I Killed the Demon King. It Was a Mistake. Chapter 134

I Killed the Demon King. It Was a Mistake.

Chapter 134

Caesar thought coldly.

Without entering Raven’s mind, no answer could be given.

Speaking from experience of entering and exiting others’ minds countless times, behind every human question lies a ‘true inquiry’.

Without perfectly understanding that ‘true inquiry’, one can never give an answer that could convince the other person.

This is especially true for someone as sensitive as Raven.

Caesar looked at his tightly bound legs.

He knows very well how to break the Stuck magic.

He had experienced it many times from Raven when he was Barre.

The question is, how will Raven react after the Stuck magic is broken?

She won’t kill or half-cripple him.

Raven is a mage, thus very rational, and had enough sense of responsibility to earn Hero Yan’s approval.

She would surely know that without Caesar alive, she wouldn’t get the answers she wants.

Moreover, with an urgent battle ahead, she wouldn’t risk hurting Caesar.

Caesar took a deep breath and gauged the distance between him and Raven.

About 10m.

While that’s the physical distance, the psychological distance is even greater.

Can he really bridge this daunting gap?

Caesar felt unusually uncertain today.

This wasn’t because of his bound legs, but due to the anxiety creeping into Caesar’s heart.

‘…Can I give a proper answer?’

Caesar is a doppelganger.

Barre is a doppelganger.

In fact, neither Caesar nor Barre are doppelgangers.

His real name is Choi Seo-han.

He’s Korean and a fan of the Valent Saga.

He’s not even from this world.

A tragic life where even truth becomes lies because his very existence is a lie, and lies lead to deeper lies.

It was a path chosen for survival, and he knew he would constantly face such difficult-to-explain questions as the price for that choice.

So Seo-han always answered himself.

Even if he received questions without answers, he would give answers that best suited himself.

But hearing that question from Raven, who had saved his life and fought alongside him in the muddy battlefields, left him breathless.

Afraid that answering this question might end the relationship between Barre and Raven.

Afraid that one small mistake from Caesar might turn all their sincere moments into lies.

Gritting teeth

Caesar clenched his fist until it might break.

Some things you only know by trying.

Nothing can be achieved by standing still.

Caesar broke the Stuck spell.

Crack!

When Caesar broke the spell, Raven looked at him with somewhat surprised eyes.

“How…?”

Caesar was grateful for Raven’s bewilderment.

Because it allowed him to get a little closer.

Caesar opened his mouth.

“I cannot explain the relationship between Barre and myself.”

“Don’t come closer.”

Raven regained her composure and shot a magic bullet.

The magic bullet, a mere low-level spell, became a laser from the tip of Raven’s wand.

It grazed Caesar’s earlobe.

Surprisingly, blood flowed from Caesar’s earlobe.

Yet Caesar didn’t even blink nor stop.

8m

7m

The distance decreases by 1m with each step.

4m remaining.

It’s the distance needed to enter Raven’s mental boundary.

Though those 4m seemed impossibly far to Caesar, he wasn’t afraid.

The Raven that Caesar knows isn’t someone who would carelessly kill or hurt people.

He just prayed that there remained something in that heart that Caesar could answer to.

He walked forward, just praying.

Raven shot another magic bullet.

This time it was the left earlobe.

“Don’t come…”

“Raven, do you have words you can never tell others?”

“…What?”

6m

5m

A subtle confusion passed through Raven’s green eyes.

“I do. And the question you’ve asked me…”

4m

3.5m

“Is a question I cannot answer.”

3m

Caesar entered Raven’s mental boundary.

Caesar stopped.

And looked into Raven’s green eyes.

-Whether Barre was enchanted by succubi or under some mental spell when he destroyed the vampire castle… I must find out.

-There’s no way Barre could have fallen under an enchantment… But I still need to ask that ignorant guy why he did such a thing.

-That’s why I came here.

Raven’s warm concern washed over Caesar’s entire body like a spring breeze.

And now everything made sense.

Raven had been thinking that it might have been Barre who destroyed the vampire castle and annihilated the 14th Regiment.

And she thought that Barre might have destroyed that vampire castle because he was under a succubus’s enchantment or some mental spell.

‘A hood alone wasn’t enough to hide my identity, it seems.’

A muscular body like Barre’s isn’t common after all.

Caesar gazed deeply into Raven’s eyes.

They’re beautiful eyes no matter when you look at them.

Cold yet kind, small yet sparkling.

Those sparkles are filled with worry for Barre.

Even after a year has passed, you’re probably the only one who worries about Barre like this.

That’s why I like you.

That’s why I’m always sincere with you.

That’s why I don’t want to disappoint you.

“I could get by with an appropriate lie to Lady Raven. But I don’t want to lie to you.”

“…Do you dislike speaking about it that much? Or did Barre tell you not to speak of it?”

“No. I purely don’t want to speak of it myself. But there is something I can tell you.”

Caesar knew how Raven distinguished between lies and truth.

He had heard that magic responds very sensitively to people’s emotions, and depending on what emotion one feels, the surrounding magic dances in a certain way.

So one must always be sincere when dealing with Raven.

Just as Barre had been with Raven.

“Barre misses you too.”

In Raven’s eyes, the magic surrounding Caesar was falling like rain drops.

Caesar was crying miserably right now.

Because of that terrible sadness, Raven couldn’t tell whether Caesar was lying or telling the truth.

With those final words, Caesar brushed past Raven.

Raven entered the barracks alone.

Suddenly, instead of using a magic lamp, Raven lit a small fire lamp.

And sitting on the bed, with a small and fragile body, watched the flame pushing back the night.

-Barre misses you too.

Caesar’s words seeped into Raven’s heart.

What could those words mean?

Why would Barre miss Raven?

After saying so heartlessly that he would leave for the wilderness…

What on earth happened to Barre?

What could have happened to Barre that made Caesar cry so much?

Raven wanted to ask but couldn’t muster the courage.

An answer that left only questions.

Nevertheless, Raven could be somewhat satisfied.

Barre is alive.

If he had died or if something had happened to him, instead of saying he ‘misses’ Raven, Caesar would have said he ‘missed’ Raven.

And although it came through Caesar’s mouth, there was some relief in hearing that Barre missed Raven.

I’m not the only one thinking about Barre.

Barre thinks about me too.

He didn’t think of me so lightly after all.

Perhaps that’s why?

Raven felt as if she could hear Barre’s voice in her ears.

-Little girl. If you don’t sleep at night, you won’t grow taller. Go to sleep now.

Raven looked beyond the fire.

There stood Barre, with his bear-like huge build.

-Can’t sleep? Want me to sing you a lullaby?

“…No.”

Raven crammed herself into the sleeping bag.

Then she closed her eyes.

Suddenly, Raven’s nightmares began to spread like ink that had accidentally spilled on paper.

Raven’s nightmares were always red, hot, and suffocating.

That’s why she hated fire.

Especially campfires.

Whenever she heard the sound of branches burning, it reminded her of the day she lost her mom and dad.

So, as much as possible, she tried to sleep without lighting a campfire, but Yan and Mitchell loved to light fires and fall asleep.

When Raven hated looking at the campfire so much that she turned away and closed her eyes while covering her ears, Barre would come over sensitively and cover her eyes with his big hands.

If you sleep with your eyebrows furrowed like that, you’ll become ugly.

Raven covered her eyes with the back of her hand.

It wasn’t rough or large like Barre’s.

It was delicate, soft, and small.

This softness felt sad.

Raven deeply thought of Barre.

To Raven, Barre was like a dad.

When she was six years old, the silhouette of Barre looking at her while she lay in bed was identical to that of her father.

Her dad was a carpenter, always with an axe in hand, so he had many calluses and sparse hair.

And he was illiterate and a storyteller.

Even when she asked him to read a fairy tale, he couldn’t because he didn’t know how to read.

Instead, he made up stories every day with a wider imagination than any book.

“…I can’t sleep. Tell me a story about teddy bears.”

In response to Raven’s childish whining, Barre began to tell a story.

There were three baby bears, and one day their mom and dad suddenly told them to leave the house. So the bears had to build their own homes. The first bear built his house with straw, the second bear with wood, and the third bear with bricks.

But suddenly, a wolf appeared. The wolf wanted to eat the still-growing bears and began to visit their houses one by one.

Raven blew her breath into the air.

The house made of straw was blown away by the wolf’s breath, and the wooden house was bitten into with teeth. The bears were so surprised that they ran to the youngest bear’s house.

The youngest scolded the first and second bears who came looking for him. “Why are we scared of the wolf? You fools.”

Raven giggled.

The three little bears bravely defeated the wolf that came looking for them and lived happily ever after.

“What happened to the wolf?”

Maybe it became the bears’ pet?

Raven’s dry laughter echoed.

The cold wind that flowed in with that laughter made Raven’s nape feel chilly.

‘I think it was better when the Demon King was alive.’

Back then, each day was so hard it felt like dying, but after the battle, she could talk about what had happened that day and fall asleep together.

Since the Demon King died, Raven had always been alone.

Even when eating.

Even when reading.

Even when sleeping.

She thought it was okay to be alone now…

Since this year she had reached the age of her mother and father, she thought she had become an adult who wasn’t lonely being alone.

But it seemed she had become a child who wasn’t big in body or heart.

That’s why she didn’t want to let Barre go.

She wished Barre would stay by her side.

The indifferent barbarian.

The foolish barbarian.

The disappointing barbarian.

…The insincere magician.

If she had honestly told him not to go…

No, if she had stubbornly insisted they travel together, she wouldn’t have felt so lonely.

Raven waved her wand and extinguished the lantern.

The lantern, which had been consuming oil, disappeared, and with the darkness came the chilly dawn cold that enveloped Raven.

Raven curled up and buried herself deeper into the sleeping bag.

Like a little child.

“… Barre, aren’t you lonely?”

Raven’s words echoed emptily.

The next morning.

Caesar did not go to find Raven.

Raven did not come to find Caesar either.

Caesar’s answer must have only left questions in Raven’s heart.

She would surely come to ask new questions… But Raven didn’t come.

Is she still sleeping?

‘I don’t know.’

Caesar decided to fly to clear his uneasy mind.

“Let’s go, Whitey!”

This horse-headed bastard was told not to eat before flying, but he still had stuffed a turnip in his mouth and was chewing it.

Looking at it, while Messio was at fault, it seems this guy is just a glutton.

Caesar mounted Whitey alone and said to Gloria.

“I’m going to do some reconnaissance alone today, so have food ready when I return.”

“Yes. Understood.”

Usually Gloria would have begged to come along, but sensing Caesar’s troubled mind, she tactfully stepped aside.

“Let’s go!”

Whitey took a few steps and then took to the sky.

The feeling of cutting through the strong wind was truly amazing.

Like a feeling of your chest opening up?

Caesar fell into deep thought while watching the red sun rise.

What would become of his relationship with Raven?

Raven’s feelings for Barre are quite special.

Knowing this very well, Caesar’s heart was not just unsettled but complicated.

When he used psychometry on Raven, the deep wound of loneliness he felt from her stung his nose like the smell of ashes.

Instead of comforting someone like her, he ended up making things harder.

“Damn it. I really don’t know.”

Raven is strong.

Even after losing her parents at age 7 and entering the Gale Magic Tower as a training magician, she didn’t go astray and held onto magic.

So he just hopes she can forget about Barre and live on bravely.

Because Barre is no more.

At that moment, he saw a group of Orcs in the distance.

“They’re quite carefree.”

The Orcs were busy eating and drinking since morning.

Are they confident that humans won’t launch a preemptive attack?

They were partying like they had no worries.

Caesar went in deeper to look for the black flag.

He was trying to find whether the Twin-headed Ogre was there or not.

“There he is.”

That bastard was also leisurely tearing into meat.

It was quite a sight to see – the right hand feeding the right head and the left hand feeding the left head.

Which head is the real master among them?

Is it like WOW’s Cho-Gal where Cho moves the legs and Gal moves the arms?

Or is one just parasitic?

I’m quite curious.

“…Something’s strange.”

Then, Caesar felt a sense of déjà vu.

The amount of meat they were eating wasn’t decreasing.

The meat coming from the pot was always fresh, and even the bonfire wasn’t burning down.

“Could it be…”

Caesar drew his Thunder and moved closer.

Despite hearing the pegasus’s wing beats, they continued just eating.

Caesar swung his axe.

A sharp wind passed through the Orcs’ heads.

Then, as if it had been a momentary dream, the 80,000 Orcs disappeared in an instant.

Only their smelly droppings, garbage, and unidentifiable bones remained.

A chill ran down Caesar’s spine.

“We’ve been had.”

TL NOTE:

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