Chapter 72: Rolling Wheel

Only then did Sia raise her head.

Paul met her vacant eyes, eyes that seemed to look at him without truly seeing him. He bit his lip briefly, then plastered a distorted smile on his face, forcing his voice to sound bright.

“Let’s go together.”

Be friendly, but don’t get attached. Wasn’t that it?

Paul scoffed inwardly, recalling the unspoken rules of the slums.

‘Too late for that.’

A child younger than himself, the first he’d found in the slums.

It started with curiosity and interest, but before long, it morphed into a specific emotion, sticking to a corner of his heart like glue.

Is this what it feels like to have a younger sibling?

Dangerous. Even before defining the nature of the emotion he felt, Paul could sense it instinctively.

That’s why he deliberately kept his distance. Reminding himself of the rule not to get attached, he circled around her, only offering help when she seemed to be in danger.

But what good did it do?

He knew now. What this feeling was.

He’d already given his heart away before even trying to keep his distance. Now, there was no reason to turn away from this child.

He reached out his hand to Sia.

“Let’s go together, Sia.”

“……”

“Please…”

“……”

No answer came. Paul, his gaze fixed on Sia, slowly withdrew his hand, his expression stiff.

He bowed his head, as if trying to hide his expression. His lips, which he’d bitten to suppress his emotions, twitched slowly after a few seconds.

“……Okay.”

“……”

“Keep living like that then. It’s only a loss for you if you don’t come, you know.”

His voice never rose, coming out as a mere mutter.

Paul turned away after speaking. He walked away with angry strides, just like he used to.

Unlike before, Sia didn’t follow, and he didn’t return to support her.

Walking slowly until the very last moment, Paul stopped in front of a man. He stared at the tips of his shoes, his lips tightly sealed, when a warm voice fell from above.

“You came alone? Didn’t you say you were bringing your sibling?”

Unaccustomed to such warmth, he finally looked up. Meeting the kind eyes, as gentle as the voice, tears suddenly streamed down his face.

“Hyung…”

“……Oh dear.”

Transparent droplets fell onto his feet. Startled, Daniel quickly pulled out a handkerchief and dabbed at Paul’s face.

How much of the world had this young child seen to already shed silent tears without a single sound? His heart ached, and unable to say anything, he simply wiped away the tears before gently pulling the boy into a hug.

“Sorry, I’m sorry. I misspoke. I was insensitive with my question, wasn’t I?”

“Sniffle!”

“It’s okay, it’s okay…”

The boy flinched at the unfamiliar warmth, and he slowly patted his back. Perhaps it was working; the trembling gradually subsided.

“That’s it, that’s it, it’ll be alright.”

“……Hic…”

“So what if your sibling doesn’t come? You can become strong and protect them, right?”

“……Yes…”

A voice barely above a whisper.

Daniel checked Paul’s face, wondering if he was still upset, and chuckled softly as he took a step back.

It seemed embarrassment washed over him belatedly. After confirming his flushed face, he suppressed a smile and opened his mouth.

“Shall we go then?”

***

As always, under the dark sky with three moons, Lirinel, the commander of the Demon King’s 11th Corps, sat perched on the castle wall, swinging her legs with a sulky expression.

Unfortunately for her adjutant, her discontent was currently at its peak.

The one she hoped for wasn’t coming, and only other people kept showing up!

Originally, entry into the Demon King’s castle was rare, and even then, it was regular.

An unscheduled entry meant either an intruder or someone high-ranking enough to have free access to the Demon King’s castle.

The typical examples of such ‘high-ranking’ individuals would be ‘Corps Commanders.’ So, whenever the barrier around the Demon King’s castle reacted, she’d rushed out, only to be disappointed…

‘Commander Trober of the 9th Corps and Commander Oel of the 5th Corps. And Derniban, Oel’s adjutant… right.’

She was already disappointed, but she got even more annoyed when Trober simply broke through the castle wall with brute force instead of trying to open the gate with magic.

That damn guy, how was that magic! He just smashed his way in with strength! I clearly said, ‘If you can break through my barrier with magic, then go ahead and try!’

‘Oel brought a mountain of strange things and wanted to chat, so I ran away first…’

It was fine when he was just rattling off interesting information he’d learned, but if I answered even one question incorrectly, I’d be bombarded with ‘why?’ questions endlessly.

And a conversation with her never seemed to end.

‘I don’t know how Derniban puts up with that personality.’

Ah, I miss Demon-nim…

Lost in her thoughts, yearning for Demon, Lirinel was gazing blankly at the night sky when she suddenly widened her eyes and jumped up.

The barrier reacted. The direction was the north gate!

She was currently on the west wall, so it wasn’t that far.

Despite the many previous disappointments, a sliver of hope resurfaced. Lirinel immediately grabbed the broom beside her and leaped off the wall.

A strong wind greeted her, and her small body rapidly approached the ground.

Just before impact, she hopped onto the broom, sharply changing direction and soaring upwards.

‘Right, the Demon King scolded me for using magic carelessly.’

She’d been thoroughly scolded for flying with magic when she greeted Oel and Trober.

The barrier’s reaction wasn’t only reported to the caster but also to the guards. Since the identity of the person would be reported soon enough, it was a waste of magic.

Magic violates the rules of the world. The world can’t just ignore blatant rule-breaking, so it sends a Hero.

Ultimately, the more magic is used, the closer the birth of the Hero gets. Only the Demon King knows how much time is left.

The Demon King probably felt that the time was shortened even slightly by this magic.

Lirinel flinched, imagining the Demon King’s cold expression, but then straightened her shoulders as if nothing had happened.

‘That’s why I used a broom as a medium this time!’

If the visitor was Demon-nim, wouldn’t the Demon King let it slide?

Thinking about this and that, she arrived at the north gate.

Having come a little outside the Demon King’s castle from the north gate, Lirinel busily looked around for the person who triggered the barrier.

She didn’t have to search for long.

In the distance, from the direction of the forest, someone was striding purposefully towards the castle gate in a straight line.

It wasn’t the black robe, the symbol of a certain someone, but a common travel robe. Yet, it wasn’t difficult to associate that figure with someone.

The gatekeepers felt the same.

“N-No way…!”

“Don’t freeze up, stay alert! We might die today if we mess this up.”

There were more than a few who died after incurring the wrath of a corps commander by questioning them at the gate.

Any other corps commander would be serious, but it just had to be the Commander of the 0th Legion, about whom they had the least information.

Of course, it was just a guess because of the robe, but their lives were too precious to gamble on such flimsy hope.

If that person really was the Commander of the 0th Legion, they wouldn’t know how to act. In the end, there was only one thing they could do.

Act carefully!

Follow the rules without giving any cause for complaint, and if that person showed even the slightest sign of displeasure during the inspection, just let them pass.

‘Still, please don’t let it be the Commander of the 0th Legion…’

In the meantime, the figure reached the gatekeepers and pushed back the hood of the robe.

To put it bluntly, their humble wish was mercilessly trampled.

Under the moonlight, white hair was revealed, and crimson eyes stared directly at them.

They’d never seen him in person, but his appearance was familiar.

He stayed within the inner walls of the Demon King’s castle, so they’d never seen his face directly, but they’d heard so much about his appearance that they couldn’t not recognize him.

“Demon Hart.”

“W-We’ve confirmed his identity.”

Demon Hart, the Commander of the 0th Legion.

For the demons, the object of respect and fear had returned.

And in the sky, there was someone screaming silently.

‘Demon-niiiiim!!’

***

There were some minor issues with stray dogs when I departed, but somehow, I arrived safely at the Demon King’s castle.

As expected of the Demon Realm, even though the corps commanders were constantly hunting demons, I still had to encounter numerous demonic creatures…

I casually touched the brand on my collarbone, near my neck.

The location-tracking magic the Demon King himself had etched.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, thanks to this magic imbued with the Demon King’s aura, the demonic creatures avoided me on their own. You could consider it a rather forceful通行證 (tōngxíngzhèng – passage permit).

‘By the way, I felt like I was being watched before entering the Demon Realm…’

It also seemed a bit noisy behind me…

‘Was it just my imagination?’

I arrived at the Demon King’s castle without any major incidents, so it must have been just my nerves.

It seems I’m too tense since it’s been a while since I’ve been in the Demon Realm.

Come to think of it, I spoke informally to the gatekeepers earlier because I was too nervous. Fortunately, they didn’t make an issue of it, but… honestly, I was on edge.

But that was the limit of my ability to speak without my voice trembling.

The Demon Realm, which I had barely gotten used to while in the Empire, felt foreign again. No, it felt scary!

‘I’ll probably need some time to adjust, so I should avoid encountering the corps commanders for the time being…’

“Demon-nim!!”

Eek! You scared me!

A little kid suddenly dropped from the sky with a broom.

The appearance of a familiar face made me inwardly despair. Why? Because in the Demon Realm, familiar faces usually meant dangerous individuals.

‘Actually, are there any non-dangerous individuals in the Demon Realm in the first place?’

Lirinel, the commander of the 11th Corps.

I considered it fortunate that she was the least intimidating of the corps commanders to me, and I opened my mouth, pretending to be nonchalant.

“It’s been a while.”

“Yes! It’s been a while! Though belatedly, I heard that when you were dispatched to defend the city, you not only carried it out perfectly but also cleanly swept away all the demonic creatures! As expected of Demon-nim!”

“Ah… yes.”

That’s what I heard.

Let me tell you, I lost my memories back then. I drank, my memory cut off, and when I came to, I was spitting up blood like crazy.

According to my adjutant, Ed, and my physician, Ben, I was rampaging through the demonic creatures and got attacked, flying back 2 meters.

“Oh, right! More importantly, are you hurt anywhere?”

“……?”

“Well… the necklace I gave you last time sent a signal that it was broken, so I was worried. I’m glad you seem to be unharmed.”

“Ah, I see… wait, what?”

Necklace?

“Ah, ah! Of course, I wasn’t doubting Demon-nim’s abilities… I just…”

“No, it’s not that…”

Come to think of it, the necklace Lirinel gave me disappeared at some point, didn’t it? If I had to guess the timing, it was probably before I went to the Empire…

Probably when I went to the border with the Human Realm because of the appearance of a new hero. I must have lost it in the chaos there.

But she says it broke. Didn’t she say it would save my life at least once? There’s no way it would break that easily.

…Anyway, it’s better than saying I lost it.

“…I used it well. Thank you.”

“No… n-no, no, no! I! I’ll make you another one! Please tell me anytime you need one!”

What’s with her, so scary.

I must have taken a step back without realizing it. Lirinel, noticing my reaction, quickly composed herself and cleared her throat, changing the subject.

“How was your mission? Ah, this is just asking for your impressions, not trying to pry into what mission you received…”

“It was tiring.”

“Yes?”

It was tiring. Especially suppressing the Salvation Church, that was truly awful.

“I met people who created a false religion, promoted something, and blindly believed only in that.”

“……?”

Ah, does the concept of religion not exist in the Demon Realm?

Come to think of it, demons only believe in and follow their parent, the Demon King…

It’s not exactly a secret that I went to the Human Realm, and it doesn’t matter as long as they don’t know what mission I was given, so it’s no big deal, but it’s a pain to explain.

However, looking at the questioning eyes of this young girl, it’s not easy to gloss over it.

Eventually, unable to resist her gaze, I explained it in a way that was easy to understand. She nodded her head and said,

“Ah… how foolish. They should just believe in Demon-nim instead of believing in something meaningless…”

“Yes… excuse me?!”

“Huh…? Now that I think about it, that’s a good idea! Demonism… Demonism…”

“Excuse me…?”

I think you just mumbled something very ominous.