The Boundary Between Ideal and Reality
The boundary between ideal and reality. Chapter 23. The boundary between ideal and reality. That was the day when I had spent more than half a year living peaceful days in the Demon King’s Castle. Even that day, I was being tormented by Tia and the executives as usual, and being pushed around by Jemma as well, spending an ordinary day that was no different from any other.
“Master, there is news that humans have invaded the Demon Realm.”
However, news of humans invading amid such ordinary daily life was the first since I had come to the Demon King’s Castle. Upon hearing the report, Jemma, who had been doing something else, immediately came to me while I was alone and informed me of the humans’ intrusion. Because of Tia’s orders, she could not leave my side for even a moment, so I was suddenly placed under constant surveillance disguised as protection to prevent escape. I grew curious about how things were unfolding outside.
“There is no need to worry, Master. The scale is not that large, so our kin’s predation alone will suffice. We need not intervene.”
Jemma said whatever came to mind to reassure me, without knowing what I was thinking.
“Is it all right to say that when I might still be on the humans’ side?”
When I looked at Jemma and asked in a slightly sharp tone, she gave a faint smile.
“My apologies, but this is not merely words meant to reassure you.”
It was Jemma showing her true feelings, which she had been hiding until now.
“It is to ensure that Master never meets the humans, and to break your will to go outside.”
Looking at Jemma like that, I realized that this was what happened when she became serious. However—
“Even so, Master.”
Jemma’s words did not end there.
“If you truly wish to return……”
As if apologizing for the threatening words, Jemma slightly bowed her upper body.
“Please tell your loyal subordinate, your attendant Jemma.”
Determination showed on Jemma’s face.
“No matter what happens, I am always Master Karia’s subordinate.”
And I knew that was no lie, having seen Jemma’s face enough to grow sick of it over the long time we had spent together.
“This is not the Demon King’s command or anyone else’s will. It is merely my own stubbornness and conviction.”
I stared at Jemma for a moment.
“Karia’s subordinate, Jemma. I await your orders.”
Soon after, as I gazed into those eyes, I easily realized that this was an opportunity. I organized my complicated thoughts and opened my mouth.
“Jemma, this is the first order I am giving you.”
The opportunity that had come now might be the only one I would ever have. I resolved to seize it.
“Take me to Tia…… No, to the Demon King.”
To me in that moment, it felt like an opportunity that would never come again.
Thud———
The moment we passed through the storm of the Returnless Gulf, Chief suffered a serious injury from a monster ambush. Even in that dangerous position, with his ankle bound and on the verge of death, I bit down on my firearm, checked the ammunition, and without hesitation threw myself in the direction where the monsters had gathered and begun charging toward us.
“What are you doing, Yuda!! Don’t go——!”
Even though Edra’s shout came from behind me, I did not stop. I ran forward, calmly aligning the sights of my gun, shouldered it with one hand, and fired. Bang, clack, bang, clack, bang——— Every monster I aimed at had its head pierced, as if the concept of missing did not exist with my firearm.
However, because the reload speed was slow and the magazine capacity was extremely small, no matter how well I aimed and hit, the overwhelming numbers of monsters kept charging at me endlessly. But—
Smack———!
After striking the nearest monster with the stock and sending it flying, I bit the gun again with my mouth. Clack, clang——— After ejecting the spent casing from the chamber, I shoved the five rounds from my pocket into the empty cylinder. Clack——— Then I aimed again and began firing.
Numbers were no problem for me. My marksmanship, revived from the sensation of using a bow, shone even brighter when combined with the advantages of a firearm that required no wind calculation and offered higher accuracy. Ever since the demon invasion, I had become better at shooting than Kain. As long as I had a gun, there was no monster I feared.
However, after about two hours of fierce fighting, we had not advanced a single step.
“Yuda, we’re out of ammo!!”
“Curtis, we need to move now——!”
“Damn it, Chief, snap out of it……!”
The ammunition drum I had prepared was running empty, and the ammunition of my old friends who had become soldiers had long since run out.
“……”
Without saying a word, I continued to clear the endless swarm of monsters. Even though we knew a war of attrition would put us at a disadvantage, we realized we had been somewhat foolish to start one. Still, the monsters did not have infinite numbers either.
Noticing that the number of monsters charging at us had noticeably decreased, I immediately shouted to Curtis, who was watching over Chief.
“Carry him———! We need to run soon——!!”
Curtis seemed to understand my intent and quickly hoisted Chief onto his back, preparing to run. After confirming that everything was ready—
“……”
I bit one round with my teeth to prepare for reloading. The moment the speed at which monsters refilled the empty space I had created by mercilessly slaughtering them from the front noticeably slowed—
“Go———!!”
Still biting the ammunition, I shouted and dashed forward at once.
Thud———
Immediately, the monsters charged at us in response to a signal to block our advance, especially swarming toward me at the very front. But—
Bang, clack, baaang———
With the roar of gunpowder exploding and the crisp sound of lubricated metal, five rapidly fired rounds pierced and killed three monsters each. Filled with my dark emotions, they mercilessly cleared the path ahead.
The moment all the prepared ammunition was spent, I immediately opened the cylinder, spat the single round I had been holding in my mouth high into the air, released the gun from my hand to float it, then quickly reached up, snatched the spat round, kicked off the ground with both knees to strike the bottom of the gun, slammed the caught round into the cylinder—clack——— turning the gun’s maximum capacity of five rounds into six.
“Huu……”
Baaang———!
With the final bullet, I pierced five fragile monsters. Although two of them survived, they had lost the ability to pursue us.
Thus, we escaped the monster offensive and successfully penetrated deep into the Demon Realm. However……
Crunch———
“Chief———!!”
Chief, who had been carried on Curtis’s back, was bitten by a charging monster and fell off.
“……”
I only tightly closed my eyes and turned my head while shouting.
“Don’t stop——!”
Death here was an honorable death, the final rite to mourn the heroes who had left before us. From the beginning, we had only pretended to come to rescue Belberman. In truth, foreseeing humanity’s defeat to the demons, we had come to die together. Chief. You were the best friend among us. So, see you later.
Tap tap tap———
***
After hearing my request, Jemma took me to Tia without hesitation. No, calling her Tia felt wrong. Because of the human invasion, she had become extremely dark, infinitely closer to the Demon King. Sitting on the throne in the surface Demon King’s Castle and receiving Kibotos’s report, Tia immediately stood up and greeted me the moment I appeared on the surface with Jemma.
“What is the meaning of this, Karia.”
After whispering to Jemma to go back, I approached Tia.
“Tia.”
I called out with a more serious expression than ever before.
“Listen to me.”
The ideal I had spoken of until now. If it was now, perhaps I could realize it. If it was this moment, I might glimpse the possibility of its realization. With a composure and calmness greater than ever, I reached out to Tia and shouted.
“I’m begging you, Tia.”
Please, so that Tia could rationally accept my request.
“Don’t kill those humans.”
So that she could agree to my words.
“I’ll talk to them and make sure they return without causing any harm to the Demon King’s Castle.”
Even after everything that had happened, she had ultimately used me, who had once been human, as the top priority in negotiations.
“And in exchange, the moment they leave, I’ll return to the Demon King’s Castle of my own will.”
With sincerity. With all my heart, I begged Tia.
“This is not a simple request. It is a negotiated deal.”
I desperately felt that this incident might allow me to lay the foundation for realizing my ideal.
“Accept my deal……”
With all my strength. With all my heart, I begged. I wanted to create an opportunity to prove that my ideal was possible. However—
“I refuse.”
Tia was colder than ice.
“Do you think the battlefield is a playground……”
Until yesterday, Tia had been truly kind and gentle, yet the moment an emergency arose, she returned to being the Demon King of that day.
“Attendant Jemma———!”
Thus, the Demon King immediately summoned Jemma again.
“Send Karia back to her room. And regarding this matter……”
With a deeply furrowed brow, she spoke.
“I will definitely punish you.”
Looking at Tia like that, I felt a momentary sense of betrayal and loss. But because I had never truly believed in her to begin with, those emotions instantly vanished. Just as I was about to be dragged away by Jemma, who had received the order—
“This is an opportunity, Tia Belberman———!”
I shouted once more at her, now seated on the throne.
“You said it before. Because we couldn’t be honest, we had no choice but to go to war!”
In this moment, my heart fiercely reacted to my ideal that could end this battle, and even this war itself. My heartbeat gradually grew hotter.
“Because we can’t simply love each other as we are, we can’t be at peace——!”
After hearing my words, Jemma paused for a moment. I shouted at Tia, who had turned her body toward the throne while being held.
“But this is an opportunity to regain peace. It might be the only one!”
If I missed this moment, it really felt like it would never come back again.
“I’ll show you, Tia……! The ideal world you spoke of———!!”
Because it felt like now was the moment I had been waiting for, the moment I could finally act. I shouted with a desperately earnest voice. A voice even more desperate than the one the hero had used when uniting the seven kingdoms.
However, Tia merely shook her head indifferently at my sincerity.
“In your opinion, if we let those guys live here, do you think they’ll leave with thanks and smiles?”
Tia spoke not of ideals, but of reality.
“No. If they return alive, they will surely bring an even larger army and head here again. There is no meaning beyond that.”
She spoke of the reality of this long, long war. At that moment, as I began to falter, gradually losing the power of my words—
Baaang———
A loud explosion echoed from not far from the Demon King’s Castle. As I flinched at the sound—
“Cartoria.”
Tia called Cartoria into the empty air. From the previously empty space, Cartoria walked out, knelt on one knee, and said,
“Yes, Demon King.”
“Go out and clean it up.”
After bowing her head once at Tia’s command, Cartoria disappeared into the air once more.
“……Wait, wait, Tia……!”
Really, I was afraid that even this time I would end up doing nothing and it would all end in vain. I shook off Jemma’s hand and headed toward Tia. But—
“Karia———!!”
“Ugh……”
With a voice loud enough to burst my eardrums, as if the audience chamber itself would collapse, Tia called my name. With a deeply furrowed brow, she glared at me.
“Even knowing this is not children’s play, will you continue like this?”
Her tone, which tried to suppress her anger as much as possible, clearly revealed her irritation. It was a final request and warning line telling me to give up now and go back. Just as I had been when I first came here. To remain as the Demon King’s Castle’s captive, the Demon King’s beloved doll, the executives’ close friend, and the attendants’ respected master. That was the final plea and the last line of warning.
“……”
But—
Baaang———
I had lived smiling for this moment alone.
“Karia, you really……”
For the moment when I could seize this opportunity. Even while feeling as if I were betraying the comrades who had died for me, I had lived smiling, waiting only for this day. I could not yield. I absolutely could not yield. Even if, at this moment, I was dragged back into that hell of pleasure.
“Jemma, it’s an order———!”
I immediately ran toward the huge window of the audience chamber and shouted at Jemma.
“Let me out———!”
Although my running speed was pathetic compared to when I was a hero, and I felt exhausted after running for only a few seconds, I threw my entire body to break the window, following Jemma who had begun running toward it according to my order.
However, even so—
“Kuh……!”
Our rebellion ended in vain. Just before we reached the window, the Demon King teleported in front of us and grabbed each of our necks with her two hands.
“Tia……!”
Although I felt extreme shock in my neck from the sudden deceleration and was in pain, I still called Tia’s name and grabbed her wrist with both hands.
“Let go——!”
Even while being held, I did not give up and began shouting desperately.
“Do you really want to die?”
Tia glared at me fiercely with truly angry eyes. After eventually throwing Jemma to the floor, Tia grabbed my neck and met my gaze.
“Did I not tell you before? The moment you try to oppose me…… I will stuff you, who does not die, and hang you above the throne.”
As if threatening me, she spoke while squeezing my neck so hard it felt crushed. In the end, I could not even voice my pain. But why was it? In that moment—
“……”
Through the window, I caught a glimpse of a familiar figure. That figure I had missed so madly.
“……”
The one who had learned how to shoot a bow with me from Kain. The one with whom I had researched more efficient ways to handle a bow. That guy’s figure flickered into view.
“Yu, da……!!”
I glared at Tia again and shouted.
“Yuda would never do that———!”
Absolutely not. Yuda was not the kind of guy to repay kindness with enmity. He was not the kind to receive kindness and then return with a large army.
“Let me talk to Yuda……! And if you let Yuda and his comrades live and send them back, surely……”
And the Yuda I knew would absolutely, definitely—
“Yuda will surely sense something is wrong and realize it———!”
Because during the Demon King War, if asked whether he believed peace would be achieved, he was the guy who always shouted “Of course!” with a bright face. Just as the seven kingdoms that had fought so fiercely had formed an agreement, someday humans and demons would too. Whether one side was defeated and shattered, or they reconciled and formed an agreement, someday peace would be achieved. That was the kind of guy he was.
Therefore, the moment I saw that guy’s face wrapped in a hood outside the window, even though tens of thousands of memories and recollections flashed through my mind, I was able to shake off all those flashbacks because I had only now realized he was a surviving comrade. I could immediately shout at Tia. Although I had realized his survival far too late, for some reason Yuda had ultimately returned here. That was why, more than anything, I wanted to save Yuda, who was still breathing out there, with my own power.
“Do you want to prove your useless ideal that badly……”
Then Tia slightly loosened her grip on my neck.
“In the end, the result will not change.”
She answered me irritably. But—
“That…… we won’t know until we try……”
When I stubbornly asserted my belief to the end—
“Fine. Then just this once, I’ll do as you say.”
While grabbing my neck again, Tia squeezed tightly—
“Ugh—”
Holding me. Holding me, together with me—
Whoosh———
Outside the Demon King’s Castle.
“Demon Kiiing———!!”
The moment the Demon King appeared, Yuda let out a furious roar. We teleported right in front of him. I immediately tried to run toward Yuda, but—
Tight———
“Ugh, Cartoria……!?”
For some reason, Cartoria, who had been trying to deal with Yuda under Tia’s orders, grabbed my body. I was flustered. Then—
Grab———
Tia. The Demon King grabbed Yuda by the neck.
“Yu—”
I could only watch helplessly.