The Disciple
There had been no paradise waiting at the end of my flight.
But there had been hell.
The place I arrived at, following Amelia — no, the woman who would become my master — seemed to lie near the deepest reaches of the Demon Realm itself. When we crossed the threshold, we stood before a colossal castle. Born and raised in the countryside, I couldn't suppress my shock at the sheer scale of it, a sight I had never once witnessed in my life.
"M-Master... what is this place?" I asked her, unable to close my gaping mouth.
"This is my castle, and the deepest point of the three-layered Demon Realm — the Abyss. Welcome, Sirius."
She said it with a smile, and soon a black gate, the same color as her hair, swung open of its own accord to clear our path. Come in.
Everything within Amelia's castle was black. The walls, the doors, most of the furniture — it was a colorless, monochrome space where no hint of pigment could be found. Her subordinates, or so they appeared, all seemed wound taut as drawn bowstrings. Passing down a long corridor into a grand hall, Amelia seated herself without a word upon what looked like a throne at its center.
"Summon everyone. I have an announcement of great import."
The moment she spoke, her subordinates fell into perfect ranks and files, radiating out from the center of the hall. New to the Demon Realm, I swallowed hard at the sight of so many different races. Death Knights, Liches, Vampires — not only these high-ranking demons, but creatures whose nature I couldn't begin to fathom with my current eyes.
"You called for us."
A white-haired man in the front row broke the silence first.
"Yan."
While every other head was bowed, this man — presumably Yan — was the only one who dared meet her gaze directly.
"Today is a most joyous day. You all know why, don't you? All of you."
The assembled company answered in one voice.
"Yes!"
Their resounding reply was so thunderous I could feel the castle itself trembling. I found myself wondering whether failing to answer like this, at any other time, would earn one a death threat.
"Today is the day I formally take on a disciple. The day the daughter of our great sovereign, the Demon King, chose to move her residence here so that she might receive my teachings."
At those words, the hall shuddered once more with their excitement.
Wait. So the disciple is the Demon King's daughter, not me?
Come to think of it, it made sense — demons weren't about to shout themselves hoarse in welcome of a stray human like me. Of course, I was still too numb from watching my homeland burn to be pressing questions left and right, but I was flustered all the same. So Amelia's disciples would be two: the Demon King's daughter, and me?
"All preparations are complete, but there is one I wish to introduce to you personally."
And then Amelia turned her gaze upon me.
"Today is a day that truly warrants a toast. For it is the day I gain not one, but two disciples."
I could feel the hall stirring. The crowd, which until now hadn't spared me a flicker of interest, began to fix their eyes on me one by one. Every soul present could tell I was human — for nothing, neither demonic energy nor mana, radiated from my body at all.
The man presumed to be their representative, Yan, shot me a sidelong glance.
"Do you mean that human?"
As his eyes swept me up and down, a shiver crawled across my skin like insects swarming beneath the flesh.
"Is there some grievance, everyone? Or perhaps you've forgotten who I am during your little time away?"
In that instant, not a single sound was made — every head bowed. The gazes that had been crawling over me all slammed into the floor at once.
Amelia rose from her seat and approached me, the click of her heels ringing out with each step.
"This child will accomplish what none among you ever could. Perhaps even what I myself cannot."
With every step she took, the air around her rippled and warped — and soon the soldier at the very back of the hall crumpled, toppling backward with a thud, unconscious before he hit the ground.
"So mind your courtesies, all of you. If any dare cast such looks upon the child who is to be my disciple, I shall take it to mean you no longer wish to see the light of this world."
The assembled throng leaked low groans of dread, but not one of them could lift their head. And then the woman standing before me gave the faintest smile. Her crimson eyes curved, drawing a gentle arc. I was no longer human myself, but even so, I thought her beauty was something almost inhuman.
"Child. Declare your name before all gathered here. Who you are — and why it is you became my disciple."
My breath caught in my throat. But instinct told me plainly: if I didn't speak properly now, my entire future in this place would suffer for it.
"I am... Sirius...! My goal is to exterminate the humans of the Empire... and to stop the Hero...!"
The truth was, I had no intention of wiping out humanity as a whole, nor of trading blows with the Hero. My goal was simply to avenge our village against the scum who had erased it, and to drag Seria — forced into the role of Hero against her will — back to where she belonged. But I knew, with the thought circling endlessly through my skull, that if I voiced anything so lukewarm, I wouldn't survive the night. No lie.
Amelia nodded, looking satisfied with the answer. In that moment, Yan addressed her with a puzzled expression.
"By what means could a human child with no trace of special demonic energy hope to stop the Hero?"
Amelia burst into a delighted giggle and turned to me.
"Sirius. What is your relation to the Hero?"
Guilt came surging over me like a rising tide, though I had done nothing yet. Forced or not, Seria had resolved to become the Hero for my sake, and set out on her journey to fulfill an absurd mission: to slay the Demon King. And here I was, taking a demon as my master and preparing to live in the Demon Realm. I couldn't even imagine what her face would look like if she ever found out.
"I am... the Hero's... family...!"
Thinking something in your own head and declaring it to an entire hall were two profoundly different experiences. The moment the words left my mouth, every gaze in the room locked onto me — the look of eyes upon plump, succulent prey. How should we prepare this one to make it taste best? A fish on the cutting board, I thought. The phrase suited my situation perfectly.
None of that mattered, though. I had to survive. And on the day I finished every last ounce of training — I would see for myself whether any of them could still look at me with those same eyes.
"Good. Now you all understand what a fine disciple I have taken. To any who harbor strange notions, I offer this warning once more."
She swept her hair back as she spoke.
"I will annihilate them. Not merely dying alone — everyone connected to you, family included, will be erased from the Demon Realm entirely. You all know what becomes of those who lay hands on what is mine. I won't waste breath explaining it at length."
"Yes, milady!!"
The castle shook once again.
Amelia handed me off to Yan and departed. Yan told me to think of him as Amelia's secretary.
"Sirius. From this day forward, this will be your quarters."
He guided me to a room that was, if anything, rather spacious for one occupant. The bed was easily twice the size of the one I'd used before. An unremarkable desk and a bookshelf packed to bursting with books — though the dust layered thick upon them betrayed how long they'd sat untouched.
"Should you require anything, ring the bell and I will have someone sent to you."
He set the bell atop the desk and quietly left the room.
There was no sound at all. Lying blankly on the bed, it struck me anew just how much had happened in a single day. The tears came all at once. The emotions I'd strangled down in order to survive came flooding back like a tsunami. My village in flames. My home. And rising before my eyes, the bodies of Seria's parents.
Seria. Where would she be by now...
The capital was a fair distance off, so she was probably lingering in some other city for the time being. The Emperor had said he would seek her out, so no doubt the moment she arrived, she'd find herself standing before him. A girl who knew nothing of court etiquette — there was no way she'd manage it well... Worry swallowed my thoughts whole.
Of course, I was hardly in a position to fret over someone else. She would be standing before the king of humanity; I was already bedding down in the den of one of the demons' highest lords. Asked which of us was more likely to die, I wouldn't need two guesses to answer me. If I failed to conduct myself properly, I would burn to ash on the spot, just like the Red Knight. So long as I remained in the Demon Realm in a human body, every single moment was a moment of proof. I had to show them, to demonstrate, that I was of use to them. Only then could I survive.
I will grow stronger. And I would tear Seria out of that damned asylum of lunatics and drag her back to an ordinary life, whatever it took. I clenched my fists and surrendered my body to the crashing wave of exhaustion.
"...Master, why on earth... would you take in a human like that..."
"Luna. I don't believe my explanation was lacking, do you?"
One voice I recognized. One hoarse voice I'd never heard before. At the sound of them, my eyes drifted open — and there, a silhouette in a black dress. Without a doubt, that was my master, Amelia. Then who, pray tell, was the silver-haired girl standing right beside her, seemingly around my own age?
The girl stared down at me as if I were pathetic, and uttered a single line.
"Awake, yet still not gathered enough to stand. Pitiful."
I scrambled up, fumbling to straighten my clothes as I tumbled out of bed.
"G-Good morning, Master!"
Amelia laughed once, as though she found it endearing, then turned to the silver-haired girl.
"Greet him properly, Luna. He may well end up the partner you spend more time with than even me."
Luna gave her an incredulous look, then turned to me and spoke.
"Don't get cocky."
...Judging by everything, she was unmistakably an ill-mannered brat.