Makai Hongi

Chapter 22

The festival had started.

Everyone drink! Sing! They celebrated loudly, just as they pleased.

“They aren’t even using the stage that I made.”

I had worked so hard. But no one was even looking at it.

“It’s always like this during the day. Things don’t really get started until it’s night.”

The brother of the loser siblings, in other words, Saifo, said as he approached.

“But the night is when people test their strength. A stage made of logs would easily break!”

“Probably. Are you going to join this year, Golan?”

“Of course, not. I already have to fight all of the time. Why should I have to fight during a celebration as well!”

Every year, people would test their strength on the stage at night.

It was like an arm-wrestling tournament, and people competed to see who was the strongest.

It didn’t matter if you won or you lost. People would generally start fighting after it, and the stage would be destroyed. It was said that the stage was originally made to be used during the day, and people started fighting at night as a way of breaking it.

“Now that I think about it, I’ve never seen any shows on stage during the day.”

That had been its original purpose.

“I’ve never seen any either. I mean, I don’t think they’ve been doing them for the past several decades?”

“What?”

Wasn’t it supposed to be the main event?

By the way, this festival’s official name was ‘Lesser Demon King Melvis’s Foundation Festival.’

They used to put on a stage play about the foundation of this country. It was something that every town and village was supposed to do. But in our village, we just built the stage and called it a day.

Is that really fine?

“Isn’t this a festival that has thousands of years of history?”

“I think so. After all, King Melvis is immortal.”

Melvis was once the subordinate of Lesser High King Yamato. He was a Great Demon King back then. 

However, he was cursed during the battle against the Celestial World, and most of his power was taken away. Or such were the rumors.

No one knew for sure.

After all, Lesser Demon King Melvis was in the middle of a very long sleep.

“You know about the three who fought beside Lord Yamato, don’t you?”

I nodded. Of course, I did.

If anything, it was a wonder that a meathead like Saifo remembered it.

“Zardan the Madman, Melvis the Immortal, Bargman the Dragon King. All of them had the power of a Great Demon King.”

“Yes. But Zardan died in battle, and King Bargman died of old age.”

“So Melvis is the only one who remains. And he is still asleep.”

Nearly 4,000 years had passed since Lesser High King Yamato had fought against the Celestial World.

As an Elder Vampire, it was unknown just how long Melvis could live, but his name remained on the Tablet of Control.

Dragon King Bargman had been a unique being among the Turtle Dragon clan, and he had lived for thousands of years. Still, he wasn’t immortal, and he had died a thousand years ago.

No one knew what tribe Zardan belonged to. There were no records of that left.

Some said he was a Giant. Most likely an advanced type of Hecatoncheir.

As for Melvis, the curse had reduced his power. And now he had fallen to the lowly position of a Lesser Demon King.

As the curse was still active, it was said that it must have been an attack that the Holy King unleashed in exchange for his life.

After all, Melvis had continued to sleep ever since then.

As many were already drinking during the day, the village returned to its peaceful state by the time that the sun went down.