<CHAPTER 19>
However, the spear did not last long.
Just as Roakin had said, instead of raising hostility at the sight of me, the demons obediently parted to make way.
A few of the converts even looked at me with pity.
“I don’t know what it is, but I guess it’s working!”
In the now-calm space, I looked up at him as he continued walking steadily beside me.
“Um, Roakin.”
He tightened his grip on my sweat-dampened hand and answered.
The fact that he responded to my call was practically permission to continue.
Gaining courage, I voiced the question I had been holding inside.
“About Shykan burying me here… and when we met on the island… what kind of relationship do you two have?”
After a brief silence, a muffled voice filtered through the helmet.
“Among the humans I know, he is the one I can communicate with the most.”
“It didn’t really look like you were communicating.”
“At least we were talking.”
“You mean talking with your fists?”
I worried I might have been too cheeky, but instead of scolding my impudence, he revealed the truth.
“Since the last Holy-Demon War, various factions have emerged across the world.”
“Things have not been the same as before.”
“Especially in the human realm, forces denying the faith of Yggdrasil began to appear, and at the center of that was—”
“Shykan.”
“The enemy of my enemy sometimes becomes an ally… sometimes.”
After a moment of silence, he added so I would not misunderstand.
“There was also a time when I received something that once belonged to him.”
Clink, clink.
At the sound of him tapping the surface of the tin helmet, my eyes widened.
“He gave this to you as a gift?”
Before I realized it, Roakin had led me through the sparsely populated back gate of the castle.
I hurried after him, shaking off my thoughts.
Figures, he’ll just wrap it up on his own again.
That was what I thought.
But he removed the dented helmet and turned around, wearing the same infuriatingly calm expression as always.
“Because you’re a Saintess.”
As if that single sentence were some noble excuse.
“Hmm-hmm~ hmm-hmm~”
It was such a pleasant day that I found myself humming without realizing it.
The next day, after parting with Roakin, I went out to explore.
Perhaps thanks to the necklace, I could roam the streets freely without anyone’s help or interference, and without struggling inside a heavy helmet.
They clearly seem to know I’m human, so why aren’t they screaming like during the festival?
The unresolved question remained, but compared to the freedom I held in my grasp, it was trivial.
Well, as long as I’m safe.
Crunching on an apple I had bought at the market, I skipped lightly through the castle’s main gate.
And the first thing I saw was—
“Waaah! W-Where are you touching?! Let’s talk with some distance between us!”
It was Heligan.
Heligan, surrounded by beautiful women.
Wow, who did he learn to flirt like that from…
“We heard the Demon King has arrived? Please, just once, grant us an audience!”
Ah, I see.
It seemed the women’s true target was Roakin, who was five hundred times more handsome than Heligan.
I lowered myself and slipped past, avoiding involvement in the troublesome scene.
“Lady Lamia.”
“Hmm.”
Surely I was imagining the tone sounding like an accusation of extortion.
After that, I quietly followed him again and, as the Demon King’s Castle came into view, I cautiously asked another question.
“But how did you know I would resurrect when there’s even a grave for me?”
“Are you asking that to the Demon King who has just resurrected?”
“…Fair point.”
It’s not like I can’t ask, why make me feel stupid about it?
Feeling oddly foolish, I shut my mouth with a pout.
Roakin finally released my hand and tapped my forehead lightly with his knuckle.
Who does he think he’s teasing?
“This world is too treacherous to believe only what you see.”
“Keep your wits about you.”
Even if I try to stay sharp, what good is it when everything around me gets cut down in an instant?
Being on the receiving end every time made me feel a little wronged.
After some thought, I delivered a timid counterpunch.
“By the way, Shykan mentioned something about a bed earlier.”
“Does that mean he also knows about your crude taste?”
“……It would be better for you to forget unnecessary things.”
Oh, that reaction was satisfying.
“Were you planning to use a merchant’s wide network to search for a bride?”
“That’s how it looked.”
“It seems everyone in the Demon King’s Castle knows you were looking only for women with orange hair who resemble me.”
Roakin’s steps came to an abrupt halt.
Uh-oh, maybe I got too excited and talked too much.
He turned his head toward me.
Even though his face was hidden behind iron, I could feel his gaze meeting mine.
Strangely, I did not sense anger.
“My taste is not crude.”
“And you are not crude either.”
“Well, of course I don’t think I’m crude—”
“You are noble.”
A vague confession slipped out from beyond the helmet.
“What?”
In the dusky evening air, the ticklish breeze brushed past us along with the faint sound of his breath.**
