Demon King & Hero

Side Story 2-1: D, do you swing that way? No!

TL: Eevee

Ed: adkji

TLN: Note that this story was originally published after chapter 8-6 for reasons unknown. And holy shit I wanted post this one for you guys for such a long time.

***

I’m strong. Really strong.

What’s this transparent fella muttering about, you say?

Because I’m a dragon. Oh, I’m not actually transparent, by the way. Just your average black dragon.

But, why am I muttering ‘I’m strong, really strong’ all of a sudden?

Well, let’s see.

“Uuu. Urghhh…”

I can see a boy quivering in front of me. Well, being the heir of a kingdom, this kid, who was pretty self-righteous before, was shaking on seeing my human form.

“C, could it be…”

When his kid who carried himself with such confidence even when I was a dragon started shivering all of a sudden, my curiosity was piqued. What was this? As I stared at the heir lad curiously, the boy, shaking in his boots, carefully opened his mouth.

“C, could it be…”

“What.”

“D, do you swing that way?”

That way. What…

I thought for a second.

Right now my appearance was that of a slightly scary man with a short head of black hair… Ah, that reminded me, every now and then a male dragon would kidnap a princess and would [censored]…

Eh?

[Censored]?

“……”

“……”

After a moment of heavy silence.

“Noooooooooooooooo!!!!”

***

I don’t have those particular preferences, yet why did I kidnap the kingdom’s heir, that would be… It was a certain morning. Like your average dragon, I was napping in my lair, yawning peacefully.

I thought it would be the same as your average, normal day… But, destruction came in an instant.

“Is this where the evil dragon lives!”

She looked to be in about her mid-late teens or so? A girl with short red hair drew her sword and yelled in front of me.

‘…What?’

You could say dragons have a tendency to overdo things, but I haven’t. Let alone other dragons, I was a situational pacifist that hadn’t even bothered other sentient creatures.

Ah, as for a situational pacifist, that would refer to someone that desires peace, but would let loose if someone bothered me. Well, although that’s a term I made up myself.

-I’m sleepy, go away.

That was the case. If it were other dragons, they would have swallowed up this nonsensical kid in a single gulp, some despicable ones used her for their experiments, but I wanted peace. No, before that, I was sleepy.

But, even my generosity was thrown away by this human.

“Hmph! Hand over the neighbouring country’s prince!”

-What are you on about?

I said it before, but I was a pacifist. What would I kidnap the neighbouring country’s prince and make all sorts of troubles for myself for?

I was getting angry, but I suppressed it. Yep, they say good fortune will come if you endure three times.

-I don’t have a prince. I’m sleepy. Go away.

“Hand. Over. The. Prince.”

Oh for- I said I didn’t have him… Irritated, I used one of a dragon’s skills, Fear, and imbued it into my words.

-Get. Lost.

At the same time.

“How dare this evil dragon think to lie!”

At this point, even I, who was extremely patient, exploded. Evil dragon! To compare me who was good enough to be a holy dragon to an evil dragon!

-Kuuuuuooohhh!

I roared. I’d take this human that dared shatter my pacifism and hang her upside down in front of my lair. Ah, I still wouldn’t kill her. If I did, starting from her family, friends, acquaintances, ~and everyone else who heard the story might send heroes over and irritate me.

Raising my giant dragon body I faced my opponent… eh?

Something wasn’t right. The numbers didn’t add up. There had definitely been only one presence, but there were another three beside her. As well as that, one of them was familiar.

(R, Rhode?)

The blonde beauty beside the human girl made a bitter smile and said,

(Raon.)

(Rhode! What on earth is this! Is this my coming-of-age ceremony? No, wait, my coming-of-age was a hundred years ago!)

The coming of age ceremony of dragons, that consisted of trolling the living daylights of the newly adult dragons, was actually even more lenient than this. Hold up, before that!

(Isn’t that the Demon King of Destruction beside you! We’re neutral! No, before that, what’s that kid over there that’s loaded with Sermir’s blessings!)

(Oh, he’s a Pope candidate. To be accurate, the next Pope.)

(Why is a Pope candidate with a Demon King and a dragon! Is there a new world calamity that I don’t know about.)

(Yep, there is.)

I was surprised. Surely with that amount of firepower… Wait, but.

(So if this is that important, why’s she kicking up a fuss over the neighbouring prince?)

(No, the world is the world…)

With another bitter smile, Rhode said apologetically,

(But, it’s your world.)

(Eh?)

Tilting my head, I tried to make heads or tails of what was going on… But before that a girl’s cry rung out first.

“Get that evil dragon!”

At the same time.

“Sorry.”

One of the greatest fighters in the Demon World, the ferocious looking Demon King of Destruction let loose a flying knee to my face….

(Why…)

With that single word, I blacked out.

Translator’s Notes

(1) Deliberated over the choice of Road or Rhode. Picked the latter because that sounds more like a name. Although, Road would have been just as appropriate for reasons made clear later.

And so we have the beginning of the second side story. For those of you who want characters getting screwed over with copious amounts of insanity and hilarity, here we go.