Ainel sprang to his feet and ran to the window; only after checking several times that no one was outside did he draw the curtains.
Shaa— The sound of the curtains closing carried Ainel’s irritation.
“How can you just say something like that anywhere?”
What if the High God was listening? How could he speak so casually?
“Aren’t dragons unafraid of gods?”
“Me not fearing gods and you flapping your mouth and turning our plan into a pile of trash are two different issues.”
Ainel didn’t know what exactly Xion planned to do to the High God or how, but it was obvious that the moment the plan came to light, there would be major complications.
Thanks to the dragon magic laid on the Hero’s Sword, Xion’s recent movements had been concealed, but the havoc he’d raised lately would have been shown to the High God as-is.
The High God would also have been watching Xion come to Ainel, and would be trying in every way to figure out what Xion was plotting.
And instead of being cautious, he was talking as if he wanted the god to hear.
What on earth was he thinking?
“It’s fine.”
Xion still looked as if it were no big deal.
An attitude that it didn’t matter whether the High God heard or not. If anything, hearing what Xion had just said and showing up would be just as well—he looked ready to wage open war.
“The High God can’t hear us because dragon magic is in effect.”
“Even so, be careful. Don’t topple a tower we’ve built with such effort.”
Just what incident was he planning that he could be so brazen?
Ainel couldn’t understand.
‘Don’t tell me he truly intends to erase the High God?’
Ainel hadn’t thought Xion had spent those 500 years just plowing fields and building villages.
But the scale was bigger than he’d imagined.
Feeling his lips go dry, Ainel sat back down.
“So then, why’d you pour mana into the Demon King and cause that mess? Don’t tell me it was some shameless reason like wanting to share mana by injecting your power into his body.”
“About halfway right….”
“Halfway?”
“It seems there was more holy power left in Rain’s body than I expected. It was binding his heart and gnawing away at his life, so I tried to suppress it.”
“If you’d only poured in holy power, it would’ve backfired.”
“That’s why I planted demonic energy in my own body.”
Ainel was so taken aback he couldn’t close his gaping mouth.
No wonder there’d been a subtle demonic feel coming off Xion. He’d thought it was a trace of the Demon King; he’d never imagined it was coming from Xion himself.
“That’s not something you achieve overnight. How did you….”
“Steadily absorbing demonic energy over the last 500 years made it not so difficult.”
“What if the Demon King’s condition had been fine, then what? Once changed, a mana attribute doesn’t revert to the way it was!”
“It’s better than hoping Rain would be fine and then regretting it.”
When the party in question said he was fine, what could you say? What could you do?
Ainel shut his mouth.
‘Given the situation, it was probably the best option.’
Only, using this method had a prerequisite.
Xion had to possess both demonic energy and holy power to inject into Reinhild.
Letting him harbor demonic energy—fine. Ainel felt he could take it in stride if Xion suddenly announced, “For Rein’s sake I gave up being human and became a demon.” If there were a way, Xion would certainly have done it.
But holy power was not something you could jam into your body by force like demonic energy.
Holy power was literally power bestowed by a god. Only those chosen by a god could possess it.
Surely, from the moment he was stripped of his qualification as Hero and gave up the name “West,” which enjoyed the High God’s protection, Xion would have lost holy power… so how?
Sensing Ainel’s questioning gaze, Xion explained.
“You said that from the moment I ceased to be Hero, holy power would no longer accumulate in me, but that the holy power already settled in my body would remain pooled.”
“I did.”
Like tea leaves after brewing that still have something to squeeze out, the holy power left in the body would remain pooled like dregs until wrung out to the last drop. He had said as much.
But at the time, Xion had used up a considerable amount of holy power sealing the cave. And both holy power and mana slowly deplete over time even if you don’t deliberately use them.
After 500 years, Xion’s heart should, like that of any ordinary human, be storing mana, not holy power.
“It seems the pooled holy power was greater than expected.”
But this guy was not ordinary.
Ainel was so dumbfounded his mouth hung open.
He knew Xion had holy power proportional to Reinhild, who possessed an enormous amount of mana, but he hadn’t thought it would be to this extent.
‘Terrifying bastard.’
Tap, tap.
Lost in thought, Ainel drummed the table with his index finger.
Xion truly meant to take on the High God.
If he was a madman who had addicted himself to demonic energy to prepare for unknown contingencies without even knowing what state Reinhild would be in when he awoke from the seal, then he must have prepared this plan meticulously as well.
To treat it as a brief diversion to kill time… the repercussions if it failed were far too great.
He took back what he’d thought about having nothing to lose.
‘If this goes wrong, I could lose far too much.’
Was it really okay to get involved just for a little thrill?
There was nothing to be gained on this side.
Ainel pondered seriously.
There was nothing to gain if it succeeded, and too much to lose if it failed.
But if he missed this chance, another event with this much thrill would never come again.
“I don’t know how you plan to erase the High God, but if there’s no High God, doesn’t that mean the Demon King won’t need to die and resurrect? So why are you trying to seal the Demon King again?”
“My plan takes a long time to carry out. Until then, I intended to keep Rein by my side and protect him….”
“Your precious Demon King slipped out of your arms and flew far, far away, is that it?”
“…”
Ainel kindly finished the sentence for the tongue-tied Xion.
Xion’s chest seemed tight; after a moment’s silence, he finally spoke.
“If Rein dies at the Hero’s hand while he cannot be under my protection, that would be disastrous.”
“So under the pretext of ‘safely’ protecting him, you’re going to stab the Demon King’s heart with the Hero’s Sword? And while you’re at it, wipe out the memories of him fearing you?”
Xion’s chilly gaze stabbed Ainel once more.
“I pierced Rein’s heart with the Hero’s Sword because of the holy power. Now that that issue is resolved, I can adjust it so Rein won’t be in pain.”
“Let’s say that’s true. Is it okay to erase his memories without the Demon King’s consent?”
“For the sake of safety, Rein must remain at my side. But right now, due to the misunderstanding that I deceived him, his judgment is clouded and he cannot make a proper choice, so there’s no helping it.”
“Why not just lock him up, then?”
“That won’t do.”
Xion shook his head with a serious face.
“Rein hates being confined.”
And he’ll like getting his memories erased?
Ainel had plenty to say but held it back.
While the Demon King was raising all sorts of havoc, he’d wondered why Xion didn’t simply stop him from leaving the house or Root; it seemed he hadn’t wanted to inflict the same pain on Reinhild as that of spending lonely years locked away in the Demon King’s castle.
“So I’ll erase his memories and have him choose again from a state with no prejudice or misunderstanding. Back to the very beginning…”
“Not ‘the beginning,’ but ‘until he chooses you,’ right.”
Xion didn’t answer, just stared down at the mug clenched in his hands.
The marshmallows had melted away without a trace, but that didn’t mean the sweetness left in the cocoa had disappeared.
No matter how many times you erase memories, the things that happened don’t cease to have happened. No one knew that better than Xion himself.
Even so, he wanted to remain by Reinhild’s side.
Even if he were to be thrown into hell after death, as long as he lived and breathed, he wanted to be with Reinhild.
“Have you tried talking to the Demon King? I mean, tried to clear up the misunderstanding?”
“…He didn’t give me the time.”
“You should’ve chased him and made the time.”
“Rein used mana to the point of overexertion just to avoid me. If I chased him and he even once tried to run again…”
Xion couldn’t bring himself to finish the sentence: that Reinhild might die.
“Good grief. You pull every reckless stunt on your own, and the moment it involves the Demon King you turn timid. What am I supposed to do with you?”
“Erasing his memories by force is something I’m sorry for, but if those memories cause Rein pain, it’s better they not exist.”
“Obsession is an illness.”
“…”
If Xion were someone who could be persuaded by words, Reinhild wouldn’t have been sealed 500 years ago.
Having decided to join Xion’s plan, Ainel chose not to throw cold water on it and changed the subject again.
“Fine. Let’s say you seal the Demon King and erase his memories. But you’re not the Hero anymore. How do you plan to kill the Demon King?”
“I’ll get help from the current Hero.”
“Ah, that was Jake West, right? What’s in it for him? Why would he help us?”
“If he won’t help, I’ll make him help.”
That “making him help” would hardly be a beautiful or happy business.
Ainel felt sorry for the current Hero.
“Okay, let’s say you do that too. There’s still a hole in this plan.”
“What hole do you mean?”
“As this plan stands… you know you’ll end up dead, right?”
Leave a Reply