‘The Supreme God!’
Unlike Ainel’s voice, which was as nonchalant as a neighbor announcing a friend was coming over to play, Reinhild’s heart hammered against his chest.
To think the Supreme God was coming. It was as good as saying that Xion had emerged victorious in the battle of nerves between the two, where the first one to tuck their tail would lose the most.
[The Great Temple sent a telegram. It seems the Supreme God delivered an oracle to the High Priest. I recorded a visual of the High Priest begging desperately for word of the Supreme God’s arrival not to leak out—want to see it?]
“I’m not interested.”
[I figured as much.]
“What about the Black Dragon?”
[Couldn’t find it.]
“How very unfortunate.”
[Your face doesn’t look very unfortunate, though?]
Xion had intended to recruit the Black Dragon, who was said to guard the boundary between the divine and human realms.
In order for the Supreme God to descend to the human realm to meet Xion, he would have to seal a portion of his power, just as the Demon God had done.
If Xion used the dragon’s authority to forcibly repel him then, it would surely put a strain on his divinity.
It wouldn’t be enough to shatter him to the point where Xion could win a fight right then and there, but it would have been sufficient to seize the upper hand.
Yet, they hadn’t found the whereabouts of the Black Dragon, the core of this plan.
It was a pity, but it didn’t matter.
It wasn’t as if this was his only plan.
“Thanks to that, the Supreme God has lost his excuse for not being able to manifest in human form.”
[I suppose so.]
It was better this way.
If the Supreme God insisted he didn’t want to, Xion could simply postpone the negotiations.
The more time passed, the more anxious the other party would become, not him.
In the end, the Supreme God would choose to borrow a human body and come here, even if it meant giving up a lot.
If that happened, Xion would have many options.
His only concern was deciding which method would best shorten the length of this fight, which was bound to be a long-term war.
He wanted to spend as much time as possible with Rein rather than wasting time on useless squabbles with the Supreme God.
[Come to Audrit in three days.]
“Understood.”
The conversation between Xion and Ainel ended without any particular farewell.
As soon as the light from the crystal ball faded, Xion turned around urgently.
Reinhild, unable to wait and having climbed down from the bed, was already standing right behind him.
“Did you wait, Rein?”
“No. Not at all.”
Reinhild was looking at the darkened crystal ball with a face even more intrigued than Xion’s.
He had known through Xion’s explanation that the Supreme God would descend to the human realm, but he hadn’t expected the day to come so soon.
The Supreme God seemed to be more cowardly and less cautious than he had thought.
‘As expected, our Xion is better than the Supreme God!’
No matter how he thought about it, Xion seemed more suited to the title of a god than the Supreme God.
Reinhild puffed out his chest with a sense of vain pride.
Whether he misinterpreted Reinhild’s attitude or not, Xion gently took his hand.
“I will make sure the Supreme God can never leave the temple, so don’t worry, Rein.”
“I’m not worried.”
“On that note, can we set the ‘one single exception’ I mentioned before for that day?”
“Huh?”
Reinhild was puzzled for a moment, but he soon realized what the ‘one single exception’ Xion spoke of meant.
‘He’s talking about the one day he’ll be away from my side.’
He felt good knowing that Xion’s promise to be by his side at all other times was sincere.
In fact, they had spent every moment together since he made that promise.
Reinhild looked at Xion with a beaming, bright face.
And then, he said firmly.
“No.”
“Rein.”
“I don’t want to be apart from Xion. Not for a single day.”
What had he answered when Xion first brought that up? He couldn’t quite remember.
But even if he had agreed to it back then, the current Reinhild had absolutely no intention of keeping that promise.
A Demon King, by nature, does not keep promises made to others.
Since this kind of stubbornness wouldn’t work once his status as Demon King was revoked, he intended to push his luck while he still was one.
“I feel the same way about wanting to be with Rein.”
“Then just do that.”
“But contacting the Supreme God is too dangerous.”
He wasn’t wrong.
If he followed Xion and happened to get caught up by the Supreme God, he might become Xion’s weakness, so it wasn’t something to be purely stubborn about.
‘But I still hate being away from Xion…’
Was it because he had grown so accustomed to Xion being by his side? He didn’t want to be apart for even a day.
“Then can’t we at least go as far as Audrit together?”
“That is…”
Xion, who was about to stop him again, fell into thought.
Was there a reason why not?
He would have to act alone when visiting the temple, but for the rest of the time, Reinhild would be safer with him than staying alone in Root.
‘That way, I can be with Rein the entire time except for the few hours I meet the Supreme God.’
Xion felt the same way about not wanting to be apart from Reinhild.
Thinking of it as a trip away from Root with Reinhild for the first time in a while, the journey to meet the Supreme God didn’t seem like it would feel so unpleasant.
The urgency to hurry back to Reinhild would also decrease, which would give him more composure when dealing with the Supreme God.
After agonizing over it, Xion made a decision.
“Then, shall we travel together this time?”
“Great!”
Reinhild stretched both arms high toward the sky in a cheer of delight.
Xion grabbed Reinhild’s waist and lifted him up high.
Startled by his feet suddenly leaving the ground, Reinhild hurriedly wrapped his legs around Xion’s waist and clung to him.
“Rein… it’s quite troubling when you do that while not wearing any clothes.”
Xion hugged Reinhild tightly and rubbed his head against Reinhild’s chest.
It was unfair. Xion had lifted him up knowing this would happen.
“Your hair tickles.”
But instead of expressing his sense of unfairness, Reinhild gently stroked Xion’s hair.
Reinhild was just as anxious, having been interrupted by the crystal ball just when the mood had ripened.
“Rein…”
“Aren’t you going to keep doing what you were doing?”
Instead of answering, Xion headed for the bed while holding Reinhild.
Reinhild laughed aloud at his footsteps, which were more urgent than usual.
And because Xion went on a rampage more than necessary, Reinhild couldn’t get out of bed until late the following afternoon.
One morning, when the deep snow began to melt.
Xion and Reinhild departed for Audrit one day later than planned.
Time was tight if they were to walk to their destination.
But Xion didn’t contact Ainel to prepare a means of transportation.
He wanted to enjoy the feeling of going on a trip with Reinhild.
If the schedule was delayed, he could just tell the Supreme God to wait.
The other party was the one in a hurry, after all.
Kuwuoooooo!
Perhaps sensing Xion’s presence, the owlbears living around Rute village hurriedly fled.
“Keep a good watch on the house.”
When Reinhild waved and shouted at the fleeing owlbears, a reply of ‘Guwooo’ came back.
“Let’s go, Rein.”
“Okay.”
The journey to Audrit was much more peaceful than expected.
The ground wasn’t slippery and the sky was clear.
Perhaps thanks to his stamina growing rapidly due to Xion’s mana, he didn’t feel tired even though they had walked for a long time.
Looking up at the sky visible through the thick branches, Reinhild muttered nonchalantly.
“It feels like a honeymoon.”
At those words, Xion’s heart thudded and sank.
While he was thrilled by the fact that he was a newlywed with Reinhild, he felt resentful toward himself for not having thought of going on a honeymoon together.
“Did you want to go on a honeymoon?”
“No. It’s just that in the books I read, all the humans who got married went on honeymoons.”
“If there is a place you want to go, I will make plans immediately.”
“I like Root best, where it’s just the two of us, Xion.”
It was truly a sweet remark, worthy of a Demon King who had read many romance novels.
Xion hadn’t realized that Reinhild reading so many romance novels would bring about such beneficial effects.
Supplying a strong urge to kiss Reinhild on the cheek, Xion squeezed Reinhild’s hand tightly.
He didn’t want to go to Audrit.
Even if it was just to take care of business for a very short while, he didn’t want to be apart from Reinhild.
“Reinhild. I love you.”
“I love you too, Xion.”
This wouldn’t do. He couldn’t move any further in this state.
“Xion?”
“…….”
Xion silently unpacked and set up a camping tent.
Reinhild looked back and forth between Xion, who was preparing to camp, and the blue sky.
“?”
There was still a long time left before the sun set; was he already preparing to sleep?
He didn’t know the reason, but Xion wouldn’t do something for no reason.
Reinhild hovered around and helped Xion.
The tent was organized in an instant.
There was even a soft folding bedding set stuffed full of sheep’s wool.
It was enough to make one suspect he hadn’t just gone camping, but moved house.
“Rein, come here.”
As Xion sat on the camping bed and spread his arms, Reinhild slipped into them as if by habit.
Normally, Xion’s head would have reached Reinhild’s chest, but because the temporary bed was low, Xion’s mouth precisely reached Reinhild’s waistline.
Unlike the flustered Reinhild, Xion rubbed his lips over it naturally.
“…You planned this from the start.”
Instead of answering, Xion smiled and pulled down Reinhild’s trousers.
It was ending up like this again.
Of course, that didn’t mean he disliked it.
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