Bride of the Great Demon King

"People always like to deceive themselves. Sometimes they know it is false, but they still choose to believe it. Because breaking the illusion often requires more courage than striving for happiness."

……

He said he wanted to dig three feet into the ground, but when the demon dug twice and found that his strength was limited by the mirror labyrinth to only a little bit stronger than the humans here, he immediately gave up the idea of ​​doing a big job and handed the shovel to him. Gave it to the Hellhound next to him.

"Actually, you should feel lucky. Either we become weaker, or they become stronger. If every human being here has the strength equivalent to a high-ranking demon, once their suspicion is aroused, the two of us will be easily bombarded. There are none left." Bastian swung his shovel a few times and dug up a plant from the ground.

"What are you doing?" Mensa frowned and observed the shallow pit on the ground, but found no trace of the staff he was looking for inside.

"Huh? Didn't you ask me to dig it because you liked it?" Bastian smiled while pointing at the plant in his hand, "I also think its red leaves suit you very well."

"I asked you to follow the smell to find the staff of the poisonous angel!" The demon stomped angrily, and when the hellhound was about to throw away the plant in his hand, he suddenly grabbed his arm, "Wait!"

Bastian raised an eyebrow suspiciously.

"Give it to me! I'll seal it up and take it back." Mensa took out a sealing stone from his pocket and murmured softly while carving a magic circle on it, "I don't know if I can take it back. Isn't everything here fake? ?"

"It's okay, if you like it, I'll find it in hell for you."

The Hellhound can always make his master blush and heartbeat with a simple sentence.Fortunately, this time, someone came to disrupt the situation soon.

"Oh! Sephilia, my dear sister, I heard that you have caught a cold, what a pity! I specially made hot soup for you, drink it quickly!"

If it weren't for the resentment in the eyes, the expression of this human woman could still express the theme of "caring".Mensa took the bowl and blinked.

"Hurry up!" The woman beside him urged.

"I'll drink it right now. Wait until it's a little cooler. Thank you for your concern, dear...sister." It took Mensa a lot of effort to hold back the last salutation.

"I will urge him to drink until there is not a drop left. Don't stand here and blow the air, I don't want you to fall ill too. Amelia, go back to the house!" Bastian smiled and put his arms around the woman's The shoulders turned around.

"Okay!" Although she got the assurance from her 'husband', the woman still reluctantly looked at the bowl of soup several times before entering the room.

"What the hell is she?" Mensa always looked blank.

"Did you see her pour the poison in?" Bastian reminded in a low voice.

"Of course. My eyes haven't grown in vain! Such a big bottle, poured it in front of us, and then brought it to me to drink. Is she out of her mind?" The devil was still puzzled.

"I'm afraid……"

"?"

"The mirror maze is at work. If the vicious sister doesn't do something vicious, how can you snatch the 'brother-in-law' over?" Bastian smiled innocently.

Mensa shook his hand and almost knocked over the bowl. "Then should I... drink it?" the demon asked uncertainly.

"Hmm..." Bastian looked up at the sky, and answered quietly after a long time, "The best way should be to let your 'father' drink the poison by mistake, and kill two birds with one stone. Well, this is simply the way to 'happiness' ' is the quickest way."

"Don't worry about it, let's find the Poison Angel's Staff first!" Unable to understand the "idea" of the mirror maze, Mensa casually put the bowl on the pyre beside him, took Bastian's arm and walked away.

"Speaking of smell, apart from that wooden house, there is no smell that belongs to Bailiel. I went to the cave in the back mountain to see it. It is indeed a mine, and there is no shadow of the gate of hell." Bastian Can't help but frown.

"Then what do we do?"

"Let's talk to Bailiel again! The world has cracked because of our arrival. I got some information from your 'sister' last night. I hope it can be useful."

"Hey hey? How on earth did you..." Get information?The image of the three-headed hellhound wagging its tail at the woman seemed to be in his mind, and the demon suddenly became entangled.

"Let's go! Isn't it easy to get some words from the villain you designed?" Bastian smiled and dragged the demon away.

The hellhound's footsteps were fast, without giving the devil a chance to think deeply, and the two quickly returned to the door of the cabin.

Mensa glanced at his summoned beast suspiciously: "What kind of information did you get, can you convince that young master to go back with us?"

"Try it!" Bastian stopped the demon who was about to push the door, "I'll do it."

The hellhound kicked open the door.

"It's you two again!" The old hunter stood up from his chair.

"Mr. Will, you might have misunderstood something yesterday, but today we came to explain it specially." Bastian took out a large clay pot from behind as if conjuring, "We also brought a small gift, I hope you like it. "

"Gift?" Facing the gentleman who suddenly became polite, and the village chief's young daughter who shyly (?) huddled behind her brother-in-law, the old hunter immediately rubbed his hands and became a little at a loss.

"Fresh milk, the servant squeezed it this morning." Bastian shook the earthen pot in his hand, smiling, "I think Bairiel is just at the age when he needs to drink milk. Do you have a cup here, Mr. Will? "

"Oh! Yes, yes! Come and sit down!" The old hunter rushed to the kitchen immediately.

Mensa glanced dissatisfiedly at the young man who was still vigilant, and then his eyes naturally fell on the table. "This is it!" The devil's eyes lit up immediately.

"Hush—" Even Bastian smiled.

"This! Haha! Do you want to..." Mensa pouted in the direction of Bairiel.

"Don't worry, I know what to do." Bastian patted the back of the demon's hand.

"You two... who the hell are you?" Bairiel frowned and interrupted the two who were playing riddles.

"Huh? Don't you know who we are? Didn't you recognize our voice yesterday?" Bastian asked back with a smile.

"But..." But I always feel that something is wrong.The young man became more and more suspicious, but his expression was very calm: "Didn't you all claim to be the messengers of the devil yesterday?"

Although Mensa wanted to explain that they were demons at all, not messengers of demons, but when he saw the old hunter returning from the kitchen with a tray, he immediately stopped talking.

"Let me pour it!" Bastian filled the four cups casually, and while observing Bailiel's expression when drinking milk, he asked casually, "Is Mr. Will teaching Bairiel how to play with glass beads? "

very good.Ever since the boy picked up the cup, the expression on his face became even more confused.

"Yes! Do you want to play with Mr. Bastian?" The old hunter happily extended the invitation.

Bastian looked at the glass beads on the table: "If there are four people, I'm afraid they can't play?"

"Uh..." The old hunter rubbed his chin and suddenly had an idea, "We can play two against two. Bairiel has just learned the rules, so I will be in his group, and Mr. Bastian will be with Miss Sephilia." Let's form!"

So everyone moved their seats, and two groups sat on both sides of the square table.

"Speaking of which, when I just married Amelia, I was shocked when I saw her dowry!" Bastian pushed the black glass bead into the previous concave hole, "It's really unimaginable, The head of the village in such a small place can still have such... savings."

Bairiel's fingers trembled suddenly.

"Indeed, the village chief has made a lot of money in the past few years!" The old hunter smiled meaningfully.

"Yes! I really don't understand. I don't have any real power in my hands. How could so many people voluntarily give their property to the village chief?" Bastian still seemed quite puzzled.

"Gold coins...the sound of counting gold coins...the sound of counting gold coins every night. One, two, three...the crisp sound of impact...no one wants to sacrifice their children as sacrifices, they would rather lose their money Eliminate disasters, use money to bribe the person who has the decision-making power, and push a helpless orphan onto the altar... Ah!" The milk in the cup was knocked over on the glass beads, and Bailie suddenly woke up.

"Bariel, what's the matter with you?" The old hunter looked at his adopted son who was a little worried.

"No, it's nothing. It seems that I heard a strange sound just now." Fingers groping on the table, the boy lifted the glass up, his face full of apology, "I'm sorry, I dirty the glass beads."

"It doesn't matter, as long as you wash it, it will be clean. But you..." The hunter pressed his warm and rough palm on the boy's forehead, "Fortunately, I don't have a fever. Is there any discomfort?"

The boy shook his head immediately.

"Ah! It's getting late, we should go back." Bastian stood up and nodded to the old hunter with a smile, "Thank you, Mr. Will, for letting us spend a pleasant afternoon. By the way, my father-in-law I want to ask Mr. Will to discuss something, please come after dinner, please?"

"It should be about the bear in the back mountain, right? No problem." The old hunter hurriedly agreed.

It wasn't until the village chief's house was in sight that Mensa asked in a low voice, "Are you sure?"

"Master will not pamper a useless human being. Bairiel is very smart, he should have sensed something is wrong, and he should be able to take action tonight."

"I hope! Eh? That's it?" Mensa was startled. Why did there seem to be cries coming from that house?

Bastian quickly stopped the demon: "It seems that we don't have to go back. Someone was poisoned to death, most likely your 'father'. But no matter who was poisoned to death, the guilt of the vicious sister cannot be blamed." I escaped. If we go back now, it should be the scene of the final decisive battle, maybe there will be a counterattack or something like that. In order to avoid trouble, we might as well wait outside until after dinner, and then go to Bailie."

Mensa thought about it and decided to follow Bastian's arrangement.

"But this mirror labyrinth is really exaggerated..." the demon muttered softly while sitting on a stone and gnawing on the baked sweet potatoes made by hellhounds.

"Well. Someone once concluded that this maze is only suitable for one person. The more people are trapped, the harder it is to function." Bastian suddenly put down the branch in his hand.

Mensa turned her head: "Huh? The prodigal young master?"

Under the night, the blond boy standing not far away was biting his lower lip.

"Have you decided to trust us?" Compared with the seemingly unreliable demon, Bastian's voice was obviously more soothing.Bairiel took a deep breath and nodded.

"Although I only remember a small part of it, but... this place is really... not real. How can I go back and get...to the side of the person you mentioned?"

"The key to the mirror maze should also be a reflective object." Bastian touched his nose and recalled, "It should be something that people who fall into the maze are very unwilling to destroy."

"Then... is it this?" Bairiel took out a bead from the small pocket in his hand.

Crystal translucent white glass beads, a New Year's gift from my adoptive father, who wanted to clean up the precious treasures by the river.

"Very likely." Bastian nodded solemnly.

"If I destroy this, will I go back to the original world?" Tears suddenly slipped from my eyes, "Everything here is really... really can't be real?"

"You should be very clear." Mensa suddenly reached out and touched the boy's hair, "Although your original memory has been erased, you should be very clear. If this is the real world, then the glass bead in your hand It will never be black and white, and the rules of the glass bead game will never be exactly the same as chess. Think about it carefully, who is that person who is playing chess with you?"

"Chess... It's chess! I can't remember it, I really can't remember it!" Bairiel shook his head desperately, "Every time I try to remember him, it always makes me feel uncomfortable. I have never...been so uncomfortable..."

"Briel..." Mensa put a comforting hand on the boy's shoulder.

"But even though it's so uncomfortable, I still can't help but want to remember it." A desperate and sad smile appeared on the boy's face, as if the epiphyllum was blooming its last beauty, even through the mirror, it still made people's heart ache.

"Let's get started!" He raised his head resolutely.

Putting the glass bead in his hand on a flat stone, Bailiel fumbled to find another stone, and smashed it down hard with his teeth gritted.An uncharacteristically loud cracking sound convinced both the demon and the hellhound that they had found the right thing.

Followed by the second, third...

Each glass bead is engraved with shallow graphics, king, queen, prime minister, elephant...

The young man felt that every blow was like beating on his own heart.

pain.

Pain to numbness but still pain.

It turns out that this is what it feels like to crush happiness with your own hands.

Taking out the last glass bead from his pocket, the boy resolutely lifted up the stone.

"Briel!" The familiar voice suddenly sounded, causing the expressions of the demon and the hellhound to change at the same time.

"Uncle Will! Uncle Will! Uncle Will!" The boy's determination seemed to have reached the limit, the stone in his hand slipped to the ground, and he stretched out his arm, crying loudly.

"Uncle Will! I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" The boy who was held in the arms of the old hunter repeatedly apologized, "I don't want to remember! Believe me, I really don't want to! That year , I was waiting for you in the warehouse, but they said you were dead, killed by a bear in the back mountain. I don’t want to think about it! Uncle Will, you promised to come back, and you will definitely come back to me! I’m sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry! You said you'd keep lifting me in circles 'till I grow up, you said it! Woohoo...Sorry! Sorry!...I really don't want to spoil this place, I don't want to lose you a second time, I really don't want to... I'm sorry... I'm sorry..."

"It's okay. Bairiel, I didn't come to stop you." The old hunter picked up the stone and stuffed it back into the boy's hand, "I just want to see you again. It's me who should say sorry. None of the happiness I had promised has come true. I'm really sorry, Bairiel. Once they lose my protection, they will definitely push you into hell as a sacrifice. How could I have been so reckless trying to get rid of it alone? What about getting rid of that ferocious bear? Bairiel, listen to me, I have been regretting that I can no longer protect you, so... so now, I can't let you lose the chance to truly be happy!"

The boy's hand holding the stone was pressed down forcefully.

A crisp cracking sound.

There was a constant crackling sound.

The world is like a mirror that was suddenly shattered, instantly shattered into thousands of pieces along the cracks.

"Baileel." Before the boy could raise his head, he was tightly wrapped into a warm embrace.

"Briel, Bairiel, Bairiel... mine, you are... mine, and finally... come back...to my side again..." The devil's kiss seemed to confirm something The lost and recovered treasure swept across the boy's forehead, eyes, cheeks, nose tip, lips, chin, earlobes over and over again...

The tear-stained boy closed his eyes and reached out to hug the back of the big devil.