DSB 113

[Why me?]

Luceris jumped in shock. He suspected Lebel had an ulterior motive, but he didn’t expect to be forced to act as a guard on top of being made to contract against his will.

Now small, Luceris escaped Lebel’s arms and flew around the room in circles, protesting loudly.

[No! Why should I do that?!]

“You have to protect your contractor.”

[He’s strong enough to not need my protection!]

“Now, now, Lebel. If he dislikes it this much, wouldn’t it be better to just cancel the contract?”

Edmund, who had been watching quietly, finally spoke up. It would be a lie to say he didn’t want a dragon, but Lebel had already helped him enough.

Even having a dragon stay at Hestro Castle for a short time would be enough to protect it from outside threats. Besides, since the dragon hated the idea so much, Edmund didn’t want to force him into a contract.

“Father-in-law, do you know how moody demons are? Especially the young ones.”

Lebel felt frustrated that Edmund was trying to give back the precious gift he had just handed him. Yutis was like this, and now Edmund was too.

“Before, he couldn’t leave one spot for a reason, but that’s over now. He is still a demon, and destroying a kingdom is easy for him. He gets stronger as he gets older, so you must be careful.”

[I’m not like that!]

“Even humans break promises and change their minds as easily as they drink water. What do you think a demon would do? Trusting a demon who hasn’t given his name or a written contract is more than naive, it’s stupid.”

“But you aren’t like that.”

“I am not a young demon, and I take responsibility for what I say. Also, I have a contract. And besides the contract, I have my own reasons to protect this place.”

Luceris turned his head toward Edmund. He looked like he was begging Edmund to stop Lebel. He looked quite pitiful now that he was small.

Edmund had already said he would let Luceris go if he wanted to cancel the contract.

“It is not good to force others to do things.”

Edmund’s calm expression made it hard to tell what he was thinking. Lebel slowly nodded his head.

“Well. I suppose so. I guess there is no choice.”

Luceris’s face brightened in response to Lebel’s reluctant answer.

“I wanted him to get along with humans, but if that’s impossible, I have to get rid of him.”

[…Huh?]

“It’s not good to leave a threat behind. He doesn’t seem to like the Hestro ancestor very much. You and Yutis are stronger than Luceris, so I’m not worried about you, but he might wipe out the Hestro family in the future.”

[N-no, I…]

“Ah, the death of a demon is different from human death. Don’t worry. He’s a demon, so if he dies, he will just be reborn in the Demon Realm. He’s a creature made by the Demon God, so his soul is strong.”

After explaining, Lebel reached out toward Luceris. Terrified, Luceris dodged the scary hand and flew to Edmund.

[D-don’t come near me! Human, save me!]

Even though he was small, he wasn’t small enough to hide behind Edmund’s head. As Edmund wondered what to do with the terrified dragon, Damian slammed the table and spoke.

“That’s enough!”

Lebel stopped instantly.

“Stop it. Your jokes don’t sound like jokes.”

“…A joke…”

“I said stop.”

Lebel shut his mouth, looking displeased. Damian let out a dry laugh.

Who was the one talking about killing just now?

Then he saw Luceris, whose eyes were sparkling at him. Damian looked back at Luceris with a skeptical expression.

Lebel thought this was a good result. He didn’t like being scolded by Damian, but it seemed Luceris now felt friendly toward Damian because of it.

“Luceris.”

At Lebel’s call, Luceris flapped his wings and spoke quickly, afraid Lebel might change his mind.

[I needed a place to stay anyway, so it’s fine! I like these humans too!]

“Really? That’s good.”

Luceris nodded his head vigorously. He decided to look on the bright side. Now that he was small, he could move around the castle freely.

He could watch human life up close. And there were many humans here who took care of him.

Best of all, that scary demon seemed to have a weak spot for these humans!

“Father, you can take Luceris with you.”

“Me? Edmund is the contractor.”

“But you are the weak one, Father.”

Damian’s pride was hurt and he clenched his fists, but Lebel remained indifferent.

“Father-in-law will get stronger now that he’s the contractor, and Yutis will receive a holy sword, so he’ll be fine. But you have nothing, Father.”

“Ha! You must not know because you only see me doing internal affairs, but I was once…!”

“I know you are strong for a human. But you can’t beat a demon.”

“Damian, it seems Lebel is just worried about you in his own way.”

“I know that! The problem is that he’s so annoying about it!”

Edmund tried to comfort Damian, but it didn’t help. Damian held his forehead and sighed.

“Do whatever you want. But don’t force him. You brought him here like a child, yet all you think about is putting him to work?”

“I wouldn’t call it forcing.”

“It was forcing.”

Lebel tilted his head as if he didn’t understand. Since Edmund was the contractor, wasn’t it natural for Luceris to do his part?

He’s a newborn demon, so maybe he doesn’t know what a contract means.

Luceris also didn’t seem to understand why he had to protect Damian.

“Fine. I will explain it simply. Luceris, look. My father-in-law has your power, but my father has nothing. He is a weak human. He is weaker than you.”

[Yes. That’s right. He is an ordinary human.]

“…Edmund, is there a reason I have to keep listening to this?”

Damian looked like he wanted to punch Lebel and Luceris for calling him weak right to his face. Edmund put a hand on his shoulder to tell him to be patient.

“So you have to protect him. You know what a partner is, right?”

[Are you calling me a fool? It means someone you stay with for your whole life.]

“You know it well. So, if my father gets hurt, my father-in-law will be sad. That means your contractor will be sad.”

[Why does that matter?]

“If your contractor is sad, you will be sad too.”

[I’ll be sad?]

“Yes. Sad.”

[Why?]

“Because I would be sad.”

If Yutis was sad, Lebel became sad too.

[What does that have to do with… yes. No, it matters.]

Luceris tilted his head, not really understanding, but he nodded when he felt Lebel staring at him. He felt like if he said no, Lebel would keep staring until he said yes.

“So you have to protect him well.”

[Yes…]

Just then, someone knocked on the door.

“Is my wife… Ah, you were here.”

“Were you looking for me?”

Lebel’s expression softened instantly as he went toward Yutis, as if he had never been bossy to Luceris.

“Luceris disappeared suddenly, so I thought you two had gone somewhere together.”

“Where would I go?”

“You said that before and then left me to go to the mountain together.”

“Ah, that day. I had to make sure he was eating well. But don’t worry now. He shrank, so he can live with us in the castle.”

Lebel grabbed Luceris and showed him to Yutis like he was showing off.

“He really did get small. But we’re living together…?”

“He’s Father’s guardian.”

“Ah, if that’s the case, I don’t mind.”

Yutis smiled with relief.

Karon was already enough of a handful; he didn’t want another one.

“Yutis, what did they say at the temple?”

The reason Yutis had been away was because of the temple. Preparations for the New Year festival were in full swing, but the holy sword had not appeared yet.

Because of that, many priests were skeptical. Illa said a revelation had been given, but people found it hard to believe. It was such an unusual situation that even Yutis was called in to verify the truth.

It was true that Illa was especially loved by God and had strong holy power, but since he was the only one who could hear God’s voice, it was natural that some people didn’t believe him.

Also, unlike what Lebel thought, the temple didn’t exactly welcome the revelation.

“It was nothing much. We just went through the process to confirm if I am the owner of the revelation.”

“They’re being annoying.”

It’s probably just the usual power games humans play, Lebel thought. They said the temple in the Empire had as much power as the Imperial family.

“Did you prove it?”

“Yes. God helped me.”

“What do you mean he helped? I told you we should have gone together.”

Lebel had wanted to go to the temple with Yutis, but Yutis had left alone early in the morning.

“You are a demon, my wife.”

“Even if I go to the temple, I don’t feel anything special.”

“Karon and Luceris seemed to hate going there.”

“It just feels a little unpleasant.”

“I don’t like that.”

“I feel good when I’m with you, so what’s the problem?”

Yutis paused, then smiled softly as if he were happy.

“…If you’re done, get out.”

Damian spoke as he watched Yutis blush.