0.0000001% Demon King - 0DK Chapter 26: To the Holy Land (1) (Part 2)
Karos got up and took the spoon.
As he put the soup in his mouth, the rich aroma hit his nose. The perfect seasoning and rich ingredients stimulated his taste buds.
It was genuinely delicious. It ranked among the best foods he had ever tasted. Sinclair’s claim of being a picky eater wasn’t an exaggeration.
The only problem was one thing.
“By any chance, are the ladle and pot… sacred relics?”
Sacred relics. Items that can be held by god’s representatives, imbued with the deity’s will. Rare items that seldom appear in the world.
Sinclair smiled and affirmed.
“Yes. Thanks to them, anyone who eats the food is healed, and their mind and body are stabilized. I made them myself.”
“Is that so.”
Indeed, for humans, there couldn’t be better food. Just eating it could heal most diseases.
However, Karos wasn’t human but a demon. Food imbued with holy power was as good as poison to him.
The holy power enveloped in the cuisine swept through his mouth and scorched his esophagus. Struggling against the violent turmoil in his stomach, he forced himself to keep eating.
Sinclair asked with an innocent face, “How is it? Tasty?”
“Tasty… yes.”
Karos managed a smile through the pain.
**** ****
‘Ughhhhh.’
Karos internally screamed. His stomach was still in turmoil. Nausea threatened to overwhelm him. Sinclair looked at him with concern.
“You don’t look well; are you okay?”
“I’m fine.”
“Hmm… Let’s move a bit further and then rest. Hang in there.”
“Yes, understood.”
Karos followed, suppressing the urge to vomit.
‘I must not throw up.’
If he vomited, Sinclair would become suspicious. And if his identity was discovered, death was certain.
Even if she didn’t suspect him, she might try to “heal” him by pouring more holy power into him. It was better to endure.
Fortunately, his demonic energy was suppressed for now. Even if the food was imbued with the hero’s holy power, he could barely withstand it. Otherwise, he would have collapsed in agony the moment he ate.
‘Save me…’
Tears welled up in Karos’s eyes.
Following Sinclair in a daze, she eventually stopped.
“Let’s sleep here for tonight.”
“Understood.”
Karos genuinely felt relieved. If they had continued, he would have passed out in less than an hour.
‘Perhaps there’s a chance when she’s asleep.’
Karos hadn’t forgotten his goal. To escape from the hero’s side and return to his demon castle was his objective.
He planned to flee as far as possible while Sinclair slept, erasing his tracks and running all night. Even for a hero, finding him would be difficult.
He couldn’t predict how Sinclair would act once he disappeared, but any outcome was better than being dragged to the holy land. Karos organized his plan and looked at Sinclair, then closed his mouth.
“Miss Sinclair?”
After a moment of silence, he asked. Sinclair tilted her head, already changed into her pajamas.
“What is it?”
“What is that?”
“A sleeping bag.”
Sinclair confidently held up the sleeping bag.
It was clearly a luxury item. An adventurer couldn’t afford it, and if sold, it could support a commoner for a lifetime.
“But why only one?”
“Because we’re sleeping together.”
“Um, Miss Sinclair?”
“It’s just Sinclair, as I said.”
Sinclair got into the sleeping bag and waved her hand.
“Come in. The night is cold.”
“If you could bring out another sleeping bag, I’d be grateful.”
“No.”
“Are you serious?”
“What do you mean?”
Sinclair, peeking out from the sleeping bag, looked puzzled. Karos realized she was serious.
“Miss Sinclair, even so, this is…”
“Hmm. You’re quite shy, aren’t you? Alright.”
Sinclair awkwardly stood up, still in the sleeping bag, resembling a caterpillar.
“Come here.”
“Ah. Aaaaah?!”
Karos was overwhelmed.
The sleeping bag wriggled open and engulfed him. Sinclair’s warmth, her skin, was felt vividly.
“Miss Sinclair?”
Sinclair hugged Karos and pressed her chest against his back. Karos’s face turned deathly pale.
“You must have been scared?”
She spoke gently, like a mother soothing a child.
“And filled with rage. Hating yourself for losing a comrade, tormented by your inability to do anything, but unable to express it, and suffering in silence.”
She tightened her grip.
“It’s okay now. I will accept everything. So, you can cry as much as you need.”
She spoke calmly, embracing the Karos who had lost his comrades, truly embodying the hero’s image. If known, she would be hailed as a model for humanity.
‘Ah, it hurts!’
And Karos was internally screaming.
Sinclair was the hero of the Sun God. The holy power emanating from her body forbade demons from approaching. Even a casual demon would be annihilated by the holy power enveloping her body.
And Karos, though his demonic energy was suppressed, was still a demon.
‘Ouch!’
Every contact point, his back and the belly she hugged, hurt. It was like being pricked by thousands of needles, and her breath in his ear was like poison from hell.
The feel of Sinclair’s skin, the softness against his back, was indistinguishable due to the overwhelming pain.
‘Oh, no!’
He couldn’t even scream. He just trembled silently. Assuming it was crying, Sinclair tightened her hold.
‘It hurts!’
This time, it wasn’t the holy power but the sheer physical embrace that caused pain. Karos struggled, but his meager strength couldn’t break free from Sinclair’s hold.
‘Damn it.’
Karos lost consciousness.