Barungenia.

Outside the library.

"Damn it!"

"What in the world happened!"

"We can't move the debris!"

A large number of demons were gathered there. They had come to assess the situation after the library entrance suddenly collapsed, but they were just standing around with bewildered expressions as they couldn't lift the debris.

"What is it?"

The one who appeared there was the blue spirit, Naiad.

"We can't lift the debris!"

"We heard His Majesty the Demon King went inside...!"

The Demon King.

Hearing that Clay was inside, Naiad moved quickly.

"Clay is trapped?"

After returning to Barungenia, she had spent some time alone instead of following Clay.

It was because she had a lot on her mind about Tia after the events in Krata, but with the situation like this, she couldn't help but feel regret.

'I should have stayed by his side.'

She had stepped back with the intention of giving Clay some space, judging that he would also be troubled, but in the end, this disaster had occurred.

A blue light emanated from her.

"Move aside."

At her words, everyone moved back. Then she created numerous streams of water and poured them onto the debris.

"?!"

Normally, the debris should have been pushed away by the water streams.

'What is this?'

But the debris didn't budge.

'Is the space isolated?'

It seemed the space had been sealed with debris so that not even a little of the inside could be seen, and the space had been isolated.

'Whatever it is, I have to solve it quickly.'

Clay could be in danger. So she tried to clear away the debris by mobilizing all her capabilities.

'No, way.'

But she couldn't clear it. A force stronger than hers was at work.

'Why is something like this here...'

"I will help!"

In the midst of that, Syltanaro appeared and threw her body against the debris. It was a crude method, but it was a choice worth trying since she herself was a special weapon.

Of course, that too was futile as she bounced off without any significant result.

"What is all this?"

This time, Lin appeared.

She tried to break through the debris with magic but failed. Naiad, seeing the members of the Demon King's castle lending a hand, gathered her strength again and tried to clear the debris.

The result was failure once again.

"Clay...!"

It was after she had spent a long time engulfed in despair like that.

Cracks began to form in the debris.

"Don't tell me?"

Naiad moved the water currents again.

This time, the debris began to be pushed away by the water currents.

"Everyone, help!"

Following her words, all the demons gathered around cleared away the debris again and again.

How much time passed after that?

"Hah, hah."

A hole came into the view of the panting Naiad.

She immediately flew there and entered the library first.

"Clay!"

Naiad shouted. The inside of the library was a mess. It was a scene as if a storm had raged inside.

Flying past the toppled bookshelves, Naiad's eyes finally caught sight of Clay.

"Cla..."

Naiad, who was about to shout again, momentarily closed her mouth.

Clay was standing there blankly. He didn't seem to be under any threat or in a dangerous state.

Next to him was Selimia. She was looking at Clay with a worried expression.

"Clay!"

Only after getting close did Naiad open her mouth again. At that cry, Selimia turned her head first.

"Naiad?"

"What happened!"

Naiad flew in front of Clay's face without even a moment to answer Selimia.

"Clay! Are you okay?"

"Naiad, is it?"

Despite Naiad's frantic appearance, Clay responded calmly.

"I'm fine."

"What happened!"

But Naiad showed even greater concern because of his appearance.

"You were isolated in here! It wasn't an ordinary trap either!"

"......"

"What was it!"

Naiad moved right in front of Clay's eyes.

"What happened? Huh?"

"Naiad, you really don't need to worry."

Clay said with a sigh.

"I was just dealing with a being that was trapped in here for a moment."

"What? A being trapped in here?"

"It's all resolved now."

Even as he said that, Clay wore a somewhat uncomfortable expression, which made Naiad suspicious.

"Did something happen that you can't talk about?"

At Naiad's words, who had noticed that there was something, Clay let out a short groan.

"Naiad."

"Yeah, tell me."

"Did you know?"

Did she know?

At the sudden words, Naiad wore a bewildered expression.

"Huh? What?"

"Which came first, humans or demons."

"!"

For a moment, Naiad flinched. Seeing that reaction, Clay said softly.

"So you did know."

Naiad, at a loss for words, couldn't give any answer to Clay's words. She just wore a flustered expression.

"Did you just like humans?"

"N-no!"

Naiad said quickly.

"When I was born, demons were already defined as evil! I only heard about who came first from the older generation!"

"From the older generation?"

"Yes! Whatever it was, I knew that evil was the demons, so I didn't think it was important which came first!"

"I see."

But Clay asked.

"Still, couldn't you have tried to tell me?"

"Th-that's."

"If you had told me, I might have been able to reach the truth, whatever it might be, faster."

At those words, Naiad, who had been looking troubled, finally answered.

"It was all for you."

"For me?"

"You're human, so you don't need to know such uncomfortable things. It's just history that has already passed. Whatever it was, the demons I saw at that time looked like nothing but a barbaric race of evil."

A choice made for him.

Clay did not express any doubt about that.

"Yes, you are that kind of spirit."

The conversation was over. The demons outside had cleared almost all the debris that was blocking the library entrance.

"Your Majesty!"

Since the magical power that had been binding the debris had all disappeared, the demons could now easily enter and find Clay.

"Your Majesty! You're here!"

"What in the world happened..."

"Are you alright?"

Watching the clamoring demons, Clay shifted his gaze from Naiad to Selimia.

"Selimia."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

"It seems we'll need to explain your identity to Naiad to some extent."

"I understand."

"However, let's do it after we get out of here."

The demons were reacting with confusion due to the messy state of the library's interior.

Clay walked through them, taking Selimia with him.

"Naiad."

He said, looking back at Naiad who was floating in the air, not knowing what to do.

"Let's go. We have a lot to talk about."

"Huh? Ah, yeah!"

Naiad, finally relaxing, quickly followed him.

"What happened?"

"I know, right."

Watching them, Lin and Syltanaro just muttered with questioning faces.

***

♧

Selimia's identity.

Naiad, who had entered the office alone with Clay and heard the story, was so surprised her eyes widened.

"Selimia is Aium?!"

"Lower your voice."

"Hup!"

Naiad, who had brought her hand to her mouth at Clay's words, carefully opened her mouth again.

"If it's Aium, isn't she one of the ancient gods?"

"Yes."

"Is she like Athanasia? Shouldn't we call her and have her say hello or something?"

"Listen to the rest of the story."

Clay told her that Aium of Eternity was a being of a much higher rank than a typical ancient god, and what kind of relationship she had with Elhaen.

"Then..."

Naiad swallowed dryly.

"Aium, was a traitor?"

"From this world's perspective, yes."

"Hah."

Naiad wore a confused expression.

"Until you became the Demon King, I thought demons were just barbaric natives."

"You could say that them becoming barbaric was itself part of Elhaen's plan."

And the tool for that was humans.

"It seems Elhaen used some tricks so that the memories wouldn't be passed down. It was eventually revealed, but it took too long."

Clay looked at Naiad intently.

"Just because the truth is like that, I don't think we need to clear anything up or anything."

He had become the Demon King, and now he was leading the demons.

The demons of now were different from the demons of that time who were trampled by humans anyway.

"It's just that I've become more pissed off at Elhaen, who has twisted things as much as they could be twisted."

"This, but shouldn't we tell everyone?"

Naiad asked.

"It seems like it could be an important story for the demons."

"It probably is. But I don't think it's necessary to do it now."

"Why?"

"Our enemy is Elhaen."

He was the source of all the trouble.

"Everyone's attention is already focused on the source of the trouble. It wouldn't be good for the demons' anger to be directed at the humans who are helping to rebuild Krata."

"Ah."

"Even if there are circumstances, it's undeniable that demons are a race that gets excited more easily than humans. There's no need to cause unnecessary friction."

At Clay's words, Naiad nodded as if she finally understood why he had only called her.

"So what now?"

Naiad, who had understood that Selimia was the incarnation of this world because Clay had told her everything.

But even if she was such a great being, and even if she had gone through the process of overcoming the original thought-form and being redefined as the current Selimia, it was uncertain whether she could provide as much power as needed in the fight against Elhaen.

"Because you kept interfering, Elhaen, whose plan was ruined, might descend at a more unexpected time."

The possibility Naiad spat out was that he was highly likely to descend briefly into Neville first and then ultimately take Clay's body.

"If Neville can handle Elhaen's spiritual body even for a moment, this alone might not be enough."

Naiad wore an anxious expression.

"Can you do it, Clay?"

Clay didn't answer for a moment. Then he looked down at himself and opened his mouth.

"I can't be sure. But I learned one thing from Selimia."

From the confrontation between Selimia and Aium, he knew that the spiritual entity did not necessarily control everything.

"Selimia was Aium's physical body. Originally, Aium's mind would have dominated Selimia."

But the result was not so. Even if it couldn't be exactly the same, Clay saw a possibility there.

"If he tries to take my body in this world, which is not his original territory, he himself will have to be able to handle the backlash that will be given to me as a chance."

At Clay's words, Naiad held her breath.

A plan no different from a gamble. But the reason she could be here was none other than this.

"I'll help."

If it was Clay, she was always ready to stand by his side.

"Thank you, Naiad."

Clay was now preparing for a fight against a being he had once not even dared to approach.

(End of Chapter)