The Spirit King laughed pleasantly at the usual exchange between the members of our family, while the Demon King Finar looked spellbound.
“Yuki. It’s nice to have a family, isn’t it? I don’t have a partner and my parents are long gone, but…I’m a little envious of you.”
“…Ah. You know what, Demon King? I think this is what you need to do to survive. To look forward, step by step, and live.”
One could not live alone.
That’s not it… no intelligent creature could survive on its own.Every living being would always need another.
And after me, Spirit King followed up.
[I see you (Finar) as the type of person who thinks with his head first. Just take it as an old man’s nonsense, but there are many things in this world that you won’t understand unless you plunge into them. Such is the way of the world.]
“Spirit King. Yes, I guess so. …Peace, huh?” (Finar)
“Did anything come to your mind?” (Yuki)
“Yeah, well… it’s my role as… as king. What do I have to aim for as the one who stands on top? Now, I can see it more clearly than before. –I’m sure you’re aware of that, Yuki.”
“Oh.”“Can I visit your Dungeon sometime?”
I replied to his words with a smile, “Oh, of course you can. And while you’re at it, invite the other Kings to come and play with us. I’ll show you the Demon King’s style of hospitality and take away your daily fatigue.”
“Haha, great, that’ll be fun. …Well, the next time we all get together in this country, I’ll propose it.”
“If you do, please give me a call. I’m telling you, our food is incomparably better than anything out here, and we even have a hot spring that will blow away all of your daily fatigue!”
“Oooh, I’m looking forward to it!”
[Kukuku, a labyrinth where kings from all over the world would gather. If it weren’t for you, this would never have been possible.]
“Of course, Spirit King can visit as well, anytime you want. You are welcome.”
[Well, I’ll visit you again sometime.]
While talking like that, we walked through the streets of the Imperial City.
◇◇◇
The man – Karkade – was breathing heavily in the castle when he returned after a day of work.
He was the mature butler who had been following Yuki and his friends around all day.
But he was not really a butler…
He was a secret spy.
Originally, he belonged to a secret spy organization under the direct control of former Emperor Shendra, and thus had acquired the manners of a butler, and his official position was that of one of the castle’s butlers.
However, with the defeat of the Rogard Empire and the replacement of the emperor, his role changed.
Unknown to Finar, who still ruled most of the country, Karkade’s clandestine organization now existed mainly to protect the country from the shadows.
The new objective of the organization was to stop any kind of tyranny by other races, and to interfere with any kind of disadvantageous situation…but so far it had never operated in such a way.
The reason was that the Kings of other countries were serious about the future of this country, without any kind of exploitation.
However, there was no doubt that clandestine organization was doing its best for the further development of the country, and therefore, up to this point, there was no particular dark side to their activities, and those in the organization just went about their daily lives in their respective official professions. No, rather, they now realized that they were not the only ones who were doing this.
In fact, they were now cooperating with those of other races from behind the scenes, along with a few human authorities who knew about them.
That cooperation was the elimination of the idiots who had been corrupted by the idea of human supremacy.
The idea itself did not come from a rational mind, but only from a rebellious will.
…Just because they dislike it. …Just because it angers them.
That was the only silly reason for their prevalence.
Karkade believed that the spread of this ideology would surely bring misfortune to the country, so he and his dozen or so remaining friends had been working behind the scenes to eliminate it, little by little.
As long as they didn’t harm others, it didn’t matter if those people simply didn’t like the other races and didn’t want to be a part of their community.
It was the result of war, and it was only natural that some would come to dislike others, and it would be impossible to accept everything until much more time had passed.
Family, friends, and those who died were numerous.
Unfortunately, this country was defeated and was now ruled by people from other countries.
Times have changed.
It would be impossible to stop the trend of coexistence with other races, and any action against it would surely be detrimental to this country.
Trained by the former emperor Shendra, they had a progressive mindset, and because of this judgment, they were now continuing their dark activities against the same humans.
And this time, [Demon Emperor Yuki], the emperor of this country, who was rarely seen, appeared, and so he was with him as a butler to get a good look at his personality… How should one say it? He felt tired.
“The world is a big place.”
What became clear to him was that as a normal human… he could never… … he could never be a match for him.
No, even if it was not a human, there was no humanoid race that could compete with the current emperor.
And then there was a being of light of an unknown race who radiated a stronger presence than the emperor, and the young looking girl who was the Emperor’s partner.
The two of them were simply impossible to face.
