The “problem” Xion mentioned was a much bigger matter than Reinhild had imagined.
To have to be apart from Xion, Reinhild fell into shock.
“No matter how much I am called the master of Audrit and have the Count of Audrit who rules the domain under my thumb, the one who ultimately stands at the highest place in this land is the Emperor. If I arbitrarily block the distribution of produce, the Emperor will move.”
For Reinhild, who had lived in a world where the strong were the law, this was a reason that made no sense.
Humans, what is so great about them that they cling to bloodlines or family names.
“What does that have to do with having to be apart from me.”
As if to stop Xion from leaving, Reinhild clutched tightly at the hem of Xion’s clothes.
Seeing Reinhild like that was both lovable and pitiful, and Xion wanted to cry out that he would not leave Rein and would go nowhere at all, but he could not help it.
All of this was for Reinhild.
“Even an Emperor cannot recklessly lay hands on a matter that involves a god.”
If the restriction on the distribution of Audrit’s produce were an action taken solely by the Count of Audrit, the Emperor could resolve the problem simply by sending a knight order to pressure the count’s house.
However, if a god is involved, the situation becomes complicated.
The imperial family cannot rashly draw a sword against a god.
Even if it is a small, nameless god that could appear anywhere at any time.
“However, in order for a god to receive formal recognition, there must be a temple of a designated size and a certain minimum number of devotees. Since that scale is considerable and it would take much time to build a new temple, I intend to convert the count’s castle where the Count of Audrit resides into a temple.”
From the standpoint of the Count of Audrit who had been living well in the count’s castle, it was as if he would be kicked out of his own home overnight, but there was no helping it.
The count’s castle had been constructed from the beginning for that very purpose.
Even if it was not obvious on the outside, it already had everything a temple must have. If only the exterior were appropriately remodeled, the count’s castle would instantly transform into a temple.
“If you are there, Rein, you will be adversely affected.”
“A Demon King is not swayed by such things.”
“Being exposed to a large amount of holy power is dangerous for you, Rein.”
When Xion established the village of Root, he checked the locations of all nearby temples and chose a site where the influence of holy power would not reach.
Even after taking control of Audrit, he managed things so that no temple of the High God or of any other god would be built around it.
So that the power called holy power would never hurt Reinhild.
Therefore, Xion could not take Reinhild to the city of Audrit where the largest of the temples of the god of plenty would be built.
He could not think to save Reinhild and then, in reverse, end up hurting him.
“Can you not stay here with me, Xion?”
“In order to instill in people the recognition that I am the god of plenty, I must go there. If I make a misstep, it could end with only the existing god of plenty being empowered.”
“I do not like it… I want to be together.”
At Reinhild’s petulance, Xion’s chest ached, and he almost said forget being a god and let us go to Audrit together.
But that must not be.
If Reinhild were to be placed in danger, he would not be able to forgive himself.
Xion wanted to grant Reinhild’s wish somehow, but this one problem he could not.
“I am fine now. Could I not go with you?”
“Rein.”
It was the first time Xion, who had always shown only a soft side to Reinhild, answered in a firm voice.
Unlike that voice, however, his action of drawing Reinhild’s hand closer and bringing it to his lips was endlessly gentle.
“We are only sacrificing a very short while for the sake of the much longer time we will share together.”
“…”
“Please wait for me just a little, Rein.”
When all of this was for himself, how could he only complain?
In the end, Reinhild nodded even while wearing a sullen expression.
Xion had waited five hundred years for him, and after that had endured a great many things until the moment Reinhild’s memories returned.
If he could not even wait this much, a Demon King’s pride would crumble.
Reinhild steeled his heart and decided to let Xion go.
“When will you leave?”
“I must move at once.”
“Already?”
“I intended to move as soon as I secured Rein’s safety from the beginning.”
Reinhild felt as if the sky were collapsing.
If he had known he would send him off this quickly, he would not have pretended to have lost his memory and would have spent more time together.
No, wait. If he had not pretended to have lost his memory, would Xion have left the very day he returned to Root.
Then he should have kept pretending to have lost his memory for far longer.
He should have pretended not to hear even when Xion asked how long he intended to keep up the act.
He had never liked the High God to begin with, but now he resented him so much he wanted to erase him from the world right away.
Ah. Xion was leaving in order to erase the High God from the world, was he not?
He would be fine with leaving the High God alone and not erasing him from the world, if only Xion would not go.
He wanted to be together with Xion.
“Then… can you not stay just one more day and go?”
Resting his chin on Xion’s chest, Reinhild looked up at him with a face full of lingering attachment.
Looking directly at that face, Xion felt as if his heart were melting.
“Xio, mmm…!”
There it was again. This time too, Xion unerringly pressed his lips to Reinhild’s without warning.
To be honest, it was not as if he had not expected this.
He had only thought it would be nice if Xion would give him a warning so he could take a breath in advance before starting.
Even then, Xion did not forget to carefully support Reinhild’s neck with one hand, since Reinhild had to tilt his head back while pressed close to him and ended up in an uncomfortable posture.
“Hoo, br…”
The words he had been about to say leaked between his lips and scattered into the air with a pop, like a failed spell.
Xion tapped Reinhild’s slightly revealed tongue tip with his own through the lips that had parted to speak. Then, naturally, Reinhild’s lips parted a little more.
Xion did not miss that chance and pried open the gap to slide in his tongue.
“Uh…”
Reinhild reflexively squeezed his eyes shut. When he tried to close his opened mouth, Xion slowly rubbed the nape that he was supporting with his fingertips.
Hair that had grown long enough to half cover the nape brushed along the bare skin as it rubbed.
Perhaps because the tickling sensation was joined by a prickly texture, Reinhild reacted more sensitively than usual and his body flinched.
“Hht, mm…”
Reinhild hunched his shoulders and tried to draw his neck back, but each time Xion firmly supported Reinhild’s waist.
No matter how much Xion held him, the feeling of tongues tangling and rummaging around inside his mouth was so vivid that he could not keep his body still.
Unlike previous kisses, which had been so frantic and fast that he lost his wits and could not tell what was what, Xion’s leisurely sweep through his mouth made Reinhild’s head spin even more.
It seemed like he would have more room to breathe than when everything was moving at a breakneck pace, but Reinhild felt his whole body itch, and even merely wriggling his body was overwhelming.
On top of that, since he was pressed so close that he could feel Xion’s heartbeat through the shirt, his chest felt tight.
“Huh… s-sto…”
Clinging to Xion’s shirt as if hanging on to it, Reinhild grabbed hard and squirmed.
Xion was fine in every way, but there were times when he came at the Demon King as if to swallow him whole.
That did not mean he disliked it.
Reinhild patted Xion’s back with light smacks, putting into it the hope that he would make it only a little less stifling.
Perhaps noticing that Reinhild was uncomfortable, Xion regretfully pulled his lips away at once.
“Pwah.”
Perhaps he regretted it greatly, for Xion continued to kiss around Reinhild’s lips as the Demon King caught his breath like someone who had come back from the dead.
Then, when Reinhild looked at him with eyes wet with moisture, he shamelessly spoke as if nothing had happened.
“Your hair has grown a lot. I should cut it before I leave.”
Saying something so out of the blue left Reinhild with no energy to complain about why he suddenly kissed him.
Surely Xion was aiming for that and throwing out such a non sequitur.
Even without that, he would not have said he disliked it.
Reinhild drooped his shoulders and, with a face dripping with regret, grasped the hem of Xion’s clothes.
“Do you have time to cut your hair before you go?”
“I seem to have led you to a misunderstanding, Rein.”
“A misunderstanding.”
What misunderstanding could there have been in the conversation just now?
Reinhild lifted the head he had been hanging low and looked at Xion again.
Without averting his gaze in the slightest, Xion faced Reinhild directly, and with a bright smile he added words.
“When I said at once, I meant around next week.”
Reinhild felt as if he had been struck hard on the head.
He had been fooled.
Since he said “at once,” he had assumed it meant right now.
“How could you trick me?”
“Trick you. To someone who has lived more than five hundred years, about a week is no different from right away.”
“… Uu.”
When he put it that way, there was nothing more to say.
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