Only now did I grasp the situation.
This damned body! Of all places, it had to cough up blood here! Damn it!
I could see the documents smeared with blood. And on top of that, the Demon King catching my blood in his hand... Oh god.
'A filthy life.'
Leaving those short last words in my mind, I hurriedly covered my mouth and pulled away from the desk.
But it was too late; the documents were already soiled, and the Demon King's hand was stained with blood. Sure enough, I heard him grinding his teeth with a crunch, clearly furious.
Swallowing the scream that threatened to burst out from the killing intent piercing my entire body, I forced my mouth open.
"I'm sorry. The documents..."
"That's not the issue right now! Chief Physician! Summon the 0th Legion Commander's chief physician!! Where the hell is he when the patient is suffering like this?!"
...Huh?
My mind froze at the unexpected situation.
A moment later, my brain barely managed to come up with another hypothesis.
Ah, he's mad at the chief physician.
In short, this is what happened. I caused this mess because I'm in pain. That means the chief physician didn't do his job properly, which implies that the reason I messed up is because of the chief physician.
So instead of chewing me out, he'll chew out the chief physician instead.
And where would the chief physician, struck by lightning out of nowhere, direct his resentment?
This was the Demon King's Castle. Remembering that the chief physician was a demon too, I sat back down with a look of resignation.
Shit, I'm screwed.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
"Where the hell is he when the patient is suffering like this?!"
Overwhelming demonic energy swept through the entire castle.
There was no need to guess who the owner of that thick, heavy aura was. Chief Physician Ben grabbed his medical bag, steeling himself for death today.
The subordinate the Demon King cared about this much had to be his patient, the proud 0th Legion Commander, Demon Arut.
And sure enough, upon arriving at the Demon King's office, he saw Demon Arut sitting on the bare floor, hand over his mouth. Blood was dripping steadily from beneath his hand.
The office carpet was a mess because of it, but the Demon King wouldn't care about that, so Ben approached without hesitation.
Seemingly too weak in the legs to stand, Ben quickly helped him up and sat him on the sofa, inwardly berating himself.
Not showing up immediately when the patient was in pain—what a failure as a chief physician. Even if Demon Arut snapped his neck in anger, he wouldn't have a word to say in protest.
But first, he needed to heal him.
Ben held up three fingers.
First, check consciousness.
"Demon Arut, can you hear me? How many fingers am I holding up?"
"Three."
Consciousness normal, vision normal.
Everyone in the Demon King's Castle knew why Demon Arut was like this. It was impossible not to know.
After all, they'd all seen it clearly.
They'd seen him stop the Hero from self-destructing with a mere human body.
And not only that—with a casual gesture, he'd taken the Hero's life.
He'd taken the full brunt of the Hero's self-destruction alone, so it was only natural his body was wrecked.
Did that mean they were underestimating him?
'No way.'
A weakened body and combat ability were separate things. For any average fool, maybe, but not him. If he wanted to, he could probably take Ben's life right now. Ben wouldn't even realize he was dead until after the fact.
Just look at those eyes, still vividly alive even as he vomited blood.
Red eyes pooling like freshly spilled blood. They stood out even more against his snow-white hair, containing pure 'death' within.
Eyes that could only belong to someone who'd killed countless people and witnessed countless deaths. How could anyone dare underestimate him?
Forcing down the rising fear and awe, Ben calmly spoke.
"As you probably expected, it's the aftereffects."
Resignation flickered across the Demon King's face, as if he'd anticipated it. He fell silent, bitterness in his expression. But Demon Arut, the person in question, was different.
He looked like he didn't care at all. No, that was definitely a fed-up expression.
He'd heard it too many times. So many times it had become tiresome.
As if thinking they'd said it all before, he pressed the handkerchief the Demon King had given him to his mouth and sank deep into the sofa.
Ben and even the Demon King were left speechless by that attitude of resignation—or perhaps enlightenment.
'How can he be so composed?'
If it were any other legion commander, they would've thrown a fit long ago.
Whether drawing a sword, swinging a fist, or sitting quietly while threatening. They'd glare with murderous eyes and demand to be fixed somehow.
Isn't that your job?
That's why you exist.
His thoughts reached that point, and a sigh nearly escaped—not from frustration or anger, but from relief.
Unconsciously, Ben thought how fortunate he was to be the 0th Legion Commander's chief physician.
'No, this isn't the time.'
He shook off the thought, composed his emotions, and quickly rummaged through his medical bag.
"As always, medicine for internal injuries. I'm sorry I can't do more."
"Thank you."
After confirming Demon Arut took the vial and swallowed it, Ben slowly closed and opened his eyes.
Job done. Now came the unavoidable moment.
The Demon King had been exuding a 'you and I need to talk' vibe since Ben arrived. Knowing ignoring it meant death, Ben cautiously stood and faced him.
He had no complaints. No grievances. Failing to respond quickly to the patient's abnormality was clearly his fault.
Demon Arut probably felt the same—at least displeased, if not outright angry.
So Ben was prepared to first take the Demon King's wrath, then, if he survived, endure Demon Arut's as well. But then, the one who should be angriest stepped in.
...Why?
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
The Demon King is going to chew out the chief physician!
I shot up from my seat on reflex and grabbed Ben's wrist.
Ben looked at me with wide eyes, startled. The Demon King, equally surprised, stared at me with rounded eyes.
Surprised? Me too. But I had no choice.
If he chewed out the chief physician like this, all that resentment would turn to me. Even Ben, normally so mild-mannered, would naturally get pissed if blamed for something that wasn't his fault.
It'd be too late by then.
To survive, I had to stop it!
With that resolve, I spoke first to the Demon King, who was still speechless.
"My condition isn't great, so I'll take my leave. Of course, my chief physician will come with me. Unfortunately, we'll have to postpone the resignation talk."
"Uh, yeah? R-resignation...? No, fine. Go rest."
As expected, he brushed off the resignation topic, not wanting to touch it.
I'll bring it up next time for sure! Vowing that inwardly since the timing was bad today, I strode out of the office.
And I don't know how long we walked.
When I stopped, we were midway down a fairly long corridor.
With so many corridors, I peeked out the window to get my bearings.
True to the demon world with no sun, a veil of night draped the garden outside. In the sun's place, three moons softly illuminated it.
That alone might make one think the scenery was pretty nice, but look over there. What flower has teeth? Man-eating plant? And the one next to it has eyeballs. Blinking ones at that!
Shuddering at the creepiness, I heard a faint voice from beside me.
"D-Demon Arut..."
Hm? ...Ah.
Come to think of it, I'd been holding his wrist the whole time. Too distracted to notice.
I quietly let go and sneaked a glance at Ben's face. He wasn't offended, was he?
Fortunately, no displeasure showed. Instead, what caught my eye was his face, pale as mine.
He seemed somehow restless...
"Are you hurting somewhere?"
"No. I just..."
Resignation appeared on his face.
Was he really in pain? Looking at him with full concern, he sharply inhaled.
Ben's pale lips trembled, then he bit them hard as if resolving himself and bowed deeply.
"If I may be so bold, please make it as painless as possible!"
"...Huh?"
I forgot to control my expression for a moment. My face probably openly showed bewilderment right now. My dumbstruck voice was the cherry on top.
Good thing he was bowed low. He didn't seem to notice my lack of reaction or hear my voice.
I quickly schooled my features and cleared my throat.
I couldn't outright ask what nonsense that was, so I rephrased a bit...
"What do you mean by that?"
"Ah... N-nothing. I misspoke. I'm sorry!"
I'd asked kindly, but he freaked out instead.
Is this guy actually sick? They say you can't cut your own hair—does a chief physician get sick, what then?
And he's my chief physician.
Anxious at the thought of entrusting my body to a patient someday, I sighed softly and said,
"I won't kill you."
Whatever it was, I wouldn't kill him. No, I couldn't.
If I had the power to kill a demon, I'd have ditched the legion commander role and escaped long ago. Why else would I stick around suffering?
My pitiful situation hit me anew, drawing another sigh.
Carrying my gloom, I trudged to my room, leaving the dazed Ben behind.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
I know Demon Arut is the most lenient of all the legion commanders, contrary to appearances. But I never imagined he'd even protect someone who failed in his duties.
No, he probably doesn't think I failed my duties in the first place.
Maybe because he's human-born, his thinking differs from demons', so I can't grasp his standards.
But for me to suddenly ask him to kill me painlessly—how bewildering must that have been? Enough that even he, who always uses formal speech, blurted out "What?" informally.
But there's reason for that misunderstanding. If it were any other legion commander, even if they saved me, it'd be because "I have to kill you myself to vent."
Anyway, I should've stopped there with quick wits. Unfortunately, oblivious as I was, I only thought he'd taken offense at my words and even apologized, burdening him further.
In a situation where he'd be justified in smacking my head, Demon Arut raised no hand—instead, he let out a faint sigh and said,
[I won't kill you.]
Honestly, it was shocking. Isn't that too lenient?
I'd always been proud to be his chief physician, but never as much as today. Looks like I'll need to grab a bottle and visit Setter, the official legion commander chief physician, tonight.
I could already picture him clutching his neck in envy, dealing with those nasty-tempered commanders daily.
Of course, there's work to do first.
'Make sure it never happens again...'
Recalling his patient, Demon Arut, dripping blood pitifully, Ben's eyes gleamed faintly.