Hitsugi no Maou

"There is a decisive difference between the relics of Rayakels and the heritage of Hilnor. Both are evil monsters who blasphemed life and death..."

A dust moves out in front of the stone tablet and relic, pulling Ash's hand. Sitting in the back of the cave, the gaze of a quietly shaking artifact was just wandering through the void.

Dust quietly raises his voice to Ash, who sees its giant in horror beyond the stone tablet.

"Rayakels made relics only for his own aspirations, the resurrection and reunion of the deceased. After continuing to experiment with various sorcery techniques on the corpses of his own relatives, he just ended up looking like this horrible. The artifact is a symbol of Rayakels' sin and business."

"... Hilnor made a legacy to kill Rayakels like that..."

"That's right. God, the immortal giant, was created to kill Rayakels. That's the biggest difference between an artifact and a legacy. The relics of the Demon King happened to be born in an 'accident' of sorcery rituals, so to speak, while the legacy of the brave was created from the beginning as a weapon for murder.

The two are different because of their existential purpose… Likewise, the inscriptions of the Demon King and the Brave differ in the intentions left to future generations. "

Dust let go of Ash's hand and lay his fingers on the letters on the surface of the stone tablet.

Letters engraved on thick rocks, thinly caught.

A second demon king narrows his eyes in front of the stone tablet until near the ceiling.

"This inscription engraves Rayakels' history and mood as a human being. Hilnor made inscriptions to protect future generations from the threat of immortal giants he himself would leave behind. But Rayakels is not. I just wanted to leave my 'thoughts' somewhere in the world, and I left a stone tablet. This is a stone tablet for Rayakels himself."

"... you're like a suicide note..."

"'There's something I really don't understand. It is a contradiction, which the people of the world think, should also be called the line of the dignity of life' …"

Dust stared at the stone tablet and began reading the text. Ash stands behind it and listens in silence.

"'Man is afraid of death. I fear my own death, as well as the death of others I love. Therefore, when the danger of death is imminent for family, friends, or lovers, they try to eliminate it even if it is not. If enemies attack, they face each other, and if the disease comes, they rely on doctors and medicines. It's natural, and it's a human virtue." "

……

"'But the virtue is lost at the moment when the beloved dies. As soon as they stop breathing, their faces turn blue and they stop moving, those who until then were trying to keep the person alive with their lives will despair, cry and give up. No more. I can't help it. That's how I accept the death of my beloved'"

Beyond the stone tablet, the relic groaned something small. A voice like a young child. That shakes the wall in a whisper, like an empty ear.

"'Death is more inevitable than ancient times, and once visited, it was an inevitable phenomenon. That's why people considered death absolute, and the dead thought it was right to forever, never move again. The resurrection of the dead is unlikely, in case it was the work of the devil'"

But Dust lowers his voice for a moment.

"'This reasoning is very contradictory. We must not cover up death because it is great. Because death does not cover it, man had to give up salvation.' … 'A distant exotic tells a wounded patient who has no choice but to wait for death that he has the skill to live by injecting another human blood through the stems of a plant cut and let tumble. In the land the exchange of blood was condemned as an unclean and desecrating act of life, but when this technique saved the lives of many wounded, it was eventually approved as a holy medicine'".

Ash swallows his knob as he listens, staring straight at Dust's back.

Dust's voice grew lower and lower, bouncing back on his rocky skin like a curse (carpet).

"'The structure of human bioethics is symbolized in this one matter. Even if, naturally, there were human beings who deserved to die in their natural state, if they had the help to save it, people would try to accept it no matter how abominable the technique was.

I assure you. If not only blood, but also meat, bones and even guts were interchangeable with others', and someone had the technology to do so, people would give sanctity to that technique to save their loved ones' "

"Bones... guts..."

"'You will beg the doctor to give your own arm to the one who has been amputated, and to remove and transfer your guts to the one who has suffered gut pain. Then eventually we can ask others for human body offerings to save people, and we can buy and sell meat, bones and guts, eyes and ears.

And eventually, we'll get parts that can also be used from corpses' "

Ash felt no wonder, no fear or disgust at the madness of Rayakels, which pervaded him from the inscription.

I don't know why. The contraindication of transplantation of human body parts, which would undoubtedly also be regarded as a dangerous idea in modern times. But it must be the cry of those who resist the fateful work of man, who want to save those who go to death.

"'Death, if it is possible to avoid it, will cease to be absolute. Physical resuscitation is also not contraindicated if possible. No one appreciates that the stopped heart has moved out again. If you want to avoid death, people will eventually forgive you for anything.

If blood, flesh, and bones are allowed to be exchanged for guts, what is wrong with recalling life and soul itself to the corpse '"

An artifact threw out a voice like a little girl from somewhere.

"'Even if the flesh tries to rot, to whitebone, if the soul returns there, it should be nothing more than the resurrection of human life. Even if the resurrected are not in human form, if that is indeed who they loved, the vast majority should accept the consequences.

The Coffins who try to stop me from doing my research until they kill me are wrong. If I knew that the lives lost in the poisonous rain would return to this world again... many of the people would surely agree with me '"

Dust, who had read so many inscriptions, put a flat palm on a stone tablet and breathed deeply. "What do you think?" Ash thinks a little and then opens his mouth to the question to which he is directed.

"Feeling... understandable"

"Right."

"Me too, if my dropped parents neck leads back to normal and they tell me I can live with them again...... I'm happy, I think. But..."

But. Ash looked to the floor and punched his eyes a few times.

"... but I still don't think Rayakels was... accepted"

"I guess. What he says is, reasonably speaking, muscular...... too vague and blasphemous. In ancient times, in modern times, it will never be accepted by society."

Dust turned Ash and placed his right hand on his chest. But, and his mouth moves.

"For one individual, it is a very seductive wording. regeneration of life and soul...... that is what people want in the depths of their minds no matter how contraindicated they claim morality is.

A lost man, who should have slept in a coffin, suddenly opens the door of his house one day and smiles back... many of those left behind should have wished for the sight once "

"... it's..."

"Ancient demon kings have whispered via inscriptions such an undesirable thing. When I found this place, Rayakels' words came into my mind.

Ash, it's a promise. Let's tell my story. From here on out, listen to me. I'm supposed to inherit the Demon King's name. "

The grey eyes of the dust narrowed quietly so as to foresee a distant past.