#001
#001
A late winter night.
A cold wind cut through the forest.
In the clearing, the party huddled around a single campfire, sleeping in a circle.
Crackle, crackle.
I tossed another log from the pile beside me into the flames.
Lit by the fire I had kindled with a spirit, I had long crimson hair reaching my waist and skin as pale as a corpse.
The one unusual feature was my red eyes, like those of the Demonfolk.
People often said that someone with red eyes like mine must have demon blood running through their veins.
They probably assumed I was the child of a woman who had lain with a demon.
It made sense—not everyone with red eyes had demon blood, but everyone with demon blood had red eyes.
Demonfolk had them, demons had them, and Demon Kings had them.
As for why I had eyes like these....
"Master. Are you not sleeping?"
The young man approaching from a distance, calling me "Master," came toward me holding a gleaming Holy Sword in his hand.
He obviously wasn't coming to kill me—he had just finished sweeping away the things that threatened us.
"Why would I sleep? I don't need sleep."
"But you were the one who said mental fatigue can be relieved through sufficient sleep, Master."
"That's something only the weak do. For a witch who has lived hundreds of years like me, it's meaningless."
"Hundreds of years...."
The young man smiled bitterly at my words and sat down across from me.
Beyond the crackling flames, his gaze toward me was unbearably heavy.
"You must have been lonely."
"Not particularly. Nothing like that."
"Heh heh, you don't have to say that."
"I mean it."
Misunderstandings were troublesome.
I had lied that I'd spent hundreds of years cut off from the outside world, but that only applied to the 'Middle Realm.'
Yet this guy interpreted it however he pleased.
"It's all right. You were sealed away for hundreds of years, so I understand if you were lonely. But it's fine now. You have me, and our companions, don't you?"
"No, I'm telling you, it's really fine."
"There's no need to be embarrassed. Everyone's asleep right now. Someday they'll come to understand your true feelings too. They just don't know yet that you look after everyone while pretending not to care."
No.
Everyone knows except you.
I wanted to spit those words out, but I decided to simply ignore the young man—the Hero—who paid no attention to anything I said.
"Master, you are my savior and the one who made me a Hero...."
That's right.
This guy was a Hero.
With seven Demon Kings summoned into this world, he was the Hero who had become the wielder of a 'Holy Sword' capable of opposing them.
While other Heroes fight with holy weapons granted Divine Power by kingdoms or other groups, this young man possesses a 'true Holy Sword' passed down from ancient times—a true Hero.
How did this guy come to possess a Holy Sword?
I made it happen.
To be precise, I made this guy into a Hero.
For my own survival.
"...And so, thanks to you, Master, I was able to make it this far. Truly, thank you."
"Uh, yeah."
"Um, Master."
The Hero looked at me with a serious face and straightened his posture.
"What do you plan to do after all the Demon Kings are sealed?"
"Who knows. I haven't thought about it yet."
"As expected. You think only of your mission, Master...."
"That's not it."
Afraid he might get carried away rambling on his own again, I preemptively pointed my staff at the Hero to shut him up.
"I am a witch. I'm someone who cannot live among ordinary people. Even now, if you weren't the Hero, there'd be more than one or two people in this party trying to kill me."
"Haha, how could that be? They're all good people."
"......."
Good?
I studied the women spread out in a circle to the Hero's left and right.
'How can there not be a single man among them?'
Why was I sitting across from the Hero?
That clueless fool had no idea about the fierce silent battle of glares that had taken place over seating arrangements.
If I weren't the only one with the magic and power to seal Demon King souls, they never would've left me alone.
The Hero didn't know the truth.
"...Right. So what is it you want to say? After all seven Demon Kings are sealed, then what?"
"I'll live with you and serve you, Master."
"What?"
My stomach suddenly hurt.
It felt like my insides were churning, as if the cells in my stomach were rotting away.
"Originally, I wanted to serve you in my hometown village, but that would probably be difficult."
"That's true."
The Hero's hometown.
There was a reason I had deliberately chosen this naive, pure guy as the Hero in the village where the Holy Sword was planted.
After eliminating candidate after candidate because they all had disqualifying flaws, he was the one left by process of elimination.
That was all.
Of course, I never told the Hero that directly.
I told him I chose this young man—Arthur—as the Hero because he was more righteous, fair, and pure than anyone else.
Anyone could become the Holy Sword's wielder, but I was the one who chose its wielder.
"I will serve you, Master. What do you think?"
"Forget it. Shouldn't you be thinking about how to live your life with one of these girls instead of worrying about me?"
"Ah, th-that's...."
Arthur's face flushed as he started glancing at me nervously.
"Master, how can you say something like that in front of everyone...!"
"What? They're all asleep right now. That's exactly why we can talk about this. Heh heh. Who is it? Your childhood friend the Sword Saint? Or the Saintess? Or the Elf Kingdom's princess? Or maybe...."
"Master."
"Hm?"
"Well...."
Arthur let out a deep sigh and hung his head.
"Do I even have the right to live my whole life with someone?"
"......."
Ah, here we go again.
He'd started digging himself into a hole alone again.
'If that guy starts self-flagellating on his own like that, there's nothing I can do by myself anymore.'
If I had my way, I'd punch him in the solar plexus and shout, 'Enough, you bastard!' But physically, that guy with the Holy Sword was stronger.
Even if he apologized for my attack—'I'm sorry, Master! I was being such a pain!'—the women beside him would never leave me alone.
So the best method was one.
"Why? Because the Demonfolk blood on your hands won't wash off?"
"!!"
To untie the knot and end his self-flagellation as quickly as possible.
"You were just a country boy, but you've killed countless Demonfolk. You've sealed no less than three Demon Kings with your own hands. Are you worried about what comes after you defeat the remaining four Demon Kings?"
"...Yes."
"About what?"
"How can someone who has committed countless massacres live happily?"
"Ahaha!"
...
I wanted to laugh with a hearty 'Bwahaha.'
But this body wasn't one that allowed such a boisterous laugh.
Of course not—this was the underdeveloped body of a twenty-year-old who was little more than a child.
"You've made me laugh again after a long time, Arthur."
Of course, that didn't mean the mockery disappeared from my laughter.
"Do you consider Demonfolk to be living beings?"
"Of course?"
"No. Demonfolk are not living beings. They are demons, nothing but monsters that act like humans to seduce them. Don't be fooled."
"But they...."
"Yes. They're intelligent and cunning. They whisper sweetly, pretending to care for humans, while behind their backs they scheme endlessly about how to use them. They're creatures whose insides don't match their outsides."
Just like I was using Arthur.
"Should a butcher fall into livestock hell for slaughtering countless cows and pigs? Does it make any sense that someone who killed the entire Demon King Army trying to enslave humanity and brought peace to the continent would be dragged to hell and suffer for eternity just because he couldn't go to heaven?"
The Hero going to hell—the Demon Realm—after death?
That was absolutely out of the question.
"If such a day ever comes, I'll send you to the Celestial Realm with all my power. Sending a Hero like you to hell? That's absurd. Even if I have to grab an angel by the collar, I'll send you to heaven."
"Master...."
"So you should seize your own happiness. When were you happiest?"
"I...."
Arthur stared at the campfire without saying a word for a long while.
I felt relieved, thinking I'd successfully gotten past his self-flagellation moment.
'Thank goodness.'
Now my stomach could finally settle.
I couldn't understand why I had to manage this guy's mental state when there were so many women around.
No, actually, I knew the answer.
These women only knew how to give Arthur momentary physical satisfaction and make him forget—they didn't know how to stabilize him mentally.
'The fate of a handsome man is truly pitiful.'
Women flocked to him constantly, but they were only drawn to Arthur's appearance, abilities, and the power of being a Hero.
In front of Arthur, they all pretended to be kind, but behind his back, they were desperate to share his bed.
And these were the Hero Party members.
Truly the end times.
'It wasn't like this in my day.'
The Hero Parties I had seen were nothing like this.
The Holy Sword's wielder, the elf archer, the dwarf warrior, and the Grand Mage—all of them were muscular men who could each take down an orc one-on-one with ease.
Friendship!
Passion!
Comrades you could trust to watch your back!
Compared to the current Hero Party, those were men who, even if they fought, could shake it off over a drink together.
'I wonder what they're doing now.'
The human Hero would have died of old age by now, but the elf archer and dwarf warrior had long lifespans, so they might still be alive.
As for the Grand Mage....
"Come to think of it, Master."
"Hm?"
"When were you happiest, Master?"
"Me? Well, I...."
I answered readily.
"When I was sleeping in a bed."
"......."
Arthur didn't say another word after that, but sleeping had truly been my happiest time.
I couldn't sleep now.
This body—it was a dead body.
"I want to seal the Demon Kings quickly and go home."
"We roughly know the locations of three Demon Kings, but we don't know where the last one is, right?"
"Ah, that's fine. Once the other six Demon Kings are sealed, the remaining one will show up."
"What?"
"Well...."
That Demon King—it's me.
"Well, we'll talk about that later. It seems enemies are approaching."
At my words, the Hero grabbed his Holy Sword again.
And those lying beside him also stirred and rose one by one.
"We're close to the Demon King's castle now, so everyone be careful. That place was ruled by the Demon King of Sloth, 'Belphegor,' 500 years ago."
The castle that had been my base 500 years ago.
"Battle stations."
I steadied my breathing as I prepared to give orders to the Hero Party.
The Hero didn't know.
That the comrades he trusted so much had actually been awake the whole time, eavesdropping on our conversation.
And the Hero Party didn't know.
That I, the witch of the Hero Party, said to have been sealed 500 years ago, was actually a Demon King.
"......."
Would I really be able to survive those women who sent loving gazes toward the Hero while shooting jealous, envious glares at me behind him?
'Once I seal the six Demon Kings, I need to grab the kids and bolt to the Demon Realm.'
I wanted to reclaim my body quickly and return to the Demon Realm to sleep.
That was my only wish.
"Everyone's so quick! Yes, good! I'll take the lead!"
So please.
"Follow me! I'll open a path!"
Please.
"...You thieving cat."
"...Hmph."
"The nerve of her...."
I wished they would stop looking at me like I was their rival in love.
"Ha, haha."
I couldn't help sighing as I watched the women charge ahead.
'I'm a man, you idiots.'
I, Demon King Belphegor.
Was a Demon King who had no choice but to inhabit a girl's body.