The Demon King and the Human 2
──I transferred my consciousness into the avatar responsible for humanity.
And the avatar responsible for humanity decided that, from now on, rather than whingeing, it would observe Zumito.
Observing Zumito is a bit of a waste of an avatar, yet I can’t exactly not do it; so it’s best for the avatar responsible for humanity—which is useless for any other work—to take on the task.
However, as soon as the avatar changed, Zumito expressed his confusion.
“What’s this, Demon King? Why the need to switch?”
【Each avatar has a distinct role.】
“And what is your role?”
【Humanity. (Truth Verified).】
At that, Zumito stared at me as if he couldn’t believe his ears.
“Humanity?”
【Yes. Didn’t you hear? Almost all gods were once human. I’ve poured all my remaining humanity into this, and thanks to that, the rest of my avatars can focus entirely on managing this wretched ecosystem and learning how to kill their enemies.】
“Huh. So you’re going to look at me with warm eyes because of that so-called humanity. Is that what this is about?”
【That’s exactly it. You’ll just have to put up with it. That’s what living in my ecosystem entails.】
Zumito seemed to have a lot to say, but there was nothing a mere creature could do in the presence of the Demon King. He simply sighed and stared blankly out at the world beyond the cave.
“It’s bloody noisy.”
That was true. The booming toads were still croaking like mad.
Growl.
Zumito’s stomach growled too. He must be hungry. Even a heroic individual needs to eat. Zumito went down to look for something to eat.
This world was originally his homeland. And as he had been part of the Slingshot Corps, the elite troops of that world, he naturally knew a thing or two about surviving in the jungle.
The jungle is naturally full of edible plants.
My other avatars are currently working on improving the seeds so they can survive in the wild, but the process isn’t perfect yet. Zumito wandered around for a while, picking and eating those perfectly good fruits.
【Where are you going?】
“To the capital, to clear up the ruined city.”
【It won’t be easy.】
“It doesn’t matter. It’s literally a task I’ve wanted to accomplish for an eternity.”
【Will anyone even notice?】
“That’s not important.”
Saying this, Zumito hunted down the beasts emerging from the ruins of the destroyed city one by one, devoured them, gathered the corpses, and cremated them.
Then, gathering the debris, he built himself a hideout.
【Are you going to live in this city for the rest of your life?】
“I suppose so.”
【You’re always so prompt with your replies.】
“Ha. As a creature, one cannot defy the words of a god. Nothing can be hidden from a god. If I’m just going to be bored on my own anyway, I might as well have the Demon King as a conversation partner.”
【That’s refreshing.】
Zumito slept. Then he woke up, gathered the corpses once more, hunted beasts, and collected the remains to build something resembling an altar.
A memorial for the dead, a tidying up for the destroyed civilisation. As I watched him quietly, a message popped up.
“The heroic entity ‘Zumito’ is attempting the feat of leaving an epic legacy. Progress: 1%”
I see. Cleaning up an entire civilisation on one’s own and leaving a legacy is indeed a feat.
Since I have eternal life, it’s worth a go. I decided to watch Zumito leave his legacy.
Ecologically speaking, it’s completely pointless, but Zumito is, in any case, a non-entity in my world.
Even if leaving an epic legacy changes absolutely nothing for either of us, he probably can’t bear not to do it.
【I will never interfere with you. Do your best. (Truth Verified)】
I accelerated my perception of time. Zumito moved at an incredible speed; the sun set and rose at a staggering pace, whilst Zumito slowly gathered all the bodies and collected enough of the city’s ruins to build a cemetery and a memorial.
“Phew!”
【About four or five a day, I suppose. It’ll be over sooner than I thought.】
“There’s time to find food, and once the graveyard and memorial are finished, we’ll have to restore the entire city.”
【That’ll require tremendous grit.】
“It’s not grit; it’s ‘spirit’ that’s needed. And that is precisely our virtue.”
Come to think of it, Mitomoku really was a chap brimming with spirit.
And so the next day came, and we worked again. My role was to turn up after he’d finished his work and help relieve his boredom.
【My ecosystem is vast. It’s originally dozens of times the size of your world. It stems from my power.】
【My avatars are scattered across different locations, working. Right now, I’m in the process of creating the fourth legion commander. I’ve stockpiled plenty of resources in preparation for the next conflict. And more keep flowing in.】
【Minor gods? I’ve killed them all. I detest sentient beings. Even so-called gods are merely sentient beings. My wish is to kill all sentient beings and continue to observe a perfect natural ecosystem devoid of civilisation.】
【Ah. There’s no need to worry. Regardless of my dislike for sentient beings, I respect them. I will never maliciously torment you. (Truth verified)】
Zumito carried on working. Perhaps because I turned up once a day to have a bit of a natter—which was good for both his mental health and mine—he listened quite attentively even to the stories about the ecosystem of the Dessert Desert that I told out of boredom.
“So that bloody frog wasn’t created specifically to target us, then?”
【No. It was pure coincidence. You lot were just unlucky.】
“So there’s no civilisation at all in this world? Even the Tang-gwae haven’t managed to build one?”
【Right. Their intelligence has developed in a different way. They understand language and have a society, but they’re still beasts. Beasts that were once human. The scale of their destruction is limited, but they’re capable lot who know how to handle the mystical.】
“You hate civilisation so much, yet you’re fine with using mysteries like magic?”
【I consider the flow of magical power to be part of nature. How shall I put it? In that regard, my standards become rather lax. I don’t mind if such mystical creatures are brimming with intelligence. There was nothing like that in my homeland; since I’ve acquired it here, it’s up to me how I use it.】
“You’re quite the contradiction.”
【That’s just how I am.】
“What is life, anyway? Why do you value ecosystems more than civilisation?”
【Hmm… Explaining evolution is a very difficult task. Still, we have plenty of time, so let me give you a little biology lesson. Put simply, those who adapt survive. That is evolution. Surviving individuals pass on their traits, and future generations inherit them.】
“If you had to name your most memorable enemy, who would it be? Where does Irsan rank?”
【Irsan is number two. He’s the only one who inflicted a fatal wound on Yog-Sothoth.】
“Then who’s number one? What did they do to earn that spot?”
【Shikadoz. Just thinking about that devilish lizard bastard makes my blood boil. He terrorised my ecosystem, moving through space at will. I still covet his abilities, but it’s a shame.】
It took a good ten years just to have this conversation. This bloke didn’t grumble much and carried out the city clean-up work with unwavering determination. A steely resolve, as expected.
“I need to get stronger. I need power.”
【Do as you please. It doesn’t matter what you kill. You can even pop another one of Yogo-Tosus’s eyes if you like.】
“Are you telling me to die? Fine. I’ll master the mysteries in my own way.”
Zumito, too, gradually levelled up whilst fighting monsters on his own.
Though not an Ascendant, he levelled up as an outstanding hunter, taming the snakes, birds, and tigers originally created by Mitomoku to serve as his companions in the hunt.
After several decades, when the work was more than 50% complete, the edible crops had all run wild, turning into seeds that were highly fertile but of poor quality.
Instead, Zumito hunted the beasts more diligently and ate them. He grumbled constantly that the shrunken crops weren’t exactly tasteless, but their size was pitiful.
“I want to perform the rites properly…”
【What do you mean by ‘properly’?】
“I understand that my world was connected to the boundary of the Underworld. Can you link this place to that one?”
【The ‘Great Boundary’ is a terrain I myself didn’t quite know how to utilise. I grant your request.】
It is said that the ‘Great Boundary’ is a realm leading to the ‘Underworld’, the very heart of the Spirit Realm where all currents converge. I’m not entirely sure what that means exactly.
What is certain is that it is a point connected to various mysteries such as , , , and , and that everything that dies in this world goes to the ‘Underworld’. Thus, it is said to be piled up layer by layer within that vast current.
Zumito had asked me to place the 《Great Boundary》 above the capital, so I did as he asked; yet, once it was done, it seemed Zumito realised he knew nothing of the 《Great Boundary》’s mysteries.
【If you pray to Yog-Sothoth, he will likely teach you the mysteries.】
“Never mind. I’ll do it my way.”
Zumito built an altar. He built the altar and prayed every day, praying that his kin might pass into the afterlife.
He prayed that, rather than dying in this dreadful world and melting away into the flow, into the nectar, they might cross over to the afterlife and be reborn elsewhere.
And then Zumito awakened to a new mystery. It was a role involving the and mysteries, enabling scattered souls to cross over to the afterlife.
【That’s some determination.】
“It’s what needs to be done.”
Time passed. Zumito, now driven more by urgency than loneliness, began to rebuild the city. I simply accelerated my own perception of time and waited for him to finish the job.
“The heroic entity ‘Zumito’ has successfully undertaken the feat of leaving behind an epic legacy.”
“‘Zumito’ has ascended in rank to become an epic entity. The history of Zumito, who restored the ancient civilisation and performed a memorial service for them, can now be inherited by another.”
And so, he succeeded. Without leaving this world, nor becoming a part of my own, he single-handedly cleared away the entire vast capital, completed the rites and soul-soothing ceremonies for his own race, enabling them to pass beyond the Great Boundary into the afterlife, and tidied up the entire city.
The completed, pristine city was, in itself, a legacy. It was imbued with mysteries and traits such as the ability to inherit Zumito’s narrative, a significant boost to , and bonuses for their race. The power to reach the afterlife, and the fact that I had brought back a few fragments of the gods, made exploring the ‘Great Boundary’ easier and allowed me to draw in its currents as an additional function.
I appeared before Zumito, who had been looking around the city he had tidied up and had returned to the centre to sit down and rest.
【You’ve succeeded, Zumito.】
“Have you been watching all along?”
【I knew you didn’t want me to speak to you. But since I’ve been watching, I ought to offer my congratulations. I would never deliberately destroy that place. (Truth Verified) You’ve left behind a trace that your people once existed.】
“I see.”
【What are you going to do now?】
“Whilst clearing up, I discovered numerous records left behind by my people. The library was intact. I wish to master the knowledge within and leave traces here once more, proving that we were here.”
【As you wish.】
“The narrative entity ‘Zumito’ is attempting the feat of leaving a legendary legacy. Progress: 1%”