The final battle between the demon king’s Rannu and Beria.
From the moment the demon king Rannu lost all his territories except his own castle, his defeat was already predetermined.
And as expected, he lost.
However, being under the influence of slave magic, and being the last line of defense, both of my wings were roasted under the attack of the demon king Beria.
And that’s why I don’t have wings.
Thanks for everything until now, Wings-kun… But now an era of peace is approaching, one where I won’t need my wings … Or that is what I would like to believe.
But reality is different.
Although my wings have been a small price for my freedom, I cannot but feel a little of regret.
The demon king Rannu should have surrender.
Wait, If that had happened, I would not be free now.
He should have said something like 「My subordinates have no guilt whatsoever, this fight ends with this life of mine」 and then commit seppuku,
But since he was an arrogant man, he would not be able to imitate such an act like a proper demon king.
Well, it can’t be helped that he is now rotting, besides, sooner or later my wings will grow back… or so I would like to think.
After all, I have a self regeneration ability.
I have no idea when they’ll grow back, since the one responsible for burning my wings was one of the twelve demon king, an existence with unmatched strength.
If it had been a normal opponent, they would have grown by now… That damn Beria.
Oops, I let my negative feelings out.
Let’s think positively from now on.
I must have good luck to just lose my wings in a fight against a demon king.
Although I’m in good health, it would have been better if I had not lost them…
No, I’m satisfied to have all my limbs in their right place.
That’s right, I only lost part of my body.
If I think about it that way, it’s not that bad… Or so I hope.
Although I have become a damaged good, I’m still the oldest of the gargoyles.
Since gargoyles are demons that are relatively easy to produce as long as the appropriate materials are available, they are also easy to replace.
Honestly, I didn’t think I could survive until now.
There was a time where I fought with an ancient dragon.
And fighting against a dragon should be something impossible… Since you know, I’m a gargoyle.
But I survived somehow.
Those cheeky bastards that left me behind are nothing more youngsters made recently when compared to me.
But even so… even so…
（Oops, again with those feelings, it’s not good, not good）
The future is more important than the past.
Let’s think about what I will do from now on.
The first priority and most important before I start moving is…
（I need to secure a source of food）
It can’t be helped that is a realistic problem.
Dying of hunger after having obtained my precious freedom, it’s not funny.
Until recently it was something that I didn’t have to even think about.
Since my body is not only composed of minerals, and has organic parts, I get hungry,
Although Rannu had stolen my freedom, there were some benefits.
One was that I didn’t feel hunger.
The food which had been replaced by energy was sent automatically through the path created by the slave magic of Rannu.
In other words, it means that from now on I will need food to survive.
In addition, slave magic can not be casted a second time on the same target.
Once experienced magic, the subject generates some resistance against that kind of magic system.
Being a branch of spiritual magic, the effectiveness of this kind of magic system also decreases. No matter what race, it’s the same for everyone.
That’s why now it’s impossible for anybody to use that magic on me.
Once fallen under the effect of slave magic, the responsible person either dies or must free you at their will. Wait, now that I think about it, there are lot of demerits.
That’s why I’d better think about how I’ll get food now that I’m hungry.
One of the plans is to hunt the monsters around the forest.
Although some of the monsters possess poison, these can be eaten depending on how you cook them.
I miss the time when I ate with the alchemist who made me.
The man who created me to help him with his work, in just one year he taught me a variety of things, such as talking, compounding and magic.
Except cooking, since cooking was not important…
Back to the topic, if I just need to eat something, anything will be, since I have some resistance against poison.
It can’t be helped, this time I will have to arm myself with courage and eat raw meat.
My second idea, I could run quickly towards a town and find a place to eat.
In this way, even if I don’t know how to cook, I will be able to have a decent meal.
But since I don’t have any money, I don’t have another choice but to do some odd job during the day to earn some money.
This plan would have been the best if those juniors had not left me behind and helped me to cross the mountains in confort.
Without wings, it would take me around five days to reach the town of Fara.
It will be hard to endure the hunger for five days straight.
My last plan is to steal the supplies from Beria’s army
Yeah, an overbearing plan but not impossible.
Even better if I only have to face her subordinates. Beria knows my face, I’m worried about what she can do to me if she sees me.
Fighting with Beria in my state is dangerous.
（Although it is also possible to ask for employment under her army if I do a frontal attack…）
Creatures such as griffons, giants, etc. which are resistant to slave magic are hired as soldiers.
I am sure that those who survived under the command of Rannu, are currently working under the command of the demon king Beria.
Among the demon kings there are those who cruelly treat their subordinates, however, unlike them, she doesn’t make any senseless killing.
If they can be used, she will use them, that’s her stance.
Of course, not everyone will go and ask the demon king for work.
Those gargoyles that left me, surely don’t want to work again for a demon king.
In first place, it’s possible for gargoyles to be employed.
Although their fighting ability it’s not that high, flying monsters are scarce and thus are given favorable treatment to some degree as spies.
Although it’s impossible for me since I can’t fly.
However, considering that my fighting ability is high compared to the average gargoyle, the possibility of being employed is high.
As for low-rank races, like slimes and goblins, even if they are hired, they generally receive poorer treatment.
In addition to being useless as the first line of attack, slave magic doesn’t work on them, and they also need food… In other words, they are waste of money.
This is my personal opinion, though goblins have a low fighting ability, they are skillfully with their hands and their head isn’t bad. In other words they are useful as logistical support, or so I think.
Well, right now I don’t have time to go around worrying about others.
But at least I would like to avoid living a life tied up.
If my contract is for a limited time, I could endure it for a time.
But if they want me to serve them like when I was under slave magic, then I would have to refuse them.
It would be nice if I could leave after saving a little of money.
I could bear being tied by a contract employment.
It’s just that in my case there is a big problem.
（Will she forgive me?）
I did many things when I was defending.
Will she have noticed that my eyes lost their shine because I was under slave magic all that time? Yes, I think she will.
What have I done, you ask? Hmm, let me think…
I grabbed her from her smooth pretty, silver long hair, then I wriggled her body around and using that centrifugal force, as a bonus, I threw her into a wall.
Next, I threw her a stone needle created by earth magic, and ending up creating a hole in her stomach.
Then to blind her, I spat out a thick, viscous mud from my mouth to her pretty face which was admired by everyone.
Yes… Even for me that was a terrible thing to do.
And if I look at my hands, part of Beria’s hair got caught at my claws.
So that it doesn’t get damaged, I cast a preservation magic on it.
The hair of a demon king is rare.
Ah, no, I’m not a pervert, the hair of a pure blood vampire can be used as a medium to cast a powerful magic.
And well, I did many things like that to her.
As for me, I lost my wings, so I think we are both even…
（Really… I wonder if she will really forgive me?）
My confidence started to wane.
I’m sure she has not died, since she activated a large-scale magic in the middle of my attack.
I’m sure the hole I caused to her on her stomach has already been closed thanks to her regenerative ability that all vampires have, and didn’t leave any scars at all.
Eh, well, um… I did something unworthy to a beauty.
It would be great if she would forgive me, but if not, there is a possibility that she will attack me when she sees me.
First of all, I have no idea how to greet her.
I could trick her by telling her that that was not an attack but a greeting?
『Hello〜 How it was my deluxe mud pack? You have become even prettier, demon king-sama〜 Your pores look great now, all cleaned without any impurity〜』
（Yeah… this is impossible, I’m looking for a fight if I say that）
As I thought, it will be impossible to be hired.
If everthing could end with this words 「This one is reflecting deeply as an ocean for what I did」 would be good.
It doesn’t matter how much I apologize, if the other party doesn’t accept them.
Aah, poor me.
After thinking through, I already decided what I will do next.
I decided to go first to the Fara town.
To not die of hunger I’ll have to hunt demons on my way to my destination
Once I arrive I will look for a job and with the money I earn I will be able to have a proper meal
I also need to think about saving up the enough money to look for a place where to live.
The reason why I am in search of a town is not only for the food but because I long of the company of others.
It’s not like I’m lonely, but not talking to anyone for a long time is a little sad…
My life has not even started, and I have to seclude myself in a mountain like a monk? No, I don’t want that kind of life!
Though I believe my plans are a little too rough, I have no choice but to proceed with them.
It only takes a day to get to the town Fara flying, but walking takes five days.
Even if I can’t find monsters and procure a local souce of food, even in the worst situation, I could last five days as long as I have water.
And for the record, I can more or less use water magic.
So if necessary, I can summon drinking water using water magic in exchange for magical power.
In the worst case, I will strengthen my body with magic so as to sprint at full speed until reach town, in that case I think it won’t even need one day.
A gargoyle, or in this case me, running at full speed would stand out a lot, so I don’t want to do that.
It doesn’t matter how much I think if I don’t start moving away from the castle.
Since I don’t want to get involved in more problems, I get moving.
