Pen and Paper Translations

‘Xion. It’s Xion.’

Xion slipped in between the shopkeeper and Reinhild and blocked the shopkeeper’s attack.

Reinhild’s eyes brimmed with tears.

‘He came to find me!’

He didn’t pick up some other stray demon or human to look after—he came looking for me.

He was so overjoyed to see Xion that he didn’t even think about the city of Audrit being under travel restrictions or wonder how Xion had known where he was to come all this way.

He had, just a little—no, the tiniest bit—hoped that Xion might chase after him the moment he vanished, and he’d been on the verge of feeling hurt when there’d been no sign of him at all.

And then he appeared like—ta-da.

‘So Xion wanted to see me too!’

Pressing a hand hard over the spot where his heart was pounding from mana overload, Reinhild beamed at Xion.

“Xio—…”

“Ah, no! Can’t you let that go? Thieves, stealing in broad daylight!”

It was about to be a very moving reunion, but the magic-shop owner had to go and ruin it.

Reinhild had too much to feel guilty about to say anything at all.

‘If I hadn’t lost my mana, I could’ve erased this whole shop and pretended nothing happened.’

Could Xion help the way he had when he sent the Hero flying?

Probably not.

Pulverizing a feeble Hero and obliterating a rich human were worlds apart.

Since leaving Xion’s side and experiencing all kinds of things in Audrit, Reinhild had learned, deep in his bones, the power of money and how frightening it was.

The force of money had even cost him dear Brownie. Truly, it was terrifying.

He started to worry that this thing called money, as fearsome as the Hero’s sword that pierced a Demon King’s heart, might now take Xion from him.

Before he knew it, Reinhild had plastered himself against Xion’s back.

“You lot, I’ll—!”

Thunk.

Xion tossed a pouch onto the counter where magical goods were displayed.

“That should be enough.”

“Do you have any idea how much that costs? All magic shops are under the protection of the Mage Tower. Shall I contact them at once and have a mage dispatched…?”

The shopkeeper cracked the pouch open for a peek.

“…Might I have the honor of escorting you safely to your lodgings?”

“That won’t be necessary.”

With that, Xion slipped an arm around Reinhild’s shoulders and led him out of the shop.

Reinhild was bewildered.

“Get home safely~,” the shopkeeper called after them, bowing at a ninety-degree angle.

Even glancing back and forth between the deeply bowing shopkeeper and Xion, Reinhild was no less at a loss.

‘He must’ve spent his entire fortune!’

From where he stood, he couldn’t see inside the pouch well, but he had definitely glimpsed something gleaming gold.

Not copper, not silver—gold coins.

Xion had flung him a pouch stuffed with gold coins.

‘To save me!’

In the human world, even a few silver coins vanish in a day. How many Brownies could you buy with a whole pouch of gold?

Xion was on the verge of losing his field and being driven out of Root; he must have emptied out the savings of a lifetime for his sake.

Reinhild clutched his head, at a total loss for what he ought to do in a moment like this.

What do I do? Should I sneak back in at night and clean the magic shop out?

“Rein.”

What do I… what…

“Rein.”

“Xion…”

Reinhild glanced up at him, sheepish.

Was he going to scold him for running away? After he’d come all this way, maybe he’d been disappointed to see him doing nothing but getting into trouble.

Instead of scolding him, Xion draped a cloak over his slumped shoulders.

“It’s chilly out. You should dress warmly.”

He smoothed Reinhild’s mussed hair and set a straw hat on top.

“My hat!”

Overjoyed that at least one thing Xion had given him remained, Reinhild pulled the straw hat down low.

With more than half his face hidden, the glances he’d been catching from passersby finally disappeared. Satisfied, Xion took his hand.

‘Warm…’

It was warmth he hadn’t felt in a long time. Feeling as if he’d recovered something he’d missed terribly, Reinhild squeezed Xion’s hand tighter.

Xion led Reinhild somewhere without explanation.

He had plenty to feel guilty about, so he would behave and follow… but where were they going?

‘Looks like Xion came on impulse with no luggage too. Is that okay?’

He had even just blown his entire fortune.

With no Brownie left to sell, Reinhild and Xion would be penniless, unable to return to Root and out on the streets.

They’d have no choice but to strip the Demon King’s castle bare to buy a house to live in together…

“Where are we?”

While he was busily drafting plans to loot the castle, Xion stopped. They seemed to have arrived.

They stood before an extremely fine mansion.

Without any hesitation, Xion opened the door and walked in.

‘Whose house is this? Are we allowed to just go in? Do humans normally just walk into other people’s homes like this?’

As Reinhild’s questions piled up, someone in the distance came running.

“Welcome home, Sir Xion.”

Reinhild’s puzzlement deepened.

The interior was spacious and immaculate. For the size of the mansion there were few staff, but each person they met greeted Xion with the utmost respect.

Following the man who seemed to be a butler, they came to a vast dining table laden with all kinds of food.

Turning things over in his head, Reinhild came up with a hypothesis that fit within the limits of what he could accept.

‘Don’t tell me Xion works here as a cook?’

Of course, it was a hypothesis easily shot down.

He’d never seen Xion leave Root, and it made no sense that he worked a twenty-four-hour horse ride away.

The butler showed Xion to a seat. Reinhild, carried along by the moment, sat across from him.

Gulp.

Reinhild swallowed—not because the food looked appetizing, but because he felt he might have stumbled upon the truth.

‘Could… Xion be rich?’

❖ ❖ ❖

“Come here.”

Smiling as if he had no idea what was going through Reinhild’s mind, Xion stood with his arms open.

‘Some of us were so worried we could barely eat.’

For a Demon King who’d “barely eaten,” Reinhild had stuffed himself until his belly was round; he edged over and snuggled into Xion’s arms.

It was quite cold today; he meant to use him in place of a stove.

Looping his arms around Xion’s waist, Reinhild drifted back into thought.

‘I thought Xion had no family and lived in poverty, so what is going on?’

Whatever it was, if it meant he wouldn’t be driven out of Root, he could relax.

Ah, but were they going to move here instead of going back to Root?

‘I don’t like that.’

While Reinhild was tangled in worries, Xion gently lifted him and laid him on the bed.

Bedtime already? With a full belly and warmth, he felt sleep coming easily. Half-lidded, he turned his eyes to find Xion.

He was silently looking down at him.

Realizing he was penned between Xion’s two arms, his heart began to pound.

Surely it was because he’d been caught within the attack range of someone stronger and felt threatened.

Otherwise, his heart was broken.

He might get angry or attack, he thought, and he clasped his neatly folded hands tight.

Was there a special way to apologize when someone was angry?

If so, then this time he had indeed done wrong, and he would just let Xion do as he wished.

Steeling himself, Reinhild waited for Xion’s next move.

“…”

But no matter how long he waited, Xion didn’t move.

He only looked quietly down at him.

Somehow, the way he hesitated was so unlike him. It didn’t feel like Xion.

‘Is it because I ran away?’

It certainly seemed so.

Suddenly flustered, Reinhild blurted out,

“It’s not because I don’t like you!”

“Pardon?”

“I didn’t run away because I hate you. It’s… it’s… I have very profound reasons I can’t even tell you.”

If that was the right thing to say, Xion’s expression did grow a shade brighter.

“Then…”

It was nice that the misunderstanding was cleared and the mood improved, but what were you supposed to say in a situation like this?

Reinhild rolled his eyes around, stalling.

Watching him, Xion spoke with a smile touching his lips.

“May I kiss you?”

“Wasn’t that a greeting?”

“Ah. So it was.”

Xion laughed out loud, then gently pressed his lips to Reinhild’s.

“…”

Face burning red, Reinhild clamped his mouth shut.

In the quiet, after only caressing his cheeks, Xion slowly spoke.

“You can run away.”

“Really?”

A needless pang pricked Reinhild, and he opened his eyes wide.

He should tell me not to go. He should get angry and ask why I’m trying to run away!

He hadn’t run off because he wanted to hear something like “it’s okay if you run.”

Even as Reinhild’s face showed his sense of injustice, Xion only smiled.

“Instead, next time, run away with me.”

“…With Xion?”

“Yes. Wherever Rein goes, I want to be there with you.”

Xion softly took Reinhild’s hand and kissed along his fingers.

His fingertips, always cool, felt unusually warm today.