Chapter 20: Understanding Anak

Well, whatever the case, it was a huge relief for us.

If she had joined the final battle, I couldn’t say for sure that the outcome would have been the same.

“Besides, even long before that—when you hadn’t layered so many barriers on yourself—you and the Hero wiped out Medun’s unit, didn’t you?”

Medun.

Right, there was someone like that.

He was a low-ranking commander under Denatel, who had been kidnapping people from the rear and supplying them to Denatel as experimental subjects.

He was practically the first real, organized Demon Lord army we’d faced.

Back then, it was just me and Lowell, so we really struggled…

“Wait! How do you know about that? Were you there?”

It wasn’t something she could’ve known from reports or anything like that.

I doubted she even read such things in the first place.

And Medun hadn’t even recognized who we were until the very battle where he died.

He wouldn’t have been able to report on our fighting style in any detail.

“Denatel asked me to check up on some pests who were interfering with his recent harvests. Things had gotten quiet on the front lines anyway, so I figured I’d go watch for fun.”

A chill ran down my spine.

“T-Then why didn’t you intervene?”

Back then, we were nowhere near as strong as we are now—in terms of skill, equipment, or manpower.

If we had run into her then, she would’ve reduced me and Lowell to ashes before we could do anything.

“I thought you were decent enough at the time. That was all. And besides, even if it was a lowly unit, I wanted to see the look on Denatel’s face when I told him I just ‘observed’ as his troops got annihilated.”

“But he’s a skeleton. It’s not like he has a face that can make expressions.”

I tried cracking a joke, but I still felt a chill in my gut.

To think our survival came down to something as trivial as her whim.

No—not just our lives.

If she had been even slightly closer to Denatel, or if we had piqued her interest even a bit more back then, the world itself might’ve ended.

“Well, neither Denatel nor I ever imagined you’d grow strong enough to defeat us.”

Of course they didn’t.

We didn’t think we’d save the world either.

“To be honest, I didn’t think so either.”

I don’t know about Lowell, but even after we gathered more allies, I still didn’t believe we’d actually save the world.

“If I’d known this was how things would turn out, maybe I should’ve jumped in back then instead of just watching. Don’t you think?”

It was a lighthearted joke, without a trace of bitterness—but it was such a believable scenario that I didn’t know how to respond.

Especially since I was one of the people involved.

“Right. If you had, things definitely wouldn’t have ended like this.”

I barely managed to agree, and somehow, amid the emotional turbulence, I succeeded in layering the seventh barrier.

“Phew.”

I let out a deep sigh without realizing it.

By the fifth or sixth layer, emotional distractions like this wouldn’t have mattered at all—but starting from the seventh, the burden increased significantly.

I nearly lost the balance between layers several times.

I was drenched in cold sweat.

“You actually managed to stack seven.”

“Don’t tell me you were trying to disrupt me?”

“No, I was just bored.”

That playful smile of hers somehow calmed me.

Even during our travels, even after saving the world and returning home with Lowell and Aegina, I never imagined that smile could be comforting.

“Well, time for bed.”

She said that, pointing at the floor beneath her with a finger.

That gesture was, admittedly, quite—no, very—cute, which made it dangerous in several ways.

“Right. I suppose we should sleep.”

It was late, and we really should sleep now.

I tried to stay calm and walked over to grab my blanket, but then a question suddenly crossed my mind.

“But Miss Ropena, I’m quiet when I sleep no matter where I am, so is there really any reason it has to be that spot?”

It was just a simple question.

I asked it lightly, without any real thought.

But what came back was an odd silence.

“…Miss Ropena?”

Curious, I turned my head—and saw her staring at me, face flushed bright red.

“Miss Ropena?”

She just kept staring, unsure what to do, her face glowing like a tomato.

I had no idea what I’d said that could’ve embarrassed her like that.

She stood there, blushing, for quite a while, and I—like a child who had done something wrong—just froze and watched.

Like I said, I wasn’t good with surprises or thinking on my feet.

“…You’re so mean.”

After a long pause, she muttered just that one phrase.

Then, until I fell asleep, she didn’t say another word.

And I had to fight hard to pull sleep toward me in that silence.

Of course, I was tempted to pretend to sleep and see what she would do, but… leaving Pandora’s box closed was more my style.

***

“…Honestly. Acting like you don’t know.”

Ropena quietly whispered as she looked down at the sleeping Anak.

What she did while he slept wasn’t particularly special—not in the way he had wondered.

She simply watched him.

The sleeping Anak.

As Anak had said, people usually don’t look very good when they sleep.

Especially not over an extended period, watching their every movement.

But for Ropena, that wasn’t the case.

Of course, the way he sometimes muttered or turned in his sleep was amusing, but that wasn’t what she was truly watching.

“You look so peaceful when you’re asleep.”

Anak was always a little tense, a little withdrawn.

But in sleep, none of that showed.

Of course, the unfamiliar bed and Ropena’s presence were probably keeping some part of his subconscious on guard, but compared to when he was awake, his expression was far more natural and relaxed.

“…You don’t need to feel guilty.”

She knew what kind of feelings Anak held toward her.

The first thing she felt when she saw Anak entering this extra-dimensional space was shock.

The place had been disguised as Denatel’s study, and for someone other than Denatel—especially a member of the Hero’s party—to enter meant only one thing: Denatel was dead.

Of course, in reality, it was Anak who was far more surprised.

And who wouldn’t be?

After the final battle with Denatel, Anak had taken the key that allowed travel between the other dimension and this place as a kind of war trophy—and he hadn’t told his companions.

Naturally, none of them knew he was here.

So imagine his shock when he encountered the Demon Legion Commander one-on-one in this place.

As mentioned before, the power of the legion commanders far exceeded that of ordinary individuals.

The look of dismay, confusion, and fear that flashed across his face in that moment still made her laugh from time to time.

In fact, not even a second after recognizing Ropena, Anak had thrown up a shield with all his might and summoned three summons.

He had continued summoning and casting shields with a solemn expression for quite a while, until he realized Ropena was imprisoned.

For the record, at the time, she even summoned flames in both hands and took an attack stance, just to tease him.

Anyway, when she later heard from Anak about the death of the Demon King and Nyx’s defeat, she was even more shocked—but that was all.

The deaths of the Demon King and Denatel weren’t exactly bad news to her.

Not only had she been stripped of her legion commander title as punishment for the defeat, but she had also been handed over as an experimental subject to Denatel.

And she knew very well what happened to those who became Denatel’s test subjects.

Of course, that didn’t mean she harbored any goodwill toward Anak.

After all, it was because of the Hero’s party that she ended up in such a state, and as a demon, being helplessly imprisoned and seen by others was in itself a humiliating experience.

Still, Anak came to the dimensional space every single day without fail.

Like it or not, he was the only face she could see.

At first, they exchanged only a few words.

But over time, their conversations became more frequent and longer.

And through those conversations, Anak always treated her with respect.

That was because he considered Ropena to be above himself.

Though they were enemies, Anak acknowledged her beauty, fierce power, and strong will.

These were qualities he could never possess, and he showed his respect for them.

Of course, it was also true that Anak himself wasn’t very used to interacting with beautiful women.

In any case, living beings are always sensitive to hostility and goodwill directed toward them.

Ropena gradually opened her heart in response to Anak’s attitude.

While it might not have been affection, it was enough for her to consider him a worthy conversational partner.

Up until then, Anak was just one of the Hero’s companions whom she had failed to eliminate—someone with little presence beyond a few failed ambushes.

It was around that time that she began to really look at Anak’s face and observe his expressions.

And eventually, she learned to read the subtle emotions hidden beneath them.

Anak was someone used to hiding his emotions, but in this place, she only had one face to look at—his.

Even without the stereotypical female sensitivity, her level of focus was on another level.

Also, since she was trapped in a barrier, Anak had let down his guard somewhat, which made it possible.

Furthermore, being former enemies sometimes made it easier to be honest.

As time passed, she began to see many things in his words and expressions.

At first, she couldn’t make sense of the chaotic mix of emotions, but with time, she started to understand bit by bit.

This could be seen as a kind of emotional resonance formed during long-term confinement, just as Anak said.

But whatever the case, she gradually came to understand him.

She began to perceive the emotions and meanings behind each of his words, gestures, and even the desires he himself refused to acknowledge.

Perhaps, she was now the one who understood him most deeply.

Yes, even more than Medluf, the Yellow Sage, or Lowell, his oldest friend and the Hero.

That was perhaps inevitable.

Lowell and Anak had met when they were both very young.

That meant Lowell had seen Anak since early childhood—but it also meant that his impression of Anak was formed when they were just kids.

Lowell was indeed clever from a young age, but children inevitably believe more in what they want to believe than in objective facts.

And Lowell was exceptionally brilliant, after all.