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Even though I’ve been in this world for quite a time, I’ve never saw someone badly hurt like the werewolf in front of me.
But!
I was the maou, I couldn’t stand idle while a demonkind was injured in front of me.
We needed to find the perpetrator but first thing first, we had to tend to his injury.
“It will be alright. We will heal your injury, okay?”
Velke immediately casted healing magic, fluttering light surrounded the werewolf’s injury, closing the open wound in the process.
“Please don’t mind about me! My brother, please help my brother!”
The werewolf then told that he was travelling with his brother when they met with a group of human hunters.
The hunters injured both of them, his older brother then decided to lure the hunter away by using himself as bait.
“My brother sacrificed himself to save me.. Please maou-sama, please help my brother!”
For my beloved demonkind to be persecuted unjustly like that..
There was no way I could stand still and let it slide.
“I understand. Leave it to me, I will help your older brother for sure.”
The werewolf breathed a sigh of relief before he fell unconscious to the floor.
Seemed like making sure his brother would be taken care of was the last thing holding his consciousness together.
“Master.”
Velke voice was like a sharp nail piercing through my poor heart.
“I’m going. Even if you try to stop me, I will still go. It is my duty as maou to stretch out a helping hand to any demonkind in need, right?”
“I won’t stop you from helping him but I want you to stay here, master. Let me be the one that go and rescue his brother.”
“No, Velke this is an order. I will go as well.”
Me and Velke started to argue, I knew he was worried because not just a long ago I went missing in the middle of his watch.
When we were quarrelling, Alexei came.
“Why you guys fighting? If maou wants to go then I will go as well. If there’s two people guarding him it will be alright, right?”
“But-”
Velke wanted to refute but Alexei quickly interjected.
“The maou already gave you his order, right? And judging from the way things are.. I think maou will go with or without your approval.”
Hearing Alexei’s reasonable proposal, Velke reluctantly nodded his head.
——————
Velke put a human glamour over me in case we stumbled over the human.
If I somehow managed to find the brother first, I could use Demonic Submission and everything would be alright.
It was the human that posed great danger for me, it’d be bad if they found me even though they might have lower LV than me.
Leaving the protection of maou’s castle to Sybyl and Chaos, the three of us ventured out to search for the injured werewolf.
—————–
We’ve arrived at the entrance of the forest the injured werewolf told us.
I activated ‘perception’ to search his brother and received a response immediately.
What a relief, so his brother is still alive.
But even though his brother was still alive, he might be badly injured as well so we need to go find him soon.
Using ‘perception’ as our radar, the three of us dashed toward the werewolf when we suddenly heard a huge commotion from the other direction.
Seemed like a group of humans were also searching for the werewolf, the hunter probably brought back more forces to subjugate the werewolf.
“I guess I’m going ahead then!” Alexei grinned as he flew toward the group of humans.
I stared at Alexei’s retreating figure anxiously.
What if there’s a human with high enough capability to kill Alexei?
“Velke! Velke can you please support Alexei? I’m getting worried about him..”
I thought that if there was two demon over LV 100, everything would ran smoothly.
“But if I do that, there’s no one protecting master here.” Velke shook his head.
“It will be alright. I know where the werewolf is and if by any chance I met a human, I would act as a lost child then. We already proved your glamor is good enough to deceive even the hero after all. I will wait for you two to come and pick me up. So please, help Alexei!”
If there was two strong demon lurking in the forest, the human would get scared and ran away instead.
“I will definitely wait for you like a good child so please, drive those human away.”
I knew Velke wouldn’t want to leave my side but if I commanded him he would eventually respected my wish.
Even if I didn’t want to, he would do it eventually.
“I commanded you as maou to drive those human away but..! I don’t want you to chase them off too far.. I want you to prioritize your life if things get dangerous.”
Velke looked hesitant but he relented and ran off to follow Alexei.
I slumped down on the root of a big tree and sighed.
Perhaps.. No, I’m sure I’ve burdened Alexei and Velke by insisting that I wanted to search for the werewolf’s brother but.. The werewolf were pleading to me so pitifully, there’s no way I could ignore him. I felt like it would be wrong if I wasn’t the one that go and save his brother..
Just as I about to sigh one more time, I heard the gra.s.s s.h.i.+fted.
“Is that..Mao-kun?”
The one that appeared was none but the hero himself.
To think I would met with the hero in a place like this.. Just how lucky I was??
I looked at the hero’s figure and noticed that his sword was dripping with blood, his clothes was also tattered with blood.
Could it be….
I activated ‘perception’ again, searching for the werewolf whereabout and..
It was gone.
The werewolf, I couldn’t sense the werewolf anymore.
“Why are you in a place like this, Mao-kun? It’s dangerous here! You need to get out of here quick!”
“I..I was playing in the forest and then I got lost.” I replied, my voice was close to breaking and my whole body was trembling.
How could it be..?
Just a moment ago I could feel the werewolf presence but it disappeared in seconds.
“Well playing in the forest is alright and all, usually this forest is safe after all but there was a demon in this forest just a moment ago. The demon’s comrade might be still lurking and it will be dangerous if they get ahold of you. Come, I will take you to the village, Mao-kun.”
Just a moment ago he said…?
“and the demon..?”
“It’s alright, I exterminated the demon successfully!” The hero smiled rea.s.suringly, seemed like he thought I was trembling because I was afraid of the demon.
Ah.. I.. I was to late..
Even though.. I promised.. I would definitely save his brother..
Drops of tear started to pour out of me, my eyes felt hot, my heart throbbed.
It was painful, my soul ached for the comrade that I had just lost.
The hero, thinking I was crying because of I was afraid, started to hug me and stroked my back while muttering,”It’s okay Mao-kun, onii-chan will protect you. I’m the hero after all, I won’t lose to any demon here!”
I nodded, my vision was blurry, tears staining my every being.
“I heard that someone saw a group of werewolf in the forest so I rushed here. Thankfully I managed to kill the werewolf before the demon attacked Mao-kun.”
“Kira onii-chan..”
The werewolf was LV 35, even though I didn’t have any battle experience I knew it was a one-sided battle.
Since I was a little, I thought hero duties was to protect the weak so…why?
The hero kept on whispering words of rea.s.surement to me, comforting my sobbing self.
I heard another noise from behind, was it Alexei and Velke?
If it was.. I would be the worst case scenario possible..
But turned out it was a dog-like demon that stood on two legs. He looked exactly like a dog but he was standing on two foot.
>
What a poor coincidence, to meet in a place like this out of all place.
“Hii! A human!!”
The kobold, noticing the two of us started to shrieked and trembled in dread.
“A demon huh.. Mao-kun wait here, I will defeat the demon for a moment.”
“H-h-help me! Hiii! Help me!” The kobold couldn’t even stood properly, his leg must’ve caved in. He tried to crawl away from the hero, his face was pale and tainted with tears.
“I will finish it off immediately, so don’t worry, Mao-kun.”
The hero approached the trembling kobold and took his blood stained swords out.
No.
He’s going to kill him.
In front of me.
My precious demonkind..
He’s going to kill him!!
“Wait!!”
I jumped up and grabbed the hero’s trouser tightly.
“Kironiichan! Don’t do it! I’m going to cry if you do! I feel sorry for him!” I clung the hero’s leg tighter.
I thought that no matter what, I needed to save this kobold.
I couldn’t save the werewolf’s brother but this kobold in front of me, I would definitely save him at least.
“Mao-kun! Our opponent is a demon, you know. He may look cute but this fellow can hurt a human, I can’t just let him go! Come now, it’s dangerous if you keep on clinging to me. I need to defeat the demon so you can be safe.”
“But look at him! He’s begging for his life, he looks too pitiful!”
What should I do? What should I do? I can’t let the hero kill this kobold!
“H-Human is the dangerous one! W-we’ve been living deep in the forest quietly without hurting anyone! T-that’s why please don’t kill me!” The kobold said between sobs, his face was wet with tears.
“See? Don’t you feel sorry for him?”
The hero’s facial expression turned sour,”But he’s a demon..”
In that moment, I finally understood.
The dispute between human and demon had been going on for so long that they’ve stopped asking themselves ‘why’.
The hero and the others didn’t know the reason, they only followed what their predecessor said and killed the demon because that was the only thing they knew.
Just because the opponent was a demon, it was enough reason for the hero to wield his sword and fought.
Even though he had just killed someone else’s brother, even though he had slayed the last remaining relatives of someone else’s.
He could calmly swung his sword and took someone else’s life so easily.
The hero was the ally of human.
As long demonkind still existed, the hero would also continued to wield his sword.
An endless cycle of despair.
Both of us, demon and human..
Our views were just too different, our ways of living had strayed too far from each other that our perspective for life was too different as well.
“Onii-chan.. That kobold.. Even that kobold has family waiting for him you know..”
“Hm?” The hero c.o.c.ked his head.
“His family might be worried sick about him.. If you were to kill him.. Won’t his family become sad as well?”
The hero looked surprised, as if the thoughts that the demonkind had the same concept of family like human did was a foreign thing to him.
“Onii-chan, please overlook this poor kobold?”
“Mao-kun….” The hero gazed at me silently before he nodded,”That’s right, I can’t let Mao-kun witness a bloodshed right in front of you like this. I understand, I will let this one slide for now.”
The hero sheathed his sword unwillingly,”Oi, demon.”
“Hiiii!”
“Go, go deep into the forest and never show your face to the human ever again. If I were to see you near human settlement again… You know what I will do, right?”
“Hiii! I swear I won’t come! I swear!”
With tail between his legs, the kobold disappeared into the bushes.
“Kira onii-chan.. Thank you.”
What a relief..
He spared the kobold’s life..
“Yup, I can’t let Mao-kun see such traumatizing sight like that after all. Now, let’s go Mao-kun. It’s dangerous here.”
c.r.a.p.
I didn’t think anything else but how to persuade the hero to not kill the kobold.
I don’t know how to escape from the hero now!
The hero outstretched his hand to me, waiting for me to grab it but I couldn’t..
“Mr. Hero! Mr. Hero are you there?!”
At that moment, a loud voice could be heard from the direction that Velke and Alexei went before.
“I am here!” The hero replied back.
“Ah, Mr.Hero! This is an emergency! The other group encountered a dragon! We need your help quick!”
“What?!”
Seemed like this man was trying to find for help while his group were trying to hold Velke and Alexei off.
“Things has gotten more dangerous..” The hero murmured.
He pushed me between the creak of tree roots, his hand on top of my shoulder, his gaze was determinant as he said,” Mao-kun, stay here. No matter what happen, don’t move from here. ”
“Ah that’s right. I want you to have this. This amulet is filled with loads of divine protection. If a demon came to you, use this amulet.” The hero pushed a sparkling gemstone onto me and left into the woods.
At this rate, Velke and Alexei would have to fight with the hero.. This can’t be good!
I used Thought Wave and told Velke and Alexei to run away quick before the hero caught up with them.
(Velke! Alexei! The hero is coming to your way! Hurry! You guys need to escape!)
(Huh? But we’re at the good part now!)
(Understood. Oi, let’s go.)
(Tch.)
I cut off the communication and a gust of wind appeared in front of me.
The wind dissipated, revealing Alexi and relieved looking Velke.
“Master, are you alright?”
“Yes, although sadly the hero killed the werewolf before I could get to him.”
“The hero! Ugh.. I see… So we were too late..”
“Yeah.. Ah! I also met with a kobold. I think he should be still around here, let’s take him with us as well.”
“Understood.”
“Hm? Maou, you reek of the hero.” Alexi sniffed me and creased his brow in displeasure.
“I-I will tell you guys later! For now, we need to escape from this place soon!”
——————————————–
The three of us retrieved the werewolf’s corpse and brought the kobold to the maou’s castle.
The werewolf, clutching to his dear brother’s corpse while wailing sorrowfully. He kept on crying even though there was no tears left in him.
———————————————-
EXTRA (This is Kira’s train of thought about Mao-tan)
(AHHHHHNGGG! Nnnggghhh! Mao-tan, Mao-tan so moe! Ahhhhnngngng! Mao-tan you even showed that f.u.c.king demon a compa.s.sion he didn’t deserve, what an angel you are! No, not an angel. A saint or a G.o.ddess suit the cute Mao-tan more! Ahngngg! I want to create a statue of Mao-tan so I can wors.h.i.+p him! I might become Mao-tan’s only believer but it’s alright! I don’t mind at all! I want to create Mao-tan religion and wors.h.i.+p him forever! Ahhng.. I will have Mao-tan wears a saint clothing and thrust my excalibur into him!
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