205. Noli metuere (1)
‘It seems like Deon values that…’
Should I tell you? No, you already know? Isn’t this a useless meddling?
Since you’re human, there’s a good chance you don’t know. The level of heartache had crossed the line and the image of Deon Hart dying was stuck in her mind like a trauma. Lirinel, who did not want to see Deon heartbroken ever again, cautiously opened her mouth.
“Um… Master Deon.”
“huh?”
“I mean that wooden box.”
“…Why is that?”
“Almost all of the magic over there is gone. Would you like me to cast it again?”
The slightly cold eyes widened in shock.
You didn’t know either. Lirinel added hastily.
“It looks like it’s a preservation spell… It’s a spell that steadily draws out the caster’s magic power. I think the caster died or the burden was too great so he stopped doing magic. Fortunately, it hasn’t completely disappeared yet, so if I walk you back, it won’t be a problem…”
Before Lirinel could finish speaking, Deon stood up and approached the wooden box with impatient steps. My slightly trembling hand touched the lid.
Lirinel was watching with worried eyes from behind, but there was no time to pay attention.
Just take a short, deep breath, close and open your eyes once, and open the box. I couldn’t feel the scent of blood.
‘….’
Yes, now it is no longer possible to check whether there is corruption by the smell of blood.
He nervously looked at the slimy liquid under his feet and stretched out his trembling hand. However, just before I reached it, a thought popped into my head and I had to stop quickly.
‘…if corruption has progressed….’
You must not touch it carelessly. The more you touch it, the more it gets damaged.
Instead, I called out to the owner of the anxious gaze I could feel behind me.
“…Lirinel.”
“Yes, Deon…!”
“The preservation magic hasn’t all disappeared, right?”
“Yes, the magic effect still remains.”
“…okay.”
I put the lid on.
Why didn’t I think of this? He personally killed the magic caster, the Duke. Now that he’s dead, I should have considered the possibility of his magic disappearing.
‘Stupid bastard.’
Lirinel, who was fiddling with her teacup and looking around as if the silence made her nervous, spoke carefully.
“I’ll walk you back…”
“No, it’s okay.”
Reason took center stage again.
They say it’s a magic that constantly eats up magical power, but you can’t do it to Lirinel. He held the box in his arms and smiled, pretending to be okay.
“I think we should end tea time here. “I suddenly had a place to go.”
“Oh yes!”
Deon patted her back as she hurriedly got up and left the room. The destination was obvious.
Let’s go to the devil.
***
“It’s been a while since we’ve seen each other, but do you think you’ve started to want to see me again?”
As always, the Demon King calmly accepted the unannounced visit.
He puts down his pen, looks up and grins. It was a playful laugh that lightened the mood, but Deon approached the Demon King with a stern expression, as if he had no time to adjust.
A wooden box was placed on the desk.
“Do you see the magic here?”
“You mean preservation magic? “It’s almost gone.”
“Please walk again.”
“….”
“Please walk.”
“….”
“Please walk.”
It was a shameless statement.
The last sentence is almost argumentative. The Demon King opens and closes his mouth without meaning, as if speechless due to his extremely confident attitude. Soon, a small laugh broke out, like a cough.
“Is it okay to tell Lirinel that much?”
“I guess the Demon King’s magic is more reliable. As you said, it’s ‘that much’ magic, so can’t you just do it?”
“You’re trying hard.”
His eyes were bent with a smile on his face.
Casting the spell itself is not difficult. However, I just don’t like the idea of having to cast a spell that consistently consumes a small amount of magical power in a situation where it is better to conserve magical power.
Before, when he was overflowing with magic, he would do things he didn’t want, but now it’s different.
‘So Deon.’
The tightly closed lips rose in a meaningful arc.
‘Suggest the conditions first.’
I don’t want to ask, ‘What will you do for me if I do that?’
I just closed my mouth and smiled quietly. I don’t need to ask you verbally to know, right? Since you are not that perceptive, you will quickly understand the meaning of silence.
As expected, Deon sighed as he looked at the demon lord who did not respond.
“If you cast a spell, I will move right away.”
Originally, I was going to rest for a few more days… but what followed was a sigh that was almost like a lament.
However, for the Demon King, that would not be perceived as an advantage. So he says.
“You said the empire received mercenary support from Esperanes.”
“It did.”
“We will make the mercenaries of Esperanes withdraw from the empire.”
Only then did a change occur in the Demon King’s expression.
Not an iron-clad smile, but a genuinely interesting smile.
“I don’t like blank checks. “What is the deadline?”
“I will move right now. I’m going to the human world. I’ll bring you the results when I get back. “If the results are positive, visible results will come out within a month at the latest.”
“Okay, then I’ll give you one month.”
This means that you should return quickly with the results without staying in the human world for too long.
The Demon King stretched out his hand and tapped the wooden box.
It was an insignificant action, but Deon, a warrior, could feel it even if only for a moment. Something has changed. It must have been magic.
“If I fail, I will reap the magic.”
“….”
“Then have a nice trip.”
Deon turned around without saying a word, holding the box in his arms. I was about to leave the room without any hesitation when I heard a soft voice behind me.
“Deon.”
“….”
“I’m here.”
…Yes, the devil is here. The person I need to kill is here.
I know better than that. So there was no need to say that. Even if I don’t do that, I will come back here again without running away to the human world.
I stopped walking and looked back. When our eyes met, the Demon King grinned and waved his hand.
“When I get back, I’ll teach you how to play the piano as a hobby.”
“….”
“Try it once and if it doesn’t work out, let’s try something else.”
***
Deon put on his hood and headed to what used to be his mansion, holding the enchanted wooden box in his arms.
I lifted the hood slightly, looked at the sky, and played with the front edge of the hood. It’s been a while since I haven’t worn a hood, so it’s a little more stuffy than before, but I can’t take it off. Sunlight is not the problem.
Apart from becoming a warrior and becoming healthy, Deonhardt revealed his face to the entire continent and became a person who was openly attached to the demon world and would be killed. It was obvious that he would be stoned the moment he was caught.
The count’s house, no, the marquis’… The road to the now abandoned mansion was quite unfamiliar, perhaps because it had been a long time. Maybe that’s why, even though there was nothing to see, my head kept turning to other places and the time it took to arrive was longer than I had calculated.
I took a quick look at the white wild roses I found along the way, and looked up at the blue sky and sun I hadn’t seen in a long time…
As I walked leisurely, I arrived at the mansion, and as expected, there was no one guarding the front gate. It was a little surprising that it was in a clean condition, contrary to the expectation that it would have been ruined by angry people.
‘The door is also locked…’
I pushed the locked iron door slightly enough to keep it from breaking, then took a step back.
If the door is locked, it probably means that there is someone inside. It seems like you would know it without even looking at it.
“Tskcha.”
Clutching the box tightly to his side, he jumped over the front door with a simple leap and was inside.
As you walk a little further, you can feel it clearly. Originally, it was quiet because there weren’t many people around, but the atmosphere was definitely different when there were no people at all.
Feeling a sense of incongruity between the familiar place and the unfamiliar atmosphere, I slowly walked through the interior, looking around. It was when we were almost in the backyard that we heard a faint singing sound.
“Once upon a time, in a world, Death spoke.”
It’s a familiar song. It’s a familiar voice.
Deon’s steps became faster. Finding the source was not difficult because all you had to do was head to the place where the song was heard.
“Do not sin.”
An old man in a tailcoat was trimming a tree in a sunny spot in the backyard.
A low singing voice, almost like humming, rang softly.
“After death, your soul begins to break under the weight of your sins.”
It’s been a long time since I heard that song.
It’s a refreshing feeling to hear this. It was a commonly heard song until the eight year war broke out.
It is a folk song that parents sing to their children and street children also sing when they are bored. Did the content roughly contain a warning not to commit a crime?
As the era of war began with the 8-year war, it became an environment where one could not survive unless one committed a crime, so it naturally disappeared.
“Disappearing without paying the penalty is a very convenient avoidance.”
“….”
“Ah, are you here?”
Remember, who found Deon standing still as if possessed, smiled kindly and approached him. His attitude was so calm that you would never even think of him facing the commander of the Demon King’s army.
“It’s been a while since I sang that song. “I completely forgot.”
“It is the privilege of an old man who is alone in a war.”
For an old man living a peaceful life, ten years ago seems like just yesterday.
How far away is this? I tried to argue, but Remember was faster. He smiled and gave a belated greeting.
“It’s been a while, master.”
“…Remember is still the same.”
“Master, you have changed a lot.”
“It’s an environment that has no choice but to be like that. More than that…”
Deon looked around at the people around him, who showed no sign of popularity, and then looked at Remember again.
“Where are the other people going and why are you doing this alone?”
“Everyone went on vacation. “It was my first time using the authority of a deacon.”
“…It’s beyond your authority to send everyone away, leaving you alone.”
“Thanks to you, I realized the sweetness of power.”
A light, dreamlike conversation filled with laughter.
As if to balance the situation, Remember stopped joking and spoke the truth.
“We let those who wanted to go out and gave leave to those who didn’t.”
The tone of voice is light, but there is a strange sense of discomfort.
For a moment, Deon realized that he was tilting his head. This is my final report as a butler.
With this report, the master-servant relationship between master and butler will disappear. Well, there’s no need to be here anymore. Even if you do, you will only suffer losses.
‘This is my first time feeling this way.’
Until now, I have personally broken off many relationships and seen them break up as well. Nevertheless, this is the first time a relationship has ended in this way. The only end to a relationship that I know of is something extreme, like death.
Perhaps that was why he felt so strange that he could not put it into words, so Deon kept his mouth shut for a moment and then calmly answered as if nothing had happened.
“There is no need to repeat it. “Everyone must have left.”
“No, there were those who truly wanted to stay. Three people in particular were very motivated. They were passionately shouting that everything would be forgiven with just one face…”
“…were they maids by any chance?”
“You know very well. “It looks like you have an idea who it is.”
“…even a joke.”
“Hol hole. “If you want to believe that.”
Remember took a step back.
Now it’s time to wake up from the dream. The calm atmosphere changed.
Deon took off his hood. Remember also loses his mischievous expression and bows his head politely. A business-like voice continued, different from before.
“I guess you’re here for a chat. I’ll take you to the parlor.”
“…yes.”
