34 – Reach the Sky, One Day
His knees buckled as he sank to the ground.
He didn’t even realize the bow lodged in his abdomen had been pulled free. The small kobold simply stared at him, his eyes filled with grief.
“Why…are you looking at me like that…?”
What a fool. He had won. So why make that expression?
Berganda slowly raised what was left of his left arm and touched the kobold’s head.
“Who lowers their guard…while the enemy is still alive?”
He forced his lips into the shape of a smile, doing everything he could to keep the pain from showing.
Still, Sheto looked as if he was about to burst into tears.
“That being said…there is nothing I can do now.”
The shock of the unleashed magic had torn his stomach muscles to shreds. The intestines beneath were both numbness and agony.
The flow of blood pouring from his severed right arm was gradually weakening. Not because it was clotting, but due to running out of blood.
“Why…”
The kobold asked in a trembling voice.
“Why…you not…use your blade?”
“…A promise…to my master. I was to…bring you…unharmed.”
“So, you held, back.”
If he had been capable of something so skillful, he would not have ended up in this state.
Berganda wanted to throw out one last sarcastic remark, but even moving his jaw was difficult now.
“No.”
“You…a fool.”
A tear dripped from the kobold’s cheek.
Who was really the fool here? Berganda wondered.
If he was going to look like that, he never should have asked to fight in the first place.
“Hold your head high…Sheto. You are the Hero who slayed Berganda, the Demon General of Morania.”
The end was drawing near.
There was nothing more to be said.
All that remained was to show proper respect as a subject.
“Lord Demon King.”
He looked up and spoke to the castle in the sky.
“I, Berganda, have failed in my duty. It appears that I can no longer aid in your path to conquest. And though it pains me…I must take my leave.”
He had been favored and elevated. Yet this is how things would end.
The Demon King must surely be smiling bitterly at this pathetic result.
‘My Demon General, your service was magnificent. For now, you must take your time and rest.’
Berganda opened his mouth in stunned silence.
The voice, which was filled with compassion unlike anything he could have imagined as a mere hallucination, was soon replaced by an order carrying the strength of tempered steel.
‘However, even if you have crossed beyond the springs of the underworld and found rest in some distant land where the shadow of death falls, when I call your name, come rushing to my side without fail. No matter when or where! My loyal servant, the one and only ‘Demon General’ in this world!’
Berganda felt a deep joy as he listened to the Demon King’s declaration.
He understood why he had been called the only Demon General.
From now on, there would only be one who stood beneath the Demon King as the Demon General.
“Ahh…this is bad.”
Berganda smiled wryly at the thought that suddenly came to his mind.
“If word of this were to get out…that old bat…will be unbearable again…”
And then Berganda’s head fell limply.
Without even a final breath escaping his lips, his eyes, which were now devoid of any light, remained open as they stared at nothing.