him as an equal conversational partner.
Up until that point, Anak had merely been one of the Hero's companions who had failed to be dealt with, and aside from failing several attacks, his presence had not been particularly distinct.
It was around that time that she began to properly look at Anak's face and observe his expressions. And eventually, she became able to read the subtle emotions beneath Anak's expressions.
Anak was generally accustomed to hiding his emotions, but the only face she could see here was his. Even aside from a woman's unique sensitivity, the level of focus was different, and because Anak was somewhat relaxed in his dealings with her—knowing she was trapped within the barrier—it had been possible.
Moreover, because they had originally been enemies, there were parts where they could be more honest.
As time passed, she saw a great deal in Anak's words and expressions. At first, they were a tangled mix she couldn't define, but gradually, one by one, she came to understand them.
This could be seen as a simple process of emotional assimilation that occurs during long periods of confinement, as Anak had said, but regardless, she gradually came to understand Anak.
She came to perceive, to some extent, the emotions and meanings contained in each of his words and gestures, as well as the desires he himself would never admit to.
Perhaps she was the one who understood him most deeply now. Yes, more than the Yellow Sage Medrup, or even his oldest friend, the Hero Rowell.
That was perhaps only natural. After all, Rowell and Anak had met when both were very young. This meant that Rowell had seen Anak from a very early age, but it also meant that Rowell's impression of Anak had been formed when he was very young.
Rowell had certainly been intelligent from a young age, but children inevitably tend to believe what they want to believe rather than objective facts. Moreover, Rowell was an exceptionally outstanding individual.