Chapter 11

Lion woke up the next morning, lying on a soft bed. He was in Adon’s house, inside that wide room they were given earlier. Somehow, his body felt refreshed.

Yesterday, what was I doing again? What was I going to do today? Umm…

“Ah!!”

Little by little, Lion’s memories of the previous night returned.

He’d been forced (mostly) by Seirios to allow the demon to heal his wounds. He remembered getting affected by Seirios’ magical powers (?), and getting an erection. Then, Seirios had jerked him off and he came.

This sucks.

No, since his wounds were healed, Lion should be grateful. But… shouldn’t he be allowed to be angry too? After all, was forcibly seduced by Seirios’ powers when he was in his demon form. More importantly, he was too embarrassed by what had happened, and didn’t want to see him again…

“Are you awake, Lion? Good morning.”

Somehow, with perfect timing, the demon who was unable to read social cues opened the door. Lion cowered, pulling the quilt over his head. His actions clearly said: ‘I don’t want to talk!’

“What are you doing? Let me see your face.”

With a single tug, Seirios tore the blanket away, easily turning the cowering Lion over towards him.

Facing Lion, was a man with shining features, illuminated by the brisk morning sun, with a bright smile on his face. His pupils were a deep red, he had glossy black hair that reached the nape of his neck, while in his ear rested a single red earring… This was Seirios’ human form.

Lion shook off Seirios’ hand, and immediately hid his face in a big pillow.

“If I look at you, weird things will happen! It’s no longer possible for us to travel together! I’m begging you, please leave me alone!”

“…”

Huh? There was no reply. Then, was Seirios really angry?

After several minutes of silence, the mattress moved again, creaking quietly.

Long arms smoothly snaked around Lion’s waist. Startled, he turned around.

Seirios had circled his arms around the cowering Lion’s waist, embracing him from behind. He had pressed his forehead against Lion’s back, so Lion was unable to see Seirios’ expression… but, he could still see a man double his size clinging to him.

“Did you hear me, Mister Sei?! I-I said to leave me alone, please!”

“I just wanted to heal you, so I had transformed into my original form… My healing powers are more efficient in that form, but there’s nothing I can do about the characteristics of my powers. Please understand… I didn’t do it on purpose…”

“Ugh…”

Seirios sounded terribly dejected.

So… he had stayed in his demon form because he wanted to heal Lion’s wounds? Well, all of his wounds did heal while Lion was asleep… In other words, Lion getting aroused was simply just a side effect of the healing. It wasn’t something Seirios had actually wished for either.

Ugh…this… doesn’t it make it sound like I’m in the wrong?!

“Th-thank you for healing my wounds… But, I was really scared then, when I realized I wasn’t acting like myself. I don’t want to feel like that again.”

“I’ll stay in this form as much as possible. It should be fine if I do that, right?”

Lion felt a tight squeeze around his waist.

With a reaction like that from the demon, Lion felt that if he refused Seirios, if he told him firmly that he couldn’t stay by his side, Seirios would not let him go.

He didn’t know whether this was something admirable… or overbearing. Lion had assumed Seirios was a mature guy, but he was actually behaving like a child. He was an extremely hard demon to figure out, but without a doubt he showed nothing but kindness towards Lion.

If he had changed back to his original form, powers of seduction and all, he’d be able to do as he pleased with someone like Lion. But… he hadn’t. What was with all the begging too? Lion really couldn’t understand it.

However, he didn’t hate it… Lion was born into the main branch of a family of summoners, but as he grew up to be a pretty unusable summoner, Lion’s relatives started acting cold towards him. His only allies were his mother, and his only friend.

Lion rushed into the outside world, and although he had earnestly joined various demon suppressing parties, he never lasted long in them.

‘You’re kinda… different from what I expected.’

‘You’re useless.’

”

”

Adventurers had said these things straight to his face, as well whispered them behind his back. While it did wear him down and frayed his nerves, he didn’t have any other choice but to get used to it.

He never thought that he’d receive such tender affection from a demon. A race that was believed to hold everlasting animosity towards humanity as a whole.

“Why do you…with someone like me…?”

“I told you that I think you’re good. Stop saying such self-deprecating things like ‘someone like me’. You’re a wonderful human. Say, as long as I stay in this form, we should be fine, right? You’re not scared, right?”

It was true that Lion had gotten used to Seirios’ human form; he wasn’t scared of it anymore. But Lion was puzzled. How should he address him? This man, who was patiently waiting for his answer, and still hugging him tightly.

“Yes, I’m used to that form now, but–”

“Excellent!”

Seirios smiled, immediately lifting his head, and he removed his arms that were wrapped around Lion’s waist. He then drew his face close to Lion. A face so beautiful, that although Seirios was a man, it made Lion feel a little nervous to be so close… And then he pressed his lips, slightly colder than Lion’s own, to Lion’s.

Seirios slipped his long tongue into Lion’s mouth, which was parted in surprise. His tongue was long, it seemed to reach all the way to Lion’s throat. Lion thought that it was definitely longer than a normal…

That’s not what’s important right now!

And then… It happened, just when Lion was about to push Seirios away with all his strength, so that the demon would release him.

“Mister Lion, are you awake? Breakfast is–”

With his mouth occupied, Lion turned his eyes towards the direction of the voice. Rowan’s mayor and the owner of that house, Adon, was peeking into the room through the door Seirios had left wide open.

With a smile plastered onto his face, Adon said,“I apologize for interrupting!” and rushed off.

“Mister Sei! He-he saw us just now! What are you doing all of a sudden?!” Lion shouted, this time succeeding in pushing Seirios away.

“Even if someone sees us, it’s not really something to be embarrassed about. It should be fine if I touch you in this form, right? I want to make love to you. Is that alright?”

“As if!”

What a thing to say in the middle of this mess! Lion wished Seirios would give it a rest with those jokes from time to time.

From the bottom of his heart, Lion regretted his past actions, when he couldn’t clearly say no to Seirios traveling together with him, just a few minutes ago.

**********

Escorted by Adon, Lion and Seirios left Rowan. As they left, Lion informed Adon that the drought in Rowan was brought on by demons, and, like they had thought, the reason for it were the youngsters who had gone demon hunting last year. Since the demons who had caused the problems were gone now, Lion reassured him that the demons wouldn’t interfere with Rowan anymore.

He decided not to tell him that real soon, the youngsters would be given a scare.

Currently, Lion and Seirios were headed towards the town of Salto. Salto, was a southern town, located in the southern part of Tailes Kingdom. It was even smaller than Dno, and it was known as a merchant town.

The journey from Rowan to Salto would roughly take three days, given that they would pass through the villages along the way. They were headed to Salto because Lion had obtained interesting information back in Rowan.

With the demons gone, Lion intended on leaving once he confirmed that rain would fall naturally now. And since at the moment, it was the rainy season in that region, rain began to pour incessantly right away.

When the rain came, overjoyed townspeople crowded around the Mayor’s house, making merry. They were exceedingly grateful to Lion, but he had mixed feelings about this. He’d only been kidnapped, and hadn’t really done anything. But then, an elderly townsman, even older than the mayor, struck up a conversation with him.

“I heard that you’ve come from the Nord Kingdom, up north. What’s the situation like? I used to live there, so I’m a little curious.”

“I see!” Lion said, “The Nord Kingdom is a safe and bustling place, but a few days ago, the Northern Demon King was overthrown… So things might be unstable now.”

“Wow! It finally happened… TheNorthern Demon King was overthrown. He must have reigned for, what? Four hundred years? Was he defeated by a party of heroes?”

“No, I’ve only heard a rumor that he might have been killed by the other demons.”

“I see…I hope the country won’t fall into chaos again.”

“‘Again’? Has this happened before?”

“You didn’t know?” the townsman asked Lion, one of his white eyebrows springing up. Then, he explained:

Some twenty years ago, in the areas near the Northern Demon King’s territory, the situation was exceedingly dangerous. The countries that bordered the Northern Demon King’s territory were infested with demons, and the blood of many humans was spilled. Although there was supposed to be a Demon King, they weren’t being governed at all. People had thought that at last, even the Northern Demon King’s power had waned after his long reign, and that perhaps a new Demon King would be born.

“Then I think… right about twenty years ago? The demons’ rampage had suddenly stopped, and they were fully under control again. It was like the Northern Demon King had been reborn. I had a business back then, but my store was destroyed by the demons. I ended up coming here, to my wife’s hometown.”

“A rebirth? Maybe the Demon King had fallen ill or something?”

“Who knows? But right now, it’s the southern area that’s in big trouble. I heard that the demons in the south had invaded the Eastern Demon King’s territory. You’re a freelance summoner, right? Are you headed south?”

“Ah, no, I haven’t made any plans yet…”

Since the previous Southern Demon King was defeated by the hero Aaron about a hundred years ago, the position had been empty. It was easy to imagine that with the absence of a Demon King, the demons were uncontrollable, going as far as causing harm in others’ territories.

Should Lion go south?

If the demons were causing more damage, then there should be more commission jobs as well. Moreover, they might actually know something about what’s going on in the Mauser Kingdom…

And now, in the southern region of the Tailes Kingdom, the town of Salto stood in the distance.

“That’s Salto over there. I’m glad that the villages we’ve passed through on the way didn’t seem to have been harmed.”

“It looked like even Vega didn’t know what to do with the demons crossing the border and invading her territory. If a Demon King were to be assigned in the south, the demons of that territory would calm down as well.”

It seemed that normally, demons didn’t leave the territory they belonged to, and so Seirios, who was from the north, seemed to know as much about the situation as Lion.

They passed through Salto, idly chatting while searching for a tavern.

Although the sun was hanging low in the sky, there were a lot of people out. Rather than regular citizens, there were many people carrying swords and axes, and people donning the mage robes. Could they have taken on job commissions related to demons?

Seirios was walking leisurely. He had slowed his stride to match to Lion’s, and was thus attracting the attention of the others walking down the road.

It wasn’t because he looked like a demon.

His deep crimson eyes, pointed ears, and patterns on his face were gone…But, unfortunately, he couldn’t conceal his impossibly beautiful appearance, or his aura. A peculiar aura that differed so much from a regular person’s. Lion noticed that there were inquisitive looks thrown his way too.

I hate this. Mister Sei stands out too much…

He had to find a tavern that dealt in commission information, and quickly hide inside.

Thus, Lion looked around restlessly.

“Hey! You there, are you a summoner?”

“Huh?”