TN: I realized it with the last chapter, but the Demon King is female. I guess Demon Lord would’ve made more sense looking back, but what can we do? I’ll keep it Demon King for consistency, but I’ll use female pronouns for those in the know like Sertia or Iria post memory.
Also thank James Baily for the chapter.
The situation was such that a battle could break out at any moment.
Fierce red eyes glared at me.
In the end, I also drew my red sword and pointed it at Sertia. I had no intention of actually swinging it, but it was to respond immediately if an attack came.
I pointed my sword at her and said,
“Calm down.”
I looked into Sertia’s eyes.
As expected, I couldn’t read her memories. Her resistance was too strong.
“I am not the person you know.”
“……”
“Or is this the kind of conversation you want? I don’t mind either way.”
If the other party doesn’t want to talk, I’ll just kill them and extract their memories like I’ve always done.
I’ve already been through countless fights to the death.
“I’m disappointed, Albert. Was this your purpose for bringing me here after all?”
“Wait, that’s not it…!”
There was Albert, who was flustered by the unexpected reaction, and Sertia, who glared at me with a cold gaze.
She seemed to look me over again from head to toe.
“You… Aren’t you the Demon King…?”
“They said she died. You should know that better than anyone.”
I don’t know why she doesn’t know even though she killed him herself.
I don’t even know why she’s confusing me with the Demon King in the first place.
I wanted to read her memories, but her mental defense was incomparably stronger than Albert’s.
I couldn’t bring out more magic, or she would see through me before I could read her memories.
There was a long silence and exchange of glances.
And then Sertia said,
“You… Why did you shrink?”
“…?”
What is she talking about now?
***
As the nerve-wracking confrontation continued, Albert finally stepped in to mediate.
He suggested that since nothing good would come from standing and talking, we should sit down and have a conversation.
Since this is the first time I’m seeing Sertia, I clarified a few more times that I’m not the person she mistook me for.
However, I wondered how she could confuse me with the Demon King of the demon realm who had been dead for over 20 years.
After facing Sertia, it’s not that I didn’t feel anything at all.
The fragment of the Demon King that I absorbed was wary of Sertia.
Could this be the Demon King’s memory? Perhaps it was related to the reason she mistook me for the Demon King.
Sertia folded her arms with a very unpleasant expression.
“I don’t believe what you’re saying.”
“……”
“I didn’t expect that cunning woman to have a hidden child, though.”
“I’m not the Demon King, and I’m probably not… a hidden child either.”
“I don’t know why you think of me that way.”
“Are you saying you don’t know anything at all?”
“I don’t have any memories.”
I briefly answered Sertia’s question. Her red eyes turned blue.
It meant she was using mana. She seemed to be trying to find out if my words were a lie.
I asked her,
“I don’t know who I am. Do you know me?”
“……”
I don’t know myself.
I don’t know what role the existence of “Iria” plays in this world, what race she is, or what background she has.
I don’t know what kind of monster Iria was before I possessed her, and if I stole her body and possessed it, I don’t know where the original “Iria”‘s consciousness is.
Then does Sertia know?
She seemed to know about me.
Because as soon as she saw me, she had an intense reaction.
I listened for that answer.
Sertia let out a small sigh and slowly opened her mouth.
“You resemble the Demon King. No, to be honest, you overlap so much that it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say you’re the same person.”
“When you say resemble, do you mean in appearance?”
“Appearance, but even the energy emanating from you. And above all……”
Sertia points to my eyes with her finger.
“It’s those eyes of yours. Would you understand if I said it’s the ability to show illusions to humans? That’s the Demon King’s ability. She was a wicked woman who shattered human minds to the point of no return just by making eye contact.”
“How did you know about my eyes?”
“Because I investigated you. And I’ve had my mind destroyed by a being with the same eyes as you.”
“……”
Did Sertia notice when I first tried to read her memories?
No wonder she avoided making eye contact with me.
More than that, hearing that this power originated from the Demon King was something I was hearing for the first time.
Somehow, the more I dig, the more it feels like going into a maze.
Then am I the Demon King, as Sertia says?
No, that wouldn’t be the case.
The name was different.
According to Sertia, the name of the previous Demon King was Echidna, and the name engraved on this body is Iria.
These eyes that pierce through everything about a living being told me that the name of the body I possessed was “Iria”.
So the probability of the Demon King and I being the same person is low.
Above all, isn’t the size of our powers different?
Destroying a human’s mind to the point of no return is something difficult for me to do.
I could do it if I wanted to, but it’s not something I can do easily like Sertia said.
At that point, I can say for sure.
“I am not the Demon King.”
Isn’t she already a dead being in the first place?
It’s impossible for a Demon King who has already died and been divided into fragments to come back to life.
Sertia seemed to believe my words a little when she heard them. She also seemed to have some means of distinguishing between truth and lies.
It took a long time for Sertia to answer.
“…Okay, your vibe is a little different from the one I knew. But I don’t trust you. Because even if you’re not the Demon King, it’s clear that you’re related to her in some way.”
“……”
“You are neither human nor monster. If I had to say, you’d be closer to a doll someone created. Creating another life is an impossible act that goes against the laws of this world, but who knows? She might have been capable of that.”
“A doll?”
Sertia nodded silently.
“And you’ve also been cursed by the Demon King. I don’t know what kind of curse it is, though.
You feel like you have the same energy as the Demon King, but you also feel the same as me.”
A curse.
If I had to say, living in this world itself is a curse to me.
Sertia turns her eyes, which have turned blue from using mana. She slowly observes me.
Then she reaches out her hand towards me. Since I didn’t feel hostility even from that action, I didn’t resist.
Sertia placed her hand near my left chest.
“……”
“As I thought, there are traces of a curse on your heart. The Demon King engraved it directly on you.”
“I assume you don’t know what kind of curse it is.”
“Unfortunately. If the previous saint, Karen, were alive, she might have been able to find out.
Curses are not my area of expertise.”
Her eyes aren’t lying.
The original owner of this body must have met the Demon King directly. Then what was the relationship between the Demon King and Iria?
“Since you wouldn’t have engraved a curse on your own body, I’ll believe you when you say you’re not the Demon King. But you’ll have to prove that you didn’t join hands with the Demon King’s army.”
“Hmm.”
Saying that I didn’t join hands with the Demon King’s army was something I blurted out to clear up Sertia’s misunderstanding.
Sertia still showed strong hostility towards anything related to the Demon King.
It’s not unreasonable since she directly confronted the Demon King.
Still.
“Why should I?”
The reason I came to meet Sertia is because I thought meeting her would benefit me.
I never really thought about wanting to get close to her. In the first place, I came here prepared for a life-or-death situation, and I was an enemy of the Empire from the beginning.
No matter what I say here, the fact that I have to confront her doesn’t change.
Even if I repent and apologize to them, the dead won’t come back to life, and they won’t be able to forgive me either.
So I have no reason or need to accept the Empire’s demands. In the first place, there’s no way to prove something I didn’t do.
When I answered briefly, Sertia’s gaze on me changed.
Along with that, the flow of the surrounding air also changed.
Sertia had never let go of her hostility towards me from beginning to end, and it had intensified.
“You are an associate of the Demon King. Then naturally, the possibility of contact with the remnants of the Demon King’s army cannot be ruled out either. There was also an attack on the academy after you came to the Empire.”
“……”
“When the Demon King’s army stormed the academy, weren’t you also not present at the scene? The red magical energy felt inside the building must have been yours.”
I looked at Sertia, and she was also looking at me.
Is this how it feels to face a ferocious beast?
My body instinctively senses danger signals.
The person in front of me right now was someone deserving of that.
The de facto leader of the Empire, incomparable to Albert or Freya.
The strongest human weapon at present had their eyes on me.
I wonder if it’s more dangerous than I thought.
“Keep in mind that you are the prime suspect. Do you think you can make me, no, the Empire your enemy and remain unscathed?”
“We were originally enemies. You called me knowing that, didn’t you?”
Sertia seemed to be trying hard to suppress her rising anger. Her anger was directed at the Demon King, not me.
She seemed to be overlapping me with the Demon King. Her tragedy originated from it
I understand why she’s hostile, but that’s not something I did.
It’s unfair to be suspected like that.
No, maybe this too is a sin.
No matter what the reason, the people of the Empire I killed won’t come back to life.
It’s right for Sertia to be angry at me, and it may not be right for me to make excuses to her.
In the first place, regardless of my relationship with the Demon King’s army, from the Empire’s point of view, the existence of “me” would be a major obstacle.
“Then I’ll ask one last thing.”
Sertia said, looking at me.
“After the Demon King’s death, the Empire officially declared the end of the war, but the war is not over yet. The remnants of the Demon King’s army are gathering, preparing to start another war.”
She took a deep breath and asked me.
“If war breaks out again, whose side will you take?”
It’s the final question to test me.
Depending on the answer, her attitude will change.
But I can’t tell a lie.
Because I’m not confident in deceiving someone without using my ability.
Moreover, the other party is Sertia.
If I try to match her mood and blurt out a lie, it will backfire.
“……”
I pondered for a moment.
That contemplation wasn’t long.
“At the very least, I don’t think I’ll side with the humans.”
It was an honest answer.
Because it’s impossible for me to coexist with humans.
Also, I might not be able to overcome my instincts and attack humans.
I have no intention of attacking humans for no reason, and I don’t want to either, but it doesn’t go as I wish.
Now I’m living on fragments of the Demon King, but in the end, someday I’ll have to suck the blood of humans.
As I am now, I’m not confident that I won’t harm humans.
If a war does happen, I definitely won’t side with the humans.
That’s my answer.
“Is that so?”
Sertia, who heard the answer, nods her head.
She gets up from her seat with her eyes closed.
The huge amount of mana surrounding the area was felt swaying.
The surrounding terrain vibrates.
“Then I can’t just let you go.”
When Sertia opened her eyes again, both eyes were dyed blue.
That must be their original color.
“Don’t misunderstand. I didn’t call you for this purpose from the beginning. I called you literally for the purpose of a conversation, but……”
Sertia slowly weaves the mana of the surrounding area into the form of a spell. As she does so, she continues speaking.
The space distorted following her steps. Her presence here was too immense.
“You resemble the Demon King of the past too much. I judged that if left alone, the same disaster as before would occur. Therefore, I will remove you, the seed of disaster, from this place.”
“……”
I also draw my red sword.
It’s not that I didn’t anticipate it would turn out like this.
“It’s my personal judgment, so don’t resent Albert. If you want to resent someone, resent only me for being inflexible.”
But I didn’t want to make that woman my enemy.
I gathered magical energy while holding my sword.