“But I seem more like a king this way, don’t I?” After being told that everything about him, including the way he looked, had changed, the hero responded without objecting in the slightest.
I stood there silently, unable to wrap my head around what was going on, and the Demon Lord roared in anger.
“You weren’t like that before! The way you’re dressed so neatly and that gentle speech of yours—it’s all uncharacteristic of you!”
“I couldn’t care less about being myself. You yourself even told me I should act more like a king.”
Hearing their conversation, I was starting to understand. There was no doubt that the hero was the first king of Valschein, but surface-level elements, like his appearance and the way he spoke, had drastically changed.
This was the Kingdom of Twilight—a world where someone’s regrets from when they were alive would change them. After being here for so long, the hero had probably morphed into something unrecognizable from his past self.
I’d felt it since I first met the hero. There was something elegant, confident, and kind about him... No, there was no need for all those embellishments. I could describe it in one word: he seemed like a king. The man looked like a king, acted like a king, spoke like a king, and even had the voice of a king.
The endlessly regal man said in a thoroughly regal tone, “I think things would’ve been better if I had been this sort of person.”
“How dare you! The one I resolved to serve was the boorish version of you! Also, stop speaking in such a creepy manner.”
“You’re the last person who should be commenting on my manner of speech.”
“What is wrong with the way I speak?!” the Demon Lord fumed. He immediately became worried and turned to me. “It’s not weird, is it...?” He’s totally lost confidence after finding out his crush had no feelings for him.
The Demon Lord’s manner of speech was dated and not something I was familiar with in current times, but he was from the past. “There’s nothing strange about it,” I reassured him. “You’re from a different time period.”
The hero immediately stepped in with some additional context. “No one spoke like him when we were alive.”
“Then it’s weird!”
You’ll just have to accept it. If the hero had started it, I could’ve said, “Everyone has the right to speak in the way they want,” but the Demon Lord had brought it up himself.
“Th-The way I speak has nothing to do with this matter... The fact that I can’t stand the way he is now is a separate issue.” His speech was hesitant as he tried to alter it a bit.
Hey, buddy, you’re not doing any better.
Setting aside the Demon Lord’s manner of speech, I was curious about what the hero was like before he’d changed in the Kingdom of Twilight. He probably wasn’t this regal of a person...
“What was he originally like?” I asked the Demon Lord.
“He was a crude, violent man. He was skilled in battle and nothing else—he wasn’t fit to be king.”
He was that awful? Though the Demon Lord’s words were quite harsh, the hero just chuckled and said, “That’s right.”
It seemed that the description was the truth. Since I only knew the hero he was now, I couldn’t imagine it at all.
“When I tried to guard an area, the people thought I was a thief.”
“Right,” the Demon Lord agreed. “You just ran over, asking where the thieves were.”
“I couldn’t mind my manners in front of an ally, and we almost ended up in an unnecessary battle.”
“The elderly Lord Ashbatten was terrifying.”
“I tried to combine the bones of a monkey and a fish and sell it, saying it was to procure military funding.”
“The mermaid mummy. I’m sure it would’ve sold if I hadn’t stopped you.”
What...? He sounds so awful. The Demon Lord had his fair share of terrible moments, but the hero has plenty of his own awful stories.
It seemed that he’d acted like any old bandit, and though it was only an attempt, he’d tried to scam people. There were plenty of tales that depicted the first king’s bravery, but now that I knew what he was really like, they all sounded like the violent exploits of a delinquent.
“Despite the kind of man you were, even though you were the kind of person I detested the most...I still wanted you to be the king.”
“Thank you. The days we spent running around together, dreaming of building a kingdom, were wonderful.”
“Don’t thank me! You’re supposed to be picking a fight with me for saying all those horrible things about you! The one I vowed to follow was the boorish man with a strong sense of duty!”
Though the hero had acted like a barbarian in his youth, he seemed to be well-liked. With that brash intensity driving him, he had built a kingdom. What had he regretted to end up in his current state? I had an idea—he probably wished that he had been more of a king. Does that mean he wants to come back to life and get another shot at being king?
The Demon Lord questioned the core of his desires, which I was curious about.
“What is it that you wish for enough to turn yourself into that? What do you want to come back to life for?”
The prosperity of his kingdom, or something, right? The king, who’d become the most king-like person, had to have desires that were just as kingly.
Just as I’d expected, he voiced his wishes in a confident and regal manner. “I wish for the downfall of the Kingdom of Valschein.”
The first king of the Kingdom of Valschein yearned for the collapse of his kingdom. The man who behaved like the perfect king harbored desires opposite what was expected of a king, and was trying to come back to life.