After arriving in Edrium, time flowed a little faster.
Even if I had become king, the demons of Edrium wouldn’t know. There’s no way they would accept a human becoming king. It would only add to the confusion.
The king of Edrium is still Bael. As it has been until now.
However, my companions and I received lavish treatment at Bael’s castle.
Of course, that was partly because I had made Bael submit, but Bael himself seemed to feel gratitude toward me.
“Bael, you don’t have to use honorifics with me. The same goes for the other 72 Demons.”
“......Is that really all right?”
Bael’s tone was somewhat cautious. Maybe because he had received Ecleksis.
Well, it’s not like I had ever used honorifics anyway.
“If other demons hear you talking like that, it’ll get annoying, and I’m not interested in that sort of thing.”
My becoming the King of Demons is a means to an end. I just got a few more cards in my hand.
Besides, it’s not the Demon Realm; I only became the head of the demons on this continent of Agoris, so it’s a half-measure.
If we’re calling it a half-measure, Satan is the same, but the “half” on that side is bigger than my half.
......Then I guess it’s not a half.
“What are you going to do from now on?”
Bael asked me, and I considered the situation.
Staying at Bael’s castle right now was for my companions’ recovery.
For one thing, I myself had used a considerable amount of power, and so had Elodie. Vasileo used Hellfire in actual combat for the first time. On the way here he had used Reservation for flight; that alone consumed quite a bit.
Riri had been continuously firing Charm at me, and Selena had been simultaneously guarding me and dealing with enemies. Mei had used comparatively less strength, but I hadn’t intended to make her do much to begin with.
The one in the best shape was Arald, and so he was busy with information gathering and demon management. He doesn’t step up much during the fight, but after the battle he’s the busiest one.
‘......Arald seems like he’d actually be strong.’
He has the image of Hitchcock’s chairman, the brainy type, so I haven’t had him join the fighting, but he’s probably quite strong. If I get the chance, it wouldn’t be bad to find out roughly how skilled he is.
‘I’m worried about Aster and Ias. And Carla too.’
Aster cut down a human possessed by Zeus. It’s a hostile act toward a god. However, according to Elodie, Zeus won’t be able to move easily.
Because Aster attacked Zeus for the sake of humans, after all. Since it was such a just resistance, she says it will be difficult for a god to hand down divine punishment.
They say divine punishment leaves a significant trace and can be definitively tied to a specific god, so it would be the perfect way for faith to drop.
‘As much as humans watch the gods’ faces, the gods also watch humans’ faces.’
And as for Ias, I’m not worried about his safety so much as the problem is what he’s holding right now.
Ares’s spear and shield. I hear Aster was threatened mentally and had a hard time with them; I don’t know how Ias will fare.
By the time I meet Ias, he might have become a fervent believer of Ares.
‘......And, Carla.’
Carla, whom Atena had possessed. Judging from the situation, Carla herself probably wasn’t physically harmed, but the shock will likely be severe.
The Atena she thought had left came back and took over her body again, and for quite a long time at that.
“Hm. As expected, the answer is already set.”
“Is it?”
Bael asked back, and I nodded.
“Time to do my main job.”
“......You don’t mean.”
“Yeah. I’m going back to Atlas.”
I rose from my seat.
My companions were resting in their respective rooms. I should go meet them one by one and tell them we’re returning.
“You became the King of Demons, and you say you’re going back to Atlas?”
“King is just a position, and my job is teacher.”
“If you go back to Atlas, the gods will realize you’re alive, won’t they?”
“It’s fine. The me there is # Nоvеlight # ‘Frondier de Roach.’”
“......You think that’ll work....... No, perhaps......”
“Right. At this point, there’s no justification.”
In truth, whether the prefix of my name is “di” or “de” doesn’t matter anymore.
The gods already declared victory. The demons fell silent to that.
By the time the vacation period ends, that will all have been sorted out.
After that, even if a human like me appears again, the gods can’t all possess people and come storming in again.
Besides, Atlas is full of humans, not demons. Even from this incident alone, some of the gods will have had their faith shaved down. The justification that it was to kill demons is only a mitigating factor; that doesn’t mean their faith remained intact.
‘And more than anything, this place is uncomfortable, somehow.’
I learned after staying a few days: demons are almost no different from humans in all aspects of food, clothing, and shelter. Demons like the food humans like, and demons like the clothes humans like.
So adapting wasn’t that hard. At most it feels like staying in a foreign country.
But to put it the other way, this place is no different from a foreign country, so if you stay, you come to miss home.
‘......Home, huh.’
I have a different real home, but since I can’t go there, I’ll set that aside for now.
“I’ve come pretty far.”
From the original world to the continent of Falind, the Terst Empire, then stopped by Manggot, went to Agoris and lived as an Atlas teacher, went to Palma, and now I’m at the demon’s castle in Edrium.
I can’t go back over that whole path at once.
Let’s make a small return.
“Vacation is about to end.”
And so I went back to Atlas.
I spent the vacation, and incidentally became the King of Demons.
**
I informed everyone that we were returning, and as if they had been waiting for it, everyone’s expressions brightened.
All of us wore masks. The pictures of us that Charon had spread were still up, and even if they weren’t, we needed to avoid hassle.
After arriving in Palma, the first thing we did was look for Pielot.
Pielot made a complete recovery during the remainder of the vacation. However, perhaps because the wound had been deep, a scar remained on his abdomen where the arrow had pierced through.
When I checked that scar, and the moment Pielot saw my face like that, he said,
“Teacher! I’m fine! This is the sort of thing that counts as a medal! It doesn’t even hurt anymore!”
And he worked hard to advertise that he was fine.
I wonder what my face looked like.
After that we purchased a new vehicle in Palma.
Strictly speaking, Arald had placed an order in advance; I heard the vehicle we had originally owned was still at the explosion site.
I thought we had avoided the damage from the explosion, but Arald insisted that was not the case and argued we needed a new vehicle.
Well, if Arald says so, then that’s how it is.
And so we each boarded a car. Driving would be done by Riri and Arald respectively, and since this time we were just going back, everyone got into the vehicles in a casual way.
Not long after the car started, Vasileo’s face was full of dissatisfaction.
“......No one knows.”
“What?”
“That you prevented a war, Teacher.”
“Hahaha. What changes if they know?”
“It changes! At the very least, instead of leaving Palma this forlornly, we would be receiving the cheers and thanks of many people......”
As he spoke, Vasileo’s eyes sparkled as if he were imagining that scene.
I said,
“If they know I prevented a war, then they would also know that I knocked out all Palma’s citizens, that I’m the King of Demons, and that in the end it was processed as if I died at the hands of a god, right?”
“Ah. No, I mean, if they only knew the part about preventing the war!”
“If there were a power that could tell only that, I’d like to have it.”
“Still, no, um, if we can just hide only the demon-related parts somehow......”
Vasileo earnestly racked his brains for the most acceptable scenario.
I merely laughed at the sight.
“Everyone lived. That’s enough.”
“......Even so.”
Vasileo didn’t seem convinced.
In fact, not only Vasileo, but everyone in the car seemed to be thinking similarly. The people in the other car probably felt the same.
It wasn’t a war I prevented alone. Everyone here paid a valuable price.
And the result is that we leave like this, as if fleeing, with no recompense. No one could accept that.
“When we arrive at Atlas, I’ll give each of you some sort of reward. Arald, possible?”
“......If it’s money, I can give as much as you like to everyone here. But,”
Arald, who was driving, looked at everyone’s faces in the rearview mirror.
“That’s not the problem, Lord Frondier.”
“......Yeah, sorry. It’s something money can’t,”
“That’s not it!”
This time Elodie, who was beside me, grabbed my arm. She looked straight at me and spoke.
“Who’s going to give you your reward?”
“.......”
“I don’t need money or anything. I wasn’t the one who staked my life in that fight! But!”
Elodie’s eyes resembled a lake.
The lake was rippling.
“I can’t accept a sacrifice that receives no reward. Even if it’s not mine.”
“......Elodie, I.”
“You saved Senior Edwin in the Golem incident.”
Cutting off my words, Elodie spoke.
“You brought down Indus, stopped the war with Manggot, prevented the demons’ raid and their invasion of the Empire in advance, and even here in Palma, you stopped a war.”
The lake ripples.
It gathers at the corner of Elodie’s eyes.
“What did you get? After doing things of that magnitude, what did you gain?”
I was at a loss for words.
There was a lot I could say.
There were certainly things I had gained that she didn’t know about.
“Being branded a demon by the Empire and exiled? Having to hide around Palma wearing a mask? Living while receiving threats from both gods and demons? Is that the reward you get?”
Elodie’s fierce heart poured into me.
And so I inadvertently made a mistake.
I empathized with her words.
—Are you hurt anywhere?
Words I shouldn’t have recalled for no reason popped up, and
“......I’m fine.”
I say.
I’m fine.
I wasn’t hurt.
“I’m not fine!!”
Elodie shouted as if the sound struck the whole vehicle.
Everyone inside seemed startled, but no one tried to stop Elodie.
As if everyone agreed.
As if something that would eventually explode had finally exploded.
“Fron! You’re not fine! Not at all!!”
Elodie’s head hung low. Her shoulders were trembling.
“Because you’re not fine, I......!”
Elodie’s words did not continue.
And I also could not answer her anything in return.
A brief silence, the car moving quietly forward.
“......Lord Frondier, ahead.”
At that moment, Arald, who was driving, spoke to me.
Looking ahead, someone was standing there.
Arald continued.
“They’ve been standing there from far away. I thought they would move aside when the car got close, but it seems they’ve been waiting for us.”
At that, I fixed my gaze on the person standing there.
But it was a woman I didn’t know.
“......Who is it?”
“I’ll go check.”
“No, I’ll get out.”
She didn’t seem hostile, but she was somehow a woman whose depths I couldn’t gauge. If a dangerous situation were to arise, the one who could deal with it would be,
‘......Ah.’
I see.
I might understand a little why Elodie gets angry.
Feeling dumbfounded at my own way of acting even as I did so, I got out for now.
When I approached, the woman bowed her head deeply.
“Lord Frondier, I wished to meet you.”
Caw─
The moment I heard that voice, a crow landed on my shoulder.
[Frondier, it’s “Ahop.”]
“Ahop?”
[The organization that saved Colin from Charon. The voice that came from behind that door was this voice.]
I see. So a member of Ahop has revealed themselves to me.
At that, the woman nodded and spoke to me.
“I am the head of Ahop, Evelina Pere.”
“......The head?”
“Mm, leader, representative, chair, meeting head, you can call me whatever you like.”
That’s not what I’m asking.
“The head of Ahop has shown herself to me? And on top of that, revealing your name?”
No, the name must be an alias.
But Evelina denied even that thought.
“It is the utmost courtesy on my part. Revealing my real name is also part of that.”
“Why is the head of Ahop showing me courtesy?”
At that, Evelina smiled brightly.
“You saved Palma.”
“......Ahop is a more loyal organization than it looks.”
“This is not loyalty.”
What she did next was even more astonishing.
Evelina went down on one knee in front of me.
“It is a decision, Lord Frondier.”
“.......”
I couldn’t find words at that sight. The same was true of the crow on my shoulder.
“This.”
And Evelina took something out from her bosom and offered it to me.
It was the shape of a slender ring that radiated light. At a glance, it looked similar to a Dragon Heart.
However, unlike a Dragon Heart which is triangular in shape, this one was a perfect circle.
“What is this?”
“The Golden Apple.”
“!”
At Evelina’s words, I looked once more at the circular crystal.
A Golden Apple?
It’s neither gold nor an apple?
“......You’re saying this is a Golden Apple?”
“Mm.”
Making that light sound, Evelina then spoke again, in a manner similar to before, but with content entirely different.
“The Golden Apple, Idunn’s Apple, Amrita, Nectar, Ambrosia. You can call it whatever you like.”
