Reinhild, completely unaware that he had almost kissed a horse, was simply overjoyed by the fact that Xion had returned.
“It’s been a while, Rein.”
“You’re back already?”
“I was too late. I missed you.”
“Is the work all finished?”
“Of course. However….”
Xion’s sparkling eyes turned toward Brownie and sank coldly.
It was a gaze that looked as if it could pierce through the horse’s thick hide with a look alone.
“What is that horse?”
Neigh?
Brownie let out a cry that seemed to mean, ‘Horse? What horse?’ and stepped backward repeatedly.
He hadn’t known that horses could walk backward.
“It’s a horse that helped me when I was struggling. Its name is Brownie.”
At Reinhild’s explanation, Xion’s expression crumpled mercilessly.
The one extending a helping hand when Rein was struggling should have been him. Not a horse without hands.
“What’s wrong? You have the same look you had when you met the Demon God.”
“That’s impossible.”
Unlike a human saying it wasn’t so, Xion ground his teeth.
However, Reinhild didn’t pay much attention.
If Xion said it wasn’t, then it wasn’t.
It didn’t make sense for him to harbor the same rage toward a mere horse as he did when facing the Demon God.
“Where did you find that horse?”
“I saw it on the street, so I brought it along.”
“Oh dear. By now, the owner must be desperately searching for it. I shall take it back.”
“I paid the owner to take it, so it’s fine.”
It was not fine.
Xion wanted Reinhild to look at him for even one second more than the time he spent looking at that horse.
“Rein. Taking the horse to Root is not a good idea.”
“Why?”
“It is a horse that lived in the city, is it not? A horse accustomed to city life cannot adapt to a small village like Root.”
“Brownie originally lived in Root, though?”
“It must have become accustomed to the city while living here. And look here. These bloodshot eyes. If it suffers a shock from a change in owners, it could become severely ill.”
“Really?”
At Xion’s words, Reinhild checked Brownie’s condition again.
Hiiiiigh….
Brownie, who had been standing perfectly fine, received Xion’s gaze and collapsed to the ground, crying sorrowfully as if he were a sick horse.
“You’re right. He must be very sick.”
Was the attempt to headbutt him also a signal to be returned to his original owner?
Horses made of demonic energy didn’t act like this; as expected, horses that mingled with humans were utterly frail.
“I will return the horse to its original owner.”
“Okay.”
Xion left without asking who the owner was or where the horse had been brought from.
Brownie looked back at Reinhild, crying miserably several times like a horse being dragged to hell.
Reinhild waved his hand toward Brownie.
Neigh!
Xion returned after dumping the sorrowfully crying horse at the Temple of the God of Abundance in the form of a donation.
Reinhild ran straight into Xion’s arms.
He was happy that Xion returned sooner than expected, but perhaps because Xion had said goodbye twice in that short span, the time they were apart felt longer.
“How did the work go?”
“The horse has been handled well.”
“Not that, the Supreme God.”
“Ah.”
He had completely forgotten about the Supreme God.
To Xion, the Supreme God was worth less than a horse shoving its snout toward Rein.
“The Supreme God will never harm Rein again.”
He was lucky to be able to return to Rein so quickly.
The current Duke of West had committed too many self-destructive acts, and because the Hero—the link between the Supreme God and the believers—had vanished, the Supreme God wasn’t even given a chance to explain.
Judging that he would only lose more faith if he wasted more time, the Supreme God sought out Xion with great resolve.
Since the Supreme God had no other ulterior motives, Xion was able to return to Rein much faster than expected.
The Supreme God was forced to sign a contract filled only with favorable terms for Xion.
It was to forcibly terminate the contract with the Demon God, even while incurring penalties by entering a double contract that violated the prohibition clauses of the existing one.
The loss suffered by the Supreme God for breaking the contract with the Demon God must have been immense, but that was not a problem for Xion to worry about.
“Then is everything finished now?”
Asking this, Reinhild was already undoing Xion’s buttons before an answer could return.
He hadn’t even taken off his coat yet.
“Were you not curious about the Supreme God’s business?”
“Not really.”
“We are still outside, Rein.”
“Then come inside quickly.”
Screeech.
Reinhild stepped backward into the house, pushing the door open with his back.
Xion, whose shirt hem was gripped tightly in both of Reinhild’s hands, had no choice but to be dragged along by him.
“It seems Rein missed my lower half more than me.”
“To me, this is also Xion.”
“Then it cannot be helped.”
Xion smiled, curling the corners of his lips, and cupped Reinhild’s cheek.
To continue what they couldn’t finish yesterday.
Knock, knock.
Late at night, Ainel visited the temporary lodging in Audrit where Xion and Reinhild were staying.
“What brings you here at this hour?”
“I’m here at this hour because I had to handle everything you left behind after causing a mess.”
“Could you lower your voice? Rein is sleeping.”
Did this bastard forget that he had come to someone’s house in the middle of the night and knocked as if he were about to break the door down?
“What happened to your arm?”
“It is nothing.”
Xion dismissed his arm, which was covered in bright red marks, as nothing.
It truly was nothing significant.
Because Reinhild had bitten it.
Since Reinhild tended to mutter with his lips when he climaxed, Xion had simply offered his arm to be bitten.
As Reinhild bit his arm as if savoring the afterglow, Xion had offered his arm every time he climaxed since then.
The frequency was a bit high, so marks remained on his arm, but it didn’t hurt.
If only he hadn’t used his teeth so sharply, Xion would have offered his lower half instead of his arm; that was a bit regrettable.
Next time, he should try it while enveloping himself in divine power.
“Are you listening?”
“Ah. What did you say?”
“I asked if it’s okay not to look for the Hero.”
Reinhild had guessed that the Hero, Jake West, had been murdered by the Demon God, but the Hero had not died.
He had simply vanished without a trace.
A Hero that neither Xion, the former Hero and demigod, nor Ainel, who possessed dragon blood, nor even the Demon God could find.
He was a bit curious as to where he had disappeared to so completely, but it didn’t really matter.
Now that the name ‘Hero’ had become meaningless, he was no threat to Rein.
“It is fine. If he tries to disturb the peace between Rein and me, I can simply drive him away then.”
“And the House of Duke West?”
“They will self-destruct on their own even if I don’t touch them.”
“The divinity?”
Xion had not yet become a complete god.
If he fulfilled a few more conditions, he could live as a god for eternity.
For Xion, who had already met most of the conditions, it was not a difficult task.
However, Xion had no intention of becoming a god.
Not in the slightest.
“I have no intention of becoming a god.”
“I figured as much.”
Xion didn’t regret it at all.
What profit would there be in becoming a god while giving up the time he spent with Reinhild?
Wherever Reinhild was, that was Xion’s home, his castle, his country, and his world.
By holding Reinhild in his arms, he had essentially possessed the entire world; why would he crave the power to reign over it?
Rather, he wanted to shake off that divinity right now, as it brought numerous restrictions and the risk of being flung into the divine realm if he made a mistake.
“If I become a god, I gain eternal life. Now that I can finally end my life on the same day and at the same hour as Reinhild, I cannot miss that opportunity.”
“You’re ridiculous.”
While Ainel was dumbfounded, a small moan was heard from inside the house.
It was the sound of a naked Reinhild feeling cold as Xion’s warmth moved away.
“Then, I shall be going.”
Xion quickly hurried back inside, claiming that Rein’s body must not get cold.
Left alone in front of the entrance, Ainel stood frozen in disbelief.
‘Demon skin is naturally cold!’
Even if he shouted it, Xion wouldn’t pretend to hear.
Ainel let out a short sigh.
He had been entertained for a while thanks to those two, but it would be hard to see them in the future.
‘I should go look for Master.’
Of course, before that, he had to handle the matters he left behind at the temple.
Ainel departed toward the temple, which had been left neglected amidst the god’s indifference.
Once everything was settled, Xion and Reinhild returned to Root.
Root, seen after a long time, had changed slightly from when they left.
The frozen lake had completely melted, and yellow flowers had bloomed in the fields.
“Look over there, Xion. It’s a flower I’ve never seen before.”
“They are flowers that bloom in spring. This must be the first time Rein has seen them.”
Winter had passed, and spring was beginning.
Reinhild had not seen spring flowers, nor had he seen spring itself.
Because spring never came to the Demon King’s castle.
“Is spring a good time for the God of Abundance to be active?”
“There is no such thing as a God of Abundance.”
Xion approached Reinhild, who was running over the yellow flowers, took his hand, and kissed it gently.
“The one before Rein’s eyes is Xion. The Xion who always loves only Rein.”
“Yeah. I love you too.”
With the setting sun behind them, Xion kissed Reinhild.
And so ended a very ordinary day for a human who could have become a god and a demon who was once the Demon King.
It was one of the many peaceful days that Xion and Reinhild would spend together from now on.
[The Resurrected Demon King Wants to Live] Side Story End.
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