Episode 147 – Demon King (2
by Afuhfuihgs
Episode 147 – Demon King (2)
*
20 years.
It might be an absurdly long time to wait for a dead lover.
But, what about forgetting the fear etched into your skin?
20 years was too short a time to bury beyond memory the sight of beast-like monsters turning villages into scorched earth, and intelligent demons tearing humans apart like toys.
That’s why the Sionisia Empire had a custom of holding grand festivals even with the smallest of excuses.
It must have been to bury the memories of painful history through the hustle and bustle of the festivals.
Among them, the Victory Day commemorating the Hero defeating the Demon King was a day to celebrate humanity’s escape from the fear of monsters, so it was one of Sionisia’s representative holidays and a time for even bigger and more splendid festivals.
As soon as Baron Salvier’s banquet ended, a huge festival that would continue for the next two weeks was waiting for this city.
But what is that winged demon with the Hero’s face saying?
Demon King.
More than half of the citizens of the imperial capital, Sioland, had lost their homes to monsters and fled into these high walls to survive.
Both those who had experienced it directly and those who had heard stories from the newcomers clearly remembered the fear of the Demon King.
Perhaps that’s why,
Even after hearing the terrifying voice of that being whispering in their ears, most people couldn’t make a proper judgment of the situation.
Rather, it was their skin that realized it before their ears or brains.
Like being lifted from a happy dream into a miserable reality.
As if saying that the death of the Demon King, the origin of Victory Day, was just a dream in a 20-year-long slumber, goosebumps began to prickle on the citizens’ skin.
When the goosebumps, which felt like rough sandpaper, rose up to their throats, someone finally squeezed out a word in a voice like a hen with a twisted neck.
“R-Run away.”
“We have to run!”
“Euaaaaaaack!”
As the silence broke, a pandemonium unfolded that was incomparable to what it had been just a moment ago.
The appearance of the people was clearly different from before.
If it was evacuation until now, now it was a desperate escape.
Among them, some people fell and others stepped on them without regard.
The plaza became a mess with people running madly in all directions, not towards the carriages Ellie had prepared, but just to get as far away from here as possible.
“E-Everyone, calm down!”
“G-Get out of the way! I don’t want to die!”
“Kyaa!”
Lili, flustered by the sudden chaos, tried to calm the people, but staggered after being hit in the elbow by someone struggling.
Lili, who resembled Lara and had lived in the forest where monsters roamed since she was young, had better strength than ordinary people, but her eyes flashed for a moment at the blind attack of a person who had lost their reason due to survival instinct.
Lili, giving strength to her staggering legs thanks to overwork, shouted.
“…Everyone! Please calm down!”
Ellie, who was carrying citizens with a fleet of carriages outside the plaza, was just as embarrassed.
It was commonplace for people to clamor in front of the Princess, telling her to leave quickly even though not enough people had boarded the carriages.
From men grabbing and pulling out women who had boarded the carriage first, to young women wailing to please take only their children first, chaos without any order descended.
An even bigger problem was the horses.
From birth, the empire’s horses were cast with magic to recover their energy and to feel as little fear as possible.
Thanks to this, Sionisia’s horses boasted excellent performance as both warhorses and transport horses, but now even those horses were terrified, ignoring the coachman’s commands and raising their front legs in place, screaming.
Ellie bit her lip.
She was only one year old when the Demon King died, so she had only heard about the fear of the Demon King, but had never felt it directly.
Besides, Ed, who contained that Demon King, was a lovable person rather than scary.
But the Demon King was such an existence.
An existence that paralyzed everyone’s reason and caused chaos just by standing there and whispering softly.
A figure that presents an overwhelming fear that renders all the weak buildings, civilizations, orders, and rules built by humans useless.
It was an insurmountable disaster.
Among humans, perhaps only the Hero could stand against it.
But no one looked for the Hero.
This was because the body of the overwhelming presence that introduced himself as the Demon King had the appearance of that Hero.
The citizens may have been foolish, but they weren’t stupid.
Due to Jennifer’s heresy and bizarre death, and the imperial family’s subtle hostility towards the Hero, rumors quickly spread that the Hero had some connection to the Demon King.
Of course, there were many who considered it a terrible thing to doubt the Hero who had brought them peace, but the basis of that trust was not only the Hero’s reputation but also the psychology of wanting to treat the terrible disaster called the Demon King as a groundless rumor.
But now that they saw it with their own two eyes, everyone had no choice but to admit it.
The Demon King had been resurrected.
In the Hero’s body.
“…Ed, I don’t think I can hold on much longer,”
Citizens, terrified, pushed each other and moved like waves.
Ellie, who was even blocking the citizens who dared to reach out to her, the Princess, with magic, muttered.
The chaos is too great.
There were also several people lying on the floor, writhing and groaning as they were trampled.
Deborah was injured, and Ellie, who had been hastily called out by Lili without a bodyguard, wiped the cold sweat and looked around.
At that moment, a faint smile appeared on Ellie’s lips as she scanned the sky with anxious eyes.
Ellie pointed to something she had found and shouted.
“Everyone! Look over there!”
In the midst of the fierce chaos, only one or two people heard Ellie’s voice and turned around.
But that was enough.
“H-Hey, everyone, look over there!”
“Stop talking nonsense and get out of the way…”
“You idiot! There… Th-There!”
“Huh?”
“On top of that Edward-nim statue!”
Only then did everyone stop and turn their heads.
Ellie, Lili, and the citizens found a masked man standing on top of the statue that clumsily imitated Ed’s face.
Someone said.
“…Isn’t that Baron Salvier-nim?”
And, soon after, it clearly came into everyone’s view.
The white, shining Holy Sword held in the Baron’s hand, reaching towards the sky.
*
It’s heavy.
Not the expectations of the people, but this Holy Sword itself is incredibly heavy for me, who only handled daggers.
But I couldn’t lower my arm.
I desperately raised my trembling arm even more forcefully.
So that everyone in this world could see it.
Robin, no, Ulgaros smiled at me.
I also raised the corners of my lips.
Ulgaros spread his wings wide and soared into the air.
I readjusted the sword and took a pose full of affectation that no swordsman would ever take.
If my master was watching, he might have made a dumbfounded expression, but it didn’t matter because I didn’t know how to handle such a greatsword anyway.
Ulgaros distorted Robin’s face and screamed, diving vertically towards me from the air.
“I’ll kill you before you even swing that ridiculous sword, Hero!”
I muttered softly.
“Crazy bastard, he’s having fun.”
I fiercely burned the divine power that was heavily loaded into the sword as if to show it off.
Then, I raised the sword and leaped towards Ulgaros, who was flying towards me.
“Demon King!”
“Hero!”
It was truly a desperate effort to hold back my laughter.
The Holy Sword slightly grazed Ulgaros’s side and cut him.
At the same time, Ulgaros stretched out a small chain from his sleeve and grabbed my body.
If you looked at it from afar, it would probably look like my sword had pierced the Demon King’s body.
I said to Ulgaros.
“Why are you so excited?”
“This body has pretty good performance, you see.”
“Ha, sorry to hear that, I’m a weak body.”
“Keu keu, more than that, Ed.”
“Why?”
“That Holy Sword. It hurts much more than I thought.”
“Just bear with it.”
“No, no, no, it really hurts too much. It’s like constantly burning the cut part with fire.”
I said with slight admiration.
“A Holy Sword is a Holy Sword. The Demon King is even complaining.”
“No, don’t you remember that I died by that sword in the first place?”
“I also died after being cut by the Holy Sword. Just bear with it.”
“No, this is really hard?”
I said with a slight sneer.
“I don’t feel like being lenient at all because you’re begging with Robin’s face,”
“Ed.”
“Haha, okay. Then let’s just end it here.”
At the same time as I pulled out the sword, Ulgaros pushed me away.
Ulgaros flapped his wings in the air and shouted.
“Damn it, if I had been here a little longer, I could have dominated the foolish humans from behind while hiding in this body,”
“…Ah, please make the lines a little more natural…”
“I can’t lose a useful body like this!”
I chuckled.
If Ulgaros runs away like this, this ridiculous play will be over.
At that moment, Ulgaros stretched out his finger towards me.
“But, before I run away, I have to kill at least the new Hero.”
“What?”
Ulgaros smiled, raising the corners of his lips with Robin’s face.
“…Hey, don’t tell me.”
“Keu keu keu, die Hero.”
“You son of a bitch,”
A dark red beam of light shot out from the tip of Ulgaros’s finger.
The beam instantly pierced the head of my statue and burned the ground.
In an instant, the entire body of the statue was dyed bright red, and then exploded with a tremendous sound.
A huge explosion accompanied by flames, leaving not even a single fragment unlike with Robin.
The explosion swallowed me whole.
I was swept away by the explosion without even screaming.
“…E-Ed?”
Lili stared blankly at the scene.
“…Wh-What?”
Ellie was the same.
The citizens lowered their arms, which they had raised to protect themselves from the shock of the explosion, and raised their heads, which had been cowering.
Black dust was settling on the ruined plaza, where neither the Demon King, the Baron, nor the two statues that had been guarding the plaza remained.
.
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