Chapter 125 — Please Protect This Land (2)
Ever since my grandmother, who had raised me in my parents' stead, passed away and I began living alone in the world.
Survival had been a familiar assignment.
I'd thought so.
I'd led a rough life and used my body harshly,
and I'd often been injured by blunt weapons and blades.
But after becoming the Demon King, the assignment I faced was, in a sense, a high-difficulty task that surpassed the life I'd lived.
Though he seemed to enjoy everything,
in truth he'd possessed nothing of meaning.
The Demon King had merely clung to life,
relying on the body and circumstances bequeathed by his parents.
I'd thought I was finally incurring less of the Hero's hatred now,
that I was in the process of escaping the role of the Hero's adversary...
Was it that the problem of survival could not be easily overcome simply by becoming stronger, or simply by becoming more merciful?
"...Your Majesty."
"...."
"......Your Majesty?"
"Ah, mm."
Roan, who had been staring blankly at the far wall with fork and knife in hand, barely collected himself and looked at Grünent.
Grünent and Aina, who had been eating breakfast with him, were watching him with worried eyes.
Grünent set aside her concern and offered a faint smile.
"What thoughts are you pondering so intently?"
"Grünent. Aina."
"Yes, Your Majesty."
Sensing that Roan's topic was about to become serious, Grünent stopped eating and placed both hands demurely on her knees.
"On what grounds did you two become able to trust me?"
"...Mmm."
Aina abruptly blushed.
Why...?
It couldn't be because I pushed her down, could it...?
"It's difficult if you ask me to point to a single instance. Your Majesty tries to take responsibility for the words you speak, and I have come to trust you because I have seen how much effort you make."
Aina nodded silently, affirming Grünent's words.
"How did that trust come into being...?"
Roan altered the direction of the question and asked again.
Grünent, who seemed to be thinking carefully, faced Roan with another smile.
"It wasn't that I came to trust Your Majesty, whom I could not believe, all at once. But there was something that served as the catalyst."
"What was it?"
"The day Your Majesty first summoned me, you apologized to me."
Grünent lowered her eyes as if looking back on that time.
It was a story from well over half a year ago now.
Aina blinked and silently waited for her words.
"You said you were sorry for imprisoning me, and for causing my maids to suffer hardship. And you said that you would change, and that this castle would change as well."
"I did."
Grünent and her maids, who had been pushed forward like tribute for the ceasefire agreement and then sent straight to the dungeon by the former Demon King.
In the end, one maid lost her life inside,
and belatedly, when I became Roan, Grünent and the maids became safer than they had been in the game.
"At first, I had no intention of listening to Your Majesty's words at all. For the things I'd heard about what the demon king does had no good rumors attached. And what I saw and experienced in the dungeon was the same."
Yet Grünent's blue eyes were kind.
"But I could tell that, at the very least, Your Majesty did not say such things in order to deceive me, nor to coax me."
Looking back now, that was only natural.
Since she had a high-level 'Politics' Skill.
The power to discern with what intent the other party was acting.
"You may have made mistakes in the past, but you said you would change, and you are indeed making it happen. That is never an easy thing. The same goes for offering an apology to an enemy nation's princess. So I decided to try trusting that person once."
Grünent rose and came to Roan's side. As Roan, still seated, looked up at her, Grünent warmly wrapped her arms around his shoulders.
"Your Majesty."
Grünent buried her face against Roan's shoulder and spoke softly.
Roan silently clasped her hand tightly.
"If there is someone who reveals their pain and shows their will, wouldn't it be fine to give such a person a chance?"
It was as if she'd read Roan's inner heart.
Because her words
had made him recall the Count's words.
The exhausted Count's remark,
wondering who would want to hold a bloodstained hand.
"You want to trust him, don't you?"
Roan's body flinched.
What she had spoken
was an inner feeling that even Roan himself had not properly noticed.
If he were to conclude now that it was difficult to trust the Count based on the current evidence, then supporting his research just enough so that he could find a method besides his blessing would be sufficient.
I could simply pretend not to know.
Simply not keep him close.
Yet I couldn't do that.
The truth was, I wanted to trust the Count,
and I wanted to see a happy ending where he,
I, and the people of this land all found happiness together.
"But you're worried that the cost of trust might be unfavorable, aren't you?"
"Ahh...."
Only then did Aina let out a small exclamation of understanding, as if she'd finally followed the thread of Grünent's conversation.
As if confessing a mistake to a kind someone,
Roan simply nodded silently.
Grünent gave a slightly wistful smile, as if she understood.
"At that time, I had very little left to lose, but Your Majesty bears a great many things."
Roan turned his head slightly
and rubbed his cheek against Grünent, whose head rested on his shoulder.
The warmth of her body helped to calm both his heart and hers a little.
And it was Aina who broke the silence.
"The maids here told me. That Your Majesty of the past was quite different from now. But the Your Majesty I've seen is a different person from before, and even now he is someone who tries hard to become better than before."
Aina, who had spoken as if encouraging Roan, added one more remark and averted her gaze as if slightly embarrassed.
"...That... that's also the reason I like.... Your Majesty...."
"Oh my."
Grünent, who had looked at Aina with wide, round eyes, stifled her laughter and chuckled.
But Aina, who had turned her gaze elsewhere, had not yet finished speaking.
"Don't think that the things Your Majesty has gained by changing are burdens. Because the more you've come to bear, the more people will trust you and help you."
At Aina's words, even Grünent looked at her with a surprised, smile-free face.
Because the usual Aina we knew was a forest fairy-like figure: sullen and not one to offer advice to others.
As if resolved, Aina wiped the self-conscious look from her face and stared straight at Roan.
"Don't fear betrayal. If there is something you want to trust, trust it. Your Majesty's decisions—we who trust Your Majesty will bear them together."
These were unexpected words.
Strength entered Roan's fist, which had been resting lightly on the table.
When I first came to this world and learned I had become the Demon King, my feelings had been complicated.
It was a situation where I didn't know when my life might be taken,
but the former Demon King, like the real me, had been alone.
That was why I'd wanted to change.
Stopping the war,
caring for and feeding the weak,
listening to what others had to say,
and wanting to quit the life of a Demon King who was the Hero's quarry—it hadn't been solely for survival.
It hadn't been just to preserve my life,
but for the proper life 'I had dreamed of.'
Simply drawing breath day after day while clinging to life.
Accepting reality with the words 'it can't be helped,'
and staying silent in order to flee—
I'd already done plenty of that in reality.
"Thank you. Aina."
So even if it was a little tiring,
even if it turned out to be a hard road.
At least in this place, let me choose the direction I will live in, the way I want.
I laid my hand over Grünent's hand, which rested on my chest.
"Thank you. Grünent."
Hadn't I already told the Count, as if I were something special?
That because I was the emperor,
I would hold his bloodstained hands,
trust him, and lend my strength to the work he truly wished to do.
Hadn't I even said to him,
that strength was not the only means to solve problems,
and that I, too, was moving forward with the help of many?
Roan looked at Aina and Grünent.
His women were not simply game characters who were his route trophies or lent him skills.
They were lovers who became pillars of support for him,
who, at crucial moments, would willingly play their part as strategist, as knight, as wizard.
Lovers who trusted Roan.
From Roan's hand, laid upon Grünent's, a warm energy of 'will' flowed and was conveyed.
At the gentle power, Grünent smiled and once again pressed a kiss to the emperor's cheek.
"Yes. This time, once more, we simply need to prove it together."
Let me show the Count as well that I did not trust him with mere words.
I could detect an unfavorable sign.
At the very least, my skills had developed enough that I could sufficiently perceive the signs of a lie and strange behavior.
I was different from the former Demon King bastard!
As for the countermeasures after that, it would be fine to consult with Grünent, Aina, and Helen.
Of course it would be good if things went well!
"That whatever the decision, the me of now can bear it."
My strength now
did not only come from my stats.
I had skills and divine magic,
and there were also people who believed in me.
I had certainly grown stronger.
So,
let me trust him.
The way I wanted to.
**
The Count was now completely absorbed in his experiments with Helen.
Since it was indeed advantageous to know more about how the crystals reacted not only to the 'blessing' but to ordinary divine magic, I decided not to disrupt the research schedule immediately from the morning and convey the new facts.
I told him, through Helen, to come find me once today's experiments were over....
This was the path Grünent and I, who could handle the ancient language, had taken to the library to search for materials in the Count's stead, hoping to find even the most nebulous clue.
Before I knew it, she seemed to have grown close with the librarian Kaa, and looked comfortable even using the search service he provided.
How much time had passed?
Around the time Roan was struggling to read an old tale related to the Dark Forest.
Grünent urgently approached Roan.
"Your Majesty. Would you look at this?"
It was an old book, its cover as tattered as the one Roan had borrowed that morning, looking as though it would fall apart if even a little force was applied.
Grünent, who had brought a book that looked soporific just from its title—「A Study on the Demonological Significance of the Myths Related to the Creation of the Dark Forest」—pointed to one section.
— The public believes the 'seed' to be a symbol of life, but the author holds a different view on this.
When examining the myths of that era, it is known that Goddess Laurecia created the Dark Forest to protect the lands of the forest elves who fought alongside her when she sealed the Demon, and further, to protect the world.
That is, the purpose of the Dark Forest was 'protection,' and accordingly, the author believes the symbolic meaning of the 'seed' lies not in the growth of life, but in protection. As for past research related to this, Archmage Kornel's...
"Protection...?"
"Yes. The 'seed,' and the 'crystals' that hold its power. Perhaps their function is not to grow plants, but to 'protect' plants. Your Majesty."
"From wha...."
Roan, who had been about to pose the question to Grünent, suddenly realized the answer and shut his mouth, his eyes filled with surprise.
The power that desolates the land and kills plants.
The source of the gradually expanding desert,
the place where the Goddess had sealed the Demon.
From the corrupted land.