278. The only result was loss (4)
And the Demon King visited Deonhardt’s room.
We see Ririnelle looking at Deon with an anxious face and Ben calmly wiping his body with a wet towel. As I shifted my gaze a little, Ed and Dan, who were looking at Deonhardt with mixed eyes, also came into view.
Their attitude was quite calm, perhaps because they had already experienced a more severe situation before.
“Demon King…?”
As if they sensed a presence, all four people’s eyes turned in this direction. The Demon King, who had been standing expressionless, secretly met Dan’s sharp eyes and belatedly took a step back.
Lirinel and Ed, who looked regretful at the hand gesture indicating to go away, bowed their heads and walked away. Ben, who had been hesitating as if he still had regrets, also retreated, and Dan looked at the devil with wary eyes and was about to leave for the last time.
Chin-
shoulder was grabbed. Embarrassed, he turned his head.
“Why are you like that…”
“It would be difficult to be so openly wary in a place where other demons are present.”
“!”
The Demon King whispered, his gaze still focused on Deonhardt, who was lying on the bed. Dan’s shoulders stiffened, but he pretended not to notice and gave a soft warning with an indifferent face.
“I understand that you are anxious because of your master, but stay within the boundaries. You don’t want your master to be in danger because of your attitude.”
“….”
Dan, with a stern face, took a halting step as if he was about to leave. The Demon King obediently let go of his shoulder and walked to Deon’s bedside.
Sweet. I heard the door close behind me and silence came.
‘….’
Only the faint sound of breathing can be heard, as if to indicate that there is life. The Demon King, who was looking down at him with emotionless eyes, reached out and placed the back of his hand on his feverish forehead.
It was hot.
“…I heard you said you would sleep for a bit before you passed out.”
He seems to be sleeping soundly and still hasn’t opened his eyes.
The Demon King knows why it has come to this situation and why it has not woken up yet. A cynicism appeared. A whispering voice lingered around the room with a sneer in it.
“Are you trying to escape into a dream because reality is too much for you?”
Because you promised yourself to stop distorting and denying reality, you will inevitably have to face reality when you open your eyes. That’s probably why I subconsciously chose to sleep instead.
“If it were your karma, dreams wouldn’t be very comfortable.”
Choosing the past between the reality like a midwinter blizzard and the blood-soaked past. Should I call this surprising?
But I understand. The past is limited, but reality brings with it a future that we don’t know how long will remain. Since the future contains the ‘unknown’, it must have been even more fearful to face it.
Because nothing can be guaranteed about what lies ahead on the road or how long it will last.
“But I can’t stay locked in a dream forever.”
I can feel my eyelids fluttering. The Demon King removed the heated back of his hand.
“Okay. Now you have to open your eyes, Deon.”
The hand drops and the eyelid lifts, revealing red eyes. The Demon King, who was looking at the unfocused, dull eyes, narrowed his eyes.
***
I had a nightmare.
A dream in which blood welled up from the floor and slowly engulfed me.
The ghosts were happy, circling around me as if they were having a festival as I was dying, soaked in blood. Even though all sounds were muffled by the liquid, the giggling voice clearly penetrated my eardrums.
And and…
[Watch your eyes.]
Deon opened his eyes.
***
Originally, I was going to greet Deon Hardt as usual when he opened his eyes. But…
“….”
The Demon King lowered his head to take a closer look. The close-up face may seem burdensome, but let alone saying a word about it, the pupils can’t even focus properly.
I quietly straightened my back and stretched out my index and middle fingers. The hand that was moving at breakneck speed aiming for the red eyes stopped in the middle as if something was blocking it.
“…you.”
A white hand was tightly gripping my wrist.
Even though the two fingers stopped just before poking his eyes, Deon’s eyes showed no signs of agitation. There wasn’t even a reflexive blink. The Demon King, who was watching as he was just glaring at the location where the opponent was likely to be, as if on guard, slowly opened his mouth.
“I can’t see right now.”
“…!”
Only then did my eyes tremble greatly.
Even though he blocks incoming attacks based on his physical ability and quiet background as a warrior, that doesn’t mean he can see it.
How can you fool the quick-witted devil when you can’t even see the other person’s face?
“…That’s right.”
Deon obediently agreed.
The voice that flows out weakly is quite pitiful. The Demon King gently pulled the grabbed wrist. He also knew that the opponent was the Demon Lord. The warrior relaxed his grip on his wrist. The Demon King twirled his free wrist and waved his hand.
Grumble.
A chair on one side was pulled out.
“…!”
“I brought the chair.”
I comforted Deon, who was startled by the unexpected noise, and sat down on a chair.
He frowns, as if his pride is hurt or if he feels quite uncomfortable about not being able to see. The Demon King uttered a soft voice as if to calm the other person down.
“You don’t have to worry so much about your eyes. It’s only temporary.”
That’s how it should be.
“It’s probably because you have a fever.”
“…if.”
Deon, who had been listening quietly, opened his mouth.
“Unless it’s temporary.”
“Why are you asking such a thing?”
Knowing.
The answer came immediately. Despite his friendly voice, Deon closed his mouth after reading the blatant meaning in his answer without hesitation.
‘…Yeah, this one wasn’t the type to linger over something that was broken.’
I remember what happened one day with former Emperor Edoardo. At that time, my vision was temporarily blurred because I lost a lot of blood. His reaction at the time was similar to the current Demon King.
Are monarchs really like this?
Giggling. I laughed.
“Now that I think about it, it was a really useless question. It’s obvious.”
I rely on my intuition and look to the place where the voice is coming from, but the world is still pitch black.
But when was the world bright?
“Like you said, it’s probably a temporary phenomenon.”
The snow will return soon. After letting go of the meaningless weakness, I felt it clearly. If I get my mind together and the fever goes down, the future will clear up as well.
There was also an ominous message from the shaman… It would be better to think of it as a different type of training to prepare for an emergency until the eyes return.
Deon smiled calmly as he read the Demon King’s presence with the senses he had become accustomed to.
***
Two days later, the fever that had been skyrocketing went away and my vision, which I had lost for a while, returned.
However, even though it was clearly a good thing, Ben’s expression did not calm down.
“A slight fever remains…”
The high fever has gone away, but the temperature does not go down any further. The doctor narrowed his brows as the fever that was slightly boiling for 24 hours was bothersome.
“If you keep doing this and you catch a cold, the situation will get worse. You should at least close the window…”
“I don’t want that.”
Deon, who was looking down at his hands, suddenly raised his head.
“What kind of cold does the hero have in the first place?”
“Isn’t Yongsan running a fever right now?”
“It’s because it’s a mental part. Anyway, I don’t like confined spaces, so I’ll just leave it alone.”
Some may say it is an unusual situation, but recently, apart from the terrible bloody smell, there have been more reasons to dislike confined spaces. Deon resolutely turned his head away.
Even though I knew it wasn’t a big deal because it was a hallucination, after having nightmares, I often had the absurd thought that my room would bleed into the water and I might die. As a result, the feeling of rejection naturally increased.
“The problem is worse than that…”
“Yes?”
“It’s nothing. You’ve done everything, right?”
“Yes, it is.”
“Then you need to rest, so go out. Oh, Ed too.”
“….”
Ben, who was hesitant as if he was bothered by Deon’s attitude, is dragged out by Ed’s hand. There was a bit of a fight during the process, but Deon paid no attention and looked down at his hands again.
After rubbing my fingertips, I clenched and unclenched my fists. I felt an extremely familiar texture.
“…step.”
“I’m listening.”
“Do you see this?”
“What are you talking about?”
“…If it looked like that, there’s no way it would have reacted like that.”
There is thick blood on my hands. Deon, who had been rubbing his hands several times against the unpleasant liquid that did not go away no matter what he did, finally admitted.
“Did you once call me crazy?”
“Well… I said something similar.”
“At that time, I said I was still fine.”
“I did.”
“I need to correct that.”
I’m definitely crazy.
“I was crazy from the beginning.”
Even before I heard that question. I was already crazy.
He probably went crazy from the moment he decided to separate his memories from the battlefield. No human being in their right mind would think of sharing their memories. So he must have already gone crazy and killed his family after coming back to life. Otherwise, no matter how angry he was, he wouldn’t have killed his family directly.
“ha ha ha.”
Deon burst out laughing. I burst out in sadness and the madness that had been building up in anger and hatred towards me. It was almost like a mad laugh, like a laugh laughing at one’s own falling into the abyss.
“But you know what?”
“What… do you mean?”
“The times when normal people fall into madness are when they are swept up in crowd psychology or when they are stained with extreme sadness.”
“….”
“Maybe I went crazy longer than I thought.”
Madness is born on the basis of extreme sadness.
So maybe he went crazy from the moment he thought he was abandoned by his family.
…I’d rather not dig into it because shit doesn’t change at any point in time when I’m crazy.
***
Deon put a cigarette in his mouth and immediately grabbed the documents. Every time you breathe in, the medicinal effect circulates and soothes the headache that was aching due to the mild fever. Ben and Ed tried to dissuade him, but he paid no attention and just focused on the documents.
A sad look appeared on the side of my face.
“Daeon… Then your body will really break down… No matter how much of a hero you are…”
“I don’t plan on living long anyway.”
“How could you say something like that…!”
“….”
Dan, who had been quietly observing the situation, quietly went out.
Deon glanced at Ben, who was gaping in shock, then winked at Ed. Ed, who read the meaning, pauses for a moment as if he doesn’t feel like it, and then grabs Ben by the back and drags him away. The petty argument that started again was completely blocked when the door closed.
In a quiet space again, Deon held a document in one hand and tapped the desk with the index finger of his other hand.
‘The troops there were almost completely wiped out and only a very small number of survivors returned…’
I guess it’s fortunate that the crazy dogs returned safely.
Of course, the enemies also suffered considerable damage, but it seemed insignificant compared to this side.
If there was a defeat of this magnitude, normally the person responsible would be held accountable…
[Let’s just take responsibility for it yourself. You can do it, right?]
The Demon King’s words were a bit surprising even to Deon.
In other words, doesn’t it mean giving another chance? By adding that this was the last chance, even he himself admitted that he had been given one more chance.
‘The loss of troops is great, but… Still, the number of heroes on the human world has decreased significantly due to this incident, so I guess it’s okay.’
Of course, it was reported that Rweche was hiding quite a number of heroes. It’s hard to estimate because there’s no exact scale, but at any rate, it’s probably less than when each country except Rweche gathered heroes.
Before planning ahead, there is something that needs to be pointed out.
Tuk.
The fingers stopped. The red eyes rolled towards a certain location.
“I was just about to call you, but it worked out.”
Deon rolled his eyes as if to hide his true feelings and spoke the name of the uninvited guest who had sneaked in.
“Develania.”
