I Can Hear the Saint’s Inner Thoughts

66 – To Avenge My Parents(3)

* * *

Around the same time Astal and his party decided to leave for Forsaken Hollow, the Four Heavenly Kings were gathered somewhere in the Demon Realm, deep in discussion.

“Bellamora Lichties is dead.”

The first to speak was the Dullahan, a headless knight known as a Death Knight. He tapped the table with his finger, appearing restless.

This was the first time one of the Demon Lord’s Four Heavenly Kings had been killed by a human. It was a stark reminder that even those considered powerful could meet their end.

“That… can’t be…”

Memoria, a slime whose gelatinous green body was littered with the bones of humans and animals, denied reality in a clumsy voice.

A monster who endlessly consumed the memories of other living things, like a hungry ghost.

To it, Bellamora was a being that no one could possibly kill.

“In the dream… there shouldn’t be anyone who could kill her… Could the information be distorted…?”

In truth, Memoria’s words weren’t entirely wrong. Bellamora was no mere low-ranking demon, but a Succubus Queen. Because of this, it wasn’t an exaggeration to say that no one in this world could kill her.

A dream demon who freely moved between reality and dreams. Dying in a dream was the same as not actually dying, and to kill Bellamora, it was necessary to first drag her into the mortal realm.

“…The central power source of the Nightmare Theater was destroyed. It seems everyone woke up from the dream instantaneously because of it.”

A tiny gap created by the combined assault of the hero Kyle and the mage Astal became the key to killing Bellamora.

“…?!”

“……”

At the Dullahan’s words, the other two shuddered, unable to hide their shock. Because there were only a limited number of individuals who could accomplish something like that in the Demon Realm, with them and the Demon Lord.

“The hero…”

“I knew it would come to this. I told you. We should have torn Kyle and Astal to shreds the moment we saw them.”

The hero’s party had been hiding their identities and appearances, operating in the Demon Realm for over a year. Romulus the wolf snarled, picturing Kyle’s face.

Originally capable of freely traversing the past and disrupting timelines, he found himself, even at this moment, wanting to return to the time when the hero’s party were mere infants and snuff out their lives.

“I don’t understand what the Demon Lord is thinking! We told him to attack the hero’s village and kill them all, but he ended up sending us to some weird backwater town!”

“And…you…you chose…to spare one of them…”

Romulus and Memoria were raising their voices, recalling the events of ten years ago. No matter how much they thought about it, they couldn’t understand the Demon Lord’s decision.

They thought he would identify the individual chosen as the hero and send troops into the continent, but he only mobilized Durahan and the soldiers under his command, instead of all four Heavenly Kings.

And what’s worse, Durahan made the mistake of letting a single individual leave that place alive.

“There was a prodigy unlike any other. The moment I laid eyes on him, I immediately understood why the Demon Lord gave me such a trivial order, why this village had to be burned before the hero even appeared.”

Durahan chuckled, remembering Astal’s blue hair and the color of his eyes. The atypical features, different from his parents, signified a constitution blessed by magic.

It was the same reason why most Tower Masters possessed hair and eyes the same color as the magic they specialized in.

“He was proficient in water-related magic. You should have seen him, using intermediate-level magic despite not even being a teenager. He was a genius who could have aimed for the position of the Blue Tower Master, perhaps.”

Durahan shuddered, thinking about Astal’s appearance from years ago. The determination and battle instinct, unbelievable for a child, gave him the first feeling that he could actually die.

An undead who wouldn’t die even if his head was severed. The Death Knight Durahan felt his heart race with the desire to fight, for the first time ever, upon seeing him.

“I still think you shouldn’t have spared him for such a reason. The guy who survived back then…”

“Astal… Kaisaros…”

It became the reason why he deliberately spared Astal, even disregarding the Demon Lord’s orders.

“That’s right, he’ll probably charge straight into my territory soon. It’s the closest to Belamora’s territory, and he’ll be seeking revenge for his parents, of course.”

Durahan was barely suppressing the urge to draw his sword and fight Astal. To him, a warrior, battle was like a sacred ritual that distinguished the strong from the weak.

How much stronger would he be now? How much more consumed by vengeance would he be, trying to kill him? The excitement enveloped Durahan’s body.

“…To think that guy would become the mage of the hero’s party. I finally understand now why the Demon Lord wanted to kill him.”

Originally, the hero’s party before Kyle posed no significant threat to the Demon Lord and the Four Heavenly Kings. Countless heroes challenged them and fought, all turning to blood and flesh, and fading away.

“My body’s itching for a fight…”

But, Kyle’s group was different.

The illusion-disrupting magic created by Astal, a master of magic, allowed them to move freely in the Demon Realm, rendering all the tight security useless.

“Then we should have killed him even more! When the oracle came down that he was the human who would kill the Demon Lord, which of the Four Heavenly Kings ignores that and acts as he pleases!”

Romulus bared his teeth, signaling his intent to attack the Dullahan. He believed that letting a human who could kill the Demon Lord live, for the simple reason that he wanted to fight, was an act of treason.

“…You think our Demon Lord will die? He who has destroyed countless parallel universes, the absolute being who leads everything to death?”

The Dullahan remained unmoved by Romulus’s display. He didn’t think that the addition of one more measly human would lead to his master’s death.

“But, the oracle clearly said…!!”

“Do you believe in the detestable gods who abandoned us? The ones who defined us as evil and made us targets of subjugation simply because our religion and beliefs are different?”

“What…?”

The Dullahan rattled his own helmet in his hand as he continued. From the very beginning, calling oneself a god and delivering oracles was a suspicious act.

The Dullahan knew that even while pretending to listen to the words of the Demon Lord Ergosum, he secretly harbored suspicions, acting as if something felt off.

“Even if it’s a god from another world who fulfills the Demon Lord’s desired goals, there are too many suspicious parts.”

A colossal figure made of something like shattered shards of glass. As he recalled its image, the Dullahan intensified the flames burning above his neck.

The moment the Dullahan saw the being that called itself a god, he felt a creepy sensation, like bugs crawling all over him. He instinctively realized that it shouldn’t exist in this world.

Why on earth is the Demon Lord trying to make a deal with such a being? Why should he follow the oracles of such a being?

Numerous questions flashed through the Dullahan’s mind, which was also the reason for the taunt he had made to Astal back then.

“Honestly, I can’t say the Demon Lord isn’t crazy either. Destroying the world because he can’t forget one girl…”

“…Shut up, Dullahan. You’re not someone who can speak so carelessly about him! Know your place!”

*Kwaang!*

Romulus slammed his hand down on the table in front of him with brute force, stopping Durahan from recklessly talking about matters involving the Demon Lord.

Because the Demon Lord Ergothum’s reason for trying to destroy the world, and even the reason he gathered monsters and created the place known as the Demon Realm, were all related to this.

“Already kicked the bucket once, dying again ain’t gonna scare me none.”

Durahan tilted his head, looking at the shattered table. The story of a man becoming a Demon Lord for a woman seemed too damn childish to him.

He already had the power to shatter continents, and with a single gesture from the Demon Lord, he could take everything.

But Demon Lord Ergothum wasn’t doing it.

“Bellamora’s already dead. And we might be next… But the Demon Lord’s quiet, like he wants this. So, I’m gonna do what I want.”

Durahan figured he couldn’t reason with him anymore, slowly stood from his seat, and turned his back. How long had it been since his blade was stained with blood, since he could fight fiercely on the edge of life and death?

If he missed this chance, he might have to wait hundreds of years. That was why he was hurrying his steps.

“Oh, yeah, I’m actually thinking of giving the hero party a grand welcome. They’ll be aiming to assassinate me, I guess… But I like a fair fight.”

Durahan was deliberately talking leisurely, as if for the other Four Heavenly Kings to hear. All the battles taking place in his territory were like survival of the fittest, where only the strong plunder and take everything.

“…I’m curious to see how much that little punk’s grown, too.”

Durahan burst out laughing as he thought about Astal.

* * *

We arrived at Forsaken Hollow to assassinate Durahan, and as we took in the scene before us, we realized something was wrong.

The place where the banquet should have been held after the arena was full of monsters and demons, the heat of battle still lingering in the air, as if they were all waiting for us.

─ [If you want to kill me, participate in the arena. Even if you’re heroes, I’ll give you a fair fight here, no holds barred.]

─ [Don’t you want to avenge your parents with your own hands?]

The message, written in blood, presumably by Durahan himself, was written with a human head impaled on a stick, turned upside down and used like a pen.

“That son of a b*tch…”

I could only clench my teeth and tremble, fists balled tight at the provocation of the Dullahan. Veins throbbed on the back of my clenched hand.