novelraw Vol 3. Chapter 695: Bonus Part: Ryo and Abel’s Journey Home (23)
Vol 3. Chapter 695: Bonus Part: Ryo and Abel’s Journey Home (23)
0695 A Strange Tale of the Demon Men Cult V
“Splendid.”
Ryo spoke from atop the wall.
From the instant Abel defeated Dainan, everyone had been silent. But Ryo’s words broke the spell, and voices came pouring out.
“Wooooooo!”
“He did it!”
“Amazing...”
“As expected of Lord Abel!”
Listening to the cries rising from the wall, Ryo jumped down.
Of course, he only activated
He thought it would be better to get to Abel as quickly as possible.
If the Demon Man tried to cut Abel down, he wanted to be in position to stop it.
But Raja, the Demon Man...
Clap. Clap. Clap.
She applauded slowly as she walked forward.
“That was a splendid fight.”
She nodded as she said it.
Then she walked over to Dainan’s head.
Slowly, she picked it up.
“He’s smiling so happily.”
And indeed, Dainan’s severed face wore a broad, radiant grin.
“Demon Man. You said your name was Raja, right?”
“Hm?”
Abel addressed Raja.
Would you mind reviving your servant Dainan somewhere else?”
“Hmm? Because you got your fill of fighting him?”
“No... there’s a girl here whose father was killed by him, and she watched the whole fight. I think cutting off Dainan’s head gave her some measure of closure. But if he immediately revives right in front of her...”
“You really are soft, Abel.”
Raja raised the corners of her mouth and teased him.
“I won’t deny that.”
“And what if I say I’m reviving him right here?”
“Then I’ll kill you, Demon Man Raja.”
Abel stared her down head-on.
“That would be interesting too, but...”
Raja laughed.
“No.”
A voice cut across their exchange from the side.
Naturally, it was Ryo.
“Abel is tired. I’ll take your place. And Demon Man Raja, I’ll seal you away for several thousand years.”
“What?”
“I was once present when another Demon Man revived, and I had a chance to study the alchemy that had sealed it. I also had the good fortune to become acquainted with Merlin in the Western Countries, and I fought Garwin as well. When it comes to dealing with Demon Men, I have a fair amount of experience.”
Ryo declared it boldly.
Raja stopped smiling and visibly frowned.
“So you know the one in red and that fool.”
“The one in red is Merlin, right? And Garwin... so he really is a fool after all.”
Ryo gave a small shake of his head at Raja’s words.
Merlin aside, Garwin... poor man.
Raja looked over Dainan’s limbs scattered across the ground, then gave a small shrug and spoke.
“Fine. I have no interest in humans. But you did show me a good fight. As payment for that entertainment, I’ll grant one wish.”
“What a condescending way to put it.”
“If she accepts it, that’s enough.”
Ryo frowned, and Abel gave a wry smile.
“However...”
As Raja said that, she looked Ryo up and down.
More than once.
“I have a bad feeling about this.”
Ryo muttered.
Abel merely shrugged in silence.
“That robe. You’re a water-attribute magician, aren’t you?”
“By ‘robe’... you mean me, right?”
“I do.”
“My name is Ryo.”
“I see. Water-attribute magician Ryo—you are loved by the Fairy King, aren’t you?”
It was not especially forceful.
To Raja, it was probably just a casual confirmation.
But Ryo’s reaction was excessive.
“Abel, everything has been exposed! At this point, we have no choice but to silence her and bury the whole matter in darkness!”
“Why would we?”
“Because if we don’t, you’ll be held accountable, Abel. Your wrongdoing will come to light.”
“I haven’t done anything. All that’s been exposed is who you are, Ryo.”
“Abel, stop struggling against the inevitable!”
“Why am I the one being blamed...?”
There were times in this world when whoever spoke first won.
But since Raja, one of the people actually involved, had been left behind by the conversation, it did not turn into one of those times.
“A darling of the Fairy King, and most likely a descendant of Richard. What an interesting combination.”
“Abel, a lot of things really have come out.”
“Ryo, the world contains all kinds of unavoidable things.”
At Raja’s words, both Ryo and Abel understood that some things simply had to be accepted.
Raja turned to Abel and said,
“You, Abel, are quite strong.”
“Thanks, I guess.”
“But you still can’t beat me. Not yet.”
“I... see.”
“Relax. I won’t fight you here and now. Dainan will probably want to train again and challenge you another time.”
“I see...”
Faced with Raja’s lofty tone, Abel struggled to find an answer.
“If he wants a rematch, that’s fine... but don’t trouble the people living here.”
“Hm?”
“You’ve attacked a lot of people before this, haven’t you?”
“Yes, I have.”
Raja nodded without the slightest shame at Abel’s words.
“Stop doing that.”
“Must I?”
“...Yes. You must.”
Raja frowned as she asked. Abel nodded.
“For that matter, why do you attack people at all? It’s a nuisance.”
“Even if you say that—humans don’t eat rice and wheat because they want to inconvenience them, do they?”
“Rice and wheat?”
“It’s because you need them to live, right? From rice and wheat’s point of view, don’t they probably feel, ‘You don’t actually have to eat us’? Aren’t meat and fish enough for you? Why do you have to eat us too?”
“You’re saying a Demon Man attacking humans is the same thing as humans eating rice and wheat?”
“In form, yes.”
Raja shrugged.
Abel frowned.
Beside him, Ryo gave a small shake of his head.
“A Demon Man has just made a perfectly valid point about the environmental burden imposed by humans.”
“I don’t know, now I’m starting to feel like humans really are bad news from a plant’s perspective.”
“It’s that old argument—‘The best thing for this planet would be if humans vanished’...”
This time Abel shook his head, and Ryo frowned.
“Do Demon Men... have to attack humans in order to live?”
“That is true during the recovery period.”
Raja answered Abel’s question without hesitation.
“The recovery period?”
“Would it be clearer if I said, when we are released from our seals?”
“So... right now?”
“More precisely, until just a little while ago.”
“What? Don’t tell me...”
“Yes. I’ve fully revived.”
As Raja said that, a sinister smile spread across her face.
Tension shot through Abel’s body before he could stop it.
He barely managed to restrain himself from reaching for his sword.
“My true body is back at my base, so unfortunately I can’t show it to you now.”
“No, I don’t particularly want to see it.”
Abel answered immediately, without a beat of delay.
Raja tilted her head a little, then spoke.
“Right. There’s one thing I want to confirm.”
“What is it?”
“Are you two staying here after this?”
“...What do you mean?”
Abel paused for a moment before answering.
Because if the two of them left, then the possibility remained that the village would be attacked again.
A moment ago, he had clearly told her not to trouble the people living here, and Raja had seemed to accept that, but...
“Don’t worry. I won’t attack these people again. I’m past the recovery period now, so there’s no need. I do not go back on my word.”
Apparently understanding Abel’s concern, Raja grinned as she said it.
“I was only wondering where I should go if Dainan asks for a rematch with you... no, if I myself decide I want to fight you two.”
“Come to the Dark Continent. We’ll be moving on from here before long.”
Ryo answered from the side, and Raja nodded.
“I see. So the Dark Continent is your base.”
“Then let us meet on the Dark Continent.”
With that, Raja collected Dainan’s remains from the ground and departed.
“
Ryo checked the surrounding area.
“Yes, we’re fine. She’s gone from the area.”
Ryo nodded in relief.
At that, Abel tilted his head and asked,
“Ryo, are we going to the Dark Continent?”
“We are not.”
“Huh? Didn’t you just tell her to come to the Dark Continent?”
“Please recall my words precisely. I said only, ‘Come to the Dark Continent. We’ll be moving on from here before long.’ I never said the Dark Continent was our base, nor that we were going there.”
“...I see.”
For some reason Ryo puffed out his chest as he argued the point, while Abel looked at him with narrowed eyes.
That look seemed to say, Wasn’t that a little underhanded?
“Do you want to go to the Dark Continent, Abel? To fight Demon Men?”
“No... I don’t.”
“Exactly. We might go there ourselves too... say, in about two hundred years. So I was not lying in the slightest.”
“R-right... though I don’t think I’ll still be alive in two hundred years.”
Abel shrugged.
“Well, Abel, you did defeat a servant of the Demon Men, at least. Congratulations.”
“Hm?”
“But the Demon Man herself warned you that you still can’t beat her.”
“Y-yeah.”
“So don’t get carried away.”
“I wasn’t planning to...”
Talking like that, Ryo and Abel headed back into the village.
There, the villagers who had already come down from the wall... all of them had tears in their eyes.
It was nothing like the jubilation from before.
But those tears were in no way filled with sorrow...
“Lord Abel, thank you very much.”
At the center of those tears stood Anju, offering her gratitude.
“You’ve avenged your father. Now you can move forward.”
“Yes...”
Abel said it with a smile, and Anju answered through tears and a smile of her own.
Farafao Village was wrapped in happiness.