“It is a little disappointing you refused my offer, Runfar”

Arin Draco and the Demon Lords were now preparing to leave.

“I would have made a rather poor subordinate, so consider yourself lucky”

Runfar there to give them words of farewell.

“But when the time comes when we shall be in need of your power, we shall come to you…as promised by our contract”

“About that, how about using this instead of barging into my doorsteps?”

Runfar handed her a ring.

Examining the ring, Arin frowned a little.

“This is…”

“A prototype storage ring, it is linked to my ring, so if you have a letter, you can apport it using the ring and I will immediately receive it.”

“A very useful tool. Thank you”

Now, the Demon King and Dark Lord shook hands, her orange eyes looking directly at his single crimson eye.

And much to Demon Lords’ surprise, Arin proceeded to pull Dark Lord into her embrace.

“Though I do find your methods questionable, without a doubt, due to your actions, many lives of demons have been saved. To be completely honest, for such acts of valor, you deserve to be rewarded. If it had not been you, we would have no chance to carry out our objectives.”

“No need to for such high praises, Arin. I am simply acting according to my own objectives, much like you guys are acting upon yours.”

“True, but if our goals do ever align, will you be willing to work with us?”

“As long as you don’t hold anything over my head, otherwise…I will have no reason to keep you guys alive”

“You bastard!”

Rahis tried to pounce upon Dark Lord, but Kazan grabbed hold of him, restraining him in place.

“I promise you, we shall not do such thing again. So, I hope we can remain allies in times of need.”

“That is acceptable.”

“Thank you, Dark Lord.”

Now Dark Lord was free from her embrace.

As the Demon Lords were exiting, Kazan smiled at Dark Lord.

“Hope to see you sooner than later, brother”

“Preferably later, much later”

Though Kazan now acted much kinder than the first impression he gave to Dark Lord, Dark Lord still couldn’t bring himself to not think of killing Kazan whenever he laid his eye upon him.

Kazan may have forgiven Dark Lord for cutting off his horn, but Dark Lord had yet to forgive Kazan for his actions…

Now the Demon Lords and the Demon King exited the mansion.

“Kazan, why did you stop me? Unlike you, I can take him…” Rahis was obviously upset.

“Fool, he managed to wound the Knight of Light, something even our king did not manage to accomplish, had he wanted us dead, we would be dead. We can’t afford to make an enemy out of someone like him. Apologies, my king”

Kazan immediately apologized to Arin.

“No, Kazan is right. We already have heroes and Holy Order to deal with; if Dark Lord were to become our enemy as well, then…we will not survive. When the time comes, we will need his aid. That is the reason I made contract with him in the first place.”

Their current objectives were clear; free many thousands of enslaved demons within Holy City.

Now the Demon King and Demon Lords proceeded to vanish into thin air.

One minute they were there and the next, they were gone….

* * *

‘I sincerely hope I am wrong about this…Why would she be here of all places? What the hell was she thinking?!’

Runfar proceeded to enter the kitchen area, there, the Head Chef, a blind maid; Mirabelle was currently working on soup.

“Master Runfar, is that you?”

“Yep, it’s me, all right”

“Is something wrong?”

“Oh no, nothing is wrong, it is just… I wanted to ask you…you recently hired a helper, right?”

“Yes, to be my assistant because I have difficulty telling the quality of ingredients and she also helps me out a lot within the kitchen, my workload has become much more manageable. She is very capable.”

“Do tell me, what is her name?”

“She told me only her first name, Lixus”

“Is that so…Could you please tell her to meet me in the yard?”

“Of course, I will convey your message to her without fail, master Runfar”

“Really, thank you very much, Mira.”

“This servant does not deserve such praise, young master”

* * *

A young maid with a head full of silver white hair which covered her left eye was heading towards the yard.

Her superior, Mirabelle Siros, told her that the Young Master of the mansion requested to meet her in the yard.

Young girl did not know what could be the reason he wanted to see her.

She worked within the Sevilles mansion for the last two months, but she never met the owner of the mansion, Runfar Sevilles.

And now, the Young Master himself was summoning her.

From her previous experience as a servant to a nobleman, she was expecting to be punished, but if that was the case, she was willing to accept it; after all, she felt that someone like her deserved it.

The mansion was enormous, so the yard, the garden and the small lake occupied a rather vast area.

In the middle of the yard stood a single man, wearing attire befitting of a nobleman, he stood tall.

He wore a custom-made mask that concealed nearly half of his face and he wore a glove only on his right hand.

His golden hair reflected the sunlight cast upon it.

As she felt his crimson eye focus upon her, she couldn’t help but feel a little nervous.

But much to her surprise, he smiled.

“Miss Lixus, it is a pleasure to finally meet you”

“Likewise, Master Runfar” she proceeded to bow to him, holding the hems of her skirt in a graceful manner.

“I am sorry for having taken time from your busy schedule”

“No…Not at all, it is servant’s duty to answer whenever the master calls”

“Is that so…In that case, I would like to talk with you in private. If you would be so kind as to take my hand”

He extended his left hand to her.

Hesitating a little, she touched his hand.

Immediately, she found herself apported to another location, the footing was uneven, and to no surprise, she felt herself falling backwards.

But, he caught her hand and pulled her up.

As she looked down, she realized where they were.

They were on top of the Sevilles mansion, on top of the roof.

“Apologies, I forgot to warn you about the change of footing”

“Uh..uh…Don’t worry about it, young Master”

“How is life going for you so far, Miss Lixus?”

“It is going well, Young Master”

“That is good to hear…” Runfar chuckled a little.

“Would you mind me asking you a rather strange question?”

“Of course not, Young Master”

“Miss Lixus, if I were to tell you that I am a demon, would you be scared? Would you fear me?”

However, instead of showing disgust about demon-kind, she answered.

“No, Young Master”

“Why is that?”

“Because when there was none there for me, when I was left all alone, when all humans and gods have abandoned me to perish, only a single demon came for me. He refused to let me die; he saved me and told me to live on. That is why; I will always treasure memory of that demon within my heart.”

“Well, isn’t that tad bit romantic?”

Runfar teased her a little, causing the maid to blush a little.

“Now then…” Runfar’s voice now changed.

“…what part of ‘Leave your past behind you and live a happy life’ to have a chance for a ‘fresh start’ did you not understand?”

“What?” As she heard familiar words escape his lips, she couldn’t help but ask.

“Honestly, is telling you to have an ‘easy life and good future’ too much to ask? Or do you attract danger so much so that you ended up here regardless of your actions? Either way, you sure are something, Sariu Lixus”

“How does Young Master know my full name? I did not tell anyone…”

Her eyes now opened wide as she saw something peculiar happen before her.

His golden hair changed to brownish black after he tapped his forehead.

For a moment, his crimson eye seemed to change to brown.

“I am just glad you are safe, Sariu”

That voice, it was not the same voice Runfar was using, this voice was very familiar….

As she felt tears streaming down her face, she felt her heart pounding hard within her chest.

This person….she knew him well….

Without a shred of doubt, it was him…

Her body acted before her mind could process what was happening.

Like a koala bear hugging a tree, she proceeded to hug him in her warm embrace.

While she could not afford to touch people without mana cancelling cuffs out of fear of accidentally draining away their life, she knew that he would not be affected by her curse.

After all, he was just like her, a mortal with a curse. One of the few who could understand her…

“It’s you…Nur…”

“I was so worried, after Demon Lords took you away, I thought I would never see you again, I am so glad that somehow you are ok”

“Somehow…What do you mean?” the encounter with Demon Lords happened quite a while ago, and he was talking about it as though he did not know what happened at that time, despite being there himself.

But what she did not see was his brown eye reverting back to crimson red.

“Hmm, interesting, I guess I am glad to see you as well, Sariu Lixus”

“Nur… could I please hold on to you like this just for a little bit longer?”

“Do as you wish”

Dark Lord felt a wet sensation on his chest, without a doubt, it was from her tears.

‘I failed to get her away as far away from me as possible, and she seems to be under the impression that I am Nur Finnerman…But, it is partially my fault it ended up like this, so I will need to make amends…’

“I certainly did not expect to find you here, Sariu”

“Neither… did…I…” she spoke while sobbing.

Their awkward position lasted for a couple of minutes, which felt like hours to Dark Lord.

“In that case, would you like to sit down?”

“Y-yes!”

Now, both of them were sitting on the top of the roof, looking over the entire territory in sight.

“Sariu, I must tell you, I am not…”

“I know, you are not Nur Finnerman, not really. But he is someone who I cherish, so please tell me…Is he still in there or is he gone completely?”

“Unfortunately, no matter what I did, I could not erase him completely”

“Is that so…” Sariu put her right hand on Dark Lord’s face, touching him with tender gentleness.

“If that is true…Nur…I missed you so much…”

“I missed you as well, Sariu”

Dark Lord chose to act as Nur Finnerman, for Sariu’s sake. He would never have done such a thing for anyone else, but for her, one of his oldest friends, that was the least he could do.

“Sariu, all I wanted for you was to be have a peaceful life, being near me is not good for you…”

“Then what is good for me?!”

“Sariu…”

“Nur, even if it means my end, I would rather be beside you, if I can be of use to you, even if just a little, then nothing would make me happier”

“I was afraid you were going to say that…But, to be completely honest, I am somewhat relieved that you are here, even if it did go against everything I planned…Why didn’t you use the money I gave you to start your new life?”

Sariu proceeded to take out a pouch full of gold coins from her pocket dimension using her magic.

She now proceeded to hand it over to Dark Lord.

“I have not used a single coin”

“I really am not going to convince you to live for your own sake, am I?”

“I wish to live in a world where you, Nur, are happy. But if it makes you happy, I will leave…”

“No need for that”

Sariu looked up at him in surprise.

“My old friend, we have a lot of catching up to do, don’t you think?”

Dark Lord offered her his left hand once again.

Now, without any hint of hesitation she proceeded to hold his left hand with her right.

Holding hands, two friends had so much on their minds to talk about, but for the first time in a while, Dark Lord’s smile was not a fake, actor’s smile, but a genuine one.