episode_0015

“From what I see… it seems you were trying to revive Diabolos.”

“…….”

“Ah, it’s fine. I fully understand the desire to revive one’s master. However-”

-Squeeze!

“You shouldn’t have been caught by me.”

A powerful gravity, so immense it felt distant, occurred in the space where Gadrak was.

Gadrak trembled and tried to endure, but-

-Crunch!

Unable to withstand the continuously increasing force, he burst apart.

However, as his body was composed of shadow, it was regenerating once more.

However-

“……I did not know this was the area you reside in. Please forgive me-”

He merely bowed his head, showing no hostility whatsoever towards the opponent who had burst him apart.

A demon far superior to himself.

Although speaking first might have been considered sacrilege, he suppressed his fear and stated that he had no intention of resisting.

“…….”

Owen, who was watching the sight, pondered for a moment.

Wondering what he should do with this.

The pondering was shorter than expected.

-Reach

“The souls you possess. Hand them over.”

“…I will do as commanded.”

Originally, these souls were to be handed over to his master.

However, whether to choose death and have them taken, or to hand them over obediently. If there are only these two choices, the answer is as good as decided.

-Hum

He gathered the clumped souls with both hands and politely handed them over.

Owen, who received them, smiled.

“That’s an excellent judgment.”

“…….”

“Do you know the reason I am not necessarily killing you?”

“……With my limited insight, I have no idea.”

“A person who can deliver my message, no, a demon, right? Anyway, I needed someone to deliver my words.”

Owen, who released the pressure applied to Gadrak, bent down to meet his eye level.

And then quietly whispered.

“Please tell the others. That it would be good if they do not come looking where I reside. You’re not trustworthy but… well, I believe you’ll do at least that much?”

“…Yes.”

“Good. Excellent.”

Thus, Owen patted Gadrak’s shoulder a couple of times.

He was touching the shadow, which should not be physically interfered with, as if it were natural.

Despite that, Gadrak did not even flinch and remained still.

Owen, having finished his business, commanded Gadrak.

“Could you open the passage again?”

“……Even if it weren’t me, you could-”

“It’s not a request.”

“……Yes.”

His eyes were smiling, but his mouth was not at all.

Gadrak decided not to speak further and resolved to obey.

-Whoosh

As Gadrak spread his arms in the air, the outline of the passage connecting the mortal realm and the demon realm was revealed.

A size just enough for one person to pass through.

Owen fixed his gaze on Gadrak for a moment, then immediately turned his head and stepped through the passage.

-Whoosh

Returning, the cracked ceiling came into view.

Gadrak’s demonic energy was cleanly erased, but Owen’s demonic energy was overflowing.

-Sting

Pain was felt in his eyes once more, so he immediately closed them.

Owen, who inhaled for a moment, scattered the souls he had received from Gadrak.

-Rustle

The white souls bustled about here and there, moving into their rightful places.

How many minutes passed like that?

“…Huh?”

The people who had lost consciousness began to wake up.

In the eyes of the people who didn’t know what had happened to them, the figure of the fallen Krock was captured.

Krock, whose entire body had been pierced and turned into a mess.

And, the man standing outside the prison, wearing a suspicious smile.

-Shiver

At the unusual sight that had unfolded while they were unconscious, they trembled.

To reassure them, Owen spread his arms exaggeratedly and spoke.

“Haha. You don’t need to tremble like that. You are safe now.”

They did not feel reassured at all.

Rather, he only looked more dangerous.

Although Owen had left the door open, they did not budge and did not come out from inside the prison.

“Well now.”

They cannot continue to stay like this.

As it might collapse at any moment, and he cannot just leave them behind.

At that moment-

-Step -Step -Step

The sound of someone approaching from the entrance echoed.

A knight with long indigo hair wearing armor.

“…….”

Kali Florennes was silently looking at Owen.

***

Her figure was reflected in the moonlight shining through the collapsed ceiling.

Had she finished thinking?

She looked at Krock, who had become a ragged mess, the imprisoned people, and me, and then quietly said.

“That demonic energy… no. I will no longer judge anything rashly.”

She looked at the people who could not hide their confused emotions as their souls returned.

“This. Did you do it?”

“That’s right. It was quite difficult, haha.”

“…….”

She approached the people without a word.

And then slowly opened her mouth.

“My name is Kali Florennes. Commander of the White Wing Knights.”

“Ah-”

Only then did the people shed tears and become moved.

The weight carried by the name Commander of the White Wing Knights.

It was instilling a feeling of relief in them.

“I will safely return you to your original places. I swear on my name.”

Kali led the people away from this place without asking me anything.

However, she turned back once and looked at me, then.

“……There is someone looking for you.”

She said to me, gesturing towards the entrance.

Someone looking for me.

Before I could even think who it might be-

“…….”

Mirnan, who was looking at me with her mouth tightly closed, came into view.

Kali, seeing that sight, left the place without a word.

It was a back view that seemed to be full of thoughts.

-Stomp -Stomp

But I didn’t have the leisure to pay attention to that sight.

“Mirnan-ssi?”

Mirnan was approaching with footsteps that were not fast, but not slow either.

Thus, in front of me.

She, who had approached within breathing distance, opened her mouth.

“……Last time you just glossed over it, but tell me now.”

“…….”

“Are you… a demon?”

Her firm expression, as if asking for a genuine and honest answer without pretense, flickered before my eyes.

I don’t know what Mirnan is thinking, or what emotions she possesses.

But, this time, I answered honestly.

“Yes. That’s right.”

“…….”

“It is as Mirnan-ssi said.”

A clean answer without any superfluous additions.

Mirnan deeply lowered her head, then approached me.

-Thud

She hit my chest once.

I didn’t feel pain, but it hurt.

I cannot know the extent of the betrayal Mirnan must be feeling now.

Because the reason Mirnan, who lived an ordinary life, ended up here was due to a demon.

-Thud

-Thud

I quietly endured the punches she swung emptily without putting any strength into them.

Mirnan, who had been hitting me in silence for a long time, opened her mouth.

“Why did you hide it until now.”

“…Because Mirnan-ssi might get hurt-”

“No. That’s not what I meant.”

Mirnan, who had been hitting my chest with her head bowed, raised her head.

“……Why did you arbitrarily conclude and hide it? That hurts more.”

I hadn’t thought of such an answer.

Perhaps because I had expected her to express resentment or betrayal towards me, I was speechless.

-Tap

Mirnan cautiously brought her hand to my eye.

A faint warmth, neither cold nor truly warm, lingered.

“…Is the reason you don’t open your eyes because of that too?”

“You could say so.”

“……Sorry.”

Mirnan gently stroked my eye.

“For misunderstanding all this time. And speaking arbitrarily… I’m sorry.”

At those words, a sudden thought occurred to me.

What would have happened if I had lived without hiding my demonic energy…

Since I couldn’t go to the demon realm on my own.

I probably wouldn’t have lived past the age of fifteen and would have died.

Even though I didn’t possess it because I wanted to, the world rejects things that deviate from the norm.

“Mirnan-ssi.”

“…Yeah.”

“It’s a bit of a long story, but would you listen?”

“…As much as you like.”

Below the collapsed ceiling, a calm yet sincere story flowed.

It was a one-sided conversation, and Mirnan was just listening, but-

While listening to the story, Mirnan laughed, cried. And cried again.

Besides that, showing other reactions, she displayed a variety of emotions to me.

Even though 27 years had passed since I came to this world, I was still a reader.

Thinking of people as characters.

Because I had divided them into people I needed and people I didn’t need.

But Mirnan, listening to my story while openly displaying various emotions without hiding them.

Until now, I had been looking at Mirnan as well, not as a person but as a character-

At this moment, her appearance began to be seen three-dimensionally.

The cowardly self-defense mechanism I had created myself while enduring countless threats of death, in order not to lose myself, was crumbling.

-Rustle

The wind blows.

As the clouds covering the moon cleared away, bright light illuminated Mirnan.

Perhaps having rushed here frantically, one of her shoes had come off and blood was flowing from her foot.

‘Was she not in pain?’

Raising my head and looking at her face.

Eyes filled with tears are visible.

‘Ah.’

So this is what she looked like.

She was a person who made such expressions and looked at me.

Mirnan, who had been sitting a little distance away, approached me.

Not burdeningly.

Little by little-

Slowly-

-Hug

Hugging me warmly, she whispered.

“You’ve lived diligently-”

It was just a brief encounter in the back alleys.

Met by chance for Edith’s growth-

Disappearing without a name in the novel

Such

a person

“……You’ve been through a lot.”

Having her own unique form, she approached me.