“I’ve been with him longer! I understand him far better!”
“Well, because I’m his teacher, we’ve been spending most of the day together, so I’ve gotten so much closer to him! Plus, they say love is blind!”
Indeed, what had happened to their conversation? They’d completely forgotten about Inori and had gone back and forth for so long that the trajectory of their discussion had veered very far from where it had originally begun.
“Ugh, you just don’t listen! How about we just ask him? How about that, huh?!” Ariya cried.
“Fine! Kiri?!”
At last, they looked at Inori, but he was fast asleep.
“Why are you asleep?!” Ariya screeched.
“Wake up, Kiri!”
“Huh?” Inori looked at them groggily. “What a familiar situation... It’s been a while...” Inori mumbled as he came awake.
✦ ✦ ✦
After we were done with our food, we left the restaurant, but Ariya and Sister Sensei still bickered the entire way back. Although the conversation was about me, I couldn’t get a single word in. So, instead, I decided to make a run for it. Sure, they may have been fighting over me or something, but I couldn’t care less how they felt. Their conversation meant nothing to me. Thus, there was no need for me to be involved. Actually, I didn’t want to be involved, full stop.
“...So I ran away.”
“That’s just like you,” the demon king said, letting out an exasperated sigh.
And as usual, I ran away to the guild bar. There, I spotted my drinking buddy, the demon king Ighnoa, so I decided to sit with him. I was pretty sure I was acting normally—hopefully there were no signs that I was slightly on guard.
“Aren’t they gonna find you immediately?” he asked.
“Hm?”
“Even last time, that nun came straight here.”
He had a point. It was probably only a matter of time until they found me. At the very least, though, I didn’t want to be found by them until they’d calmed down.
“Hm...what should I do?”
“Why don’t you go on a job? They won’t find you if you leave town.”
“Good point, but I don’t have a weapon.”
He gave me a disappointed look and then chugged the rest of his drink. “Then how about you come out with me?”
“Wurh?” I hadn’t intended to make a weird sound—it just came out.
“As long as we don’t go anywhere too dangerous, I can keep you safe.” He didn’t look like he was joking. He was looking me straight in the eye.
“What are you playing at?”
“Well, I was thinking it’d be a good time for you and me to have a chat.”
My heart was pounding in my ears. He wants to talk to me alone? Somewhere nobody can see us? There was only one reason why he’d suggest this... He knew that I knew. What were my options here? I could refuse on the grounds of not wanting to expose myself to any chance of danger. Then again, there probably wasn’t anything more dangerous than the demon king sitting right in front of me.
I also had to consider why on earth he’d want to have a chat with me in the first place. If all he wanted to do was shut me up, he could’ve feigned ignorance about the fact that I’d discovered his identity and killed me whenever he wanted. His stats were ridiculous. He could probably sneeze on me and I’d insta-die, even at night. So what was the point of talking? I tried to think as quickly as possible, but that still left a noticeable gap between my responses.
“Don’t worry,” he said in a low voice. “I’m not lookin’ to kill you, Inori... No, I can’t kill you.”
Was he lying? Was there any reason for him to lie, though? No—not for a guy as strong as him. He held my life in the palm of his hand. There shouldn’t have been any need for him to go out of his way to cook up a scheme just to kill me.
I was also intrigued by what he meant. In other words, even if he wanted to, it wasn’t possible for him to kill me. But why? There were so many things I wanted to understand, so really, I could only answer him in one way.
“Okay.”
Ultimately, I’d decided that even if this was dangerous, the usefulness of the information I could gain outweighed the risk.
At a little past noon, the sun was almost right above our heads. Being in direct sunlight really sucked for me. The clouds rolled lazily through the refreshingly blue sky, urged on by a light breeze blowing through the meadow, caressing the leaves on the trees and my cheeks.
This far out, Regin almost looked like a grain of rice in the distance. Even though we’d come all the way out here, I couldn’t sense any monsters nearby. It was seriously a beautiful day, but I couldn’t enjoy any of it one bit because of the nervousness gripping my heart. Even if I tried to run from the demon king before me, I wouldn’t even make it one step before he caught me. I had to stay on guard. My heart was beating so loudly. I’d never felt like this before. Is... Is this love...?
“Here should be good.” The demon king stopped suddenly and turned to face me.
As soon as he did, Detect picked up something abnormal. Something was emanating from him. That was as specific as I could be about the phenomenon. It felt like the world was writhing. Detect didn’t pick up on him using any magic, nor did it detect his mana being used. Even so, my gut told me that he’d erected a barrier.
“Phew,” said the demon king, nonchalantly sitting down. I had no clue what was going on, so I remained standing. He chuckled at the sight. “Relax. Take a seat.”
I looked at him for a little before cautiously doing just that.
“So what’s this all about?”
“I’ll get right to that,” he said, pulling out a cigar and lighting it.
Something about the way he’d done that felt familiar. It kinda reminded me of a certain someone...my father, perhaps...the memories of whom were shoved deep into the corner of my brain. God, this guy stank. Also, wait. This world has tobacco?
The demon king noticed my curious gaze. “Hm? Oh—this? Demons sell tobacco. Also, as I’m sure you’ve figured out, I’m the demon king, Ighnoa.”
Annnd there we go. He confessed to being the demon king. He had no intention of hiding it anymore. I felt stupid about having been so on guard. If all of this wasn’t about keeping his identity a secret, then I had absolutely no clue what he wanted from me. I might still have been in danger, though, so I needed to make sure that I stayed on my toes. I couldn’t let him psych me out.
“Heh... You really did know, didn’t you? I won’t ask how you found out, but I’ll answer a few questions I’m sure you’re dying to ask.”
Oh, it’s Q and A time already? Great—but what about the spirits who can eavesdrop? Even if I couldn’t detect anyone else in the vicinity, there was no guarantee that there weren’t people listening in via spirits.
“You’re not worried about anyone eavesdropping with spirits?”
“That’s your first question? Well...there aren’t many who can do that in the first place. Even the most powerful elves can’t really pull it off. Anyway, anything they hear will be mixed in with static, so they won’t be able to figure out what we’re saying. No need to freak out over that.”
Oh, I see... But what about that elf, Furuth? She’d been able to have a full conversation with me.
“What about having a conversation? Is that possible?” I asked.
“Hm... I guess using magic to extend the range of your voice would create a situation kind of like a radio.”
Radio? “I meant something more like a two-way communication device. Like a phone,” I explained.
“That’s completely different. It’d be next to impossible, even for an elf. Probably only the spirits themselves could do that.”
Thinking back, Furuth had had the title of “Spirit Possessed” in her status. Maybe that had something to do with how she’d been able to pull that off.
“But even if someone with a power like that exists, you don’t have to worry. I’ve brought all the spirits in the area under my command by force.”
Come again? I tried using Detect once again but was quickly reminded that I couldn’t sense spirits with it. However, I could tell that something was different. Did his status as demon king allow him to control spirits? I wouldn’t have been surprised, given how ridiculous his stats were.
“Okay, then let me start asking questions.”
“Didn’t you already ask one?”
Ignoring his nitpicking, I continued. “What did you mean when you said you ‘can’t kill me’?”
“You don’t wanna know why the demon king is here?”
Most people would’ve started with that...but the question I’d asked concerned my survival, so it took priority.
“Well... Okay, then,” he said. “I wanted to talk to you about that, anyway. Look.” He blew out some cigar smoke, and then pulled down his hood.
I gaped in surprise. He had animal ears, which wouldn’t have surprised me if he didn’t also have human ears. He had four ears in total. That’s not right. And they were long too, like an elf’s. He also had two horns, which looked like they’d come from a demon. His pupils were crescent-shaped like a lizard’s, and he had scales on his neck like dragonewts do. In light of all this, I figured his beard was probably dwarf-like. And looking at the whole picture, I only had one thought.
“You’re all over the place.”
“I know, right? My head especially is a mess.” His head was a combination of all the races; it’d naturally draw attention. “Officially, my race is ‘chimera homunculus.’”
I thought back to when I’d seen his stats. It had said he had six different races, each at sixteen point sixty-six percent. I was starting to catch on to what that meant.