14 — Chapter 14

About an hour after entering the mountain, a problem entirely separate from the monsters arose.

“Wait, what? The path just stops here. There’s nothing but a cliff ahead…”

“Hmm… That’s strange. Is this not the right way…?”

To put it bluntly, we were lost.

“Honestly, Demon King, if you have a map, just let me see it.”

Angelica snatched the book from my hand.

“First off, I can’t really read the Demon Script, but that’s beside the point—there isn’t even a map in here!”

“Ah, that’s ‘The Top 100 Demon Climbing Routes.’ It’s not meant for such difficult courses, so it only has general flowcharts like: ‘30 minutes from the trailhead ⇒ Lookout Rest Area; 40 minutes from there ⇒ Grief Pass Junction; 1 hour from there ⇒ Summit.’ The text is just there to supplement that.”

“And isn’t that exactly why we’re lost? We obviously made a mistake, which is why we’ve charged into this dead end. We’re turning back…”

“Is that so…? However, with a cliff of this scale, it’s not entirely impossible that the route continues downward…”

“I’ve never heard of a hiking trail that goes off a cliff! We’re going back!”

Angelica and I retraced our steps.

—And then, we got even more lost.

“This is weird… I’m not even sure which way we came from anymore…”

“It’s so flat around here, I can’t even tell if we’re going uphill or downhill.”

Neither of us had any idea which direction to head.

To make matters worse, monsters continued to raid us, specifically targeting Angelica while we were wandering. Just a moment ago, a Stampede Boar appeared, resulting in a fairly intense skirmish.

“Ugh, this isn’t a mountain climb anymore; it’s a full-blown dungeon…”

“Perhaps… From a human perspective, that might be an accurate way to put it…”

I hadn’t paid much attention to it until now, but every corner of the demon lands is fraught with its own level of danger. The paths on this mountain were particularly convoluted.

“Besides, the monsters here are reasonably strong… In the Kingdom, you get monsters and wild animals on the mountains too, but they aren’t this tough.”

“Mm. There is a theory that the weaker monsters actually fled toward the human lands. They simply couldn’t survive in the demon territories. That is why monsters tend to be stronger the closer you get to the demon heartland.”

“I can’t believe you actually want to live in a place like this…”

“That is exactly why even demons who find it too harsh flee toward human lands. Otherwise, you couldn’t explain why the enemies get stronger the closer you get to the demon stronghold, could you?”

“So you’re saying the demons who were invading the Kingdom were actually the dropouts?! That’s kind of depressing!”

Sweat trickled down Angelica’s cheek.

I had envisioned her working up a pleasant sweat from the climb, but this wasn’t that kind of sweat. Ninety percent of it was from combat.

“What do you want to do, Angelica? We can turn back if you like. After all, I—”

“No, I’m doing this.”

Angelica cut me off.

“If I think of it as a dungeon, I can’t afford to whine. Conquering dungeons is an adventurer’s job. I’m keeping go.”

Angelica’s eyes weren’t clouded with doubt. If anything, they shone with a renewed sense of determination.

She truly was a Hero. She didn’t let a little adversity discourage her.

“Very well. Then let us continue.”

“In exchange, you’d better support me, Demon King. I can use a bit of healing magic, but my mana pool isn’t that large.”

“Understood. Focus entirely on swinging your sword.”

I felt like this was the closest I had been to my daughter so far.

I see. Combat is another form of an extreme state.

By acting together in such a situation, perhaps a sort of camaraderie was beginning to sprout.

It wasn’t as if our pleasant conversation had increased. In fact, we needed to stay quiet to listen for the sounds of approaching monsters.

And yet, the connection with my daughter was growing.

“Daughter, from the front—a Messenger of Hades Swallowtail and a Grave-Storm Dragonfly are approaching.”

“The swallowtail is poisonous, so you take it, Demon King. I’ll handle the dragonfly.”

“Understood.”

“And… I want to tell you not to call me ‘Daughter,’ but since names are too long to shout in the middle of a fight, I’ll allow it for now.”

Angelica and I showed surprisingly good coordination.

Gradually, the mountain paths began to make sense. We were still getting turned around occasionally, but we were definitely closing in on the summit.

And then, just as we reached a spot with a decent view—

Angelica’s stomach growled.

It was a rather hearty rumble from the belly.

“Right… we haven’t had lunch yet…”

“Very well. Shall we open our bentos? I’ve been looking forward to Lateia’s home-cooked lunch.”

“Ah, so Mama made one for you too, Demon King. I guess that makes sense. There’s not much difference between preparing for one person and preparing for two.”

Angelica and I spread out our lunches while looking at the scenery. We had a clear view of the majestic, albeit eerie, mountain range.

Incidentally, while the contents of our bentos were the same, my portion was roughly three times the size of Angelica’s. Lateia must have realized that Angelica was a light eater.

“Oh! Sandwiches, and colorful fruits for dessert! Lateia truly is wonderful. She has such flair!”

“I don’t think it’s worth that much high praise. But I guess it can’t be helped, since you haven’t had someone make you a bento in a long time, Demon King.”

“Mm. My previous wife wasn’t particularly good at cooking. And given the nature of my work, I had many formal dinners, so there were few opportunities to have a bento made in the first place.”

“Ah… did I make you remember something unnecessary? Sorry…”

It seemed Angelica did possess a sense of delicacy after all.

“There is no need to apologize. Every being has a past, and every being has partings. Besides, I was the one who brought up the past.”

I thought to myself how strange a twist of fate it was to be eating the same sandwiches as the Hero.

“The one with the sweet and savory seasoned meat tucked into the bread is especially delicious.”

“Oh, that one. It’s Mama’s specialty. Apparently, it goes well as a snack with alcohol too. I wouldn’t know since I’ve never had a drink.”

“Indeed. And as for you, stay away from the booze for another five years or so. I wouldn’t recommend it much anyway. Humans have a limited capacity for breaking down alcohol.”

“Yeah, yeah. I’ll think about that in five years.”

Ah, the conversation was flowing quite nicely.

There had been plenty of trouble, but I was glad we came to the mountain. My choice hadn’t been wrong.

“Well then, I’ve eaten. Shall we go?”

“Wait, Demon King, you eat way too fast… When did you even finish?”

“For a demon, this is perfectly normal.”

“That is clearly not a human speed!”

Mm, by eating the same bento, the distance between me and my daughter had shrunk further.

“Our goal is the legendary sword said to be near the summit.”

“Yeah, you bet!”