Yomigaeri no Maou

The entrance to the village was connected to a road that branched off a long highway that led all the way to the Royal Capital. Luru had often caught sight of Rusty saying things like “One day I’m going to leave down this road on an adventure!” whilst looking at this road.
From when he was old enough to perceive things, Rusty had always been like this, and his admiration towards adventurers was beyond description in some ways, thought Luru.
Luru had wondered many times just what had made Rusty so engrossed with adventurers, but it was probably that children in the village had little stimulus and too much free time, or so Luru concluded.

In the past when Luru had been in the war, he longed for a peace where you could gaze at the gra.s.s in a meadow being blown in the wind, but on the other hand, those who continued to live in such peace might have longed for war or adventure instead.
Even Luru had found these past few years of s.p.a.cing out just a little boring.
It wasn’t impossible to understand Rusty’s boredom, having been born without something like a past life and having lived in this village all his life, nor his longing towards adventurers.

“…They’re here!”

While Luru, Rusty, Mii and Yuuri were vacantly waiting at the entrance to the village, they saw two figures from the other side of the road.
With the exception of merchants and acquaintances of the villagers, almost n.o.body came to a frontier village like this.
In particular, considering that n.o.body had said they were coming today, there was no mistake that the figures were the adventurers that Rusty had heard about.

Like that, the faces of the apparent adventurers finally came clearly into view.
They were a group of two.

One was a brawny, bold-looking man covered in hard armour, and lightly carried a greatsword on his back.
His face was more wild than handsome, and wore an expression you couldn’t feel any darkness from at all.
The other was a woman.
Having said that though, from those long ears of hers and her exquisite beauty, it was clear that she wasn’t a human.
Of the species that G.o.d had brought into this world from spirits, she was of the one that boasted the longest lifespan; the ancient race{elves}.
She possessed their characteristics.

The two of them seemed quite like adventurers, and from a glance you could tell that they didn’t do normal jobs; they gave off a feeling of having a few eccentricities.

From Luru’s perspective, he could feel that the two of them held quite the degree of skill.
The quality and quant.i.ty of the mana they were clad in, and their skill with it meant that indeed, there was nothing strange about calling people like them ‘real’ adventurers.

Even without being able to see through their real ability, the two of them gave off a difficult to describe atmosphere, so Rusty gazed at the two of them, eyes sparkling.
Even Mii and Yuuri’s eyes seemed to say ‘some really amazing people have come’, and looked like they were looking at something rare.
Normally the two of them would have looked at Rusty’s dream with less pa.s.sionate eyes, but today alone was different.
I wonder if one day the two of them will be influenced by Rusty and aim to become adventurers as well, Luru suddenly wondered.
Not just a few young people left the village.
There was also the fact that the village alone wouldn’t be able to support a large number of people, but above that was the longing for the city, and many ended up leaving for the city, saying they’d become adventurers like Rusty, or the apprentices of some merchant somewhere.
Although the village wasn’t declining because of this, those left behind felt an indescribable loneliness.
Even if one day, they themselves would also leave.

While he was thinking about such things, the two adventurers finally arrived before their eyes.
Looking at them from up close, they didn’t really seem to be the violent type, so Luru felt a little relieved that they didn’t seem they would suddenly treat Rusty and the others as a nuisance and hit them or anything.

“What? You brats here to receive us?”

Just as they arrived at the village, having caught eye of Luru and his friends, the swordsman asked them this, rubbing his chin in confusion.
The elven woman smacked the swordsman’s arm and spoke,

“As if. Sending kids to receive adventurers is dangerous, so n.o.body would do it. They’re probably here to sightsee… Isn’t that right?”

The elven woman tilted her head as she asked Rusty.
Though he was bewildered at suddenly being spoken to, perhaps thinking that it wouldn’t be good to lie, he frankly muttered in a feeble voice,

“Y-, yes… That’s right.”

“Seeee? It was just like I said! In villages like this, there are quite a few kids who want to become adventurers, after all… You kids want to as well, right?”

“Yes… One day I’ll become a real adventurer!”

said Rusty as he raised his hand above him.
Perhaps feeling something from that, the swordsman patted Rusty’s head.

“Hahaha. I see, I see. Well, I’m not gunna say that it’s impossible. The road to adventurers is open to everyone, after all… Just, if you’re not saying it as a joke, but are seriously aiming for it, you gotta train. Adventurers who aren’t skilled are just gunna die, yanno.”

“Yes!”

“Good answer… Alright! Since you have some promise, how ’bout I tell you some stories of my adventures! Or so I say, but there’s no point in standing around. Mind showing me to the inn?”

“With pleasure!”

Seemingly hitting it off in that odd manner, the two of them walked shoulder to shoulder into the village.
Luru watched them go.
Mii and Yuuri sighed and muttered,

“It’d be nice if you didn’t fire Rusty up too much…”[Mii]

“I wonder if boys stay the same no matter how old they get…”[Yuuri]

before chasing after the other two.
Hearing this, the elven woman’s face cramped a little, and bringing her mouth to Luru’s ear,

“…Their relationship seems a little complicated, huh? Those kids, I mean.”

“Mmn, well… It’s the so called ‘love triangle’ isn’t it?”

Absentmindedly replied Luru, as he watched the four of them go.
Seemingly agreeing, the elven woman went ‘mhm’ as she nodded, and then tilted her head in confusion.

“Mn…? Huh, then what about you?”

It seemed that she found it odd that Luru wasn’t involved in the love triangle.
Luru thought about how to appropriately express his position, and then spoke,

“I’m an onlooker, I guess.”

“…You’re a strange one, aren’t you? You probably can’t tell since you’ve only been in this village, but those two will grow up to be quite cute before you know it, you know? If you make a promise with one of them now… [promise to get married etc.]”

To the woman who was giving advice that an adult shouldn’t give to a little seven year old [the advice is shameful, and not something an adult should be doing], Luru made a fairly ironic smile that you wouldn’t find on a child, and replied,

“These kind of things are more fun to watch, you know.”

The elven woman grimaced at his words.
Then, shaking her head,

“I retract my previous comments. You’ve quite the nasty hobbies, haven’t you.”

Well, I can’t exactly deny that, thought Luru, and decided to end their idle chat for now as he changed the subject.

“Hahah, well anyway, even if you are an adventurer, you must be tired, correct? Shall I escort you to the inn?”

“Eh, yeah. Right. Please do. We were attacked by quite a few monsters on the way here, so I am pretty tired…”

It seemed that the woman really was tired, as she made a weary expression.
She’d best rest up early today, thought Luru, and he politely guided the elven woman to the inn.
Luru hadn’t thought at the time that his concern would be wasted.

“Oi, bring me some alcohol!”

“Me too!”

That night, the bar connected to the only inn in the village was doing good business.
Each day this bar would be lively with drinking village men, but today was even more loud and boisterous than usual, and the zeal was amazing.
And it was little wonder that the heart of that noisiness was the adventurer pair.

The men in the village were happily listening to the adventurer man, as he told stories in a good mood.
The ones listening to his stories weren’t just adults, but children as well.
To the villagers who had little stimulation, stories from outside travellers were one of their few pleasures, and would be popular enough to draw a crowd like this one.
Moreover, the two of them said that they would shoulder all of the alcohol bills today, so more villagers were gathered than usual.
The knowledge that the two of them didn’t have overbearing, or violent personalities, and were just fun people quickly spread through the village via the owner of the bar, and because the villagers judged that it would be fine to have children there as well, the village children were gathered there too.
The women listened to the elven woman’s stories, and you could even say that all the people in the village were gathering here by turns.

“Gran! Tell us your next story!”

Gran was the name of the swordsman adventurer.
According to Rusty, he was a high ranked adventurer, and it was obvious to those in the bar that there was no mistake about being one of the so-called “real” adventurers. You could feel the existence of danger and treasure from the stories he told, and the man had a strange persuasive power to him.
The name of the elven woman was Yuumis and there was no mistake that she was an elf, but despite the fact that elves normally never left their village, she was an oddball that was essentially a runaway.
With magical ability that was eminent even amongst her village, n.o.body could stop her from doing so.
You could tell that she was quite the tomboy.

The stories of their adventures were just one crisis after another, and mostly about how they overcame them, so they were interesting stories with a lot of climaxes and strongly drew in the interest of the villagers.

Usually though it was because one of the two had been caught up in some strange danger, and the other one would have to rescue them with this or that method, but regarding this the two of them would lay the blame on the other and get into a fight, which everyone would stir up.

“That time was because Yuumis had some weird curiosity. Normally if there was a weird protrusion in a ruin, you’d be careful, yeah? And yet this woman went “Well, it’ll work out somehow”, reaches out her hand from behind me and b.l.o.o.d.y pushes it! She’s an idiot, yeah!? No matter how archeologically important it is, or what a historic discovery it is, you have to be alive first of all for it to matter! You have to value your life, d.a.m.nit!”

“Hahhh!? If we’re going to start saying that, then it applies to you as well! If I remember correctly… that started when you began speaking nonsense about joining some fighting tournament! While I was wondering why on earth I had to partic.i.p.ate without even having it explained to me, when I found out that you had made some bet with a nasty n.o.ble I really wanted to slap you, you know! I mean, it’s not like I really care! If it was only you partic.i.p.ating, that is! But it was a party system, and not only that, but for only the two of us to partic.i.p.ate when the maximum party size was 6!? You’re an idiot! An idiot! Not only that, each time we won we’d get booed, and have weird a.s.sa.s.sins sent after us! Entering a tournament like that, are you r.e.t.a.r.ded!?”

“You-,… That was because that n.o.ble b.a.s.t.a.r.d was trying to use the debts of a woman with sick children as a threat to make her his mistress, so I was just thinking of doing something about it…!”

“It’s because you do the same thing each and every time that there’s no end to it! Idiot!”

“If you’re gunna be saying that then don’t you do the same b.l.o.o.d.y thing!? That time when you started going on about collecting the horns of a dragon for medicine, I prepared myself for death yanno!”

“Th-, that was…!!”

That kind of back-and-forth continued the whole time, and the villagers enjoyed themselves listening to it.
Rusty was there too, but each time he heard the story of one of their adventures his eyes would sparkle even brighter, and in the end he ended up asking Gran to take him as an disciple, but was rejected and looked like he was about to cry.
However, when he dropped the conditions to being accepted as a disciple if he managed to become an adventurer, the negotiations started looking unexpectedly good.
According to Luru’s father, Rusty’s talent wasn’t too bad, and if it was just the level of becoming an adventurer, then in a few years he’d be able to make it happen.
It might have been almost a fact at that point that he would end up as Gran’s disciple.

The time pa.s.sed enjoyably like that, and when the night got late, people started dispersing in small groups.
Everyone seemed to have had fun, and amongst the people happily returning home, Rusty, Mii and Yuuri looked extremely lonely.
It goes without saying when it comes to Rusty, but Mii and Yuuri seemed to have also become completely attached to the two of them after conversing for a little while, and it seems they were lonely about parting.

According to their chats in the bar, the purpose of the pair’s visit this time was because apparently there was a ruin in the forest near the village, and Yuumis had a personal interest in it.
When they had said that it was just a personal interest in the end, you could really feel their eccentricity, and perhaps it was becausethey had come all the way here for such a reason that they could be called real adventurers.
They had touched upon the subject of the ruin in question during their talks in the bar, but it was apparently a place that the villagers knew well, and wasn’t anything that amazing.
However, Yuumis was of the opinion that something was there.
So she said, and this was also because she had come across the same type of ruin in various places, and no matter where they were, she couldn’t figure out what their purpose was, and was curious about it.
That’s why to find out what they held in common, she was dropping in to visit those types of ruins whilst on her journey.
Regarding the ruin in question,

“That’s definitely something built by the ancient demon race! That’s it! There’s no mistake!”

and so on, said Yuumis again and again, and each time Luru would jolt and react but,

“As if you’d just find ancient demon ruins lying about in the open! Even if you did find one, just how would you even decide that it was built by the ancient demons!”

and the like, retorted Gran, and Yuumis would become crestfallen.

In Yuumis’ opinion, the legend of the ancient demon race was a type of romance.
It wasn’t as though he couldn’t understand those feelings, but Gran was the one who made more sense.
In this age it was considerably difficult to determine who made a relic, and when, and it was even more difficult when it came to the things the ancient demon race had built thousands of years ago.
At any rate, there were almost no doc.u.ments on such a thing.
Even so, it seemed that there were many like Yuumis, who wanted to find them and desperately exerted herself to do so, but even to this date there was apparently no precedent of anyone having succeeded.
It was a difficult task.

In other words, they also had another reason for coming to this village this time, and were just taking the opportunity to check the ruin while they were at it.
It wasn’t just Yuumis who did things like this, because Gran did as well. When it came to things like fighting tournaments, if they were in a nearby town, it seems that Gran would visit without fail.
It sounded like quite a fun journey to Luru.

It was because the two were the way they were, they said they would be heading to the forest early tomorrow morning, so the next time Rusty and the two girls would be able to meet them would be after they came back from the forest and had completed their goals.
You could understand their loneliness because for a while they wouldn’t be able to meet with the pair, and even then, the two would soon leave the village.
However, even having said that, it was obvious that they couldn’t just stay here forever.
And so all of them were taken home by their parents.

The last ones remaining were Luru and his mother Medea.
His father Patrick wasn’t on break right now, and so wasn’t at home.
Because of that, only the two of them came today.
Despite her appearances, Luru’s mother was good with alcohol, and despite the fact that she had drunk quite the volume tonight, her demeanour was the same as always, and her gait was sure and steady.

“Luru. Shall we go home now?”

Said his mother, to which Luru nodded and replied,

“Yeah. Let’s.”

Waving back at the adventurer pair who were waving from the entrance of the bar/inn, the two of them began to walk.
Whilst walking hand-in-hand with his mother, he gazed up at the starry sky.
The stars that were suspended there hadn’t changed a great deal since those few millennia ago.
The stars that he had seen back then were still suspended there, and helped him notice the link between the Luru who was the demon king, and the Luru that existed now.
His mother looked up at the night sky as well, and suddenly, she opened her mouth,

“Hey, Luru?”

“What?”

“One day, will you also…”

Though she had begun saying something, she shut her mouth.

And then without continuing to the end,

“Mm~mn. It’s nothing.”

“Okay.”

With just those few words, Luru could understand what she was going to say.
His mother knew.
She knew that one day Luru would also try to leave the village.
Why it was she had noticed this, he didn’t know.
However, when the day came that he was going to leave, he would need to have a proper talk with her.

So thought Luru, as he hurried home.

It goes without saying that at the time, Luru had no idea that a huge incident was going to occur tomorrow.

/Chapter 4 END