DKFTI 32
“Hahaha, Lord Demon King. Have you forgotten?”
“W-what?”
“We have an enemy whose true intentions we cannot know.”
“…True intentions. Huh!”
Sibel’s eyes opened wide.
Yes, that one whose mind is unreadable!
“The Apostle?”
“Hahaha. That’s right. Let us test the Hero with this potion!”
“Oh.”
It was the best idea among Ruru’s cunning schemes.
“But you, you sided with the Hero like a bat, so why did you suddenly switch again?”
Sibel looked at Ruru with suspicious eyes. He was the type to attach himself here and there, so why was he suddenly putting in effort?
“Ah, come on, Lord Demon King! I will always be loyal to you!”
“…Hm.”
If a truly dangerous moment ever came, it would be wiser to trust someone else with his back rather than Ruru. That’s the right thing to do.
Sibel nodded to Ruru’s words while harboring other thoughts inside.
“How about it? I will just pour it into the Hero’s teacup!”
“You won’t get caught, right?”
“What is there to fear. At worst, someone will just die, right!”
“You?”
“Eek, this is crazy!”
This brat. Then me?
Sibel started at Ruru with cold eyes.
“Anyway, this look like it’ll be fun. Let’s give it a try. What do you think?”
But it definitely piqued his interest.
“Can we really use this?”
“Mm! Mm!”
Kairin nodded as if it were obvious.
“But Kairin, why are you always staying in dragon form lately. My neck is going to snap.”
Recently, Kairin didn’t even morph, but instead roamed the Demon King’s castle in his dragon form. Though he reduced his size from the original, he still easily reached three meters, making Sibel’s neck twist whenever he looked.
“This is more comfortable. And it’s not the humans’ world!”
“…Well, true.”
In a castle crowded with demons, a dragon was almost cute.
“Then, shall we give it a try?”
“Mm, mm!”
Whatever the little dragon was wagging his short tail for, he enjoyed anything as long as it was something done together with the Demon King’s castle family. In any case, they all wanted the same thing.
‘The Apostle’s true intentions.’
That was what they wanted to know.
***
Sibel, Ruru, and Kairin happily ran through the corridors in search of Aizen.
On the way, they met a white cat and were delayed while playing with it.
Not only that, but they also struggled to stop Raccoon when he ran around with fire, saying he wanted to see what happened when an ice golem melted.
That was not all either. Gom, who had been told to move stones to stack into a wall, started eating them, so they struggled to stop him too.
By the time they came to their senses, the sun was already setting.
“Kya kya, how can you roll sideways with such a big body!”
Ruru had completely forgotten their original purpose and was rolling on the grass with Kairin, showing off tricks.
Sibel too was absorbed in watching their antics, but came to his senses when he finally noticed the potion bottle hanging at his waist.
“Oh, over there, isn’t that the Hero?”
At that moment, Ruru, who prided himself on eyesight of 5.0, 5.0, pointed somewhere.
The Hero?
Sibel quickly followed Ruru’s pointing finger. Aizen really was there.
“Sir Hero!”
“Sir Heeerooo!”
Sibel, Ruru, and Kairin ran toward him in delight.
Aizen frowned upon spotting the three. Recently, he had been absorbed in purifying the energy of his recovered body. Today his condition was at its best, yet he ran into this noisy group.
“What is it.”
Aizen felt a certain dread as he watched the three people running toward him.
He had survived countless wars, and yet now he felt dread at seemingly harmless beings who could do little more than hop around.
“Haah, Hero! Where are you going!”
Sibel, panting after only a few steps, looked truly weak.
“…My room.”
“Ah, you’re going to sleep already.”
Sibel forced an awkward smile. Aizen, looking down at him, crossed his arms and examined the three slowly.
“What are you scheming this time?”
“Hey now, do we look like the type to pull schemes?”
“That’s right! Exactly!”
Ruru echoed Sibel’s words. His tail wagged vigorously.
“Ah, so it’s not a scheme.”
Whenever Ruru’s tail swung side to side like that, it always meant trouble was about to come. Aizen’s eyes followed the swinging tail.
“Shall we have a simple tea time?”
“You and me?”
At Sibel’s suggestion, Aizen lifted a finger and pointed back and forth between Sibel and himself.
“Yes.”
Nod, nod. All three of them nodded their heads at the same time. There was definitely something going on.
Aizen didn’t want to get dragged into something bothersome so late at night, but for some reason, the gleam in Sibel’s eyes, prevented him from refusing. It almost felt like he imitating the fox demon, wagging a tail he didn’t even have.
“Call?” 콜 comes from the English word ‘call,’ and it’s adopted from the poker term. In poker, the term ‘call’ is used to match a bet from an opponent, and in Korean, 콜 is used to agree with someone’s suggestion to do something or with someone’s bet.
“Call will freeze to death.” It’s an idiomatic way of rejecting “콜”
Aizen killed Sibel’s spirit in one blow, but then shrugged and walked toward the tearoom.
“Move quickly.”
“Ah, yes!”
“Let’s go, let’s go!”
The three spun around like they were dancing as they followed behind Aizen.
Aizen could understand the airheaded demon and the young dragon, but he wondered why Sibel was acting like that.
“Is his mental age really that low?”
He decided to sing along to their rhythm, muttering something that would make Sibel jump up and down in indignation if he heard it.
***
Why is alcohol called alcohol? Is it because it goes down smoothly? wordplay on 술 (alcohol) and 술술 (smoothly, easily).
What had started as a tea gathering had turned into a drinking party so intense that the room was filled with the scent of grapes.
“Hiccup!”
Ruru, who had been happily drinking, collapsed limply into his chair.
“Hey, hey, Ruru.”
Sibel shook him. Somehow, the one who was supposed to get drunk, the Hero, wasn’t drunk at all.
“Eheh, Loord Demon King? Hiccup!”
“You’ve completely lost your mind….”
The drinking party of the Demon King’s castle, which had started with the Hero as the target to lower his guard, ended up knocking out only Ruru.
“Yooou hero, you bastaaard!”
“Stop it, stop it.”
Sibel hurriedly grabbed Ruru’s snout, afraid he might cause trouble.
“Umpf! Umpf!”
“Go! Go to bed!”
In the end, Ruru was thrown out of the room.
“Mmnyamnyam.”
“You too! You’re a little kid who falls asleep as soon as the sun sets!”
Kairin, who had only drunk a lot of juice and then fell asleep, was also kicked out along with Ruru.
In the end, only two remained in the room, Sibel and Aizen, neither of them the least bit drunk.
“……”
Sibel looked at Aizen with weary eyes. He had always been resistant to alcohol. He had noticed last time, but this body definitely had an alcohol tolerance.
But why that hero?
It was jarring to see a human being drinking so much wine and still be fine.
“Why aren’t you drunk?”
Sibel asked him. At this point, it was frustrating to waste alcohol.
Aizen leaned deeply into the sofa, blew on his nails, and answered.
“Would there be any reason for me to get drunk?”
“No, that’s not, that’s not it. Hm.”
“And you, why drink when you don’t even get drunk.”
“Flavor! I drink for the flavor!”
Sibel made a hasty excuse. He knew well that this sharp human had been suspicious of him from the start.
But so what if he was suspicious!
The hand was faster than the eye. Since it had come to this, even without him drunk, he had to wait for the chance.
‘Just one drop into that cup.’
Sibel’s eyes gleamed as he stared holes into Aizen’s cup.
Aizen followed that burning gaze to his own cup. His finger brushed along the rim. As his finger moved, Sibel’s head moved with it. Aizen laughed.
“It’s a nice day”
Aizen stretched and slowly rose from his seat. As he deliberately turned his gaze out the window, Sibel seized the chance and frantically fumbled with his waistband.
When Aizen even turned his body fully and stretched in front of the window, Sibel quickly pulled out the vial and dropped the potion of truth into Aizen’s cup. His hands trembled.
It was not work faster than the eye at all. When it was done, Sibel noisily plopped back into his seat.
‘Fool.’
Through the reflection in the window, Aizen had watched Sibel’s every move. The clumsy attempt wasn’t even funny. It was just pitiful. How could he ever con anyone with that kind of execution.
Finishing his stretch, Aizen turned back leisurely.
“Why are you sweating?”
He asked, seeing the beads of sweat gathered on Sibel’s forehead.
“This room is so hot. I should’ve brought in the ice golem.”
Sibel’s gaze kept wandering away.
“Ah, is that so.”
Aizen calmly sat back down. When he did, the sofa sank with a creaking sound.
Sibel’s eyes rolled toward him again. His cheeks were flushed.
‘Even a three-year-old would hide it better.’
Aizen clicked his tongue inwardly. But he found Sibel’s antics cute. Maybe that was a sickness too.
“Let’s drink more!”
Sibel raised his cup. His cup was empty.
“Yeah. Why not.”
Aizen took the cup from Sibel’s hand.
“Huh?”
Before Sibel could react, Aizen picked up his own cup too, now holding both in one hand. With the other, he lifted the wine and poured it into both cups.
“Uh….”
Sibel, who had been carefully watching to track which cup was which, froze as Aizen’s hand suddenly spun.
“Uhh!”
Before he could even react, the two cups were mixed together at random.
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