Demon King & Hero

“Please look after this!”

I shouted as I ran into the village head’s house, quickly handing over the goldfish I was still holding.

At my hurried visage, the village head’s face also turned grim, and said to me,

“Did something happen?”

“Probably.”

As I laughed awkwardly, the village head told me to wait for a second, before briefly retiring to his room and coming back out with a sword.

“This?”

“I used this back when I was young and foolish. It’s a pretty good sword considering the soldier who handled it,” he laughed, handing me the sword.

“You probably need it, right?”

“How did you know?”

“Call it the instincts of the elderly.”

Nodding my head, I chose to believe his words.

Worst-case scenario, the village head could also be a member of the Devil Walkers, but when was the last time I cared about those things?

As soon as I recieved the sword, I started running.

“May Sermia protect you.”

Behind me echoed the quiet words of the village head. Perhaps, it might just not be the worst-case scenario after all.

***

“Is this the place?”

Following the tracks, where I’d ended up after a full half-day of running was the very edges of the empire. From here, it wouldn’t be more than two hours by horse to the border of the Reese Kingdom.

I investigated the nearby Altiris Castle from where I was.

There were hardly any people in the vicinity, nor could I see very much of the territory’s own soldiers.

Being the castle of a mere baron aside, for a border castle, there were way too few soldiers. Plus, instead of being alert like the sentries they were, these soldiers were all staring off into the distance, looking barely half-conscious as it was.

Well, because of that, infiltration was easy, but the problem lay afterwards.

Chink.

The moment I flicked my sword behind my back, it came into contact with an assassin’s sword.

Chinkclinkclink.

And so, the battle started.

One person, then another, then another.

The numbers I faced only increased, soon exceeding twenty, and all of them were assasins better than your average killer.

‘Not like this.’

Even I get tired when faced with a continual train of enemies.

Plus, it was hardly likely that this would be all the assassins in this place, either.

“Evil that devours evil.”

As I uttered my Sword Command, my body felt much lighter and nimble.

A Sword Command represents the sword you desired from the gods. (1) Light, however, was one element I did not desire from the gods.

“Azure Flames Style, Third Technique, Wind of the Azure Flame.”

Five heads dropped in the path of a blue trail.

The sword swung again, another head fell.

Maybe about ten minutes has passed? The twenty or so assassins were all dead, and only one murderer was left standing, covered in blood.

“I don’t like it…”

This feeling. It’s never pleasant.

Murder is one of the cardinal sins, unforgivable, even in the name of a god.

But, a hero was one who saved the world.

Because of this, it was an existence which carried the hypocrisy of killing the enemy.

I used to think about this a lot.

The enemy and the people, and how to save both.

But the villains, already crazed, went on to commit further crimes even after being saved, and the ones accounted for were sentenced to public execution.

And so, my wish was formed.

Evil that swallows evil. With as few sacrifices as possible, I would shoulder that evil and forge onwards.

“Demon king…”

Looking at the castle, I closed my eyes.

Maybe it was because of the fact that whatever his actions, he was still a leader of demonkind? It felt like, with him, the weight of the evil I carried seemed to lessen.

“Right then, should I get serious?”

***