Vidar just stared silently at the corpses defiling the ground, their limbs torn, their necks severed, and their soft intestines spilling out.
And not long after, a familiar voice was heard.
[Mom...?]
The child staggered out of the old house, eventually tripping and crawling on the ground. He touched the earth, then the grass, and then the corpse.
[...]
Vidar stared blankly as dark red blood stained the small, squirming white hands and despair spread like paint across the innocent face.
And then, he left the village. With hurried footsteps, as if he were running away.
What did I do wrong?
Why did you attack me?
I saved the child.
Vidar, having returned to the Forbidden Forest, sat before the quiet lake and was lost in thought when he suddenly looked down at the transparent and clear surface of the water.
To be precise, his reflection in the lake.
On its head were two thick, sharp horns, long, sharp claws like swords, and vertically slit blue eyes.
Is that why they attacked me?
Because I'm different from them?
Because I'm not human?
[Kill the monsters!]
Since that day, humans have endlessly flocked to the forest. But it was the same. Not a single one of them made it out alive.
First the villagers, then the patrol, then the soldiers sent from the Imperial Palace, and the Knights. An unnamed warrior and his party came to find Vidar.
By the time the number of those who died had increased from dozens to hundreds, and from hundreds to thousands, the title of Vidar had also changed.
From mere monster to Demon King.
Everyone started chattering. "The Demon King lives in the Forbidden Forest. He causes plagues, brings curses, and kills people like worms!"
Why did it become like this?
Why are they attacking me?
...Who was I trying to help?
Who was it that gave a name to this hungry, weary, and hollow feeling?
At some point, Vidar even forgot the existence of the child.
And yet, the tedious waiting showed no signs of fading. Vidar did nothing but wait endlessly for someone, all while waging war alongside thousands upon thousands of soldiers.
And one day, he thought.
If someone like me were to appear, wouldn't this unknown waiting be wonderful too?
Couldn't I stop being lonely?
Desperate for this cursed wait to come to fruition, Vidar filled the base of the northern temple wall, where nothing had existed, with human blood and scattered his own. The gruesomely severed corpses of humans and animal carcasses formed puddles and swamps.
Not long after, monsters like him began to be born in the foul-smelling swamp.
But it was a strange thing.
No matter how many humans he killed or how many monsters he created, the terrible waiting gave no thought to style. He was still maddeningly lonely and empty.
On some days, exhausted by that emptiness, he even tried eating people and monsters. However, no matter what he filled his stomach with, there was no way to erase the hunger in his heart.
As if believing it was their destiny to kill the 'Demon King living in the Forbidden Forest,' humans came seeking out Vidar tirelessly. Even without Vidar taking the initiative or doing anything.
Vidar lived like that for thousands of years.
Without finding any reason or hope, simply repeating the endless killing, and endlessly waiting for someone.
Should I die?
Tired of the wretched loneliness that kept gnawing away at him like a worm, he had even tried to cut off his own throat. However, the result was not good. Because whenever he opened his eyes, he had always returned to his whole, healthy state.
"Damn cave..."
Thousands of years later, Vidar returned to this damn cave. After returning, he did nothing but think endlessly.
Why do I exist in this world? To be hated? To be loathed?
...Just to wait for someone like this, so terribly solitary and lonely?
Why doesn't that someone show up? How much longer do I have to wait? Actually, maybe everything was just my imagination from the start? Why was I born like this? Just before my breath is cut off, is it because of that damn god humans search for so desperately?
If I meet that person, will I really be able to get better? Will I no longer be lonely?
Vidar stayed holed up in the cave and did not do anything.
The church's claim that 'a brave person who received God's will put the Demon King to sleep' was a blatant lie. The Demon King's failure to reveal himself was purely his own choice.
It was around the time when nearly a thousand years had passed while he was holed up in the cave like that.
He finally managed to find the clue.
[If you know the Nidhogg, does my mother know about it too?]
"..."
Vidar's face was incredibly enigmatic as he ruminated on the question Presepe had asked him earlier.
[I think I was crying.]
Not everything Vidar said to Presepe was a lie. After all, Vidar actually met Vanessa.
Who was the one he was waiting for, and whether that person would ever actually appear. No matter how much he thought about it for thousands of years, he could not find the answer.
Thus, Vidar at that time sought sleep as if to escape. It was not a comfortable and peaceful sleep, but an act bordering on abuse. At times, he stabbed himself with a knife, and at other times, he cut his own throat.
If he did that, he could fall asleep without any consciousness until he regenerated.
It was the same then. Vidar haphazardly slashed his own body with his sharp claws until his insides were exposed, then fell into a deep sleep.
And suddenly he woke up.
...Why had I woken up when my body hadn't even fully recovered yet? Vidar looked down half-heartedly at his body, which hadn't fully regenerated, then stared blankly at the night sky.
As always whenever he waited for someone, a hazy full moon hung in the pitch-black sky.
Vidar slowly walked out of the cave. It was a silent night, with not a single breeze blowing and not even the sound of insects to be heard.
However, that silence did not last long. Because of the sound of someone crying coming from afar.
[D-Demon King....]
The moment Vidar faced the sobbing Vanessa, he recognized her at a glance.
The fact that the life sprouting inside her womb is neither fully human nor fully monster.
But how did he recognize me? Vidar no longer revealed his true form in front of humans. For he had tucked away his protruding horns, hidden his claws, and concealed the black mist that seeped out like an explosion.
[Nidhogg told me about this...]
The answer was simpler than expected.
[About the Demon King.]
Should I kill you?
It was not simply because Vanessa recognized him, nor was it because he was worried she might return to the village and spread rumors.
It was just noisy.
The sound of sorrowful sobbing.
[The monster's child...]
However, before Vidar could even reach out his hand, Vanessa asked something strange.
[I suppose it’ll be born as a monster...?]
Vidar was not unaware, either. He knew that there were monsters and humans who occasionally crossed the line.
Thus, the fact that a half-being—neither monster nor human—is born, just like the life conceived by the woman before his eyes.
[No matter how much I try to hide it, its identity will eventually be revealed...? Especially if it's the Imperial Palace...]
Vanessa seemed like someone who didn't realize what she was confessing. Otherwise, how could she say such things so easily? Especially in front of someone who could easily kill her right then and there?
[Nidhogg told me. Contrary to what people know, the Demon King hasn't harmed anyone for a thousand years...]
It was not a lie. In fact, Vidar entered the cave just before Ateloia was established.
[And I know... that not all monsters are evil beings.]
An evil being?
Then who decides the standard between good and bad beings? Humans?
For a moment, he felt a sense of pointless irritation rising.
After all, he had to kill her.
Let's kill and go back.
[People are going to kill my child... ]
It was only a fleeting moment when he had that thought.
[Even if she somehow manages to survive, she won't be able to fit in anywhere.]
The woman's words held Vidar back.
[She must be very lonely...]
He felt lonely because he was always alone.
[No matter where she is, she must be so lonely all alone...]
But you're always alone too, brother.
Vanessa's sobbing voice.
And the words said by that child whom he had forgotten, whose face he can no longer even remember.
It sounded like the two were overlapping.
Then, will the half-monster that woman will give birth to be lonely like me? Will it grow up like that? Will it become like that?
Vidar did not strangle Vanessa.
He just stared down at her as she cried widely, then slowly pulled his lips away.
[Monsters are different from humans.]
And told her.
[Even if she is a half-monster, I won't reject her.]
That was the end. What a whim. Perhaps it was because he wanted to see the bloodline of a monster sneak into the Imperial Palace, the very place that wants to kill him so badly.
Even as he thought that, the desire to kill Vanessa, who was crying loudly, had vanished. Vidar slowly turned around, and Vanessa asked once again.
[Then if I send my child to the Forbidden Forest... can she live among us? E-even with monsters...]
Vidar did not answer. He simply looked back at Vanessa once more and left without any lingering regrets.
“I should have killed her.”
Vidar regretted that day for a long time.
But it couldn't be helped. Because Vidar at the time hadn't realized it.
That being, neither human nor monster, that had taken root inside the sobbing Vanessa’s belly...
The fact that it was the very person who had made his own life painful.
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