DKFTI 130

The walls were white to the point of looking as pale as snow-covered mountains, and the delicate gold ornaments that filled their gaps stretched out like veins, wrapping around the entire palace. The Holy Palace looked like a massive work of art.

“Wow.”

Sibel admired the overwhelming size and splendor of the palace, incomparable to his own Demon King’s castle. It was a scale that could never come from his imagination.

While Sibel looked around in wonder, Aizen simply searched for the correct path. Today as well, the two of them were disguised in cleric robes. Sibel liked these robes, since they seemed to let air flow through pretty well.

“The Holy Kingdom must be rich. How much did all this cost?”

The chandelier hanging from the ceiling sparkled with a lofty glow and looked expensive enough to buy a whole house. Holiness aside, the interior exuded the power of capital.

“Stop gawking like a bumpkin. People will find you suspicious.”

“I’m just studying. Maybe I’ll use some of this for redecorating the Demon King’s castle. Looking at this, our castle was more like a gloomy pit.”

Watching Sibel casually explore the interior made Aizen nervous. Did he understand how dangerous this place was for him?

“You don’t have to look at me like that. I’m just trying to relax my nerves a little.”

Fortunately, Sibel knew exactly what he was doing.

“I have a guess where they would keep important items. It’s obvious in a place like this.”

“Where?”

“There are three large buildings. One of them can only be entered after passing through the main palace. Anything important goes into the vault there. The holy knights directly under the Holy King will be guarding it.”

“Then it doesn’t seem like it would be easy to approach.”

“Waiting for something to be taken out is better than trying to sneak in.”

Aizen already had a plan. If they brought something because they intended to use it, then the day they took it out would eventually come. It was only a question of sooner or later.

“Shh.”

Aizen moved like someone used to avoiding the eyes of people inside the Holy Palace. He was familiar with how clerics normally walked around.

“Let’s head there first.”

The two of them walked briskly like clerics going about their daily work. Sibel wondered if he would ever again see this many clerics and holy knights together in his life.

At the same time, he couldn’t understand how these ordinary people—who bowed politely at them as they passed—would someday become enemies they had to fight.

The place was peaceful and quiet, yet the atmosphere felt heavy.

After moving quickly, reaching the place Aizen mentioned wasn’t difficult.

Compared to the main palace, the building here was smaller and plainer, but guards surrounded it. It was obvious they wouldn’t get much farther from here.

“This’ll be difficult.”

“Maybe a different disguise.”

Aizen scanned the surroundings.

“Holy knights?”

“But they have strong bonds because of their job. They’d recognize each other.”

“Hmm. What about cleaners?”

“Would that work?”

So that wouldn’t work either. Sibel smacked his lips in disappointment. Then Aizen turned his head toward the main palace.

“…It’s bothering me.”

He didn’t show it outwardly, but Brivan’s words were weighing on his mind. The Holy King was like a parent to him, someone who had rescued him and raised him. Aizen didn’t treat him that way, but it went without saying that they meant a lot to each other.

“What does the atmosphere feel like to you? It looks normal to me.”

If no one said anything, no one would expect this place to be at war with demons. It looked too peaceful.

“I can’t tell just by looking either.”

But Brivan wasn’t someone who spoke nonsense. So Aizen wanted to investigate more carefully.

“Do you want to check the main palace too?”

“If we can’t do anything here, that might be better.”

With both of them in agreement, there was no reason to stay here. They soon headed back into the second floor of the main palace.

***

The second floor of the main palace, where the Holy King’s office was, felt even more silent than the rest.

“The guards are gone.”

“Is that strange?”

“Think about it. At a time like this, they should increase guards, not decrease them.”

“That’s true.”

Aizen felt something wrong in the atmosphere of the second floor. It wasn’t logic. It was instinct. Something was different.

The usual signs—temperature, humidity, even the subtle scents he always noticed—felt weak. Pulled by something, Aizen walked toward the office. Sibel grabbed his arm.

“We can’t just walk into the Holy King’s office.”

“…I need to check something.”

“What? And what if we end up getting in danger…”

“Stay somewhere safe for a moment. I’ll be right back.”

Aizen was obviously talking about going to meet the Holy King. Sibel was a little shocked.

He knew Aizen had nerves of steel with no sense of retreat, but… wasn’t this going a bit too far?

“You do understand you’re not human anymore, right?”

Aizen nodded. That obedient nod made Sibel suddenly worry about him.

Aizen himself probably hadn’t changed. The same was likely true for the Holy King. But when circumstances change, relationships change too. No matter how close two people once were, maybe precisely because of that deep bond… they might hurt each other even more.

So Sibel worried that Aizen might be the one who ended up hurt. Aizen often acted simple and reckless on the outside, but Sibel had observed him all this time he knew Aizen wasn’t actually simple, and certainly not stupid.

Which meant that in a situation like this, the person suffering wasn’t the Holy King… it had to be Aizen.

“If doing this makes you feel at ease, then I can’t stop you. If anything goes wrong, I’ll help.”

If their whole journey up to now had been for his sake, then Sibel felt it was only right that he also step forward to support Aizen in what he needed to do.

Aizen nodded at Sibel’s answer.

“I’ll be nearby, so be careful.”

And so, for the first time in this entire journey, Sibel and Aizen moved in different directions. Aizen boldly turned around the corner of the corridor.

Sibel looked at his back with worry before moving to a spot where he wouldn’t be seen.

***

Barely any time had passed, but Sibel’s heart was already pounding.

What if the Holy King attacked Aizen now that Aizen was a demon? What if Aizen took the blow and broke down? Or worse, what if things went badly and Aizen ended up attacking the Holy King?

No matter what scenario he imagined, none of them ended well.

Should he not have let him go? Should he have tried harder to stop him?

He started regretting his decision. Feeling nervous made him homesick for everyone back at the Demon King’s castle. He wanted to use the crystal communicator, but Aizen had warned him several times before coming here. He must never reveal any demonic power in this place.

In a place filled only with holy energy, demonic power would stand out too much. His warning was reasonable.

“Hm…”

Sibel paced in circles in a quiet corner where no one passed. He didn’t understand why he was acting like this either.

While he fidgeted anxiously, something suddenly shifted.

He sensed someone’s presence.

Sibel lifted his gaze from the floor and looked toward the source of the presence.

An old man stood there. His clothes resembled cleric robes, but something about them was different. The white fabric was almost hidden by the dense gold embroidery, and on top of that rested a thick ceremonial stole of an unfamiliar color.

White and gold, even deep blue, those he had seen before. But the reddish hue was new.

Sibel met the man’s eyes for one brief second, and a chill ran down his spine.

“…The Holy King?”

Every cell in his body told him that the man he thought Aizen was meeting right now was standing right in front of him.

When Sibel called him, the Holy King gave a gentle smile. It didn’t suit the cold, drooping shape of his eyes.

“I knew you would come here.”

The Holy King’s voice was slow but clear, each word landing in Sibel’s ears. His back went rigid. The man knew who he was.

No, he didn’t just know. He seemed to have been waiting for him.

Sibel was confused. How did this situation even happen? Thoughts swarmed chaotically in his head. Was Brivan meeting them from the beginning all part of a trap?

As things turned worse, his thoughts slipped further from clarity.

“I’ve been waiting.”

He was so startled that his lips refused to move. When the Holy King took one step closer, Sibel involuntarily stepped back.

“No need to be that surprised. This is not the kind of problem you should be worrying about.”

The more the Holy King spoke, the more Sibel felt a strange sense of déjà vu. His fingertips trembled. Why? Was it simply the overwhelming pressure of the Holy King?

Sibel’s eyes were filled with confusion. He looked toward the office, but that place remained silent.