CH 5.2

"Hehehe, you're right. Right now, you're too weak to beat me. But don't be discouraged. No one does in the beginning."

The demon youkai smiled and whispered softly to the sleeping human in front of him.

"After all, no hero can beat a demon to death right after he is born. Well, some can, but they are the exception. Most of the great masters have naturally spent many years and decades studying their mind, technique, and body."

Of course, there are exceptions. However, such beings were not really her "thing". She prefers beings with a strong spirit. Talent is fine, but a strong person who is only talented is too weak. It would not be a suitable partner for her to end her life. For her, fighting against such a person will not be fun, and she will not be moved by it. In fact, it would be a shallow fight.

"On the contrary... your way of being is quite to my liking."

With her mouth turned up like an animal's, the demon touches the cheek of the person in front of her with a smile of amusement. Her gesture was careful and delicate as if she were handling a fragile object. She knew well from thousands of experiences that she could easily crush a human skull in her grip if she really wanted to.

"But that's why it's great. Killing someone like that would be a much more rewarding end than killing someone who's just a strong man with talent."

Then the demon (oni) thinks back. The encounter with the weak man in front of him.

It was a coincidence. It was a time when she was a bit frustrated because she had been singled out, approached, and betrayed by several heroes who might have been worthy of her own death. In a whimsical mood, she made her way to the Kizuki family, who lived in the northern part of Fuso.

But she did not expect much. Indeed, the Kizuki family is an old family, and they are well rounded, and if one looks at the sisters in the family, they would be quite capable. But no. It doesn't quite touch her heartstrings.

Nevertheless, she needs to see a little more. If not now, maybe in ten or twenty years, half a century or so, some of them will be to her liking. For her, who has lived so long, that much time will pass in a flash. The sisters, in particular, their next generation, in particular, will be more concentrated in talent and will be able to pass the test on merit alone. So, she'll watch over them.

With this in mind, the demon quietly took up residence in the house of a demon exorcist. And then, she found it, the meeting of fate came to her unexpectedly quickly.

The first thing she noticed was his eyes. The servants... their name may have changed over time, but the existence of the servants have been around for a long time. Therefore, she knew what they were like. They were supposed to be nameless, unselfconscious, nameless people who stood by the heroes... well, they were supposed to be.

But one of them was different. While everyone else's eyes are cold and sparkless, lost in emotion, hope, and despair in equal measure, he was different. His eyes were definitely alive. That is what first caught her attention.

Because of this, she is persistent once she gets his attention. She observes and watches his every move out of interest and curiosity. And the demon recognizes his uniqueness. It is the way he exercises himself, his wits, and his spirit amid severe training, amid difficult tasks. This is something that other servants, who lack ego and are dead inside, do not have, and that most of the exorcists do not have because of their strength.

From this moment on, she had found it... or so she thought. She had found the being she was looking for. Or more precisely, the being she sought in terms of personality.

She observes, observes, observes, and observers. She liked the way he overcame many difficulties that were not his own size, and sometimes showed himself to be a great actor, even though he was a weak man. The best part was his three-day-and-three-night escapade. Wonderful, really wonderful.

Then, when he saw her face, she liked the way he reacted to her. After all, if it were mere mortals, they would have let their guard down by now, but this man is still guarding himself to the best of his ability. What a strong spirit!

"When I saw you I thought. It's much more fun and surer to raise a heroic hero than to look for a heroic hero who will kill me."

She imagines. A being with no talent, no pedigree, no luck, spitting blood as he rises to the top. From a nameless being to a man of greatness who is recognized by all. And the first heroic tale of his ascent to greatness will be his own.

She fantasizes. When the nameless, oppressed, weak man bites down on the overwhelming strong man, and in desperation, he mobilizes all his strength, wisdom, and courage to seize the slim chance of victory.

She fantasizes. The moment when a well-honed and calculated blow of a supposedly weak man accurately pierces her strong heart at the end of a desperate struggle to the death with a fierce and desperate resolve that will be handed down even a thousand years from now.

And then her head is cut off from her own corpse, exposed to the masses. Thus, from that moment on, many people will witness the birth of a hero. And if he is good enough to kill a rare monster, he will never be more than a lowly servant. In the end, as in so many stories, he will marry a woman of noble birth and live happily ever after.

Wonderful, really wonderful. Isn't this the best stage? It will be passed down through the ages, that's for sure. To be a cornerstone of such a wonderful story, isn't it a great honor to be a monster? The demon looks ecstatic while thinking so.

"But..."

Of course, it was a wonderful ending... But the girl, the demon (oni) is greedy and selfish, and because she once chose a place to die in a random place, another desire flickers in her mind when she comes here.

Can I really die here? Is it really OK to die here? She thinks. No, a human's life is short in the eyes of monsters. Even if the man in front of her spits blood, suffers, becomes a hero, and lives a full life, it will still not be enough. Then...

"Sigh, I guess I won't eat his time either..."

The demon grumbles as she looks at the remaining handfuls of rice at her feet. It is a well-known saying that a person who eats a monster's food becomes a monster. Especially if it contains the demon's bodily fluids. Of course, once or twice may not be enough, but if they are fed dozens or hundreds of times, they will become monsters...

"I think it would be fun to play around in the world with a partner once more. Ah, but it would be nice to be revenged by turning him into a demon."

Killing each other is a rare occurrence nowadays. That would be a thrill indeed, and the humans would write it down for the record.

"Hmm. Whichever way it goes, I'm looking forward to it. So...."

The demon whispered in his ear, admiring his sleeping face, which looked somewhat like a child's, perhaps because he had fallen deeply asleep.

"So... don't let me down, okay?"

The demon licked his ear when he was going to sleep. It was somewhat like a dog's marking...