Chapter 12
“Ugh... It’s cold out here. I just want to get home, eat, and go to bed.”
Kagami hurried out of the Ancient Cave as if fleeing the Hero’s party. When he saw that it was completely dark outside and the moon was already out, he felt dismayed.
“Nights get a little chilly, so I was planning to get home before dark... All right, let’s go.”
With that, Kagami put the quest sheet marked with a kill count of 30 into the bag on his back and headed toward the city of Valman, humming.
“Hey, wait! You’re obviously trying to leave me behind, aren’t you?”
The horned girl hurriedly grabbed the hem of Kagami’s clothes as he walked away without hesitation and said this.
Kagami glanced at the red-haired girl, who was certainly pretty enough to be called beautiful, then started walking again without hesitation.
“Wait! Wait for me! Why won’t you stop?”
“Well, I’m not a lolicon. Oh, and I’m not especially into girls who use ‘boku’ for themselves, either. I like curvy, sexy older women.”
As Kagami bashfully chuckled and explained his tastes, the girl stared at him, stunned.
“That’s not the point! Why did you save me? You knew I was a demon, didn’t you?”
“Because you were about to be killed.”
The girl couldn’t hide her surprise as Kagami said it in a perfectly ordinary tone, as if it were only natural. There was no way someone like that could exist. Both demons and humans would have thought the same.
And yet, someone who defied that assumption stood before her. A Villager, no less—and Level 999.
“I just saved you. What you do from here is up to you. Go wherever you want, just like you did when you came to the Ancient Cave alone. You’re a demon, so you don’t need an escort, right?”
“W-wait. There’s something I want to ask you!”
The girl said it desperately, and Kagami stopped and listened.
“Earlier... you said you had no intention of defeating the Demon King. Is that true?”
The girl asked, looking up at him timidly, like a puppy that had just been scolded.
“I don’t. I don’t care if someone else does, though.”
“You won’t defeat him... but you don’t care if he’s defeated. Then why did you save me, when I’m a demon too? I don’t get it!”
“Isn’t that something you demons understand better than anyone?”
The moment she heard that, the girl began to sense that the man before her might be the very person she and her father had been searching for all these years.
She started to think that, perhaps—though it was only a possibility—to this man, humans and demons were no different from anyone else. This man... knew. He’d realized it.
And she was almost right. To Kagami, the Demon King was just another stranger. Still, it was also true that demons harmed humans.
Since their very existence made them fundamentally humanity’s enemies, he had no grounds to complain if someone tried to defeat the Demon King.
That was all. A simple way of thinking.
“Let me ask you something else. Why aren’t you trying to kill me?”
“You haven’t done anything.”
“I’m a demon, you know? Just by existing, I create monsters... I’m humanity’s enemy.”
“You can’t help that by your own choice. It’s not like you’re a cockroach. You can talk with me like this, and all you do is create monsters. If anything, that’s convenient for me.”
Hearing those words, the girl became certain. This was the person she and her father had been searching for.
The moment she became certain, she stepped closer to the man in front of her, who was letting out a huge, exasperated yawn. She gathered her resolve and fixed her earnest gaze on him.
“I-I want you to marry me!”
“Sure. In a hundred million years.”
“Uh... th-then at least in five years. I’ll grow into your type—curvy...!”
The girl fought down the tension that made her feel as if her heart might burst and confessed with desperate resolve. Kagami didn’t so much as flinch; he replied as if it didn’t matter at all.
“Are you stupid? In a world where demons and humans are enemies, you think a human would say yes to a demon kid who proposes out of nowhere after we’ve known each other for only a few dozen minutes? Especially when I just said I like curvy women. Are you dreaming about some manga romance?”
“N-no! I have a good reason! I’ve been looking for a human like you!”
“Liar! We obviously just happened to meet! And since you followed me even though I was planning to leave you behind, let me ask: what were you after in that cave? The holy sword?”
At that, the girl hesitated for a moment, but trusted the Villager who had declared he had no intention of defeating the Demon King despite being Level 999. She met Kagami’s eyes again and began to speak.
“My father is sick... But I heard a rumor that a new Hero was about to set out. There’s a legendary holy sword that demons have been talking about, and if that Hero showed up with it, even my father would... get killed. So... I came to destroy the sword before it could be taken.”
“Man, there are so many things I want to ask about. How did you find out where the holy sword was?”
“An old book in the archives said so.”
The girl said this, gesturing as if to show how hard she had worked to find it.
“...The archives? And you said your father was sick... Is it not that serious if he could beat the Hero without the holy sword?”
“No, it’s really serious. According to my father, he can’t even use 50 percent of his power.”
“He can beat the Hero at 50 percent? You’re making the Hero sound like a piece of paper. What is your father, anyway?”
“Um... something like the Demon King... I mean, the Demon King.”
“Whoa.”
She thought he might look down on her or even see her as an enemy, but, despite her reluctance, the girl fidgeted and said it.