The Demon Lord, the hero, and me. The hero had sealed away the Demon Lord, then I had killed the Demon Lord. With the constantly victimized Demon Lord at the center, this group, whose fates were intertwined, had met up in the Kingdom of Twilight.
“I don’t know your current situation, but I’m on your side.” As someone who knew the truth behind the legend of the hero, I wanted to side with the Demon Lord.
The reason we hadn’t been able to work things out while we were alive was because the Demon Lord had tried to destroy the Kingdom of Valschein. But that was an ambition that he couldn’t fulfill now, so there was nothing to be worried about.
Actually...is this okay? What if he’s trying to come back to life like the hero is?
“What is your current goal?” I asked the Demon Lord, giving him a side-eye as I stood next to him.
“To stop his ridiculous plan of coming back to life.”
“Do you want to come back to life yourself?”
“I have no desire to return to a world with nothing but suffering.”
Wow, religions that get popular when there’s a ton of public unrest think the same way. Can I really trust him? It’s not like this place is heaven or the Land of Bliss.
I wasn’t sure about what was in his heart, but for now I was relieved that the Demon Lord had no intentions of coming back to life. I could side with him without any hesitation.
The man clad in black armor gave me a suspicious look. “Are you going to stand with me?”
“I was planning to resurrect myself with the hero, but I can’t trust someone like him.”
His regal appearance had fooled me, but the hero was actually the first king of Valschein. I couldn’t trust someone who would betray his loyal vassal so easily. I didn’t want to work with him to find a way back to the land of the living nor could I allow him to come back to life.
Even after gaining an ally, the Demon Lord stared at his enemy with an expressionless look on his face that rivaled my own.
“I agree. You can’t trust that thing, all dressed up like a king.”
“By the way, what should I call you?” I asked. “Would you prefer I use your na—”
“Demon Lord is fine. He goes by ‘King,’ so why don’t I play along?”
Before he died, the Demon Lord had told me his name. I wanted to take this opportunity to use it, but he’d stopped me.
I don’t think you have to counter him with your own title. I could call you both by your names, if you’d like. I’m technically a member of the aristocracy, so the name of the first king is well within my scope of knowledge. Oh, it’s a long name, though. I guess Hero and Demon Lord are fine.
The Demon Lord didn’t ask about how I died or my right half being missing. He just stood there, glaring at the hero with displeasure. With his eyes still locked on the hero, the Demon Lord pulled out a black notebook and scribbled something in it.
Can he write properly without looking down? Also, what’s he writing in there? Curious, I slowly made my way closer to him to sneak a glance, but right as I got close enough he shut the notebook. It didn’t seem like he’d noticed me, just that he was finished writing.
The Demon Lord suddenly sniffed and asked, “What’s this smell?”
“Smell...? Oh, maybe it’s my perfume.”
“You have good taste.”
I’d only used a tiny bit, so I was surprised that the Demon Lord noticed. I had thought he was another Yumiella-type—someone who didn’t care about things like flowers and perfume—so it was pretty unexpected. I pulled out the perfume that the cat-eared man—no, Quartus—had given me and handed it to the Demon Lord.
“So this is it... Can I test it?”
“Go ahead,” I said.
The Demon Lord sprayed some onto his black notebook and enjoyed the scent. With his notebook open and his eyes closed, he mumbled, “It’s nice.”
I’ll use this opportunity to peek at what he wrote.
“Ugh, he’s so annoying! Also, I saw that girl for the first time in a while, and she was split in half! I was so surprised!!!”
I’m going to pretend I didn’t see that...
The Demon Lord handed the perfume bottle back to me, and I quickly worked to erase my memory. I need to focus on the situation at hand. I may have the Demon Lord on my side, but our opponent is the hero. This might be a difficult battle since I only have my left side.
Seeing that I’d betrayed him, the hero let out a troubled laugh. “Why are you doing this? I thought you wanted to come back to life too.”
“Because I know what happened between you two. You betrayed him, then sealed him away for centuries... Are you aware of what you did?!” I said, pointing an accusatory finger.
Though he acted like a saint, I knew the hero’s true nature. After founding the Kingdom of Valschein, he demoted the Demon Lord since he was done with him, ruined his reputation, and to top it all off, he sent his soldiers to fight him and seal him away. He was unbelievably cruel!
A dramatically saddened look washed over the hero’s face. “I guess you would know if you met him while you were alive. It’s all my fault—I’ll admit to that. But it wasn’t my intention—”
“Enough!” the Demon Lord fumed, interrupting the hero’s explanation. “I don’t want to hear your excuses.”
“Haven’t I told you countless times?! It was better that you stayed out of the capital for a bit. The fear people felt for you after your accomplishments while we were in a state of war would’ve resolved with time.” The hero was giving reasons for what he’d done, but they could all have been made up after the fact. I asked him about the one thing he couldn’t make an excuse for.
“Why did you seal him away?”
“Monsters were spawning in hordes, with him at the center. As the king, I couldn’t just sit there and do nothing.”
Wait...that’s actually a fair point. The hero’s side of the story was that there were some misunderstandings, which led his former vassal to become the Demon Lord, and without any other choice, he had to seal him away. There was no proof that this was what had happened, but the reasoning was sound.
Oh, but wait, there’s still that thing—when I was at his castle, I was told that the first queen used to be with the Demon Lord. The Demon Lord backed off because he wanted them to be happy. The hero is so horrible!
“Her Majesty! The one who was called the saintess! You know what I’m talking about!” I pointed an accusatory finger at him once more, but the hero just gave me a look of confusion.
“What about her?”
“How shameless. If you’re going to wreck a relationship, you should expect some resentment.”
“Whose relationship did I wreck?”
“Theirs! I know that you broke him and Her Majesty up.” There was no excuse he could make here. I could sense the rage the Demon Lord was giving off as well.