Lord Demon is behind you

"Oh..." In fact, I didn't think of this level at all. After being reminded by him, the brave man reacted, "That's right, since you can fly, wouldn't it be good to just use the flying one to come up from the beginning?"

"The reason why I didn't fly up directly at the beginning is because the consumption of wings is too high," the demon king explained, "the human world has a lot of restrictions on the power of the demons, except for the demon king who owns the demon throne." In addition, other demons must actively seal part of their abilities, otherwise they will be damaged."

Taking himself as an example, there are two seals in his body.

When the seal is normal, he will act as the great magister of the dark system, and his strength cannot exceed the limit of human beings—that is, level 99.

When the first seal is released, he will transform into a second form and liberate the wings of the demons.

"My second form is just like that. Due to the limitations of the human world, in this form, my blood volume and magic power will drop rapidly at a rate of nearly [-] points per second-that is to say, only flying After going on for more than a minute, the blood volume is almost at the end."

It turned out to be the case.This can explain why the demon king never showed his wings when he was still a boss: in the boss battle, in order to release water for the brave, he has only maintained the first form and has never changed.

The brave man felt a little sorry: "It's really hard for you this time."

If the Demon King hadn't released his wings in time, I'm afraid it would have been another hard fight afterwards.

At that time, the two didn't know how far up there was to end.And if there is no time to fly to the platform before the blood volume is exhausted, the devil will face the end of death when the blood bar is empty.

It can be said that he risked his life to resolve this crisis.

"No, no, no hard work, no hard work, there's nothing I can do about it.... But," as if suddenly remembering something, the Demon King asked in a low voice, "Well, can I... can I ask for some comfort?"

"Eh? Solace means—"

"That's right, uh..." The Demon King lowered his head in embarrassment.

"I would like to invite you, slightly, to...call me again, my name."

"Oh, you mean," the brave man said in a daze, "Albert...?"

As he spoke, he was not thinking about anything.

However, after hearing this, the Demon King's face immediately burst into light.

"...Hmm!" He tilted his head and smiled happily.

Just by looking at this smile, some people would believe that this person is an angel.

The brave man only felt a burst of hotness on his face, he couldn't help turning his head, and muttered: "It's just a name...why are you so happy?"

"Because it's my dream," said the Demon King. "When I looked at you through the crystal ball, I kept thinking that if one day I could appear by your side as a companion and call each other by name like a companion, then How nice it would be......Can I call you that too? Just once, can you let me call you to see?"

"What?" The brave man was a little confused.

"Name. Just call the name."

"...There's nothing wrong with it. I'm not a great person, so there's nothing to be taboo about. Of course, you can call me whatever you want."

Even though he said that, the brave man felt extremely embarrassed for some reason.

Obviously just being called by name——

"...Arthur." The Demon King said softly.

Moreover, this is a very common name that can be seen everywhere.

Where the Brave was born, one or two boys out of every ten were called Arthur.It is said that it was taken from an ancient inheritance song, the name of an ancient hero.

"—Arthur."

But, being called out so softly, it seems...

Even if it's not the first time, it's been a long time coming.

I don't know since when, this name has lost the chance to be called. "Master Brave" has become his nickname, and even if a name is needed, it is either "Master Klein" or the full name "Arthur Klein".

Even the close companions are the same, just yelling "Master Brave" and "Master Brave".

"Arthur—"

Strange and kind.

The brave man sat on the ground beside the Demon King, buried his face in his knees, and whispered, "Okay, please stop screaming... I feel... I'm so embarrassed."

...However, this feeling is not annoying.

■

After the two finished their rest and went back to the cliff through the portal, Emily in the witch's posture did not appear again.According to common sense guesses, it is likely to go to the boss room on the second floor, and squat with the boss Stella on this floor.

The brave man ignored her for the time being, and just stepped on the last passage step by step.

All the way to the end quietly, there are no difficulties and obstacles at the end, no monsters and organs, only a small flat box quietly placed there.

"This is……"

"It feels like an ordinary box," the Demon King commented, "There is no magical reaction at all."

"If you say it's ordinary, it should be quite ordinary..."

The brave man took two steps forward, knelt down and lifted the lid of the box.

Inside the small box are thick wooden boards, on which there are two rows of ten round holes.There is something like a switch below, and a blank space like a counting board.

When the switch was flipped, the box hummed subtly, and then—

From a certain hole, a brown cylinder emerged.There is also a crude picture painted on the surface, which seems to be in the shape of an animal's head.

"... Huh? What the hell is this—"

After a moment the head retracted.Almost at the same time, another identical cylindrical head emerged from another hole.

"This is a popular toy in the capital a few years ago. Its name should be called Whack-a-mole," the brave man introduced very calmly. "The one that pops up is a gopher. Press it down before it hides." -"

With a snap, the brave man pressed his fingers on the head of the newly emerged "gopher".There was a creaking sound from the cylindrical head, and the number "1" appeared on the counting board.

"that's it?"

"That's it. As more gophers are pressed, they will appear faster and faster. After a certain number is missed, the game is over."

"..."

The Demon King looked at the small box in the hero's hand very sadly.

"This thing...does it have any meaning? Will there be any rewards after the game is over? Or, what rewards will be given for breaking the previous record?"

"...What meaning does a toy need? Isn't it enough to be able to play with it?"

"yes……"

After pondering deeply for a while, the Demon King came to a conclusion: "Children in the world are really too boring."

"...However, this box is a little different," said the brave man. "I know it. It belongs to Miss Stella. If I remember correctly, she used it to train her fingers before."

"Eh--"

The Demon King finally became interested, and squatted down next to the brave man, looking carefully at him.The box does look a little old, with some cracks on the edges, but every damage has been carefully repaired, and it can be seen that it was treated very seriously by the original owner.

"Does that little girl still have this kind of interest, just like a child?"

"I told you it's for exercising your fingers..."

When magicians mobilize the power of elements to cast spells, they often need to use some specific incantations and incantations.Mantras refer to words and phrases recited in the mouth, while mantra seals are a series of gestures made by the hands in sequence; in order to be able to perform spells smoothly, one must usually be proficient in at least one of the two.

"Miss Stella said that although she is a powerful magister, she is not good at reciting spells, and occasionally bites her tongue."

Probably because there are not many opportunities to speak... It is really hard to imagine that a person who is not very flexible in speech can accurately recite a long series of spells.

"So it is even more important to practice the knotting method of the curse seal seriously, so as not to make mistakes at critical moments."

"However, can this thing really serve the purpose of exercise?"

The Demon King took the box from the brave man, put it on his lap, and pressed it boredly.

"I'm not a magician, how would I know that kind of thing. But Miss Stella has always cherished it..."

The brave man was silent for a while.

"...Actually, speaking of it, I gave this box to her."

Although it's just a coincidence.

That day, he went shopping with the girl in charge of logistics in the team. When he encountered an event in the store, he would give a toy as a gift if he participated in the game and won the ranking.

After being encouraged by his companions to enter the competition, Brave finally won the third prize, and the prize was exactly this—a rough whack-a-mole box.

After putting away the purchased things, he happened to run into Stella on the way back to the room with the small box in his hand.

"This is... a toy?"

"Ah, it's a toy called whack-a-mole, right?"

After casually complaining to her about her previous experience and introducing how to play whack-a-mole, the brave man inadvertently discovered that she had been staring at the box with longing eyes.

"Does Miss Stella want this box?"

"Hmm..." She lowered her head in embarrassment, "This, it should... help Jieyin."

The two had often talked about magic-related content before, and the brave man also knew her shortcoming of not being able to recite spells fluently.

"Well, then I will give it to you."

"—Huh? Is it okay?" The expressionless face all the year round was suddenly filled with bewilderment and surprise.

"There's nothing wrong with it, and I don't need it either. Since you need it, take it."

The brave man shoved the box into her hand.

...But, can this thing really help Jieyin?Crude cheap toys like this—

At that time, he also thought vaguely in his mind.Is it really not that she just wants to play?

Whatever the reason, the longing in those eyes was not fake.If he can use such a small toy to make his companions happy, the brave man will certainly be happy to see it.

"After that, she has kept this box carefully. Now that I think about it... Hey!!"

Unknowingly, the devil had already had a great time playing with the box.The finger quickly passed over the hole, leaving an afterimage, and the numbers on the counting board below were quickly superimposed.

"Hey, why are you playing by yourself!" Isn't it boring just now?

The brave man couldn't laugh or cry for a while.

"Wait, ah, don't talk to me for now... soon... uh, it's gone! It's gone and it's gone... It's over..."

At the end of the round, the Demon King slumped his shoulders in frustration.

"This... is really a game that cannot be underestimated. With the speed of my single hand for hundreds of years, I can only get this result!"

"...Singleness has nothing to do with hand speed."

The brave man looked up and saw a rather high number displayed on the counting board.

"Aren't you very good!" At least after all these years, he has never seen a higher score.

"Really?" The Demon King glanced suspiciously, "Then... it seems that this thing really has nothing to do with the practice of curse seals. My seal seal skills are notoriously bad."

If this game can exercise the spell seal, the level of the spell seal should also affect the game level.

"In the final analysis, isn't it something that you can get high scores as long as your hand speed is fast! However, it's not just hand speed that is judged by hand seals. She said that this can be used to practice knot seals, she is probably talking nonsense."

"……yes."

The brave man let out a long sigh.

He didn't have a hunch about it either—

Come to think of it, he might have been wrong all along.

She didn't like whack-a-mole, nor did she use it to exercise her fingers.It's just that, simply, I want to get the gift of the brave.

She just...

I just want to get what belongs to the brave.

"It's not that I can't understand her mood..." The Demon King put the box back on the ground, stood up and patted the dirt on the cloak, "Thinking about it in another way, I would definitely want the prize won by the brave. But... ..."

He twitched the corner of his mouth and didn't say any more.

——But it is because of understanding that I feel extremely uncomfortable.This feeling is probably called jealousy.

"I won't gossip. Then, how can we get the elemental stones here? Do we have to score high scores of more than four digits?"

The Demon King changed the subject smoothly, rolled up his sleeves, "Leave it to me in that case. This time, I will show you a high score!"

"No... I don't think that's the case."

While speaking, the brave man kept staring down at the box.

Stella, put this toy here... What is it trying to explain?

Still want to prove something?

The author has something to say:

"I, Albert, am bored to death! Died in the maze! I will never play with this kind of children's toys!"

"—Whack-a-mole is really fun~"