Help, I'm in Another World and All the Men Are Are So Dangerous! [BL]-Chapter 295: The Truth of Deimos

His father’s words were absolute.

Rocco nearly leapt forward to hug him in gratitude but instead found himself more focused on concern.

Why?

If all I need to do is listen to what Ares has to say, then there’s no reason for everyone to be so worried.

Besides, with the way Ares is chained up, he’s in no position to do anything dangerous... right?

Yet, despite that, his father still prioritized Rocco’s safety.

"Father, I’m okay. I’ll listen carefully to what he has to say."

"Rocco... No. I cannot allow that. If something were to happen to you..."

His father furrowed his brows deeply, his voice dropping low.

Rocco appreciated his concern, but he had come here to be useful—to help.

Turning back now just because it was "dangerous" would be shameful.

Rocco puffed up his chest with determination, but his father only looked down at him with troubled eyes.

The silent standoff continued for several moments before Ares let out a weary sigh. fɾēewebnσveℓ.com

"...Hah. This is going nowhere. Fine. I will allow him to stay."

Ares’s eyes landed on—

Laxus.

Rocco’s father and Sylas both widened their eyes in shock.

Rocco, too, blinked his eyes in surprise.

Why Laxus?

If Ares had some ulterior motive, Laxus, of all people, would be one of the greatest obstacles in his way.

After all, Laxus was incredibly strong.

As everyone else hesitated, trying to decipher Ares’s reasoning, Laxus alone remained unfazed.

"Don’t worry, Rocco. I’ll protect you."

"Eh? Ah... um, o-okay..."

Wait.

Is Laxus really just accepting this?

Rocco who is watching this scene, blinking his eyes in disbelief, as Laxus shooed his father and Sylas toward the exit.

His ability to adapt at any situations was... shockingly fast.

As Rocco stood face-to-face with the chained-up Ares, he felt Laxus hugging him tightly from behind.

To shake off the small flicker of fear rising within him, Rocco took a deep breath, huffing and puffing to pump himself up.

He spread his feet apart, crossed his arms, and planted himself firmly in place... There! At least his stance looked big and imposing!

"Hmph, well then! Speak. What business do you have with me?"

Determined to trick even his own mind, he put on a strong front and played the role of a powerful figure.

For a few moments, Ares blinked his eyes in surprise, seemingly frozen in place.

Then, without acknowledging Rocco’s theatrics, he responded in a calm and matter-of-fact tone.

"...Very well. I suppose I should start by explaining a little about ’myself.’"

Huh? Explain himself?

Rocco already knew plenty about Ares, so what was the point of this? Was he just going to introduce himself all over again?

Tilting his head in confusion, he watched as Ares let out a small sigh, as if troubled.

"I see... So you truly haven’t been told anything."

Huh?

Wait, wait. What’s with that ominous-sounding statement?

Rocco pouted, puffing out his cheeks as he waited for Ares to continue.

As Ares looked up at him—still standing firmly with his arms crossed—his dull red eyes suddenly glowed with an eerie light.

"I am the first king’s younger brother, Deimos. A soul that became a demon after an unjust death."

"...????"

Rocco’s brain immediately flooded with question marks, as if it had been hit with a wave of spam messages.

His expression remained sharp and composed, but truthfully, his mind was completely blank. The best he could manage was furrowing his brows in an attempt to look serious.

Huh? Huhhh?

"No, no, what are you even saying? You’re Ares. Arestiner. Did your father hurt you so much that you lost your memory or something?"

"Rocco, Rocco. Calm down. Everything this man is saying is the truth. The one who’s actually shocked and confused right now... is your brain."

"WHAT?!"

As Rocco made a slightly mocking remark, questioning whether Ares was an idiot, Laxus suddenly patted his head in reassurance. The words that followed left Rocco completely stunned.

What did you just say?!

His mind spiraled in confusion—What does that mean? What’s going on?!—until Laxus pulled him into a tight hug and gestured toward Ares as if to say, Hold on a second.

Laxus squished Rocco’s cheeks, gently pressed a kiss to his forehead, and gave him what could only be described as his own unique version of a break. Though it helped clear some of the confusion, Rocco couldn’t shake the feeling that this method of "first aid" was highly questionable.

Smooshing my cheeks isn’t exactly a cure for shock!

Just as Rocco was about to protest, Ares spoke again.

"Are you ready now?"

His voice carried a strange patience, as if he were used to dealing with interruptions like this.

"You are aware, aren’t you, that in this country, red eyes are considered the mark of a demon?"

"Mmm... of course I know that. Do you have any idea how much Laxus has suffered because of it?!"

Hearing those words, Laxus immediately latched onto him from behind with a dramatic cry of, "Roccoooo!"

Despite his own frustration, Rocco reached back to pat Laxus’s head while puffing out his cheeks in a sulky manner.

But just as he thought things couldn’t get any more ridiculous, Ares let out a self-deprecating laugh and dropped an unbelievable truth.

"I am the reason that legend exists."

For the second time that day—WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY?!

Rocco stood frozen with his hands raised in stunned disbelief, his eyes round as saucers.

Ares who is paying no mind to his shock, continued his explanation without hesitation.

W-wait! Wait a second!

This is way too much information for my brain to handle at once!

"In my previous life, I was the only member of the first royal family who inherited a strong beastman lineage. A white wolf beastman, to be precise. My eyes were red, and my appearance was nothing like that of the humans of that time."

"Mu-mmm? A white wolf... with red eyes...?"

That description...

It sounded exactly like Laxus.

Rocco’s head snapped up as he turned to stare at Laxus, who was standing just behind him. Laxus met his gaze, blinking his eyes innocently before breaking into a bright, cheerful smile.

No, no—I wasn’t staring because I was mesmerized!

Ares continued without pause.

"Back then, humans and beastman still coexisted peacefully. However, when it came time to choose the next king, humanity’s true, discriminatory nature began to show."

Ah, this story... it sounded familiar.

A man who should have been king, persecuted simply for being a beastman, stripped of his rightful claim.

Rocco had heard a tale like this before.

And, just as expected, Ares—no, Deimos—spoke the words of resentment that fit the story perfectly.

"A beast ruling over a nation of humans is an abomination," my brother, the king, had said. "By all rights, the throne should have been mine, and yet he handed the crown to his son—who was not even five years old."

"A five-year-old king?" Rocco tilted his head. "Hmm... Deimos, your brother sounds kind of ridiculous."

"Doesn’t he?! Doesn’t he?!"

Placing the burden of an entire kingdom on the shoulders of a child barely old enough to read... That didn’t sit right.

Rocco had only blurted out his thoughts, but Deimos latched onto his words with fervor, as if he had been waiting for someone to say it.

"Unlike my brother, who lacked talent in both swordplay and governance, I was born with the qualities of a king. At the time of the kingdom’s founding, many urged me to take the throne. But my brother wanted power, and so he instilled hatred toward beastman in the hearts of the people."

Rocco sighed.

Yeah... hearing all this, he couldn’t help but feel a little sorry for Deimos.

Because from the sound of it, his brother was the real problem.

If what Deimos said was true—that everyone had acknowledged him as the rightful ruler—then the first king of this country had been nothing more than a prejudiced tyrant.

"So... what did you do?" Rocco asked.

"The way you’re telling this story, it sounds like you must’ve done something."

Deimos’s eyes widened slightly, then a small, knowing smile crept onto his lips.

"Ah... you’re right. In the end, I succumbed. I could not endure the humiliation and helplessness my brother forced upon me... and so, I performed the Ritual of the Demon."

"The... ritual what?"

That sounded incredibly ominous.

A bad feeling crept into Rocco’s gut, but he urged Deimos to continue.

Deimos’s crimson eyes darkened, and he gazed into the distance as he answered.

"A forbidden ritual... one that sacrifices a life to transform oneself into a demon and gain eternal life."