episode_0101

The excitement of the hunting festival began to rise, and my assistant Cecilia also became excited and began to enjoy the hunt.

Having lost my assistant like that, I had to search the forest with Camilla to find the devil.

“During the war, the ones who got caught were demons. But when I tried to look for them, I couldn’t find them.”

“Isn’t it an instinct as a living creature to avoid us who have happily slaughtered demons? There aren’t just one, there are two.”

“Maybe so. But at least I gave her a painless death. Unlike you, Camilla.”

“You were the one who killed the king of the demons, Raoul. I’ve never seen such a cruel hunting method in my life.”

The king of the demons was a demon that looked like a giant deer. It was about 2km long. It was so big that it was hard to capture it in one glance. It was faster than any other steed and ran around destroying the walls and fortresses of the empire.

That is why Her Highness the Empress pretended to build a new fortress to lure the King of the Beasts, and he had to face me instead of the walls.

Even I couldn’t blow up that giant body. So I had to kill him by repeatedly stabbing his skull with a staff that contained all the sounds and then destroying his huge brain.

‘… Poor ones who are bound by the yoke of the Empire. Do you think that those shameless creatures who trampled even the efforts of the Demon King who sought peace would praise your devotion? If that were possible, this war… would not have happened.’

‘I do not do this for praise. And I am not a beast of burden to be tied to a yoke.’

‘Hunters, especially you.’

The king of demons also pointed out my situation until the end and breathed his last.

“… Camilla.”

“Why are you doing this again?”

“Do I look like I’m tied up with something to you?”

“… Yeah, it’s tied up.”

Camilla suddenly grabbed my right hand tightly.

“That’s what I’m saying.”

“…. Ha.”

It was ridiculous. That wasn’t the point of my question, but Camilla misinterpreted it and gave a nonsensical answer.

But strangely enough, it wasn’t bad. I found that ridiculous answer quite amusing. To the point where the gist of my question didn’t really matter anymore.

If it were Leila, she would have given a clear answer, but this delightfully wrong answer wasn’t all that bad.

“…… Age really doesn’t matter. I find this answer enjoyable.”

“You’re still in your 20s? This kid has been acting like an old man since he was little and hasn’t changed at all.”

“And you’ve changed a lot. When you were young, you were shy and cried a lot.”

Camilla was embarrassed and started hitting my temples repeatedly, telling me to forget about it quickly.

My head was about to burst, but for some reason, even that pain felt pleasant. I wasn’t a pervert who enjoyed pain, but all of this just felt pleasant. Camilla’s absurd wrong answers gave me amusement rather than enlightenment.

So much so that the corners of my mouth almost went up without me realizing it.

“…… Camilla. You are not Leila. No one can be Leila.”

“Why are you suddenly talking about such an obvious thing?”

“I hate you, Camilla. I wanted to die with a light heart, without any burden or regret. But because of you, I ended up with a little heavy burden.”

“What are you talking about all of a sudden… Anyway, you still have that habit of talking in a way that’s hard to understand.”

If it had been Leila, she would have understood perfectly what I meant, but Camilla didn’t. That’s why it was fun. I could be honest with Camilla, who didn’t understand the sentence, without any fear.

If Leila understood everything about me, Camilla was quite the opposite. Her cute ignorance made me feel comfortable.

“Ha… Yeah. What I mean is…”

At that moment, we heard people groaning from beyond the bushes. We ran to see if it was a demon attack, but what we saw before our eyes was not a demon.

No, if it was a demon, it would have been cute.

Because it wasn’t a demon, it was a demon that was spewing out fierce flames.

“Hey. What did you just say?”

“Your Majesty, that was just a joke between us…!”

“I can tolerate being sworn at. The original purpose of being the leader is to be sworn at. But you know.”

As the King stepped on the kneeling noble’s shoulder, the sound of hot iron striking bare flesh was heard.

“Kkaaah!!!!”

“Camilla is not crazy.”

His Majesty lifted his foot and stepped on the chest of another noble who had fallen, and the sound of meat being grilled on an iron plate was heard as well.

“AAAHHH!!!!!”

“Raoul is not a monster or a beast of blood either. You little thing.”

And His Majesty kicked Youngae’s chin, whose right arm had turned into a black lump of charcoal.

“Ugh…!”

“And the empress is not some slumping whore.”

His Majesty, who seemed very angry, raised his right hand and summoned a greatsword of fiercely burning flames.

From what I can see, it seems that while we were gossiping, we were unfortunately discovered by His Majesty who was hunting nearby.

We didn’t really care about gossip, but His Majesty seemed to find it unbearable.

“Let me pay for my sins with my worthless life. My worthless life won’t be able to pay even 1/100th of it.”

“Your Majesty…! If you kill us, it will be a big deal…!”

“There must be a few flame-breathing demons in this forest. You have the power to blame them, old man. ”

“This… This crazy tyrant! Is this really the kind of thing an emperor who serves his country would do! Do you know how many years our family has served the empire…!”

“I know. I’m not a fucking idiot for this fucking empire. You guys are the same way. The empire is just an excuse to cover up your shit. You say it’s for the empire.”

The great sword His Majesty held began to burn with even more fierce flames.

“And you insulted the reason Jim fought for the Empire. So die. ‘For the Empire.’ ”

The moment His Majesty was about to swing his sword, the nobles foamed at the mouth and fainted.

“Tsk… Anyway, you guys are so annoying.”

His Majesty put away his sword and spat with an annoyed look on his face.

Then he scratched his head and turned away, and that’s how our eyes met.

“Oh my, oh my. Isn’t this the former head of the household, who is like a young lady and a young lady from heaven?”

His Majesty began to tease us like a mischievous child, all the irritation and anger from before melting away, leaving only playfulness.

And we too returned His Majesty’s taunts with our fists. Camilla’s fist struck His Majesty’s temple, and mine struck His Majesty’s lower jaw.

“Keuuuugh…! This is how you should be my friends. Loyalty in words is empty. Even though you hit me like this, you are a loyal friend who is ready to sacrifice your life for me at any time…”

“Shut up. I’d rather die with my nose in shit than die for you.”

“… I never swore that I would die for Your Majesty.”

“Anyway, these cute little traitorous kids. I told you, they don’t even show loyalty in name. I want to impale them with stakes.”

The corners of my mouth almost went up again without me realizing it.

This was just a normal part of my daily life, but why do the corners of my mouth keep going up? It must be a familiar scene I’ve seen countless times.

Why does it always feel different? Why does it always feel like a sense of fulfillment that I’ve never felt before?

If I kept feeling this way, I felt like I wouldn’t want to die. I felt like I would throw a tantrum, saying I didn’t want to die so ugly. I felt like I would struggle to hold on to the hope of tomorrow.

I felt like I would die in regret and remorse for not being able to live through tomorrow.

“… You guys are so cruel.”

“Hey, you’re cutting off everything and talking nonsense again.”

“Your vocabulary is cruel, Raoul. If you weren’t a true friend, I would have beheaded you several times.”

I was just being honest and expressing my feelings as they were.

So the three of us walked together for the first time in a long time and felt the charm of the forest. Right after the war, we were all busy with our own work, so we couldn’t even dream of this kind of leisure.

How did it come to this? What is this country that has forced this burden on us?

Do I really have to fight that monstrous Demon King again for the sake of this empire?

Come to think of it, I heard that the forest where this hunting festival was held was also the site of a small, ruined country.

Even if this empire becomes like that… would I be able to be sad?

I wonder if I will continue to have a selfish mindset where I only care about my people’s safety.

“Axel.”

“… This is rare. You, who always called me Your Majesty, suddenly called me by my name.”

“What do you think I am like now?”

I was afraid that I would become a selfish monster.

It was so frightening that I was going crazy because my duplicity, which I had declared I didn’t care about even if I died, was growing stronger.

I used to be confident in killing my emotions. But lately, killing my emotions has become more and more burdensome.

It seemed like the people around me had suddenly changed. As if someone had interfered. As if they didn’t want me to suppress my emotions anymore.

As if I wanted to cut down the giant tree in my heart.

“Am I still me? Am I still Raoul Bergé? Am I still… your friend? Am I really a monster…”

At that moment, a burning pain passed through my cheek.

“Haa… I was thinking of doing something like drinking. It almost turned out to be more fun, Raoul.”

“What…?”

“Jim doesn’t forgive those who call you a monster, or those who treat you rudely. Even if it’s you.”

It sounded like dogshit, but His Majesty seemed serious.

“Really. It’s a talent to ruin the last hunting ritual in your life. I wanted to enjoy the last hunting ritual in a flashy way.”

“What is that…”

“Raoul, you know a lot, so let me ask you a few questions.”

His Majesty asked with a slightly regretful expression.

“Can a baby in the womb be recognized as a successor?”

“As far as I know, it has been acknowledged for now.”

“And if the emperor is young, the empress rules the country on his behalf?”

“There is little history like that, but that is the case for now.”

“… Okay. Let me ask you one more thing. Raoul, do you like chess?”

It was such an unexpected question that I found myself speechless.

“The king is the most important piece in chess. If the king is captured, the game is over.”

“Yes. That’s why they say the value of the king is infinite.”

“But reality isn’t chess. The game doesn’t end even if the king is captured. The only thing that exists is the ability of the pieces.”

“What on earth are you talking about…”

“In order to capture the enemy’s rook, you’ll have to give up at least a king. In this game, it’s okay to capture the king.”

His Majesty placed his hands on Camilla and me on the shoulders and said:

“…… If the Empress goes berserk with anger, please stop her.”

It was a truly cruel request.

And Camilla’s thoughts didn’t seem much different.

“This unscrupulous bastard…”

Camilla’s voice suddenly became eerie. Much more so than the eerie atmosphere of the forest.

“You want me to stop the angry Penelope? I’d rather fight the Demon King.”

“… Yes. How can you stop the angry empress? It would be safer to just put oil on yourself and jump into the fire pit. ”

There was a limit to shameless requests.