DKFTI 36

Flap.

At the early hour when dawn had come, Aizen sent a carrier pigeon from his room. The carrier pigeon flew away.

Looking at the brightening sky, Aizen thought of the Holy Kingdom for the first time in a while.

If they found out that his body had recovered, it would become noisy, so he didn’t want to reveal it.

But Aizen had no thought of living while forgetting the mission he had sworn.

He had lived as he pleased, but the path he had walked had become his way of life.

He might not be the ideal Apostle that everyone desired, but he had no reason to abandon the duty that looked good at least on the outside.

“Heresy.”

The word God was used too easily.

For some people, it was justification and a weapon. When greed and goals stuck behind the word God, such tragedies often happened.

“Humans are truly tiring.”

The crowd thought that an Apostle simply erased monsters and fought demons, but in truth, it was more often that humans blinded by greed became the Apostle’s enemy.

Rather than complicated humans, weren’t the demons of this Demon King’s castle closer to being ‘human’?

“I am thoroughly bewitched.”

At this rate, the one becoming a cultist wouldn’t be other humans, it would be himself.

Aizen looked around at the peaceful and quiet Demon King’s castle. For some reason, hr started to feel uneasy. At that moment, a white cat appeared before him.

“Meow.”

It was the cat that had been appearing here and there in the Demon King’s castle recently.

“Are you still living here?”

Aizen wanted to pet the cat, but the proud cat had never once allowed his touch.

It seemed to resemble someone.

“Go in.”

Aizen quietly closed the window. The cat leapt away and disappeared.

***

The bright sunlight was burning the Demon King’s castle.

“Ah! Hot! Where is the ice golem!”

Ruru, who was planting flowers to decorate the castle wall under Sibel’s orders, was desperately searching for the ice golem.

On Ruru’s head was a straw hat, but it didn’t fully block the scorching sun.

“Demon King. Why do we always have to do this kind of labor?”

“…I don’t know. It’s hard.”

It was just as hard for Sibel. He wanted to cry too.

“The work of decorating the Demon King’s castle never ends.”

“Are you sure this is happiness?”

“Maybe?”

Was there such a thing as happiness you could be certain of in the world? He suddenly fell into philosophical agony.

Tok, tok.

Sibel’s hoe dug the ground.

“By the way, I wonder if that human got back safely.”

“Hopefully he didn’t croak and die on the way.”

Actually, Ruru was curious too. Ruru always had an interest in humans. He wanted to follow and watch, but as you could see, there was too much work in the Demon King’s castle.

“You heard about that cult, right? Demon King, you should also make followers like that and spread infamy.”

“Then are those cultists subordinates of another Demon King?”

“Who knows.”

It seemed he needed to check the community again. As he kept thinking about humans, Sibel began to feel curious about the world outside the Demon King’s castle.

“What is the humans’ world like, Ruru?”

“You’re curious?”

“Yes.”

He knew roughly it was a fantasy-like world, but he didn’t know the details.

Even the Demon King’s castle was this fun, so wouldn’t the outside world be more fun? Sibel was curious. But then he thought of his own circumstances.

“It must be dangerous.”

“For a Demon King, it’s full of dangerous things.”

He thought that if he, who was weak, wandered in the human world, he might face an unexpected accident and vanish, even his curiosity tucked its tail and disappeared.

“Let’s just plant flowers.”

Sibel continued planting flowers. After crouching for quite a while, his legs felt numb.

“Should I rest a bit?”

It was when he was about to take a break.

Whooosh-.

In the place where only hot air lay heavy, a cool breeze brushed through. And the iron gates of the Demon King’s castle opened.

Creak-.

“Hm?”

Sibel and Ruru turned their eyes to the gate. Sibel saw a person. His heart began to pound.

Why was there never a quiet day in this castle?

“Greetings.”

Strange. A more unusual entrance than any other being that had appeared in the Demon King’s castle.

White fluttering clothes, silver hair blowing in the wind, a soft and elegant voice… of a man.

“What is it this time.”

Sibel made a crying face. At the same time, Ruru’s ears perked up.

“Are you the master of this place?”

“Eh… eh?”

The man, light like a feather in the wind, walked gracefully to Sibel.

When did he move this close?

“Who are you?”

Sibel asked. Then the man, with a bright face, smiled gently and spoke.

“A tribute offered to the Demon King.”

“……”

“Ah, do you like classics? Where is the altar?”

“W-wait a moment.”

It was burdensome. The strange human who eagerly looked for the altar was very burdensome.

“Wow.”

Ruru let out an exclamation.

“What are you so happy about?”

Sibel noticed Ruru’s excited mood and asked.

“It’s been so long since we had a human tribute!”

Ruru clapped his hands.

“Hahaha, I’m embarrassed.”

The man all in white covered his cheek with his palm as if he was embarrassed. Was this really an expression a human thrown in as tribute would make?

“It is an honor to serve the Demon King.”

The man bent one knee before Sibel and bowed.

“…Ha, haha, hahaha.”

What was this? The confusion would not go away.

The human who had politely knelt before Sibel looked up at him. His golden eyes sparkled. He really looked like someone born from sunlight.

“My name is Ramiel. If you would call me in any way convenient, it would be my honor.”

The words fell too properly. Sibel almost nodded as if to say he would.

“For now… shall we go in?”

Sibel took off the straw hat he was wearing and scratched his head.

“As you wish.”

The man rose politely and bowed his waist. Truly, it was nothing but burdensome.

***

As Ruru wished, they got to meet the ice golem.

“I didn’t think the reception room would be used this often.”

Lately, Sibel was getting used to coming to the reception room so frequently.

Cold water was placed in front of Sibel and Ramiel.

“What is this now?”

Shanti, who had brought the cold water, whispered to Sibel. Sibel also wanted to ask.

“He says he is a human tribute…”

“What, huh?”

Shanti looked Ramiel up and down with a bizarre expression.

“He doesn’t look like it at all.”

Sibel fully agreed and nodded.

“Excuse me.”

“Yes. Please speak, Master.”

Ramiel’s face was surely thick-skinned. How could the word “Master” roll off his tongue so easily?

“Why am I the master….”

“Because I am a tribute offered to you, naturally you become my master.”

“Uh, hm, who sent you?”

“The far south, the Kingdom of Sharon.”

“Uh….”

Sibel glanced at Shanti. Then Shanti shrugged and answered.

“There are hundreds of countries on this continent, how could I remember them all.”

“That’s true.”

Sibel decided to understand Shanti’s difficulty.

“It is a very small and weak place. But since long ago, they kept good relations with strong Demon Kings and so their country has survived until now.”

“Aha. So by offering tribute, they want you to protect their country….”

“Rather than protect, it is more like a request not to attack them, don’t you think? Haha.”

The man laughed heartily. His face looked delicate, but by the way he acted before demons, he seemed quite bold.

“What was your name again, El?”

“Ramiel. But I also like the nickname El that the Demon King gave me.”

“It’s not a nickname.”

He just couldn’t remember.

“Whatever you call me, I will respond, so there is no need to worry.”

He had never worried.

The man’s smile strangely had the power to disarm the one looking. For some reason, it felt like he was being swayed by the man’s speech.

Avoiding Ramiel’s overly excited gaze, Sibel whispered quietly into Shanti’s ear.

“Do we need a human tribute in our Demon King’s castle?”

“Who knows.”

Even Shanti didn’t know since it had been so long.

“What do such people usually do?”

“The former Demon Kings either played with them as toys, threw them as feed to monsters, or sometimes if they liked their looks, they took them.”

“Is there nothing else?”

“What are you expecting? Are you planning to raise him well and support him?”

“What do we do in this case? Can’t we just send him back?”

“It would hurt face.”

“Why is it that face and pride are always hurt?”

“Those things exist. Life is harsh by nature.”

“…They said I was a king. What kind of king is this?”

The position of Demon King was truly strange. If it was absolute power, it was laughable. Far from being treated with grandeur, he lived every day watching humans.

The only setting that fit the name of king was that if anything happened, his head might be cut off and he would be removed from the throne.

“Let’s send him back.”

“But Demon King, I know how to read physiognomy.”

“Physiognomy?”

“That guy, he is not someone who will leave obediently.”

At Shanti’s words, Sibel cautiously turned his eyes to look at Ramiel. He was standing with his back straight, looking around, humming.

Humming… humming… did he come here to play?

As expected, just as Shanti said. He was not an easy opponent.

“Bringing him in or sending him away, it seems neither will go as the Demon King wishes.”

“What on earth goes as I wish here?”

It was absurd.