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Chapter : 19
The Night We Defeated the 44th-Ranked Demon King
The night our party defeated the 44th-ranked Demon King.
By then, hunting Demon Kings had become routine for our group, and that day’s battle had been especially fierce. Without any celebration, we all collapsed straight into sleep.
That night, someone came to my room.
“Chris here. May I come in?”
“Huh? Sure.”
It was the first time Chris—no, any party member at all—had ever come to my room.
Back then, I was a rather solitary leader.
Even after entering, he looked extremely uneasy.
How could I tell when I couldn’t even see him? Because he didn’t sit in the seat I offered—he just stood there blankly.
“What is it?”
“I have a request.”
“A request? What is it?”
“After defeating the 44th-ranked Demon King, I became certain of something. If I continue to follow you, I can definitely achieve my goal.”
At the time, Chris must have suspected that one of the Great Demon Kings had kidnapped his younger sibling.
The Mirror of God must have already been shattered back then, and both before and after the regression, only Great Demon Kings were capable of destroying it.
On the other hand, I didn’t know that Chris was chasing a Great Demon King—nor that his sibling had been kidnapped by one.
So I listened without much reaction.
Chris continued.
“The ranks of the Demon Kings we’re defeating keep rising… Do you intend to target Great Demon Kings someday?”
“If no one appears who knows the whereabouts of the Demon King of Erosion, then yes.”
“Will you hunt all the Great Demon Kings starting from rank 20?”
“I don’t plan on climbing the ranks step by step. I’ll go after those whose movements are known, starting with the closest.”
“Then wouldn’t it be better to go one by one? Rank 20, 19, 18…”
I shook my head.
“As you know, some Demon Kings have unknown whereabouts—so-called wandering Demon Kings.”
“……”
“Tracking and dealing with them could take an indefinite amount of time. The priority is extracting information about the Demon King of Erosion from those with confirmed territories.”
“……”
“Was that your request? What was it you wanted to ask?”
Chris didn’t answer for a long time.
Or perhaps he did—through his expression.
But since I couldn’t see his face, it was the same as silence.
Eventually, he spoke.
“No. I apologize for the intrusion.”
I didn’t think deeply about that conversation at the time.
Until now.
He must have realized then that following me didn’t guarantee he’d find his sibling.
Of course, there was probably no other party that did nothing but slaughter Demon Kings, so it was still his best option.
But he couldn’t shake off his anxiety.
He came to me to resolve it. He made a request.
And I rejected it.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Pardon? What do you mean, Mr. Dyle?”
“Nothing.”
I barely held back a sigh.
Why, before the regression, hadn’t Chris asked me outright: ‘Please help me find my sibling’?
The answer was obvious.
Because he didn’t trust me.
Because I was always going on about the Demon King of Erosion.
My sole objective was to kill the Demon King of Erosion.
To my party members, I must have seemed like someone who ignored everything else for that goal alone.
Someone like that couldn’t be asked to do something that would drag on indefinitely.
He must have thought I’d refuse anyway—so there was no point in asking.
My chest burned painfully.
Then I heard Chris mutter.
“It’s all over now. The Demon King of Despair is ranked 9th.”
“……”
“Since history has been recorded, the top ten ranks have never changed. They’re Great Demon Kings on an entirely different level. There’s no way I can ever find my sibling like this…”
He was right.
Before the regression, the four Great Demon Kings our party defeated were ranked between 12 and 20.
I did kill the 11th-ranked Demon King of Absence on my own—but that was after the party had disbanded.
Still, I cut in almost declaratively.
“Don’t worry. I’ll help you.”
“Pardon?”
“I’ll help you find the Demon King of Despair… and go further—kill him, and find your sibling.”
Chris’s eyes widened.
He couldn’t respond, and in that silence, Renel asked carefully,
“Are you sure?”
“About what?”
“You have to chase the Demon King of Erosion. There’s no guarantee the Demon King of Despair even knows anything about him…”
“It’s fine.”
I spoke firmly.
“The matters of my party members are also my responsibility as their leader.”
“……!”
“It’s not just Chris. Renel—and the Saint as well. As your leader, I’ll fulfill every responsibility I can toward you. So…”
So please stay with me.
Don’t disband the party like you did that day before the regression.
Suddenly, the Saint’s words from that night crossed my mind.
—We’re not your tools, Mr. Dyle.
This time, I finally voiced the sincerity I hadn’t been able to give back then.
“You’re not my tools. You’re my precious companions.”
Silence followed.
But only briefly.
“Kh—!”
Chris suddenly made a strange noise.
Tears welling up, he tried to cling to me.
“Mr. Dyle. Thank you. Truly—”
“Touch me and I’ll kill you.”
“Ah. Y-yes.”
Renel lightly wiped at the corner of her eye.
“I was really moved, but Chris ruined it.”
“Were you about to cry?”
“Saintess, why are you smiling so brightly?”
“I love this kind of atmosphere. This is exactly like the hero stories I used to read. I’m really glad I chose you all.”
“Chose us? I thought it was a revelation.”
“Ah… y-yes! A revelation, of course.”
Then Chris spoke again, calmer now, though his eyes were still red.
“I originally planned to identify the Demon King who kidnapped my sibling and return to my family.”
“You did say that.”
“But I’ll put that on hold. I’ll continue traveling with you, Mr. Dyle. I look forward to it.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes. Even if I returned, my family’s power wouldn’t be enough to deal with the Demon King of Despair. Honestly, no one’s would.”
He smiled refreshingly.
“Except for you, Mr. Dyle.”
“……”
“No matter what anyone says, staying with you is the fastest path to finding my sibling.”
Without realizing it, I smiled faintly.
That smile spread, and soon everyone was smiling.
For a moment, we just looked at each other and laughed.
Like idiots.
***
Clatter. Clatter.
We were leaving Badrin by carriage.
As always, Chris was holding the reins of the coachman’s precious family member—the horse.
He grumbled,
“I have a bad feeling I’ll be holding the reins forever.”
“You lost rock-paper-scissors.”
“Only against you, Mr. Dyle.”
“It can’t be helped. We can’t let Renel drive.”
Renel nodded proudly.
“That’s right. I don’t know how to handle horses. I always travel on foot.”
“No intention of learning?”
“I’ll learn someday.”
“Learn now.”
“Now isn’t ‘someday.’”
I cut in.
“Renel, I’ll teach you starting tomorrow. Just endure today.”
“Really? You want me to drive a carriage?”
“Yeah.”
“You know, I’m not the type to boast, but mages are usually treated as high-class assets and get all kinds of privileges in parties.”
“Is that so.”
“Well… if you teach me personally, Dyle, I wouldn’t be totally opposed.”
She wiggled her fingers oddly.
Then suddenly, someone raised their hand high.
“Me! I want to learn too!”
It was the Saint.
Chris sighed deeply.
“It’s a bit much to entrust the reins to the Saintess…”
“We’re fellow adventurers now. Please treat me casually.”
“Someday.”
“Now!”
She puffed up in irritation.
I chuckled softly.
Did we have conversations like this before the regression?
Back then, all I heard was Quadrangle’s voice. I missed so much.
No matter how hard I focused, I could barely grasp the flow of conversation.
I couldn’t tell whether the atmosphere was bright or gloomy, warm or stiff.
Somehow… I’m happy.
With that thought, I rummaged through my pocket.
“Here.”
I flicked something toward the Saint.
She caught it reflexively and tilted her head.
“Did you just say ‘Here’?”
“Yeah.”
“Um… wasn’t that informal speech?”
“It was.”
“I’m a Saint, you know?”
“For now, I’m the party leader. If you don’t like it, I can go back to formal speech.”
“No, no, no! Of course I don’t mind. Wow… oh. Hehe.”
She really was an odd Saint.
Renel stared at me like I was some strange creature.
“You really went and used informal speech with the Saintess.”
“You use informal speech with your leader too.”
“That’s not the same! Not at all!”
Then the Saint spoke, her voice trembling with mixed emotions.
“This… this is an adventurer registration card.”
That’s right.
Before the regression, the Saint made her adventurer card the very first thing after joining the party.
She used the alias Arwen Wagner.
A famous fairy tale heroine’s name, she said.
I’d never read fairy tales, so I didn’t know.
Anyway, this time, we were too busy in Badrin to make one for her.
So I did it on my own while I had time.
If I remember correctly, Renel told me…
When she first received it, she held it like something precious.
Just like now.
She hugged the card tightly.
Trying hard to steady herself.
None of us could say a word.
It’s just a small booklet.
Why did it move her so much?
She forced herself to speak.
“B-but… can someone else make a registration card for you? How does that even work?”
“Officially, it’s not allowed. But the world doesn’t always run on principles. A little under-the-table money fixes most things.”
“That’s true. As you know, money is everything.”
“Stay quiet. Anyway, I set the rank to B. They said A-rank was impossible no matter how much money.”
“That just means you didn’t pay enough.”
“I said stay quiet.”
She finally released the card and carefully flipped it open.
On the first page was her portrait and name.
—Arwen Wagner.
I’d used the name without much thought, just based on memories from before the regression.
So I spoke casually.
“I borrowed the name from a fairy tale protagonist. Since you don’t have a personal name.”
“……”
“What’s wrong?”
“This… this name…”
“Hm?”
“This can’t be. It can’t be.”
Her reaction was strange.
The emotions she’d barely contained exploded again.
Her whole body trembled, and then—
“Sniff.”
“Huh?”
“Why are you crying?”
“What’s wrong?”
A moment later—
“Waaah! Waaah!”
Arwen suddenly burst into loud, unabashed sobbing.
Not even noblewomen of similar age would cry like this.
Mouth wide open, wailing like a newborn.
I was more flustered than I’d ever been since regressing.
Renel hurried to her side and held her hand.
Chris stopped the carriage and turned around.
“What is it? What happened?”
“Please calm down. I’ll teach you how to drive the carriage.”
“H-hic…”
Her face was soaked with tears and snot.
After several minutes, she finally calmed down.
With swollen eyes, she asked me,
“What’s the title of that fairy tale? I really want to read it.”
Something felt off.
She claimed the name came from a fairy tale—yet didn’t know the title?
I hid my confusion.
“I don’t remember.”
“That’s a shame.”
“…Could it be a story you’ve heard before?”
“No. I was confined in the Holy See. Books like that were forbidden. I’ve only heard stories verbally from my nanny.”
A bell rang in my head.
Then what she said before the regression must have been a lie.
Why had she lied back then?
She rubbed her eyes hard, then smiled with rabbit-red eyes.
Her voice was thick with emotion.
“Please call me Arwen.”
“Huh?”
“From now on, don’t call me Saint. Call me Arwen.”
In that moment, I understood.
Probably only I did.
The Saint had no original name.
Because giving a human name to one chosen by God was considered blasphemy.
But the Saint was a fake.
The woman before me wasn’t a Saint.
So perhaps she’d always had a real name.
But because she couldn’t reveal that she was a fake, she had to hide it her entire life.
Before the regression, she couldn’t explain that—so she lied and said it came from a fairy tale.
Meaning the “alias” on her old registration card…
Was actually her real name.
That realization explained why she was crying now.
Before, she’d written her own name herself.
That was meaningful—but still just writing your own name.
This time, someone else had written it for her.
Someone else acknowledged her name.
I felt overwhelming pity and compassion.
Keeping my emotions hidden, I asked,
“Do you like the name that much?”
She smiled like a sunflower in full bloom.
“Yes. I really do.”
