The Porter Has No Interest in the Hero’s Party

Being from the Empire means many things.

Keiberess was a woman who could grasp the numerous meanings contained in the word “Empire.” She stared at me blankly, then erased her desperate expression and opened her mouth. At this moment, she seemed to have returned from an ordinary, miserable woman to a commander of the demon world.

Mumbling her lips as if searching for words to say, she finally said:

“You must resent me. Why are you being nice to me?”

This was an important point. Everyone opens up to those who have the same wounds. The moment one’s savior reveals their wounds, empathy is created, and that empathy turns into affection. I said:

“I heard your story on the wall. Those filthy stories.”

Keiberess didn’t react sensitively. She just looked at me once with a complicated expression and bowed her head deeply. She, who had once denied that Daemon could do such things, now accepted Daemon’s original sin and endured the pain in silence.

What story should I tell? What story would create empathy between her and me? I closed my eyes, thought for a moment, and opened my mouth. Fortunately, I recently knew about a man who had received similar wounds to hers.

“I was married.”

Marriage seemed to be an implicit taboo between her and me. Keiberess trembled once more, and I felt awkward even after saying it with my own mouth. Her eyes, which had been lowered, were examining me, and I was putting strength into my face for a solemn expression.

“Due to the nature of my job, I was often at the front lines, and each time my wife would say, ‘It’s okay, honey. I’ll wait. You said it would take about a month this time, right?'”

As if realizing what story I was about to tell, Keiberess’s head slowly rose. There was moisture in her eyes, and her expression contained sympathy. I looked at her with a bitter smile and continued the next story with a sigh.

“That day, work ended unusually early. I ran back to the village faster than the news. And I opened the main door wide and shouted, ‘Honey, I’m back. Work ended early!'”

“Ah…”

A sigh was heard. It was because with that one word, the unfortunate ending could be predicted.

Keiberess must have also faced such clear signs of tragedy as the situation I was describing. But because she was afraid to confirm the reality, she turned her head, and ‘I’ had only seen the scene of adultery with reluctant steps.

“But my wife was nowhere to be seen in the kitchen or living room. Thoughtlessly opening the bedroom door, I found the window wide open and my wife lying naked.”

I didn’t explain what happened next because even I didn’t know. But as I faced Keiberess with sad eyes, she nodded her head while avoiding my gaze. Keiberess was shedding tears in sympathy with the fabricated pain.

“I-it’s the same. Those who cheat, whether human or demon.”

“After hearing your story, I couldn’t just leave it alone. Even knowing that you’re one of the evil demons who brought down the Empire, I couldn’t just stay put because that wound resonated with me. That’s why I’m here now.”

“I see…”

Keiberess’s eyes changed. She was connecting with me. We were people who shared a sad past.

But if it continued like this, we would remain just friends. To pull back the superiority I had momentarily forgotten, I needed a whip. A hint and pressure that I had control over this relationship and that this thread-like relationship could be severed at any time.

“Well, it was pleasant.”

I stood up. Keiberess instinctively knew that “it was pleasant” wasn’t a simple farewell greeting. It was a declaration that I wouldn’t come again. With a face dyed in bewilderment, she rolled her eyes and the chair rattled as if she was trying to extend her arm.

“W-wait…!”

I grasped the doorknob in a posture of leaving. I only turned my head over my shoulder and looked at Keiberess with eyes that had collected my emotions. She was looking at me with an expression full of desperation. Keiberess said:

“Y-you’re coming back, right? T-tomorrow too…”

This is like trying to catch a fish with a thin fishing line. It’s a rare and dangerous art of using fingers as a fishing rod to pull in the fish. If pulled too much, the fish will break the line and escape, and if led by the fish, eventually the finger will be cut off.

From now on, I had to consider how to move the line while watching her expression.

Should I pull the line? Or should I be led by her movements?

I examined Keiberess’s reaction in silence. Is that desperate face pretend? Or is it sincere?

After deliberating, I opened my mouth.

“I am from the Empire. In fact, if I think about my family and friends in Empire territory, I can’t share this empathy with you. You are a demon, and my country was destroyed by demons.”

I pull the line. Looking at Keiberess’s expression, I realize that this line is being pulled very tightly. Shaking eyes and rough breathing. If I pull a little more, she won’t be dragged out but will break this line and run away.

“I-I see…”

A dark light settled on her face. The only place for a wounded woman to go is death. Before she turned her eyes to the one escape route, I continued my words.

Smiling as much as possible.

With tears squeezing out on my face.

“Isn’t it funny? That someone who rolled around in the Empire feels sympathy for you. I, I still pity you, and I think we… we can be a little better to each other. This is… betrayal to the Empire, and it doesn’t make sense. Think about it. You are a demon commander, and I am a soldier working in this land. And yet…”

My words won’t be properly heard in her head. Because I’ve opened an escape route. An escape route where she can continue to meet me and find hope in life without dying.

Do you know how to catch fish?

Create a hole that gradually narrows for fish that can’t move backward. Fish that continue to swim forward, believing they can pierce through the hole, rush forward and eventually get their heads tightly stuck. By the time they realize they’ve been trapped, their bodies are unable to move at all.

From the moment she was confined in this basement, she had no options.

Either go mad in endless torture. Or grasp a ray of hope and live life.

Whichever she chose, there were only desperate crossroads.

I believe in the power of love.

The desperate power of obsession that craves love.

The desperation of one who has lost love.

“N-no…”

Keiberess opened her mouth. She was finally looking up at me with her head slightly bowed before me. She let her shirt sag to appeal to her charm and was trying to look seductive somehow even in a tied posture.

How great is the power of love.

Interestingly, people who have been hurt by love tend to think that every moment of temptation that comes to them might be the last chance.

Her arm tried to grab my clothes. Fingers trembling towards my clothes. How many times had those pretty fingers of hers had their nails pulled out and broken? I said:

“Do you still not love Daemon?”

There’s a story about a clergyman. A clergyman who received the devil’s temptation tries all sorts of methods to overcome the temptation, but eventually denies the Lord through the devil’s mouth and falls into the abyss.

“No. Daemon doesn’t matter anymore.”

The moment she denies herself, everything collapses. I stood still holding the doorknob, and Keiberess looked at me with a craving expression. The moment our gazes crossed was brief, and I had to be excited.

I lock the door again and embrace her. Keiberess flails her hands as if trying to hug me, but I don’t have the key to release her. I kiss her mouth and push my tongue in, passionately mixing.

Her tightly bound feet tremble and demand greater pleasure, and I stroke her hair.

After an intense kiss, she, unable to overcome her excitement, whispers to me:

“I love you.”

She, who doesn’t even know my name, says that to me.

We share more intense kisses and exchange words of love over and over again as we sink deeper.

“She’s being very cooperative. I think we can now extract all the information we want.”

The hero was looking at me with an expression mixed with admiration and respect. I wiped my mouth with a handkerchief, and Lena was staring at me. I smiled and asked Lena:

“Impressive, right?”

“…How was it?”

“What do you mean?”

“The demon, I mean.”

I threw the towel into the laundry basket and said:

“I have no particular thoughts. Demons are enemies. Playing any role to capture the enemy would be my duty.”

“Really?”

“Are you doubting my loyalty?”

Lena suddenly changed her expression, grinned, then patted my back and said:

“Well, that’s good then. Mister, you’re a really bad womanizer.”

I couldn’t understand her mischievous attitude, so I just laughed.

I’m more of a comforter than a womanizer, after all.