From then on, Xion thought only of the Demon King every single day.
Of the 24 hours in a day, whenever his eyes were open, he thought of Reinhild.
Even that time felt insufficient, so he cut down on sleep while thinking of Reinhild.
Demon King, Demon King, Demon King, Demon King.
Whenever he happened to pick up a pen, he would keep scribbling only the word “Demon King,” as if he could fill an entire book with just that one word.
“Rexion, you’ve finally come to your senses!”
The Duke of West was satisfied, saying Xion had become obsessed with the idea of defeating the Demon King.
The expression of Xion, who had always found everything in the world boring, grew so bright it almost looked gentle.
The servants of the ducal house, who had been watching Xion’s mood, brightened as well.
‘I won’t go to Rein until I’m of age.’
If it were up to his heart, he wanted to stamp his footsteps at the Demon King’s castle every day.
But it weighed on him that he was not yet an officially god-empowered hero.
To stand proudly before Reinhild, Xion suppressed his desire to head to the Demon King’s castle.
‘Once my birthday passes, I can meet Rein.’
With that thought, Xion endured the dull life of the ducal house. With nothing but the thought that if he held out a little longer, he could meet Reinhild again, he bore it and bore it again.
And on the day exactly eighteen years after Xion was born, the oracle descended.
“The hero has appeared!”
“Ohh, the god has not abandoned us. Thank you, thank you!”
“If not for House West, we’d all be dead at the Demon King’s hand!”
The world was in an uproar. People trembling with the anxiety that the Demon King might attack at any time all bowed toward the ducal castle.
A festival was held in the capital.
All the people cried in unison that they must celebrate both Rexion West’s birthday and the birth of the hero together.
“Look at this, Rexion. Everyone is praising us.”
The Duke of West, for whatever reason so delighted, burst into hearty laughter and rejoiced.
Xion had no interest in others’ congratulations.
All Xion wanted was to dash to Reinhild at once, report that he had officially become the hero, and spend time together.
If he offered congratulations, perhaps a birthday might be something a little worth commemorating.
But until then, for Xion a birthday was simply the day the oracle finally descended—nothing more, nothing less.
“I will go at once to meet the Demon King.”
“A fine attitude. But no.”
“I’m not asking for permission.”
“That’s not a matter of my granting it or not. The hero must not seek the Demon King until he has gathered all his companions. Without gathering companions, you cannot use the god’s power.”
Of course, he knew this from study. But if he wielded the god’s power carelessly, he might hurt Reinhild.
Besides, he didn’t want to show Reinhild to the other companions.
So long as they had eyes, the instant they saw Reinhild they would fall in love; and no matter how confident he was of winning, it was hardly pleasant to have rivals.
Unaware of Xion’s displeasure, the Duke of West, proud of his son, brought out the hero’s sword that had been stored deep beneath the ducal castle.
“Seek your companions, Rexion. And with this sword, take the Demon King’s head.”
Xion neatly ignored the Duke of West’s nonsense, but he did take the sword.
The Demon King Reinhild welcomed him because he was the hero.
Even if he didn’t bring companions, he needed to at least look the part.
Xion took the sword and picked up the pack he had prepared.
It was a pack he had readied from the day he first met Reinhild, so that the moment the oracle descended he could leave home immediately.
Now that he had received the hero’s sword, the last of his preparations, he had no further business in this house.
The Duke of West looked on at Xion with satisfaction.
“A good attitude. It’s best to hurry when gathering companions. When the hero begins to act, the Demon King also leaves the castle and moves. They say that once you’ve gathered all the companions, you gain the power to ascertain the Demon King’s location—so you should be able to track him easily.”
At those words, Xion stopped walking and looked back at the Duke of West.
‘The ability to ascertain Rein’s location?’
He knew that to use the god’s power fully, he had to obtain both the companions and the hero’s sword and complete preparations to subjugate the Demon King.
However, Xion’s studies never spelled out what that “god’s power” actually was.
This was information passed down only by word of mouth to the firstborn of House West.
“Now that you are officially the hero, I shall explain everything.”
So there was something the man who had droned on about the hero’s fate and the subjugation of the Demon King until Xion’s cochleae ached had not said?
It was absurd, but he couldn’t simply ignore it and move on. He wanted to know even a little more about Reinhild.
Xion had a conversation with the Duke of West that was not particularly pleasant.
After that, without lingering remorse, he left the ducal castle and headed into the streets.
More time had been lost than he expected.
‘Rein might be waiting. I can’t waste time in a place like this.’
Even so, Xion did not run straight to Reinhild.
Contrary to his initial plan, he intended to gather companions.
‘Then I’ll be able to keep sensing Rein’s traces all the time.’
What a splendid ability.
Not only had the god bound him and Reinhild by the fate of Demon King and hero, he had even bestowed such a power. His meager piety grew just a little.
‘I can’t pick just anyone as a companion.’
Under no circumstances could a companion be so strong as to leave even a scratch on Reinhild’s body. Xion set out to find people who, in others’ eyes, would not seem odd choices for companions and yet would never so much as touch the tip of Reinhild’s finger.
If possible, he wanted people who wouldn’t fall for Reinhild, but no matter how he thought about it, that seemed difficult.
So he chose those who, even if they did fall, would not show it outwardly.
Because the conditions were so exacting, finding companions proved harder than expected. But in the end, Xion succeeded in finding people who met them.
Once the hero’s party with companions only for show was complete, he could faintly sense Reinhild’s location.
He couldn’t know the exact spot. But he could gauge the direction.
Even if it wasn’t precise, he could estimate roughly how far away he was.
Thus, on days when he inevitably could not be together with Reinhild, he could soothe his heart by facing the direction where Reinhild was.
It was a good start.
❖ ❖ ❖
“Why isn’t he coming?”
With no way to know how hard Xion was trying, Reinhild rolled on the bed again today and let out only sighs.
He had promised to come again. Even after the oracle had descended, the hero showed no intention of coming.
Honestly, he felt a little hurt.
This was absolutely not because he wanted to see the hero. It was just unpleasant to be in the position of being deceived, when breaking promises or tricking others ought to be the Demon King’s prerogative.
“When is he coming?”
Muttering to himself, Reinhild rolled once on the bed.
“Lord Reinhild. Now that the hero’s appearance has been made known to the world, you may freely harm humans.”
“I know.”
“I am asking that you hurry and go do your work.”
“And when was it you tried to stop me from going out.”
The butler, who had blocked even the windows so he couldn’t get a breath of outside air, was now urging Reinhild to hurry up, leave the castle, and get to work.
A Demon King’s work meant things like destroying human cities, kidnapping and imprisoning influential humans such as nobles or sages, and infusing monsters with demonic energy to drive them down into villages.
Once the hero gathered all his companions and came to face Reinhild in earnest, there would be less time to torment humans.
Which meant he ought to instill as much fear in humans as possible before then…
‘What if the hero comes while I’m gone?’
After the trouble of coming all the way here, if the hero didn’t find him, he might be disappointed.
‘If the hero is disappointed, isn’t that good for me?’
Well, that was true—but even so, as a dignified Demon King, he felt he ought to show his face at least once.
“I’ll go tomorrow.”
“You were the one so eager to leave the castle. What has happened to you?”
“What I wanted wasn’t escape, it was freedom. I am choosing, of my own free will, to remain here now.”
Freedom… nice.
After the oracle descended, he had rushed out of the Demon King’s castle—hero or no—and savored freedom.
It wasn’t as fun as he’d imagined.
He had even approached humans while blatantly showing he was demonfolk, but even seeing them scream and run wasn’t particularly enjoyable.
‘What was it I wanted?’
He had been delighted when the hero came.
Tricking the butler to slip out of the Demon King’s castle for a while; facing an opponent who might swing a sword at him at any moment and matching wills; the tension of having a foe before him as strong as himself—those had not been bad.
So Reinhild waited for Xion to come.
If he fought a fierce battle with the hero, he felt that joy would return.
‘In any case, the hero is bound to come to me.’
That was the hero’s mission.
Subjugating the Demon King was the task a person born as the hero must perform; in the end, he would come here.
‘Right. That’s the hero’s job.’
Come to think of it, the hero wasn’t coming to Reinhild because it was pleasant or fun.
He would be coming purely out of professional duty.
‘Then maybe he isn’t coming because I’m not doing my job properly?’
A reasonable suspicion.
Reinhild, who had been on the verge of becoming one with the bed, got up.
“Let’s go to work.”
If he busied himself tormenting humans, the hero would have no choice but to come.
Just then, a demonfolk knocked on the door and shouted loudly.
“My lord Demon King! The hero. The hero’s party has arrived!”
“What, really?”
Impressive, hero.
To show up the moment he resolved to torment humans? How on earth did he know?
Marveling, Reinhild dashed out of the castle.
Leave a Reply