Chapter 29: I Want to Know the Truth
Translated by Addis of Exiled Rebels Scanlations
Editor: Karai
Due to a small accident, the Demon King had temporarily postponed his return to the Demon Realm. Meanwhile, the Hero, after forgetting about the arrival of the squad, gradually woke from his recovering memories day by day.
Sometimes he felt like he had been in the forest yesterday, sometimes by the riverbank, sometimes it seemed like he had stayed at someone’s house—and maybe even helped put paint on a window frame while nailing it shut…
But every time he woke, the first thing he saw upon opening his eyes was always the room of the inn.
After puzzling over this, the Hero wandered around the somewhat fancy room a couple of times. Then, after opening the window, he saw a clear, sunny morning outside. Passersby walked along the street outside the window, some faces vaguely familiar, others completely unknown.
The Hero looked outside for a while, then turned and scanned the room before picking up a bottle awkwardly placed on the table. There was nothing special about the bottle—not even a label. But beside it was a small note that read: “Eat a candy?”
The Hero read it, then put the note down. He stared at the contents of the bottle, unable to tell what they were. For now, he figured the oddly familiar candies were either a complimentary gift from the inn or something they sold.
Suddenly, a knock came at the door. After tidying himself, the Hero opened it to find someone who looked like the inn’s owner or a server.
The server kindly explained that the bottle contained lucky candies, given as a small gift to randomly selected lucky customers. Supposedly, eating one brought blessings and good fortune. The Hero had been delivered to the inn by someone while unconscious the day before, and that person had already paid for his stay.
The Hero blinked in surprise. “So, I was sleeping by the roadside, passed out deeply, and was brought here by a kind stranger?”
Listening to the server’s considerate explanation, the Hero thought hard but couldn’t remember ever having a condition that caused him to suddenly fall asleep or sleep deeply besides his terrible sense of direction.
The server, firmly backed by the paperwork and cash, confirmed for the third time, “Yes.”
The Hero hesitated, then nodded. Unaware of the real situation, he said to the same person for the third time, “Then… thank you. But is the person who brought me here still around? I want to thank them, pay them back, and find out more details about yesterday.”
The server shook their head. The Hero’s hope faltered, but the server added, “…But I can draw their face. If you meet them again, maybe you can thank them, repay them, or ask your questions in person.”
With the Hero’s nod, the server quickly sketched a simple portrait of the Demon King.
The Hero stared in disbelief at the figure on the paper. “Joshua?!”
…
After finishing his duties and clarifying the situation, the server went out and turned right, passing on the Hero’s reaction.
The Hero, surprised and a little happy to discover the person who had brought him here was actually the Demon King, stood there feeling a little hungry but undecided whether to eat first or find the Demon King immediately.
Just then, the Demon King himself appeared at the door, returning from outside.
“You’re awake?”
He held breakfast freshly taken from someone else.
Though it was unclear why the Hero could find a doctor and ask questions despite his memory loss, the fact remained: after seeing the doctor, the Hero realized he had often been taken to see doctors and given medicine for various ailments without even knowing he was sick.
He believed he had saved Joshua at some point, then lost his memory by accident. Afterward, Joshua had traveled far and wide with him, seeking treatment, all the while believing everything had happened long ago and forgetting what Joshua had done for him…
If this was the script, it was a somewhat touching story of mutual devotion. The Hero’s daily memory loss was painful for Joshua, who never stopped caring.
After the Demon King was kissed and gently pushed away for the sudden embrace, and after making the Hero take his medicine, he finally had a Hero who knew he was sick but wasn’t anxious or scared like before.
The Hero sat calmly after taking the medicine. After a while, he looked at the Demon King—same truth, but a different reaction. After taking the medicine, the Hero leaned in again.
The Demon King was speechless.
The Hero wrapped his arms gently once more, burying his head in the Demon King’s neck. His soft hair poked lightly as his warm breath brushed against the Demon King’s skin. Sensitive at this deadly spot, the Demon King said, “Hey?”
He pushed the Hero again. But this time, the Hero tightened his embrace and pulled the Demon King backward onto the bed, burying his head a little deeper. The Demon King dodged as lips brushed over his neck. “Hey?!”
Could such a critical spot—the perfect place for a killing blow—be touched so casually? The Demon King resisted a little and pushed the Hero again. “What exactly are you doing?!”
The Hero, still holding his position, blushed and whispered as he kissed the Demon King, “I… I want to kiss you. Hug you.”
His voice was so soft it was barely audible, as if spoken right into the Demon King’s ear. The Demon King caught just enough to say, “…No.”
He pushed once more. The Hero tightened his embrace and didn’t budge. When the Demon King tried to push again, the Hero whispered, “Just for a little while.”
“No way.”
“…Next time you hit me because of my amnesia, I won’t be angry anymore.”
What? Did you really think getting hit was fun? The Demon King blushed. “No!”
The Hero slowly loosened his hold, finally letting the Demon King go completely. As the Demon King took deep breaths to calm himself after being released—
“…Next time I forget everything, will you please tell me what I’ve forgotten?”
After letting go, the Hero lowered his eyes and kissed the skin right in front of him gently, then stepped back when pushed again.
“For example, let me know I have amnesia, or tell me what you’ve done for me? Don’t just point at the medicine and call it candy to trick me into taking it. And don’t play the patient role every time we revisit the doctor, okay?”
“I want to know the truth.”
…
After tweaking the script based on the Hero’s memories, which might reveal the truth at any time, the Demon King saw the Hero arrive almost on schedule.
“Want breakfast?” he asked casually, as if he had just come back from buying it and happened to see the Hero here.
The Hero, in the rewritten script of being rescued, said, “…Yes.”
Just as he opened his mouth to say more, food was handed to him. When he tried to speak again, he was reminded it was breakfast time.
Only after finishing his meal did he find the chance to ask all the questions he had about how he was rescued and why the Demon King was here.
After asking, he felt like he was a little too practiced at this, but finally got everything out and nervously looked at the Demon King, who had escaped the metaphorical claws.
The Demon King smiled, having long memorized this core explanation he always gave.
“It’s all because of…”
Again, he pinned the reason on the princess.
—Though the mage squad hadn’t fully left due to some lurking demon among them, this explanation—the one proposed by the Hero—was probably the best answer to clear the Hero’s doubts.
After countless confirmations of the truth behind it, the Demon King gave similar answers to similar questions. Using the Hero’s memories of “yesterday,” he roughly invented a backstory about how he had found the Hero and brought him here.
Then, just like forgetting any other day in the past, the Hero naturally nodded after forgetting the day the mage squad arrived. He chatted a bit more, then happily said,
“…Then can we go to Courage Town now? Do you remember? I told you on the map that my home is on the border between the Orland Empire and the Josef Kingdom. It’s close to here. If you come with me, we can get there in just a few days!”
He asked hopefully, “Shall we go?”
Having heard the question many times before, the Demon King answered, “Let’s go. Rest now, and tomorrow we leave.”
The Hero, who had no memory of recent days, brightened at the answer. He started counting what to bring back as gifts, how to introduce people to the Demon King on the way, which route to take, and how to describe the scenery to the Demon King along the route.
He grabbed a pen and started sketching a rough map, almost recreating the same content once again. After roughly explaining his plans for the coming days, he was rewarded with the lucky candies, originally a gift from the inn but now borrowed by the Demon King for a different purpose.
The Hero made marks on his scribbled map to note which inn to give roasted chicken to. Suddenly, the taste of the lucky candy caught him off guard.
“…This tastes weird…”
This inn looked expensive…
Yet its taste was surprisingly strange. After that, the Demon King tossed a candy to himself and said, “Is it? Not bad, right? Try another one.”
Another pill was tossed into the Hero’s mouth. The Hero started to frown. Then another. And another. And another…
The Hero’s brow furrowed tightly. “I don’t think I can handle this kind of luck.”
The Demon King finally gave up and said, “Alright, maybe the taste just isn’t for you.”
He popped one himself, showing he actually liked the flavor. As the Hero planned out gifts on his map—marking roasted chicken here, and other random food symbols representing presents—he realized their tastes didn’t quite match. He thought, This might be a little troublesome…
But it wasn’t something they couldn’t work around.
With those worries, after escorting the Demon King to rest that night and confirming the area was safe, the Hero returned to his room. Lost in thoughts about how to handle potential future problems, he fell asleep again—only to wake the next morning at the same time.
Joshua was the Demon King! The first thing he thought upon opening his eyes was the truth he’d been told before drowning and losing consciousness.
He sat up abruptly, his mind completely blank. His heartbeat thundered loudly in his head, drowning out all other sounds. The room before him began to spin slowly under his gaze, as if everything was jumping and dancing. Each object seemed displaced, all out of place.
In the midst of this chaos and swirling world, faint knocking sounds pierced through the pounding of his heart, breaking into his awareness. After a while, the Hero heard the knock again and, almost unconsciously, went to open the door as if by habit. His mind was still foggy, barely catching what the server was saying.
When the server finished, the Hero looked at the new drawing the server had made—of a person who simply did not exist.
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