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Chapter 302 – All-Heaven Festival Contest Final Stage “Demon King Castle Bloody Field” (24) / Foolish Son of Man (Part 1)

302 – All-Heaven Festival Contest Final Stage “Demon King Castle Bloody Field” (24) / Foolish Son of Man (Part 1)

Just imagine.

Imagine if your father was the strongest being in the world.

How proud would you be as a child?

Being a bit strong, being tall, having good looks…

Anything like that would be enough for a child to see their father like some kind of hero. Well, actually, that might be true even if a father doesn’t have any of those merits.

However, when you compare fathers with other children, it’s different when there’s something that makes you think that your own father is more amazing. I think that kind of feeling of superiority is unique to childhood.

Then, as you grow up, you realize that your father’s awesomeness doesn’t immediately make you awesome yourself.

That’s how it was for me…

The son of the world’s strongest Demon King.

Having grown up in a section where Demi-Humans lived, I was already being watched with envious eyes.

There was no adult who didn’t know how strong my father was, and that knowledge would naturally be passed along to their children.

I couldn’t help but be proud of my father.

But I would soon find out that even though our family is proud of my father, my father has no interest in our family.

Despite me getting perfect scores on tests… Despite me coming in first in races… Despite me having an amount of Magical Energy unrivaled by anyone my age… Despite me learning magic that not even adult Wizards can use…

My father would only say “I see”, and walk away without even looking at me.

I was a genius, I was a “Demon King”, I was strong, I was clever, I was hard-working, and I… was not suited for battle.

I knew I had the talent for it, but I just couldn’t get interested.

Of course, I love to watch fights.

However, not all sports lovers are athletes themselves.

There is a difference between watching and doing.

Still, I wanted my father to care about me, so I asked him to train me.

What I got in response was a cold gaze and the word “worthless”.

At that time, I felt hopeless, but I’m sure he had simply seen through me.

He knew that I didn’t really want to be strong.

And that my heart couldn’t endure my father’s harsh training.

I was blessed with good looks, intelligence, and a favorable environment, but despite all that, there were certain things that have always prevented me from being satisfied.

I have never received a compliment from my father.

I have never seen my father smile.

What else would I need to do in order to be recognized by him?

Why did he always look bored when he was the strongest person in the world?

Those two questions would haunt me every day after that.

Then, one day, my father disappeared.

He vanished like smoke, and many of those who served him left the Demon King’s Castle.

By that time, having gotten married, as well as becoming a father to the cutest daughter in the world, I had cleared one of my doubts.

It’s the world’s fault that my father doesn’t smile.

Something in it was making my father lose interest in it.

“A monster is a monster no matter how strong it is. A villain who wants to be defeated.”

First of all, that nonsense had to stop.

How long will we keep applying the values ​​of old to entertainment?

On top of that, the “Heroes” are applauded and praised regardless of how strong they actually are, but the “Demon King”, who is already strong, is always considered dangerous by the people.

Why should the next generations have to suffer the consequences of the sins committed by distant relatives many generations ago?

What a narrow-minded world.

As a first step to dispel that idea from people’s minds, it’s necessary to revise some things from the side of the entertainment industry.

The simplest way would be to erase dungeon exploration from the entertainment business while taking care not to leave the people in the industry without a job.

That way, my father can become the world’s strongest man, instead of the world’s strongest villain.

It would eliminate all the worthless noises.

However, when I met my father again, he didn’t seem to want such a thing.

My father already had no interest in the world.

That was only natural. After all, he had no interest in his family, which is the world that is closest to him.

But not all was lost.

Because my father was able to find a disciple.

–『If an enemy worthy of using horns were to appear, or rather…』

Letting those words leak out of his mouth, my father’s gaze was directed to the screen of the terminal where his disciple was being displayed.

Is he the key?

— I have to make Mr. Lem stronger.
It seems that those who have already been properly tempered won’t show a sudden burst of growth.

However, in this world, there are people who grow rapidly through actual combat.

The raid, the Original Dungeon, the All-Heaven Festival Contest.

Not everything had gone exactly according to plan, but I was able to get him involved in every event.

And Mr. Lem became stronger than I expected.

「Master.」

I had been watching the final match from the commentary seat, but since I couldn’t control myself any longer, I ended up jumping at the glass window and burning the scene below me into my eyes.

Irune, my secretary, immediately turned off the microphone so that our voices wouldn’t reach the audience.

I wasn’t waiting for that to happen, but I still managed to speak out at just the right moment.

「Did you see that, Irune?」

At the venue, my father’s Esoteric Black Sorcery had already burst violently, but more importantly…

「Dad just smiled.」

— 『Whatever. I’m bored. That place is boring.』

That’s why I thought I had to prepare a situation that wasn’t boring to him.

But it was impossible for me to stand as my father’s opponent.

It had nothing to do with strength, but rather, I just wasn’t in my father’s eyes.

Above all, even if I – who doesn’t like fighting – were to participate in a battle against my father, I wouldn’t be able to entertain him.

The proof of being the strongest…

That was the point of this Festival Contest, which gathers only those who want that recognition for themselves with all their heart and soul.

「He smiled.」

It lasted only a short moment before he received Mr. Lem and Mr. Fenix’s attack and then counterattacked, but I still saw it clear as day.

My father’s disciple had just killed my father’s years of boredom.

Just as I’m trembling with emotion, an ugly feeling of jealousy starts to well up inside me.

「You’re amazing, Mr. Lem. But there’s something I still don’t understand. Why is it you? Since my father made you his disciple, there was something between him and the young boy you were. What exactly is that something?」

As the prettiest daughter in the whole world said earlier, it would be strange for my father to still be training Mr. Lem even now, on this battlefield.

That would be nothing like him.

In other words, this means that he cares about his disciple to the point that his own personality is blurred.

That solitary, strongest Demon King can actually care and even show affection for someone.

He, who wasn’t interested in anything other than getting stronger.

「A moment is enough for a person to love another person.」

Irune starts speaking.

「Even you, Master, back when you held Lady Lucy in your arms for the first time, didn’t you say that a lifelong love had been born in your heart?」

「That’s right. No matter what happens in the future, Lucy is my beloved daughter and the person I am most proud of in this world.」

People can fall in love at first sight, they can fall in love in an instant after not thinking about it for several years, and they can even fall in love at some point after hating each other.

It doesn’t matter how long you’ve known each other.

It doesn’t matter if it’s at the moment you meet or a hundred years from then.

The important thing is whether or not you can happen across the moment when love arises.

Whether or not you will be attacked by that feeling that your heart has just been caught in a tight grip and that you yourself have fallen into a love which you’ll be eternally unable to overcome.

So what was that moment for him?

That man, who didn’t feel love for his family, friends, or even himself.

What was the moment that made a Demon King who lives only for battle come to love a talentless boy he had taken as his disciple?

What was the thing that gave birth to that affection between a teacher and his disciple inside my father’s heart?

What was it?

「Tell me, Mr. Lem.」

A solitary Demon King who doesn’t care about his wife, son, grandchildren, subordinates, or even his castle.

How does someone like that start feeling attachment toward a single human child?

What is the thing that makes you the only one to have triggered that Demon King’s fortuitous moment?

「I want to know, no matter what.」

◇

『Heeey! Are you here? Heeeeeey!』

One day, a small child began to wander around the house.

Each time, I would use Black Magic on him, sometimes to confuse him, sometimes to make him feel embarrassed, and other times just to terrify him.

Have I ever actually, physically kicked him in the butt to send him away?

I thought that would be enough to get rid of any pesky children, but for some reason, this little rascal wouldn’t give up.

But one day, the noisy black-haired boy stopped coming.

I thought that the peace and quiet had finally returned, but after a short while, the noise returned.

But it was no longer a child’s game about exploring a mysterious house for him, and his voice had taken on a serious tone.

『Aren’t you a Black Sorcerer?! I did my research! You lost your way, you got your thoughts all messed up, and before you knew it, time had slipped through your fingers. Like you’ve been affected by “Confusion” and “Blank”!』

To be able to identify the cause of a strange occurrence based on actual observations…

He seems different from a normal child who is just frightened and confused.

But while that may be true, where is he trying to get with that?

『Make me your disciple!』

There, I realize that the noisy kid is about ten years old.

— Did you already find your “Job”?

Up until now, he had been crying out that he’s a “Hero”, but instead of awakening to that “Job”, he seems to have awakened as a “Black Sorcerer”.

Had he been despairing at the harshness of reality all this time? Was that the reason why he hadn’t shown his face around here for a while?

『I’m going to become an amazing Black Sorcerer! With my Black Magic, my comrades will be able to crush their enemy like a bug, and they will even be able to take on a Demon King! If I do that… If I do that… Even a “Black Sorcerer” can become a hero…』

No matter how much I ignored him, the child would come back and keep asking me to make him my disciple.

As the relentless child started to become gloomy, I called out to him.

『Why do you insist on being a hero?』

『Oh, Mr. Master!』

『I’m not your Master』

『Killjoy! 』

『Answer the question.』

『Because heroes are cool!』

『…C-cool?』

His answer didn’t make any sense to me.

The only thing that matters in battle is strength. The strong wins, and the weak lose.

『Because, because, you usually can’t win against someone bigger than you, right? But the heroes still challenge those kinds of enemies. And they win! No matter if the enemy is a Demi-Beast, or from any other race… even a Demon King! Even if they’re scared, even if they think they can’t win, they still face their enemies and they win!』

『It’s not like they’re going to win every battle.』

『But that’s OK! They’re cool because they keep trying until they win. Don’t you know, Mr. Master? The heroes always win in the end.』

『I’m not your Master.』

『Mega killjoy!』

He was as rude and loud as you would expect a kid his age to be, but after taking a good look at him, his eyes were swollen and there were traces of tears.

It looked like he didn’t have as much energy as his emotions seemed to show.

『Your “Job” isn’t “Hero”. What do you mean when you say that you can still become a hero?』

『…Tsk. Yeah, I’m a “Black Sorcerer”. But then I realized. A hero’s coolness has nothing to do with his strength.』

Spewing nonsense again.

I would be able to understand him if he had been drawn to Heroes because of their strength.

However, even after taking the strength of a “Hero” away from the equation, to still be drawn to them…

『Heroes are cool, they’re… a way of life! If someone’s in trouble, they’ll help them! If there’s a bad guy out there, they’ll catch them! They’re nice to people! They do the right thing! I won’t give up on any of that!』

Certainly, I’ve heard that the heroes of old used to be like that.

In the beginning, they wouldn’t awaken to the “Job” of “Hero”. Instead, they would bravely and righteously find their own way into being called “heroes” by the people. That’s why the “Job” of “Hero” was established at the temple.

From the fact that the number of strange “Jobs” continues to increase along with the changing times, it slowly became less about what “Job” you got, and more about your “resourcefulness and way of being”.

So, in short, is this kid trying to embody his admiration just by his way of being, even though his lack of talent has already been established?

All while knowing that the world won’t reward him for doing something like that…

『So you won’t give up, huh?』

『That’s right!』

『And you’ll study under me and endure all of my training?』

『That’s right!』

It’s a child’s joke.

If I work him hard enough, he’ll start crying and will want to run back home.

『Very well. But although you’re just a child, you’re still a man. Don’t be going back on your word.』

『What do you mean?』

『Whenever a man who once said that he would never give up says “I can’t do it” or “it’s useless”, I lose faith in him. Besides, I don’t need weaklings. If you shed tears during your training, I’ll expel you.』

『I don’t really understand, but what you’re saying is that as long as I don’t give up and don’t cry, you’ll accept me as your disciple?』

『…That’s right.』

『Yay! Thank you, Mr. Master!』

『…It seems that I need to teach you how to speak first.』

Regardless of how he speaks, this child right here in front of me feels way too close.

I didn’t mean to let someone else get that close.

『Yes! Mr. Master! Please make me the strongest! 』

『It’s not “Mr.” Master…』

While regretting having been so quick to take him under my wing, I told myself that I’d only have to deal with him for a few days at most.

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