Chapter 56 - Volume 4 (1/2)

Volume 4, Chapter 7:  I turned 11 years old, Part 1

Deep in the basement of the Daemon King’s Castle …… 【He] was having a light dream.

He wasn’t asleep. 【He] doesn’t know what sleep is.

Lying on top of the massive magic formation that had already lost its light, he closed his eyes and tried to recover the magic power that he’d lost.

A small distance away, several hundred of the people called [Daemons], were pouring their magic power into 【Him] with faces that looked like they were about to die.

If they were killed, and their souls devoured, he knew that he could gain some magic power.

But 【He] didn’t do so.

From his thousands of years of experience, he knew that mere diluted souls wouldn’t help recover much.

It was worthless unless it was a soul that was filled with fear which fell into madness and depravity.

It was better that he bound them with fear and had them supply him with magic power.

Also, if he killed every living creature within his sight, he might be able to 【Manifest] in this world with their bodies and souls.

But 【He] did not.

Although he had been defeated once, 【His] pride did not allow him to go seriously against her.

There was anger. …… But there was no resentment.

Even the anger almost faded when he kept his eyes closed like that.

He recalled the 【Girl].

Every day that 【She] spent in the Demon World……

At first she was tiny, and with her knowledge she was clearly a foolish existence.

Because he thought that her existence was interesting, he decided to keep her until he got bored, but 【She] was different from anyone else 【He] had met thus far.

Quite like a human being…… While 【He] had more knowledge and intelligence than humans, he’d only done and said foolish things.

That weak existence wasn’t afraid of 【Him], and buried its face in his fur, and it was very strong, its power easily rising to match his with only a little help.

Before he knew it, it had become normal for 【Her] to stay be his side. It was like the thousands of years of loneliness was a lie, and it reached the point where he preferred 【Her] gentle, laid-back atmosphere.

He knew that 【She] loved the material world.

Thinking that 【She] would someday forsake the Demon world to go to that place, 【He], for the first time in his existence, was embarrassed about the [Feelings] that he couldn’t identify.

So he bound her. In order to keep 【Her] from going away. He bound her with fear, bound her with power, gave her a toy (pet), and bound her with feelings.

But 【She] still went away…… To the human world.

Angry, 【He] rampaged across the Demon World.

Just with a roar, he would send weaker demons scrambling to hide, and with several 【Arch Demons], 【He] challenged one of the pillars, a 【Demon Duke], killing and eating him. Even the six remaining pillar 【Demon Dukes (Demon Lords)] all avoided fighting with 【Him], and nobody dared to stay around 【Him].

There was no resentment.

Only a burning anger that continued to burn 【Him] from the inside.

What kind of anger was this…? Just [Who] was it directed at?

Before he even knew or realized why he had become angry, he felt a mighty magic power that distorted the dimensions.

Actually, the space was really being distorted. Feeling a nostalgic [Magic Power] leaking from that, 【He] used his own magical power to wrench open the dimension, and 【He] headed towards the material world…… only to be rejected by 【Her].

He didn’t give up.

If she wouldn’t return to him, he would kill and eat her himself just to reclaim her.

And then… 【He] woke from his dream.

It was slightly sweet…… that drunken feeling of that nostalgic magic power……

＊＊＊

There was no day or night in the Daemon King’s Territory. Although it’s merely a metaphor, the Daemon King’s Territory was in fact thick with clouds due to the miasma and malice caused by the rotting meat of those who had been cruelly killed, the sun didn’t shine even at midday.

There were many nocturnal Daemons among those with strong monster blood, it was possible to move in the night or the day, so naturally whether it was daytime or night time didn’t matter.

In the country of the Daemon King… Gistez, everyone who could fight had already headed out in the [Daemon King’s Army], and all those that remained, were the [Weak] that couldn’t fight.

The sick, the young, the elderly, and the disabled all had their food taken away by the rest, and were given no choice but to die.

But the Daemons didn’t give up.

They refused to accept their fate and die docilely, and the weak aimed for the even weaker, struggling desperately and taking everything to survive.

[………………]

Those that were afraid, held their breath and hid.