Status: 5/week mon-fri
Illustrations: posted in discord
Inside a room in the Luminel mansion, a path of light unfurled, carved by a miracle through space.
The heart of humanity's enemy race lay before them. Harte had effortlessly opened a way into the Demon King's castle, which he had once destroyed.
This miracle wasn't for personal gain, nor could it be said to betray his sense of justice. Helping Glen, a pure victim, allowed him to find a loophole in the restrictions. In this way, Harte narrowly avoided crossing the line that a baptismal na holder must maintain.
"Glen, one step and you're in your holand."
"Director..."
Glen gazed beyond the opened space. He'd believed his connection to his parents was severed for life, yet now he could et them so easily. It didn't feel real.
"Are you scared?" Elphisia asked bluntly.
Glen's lips tightened, as if deep in thought.
As Glen seed to be reflecting on his current feelings, Harte realized the boy wasn't fully prepared.
Of course he'd be scared.
Though he'd decided to et them himself, his parents were the Demon King and Letitia. They were the very beings humans were taught to stone on sight. They weren't people one could et with half-hearted resolve.
Glen quietly nodded.
"...Do you think they'll want to see ?"
"You have doubts?"
"..."
Glen responded to Elphisia's question with silence. It was essentially an affirmative silence.
At this, Elphisia turned to Harte.
"Harte. Hold Glen's hand."
"Why don't you hold it yourself?"
"...I don't have the right. At least not in front of them."
A shadow of lancholy crossed Elphisia's face.
She'd been harsh to Glen since he was a boy. It felt too brazen to hold the child's hand in front of his real parents.
Harte didn't push the issue. He simply took Glen's hand as Elphisia wished.
Then Elphisia offered an answer to Glen's question.
"You just wondered if they'd want to see you."
"Uh, yes..."
"They'll want to et you. They'll definitely want to see you... healthy and well."
Driven by the sole purpose of bringing Glen back, the leader of an entire race had periodically surveyed the human realm. Before the regression, when the Demon King missed a golden opportunity, he vented his anger fully on Elphisia, who had captured Glen.
Then, knowing it was futile, he charged at humanity's last line of defense.
Watching his actions, Elphisia got the impression that rather than showing courage as the Demon King, it was the desperate struggle of soone with nothing left to lose.
If Glen truly ant nothing to him, he would have been more cautious in his words and actions.
Unaware of all these details, Glen carefully sought an answer.
"Why do you think so...?"
"Because they're parents. The kind who'd risk their lives for anything involving you."
"...Like you, Director?"
Glen recalled the past when Harte had willingly fought Bloody Dragon for Tina's sake. He'd secretly envied Tina ever since.
Harte pretended to ponder for a mont, then grinned.
"This is a secret, you know."
"Yes, Director."
Harte leaned in close to Glen's ear, who had tensed up slightly, and whispered:
"They're probably just like . For sure."
"W-what do you an?"
"I've lived a life full of mistakes and sins. Actually, thinking about it now, I suspect all novice parents are like that. No matter how much we worry, we make mistakes... but we can't show our kids how intimidated we are. We're just desperately trying to hide it."
"You two were like that?"
"Of course, to the point where we could barely lift our heads from embarrassnt."
"I can't believe it..."
To Glen, the couple before him seed perfect. He was certain that if a picture-perfect family existed, it would feel like this.
But Harte and Elphisia, the ones in question, knew this expectation was an overblown illusion. If they'd lived flawless lives without a single mistake, there would have been no reason for ti to rewind.
Knowing this better than anyone, Harte chuckled awkwardly.
"Shall we go, Glen?"
"...What if I make a mistake?"
Glen was making excuses, afraid to take the first step.
"It's okay to make mistakes. Look at Tina."
"But I'm not as cute as Tina..."
"Get a grip, Glen. You're handso enough to rival Yulian. You're well-mannered enough to impress the Duke."
"T-that's..."
"Most importantly, you're kind. If Echo from her Fragnt days could see, there'd be no need for words. You're the best kid, Glen."
If Glen had any flaw, it might be his low self-esteem. Sandwiched between the carefree Tina and the self-assured Yulian, it was understandable. They were children with overwhelmingly strong presences, after all...
No wonder he beca dazed when trapped in a prison of praise.
"It's ti to show them the world's most accomplished son, Glen."
"Uh, um, er... okay..."
And so, Harte obtained permission from Glen, who had reached a state of ntal weakness.
The boy took a small step forward, his short legs filled with courage.
It was just one step of courage, but that courage took him to a world beyond the horizon.
To the holand he thought he could never return to.
---
---
At the top of the Demon King's castle's towering spire.
From the height where the demon realm's capital could be seen at a glance, Harte spoke calmly.
"Maybe we should have brought Echo too."
This was the first impression Harte voiced upon reaching the Demon King's castle. Glen reacted sensitively to the unexpected na.
"Why Echo, Director...?"
"Since we've co so suddenly, the host might be quite angry. I thought showing them a potential daughter-in-law might soften them up. Kill two birds with one stone, you know? Have a et-the-parents session too, hm?"
"W-what are you saying...!!! We're not like that yet!"
"Hmm, 'yet,' you say. Planning for the future already, I see. As expected, a man should have so reliability."
"Director!"
"Well, considering how often you sneak out at night because you miss her so much, it's only natural, right? They say the quiet cat conquers the kitchen counter first, haha..."
"Ugh..."
For a mont, Glen empathized with Yulian's feelings of getting riled up every ti Harte teased him. He hadn't experienced it much before, so he hadn't realized, but Harte's wit was quite a provocative taunt.
At the sa ti, he realized his nervousness had disappeared.
Until a thunderous sound rang out from sowhere.
Boom!
"They're coming."
Harte gripped Glen's hand a little tighter and moved Elphisia slightly behind him.
In the material world, the Demon King was undoubtedly the strongest. Even if they had been making noise on the spire, the Demon King's keen senses would have detected the intruders' presence.
Soon, the lord of the demon race leaped over the wall and arrived at the spire in a flash.
He had the appearance of a boy, still showing traces of youth. Though he'd lived longer than anyone here, by the standards of the long-lived demon race, he was still in the midst of his growth period.
The fact that he'd been chosen as the Demon King despite being in such an immature stage spoke to his talent.
'If my prediction is right, there should be one more guest.'
Harte's prediction was quickly proven correct.
Crimson-tinged divine power filled the surroundings in the form of droplets. Then, as if on cue, the High Priest cut through space and revealed his weighty presence above the spire.
"You... What sche brings you here? Using divine power, no less..."
The High Priest interrogated without even a pretense of courtesy.
"I have no intention to fight. Today, I'm here not as God's vanguard, but as the director of an orphanage."
Harte responded without being intimidated by the pressure.
"Nonsense...!"
"...Please wait, High Priest."
The Demon King held back the High Priest, then observed the familiar-looking boy. The child who looked just like him, yet was almost hiding behind Harte.
"...Your na?"
"Glen Baskhill... sir."
The brief exchange was enough to silence everyone present. Even the High Priest, who had been full of hostility, stared at Glen with a montarily dazed look.
In the midst of the suffocating silence, the Demon King released his bitten lip.
"I'll guide you to the reception room."
---
---
It was the High Priest who opened the passage from the spire to the reception room. It would be troubleso if rumors spread about humans being seen in the Demon King's castle. In other words, the reason for this unwanted miracle was consideration for the Demon King.
As the warmth of life filled the quiet reception room, the Demon King broke through the tense atmosphere and spoke.
"What's your intention in bringing the child?"
"When you find a lost child, it's only natural to return them to their parents."
That was the truth.
While they'd made excuses about Yulian's achievents, the real purpose lay in finding Glen's missing happiness.
However, the Demon King didn't drop his suspicions and instead heightened his guard.
"Tell what you want."
"...Nothing."
"You didn't co here to waste ti needlessly. Spill it. What are you plotting, using that child as a hostage?"
It was a statent openly admitting that they held the upper hand.
In reality, the Demon King was anxious.
The child he could call his life's goal was in the hands of those known as humanity's last line of defense.
In truth, the Demon King's range of possible responses was narrow. He was trying his best not to show it on his face, but that was all. One wrong move, and not only the child but the entire demon realm could be swept up in a large-scale holy war.
anwhile, Harte and Elphisia were quite taken aback. They had anticipated hostility, but its intensity exceeded their expectations.
"I understand your caution... but we really just want to let Glen et his parents."
"How disgusting. To think that you, of all people, would use that child for such a pure purpose."
Crack.
The Demon King, in his boyish form, gritted his teeth roughly. His eyes narrowed as if looking at a faded landscape.
The Demon King revived old mories as if dusting off an ancient fra.
"I know who you were before the world's ti was twisted."
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