Chapter 44
Chapter 44 - Won't You Cancel Our Contract With Me?
"I am a worm... I won't act up again... I'm sorry... I was wrong..."
After 5 long hours, the 'lecture for your own good' finally ended.
Dawn was already breaking outside. The Demon King, kneeling on the bed, kept nodding off while repeatedly mumbling those words.
Almost like being brainwashed. I nodded in satisfaction.
"Hey, Demon King."
"Huh?"
The Demon King snapped awake at my call and turned her head. She tilted her head with a drowsy face.
I stared at her quietly, then awkwardly turned away.
"...At least put this on for now."
"Eh?"
I covered the Demon King with one of my shirts that was lying around in the room.
Come to think of it, she's been half-naked this whole time. I was too angry to notice anything, but I really lacked awareness.
"Hmm... well, since you're telling me to, I'll wear it."
The Demon King looked at the draped shirt with disapproval, then started buttoning it up methodically.
She stared blankly at her body wrapped in the white shirt for a while.
"This is too tight around the chest, Hero."
"...Shut up and wear it. I'll bring you proper clothes later."
"My wings are also cramped. It's uncomfortable, can't I take it off?"
"I said I'll bring you something later. Just bear with it for now."
"Ugh. Fine, I understand."
The Demon King nodded with a dissatisfied face. I observed her for a moment.
Her seductive figure was clearly visible through the thin shirt. Those pure white legs extending below the shirt. The tail that poked out between them and swayed gently was particularly eye-catching.
"Why do you keep glancing at me like that?"
"Ahem! Harrumph!!"
Damn it. Now that my anger has cooled down, I'm starting to notice unnecessary things.
Finding it awkward to face her directly, I just plopped down next to the Demon King. Then I opened my mouth.
"...Hey. Right now you're under contract with me, right?"
I changed the topic, if only to divert attention.
The Demon King looked at me suspiciously but soon nodded with a sigh.
"That's right. How I ended up bound in a guardian contract with you, a Hero... even I... ah, no. I don't know, but right now you and I are in a guardian contract."
"Hmm."
"Consider it an honor. Having a human become my guardian is a rare occurrence that I can count on three fingers throughout my life."
"Yeah right, whatever."
I flexed my hand a few times, then turned my gaze back to the Demon King.
"What kind of people were your previous human guardians?"
"Hmm..."
At my question, she fell into deep thought, then opened her eyes wide and said.
"I don't remember."
"..."
"Why, why are you looking at me like that? It can't be helped. When I die and the guardian contract is broken, I lose all memories of my guardians."
"Hmm. Is that so?"
"That's right."
I see. I nodded.
Actually, that part doesn't matter much. The real part I was curious about starts now.
"When I die, time rewinds, right?"
"That's right. It's my unique power that even those damn celestial reaper sisters don't have. Hoho. Impressive, isn't it?"
"...Well yeah. It is impressive... But then, when you die, does time also rewind?"
I nodded since it was indeed impressive, then immediately got to the main point.
The proud-looking Demon King furrowed her brows as if questioning what I meant.
"Time regression is purely insurance for the guardian. Why would I need to do such troublesome things?"
"What? Then what happens when you die?"
"Haven't you been protecting me all this time! I return to being an egg!"
"Ah."
The immortal Demon King's egg. The alpha and omega of my life in this other world.
Right. Come to think of it, the Demon King died and remained as an egg, then got discovered by the gods and became entangled with me.
I finally let out a gasp of realization.
"...So that's how it is."
"That's how it is. If I have a guardian like now, I can revive quickly. But if I die along with my guardian, revival takes much longer. Like how this revival took 30 years."
She said proudly while scratching her flowing white hair. It doesn't seem to be a lie.
This confirms it. The immortal Demon King herself doesn't undergo time regression.
This creates a major problem with one plan I had in mind.
"Then. When things go wrong, killing you instead of me won't trigger time regression...?"
"No, you crazy bastard...! Y-you were having such insolent thoughts?!"
The Demon King exploded in anger and started pounding on my shoulders.
Though her cotton-like fists didn't hurt at all. Rather, she just tired herself out and was busy fixing her disheveled shirt.
"Ugh, why is this outfit so uncomfortable!"
She seemed quite bothered by the shirt as she started unbuttoning it from the top.
...Damn it. My eyes keep getting drawn there. I hastily continued speaking.
"Hey then. At least you can set the regression point as you want, right?"
"Huh? Ah... well."
The Demon King was notably flustered by my question.
She stopped unbuttoning and hesitated, then lowered her head and closed her mouth.
My face immediately turned sour.
"You can't?"
"Well... setting regression points requires quite a lot of magical power. But with my body in this state..."
"..."
"...The regression point might update automatically if there's a threat to me in the near future, but otherwise it won't work."
I see.
So, from now on, when you think the regression point is being updated. It means you should interpret it as 'You will become screwed from now on.'
I understood. I understood everything.
I nodded briskly and immediately asked the Demon King.
"Can't this contract be cancelled?"
"Can...cel? You mean you want to terminate the contract?"
"I'm not saying I want to do it right now. I'm just curious if it's possible or not."
"If I must say... I can terminate it if I want to."
"Really? Then let's terminate it right now."
An extreme change in attitude reminiscent of cartoonist Kim's manga. [Tl/N: Too many Kims to know which]
As soon as I finished speaking, the Demon King's brow twitched dynamically. Her blank gaze turned toward me.
"... What?"
"Let's terminate the contract. You said you don't like me anyway. Let's just go our separate ways thinking of this as a brief inconvenience."
"W-well, that's true... but terminating the contract also requires quite a bit of magical power."
"......"
"Right now, I'm in a state where I can't gather magical power, so I can't terminate the contract...."
The dejected Demon King said while fidgeting with her fingers.
For reference, I became even more dejected than her.
"Ah, what's this? You should have said that first. Got my hopes up for nothing."
"I'm sorr... Why should I?! No, that's not it!!"
The Demon King suddenly brought her face close to mine.
She looked like she couldn't believe the words coming out of my mouth.
"You! How dare you speak of termination when you've survived until now thanks to my grace?! How could you utter such nonsense...!"
"Grace? Want to hear about grace one more time in the Room of Truth?"
"Ugh."
When I made a genuinely disgusted expression, the Demon King flinched and backed away.
She was sweating profusely, apparently really disliking the mention of grace. Her arrogant attitude from just moments ago completely disappeared, replaced by docility.
"Ah why. It's true, isn't it? Looking at all the Xiongma (凶魔) accumulated in my body... You, Hero. It seems you died quite a lot even before I was revived."
The Demon King muttered complaints while fidgeting with her hands like before.
I slightly raised my eyebrow at the appearance of an unfamiliar term.
"Xiongma? What's that?"
"It's a special magical energy (魔氣) that accumulates in my body every time you experience death."
"... What happens when it accumulates?"
"Death and time are inseparable. If your deaths repeat at the same point in time, the structural strength of the time axis I fixed weakens. Eventually, it collapses."
I pondered over the Demon King's words.
But no matter how much I thought about it, I couldn't understand what she meant.
I grabbed and pulled the Demon King's white cheek, which was like rice cake.
"I'll give you 10 seconds, so drop the pretentious nonsense and explain it so I can understand."
"Ah! Ahh! Let go already! It hurts!"
The Demon King desperately flailed her arms trying to remove my hand. I only let go after seeing tears forming in her eyes.
She became teary-eyed and rubbed her cheek before glaring at me.
"Simply put! The regression point gets destroyed!! It means you can no longer revive at that point!"
"... Ah."
Now I understand.
After understanding, I was shocked because it was a more serious matter than I thought. It meant my space-time regression wasn't infinite.
I looked at the Demon King in a daze and asked again.
"... What's the maximum limit of this Xiongma? Roughly how many times?"
"That depends on your mental state. Because Xiongma accumulates in you too."
"In me too?"
"That's right. So what's important isn't me but your mental state."
The Demon King grinned while poking the side of my head. Her characteristic red eyes were shining particularly mischievously.
Her bloodless lips opened slowly.
"Xiongma corrodes the guardian's mind. The more you repeat death, the more desensitized you'll become to death. Both your own death, and the deaths of others."
"Becoming desensitized to death...."
I unconsciously swallowed dry saliva.
It wasn't because I could predict the future. Rather, it was because the past came to mind.
Even with this operation.
I'm afraid of dying. I really desperately don't want to die.
Yet while being so afraid of death, somehow I've become able to willingly give up my life to achieve my goals.
I already know this sensation of becoming familiar with death.
As one corner of my heart grew cold, the Demon King continued speaking.
"And finally you become a madman. A dangerous madman who feels no value in life. When that happens, it means the Xiongma has accumulated to the limit. When that moment comes, I make a choice."
"Choice?"
"Either terminate the contract and give up on the guardian, or destroy a specific regression point to blow away the Xiongma along with the passed time. I always graciously give this choice to the guardians themselves... but most choose the former."
"......"
"At least, that's what the two humans who were my previous guardians did."
The Demon King's words contained a chilling warning. I faced the Demon King with a seriously sunken expression.
And instead of answering, I pulled her cheek again this time.
"Agaga! Ahh! Why! Why do you keep pulling!!"
"Fix that pretentious way of talking. It's so cringy. Are you trying to be hip?"
"H-hip what! A-anyway I won't do it! Let go! It hurts!!"
I only let go of the Demon King's cheek after getting confirmation.
Now the Demon King was not just whimpering but sobbing.
"Ugh... uwu... I-I'm indignant... T-this humiliation... I will, someday, surely repay this... waaah!"
Did I grab that hard? No. I definitely didn't.
It wasn't even hard enough to call it pinching, really just more like kneading.
'How can someone calling herself a Demon King have such weak tear ducts.'
Is this also because she has no magical power? I hope that's the case.
The most evil, worst, strongest Demon King wiping her tears with her shirt hem while looking away. I let out a slight sigh.