Pocalor walked to the window and looked outside into the darkness.
“It’s still locked in the night.”
Then she sat down on the windowsill. Belled nodded.
“Because the gates of hell haven’t opened.”
“Well, there won’t be enough magic to maintain daylight.”
It seems that this is the realm of night and the gates of hell are related. So if magic increases, daylight will return?
Meanwhile, Pocalor shrugged.
“Even that’s fun. Bringing back daylight could also be someone’s desire.”
Her gaze turned to Beryl.
“If you know that the Gods can watch over us through the sun as long as there is a temple.”
Those words seemed to resonate in Beryl’s heart.
Watching over us through the sun? As long as there is a temple? Then, what if there is no temple?
“Are you thinking of burdening Beryl?”
Belled reacted sharply to those words. Pocalor waved his hand.
“That’s not why I came out. It’s just that this is much more stimulating than regurgitating my ruined love story.”
"...A ruined love story?”
Pocalor said to Beryl, who asked back, in a childish tone.
“I had someone I loved, too.”
She tilted her head slightly.
“I didn’t know when that man married another human, and it wasn’t until he was about to die that I realized I liked him.”
‘It’s not wrong to want to be confirmed in love.’
Suddenly, Beryl remembered how Pocalot had been active in the matter between her and Belled.
Was it because she had a past like that?
“Even that man liked me, but I realized too late that he had given up because I didn’t seem interested.”
She narrowed her eyes.
“That’s why that man and I were friends in the end. A friend who knew my true identity but kept it a secret. A friend who understood me...”
A relationship that couldn’t go any further. She closed and opened her eyes. Her sky-blue eyes that were revealed again were filled with mischief.
“That’s why I hate open endings. My story was open-ended. Because I couldn’t confirm my feelings with him.”
Her feelings were also heard from another human after death. Pocalor narrowed her eyes.
“But you’ll see a tightly closed ending either way.”
A smile appeared on her lips.
“You can satisfy my desires vicariously.”
“...?”
Belled seemed to tilt his head to understand her words. But Beryl immediately understood what she meant.
Her heart seemed to beat wildly out of sync. She was worried that Belled might know that she had told her story to Pocalor.
She was worried that he might think of her as someone who spread stories around.
At the same time, her face flushed. She was worried about what the future would be like for Belled and herself.
Pokalor glanced at her face and said,
“I won’t say anything more. I’m the type to protect my privacy.”
She smiled and spread her hands.
“I came out to see something interesting, so I guess I’ll have to pay for it.”
She jumped down from the windowsill and said,
“The clone will be able to function even before my main body wakes up, so call me if you need me.”
I’ll help you whenever I can. As much as I can.
As she said that, she put her hand on the drink.
...Whew.
Then her figure disappeared as if it had disappeared from its place. It was when Beryl opened her mouth slightly.
“It seems you talked a lot.”
Beryl flinched at those words. It was an undeniable situation.
“...Thank you for listening to my story.”
However, she couldn’t say that she asked her about her story and that she didn’t know what she was thinking.
Maybe that’s why. She realized belatedly that she had answered a beat late.
Did he sense something suspicious?
That’s when she thought that. Before she knew it, his hand came over and rested on her shoulder.
Belled’s shadow blocked the room’s light, darkening her vision somewhat. However, it wasn’t a shadow that made her feel uneasy.
Rather, it was a shadow that made her feel warm.
“If you have any worries to tell me, you can tell me.”
And the words that followed were even softer than she had thought.
His voice was softer than usual. It was almost a whisper.
“If you need time, I’ll give it to you any time.”
Beryl was about to feel confused again by his words.
Would he have said this even if I wasn’t the one in this place?
Or was it just a favor to me?
Then I... can I give my heart?
Beryl looked up at him.
If I reveal my heart. If I give my heart.
Can I expect that even if the same size of heart doesn’t come back to me, the same quality of heart will come back to me?
“...Yes.”
Beryl nodded slowly.
“I will.”
But I don’t think I can tell you my worries, my worries about you.
She lowered her head, feeling like she would get even hotter if she looked at his gently smiling face. She heard a low laugh.
Beryl wanted to raise her head and check his expression.
Was he really truly happy, or was he just... just responding out of courtesy?
But she never confirmed the truth.
If it wasn’t the answer she wanted, then even her illusion of this warm and kind husband would be shattered.
***
It had been quite a while since demons were defined as evil among humans.
“They say demons hate humans.”
“They are cursed by God.”
When the demons first received the curse of God, that was all they said. But as time went by.
“The demons hate humans and spread all sorts of plagues and curses.”
“The Gods even told us to destroy them.”
The rumors grew, and the hostility the temples fostered grew. And recently.
“The demons are beings that must be exterminated.”
That was the fixed idea. Beings that were of no benefit to humans.
But when asked why, no one could properly answer.
“...Because they harm humans?”
But no one pointed out that just as demons cause conflict among humans, humans also cause more conflict than demons for their own gain.
Even though demons do not kill humans because they want the magic power that comes from that emotion, the fact that humans do not stop killing each other is not considered important by people.
Only the proposition that demons are bad beings remained and passed around among people.
And in addition, a new rumor was added to the breath of the temple 'to defeat the devil'.
"They say the devils amassed wealth with their strange abilities."
"They say there are so many jewels in their land that you can almost trip over them."
Those who killed humans and took their belongings were criminals. But what if they took the belongings of the devils, the enemies of humans?
That was a hero.
And it was natural for those who wanted to seize all that wealth and honor to head to the land of Vain, 'where the Saintess had pointed out that the devils would exist'.
However, most of them could not endure the fear of space without daylight all day and escaped the realm of the night, and some even fell down exhausted after fighting countless monsters.
However, there were lucky ones everywhere.
"They said there were many monsters, but there aren't any?"
It was pure luck that the four mercenary groups had reached the depths of Vine.
They had no way of knowing that Belled had recently wiped out the seeds of the monsters, so their eyes sparkled.
"Is there really a treasure here?"
"The devils fought each other a long time ago. If I could just take the treasures they had in their dead places, I wouldn’t have to worry about living my whole life.”
Surrounding those who were babbling like that, metal decorations quietly twinkled.
“What’s that twinkling thing?”
The humans’ eyes were filled with greed at the decorations that reflected the torchlight.
The moment they approached the decorations.
“...!”
They were instantly enveloped in blue smoke.
***
It was during the day when Beryl and Belled were busy with their work that Marves noticed the presence of the intruders.
Although he also had the nickname of the plague, he was the family’s personal doctor, so he was treating the demons’ various symptoms.
Of course, most of the answers were like this.
“Let them recover with magic power.”
If they used magic power to heal wounds, the amount consumed would increase, but there was nothing they could do. No healing herbs were growing in this land.
However, the barrier to importing them from other families outside of Vine was high due to the nature of the majority of the main members being demons.
If it had been before, he would have told them to reduce their activities, but now it was different.
Because there was magic power from the Lord of the Demons and the Visionary.
It was then.
Pot!
A blue magic light flashed next to him. The demon who was with him stood up in surprise.
“Are they an intruder?”
Marves of the Plague. Unlike his nickname, his ability was specialized in detecting intruders.
This was because he could sense the approach of other beings through the decorations he had made.
To be exact, when a creature came near the decorations he had made, the decorations connected to him would send a signal.
His ability, originally specialized in spreading the plague, was discovered by Belled and was used to detect humans entering Vine.
“Yes, the number of intruders has increased recently.”
He nodded.
“Should we go and deal with them?”
The demon asked. Marves shook his head.
“No, they don’t seem that strong.”
“Then they will be dealt with ‘normally.’ I will report back.”
“Yes.”
Unlike Marves, who was not aggressive for a demon, the demon being treated by him left the place, anticipating a possible battle.
And Marves closed his eyes.
“Hmm.”
Four people. Not very strong humans.
Even if we left them alone, they would die to the monsters that came near, but it was not like we could give them food.
Besides, it would be better to say that Vine saved them than to say that travelers who went to Vine died and did not return.
What he did was to inflict a 'short and strong' disease that would make those intruders faint, and then save them.
Of course, after giving them enough despair.
It was a routine.
A fine blue powder gathered on Marves' hand, which had decided on the symptom to spread.
Whew.
When he blew it out, the powder spread around with a strange sound and disappeared.
He was spreading the disease near all the decorations he had.
He didn't know which decorations those humans were near, but if he spread it everywhere, wouldn't they get infected?
But.
"Your Highness!"
A sharp scream was heard from upstairs. Marves' eyes, which had been enjoying the afterglow of the magic power he had left behind, flashed open.
Comments
Post a Comment