The first bonus chapter of the week is proudly brought to you by Hudson Rambow !!! ҉*( "ω" )/*҉
I read the manga. LOL. *relieved sigh* I was glad I didn"t imagine and understood things wrongly when I tried to translate this. Though there are some things that need to be corrected but other than that, I think I did well. (´∀｀；)
Oh and thank you so much for the comments! I read all of them I swear. None of your comments left unloved. (≧∇≦*) I"m going to reply to them when I got the time to do so. I promise.
Suggestions to improve this translation will be highly appreciated.
Translated by: EmpressEdited by: absoluten.o.body
CHAPTER 18 Novel Raw:Manga:Manga Raw:
「And so, let"s repair this castle. By using my own pocket money」
After finally arriving at the abandoned castle without being obstructed by the barrier, Irene started the discussion with a radiant smile.
The invigorating sunlight spilled forth in the reception room, the only functional room inside of the abandoned castle, making it somewhat brighter than usual. Judging from how several small flowers were blooming along the forest"s trail despite being out of season, Claude probably was in a good mood. But, as far as she could see, he was as expressionless as ever.
As expected, the first one to respond was Beelzebub, who"s today as well, wore an exposing attire.
「Do you mean letting the humans to enter this castle?! There"s a limit to your impudence, girl！」
「The people who let the King lives in this crumbling castle are the one who are being disrespectful」
「Crumbling you say? It"s cool, isn"t it?! To not understand the virtue of the decadent air is; this is why the human is」
Ah, this guy has chuunibyou. (1)
Instantly giving up trying to persuade the arrogant Beelzebub, Irene directed the discussion to the person who can actually hold a proper conversation, Keith.
「What do you think, Keith-sama? Isn"t it a good discussion？」
「Certainly, the cold air entering through the window cracks is awful, so I"ll be grateful if the castle is repaired, but…… to pay for it from Lady Irene"s pocket money is somehow… How much would the interest rate be？」
「There"s no interest. Claude-sama is good enough for the collateral」
「Uwaa, it"s inhumane. Deal！」
「Who are you calling a collateral」
Claude who was sitting on an armchair with his chin resting on his hand was astonished. It seems like he"s getting used to Irene as the wind didn"t blow nor the flowers were withered.
Only Beelzebub tilted his head.
「What"s a collateral……？」
「It"s a husband to a wife thing」
「No, that"s not even close to it, Irene-sama……」
「Claude-sama. Please give me your permission to repair the castle for the sake of helping the people. Claude-sama too, don"t think it"s a bad idea, right？」
When she finally directed the conversation to Claude, Claude expressionlessly crossed his legs the other way.
「……It"s impossible to let the humans fix the Demon King"s castle. I have no intention to be indebted to you, and it"s also unnecessary for the monsters in the first place――even if I point that out, you"ve already prepared an answer, aren"t you?」
Irene who was no doubt had prepared an answer was puzzled when Claude pointing it out first.
「Certainly, I have made a preparation, but……」
「Then allow me to ask you this. Why a Duke"s Daughter such as yourself, want to do such deed by yourself」
「That is――to help the people」
Claude narrowed his eyes. Feeling uneasy, Irene further explained her reasoning.
「Besides, it"s a good opportunity to prove myself as superior to Cedric-sama」
「But, I remembered you boasting off about not wasting even a second of your life for Cedric"s sake」
This man had a good memory. Irene decided to use another strategy.
「All of them are capable person. To simply discard them is against my belief」
「It"s alright if you can"t answer me; It"ll be a waste of time (2). The barrier is meant to monitor the ins and outs of the human, but in order for them not to be conspicuous, I"ll allow them to come and go. I don"t want to be noticed by those troublesome n.o.bles」
「O-of course I"ll be careful about that.……eh? Is it okay? To repair the castle」
「Yeah. Your way of doing things aside, I have faith with the result you will bring about」
His truthful evaluation managed to dampen Irene"s enthusiasm who initially was br.i.m.m.i.n.g with the intention of cajoling him. She could not help but to keep her mouth shut.
「Keith. It"s a matter of your salary, but I"m sure my subsidiary aid won"t be issued. So, do something that can be used as a funding. And set that aside as the payment to fix the castle」
「Oh, it"s my first job after a long time. I will do my best」
Irene was fl.u.s.tered after listening to Claude issuing an instruction as if he was familiar with this situation before.
「Umm！There"s a reporter named Jasper. If you look for that man……」
「So you"ve already made some necessary preparations? I see. You didn"t really intend on using me as the collateral from the beginning」
Irene groaned upon being discovered so easily by Claude.
That"s right. First of all, Irene will be providing the fund. And then, Jasper will be gathering the intel and evidence needed to threaten the culprits responsible for the embezzlement. And following that course of the event, she"ll lend that money to Claude and the others. Then, Irene will be able to make up for her share of responsibility.
By only using the material inside his mind, Claude managed to make a rough calculation based on the estimated total amount of money that should"ve come around, but in addition to the expenses for the repair this time, there should be some money left on Claude"s hand. However, if they don"t have a debt, even if they manage to retrieve their money back, she had a feeling that Claude won"t take the money.
「You really are not honest」
Claude who managed to read into Irene"s intention with those few words, looked towards Keith who was standing somewhere behind him.
「Keith. Can we put our trust on this man named Jasper？」
「Barry newspaper company"s president, right? He"s a courageous man with talent in writing good news. Irene-sama has a good eye」
「……You know quite a lot of things」
「I am Demon King-sama"s left-hand man, after all. Then, I shall go to work for the first time in a long time」
Frowning, Irene had a feeling that Keith who was laughing enthusiastically, wasn"t just a normal guy. In the game, he was drawn as a cunningly capable attendant, but, in reality, he"s just creepy.
Of course, as an ordinary human being, regardless of whether or not he"s capable, there"s no way he could survive in the human society as the Demon King"s attendant.
She understood that, but for some reason, she felt frustrated.
「――You truly do dislike being indebted to someone, don"t you?」
When she thought she was covered by a shadow, Claude"s face was right in front of her. Shocked, Irene gasped and let out her objection in a high pitched voice.
「C-Claude-sama, did you move just to hara.s.s me!?」
「No? I was just hoping that you will cry」
She clenched her teeth at his devilish whisper and distanced herself from Claude.
She tried to keep control of her uselessly palpitating erratic heartbeats and to speak as calmly as possible.
「Then, I have one more request, Claude-sama. Can you rent out the land owned by you including this forest? Of course, I"ll pay the rent. I"m planning to create a small farm」
「Does that mean you plan to make me allow people to come in and out of this place into something long-term?」
「……That"s correct. If that something looks like it"ll be something, then it"ll become that something」
「You can try to do it. However, if it caused trouble to the monsters, I"ll make everyone including the repairmen for the castle to abandon their work halfway and leave」
Conversely speaking, if people can get along well with the monsters, there"s room to listen to their stories. More than that, the most important thing to worry about is we must not disregard the Demon King Claude.
「I understand. So it"s alright……as long as people are careful while repairing the castle？」(3)
「That"s right. All that"s left is whether or not you can honestly ask me for a favor」
「……。What do you mean by "honestly"? How did you arrive at such word? I"ll properly pay a proper compensation, you know?」
「I don"t have much interest in that. It"s just, you"re bad at genuinely asking for a favor, aren"t you？」
Losing her temper, Irene jumped on her feet.
Irene glowered at Claude who nonchalantly spat out those words while she struggled to understand whether those words were meant to be sweet or bitter for her to hear.
「Then, I"ll start working immediately. Beelzebub-sama！」
「Wh-what?」
「Please guide me around the castle. I need to consider how I"m going to repair and renovate this castle」
「Irene」
「What is it?」
Irene turned around at the mention of her name, only to be greeted by the sight of Claude with his index finger dimly glowing.
But, the light went out as soon as his dimly lit fingertip was pointed across Irene.
Feeling uneasy, Irene"s eyes darted around suspiciously. There was a hole in the shadow of her own feet.
「Eh……eh, eeeeeeeeeeeeeeehhhhhhhhhhh!?」
Her shadow was swelling and from the gapping and cracking hole… something with sharp claws, thick forelegs and a torso bigger than her shadow was crawling up from beneath her.
Translator corner:
““ He meant it as it"s just going to be a waste of time to force her to answer his question. I think. 「分かりました。城の修繕で様子を見ながら……ということでよろしい？」Send some love and support by buying us a cup of coffee or sponsor a chapter for faster release and updates. ( ￣▽￣)[] [](≧▽≦ )