DKFTI 122

‘How far did you go with that bastard?’

‘You’re not going to say anything stupid like ‘We were in love’ or ‘I still have feelings for him,’ right?’

‘Was it that good that you just had to run around the world together?’

‘Me or him. Decide right now.’

Sibel barely escaped from Aizen’s barrage of questions. He wouldn’t let go of Sibel’s hand, and whenever Sibel tried to look away to avoid answering, Aizen would grab his chin and force him to meet his eyes. He really was insane.

That temper of his never went anywhere.

Sibel managed to dodge most of the questions with half-baked excuses and vague answers, but Aizen’s mood was completely ruined by the end of the conversation.

“Demon King, this is suicide, you’re walking straight into enemy territory.”

“I don’t want to step foot in a scary place like the Holy Kingdom!”

Shanti, who had brought the supplies they needed to head there, looked worried for Sibel, while Ruru was already getting ahead of himself even though no one had invited him along.

“But if we’re going to the Holy Kingdom, what kind of disguise should we use? I’m not into the muscle-bound mercenary type. What’s your concept, Demon King?”

“…Why would I need a concept for something like this?”

“What? Are you really planning to go with your face as it is?”

He hadn’t actually thought that far ahead. Maybe a fake mustache or something would do.

“You need details! Are you going as a noble? A priest? An old man? A young man?”

He was already exhausted before they even left.

“But Ruru, you can’t come.”

“Huh? Why not?”

Ruru, who had been wagging his tail happily while looking in the mirror, turned to him in shock.

“Because we’re going in secret.”

“I like doing things secretly too!”

“Yeah, no.”

Ruru would definitely get noisy and blow their cover, and Shanti wasn’t any safer. With his excessive loyalty, he might cause some kind of incident. Everyone in the castle was like that.

He could contact them with magic and call them if needed, so there was no reason to waste energy dragging them along from the start.

Honestly, even Aizen wasn’t necessary unless he was acting as a guide… though the idea of going to the Holy Kingdom alone was terrifying enough.

“Why’s your bag that big…?”

He’d planned to pack light. But the luggage Shanti swore he’d keep to a minimum had grown absurdly huge, far beyond what any normal person could carry.

“They’re all necessary. You’d regret leaving them behind.”

A lot of the things going into that bag looked suspicious too.

“Here.”

Shanti handed the bag to Aizen, naturally showing his favoritism toward his Demon King.

“So he’s not a guide after all, he’s just a porter.”

Sibel could feel Aizen’s cold gaze, but he quietly looked away. There was no time to waste arguing over something like that.

“Let’s go.”

And so, after a rather grand farewell, Sibel and Aizen set off for the Holy Kingdom.

As they stepped through the magic portal Shanti opened, Sibel thought of something. If they were going to use magic… or even without it, if he’d just rummaged through the Demon King’s Castle treasury, there were plenty of ways to avoid carrying all that weight.

But when he saw Shanti’s sly grin as Aizen slung the massive bag over his broad shoulders, Sibel kept his mouth closed.

Why though? Why did Aizen always seem to be on Shanti’s bad side?

It was a mystery.

***

According to Shanti, it wasn’t possible to open a portal directly into the Holy Kingdom. The place was protected by holy power, and using magic within its borders required approval from its authorities. But getting close to it had been easy enough, so it didn’t matter.

After surviving the nerve-racking inspection at the city gate, the two of them finally stepped inside.

“The air really does feel different.”

It wasn’t that far from Valheim, but the atmosphere was unlike the small towns near the castle.

While Sibel marveled at the sight of the Holy Kingdom, Aizen was unimpressed. Normally, he would’ve been walking proudly down the center of a road that split like the Red Sea, clad in shining silver armor. Now, his face was hidden by a dark robe, and a huge bag hung from his back. It was only natural that he didn’t feel great.

They say humans only realize what they value after losing it, and perhaps that was true. The attention he’d once found bothersome was now gone, and its absence left him feeling empty.

“Look at that carriage. The wheels are covered in gold! Isn’t that basically sprinkling gold on the road? Wow.”

Unaware of Aizen’s mood, Sibel admired the city.

The Kingdom of Ron had been impressive too, but this place had a distinct sense of sanctity fitting for a land that worshiped the gods. The statues scattered throughout the city, the grand temples, the white, spotless roads, all gleamed so much that it almost felt worldly instead of holy.

“It’s probably just gold-plated.”

“Is this really the time to nitpick that?”

Well, no. Whether it was gold or copper didn’t matter. The priority was to reach the temple said to hold the holy water that could erase memories.

“Are you sure it’s really there?”

“There are lots of sacred relics in the royal palace temple, but from what I know, that holy water has strict storage requirements. It’s kept elsewhere.”

“You sure know a lot about the Holy Kingdom.”

“You make it sound like you think I’m an idiot.”

Sibel flinched. Maybe not an idiot, but he didn’t exactly think Aizen was smart either.

“It’s still a relief that it isn’t the royal palace. Sneaking in there would’ve been much harder.”

For the two of them, that was actually good news.

“But I can’t get used to this hair color.”

Sibel touched the strands fluttering around his eyes. His hair was now dyed brown. Before leaving the castle, Ruru had been excited to cast transformation magic on him, and the brown hair was part of that. Thanks to Ruru’s spell, even his facial features now appeared unrecognizable to others.

Ruru had used a special fox folk spell that relied on spiritual art instead of magic, to avoid interference from holy power. It had turned out to be quite useful.

“Why’s mine this color though?”

After some thought, Ruru had made Aizen’s hair red. Because Aizen already had strong features, he’d looked rather intimidating at first, but the spell blurred his appearance enough that it somehow suited him.

“When else would you get to try something like this? We should make a secret code while we’re at it!”

“A code?”

“In case we don’t recognize each other.”

Ruru’s magic was impressive. Because of that, Sibel kept getting startled whenever he turned around while walking through the streets. He often couldn’t recognize immediately Aizen’s face. If not for the big bag on his back, he might’ve lost him entirely.

“Even so, not recognizing me at all is a bit much.”

“I’m just saying, just in case. Who knows? Besides, it’s fun.”

Sibel hummed. Strangely, being in an unfamiliar place put him in a good mood. He hadn’t come for a pleasant reason, but he didn’t plan to sulk either.

“It has to be something unique, so it works right away, right?”

Aizen ignored him and continued walked quietly, so Sibel hurried to catch up.

“Something only we’d understand. Got any ideas?”

“None.”

“Oh, come on. Ah! How about something that reminds us of when we first met?”

It sounded like a great idea. What had he thought back then? Let’s see… that day…

Then Aizen suddenly spoke.

“Waves.”

“Huh?”

“The foam of the waves.”

Sibel had no idea what he meant. But as long as it worked to tell them apart, any word would do. So he made his own choice.

“Then I’ll go with pervert.”

“That’s what you thought of when you saw me?”

Aizen turned around, looking dumbfounded.

Maybe he’d been too honest. But it was the first thing that he could think of.

“Waves and pervert. Okay. If we ever doubt each other, we’ll use that as our code.”

“This feels unfair. No, it’s weird.”

Sibel suddenly thought Aizen seemed much softer than he used to be. In the past, he would’ve sworn at him and yelled that it pissed him off, but now he just said it felt weird. Weird? Really?

He didn’t know what had happened to make him that way, but somehow it felt a little pitiful.

“Let’s just go.”

To avoid being questioned further about the ‘pervert’ thing, Sibel pretended to hurry.

“Is the temple far? Should I carry the bag now?”

Honestly, he couldn’t understand why they needed such heavy luggage in such a big city. If the contents were gold and jewels, he’d rather spend them on a nice inn and good food.

“Just walk.”

“Yes, sir.”

Thanks to Aizen’s consideration, Sibel could walk with ease. Following the path Aizen took with familiarity, they eventually reached a narrow alley.

Even in a glittering city like this, shadows still existed. And there, Sibel saw something.

“P, please help me!”

Or rather, their eyes met.