283. A lot of talk and a lot of trouble (2)
It was my first attempt to fire multiple shots at the same time. After looking at the Demon King with bewildered eyes, Deon rubbed his palms on his pants and took the bow and quiver of arrows.
There were glances alternating between my hands and my pants, but I ignored them and protested.
….
The result was… of course it was a success.
Honestly, it was so easy. It’s not like I didn’t know how to shoot a bow at all. As soon as I shot it, I got the hang of it right away.
As he did exactly as he was told, the Demon King began to do the same training by moving to a place where the wind was getting stronger and stronger.
“…however.”
While killing monsters, something came to mind.
Deon, who had taken out three arrows at the place he had just arrived, was assessing the wind and suddenly opened his mouth.
“Don’t you feel anything?”
“what?”
“Monsters and demons.”
Red eyes glanced at the Demon King’s expression.
“If you think about it, they are your children. Even though they are monsters, quite a few capable commanders among the demons have died. I wonder if there is any anger or sadness.”
“…ah.”
Is it because the wind is strong? Untied hair flutters here and there and gets wrapped around the strings. Deon frowned.
And then another person’s hand touched my head.
“‘Child’…”
The Demon King swept his white hair, which had grown to a level that reached his wing bones, into one piece and pulled on the ribbon he was wearing instead of a tie.
A mocking voice continued.
“Sure, others might think that way.”
You can’t see his face because he’s behind his back, but he’s not oblivious enough to not know that this is a mockery. Deon frowned in confusion.
“Where should I begin to explain this…”
I feel a hand combing my hair. I could hear the sound of hair falling between my fingers.
“First of all, do you know that the ‘Demon King’ and the ‘Demon Race’ are not the same race?”
“…yes?”
What is that… Since demons were born from the demon king, isn’t it natural that they are the same race? I understand that the scope of ‘demons’ also includes devils, but that’s not true?
The Demon King, reading the confused expression, chuckled and said. Now, information that only the Demon King knows has poured over the hero’s head.
“The Demon King is a ‘single race’ created after humans.”
In the past, the world created a demon king with the sole purpose of killing the hero. In other words, not much effort was put into the appearance. Since it was disposable to begin with, there was no need to worry about making it.
So, it was roughly modeled after the appearance of the target to be killed.
In this way, the first Demon King was modeled after ‘humanity’, a race of warriors, but became something that could not be called a human being.
“If you are ‘Humanity A’, then the Demon Lord will be like ‘Humanity B’. If you compare them to plants, red roses and black roses, if you compare them to animals, they are of the same species, but they are divided into whether they are for pets or for experiments.”
Therefore, even though they are bound to the same frame of ‘humanity’, there is a stark difference in the world’s affection depending on whether they are ‘A’ or ‘B’.
‘It’s truly miserable.’
The Demon King took his hand from his neatly tied hair, faced his red eyes, folded his eyes and smiled proudly. A handsome man with a strange aura, with the only part that was different from a human hidden between his eyelids, was reflected on Deon’s retina.
There Deon realized something.
“…Really.”
It’s not a lie.
It means that they are indeed human, but they are not human.
“There’s no reason to lie, right?”
The Demon King shrugged his shoulders. Deon didn’t bother to answer because he knew he didn’t expect an answer.
I stared at the familiar man in front of me, who had a different purpose for being created to be considered a member of the same race, and whose roots were too closely intertwined to be considered a different race. Then, suddenly, a meaningless thought occurred to me.
‘If you compare humans and demon kings to genealogy, wouldn’t they be cousins among relatives?’
Deon stretched out his hand. The fingertips point towards the symbol of the devil hidden between the curved eyes. The Demon King smiled at the warmth that almost seemed to reach the corners of his eyes.
“Funny enough, this is proof that the ‘Demon King’ was created after humans, and it is the only line that separates ‘humans’ from the ‘Demon King’.”
“?”
“Well… I don’t think there’s any need to explain this.”
It is said that for humans, the eyes are the window that reflects the soul. In any case, the Demon King, who is ‘humanity’, was no exception, so the error – magical power – that occurred while focusing on the original purpose of ‘killing the hero’ was reflected in his eyes and became like this.
But this is not the topic of conversation now. The Demon King corrected the flow of conversation before the story leaked elsewhere.
“On the other hand, demons and monsters are ‘errors’ and ‘mutations’ born from such demon lords.”
“…?”
“It means that no one, not even me, the ‘Demon Lord,’ intended to create them, but they were created on their own.”
These guys were born on their own even though they didn’t intend to do anything and didn’t do anything special.
These are people who simply have overflowing power that is absorbed into various elements without consistency, or they come together and are born with different appearances. They began to rule by gathering demons who could communicate rationally, but that was only for convenience.
“None of the previous Demon Lords.”
It was not because he regarded them as his children or compatriots.
“I didn’t think of the ‘demons’ as my compatriots. Of course. This is not an emotional issue, but an objective fact.”
Since they have something in common: magical power, it cannot be said that they are not related at all. However, that does not lead to ‘children’ or ‘compatriots’. Crucially, the roots of ‘demons’ do not belong to ‘humanity’.
There is no need to mention monsters, so we will skip over them. Demons are also instinctively born in a human form, albeit clumsily, in the hope of following the source of the owner of the magic power that makes up their body, but in the end, their eyes cannot reflect the source.
Since they do not have the greatest characteristics of mankind, ‘demons’, unlike ‘demons’, are not ‘humanity’.
“…?”
A question mark appeared above Deon’s head as if he didn’t understand.
I don’t want to go on and on about unnecessary things, but how can I explain it so that it’s easier to understand? The Demon King thought for a moment with his bent index finger placed on his chin, then opened his mouth.
“To put it more intuitively, you humans are cheap just because you came out of the stomach…”
“Ah.”
“ㄸ….”
“That’s it. I understand.”
“Byun…”
“Changing the word doesn’t mean the meaning changes.”
Exhaustion flashed across Deon’s face.
A low, mischievous laugh burst out as if he was quite satisfied with the reaction.
“Why are you being so disgusting? If you were human too, wouldn’t there be physiological phenomena?”
“…At least that disappeared after I became a hero.”
“Oh, that’s right. You’re a hero.”
There is no way a warrior’s body can produce useless waste other than ‘fragments’.
“Anyway, humans don’t consider ‘that’ as their own kind, right? It’s not like they have a separate attachment to it. It can be seen as the same as that.”
“…yes.”
There is a big difference in the fact that the shit speaks with its own will and emotions, but Deon chooses to ignore it and move on. Because I roughly knew what he meant. All it had to do was make sense.
Honestly, I don’t want to talk about that dirty story anymore.
‘Anyway, that doesn’t mean that the demons don’t even bat an eyelid when their corps commanders die.’
You may feel displeasure or anger considering the profit or loss, but you do not attach meaning to death itself.
That’s why you were so calm. Deon nodded inwardly.
Now it’s time to practice bowing again. I raised my head and saw the target monsters. I put all three feet on the protest and pulled.
‘….’
I missed it.
Due to the strong wind, Deon saw the arrow stuck farther away than the intended target and snapped his fingers as if measuring the margin of error.
Then the outstretched hand took the bow.
“You have to aim a little more against the wind than that.”
The Demon King takes out three arrows from his quiver and aims them in a direction that is far away from his target. Deon looked at him without even thinking about it, but for a moment the cufflinks at the end of his sleeves caught his eye and he slightly tilted his head.
‘Was that originally there…?’
It is a design so beautiful that not only aristocrats but also artists rush to it in awe. Even I, who have no knowledge of art, know that its value cannot be placed arbitrarily.
However… I remember that the Demon King disliked cumbersome things, so he preferred simple, light designs made only of fabric without unnecessary decorations rather than flashy ones…? As such, the cufflinks had a simple design that was not noticeable.
Why am I suddenly wearing something like that? The questioning gaze soon caught a subtle sense of discomfort.
‘Now that I think about it, the design of the cufflinks themselves is gorgeous… but the jewel in the middle is rough.’
Just like… a magic stone.
I noticed it a little late due to the eye-catching design, but after looking carefully, I was able to clearly see it. That’s a magic stone.
The arrows fired pierced the monsters, but Deon didn’t even glance at them. On the contrary, he immediately spoke to the demon king, who turned around to ask if he had seen it properly.
“That has a really pretty design.”
“Huh? Oh this.”
What kind of magic is there?
The Demon King, who looked back at his hands as if he was aware of his busy head, glanced at Deon and then asked with a smile.
“suited?”
Deon didn’t miss the moment the Demon King paused before saying those words.
“…It doesn’t look good… Is it okay to wear it and go around places like this?”
“hmm?”
“It looks like it’s precious. It would be troublesome if I lost it.”
I hate to admit it, but they match so well.
If it’s that flashy, it would be normal for only the sleeves to be visible, but does that mean the face is complete? You look very noble. Unlucky bastard.
‘…What’s more important than that…’
I don’t know how long he’s been wearing this and what kind of magic it has…
I don’t know because I don’t have the time to look at his sleeves carefully. Looking at the Demon King’s mood and attitude, it doesn’t seem like he will answer if you ask him.
Naturally responding to surprise questions is also unlucky. Tsk.
Meanwhile, the Demon King nodded.
“Even if I don’t, I plan on using it a few times. And thank you for the compliment, it’s precious.”
“…?”
“I made this.”
…Good ability.
“But is it okay for you to hang out with me like this now?”
“?”
The Demon King smiled sinisterly.
“The monsters are running away.”
“ah…!”
“This time, make sure to catch them all before they run away. Of course, there is a way out.”
“….”
Deon pulled the strings without saying a word.
Several sharply flying arrows accurately kill the target. Even though the wind was still blowing strongly, Deon’s hair was no longer bothersome, so he smoothed down his low-tied hair once, then took out a new arrow and spoke softly.
“You tie your hair well.”
“Well, really? I used to have long hair too.”
“?”
“Did it come down to your waist?”
I tied it because it was annoying when I was drawing or playing a musical instrument.
As if unexpectedly, a hand can be seen pulling the string and then stopping. The Demon King glanced at the sky and shrugged his shoulders.
“Time is running out, so let’s hurry up and get things done and go back.”
