Chapter 79 - Side Story: The Demon Lord, Humans, and Fairies
When he opened the door, he had expected to hear angry shouts or stifled sobs, but it was quiet. Louis descended the stairs, feeling somewhat surprised. They were long stone steps, leading down to the underground dungeon, a place within the castle that only a select few were permitted to enter.
Several cells, separated by bars, lined the corridor, but only one was currently occupied. He found his target immediately. The third cell from the back.
The expert who had infiltrated the Demon Lord's Castle alone. Yet he was far smaller and younger than Louis had imagined. It might be more accurate to call him a boy. His unruly hair cast shadows over his face as he looked down, but when Louis stopped in front of the cell, he glared fiercely through the gaps in his bangs.
—He is still young, a mage in the midst of growth.
"You seem to specialize in magic suitable for infiltration. I can glimpse the tremendous effort you have put in."
Louis held up the book in his hand, showing it clearly to the boy. Bis had given it to him that morning.
"Where did you get that book?"
"Who are you?"
"I am the one who rules this castle."
"...The Demon Lord, huh."
The boy continued to glare as he spoke.
"That book was in the basement of my master's house. My master used to read it often, so I took it as a memento."
"So you had a master."
"He's dead. Killed by monsters."
It was an obvious jab. The boy unleashed the intense emotions he carried—resentment, hatred—without holding back. He looked as though he might scream that he would kill Louis right then and there, perhaps even throw a knife, but Louis had already confirmed that Bis had thoroughly beaten him, completed a body search, and that his mana was completely depleted. Louis understood the terror of mages better than anyone.
Even so.
Louis stared intently at the boy.
"That talent and high level of mana. You are certainly protagonist material."
"Hah?"
"I personally call humans who might be able to defeat me if they try hard enough by that name. In stories, it is always the Hero, the protagonist, who defeats the Demon Lord, isn't it?"
"Your tastes are terrible."
"I am often told that my personality is bad. By the way, is there anything you would like to ask regarding the contents of this book? I will answer any questions you have. There are parts where the translation has been incorrectly conveyed, which is undesirable for me as the author."
"The author...?"
"Louis Stylus. The initials are L.S. You understand, don't you?"
A moment of silence passed.
"...What about the dark circles, beard, and baldness?"
"Unfortunately, I have looked like this for two hundred years."
Louis flipped through the pages, revealed the illustration of the old man, and showed it to the boy, pressing his advantage by asking, "Do I resemble him in any way?"
"We resemble each other in that we both have two eyes, a nose, and a mouth."
"That is a remarkable commonality. Here, I will return this to you."
When Louis slipped the book through the gaps in the bars, the boy approached cautiously, snatched the book with force, and retreated to the back of the cell.
"Did you come here to make fun of me?"
"Why would I? I do not mock mages who are trying to grow."
"...You don't act like a Demon Lord."
"I am currently here merely as a mage. As long as you do not resist, or attempt to harm anyone in the castle, especially my wife, I suppose I can let you live. It does not seem there is any information to be squeezed out of you, either. I dislike humans, but in a sense, mages are comrades."
"I don't get what you mean."
"I am not saying anything that complicated."
Even so, the boy fired questions at Louis in an attempt to resolve his long-standing doubts. Louis answered them politely.
During this time, the boy seemed to be looking for an opening. At one point, he reached one hand through the bars of the cell, attempting to strangle Louis's neck, but Louis easily avoided it by simply taking a step back. He silenced the boy with a light shock of electricity. The boy panted heavily like a dog, piercing Louis with a gaze filled with hatred.
They were both mages, but Louis did not believe that meant he could win the boy over through appeasement.
"Well then, take your time," Louis said, turning his back on the boy.
This is not like the 'current me.' Louis knew that well enough. He had become strangely sentimental because he had heard a nostalgic name from his half-asleep wife that morning.
After leaving the underground dungeon, he pulled a strand of his bangs forward and looked up at it. Since his body had stopped aging in his early twenties, his hair never turned white, no matter how much time passed. It was a youthful blonde.
The same color as that child's hair.
"Did you perhaps say something to Elenoa?"
—Hey, Lumina.
There was no voice in reply, but he knew the answer. If that child were here, she would surely puff out her chest with a face that claimed she was entirely blameless, saying, "But Elenoa was worried!"
If that child were still alive, she might grieve at the sight of her current older brother. But since the root cause of the loss of such a gentle younger sister was humans in the first place, his thoughts would simply go in circles.
Mages must not show emotion.
The more one is a mage, the more unemotional and calm one must be.
Because a mage of rare talent exposed his emotions, the worst possible Demon Lord, as he is now, was born. —Therefore, he might truly be disqualified as a mage.
He did not regret it. He was not mistaken.
After all, Louis as he was during his time as a court mage could not have saved Elenoa.
"Unfortunately, there is no turning back now."
Recently, human movements had become suspicious.
The era of Demon Lord Louis had been long. The Heroes sent sporadically were all strong individuals with considerable power, yet they had all been slaughtered in this Demon Lord's Castle without achieving anything. The ones who had come closest to the Demon Lord were Hero Hasumi and the fairy who had disguised herself as a Hero.
It seemed that humans, who had been stifled until now, had reached their limit. It would not be surprising if they crossed the borders of their respective nations and united the entire world to attack the Demon Realm.
The Human-Demon War.
Louis was wary of that possibility.
*
Something small hopped into the underground dungeon.
Tiny Elenoa had infiltrated, aiming for the feet of the demon who was delivering food to the prisoner. Once inside, it was easy going.
She had heard rumors that a human was being held captive, and she could not sit still. She was certain that, without her knowledge, many others had been imprisoned in the underground dungeon before this.
She began to cautiously explore the dungeon. Utilizing her small, agile fairy size, she checked each cell one by one from the front.
In the cell at the very back, something glinted.
What could it be?
Curious, she flew straight toward it.
At the dead end. In the corner of the deepest cell, a broken pair of glasses lay on the floor. She passed effortlessly through the bars to look at them; the frames of the glasses were rusted all over. They seemed to be old. Something resembling blood was adhered to the glass.
"...Do I know these?"
Elenoa felt she had seen those glasses somewhere before. But trying to remember caused her head to ache. She stopped thinking deeply about it, fearing she might recall something unpleasant. She just had a vague feeling of dislike for this particular cell.
She understood only that someone had been confined here.
"...Is someone there?"
"Hyah!"
She jumped with a start.
Pressing her hand against her chest, Elenoa turned toward the source of the unfamiliar voice.
Two cells down, there was a human, whom Elenoa disliked.
The sight of the boy opening a book on a shabby bed overlapped with the image of Louis from the past.
"A fairy...?"
He looked at Elenoa, his mouth hanging open in surprise.
"I live here. I heard that you infiltrated the castle, but is that true?"
"............"
"...Why did a human come all the way to the Demon Lord's Castle alone?"
Just from the castle's location, one could guess how difficult infiltration was. When Elenoa had flown around the perimeter of the Demon Lord's Castle again recently, she had truly been grateful to have wings. Without wings, she would have had to cross the bridge, but there were undoubtedly strong guards watching it. The boy must have understood that being discovered would not end well for him.
Why had he taken such a risk to come here alone?
"Demon Queen Elenoa?"
"You know of me."
"...Your size is different from the Demon Lord's. Can you really be a married couple with that difference?"
"There are many forms that a married couple can take."
The boy looked unconvinced, as if asking, "What does that mean?" He might be more expressive than Louis.
The boy's eyes were swollen. His voice was hoarse, and his hesitant manner of speaking revealed immense pain.
"Why alone? Because all the parties that went before never returned, I thought I could move more effectively by myself."
"Even though it is dangerous?"
"I am aware of the danger."
The boy had come to kill the Demon Lord, staking his life on it.
There must be heavy circumstances behind that resolve.
"Did you lose someone because of Louis? Is it alright if I ask that?"
"My master."
"Your master?"
"Strictly speaking, it was not the Demon Lord's fault. It was a Troll. In the past, it seemed that three knights working together could defeat one, but now it takes about ten people to bring one down."
"...Huh?"
"The knights of the past might have been strong, but that is not the only reason. The current Demon Lord's mana is strong, and it affects the monsters, strengthening them. The strength of the monsters is tied to the strength of the Demon Lord."
"I see."
"Therefore, having a strong Demon Lord persist for so long is fatal in itself."
She knew. That was the nature of monsters. Even without orders from the Demon Lord, mindless monsters would attack humans. Louis knew this and allowed them to do as they pleased.
"Humans are weak, you know."
Not understanding what he meant, Elenoa silently urged him to continue.
The boy looked up at the ceiling with lifeless eyes.
"We have nothing. Compared to demons, we cannot run fast, we cannot fly, and we end up like this after spending an absurd amount of time learning magic. Yet why do you cherish someone like her so dearly? You don't care about us at all, you don't care who dies."
Why did he surround a fragile existence like a fairy with such great care, yet not direct that affection toward humans? Elenoa tried to retort with "That's not it," but fell silent. Just as the boy did not know their circumstances, she did not know the boy's suffering.
The existence of the Demon Lord and the fairy clinging to him must seem utterly unreasonable. Enough to bring tears. The young mage, who had managed to sneak in here, was confined in such a place, with no outlet for his frustration. Each word he spilled—"Why," "Damn it," "Master"—pierced Elenoa's heart.
"Damn it...!"
The boy groaned, clutching the book to his chest. The book was tattered. The cover was coming off, and the pages were so worn they waved. He held this artificially torn object as if it were precious.
"...What happened to that book?"
The boy roughly wiped away his tears.
"It is my master's memento."
"...I see."
"But it was written by the Demon Lord."
"............"
So, it was the boy who had torn the book. Yet he could not bring himself to destroy it completely, so he held it close.
Elenoa accepted this simply.
The boy fell silent and said nothing more after that.