Chapter 10 (1/2)
Chapter 10 – The Current Situation, and the Future＊
“Umm, Ojisama. What did you just say?”
Iris’ sleek silver hair fell from her shoulder as she tilted her head to the side.
Luru had been thinking that he didn’t want to tell her if possible, but that was impossible.
As long as you were living in this world, this era, it was something you needed to accept at the bare minimum.
That’s why he told Iris clearly.
“…Iris. From that time; from the time that I was killed by the hero, thousands of years have pa.s.sed. I’ll say this just in case, but this is definitely not some misunderstanding. It’s something that I’ve properly confirmed; a reality. Having said that though, I’m only estimating based on things I’ve come across in books and hearsay, so there might be a measurement error, but…”
While speaking about this, Luru hinted that there might be a small possibility of a mistake.
It was in consideration for Iris.
He thought that it might be easier to accept if he spoke about it like that.
Luru had confirmed that there was no mistaking that thousands of years had pa.s.sed since those days, but it was unreasonable to expect the girl before him to accept immediately.
For now he would have her keep mistakes in mind as a possibility, and then have her slowly comprehend and believe in the reality.
However, Luru had underestimated Iris a little.
There was no mistake that Iris felt shock at Luru’s words, but even so, she was certainly not rejecting his words.
On the contrary, she was properly processing this inside, and even investigated on top of that.
“That is… You must have found some proof that convinced you, correct?”
Whilst feeling shocked, Luru slowly nodded.
Despite her proper speech and the intelligence she had, Iris was still a child.
Unlike Luru, there was no mistake that she was genuinely a child of roughly 10 years old.
Though she had lived a few years after Luru’s death, there was no mistake that she was not yet an adult.
But despite this, Iris calmly spoke to Luru with a pensive expression.
“Ojisama. Ojisama. I am fine… I cannot say that I was prepared, but though I feel sad at having those close to me suddenly having gone far away, but I have become a little used to it already…”
Her words contained a deep grief, and the remains of a sadness that had been worn down from experience, time and time again.
‘Right…‘ thought Luru.
The period in which Iris had lived, and the period in which Luru had lived were the same.
The weight of a life was unbelievably light, and both of them have seen over and over the scene of a comrade losing their life just a few dozen centimetres away from them.
Though Iris was still a child, she had gone through such experiences; being concerned about her resolution was an incredibly foolish act.
“…Sorry.”
So Luru apologised.
It was an apology as the demon king for failing to protect his race, as well as an apology as her friend for failing to protect his own life.
Iris accepted them with her eyes straight ahead, and then smiled with a soft expression.
“It is fine… Ojisama. I believe that you tried your absolute best. Were it not for you, the demon race probably would not have even survived as long as it did… Both as a banner under which we rallied, as well as the king that we were proud of, you were the hope of we demons. That is why… it is fine. …I apologise. Our conversation has taken a gloomy turn, has it not? I have even made you worry… Right now, what is more important is that I must grasp the current situation. Is that not so, Ojisama?”
Like that, Iris immediately recovered.
Luru felt that he had seen the strength of females.
He was moved by their ability to accept everything, and still choose to move forward.
Perhaps it was just Iris in particular.
However, Luru didn’t think too deeply about it, and continued the conversation to tell Iris what she needed to hear.
“You’re right… We can talk about the past whenever we want. Right… Iris. I’ll confirm it once more. Since that era, thousands of years have pa.s.sed. And this is important; in the current era, it seems that those of the demon race like you and I don’t exist.”
“…Is that to say that over the thousands of years, they perished?”
Iris asked with a feeble voice, casting her eyes downwards in sorrow.
The demon race had fallen to ruin. It was something that had also pa.s.sed through Luru’s mind; a sad reality.
However, Iris was right here before him.
There might be other members of the demon race like her that survived into the present.
That was what he now thought.
That’s why Luru shook his head.
It was because they shouldn’t give up hope.
As Luru began to explain, Iris’ expression showed her difficult to express, strange feelings.
Even if she was told that her own race had become something of legend, it was understandable that she some strange emotions about it.
You could say that her expression was natural.
“That is… I seem to have become a very strange existence, haven’t I? However, as you can see, I exist… Will I not be caught if discovered?”
Iris seemed to feel a little worried.
However, Luru shook his head at her question.
“That worry is probably needless, I think. The adventurer that you blew away… Gran, didn’t realise that you were an ancient demon when he saw you sleeping.”
Considering that fact, it was probable that they could overcome any problems by saying that Iris was a human.
There might be a tool that identified your race, but the kind of technology needed for that had declined in this era.
On top of that, Luru thought that it might be easy to find some kind of way out of it.
However, Iris was more cautious than he’d expected, and asked for more details.
“Could it not be the case that only that person doesn’t know?”
Certainly it wasn’t impossible.
In truth he wanted to go to a large town and confirm with more people, but right now that would be difficult.
However, adventurers like Gran and Yuumis were at the end of the day, essentially jack of all trades.
Their knowledge covered things from the everyday to the professional.
It was difficult to imagine that they didn’t even have a common sense level of knowledge.
If Yuumis didn’t know either, then it wouldn’t it support his theory? Or so Luru was thinking.
Yuumis was an ancient demon race freak, and should have known about them in more detail than the average person. For even somebody like her to be unaware of the racial traits of the demon race, meant that Luru’s prediction was correct, you could say.
That’s why Luru explained this to Iris, with that thought as the main principle.
“I think it’d be best to consider such information as something that wasn’t pa.s.sed down, not only to Gran, but to normal people as well. It seems that that guy is a pretty skilled adventurer, after all. I don’t think there’s any mistake in seeing it as something that normal people don’t know. I don’t know about people with a scholar’s level of knowledge but… We can confirm that later.”
Having heard that much, Iris seemed to finally accept it.
Nodding with a smile, she said,
“I understand. From what I have heard, there seem to be few obstacles that stand in the way of my being by your side, Ojisama.”
Like that, Iris touched on the heart of the matter.
Indeed, you could say that having thought it out that far, there probably wouldn’t be any problems regarding her race.
However, if Iris wanted to stay by Luru’s side, there was a problem that she had to overcome no matter what.
“Yeah, you’re right. There basically don’t seem to be any problems. Like I mentioned before, if we play you off as a human, and moreover an orphan who’s lost her parents, then… But, I also mentioned earlier that I have parents, you see. If we’re to live together, it’s something that we’ll have to overcome no matter what.”
So he said, but Luru didn’t think that it would be a big deal.
As long as Iris understood a certain amount about this era, if they could adjust her story later then things would probably work out somehow.
Hearing Luru’s words, Iris tilted her head to the side.
“Regarding your… parents…? Indeed. I have no skills to offer, and would just become a bother if I did nothing but eat, wouldn’t I…?”
Saying that, Iris began feeling depressed, to which Luru shook his head in a panic.