Hitsugi no Maou

"Rayakels, the demon king, is an ancient coffin man. There are still many mistletoed grass sprouts in the land, rivers and mountains, people of a time full of life."

The two of them, sitting in a wooden chair and bucket, were pinching the table and drinking white water. A book with a page of Rayakels rings open on the table and a sliced bread of lid served on a wood dish.

Ash puts down a glass of white water and opens his mouth as he knits his hair like a dust.

"Heh, Coffin had those days, too. Why have you changed?

"The ancient Coffins rained poison to exterminate enemies such as giant beasts and dragons. The curse of all the people, by the great sorcery.... As I said before, magic in coffins does not produce anything. It's an unjust manipulation."

While complicating and decorating her hair rope, Ash looks like she's in trouble.

I know you don't understand. Dust puts a finger on his cheek and explains it slowly.

"For example, a man of witchcraft may fortify (burned) flames of fire by casting spells or, conversely, extinguish them. It can also reshape the flame and burn it to another firewood (maki) in a remote location"

"That's amazing!

"But you can't burn firewood in a place without fire. It means that there is no magic to start the fire from scratch. Nothing that doesn't exist there can be manipulated. This is the rule of sorcery."

The dust provides a cup with white water and points to the surface of the water.

"The same technique of manipulating water. The magic of boiling (flushing) or freezing water exists. But I can't let water gush out into an empty cup. Magic is the art of manipulating what already exists, and spells are the words used to give orders and favors to what you want to manipulate."

"... you're asking me to burn harder on the firewood burning fire?

"Exactly. The means of communicating the will to the unwilling and the word to the unworthy can be spells or magical rituals.

So like you said before, there is no such thing as creating flames or lightning from the palm of your hand or creating monsters from the void. I don't have a favor to ask. I can't convey the spell. "

I see. To Ash nodding, Dust sips of white water before continuing.

"These techniques are learned after the correct drilling of knowledge and tens of thousands of trials and errors. It takes a great deal of effort and patience... and as we mastered it again, there is hardly any such thing as a magic book that conveys witchcraft knowledge because states and governments that endanger witchcraft have plotted (kakusaka) to oppress and eradicate witchcraft many times in history.

Depending on the effort, magic that can be used by any lower class can be a source of rebellion for the ruler. "

Thus, in modern coffins, few use witchcraft.

The dust continued, but I drank up some white water.

"The ancient Coffins, born parents of sorcery, were different. They had knitted and mastered a number of powerful grand sorceries to fight creatures with more power than mankind. And in Coffin history, it was the secret of poisonous rain that was only used once. Grow the coatli blooming in the wild mountains all over the country, blossoming even more at once, and riding its poisonous nectar on the auspicious wind (Ouhu) from the ground to the sky. The massive amount of poison carried in the clouds will eventually return to the ground, rain"

"Courtri...... is that the one I drank before!?

"It's a small number of flowers. It is therefore highly poisonous to kill predators. The ancient Coffins artificially increased it and mixed it with rain.

The closer the giant creature is to heaven, the more skin and flesh is eroded and extinct by its rain. Large quantities of poison also stained the soil, withering weak plants, and even driving the cycle of rain to and from heaven and earth crazy.

The increased Courtries continued to spit honey after the destruction of mankind's natural enemies, sinking the world into venom. Until mankind finishes picking the flowers. "

To a spit-swallowing ash, the dust turns a narrower eye as he fingers through the cup's fur.

"Do you know why magic has the word 'demon' in it? Demons are things that confuse people's minds, erode them, and cause them to lose their sanity. Magic that distorts what naturally exists at the convenience of people is not sanity. There will always be a great price for madness enough to destroy the species"

"Are you saying that magic to defeat enemies has turned a man's land into hell? The price at that time is still going on, and Coffin can't get rich?

"That's the thing. Most likely, few Coffins know how these things go. It was a long time ago and... the inconvenient fact is something that gets erased (all the time) from history. The statement that mankind has defiled the land of Coffin, etc., is not left in authentic history.

It says only in the inscription of Rayakels the Demon. "

Ash as she embarked on her own saw the dust as she silently urged (though) to continue.

Dust's grey eyes quietly reflect the woman's face in front of her.

"The ancient Coffins, punished by the failure of poisonous rain, contradicted the use of witchcraft itself. We decided to build civilization on a rough land without magic. But there was a backward man in it. That's Rayakels. One last time he had something he wanted to manipulate with the power of a demon."

"What's that?

"It's a man's life. I wanted to revive his parents, his wife, his children, his friends, who lost their lives as a result of the poison rain."

Resurrection of the dead. Restoration of souls.

That's the biggest contraindication, no matter how strongly people wish, it must not be fulfilled.

To Ash, who slowly hips back into the bucket, Dust continues with his eyes closed.

"Rayakels gathered all sorcery techniques present in the country, dug back graves, ripped open coffins (hives), chopped up corpses, broke them down, assembled and preserved them. We studied ways for lost lives to return and tried all kinds of abominations.

They chased the country, scolded the villains, the lunatics, the demons and the demons, and they didn't give up when they turned on the crusaders. Eventually his notoriety becomes so enlarged as to be in history "

"... a triple-horned demon, is that what you mean? You mean someone who doesn't know about Rayakels distorted his real image in association with the Demon King's name?

"The most evil legend in Coffin is the legend of Rayakerus, the 'Demon King of the Coffin'. An evil king who used magic to manipulate people's corpses and continued to blaspheme their lives. Legend has it that he was hunted down by the ancient Coffin brave men and exposed his neck to the crowd (Shigeruku).

When the worst demon king was fought, his magic was extinguished, and it stopped raining poison that was eating coffins. "

Ash dropped his gaze on the wood at the table when he said, "I'm blaming people properly..."

Dust opens his eyes and observes such Ash's face.

"The story of Rayakels is described in an inscription (hibu) he himself left behind in a remote (hechi) part of his escape life. It is possible, of course, that he has fabricated (twisted) stories that are convenient to him... but his inscriptions are older than those of authentic history in the King's Capital of Coffin. It's also apparent from the material and condition of the stone."

"Where is the inscription of Rayakels?

"Most of them seem destroyed, but at least one of them exists.... you know, in the stone altar."

Ash raised his face and made his cheeks snap.

Dust peeks into the back of its eyes, moving its lips and joining words.

"Those bone hands are the product of sorcery left behind by Rayakels. It's the end of what he tried to revive. Corpses have been adhering to each other (yucchaku) and are still awesome underground as a huge collection of one. It's moving, but there's no soul of the dead in that one. It's just a bunch of dead bodies."

Dust manipulated such things and used them to kill people.

Behind Ash's eyes came a color of strong fear, the same as when he first woke up in this house. But it was a moment, and she shook her head so hard, she shook off her fear and perhaps her disgust.

Dust gently thanked her, in her chest, for opening her mouth again under the guise of nothing wind.

"Sorcery can only be manipulated by what exists in this world, right? So, what the hell is that, then? Is the power that's moving that thing from this world?

"So of this book, the rings of Rayakels are involved"

The dust taps the page of the book with its fingers and through the shapes noted there.

The overlapping true circle shapes it, while the eyes of the dust bring out a different light.

"This shape is called the 'Magic Circle'. The shapes themselves have power and meaning, and the efficacy of witchcraft is reinforced by the entry or touch of an operator or an object manipulated by witchcraft within this shape.

The ring developed by Rayakels implies a circulation of life (Junkan). One true circle at a time means death and regeneration, and that connects with the other rings, coming back around even further.

In other words, the figure of taking life and death as things of the same value on the same line and turning every death into life. Death is not the end, but the beginning of regeneration. Therefore, he says that the resurrection of the dead is natural. "

"Sorry, it's hard and I'm not sure..."

"I mean shapes to bring back to the world what you experienced death. It denies the worldview that death is the end of it all, and insists that it is right for the dead to be resurrected instantly. The claim resides in every single one of the true circles, and the more true circles, the stronger they become.

And the dead, who accepted that claim, are resurrected. This is the great magic that Rayakels knitted at the expense of his life. "

Ash stared at the rings of Rayakels for a while before turning to the dust and expressing his doubts.

"... the meaning of this shape also reaches the heart of the dead?

Dust lifts the corner of his mouth and answers to the clever Ash.

"Magic only works on what's real. The soul of the dead, the will of the dead, is it real? Rayakels believed it would be real. The dead ascend to heaven and live happily, or watch over those left behind. Then your voice should reach you. I believed that. And"

"Failed......"

"That's right. His voice reached the 'corpse' but not the 'dead'. It was the corpse as an object, where there was no will of the deceased, but a completely different being.

The white bones, who were raised, moved again, spoke, and commanded to laugh, responded only to their desire as moving corpses. Follow the stewardship of the true circle as it will not decay permanently.

Desperate Rayakels leaves his fate and unfinished sorcery on the inscription, erasing his footsteps. If the legend was right, they would have picked on him somewhere. "

This is the story of Rayakels the Demon King.

Ash had been staring at the dust he had finished talking about for a while. Gray eyes stand still and observe their shapely lips eventually tremble softly.

"Something, poor thing. After all, he just wanted to see the people he was close to again."

"Oh."

"How did Dust find the inscription of Rayakels? Coincidence?"

"Oh. I was digging a hole, and I found a stone room buried in the basement. The lair of Rayakels... where I found inscriptions and artifacts made of corpses. I've been studying Rayakels ever since."

"Were you digging a hole? Why..."

It was then. Suddenly the world dawned, and the walls trembled with the sounds of the ground.

From the overhead of the two rounding eyes, I can't send a few seconds. Oh, and the sound comes down. "Ahhh!" Ash rose up screaming and jumped out of the house.

When Dust looked up at the skylight, the sky, which was gray and white, was black, and the rain grains were pounding the feathers of the worms.

Drop your eyes on the page of the book amid a thunderous roar.

Staring at the rings of Rayakels, where the shadow of the rain grain lingered, the dust sighed deep, long, and tight.

- You interrupter.

Crush small and gently close the page.

Out of the open grass curtain, Ash was screaming high in the rain.

As he approaches, he shakes his wet hair and hugs him. When she said, "I see it! I saw it!" and pointed to the sky.

"A little bit, but I could see something like a big tail going into the clouds! Hey, that's Morg, isn't it!? Hey!"

"Oh, yes, I am."

"It was huge, amazing! I knew it!! I'll definitely see your face next time! Definitely!!"

Dust gently tongued into the sky so she wouldn't hear her jumping with both hands.

But in the back of the act, he also realized that he was grateful to Morg for breaking his hip somewhere in his heart.