Chapter 17

The Northern Demon King had reigned for four hundred years. During those years, he set a clear boundary for the human race, fiercely punishing those who violated that ban. Once, a certain pleasure-seeking aristocrat held a demon hunt for fun, and the next day all the nobles who had participated in this hunt were mercilessly devoured. Lion had heard a mountain-worth of terrifying stories such as this.

Those who would intrude on the Northern Demon King’s territory seeking the abundant resources his domain possessed, those who would inflict harm on the northern demons without cause, the hero parties whose objective was to subjugate the Demon King that people pinned their hopes on… for four hundred years he drove all of them back. Such was the terrifying strength the Demon King prided himself on.

For a period of time, his reign was thrown in disarray and rumors that his power was weakening spread, but it seemed that since some twenty years ago, his absolute reign returned.

Among the demons of this continent, the Northern Demon King was one of those who had slaughtered the most humans.

Several months ago, while working with a hero party, Lion made it all the way inside the Northern Demon’s castle. But, as if he were taking candy from a baby, the Northern Demon King easily blocked the party’s simultaneous attack and they were crushed, barely able to escape with their lives.

They could only somewhat discern the Demon King as a shadowy form leisurely sitting on his throne; nobody saw what he looked like.

It was even said that among living people, there were only a handful who knew what the Northern Demon King looked like.

However, when this Demon King’s magic suddenly vanished, weren’t people saying that the Demon King had died? Wasn’t the Demon King’s castle filled with the magic of another demon…?

What did the blond demon who appeared so suddenly say earlier? Didn’t he call Seirios, who stood there calmly, “Your Highness the Demon King”?

N-no, although Mister Sei is a demon, he was kind to someone like me, so there is no way he’s the Northern Demon King. The Northern Demon King was barbaric, the pinnacle of demons who inflict harm upon humans… No, it can’t be true, after all. That’s right, I must have heard him wrong.

“…Shut up, Capella. I’m not him anymore. The current Demon King is Procyon, isn’t he? So what are you doing, leaving your master?”

“Master Procyon doesn’t agree with it either! Also, you are my master!”

“I am a mere stray now. I have nothing to do with you anymore. The switching of magic within the Demon King castle should have been swift, as well.”

!

Current situation aside, Seirios didn’t deny that he used to be a Demon King. This coming from the demon who never lied, indicated there was no falsehood in what the blond demon called Capella had said.

Although he tried not to think about it, there were a lot of things that came to Lion’s mind too.

Seirios’ demon form, which Lion had seen at the bottom of the lake and in Rowan, felt so oppressive that even just being in the same space as Seirios made it hard to breathe. And wasn’t he overwhelmingly superior to the demon on the bottom of the lake and to Altair as well, the demon who had brought on the drought in the town of Rowan?

Right. Not only was Seirios by no means inferior even when lined up with Vega, the Eastern Demon Queen, he was even daunting enough to be declared as the winner…

Lion felt like his legs might buckle underneath him and he unconsciously took a step back, the gravel crunching underneath his feet. As if noticing him for the first time, the kneeling blond-haired demon turned his golden eyes on Lion.

“You…. human! What are you doing!? Kneel, lest you perish!”

His gaze was serious, thick with bloodlust. Someone the likes of Lion would get killed instantly. Lion grew pale and Seirios stood before him, as if he was trying to hide Lion behind his back.

“I’ve decided to be kept by this person, as I desired to do so. If you do anything to him, I will kill you, even if it’s you.”

“Wha-! K-kept? What on earth are you saying…?”

Capella was visibly flustered. The demon whose appearance was youthful and virile, although he looked a little bit older than Lion, seemed to be at a loss, his brows lowered.

”

”

“Get out of the way, Capella. We’re going.”

Seirios gently placed his hand on Lion’s back, who was frozen to the spot and unable to move, then began walking as if he was trying to guide Lion. Despite this, Capella flew in front of him.

“Please wait, Master Seirios! You are still obligated to govern the Northern Demon King’s territory!”

“I drained my magic from the imperial castle and let Procyon permeate his powers through it, didn’t I? The knowledge of the castle’s state is something that spreads to every corner of the demon’s territory. The demons are sure to obey, as well. I did what I was supposed to do.”

“Even though you went as far as suddenly handing over the castle, most demons don’t agree with it! It would be different if someone took over because another’s power had dwindled, but this is unprecedented! Demon patriarchs are advancing towards the castle, and the demons at the borders are confused, acting violently and attacking humans! Please, return to the kingdom temporarily! Give everyone some kind of explanation!”

Ah, they’re attacking humans? People of the Nord Kingdom?

Seirios was still standing as if he was trying to protect Lion, and without thinking, Lion almost reached out to grab onto his clothes, just barely managing to stop himself. Seirios suddenly shifted his gaze to Lion and thought for a moment before answering.

“…Regardless of the problems with the patriarchs, I wanted to settle things so that there wouldn’t be any disputes among the demons. Was that a mistake on my part?…Very well.”

Seirios spun around and looked at Lion. He slowly lifted his right hand and tried to touch Lion’s cheek.

“…”

Lion immediately took a step back from him, avoiding his hand. It was an unconscious act. The man in front of him… Lion was confused; he no longer knew just who this man was. The image of the Seirios he had met and the image of the Northern Demon King he heard of from stories didn’t overlap.

No matter how Lion thought about the course of the conversation it all implied that Seirios was or had at one point been the Northern Demon King.

”

”

“Lion…”

Only grasping air, Seirios helplessly lowered his outstretched hand, a wounded expression appearing on his face.

Lion was about to say ‘I’m sorry.’, but bit his lips instead. Why was the demon in front of him, an entity that governed over other demons, looking at a human – a demon’s natural enemy – with such a sorrowful expression on his face? Could it be a performance meant to stir up a human’s feelings? Lion didn’t know, which scared him.

As if to question Seirios, Capella addressed him in a small voice.

“Master Seirios, if you took a liking to this human, there are many ways to have him, right? You could encase him in ice and display him like the others do it, or tamper with his brain and make him your puppet. In your true form you would only have to say ‘Obey!’ and no human would be able to refuse you. Just what on earth happened…?”

Seirios ignored his words, intently gazing at Lion.

“Lion, I want to tell you everything properly. Please, don’t be scared of me. I’ll take care of the things that still need to be handled quickly and return in three days. So, I want you to wait for me in Salto.”

“….”

Although Lion almost painfully felt Seirios’ eyes on him, he wasn’t able to meet his gaze. He wasn’t able to answer either. His mouth was dry and the words seemed to stick in his throat.

“Lion, I beg you.”

Was he planning on staying until Lion gave him some kind of response? Since Lion wished to have time to think about this alone, he gave him a small nod. The man standing in front of him blew out a breath, then turned on his heel.

Standing some distance away from Lion, Seirios removed the blood-coloured earring that adorned his ear. His glossy black hair smoothly lengthened and his irises were dyed a deep crimson. A pair of black wings appeared on his back. Magic permeated the air, so oppressive that every living thing dwelling in the forest – including Lion – held its breath and their surroundings instantly became deathly silent.

“I’ll be right back.”

There was a rustling sound and then the demon took off into the sky, which had grown completely black. Capella hurriedly jumped onto the black horse and followed after him.

For a while, Lion stood stock still, rooted to the spot, looking up at the empty sky.

**********

If you head southwest from the town of Salto, and pass through several villages, you’ll come to a mountain range that forms the national border between the eastern Tailes Kingdom and the southern Mauser Kingdom. Although it’s called a mountain range, it is only partly made up of steep mountains. Since there were many other mountains with more of a gentle slope to them, their elevation not too high, villages dotted the mountains all along the national borders.

Since he had to cross this range in order to enter the Mauser Kingdom, Lion planned to look for lodging in a village at the foot of a mountain, but no lights were on in any of the residences. More precisely, there weren’t any people in the village.

Pyo-ro-ro….1

This spiritless, drawn out voice was the cry of a bird Lion had heard somewhere before. Turning his back to the setting sun, Lion sighed and sat down.

A black animal was sniffing around and scratching at the wooden door of an empty residence, located a few meters ahead of Lion.

“Hey! Orthros! Don’t damage other people’s houses just because no one’s home! Come back!”

Could it have smelled some food that the inhabitants left behind? Since Orthros ran off the main mountain road and headed deep into the village, Lion had hurriedly followed after him. That black animal that had been loitering around the house for a while, finally turned back to Lion after he called it for the second time, dashing towards him like a bullet.

The black animal was a grotesque-looking, two-headed black dog. It reached Lion in the blink of an eye and began relentlessly licking Lion’s face, panting heavily.

“Geez, Orthros, you’re licking me too much! Hey, stop sticking out your tongue, urk!”

Orthros had the body of a large-sized dog and its first head had ears that stuck straight up while the second had ears that drooped down. It was swishing its tail like it was trying to shake it off its body, spoiling Lion with affection. It had been a while since Lion summoned it and let it outside, so it was very happy about meeting up with its beloved owner.

Orthros was a dog-type summoning beast. It was very agile and had a strong attack force, but it was very vehement about its likes and dislikes. Therefore, although it was a common type summoning beast, it was somewhat difficult to get a contract with because it would only do so with a summoner it liked.

It got attached to Lion from the beginning, and whenever Lion would summon it, the summoning beast would cover his whole face in saliva.

“Geez. Say, will I have to sleep outdoors tonight as well? How disappointing.”

With a wry smile on his face, Lion kept petting Orthros, who was excitedly nuzzling its body against Lion’s. Lion thought of maybe moving forward until they reached another village, but since he wasn’t familiar with this road, he felt intimidated by hitting mountain paths without a guide.

Suddenly, both of Orthos’ heads snapped up, turning to the same direction, and the summoning beast furiously dashed off towards the main road. Lion could hear him barking.

“Aaagh, a stray dog?! Wai-aaagh! It has two heads!!”

“Huh? What are you…. waaaaah it’s a demon!”

Shit! Travelers!

Lion heard the voice of a young woman and a young man of the same age.

“Orthros! Stop it, come back!”

The barking stopped suddenly, and after a short while, Orthrus returned, looking as if nothing had happened. A man timidly peeked from a shadow of a tree and a woman’s face popped out from behind him. The man looked to be the same age as Lion, while the woman looked a little younger.

“I am so sorry! This is a guardian summoning beast. I won’t let him bark any more, so please, relax.”

Ordering Orthros to wait, Lion hurriedly stood up and apologized to the pair. The young man and woman were dressed lightly, and they didn’t have much luggage either. Also, they somewhat resembled each other.

As if he was still scared of Orthros, the man approached Lion hesitantly.

“You, are you a summoner?”

“Ah, yes. I am.”

“I see! I have a favour to ask of you!”

“Huh?”