Lord Demon is behind you

Chapter 39 The Profile of the Demon King and the Hero

Carefully... to please, huh?

--Absolutely not.The brave never thought about that.

"Actually, was she...very disturbed...?"

He...has never understood Olga's feelings.

In the end, his understanding of his companion who has been with him for nearly ten years is not as good as the Demon King who just listens to the narration to judge?

"Because human beings are collective creatures. It's natural for the weak in the collective to feel uneasy when they get more than others while paying less. It's not your fault."

The devil added.He probably wanted to comfort the brave man, but the brave man felt that he was not comforted at all, and instead felt more and more heavy.

——Sure enough, it was still his fault, right?

From the very beginning, he didn't give Olga a good home - starting from letting Olga travel with him, everything was wrong.

After all, he ruined Olga's life.

"—Master Brave."

The girl's voice sounded again.

"Don't show that sad expression," the witch said softly, "I don't understand psychology, but this is Olga's own problem, okay?

"Actually... all along, if I want to leave, I can leave at any time. Later, I also have some money in my hand, and I have passed through many livable towns during the journey. It is not inevitable that I am in the team The lack of existence, as long as I want to leave, I can just tell you——Obviously, I can start a new life anywhere, but I am blindly afraid of making a change in my life, and I dare not leave, that’s all.”

"So, you don't have to feel sad for someone like me. That's my own choice."

The image of the witch at this moment overlapped with Olga in memory.

——Is that really the case?

"So, for people like me, as long as you leave it alone..."

"--It's not like this."

The brave man finally recovered his voice from deep in his throat, and murmured.

"not like this……"

The witch turned her face to him and cast a puzzled look—of course, the expression could not be seen from that mask-like face, it was just that the hero thought so.

"Olga, you didn't leave the team because you were afraid of change. Only this, I know very clearly."

Facing that gaze, he said softly.

There is only this point - no matter how dull and ignorant I am, I can clearly recognize it.

"You've always helped me. You've always done your best to help me, then and now."

Even after becoming a witch, she used her authority to prepare food for recovery and rooms for rest for the brave and his companions.As I said at the beginning, "Always support the brave".

He hated his clumsy tongue more than ever before.At a time like this, he couldn't express his feelings clearly——

Probably feeling the helplessness of the brave man, the Demon King sighed, and although he seemed a bit reluctant, he still intervened in the conversation again.

"Indeed, this is not the only thing. Sad witch, the basis of your existence is self-loathing—just like the basis of that crazy woman outside is twisted love, but what is the obsession that supports your actions? If it is like As you said, if you are not unwilling to be rejected by the hero, what kind of emotion helped you complete the transformation from human to witch?"

"No, about that—"

Olga let out a short scream.

"I'm afraid your obsession is—" the Demon King continued unwaveringly, "You want to help the brave no matter what."

"……what!"

As if hearing some terrible spell, the witch staggered back a few steps.

Her torso has no legs, so she can only jerk backwards—a scene that even seems a bit comical at the moment.

"Don't say it, don't say it! If you reveal such a shameful thing in front of the hero..."

"...what's going on?" the brave man asked.

"That's what happened. She turned into a witch to help the brave man... No, that's not accurate. The secret technique of transforming a person into a demon requires a strong obsession to succeed. In other words In other words, if she didn't have obsession, she should have disappeared during the transformation process. The reason why she can exist in the form of a witch until now is precisely because she can't worry about you, the brave."

"Don't worry about me?"

In other words, it's not that she can't do without the brave man and his team, but she's afraid that she won't be able to help the brave man when he encounters trouble... so she hasn't left...?Even if he was marginalized by the team, even if he couldn't get a way to identify himself here, just because he couldn't leave the hero alone, he just stayed there——

"No, no! I just want to be attached to the brave man—"

"Don't worry about her own rhetoric," said the Demon King, seeming a little tired. "Her foundation is self-loathing. If you admit this fact, it is equivalent to denying your own existence. So she will never face it calmly. Anyway, that’s the truth. Brave, are you aware of it? She’s been trying her best to help you, even just now.”

"If the hero admits her cuteness, she will run away; if the hero denies her, she will accept the crusade obediently. However, on the basis of being completely unable to perceive self-confidence, she thinks it is normal for you, the hero, to draw the latter conclusion .In her presupposition, she should be completely denied by you, and then she should be self-destructed like this, so she made the rules in a way that is beneficial to you. Is that right, witch?"

For a moment there was complete silence in the room.Only the slight vibration from the door indicated the passage of time.

In such an excessively silent scene, the brave man's mind fell into a strange state of silence.Countless past details emerged little by little from the depths of the sea of ​​memory.

"I have known for a long time that you have no love for me at all-we have known each other for so many years, and you have never said that you like me, that is, you don't like me at all."

——Why did you make a hopeless confession when you knew it would happen?

Because, after the adventure team disbanded, she had nowhere to go—because Olga had nothing, right?

No, it is not.Although she has always been attached to the brave man's team, playing a seemingly dispensable miscellaneous role, but the brave man knows that she is not a weak and helpless type like the dodder.After all, she was a strong girl who was able to face great changes in her life alone when she was only a teenager.

"Living in the country, you can also open a small shop in the town, and live an ordinary life like this" - this is her description of the "future" when she confessed, and it is actually the ideal that the brave thinks s future.

She would send out such an invitation because she felt that...

A brave man who rejects all the confessions will also become alone, right?

I have lost the goal I fought for, lost my long-standing enemies, and have no relatives waiting for me to go home, and I am about to go my separate ways with my companions.In her opinion, such a brave man is undoubtedly lonely.

In order to prevent the hero from falling into such a pitiful situation, he tried to make an invitation that was "impossible to accept".

"Even if what you said in the previous generation is correct..."

The witch finally responded.It seems that after his mind has been thoroughly seen, he has given up on himself.

"Well, it's actually not right at all, but, Olga and I, I can't find a way to refute it. Oops, the previous generation, you are too good at talking... Besides, you can't let the brave man continue to trouble you."

She laughed as if she wanted to ease the atmosphere, and picked up the cute sentence ending by the way.

"In the end, it's all my self-righteousness. All in all, I just can't let go of meow."

"At the moment when Her Royal Highness performed the secret technique, whether it should be called 'premonition' or 'consciousness', we suddenly learned the essence of the demons, and also realized the fact that we will go against the hero in the future.  … If so, wouldn't the brave man lose all his companions and have to fight alone?

"In that case, it must be very difficult. Even the hero-sama will find it very difficult. That's why I want to help him.

"Master Brave is very strong, very capable, and very experienced. Even if I want to help him, it won't be of much use; but even so...even so, I can't rest assured. Even if I can't be his Companion, I think, at least have to provide a little help, or, at least, when you are an enemy, let a little water, this level of things - as long as you can help him...

"At the end of the day, it's just me talking to myself. It's so boring, meow."

The witch slowly moved her pitch-black body to the opposite side of the room.

"Olga and I have always had this bad habit meow. Unconsciously thinking about things, worrying too much about the matter of the brave man. Even at that time... Before that happened, I didn't ask the brave man to be with me forever Are you together? Said some stupid things like going back to the countryside together, going to a small town to open a small shop together. Oh, this is really funny meow, how could Mr. Brave agree to such a thing? We have known each other for almost eight years Well, it's too late now that I suddenly want to start a relationship, meow."

Indeed.Having known each other for so long, I have long missed the best time to trigger the love flag. If I have to say, the relationship between the two is closer to that of relatives, brothers and sisters.

"So, Lord Brave..."

One of the walls behind her slid away to one side, revealing a spiral staircase behind her.

"This is the stairs to the upper floor, Olga. I will never become your hindrance. It seems a bit too shameless to say such a thing until this time, but I hope you can accept my request." Blessings, keep moving forward like this, and win until the end, meow."

"Then, how is it possible..."

The brave man made a sound.He no longer knew what kind of face he should use to face each other.At this time, his complexion must have become extremely ugly.

"I-I can't do it. I can't defeat the witch on the fourth floor. So, I can't go up."

After knowing the truth that belongs to her, it is impossible for him to swing his sword towards her again, right?Even if she is not Olga herself, but the dregs left by her, but facing a part of her, facing an important friend who is wholeheartedly thinking about herself——

Just holding on to stand here and talking to her almost exhausted all my strength.In fact, the brave man even wanted to turn around and run away now, to cry somewhere where no one was there.

Before entering the Demon King's City, he thought that he had already made up his mind; however, every time he ascended to a higher level, this determination would be severely impacted.

And here, those previous awakenings melted away like fragile ice and snow.

"—You, brave man, are really slow."

There was a push on the shoulder.Because he was in a trance, the brave man staggered two steps forward due to this slight push.

While continuing to sigh, the Demon King pushed the hero forward.

"Now that things are up, don't say such things. I have said that she knows you very well, right? And all her considerations are based on you. At the last moment, how could she force you to do personal harm? Such a cruel thing for a friend... Although it is not very pleasant to say, but I must admit that this witch is really thoughtful and terrifying. She even planned her own death; she will never let you get your hands dirty How to die."

"What's really unpleasant is me, meow. Why was Olga's mind completely seen through by you, the previous generation?"

Despite the complaining lines, the witch's voice finally became lighter, "Being understood by the previous generation is really more uncomfortable than not being understood at all."

"...Really? Well, let's be each other——I don't want to understand the twisted mind of a woman like you."

"What the hell are you..." What are you talking about?

A magic image emerged above the head, showing the scene outside the door of the BOSS room.There, Xuelu was using her alienated fists to tirelessly beat on the double-opening doors, and the whole space seemed to tremble with her movements.

"Xuelu, she will break the barrier outside the room soon meow." The dark witch tilted her head and explained happily, "After she breaks in and finds that the brave man has gone up, she They would definitely be outraged and see me as the enemy attacking."

"You want to..."

The brave finally understood.

Did she mean to wait for Xuelu who broke in from outside to end her life?

"Just like you think. Let her be the terminator of this layer-of course, this is also Olga's selfishness meow. I don't want to be killed by you, Mr. Brave, I want to be you again for the last time My companion, Meow."

She bent down towards the brave man.That abnormally shaped body can unexpectedly bend over.

"Of course, at that time, I will also use the mechanism in the room to fight back. I shouldn't be able to defeat her, but I can cause some damage, right? This can be regarded as fighting side by side with you, meow. Just for this selfishness, I'm really sorry that Olga hindered your action to get rid of her along the way."

It turned out to be like this.Did she already think about this ending when she first saw Xuelu—or earlier?

The brave man moved his lips, but couldn't say anything.My heart is still a mess.

Doesn't this mean that he will leave her behind without doing anything, and then let her be alone, waiting for death here quietly...?

However, even if he wants to do something...what can he do with his current self.

There is no way to save her, there is no way to save her.Olga had died at that time, more than two weeks ago.

Can't save any companions.Everyone is dead.

If this continues, I'm afraid that even the human beings that I originally wanted to save will not be able to save.

However, if I can't even save a friend, can I really save mankind?I have always relied on everyone's support, guided by my naive ideals, completely ignoring the feelings of those around me, and only sprinting towards that goal—at this time, can I really save anything?

All these thoughts flashed through his mind.

The brave man realized that the boundless fighting spirit he had always been proud of had almost completely disintegrated.

"Let's go, brave man."

At this time, the only companion grabbed his wrist.

It was very rare, not to pull the sleeves or the corners of the clothes, nor to hold hands in a meaningful way, but to hold his arm like a leader.

Where the skin wanted to touch, the warm touch brought him back to his senses.

The brave man let out a deep breath of foul air from his chest.

"……I understand."

■

When he stepped into the stairwell, the witch guarded the door and sent him his last blessing——

"I wish you prosperity in martial arts, my lord brave."

——Under the mask of the demon clan, on her original face, what is showing at this moment must be a happy smile.

Not a forced, fake, posturing smile to appease others, but a genuinely fulfilled and satisfied smile.

After they stepped inside, the entrance to the stairwell slowly closed.Until the moment before the sliding door closed, she still stood there, watching the back of the brave man going up step by step.

"--farewell."