04: Get Out

The hero looked at the sky and began to roll back and forth on the ground as he fussed. "I don't want to, I don't want to, I don't want to. You can't force me to fight you! Even if I were to fight, I don't dare to kill!"

"What nonsense!" the demon king shouted in annoyance and scoffed. "You, not daring to kill? The hero who defeats demons to protect the people? Someone like that doesn't dare to kill? That is a hilarious joke."

"Yes, I don't kill! Not a joke, not a joke. What about it?"

The demon king narrowed his eyes in furious. "Shut it and stand up! We are going to finish this fight."

The hero sighed and stopped rolling. Then he sat up and kneeled, and bowed with head touching the ground. With a serious and sincere voice, he said, "Sorry, I am not joking. Even if we were to fight, I am unable to kill you. Then what's the point for me to fight you?"

Taken aback at the sudden change in him, the demon king coldly looked at him with alarmed eyes. "What do you mean? Don't try to trick me. How could you not be able to kill? How else were you able to become a hero? If not for defeating the demons to protect humans."

The hero was still bowing, he replied, "I didn't have to kill to defeat them. I left that part to my team members."

"You are lying."

Lifting his head to sit straight, the hero swore, "I swear to God, to the king and on my own life that I have never directly killed a demon."

The demon king saw his calm eyes and knew he wasn't lying. But how could it be? The demon king walked up to the hero and reached out his hand to place it above the hero's head. Then he closed his eyes. The hero saw a purple light radiating from above and guessed what the demon king was up to. He was most likely checking whether or not what he said was the truth.

Once the light disappeared, the demon king turned around with his back facing the hero. Soon after, he heard him say, "So it turns out to be like this. And here I thought…"

"Demon King?"

"Leave. I wasted enough of my time on you."

"Huh?"

"Get out."

"I refuse."

That caught the demon king off. He turned around and looked at him baffled. "What now? First, you say you want to fight, then you say you don't want to fight and now you say you don't want to leave. What are you up to?"

Hearing the demon king say like this made the hero feel somewhat embarrassed, he scratched his cheek. "Well, I don't want to go back."

"Why?"

"Because then I'll have to continue to be a hero and to be honest, I'm sick of it. I want to retire, I want to rest, I don't want to fight demons anymore."

"So what? I don't care. I don't want you here."

The hero put a sad face and hugged the demon king's leg pitifully. "Please let me live with you! I beg you, I beg you, I beg you!"

Scrunching up his eyebrows, the demon king irritatedly pulled the hero off from his leg. "No."

This action didn't discourage him. The hero didn't give up and clutched to the demon king's leg once again. "Why not?"

The corner of his eye twitched seeing this. The demon king unfolded his wings and flew up to the sky without any warning with great speed, almost throwing off the hero. It was a shame the hero didn't actually fall. The demon king clicked his tongue in annoyance.

"Woah, woah," the hero cried out. "Demon King, please show mercy!"

"Then stop acting childish and get out of my territory already."

"No thank you!"

"Then fall for all I care."

After saying that, the demon king began to fly around, hoping for the hero to let go of his leg. But no matter how long he continued with it, the hero didn't budge at all. It was as if it was impossible to get rid of him. This irritated the demon king even more. Him, the hero? What an absurd joke. Who decided to make him the hero? So ridiculous.

When the demon king landed on the ground, the hero finally let go and fell to the ground, feeling a bit dizzy.

"That was so mean of you, Demon King," the hero commented.

"Serves you right," the demon king coldly said. "Why here? There is plenty of space outside. You are the hero, what place can you not go to?"

The hero sighed sadly. "That's the thing, I want to quit being the hero. Everyone knows me, everyone knows my appearance. What place can I hide but yours? This is just perfect."

"... Why? Isn't a hero something humans admire? To protect your people, isn't that something honourable? Don't see anything bad in being—"

"Stop, stop, stop right there!" the hero quickly interrupted. "Nothing bad? You are far from right. Every single day I have to defeat the demons. It's all fun and games until you get bored of it. I bet you know the feeling of that."

The demon king closed his eyes. Of course, he knew. That was how it was for him now for the past thousands of years. Raiding and killing humans was done so easily it slowly became boring and dull to him. He waited and waited for a worthy opponent, and when he finally found one, it turned out to be a hero without any justification. A powerful hero who didn't dare to kill, wasting his talent. A legendary hero who wanted to retire and live with him. Could he be any more unlucky?

The more he thought about it, the more annoyed he became. He looked at the hero with an irritated and bothered look.

"You defeat the demons to protect your people from getting harmed by them. From our conversation, you don't seem to care about them."

"Ah? I honestly couldn't care less. To begin with, I am not even the right person to become the hero. Chosen one, my ass."

The last sentence somewhat confused the demon king. He asked, "Chosen one?"

But the hero didn't answer and only waved his hand off, saying, "Whatever, it doesn't matter."

After standing up, the hero patted off the dirt on his clothes and raised both of his arms in excitement. "Time to go back and rest!"

The demon king saw that the hero started to walk towards the direction of his castle and it took him a brief moment to come back to his senses, and he quickly caught up to him. "And where exactly do you think you are going?"

The hero glanced at him sideways, smiling. "To ou-your place, of course!"

Ignoring the fact that he knew the hero was originally going to say 'our', the demon king snorted and voiced his disagreement. "I didn't say you are allowed to stay."

The hero shrugged lightly. "You didn't say I am not allowed to stay."

"How funny, I clearly state—"

"Ah, ah, ah, I can't hear you! I am temporarily deaf!" the hero shouted as he covered his ears and picked up his speed.

The demon king's face darkened, he couldn't understand how the hero could be so unreasonable. Though he didn't say anything further and stayed quiet, following the hero to his castle from behind. He felt that he would only waste his breath if he continued to talk.

On the other hand, the person in front of him was rather surprised. The hero thought that the demon king would either kill him or forcefully kick him out of his territory, but none of that happened. How interesting. Although what the hero said so far to the demon king was the truth, he didn't expect things would turn out so well. Since the demon king hadn't gone to extreme measurements yet, he was going to assume that it was a sign of approval.