To conclude! I was straight up rejected. It was over with a single word — 'No'.
Right now I am in the top room of the demon castle.
Indeed, this is the room I, the summoned hero Haruto, went to defeat the demon king.
Just what was I doing at the top of this room?
"...Rejected. It's over. Somebody kill me!..."
I was hunched over, hugging my knees and drawing letters on the floor.
Including failures from my previous life, just how many times have I been turned down?
"Um...are you good?..."
Next to me was a flustered girl in demon king clothing, whose name I heard to be Alesha.
"...hahaha..."
The laughter just started welling up.
I mean everyone got rejected as some point in their lives, but this was the first I even mustered up the courage to even confess to someone.
People always say there's plenty of fish in the sea. But this girl to me was the best of the fish.
I'm so stupid I should've started off as friends or something. But I couldn't hold it in anymore, I had to confess!
"Stop whining. Aren't you supposed to be the hero? Your supposed to take this as motivation or something ....Wait, what am I doing, he's the enemy!"
Honestly, I thought she would help me, but she just got readied for battle again.
Even though she is very prideful. Through her aura I see kindness...
I mean, think about it. She could've killed my party, but she just left them unconscious.
I almost forgot that she sees me as her enemy.
Why is that?
It's because I'm a hero who barged in the home of this demon girl. It wasn't her fault she was born a demon. We savagely broke in to her home and killed her underlings.
To be honest, I don't even want to hurt this girl any longer.She just so cute.
She got away from near me to ready up her magic. It seems through this talk her body was gradually healing...
Looks like she's ready to take me down.
I can die happy if it's at my beloved's hands.
There's nothing left for me in this world, anyway.
""Demons Wrath of Deen""
A pillar of light came at me.
A senior level light-type magic.
Even with my cheat, if I don't put up any resistance, I'll probably die.
"When I die, please let me be reborn again being an ikkeman. Also, let me find the love of my life..."
I closed my eyes in prayer.
…
...
...…
...?
I waited for a few minutes, but still the impact never came, so I steadily opened my eyes.
The magic she used was gone. Did she cancel her magic because I didn't do anything?
"Haah..."
But the burden on your body is huge if you forcibly cancel it. It was evident she had done just that as she was collapsed on her knees and breathing heavily.
"...Why didn't you resist? I already battled you once, and you already defeated me. Through our exchange, I've come to understand the full extent of your power. You should have easily dodged or countered that level of magic!"
She recovered from the backlash and asked me that.
The answer is simple.
"Because you flat out rejected me, my life became meaningless. So I felt like dying"
"Don't play dumb with me!"
Even when angry she's still cute...Er, I mean...I thought it best to give her a candid answer.
"I have nothing left to live for. Before they summoned me to this world to become a hero, I've lived my entire life lazily with no goal and no family. Even when I was summoned to this world I still didn't feel excitement..."
"... I've never met a human like you before. All the humans I've come across were savage and cruel, treating us demons like trash. Only satisfying their greed"
What I said made her think of me strangely.
As she said, most humans act like that.
However, I was an exception.
"Simple. Because I know how you feel."
Nothing I said was untrue.
"wha-what do you mean? Your nothing but a mortal, how you ever feel the way I feel?"
Her eyes were open wide in shock.
She seems to have misunderstood what I meant.
There is no such magic.
Even with my cheat, I couldn't do that.
"Know you see the thing is... I know what we did was wrong on our part aswell. We barged into your home which you lived peacefully and suddenly killing all your demon friends. And I could see you're a likeable person because you didn't kill my party, you only left them unconscious."
Suddenly she stared at me coldly.
Even I could tell she was thinking, 'What is this guy talking about?'
She probably wouldn't understand things like friends because she would always call her friends underlings. But I still did my best to convince her she was a nice person.
"...I don't believe you. Why would you think those underlings would be these friends my friends that you speak of? And also another question...I'm the demon king, what on earth could make you think I was a nice person?"
"Because every time you mentioned underlings, your face would become sad. Those were the only people you could talk with in this castle and the only people that made you happy. You never went outside this castle not even once and I could tell you were immensely reluctant to kill humans. An example you left my friends unconscious and didn't kill them"
Her face became shocked. I knew I hit right on the mark. She was probably thinking how I knew. I proceeded talking to her however which lead to one question I need to know.
"But one question still comes to mind. Why don't you kill humans?"
"...Because If I did I would've been on the same level as you humans who only kill for power and this so-called peace. Peace shouldn't achieved by such shady endeavours. I hated you humans. "
I think I get where she is coming from.
"So you didn't kill because you didn't want to be compared to us?"
"Precisely. I guess there is more brains you than more than meets the eye."
I'll take that as a compliment.
"So mortal, what should I do now?"
"... For starters, you have an enough power that you can disguise yourself as a human, don't you? If you do, you should be able to meld into human society seamlessly."
How did this turn of events come about?
Even though she wasn't quite following what I was saying, I continued.
"So... Come with me to the outside world."
I reached my hand out to her.
It was time to help this girl from living in a demon castle her whole life. I will show her the outside world and I'll be the one she can rely one.
That day, the Demon King was supposedly defeated, and peace returned.