DKFTI 62

The sentence laced with blatant mockery, left him speechless. But Sibel struggled to find his voice.

“Um, Hero. By that, do you mean….?”

Aizen’s large hand pulled away from Sibel’s chin and cheek. Aizen straightened the waist he had bent and stood up straight.

“Are you so glad to see me you can’t even lift your ass? Do you want to sleep together?”

This bastard came back completely insane.

“I’d be all for it.”

He wasn’t in his right mind. His eyes had gone mad.

Sibel looked into Aizen’s eyes filled with madness. They looked like the gleaming eyes of a beast.

Just what had happened to him in those three years?

When Aizen took one step forward, Sibel scrambled up off the floor in a hurry. In an instant his body had retreated all the way to the hallway wall.

“Hey. You got faster.”

Aizen praised him.

“Wha-wha-what are you saying!”

“Your way with words hasn’t improved much.”

Why was he so calm? He should be angry instead!

Sibel glared at Aizen with suspicious eyes. Then Aizen tilted his head to the side and opened his mouth.

“What, should I grab you by the collar? Are you bored because it’s less than you expected? Or should we bump lips out of joy at reuniting?”

Sibel’s mouth froze at Aizen’s words.

“……”

It wasn’t a joke. Sibel felt the menacing hint that Aizen might really come closer any second and do whatever he wanted. He touched the wall behind his back and moved sideways little by little.

Then Aizen threw the lamp in his hand toward Sibel.

“Ah!”

Seeing the lamp flying at him, Sibel quickly stretched out his hands and caught it in his arms.

The darkness retreated, but he was still bewildered.

“I’m unpacking here, so take it that way.”

“……”

Still so damn arbitrary.

It was so typically Aizen that it almost made him laugh out of disbelief.

“If you’re going to stop me, draw your sword now. If not, no complaints later.”

Bastard. Thug. Ruffian. Scoundrel. What other bad words were there again? Anyway, that was what the Hero was.

Sibel looked at Aizen with a weary face. Then Aizen shrugged his shoulders and walked into his room.

Sibel’s mouth fell open as he looked at his unbothered back.

“Hey, you!”

Bang.

The door closed.

What was that? That man? It was really absurd.

“Wow….”

Sibel’s head turned into a mess at his astonishingly pushy behavior.

Why had Aizen come back?

Why….

Really, why?

The long hallway shrouded in darkness. Sibel holding onto the only light. The closed door, the presence inside.

It was a moment where it was hard to tell if it was dream or reality.

Was this really happening?

***

As the door closed, Aizen’s body leaned back against it.

He crossed his arms and leaned on the door, focusing on the noises outside.

Rustling sounds, the hesitant footsteps pacing around, occasional muttering.

Meanwhile the lamp clattered softly, still restless in Sibel’s arms with nowhere to go.

The corner of Aizen’s mouth lifted.

He was still the same.

He was so unbearably the same.

It felt like he had returned to that day three years ago.

To a time that only captured the bitter, resentful last moment.

***

“Kyaaaa! Wh-what is that! Is it a ghost?!”

The morning began with Ruru’s scream echoing through the Demon King’s castle. Sibel yawned and stepped out into the hallway.

“Demon Kiiiiiing!”

Ruru ran over and clung tightly to Sibel’s leg.

“…Yeah. It’s amazing.”

Sibel pushed Ruru’s body away with his leg as Ruru, with eyes full of terror like his own yesterday, stared at the sudden unwelcome guest.

“You can see it too, right, Lord Demon King?”

“Yeah. Because he’s alive.”

He already saw him alive and well at the festival, so why was he acting like this.

“Eek, then he came for revenge!”

“…You’d better hope not.”

“L-look at those eyes! Those are the eyes of a murderer!”

“They just look the same as before.”

Back then and now, he couldn’t tell what his true intentions were. Why on earth had he come back?

While Ruru was terrified and Sibel’s head hurt from realizing last night wasn’t a dream, Sibel kept watching Aizen closely.

“Haaa.”

Whether he knew them or not, Aizen yawned and stretched in the hallway with a completely calm look.

Bathed in sunlight, starting his day refreshed, Aizen turned his head toward them.

“Why are you staring like I’m some kind of monster?”

“How did you come back here!”

Ruru shouted at Aizen.

“Me? I rode a horse.”

“That’s not what I meant!”

At Ruru’s shout, Aizen picked at his ear.

“You really came alone? You don’t have your comrades lying in ambush around here, right?”

Ruru glanced suspiciously around.

“If I get pissed right now, I might call them over.”

“Eek! Lord Demon King! The Hero’s threatening me!”

“Guess I’m not all that scary to you anymore.”

“Eek!”

When Aizen stepped toward him, Ruru hid behind Sibel’s back.

‘No matter what, hiding behind me isn’t right…?’

Sibel was appalled at the sight of a demon, who should protect the Demon King, hiding behind him.

Then Aizen slung an arm around Sibel’s shoulder. He pushed away with his knee.

Sibel was dumbfounded at Aizen’s natural movement.

“You’re going to eat, right? Let’s go.”

Why was this man so shameless? Looking at Aizen, armored in even thicker shamelessness than before, Sibel was left speechless.

“What are you spacing out for?”

Aizen grabbed Sibel’s cheek with one hand and turned his face down the hallway.

“……”

Sibel started moving the way Aizen pushed him.

Was this man really gone for three years? Why did he know the way around so well?

Sibel was herded by Aizen.

***

It was absurd.

Aizen was laughing and chatting with the residents of the Demon King’s castle like a man returning from a long journey.

“Your muscles got bigger!”

Raccoon dangled from Aizen’s arm, which was harder than before, and kicked his legs.

“Puu! Pupu–!”

Pudding bounced on Aizen’s shoulder hard enough to break it.

“Kkaak–!”

Crow was sitting beside him preening its feathers as if it had somehow grown attached to him. Even if not that, Ice golem and Gomdori were standing by Aizen’s side, laughing loudly.

‘Why are they all so happy about him….’

Was this the proper discipline of the Demon King’s castle?

If it was Aizen, not someone else, who came to attack the Demon King’s castle, it would surely fall. They would wag their tails and welcome their own ruin.

“This isn’t a good sign.”

“Exactlyyy. Who did they take after to get this soft.”

Shanti, standing next to Sibel, clicked his tongue.

“Why are you saying that while staring at me?”

Shanti’s eyes were fixed on Sibel’s face.

“…Well, magical beasts follow the summoner’s personality, don’t th…ack!”

Sibel grabbed Shanti’s horns with his hands and shook them.

“You’re saying it’s my fault?!”

“Uagh, well, not that it has nothing to do with you!”

“Isn’t this because you’ve been managing the Demon King’s castle like a mess?!”

“You’re twisting things again! So what are you going to do about that man?!”

“When has anyone ever been able to do anything about that man?!”

As Sibel and Shanti’s shouting grew louder, Aizen’s gaze reached them from afar.

The moment their eyes met, Sibel flinched with a gasp. Then Aizen’s mouth curled upward. Shivers ran up his spine.

“What do we do… something’s wrong with us.”

“Yes. Lord Demon King, you must definitely be wrong somewhere.”

Shanti fiddled with his own horn as he replied.

“Let’s do that.”

“That?”

“The Demon King’s castle invasion simulation.”

“Ahh. That.”

Sibel finally decided to take special measures. The so-called ‘Demon King’s castle invasion simulation.’ ​visit our site​It was a real-combat defense drill Sibel had devised two years ago.

***

Sibel, wearing a white cape, stood in front of the Demon King’s castle gate.

“Haa.”

With a deep breath, Sibel knocked on the huge iron gate.

Creeeak–.

The gate opened.

“Grrr! Lord Demon King!”

The orc on gate duty opened wide and greeted him.

“Ah! You’re not supposed to open the gate! This is a real drill! Real!”

Frustrated, Sibel pounded on his own chest.

“Ah! Krrrk! Understood!”

The orc shut the gate again and went back inside. Sibel took another deep breath and knocked again.

Bang bang!

Creeak–!

The gate opened again.

“Demon King! Grrr!”

“Ugh… forget it. I’ll just pass this stage.”

The drill where Sibel acted as the enemy and invaded had not been smooth from the start.

No matter how much he explained, the orc smelled Sibel and welcomed him, opening the gate.

In the end, Sibel trudged inside, entering the Demon King’s castle easily.

‘They wouldn’t do that to other enemies too… right?’

Sibel crossed the gate with an uneasy feeling. But it was fine. Even if someone came through the gate, unlike before, this place was packed with traps.

“Eek!”

Carefully heading inside, Sibel almost fell into the easiest-to-spot pitfall trap.

“Even if I memorize them, after a while I really don’t remember them.”

Sibel pulled out his crystal communicator. Then he opened the ‘magic storage memory.’

Flying, stealth, enlargement, explosion, strengthening, heat and cold control, cleaning, shower, and so on, the names of magic were densely listed.