CH 33

Extra Story — The Troubles of the Demon King

Translated by KaiesV

Edited by KaiesV

I did not expect this to happen. I had said it without thinking too much about it, and only regret spread through my heart.

「Brother, I’m asking you. Can you tell me why?」

「No… there’s no… particular reason for it.」

「I can’t believe you would say something like this without any reason… How can you say that and not be convinced? What’s going on… is it something you can’t even tell me? Brother…」

It seems that someone even called this brother of mine, who works peacefully every day as the head chef of the castle, to come over. What an unnecessary thing to do.

I couldn’t look Klimt squarely in the eyes with a sad expression on his face, and I couldn’t help but fall on my face because of the guilt inside my heart. This is bad, I have to find a good place to drop this story before Remilia and Anri get the message.

「But, your horns… I can’t believe you want to cut off your horns! Really, what is happening to you Brother…!」

Yes, this whole mess started with me saying that I wanted「to cut off my horns.」To be honest, I didn’t expect people around me to make such a fuss, and although I didn’t show it on my face, I was secretly feeling very sorry for myself.

Perhaps numbed by my refusal to say anything when questioned, Klimt was raising his voice, which was unusual for him. But there are circumstances that I can’t talk about why.

「You know that my horns, as well as you, Brother, don’t grow back. If you cut them off, they probably won’t grow back.」

「I know that, but…」

No, it may grow back, but we haven’t checked it yet. The first thing to do is to understand the ecology of the demon tribe, which is not well understood even by the demon tribe themselves. Some say that individual differences are too great, but the main reason is that we did not have enough time to study the races and heredity. In fact, some of the same demon tribe naturally grow new horns every year. However, my horns and Klimt’s horns continue to grow, albeit slightly, and the root of the horns is under the skin and can be painful if hit too hard, so they are probably not horns that can be handled conveniently. Even though I knew that, I wanted to cut off this obtrusive horn. That’s what I thought.

「Uhh, even you Klimt once told me that you wished you didn’t have these obtrusive horns. We can only sleep on our back, and we can’t wear clothes that cover…」

「I hear it wasn’t such a joking matter. You were even looking into amputation surfaces and pain treatment, weren’t you? Even the animal literature was imported from foreign countries…」

「W–Who leaked that story to you…」

「It doesn’t matter who they are. It’s just that Brother’s entourage was concerned. Even though my and Brother’s horns are also involved as a catalyst in the deployment of magic…」

Well, the search for the culprit is certainly not the story to be solved now. What is important now is how quickly we can put this mess behind us.

As Klimt said, Remilia and the purifiers she taught regularly purify the entire demon kingdom, so the threat level of the monsters that appear is much lower than before. But I guess I’m concerned about the impact on the force that is me.

「Yes, we haven’t completely stopped getting strong demons yet…」

「No, I’m not saying that about you, Brother, just to spare your strength… Don’t tell me you’re sick…? So you had to cut the corners off…!?」

「No! Rest assured it won’t happen.」

「I’m glad… but…」

Then why? His eyes told me. I looked away again, feeling guilty because Klimt said that because he was really concerned about my body. I really didn’t expect it to be such a big deal.

I can’t say it… I can’t believe I was so jealous of Anri being kneecapped by Remilia and having something called「ear cleaning」that I「really wanted to cut off my horns」… No, it wasn’t that I was jealous of the lap pillow. It was for the purest of reasons: I saw the family reunion I wanted, and I wanted to be a part of it. I don’t have any sharp feelings. I really mean it.

When I offered to do the same for her, she said,「Angel has horns, so I can’t kneecap you,」and I was very disappointed when she told me that human doctors use chairs for examining teeth and ears, and that’s not the only reason.

I’ll admit that I really tried to find a way to cut off the horns, not half whining about how they were「in the way」because「I couldn’t cut them off,」like I told Klimt a long time ago.

That doesn’t mean that the people around here would make such a big deal out of it…

「Is it something you can’t talk to me about… I guess you should talk to it on Remilia-san…」

「You really shouldn’t do that! It’s nothing!! It’s nothing!!」

「Okay, Anri-kun, he just got sick with a cold the other day, and I don’t want to worry him unnecessarily…」

「Please, Klimt, don’t make it sound so serious.」

When they found me doing research on cutting my horns, I said「it’s nothing」and thought those guys would forget about it over time. I was sweating cold sweat inside, I was thinking of excuses as fast as I could,「how can I convince them?」