Do You Remember?

"Demon King-sama, humanity must be wiped out! Give the word, and I will line up the heads of those humans before you in no time! Even if we don’t exterminate them, we should treat them as livestock and strip them of every shred of dignity and freedom…!"

There was a demon youth who, drunk on his immense power, saw weak humans as nothing but trash. He would turn nineteen that year.

"Let us teach them the difference in strength. First, as a warning to the rest, we should rip open a human’s belly and display their disgraceful form, entrails spilling out! We must instill fear in them so they know what happens when they defy us demons!"

Despite his lustrous silver hair, long enough to be mistaken for a woman, and his beautiful, finely featured face, he wore a hideous grin. It was as if he enjoyed tormenting humans that way.

"…Menou. Why do you think we should do that?"

"It’s simple. I cannot stand this state of affairs, where beings inferior to us rule the world and oppress demons. We are superior to humans… and yet those humans toy with our lives! It should be the other way around! The superior should toy with the lives of lesser beings! In other words, humans should live in fear, never knowing when we might kill them—that is how they were meant to live!"

"Do you… truly believe that?"

"Of course I do. A world where the strong prey upon the weak… That is the way of the world humans themselves advocate. I’m simply saying we should follow that logic and restore things to the way they’re supposed to be."

"No. There are humans who surpass demons—not just one or two. And by the same token, there are demons far inferior to humans… Menou, say it plainly. You just want to toy with humans, don’t you?"

At the Demon King’s question, which seemed to see right through him, Menou’s grin grew even more grotesque...