Yomigaeri no Maou

Episode 17: My father's gaze

Tingling pain runs to the back of the head.

Lulu was forced to awaken consciousness by the pain and opened his eyes.

Look around with a blurry head just after awakening.

The nose smells like booze, the ears hear the drunkards hustle and noise, and, oh, I understand if this is a tavern.

"Have you woken up?

Calm and gentle, he sounded like he was going to labor Lulu, so Lulu looked over there.

Familiar, silver-haired with a silky gloss, the girl with red eyes even more than blood.

But compared to what used to be, he seems to be getting old, and Lulu realizes that he is beginning to haunt a tremendous hue that he didn't feel seven years ago.

"... what have you done? Brother."

Ever since he was officially adopted by Kadisnora and became a brother-sister relationship in law, when there are people, Iris, who seems to have decided to unite under the name of Lulu, not your brother, asks him so with his neck tilted.

Lulu shook his head saying it was nothing so that he wouldn't be noticed what he just thought, and decided to move on to what he cared about.

"Uh... why was I sleeping here?

"That's because your brother lost his battle with your father-in-law and passed out."

That concise answer brings back memories just before I fell.

We fought, we lost. The memory.

And when I looked at the drunks around me again, I found out that it was my father and mother at the center of it and that they were rarely drunk.

Think about it as you watch it.

I was wondering if I lost.

But I felt no remorse for wondering why and for that.

That wasn't part of it because I didn't use the power that I could use, but more than that, I got out of something that I could do about swordsmanship in battle with my father, because I have an idea.

Especially as regards the last integration, when I was once the Demon King, it gave me an exaltation comparable to the one-in-one I had with the brave.

That's probably because it's been a long time since I've touched on the fact that there's someone I really can't beat.

I didn't like war, and it was a previous life I had hoped to avoid if I could, but I never hated the fight itself.

To the point that I'm sure Lulu would have gladly fought if it had been a battle in which only each other's lives had been multiplied.

"... but again, why a tavern? Sounds like I've had a lot of congratulations... but did you even have a baby in someone's house?

Looking over again, Lulu felt that the noise was different from the usual liquor store and that there was some kind of celebration, for which he was drinking and making noise.

That's why the question was, but Ilis said it like it was frightening.

"Well... brother. Have you forgotten how you fought your father-in-law?

The response was a clear answer to Lulu's question.

That's right.

I fought my father to show my strength to be an adventurer.

And it was supposed to triumph over my father and travel slowly......

There is no wonder that a celebratory seat will be set aside for this purpose.

But Lulu lost.

Yet......

When I say that,

"Wasn't winning or losing the game in question? Now, didn't Rusty and his brothers travel so slowly that a few months ago he didn't have a problem..."

The Rustys - including Mi and Yuri - are not here right now.

Because those three traveled before Lulu for the adventurer.

Even though they were the same age, the time shifted this way because, in fact, Rusty and Mi were born a few months earlier than Lulu, and for that matter, the time came to be able to register adventurers.

Mi and Yuri also managed to keep Rusty in the village seven years ago, but after all this time they finally gave up his adventurer aspirational fever and started training to keep up with themselves.

Once it became a problem who taught them the skills to be adventurers, specifically combat skills, but I didn't end up having trouble with teachers because of the pair of adventurers who regularly came to this village about it and Iris and even Patrick.

However, as Rusty was learning from Patrick about his skills as a swordsman, the two men who thought about what was to come and asked themselves for backward support or his role as a medium guard chose Yumis and Iris as teachers and as a result traveled through the village with a medium arm.

Before traveling, still like Lulu, to confirm his skill and all three, he is the wingman who fights the teacher who learned the moves, Rusty is the wingman who fights Lulu, Gran and Patrick, and Mi and Yuri are the wingman who fights Yumis and Iris, and consequently ends with the great defeat of the Rusty's.

All three of them "We haven't..." had their noses slapped from the ground up with a thoughtful hammer that seemed to grow high.

Nevertheless, as a newbie adventurer, it was almost out of standard skill, which was clear from the Gran and Yumis story, so that would be fine, and in the end it was to be allowed for them to leave the village.

During the last seven years, Rusty and the others had first decided to go to the King's Capital as they became adventurers and also to join the family (clan) of the Grans, so by now they should be hanging in there as new adventurers in the King's Capital.

The letter, which arrives once a month, also states to that effect, seems to be very enjoyable, so much so that I felt like a normal country boy that I wanted to go to the city as soon as I read it.

They also seem to have regular send-offs from them to their families who remain in the village, and I guess they are doing a good job of saying that they are newcomers and adventurers on the other end.

Even they, defeated in their battle with the teachers, are allowed to leave the village that way without any problems.

On second thought, Lulu, who played a pretty good game, seems to know enough that he can't possibly be admitted, but Lulu thought he couldn't if he didn't win somehow.

Defeat as a demon king may have been preconceived by the fact that he has prolonged his life leading to death.

I realized my personality that I would unconsciously think that if I didn't win the battle, I couldn't achieve my purpose, and I gave up modifying that, however, it wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing either.

"So this banquet celebrates your brother's departure.... I will accompany your brother as he celebrates my (my) departure... That said, the lead role is still your brother. By the way, the banquet started right after your brother collapsed and turned out to be just a faint with no abnormalities... and all the way back in the middle of the tavern, your mother-in-law and your father-in-law will tell you about your brother's memories."

If Iris told me to clear my ears and listen to the memories and doings, I seemed to be endlessly repeating the story from that time when Lulu raised his voice shortly after his birth to that time when he fought Patrick and fell in his last blow.

And the audience is listening as they nod it yeah and nagging, sometimes in tears, opening the liquor bottle indefinitely.

"... don't you get tired of it?

That's what Lulu said as he shrugged, so Illis replied with a smile all the time.

"I think drunkenness is like that all the time."

Absolutely right.

If you say it at last, it seems that not only the times, but also the races, have nothing to do with it.

Even the Demons, the banquet was more or less like this.

Lulu nodded deeply at the words of Illis with a view of the memories that would have existed in this world a long time ago.

◆ ◇ ◆ ◇ ◆

The feast, which seemed to last until the end of the world, also ended loosely with more people gradually crushing, sleeping and returning home.

My mother and Ilis are home first, too.

If it was true, Lulu was going to go home with me, but Patrick refused to take a seat because he told me he was a man, he could still be there, drink, etc.

The age for lifting the ban on drinking in the Kingdom of Leather is fourteen. I mean, there's no problem recommending booze to Lulu today. That said, I'm not forcibly recommending it, but it just seems to be doing so on some pretext.

I had no choice but to go ahead and drink, listening to my father loop, but my father, who became a serious face for a moment, said to make sure there were no people around to listen to.

"...... lulu. Why didn't you fight for real?

At that moment, Lulu remembered a breathless surprise.

Perhaps to the point where I would have seen from my father and Lulu's expression seemed solidified.

And when I saw Lulu's face like that, my father laughed as he blew out,

"Pfft... haha! It's a joke, a joke...... lulu. You don't have to be so surprised."

Because of what he said, Lulu exhaled and responded.

"What... don't say anything funny all of a sudden... father"

"Ha ha ha. Right... Lulu can't really fight... because he really wants to keep it hidden"

I realize, however, that Lulu is still spotted in that dialogue that Patrick went on like a little infidelity.

Probably noticed it somewhere.

And I was dissatisfied with what was hidden.

That my son has secrets that I can't tell my real parents.

That was understandable mood, but I also thought it was unusual for Patrick.

And Lulu, who understands there's no point in hiding any more, says sorry to Patrick.

"... I'm sorry. Nothing. I wasn't trying to keep it a secret forever. It's just... my dad would have said that too. Keep one or two trump cards."

That's right.

It was voluntary behavior, but Patrick also encouraged such behavior.

To widen the battle, and to always leave a hand that can be said to never lose.

To do this, it should have been Patrick thinking that he should keep the trump cards.

You thought they poked you where the pain was, Patrick pointed his mouth a little.

Hi. I have a much more childish attitude than usual, maybe because this guy is vulnerable to alcohol.

Come to think of it, I've never seen you drink too much.

Is that because of this reason?

If so, that would have been wise......

"Sure, that's what I said...... it's my last fight. I thought you'd give me everything. Yet..."

Patrick went on to do so.

Seems a little rusty.

And in that dialogue Lulu understood to what extent his father was discerning about Lulu.

Perhaps, but my father understands to the point that Lulu has some unfamiliar trump card, but he doesn't know what it is and to what extent.

Otherwise, this is not the way to put it.

Fighting Patrick was a pure swordsmanship battle.

If it was that mound, that was definitely because it must have been the full force of Lulu.

If we want more than that, we have to lift the ban on the use of magic, but we want Lulu to do all we can on that occasion, which is put in place on the assumption of not doing it, because we are saying nothing more than roughly impossible.

Perhaps my father thinks so much that Lulu learned something from Gran.

I guess there is no such thing as having a powerful power as an ancient demon or feeling anything close to it.

So Lulu said that was all he could do here, and he could also avoid my father's little self.

But Lulu thought.

Anyway, if you're going to tell me this far, I was wondering if it's not a bad choice to show my father everything.

I thought maybe I could hit my full strength on Patrick, who seems to be feeling a possibility to Lulu.

I had no idea Patrick would start to fear or avoid Lulu with that.

Because Lulu trusts Patrick that much.

Because Patrick, no doubt, is the real father to Lulu.

So Lulu was ready to say.

"... then again, shall we fight? Now it's time... to do everything you can."

The departure to become an adventurer is not tomorrow but the day after because of the carriage.

It was also a dialogue that I thought I would be able to take that much time.

And. To that dialogue, Patrick, drunk around, said with a funny look on his face.

"Ho... is that true? No spare time, huh?

And Lulu continued.

"Of course, but... my father didn't have to."

…… That's obvious! Even today I intend to relieve myself... "

I know Patrick is serious about saying that, but that's not what Lulu's trying to say.

I don't really call my father Lulu for limiting the use of magic and lowering his muscle strength to the same line.

"It's not... use your magic, and don't wear your muscle weakening magic."

You didn't think I'd say that, Patrick opens his eyes as if he was drunk too.

"Lulu... are you making fun of me? Still, as a swordsman in this country, I'm pretty much at the top of the line, right? How can I tell you how talented I am to fight all fourteen children?

Patrick glanced at Lulu with an awesome mixed gaze.

That was not the usual, my father's face as a swordsman.

A murderous authority pierces Lulu.

But it was more of a nostalgic feeling for Lulu.

I saw many times that the awesome arms of a people (human) who excelled at everything challenged and defeated themselves that way.

So the emotions floating around looking at my father like that were not fear, but rather joy.

"Otherwise, I can't fight for real.... It's the last one. I don't know when I'll be back here again. Dad's at work, so I'll be able to meet him in Wang Du, but I don't think I'm really willing to do everything I can to get him out there."

If we do that, in every sense, it's bound to be outrageous.

Because I know that.

That's it, and Patrick seems to have figured out that Lulu is serious about that.

He's not out of faith, but still,

"... ok. But I'm really not gonna give a shit, am I? Don't resent me if I'm late for an injury, okay?

"That's more of my dialogue, Dad."

To Lulu, who gave it back immediately, Patrick laughed in disgust, then said.

"If that's what you want... I'll show you the power of the most powerful swordsman in the kingdom of Leonard."