DKFTI 144

Several days had passed. The residents of the castle were searching for Sibel without a moment’s sleep. With Sibel having vanished without a trace, the castle was nothing short of a house in mourning.

Ruru, who used to scamper around the castle, now had fur that had gone from glossy to dry and brittle. Shanti, who had always been so meticulous about his appearance, now had dark circles under his eyes so deep they seemed to reach his chin. Raccoon, too, had lost his appetite and spent countless days staring blankly at the sky.

But among them all, the one who had changed the most drastically was Aizen.

All this time, they had stopped at nothing to find Sibel.

They had scoured not only the ancient grimoires kept in the castle but also, using his status as a hero, the forbidden books of the Holy Kingdom, employing every conceivable tracking spell and magic. They had even gone so far as to threaten the spirits visible to them, but the results were devastating.

Nowhere could they sense Sibel’s magic or his presence. It was as if he had been completely erased from the world, as though he had never existed in the first place.

“What are we going to do…? What if His Majesty can’t come back…?”

“Don’t talk such nonsense. Who do you think the Demon King is? Do you really think he’d come to harm over a mere sphere? He’s definitely still alive somewhere…”

As Ruru, who had been curled up in a corner of the reception room, sniffled, Shanti replied in a cracked voice. But even Shanti’s voice lacked any certainty.

It was just then, as their gloomy conversation hung in the air, Aizen, who had been sitting like a statue at the head of the reception room, slowly rose from his seat. His eyes were lifeless, completely devoid of vitality. His unfocused gaze swept across the room once, then immediately fell on his sword, which had been resting on the table.

Swish.

The sound of him gripping the hilt echoed with an unnerving chill.

Ruru and Shanti flinched.

“H-Hey, Hero…? Why the sword all of a sudden….”

Shanti swallowed nervously and asked cautiously. Ever since Sibel had disappeared, provoking Aizen’s already razor-sharp temper was tantamount to offering up one’s life.

But Aizen didn’t answer Shanti’s question; instead, he sheathed his sword at his waist. Then, in a monotone voice, he said

“I suppose I’ll have to do it.”

“…Huh?”

“I think I’ll have to kill Karhan to relieve this frustration.”

“Eek!! He has finally lost his mind!”

Just as Aizen was about to walk away, Shanti and Ruru threw themselves at him.

“Nooo! Calm down, Hero!”

“Eek! You’ll get yourself killed too!”

Ruru dangled from Aizen’s right leg, while Shanti, tears and snot streaming down his face, clutched his arm tightly. Despite the two demons’ desperate attempt to stop him, Aizen’s expression remained cold and impassive.

“I’m already burning up inside, and now you’re making things even harder for me, Hero!”

Ruru shrieked as he sniffed back his tears and snot. Under normal circumstances, he wouldn’t have dared to grab Aizen’s pant leg and vent his anger, but right now, he couldn’t care less.

“If even a single hair on your head gets hurt while you’re out trying to kill Lord Karhan, what do you think the Demon King will say to us when he returns?! Please, just stay put!”

Despite Ruru’s desperate pleas, Aizen’s cold eyes didn’t waver. Instead, he fiddled with the hilt of the sword at his waist in annoyance.

“Who said anything about getting hurt?”

“Anyway, no! I really don’t want to watch everyone die… huh?”

Ruru, who had been struggling and screaming, suddenly froze. His bloodshot eyes rolled back, and a familiar name slipped out between his lips.

“Karhan…”

Ruru muttered with a dazed expression. Aizen’s brows furrowed at his bizarre reaction, and Shanti, who had been clinging to him, looked at Ruru with a confused expression as well.

Ruru suddenly lifted his head. A glimmer of hope appeared in his eyes, which had been filled with despair. Ruru let go of the hem of Aizen’s pants and jumped to his feet.

“That sphere was in Lord Karhan’s room! Since it’s Lord Karhan’s treasure, he must know exactly what it is and how it works!”

“……!”

“Instead of going to wring his neck, let’s go beg for help, even if we have to get down on our knees! Lord Karhan might know where that sphere sent the Demon King!”

At Ruru’s shout, Shanti’s eyes widened as well. They’d been so fixated on tracking down Sibel’s magic that they’d completely overlooked the obvious, the very object that had caused the problem in the first place, and its true owner.

Well, asking for help while brandishing stolen goods was a bit shameless, but now wasn’t the time to be picky.

“Let’s go to Petra! Hurry!”

With that, vitality returned to the room.

***

“Huh? What did you say? Hmm, was there something like that?”

Karhan replied indifferently as he looked at the residents of Valheim’s Demon King’s castle. He looked remarkably unconcerned as he lay diagonally while picking his ear with his pinky finger.

“Our Demon King’s magic has completely, it’s vanished as if it were never there!”

Ruru appealed to Karhan with exaggerated gestures.

“Can’t be helped. Guess we’ll just have to wait for a new Demon King now.”

Finally, Aizen stepped in, unable to tolerate Karhan’s sarcastic attitude.

“Wait for a new Demon King?”

Aizen’s voice rang out coldly, sounding as if it came from the depths of hell.

They had come all the way to the castle to Petra, clinging to a sliver of hope that he might find Sibel, but the other man’s attitude was grating on Aizen’s nerves.

Clang

Aizen finally lost his composure to rage, and unsheathed the sword from his waist halfway. The murderous aura that erupted caused the temperature in the reception room to plummet.

“I understand that you’ve lost your mind, but don’t cause trouble in my house.”

Karhan sat up and warned. The indifferent, smug expression from earlier had vanished without a trace, replaced by the Demon King’s characteristic, intimidating aura.

“Isn’t it ridiculous for you, who not only plucked someone’s nose hair and ran off but also stole my treasure, to come here now and demand I find it?”

Faced with Karhan’s perfectly reasonable point, Ruru and Shanti flinched and stepped back. But common sense was of no use against Aizen.

“You’re rambling. So, answer me. Do you know what that sphere is.”

“I can’t possibly remember every single trinket in my castle. Besides, the very sphere that caused this isn’t even here right now, how am I supposed to track it down? I’m not a god.”

Karhan ran his fingers through his hair in exasperation.

“If the magic has been completely severed, that means he’s not in this world. He either fell into a dimensional rift or flew off to a completely different dimension. If it’s the latter, you’ll never find him. So you might as well give up and find a new Demon King or…”

“Shut up.”

Clang!

Aizen fully drew his sword and pointed it at Karhan.

“If he’s not in this world, we’ll just go to another one. If he fell into a dimensional rift, we’ll tear that rift apart. So, spill everything you know. Unless you want to die.”

His pitch-black eyes left absolutely no room for compromise. Karhan also furrowed his brow and began to summon his magic.

“You crazy bastard…”

As Karhan and Aizen’s magic were about to collide head-on, cracks began to form in the reception room’s glass windows.

“Aaaah! Both of you, stop it!”

Just then, Ruru, his face a mess of tears and snot, wedged himself between the two men and threw himself flat on the floor.

“Lo-Lord Karhan! Please, I beg you! Please help me find our Demon King! You’re the Great Demon King who’s lived for so, so long! There’s nothing you don’t know!”

At Ruru’s desperate flattery, Karhan’s eyebrow twitched.

“…Hmph, trying to butter me up now?”

“It’s not flattery, I’m being sincere! Sniff, I’ll pay you back by working as a slave until my bones rot for the rest of my life for what I stole, so please, just give me a hint…!”

As Ruru begged with his forehead pressed against the floor, Shanti also knelt beside him and bowed his head.

Aizen still hadn’t sheathed his sword, but he didn’t advance any further.

Karhan let out a sigh as he looked back and forth between the two demons prostrating themselves before him and Aizen, whose gaze remained menacing.

“…Haaa. Alright, I get it. Just back off a bit. You’re such a pain.”

Karhan withdrew his magic with a wave of his hand. Aizen reluctantly lowered his sword as well, though his gaze remained cold.

“I’ll have to see the actual item to be sure…”

Karhan stroked his chin as he searched his memory.

“First, he’s not dead, as you two feared.”

“Really? Do you know where the Demon King is?”

“Are you saying you don’t believe me?”

Karhan snapped his fingers in annoyance and added indifferently.