No one paid any attention to the identities of those who entered.
In other words, the public order was a complete mess — though truthfully, the population was too small to warrant worrying about public order in the first place.
Standing in the middle of that barren wasteland of a village, Ranok thought for a long while.
Why am I even here.
“Haa.”
He had only meant to keep the young human alive and use him as a messenger to deliver a warning to the king of men — yet somehow, Ranok had ended up bringing the young human along to meet his mother in a place like this.
A place that suited him not at all, given how much he loved beautiful things.
To make matters worse, by the time the two of them arrived, the shadow of death had already fallen heavily over the woman who was said to be Casioth’s mother.
“I’m sorry, Casioth. I did my best to care for her, but there wasn’t much I could do.”
The village woman who had been looking after her in Casioth’s absence said this with a pained expression.
“Still, it’s a relief. I was worried you might not be able to reach her in time — that there’d be no way to contact you and you’d miss Karin’s final moments.”
“……”
Naturally, Casioth was devastated.
He had risked his life storming the Demon King’s Castle to save his mother, only to lose all his companions and find her illness had worsened — her days now numbered.
Tsk.
Ranok clicked his tongue. He had come along without trying to stop him, thinking it would only breed resentment if he opposed Casioth’s insistence on seeing his mother — but it didn’t look like things would be wrapping up anytime soon.
As far as Ranok could see, if that human woman died, there was no telling whether Casioth would even be able to get back on his feet, let alone go report to the king of men.
“Things are getting complicated.”
— That they are.
Mas, who had taken over as acting deputy in Ranok’s absence, sympathized. From Mas’s position — where his workload increased whenever his superior was away — a prolonged absence from Ranok was hardly welcome news either.
There was only one way to resolve this situation. Save Casioth’s mother.
But unfortunately, it was already too late for that. It was impossible.
Cruel as it might sound to Casioth, his mother had already crossed into the realm of the divine. No matter what was done, she was fated to die.
What to do.
Ranok deliberated.
Based on past experience, if the Heroes sent to defeat the Demon King failed to return, the humans would send someone else after some time had passed.
When that happened, the Demon King’s Castle would be thrown into chaos once again, the Demon Clan members he had gone to the trouble of cultivating and the beautiful castle would be left in ruins, and to restore it all would mean going through all manner of hellish effort……
“Casioth.”
Then he would choose the comparatively less troublesome option. His deliberation concluded, Ranok placed a hand on the despairing Casioth’s shoulder.
“My abilities are humble, but I’ll do my very best. Don’t worry too much.”
Ranok smiled as pleasantly as he could manage. At those words, a faint glimmer of hope visibly crossed Casioth’s face.
It was the moment that made it worthwhile — having introduced himself to Casioth as a Priest while keeping him alive.
Of course, the price for that was having to hear his subordinate involuntarily snort — Ranok, a Priest? Pfft — and stifle a laugh.
— Are you going to save her?
To Mas’s question, Ranok replied with indifference.
“Why would I? Besides, not even a god could save her now.”
— Then why……
“Because if that human woman dies right now, it looks like that young fool will die too.”
The only thing sustaining Casioth at this moment was the hope that his mother could be saved. Wasn’t that exactly why he had volunteered for the Demon King subjugation — a mission with every chance of killing him?
With the humans he had grown attached to all killed by Ranok on top of that, it was obvious that if he lost his mother as well, Casioth would never rise again.
And that was not what Ranok wanted.
“I can’t save her, but I can at least extend her lifespan.”
He would need someone who had actually faced the Demon King and survived if he was to have any hope of persuading the king of men — and Ranok judged this to be the least troublesome path forward.
And so Ranok began his life in that barren slash-and-burn village with Casioth.
Time was something that overflowed endlessly for a high-ranking member of the Demon Clan like him, and if anything happened to Gerard, Mas would alert him immediately — so the time spent there held no particularly grand significance for Ranok.
There were moments when he thought, How did I end up here doing this? — but for someone who had already spent far too much of his unnaturally long life simply sleeping the hours away, life in that village wasn’t so bad.
Even among his long-ago amusements of peering into human lives, he had only ever visited the mansions of nobles or great cities — a village where humans at the very bottom of the bottom lived was an entirely new experience, and a curious one at that.
And quite surprisingly, Casioth turned out to be a rather interesting human.
“Ranok!”
With just the smallest sliver of hope restored, Casioth quickly shook off his despair and got back on his feet.
Whatever act he had been putting on — playing the composed adult in front of a stranger he knew to be his savior — was soon abandoned.
He, too, had survived at the bottom, and his temperament was anything but gentle.
Yet even so, Casioth was a gentle lamb in Ranok’s presence alone.
So much so that the neighbor woman who had been caring for his mother remarked in surprise, I didn’t know you could make that kind of face.
The young man shyly asked whether he could speak informally to Ranok, then promptly started doing exactly that. He helped the neighbor who had cared for his mother all this time, and in his spare moments, trained in swordsmanship without rest.
And little by little, more and more, he grew into an adult.
Watching that young man — it was, unexpectedly, not such a bad way to pass the time.
“He oddly reminds me of Gerard.”
— The Demon King? They seem completely different to me.
“That’s how it would look to someone who doesn’t know.”
Mas said they seemed entirely different, but Ranok found himself thinking of Gerard from time to time when he looked at Casioth.
In what way, one might ask — the way he seemed blindly devoted to him, somehow.
The face that smiled whenever he called his name.
The occasional flush that crept across his cheeks when he looked at him, endearingly out of place.
Things like that.
And so that time was not so dull.
Ranok cared for Casioth’s mother while teaching Casioth to read — “How can you call yourself a Hero if you can’t even read?” “Sh-shut up!” — and taught him the etiquette of the nobility — “How do you know things like that, Ranok?” “You didn’t know? I’m a noble.” “Oh, really?” “Are you falling for it again?” “……Ughhh!” — and shared the wisdom about life he had accumulated over his long years.
When Mas asked why he was being so good to that human, Ranok answered simply. Because I’m bored, he said.
— For being bored, though……
Mas seemed to be on the verge of pointing something out to Ranok, but must have decided he was crossing a line, because he quickly trailed off.
But Ranok had a feeling he knew what Mas had been about to say.
“What, do I seem a little livelier to you?”
— …… Honestly, a little, yes. Except when you’re attending to Gerard, you’re either sleeping or you look like a wax figure.
But when you’re with Casioth, you’re not like that — that’s what he’s saying. Ranok let out a quiet laugh.
“Wax figure was a bit harsh, don’t you think.”
— I apologize.
Ranok didn’t scold Mas further. He understood why he’d said it.
Ranok had lived a long time, and there were few occasions he showed any will to live for anything other than Gerard’s matters.
If living alongside Casioth had made him even a little more alive — wasn’t that a welcome development?
The truth was, Ranok had at some point noticed himself treating Casioth the way he treated Gerard, and found it mildly unsettling.
The habit of ruffling someone’s hair that he had reserved only for Gerard. The light tap on the cheek. Even making pumpkin pie — something he had never made for anyone other than Gerard.
The thought Is this really alright? flickered through his mind for a moment, but Ranok quickly reassured himself.
Because in the end, he was just a human.
Because he wouldn’t let himself grow attached.
And so, unaware that something was quietly accumulating within him, Ranok let those days continue on.
Perhaps, in his life, those were his most peaceful moments.
“Ranok.”
Then one day, as if having made up his mind about something, Casioth asked Ranok this:
“……Is there someone you like?”
At the out-of-nowhere question, Ranok tilted his head.
“Let me think — why do you ask?”
“J-just because! So is there or not?!”
“Not particularly.”
For some reason, Casioth’s face visibly relaxed with relief at that answer, and for the rest of the day he seemed to be in high spirits.
Spring passed, summer came, autumn arrived, and somewhere around the start of early winter, Mas brought a piece of news.
— Ranok. Gerard has awakened.
The news that Gerard, who had been deep in slumber, had woken up.
Before coming of age — it was the final stage before advancing into the chrysalis. Once he fell asleep this time, he would not wake for at minimum a year’s time.
At that news, Ranok immediately moved back to the Demon King’s Castle he had left behind.
“Ranok!”
Overjoyed at the sight of Ranok the moment he woke, Gerard immediately came and threw himself into Ranok’s arms.
Ranok skillfully cradled the Demon Clan member nestled against him and greeted him with a smile.
“You’ve grown a little more since then.”
Gerard was now close to full adulthood. The height that had once been nearly level with Ranok’s had grown a little further apart.
Once he woke from his deep sleep and came of age, he would likely be considerably taller still.
