Volume 2: “The Demon King”

2-1 Returning to the Human World

It was the time of year when the sunshine overhead was finally beginning to slumber. It’s another day, and the only sound in the house is the sound of Marie’s footsteps as she busily walks around.

The owner of the house leans back on the sofa and sleeps dreamily. The blanket draped over his belly, which had been filled with breakfast, was of course, Marie’s thoughtfulness. In his hand, which was hanging down weakly, he was holding a sword in a lustrously tailored milky white scabbard, but it was firmly in his grasp.

It had been about two weeks since Chris and I had parted, when Falmer came running in with a sword in his hand, his expression and demeanor saying, “I’ve done it”. It was half past midnight and I had just completed a modest but large-scale quest to investigate an underground water vein in a certain subhuman village that had dried up under the influence of some kind of magic power. There was no way I could raise the corners of my mouth when a big, sweaty man came up to me, so I thanked him rudely and offered him only a bath and a place to sleep.

The next morning, Falmer staggered and said, “This time don’t let go of them even if you die,” and disappeared into the sky, accompanied by Marie.

One month later. As I was told, I carry Chris’s new sword around with me. I didn’t ignore Falmer’s advice, because it would be a joke if I lost it after being the one who broke it.

However, it’s not good for a former swordsman to keep on carrying such a work of art without even being able to look at the blades. Even if the sword belonged to another person, more so it was a sword pair that was originally treated like a limb.

“…………”

Suddenly, I gently let the consciousness of the surroundings circulate around me.

“There’s no problem if I see it, right……?”

I’m not doing anything wrong, but I couldn’t help but say that and check. At this time of day in the late afternoon, Marie is always tending to her flowers and plants. There was no reason for anyone else to be there, so I put my hand on the hilt of the sword and gently applied pressure so as not to make a sound.

At that moment, the window directly behind me made a crisp sound. Flustered, I re-gripped the sword hilt and looked back.

No one was there. But I can’t be mistaken. I put my hand on the window, which had regained its silence and opened it with all my might. I felt a familiar touch on my head and the tension that had bound my whole body slipped away.

“Hello. How are you doing?”

A familiar beak was hanging down on the tip of my nose. It was Rize, a bird of prey that somehow had mastered the human language and was one of the arms of Falmer, the chief of the Oni-jin. {TN: Changed Lise (the bird’s name) to Rize}

“I’ve just had a bad day. What do you want today Rize?”

“No, I have nothing in particular to do. I got bored with my walk, so I came to say hello.”

“A walk? What happened to your work?”

The majority of the Onijin work in the mines to make a living. However, the interior of the mines is complicated and uncomfortable to say the least. The ground is poorly paved, cramped and dimly lit. It’s hot in the summer, cold in the winter and naturally has a slope. Therefore, Rize who can see well at night and move quickly through the mines is used as a messenger. So this baby bird of prey basically flies around the mines from before noon when the mines open until dusk when the sun goes down.

“I don’t know much about it either. I haven’t resumed full scale mining yet because Falmer was in the forge until recently.”

“…… I see. Well, don’t let him worry too much.”

“I’m fine. Don’t treat me like a child.”

Considering the distance from the Onijin village to this point, it seems that even if it was a large adult a search party would be formed, but it seems like it’s not so much of a problem for a hunter of the skies like her. She’s sitting on my lap on the sofa with her beak wide open and stretching, not showing the slightest sign of fatigue.

“Oh that’s right! Speaking of walks, I heard a strange sound when I was walking around the border.”

“A sound? I think you heard wrong. There’s no sound in such a place…….”

The thing that separates our world from the world of humans, known as the “borderline,” is not limited by the traffic of living things. As I learned later, it also blocks physically generated sounds. When Chris returned home, the sound of water she had been making became eerily absent as soon as her figure disappeared. Seeing even the lingering sound cease made me realize that boundaries are clearly there to control the interference between our worlds.

“That’s why I paid attention to it. As far as I could see, there were no insects.”

“Well then, where was it from……?”

I was about to say something but stopped myself.

The borderline does not like physical interference between the two worlds. But a creature with magic power can manipulate that power to push through.

–So, wouldn’t the sound of magic power also be able to cross the boundary?

“ Well, one eye-witness is better than a 100 hearsays, right?”

“A hundred what……?”

“It’s a word left by a great man in the world of humans. Let’s go.”

I walked out of the house with Rize perched on my shoulder, her beak open and her head tilted. As expected, Marie was hard at work gardening when I walked around the back of the house. I didn’t want to make her stop her work, so I hid myself in the shade of the house and peeked quietly.

“Hee, So Marie can make that kind of expression.” (Rize)

“RIght? When I told her that she looked like she couldn’t even kill a bug, she got angry and said, “Please don’t talk about me like I’m usually violent.”

“I think you were wrong there…….”

“…… What are you doing sneaking around?”

Marie, who may have finished her work noticed us and called out. I explained to her what I had heard about the mysterious sound, and she put her index finger on her chin and looked down, then quickly looked up.

“I can imagine some bad situations. Shall I get thing’s ready.”

“Yes, please do. We may have to stay over there for a while, so be prepared for that.”

“Then I’ll leave these to you while I go inside.”

With a bow, Marie ran off toward the front door of the house.

“She’s really fast at what she does. It helps.”

“We get a lot of requests that take us away from home for a long time. We don’t have anything to protect so it’s easy.”

I let Rize perch on the branch of a nearby tree and walked over to the fence that surrounded the plants and flowers that Marie had just taken care of.

“Nothing to protect …… Don’t you have to protect Marie?”

“Marie? Me?”

I crouched down and touched the earth. In my mind, I pictured a cage with the top of the fence covering the entire space, and I released my magic power so that the scene materialized around my palm.

A translucent sphere, like a thin membrane appeared from the ground without a sound. I slowly turned around to check the space that was soon covered.

“The value of her life doesn’t depend on my will.”

“Even so, you should at least show her that you’re willing to protect her. I know Marie will be happy to see that.”

“…… Is that how it is?”

“That’s the way it is.”

While being preached to about a woman’s heart by a bird, I turn my feet to the house. I searched my room, grabbed the items I wanted and left the house. Marie who was waiting for me presented me with a robe as usual. I reached out to take the dagger and only when she smiled back did I remember that I didn’t have it with me.

“Do you need to calm down?”

“It’s more of a habit. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with being unarmed…..”

“I’m unarmed, too. We’re the same, aren’t we?”

Even though I never draw her sword, Chris’s sword is still on my belt. I don’t know if I can call it matching, but Marie’s expression was heartily cheerful, so she grasped my hand back without saying anything.

“…… Hey, aren’t you being closer than usual?”

“That’s trivial.”

“…………”

Looking up at Marie who smiled whispered “something trivial” again, Rize averted her gaze as if she was stunned.

Following the floating feeling, my vision becomes cloudy. After a slight gap in my body’s sensation, we were floating in the sky near a shining wall.

“There’s no one on this side……”

When we landed on the ground, as Rize said, I heard a strange sound that I couldn’t describe, piercing my ears. When I heard Rize’s story, I didn’t have a clue what she was talking about, but when I arrived at the scene, I realized that it was indeed a strange sound that I could not describe.

“I can’t say for sure until I see it,  but I wonder if someone is emitting magic power instead of a warning bell from the other side of this wall..”

For what reason, I couldn’t say. The discovery of the cause meant that the bad premonition was almost certain to come true. The fact that they were able to call out to us meant that we were barely one step ahead of the worst.

“Rize, can you go home alone?”

Rize let out an anxious squeal instead of a reply as she reluctantly pulled away from Marie’s chest.

“Sorry I dragged you into this.”

“What are you talking about? It’s more of a credit, don’t worry about it.”

“Please tell Falmer that I’ll get the sword to Chris and give him my regards.”

After being patted on the head by Marie, Rize looked back at me several times and slowly flew away into the northern sky.

“Well, Marie, what do you think?”

“Could it be a call from a close relative of Chris? Maybe something bad is happening over there.”

“I’m thinking almost the same thing. Then, we have no choice but to go.”

It’s generally recognized that this world is seen from the human world as a desolate and barren land where monsters prey and slaughter humans. There are some environments that partially match, and not many daredevils would like to venture into a world with such a reputation.

Since that’s the case, someone over there knows that there’s someone here that’s worth calling. In other words, the person must have heard from Chris that I was here and if Chris herself could move, she would pass through the wall directly without going this long process.

“It’s the first time you’ve crossed the border many times in such a short period of time.”

“That’s right, we’ll be away from home again…”

“That doesn’t matter. Will your body be fine?”

“I’m fine. I can make several round trips.”

“Okay, also let me buy stuff before we come back.”

When we visited the human world a while ago, we couldn’t achieve our original purpose which was shopping, because of the unexpected event. She didn’t tell me this, but Marie was very disappointed. So it wouldn’t hurt to think of this as a trip.

With such a light feeling, we crossed the border so as if I was stepping over a doorway.

Without knowing that the events awaiting me will leave me in regret for a long time.

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