Chapter 17: 17

There was a good reason behind why we chose this place to meet up.

Count Pontheus had servants who had no idea that he was a demon, there were also influential people coming to his mansion, as he was a noble. Eleris’ shop and it’s second story were a little too small for the four of us.

The base of Irene’s wild dog was a place avoided by all and swarming with beggars. I was told there were also quite the number of secret spaces. Eleris passed through the mess of beggars affected by hallucination magic. Even while we were passing right by the beggars they didn’t notice our presence.

There was a dark tunnel right under the bridge. This place seemed to be their real base.

I was told that it originally served as a type of drainage channel that would lead the city’s rain water to Irene when it rained. As this place wasn’t really visited by people, it also served as Irene’s Wild Dog’s hide out when they turn into a Lycanthrope.

There were beggars lying around and sleeping inside. There were blankets, mops and roughly built shacks.

It really was a beggar colony.

As we went even deeper inside, eventually even the shacks disappeared from our sight. As we entered the endless sewers, we saw a small light in the distance.

Someone was sitting in front of a lit bonfire. Even though they were just the leader of some beggars, they still were a king in a way, however, they didn’t seem like they had anything special around him.

They were just like a dog basking in the fire’s warmth.

There was a person wearing a ripped shirt and tattered trousers, with thick gray hair on their head tied in random ways.

Irene’s Wild Dog.

“You’re here, my lord.”

Come to think of it, I was never told that the dog was a man..

* * *

The King of Beggars.

Irene’s Wild Dog.

The Leader of a Gang.

“Loyar greets His Highness the Prince.”

She knelt down in front of me as soon as she saw me. That Wild Dog’s real name was Loyar and as far as I knew she was a wolf-type Lycanthrope.

“…Yes, nice to see you. Although it’s in a place like this.”

We were inside Gardium, but here we were meeting up in the sewers.

“Is Sarkegaar still over there?”

Loyar nodded at Eleris’ words.

“All the nobles must be busy. There’s going to be a victory celebration and stuff. He’ll be here soon, though. This is a lot more important to us.”

Eleris was a pacifist, however she was still surprised that I was still alive, Loyar on the other hand didn’t really have any big reaction. How should I put it, it felt like she didn’t really care much about all this?

“Loyar, I’m telling you in advance, but he lost all his memories. Except for who he was… He doesn’t remember almost anything.”

At those words, Loyar stared at me.

“……For real?”

“Well, yeah……It somehow turned out like that.”

“Hmm….”

Her gaze was a bit uncomfortable.

“I’m glad to hear that.”

“..…You’re happy about that?”

“Yeah, because you’d tell me stuff like I should lie down with my stomach exposed, saying that dogs should behave like dogs.”

“……I, I did?”

“Yeah. You’d even put me on a leash sometimes.”

“Huh….”

Loyar opened her mouth as she thought about those times. Oh no, you’re telling me I treated Lycanthropes like some sorts of pets? Eleris’ mouth twitched as she was smiling half-heartedly.

“Lo, Loyar…. As far as I can remember, you kind of liked that……”

“When did I ever?!”

Loyar’s face turned red. What the hell were you talking about? Did I really treat a Lycanthrope who changes into a wolf every full moon as a common dog?

Was she like my pet or something?

“Tha, that….  I can’t really remember, but I’m sorry….”

“Well, it’s fine.”

Your expression didn’t look fine at all though. If I were in her shoes I would have really hated being treated like that.

Come to think of it, I was told she volunteered for this spy mission even though she was a Lycanthrope.

Could it be she was forced to volunteer to get away from me? Come to think of it, that was pretty plausible. I managed to somehow escape and come here alive, but could I trust her?

“We, well…. I can’t erase my past actions, but I’m…. sorry. Let’s try to get along from now on.”

I reached out my hand to her, showing her that I meant no harm.

-Pat

“…….”

“…….”

I meant to shake her hand.

However, she just put her hand on mine. She didn’t grasp it; she just put her hand on top of mine.

“!”

As soon as she realized what she did, Loyar was startled and then lowered her hand to hold mine.

Wasn’t that……

Did she just do ‘Give paw’?

“Give paw.”

– Pat

The moment I put out my palm, Loyar put her hand on my hand. She did it without realizing it and immediately pulled it back.

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“Y, your Highness…. Why am I doing that?”

Loyar said so in cold sweat.

The speechless Eleris also added some words.

“It’s like the body is reacting on its own without the head telling it to.”

“O, oh, no!”

“Your Highness. How about you try telling her to lie down and show you her stomach?”

“Hey!”

“She going to flip over. Try it.”

“N, no! Why would I do that!”

I couldn’t get myself to do that in the end. She’d probably really do it.

Why was she trained so well?

How often did I bully you like this in the past? Rather, it was already on the level that her body reacted instinctively. 

I’m afraid she’d really sit if I tell her to sit.

“Uhm, erm. Sorry, I’ll be more careful.”

“…Yes….”

Even though her heart doesn’t like me, her body was that of a loyal dog. Thinking that I put my worries about Loyar aside. I sat down besides the fire. When Sarkegaar arrived we could start talking about the details.

I felt something approaching from afar. There was a sound echoing through the sewers.

– Uooooooooaaaaah!

I couldn’t even see his face yet, but I was already convinced that he’ll be the troublesome type.

Just like I expected.

When Sarkegaar arrived, he hugged me and began to wail loudly.

‘Oh my goodness! For those wretched humaaaans to kill His Majesty the Great Demon King! They must have used some cowardly tricks! What are we going to do about this? What are we to doooo? But seeing that Your Highness is still safe, there’s still a ray of hope left for the people of the Demon Realm. What a miracle! Wooaaaah! Please quickly grow up and rebuild the Demon Realm stronger than it was before and erase all traces of these filthy human beiiiiiings!‘

.

.

He roughly kept on mumbling and crying loudly for about 10 minutes.

He started crying even louder when I told him that I had lost my memories. No, I thought I was some kind of super jerk? Why was he so sad?

Ah.

Seeing how he was acting right now, it seems like even the former prince, who was indeed a jerk, avoided him. 

His voice was so loud that it made the entire sewer tremble. It was so loud that Eleris was forced to cast noise suppression magic around us.

“Kuhuk….Sniff…. Buhuuhuk….”

Even I, who didn’t think much about his crying before, was almost brought to tears. No, well, maybe I was the type that would start crying as well if I saw someone crying in front of me.

No, that’s also not it. This guy was crying so sadly.

What’s with this?

Anyway, Sarkegaar was a loyalist almost to the point of insanity.

Sarkegaar continued to sniffle for a while, making snorting noises. I felt like he was going to run out of breath, so I felt like I had to somehow comfort him.

“Why’s such a grown-up Fiend crying like that? Huh? It’s like you lost your country.” 

Come to think of it, we really lost our country. Looks like that idiom became reality now.

Sakegaar looked up at me, at my words.

“I see! You’re right! Demons are still alive, so the Demon Realm has yet to die as well! What disloyalty I committed! The Demon Realm is still alive and well! Please punish meeeeeee!”

That guy twisted my words weirdly, making his own determination flare up even more.

Loyar and Eleris were looking at me as if they were trying to apologize for being helpless in this situation.

They seemed to be tired of Sarkegaar’s antics as well. After barely calming him down, we all sat down around the bonfire.

What a perfect meeting place for a prince and servants of a fallen kingdom. Sarkegaar was looking at me with a firm expression.

“You must rebuild the Demon Realm.”

Eleris stared at me. She seemed to want to remind me about our previous conversation about moderately playing along.

“Ah, uhm…. Well. That’s right.”

“And to take revenge for the previous King, we have to build an even stronger and more powerful nation than ever before…!”

“Ah, you bastard! If you keep on sticking to these unfruitful rhetorics I’ll rip out your tongue!”

Loyar shouted.

Yes, even in novels, if a character keeps on talking about similar things, the author will get cursed out for inflating the length of the chapter. Sarkegaar also fake coughed as if preparing to continue on with the third verse.

“Ehem. My apologies, Your Highness. It’s just when I heard the news that His Majesty the Demon King had passed away, it seemed like the whole world was coming to an end ….”

“Alright. I got it.”

It seemed like he was the type of person who’d finish what he wanted to say no matter what.

Hearing the news of the Demon Realm’s defeat must have felt like the sky was collapsing above him. However, since I was still alive, I was his last hope, hence reigniting his fighting spirit.

“Rebuilding the Demon Realm, huh. That’s good and all, but there are only the four of us and I’m still some useless, incompetent kid.”

“Calling yourself as such is an unfair thing to say! Your Highness’ bloodline is the most noble! You are the only Arcdemon left in this world!-”

“Yeah, so that’s it.”

I cut off Sarkegaar’s muffled words.

“Just what the hell is an Arcdemon?”

Just what was an Arcdemon, for them  to not even think of finding a new Demon King and simply clung to me?

I had no idea about that yet.

Everyone was looking at me with puzzlement apparent on their faces.

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