Demon King, Retry!

(To think she would want to live here… This is an unexpected result.) (Maou)

Maou and Madam were facing each other at the lobby and were enjoying a leisure meal.

The speakers were sounding light music and it created a peaceful atmosphere.

Both of them were thinking totally different things, but both were showing smiles.  

"I see, if the country itself doesn"t mind, I also don"t mind at all." (Maou)

"I am grateful for that, Maou-sama." (Ebifry)

"However, there"s a number of conditions." (Maou)

"Here it comes", is what Madam thinks.

"Excluding the necessary rooms, there"s 30 sections useable in this inn. I would like Madam to list the guests that will be staying here, and select them on your own judgment." (Maou)

Those words make Madam gulp.

With the experience she had yesterday, no matter what kind of woman, they would want to utilize these facilities. Even if they have to pay a ludicrous sum of money.

And he is telling her to choose them.

(With this, I won"t have to deal with problematic n.o.bles. I should just throw everything in that area to her.) (Maou)

Separate from the plans of Maou, Madam was trembling.

That she is able to freely choose means that, no matter who the other party is, she will have an overwhelming upperhand in standing and power.

But the conditions of Maou continue.

"I will add one more thing. No matter the person, I want to make it a limit of a one night stay." (Maou)

"One night…" (Ebifry)

(Of course, I have to make many different guests stay here and have them spread the word.) (Maou)

Separate from the plans of Maou, Madam trembled even further.

After tasting this dreamlike facilities, you will be forcefully returned to your territory the next day. It will most definitely be a mind-tearing feeling.

If Madam herself faced that, she would cry and throw a tantrum.

"Maou-sama, you really want to give me quite a lot of power here…" (Ebifry)

There will be people who will pet.i.tion Madam to stay in the facilities several number of times after hearing about its popularity, and the people that have tasted it already will be pleading Madam with even more intensity, no doubt about it.

In this part, there will of course be money and goods involved.

There"s no careless person in the surroundings of Madam who would request of something with just words alone.

From their perspective, it would be like she is the selector with a ticket of heaven in hand. No matter the way you spin it, your influence will increase.

"Power, you say. I am simply an ally of the women that seek beauty." (Maou)

Hearing this, Madam thinks. It is true that there"s no woman who doesn"t seek for beauty. It doesn"t matter the age, a woman will always be a woman even in death.

"In other words, Maou-sama will be taking ahold of half of the world, right?." (Ebifry)

Obviously, the world is made up of men and women.

Taking ahold of the women would mean…the same as having half of the world in your hand.

"Fumu…" (Maou)

Maou kept a silence at the question of Madam that was by no means short.

In time, he speaks in a dignified manner.

"I don"t seek for 100%. Half is plenty enough after all." (Maou)

What Maou was thinking in his mind was: "We are supposed to be talking about the hot spring here. Just what in the world is this woman talking about?". But without showing a hint of that, he speaks in a suggestive manner.

It was an att.i.tude of, if I just match what she says, it should work.

But from someone else"s perspective, that figure of his was the very definition of composure and dignity.

And in reality, Madam"s thoughts might have jumped a bit too much, and Maou probably had way too peaceful of a thought pattern here. In one side there"s Madam who has been in the crucible of political power, and in the other side there"s Maou who is only thinking about earning money and bettering his reputation.

"Right, the women of this country are strong. It is just as Maou-sama thinks." (Ebifry)

"Haha! That"s indeed reliable." (Maou)

Even though they are not on the same page, Madam will be able to utilize even further power than before, and Maou will be able to earn money while bettering his reputation, which is a part that strangely matches, and only the gears are matching in a dubious manner.

Most of all, this pair doesn"t bring any losses to each other. Only bringing advantages.

Those advantages being: beauty, power, pulling force, money, popularity; quite the realistic and practical factors.

To their enemies, this would be a nightmare of a duo.

Also, this Maou doesn"t forget to say something to a woman. Moreover, this isn"t flattery, he is speaking honestly here.

"By the way, you have become even more beautiful since yesterday, Madam." (Maou)

"Oh my, as good with your words as always." (Ebifry)

That"s right, Madam is used to being told this.

To the point that it could be considered an everyday thing. She won"t be played around by those kind of words. It would only go from one ear to the other.

…Normally, that is.

But this man…the things that Maou says have a different weight to them.

"As I have said before, Madam, the words that come out from me contain no flattery." (Maou)

Maou"s sharp gaze pierces Madam.

That pressure of his made Madam gulp.

"Right, and…" (Ebifry)

"The words that come out from my mouth…" (Maou)

""Will all become reality.""

The voice of the two overlap, and Madam laughs happily.

Maou puts a hand on his chest and makes a gesture as if he were about to perform some kind of magic trick.

It truly looked like the sight of a peaceful meal.

—Holy Castle.

"No way…Something like this is just…"

Seeing the letter that arrived, White"s back freezes.

To her surprise, Madam Ebifry wants to stay in the Rabi Village for "medical treatment". But that"s just not possible.

"Wasn"t she having a flashy party just a few days ago?!" (White)

The vision of White was getting darker.

From all things, for that central person of social gatherings that loves flashy stuff to be staying for medical treatment in the Rabi Village…can"t even call that a joke. Cause that village doesn"t have anything.

Rather than saying she is taking them for idiots, it was already on the level of insulting.

"That Madam staying at a secluded village…aaaah!!" (White)

After thinking that far, the mind of White received a shock.

The landlord of the Rabi Village, Luna, just recently said that she will be taking control from hereon. Normally, this growth of hers should be something to be happy about as her sister.

However, right now it is different. Because at her back, there"s the fearsome Demon Lord.

"Are you telling me that, not only my little sister, but Madam has also been taken in?!" (White)

For White, this was a deeper nightmare.

That person, who"s even called the Empress of social gatherings, has an abnormal influence over the wife n.o.bles. The words she speaks can affect fashion, and can even move the economy.

Things that she says are delicious will soon run out of stock, and the places where she says are bad will have their owners cry from the next day on.

For some, she is a walking disaster; and for others, she is a G.o.ddess of fortune.

Just with that simple fact alone, she is someone that"s incredibly difficult to deal with.

Martial Arts keeps a great distance from her, and Dona Dona would show his disgust, but at times he would even take a submissive att.i.tude towards her.

Both of them know the fearsomeness of having a group of women as their enemies.

"How did he manage to pull Madam in…more importantly, what does he plan to…Ah!!" (White)

{Watch what I will be be doing from now on and judge for yourself. Since long, I haven"t used words, but shown through action.}

The words of Maou replay in White"s head.

Thinking about it again, that was a shocking statement.

It is true that he didn"t say it, but actually showed with action.

"I see…So that was a declaration of war." (White)

White unconsciously tightens her fist.

In the holy castle, in front of the top of the Holy Maidens, that Maou had boldly stated a declaration of war.

That figure of his was extremely daring and sinister.

You could say this is a first in history. Declaring invasion in the homebase of your enemy, in the very face of their high commander.

There"s only one thing that surfaces in her mind…Demon Lord.

"Queen, look at this…" (White)

White does something unusual of herself and throws the letter in a violent manner.

Queen was placing her legs on top of the round table as always, but she silently catches the letter and reads it.

The big slit showed a great part of her legs, and it was by no means an att.i.tude she should be having while reading a letter.

"Hmm, medical treatment, huh…Ain"t it okay?" (Queen)

"Wait! Don"t say it as if it so simple!" (White)

"Who cares who is where?" (Queen)

"You see, Queen, this means that that Madam has been taken in by Maou, you know?!" (White)r

Queen looked at the ceiling and speaks as if she didn"t care.

She truly looked like she didn"t care to the point where that att.i.tude of hers was even refreshing.

"You say Maou Maou, but that guy is simply the "favorite" of Luna." (Queen)

"Favorite, you say… How can you think in such a simple manner?!" (White)

"Sis, you haven"t seen her, so you probably don"t know. I met that idiot Luna at the Yahoo city, and that idiot was making the face of a full-fledged woman, ya know." (Queen)

"Just what are you talking about?!" (White)

The anger of White was rising nonstop, but Queen was as usual.

With her legs still on top, she puts her hands at the back of her head. It was the very sight of a yankee.

"That idiot is also in love. Just leave them be." (Queen)

"What love! The whole country is in danger here, you know?!" (White)

Seeing White shout desperately, Queen goes "haaah" and then snorts. For some reason, she had a pitying gaze.

Queen lowers her legs and brings both of her hands in front of her chest.

"Well, Sis won"t understand. I hope you find a good partner. I will pray for you as a Holy Maiden." (Queen)

"Don"t say it as if I am a pitiful woman! I am having a serious conversation here!" (White)

Queen gives a prayer while enduring a laugh.

Closing her eyes and putting her fingers together created the perfect picture of a beauty. No matter who saw it, they would think of a Holy Maiden, and a man wouldn"t be able to take his eyes off.

"I plead to the heavens…the great…what was it again? I ask that ya to make my Sis a woman too. Also, Zero, I love you. Love you a whole lot." (Queen)

"You just wanted to say that last part, didn"t you?!" (White)

"Zero…" (Queen)

"Still going?!" (White)

The Holy Castle was a big ruckus today as well.

"…Ara, it is only Tahara?" (Yuu)

"You"ve got some nerves adding that "only". I am doing work here, you know." (Tahara)

At a room of the hot spring inn, Yuu opened the sliding door, and there was Tahara with some sort of drawing spread out and was writing on it with a pencil.  He had a red pencil held in between the top part of his ear, and at a glance, he looks as if he were trying to predict the results of a horse race.

"That"s a map of the village? The position of the facilities seem to have changed though." (Yuu)

"That"s right." (Tahara)

"Are you saying you don"t agree with the position Chief has decided on?" (Yuu)

"If the situation changes, the positions also do. Just to clarify, I have already gotten permission from Chief-dono." (Tahara)

"I see, then that"s okay♪." (Yuu)

"Hey now…" (Tahara)

The complete shift of Yuu made Tahara show a bitter expression.

It was an astoundingly fast change of att.i.tude.

"To think you would idolize Chief-dono this much…there"s no knowing what the future brings, huh. Or more like, isn"t it simply that your tastes have changed?" (Tahara)

That"s right, Yuu likes young beautiful boys. She feels joy in teasing, bullying, and seeing their distorted faces of pain. A serious s.a.d.i.s.t.

Kunai shouldn"t be in her strike zone.

"Even though there"s a lot of bunny brats here." (Tahara)

Tahara mutters this while writing with his pencil.

The bunnies are all beauties, but obviously, there"s also children in this village.

They truly are the very picture of young beautiful boys. If it were the usual Yuu, there"s no doubt she wouldn"t have left them alone.

"Hmmm…Lately, men other than Chief don"t enter my eyes, you see." (Yuu)

"That so." (Tahara)

Tahara thinks: "please let it stay in that cute way".

For the sake of his own sanity, and also for the sake of this world as well. If she were to show that nature of hers, several thousands of people would die like trash.

It would be easy for her to destroy a whole country by just creating a bacterium that is able to conceal itself for a long time and has high infection rate with high lethality.

"Anyways, that"s quite the large scale restructure." (Yuu)

"Right. I am thinking about dividing the sectors widely, and dividing the functions." (Tahara)

Tahara added lines to the drawing with rough strokes and separates the village into several sectors. Fortunately, the Rabi Village may have a small population, but the land itself is vast.

Since many Bunnies have left the village in the past, there"s a lot of vacant houses and unused fields.

"A rough outline would be: Medical treatment sector, commercial sector, general populace sector, and the Bunny sector." (Tahara)

"Sounds like it will take quite a large amount of funding." (Yuu)

"About that, we could sell the Holy Coin you got and use the money we get." (Tahara)

"I see, so my work will be of use." (Yuu)

"Yeah. Chief-dono said: "This will become a large source of income" and was happy." (Tahara)

"Fufu…Fufufufu…" (Yuu)

Yuu laughs happily and closes her eyes ecstatically.

Seeing this, Tahara thinks: "Please stay cute like that. I seriously implore you", feeling like he wanted to shout this out loud.

If she were to increase his work even further than there already is, Tahara would most likely die from the stress.

"But right…if we are going to be making such big changes, how about asking for the opinion of Madam as well?" (Yuu)

"Rejected." (Tahara)

At that instant, the temperature of the room lowered, and Tahara responds with a tone that could cut.

He was looking at the face of Yuu with a bluish flash in his eyes.

It is the face when Tahara gets serious.

"This is in a sense our castle. Madam has no say in this. We shouldn"t create a precedent of a n.o.ble affecting decisions in our territory. Yuu, have you gone senile? I will kill you." (Tahara)

—Have you forgotten what happened at the Nightless Castle?

"…Sorry, that indeed was a slip of tongue." (Yuu)

Tahara goes back to his work.

In the silent room, only the sound of a moving pencil could be heard. A dangerous air permeated the room for a second, but not dragging the issue is a good point of Tahara.

"Okay! Something like this." (Tahara)

"Hmmm…So you are going to increase the bases too, huh." (Yuu)

"We will push the medical treatment sector as a rustic s.p.a.ce and go with that image." (Tahara)

"In comparison, the commercial sector looks quite flashy though…Also, you are saying whatever you want about my hospital." (Yuu)

"About that, I am only writing the truth." (Tahara)

"Well, that"s true." (Yuu)

Yuu gets closer and takes a peek at the notes of Tahara.

"Wait a moment, Tahara…What"s with this drink while standing place?!" (Yuu)

"Aah, after taking a bath, you would want to have a nice cold drink, right?" (Tahara)

"Sounds like what an old man would say… Looks like the day Manami-chan calls you O-san is close." (Yuu)

"You idiot! No matter how old I get, Manami-chan will always call me Onii-chan! She is an angel descended from heaven! Don"t lump her together with your common woman!" (Tahara)

"…You should have a doctor check you." (Yuu)

"You are a doctor!" (Tahara)

—At a certain inn at the Holy Capital.

Maou was sitting at a chair and testing something out.

He has been repeating some sort of work, his forehead had sweat coming out.

Maou"s body gets covered in a dazzling light again.

In order to not let that light leak to the outside, he had the curtains closed, didn"t even have any light sources on, and had several tens of locks placed.

In a room where no sound is made, only light is drifting about.

(My vision is distorting…) (Maou)

Maou"s body changes into a dragon, and those sharp eyes look around the room. Even within complete darkness, those silver eyes were releasing a light as if it could see through everything.

Kirisame Zero, the other him.

(How should I call this feeling…?) (Maou)

When he is inside of "Maou", there"s times when he would feel a sense of relief as if he were in his own home.

The origin of all and the being that declared the beginning.

It was a character that he gave his own name to at first.

(On the other hand, this feels like a room for only one person.) (Maou)

He thinks that in a hazy manner.

That"s right, he was away from "home" for close to 10 years and was living inside the "dragon".

With the fact that he acted as he wished, it might be hard to describe it as a room for a single person.

(This feeling welling up…) (Maou)

This hot feeling that is rising up like magma.

The desire to stand in the limelight, the desire to act cool, the desire to gather attention; heating up a variety of people, shocking the gallery, showing himself off thoroughly; those are "primeval desires" of humans.

(It is nothing to be ashamed of. Rather, it is a natural thing.) (Maou)

In a sense, "he" was using a deviant way of thinking. He ends up thinking in this way.

A person would obviously want to do those things.

Shyness, embarra.s.sment, the eyes of society; thinking about a variety of factors, you simply restrain yourself, but if you were to be freed, of course you would want to walk a rosy path -everyone wants to.

(This guy certainly…no, I might be a "dragon".)

No, everyone has the groundwork to become a dragon.

If that were to be allowed, if that were to be acknowledged, if you had the power to do it…

Crush the strong and save the weak. No matter what enemy is in front of you, you face them. That kind of heroic desire, that kind of childish feeling, every person has them inside of themselves.

(I have to make it so that I can return at any time…) (Maou)

According to his hypothesis and experience…a dragon will show its power to one"s content, and once it is satisfied, it returns.

From now on, that won"t do.

"Don"t itch…my body…"

Whose words were those?

The dragon hits his palm with a fist, and an aura gushes out from his body.

"I will blow away everything."

Wild eyes were shining in the darkness.

"I am peerless under the heavens."

The mouth of the dragon warps in a distorted manner.

The evil that stands in front of this being would taste h.e.l.l.

The skills forming this dragon are way too specialized in destroying evil. And they are way too specialized towards the ones the dragon determines as enemies.

What was edged in his back, the words "peerless under the heavens" is by no means an exaggeration.

"Just watch, you f.u.c.king Grand Empire."

The dragon stands up from his seat and light covers his body.

The moment the light disappeared, the figure of Maou that was a thicker black than that of darkness appeared.

Without any rest, light once again gathers in his body.

This process, that was being repeated persistently without getting bored of, was slowly creating change.

No, it wasn"t change…It would be better to describe it as the fusion with his other half, Zero.

"He" was originally the dragon himself after all.

In time, he will control the dragon and the demon lord, and will be able to do so freely.

That"s a given.

He created them both and has been together with them through thick and thin after all.