Previously
Ariella successfully captures Slimes using a high-density magic net, impressing Philly with her efficiency. She creates a waterproof Slime Adhesive based on Kimelt's forbidden records to repair the library roof.
“Ludvic?”
Ariella was taken aback.
Ludvic's clothes, cheeks, forehead, and even his hair were soaked in blood that had not yet dried.
Every step he took left red footprints on the floor.
“Are you hurt?”
· · ·
In contrast to Ariella’s obvious concern, Ludvic merely blinked slowly.
Then he answered in a gruff voice ill-suited to his face.
“Hurt?”
“Then… all this blood…”
Only then did Ariella understand.
Despite all that blood, Ludvic’s expression showed no hint of weakness or pain.
“It isn't mine.”
She realized she had jumped to conclusions.
“It belongs to those Orcs.”
Although Ariella wasn’t particularly old herself, she couldn't help seeing Ludvic as a boy whenever she looked at him.
Seeing that face covered in blood had caught her off guard.
‘Despite how he looks, he must have lived for hundreds of years. He is the Demon King, after all.’
Ludvic knitted his brows in annoyance.
“They crossed the border again searching for food.”
He said it happened often, and that their tribe was too strong for anyone to stop unless he stepped in himself.
“I thought you'd come back from a major battle or were severely injured.”
Ludvic stared at her intently, noticing the lingering distress on her face.
“Do you hate it?”
“What? Hate what?”
“Blood.”
“What a ridiculous thing to say. Do you think that’s a pleasant sight?”
I’ve felt for a while now that this man is missing a screw.
Ordinary common sense didn't seem to apply to him in the slightest.
“Understood.”
Ludvic nodded, and then gave Ariella another fright.
Whoosh—!
Flames suddenly flared up, engulfing his entire frame. The raging red fire consumed him whole.
“Ludvic!”
Ariella screamed, tossing the blanket aside and rushing toward him without hesitation.
Fwoosh—!
Before she could reach him, the massive flames vanished without a trace. Ludvic reappeared, with neither his clothes nor the floor around him showing any sign of scorch marks.
On the contrary, the bloodstains covering his body, his clothes, and even the floor were completely gone, as if they had never existed.
Not a single drop of blood remained in the room.
Ariella let the blanket fall from her hand and yelled,
“Dammit! You scared me! Couldn’t you warn me first?! And… did you just use that incredible power just to bathe and wash your clothes?!”
Instead of water, he had burned the filth away!
Without damaging his skin or singeing his garments?
This far surpassed any spell Ariella knew.
“I’ve washed like this for a long time. Ever since ancient times.”
Mmm… It was undeniably convenient.
It didn't even take a few seconds, and there was no need to dry his hair afterward.
Memories of the human realm surfaced. Though her hair was cut short now, Ariella had once possessed thick tresses, and she remembered spending hours washing and drying it.
Then Ludvic changed the subject.
“Did you have something to report?”
“Yes.”
Shaking off her twinge of envy over the idea of lazing about every morning, she began explaining the library renovation plan.
Before she could even finish outlining the opening points, Ludvic cut in.
“I heard about it. They said you made something incredible out of slimes, didn't you?”
“You only just arrived. How did you know?”
“Everyone was talking about it outside the castle gates.”
“Rumors really do spread fast.”
Ariella nodded.
“Since I created something useful, I figured I’d mass-produce it to earn some money. It'll help the territory’s economy.”
Ludvic’s eyes widened in surprise. It seemed he had never imagined such a thing.
“You're going to make money with that?”
“Yes. No one in this region seems to make anything like it yet.”
“How did you come up with that idea?”
“From a book.”
“A book…”
He repeated the word as though it were foreign to him.
“I thought they were only good for kindling… I didn't know they served any purpose.”
Oh, really?
Ariella felt her temper flare instantly.
Now she understood why the library had been neglected all this time!
“Kindling?! You have no idea! In this rundown territory, books are the only valuable things left!”
“Rundown territory…?”
“Isn’t it the truth? Anyway, have you changed your mind now? Do you realize how amazing books are?”
“Hmm.”
“Have you ever read one?”
Ludvic replied with complete confidence.
“I can't read.”
“Just as I thought.”
She had noticed it when he held the contract upside down.
He could read the flow of magic circles, but he didn't know letters!
“Has no one ever tried to teach you?”
“Never.”
“Why not?”
“Because it's a bother.”
Ariella stared intently at Ludvic, and his gaze drifted slightly away.
She had seen that reaction before… It wasn't unfamiliar to her.
“Tell me the truth. Is there another reason?”
By the standards of the human realm, anyone in line for the throne would receive an education from early childhood.
Ariella herself had received such tutoring long before her stepmother ever set foot in the palace.
“Even if there are no schools in the demon realm, there must have been private tutors available.”
“I had no one.”
“No tutor at all?”
Ludvic replied dryly.
“No one at all.”
It was an answer Ariella had not anticipated. Masking her confusion, she pressed on.
“Then… what about parents, or family?”
He shook his head, his tone flat and emotionless.
“I've wandered the demon realm alone… for as long as I can remember.”
A brief silence fell. Ariella filled the void with another question.
“How cold… Are all demons like that?”
“No, that wouldn't make sense.”
Right, abandoning children couldn't be ordinary practice, even in the demon realm…
“Normally, an abandoned child in the demon realm is killed or eaten before growing up. Surviving like this is rare. I was lucky.”
He sparked a tiny flame in one hand, while his other hand lightly tapped the hilt of the sword at his hip.
“I learned swordsmanship before I learned to speak, and magic before I learned to listen to people. Whoever came near, I burned or cut down indiscriminately.”
From early childhood… from his earliest memories, he had walked the razor's edge of death.
Though he spoke calmly, the reality was horrific. Far beyond anything Ariella could have imagined.
“You've lived a harsh life…”
“Like I said, I was one of the lucky ones. In the end, I survived.”
He nodded, gazing into the flame. Ariella lingered on the word “lucky,” pondering it.
Lucky he might have been, but happy he certainly was not.
Ludvic broke the lingering silence.
“I've talked too much. Either way, I learned other things instead of letters. Isn’t that enough?”
All at once, curiosity struck her. How had a boy wandering the wilderness become king?
Pity followed closely behind her curiosity—pity for the boy forced to fight for survival from his earliest days.
‘No, who am I to pity him?’
Even the people closest to her hadn't stood by her side, leaving her with nowhere to return to, struggling in a strange, distant land.
“Are you finished?”
Only then did Ariella remember why she had come.
“So we can proceed with the library renovations as planned, right?”
After all, she had come to secure his retroactive approval.
Ludvic nodded.
“Do as you like. The entire matter is in your hands.”
A few hours later.
Ariella stood before the library.
END