Lord Demon is behind you

--I remembered.

Memories related to her emerged one after another in his mind.

The child's name is Olga, an orphan with cat-human blood, and now she is running the small hotel left by her adoptive mother.Just a few hours ago, I drove away a large number of gangsters who came here to make trouble, but accidentally smashed their store, and now I am apologizing to her——

Right, that is it.

Unbelievably, he accepted the reality in front of him too easily.

A moment ago, I seemed to be a child, but now I suddenly turned into a young man of about 20 years old; the memory is also particularly ambiguous, and the time in between seems to have skipped all of a sudden.However, at this moment, he inexplicably thinks that these are normal phenomena.

This is probably a dream, right?

This must be a dream.

This happens only in dreams.Dreams don't need logic.In dreams, fragments of memory emerge one by one like this, often without any connection to each other, and the dreamer takes this for granted.

He is in this situation now, so it must be in a dream.

Olga, who was sitting across the long table, continued to tell the whole story.

She always had a polite smile on her face, and her tone of speech was also very brisk; only a trace of blankness in her eyes revealed her true emotions——

She was probably at a loss.

No matter how precocious it is just a teenage girl, suddenly forced to face this kind of thing - it is normal to feel panicked.

"A person like me is not qualified to refuse the request of the noble lord. If someone asks me to be his mistress, others may think that I am a high-ranking person. After all, a mixed-race orphan with orc blood sounds like It's despicable... isn't it?"

As she spoke, she put the cat ears in her hands on her head and made a gesture of cat's claws with her hands.

"However, no matter what, I am also an individual with independent will. It always feels very unpleasant to just obediently accept my fate."

Having said that, she pushed aside the chair, stood up, and bowed to him in salute.

"Thank you very much, Mr. Adventurer, for your rescue. However, I can't pay the corresponding reward now...I'm really sorry. Besides, I have already decided to leave this city early tomorrow morning and flee elsewhere, as long as I leave his jurisdiction , that noble lord can’t help it.”

"Are you leaving this city?" he heard himself asking, "but the outside of the city is full of monsters... If you're alone, it's dangerous to walk on the main road."

"That's right... So, tomorrow morning, I'll try to ask the caravan I've made friends with before, and ask if they'd like to take me for a ride." Olga tried hard to smile cheerfully.

However, now that she has been spotted by a well-known local nobleman, it should have caused trouble.The most well-informed businessman would know that, in order to avoid getting into trouble, most of them would not agree to her request.

"If rejected..."

She had to go on the road alone.A celibate girl with no combat power stepped into a dangerous suburban path in the early morning when no one was around, risking being swallowed by monsters——

However, even so, it is still necessary to leave.

To her, a smug aristocrat must be more terrifying than a man-eating monster.

Monsters are low-level creatures who don't know how to think, and only know how to obey instinct and the instructions of the devil king. They will never plan to kill their own kind just for their own desires like humans.

——It turned out to be the case.

This dream, it turned out to be like this——

The brave man suddenly understood.

After "taking other people's lives in desire for property", is this time "forcing women to submit for sex"?

Money and sex, these are the roots of desires that human beings have been unable to overcome for thousands of years.In order to satisfy these desires, some people do not hesitate to use means to hurt and bully their own kind.

The same race that exposed the fangs of selfish desires are far more evil than simple and easy-to-understand monsters—this is what this dream is trying to prove to itself.

Have you always thought this way in your subconscious mind?

"It's dirty, isn't it? The dark side of human beings, is it dirty?"

There was a voice whispering in the bottom of my heart.Not from anyone else, but his own voice.

"Even if human beings exist like this, do you still love them and protect them?"

The soul floating outside the body calmly listens to the inner questioning, while the self locked in that time segment continues to interpret the established facts according to its own memory.

"……that……"

The eighteen or nineteen-year-old self followed closely, stood opposite Olga, and opened his mouth a little stiffly.

"Tomorrow...I plan to leave too....Probably on the way."

"Hey?"

She froze in place.On that pretty face, for the first time, there was a childish look that matched his age.

That's the way it should be.Because Olga was only in her teens, even at that time, she was just a child.Still the age to be loved and cared for.

He stretched out his hand forward.

"If you don't mind, let me give you a section."

At this time-

The hand that stretched forward was suddenly grabbed.

■

Unknowingly, the surrounding scene changed again.He was standing under the clear and bright moonlight, behind him was the side door of a certain hotel, the surrounding was quiet, only the chirping of insects could be heard.

here we go again.His own dreams were transferred to other memory fragments.

——The object in front of her was no longer a teenage cat-eared maid, but a black-haired beauty wrapped in a long cloak.

"I like you."

The dark-haired beauty was holding his hand tightly, expressing her love confession with great excitement——

"I devoted all my life's enthusiasm to liking you..."

Although he is obviously a man, he is indeed an out-and-out beauty.On a face that was as white as porcelain, a blush was applied just right, and the half-drawn eyelids covered the eyes that were as clear as glass—in short, this guy was as beautiful as a carefully crafted doll.

The brave man had an impression of this face.

This person, no, is not human—he is the former demon king who was captured by him not long ago.It is the object he has been trying to defeat all along, an existence like an old enemy; however, now that the opponent has already been defeated, he actually confessed to himself...?

The frightening thing is that just being watched so affectionately makes my heart beat extraordinarily fast.

It is clear that what they are facing is the former mortal enemy, the common enemy of all mankind...

Could it be that the other party released some enchanting spell?

——No...it must be because that face is too deceptive.

"I... I probably don't hate you."

As planned, he stumbled and said.

"Uh, it means that although you occupied the northern part of the kingdom and exiled the lord there, you did not bully the people in the occupied area. The reputation of the devil king among the northern people is even better than that of the original lord...so..."

"really?"

Hearing this, the other party's eyes lit up.

"Ah, it's true."

"That's great. Great! Then, brave man, you--"

He smiled innocently like a child, and suddenly grabbed the brave man's wrist, pulling him to the other side.

"Follow me back to the Demon Realm!"

"--etc?!"

It is worthy of being a high-ranking demon, and its muscle strength attribute is quite impressive.Although there was a lack of follow-up, the brave man was staggered for a while, and quickly stopped.

"Wait a minute, what are you talking about? Where are you going?"

"Demon Realm," the other party said calmly, "After all, I am the lord of the Demon Realm. Since the brave man agreed to my love, of course he has to hurry back to his hometown and marry me."

"No, when did I promise something like that? I'm just saying I don't hate—"

This scene in front of me—is it also a fragment of memory?Is it also a projection of an event that once happened?Why does it feel so... weird.

"What are you talking about, brave man! Isn't this a matter of course?"

The Demon King stopped abruptly, and leaned towards the hero instead.The brave man hesitated for a moment before being thrown into his arms.

"Varied……"

The two were about the same height, so they were almost standing shoulder to shoulder.Through several layers of fabric, the other party's body temperature was still transmitted to the chest, but the meager temperature burned him to blush and flustered.

The brave man wanted to back away, but was stopped by the arm that suddenly hung around his waist.

The other party lowered his head affectionately and rubbed against his neck.

"You, brave—of course you like me, right?"

He said with certainty, as if he had confirmed this fact.

"So, although I..." Although I don't hate it, it doesn't mean I like it in the sense of love.I don't like men... probably.

"The brave must like me," the other party concluded, "Because, look, you can't say no at all, can you? If you don't like it, just say that I'm not interested in you."

"..."

Can't say it.The words were clearly on the verge of his lips...but for some reason, he couldn't say anything completely negative when he saw that face.

It wasn't because he was fooled by that beauty.Although this guy is good-looking, it is not to the point where it makes people completely lose their minds.

It's something deeper—the subconscious mind, or a strange feeling accumulated over time—that's preventing me from telling a lie so easily.

When exactly happened and why did it happen?The mind is filled with clusters of questions.

Are you already familiar with him?The opportunity to get acquainted...is it outside the dream?In reality?

"I knew it," the human-shaped object nestled in its arms smiled sweetly, "The brave really likes me. Wouldn't it be good to leave with me? It would be good to elope with me. Yours, the brave Your family is long gone, right? There is nothing worthy of your nostalgia in this human world."

No, no, it is absolutely impossible to just leave like this. "But the Demon King is still there. I have to save humanity, okay—"

He still has enemies that must be defeated—for some reason, the hero believes so.Although I can't remember what happened, I can confirm this fact.

"Aha……"

The former Demon King sighed heavily.

"The future of human beings, hostile monsters and the like—how about those things? Anyway, even if there are no demon kings and monsters, you humans will still exist as your own enemies. If you defeat them, there will be world peace. gone."

"Even if you say so..."

"Didn't you just say that?" He didn't listen to the brave man at all, "People in the north agree with me, the devil king, more than the lord? Isn't this the evidence? Human beings are a pathetic species that has degenerated into self-cannibalism , is a species that no one can save. Not even you, my brave man. Saving humans or something was just a false proposition from the beginning.”

He spun away from the brave man's arms lightly, backing away with a graceful cat-like movement.

"Come on, give up hopeless human beings as soon as possible, and come to me? Go to the devil world with me and enjoy your own happiness."

Humans are a fallen, hopeless species.They are more ferocious and insidious creatures than monsters, and they are existences that will kill their own kind for selfish desires.

This is a fact evidenced by this dream.

"Even if human beings exist like this, do you still love them and protect them?"

At this moment, the voice in my heart sounded again.

"Is such a human being really worthy of being loved? Can it really be saved? Even if it can, is it really... something you can do?"

Deep down, another self sneered.

"Even the gods can't save ignorant and cruel humans. I'd better give up as soon as possible."

"Come on, brave man."

The Demon King held out his hand to him, "Come with me, to a place where there are no human beings."

"Go," the voice in my heart urged, "follow him to his world and escape from this dirty human society."

Run away...?Am I going to run away from this?No, this is not an escape, this is... a choice to give up one's obligation as a brave man?

Urged by a double voice, the brave man slowly raised his right arm.

Then--

Instead of reaching out to hold the opponent, he pressed the hilt of the sword on his waist.

"--who are you?"

He raised his head and asked calmly, "You are definitely not that guy. You are not the former demon king Albert Strelstein, who are you?... Are you the one who manipulates this dream?"

The author has something to say:

Happy Tanabata everyone~!