When it came to Prince Edwin and perfume, Eleanora suddenly became incredibly sharp. I wouldn’t have been surprised if Eleanora’s mind was sharper than Patrick’s or mine when it came to matters related to those two things.
The hero was completely taken aback by the transformation he’d seen the airheaded noble lady go through, and he slumped his shoulders in defeat.
“That’s right. I’ve continued to move forward without ever looking back. I thought that I wouldn’t be able to create a proper legacy behaving like that, but there were plenty of people around me who made up for my faults. You were one of those people too.” The hero turned to look at the Demon Lord.
Eleanora of all people had succeeded in talking down the hero. The Demon Lord, who should’ve been happiest about this, responded as if he didn’t care.
“Make up for your faults? You make it sound so formal. What we did was no different than cleaning up after a brat.”
“Who are ya callin’ a brat? You’re one to be talkin’ when you could barely keep up with me.”
Huh? What? Who the heck just spoke after the Demon Lord?!
The Demon Lord and Eleanora didn’t seem to be surprised, so I turned to Patrick, who also seemed confused. Right? Some brash person just barged into our conversation, right? Patrick and I appeared to be the only ones who were surprised.
The Demon Lord continued to speak like nothing was wrong. He seemed to be in a natural state, as if he’d spoken to this person countless times before—as if this was how things were supposed to be.
“Do you know how much the rest of us struggle because of your selfish actions?”
“I didn’t ask for anyone’s help. I ain’t thankin’ anyone for stuff they did on their own.”
“I can’t stand you.”
Um...are things settled now? It took so long to get here...
Before I knew it, the sun had nearly set and the day was coming to an end.
It was now twilight, and the Demon Lord began walking towards the west, his back facing us. The hero immediately ran after him and caught up. The two were backlit by the remaining light.
Wait... I rubbed my eyes and squinted once more at the hero’s back. The hero now had a pelt that was far from classy wrapped around his neck, and he was dressed in clothing that looked comfortable but quite disheveled. He had a machete-like sword that was best for hacking and slashing hanging from his hip.
“Hey, don’t walk ahead of me! Where you goin’?”
“Don’t follow me.”
“Fine, I’m leavin’ ya in the dust, then!”
“Hm...? Wait, hold on! That face of yours...?!”
The hero had passed the Demon Lord, walking ahead of him without looking back. They continued walking towards the red horizon.
“I always thought it was a sunrise... I guess that red sky really was a sunset. The sun wasn’t risin’. It only set.”
“Of course it was a sunset. You spent plenty of days running around. It’s only natural to retire to bed at night.”
“I’m glad I got to walk with ya in the end. Things weren’t so bad back then, were they?”
The hero never looked back, and he continued to head in the direction of the sun, the Demon Lord following behind. Gradually, the twilight sky grew darker. The two had kept walking in the sunlight, but night was coming soon.
“See ya! Sorry for all the trouble!”
With those last words, the hero and Demon Lord’s bodies began to crumble. Their flesh disintegrated into sand, just like when the residents of the Kingdom of Twilight were satisfied, and eventually, there was nothing left of them.
I was glad that we had this time after the sun had set.
Thanks to this ambiguous time of day, twilight, the hero and the Demon Lord were able to share one last stroll.
It was now night. The remaining light peeking over the western horizon was gone, and the day had ended.