DKFTI 64

Sibel was dumbfounded, wondering what was happening. In the meantime, Aizen’s arms that were holding Sibel tightened even more. He seemed determined to not let him go.

“Don’t abandon me.”

“…Eh?”

“Don’t abandon me.”

“……”

Sibel was at a loss for words. Did Aizen think he had been abandoned that day? He had to clear up the misunderstanding. But he couldn’t make excuses now when it was clearly his own choice to let the misunderstanding grow even though he knew about it.

“If you’re going to abandon me, then just kill me instead.”

“……”

Why was he so extreme again?

“What, again, you’re talking so easily about people dying….”

Sibel squirmed, struggling to get out of Aizen’s arms. The more he did, the tighter Aizen’s arms bound him.

He gave up on escaping. Fine, do as you want.

“If you see enough, will you go back?”

Aizen shook his head. Sibel let out a sigh.

“You know you’re an Apostle, right?”

His head nodded obediently. At least he seemed to know who he was.

“You know I’m a Demon King, right?”

He nodded again.

“…So you know everything.”

Why was he like this if he knew?

“Still, it’s fine.”

This was a statement that should have been ended with a period three years ago.

The troublesome truth he had always turned away from, but eventually had to face.

Aizen nodded again.

Why was it? Before this ridiculous and absurd truth, instead of feeling angry, he started to laugh.

“It’s really a total mess.”

The Demon King’s life he had barely adjusted to started shaking again.

“…Did I get bewitched too?”

The illusion pollen must have created abnormal effects in his head as well.

Suddenly, a scene came to mind.

Falling rain, hot sensations in the cool air, a hand pulling him from afar.

It felt like the heat from that time was the same as the warmth in these arms now.

The sound of rain hitting leaves was clear in his ears.

Aizen’s face was visible between the faint smoke rising.

‘Is this… an illusion?’

Scenes kept playing in his head, he did not know if they were from the past, the future, or imagination.

‘A kiss….’

He had never had such a kiss in his life. And with Aizen, of all people?

The moment he saw the image of a hot hand grabbing his hand, he came back to his senses.

“Wow. Dangerous.”

It definitely had a hallucinogenic effect.

‘Ah, right.’

Only then did Sibel remember that he had gotten so excited about coming into the garden to trick Aizen that he had forgotten to cast protection magic.

Sibel quickly pulled out his crystal communicator and pressed mental protection from the magic list.

“Ha.”

Only then did his foggy mind clear up.

Once he came to his senses, Sibel lifted his hand and pinched Aizen’s cheek hard.

He squeezed the soft cheek flesh tight.

‘Get a grip! How long are you going to hold me!?’

As he pinched like that, Aizen’s body pulled back a little. Sibel did not miss the chance and raised his other hand, pinching both of Aizen’s cheeks hard.

“……”

Aizen, who had been staring blankly at Sibel, finally had focus in his eyes.

“Mmm hnya.”

This awkward way of speaking was something Sibel only ever heard from himself when his cheeks were grabbed, but now the slurred words came out of Aizen’s mouth, and it looked funny.

When Sibel unconsciously let out a small laugh, Aizen’s eyebrow twitched.

‘Oh. He’s going to get angry.’

Sibel, who noticed the sign instantly, tried to let go, but Aizen’s hands covered both of Sibel’s.

Uh….

In that moment, strength left Sibel’s hands. Thanks to that, he ended up just cupping Aizen’s cheeks.

Aizen quietly rested his face against Sibel’s hands and closed his eyes.

‘What, why, what am I supposed to do?’

Blocked by Aizen’s hands, Sibel could not let go, forced to face his face. Aizen slowly closed his eyes and opened his mouth.

“Don’t abandon me.”

“……”

He must have come to his senses, but the words from his mouth were no different from when he was under the illusion.

No, maybe there had never been an illusion from the beginning.

***

“It’s a mess! It’s a total mess!”

“Uwaah, who made the Demon King so angry!”

“The defense of our Demon King’s castle is zero!”

Sibel, who had just finished the invasion simulation of the Demon King’s castle, was angry.

“Yeah. You really were a mess.”

The cause of this disaster was Aizen. Ever since passing through the Garden of Illusion, he had been unstoppable. He dismantled every trap that the Demon King’s castle members had put their heads together to make, as if they were children’s games, and left a poor review.

It was clear that not everything was useless. The problem was that the opponent was Aizen. Thinking about it, Sibel should have realized something was wrong even before the simulation, when Aizen had already strolled into the Demon King’s castle in the middle of the night.

“Orcs, why did you just open the door?!”

The first ones Sibel blamed were the gatekeeper orcs. They were not Sibel’s summoned beasts. They were an orc clan that had been exiled from another Demon King’s land, who had applied to Sibel asking if they could live in Valheim, and Sibel had accepted them and entrusted them with guard duty as well.

He even paid them a hefty wage, but the work was like this.

“Grk, but, grk, it was Lord Demon King.”

Orcs were, contrary to their looks, a very affectionate race.

“I told you, you should think I’m an invader!”

“But, Gr, Shanti, Grrr, said the door is expensive, grng….”

“That door is big, so it is expensive.”

“……”

At Shanti’s words, Sibel’s heart weakened. Well, breaking an expensive door was too much for their tight budget.

“Okay. Moving on. What happened to the wall of fire that was supposed to come after the garden?”

“Ah, the gas got cut off.”

“Gas…?”

Did they actually have to pay gas bills here? No bill had come. Sibel was momentarily flustered.

“The beavers you summoned to build the dam dug up all the pipes and took them to the river.”

“……”

That was unexpected.

“Fine, let’s leave that. Then what about the maze? There was a hole, and you could get straight to the castle entrance in one go.”

“Aha, that was from when you played tag with Kairin, and you didn’t repair it afterward, right?”

“……”

Scratch, scratch. Sibel scratched the back of his head, recalling the past. He really had played a rough game of tag with Kairin.

“Wait. Then when Aizen entered the castle, why didn’t the emergency alarm go off?”

“The meerkats went on vacation.”

“……”

Was their Demon King’s castle really okay like this?

In three years there had been a lot of development, but the demons and demonic beasts’ discipline had become looser than before.

“But it’s still too much. No one even rang the bell.”

Sibel, wondering if the emergency bell was broken, pressed the red button.

Beeep-beeep-beeep-!

But the emergency bell echoed painfully through the whole Demon King’s castle.

“Whooo daaaares invade our castleeee!”

At that moment, they heard Ruru’s voice from far away.

‘This bastard, he didn’t even come to the meeting?’

Only then did Sibel realize that Ruru had been absent from the invasion simulation meeting.

Ruru appeared in front of Sibel, with a swollen face and fur pressed flat, as if he had been napping.

“Why are you so squashed?”

“Ahem, this body leapt out to defend the castle after waking up! Where is it! Is it that guy?”

Ruru raised his tail stiffly in a combat stance.

“…You forgot we were doing a simulation, didn’t you?”

“Ehh!”

Ruru’s eyes went round when he checked the Demon King’s castle members crowded around. He had definitely forgotten.

“Hehe.”

Ruru gave an awkward smile and came down the stairs sheepishly.

Sibel felt really anxious.

‘Is it really okay to entrust the defense of the castle to these guys…?’

As he gathered up the pieces of his collapsed spirit, he heard Aizen laugh.

“Ha ha.”

Why did he have such a nice laugh like that?

Sibel was quite displeased, because it had been revealed that his castle was still a mess. That was why Aizen’s every expression and action felt like a thorn in his eye.

Was it because he wanted to show Aizen, whom he had met again after a long time, a proper side of himself now?

“This is why I can’t feel at ease.”

Aizen shook his head side to side.

That was really rude, but he had nothing to say.

“Demon King, what is he talking about?”

Shanti asked Sibel.

“I don’t know either.”

Why was he like that?

“But you worked hard preparing.”

Aizen placed his hand on top of Sibel’s head.

“Take your hand off our Demon King, human.”

Shanti glared at Aizen with cold eyes. In the middle of summoned beasts who were all favorable to Aizen, Sibel felt Shanti was reliable. Yes. Someone had to protect the dignity of the Demon King.

“But human, did you work out?”

Shanti looked Aizen up and down, checking his more solid body. What was this? All of a sudden?

“Shanti is working out these days.”

Ah… they were sharing preferences.

Shanti came closer to Aizen, touching his muscles here and there, and they started to discuss what kind of stimulation he used for training.

“Hm.”

As expected, no one was sane.

Sibel quietly ended the meeting. Then the place turned into a fan signing event again.

“Hm.”

If the Demon King’s castle were really invaded, they would all be dead without resistance.