Loren drowsily thought that he remembered this sensation.
He remembered swaying in a vortex of unthinkable magic power and could only cry. He couldn’t tell exactly when it happened, but he was strangely sure that it really did happen. Loren didn’t even remember when the last time he cried, so it was probably from a long time ago. He vaguely remembered someone else being there and kept soothing him though.
As he reached out for help because of the recalled pain, something warm enveloped his hand, and his body relaxed in relief.
“Oh, that’s bold.”
“Mother? Could you please explain in way I can understand why you are here?”
“To evaluate the man my daughter brings home.”
“That’s too blunt.”
The two women’s conversation forcibly pulled Loren back from the realm of sleep. Upon opening his heavy eyelids, the first thing that appeared in this sight was an indignant-looking Lapis. Next was a woman in a rather extravagant dress who was, for some reason, straddling him. The woman had long black hair that casually flowed down her back, and somehow resembled Lapis. From the conversation he had overheard earlier, she must be Lapis’ mother, but appearance-wise, she didn’t look like someone who had such a big daughter at all.
The woman’s eyes were a surprisingly clear purple, so there was no doubt she was from the demon race.
“Oh, you’ve woken? Sorry for being so noisy.”
“Mother, please get off Loren. That is my place.”
“Is that so?”
The woman asked, but still obediently got off. As the weight atop of him was gone, Loren sighed in relief. But for some reason, Lapis climbed up and sat on him in the exact same spot, and Loren choked again.
“Sleep a bit more, Loren.”
“Don’t do that. Get down, Lapis.”
Loren lightly tapped at her knee and asked, and Lapis slowly got down with a somewhat dissatisfied look on her face.
Loren’s clothes were not completely taken off when he was put into this bed, but his boots and jackets were. Both were now neatly placed together near the wall. Nigg was still on the jacket, as if it had really claimed that spot as his lair.
Looking around, Loren understood that he was in a bedroom of sorts and bright light was streaming in from the window.
“I am… still alive? Where is this?”
Recalling what had happened before he lost consciousness, Loren was sure it wouldn’t be strange if he just died. It was such a strong force. Loren wanted to know what happened after the black-clad man clashed with whatever power Lapis was wielding, but he also didn’t want to know. It was a complicated feeling.
“You’re alive, and this is my home. Is this explanation alright for you?”
“Home?”
Loren asked and looked at the other woman, who was standing smilingly next to Lapis. According to what Lapis had just said, he was lying in one of the rooms in her home, and the smiling woman was indeed her mother.
“How much time has passed?”
Loren didn’t add ‘since I passed out’ because he thought Lapis would get it. She answered immediately.
“It’s just past dawn.”
Not that much time had passed then. Loren wanted to leave the bed, but Lapis and the other woman stopped him.
“Please sleep a bit more, Loren. I’ve healed you, but it was pretty severe.”
“I’m sorry that our Lapis acted without thinking of the consequences.”
Loren wondered what she was talking about for a moment, but then immediately realized she meant the clash with that black-clad man. It seemed like he had passed out because of it, and that was what she was apologizing for.
“I couldn’t do anything else at the time.”
“In that case, you haven’t really grown up, have you, Lapis-chan?”
The woman smiled, and Lapis seemed to lightly gritted her teeth. Loren coughed lightly while wondering if it was alright for him to cut in.
“Ah, Loren, let me do some introduction. This is mother.”
Loren had no idea how managed to clear he throat so fast, but Lapis pulled the smiling woman by the shoulder with one hand and pointed at her with the other and made a perfunctory introduction. The woman gave him a polite bow.
“I am Judie Paimonia. I have a different family name though.”
“I am Loren, former mercenary and now adventurer. I am your daughter’s partner.”
It was just good manners to introduce yourself after being introduced, so Loren gave Judie the bare information and a light bow of the head. Next to her mother, Lapis smiled happily.
“Partner has a nice ring to it.”
“Great to see you like it. By the way, how’s Gula?”
Loren recalled her leaping at him before he lost consciousness. As he was still alive, it was hard to think something worse had happened to her. Still he was a bit worried not seeing her at all.
“She’s resting in another room. She’s a bit exhausted after using too much power.”
According to Lapis, before Loren lost consciousness, Gula had set up a barrier to protect everyone. But the clash was much more powerful than expected, and Loren and Gula still received quite some impact despite the barrier. It was nothing too serious, but Gula was down due to overusing her power and magic.
“Are we close that place?”
“No, it’s quite far. My people came to see the clash and carried you and Gula back here.”
‘What the hell is your family?’, Loren wondered. Just a look at Judie, who was watching their conversation by Lapis’ side, and one could easily guess that their family was not an average family but a high-ranking one. It wouldn’t be strange for such a family to have numerous servants.
Also, he found it a bit unfathomable that he and Gula lost consciousness in that light, but Lapis, the one who created it, was totally fine.
“Still, we reached our destination.”
“Yes, we did.”
Lapis replied. Next to her, Judie unhurriedly took out something from behind her. It was Loren’s greatsword. She lifted it with one hand and gazed at it with melancholic eyes.
“You came here to hear about this sword’s story, didn’t you? So Lapis-chan really took it out.”
Judie said she had been searching for it and wondered where it had disappeared to. She casually swung the greatsword with just a snap of her wrist, and Loren, who had been using the sword until now, watched with disbelief. Even though the greatsword had lost its outer layer, it was still a huge weapon. It definitely wasn’t something a woman should be able to lift with one hand and move with a snap of the wrist. Yet Loren couldn’t deny that the scene before his eyes right now was real.
“It’s the sword I used to use in the old days. Ah, that sounds like a youthful indiscretion, doesn’t it?”
Loren didn’t think it was something one wields in a youthful indiscretion, but he kept his mouth shut because he was sure such an opinion meant nothing to Judie. Rather than that, with the greatsword’s identity being revealed so easily, their biggest purpose for going to Lapis’ house should be considered accomplished.
“It’s the thing I used when I was the Demon King.”
“Hey, wait a minute.”
“Mother, that kind of phrasing is misleading. You should use present tense, Mother. ‘I am the Demon King’.”
“Hey, hey…”
Somehow, such an unthinkable term was spoken so casually as if it was something trivial. Lapis and Judie were talking in a small talk atmosphere, but for a listener like Loren, this was a conversation that couldn’t be ignored.
“Demon King?! Lapis’ mother is the Demon King?!”
“Yeah. Well, that title isn’t that rare in the demons’ world.”
“To be specific, I am one of the Demon Kings, appointed to be the Guardian of the West.”
“There is a Great Demon King above Mother. We’re just a minor noble family… There are quite a lot of Demon Kings.”
Lapis explained that ‘Demon King’ title didn’t actually mean “The King of Demons”. In fact, just like humans had numerous countries and each country had their own King, demons also had different power factions within their own King. Lapis’ mother belonged to the faction protecting the Western region of the demons’ territory, and as she was the most powerful in the faction, she was given the title ‘Demon King’.
“The Great Demon King is above all the Demon Kings.”
“I’d like to say that this is my property, and I want it back. But since there’s some circumstances… maybe I can consider letting you use it.”
Lightly lifting the sword and placing it on her shoulder, Judie said. As Loren wondered what the hell she was thinking about, she declared with a smile still on her face:
“It’s a request relating to the armored man you encountered earlier. Commission fee is the permission to wield this sword of Demon Kings, Fiamma Unggia. Not bad, isn’t it?”
Be it good or bad, Loren didn’t know anything about the commission’s content at all. He wanted to ask Judie to explain, but seeing Lapis just shook her head next to her, he at least understood that the option to not accept this commission didn’t exist here. He gave up all hopes, turned his gaze towards the ceiling, and silently sighed.