Demon King of the Royal Class-Chapter 496

In the heart of Rijaiera stood the village hall, a place where the villagers gathered for celebrations. It was the same place where they had assembled when I first arrived in Rijaiera.

During the winter, when there was little to do, the elderly would gather in the hall to chat, and children would come to play. It was a place where small groups of villagers regularly gathered.

Deep into the night, the villagers had gathered not for a celebration, but to bid farewell to me, their long-time guest.

“We’ll miss you, our dear child.”

“Wherever you go, live well. You’re a strong one, so you’ll do well in whatever you do.”

“You’re leaving in the middle of the night? Why not wait until morning?”

The elders took turns holding my hand, hugging me, and patting my back. Some worried that I was departing at night, but most, understanding it was Luna’s decision, nodded slowly and said nothing.

“You’ve worked hard.”

“It seems like you’re leaving without having a proper rest.”

“We should at least pack you some potatoes. Wait a moment.”

“I’m going to pack you some jerky. Stay here for a bit.”

The villagers hurried back to their homes, determined to give me something for my journey, returning with preserved foods, more than I could carry.

“Why are you leaving already, hyung?”

“Oppa, I didn’t even get to play with you much.”

“Can’t you just live here?”

“I was going to marry you when I grew up, Reinhart oppa!”

“Hey, you said you’d marry me!”

“Ulte, you’re ugly!”

“What?! You said you’d marry me even though I’m ugly!”

The children’s dizzying chatter made quite a ruckus. I didn’t know how to handle kids and hadn’t really played with them much. But time was a thief, and many times they had clung to me, forcing me to play with them, or swarmed me while I was working in the fields, pestering me all day. The children seemed sad about my departure.

After saying goodbye to everyone, I stood before Arta and Lena.

“Are you leaving?”

“Yeah.”

Arta wasn’t exactly the most amiable person, much like myself. Yet he was the one who had accurately assessed my situation and pointed me in the right direction. We didn’t exchange tearful farewells. We simply shook hands.

“May the blessings of the moon and sun be with you,” Arta whispered softly, just enough for me to hear.

I had somewhat guessed that, unlike Lena, Arta seemed to know about the family of Sunday and Monday.

“You could stay a bit longer. But you must have your reasons for leaving so suddenly, right?” Lena said with tears in her eyes.

“Well, yes.”

In a way, Lena was the stereotypical country girl I had imagined. She took care of me while keeping her distance, never growing too close nor straying too far.

“I never got to ask why Ellen couldn’t come with you,” Lena said as she wiped the tears from her eyes and smiled. “Still, everything will be fine.”

I knew that just believing in something wasn’t enough to make it happen. However, without that level of belief, nothing could be achieved.

“If it doesn’t work out, I’ll make it work,” I replied.

Everything would work out. And if it didn’t, I would make it work.

Though I had stayed in Rijaiera for a long time, the farewell was brief.

Farewells are not things to be prolonged.

***

After saying goodbye to the villagers, Luna packed only the essentials into a backpack for me, as there was too much to carry.

I slung the backpack over my shoulders and put on the scroll book I had left open for so long. I was wearing the travelling clothes I had worn when I first arrived in Rijaiera. Though it had been a while since I last wore them, Luna had already cleaned them thoroughly.

The villagers waved at me from afar as I left.

I was on the outskirts of Rijaiera, and only Luna and Ronan stood by my side.

“Dear,” Luna said, and Ronan nodded.

Ronan Artorius stood before me, a towering figure, almost two meters tall. His imposing presence exuded a strong masculine aura, quite different from that of a regular adult.

Though a stern patriarch, he occasionally showed a tender side to Luna, embodying a very typical pre-modern patriarchal figure.

Luna wasn’t particularly talkative, but Ronan was especially reticent. It wasn’t because he disliked me; it was just his nature.

“Reinhart.”

“Yes?”

He placed a hand on my shoulder.

“Do you have the confidence to make Ellen happy?”

That straightforward question drew the breath out of my lungs. It wasn’t an easy question to ask.

But just as it wasn’t an easy topic for Ronan to broach, it wasn’t an easy one for me to answer either. I had no idea what the future held.

“To be honest, not really.”

“...”

If I died... If Ellen died... We would both be unhappy.

How could I mend our twisted relationship? Where was I supposed to start? I didn’t know.

“But I’ll do what I can,” I continued. “Even if it’s impossible, I’ll find a way to do it.”

I didn’t know what I had to do to reach an ending in which we could both be happy, but I would try. Just as I had found my way to Rijaiera in search of a path to reach Master class, and achieved that goal through what I had experienced in Rijaiera. Even if there seemed to be no way, I would find one. I wasn’t confident, but I always sought a way and found it. That was the best assurance I could offer at the moment.

Ronan looked at me quietly. “Well, the best thing I can say to you as you head out into the world, the best thing you can hear from me, is this.”

“What... is it?”

“Having watched you closely for a while now...” Ronan gripped my shoulder firmly. “I approve.”

It seemed Ronan had acknowledged me as a son-in-law.

“Go, Reinhart.”

That was the end of my farewell with Ronan.

***

“Follow me.”

“... Yes.”

After saying goodbye to everyone, Luna Artorius led me over the mountain ridge on the outskirts of Rijaiera.

Just as I had entered Rijaiera in a peculiar way, only Luna could lead me out of it. It was still winter, and I wore only the clothes I had arrived in. In hindsight, I realized that my body was unaffected by the cold, but I should have brought a warm coat anyway.

Luna stood at the mountain’s edge, looking at me. Just as I had met her that night while wandering the Sren Mountains under the moonlight, I stood face-to-face with her again under the moonlight as I prepared to leave Rijaiera.

“You will not set foot in Rijaiera again.”

“... Yes.”

As she said, I would likely never return to Rijaiera. Considering the uncertainty of my lifespan, pondering whether I could return to Rijaiera was a luxury.

In this place, I was not the Demon King, but a mere guest. The only thing to fear was nature itself.

Though life in the mountain village wasn’t easy, Rijaiera was a peaceful place for someone like me, who had lived a life filled with fears and concerns. It was a place where I could idly perform the tasks Luna assigned me all day.

At times, I thought I wanted to live in such a way for the rest of my life, even if it wasn’t in Rijaiera. Once everything was settled, I wanted to leave behind the life filled with excessive worries and live a life where the only concerns were the weather, and preparing food for the long winter.

However, that was not the world that was given to me. There was another world I had to live in. I was only a guest in Rijaiera, not a resident. Therefore, I had to leave.

“Are there any last words you want to say before you go?”

There were many things I wanted to ask, many things to say.

‘What is the family of Sunday and Monday? Who are you? Why do you not interfere in the world’s affairs despite having such mysterious powers?’

All these complex questions crossed my mind, but there was only one thing I wanted to say.

“I’m sad.”

“...?”

“I said I’m sad.”

It seemed ridiculously petty, but the sadness was so deep that I genuinely felt like crying.

‘I mean, come on! After spending months here, they’re sending me off as soon as they’ve confirmed I’ve reached Master class. It’s genuinely sad! People have no heart!’

Luna seemed slightly flustered by my unexpected statement. Her lips were trembling.

“That... um. Well, sad, you say. So... What do you want me to do about it...?”

“It’s not about wanting something done. You asked me if I had anything to say, so I said it. I’m sad. That’s all.”

“Well, it seems like you have a cute side to you, even though it doesn’t seem like it.”

“I know that I’m cute.”

“... Hah, really...”

Luna looked at me intently, then sighed. “I thought you’d ask about the secrets of the family of Sunday and Monday or inquire about other such mysteries... I must have overestimated you.”

“I’m human too.”

Honestly, I was very curious about that. However, at the moment, it seemed like it didn’t matter much. Whatever I asked, whatever I said, Luna was still bound by certain rules. The knowledge might satisfy my curiosity, but wouldn’t change anything in reality. Besides, I had some idea of what the family of Sunday and Monday was anyway.

“Well, the family Sunday and Monday... I suspect it has something to do with the vampires of the family of Sunday and Monday, who disappeared long ago.”

Luna recognized the Flame of Tuesday and knew that Eleris was an ancient Archdemon. Given their, it was only natural to suspect that the family of Sunday and Monday was related to them.

At my words, Luna looked at me quietly.

“Do you want to know about the family of Sunday and Monday?”

The existence of the families of Sunday and Monday and its secret...

“Of course, I want to know.”

Even if satisfying my curiosity wouldn’t change anything in reality, I was still curious.

“Follow me.”

Luna quietly led the way. Though the moon was out, the winter night in the mountains was still exceedingly dark. However, Luna walked on slowly but surely, as if she could see in the dark.

I followed her, not wanting to lose sight of her. The place we arrived at was one I knew well.

In the summer, I had meditated beneath a waterfall, in the deep valley where the children splashed around in the river. Since it was winter, the once grand waterfall was frozen solid, and the river was firmly iced over.

Luna stood on the frozen river, looking at me.

“Let me ask you something.”

“...”

“Do you think we are bad?”

“...”

“Do you think we, who hide from the world, who ignore the world’s affairs, who even hide the chaos of the world from the village children, are bad?”

Luna didn’t seem to be defending herself.

“I have no reason to say you’re bad,” I responded.

There was no reason they had to sacrifice themselves for the world just because they were strong, just because they used mysterious powers with an unknown nature. Even if that power could help the world, there was no necessity for them to risk their lives for such matters. Yet, I couldn’t deny that I felt a certain sense of cruelty behind it. I understood it in my head, but in my heart, I couldn’t help but wish they would help a little.

“But I’m still curious,” I said.

“About what?”

“About why you have to hide. Why you have to ignore the world.”

I quietly watched Luna as she looked up at the sky.

“I feel like there’s a need behind why you choose to live like that,” I said. “That’s what I think.”

“...”

Luna turned her gaze to me.

The family of Sunday and Monday had some kind of rule, and because of that, they didn’t interfere in the world’s affairs, not because they couldn’t. That was why she seemed like someone who had made a firm resolution when she had tried to kill me previously.

She quietly walked toward the frozen waterfall. As she waved her hand, the middle of the waterfall opened up as if space itself was parting, revealing a path. All the time I meditated under that waterfall, I had never seen a cave behind it.

It had to be a space hidden away by her power.

Was there such a space behind the waterfall, where the children played without a care?

She walked down the path that had suddenly revealed itself, and I followed her.

When she snapped her fingers, pale white magical lights began to illuminate the dark corridor. I wasn’t even sure if they were truly magical lights.

Luna walked through the dim corridor. The pale light from the magical lights were spaced evenly along the walls.

What kind of place was I in? I felt like I was approaching the secret of Rijaiera.

“As you said, the family Sunday and Monday is related to the ancient Vampire Lords known as the families of Sunday and Monday. How much do you know about them?”

I nodded. “I only know that they disappeared a long time ago, and even the other Vampire Lords don’t know what Sunday and Monday were, or what kind of beings they were.”

Ultimately, I didn’t know what the families of Sunday(日曜) and Monday (月曜) were, just as Eleris didn’t.

“The desire for immortality among mortals is inevitable,” she said as she quietly walked through the corridor. “It has been so for a very long time.”

After walking a certain distance down the corridor, we arrived at a large chamber. There was some kind of frame in the center, but nothing was hung on it. She passed through the chamber and continued walking, down another corridor.

The corridor continued on, and I could see strange patterns engraved on the walls.

“Even before the era of written records, humans existed, and mysteries existed as well, long before human history began, whether in the form of spells, runes, rituals, or forbidden arts.

“The fear of death and the desire for eternal life is a universal longing among mortals. It was there even before magic was systematized and before the practice of strengthening the body and mind through Mana Reinforcement became widespread. Attempts to achieve immortality through experimentation and the study of such mysteries have been tried out countless times in the distant past.

“Those mysteries, though their true nature is unknown, have given rise to countless powerful phenomena.”

Luna and I soon reached another chamber at the end of the corridor. This chamber was much larger than the one we had just passed through.

“This is the end of those mysteries,” Luna said.

In the chamber were two sculptures. The left one emitted a yellowish-red light, swirling with red and yellow hues. The right one shone blue, white, and bright yellow.

It wasn’t difficult to recognize what they were.

The sun and the moon... They were likely representations of those celestial bodies.

“To those who believe and pray, it lends its power and performs miracles. It is the origin of all existence and the culmination of all mysteries.”

The pinnacle of all mysteries.

“That being is god.”

She quietly approached the sculpture representing the moon and placed her hand on it.

“In the distant past, when the gods had no names, those who worshipped the moon prayed for eternal, immortal life. And the moon granted them the blessing of immortality they desired.

“However, they did not pray to the sun. Although they lived in a world governed by both the sun and the moon, they prayed to only one power.

“The sun may have hated them for it.

“The reasons may be complex, but the result was simple. They desired immortality, so they had to pay a fitting price for it. From the moon, a blessing, and from the sun, a curse was bestowed upon a clan.

“Immortal, yet unable to walk under the sun, and cursed to sustain their lives through the barbaric and pitiful means of consuming the blood of others.

“Do you understand what I’m saying, Reinhart?”

Luna looked at me.

“Monday (月曜) was the first vampire.”

Vampires were beings that originated from the gods.