Chapter 52
“If I kill you...!”
Immediately afterward, Parna said this and pointed her palm at the Demon King. She had no magic left; this was nothing but a bluff. She simply wanted to see how he would react when his life was in danger. Would he beg for his life pathetically? Or accept it without a word?
But the Demon King's reaction was quite different from what Parna had expected. He was smiling. He smiled sadly, as though accepting that this was simply how things had to be—that this was the way the world worked.
Beside him, Alice watched them with teary eyes, as if pleading, “Please, stop.”
“As long as I live, I will not let you harm Alice-sama or the Demon King-sama.”
Seeing Menou step forward to protect Alice and the Demon King, Parna felt as though fate were toying with her. She lowered her raised hand without a word and turned away.
“Menou... Thank you for siding with Alice. I am proud to have a subordinate like you.”
“You honor me... This is all thanks to Alice-sama and Kagami-dono.”
After exchanging those words with Menou, the Demon King happened to glance at Alice and Kagami. He saw Alice forcing the last remaining potion into Kagami's mouth and smiled. At the same time, he truly felt that if the beginning of the ideal he had sought had come at the cost of his own sacrifice, it was a small price to pay.
“But... we need to know the truth behind this situation. Estellera... what are you up to?”
At the Demon King's words, everyone there turned to look at Estellera, who was watching them from above without doing anything. Estellera silently observed Kagami and the Demon King, as if pondering something.
‘The next one still hasn't shown up, so I figured I'd borrow the Demon King's power to make humanity feel threatened... I see. This is troublesome.’
Then Estellera spoke from above, the incomprehensible words resounding directly in their minds.
“The next one...? What does that mean?”
Kagami gave voice to the question on everyone's mind. Then—
‘You wanted to beat up the one who created this world, didn't you? I'll teach you a way to find a clue. There are two ways. One is to... kill the Demon King.’
After hesitating over whether or not to tell them, Estellera sighed and answered as though it couldn't be helped. At that moment, while most of them looked as if they had no idea what Estellera meant, only Kagami intuitively understood.
He'd always wondered: If Estellera had gained the Demon King's tremendous power, why hadn't Estellera tried to kill them? Was there another goal besides wiping out humanity?
Hadn't there been more efficient ways to invade, if that was the goal? Why spread hostility throughout the world? Why choose to seize Salmaria? Why let all of Salmaria's residents escape instead of blocking their way out and killing them?
Though it seemed like an ordinary invasion, Kagami had always felt there was some other purpose behind it. Now, he could more or less understand the answer from Estellera's words. Had Estellera been trying to make humanity feel threatened, to encourage the appearance of someone who could defeat the Demon King someday?
“I refuse...!”
Having understood, Kagami declared this boldly. Accepting would have felt like following the rules of this world.
‘I thought you would... That's why this is a problem. There's no precedent for someone who has climbed so high choosing another path... But if that was what you were aiming for all along, that's another matter.’
“I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about.”
‘...Obtain what you're aiming for. That's the other way.’
“You mean... the item that costs 10,000 gold?”
Estellera silently nodded at Kagami's question. Kagami didn't know why Estellera was telling him this. But he felt as though Estellera were asking him to do something. He didn't know why. Perhaps it was because Estellera had spoken without once taking their eyes off Kagami.
“Who... are you? Aren't you the Demon King's subordinate?”
At Kagami's question, Estellera only murmured, “I'm his subordinate. That was the fate assigned to me,” then held out a palm toward the Demon King lying on the ground. Immediately afterward, the Demon King was enveloped in a purple light that seemed to come from Estellera and vanished as if erased from existence.
“Demon King-sama?! You... Estellera! Where did you take the Demon King-sama?!”
“Estellera! Give my dad back!”
Menou and Alice shouted at Estellera, their faces contorted with desperation.
‘I will keep the Demon King-sama in my custody. If you want him back, then accomplish the other way. Let's say... one year. If you haven't achieved it by then, I'll use the Demon King-sama again and set out to destroy humanity with all my might.’
Finally, Estellera murmured, ‘Next time, it won't end until one side is left alive.’ Then Estellera was enveloped in the same purple light that had surrounded the Demon King and disappeared from sight.
Kagami furrowed his brow, his expression troubled. Estellera's words seemed to imply that the Demon King would have to be killed for certain next time.
“Dad... I finally got to see you again...”
As if half of her had been torn away, Alice murmured weakly and sank to the ground.
“Look... The monsters!”
At the place Tina pointed, the monster army began to leave one after another in the direction of the Demon King's castle, paying no attention to Kagami and the others, as if abandoning the fight. They retreated as soon as Estellera disappeared.
Only Kagami and the others, who had given everything they had, remained in the Atros wasteland. They had achieved their goal of defending Salmaria and confirmed the Demon King's safety, but a great, unsettled knot remained in everyone's chest.
Estellera's many incomprehensible words, and the meaning behind defeating the Demon King or obtaining 10,000 gold... They were left with a sickening feeling, as though they'd been told they didn't understand this world and were being tormented by a question with no answer.
“What... do we do now?”
As Kagami blankly watched the monster army leave, Kururu suddenly came to stand beside Kagami and spoke.
“What are you all going to do?”
“I...”
At Kagami's reply, given without turning to look at her, Kururu wore a troubled expression. Honestly, she had no idea what to do. She felt at least as conflicted as Kagami. The relationship between Alice and the Demon King was, at the very least, that of a parent and child, just like any human family.
It felt as if their journey, which had begun with the goal of defeating the Demon King, had been dictated not by their own will, but by the will of the world.
The others felt the same way.
“I want to hear what you think. What are you going to do?”
Rex asked Kagami, who was staring blankly into the distance.
Kagami groaned and bent his body from side to side, wearing an expression that suggested he wasn't troubled at all, as if pretending to think. Then he suddenly snapped his fingers, as if he'd thought of something, and said,
“All right! First things first, let's open a casino!”
That was what he said.
“Huh?”
Everyone there tilted their heads with baffled expressions and murmured in response to Kagami's utterly sudden, incomprehensible remark.