Only I Was Human (4)
I left the cathedral. Heading continually west. Though a bit south this time.
A person was approaching from ahead. A middle-aged man draped in a coat, burdened with luggage on his back. His ordinary attire wasn't particularly suspicious.
But his hand trembled faintly. Mana. And mixed in was a very faint aura that wasn't human.
"Adel."
I called her softly, but she'd already noticed. Her hand rested on the holy sword as she stepped forward.
The passerby stopped five paces away.
"Sahadin sent you, right?"
At my words, his feet halted. His expression stiffened, then relaxed—as if he'd decided there was no need to maintain the disguise. His outline wavered. Unidentifiable grains scattered once, revealing a black silhouette.
Was this a doppelganger?
It knelt, opening what could be called a mouth.
"Your Majesty. Return. Sahadin—"
"Not going back."
"If you don't return, the demonkin will—"
"I'm not the Demon King."
It came out more matter-of-fact than I'd expected. Days when sitting on the throne made me the Demon King, and a single command ended it all.
"No, I was never the Demon King to begin with."
The doppelganger looked up at me. Its eyes shook.
"...Your Majesty."
"Didn't even give you a name. Not you, not anyone else."
Sahadin had been named by the previous Demon King, they said. Seven hundred years ago, the day the beast gained existence.
"Go back and tell them. The Demon King is gone."
A moment later, the doppelganger bowed its head and vanished into the forest.
Adelaide finally removed her hand from the holy sword. Without a word from start to finish.
Did sending the doppelganger mean he wouldn't force me? Or was it that he couldn't leave the place he belonged?
I had no idea. What right did I have to judge, when that capable person had gone unnamed under my watch?
"...You look like you have something to say."
"...It's nothing."
"Liar."
"...Let's just keep going."
Adelaide walked ahead, and I followed silently behind.
That same afternoon, as the forest ended and we entered an open plain, Adelaide stopped first.
Ahead stood people. Six knights in armor emblazoned with a sun emblem. Every one of them had already drawn their swords. Behind them, one who looked like a mage—a woman gathering faint light in her hands.
And then one stepped forward from behind the knights.
"Hero!"
"Lorian."
She knew him; Adelaide's voice was calm. Lorian took a step toward her, his face etched with desperation.
"Come back. It's not too late. We can report you as a prisoner of the Demon King."
"No."
"Hero, this is treason—"
"Not a hero either."
The six knights' brows furrowed, their grips tightening on their swords. Lorian's mouth hung half-open, frozen.
"Hero...?"
"Don't come again, Lorian. You'll get hurt."
As Adelaide drew her holy sword, golden light rippled along the blade.
The first knight charged. Adelaide sidestepped half a pace and struck his armor's waist with the flat of her blade. He tumbled across the dirt, struggling to rise but clutching the spot on his knees.
The second and third came from left and right. She deflected the left sword with her holy sword, spun using the momentum, and smashed the hilt of her dagger into the right one's nape.
The fourth and fifth thrust simultaneously, but Adelaide had already slipped between them. Circling behind, she knocked away the fourth's sword and tripped the fifth.
The sixth charged. Chaaeng—! Their blades clashed, and his arm shuddered. A beat later, she withdrew her sword and kicked his armored chest, sending him sprawling backward.
All six on the ground were still alive.
In that interval, the mage fired light at me. I raised my hand. Shadows responded, crawling from my palm to form a thin barrier.
The light projectile hit the barrier, the impact traveling up my arm to my shoulder. My feet slid back.
The second. The barrier shook and cracked.
The third pierced through. Just as it grazed my outer forearm, golden light sliced my vision, scattering the projectile.
Adelaide strode to the mage and pressed her sword tip to her throat.
"...I surrender."
As the mage raised her hands, Lorian drew his sword. But Adelaide closed in one step and disarmed him. She watched it spin through the air and embed in the ground before he knelt.
Adelaide looked down at him.
"Don't come again."
"Just one thing... I want to ask."
"...Ask."
"Hero, why do you stay by her side?"
His gaze flicked to me, then back to Adelaide.
Adelaide didn't answer. She simply turned and walked to me.
Lorian's mouth twitched once, but no sound came. He scanned the fallen knights, then threw a final glance my way.
We turned our backs on the knights and departed swiftly.
"...Wish neither side would come."
"More will come ahead."
"I know."
I said it knowing full well—because not saying it made it unbearable.
Adelaide's expression darkened. Her eyes gazed into the distance, calculating something.
In the end, I had to ask carefully.
"...Adel."
"What."
"...You okay?"
"I'm fine."
"Not like that."
"...I know."
She lowered her gaze, then raised it again.
"Let's go. Need to find shelter before sunset."
As the sun dipped, we settled in a depression between hills. A rock shielded one side from the wind, but lighting a fire was too risky. Smoke would give us away.
"No fire tonight."
"...Gonna be cold."
"Endure."
"You love saying that."
"It's the truth."
I hugged my knees. Adelaide leaned against the rock, holy sword across her lap.
"...Adel."
"What."
"You could've gone back if you'd handed me over. Earlier."
Lorian's words. Report as prisoner of the Demon King.
"Could've returned as the Hero."
"..."
"Why didn't you?"
Adelaide exhaled long. Her breath fogged white in the night air.
"Just."
"...Huh?"
"Just did."
"What kinda answer is that."
"Hard to put into words."
"Sounds dumb."
"It is dumb."
Adelaide added something, then chuckled softly.
"...Thanks."
"Second time."
"What?"
"You've said thanks. Once in the cave, once now."
"You keeping count?"
"Memories that strong, can't help it. Hearing you say thanks is always a surprise, Ailin."
Meaning she remembered the first in the cave.
I wanted to say more, but fatigue crashed in. Using the scant shadows—my mana—brought the backlash all at once.
"Sleep quick. I'll stand watch tonight."
"...Sorry. And thanks."
"Third."
"...Stop counting."
Consciousness sank. My back against the cold rock, but her breathing beside me. That was enough.
Ailin fell asleep soon after closing her eyes. Only after confirming her breathing even out did Adelaide draw the dagger from her waist.
The dagger engraved with Z.A.—Zenon Adwell's initials—gleamed faintly under the moonlight.
Adelaide stared at it for a long while.
At this rate, both would die.
Ailin's shadows weakened by the day. Today, she'd barely blocked the mage's attacks twice. Tomorrow, more knights would come, and the demons too.
As pursuit closed from both sides, their strength to fight dwindled.
Adelaide turned to the sleeping Ailin. Silver hair scattered over her forehead. The cloth she'd tied it with during the day had come loose, draping to her shoulders.
At first, she'd truly meant to kill her. Infiltrating the Demon King's castle alone had been for that.
The woman who'd mercilessly slaughtered her subordinates—a witch, a Demon King. Revenge was the only reason.
It was obvious.
Yet seeing her crushed under Gartia, her body had moved first. Seeing the silver hair limp on the floor, Adelaide forgot everything.
Now she knew why. She just hated admitting it.
Adelaide sheathed the dagger. Her gaze shifted to the holy sword on her lap.
The one this sword must kill slept beside her. Yet she couldn't draw it.
No—more precisely, she simply chose not to.
Finally, Adelaide leaned over, brushing a strand of silver hair from Ailin's forehead.
Her hand no longer trembled. The hand of a knight resolved.