Editing Power.1 The Indestructible Great King (section)

===Part 3===

After finishing the talk show and the hero shows, we stayed at a high-class hotel at [Lilith]. And the morning after, I snuck out and went to a nearby park around here.

I saw this place out of my hotel window.

Sairaorg-san was training at a remote part of the park alone. After seeing him training in his work clothes, I couldn’t bare it any longer and followed him.

I did hear that his peerage was also staying in the hotel nearby but for him to train straight after what happened last night…

It seems like he’s done with the warm up as he got ready to run. When I approached him, he turned his attention towards me.

Looking at him, I asked.

“Do you mind if I run with you?”

He was initially shocked at my offer but quickly changed his expression to a bitter smile and nodded.

We then ran through the early morning of the capital in silence with me alongside him.

After running for few km, he talked to me.

“Physical training… this is something you need to do regularly. That’s why this is one of trainings that I trust the most.”

“I also ran through mountains like I was going to die when I first came here so I’m confident in my physicals as well.”

Now that I think about it, whenever I come to the underworld, I get mixed up in really weird stuff. When I first came here, I got chased by Old-man Tannin through the mountain but thanks to that, I’ve gotten quite confident at my basic strength.

Then Sairaorg-san said this while running alongside me.

“Looks like you got mad on behalf of myself.”

………

… Looks like he’s talking about last night. My body trembled for the entire time while I heard various curses directed toward Sairaorg-san.

“… I’m so sorry that I couldn’t be of any help back then.”

I apologised to him. All I could do right there was just be angry for him but not help him anyway. I couldn’t think of anything I could say towards the comrade that I fought alongside with many times.

This position of [King] held me back in the end.

But as if understanding me feelings, Sairaorg-san laughed wholeheartedly.

“Hahaha, I’m thankful of that gesture alone. As a [King], you shouldn’t do something that may get on the nerve of others. This is basically my destiny for being born into House of Bael. To tell the truth, I’m slightly happy that I got into this situation in the first place.”

Then Sairaorg-san continued.

“This is definitely not an easy life…  but many people regards me as the Devil of the House of Bael, or the Heir of House of Bael. It’s a painful and tiring situation… but it’s worth it, and I genuinely want 
to sort this situation out as well.”

………

… even after hearing those words, even after being questioned of his powers, this person takes pride in being a [Bael].

If you look at this person’s life until now, it would be sure that he has gained this position after many hardships.

Whatever things comes his way, this person won’t flutter at all since he already went through countless number of pain and suffering to get to this stage.

Still running beside me, Sairaorg-san spoke brightly.

“Hyoudou Issei. I am just a stupid devil. Towards my comrades or toward citizens, I can’t do anything but to be honest. I’ve trained this body after countless losses and being down, thinking to myself that I’ll win next time and that I need to move forward.”

Sairaorg-san stopped running and lifted his fist up in to the sky.

“… That I can reach anywhere with this fist and keep training.”

His rough fist….

Riddled with scar and hard skin. It was so well trained that it doesn’t look like a fist of a noble prince.

Sairaorg-san narrowed his eyes and continued.

“… Unfortunately, others are born with their natural talent. You’ve surely experienced this as you fought until now.”

I’ve fought against many others that were considered geniuses. Kiba, Vali, Cao Cao… Men that I fought, with only a fraction of the training that I’ve done, got much stronger than me in no time. That made me genuinely angry but at the same time I felt the ‘wall’.

I, Sairaorg-san or Saji. We must run and train like this in order not to lose against all these geniuses.

However, Sairaorg-san declared.

“But there are limits to what talent alone can do and soon these people will realise their limit as well… However, Hyoudou issei, there is no end to patching what you lack and nothing but to train in order to do so. If what you lack is speed, then you need to train that. If you lack physical strength then you need to train your physical strength. If you need to be more unpredictable, then you just need to interact with the unknowns.” 

Sairaorg-san then placed his fist on my arm.

“… You must train everything in order to maximise your abilities. The true enemy is yourself who deny your own ability.”

…………

… Suddenly Azazel-sensei flashed through my head. I’ve heard [Believe in your potential] many times from him before.

Yes, Sairaorg-san is right. When I was lacking something, I searched for any ways to make myself stronger and the result of all that is the current me.

I want to tell that to the past me, the me from a few months ago, the me from half a year ago and the me from a year ago…

… that the answer to worry you are having is the answer itself.

I was so touched by what Sairaorg-san has said but I noticed something from behind and turned around.

… And there stood a person so unexpected to the point it was like an illusion.

“Ah, what a coincidence.”

It was a guy wearing Hanfu <ref> historical/traditional dress fo Han people [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanfu Wikipedia] </ref> on top of his uniform…  Cao Cao!

Well that’s obvious! This guy, who’s participating in this game as an underling of Indra, just appeared in front of me in the capital of the underworld!

“….!!  Cao Cao! What are you doing here?!”

When I asked that in surprise, he just shrugged.

“Well I had something to do. I’ve got permission.”

He replied in a brief manner… wait, even if you’ve got permission, the fact that you’re here is what makes it more surprising.

Understandably, he did turn this place into utter chaos during the [Monster Crisis]…

There’s another weird thing about him. This guy isn’t carrying that spear that he always has around him. Since he’s not tapping his shoulder with his spear out of his own habit, it really seemed out of place. That’s how much he carried that spear with him.

“… Huh, is there something on my face or something?”

Cao Cao asked me since I was staring at him.

“Ah, it’s just that this is probably the first time seeing you without your spear.”

“Fu, if I walk around in the underworld this early in the morning with my spear, then you guys are going to try to kill me, right?”

That was his reply while smiling a bit.

Well true, that’ll be a headache later…

… meanwhile the person next to me have been giving  Cao Cao a cold stare. 

In an unlikely event in which by chance, the two [Kings] that are going to go head to head in the next game, they are meeting right now…

Sairaorg-san and  Cao Cao exchanged glares silently for a few seconds.

Cao Cao then said only one thing as he went past Sairaorg-san.

“I’m looking forward to the match.”

And Sairaorg-san replied with a provocative smile.

“Then I’ll see you at the arena.”

…and like that, the greetings between the incarnation of strength and tactics came to an end. They don’t need to use words since just looking at each other is enough to understand each other.

Both fans and the participants of the games are looking forward to the next match.

And so am I!

While looking at the back to  Cao Cao with Sairaorg-san, a question just popped into my head. I crossed my arms and tilted my head.

Looking at me like that, Sairaorg-san asked me.

“What’s up?”

“Ah it’s just that that guy… I only meet him when something big is about to happen.”

After Kyoto, I met him in really serious situations. Even after he became an underling of Sakra, I only met him during big fights or during a huge event.

Thinking back, he was there during my promotion as well.

Then Sairaorg-san said to me,

“Hmm, because of the power he possesses, he would have been the centre of attention from the beginning as well. I’m sure that person is also living a life much more complicated than we think.”

… Life, that can’t be summed up as attention.

… Life of a man who possess the World’s greatest Longinus, I can just about begin to imagine what that could be…

Imagining those who couldn’t live due to the sacred gear in their body, that guy must have been also…

“… I wonder why he decided to challenge the mystical beings?”

I said something that  Cao Cao said when I first met him.

Since he’s human, he wants to challenge the mystical beings… he said that it’s always been humans who topple the monsters….

“… I wonder. It’s not like us Devils can understand the [System] that the God of the Bible created.”

After saying that, Sairaorg-san started to run again.

Running with him, I looked behind… Looked towards  Cao Cao and there, I saw the back of  Cao Cao slowly getting smaller and smaller.

…The back of that person, without any hostility nor with his spear, looked like the back of a normal man of my age…