I had a dream I had experienced long, long ago.
I couldn't recall exactly what kind of dream it was. It had been far too long since I'd last slept — and even longer since I'd last fallen asleep without a nightmare visiting. It felt as though I were experiencing the very concept of dreaming for the first time.
The only scenery that came to mind was a vast, pristine white.
I was sitting in the middle of an endless expanse of white. I was waiting for something. I didn't move a single inch. There was no wind in the white space. Perhaps there was no air either. There may have been light, but it was certainly not sunlight — it was closer to the pale hue of a mercury lamp.
I knew.
This was my image of death.
There was nothing there, but it wasn't emptiness either. All that had been given to me was the act of waiting itself, sitting there with nothing else. This was the answer. My own answer.
―――.
―――――?
――, ―――――.
I opened my mouth and said something.
What the me inside the dream had spoken, I couldn't understand. Perhaps there was no need to understand, even. It was simply to confirm that no sound could be produced in this place.
Without even permission to vanish like this.
I merely sat there, buried in white.
Feeling somehow, profoundly relieved.
Relieved?
Relieved about what?
No, rather—
……What exactly was feeling relieved?
"Why don't you get up already."
My eyes opened.
It was a strange thing. I was already opening my eyes, and yet here I was opening them again. Everything before me was white. The edges were blurred into a hazy fog. It was as if cold condensation had settled on my skull, like breath fogging up a window in winter.
I blinked a few times. The pale frost stubbornly refused to clear. My hearing was somewhat dull too. Through the haze of my numbed senses, a single thread of a voice reached me. No — not so much a voice as a sigh.
"Tch. Idiot."
Idiot, he says.
That's a bit much.
Personally, I preferred the interpretation of "idiot" as *sick-spirit* over *sick-body*. A god of vicious plague. How cool is that? Just changing one character and the nuance transforms completely. A malicious spirit of disease. Or a ghost named Illness. Right up my alley.
Then.
Splash!
"……!?"
I shot upright in a panic. Ice-cold water smashed directly into my face. The frigid liquid violated my nostrils and mouth. And not just once. Twice. The icy water ambushed me two times in a row.
"Cold cold cold cold!?"
Blindsided by the sudden deluge of ice water, I scrubbed at my face and screamed. Unable to adapt to the abrupt temperature shift, tears and snot streamed freely. While my entire body twisted in agony, a cackling laugh burst out from beside me.
It was Barbatos.
She was clutching her belly and pointing at me. She was laughing so hard her hands were shaking. I wiped the snot off with the blanket and roared.
"What the hell do you think you're doing, you flat-chested hag?!"
"Watching an idiot throw a tantrum and having a great time. What's it to you. Jealous?"
"I'm going to need to settle this with you physically once and for all!"
"What's the most frail pushover among the Demon Lords saying now. Ha ha ha."
My shoulders were trembling. As if she weren't already the worst. After reuniting for the first time in centuries, she'd hurled three insults in succession — bastard, idiot, hunchbacked freak — all within the span of a single minute. I had never met a woman this vicious.
Yesterday, though, she'd been gentle.
"......"
Suddenly, I found myself at a loss for words. The moment yesterday's events came flooding back, I felt my face flush without my own consent.
I didn't know the reason why, but I had latched onto Barbatos and sobbed like a child. I wailed until I collapsed from sheer exhaustion. Barbatos had simply smiled and stroked my head. That was the first time in my entire life I had ever cried that pathetically — and to think I had thrown a tantrum at Barbatos of all people. It was an indelible stain on my existence.
"Oh my?"
Barbatos grinned when she saw me go silent.
"Dantalion? The ever-composed, ever-cool Lord Dantalion? Why have you suddenly gone quiet? Oh my. Your face is all red like a blushing bride — not exactly un-cute, you know. But why the sudden panic?"
"Shut up."
"There, there, there, there. Is our little Dantalion upset? Are you all upset and pouty? Does Auntie Barbatos need to give you milkies, milkies? Does our precious baby miss his favorite milkie-willie?"
In a fit of rage, I grabbed a pillow and hurled it. The cushion pillow struck Barbatos square in the gut with a satisfying plop. The damage was nonexistent. All it did was fuel her amusement — Barbatos cackled for a solid while, showering me with childish taunts like "neener neener" and "catch me if you can."
The problem was that these pathetic provocations actually worked. My chest was bubbling with fury. That woman had definitely been cursed by fate to be my nematrix in a past life. Damn her. I wanted to grab her by the butt and slap it in 8-bit resolution and it still wouldn't be enough.
But even laughter has its limits.
As the overheated air slowly cooled, the conversation between us died out. An uneasy silence settled over us. And that uneasiness emanated entirely from me.
"......"
Barbatos looked at me.
Her eyes were waiting for me to open my mouth. What should I say? Where should I start? I had heard that Barbatos was supposed to have been executed. Through what chain of events had she ended up here?
Why had it taken nearly two hundred years for her to arrive?
I couldn't know the exact details, but I could piece together a rough outline. The pitifully truncated stump of her Demon Lord's horn supported my conjecture. That kind of conjecture. Accepting that kind of hypothesis as a given... what could I possibly say to her?
I opened my mouth.
"Why are you here."
It wasn't a question. It was an attack.
Not "how did you come" but "why did you come." The question carried a strong undertone — don't come here, I wish you hadn't come. Barbatos must have understood that perfectly, yet he just grinned, his face showing not the slightest hint of being affected.
"Wherever I go is my own business."
"……Ivar made a mistake. I thought he was doing well and let my guard down, but he committed an utter blunder. Of all things, leaking your secret to you. And on top of that, setting you free."
I was condemning Ivar at the same time as indirectly attacking Barbatos.
"I'm sorry, but please leave here. The farther you run, the better. The moment you're out, I'll use every means to contact Ivar and notify him. Right away……"
"I'm going to die soon."
I fell silent.
Barbatos spoke in a calm tone.
"That subordinate of yours — Ivar or whatever — really is something else. I can't cast magic anymore. No, forget magic — there's barely any mana left in my body. You could call it dregs. If natural mana circulation were possible, that'd be one thing, but even that was engraved with a brand."
"……"
"Ten years, if I'm lucky?"
Barbatos laughed.
"Dantalion. There's already a woman who's going to collapse on her own regardless of what you do……if I could just stay here a little longer before I go, would that be so wrong?"
I couldn't answer.
With just a few suggestive words, I had grasped the full picture. Ivar must have tried to suffocate Barbatos to death. He had stripped away his magic and mana, even sealed his ability to command subordinates, leaving nothing but a pitiful shell of a body. Naturally, Ivar had only provided the information that I was alive — he hadn't left any advice about where I might be found.
Just a shell of a body. Barbatos had relied on that alone and walked here. For two hundred years, across this continent, with no information at all…….
"……But."
I couldn't allow him to stay.
Dantalion was dead. To put it metaphorically, only a shade remained in this place. There was no way I could now spend extra time with Barbatos. Besides, I had a serious problem of my own.
"You're worried because you think you're going to die soon too, aren't you, Dantalion?"
"……."
That was right.
I hated to admit it, but I had reached my mental limit.
If Barbatos hadn't come looking for me, I might have remained leaning against the wall and slipped into eternal sleep. Right up until the moment before Barbatos knocked on the door, I had genuinely felt death closing in on me. That sensation had faded slightly, but even now it still lingered behind my back, tickling me from the other side.
Barbatos had said ten years at most.
No matter how I stretched it, I wouldn't last more than a few years.
The moment I lost consciousness, the moment I fell asleep, eventually I would unconsciously drive a blade into my own neck. Or perhaps my consciousness would simply refuse to function any longer and plunge me headlong into sleep without warning. I was already pushed right up against the edge……
When you die, you die alone.
I didn't want to show my end to anyone else. In a sense, that was just dumping the burden of responsibility onto someone else. Anyone who witnessed a person's death had to remember it and carry it. I had no desire to foist that weight upon another.
"I'll stay for exactly one more year."
Barbatos made the offer in a tone that suggested she had already seen through everything I was thinking.
"One year?"
"Yeah. Honestly, I'm exhausted beyond belief. You try running across an entire continent for two hundred years straight. Your body's going to wear out, isn't it? Please, let's just rest for a little while. Okay?"
"……."
Could I hold on for one year?
Barbatos had suffered for two hundred years driven solely by the conviction that she had to meet me. Granting her a one-year reprieve. Allowing her to stay by my side for a little while before departing——wouldn't that be a reasonable concession?
As I sat in silence, unable to make up my mind, Barbatos lightly turned and walked off somewhere. When I saw where she was heading, it hit me.
"Hey, Dantalion. What's this?"
"Oh. Oh, uh. That's, well……."
"Hmm? Unless I'm mistaken, that looks exactly like me."
Where Barbatos was pointing hung countless portraits and figure paintings of a single person. Smiling faces, sorrowful faces, expressionless faces. Leading an army of thousands, and standing alone on a plain.
There was nothing to hide. Every last one of them was a painting of Barbatos.
Though numerous other figure paintings were scattered throughout the mansion, Barbatos's portraits were overwhelmingly the most numerous. There was no particular reason for it. It was simply that Barbatos had the most expressive face. Truly! There was absolutely no other reason.
"Hmm. Ohhh. Hmmmm?"
But that old hag—what delusion was she laboring under?—examined the figure paintings with a smug look on her face. I wanted to protest, but gave it up. No matter what I said, it would sound pathetic, that much was certain. Barbatos gave a sly grin.
"Wow. They captured me perfectly. You can feel all the love the artist poured in. Yes, yes. The painter who made these must have really missed the subject of the portrait, huh?"
"……Delusion is a free country."
"Is that so? I missed you a lot, though."
She struck where I was least guarded.
Barbatos, petty as she was, would occasionally toss out embarrassing lines without batting an eye. This time too, I was left speechless. Seeing me like that, Barbatos strode over. Her beaming face didn't bode well, so I instinctively took a step back.
Thud—my back hit the wall. There was nowhere left to retreat.
Barbatos closed in and grabbed the front of my shirt. A fresh fragrance drifted into my nose. Barbatos's scent. She brought her face close to mine and flashed a wicked grin. Golden pupils, eyes that hungrily eyed their prey—that's what I saw there.
A beast through and through.
"Drop the act already, you idiot."
"I— I'm not putting on an act——."
Barbatos tugged at my collar. Before I could resist, my face was pulled downward. A soft, delicate touch brushed my lips. And then, without a moment's pause, her tongue invaded me with reckless abandon.
"Mmph…… mmph, mmm!"
There was no mercy.
The ravishing continued until my head was spinning. Unable to bear the weight, I slowly collapsed to the floor. Barbatos climbed on top of me. Her eyes gleamed with beastly desire.
"Phaaah."
Only then did Barbatos finally pull her lips away. That hit the spot. Satisfaction radiated across her face.
I squirmed underneath Barbatos, her weight pinning my hips to the floor.
"W-wait. Wait a second, Barbatos. It's been two hundred years since I last did that, okay? I probably can't even get it up. Absolutely won't get hard. Don't make this embarrassing for me—let's sit down nice and cozy, have some tea, and talk about the past we haven't untangled yet...!"
"Shut up, you pig. Tea my ass."
Barbatos let out a low laugh.
"Stories and whatnot can wait. Let's eat first."
"This is rape! This is rape!"
"If you feel so wronged, call your fancy Royal Guards then. Grrh, two hundred years' worth of nourishment. I thought I'd die holding it in. I'll eat well—thank you for the meal."
I was devoured.
============================ Author's Afterword ============================
[Replies]
NineBreaker// It's not that nothing happened. As you can see. (...)
Odeli// A second round is terrifying in more ways than one.
Norae// This person has some dangerous thoughts...
ginrneves// Barbaric ;ㅅ;
coffeelover// Exactly. The causes were all tangled up.
Omicron// At least there isn't much left.
MardiGras// Yap yap.
Muline// No, you're not late.
GutaSungbul// *nom nom.*
SharpPanda// What kind of cheat is this.
Have a great day^^