『Farthest Town: Inn』

I dive onto the bed.
Fluffy beds and cheap inns are the best, right~.

「……」

「……」

「……」

「…… Somehow…… The mood seems to have turned a little bad……」 Tao said while lounging on the sofa.

「You guys~. You know we should be more cooperative~? Or like that~」(Kazuha)

「Kazuha, please shut your mouth」(Ruru)

「……….. Mui.」(Kazuha)

This is bad.
Even I can’t control the little girl……

「I am still under Kazuha’s 《Bind》 so my magic is being blocked but…….」

「…… Fumu~ I know. You and I will never by any means understand each other.」

Yeah~.

「(Heey, Tao~?)」

I left the bed and crawled towards the sofa.

「(Hmm? What is it?)」(Tao)

Ah, I saw her underwear.
My bad.

「(Aah, uhm, they are~. Why aren’t they getting along? They’re just the Demon lord and a Spirit, do they hate each other that much?)」(Kazuha)

In the end, it took 3 days to get to《Farthest Town》
And they took every opportunity to snarl at each other along the way.

「(…… It’s not possible that Kazuha doesn’t know about the 《Spirit Demon War,》right?)」(Tao)

「(Spirit Demon War~?)」(Kazuha)

「(………… So you don’t know…)」(Tao)

So we talked secretly on the side.
And I listened to Tao’s lecture.

The 《Spirit Demon War》 happened approximately 5000 years ago, before the golden age of『Ancient Town.』
In short, it occurred before 『humans』 came into existence.
And it seems like the enmity created by the war exists to today.

On one side stood the 『Spirit Army.』The other, the 『Demon Army.』
Rather, it’s obvious that the 『Demon lord』 was born into this world before the humans.
And that war continued for 2000 years or so.
That part was already considered a myth.

So, concerning the outcome.

The 『Demon army』 won, wiping out the 『Spirit Army.』
And it has been said that this world was then controlled by 『Demons.』
But the truth is that the supposedly wiped out 『Spirit』 race stubbornly survived, and hid themselves in order to someday clear regain their honor.

So, many years pa.s.sed and the humans appeared.
A reckless propagation.
Until then the spirits had concealed themselves.
『They’re many and useful so can’t we use them?』 asked a certain chief.
Then, the spirits chose to support the humans.
This is probably the beginning of the golden age of 『Ancient Town』~.

So, the humans and the remaining spirits conspired, and the savior of the humans called the『Hero』 was offered to them.
That’s probably the 『current times.』

What am I hiding, I was a hero during my 『first time』 and 『second time.』
Ain’t I amazing?

「(But you know~. That past “hatred?” thing still continues to now?)」(Kazuha)

The 2 people[or not] glanced at me.
Something’s still coming together……

「(That’s all I know……. It seems to be 『hereditary』?)」(Tao)

Hereditary, huh.
Well it’s better to call it 『instincts,』right.

Ah. Now that you mention『heredity,』 the story about how us humans came to use 『magic』 is true. Some bigshot from the past extracted the 《magic gene》from the demons and added it to the royal family’s makeup, that’s why we can use magic now, right?
The first time I heard that my chest felt really bad.
In the end, demons and humans have few to no differences between them.

What was I saying again? Ah, after hearing that, spirits too aren’t so different.
They used the humans to dispel their malice, right?
I don’t know much but that’s about it. They did it selfishly, so don’t include me.
That kind of pent-up resentment gives me goose b.u.mps, ya know.
『How stupid!』 I thought……

「(…… What are you grunting, groaning and agreeing about? Kazuha?)」(Tao)

I ain’t grunting!

「(……Anyway, if this continues there won’t be any progress.)」(Tao)

Yep.

「(Ah, you know. Is it ok to not go to your dad’s place?)」(Kazuha)

I thought Tao would return to her home -Taotao Hanten- after we came back, but.

「(As if I can return! Other than pretending to not know that you’ve 《bound》the town’s guardian『spirit』- I’m still in the same party with the one who did it so how can I appear in town?)」(Tao)

「(That’s one outrageous person~)」(Kazuha)

「(IT’S YOU!!!!)」(Tao)

It was me……

「(Then, what ya gonna do?)」(Kazuha)

「(….. Now that It’s come to this, I’ll have you take responsibility!)」(Tao)

「(We will…… get married?)」(Kazuha)

「(That’s not what I mean by『Take responsibility!!!』ARE YOU STUPID!!!)」(Tao)

I’m kiddin’~.
As always, Tao really focuses petty things…… mutter mutter mutter……

「(E-……Eh, it’s not ending……)」(Tao)

Tao sighs as she watched the two duke it out.

「(Ah, Th~e~n~. Let’s take a bath!)」(Kazuha)

I really am tired.
I did do my best.
I wanna relax in the hot spring.
‘Cause I didn’t get to enter the hot spring 『on that day』……

「(Oh! That’s a good plan! They’re open at the moment!)」(Tao)

Thus we. I mean, Tao and I.

I with Maou.
Tao’s with Ruru.

Each pulled our target from the other’s grasp to keep them from choking each other.

Thus forcing them into the hot spring……