Chapter 10

“Instead of brushing it off… since we don’t really have a set destination other than heading south, why don’t we stop by that Sinan Barony on the way?”

“…Hm?”

According to the map Yuribel had given us, the Sinan Barony lay about fifty kilometers west of the Tigrid River, which cut straight down through the Northern Continent.
In other words, detouring there would mean straying from the river route we’d been following—a route that kept monster encounters relatively low. It would cost us both time and risk.

I frowned slightly, tilting my head at Shia’s sudden suggestion.

“…Sinan Barony? Why?”

“You’ve heard about their miserable lives, haven’t you? Since it’s nearby anyway, why not check if those rumors are true—and if they are, just how horrific things have gotten?”

“…I don’t know. Do we really need to?”

When I made a reluctant face, Shia leaned forward on my shoulders. Her soft stomach pressed down on my head as her round face popped in front of mine, staring me down.

“What? You don’t like it?”

“It’s not that. I could go if I wanted, but… you know what it means, right? Calling it ‘on the way’ is misleading. We’d have to make quite the detour. We’d have to leave the Tigrid River.”

The guidebook the angel gave me said that long ago, Yuel—the governing god of Kion—had blessed this river for the humans of the Northern Continent. Thanks to that blessing, the Tigrid could repel monsters to a certain degree. Civilization had spread along its banks, and so we too were traveling south along the frozen current to avoid unnecessary trouble.

“It’s only a day’s detour,” Shia pressed.

“No, even if we go, what could you or I possibly do for an entire barony right now?”

She had a point. If it were before Shia’s sealing, either of us could have erased the place with a flick of the wrist. But now? Shia was little more than a sturdy, immortal girl. As for me… stronger than her, sure, but still just a guy with a sword.

But Shia shook her head.

“The weak have their own ways. At the very least, we can gather evidence and spread word of it outside the Salt Kingdom. Worst case, I could even use that busty angel’s connections to push the Lumina Church into action.”

I blinked at her oddly persistent tone.

“…Why’s a former Demon King so interested in human suffering? Sure, it’s pitiful, but wanting to go out of your way to help them—that’s unexpected.”

“Don’t be absurd. Even sealed, I was born a Demon King. Do you think I would harbor pity or affection for Kion’s mortals? If anything, my alignment is closest to Chaotic Neutral.”

“…Then why?”

Shia suddenly threw her arms into the air and shouted with a grin.

“Because it sounds fun! Isn’t it obvious?”

“…Huh?”

“Two hundred years! Do you know how long that is? Two hundred years, locked in an empty ice castle with nothing but the sound of wind! How do you think that boredom felt? I’m starved for stimulation!”

“…So basically, you want to stir up trouble because it sounds fun?”

“Exactly!”

“……”

“……”

“…No. We’re not going.”

“Waitwaitwait! Don’t cut me off like that! Listen to the rest!”

Unable to ignore the sight of her clutching at my ankle and being dragged along the snow, I stopped walking.

“What else do you have to say?”

She tumbled once, then sprang back to her feet and puffed her chest out.

“I overheard what you and that angel said before parting. Your goal was to live happily and abundantly, mingling with the world, right?”

“…That’s what I said, yeah.”

“But at this rate, you might live abundantly, but you won’t be happy, nor will you truly mingle with the world.”

“…And why’s that?”

“In the short time I’ve known you, there’s one thing I’ve learned for certain.”

Her silver eyes locked on me.

“Go Geom-shin. At your core, you are arrogance itself.”

“……”

“You look down on every other intelligent being beneath you. Naturally, given your unmatched talent—but can someone like that truly mingle with the world?”

“……”

“That’s why, if you want to achieve that goal, you’ll need effort. Effort to lower your gaze to others’ level.”

She raised a finger.

“And the best way to do that… is to clash with the ordinary masses, build relationships with them, understand them, and in the end, even learn to love them.”

“……”

Her words pulled me into silence. For a moment, I remembered a conversation I once had with my mother.

—I know others don’t measure up to your eyes. But you have to learn to meet them at eye level. Otherwise, you’ll end up alone.

—It’s fine if I’m alone. I don’t care.

—I know you don’t care. But your father and I will be sad.

Shia’s clear voice snapped me back.

“So your path and mine are not so different. You gain the mingling you need, I gain the stimulation I crave. Isn’t that rational?”

I let out a short laugh despite myself. Rational, my ass.

“Well, if you really don’t want to, it’s fine. It’d be disappointing, but you’ll always come first for me.”

…And yet, my heart shifted.

“…Alright. Let’s go. Since it’s my partner’s request, I can at least do that much.”

Shia’s face lit up as she threw herself against me in a fierce hug.

“That willingness to shoulder burdens for the sake of the world—splendid! Truly worthy of the hero who toppled me in the snowy fields! The way you pinned me down, beat me bloody, and even collared me so I couldn’t escape—that sense of responsibility was a shining example of heroism!”

…Well, she wasn’t wrong. But could she not phrase it in a way that makes me sound like some depraved criminal?

Even the Tigrid River couldn’t completely stop monster attacks. Yuel’s blessing only reduced their numbers—it didn’t erase them.

Grr! Grrrowl!

Awooooo!

“Geom-shin. They’re coming.”

“I see them. But what the hell? Wolves? Since when are wolves the size of tigers?”

“Dire wolves. One isn’t much, but they never travel alone.”

The girl glared at the pack of easily a hundred dire wolves. Then, for once, she slipped off my shoulder and planted her feet in the snow. Her small, bare feet touched the frost, and she immediately winced.

“Ah—cold!”

“Now this is rare. You act like you’ll die if you get off me except when you sleep.”

“Mm. Since they are many, I thought I’d lend a hand.”

“…You?”

Shia’s cheek puffed out as she kneaded snow into a ball with her tiny hands.

“What is that look? Don’t tell me you saw me as nothing but a pretty, cute, clever freeloader.”

…If I say yes, I admit the first part; if I say no, I deny the second, huh? This pint-sized brat sure knew how to run her mouth.

“Just as you can fight even after losing rank, I’m not a total fool either. The seal is powerful, so I only have scraps of scraps of power, but…”

Karik, kadeuk. (hard cracking)

The snowball she had been rolling turned into a small ice gear.

“Ah, that—don’t tell me…”

“Yes. A monster’s core.”

Tok, degururur… (light drop, rolling)

The little gear fell from her hand and began to roll across the snow. Slowly at first, then faster. Snow around us drew in toward the spinning gear as if being sucked and packed together, and then—

Grrrrrrraaaa…

A gigantic bear sculpted from snow—easily five meters tall—took shape.

“Hoo… this seems to be my limit. Let’s see, a name… Right. It puffed up so round it looks like a balloon being inflated with a ‘pfffff…’ so borrowing that onomatopoeia, I’ll call it P—”

I quickly covered Shia’s mouth.

“Shh. Say that name and some giant mouse in red shorts might descend to end the world.”

Strictly speaking, its copyright had lapsed in ’22… but if someone wanted to pick a fight over it, copyright always found a way.

“I don’t get it, but fine. You name it.”

“Uh… then, Chunsik?”¹

“What is that rustic name that sounds like it should be hauling salt all year round with no holidays? Well, the name doesn’t matter. Child. From now on, your name is Chunsik.”

Grr.

Somehow that growl sounded… a little dissatisfied. Probably just my imagination.

“So? What can that bear even do?”

“Heh. I’ll show you. Go, Chunsik.”

The bear—no, Chunsik—shot me a brief look, then charged toward the onrushing pack of dire wolves.

Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!

And then, impact.

KWHOOOOOM!!

White snow blasted up as wolves flew into the air like bowling pins hit by a cannonball.

“…Wow.”

While Chunsik mowed through the wolves, a few clever ones looped around and came for us instead.

Clambering up my back, Shia crawled onto my head and muttered,

“Smart ones. They know if they take us down, Chunsik will vanish.”

“Up you go again?”

“Surely you won’t toss a delicate, frail girl into the cold snow to wrestle wolves, will you? What if they pounce on me?”

“Everyone knows you’re immortal.”

For reference, the seal on Shia restricted output—power she could project outward.
Meaning the resource inside her remained intact from her days as the North Demon King. Killing her would be about as hard as killing Akathastasia at full strength.

“Immortal doesn’t mean I don’t get hurt. It only means I recover quickly. I still feel pain.”

“If this beautiful, noble, slender body ends up as an eternal chew toy in a wolf’s jaws, will you take responsibility, Hero?”

…Imagining it sent a chill down my spine.

“Fine, fine. Climb on. Sleep there, eat there, poop there—do whatever you want.”

“I do eat, but I do not poop. I do not produce waste to begin with.”

“Sure you don’t.”

“I’m serious!”

“Then where do all those drinks and snacks you kept nibbling on go? (They were part of the Hero’s starter package.)”

Shia tapped her vast, continent-like chest with a thump.

“I naturally disintegrate them into energy and store it. Though I can’t use it because of the seal.”

“…Hold on. Disintegrate and store? Don’t tell me—E = mc²?”

“Ahem.”

“……”

Good grief. So I’d been carrying around an annihilation engine on my head? I’d joked about mutually assured destruction, but I hadn’t planned on literally lugging around a nuke.

“Anyway, they’re here, Hero. Finish them quickly.”

GRAAAAH!!

I swung my sword at the twenty or so dire wolves that had come right up to us and shouted,

“No sudden explosions! If you’re going to blow, tell me at least ten minutes in advance!”

Ka-kak! Kagagak! Sssht!

Every swing lopped off limbs and heads.

Kyauuuung!

I cut off a leaping wolf’s foreleg with a single slash, backstepped, then skewered its jaw.

Thunk!

The blade punched through its skull like slicing tofu.

Once over ten bodies were already down, unease rippled through the rest. They had tried us thinking we’d be easier than Chunsik, only to find we weren’t. Now they were calculating retreat.

I considered letting them go, but Shia read my mind.

“If we let them go, it could be a hassle. If this is just a splinter of a larger pack, they’ll call their friends and come again.”

“Got it. We take them all. Hm, seven left…”

I eased back as if I’d lost the will to fight. The surviving wolves relaxed for a heartbeat—

“Here I go. Hold tight.”

KWAAM!!

I kicked off the frozen ground and launched forward at full speed. Snow exploded underfoot as I erased nearly ten meters in an instant. Before the wolves could even process the ambush, a white flash bisected one midair.

Chk!

“One.”

As their eyes widened in shock, another skull split like a melon.

Crack!

“Two.”

I hurled a prepped throwing dagger at the farthest wolf and, in the opposite direction, swung my body to slash open the belly of the one trying to pivot and flee.

Thud! Sskagak!!

Counting as I confirmed the wolf with the dagger in its head rolling with a dying yelp—

“Four.”

By then, the last three were already sprinting away.

“Tch…!”

I flung my sword and sprinted after them. I grabbed the tail of the one limping from a wound.

Kyeng!

It spun with a startled snarl and gaped its jaws. I released the tail and seized its upper and lower jaws.

“Hrrmph!!”

Crack! Crack-crack!! CRAAACK!!

The wolf’s mouth tore open as its tongue flopped out. I hurled it aside and looked for the last one.

It had already put nearly ten meters between us.

“Click… missed. If only I had one more throwing dagger…”

…Wait.

I still had one thing left to throw.

I reached up, clenched both ankles dangling by my chest, and squeezed.

“Huh? Wh-why are you suddenly grabbing my ankles? I sense malice in that grip.”

“Nothing much. Time for you to do some work, too.”

“What?”

I yanked her free, then went for a giant swing.

Vwooom! Vwoooom!!

“KYAAAAAA!!!”

Ignoring the ear-splitting scream, I laughed heartily.

“Hahaha! Go, Akathastasia! I choose you!”

“Geom-shiiiin! You little—!”

“Hrrmph!”

The former Demon King streaked out in a blue arc and crashed into the fleeing wolf.

Thud-thud-thud-thud!!

The wolf went tumbling after taking Shia’s round head to the rump, and the ex–Demon King clung stubbornly to its hind legs like she still intended to contribute.

I dashed up and soccer-kicked the writhing wolf in the head.

BBAAAAAK!!!

Cr-r-runch!!

“…Phew. Barely got them all.”

Right then, a tiny hand shot out of the snow, clamped around my ankle, and squeezed.
A gloomy voice rose from the heap.

“…Hero.”

“Hm?”

“…Right now. Let us have a serious discussion about the proper usage of a former Demon King.”