The next day, for the first time since he had gotten used to waking up early, Reinhild ended up oversleeping.
“Rein. It is time to get up.”
“Uuugh….”
He did let out a groan like a sick person, but it was not that his body hurt.
Reinhild was perfectly fine, to the point where you could not even imagine that the Demon King had been rolled around, thrown, dropped, and stepped on the day before.
No, if anything, he was even more lively than usual.
‘Is this the apostle effect?’
The Demon King being an apostle of the god that only humans believe in.
No matter how much he thought about it, it did not make sense, but if he could reap benefits like this, he could become an apostle a hundred times over.
His body was full of energy, but Reinhild did not get up right away and instead waited for Xion to lift him up along with a kiss.
Maybe because it had been a long time since he had greeted a morning together with Xion, he was overcome with a pointless desire to act spoiled.
Xion supported Reinhild by the waist and helped him up, then even pushed a mug of warm milk into his hands.
“Did you have a good dream?”
“Yeah. You were in my dream, Xion.”
“The real one is me, Rein.”
“I know.”
While Xion was busy getting jealous of the Xion in his dream, Reinhild drank the milk.
It was full of honey and was perfect for a cold day like today.
When he emptied the mug of milk and came out of the room with Xion, the dining table was covered with warm dishes.
“Xion’s cooking…!”
Freshly made cooking by Xion.
The fact that Xion had really come back hit him, and he felt like he might cry.
Reinhild quietly erased from the “Xion’s cooking” list the tasteless rice porridge he had eaten the day before and took his seat.
The main dish of the day was a dish where vegetables cut to a size that still let you feel their crunch and scrambled eggs were placed on bread and baked in the oven.
“It’s delicious!”
What more could a demon king’s life need?
A true demon king’s life was to eat his fill of the food Xion had prepared for him and then lounge by the sunlit window.
Tormenting humans and conquering the world, all of it was useless.
After finishing his meal, Reinhild walked around the now empty Root to help his digestion.
Naturally, Xion was stuck right by Reinhild’s side.
From far away, the deer recognized Reinhild and ran toward him, then saw Xion, were startled, and fled.
“It seems you have become very close with the deer while I was gone.”
“Yeah. I guess they liked the winter carrots I dug up.”
As soon as Xion’s sharp gaze reached them, the deer hurriedly hid themselves deeper in the forest.
“I also want to eat the carrots Rein dug up.”
“Okay. I will make carrot soup for you, Xion.”
“Rein… for me?”
A dish that Rein made for him.
Xion was confident that he would happily eat that soup even if it tasted like it had been made from carrots that had just escaped from hell.
“Let us hurry back home, Rein.”
“We just came out and already…?”
“It is time to prepare dinner.”
“We only just ate breakfast, and you are already preparing dinner?”
Xion’s little scheme, born from wanting to eat Reinhild’s homemade carrot soup right away, came to nothing.
In the end, Xion followed Reinhild’s wish to walk a little more, and they wandered together until the sun went down.
When they returned home, Reinhild prepared the winter carrots that were left after throwing some to the deer.
“This is all that is left. The bag I put the carrots in was taken by a demon.”
“This much is enough for one meal.”
“That is a relief.”
While Reinhild watched the pot he had set over the fire, Xion sautéed chopped onions and celery in a buttered pan.
When the water in the pot boiled, Reinhild put in the carrots that Xion had cut into large pieces.
Xion stirred the water until the carrots were completely mushy, then added the sautéed vegetables and boiled them together.
While he did so, Reinhild stood by his side and watched Xion.
Lastly, Xion prepared bread to eat alongside it and set it on the table together with the carrot soup.
“I will eat well, Rein.”
“Eat a lot.”
With a trembling heart, Reinhild watched Xion eat the carrot soup.
There had been times when he had roughly packed up food Xion had made and called it a lunch box to give him, but this was the first time he had cooked using carrots he had dug up himself for him.
He felt like he could understand Xion’s feelings, who had always farmed and taken care of food for him.
‘So this is how Xion must have felt.’
As soon as Xion put a spoonful of carrot soup into his mouth, Reinhild asked his question.
“How is it?”
“I am happy.”
“I asked how it tastes.”
“If I could eat only one food for my entire life, I would choose the carrot soup Rein made.”
“I am glad you think it is delicious.”
Throughout the meal, Reinhild stared fixedly at Xion.
Like a Demon King who had something he wanted to say.
However, no matter how long he waited, Reinhild did not open his mouth, so in the end Xion spoke first.
“Do you have something to say to me, Rein?”
“I do.”
Spending time together with Xion was so enjoyable that he did not want to ask, but there was an issue he absolutely had to address.
Reinhild let out a short sigh, hesitated for a moment, then brought up the main point.
“Is it really okay for us to be like this?”
“My dream is to spend my whole life like this with you, Rein. There is no reason it would not be okay.”
“But the High God has not been dealt with yet. I…”
Reinhild hesitated for a long time and then muttered quietly.
“I am still the Demon King.”
Reinhild let his shoulders droop as if he had committed a great sin by being born as the Demon King.
He felt that if he knew he was still the Demon King, Xion would say he would solve the problem and leave Root.
But he could not just hide this fact.
If he created some pointless secret and it blemished Xion’s plans, that would not do.
Reinhild cautiously lifted his head and searched Xion’s expression.
Xion looked calmer than when he had heard the news that the deer had eaten the winter carrots Reinhild had pulled up.
“I know.”
“You knew?”
It was not Xion but Reinhild who was surprised.
“Did you not think I had stepped down from the position of Demon King because I became Xion’s apostle? I thought you believed I was just doing nothing and playing around in Root.”
Seeing Reinhild’s face full of worry, Xion let out a bright laugh and laid his hand over his.
“Are you worrying about me, Rein?”
“Of course.”
“I am happy, but I do not want you to feel even the slightest negative emotion, Rein.”
“Mmm.”
Reinhild gave a big nod as if he agreed.
Since he had given up on being the Demon King, Reinhild had decided to devote himself to things like “peace” and “stability” that humans would likely like.
“Originally, I should have stayed in the city and focused on increasing the believers, but I gained some leeway thanks to a good effect in an unexpected place.”
“A good effect?”
“Do you remember the residents who used to live in Root village?”
“The humans named Rebecca and Bilip (*Philip)?”
“I received their help.”
The residents of Root village were driven out of their homes overnight, but because of Count Audit’s misunderstanding, they came to be treated with the utmost hospitality.
No one had expected that that incident would help Xion.
Not Xion, not the expelled residents, not even Count Audrit who had helped them.
『The residents of Root village, who had received the protection of the god of abundance, all became tremendously rich.』
As a reward for having tended Root well, they received the grace of the god of abundance.
If you believe in the god of abundance, you will become rich. If you work under that faith, you will reap results in proportion to your efforts.
Rumors like that spread, and the number of believers increased at a far faster pace than he had originally planned.
Thanks to that, the things Xion had to do were greatly reduced.
And since Reinhild had become his apostle and no longer had a harmful influence by being with him, there was no longer any need for him to stay stuck in the city.
Xion, who felt no value in any place where Reinhild was not, did not have the slightest thought of going back there.
“The urgent matters are being handled by Ainel, so it is fine.”
Then did that mean that no one was doing the non-urgent things?
“What are the non-urgent things?”
“Dragging down the Lord God’s divinity and causing him to fall into the human realm.”
“……”
Leaving aside whether it was urgent or not, that sounded absurd….
“Is it really okay to be doing nothing at all?”
“Do not worry, Rein. This as well is all being prepared according to plan. We are only waiting for a good time.”
Xion gently stroked Reinhild’s fingers, which he was holding interlaced, as if to tickle them.
“When that ‘time’ comes, will you go back to the city?”
“No. I will remain by your side, Rein. Tomorrow, the day after tomorrow, next week. From now on, always.”
“Without missing a single day?”
“May I make only the one day when I face the High God an exception?”
Because Xion was playing with the hand he held, Reinhild could not answer right away.
Xion’s index finger brushed between his knuckles and tickled his palm as if drawing circles.
Reinhild felt a strange sensation and tried to pull his hand out, but Xion tightened his interlaced fingers, and he could not escape.
Reinhild barely managed to spit out his next question while holding back the ticklish feeling in every spot Xion’s fingers touched.
“Then what should I be doing?”
Instead of answering right away, Xion gently pulled on their joined hands.
Reinhild flowed naturally into Xion’s arms as if he had been entranced.
“Rein, you can do whatever you want to do.”
“What I want…”
“Whatever it is, it is fine, as long as I can be by your side.”
Reinhild looked at Xion’s face as it drew closer and slowly closed his eyes.
He felt a moist sensation on his lips.
What he wanted…
The moment he heard Xion’s words, he suddenly realized.
It was having Xion by his side.
For Reinhild, that one thing was enough.
Leave a Reply