Volume 8, Chapter 19: Demon Lord, Part 2
The battlefield fell into chaos.
The general soldiery, who had been uneasy over the missing [Saint] began to despair and flee in terror.
Riding atop of the behemoth, the Black Saint had black, velvety hair, and had an escort of Demons that numbered in the thousands.
The natural enemy of all living things.
They were an existence that lived only to destroy the world, not even bothering to conquer or rob, nor creating anything at all.
The “souls” of the people instinctively understood that this was a being that was fundamentally incompatible with the world.
That which would bring the Apocalypse…… the true [Demon Lord] had descended upon them.
As the cold, emotionless beauty gently raised her hands toward the sky, dark clouds gathered, turning the bright day into an overcast night.
As the uneasy people stared towards the sky, *drip*… *drip*, a bone-chilling “black rain” began to fall. (TL Note: The reference here is too important to miss: black rain in j.a.panese refers to nuclear fallout rain, where the rain is turned black because of the radioactive ash thrown up into the air by the force of a thermonuclear weapon. It’s a horrific cultural memory.)
“Hya, ah…… hurgk”
“Gyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!”
“T-Toxic rain ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!”
The black rain began to paint the battlefield. The soldiers who were struck by it all began to shiver and turn blue, faces contorting in anguish.
It wasn’t unbearably painful. It wasn’t a pain that would break minds.
And so they all thought it was some sort of poison, and recognized it as a clear act of malice, and their despair seeped through the pain.
“All forces, retreat!!!”
The Hero Kyoji shouted out the command, and the officers and soldiers who heard him began to withdraw as quickly as they could, whilst those who didn’t began to rush to flee anyway.
Command had collapsed. It was an ugly rout where every man fled for himself, completely unbefitting professional soldiers – and yet, it saved their lives.
The Demons did not pursue them despite the wonderful opportunity.
“What’s going on……kuh!”
Kyoji glared at the Demonic host that was tormenting him in irritation.
The Demons who hadn’t moved an inch up until this point suddenly parted to two sides, and turned their heads to roar at the heavens like beasts.
“Run, you fools! Hurry!”
From elsewhere, the panicked voice of the Hero of Earth, Kanzo.
As the Hero-cla.s.s and several warriors who hadn’t lost heart looked back, the behemoth that carried the Black Saint opened its mouth, erupting with a roar that shook the very atmosphere.
[GUUUUUUROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!]
In that instant, a huge shockwave overturned the ground itself, the earth erupting in clouds of dust and clods of dirt, blowing away everyone from the blast.
In that dusty haze, some of those who had been blown away and buried halfway into the earth staggered to stand and help their fellows.
“…… oi, what’s that”
“Wha-what in the world……”
The battlefield upon which they had been fighting on had vanished, leaving only a crater.
Is this what a [Demon Lord] was……?
Up until now, there had been many self-proclaimed Demon Lords, and some who had been named as Demon Lords because of their heinous acts.
But everyone could feel that this thing was a fundamentally different thing.
Could humans even resist such a foe……?
Was there no hope for this world?
There was the Hero, who was supposed to be humanity’s hope and its [Sword]. But…… at the very least …… if the Saint that had fallen to darkness was here……
“……That’s…”
Someone was muttering.
In the midst of the battlefield where all of human despair was on show, there were still those whose hearts had not yet broken, who were trying to figure out what was happening.
Toward that terrible scene of destruction that lay before her, they could see that the eyes of the expressionlessly cold and doll-like Black Saint were shimmering slightly as if she was grieving……
As they withdrew from the battlefield, talk from those who had seen it began to spread, and rumors abounded that the Saint had not completely fallen to the darkness. People began to speculate and grieve for the Saint that had been kidnapped by the Demons and then forcibly turned into a vessel for the Demon Lord, and a small hope began to bloom in their hearts.
* * *
“Thank you for all the good work, everyone!”
After confirming that all of the troops that could see me had withdrawn, I returned to [Lost Eden] and took a breather, taking off the black wig.
“It must have been hard on you, Lady Yurushia. Fannie is preparing your tea over there.”
“Thank you, Tina.”
I handed the wig off to Tina with my thanks while I walked over to the table where the I could smell the aroma of tea being prepared.
“It’s well done, but a bit too warm.”
“It can’t be helped. Because it’s prepared with the heat of my love”
“Ah…… I see.”
I don’t get it.
The long black hair was a wig made from Tina’s hair. When I took hold of it at first, it was a small blonde wig, but the moment I shifted roles into being a villain, it suddenly turned into that body-length black hair and surprised me.
Tina had prepared a towel for me, so as I wiped my eyes free of the dust, Tina spoke to me.
“Shall I prepare eyedrops?”
“Eh, we have those?”
“It seems that such things exist in the city. Geas has purchased some.”
“…… Eyedrops were being sold, huh.”
The transmigrators from Terra really didn’t care about not being shameless.
Still, I am thankful for it and will use it. When Geas blew up the ground, the dust rose in great clouds, causing my eyes to tear up.
Geas has also turned back into a teddy bear again after forcibly turning back into his monstrous form and has been following behind me for a while now.
Ah, that’s right. I didn’t actually turn into a [Demon Lord].
First of all, Demons and a Demon Lord are very different things.
Demons were a part of the world, so if they destroyed the world, they would be removing the source of their own meals.
That’s why the real Demon Lord only appears when the world is about to end, and anything else is definitely 100% a “self-proclaimed Demon Lord”.
The entire purpose of this whole farce was to find a certain thing.
In order to rid the world of this sloppy trickle of a war, and push all of them into dire straits to use that thing.
So as a result of those varied considerations, I wanted to clean up all of the problems I’d been making in one fell swoop, so it turned out this way.
As a result of a combination of summoning the maid duo, Tina and Fannie, giving instructions to Noa and Nea, and forcibly injecting magic back into Geas to transform him into his monstrous form, I was quite tired.
There’s just so many things to do………
Originally, I was going to advance all of my plots slowly, but I didn’t want to spend all that free time thinking about Rinne.
……geh, besides wanting Rinne to manifest earlier, I also gradually missed Mother and Father more and more?
Ah, and even after only half a year in this world, I tired of it.
“So, what’s the situation?”
“One moment, please…… Right now, Nea is on their way back, so they will report directly.”
“Alright. Tea first, then?”
“Yes~, Lady Yurushia, your souls are waiting for you.”
As Fannie brewed up a tea with too many souls in the spirit of trying to replicate a beef bowl (but of magic power), Nea emerged out of the darkness, fresh from commanding on the battlefield.
“Lady Yurushia, I’ve returned.”
“Yes, welcome back. How’s the damage?”
“Well…… the Demon’s attack this time around hasn’t caused any damage to the humans at all.”
“………eh?”
This time around, I’d banned the killing of certain people: the heroes, or the ordinary soldiers who wouldn’t be tasty at all even when eaten. I would pray for the happiness of those who died whilst collecting their souls, but I’d prefer if more of them were left alive.
I’d told her that I would accept deaths of those who had exquisitely muddy souls, but n.o.body died?
“Ah, there were a lot of people who died because they were dragging down each other when they tried to flee. They were unworthy of collection, so I didn’t bother.”
“I see. ……well, that’s alright.”
Wouldn’t the plan be crippled with such souls? Well, although it ended safely, to kill each other like that, these humans really are beyond saving.
“Well, leave alone those people who have many [Skills]. They will be useful in our plan.”
“I understand~”
Nea smiled and saluted me in the Holy Kingdom fashion. …… You do understand, right? It’s important.
“How are we looking overall?”
“This time around, we employed 400 of our regular Demons. There were also 1200 new recruits who manifested in monsters. They were given those souls as a signing-on bonus. In addition, 2700 [Lesser Demons (part timers)]were recruited from the nearby Demon World with a daily salary of 2 kilograms of seaweed and the promise of Lady Yurushia’s live performance on their last day.
“………Nea.”
“Yes?”
“I told you not to use my name without permission……?”
“Eh…… but brother said it was fine.”
Noa…… you little brat……
I previously allowed for a meet-and-greet handshaking session, but how did I end up being bait again? …… I guess it can’t be helped, I’m going to have to practice singing again.
“…… Would you like a new dress made?”
“………”
It can’t be helped.
“Have the Demons try their best to not kill indiscriminately. Fannie and Tina, you will help me here, but as for Nea and the rest, I’ll have to trouble you all to take care of the human-tempting along with Touka and Mizuki’s parties. I’ll let Noa and Onzada-kun know too.”
“““Yes!”””
For the time being, we’re fully ready to go.
Having some of them place on the finishing touches will work better than if I intervened personally.
Well………
“I wonder who will be the first to fall into the “trap”……?”
Author’s Notes:
Next time, wielding people~!