Stand Back!
The wyvern’s corpse fell to the side of the road.
Jeanne didn’t even glance towards it, as she already knew that wyverns tasted bad.
Instead, she turned to me.
“Demon King, don’t you have to carve out its organs?”
I suppose she was wondering if I needed materials from it. And so I answered her.
“While the liver of a wyvern is valuable, we’re on our way to Ismalia. And it’s too large to carry.”
Indeed, Jeanne said understandingly. And then as if they had been waiting, the farmers started talking to me.
“You, sir sorcerer. Thank you so much for saving us.”
Said a young human man, who appeared to be the representative of the group.As I had no reason to be indifferent, I answered.
“I just interfered because we happened to be close by. Are any of you injured?”
The villagers shook their heads.
“That’s good. While it was unfortunate that you encountered the wyvern, things could have been much worse. I just hope it does not happen again.”
I said, and wished for the matter to be settled. However, things were not that simple.
I noticed that one of the villagers had a dark expression. Something had surely happened. And so I asked about.
“Are you troubled over something?”
The young man nodded.
“The truth is, incidents like this have been happening a lot lately. There weren’t supposed to be any wyverns in this area, and yet now they keep appearing. And so the Danke village put together a defense team to retaliate, but…you can see the results now…”
The young man looked at the dead horse with its stomach torn out.
“So in spite of a defense team, the damage continues. I cannot ignore that…”
“Will-will you help us, sir sorcerer?”
“I cannot abandon my own people.”
I said, and they looked at me oddly. Now that I thought about it, I hadn’t explained to them that I was a Demon King.
As I wondered if it would be the best decision, Jeanne puffed out her chest and spoke.
“You sound awfully haughty, villager. This is the Demon King that you are speaking to. King Ashtaroth of Ashtaroth Castle.”
The expressions of the villagers turned to shock upon hearing this.
They would not have expected to encounter the lord of this land in a place like this. Indeed, they were completely stunned.
The oldest of the group even went down and rubbed his forehead on the ground.
As it made me feel rather uncomfortable, I asked him to raise his head, and then the young representative spoke to me frankly.
“We do not know of any Demon King like you. My father and grandfather only ever spoke of Demon Kings who took from their people. They were especially hard on human farmers like us.”
“But those are Demon Kings of the past. In my lands, there are no differences between humans and demons. Everyone is treated equally. If someone is in need, I will help them. That is how I do things.”
“Amazing. Such a thing would be unthinkable during the reign of the previous Demon King, Azazel…”
The old man muttered as if reminiscing on the past.
“The past is the past. And so I will help you. First, I’ll find out why wyverns had started to appear, and then eliminate the root of this evil.”
I declared. The villagers looked astonished at this, but they were also glad.
“A powerful Demon King like him could probably kill a Sky Dragon.”
They whispered to each other.
Apparently, they knew why the wyverns were appearing.
Well, that made things simpler. And so I asked the young man to take me to their village.
On the way, Jeanne asked me,
“If you help these villagers, your trip to see Count Ismalia will be delayed. Are you sure about this?”
“Ah, but nothing will really change if Count Ismalia has to wait a few more weeks. And so I would rather help my people as soon as possible.”
Upon hearing these words, Jeanne had an expression of true joy as she said,
“That is my Demon King.”
And her smile was as pure and beautiful as any saint’s.
/tigertransations
The Legendary Rebuilding of a World by a Realist Demon King