DKFTI 4

Is this okay?

In fact, it wasn’t okay. After regaining consciousness, Aizen and Sibel sat facing each other at the long dining table of the Demon King’s castle, each at one end.

“It… means an apology.”

“……”

Aizen, arms crossed, kept his brow furrowed without relaxing it even once.

“You bastard! Our Demon King is speaking to you and you can’t answer properly?”

“I should have just killed him earlier.”

At dinnertime, not only Ruru but even Shanti had shown up. The two stood at Aizen’s sides, glaring at him while guarding Sibel.

“Ahem, you don’t need to speak so harshly…”

“Stay quiet, Demon King! This bastard is ignoring your majesty!”

It seemed like you were the one ignoring that majesty.

Sibel wanted to argue, but he kept his lips tightly shut at Shanti’s words, fidgeting with the hands he had laid neatly on his knees.

“Ha.”

Then, a short sigh spilled out from Aizen’s tightly closed mouth.

“So you’re the Demon King?”

After glaring at him for a long time, he finally seemed to accept reality. It was the voice of someone who had resigned himself.

“Yes…”

Now that he had been found out, there was nowhere left to hide. Sibel lowered his eyes.

“How dare you look at the Demon King with such insolent eyes!”

“Should I rip his mouth open?”

“…Please, can’t you two just stay quiet…”

Shanti got angry, Ruru urged punishment. This nightmarish situation made Sibel feel like crying.

Aizen had seemed like he would charge straight at the Demon King and kill him the moment they met, but he was calmer than expected. Rather than facing an enemy, his gaze was like someone staring fixedly at a test subject.

“The Demon King, you say.”

How many times would he ask that.

“Did the electric shock damage your eardrums…?”

Sibel truly asked out of worry for Aizen’s health.

“Ha.”

But Aizen seemed to take it differently. His lips twisted into a sardonic smirk.

“So, what are you planning to do with me now?”

He shot the words in a cold, firm voice.

“I wasn’t planning to do anything…”

Let’s not fight, let’s not kill each other. Please.

“You think I’ll play along with your petty games?”

“…You just look scary, that’s all…”

“Ha.”

Again. That derisive sneer.

Sibel shrank more and more under Aizen’s force. The roles of master and servant had been completely reversed.

“I heard you came to the Demon King’s castle for something you wanted… My treasure vault door lock code is 1234…”

“No! Demon King, how could you reveal such an important thing! That’s been top secret since the seventy-eighth Demon King!”

Usually, no one calls 1234 top secret.

When Aizen gave no reaction to his words, Sibel opened his mouth again.

“The code is 1234… The antidote is in the first cabinet…”

But still there was no response. Even while staring him straight in the face, he gave no answer. That made Sibel worry for his eardrums again.

“The! Code! Is! One! Two…!”

“What kind of nonsense is this?”

His low voice cut Sibel off, sharp and piercing. The cold question caught him off guard.

How did he know it was a trick.

“We sit across and eat, you hand me the antidote, and then what comes next?”

In that moment, Sibel thought.

Wouldn’t it be fine if you just took it and ran away?

But under Aizen’s strangely threatening aura, he lost his nerve and could not bring himself to say it.

“Nothing at all…”

“And this dog collar… ha.”

Aizen angrily said, then let out a breath of disbelief. When he lowered his head, his black hair poured down like a waterfall.

“I’ll set it so it falls off the moment you leave the Demon King’s castle…”

At Sibel’s answer, Aizen glared at him with disgust and looked down at the food laid out before him. Fragrant roasted vegetables and meat, luxurious spices and sauces, even wine. It was like a banquet.

“You think food will go down my throat while looking at you demon bastards?”

Ah! Sibel suddenly looked as though he understood the problem, he brightly smiled as he stood up.

“Then please, enjoy your meal!”

Why did he put it in such a roundabout way, when what he really meant was that he wanted to eat alone in peace? Thinking that, Sibel hurriedly left his seat. It was actually for the better, since sitting across from him had felt like death.

“Demon King! Where are you going! Won’t you eat?”

“I’ll go too!”

Shanti and Ruru followed Sibel with light steps as he quickly left the dining hall.

Only Aizen remained in the hall. Watching the three storm noisily out, he let out a hollow sigh.

When he lowered his head, shadows fell across his eyes. For a moment it seemed he was thinking over something, then he raised the hand on the armrest to his temple.

His black eyes, rippling faintly, turned toward the seat across from him, where Sibel had been sitting moments ago.

The time he spent staring at the empty seat only grew longer, and the silence went on unbroken.

***

The morning dawned.

By now, the hero must have taken the treasure and gone outside, right?

There was no way he could not have heard the code, spoken so loudly. Even with a two-digit IQ, he should be able to remember it. The main gate had been left wide open, and the road had been polished smooth so he would have no trouble going. Everything was perfect.

“Hm~ hm.”

Sibel, cheerfully humming, rolled his body over from lying down and picked up the crystal communicator. Then he entered #Demon King Community#.

#DemonKingCommunity#

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[Title: (Daily) Why are humans making such a fuss lately?

Content: I hear these days mages are swarming together and raiding Demon King castles. Any Demon King with information?

└Must be the bastards of the Magic Kingdom? A Demon King I know got hit too;; I heard he lost even his underwear and is making money dancing pole at a human tavernㅠ

└Crazy; that’s too much;

└Yeah, even if not that bad, lots of raids are happening everywhere for real.

└Demon Realm’s in great shape huh

└If you’ve got no ability, you deserve to croak

└Really dangerous to live as a Demon King, knights, saints, and mages all overㅡㅡ

└Anyone want to bet land and fight me 1:1

└Shouldn’t you ask first if you even have any land left to bet?]

Truly, this world was chaos. How could humans raid Demon Kings, kill them, and cause such havoc?

He had suspected it since Demon Kings began numbering in the dozens, but it was a mess.

‘It can’t go on like this.’

Leaving aside the hero’s case, many other threats were lurking. Moreover, the land where Sibel had settled was in the worst possible location, bordered by the Holy Kingdom and the Magic Kingdom.

Sibel opened his message box and sent one to Shanti.

[Magic practice. Please prepare.]

The message was delivered with a cheerful notification sound. Sibel stretched and rose from bed. Warm sunlight was pouring in through the window.

“First, let’s take the Demon King-exclusive magic manual and try washing up.”

Sibel happily walked toward the washbasin prepared in the corner of the room. He looked into the mirror to admire his beautiful face again today.

“Uwaah! What is this!”

He let out a scream that sounded like he was being torn apart. Shock, fear, confusion!

“…Th, this…”

Sibel, his face pale, fumbled with the mirror with trembling hands.

***

“Sniff, hic.”

“Aigo, please stop crying, Demon King.”

Shanti, who had brought along a pile of scarecrows for magic practice, had been consoling Sibel for thirty minutes. His eyes kept pouring out water as if a faucet had been left running.

“How can this be. I’m so sensitive when it comes to aesthetics.”

“Sensitive… I see.”

Shanti replied while scratching his round protruding belly.

“How, how could I… grow horns?”

This was the very reason Sibel had been seized by terror. Two thumb-sized horns were sprouting from his forehead. They were pale and glossy like white ivory.

Sibel sat crouched in the corner of the training ground, covering his horns with his hands as he sobbed.

“What’s wrong with horns? Be proud! The Demon King’s horns are splendid!”

“Horns? I’m not a beast, horns?”

“I have horns too.”

“You’re in an animal form!”

“Hm.”

Shanti did not understand Sibel’s reaction. After all, the bigger and more imposing the horns, the prouder they are.

“Haa, this is too shameful. Walking around showing these horns to others is no different from walking around naked.”

“There are quite a few Demon Kings who walk around naked.”

“Savages!”

Sibel once again felt devastated by the dreadful reality.

“If you don’t like it, why not just hide them with your hair?”

“Should I?”

Sibel lowered his hair to cover the horns.

“Demon Kiiing!”

At that moment, Ruru came running from afar, looking for Sibel. Wagging his tail as he ran, he stopped in front of Sibel. Noticing Sibel’s strange condition, Ruru tilted his head, then suddenly spotted the change.

“You’ve grown horns!”

“Uwaaah!”

Everyone knew! Everyone knew about the horns!