The Greatest Demon Lord Is Reborn as a Typical Nobody - Volume 7 - Chapter Pr

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SIDE STORY

Dreams of the Deficient

Every human being—no matter who they were—had a past.

Even he was no exception.

Born the child of painfully average parents, he was raised in a remote village with his two older brothers. He realized one day that his siblings were making names for themselves in their hometown.

The eldest brother became a skilled warrior who fended off monster attacks—a dangerous affair. This might have been why he was permitted to marry the daughter of the village elder—the most beautiful woman in the village. He was expected to become their next leader.

The middle son was gifted with intellect—an undeniable genius. Daily crowds formed outside their house, seeking his wisdom.

The youngest son, on the other hand…had nothing to note.

His androgynous features were comely, bewitching almost. Meeting his gaze was dangerous for young maidens—and even men fell under his spell. But barring his appearance, he had no other remarkable traits…at least, according to the villagers’ assessments.

—However, his brothers knew the truth: He was a monster.

This discovery was made when the eldest had brother extended an invitation to him.

“I’m going to teach you how to hunt today.”

The eldest brother intended to put him through a little trial, hoping to spark something in his apathetic sibling. That was why they entered the mountains near the village…but they soon ran into an unfamiliar monster. Even the eldest brother, a true warrior, couldn’t hold his ground against it. No one would have ever guessed he was the village hero as he fell in terror and pathetically begged for his life.

Naturally, a monster wouldn’t show any compassion. Just as the eldest brother was about to be at the mercy of its sharp fangs…

“Ugh, fine.”

The speaker had a monotonous voice, one that was frigid. As soon as the youngest brother spoke up, the monster’s movements ground to a halt…and then its severed head rolled on the earth.

The eldest brother was taken by momentary confusion…until the situation finally registered in his mind, and he blinked at his little brother.

“Did you do that?”

“Uh-huh.” He acted and sounded like he couldn’t care less. This was an affront to the eldest brother’s pride.

He hadn’t managed to do anything in the face of grave danger, while his younger brother had handled it without much thought…the same younger brother he had looked down on all these years. That was enough to shatter his reputation. But the youngest sibling took it a step further—behaving in a way that was far from gloating, acting like he’d killed it only to pass time.

It was disgraceful! It was mortifying! However, the eldest brother did not voice his emotions, choosing to offer his gratitude instead…because there was a far more powerful emotion overshadowing his rage: fear.

The eldest brother saw him as an unknowable monster from that day forward.

—The middle brother also discovered this on his own.

On this day, the middle brother had gathered a group of small children to hold an open-air class. There was no schoolhouse in the village, so the most intelligent members were tasked with imparting basic knowledge and education. He taught the children all kinds of things, but unsurprisingly, his magic classes were by far the most popular. Magic was the greatest mystery of life and a stimulating toy to the little ones.

“Oh, if it isn’t my little brother. How about a lesson or two?”

The youngest brother was already fifteen—far older than the other students. In the eyes of society, he was a full-fledged adult…but no one treated him that way. He was a freeloader with no work ethic to speak of, consuming the village’s resources yet contributing nothing.

The middle brother viewed him with disdain. Even his offer was a sarcastic one—he didn’t mean it.

“…Sure. I’ll join in,” answered the younger brother, stone-faced.

This was how he had ended up participating in an open-air class with small children. They observed him with curiosity in their eyes, exchanging looks and asking him mean questions as children do—“Why are you here if you’re so old?” “Are you stupid?”

No average person would withstand this environment, but he didn’t raise as much as an eyebrow.

This infuriated the middle brother… In fact, it gave him the creeps. He couldn’t read his younger brother’s mind. It was humiliating for him—for someone known for his intelligence.

Yet, he kept this to himself and continued with the lecture.

“Hang on. You made an error there with this technique,” objected the youngest brother, pointing to the magic circle drawn on the ground. “You wanted to rearrange explosion magic to turn them into fireworks, but the output conversion is insufficient. You’ll get hurt if you cast it now.”

The circle on the ground was the work of the middle brother, and it was his very first spell reconfiguration after a series of experiments with multiple high-level techniques. There were no errors in his spell or theory. He would demonstrate this to everyone and bask in their praise. He had such faith in his flawless reconfiguration that his own genius frightened even him.

…And yet, his little brother had just gone and declared it worthless.

The middle brother raised his voice. “Go ahead and run off somewhere if you’re scared. I’ll prove you’re wrong.”

He pointed off into the distance, and his eyes said, Get lost.

Even so, the youngest brother’s expression remained unchanging.

“…I see. It seems you can’t offer what I want, so I better get going,” he said indifferently before walking away.

Behind him, the middle brother imagined spitting in his direction as he focused his magic into the circle on the ground.

—He never could have guessed what would happen next.

As the youngest brother had pointed out, there was an error in his technique. The explosion magic did transform into fireworks, but the output conversion was all wrong. Fireworks sprayed everywhere. The middle brother and the children sustained severe burns.

The middle brother’s reputation fell after this incident and never recovered. Every time he saw the burn scars on the upper half of his body, he felt unbearable disgust…and terrifying dread.

How had his younger brother discovered a flaw in his technique? How and when had he surpassed him in intellect?

Like his older brother, the middle brother soon saw the youngest as a monster.

And in reality…he was a monster. He was aware of this fact. The youngest brother knew a depraved beast slumbered somewhere within.

Thus…even when he predicted the last days of the village and imagined the final moments of his family…

He felt nothing.

He was twenty now.

News arrived that a demon—high-ranking in societal structures—would visit the village. According to the messenger, they wanted to see the brightest person their community had to offer.

If they wanted brains, it would be between the eldest and middle brothers.

A saturnalian spirit reigned over the village.

For the first time in history, someone from their village might become the servant of a great demon.

…He observed their wild revelry with apathy.

This is the end, he thought for no reason in particular. Something terrible will happen if I stay here.

He had no basis for thinking this, but he was convinced it was true. And so he left the village before the anticipated visit. The timing was perfect. No one in this settlement accepted him anyway.

He decided to look in the outside world for someone who would.

—Two months had passed since he left his village to set off on an aimless journey.

He knew that demon had destroyed his home.

He wasn’t sure why. It could have been on a whim or the result of someone’s carelessness. At any rate, all the villagers had been killed. In the foulest, unholiest of ways.

This included his brothers, who had secretly feared him, and his parents, who had loved him.

Their skewered corpses still had to be lying in the ruins of the settlement.

He pictured the scene yet felt nothing.

Not anger or sorrow. And that made him sadder and more furious than anything else.

Fast-forward—

He was seventy-six now.

He stepped into a certain town. Any passersby who glanced at him immediately looked away and made sure not to make the same mistake twice.

That much was to be expected. After all, he was a pathetic-looking vagrant. Gone were all traces of his androgynous youth, replaced with a long, scraggly beard and gray hair. He wore shabby hemp clothes. Even the local beggars looked more presentable.

He paid his surroundings no mind and continued to stagger forward on unsteady feet; nothing reflected in those hollow eyes of his.

Nothing in all of creation held any value.

That was what he’d learned from his travels.

Once, he’d had a desire. He’d set out on a journey to find it, to live his life as a real person. He’d wanted to bury that lost piece of his heart and die as a decent human being.

However…his wish never came true. He wasn’t even sure what it was he’d wanted to begin with. In other words…

Yes, that had to be it.

What he sought had never existed in the first place.

…In that case, why was he still walking? So that was his conclusion. There was no reason to take one step farther. Living was meaningless.

For a second, he doubted it, and in the next instant…

…he plunged to the earth.

His foot struck a hole in the ground, and he pitched forward. He had unknowingly entered the slums, and no one cared about a fallen old man. When he looked around, he saw the corpses of several other vagrants. He’d be joining them soon enough.

But he still felt empty. He was born from nothingness, lived in nothingness, and would die as nothing. It was a proper end for someone like him.

“Mister! Are you okay?!”

Why did he find the young girl’s voice so comforting?

His unconsciousness quickly faded…and when he awoke, he saw an unfamiliar ceiling. He was in a strange bed.

“Ah! You’re awake, Mister! Thank goodness!”

Once again, he felt a zap in his brain. When he turned toward the voice, he found a young, homely girl standing there and looking at him with relief.

“…Where am I?” he asked, voice frail and hoarse.

The girl drew closer. “An orphanage. I wanted to bring you to a real clinic…but I don’t have any money. All I could do was wipe off your sweat, feed you porridge, and give you water. Unfortunately, the clinic director said you wouldn’t get any better.”

“…Huh.”

Even he was surprised that he’d been nursed back to health from a critical state.

But he felt no joy or relief.

Why am I still alive? Is my creator ordering me to continue in agony?

“…You should have just left me to die,” he muttered, almost involuntarily.

The girl glared at him. “Hey! Don’t say that! Many people in the world don’t get to live even though they want to!” she scolded him. It’d generally be the other way around.

Most with average sensibilities would reflect on their actions and feel a degree of shame. Or they might prepare a theoretical argument, as adults often did, and discount the youngster.

He had no desire to do either. On the other hand…

He felt a strange warmth in his chest. It was faint yet undeniable. He’d never felt such a sensation before.

What is this?

As his mind began racing…

“By the way, Mister, what’s your name?”

He turned to her once again, and her large eyes stared straight at him with a captivating charm. The growing emotions continued to bewilder him.

“…I have no name. I abandoned it long ago. It has no value to someone like myself.”

“Huh.” The girl looked at him like she didn’t get it and crossed her arms. “That’s kind of annoying. Now I don’t know what to call you.”

“…Call me what you want.”

The response seemed blunt, but the girl didn’t appear to particularly mind. Her arms still crossed, she gazed up at the ceiling.

“Hmmmmmmm. I see. You look like a character in my favorite picture book, Mister… So that can be your first name… As for your last name…maybe it could be the name of this town?”

Having evidently come to a decision, the girl puffed up her chest in preparation for the big reveal. A grin spread across her face.

“Lizer! Lizer Bellphoenix! From now on, I’ll call you Lizer!”

He didn’t care about his new name…or so he’d thought.

“…It has a nice ring to it.”

He was shocked by the words that came from his mouth.

Lizer Bellphoenix. A man past his prime.

Nearing the end of his days…

He finally found what he was looking for.

“Dreaming of the past is an omen of misfortune.”

The voice was melodious but provided no comfort. Lizer Bellphoenix returned to reality. When he opened his eyes, he was met by a darkness spreading across the room.

Lizer rose irritably and faced a corner of the chamber. There, a beautiful man silently stood within the inky darkness he controlled. His eyes were fixed upon Lizer.

“…Alvarto Egzex.”

This was the man’s name.

Glossy black hair. Looks that put prided beauties to shame. Splendid garments, deep crimson.

Like Lizer, Alvarto had once been a Heavenly King…but now, he was the joint administrator of this world.

Alvarto was assessing him; his face wiped clean of his usual smile. The man’s expression was deadpan, and his cold, narrow gaze looked Lizer over with great prejudice. At least, that was how it appeared to him.

“…I don’t think I did anything to warrant this. All that’s happened is the result of your own foolish desires.”

He wouldn’t have reached for the forbidden fruit otherwise.

“It’s almost been half a month—half a month since we should have changed this world and formed our utopia—half a month…since we should have eliminated a certain subset of people. Yet, we’ve managed to do nothing. In fact…we’ve permitted them to regroup,” Alvarto stated.

He was referring to Ard Meteor, the person formerly known as the Demon Lord, and his companions.

To Lizer, they were the biggest threat of all. Back when the world transformed, he could have eliminated them if he’d tried…but his pact with Alvarto had fettered him. Now, it was Lizer who was being driven into a corner.

“In the beginning, I didn’t think much of it. I was certain the Demon Lord would be no match for us if he were stripped of his magic… I never imagined he’d be so persistent.”

Lizer hadn’t thought he’d let his guard down. From the start, he’d focused all his resources on this. Nothing was tepid about his schemes—crafty, cowardly, foul as they were—to annihilate Ard and his party. However…

Ard Meteor had changed all of Lizer’s best-laid plans to his advantage in the worst ways imaginable.

“…He’s a monster. I knew the man was an absolute terror. Even without magic, the Demon Lord remains secure in himself. Yes, that’s why—”

“We need a beast greater than the Demon Lord. According to you.”

Alvarto’s frigid beauty grew icier.

“I get it. I imagined that might be the case. Still, I never, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever believed you would choose this route. And that’s the real problem here. It’s ridiculous. Practically suicide! I didn’t think you’d already gone senile, Lizer Bellphoenix.”

Arrows of critique rained down upon Lizer. No one who knew of Alvarto would imagine this type of behavior coming from him. He was putatively elegant, forever composed, and constantly in control of his emotions. Now, however, he was angry, shattering his reputation.

…Perhaps it was more accurate to say he was anxious.

Alvarto wasn’t alone. Even Lizer shared this feeling.

“If I may be honest, I cannot deny I have concerns of my own. This pawn—the one I have produced—is fiendish, difficult to defeat, and impossibly strong. But I am prepared. We can retain control of it. I would not have unleashed such a thing otherwise.”

“I see. In that case, do allow me to observe. The die has been cast. There’s no stopping it now. It is your hand that broke the seal. Thus, badgering you in the dead of night serves no purpose. Ah—wretched. Lizer Bellphoenix, I’m so disappointed in you. Love makes people blind, but I trusted you might be different.”

Alvarto moved to make his exit, sulking all the while. He stopped short to deliver one final message, however.

“I pray this blunder brings you and your loved one the result you want.”

With those cruelly insincere words, he slipped into the night.

Lizer sighed and cradled his head in his hands once the unpleasant visitor was gone. Alvarto had managed to make him question everything. His heart pounded; he felt a sharp pain in his stomach. It served as proof that Lizer was indeed human.

Yes, he was no longer a monster. It instantly triggered memories of the girl who had made that possible.

“…I’ll settle down if I can get just a glance,” he murmured before rising from bed and casting teleportation magic.

The spell transported him to a different chamber. The soft light from a wall sconce by the bed illuminated the place. Her breaths—soft in sleep—echoed quietly.

“…Maria.” Lizer looked with a particular fondness at the girl sleeping on the bed. She was a young human who appeared to be no older than ten. Although she possessed no distinctive features and was rather plain, she was everything to Lizer.