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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: selkie
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The Demon King, who had suddenly appeared, stopped me.
Although I felt doubts about her actions, I decided that it was right to follow her judgment as a subject and stepped back.
“Those guys attacked the arena. Take them all into custody.”
“Understood.”
“Catch those guys. Throw them in jail until a disposition is made.”
“Yes, I understand.”
Instead of acting as the Demon King, she formally reported the incident as a demon warrior participating in the tournament and led the soldiers to the scene.
In response, the demon soldiers dragged the Hero party away, and at the same time, Samuel began to follow them.
“Since I was the first to discover those guys, it would be right for me to accompany them. I’ll be back before my match starts, so please let them know.”
“Understood.”
With that, they took the entire Hero party and disappeared neatly.
As a result, only two people were left in this place: me and the Demon King, who was wrapped in red armor.
“Hoo…”
The Demon King let out a sigh of relief after confirming that there were no prying eyes.
Looking at her, I asked with a bit of curiosity.
“Why did you do that? It would have been a problem that could have been solved quickly in my hands anyway, why go through the process of calling the soldiers and conducting additional interrogations and trials?”
It would not have been a problem legally to summarily execute the Hero party, who were classified as warriors from an enemy country and had even committed crimes, let alone if the opponent was a demon.
Nevertheless, the Demon King bothered to call the soldiers and go through the process of additional interrogations and trials.
In this regard, I asked with a question, and…
The Demon King answered my question in her unique calm voice.
“If we had just left it alone, wouldn’t the next thing be obvious? Clearly, those guys wouldn’t have survived the Hero’s wraith. Am I wrong?”
“…How did you know?”
“Weren’t you emitting that much murderous intent? It would be strange if I didn’t know. Samuel probably noticed it too.”
“I see… So I failed to hide it after all.”
To be honest, I was thinking of creating a light atmosphere as if I would spare them while talking to those guys, and then wiping them out at once.
Nevertheless, it seemed that the people around me, not the people involved, could see quite clearly that I was trying to kill those guys.
‘I’m not particularly skilled at suppressing my killing intent, after all.’
Since he was a Hero who came forward in a head-on confrontation and suppressed them with power in the first place, it seemed that both his hardware and software were not very good at killing his presence.
Anyway, apart from that fact, I started to tell the Demon King my honest feelings.
“Yes, I was going to kill them. All of those damn guys, without leaving a single one. After all, those guys tried to assassinate you, didn’t they? The monarch of this country and my benefactor… At the same time, wouldn’t it be right for me not to show any consideration to those who tried to touch Your Majesty, who is my lover…?”
“…Th-That’s…”
The Demon King, trying to respond to my words in a slightly trembling voice, could not continue.
And after a short time, she seemed to have calmed down a bit and said to me.
“Well… Anyway, I’m glad that you’re thinking of me. But even so, didn’t those guys fail completely? I didn’t get a single wound from their attack, and my proxy was safe too. Of course, they should be punished, but don’t you think immediate execution is a bit too harsh?”
The Demon King spoke in a voice that felt a bit difficult.
Looking at her,
I once again spoke my thoughts without filtering in a clear voice.
“Whether they failed or succeeded is not important. What’s important is that they almost put my most precious person in danger. I can’t forgive them just for that.”
It was natural to be enraged if a loved one was in danger.
If it was a deliberate incident, it was natural to be angry.
“Hmm…”
The Demon King showed a slightly embarrassed feeling at my words.
Looking at her, I thought that I might have been talking too aggressively without filtering, but…
Nevertheless, I didn’t regret it or think about revising my opinion.
Protecting what is precious is like my belief, so I had no intention of backing down on expressing this point.
“Anyway… Now that those guys have been caught, let’s wait for their sentence for the time being, and let’s go back quickly as well. I think we need to hurry since we were the ones who had the battle order just now.”
“…Alrigh…t.”
The Demon King answered in a voice that seemed to be slightly trembling at my words.
Looking at her, I gave a light smile and started to leave that place with the Demon King and return to the arena.
At that moment…
“Um, Hero, if you’re okay with it…”
“Yes?”
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The Hero, who tried to slaughter the Hero party members, who were like juniors.
In response, the Demon King stopped it with the thought that things should be resolved according to the natural order and for various reasons.
However, at this moment, she did not have only negative thoughts about the Hero’s actions.
The Hero expressed his will not to forgive those who tried to harm his lover.
The moment she heard his declaration, which was filled with determination,
The Demon King momentarily began to feel a bit fluttery.
The Hero, who had made a declaration that he would protect her no matter what happened.
For the Demon King, the monarch of this country, she had heard similar oaths of allegiance so many times that she was sick of them, but the current declaration was coming to her with a completely different feeling from those stories.
Not the Demon King as a monarch,
The Hero’s words to protect the Demon King as his lover.
Unlike any common oath of allegiance, that story came to the Demon King’s heart with a feeling as if it was strongly piercing it for some reason.
‘What is this? This feeling… I’m not familiar with it… But somehow… I’m a little happy…’
A fluffy feeling in the depths of her heart that she felt for a moment.
While recognizing that, the Demon King suddenly began to feel something like a small desire rising in her heart.
The Demon King could not know why that feeling had arisen or what it was specifically.
However, apart from that fact, the Demon King decided to act according to the voice of her heart at this moment.
That was…
“Hero… If you’re okay with it…”
A sense of shame that was felt strongly for a moment.
A throbbing that made it impossible to even lift her head, even though she was covering her whole body with red armor.
However, even in this trembling, the Demon King overcame it and acted.
Her strength, which had always moved according to her will rather than her emotions, shone once again in this situation.
“Can you… hold it? My hand…”
“Yes?”
The Hero showed a slightly surprised reaction at the Demon King’s words.
The moment she heard his words, the Demon King, who had pushed the story this far, felt her emotions surge momentarily and began to speak as if making excuses.
“Th-This is… just that. Anyway, it’s quite a distance to the arena, so wouldn’t it be nice to go together? But… But there will be a lot of people along the way, so it’s also to make sure we don’t get separated…”
“…”
“I-Is that…not okay?”
The Demon King asked in a trembling voice, her face as red as the red armor, at her own rambling words.
And,
Towards that Demon King.
The Hero slowly reached out his hand.
“!…”
“Ah… I understand. I will… follow your command. Your Majesty.”
A voice that covered his body with black armor but felt the embarrassment flowing out from within.
In response, the Demon King also felt that the Hero in front of her was nervous, just like her, and unknowingly gave a slight smile.
And.
“…”
“Hmm…”
The Demon King began to move slowly, holding the Hero’s hand tightly as it was.
Although there were awkward parts in many ways because it was covered with solid metal armor, the Demon King was able to clearly feel the warmth contained in the Hero’s hand at this moment.
Because they were covered in armor, they couldn’t see each other’s red faces.
The two began to return to the arena, slowly, in a way that could not be compared to when they had come here.
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“….Gasp!”
Elisia, who had been spacing out for a while, suddenly came to her senses.
Without knowing how much time had passed or what had happened in the meantime, she began to see what was happening in front of her again in a feeling that was still confusing.
“Wh-What… What’s going on now?”
Elisia asked, still not fully recovered.
In response to her question, Samuel, who had returned and was guarding her place at some point, answered in a dry voice.
“Are you awake? As you can see, the Hero and that red armor are arm-wrestling each other. Both sides haven’t given an inch for 10 minutes already.”
“What? 10 minutes? No, how on earth…”
The two were pressing against each other, making shouting noises while crossing swords.
Looking at this, Elisia could not help but feel surprised at the fact that there was another being in this world other than the Demon King who could compete with the Hero in terms of strength.
The tension and trembling of the Hero, which could be felt even from a considerable distance.
At the same time, a similar feeling was felt by the red armor who was facing this, and Elisia automatically began to feel questions about the identity of that red armor.
At this moment, without even thinking about how the parties involved were engaging in the battle with what kind of feelings…
