episode_0048

“…”

Abel, who had been listening to the story, remained silent.

The silence often seemed to contain guilt. Guilt about one’s future self.

He thought that the tragedy included his own wrongdoings. Even if it was something his future self had done, it was still him.

Leah herself could not escape it either.

She loved the Demon King and was free to mingle with the Demons, but she was human. She was a bloodline that could not help but sympathize with humans. She was a person who knew that there were not only bad people because she lived among humans.

And, it was Leia who suggested that we save the people of the Empire who would have been annihilated after this invasion. After all, she wanted to save as many people as possible.

But it might be different for the demons.

The demons and humans, two forces that have been in conflict since their first encounter. They have poured out hatred toward each other simply because they are each other, and at the same time, they have received nothing but hatred.

I wonder if I was forcing my position too much on those demons, on those demons who had lost things precious to humans.

“Don’t talk nonsense. The last timeline is the last timeline, and this time is this time. As long as everyone is alive, that’s enough.”

Yes, it was more useless worry than I thought. Only when Galvein strongly denied it did my mind feel at ease.

“Don’t continue explaining. When the situation got to that point, I had a gut feeling of death. I never thought it would end so vainly… But then, a book of magic from the Demon King’s Castle that I had read before suddenly flashed through my mind.”

Wow… You really like accumulating knowledge. Reading books of magic is usually forbidden because the content is problematic or the books themselves are dangerous. Even in the Demon World.

“Somewhere in the Demon King’s room, there is an arrangement made by the fourth Demon King. That arrangement continuously collects and stores the overflowing ‘attribute’ power of the currently living Demon King in preparation for an emergency. Of course, if the Demon King is confirmed dead, that power disappears. And if the arrangement is destroyed, the arrangement disappears as it is, and if the destroyer is the Demon King, he will gain that power. ”

“I will explain from here on, Galvein. You probably have a vague idea about the phenomenon that occurred when you touched that arrangement. …It is also something that only I can explain.”

Oh, I couldn’t help but let out a sigh of regret. Perhaps because Galvein had experience as an explanatory expert, he gave a good, brief explanation.

Well, actually, there’s nothing that can be done about it. That’s what he is like.

“To conclude, the arrangement is… a chair.”

“What? This? It’s just a cheap 2-silver coin?”

“…Please write something good. Even though it’s a country, there’s this guy called the Demon King…”

The chair Abel was currently sitting on was of a normal household type, or… a bit lower. It was foldable and easy to move, didn’t even have a backrest, and was too shabby to be able to gain strength by breaking it.

“Did you bring the chair from your room instead?”

“Can’t you bring it? That must be why the story is going so fast.”

“No, haa… …that’s just a really cheap chair.”

“Huh?”

Abel stomped on the chair and crushed it.

Of course, nothing happened.

“…Really? Why is it like this?”

“To put it simply… ‘Arrangement’ exists only once in every timeline, and I destroyed it, so the power was absorbed into me, but Arrangement’s existence disappeared. Have you ever had trouble because a chair disappeared?”

“…the chair… oh.”

Abel’s face lit up as if he was recalling some memory.

Maybe something came to mind?

*****

That day was gloomy as always.

Life without Noah as usual… boring meetings, mostly about how to defeat the Demon King’s army in a groundbreaking way.

And empty legs.

…Feel empty? What?

-Koosh!

“What the heck?!”

“”Demon King!””

The first thing I saw was the floor under the desk covered in dust. Then my dirty long hair, all messy and flying. And my cheeks hurt.

Did you roll on the floor? Why?

It didn’t take long to find the answer to the question.

And the method wasn’t very pleasant.

“Don’t be so excited, it’s okay. Yeah, Galvein. But that doesn’t mean you should just be expressionless and not worry- Shh! ”

thud!

My body sank down again and I landed on my butt.

“Where the hell is this fucking chair…?”

Fumbling. No matter how much I felt through the air, I couldn’t find the chair.

It has a luxurious finish and is gilded, and it oozes a certain luxury, so if the Demon King’s Castle is ruined or Noah is reincarnated and runs out of money, it’s the number one item on the list of items to sell and exchange for money. That chair disappeared as if it had never existed in the first place.

“…What? There’s no trace of magic?”

“Are you alright, Your Majesty the Demon King!! I will immediately capture the scoundrel who attempted to assassinate me!”

“No, what are you saying… It’s a chair that’s been rotten longer than me, so it must’ve gone when it was time to go. If he’s a thief, well. I can sell it and get the money. Let’s just buy a new chair and end the meeting here. Galvein?”

“That, that, that… a little while ago… That, that damn Richie… suddenly… he left… oops. I’m, I’m, sorry…!”

“…Okay, okay. Something happened, right? I’ll save you.”

Nothing works.

I just thought that, and nothing special happened after that, so I buried the memory of that day.

And the chair that represented the Demon King’s majesty and history was replaced with a two-silver backless chair.

*****

“Yeah. That’s why I changed the chair… I forgot. By any chance, did you regress at that time too? ”

Galvein nodded quietly.

“I feel like I’m the only one being left out… Well, whatever. So what’s wrong with that chair?”

“I… broke the chair as soon as I heard about it from Galvein. Either the power of an angel or the power of arrogance would make me stronger. It would be impossible to save Leon, but I thought I could at least kill them and get revenge.”

“…Has something happened?”

“That’s right. Unlike some people who start off as stupid girls, Leah is smart.”

Lucy stroked my head. Abel stroked it too, as if he couldn’t help it. But before she stroked my head, both of you, please stop fighting…

Hmm, the temperature is getting hotter and hotter. I wonder if a fire will break out and burn down the base camp.

“What should have come in clearly was arrogance, or the power of an angel… …but what I received was something else. It was something I could only describe as time, and it was so… heavy. ”

hour?

“The moment I broke that chair, time stopped… and it shattered, stuck, bent, and broke as it pleased… Ugh. …The moment the power was accepted, I instinctively knew that I couldn’t handle it.”

Lucy continued, almost mumbling.

It was a face that was no different from someone who was describing something like trauma.

“A power that I can’t handle? Does that make sense?”

“…You little frog in a well. Then do you think you can do regression with the power you can handle? Even time travel without interfering with the past is something only the strongest like us can do.”

“Why was that power there in the first place? To store my power? Is it a trap?”

While the two were fighting again, Galvein and I exchanged glances.

Living Demon Kings, excluding Abel and Lucy.

No, at least we knew of a Demon King who had a connection to another time when he was alive.

“Anyway, Galvein was fine because he was caught up in the regression, but I had a hard time staying safe when I faced that power head-on. At that moment, when I tried to turn back time even at the risk of eternal destruction, my soul was definitely completely gone.”

Completely… completely. Completely…

Lucy muttered that phrase over and over again. She must have replayed the moment of her disappearance dozens of times in her head in that short time.

“But… The moment I thought I had completely disappeared, I was reconstructed. There was a relic at the source. …Leah and Galbain, the place you two went. ”

“…You went to the ruins?”

“Big. Big… Lucy. Please explain the following.”

Got caught.

“When I was reconstructed, my body was in a back alley in the Demon World. So, I thought, “Oh, the Four Heavenly Kings must be worried,” and tried to return to the Demon King’s Castle right away. Since I returned to the past, would they be surprised that I had become a woman? That was my only worry…”

“was it?”

“You were there. Abel. The old me, the man I was. And behind me were Hira and Mino, and Galvein was dragged away with his robe caught. …Don’t you know? What I wanted to shout back then? ”

“How would I know that?”

Despite Abel’s irritating response, Lucy continued to speak. No, it was wrong to ignore him. Tears were welling up in Lucy’s eyes.

“You… You’re a fake… What are you all doing there… I’m here. Don’t be fooled by a fake… But. In fact, the fake was me.”

I am ■■.

I am ■■…

But why can’t I say my name?

“In Pangea… if you share the same soul, the main body takes the original name.”

I was a fake.

Abel.

I couldn’t pronounce those two simple words.

So I was a fake.

“Abel of that timeline rolled his eyes and was touched by a power he couldn’t handle… and just, poke. He died. And someone resurrected him, still holding him together. He lost his right to ‘live’.

Isn’t it funny? Rather, Galvein, who was caught up in the waves next to him, returned safely, and he himself is so strong that his soul is destroyed because of his strength. ”

Well, if Galvein hadn’t recognized me, I would have just killed myself.

If no one had recognized me, I would have just been a wanderer who did not belong in that worldline.

Anyway, one of my subordinates recognized me. For that reason alone, I’m struggling to change the outcome in a world that isn’t even my own.

Is it a net or something else?

Even if I had Abel’s memories before the regression, I actually knew that there was no such thing as ‘my timeline’ in the first place.

I hate you, Abel.

Covering ‘my’ skin.

Act like ‘me’.

Feeling ‘my’ emotions.

Taking away my happiness.

No, in fact, it’s all ‘Abel’s’ happiness.

Because I am Lucifer.

Lucy…

Because it’s just a trace of the past reflected in the mirror.

The image reflected on the other side of the mirror, that’s all…

Mirror image, Lucy. That was me.