Chapter 116
“Tina! We’ve got a problem! There’s no toilet paper!”
One afternoon, the door to the staff break room in the sprawling casino along the coast of Valman burst open. Tina had finished cleaning the casino and was taking a break with a rice cracker in her mouth when Kagami came clomping in and shouted at her.
“Huh? That’s strange. I’m sure I restocked it when I went in to clean earlier... Was there none left?”
“There’s no toilet paper in the toilet in my room! Tina-tan, what are you doing?!”
“Why should I have to keep track of the toilet paper in your room, Kagami-san?! And why are you telling me about it?! Go ask someone at the inn!”
“It’d be embarrassing if I asked someone else and they started gossiping about it.”
“I don’t know.”
Tina muttered that with an exasperated look as Kagami stared at her with a completely serious expression.
“You’re so cold... And just when we’re about to be apart for a while, starting today.”
“I’ll still have work to do after you leave. Besides, we’ll all get together again later. It’s important to divide up the work properly.”
Tina replied with a faint smile. Kagami said, “At this rate, I can leave things in your hands without worrying after I’m gone,” then flopped onto the sofa in the break room.
“So it’s really happening at last.”
“Well, I could stay longer if I wanted to. But I can’t sit still... I’ll just go take care of it real quick.”
Thinking back on the happy days he’d spent there, Kagami murmured with a wistful look.
Half a year had passed since the battle in the royal capital. After rescuing Kururu and proving himself worth far more than the king had imagined, Kagami had been rendered unable to move by the effects of releasing his restrictions. But he wasn’t arrested. Instead, he was summoned back to the throne room with the utmost courtesy, as if the attempt to capture him had never happened.
The king’s decision overturned his previous position so completely that even Kagami was stunned and wondered, “Are you sure this is all right?” The king had decided to sign a “Nonaggression Pact between Humans and Demonkin” with the Demon King.
The pact was with a people they had spent many years fighting because of the monsters that plagued them. It would radically change the way they had lived until then, and wasn’t something they could agree to lightly.
But it was also proof of just how much the king valued Kagami: he’d been moved to make such a decision.
At the same time, Kagami naturally sensed the weight of the “something” the king wanted to save so badly that he would go that far. It was half a year ago that Kagami had found himself breaking into a sweat.
Of course, many people, like Parna, didn’t welcome the decision, and some strongly opposed the pact. But the king declared, “The deep rift between us exists because we’ve been fighting for so long. We must begin by reaching out to one another.” The pact was signed, though not everyone was convinced.
At first, both humans and demonkin had openly shown their disgust for one another. But once the decision had been made, they steeled themselves and began, little by little and somewhat reluctantly, to reach out. Now, six months later, they were maintaining a reasonable level of interaction.
That was partly thanks to the many rules established to help both sides move closer together when the pact was signed.
As for the problem of monsters being created—the original cause of their conflict—the king and the Demon King had devised a system for both sides to cooperate. Even when demonkin created the monsters themselves, they would work with humans to eliminate them, and demonkin would also help keep human settlements safe.
This meant that demonkin who had once hidden from humans for their own safety no longer had to live in hiding. They embraced the arrangement and cooperated, and now, six months later, it had become common to see many demonkin coming and going in the city of Valman.
Of course, trouble between demonkin and humans was still common. Some demonkin resented humans, and some humans resented demonkin. But those who understood that the resentment went both ways knew that fighting would bring no happiness. Believing a better future would come, they joined hands and lived in the present.
Yet, as Kagami watched that changed daily life unfold around him, he would often mutter, “This peace that’s finally arrived is still a lie.”
And he meant it.
“Are you lonely? Lonely, Tina-tan? Are you going to miss me when I’m gone?”
“I’ll miss you so much.”
“Don’t say that while reading a magazine. Look at me when you say it.”
“I don’t want to waste my time.”
“That’s so harsh, lol. I feel like the way you treat me gets more and more careless by the day.”
“Well, of course it does.”
At the same time as the pact was signed, the king and Kagami made an agreement between themselves. In fact, the pact had only been signed because of that agreement.
The first part was that Kagami would honor the promise he’d made with Estella: keep saving up 10,000 gold and go to the Dark Dragon within a year.
Even without gathering 10,000 gold, Estella’s power could take him to the Dark Dragon, and the dragon would likely understand. But the king had deliberately set the deadline at one year.
It was also the king’s way of showing Kagami, who had reached an unprecedented realm of power, at least a glimpse of the world he’d dreamed of.
The other part of their agreement concerned what would happen after Kagami went to the next stage. Five years. That was the longest they could keep the current world intact for the sake of Kagami’s wish alone. Once that time was up, the world would be reset, the pact they’d signed would be erased, and humanity would once again begin fighting to defeat the Demon King. Everyone would forget everything.
That was why Kagami muttered that the current world was a lie: because of that time limit. Within five years, Kagami had to bring about the salvation the king, Estella, and the Dark Dragon wanted.
And so Kagami spent his days trying to achieve the first part of their agreement: gathering 10,000 gold so he could make this peace real.
He took on one quest after another issued by the city, while his friends worked hard at the casino behind the scenes, hoping to help in whatever way they could. After half a year of days like that, Kagami managed to gather 10,000 gold sooner than he’d expected.
The reason he’d gathered it so quickly was that the casino had undergone even greater development and expansion since the battle in the royal capital.
The casino had expanded to include VIP rooms and dining areas exclusively for nobles, along with gaming and entertainment facilities. On top of that, thanks to word from the king himself, nobles now flocked there every day.
That wasn’t all. The casino had also expanded its appeal by adding entertainment facilities that demonkin could enjoy. Demonkin had higher base stats than humans, so they could defeat monsters and earn money more easily. In fact, they had more money than humans did.
Until then, demonkin had had almost no use for money. But after they’d agreed to help humans eliminate monsters, they were allowed to use currency to interact with humans. So David had suggested making demonkin part of the casino’s clientele, too.
Perhaps partly as a result, the entire city of Valman had undergone major development over the past six months. These days, seeing demonkin in Valman was perfectly ordinary.
Seeing the world as it was now, Kagami renewed his resolve to achieve his goal no matter what, so this peace wouldn’t be reset as a falsehood. Even though he still had time to stay, he decided to leave for the next stage today.
“Hmm...? I heard you were setting out today... Was that wrong?”
A little while later, a middle-aged man with a beard and a black surcoat opened the door and entered the break room, speaking as he did.