 |
Volume one starts off when three men (one of them is Kukuru) are talking about the town’s dancing girl, who is prerforming on stage. Kukuru has an obvious crush on the dancing girl. Her name is Hilda Hildegard. Suddenly, a sleazeball named Gagul grabs her and asks her for sex, as if she was a prostitute. He is rough with her, and has the obvious intent to rape her. Kukuru, wondering why no one is trying to help her, attempts to do so himself, but he is no match for Gagul. Luckily, a raven haired man (Laures! ^_^) breaks into the scene. Gagul, angered at the presence of this stranger, attacks Laures. But Laures did not appreciate this. With just a stare, he turned Gagul’s arms to shreds.
The men at the bar then inform Kukuru that Laures is Hilda’s lover. However, Laures is not Hilda’s lover. Hilda berely knows the man; even though he is always there when she is in danger. Despite Hilda’s questoning on his identity, all Laures says is that he’s one of her many admirers, and that she is an irreplaceable jewel. As they converse, we learn that Hilda has no memory of her past. All she remembers is her name. This brings her much distress, but she finds happiness in her dancing. Laures seems to have some clues to her past, but he disappears when he feels he has said too much. The scene then changes to the demon world, and some lesser demons are calling the demon lord back, which the reader then discovers is a certain handsome black-haired man, Laures. We then return to the bar where Hilda dances, and a bunch of pervs are drooling over her (surprise, surprise). Anyway, when she is on the stage, she starts to think, “Did I know this man in my past?” When she is done dancing and is about to go home, an man offers to accompany her. She kindheartedly refuses and walks down an alley pleasantly. All of a sudden, two thugs, who are Gagul’s henchmen, grab her. Asubaru, who has just made his first appearence, notices this happening, but does not interfere, and instead goes off to look for a young boy named Rabi. |
When we are again with Hilda, she has woken up, and much to her terror, she is in Gagul’s residence. Gagul is making advances on her, but she retains her composure. He then reveals that the reason he has brought her here is not only to feed his waning libido, but to lure Laures into a trap.
Meanwhile on the outside, Asubaru is still looking for Rabi. Two guards are gossiping with each other. They discuss whether or not Gagul’s claim that Laures is a demon is true; and also, one guard says that he has seen a young man who is the survor of the Azel, a tribe that was wiped out by demons long ago. This boy apparently made a spiritual barrier around the town where they reside, a barrier which keeps out demons.
Kukuru is frantically looking for Laures when he hears that Hilda has been kidnapped. He finds his way to Laures’ location, where he find him with a strange woman. When Laures hears of the kidnapping, his seemingly nonchalance angers Kukuru. He believes he is mistaken about Laures, that is, that he is not really Hilda’s lover. Laures leaves the woman, and scoffs about her gossiping with her girlfriends about how cute he is. Kukuru went off, determined to save Hilda himself. A man named Rodrique overhears this, and is surprised at the news that Hilda is in this town.
Back at Gagul’s, his guards are beginning to get worried. They see shadows moving around, and are getting very nervous. Bad news for them, because that means Laures has showed up! ^_^
During this interlude with Asubaru and Rabi, Laures has made his way into Gagul’s hideout. When Laures finds Gagul, he tortures him mercilessly, with Hilda standing behind watching. She is shocked that the man who has showed her such kindness could be the same man she was witnessing now. Hilda begs Laures to stop, saying that the way he is behaving makes him seem like a demon; they argue over this, until the next scene.
Hilda has since escaped Gagul’s castle by swimming across the moat surrounding it. She was helped by a man who seemed familiar to her, Rodrique. Rodrique came to save her, claiming to her a former lover of hers. Kukuru informed him of Laures, presence in the town, making Rod fiercely angry. He tells Kukuru that he is the last of the Azel tribe. Laures destroyed their village and all its inhabitants with a cold smile, he says, and took Hilda away from Rod, and desires his revenge. He tells Hilda that the rason she has no memory of her past is because Laures sealed them away.
Laures and Teteiyusu, in the meantime, are discussing the fact that Rodrique is now aware of Hilda’s whereabouts. Although Tetei just tells him to kill Rod and take Hilda back to the demon world, Laures does not wish to do this, because, well, to put it in laymen’s terms, he’s really whipped and doesn’t want to do anything that would disappoint her. Tetei does not understand Laures’ notion of love, however. He is determined to take him back to the demon world, because in Tetei’s words, Laures is “the most revered king of the demon world.”
Later, Laures has met with Hilda again, but Rod has discovered them together, and vows to kill the demon king. They prepare to fight, but Hilda tries to stop it. Using his sorcery, Laures makes her unconcious, much to Rod’s anger. They battle, taunting each other. Eventually, Laures almost kills Rod, but does not, due to the feeling of a safeguarding “ki” closeby, and does not wish to meet it. That ki happens to be Asubaru, and this volume end with Laures wondering about how such a seemingly powerful man can be.
