Chapter 21

“I just helped for a bit. Don’t waste your time here.”

“You….”

“Go, now.”

“This job is….”

Leo swallowed his last words. Grand Duke Keith added as if he understood the last words omitted.

“Don’t worry. No one will know the deal you and I made, and the saint from the temple was kidnapped by the demons.”

The Grand Duke Keith grinned and turned away.

The voice of the knights entered the aisle first. Finally, Leo grabbed my arm and tried to enter the aisle. I shook his arm with a shove. He relaxed his hand so I wouldn’t get hurt, but he wouldn’t let go of my arm.

I called up a Grand Duke Keith who was already walking far.

“Grand Duke Keith!”

“What’s wrong with you?”

The eyes of the snake-like man shone clearly even in the dark hallway.

“Why would you, a close confidant of Heath, take me? Heath wouldn’t want this.”

Grand Duke Keith was a very unlucky brute, but he was a good follower of Heath. Heath also said that he was a reliable person who followed him from the war a hundred years ago.

However, I learned something from their conversation. It is all the work of Grand Duke Keith that allowed Leo to enter the Demon Castle and Heath to not notice the unexpected attack until this moment. Whether me being a human sacrifice is true or false, Heath won’t let me go.

Don’t tell me Grand Duke Keith betrayed Heath.

The Grand Duke Keith turned and approached me. Even the moment he faced me in front of him, there was only a stable level of calm and coldness in his face. However, emotions were mixed into his cold 300-eye. It was hate. While my eyes were in doubt, Grand Duke Keith regained his original calm face. However, for a moment, the intense emotion reflected remained like an afterimage and seemed to burn my eyelids.

“The Demon King has changed since you appeared.”

“……what?”

“He was originally a much more powerful and cruel man. Those who defied him were burned to the ground before him. But after you showed up, the demon king wouldn’t listen to me no matter how much I tried to say.”

“…….”

“I have to get rid of the thorn that bothers his eyes. If you disappear…… He will return to his original form.”

Grand Duke Keith pushed me. The moment my body was pushed into the passage, the door was closed and it was dark. I was led by Leo and left the Demon Castle.

I remembered Heath. His tenderness, his soft smile, his warmth, even his beating heart when I faced him. It all felt like a mirage.

‘Heath…’

His name was scattered in the air.

☆*: .｡.  .｡.:*☆

When I got out of the aisle, there was a wagon.

The horse tied to the wagon was a military horse for the paladins. It seemed funny that a well-trained heavy horse was wearing a scruffy wagon. Indeed, it is funny that the sacred knights of the temple are stealing prisoners at night.

Leo pushed me into the carriage. Fortunately, I wasn’t tied up anywhere, but I was treated like a prisoner or a piece of luggage. I wondered if there was a way to escape, but as soon as I reached out my head over the tent of the wagon, I encountered Leo’s blue eyes and had no choice but to give up.

But to do this, did the Pope finally got senile? The reason why I became a captive of the Demon Realm was because I was confident that the Pope would find a moderate solution. At least I’m sure he doesn’t want a war. But what is he thinking about taking hostages out of a deal with the Demon King by force?

After running for a long time, the carriage stopped when a gray light came in from the outside. It was dawn. Leo said, walking through the tent,

“I’m sure you’re tired, so let’s take a break.”

And he held out his hand so I could get off the wagon. I went down to the floor without holding his hand. Still, Leo didn’t bat an eyelid.

The place where the wagon stopped was by the lake between the woods. The forest that runs behind the hill, the warm steamy lake water, and the boundary that shines in the distance…….

I immediately noticed where this place was. Last time I went to the lake with Heath. If I cross that boundary, I’ll get out of the Demon Realm.

I sighed inwardly. I was going to run away from Demon Realm one day, but my plan wasn’t like this. It was not to return to the temple like a leashed calf, but to leave for the south with 100,000 gold ransom and freedom.

Regardless of my complicated mind, the paladins started to make a fire and boil water from the lake. They were very accustomed to camping, and a decent meal was prepared before long.

Leo held out a bowl of soup. I wasn’t in the mood for food, but I just stirred the bowl with a spoon and opened my mouth.

“The Pope is senile…… Oh, no, did the Pope approve of this? What are you going to do if there’s a war?”

But Leo’s answer was far beyond my expectations.

“The Pope knows nothing.”

“What?”

“The temple is now discussing how to deliver the 100,000 gold ransom. Today’s work is entirely my own.”

That means that it was going well as I planned, but Leo got in and ruined everything. What the hell did you do? Leo, I remember, was a man like the Bible. He truly believed in the goddess Gremia and followed the rules of the temple well. I asked in bewilderment.

“You’ve always followed the rules of the temple. Why did you do this?”

“……tuk.”

Leo bit his lip. He was silent for a while, wheezing as if he was trying to swallow what was rising inside. Pain spreads on his face, which is always straight as if measured with a ruler. His blue eyes seemed to have despair.

Where does it hurt? I reached out carefully to Leo’s shoulder. Leo stared at me with a flaming start. Soon a heavy voice came through the cracks in his stiff lips.

“I haven’t slept properly for a single day.”

“What?”

Leo’s eyes felt as if they were tired.