DKFTI 37

“Then what should I start with, Master?”

Ramiel smiled as he asked. Sibel answered.

“Can you start by dropping that ‘Master’ title?”

“That’s not difficult. Lord Demon King.”

He was being pulled in. No doubt he was being pulled in.

“Do you like snacks?”

Then Ramiel took a bundle from his chest. From it came a savory and sweet fragrance.

“……”

As the bundle was unwrapped with a rustle, splendid-looking pastries appeared, glistening faintly.

At least this guy had manners.

“Please eat slowly while we continue talking.”

Ramiel offered him a seat. Who was the master and who was the guest? Sibel sat down without resistance.

From what he had learned here, nothing got solved by fretting. If there was something tasty, it was a gain to eat it while he could.

And so, Sibel ended up saddled with yet another headache.

***

A mountain is a mountain, and water is water. This was a very common truth.

“You seem to be struggling. Shall I give you a step back?”

“Wait. The angle is coming out now.”

A human was just a human. The tribute human Ramiel, who had suddenly come to Sibel, had adapted to the Demon King’s castle in an absurdly human way.

“Sss.”

Sibel’s brow furrowed as he focused on the game of flicking marbles.

No matter how he looked at it, overturning this losing position wasn’t easy.

He was hit with a double strike just before was fatal. Only one marble remained.

It was never going to be easy to knock out Ramiel’s three marbles left on the board with that one. Ramiel sat with his chin high, fanning himself leisurely.

“Mmmmmm.”

Sibel shifted to the right and adjusted the angle of his finger.

“Even if you knock one out from that side, it will die right after.”

“Mmmmmmmm.”

Hearing that, Sibel naturally shifted his body to the other direction.

“That side is too long. Isn’t the chance higher if you choose the shorter one?”

“Mhhhhhmmm.”

Sibel returned to his original front position. It was truly not easy.

“I told you, I’ll give you a step back.”

“That wouldn’t be a true victory!”

Sibel jumped up. Even if he won that way, it wouldn’t feel good. No, it would feel empty.

“Victory is just victory. The small details in the process are meaningless before the result.”

Ramiel calmly said this as he sipped his tea. Sibel stared at him.

A stifling wind blew between the two. Soon Sibel rested his chin on his hand with a sulky face and aimed a white marble.

“That kind of result-centered thinking isn’t to my taste.”

Click. The white marble knocked off a black one.

The white marble barely hung at the edge of the board.

“Saying the result justifies the means is too violent.”

“You value the process.”

Ramiel set down his teacup and slowly moved his hand. His black marble lightly knocked away Sibel’s precariously hanging white marble.

Watching the white marble roll across the floor, Sibel grabbed at his hair.

That made ten losses out of ten matches.

He should have accepted when Ramiel offered a step back.

All the strength drained out of Sibel. In the end, if the result was bad, effort amounted to nothing.

“Did you spend your whole life just playing marbles?”

“It’s my first time today, but it seems I have talent.”

“Lies.”

Someone so skilled had never played marbles before? What a joke.

It was a pastime he played when bored. Ruru was too hot-tempered and made frequent mistakes, and Shanti was serious but often failed to control his strength.

Among such weak opponents, Sibel’s only source of self-respect had been his wins in this game.

Ramiel had left a deep scratch on his pride.

“I only wanted Lord Demon King to enjoy himself to the fullest.”

“Shameless.”

“But isn’t it more satisfying to break a strong opponent than an easy one? Haha.”

It was vexing, but true. For once, Sibel felt dopamine from a game of marbles.

“Shall we play more?”

“Why? This time you’ll let me win?”

“I mustn’t make it obvious, must I?”

Infuriating. Infuriating enough to die.

“Tomorrow then.”

“As you wish, anytime.”

Ramiel’s relaxed manner made Sibel’s stomach churn.

Sibel swallowed a deep breath and glanced over the garden of the Demon King’s castle. With repairs still unfinished, there were plenty of spots that needed work.

“Why are all the repairs done manually?”

Ramiel, following Sibel’s gaze, asked. When he had first arrived, Sibel had also been working on landscaping.

“Because there’s no other way?”

Ramiel couldn’t understand. Naturally. Who would believe a Demon King was stuck doing manual labor because his magic ability was too poor?

“Do you want to help?”

At Sibel’s words, Ramiel showed that same beautiful smile. A halo seemed to glow behind his face.

“Do you know, humans have an illness called heatstroke.”

He talked as if he would hand over his very liver if asked, as if he were a loyal servant, but in truth Ramiel was sly.

“The sun today is truly merciless.”

Ramiel looked up at the blazing sun as he spoke. To make him work after hearing that would surely earn the brand of a psychopath.

“Why does this feel so strange?”

Too mild to get angry, too awkward to just let go. It was an unsettling feeling. But as always, there was no way forward except to get bitten.

Just as Sibel was feeling that small confusion, someone appeared on the terrace where the two were.

With footsteps loud and unrestrained, it was Aizen.

“What are you doing here?”

Aizen did not like Ramiel. The reason was unclear. At least to Sibel, it was invisible.

Maybe it was just that Aizen’s personality threw human relationships to the dogs. That was all Sibel could guess.

The first time the two had met was in the dining hall. Aizen had openly shown his displeasure at Ramiel, who had shamelessly wedged himself into the castle and made himself at home.

He seemed especially annoyed by Ramiel’s abnormal sociability.

‘Ah, are all fox demons like this? Such lovely ears you have.’

‘Indeed, dragon energy. Before Shanti-nim, even most adults would have no name to give.’

‘How curious. How can someone be the Demon King yet carry such varied auras?’

Ramiel found everything in the Demon King’s castle wondrous and never spared his praise. Because of it, demons and monsters alike quickly grew fond of him.

His voice seemed to hold some special power. Something that enchanted others. The only one it did not affect was Aizen.

“You are loafing again, with this thing.”

“It’s not right to call a person ‘thing.’”

“Are you trying to lecture me now on right and wrong?”

Sibel carefully added a word, then quickly shut his mouth.

“Apostle Aizen always seems to be angry.”

Ramiel rose and gave Aizen a slight bow. The wind blew through his fine hair. He truly was someone who shone.

Anyone seeing the two of them now would find it hard to say which side was good and which was evil.

Aizen ignored the greeting and walked over to Sibel. Aizen placed his arms on Sibel’s shoulders, who had been sitting with hands neatly on his knees. It was a very brazen gesture.

“Didn’t I say bringing in strays would cause trouble?”

“Strictly speaking, I’m not bringing them in. They just barge in. It’s closer to an intrusion.”

“Should I kill him?”

Aizen said the murderous line as if he was suggesting a meal. And he did in front of the person involved.

People with broken personalities were really something else.

“…If you just kill someone, you’ll be in chains when you get back to the Holy Kingdom.”

“Not if no one finds out.”

At that, Sibel thought. Was the Holy Kingdom sane, giving an official sword to a would-be killer like this?

“You’re not serious, right?”

He was curious. Was he truly serious?

Sibel turned his head and looked into Aizen’s eyes as he leaned against him. Aizen had sleepy eyes, more than usual, as if he had taken a long nap.

“How does it look to you?”

But in that instant, Aizen’s eyes gleamed.

Yes, he was serious.

Sibel quietly hunched his shoulders and carefully lifted the arm that rested on him with his fingers.

But Aizen brushed off Sibel’s hand with a flick, like someone swatting away a fly.

“Ah, I’m late. Time to work. In weather fit to give humans heatstroke, off to work I go.”

He didn’t want to sit any longer on that bed of nails, Sibel jumped up quickly. Aizen’s body swayed.

“Then!”

Sibel fled the room. In the end, only Ramiel and Aizen were left on the terrace, with the abandoned Go board.

Aizen’s gaze lingered on the board’s grid, then shifted to Ramiel.

He casually leaned against the railing as if filling the space Sibel had vacated, his eyes were far from pleasant.

“What are you ?”