This was not an ordinary hallucination.
I couldn't believe I had that dream and experienced this phenomenon. Was this what my brother was trying to prevent in the dream?
I was quietly looking at my feet and frowned at a thought that suddenly occurred to me.
"Could it be... is this the Duke's curse?"
It was my first sleep since the Duke cast the curse. He cursed me, draining all of his remaining magical energy, but there was no way it would have any effect, and since I happened to encounter this phenomenon at such an odd timing, there was no way I wouldn't be suspicious.
It may be a hallucination... but if the unidentified liquid that came out of the dream is really a curse...
"Damn it."
... If that's the case, my brother would have tried to protect me from the Duke even in death. Cursing came naturally to a family that was falling apart.
Feeling like I was choking again, I reached into my pocket and took out a cigarette.
I lit the fire and prayed and prayed.
'Please don't.'
I hope it's just a ridiculous leap of mine.
It was not for nothing that I felt fear when I found out that the person I was dealing with was my older brother. Because I was not ready to face Cruel. To be precise, I wasn't ready to face Cruel, who 'wouldn't hold a grudge' against me.
I would feel more at ease if he poured out his resentment towards me. However, I knew very well that a person who sacrificed himself could not hold a grudge against the person he was trying to protect.
'Even I couldn't forgive myself.'
How miserable would it be to hear that the other person has already forgiven me or that I will not be forgiven.
I will be miserable and will hate myself even more, and in the end, I will do your best to hate me. Maybe I can't overcome my emotions and will end up pointing a knife at my neck.
... So, Hyung.
I bowed my head.
'Please don't do that.'
It's okay to suffer from nightmares. I don't even care about being exposed to a curse. What is more painful is your intervention. So, please don't keep expressing that you don't blame me like this.
...
I think I stood like that for a long time. Just as I was just about to wake up and gradually sort out the emotions that were bouncing around at random, and gradually regain my senses, my consciousness, which had been soaked in crushed despair, began to rise, and I noticed a sound coming from outside.
'... A sound?'
Outside at this hour?
Obviously, as per the request I made when I first joined the Demon King's Army, this room must be in the most remote location. Because the room that was used as a warehouse was renovated, there was no one staying above or below.
There was a public training area under the window, but thanks to the huge commotion that was caused by the use of magic to destroy the warehouse room, the rumor spread that Commander 0 absolutely hates noise, so no one comes.
It's also a place where there's no reason to come in the first place.
'It's a bit surprising.'
It was a public training ground for horses, but it was abandoned because no one uses it.
Those staying in the inner castle were high-ranking positions and employees, including the Demon King and Corps Commanders. The Corps Commander and Corps members had their own dedicated training hall, so they did not use the common training hall, and the users had a common training hall in the outer castle, so they did not want to make a fuss in the inner castle and attract the attention of high-ranking people who were picky, sensitive, and foul-tempered.
Of course, there was no way that there were no demons using it at all, and I expect that occasionally one or two users secretly stopped by to train or used it as a secret meeting place...
Anyway, no one has come since I received this room.
'... Ah, it recently found an owner.'
I let out a short exclamation at the belated fact that came to mind.
The crazy dogs. It had become their exclusive training ground.
Because I stayed in the human world away from those guys for a long time, I forgot about their existence for a while.
'What did they do again?'
Do they not even sleep? I put out my cigarette, which was barely lit, and walked to the window. Every time I took a step, a puddle of blood clattered under my feet, appealing to me for its presence, but I ignored it.
As I reached out to open the window, I paused for a moment when a vase came into view. To be precise, I saw something different about the flower in the vase than before, so I withdrew my outstretched hand and bent down to bring my face closer to the flowers.
"What? I think it was fine until Dan changed the water."
Why was it a little withered now?
It was not an illusion or a misreading. The flower that seemed to be always vibrant was withering a little.
It wasn't a long time, just enough time to fall asleep and wake up.
"I really can't figure it out."
Should I think it's amazing that it's made it this far?
I looked at the petals, whose tips had dried out and turned dark, for a moment, then looked away and opened the window. Because that's not important right now. We need to find out what the crazy dogs have done and are doing.
'When I think about it, it's even more suspicious that there was no disturbance while I was away.'
They can't do that. There's clearly something going on, but they're hiding it.
A cool breeze came in through the open window. At the same time, the faint sound became clearer...
"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!"
... A baby crying?
"Shhh! You can't cry! If you get caught like this, you'll be in big trouble. Are you nice? Let's do it!"
"Not only you will die, but we will all die together...! So stop crying! Peekaboo!"
"Bwaaaaaah!"
"Ahh! My ears!"
"He cried more because of your dirty face! Get rid of your face! Hurry!"
Ah.
I had been standing blankly because I did not fully understand the situation, but I came to my senses and leaned my upper body against the window frame. The pitiful gaze was clearly directed at the ones responsible for the disturbance.
"What are you doing...?"
Why had they becoming a nanny while I haven't seen them?
"Ah, Captain!"
"You're awake!"
"Long time no see!"
"Bwaaaaaaah!"
"Ack, stop!"
There's no other mess like this.
They can't understand the situation and are just waving their hands. The child is crying as if they were showing off.
They realized it too late and were in a hurry to take care of it.
I laughed again at the empty sight and put my foot up and stepped on the window frame.
Those who had been waving their arms at the unexpected action froze.
"Hey, that..."
"Uh... uh...?"
"Now, Captain, just a moment!"
"Calm down! Life is beautiful... ah, it's not! Life is precious... If you do that, we'll be in trouble! Our Captain is precious... I think the captain won't like this, but damn it!"
"... What are you saying now."
As expected from a castle, the Demon King's Castle had a high roof and wide gaps between floors. The second floor alone was more than the 3rd floor of a regular building, and my room was on the 4th floor.
Jumping from there meant committing suicide. It was natural for them to be scared since their leader, not anyone else, was ready to jump.
I clicked my tongue in regret at the untimely fuss and jumped down.
"Ack!"
"Catch him! Catch him!"
"Oh my, our Captain! You are willing to throw away your life!"
"Please live just a little longer before you die!"
They must know that if they collide with someone falling from this height, there is a high possibility of death, but whether they were thinking or not, they came rushing in, saying they will catch me. I saw this, frowned, and twisted my body in the air.
As I flexibly avoided Milan, who was about to stretch out his arms to catch me, and landed lightly on no man's land, sighs of relief broke out here and there for a moment.
"Oh, please don't make people's hearts break!"
Shouting broke out.
At the same time, the baby's crying, which had barely stopped, broke out again.
"Bwaaaaa!"
"Oh, right."
"Hey..."
"Sorry."
Cleter, who was glaring at the guy scratching his head, sighed.
If he said more, they will quickly forget it anyway and make a fuss again. The child's courage was only being strengthened.
Grinding his teeth, he moved to a place a little further away from them while holding the baby.
I watched this and tilted my head.
"Cleter? When did you have a baby? Did you take good care of yourself?"
"Captain... It's good that you don't have any prejudices, but men can't have children. It's not my kid."
"No, I don't think it would be impossible in the Demon World."
"That...! No, wait, Captain! Why did you jump out the window instead of leaving the good stairs behind? It's dangerous!"
I almost fell over.
They're trying to skip over an important issue. Milan opened his eyes fiercely, but after seeing my face from up close for a moment, his expression relaxed as if he was surprised.
The eyes that had been so intense were gone everywhere, and the round eyes were turned towards me.
"Guys, Captain's face is shining... is there something wrong with my eyes?"
"What kind of thing... huh? Captain, what on earth did you do to your face? I can even see a halo..."
"What, Captain's face is glowing?"
In an instant, members of the Lofty Knights flocked in.
I sighed at the familiar yet tiring sight, but regardless, those who came close to me and looked at my face let out a soft exclamation. The guy in front who was looking at it carefully touched his chin and sighed.
"What can I say... Your face doesn't seem to have changed much..."
"You originally looked like you would make a lot of women cry... but now I think you'll make the whole continent cry?"
"No. What is a continent? You look like you would make an entire race cry."
"So, boss. What did you do to your face?"
I frowned as I watched each of them add a word about a meaningless topic.
"... What did I do? All I had to do was become a hero, so that's it..."
"A hero?!"
"Oh my god, our Captain is a hero?"
"It's crazy, it's crazy. Choosing our Captain? Even the sky is crazy."
"But it's good."
"It's good... because we won't have to worry about Captain in the future."
"So that's why you jumped. You're confident you won't get hurt."
"But refrain from doing that! I thought my heart stopped!"
There will be no end to this.
I snapped my fingers to attract attention and pointed to the child Cleter was holding on one side.
"So, whose kid is that?"
"Oh, it's not our child... another demon entrusted it to us."
... Demon?
I turned my head again and looked at the child.
"No matter how you look at it, it looks like a human... A demon entrusted you with a human baby?"
"Yes, we think they are a bit of a unique demon."
"Now they're out to get baby food for the baby."
A demon so unique that they picked up human babies and raised them. I frowned because there was one person that immediately came to mind.
No matter how much I think about it, there is only one such demon.
"... The 5th Corps Commander?"
"!"
"That's right."
Looks like they just came back.
I looked beyond the crowd. In this direction, the people with good sense moved aside, dividing the crowd, and I was able to easily face Oel and Dernivan standing at the end.
Oel, who had been standing still without blinking as if frozen, belatedly wiggled her fingers and stuttered to open her mouth.
"Uh... Deon..."
She looked like a child who had been caught in the wrong.
Looking at this figure, who would say she was a Corps Commander?
As if he realized that leaving this as is would only lower the Corps Commander's dignity, her adjutant, Dernivan, who was holding baby food ingredients in one hand, stepped forward in her stead.
"Commander Deon."
I tilted my head and crossed my arms as if asking him to say something. My eyes narrowed at him, but he calmly spoke without any agitation.
"As for sneaking in a human baby..."
"I'm not interested in that."
"..."
Although he was blunt about everything, he still seems to have some insight. He immediately said something else.
"... I apologize for arbitrarily entrusting the work to your knights."
"I know."