DEMON KING & HERO - Chapter 9-10: Epilogue
Epilogue
TL: Eevee
Ed: adkji
***
“Then, the hero said, ‘Demon king, you are strong. But, I have friends and people to protect!’”
A woman whose features were outstanding even from a mere glance. If there was one thing to be sorry for, it was that the cute girl on her knee was her daughter.
“Hurry, hurry!”
At the encouragement of the girl on her knee, who looked around four years old or so, the woman smiled kindly and turned the page of the storybook.
“A golden light radiated from the hero’s sword. The goddess had recognized her true feelings. ‘Kuh, this strength!’ The demon king was shocked at the holy power that the evil demon king couldn’t fight against. And so the hero defeated the demon king and brought peace to the world.”
“The hero’s so cool! Mom, the hero was a woman, right?”
“Yes. But don’t say you want to be a hero. Being a hero’s a hard job.”
“Hmph! What does Mom know! I’m going to be a hero. An amazing one!”
The girl yelled and ran pitter-patter outside. Looking at her, the woman smiled and said,
“How would this work? If our kid really does become a hero, you could be in danger?”
“Nah, would she really fight her dad?”
The man that entered the room at her words smirked and said,
“Having said that, you should say something? That her mom was a hero.”
“Who would believe that a hero married a demon king?”
She said with a startled expression, before she broke out into laughter.
“Thinking about it, those were shocking events. You told the hero what would drag you out to be judged that you fell for her at first sight, or the hero that actually lived together with a demon king because of a simple promise. Having said, you lied back then, didn’t you? Said you were weak… You seemed stronger than me.”
“No, that wasn’t a lie. I am the weakest among the demon kings. Well what, something like living up to the title? It’s amazing that we’re still living like this. Getting kinda boring nowadays, too.”
At the demon king’s answer, she, Yuria, pouted and said,
“Hmph, what’s boring. It’s been just over seven years since I met you, and in that time, see a demon king getting kidnapped, pick a scrap with the clergy, meet the god of light, demon god and even the Chief God beyond that. If those things all happen again, I just might run away from home.”
As she sulked, it was the demon king’s turn to become flustered.
“But because of that, the evil organizations were cleaned up completely, earned the blessings of the leader of the greatest religious sect when you married, and plus the demon god gives you a salary as well?”
The hero closed her eyes and recalled her first meetings with the demon king.
‘Was there something to be angry about when we lived together? Hm, kidnapped despite being a demon king, made a covenant with a another religion, the god invaded the human world, eh, and…”
Reminiscing of the past, the hero smiled brightly and said,
“Darling, I want a divorce.”
“Why?!?!”
At the sudden divorce demands, the demon king swayed before barely staying upright, and asked with bulging eyes,
“Why? Why? Why!”
“The mental damage I got from looking back on the past is too big.”
“From where?”
“Let’s see, from after you entered that covenant? The invasion of the Supreme Gods, the Chief God, the Chief God of another world? Or, the parts the readers couldn’t see, such as the time that I beat up the heavenly and demon emperors in front of all the demon kings and gods for the sake of the thousand-year ceasefire between the heavens and demon worlds. Or the time that you mistook the dragon Rhode for an evil dragon and I half-killed her which nearly started a human-dragon war, which I then beat the crap out of all of them to stop?”
“K, kuuhhh…”
“There was others beyond that, weren’t there? The time when I nearly had a bounty on my head when you went for the empire’s heir that had a crush on me, the demon Internal Affairs went on strike, stopping the invasion of the human world, fought the boss of the strongest legion EE, Dragonjar of the Red Ribbon, and against the author that was all ‘I object to this marriage!’”
“Wait a second, there was an odd group in the second half? And when was the last one? When did you fight that!”
“Ha, you’re saying that you can’t remember any of that?”
“No, there were even things that never happened!”
“Haa…. You’re not the demon king of old.”
As the hero sulked even more, the demon king had a serious expression on his face.
“Hm, then… I can only bring out my last resort…”
“What is it?”
“There’s this story in the East. A lumberjack hides the divine raiment of an angel that descended from heaven… If they didn’t make three kids, the angel went back to the skies.”
“Wh, what’s that meant to mean?”
“What’s that meant to meam. My dear ‘Ria, we need to make two more kids so you can’t run away!”
“Is there a limit to what you can say!”
Yuria yelled, fleeing from the demon king that ran after her.
The bustling noises that rang through the house. If anyone else saw it, they would be forgiven for thinking it a legendary battle for the ages, but the girl who looked on only closed her book, shook her head and sighed.
“My Mom and Dad gets along too well with each other. Hmph, I don’t even care.”
***
Author’s Notes:
Eh, hm, what?
Will be what some of you are thinking. Yes, it’s over. (What?!)
The developments that made me think I was going mad shocked me a lot as well.
When I tried to expand on what was originally a oneshot that was essentially the first part and the epilogue and everything went to the hills, I was quite surprised as well. Especially in the middle, I had something that came up, so I went on hiatus for a while and when I revisited it, I shuddered.
Made me wonder whether I really was on drugs. n𝔬𝗏𝗲(𝓁𝒷-1n
The reason why this ended is simple. When I wrote the story out I thought eh? It’s done? And so I ended it.
Hm… How would I put it, an open ending? It did seem kinda lacking so I did mull over it a lot, but I felt like I had some divine command telling me to stop it here, so I wrote up the epilogue.
PS1. Totally not because of military service. (Really?)
PS2. I said in the last chapter (TN: 9-3) that this was the epilogue, but no one cared… What’s this pressure you speak of.
PS3. The book that the daughter was reading was [How to be the greatest hero – by Demon king]
Translator’s Notes:
Not quite done. One more special and the afterword. Then we’re done.