While Marcel’s currently dealing with his insecurities, let’s look at what the demon lord’s up to. 

Ah~, remember how a while ago, the demon lord said that he’d make Marcel’s new sword instead of a dwarven artisan as Frostbite suggested? Well, he’s doing that now. He figured that it’s been a while since he promised to make it and since he currently has a bit of free time, he might as well just make it and get it out of the way. 

The demon lord first had to think of what type of sword he’d be making. For one, the main ingredient he was going to be using was a dragon scale from a guardian of Winter, so a sword of ice and snow combined with a few abilities would yield the best results for a sword made out of it. He then had to sketch up an image in his mind and then got all the ingredients for making the sword prepared and ready to use. After preparing all of the ingredients and sealing the door with a spell to ensure that he isn’t bothered and that Marcel doesn’t accidentally see his gift before it’s finished. It doesn’t help at all that Claude’s also there since he tends to just walk past any spell as if it was nothing, making him put multiple Anti-Claude spells on the door. After taking care of countermeasures to everything that could possibly happen while he’s forging Marcel’s sword, he finally began making it. 

With an alchemic method similar to the technique dwarves use to smelt and add other ingredients to metals and switching it up a bit over the years, he first liquified Frostbite’s scale and combined it with a hair of his, along with some other ingredients one at a time. His hair is to significantly boost the power input of the sword when it’s done, but it’s a good idea to add it at the beginning of the process since that way, it’ll properly fuse with the entire sword and not cause the sword to be unstable from the significant amount of power that single strand of hair possesses. He added a few other ingredients like the feathers of the frost owl, a dungeon triple S monster that evolved and left the dungeon after becoming fully sentient. The feathers from that particular frost owl have unique ice properties as well and even though its power is nothing like Frostbite’s, it still can help amplifies Frostbite’s power to some extent. It’ll also ensure that the demon lord’s strand of hair’s power in the sword is balanced, as it’ll eat the excess power from the hair strand and feed it to the whole scale, thus making the sword stronger and giving it the ability to improve over time. 

The next ingredient he added was fire amaryllis, a sacred flower found in the fire emperor’s domain with the ability to purify anything it touches with the immense power of sacred flames, reducing it to ashes. He’s adding it to the sword to purify all impurities that began forming on the scale after it left Frostbite’s body, and to further amplify the power of Frostbite’s scale. After adding the fire amaryllis to the mixture of the scale, the feathers and the strand of hair, it amplified the power of the scale and changed it into something remarkable, guardian essence metal. It’s the strongest type of metal that can be produced. It’s the pure essence of a guardian stored in metal. This type of metal is almost alive like a living being, which leads it to be used in making a special type of weapon when it is acquired. The metal can rarely be made as you need to have the power of a guardian to store either yours or another guardian's power into metal. Guardians themselves rarely do this since they don’t see the point of storing their power into things to use later unlike other people, and if they need something, they just conjure it with their power instead. The demon lord upon seeing that his first-ever attempt to try and make guardian essence metal had worked, seemed satisfied and continued with his forging. 

The next thing he did after that was turning the liquified guardian essence metal solid again. That was very easy to do, but then when he began shaping the sword, he ended up with a major problem. See, he was making the sword for Marcel as a present, but he didn’t really know which type of sword Marcel liked. He can’t just assume either that Marcel automatically liked Frostbite’s sword form since that was just how he found the sword. This made it very hard for him to continue further developing the sword. He had to come up with a sword design that Marcel would like, but doing that when he didn’t know Marcel’s preferences was hard and so he tried everything. 

He first tried a standard sword design but didn’t see it as fitting enough for Marcel, so he tried multiple designs. From Claymore to Shamshir to Katana, he just couldn’t decide on one design, then an idea popped up in his head, “How about letting Marcel himself choose the sword design he preferred instead of him having to do it?” he thought and finally gave up on the appearance of the sword. He then focused more on what abilities to add to the already ice sword and in a few hours, he was done. The result was a sword with the ability to reshape itself as Marcel saw fit. The hilt was white and blue as to compliment the sword’s primary ability of ice and snow, and after taking one more check to inspect if he’d indeed added all the right abilities to it, he then put it away as to not ruin the surprise and went to find Marcel to deliver it. 

He was thinking of how surprised Marcel would be when he saw the sword and everything, and just when he teleported into the long corridor Marcel’s room is on, he sensed something. He sensed that Marcel was in his room with another guy, and it wasn’t Claude. He wasn’t very happy about it for some reason, but as he closed the distance between Marcel’s room and himself, he sensed that it was Allan, and he sighed in relief without even noticing. When he got to the door, he knocked politely then entered as it wasn’t locked. He entered to find Marcel in an unconscious state on his bed with Allan sitting in a chair close to him and spaced out as if working with his Informer. When he got about 5 meters from Allan, Allan noticed him and stopped what he was doing to pay attention to him. 

“Oh, your majesty. I didn’t notice when you came in earlier.” He bowed in respect to the demon lord. 

“Rise, rise. You don’t serve me, so there’s no need to bow. I’d prefer it if you stopped bowing ever so often. Marcel seems to find it very uncomfortable whenever someone bows to me while he’s in my presence. Please see to it that you don’t when he’s in the room.” The demon lord said in his usual soft voice and whenever he said a word, Allan could feel the lighting in the room get brighter. 

“Understood, your majesty. I’ll give it my utmost to comply with your request.” He answered, tensed, agitated and self-conscious because ever since the first time he talked with the demon lord, he hasn’t since, or at least he doesn't remember them talking like this ever since then. Marcel was always there in the room with him whenever the demon lord spoke, or Allan was busy doing something to notice the demon lord talking to him. He’d never really talked to the demon lord like that, not even the first time they met. 

The demon lord looked in Marcel’s direction and said, “Thank you.” When he said that, Allan felt even more nervous and he thought, “What have I done that’d require someone like the demon lord to thank me?!!” He was panicking inside but tried his best to look as calm as the waters in expression. He then asked the demon lord, “F-for what, your majesty?” 

“Marcel, I mean. I thank you for always being by his side. I’ve noticed that Marcel’s been much happier ever since you arrived than he did at the beginning. When he first arrived, there was an incident that led to him always carrying this angry expression when he first came here, but now he no longer carries that expression on his face anymore. I think it’s a sign that he’s gotten used to it here, and you’re the reason for it. By the way, I mean to ask this when I came in earlier, but why is Marcel unconscious exactly? I’ve noticed that he doesn’t usually take afternoon naps, so I’m thinking that you’re both up to something.” 

“Oh, he’s currently in the middle of fighting an inner demon of his. After entering a cube and losing badly multiple times then finally winning, he decided to get stronger and I suggested fighting his inner demons and he agreed, which brings us to this moment. He’s been at it for almost three hours, so I’m guessing he should be out very soon.” Allan answered. 

The demon lord laughed and said, “I guess that I also have to thank you for helping Marcel get stronger as well. I hope that you two have a long and good relationship together.” The demon lord smiled towards him, and the room’s lights from Allan’s perspective had all shifted unto the demon lord. They were even brighter than they were earlier and he looked so gorgeous. 

“Yes, your majesty. I do too. Now if you’ll excuse me, I must leave to attend to something else. Marcel should be waking up soon, so I’ll leave you to carry out whatever brought you here.” Allan said politely and then exited the room. He left because the demon lord was shining way too brightly and he couldn’t handle the radiance of the lights around him anymore. He thought of how lucky Marcel was to have someone like the demon lord as his future spouse. When he said that he had something to do, he wasn’t lying and so, went to do just that. 

After Allan had left, the demon lord walked over to Marcel's side and sat beside his sleeping figure. He smiled and wondered what type of sword Marcel will turn his gift into, and what kind of person Marcel himself would be in the future. 

He continued sitting there and after a few minutes, Marcel began regaining consciousness again. Marcel opened his eyes to the figure of the demon lord sitting next to him, looking as gorgeous as ever and wondered if he was dreaming. He'd noticed that he'd been having similar dreams like this quite regularly nowadays, so he just assumed that this one too might be one of them. 

"Are you awake?" The demon lord said to Marcel in his usual soft voice, and hearing that gave Marcel a jolt, fully waking him up, like a wake-up call. He quickly tried reorganizing his thoughts, agitated and wondered what had brought upon him the situation he was currently facing, but unfortunately, he still couldn't piece everything together. Allan had also disappeared entirely from the room and so, he didn't have anyone there to tell him how he somehow ended up beside the demon lord, but alas, he examined the bed he was still on and determined it to be his usual, so he hadn't been moved at least, but then he thought of how anything is possible in the demon realm from what he'd seen so far and was left trying to think of what had happened to him, making everything complicated in his perspective. Huh, who knew that having your future husband just sit by your side is enough to cause you to overwork your brain and make you level up on your mental fortitude?  

After thinking until his mental fortitude had reached new heights, he sighed and finally asked the demon lord what had happened. The demon lord explained about how Allan just left after he came in a while ago, and Marcel wanted to ask the demon lord why he couldn't have just sat in a chair and waited for him like a normal person, but just had to come and sit beside him on his bed while he was taking care of the enemy that is himself. 

"Um, Marcel? I'm sorry, but you're making your thoughts too easy to guess. You're guessing why I'm sitting by your side instead of sitting in a chair like a normal person, aren't you?" The demon lord asked with a slight smile on his face. 

Marcel felt like nodding, but that would just take the conversation he was currently in the middle of into a direction that he'd feel uncomfortable and helpless on, and so, he ignored the question and all other thoughts he had about his future hubby being maybe a god and asked, "Could you please stop doing whatever it is you're doing and tell me why you're here? Unlike you, I'm not able to guess what other people are thinking when they're quiet or expressionless." He talked in his usual tone with the demon lord.  

Ah~, the usual tone. Some people would ask, "What tone would Marcel usually talk to the demon lord in?". The answer is a 'sarcastic, somewhat angry but still not and sometimes patronizing when he feels like he has some control over whatever's happening although he doesn't' kind of tone. That's the usual tone that Marcel currently talks to the demon lord in ever since the day of the big party the demon lord held. People around him tell him that that's his usual informal way of speaking to the demon lord, but he just doesn't. 

"Yes, yes. I'll tell you. I came with a surprise this afternoon. Would you like to know what it is?" The demon lord asked in his usual tone. His usual tone while talking to Marcel is like someone trying to placate an angry cat who knows that they'll win in the end, but is still as gentle and tolerant as anyone can possibly be. That tone and his soft voice make Marcel somewhat annoyed as he feels like the demon lord is in total control of any situation. 

"Yes, of course. Who wouldn't if they're told of a surprise? Could you please stop making me guess now?" Marcel's demeanor was very similar to that of a curious cat at that moment. The demon lord looked at Marcel's expression with his blond hair and blue eyes and was reminded of a magical beast he once helped by granting sentience to it. Marcel looked like him in a similar way to whenever he talked about surprises. He couldn't help but smile at him. 

Marcel while wondering what the fool was smiling about, looked even more eager to find out whatever this present of his way and just when he felt like he was going to die before finding out what it is, the demon lord spatial magic's space open right in front of him, slowing bringing something out. It was a white, long case and at that moment, cat-like Marcel turned back into smart Marcel again. Determining from the size and length of the case, he determined that it could be nothing but a sword. He couldn't stop the huge smile that appeared on his face after seeing the case after it emerged, and he looked at the demon lord with that smile. The demon lord smiled back at him and nodded. 

Marcel after getting the go-ahead, touched the sword case to try and determine what kind of sword it would be. 

Marcel happily opened the sword while closing his eyes as to make the current situation more dramatic, and when he opened his eyes again to see a standard sword with a white and blue hilt and a white blade, looking very nice and a blue scabbard just as nice as the sword, he smiled even more, but the demon lord felt like he still hadn't seen enough yet of Marcel's happy expression. 

"Nice, huh? But this is only the sword's standard form. It can reshape itself according to your command, but you can't do it too often as it requires a lot of magic power to do so. Try it out! Touch it!" The demon lord said with a smile.  

Marcel went with the suggestion and when he touched the sword, it reshaped itself into a majestic longsword with a white and blue cross guard. Marcel's elated expression seemed to intensify even more and the demon lord felt like he'd done a good job of surprising Marcel, but there was one more thing to go. 

"It isn't done yet. You see that inscription on the end of the blade, right next to the rain guard? Add a bit of your blood to that inscription on that part and try giving the sword a name." Marcel heard the demon lord say and looked closely at the part of the sword as the demon lord had just described, and he was right. Something was written there, but he couldn't read what it said, but he doesn't care about some writing. The important thing to him at that moment was to give his sword a name and test it out. He cut a bit a small part of his thumb with the tip of the blade and then smeared it on the inscription as the demon lord had instructed him to. Nothing particularly spectacular happened except for the blade vibrating a bit and then he thought of a name for it. 

"Sigurd! I think I'll call my sword Sigurd." He said smiling to the demon lord without taking notice that he was smiling towards the person who assaulted him, took his first kiss away from him and forced him into an engagement which he, in the end, accepted. All of these were, by the way, so far at the back of his mind, that you might as well say that he's forgotten all about them. Now it looks like it won't be long at all before the thought of doing the demon lord in disappears from his mind. 

"Now try using the blade. Remember to say its name as you use it. There's another surprise inside of it that someone prepared for you." The demon lord said. Marcel got off the bed and stood to try out the sword. He began waving it around like a child for a while to see how sharp and swift it was, and then he finally said his new sword's name while using it. 

Sigurd, the sword as if hearing its master call out to it, let out a surge of power that flowed into Marcel. It wasn't just the power of the sword that flowed into him, but also the knowledge of how to use different sword techniques. He also felt a chilling cold in his spine for about a second, but then it disappeared. He spaced out for about a minute, but when he got back into it, he tried a move and as convenient as the luck of a hero is, he was almost like an expert at it. He tried a few more sword techniques and then he yelled, “This is awesome!!!” at the top of his lungs. 

"What happened?!" He asked the demon lord with a happy and curious expression on his face. 

"That is Frostbite's last gift to you. Frostbite couldn't groom you into a proper hero in time and so, he decided to give you something that'd lead you unto the path of being a proper hero. He thought of giving you a spectacular gift, like the blessing of the Frosty Winters, but since Winter is the Supreme Guardian of Winter instead of Frostbite, he can't. Winter is the only one that can bestow upon someone a blessing as powerful as the blessing of the Frosty Winters, and thus he gave you what he did. What you felt was all of the knowledge he possessed about swordsmanship and the blessing of the chilling cold which isn't at all as powerful as the blessing of the Frosty Winters that he placed into the metal after you left. You'd never think that someone with a brother complex like him who left to see his brother as fast as he could, would turn back to give someone a gift, but he did." 

"Wow, Frostbite is so nice. Now I can call myself an expert in swordsmanship thanks to him. Frostbite is an awesome guardian!!!" Marcel said in joy, but the demon lord just had to go and burst his bubble. 

"Huh, you think you can call yourself an expert just because you know all the sword techniques of the heroes that came before you? Don't kid yourself! You're still weak and disappointing and very far away from being called an expert. Analyzing your body's condition right now, your physical condition can't handle even a third of the full power of the sword techniques you received, so I don't think you have the right to call yourself an expert. but you're not at all hopeless at all. If you train your body along with your magic power and learn to wield Sigurd to its fullest extent, you can call yourself whatever you want and nobody will dare say a word about it." The demon lord pointed out everything that'd normally make Marcel angry right out, but he didn't at all feel angry or depressed about it. He just gave a nod with an agreeing expression on his face and the demon lord smiled as well. 

"Um, why do I need to wield Sigurd to its fullest extent? Isn't it just fine as it is?" Marcel asked with the usual naive expression on his face, but then the demon lord used his storage space to bring out a book and gave it to Marcel. 

After giving him the book, he said, "Sigurd as a double S-grade sword. If you open the book I just gave you and read it, you'll understand."  

Marcel used his innate skill [Adept Comprehension] to quickly read through and understand the contents of the book, then he opened his mouth wide in surprise, in silence and shock over what to think about what he now knew. 

After a minute or so, he screamed, "Sigurd is an SS-grade weapon?!! And I don't deserve it?" Marcel said the last part a bit sad and depressed.  

What was it that Marcel read in the book that made his mood take a quick 180? Well, it's all in the book. The book was about weapons that exist in the demon realms. There are normal weapons made of normal metals that are used for daily activities, like the one he uses for sword practice sometimes, then there are other weapons called magic weapons.  

Magic weapons are weapons that usually come with natural magic or special abilities attached to them after creation. These swords have different grades that rank their abilities. They rank up from D to A-class normally, but like usual, there are always those weapons who stand far above the others in terms of abilities. These ranks are S, SS and SSS. The three ranks are for treasures with the ability to lay waste to cities like cutting through butter. There are so strong that those who wield them can defeat most of their enemies, well, except for if their enemies are guardians or rulers or the demon lord even. They're very powerful weapons and now Sigurd, the sword of ice and snow along with a few other abilities have just joined them. That's the reason why Marcel feels unworthy of it. 

The reason he feels unworthy of it is also that Frostbite is a guardian, meaning that he should be super-powerful as a sword as well, and he should have been able to have done better while wielding him in his blade form, but he proved to the demon lord that he was but a joke. After wielding and disgracing himself with Frostbite the way he did, he doesn't feel like any powerful weapon is worthy of his current self as he is. 

The demon lord as if sensing Marcel's feelings said exactly what he wanted to hear, "Then work hard to become worthy of Sigurd. You'll only be able to use more of Sigurd's abilities as you grow, so it won't take long for you to catch up to it and make Sigurd even stronger. I look forward to seeing what kind of sword Sigurd will be by the time it's fully grown." He said with a smile that made Marcel think, "Wow, this guy is so nice!!!" internally. The demon lord let out a slight laugh as if having heard him. 

After letting out the little laugh, the demon lord came back to something that someone probably wondered, "How did your fight with your inner demon go? I almost forgot to ask you." 

Marcel upon hearing what the demon lord said, blushed and made himself loudly clear that he wouldn't tell. After all, it's very embarrassing.  

Just so you know, Marcel had to fight an inner demon based on how weak he felt that he was now after coming to the demon realm and when he was younger. His insecurity was about something that happened before he acquired his hero title, explaining why the scenery inside of the inner demon's domain was the orphanage he lived in. It was one of the reasons why he wanted to become a hero so badly. More on that later. 

A few days later after the demon lord gave Marcel Sigurd, there was an explosion in the vicinity of where Marcel's room is located. 

What could have happened? Is it something bad and Marcel is maybe in danger? Huh, who knows?