Ariya watched as Inori left, his words ringing in her head. She couldn’t deny that hearing such a blatant declaration that she belonged to him had shaken her. Still, she couldn’t cast a certain doubt from her mind—that there was a fundamental difference between them.
She couldn’t quite put her finger on how, but she instinctively knew it to be true. And no matter how she tried, she couldn’t shake off those doubts. She had been looking away from this truth this entire time. But now that she’d been forced to see it, it made her feel a chill down her spine. It was almost as if something in her had broken.
“Sorry—could you wait here for a bit?”
“Oh, okay,” Ariya said, replying to the man behind her.
She still had absolutely no clue who he was. He had the features of a dwarf, elf, beastkin, dragonewt, human, and demon. No doubt he would stand out anywhere he went. There was also an unsettling atmosphere about him. In the next moment, however, Ariya’s opinion of him would be turned on its head.
“Okay,” he said in a leisurely fashion.
Suddenly the ground began to shake. Ighnoa raised his hand and the field below them shifted. The craters started filling up with dirt, as if time itself had been reversed within them. This effect occurred over a very large area and required very precise control. It wasn’t something that a human was capable of, and it probably wasn’t something that a demon king could easily do either.
“It’s gonna take a bit,” he said, gesturing at the field as it repaired itself, without turning to face Ariya.
In the meantime, he gave Ariya a rough rundown of what he’d told Inori the other day. Though Ariya was entranced by the sight of the ground fixing itself, she was still able to catch everything he said. She understood that he was the previous-previous demon king—Ighnoa, that symbol of despair.
It was hard to believe that that individual was standing right in front of her, especially after everything that she’d been taught growing up. But what choice did she have, with him standing before her, easily performing magic that should have been impossible for just about anybody except Ighnoa himself? He was the only person in history who could have had this level of precise magic control.
By the time he finished his explanation, he’d also filled in all the craters. Now, he was using magic to regrow the grass. By this point, it was hard to believe that not too long ago, this place had been a war zone. It was a testament to Inori’s power that he’d been able to cause so much destruction, but on the flip side, the fact that Ighnoa had been able to restore everything to perfection was an even greater display of strength.
“Your name’s Ariya, right?” Ighnoa asked suddenly. “Do you really serve him?”
Caught off guard, Ariya jumped a little. “Yes, I do.”
“What does that entail, exactly?”
“I suppose I’m not too different from a slave.”
“And how’d that happen?” he asked.
She wasn’t sure how much she ought to reveal, so she took a minute to carefully select her words. From what she could discern about the relationship between Ighnoa and Inori, and judging by the words they’d exchanged, they were on good terms but also wary of each other. Ariya thus decided that she’d hold off on revealing anything about Inori’s skills or his personality. She couldn’t let a word slip about that or his race.
“In exchange for saving my life, I vowed to serve him.”
“Keeping your cards close to your chest, huh?” Ighnoa nodded. “Well, that’s fine.”
Internally, Ariya sighed with relief. Judging from the level of magic Ighnoa had displayed, Ariya was sure that Inori stood no chance against him. She knew that she had to continue to protect as much information about Inori as possible during this conversation.
“Surprised that he’s so attached to you,” Ighnoa went on. “He must be really into you.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“Well, given his personality, you’d be hard-pressed to find someone he’s willing to cooperate with. The fact that he’s working so closely with you shows that he has a soft spot for you.”
Ariya still didn’t really grasp what Ighnoa meant. Sure, Inori may have had fun with her body, but she couldn’t recall a time that he had genuinely lusted for her, nor a time when he had been kind to her.
“What exactly am I doing here?” she asked.
“I was just curious about you, since you’re always around him. And after hearing what you had to say, I’m even more interested.” Ighnoa sat down and gestured for Ariya to come over.
After years of being trained in etiquette, Ariya hesitated to sit directly on the ground, but she ultimately decided to sit cross-legged.
“When I said he has a soft spot for you, I didn’t necessarily mean in a sexual way. That might be normal for most people, but he’s not normal.”
“That’s true.” Ariya herself had always sensed that Inori was different from others.
“By ‘not normal,’ I’m not talking about his strength or abilities. Now, I don’t know what powers he possesses, but to me, the most frightening things about him are his soul, his mental fortitude, and the way he thinks.”
Ariya knew what Ighnoa was talking about. Inori wasn’t truly cold-blooded, nor was he emotional. There was something about him that was different from most people. He was twisted. One could tell just by looking at him.
“I doubt he’s become who he is because of something from his past. He was probably born like this. Some might label him a psychopath, but honestly, he’s different from your average psychopath as well.”
“What about him are you referring to, exactly?”
“You want me to be specific? Hm...” Ighnoa took a moment before responding. “He enjoys being perceived as an enemy.”
“You mean he’s addicted to fighting?”
“Yes and no.” Ariya tilted her head in confusion at Ighnoa’s response. “Hm, how about this? Imagine there’s a guy and a girl who are in love. The guy is strong-willed, principled, and skilled. A principled person would challenge him to a fair fight. Meanwhile, someone addicted to fighting would kidnap the woman he loved to get the guy to fight him for real. And a sadistic guy would torture the girl in front of the guy before killing her. But Inori wouldn’t do any of that. He’d probably take the girl hostage, get the guy to fight him for real, and as soon as the guy perceived him as an enemy, he’d kill the girl, sending the guy into despair before killing him...and all without batting an eye.”
“Huh...?”
“Yeah. I know it sounds weird, but that’s my point. He’s someone who really likes making enemies of people. He’ll do anything to accomplish that.” Ighnoa grimaced.
Ariya looked at him doubtfully. “So what does this have to do with me?”
“Right. He has an extreme view of the world, where everything is divided into three categories: himself, enemies, and things.” He held up three fingers.
“Huh?” Ariya wasn’t confused by his words; rather, she was curious as to where she fell within those three categories.
As if to answer her question, Ighnoa went on. “You’re a thing to him. He doesn’t see you as anything but his possession.”
“His...possession?”
When Inori had declared to Ighnoa that Ariya was his, he hadn’t meant it in a romantic sense, but in a possessive one. Suddenly, it was as if cracks were forming in Ariya’s head. The days that they’d spent together, the fun that they’d had—it all felt like a lie.
“But I guess that the category of ‘thing’ can itself be divided into two categories: obstacles, and possessions.” Ariya had fallen silent, but still Ighnoa continued. “You can probably guess by now that no matter who he’s with, he has an abnormal classification of them in his mind. He’d never work with anyone not under his control. I doubt he’d work with anyone, even if he considered them his possession.” Ighnoa looked directly at Ariya, as if he was seeing straight into her soul. “The reason he has a soft spot for you is most likely because he feels that the two of you are similar. That’s why he allows you to be with him so much. If I had to guess...”
Ariya was no longer really able to follow what Ighnoa was saying. The sounds entered her ears, but none of them took. However, his next words felt as if they cleared her mind, going straight into her heart.
“You’re just as messed up as he is, in some regard.”
“I...am?”
“I can’t think of any other reason why he’d like you so much. From what I can tell, you seem normal enough...but after all the time you’ve spent together, you can tell that you’re not normal yourself, right?”
It was as if she was being forced to swallow some kind of hard truth. She didn’t want to admit it. She didn’t want to face the truth. It was said that the more bitter the medicine, the more effective it was, but this felt like poison to Ariya.
“Why do you claim to know so much about him...? You haven’t even spent that much time with him.”
“I think I know him better than someone like you, who refuses to look at him for who he is,” Ighnoa immediately responded. “I’m not trying to make you depressed or anything. I’m just trying to warn you before it’s too late. When I say you’re ‘twisted,’ I mean by normal standards. And it’s not necessarily a bad thing. Inori is missing some crucial parts as a human, but as a living thing in general, he’s close to perfection.”