Looking back over the years he’d been born as the Demon King and lived as the Demon King, something felt off.
No matter how hard he searched through his “demon life” from the times Xion wasn’t at his side, he couldn’t recall memories that were joyful or happy.
Every good memory Reinhild had was connected to Xion.
‘Then what value does the office of Demon King even have?’
Practically none, doesn’t it?
Aside from bringing him to meet Xion through the bond of Demon King and Hero, the name “Demon King” didn’t seem to hold much meaning.
Of course, he was grateful it had entangled him with Xion, but Reinhild was the Demon King. A Demon King does not feel gratitude for such trifles.
At that thought, the value of the “Demon King” seat plummeted in Reinhild’s heart.
‘I never once wanted to become the Demon King.’
A vast fortress brimming with demonic energy? Countless jewels and powerful subordinates? Reinhild had not desired any of those things for even a single moment.
There had only ever been one thing Reinhild wished for.
Freedom.
To gain that, a position that was nothing but the name “Demon King” was only an obstacle. It was utterly useless.
“I’m fine with anything as long as I’m with Xion.”
Every moment with Xion was free.
And now he would no longer need to yearn for freedom.
Because Xion would keep staying at his side.
“You’ll stay with me, right?”
“Of course. I will always be by Rein’s side.”
“But how do you strip someone of the Demon King’s status? Is there a method?”
“To explain that would make for a long story. Will you hear me out?”
“Okay.”
Lying on his side so they faced one another, Xion offered Reinhild his arm as a pillow and explained, step by step, what he had discovered beneath the ducal castle in the past.
From how, due to the gods’ contract, a Hero and a Demon King came to appear in the world, to how that affected Reinhild and Xion. The loopholes in the contract he had exploited to seal Reinhild, and the method and process for doing so.
The reason he had no choice back then but to drive the sword into Reinhild’s heart. The small things that had hurt Reinhild. The High God’s schemes. And everything that followed, without leaving out a single thing.
All through his explanation, Xion didn’t take his eyes off Reinhild for even a moment, anxious that he might be shocked.
Reinhild was surprised, but not shocked.
To Reinhild, having Xion before his eyes, the one who had saved him from such beings, felt far more amazing than the gods who had woven some grand conspiracy.
He simply could not contain his anger toward the High God.
‘If not for the High God, I wouldn’t have left Xion alone for five hundred years!’
No, that’s not right. Without the High God, Xion might not have been able to live for five hundred years.
Humans have short lifespans.
“You must have been lonely, waiting for five hundred years.”
“If it’s waiting for Rein, I can endure even longer than that.”
“You won’t have to wait anymore.”
Though he was glad Xion had overcome a human’s short lifespan so they could spend long years together, thinking of Xion, who had spent that time alone in loneliness, made his heart ache.
It overlapped with his own figure, shut up in the Demon King’s castle, waiting indefinitely for a Hero to appear.
Resolving never again to make Xion wait, Reinhild burrowed into his arms. Xion then carefully drew Reinhild closer and embraced his back.
If he’d known this time would feel so good, he never would have pretended to have lost his memories in the first place.
Thinking he would unload a basketful of complaints the next time he met that magician with dragon’s blood, Reinhild, still in Xion’s arms, tipped his head up.
With his chin resting on Xion’s chest, it made for a somewhat uncomfortable posture, but even if it was a little uncomfortable, he wanted to see Xion’s face.
“Stripping the Demon King status… Does that also use a loophole in the contract?”
“Rather than a loophole in the contract, I intend to dig into a flaw in the principle by which the beings called ‘gods’ are constituted.”
Even with Xion’s confidence, Reinhild felt needless worry.
Forcibly laying down the office of Demon King was all well and good, but how did he plan to bear the gods’ wrath afterward?
Because he’d already deceived the High God and the Demon God once by exploiting a loophole in their contract, Xion had fallen out of the gods’ favor.
If he now erased “Demon King” from the world and obstructed the two gods’ contract, they would not leave Xion alone.
For the moment, dragon magic merely let him evade the High God’s surveillance, but if the gods truly decided to make Xion and Reinhild their enemies, there would be no way to fend them off.
‘We’d end up fugitives for life.’
Long ago, Reinhild had tried to leave Xion’s side, saying he didn’t want Xion to turn other humans into enemies.
He didn’t want Xion to feel the despair and fear he had felt while being hunted by demons.
But Xion had come to find such a Reinhild again.
And he had said this: it was all right to run, so let’s run together.
If he took Xion’s hand now, Reinhild would become a fugitive for life together with Xion.
Not from mere humans or demons, but from the eyes of gods.
‘Even so, I’m fine with that.’
If he was with Xion, even a life of fleeing the gods’ gaze would be all right.
He wasn’t going to make the excuse that he was giving things up for Xion.
Xion would surely make the same decision anyway.
Reinhild reached out his hand to Xion.
“Will you run away together with me?”
Without the slightest hesitation, Xion took that hand. As if that were the most natural thing.
But the words that came from his mouth were not what Reinhild expected.
“What I mean is not that we should deceive the gods, force you to lay down the Demon King’s office, and then spend our lives running from them.”
“Then what?”
At Reinhild’s bewildered face, Xion smiled as though he found him nothing but adorable.
The Demon King felt this was deadly serious, and yet he was smiling! Of course, it was better than crying or suffering, but since Reinhild had already tensed up, prepared to flee the gods, he only wanted him to hurry and explain.
“I have no intention of running from the High God. I cannot make Rein go through such a harsh future.”
“But if I’m no longer the Demon King, the High God or the Demon God will get angry, won’t they?”
“I will allow no being to lay a hand on Rein. Even if that being is a god.”
Xion brimmed with confidence, as if he had a method ready.
That couldn’t be… could it?
No matter that he was a former Hero and a human who had lived more than five hundred years, there was no way he’d have a method to stand against a god.
And yet, because Xion was so certain, it started to feel as if there really were a way.
Reinhild’s heart began pounding quickly again.
From surprise? Or from nervousness?
No… perhaps it was closer to the emotion humans liked to call “fluttering.”
“I will eliminate the High God.”
“Gasp!”
Thud.
He thought his heart had dropped.
His heartbeat was at least twice as fast as a moment ago.
He didn’t know whether the earlier trembling had been “fluttering” or what, but this right now he knew very well was nothing but “shock.”
“That’s impossible!”
“It’s possible.”
“How do you eliminate a god?”
This wasn’t a matter of whether Xion was strong or weak.
Gods cannot manifest a body in this world. Gods speak to humans only through oracles, or come down into the world in the form of light, because they cannot realize their original form in the human world.
With no flesh existing here, there was no way to inflict physical harm on them.
‘So Xion was preparing to fight a god without even knowing that!’
If he learned his five hundred years of preparation were for nothing, he would be greatly disheartened, but here the best course was to give up quickly and find another way.
Reinhild patted Xion’s back as if to console him.
“A human can’t have a fistfight with a god.”
At that, Xion laughed out loud.
He seemed greatly amused that Reinhild was trying to console him.
“Even without swinging a sword at the High God, there is a way to deal a blow.”
Gods are born from the faith of humans.
The more intense the piety toward a god, the greater the god’s power. Conversely, that means as faith diminishes, the god’s power weakens.
Xion intended to lower the devotees’ “faith” to the point that the High God could no longer even properly maintain the form of a god.
“Is that really as simple as you make it sound?”
“Of course it’s difficult. The High God is the strongest among all gods. He commands the most devotees, and even those who are not devotees do not deny his existence; as long as humanity does not vanish, it is hard to shatter that faith.”
If it’s hard as long as humanity doesn’t vanish, did that mean his ultimate goal was to annihilate humanity?
Reinhild pricked up his ears at words that would tempt a Demon King.
“No matter what method you use, people will not deny the existence of the High God.”
“Then you’re planning to annihilate humans after all?”
“I will put forward a god to replace the High God for them.”
“Ah.”
Reinhild’s disappointment was swift.
“The reason the High God is the supreme god is because he is known as the creator of this world. No matter what god appears, they cannot defeat the very origin of the world. However, if we can disperse the faith of the High God’s devotees, the High God will be weakened by that much, and the god who gains that faith will grow stronger.”
“In the end, that still means you can’t erase the High God.”
“But if I obtain divinity, wouldn’t I then be qualified to fight other gods?”
Reinhild’s eyes went round.
Who was going to obtain what now? Did he mishear?
“If a human cannot deal a blow to a god…”
“…Mm?”
“Then wouldn’t it be solved if I became a god?”
“……”
Like a Demon King with a broken gear, Reinhild creaked and couldn’t get his words out.
Xion brushed up Reinhild’s fringe and planted a peck on the forehead thus revealed.
Then, in a voice full of conviction, he whispered,
“I will become a god, Rein… so that I can remain at your side.”
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