So, setting aside the fact that it was Beltas of all people who had said it to Ranok — the claim that if there was ever a chance, it was now, was surprisingly not wrong.
— No matter that he is Gerard’s biological father, Beltas has crossed a line with this. If you would leave it to me——
“It’s not a wrong thing to say. It’s also something I already knew.”
Ranok cut off Mas, who was raging on his behalf.
Mas fell silent at once, and after a long pause, asked again in a grave voice.
— …… Ranok, you’re not thinking anything reckless, are you?
Ranok laughed briefly. His most trusted aide was remarkably quick to read him. I did have a rather reckless thought cross my mind for just a moment, though.
“Why? Are you afraid I’ll actually die, like he said?”
— Ha, afraid? I know you’d never make such a foolish choice.
A foolish choice — Ranok said nothing in return, only rubbed his chin. Interpreting Ranok’s silence however he chose, Mas added anxiously,
— Ranok, if something happens to you, Gerard won’t come out of it unscathed either.
Ranok laughed quietly.
“I understand the spirit in which you’re saying that, so I won’t hold it against you — but Mas. Don’t cross the line. Even without me, Gerard will become a magnificent Demon King on his own.”
— Ranok……
That’s not what I meant. Do you truly not know, not even a little — what you are to him.
Mas barely managed to swallow the words that had risen all the way to the tip of his tongue. To say more than this would be disrespectful to the one he served.
He couldn’t say a word about why Ranok was lending his ear to that kind of nonsense and sinking into his own thoughts.
Ranok had never held much attachment to life to begin with. It was only through loving and cherishing Gerard that he maintained any interest in the world and kept breathing. And so Mas grew genuinely anxious.
If he could follow his heart, he would have rushed straight to the Demon King that very moment and begged him not to fall asleep — so that his most devoted servant couldn’t afford to entertain foolish thoughts.
But he couldn’t do that. Mas resented himself for being able to do nothing for Ranok.
At last, right before Gerard truly fell into his slumber for the coming-of-age rite, Ranok severed even the connection with Mas and stood alone at Gerard’s side.
In the deepest recess of the castle, a dark space where no one else could enter — Gerard lay alone and bid Ranok farewell with eyes glistening with moisture.
“I’ll be back, Ranok.”
That farewell was so achingly tender that Ranok forgot the turmoil within him and burst out laughing.
“Anyone watching would think you were actually setting off on a very long journey.”
“It is a long journey!”
It could be called a journey of sorts, he supposed. Even if it was nothing more than falling asleep, time would flow past in an instant — in units of years.
Gerard, who had been whining to his heart’s content and lamenting how agonizing it was to go without seeing Ranok, seemed to make out Ranok’s face even in the darkness — his expression soon grew serious.
“Ranok, did something happen?”
“Nothing happened.”
“But your expression——”
Ranok quietly clicked his tongue to himself. Letting his troubled inner state show in front of Gerard right before he was to fall into his long sleep — he had grown far too lax lately.
“I heard you were spending time with humans recently. Did something happen there?”
“Not at all.”
If anything, he had not a single worry on that front.
Not even one……
As Ranok thought this, the face of a young man — young to the point of being a boy — who had flushed whenever he looked at him rose unbidden in his mind.
That young man who in some ways seemed strangely reminiscent of Gerard, and in other ways was nothing like him at all.
‘Ranok.’
That voice surfaced in his memory. The youthful face surfaced too. The face that was probably worrying right now, knowing Ranok had stepped away for a time.
The young man whose mother was on the verge of answering the true call of the divine — and who, once she died, and once Ranok finally brought him before the king of men to deliver news of the Hero’s party’s annihilation, he would never have cause to see again.
Why did I think of him just now. He tilted his head briefly in mild curiosity, but Ranok quickly replied as though it were nothing.
“Nothing of the sort happened at all.”
There was nothing that Gerard needed to concern himself over, so it wasn’t a lie.
“You are all there is to me.”
As he said this, Ranok pressed his lips to the tips of Gerard’s slender fingers. It was a kiss of reverence, carrying no romantic meaning whatsoever — yet at that gesture, Gerard bit down hard on his lower lip.
“I — I’m going to miss you so much, Ranok, what am I supposed to do?”
“You’re about to fall asleep anyway — how would you be missing me?”
It was a thoroughly pointless exchange, yet Ranok responded to every word with a smiling face and genuine attentiveness.
Because it was Gerard. And because once those eyes closed, he would not see this cherished person for a good while — wanting to exchange as many words as possible while they still could was the same for him.
“Listen, Ranok. When I come back, there’s something I want to say to you.”
That thing he wants to say. It must be quite important, because Gerard had brought it up earlier too. With a strangely bashful look on his face.
Ranok tilted his head.
“Wouldn’t it be better to just say it now?”
“I — I’m embarrassed, okay?”
What on earth is he going to say, to draw it out this long.
“I’ll come back with a little more courage. …… Will you wait for me?”
I’ll make sure to say it when I return, no matter what. At those words, the light in Ranok’s eyes dimmed.
It was a shift that passed in an instant — and Gerard, somehow too flustered by his own embarrassment to look directly at Ranok, missed it entirely.
“…… May you become a magnificent Demon King.”
Ranok, in the end, did not make the promise to wait.
“Yeah, see you soon.”
And so, at last.
The Demon King, Gerard, sank into a deep sleep in order to become a true member of the Demon Clan.
Without being able to so much as imagine what he would wake to find lost.
Casioth’s mother lived a full year more after the two of them came to find her.
Considering that her condition had been so dire when they arrived that it would not have been strange for her to die at any moment, it was nothing short of a miracle.
The villagers said it was thanks to her son, whom she had seen again after so long, that she had found the strength — or that it was simply a miracle. But Ranok alone knew the truth.
He had merely drawn upon the life force of the surrounding land and woven it into the extension of her years.
The soil had, as a result, lost its vitality at an accelerated rate — but the slash-and-burn settlers would move on quickly enough once the land declined anyway, so he felt no guilt.
Though he wouldn’t have felt guilty even if they hadn’t been slash-and-burn settlers, of course.
“I’m sorry for putting you through so much, Casioth.”
One day, she — who had been capable of opening her eyes no more than once every two or three days — addressed Casioth with a clear, lucid mind.
“Casioth, when you were born, a holy man said this. That you were born under the star of a Hero.”
Sensing it was the end, Casioth listened in silence without a word, and she too held her son’s hand and told him many things, one after another.
“Now, spread your wings and pursue your dream as freely as you wish.”
Having said her final farewell to Casioth, she left her last words to Ranok, who had been by Casioth’s side right before she passed.
“Please take good care of Casioth.”
Why is she saying that to me.
Ranok was puzzled — but the only person who held the answer to that question was buried in the earth that very day.
Casioth, who had spent the past year caring for his ailing mother and quietly anticipating this end, did not cry out.
He simply lay in Ranok’s arms on the night they buried her and wept silently, until the front of Ranok’s clothing was soaked through.
Even Ranok himself couldn’t explain it, but he froze for a moment, stiff and uncertain — then gently patted Casioth’s trembling shoulders.
Well — that’s hardly the only thing that makes no sense to me.
Ranok could have drawn upon Karin’s life force to its maximum without regard for her condition, made it appear as though she had recovered completely, and set off for the capital with Casioth appeased well enough.
Or, without drawing things out to a full year, he could have pretended to treat her for two or three months, then simply left her to die — it need not have taken this long.
And yet Ranok had, despite all that, chosen to care for Casioth’s mother with every sincerity he had.
Because it suited him better that way. He didn’t know why.
Ranok turned the last words Karin had left over and over in his mind.
Born under the star of a Hero.
There were humans born with such a thing from time to time. He hadn’t known Casioth was one of them.
Having lived as long as he had in his own way, Ranok had actually witnessed such humans leave enormous marks on history.
And they typically became enemies of other races — of the Demon Clan in particular.
“……”
Enemies of Gerard.
“Ranok, thank you.”
Casioth, having put all of Karin’s belongings in order, turned to Ranok with a steadier look on his face than before.
“Is there anything to thank me for.”
“You cared for my mother with all your heart.”
He had played the role of healer without asking anything in return. He had genuinely extended her lifespan considerably, too.
But with all my heart. Did I really do that? Ranok tilted his head.
“Doctors are nearly impossible to come by in the first place, thanks to the temples. But you saved my life, and you saved my mother’s too.”
“……”
“To me, Ranok, you are luck itself.”
In that moment, Ranok felt something like a throbbing ache in his chest.
He pressed his hand against it, uncertain why it felt that way — but failed to arrive at any answer.
Luck. Ranok turned the word over in his mind again and again. Misfortune he could understand — but luck? Here he was, standing at Casioth’s side and playing the part of someone who cared for him — but Ranok’s very existence was nothing short of a betrayal to Casioth.
