DKFTI 40

Aizen’s insolent gaze made Sibel bristle. He could tolerate Aizen ignoring Ruru, but ignoring him was something he could not endure…!

“What. Do you have a complaint?”

He could endure it. Enduring once more was not such a difficult thing.

“Ugh.”

While Sibel was flaring up, his ankle began to ache dully. Aizen’s gaze turned to Sibel’s ankle.

“Did you get hurt?”

“I think I sprained my leg. I fell from a tree.”

“You do all sorts of things.”

“Yes.”

He fully agreed. Even he thought he did all sorts of things.

“Let’s treat it.”

“How?”

“What do you mean how. Holy power… ah.”

Aizen stopped speaking as if something had occurred to him.

“Why?”

“I forgot for a moment that you are a demon.”

“What happens if you use holy power on a demon?”

“Do you want to know?”

Aizen suggested calmly. At that, goosebumps rose on Sibel’s arms.

“H-hey, don’t forget that I’m the Demon King! No, forget! No, you mustn’t forget.”

Even as he warned him not to recklessly use holy power while forgetting he was a demon, the words came out strangely. Was he saying not to forget or to forget. However it went, only endings where it became dangerous came to mind.

As Sibel rambled, Aizen looked around once.

“Get on my back.”

He checked if there was no one around, he bent his waist and showed his back to Sibel as if he was annoyed.

“Eh.”

Honestly, this was not a very welcome suggestion even for Sibel.

“Don’t make me say it twice, get on.”

He had already said it twice.

“But I also have social, no, demon world dignity. To go around on someone’s back carelessly is a bit…”

At Sibel’s answer, Aizen immediately scoffed.

“You talk about pride in that state?”

“……”

He always felt it, but even if Aizen said something correct, when it came out of that mouth it felt very unpleasant.

“I’m heavy.”

“Yeah. I know.”

Aizen cut off Sibel’s useless words immediately. It wasn’t the first time he had heard them anyway.

“Ah, it wouldn’t be good if a rumor spread that I was being carried on the Hero’s back…”

Muttering nonsense, Sibel carefully laid his body on Aizen’s back. Aizen easily carried him and stood up. At that light movement, Sibel was a little surprised.

Why was this human so strong?

“Um, excuse me, could you raise me a little higher.”

Feeling like his body’s center was too low, Sibel politely asked Aizen. Aizen then raised Sibel’s body higher. Only then did his view open up and he felt comfortable.

“But how did you find me?”

Sibel found it strange that Aizen, not another demon, had been the first to find him.

“Instinct.”

“As expected, Apostles really do have good intuition.”

Before being carried on his back, it had felt very burdensome, but once on the solid back, his ankle didn’t hurt, and he could feel warmth, so it felt quite nice.

On top of that, Aizen also smelled good. Even though he must have sweated a lot, his unique cool body scent mixed with the smell of the forest and there was nothing unpleasant.

Except for Aizen’s black hair brushing against his face and making it tickle from time to time, being carried on his back was tolerable.

Aizen began to walk silently. Sibel had thought he would nag endlessly along the way, but seeing Aizen unexpectedly quiet, Sibel began to feel somewhat bored.

“Did everyone go looking for me?”

So Sibel spoke first.

“They must be rummaging through some strange place.”

“Strange place?”

“Earlier they were digging in the mud of the swamp.”

“…If they’re looking there, doesn’t that mean they already think I’m dead?”

“If the sun rose, they were ready to hold a funeral.”

“Isn’t that giving up too fast.”

Thinking that everyone must be worried didn’t make him feel good. He wanted to quickly meet them and reassure them.

When the conversation cut off again, Sibel was filled with idle thoughts. For example, thoughts about the Hero carrying him on his back.

Why on earth was this human doing this here?

Did the Holy Kingdom not pay his salary well? Was the welfare bad? Is that why he was hanging around the easy Demon King’s castle?

“Is your dream perhaps to become a subordinate of the Demon King?”

Aizen sighed at Sibel’s sudden nonsense.

“What are you even talking about?”

“I just wondered why the Hero is doing this.”

“I want to know too.”

Sibel had once thought the reason Aizen couldn’t leave this place was because of ambition to seize something.

But for that, Aizen was spending far too quiet days. He had suspected that he was hiding his claws and waiting for the right time, but the wait was much too long.

And he was even helping him like this.

Was his original personality just a bit eccentric?

Sibel began to study the human called Aizen.

“Hero, where are you from. Were you born and raised in the Holy Kingdom?”

“My hometown?”

“Yes.”

It was actually a simple question. People often asked where one’s hometown was. But strangely, Aizen’s answer did not come easily.

Could it be this human even forgot his own hometown?

Sibel suspected that of Aizen.

“Lost land.”

“Huh? That’s its name?”

“Rubern.”

“Oh. That sounds kind of exciting. Like a legendary city or something?”

Sibel’s legs swayed up and down. Aizen’s arms tensed as he held Sibel’s body steady.

“Did the name of the town change?”

“The whole city was destroyed. Because of a demon invasion.”

“……”

Ah, damn. He had chosen the wrong topic.

The Hero’s back, which had suddenly felt as wide as a 330 square meters living room, now felt like a seat of thorns stabbing him.

“Uh, hm, well, those demons, why do they do such things. Really. Anyway, the problem is big. Big.”

Sibel hurriedly added words. If he kept silent, the whole way to the Demon King’s castle would feel like walking on thorns.

Some demon bastard had destroyed that town!

When alone with Aizen, he must never provoke him. Sibel swallowed dryly.

“When I was seven, the city I lived in burned. My family, my relatives, my friends, they all died then.”

Whatever demon it was, Sibel wanted to fold it in half. Not only because it had done something evil, but because it made his current self more endangered.

“Even though you had such a painful story, you grew up quite properly.”

“Do you think a human who realized it was all because of him grew up properly?”

Shit.

Who had brought up hometowns? Him.

Q. What are good questions for icebreaking?

A. So you are curious about icebreaking ^0^/

Icebreaking is an activity or topic used to start conversations or build connections between people meeting for the first time or not familiar with each other!

It helps anyone talk comfortably and freely!

Good topics for icebreaking are ordinary but fun ones ^^

For example, the weather, hobbies, interests, hometown, childhood dreams, favorite food, memorable moments, etc ^^

Here are some examples!

1- Do you have a hobby or interest you are into these days?

2- Where is your hometown?

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Sibel suddenly recalled a Q&A from Knowledge Plus he had once seen. But at this moment, only one thought came to him.

If you keep your mouth shut, you’re halfway there.

Why had he opened his mouth to dig his own grave.

But even in the middle of that, the question “Why?” came up in his mind, which made him think maybe since he was born in this body he had lost a bit of what was called humanity.

“Uh, excuse me, but why….”

He was curious why Aizen thought it was because of him. Wasn’t a demon invasion like a naturally occurring disaster?

Aizen had only been seven, what could he have done wrong that made him think it was his fault?

“Because of the absurd amount of holy power I was born with, I became the target. They aimed for me and destroyed the city.”

“Ah….”

“The temple had kept warning of the danger. But as a child I didn’t want to be apart from my family, so I threw a tantrum. I said I would stay there. I would secretly stay with them.”

Aizen’s voice gradually became softer. Since Sibel was behind him, he couldn’t see his face, so he didn’t know what expression he had.

“I insisted on staying with them out of love for my family but ended up killing them. That childish stubbornness, that love.”

“……”

“At that age, I couldn’t understand the words that sometimes you have to leave because you love.”

“But the one who was bad wasn’t you, Hero. It was the demons.”

It was comfort Aizen had heard hundreds, thousands of times. Sibel had expected it would be like that, but in such a situation only a stale comfort came out.

“So most of the city was destroyed by the demons, everyone was killed. Only after the city collapsed did I leave it. At the time, the High Priest who had heard the news came to get me and take me to the Holy Capital. Ah, that High Priest is now the Holy King of the Holy Nation.”

“Ah, so that’s how you became an Apostle.”

“Why do you think I became one?”

Aizen’s question plunged Sibel into thought. It’s human nature to want to give the right answer when asked a question. Many assumptions raced through his mind.