If possible, he wanted a black magician to find the map. He could no longer trust anyone but them. That was an odd thing. He had held such a prejudice against them before, yet now it was the government he could not trust.
The only place in the academy he could think that a black magician would go was the Mental Training Room. He had thoroughly investigated them out of his prejudice, so he was the only non-black magician who knew they used that place to communicate.
He attached the map to the wall.
He then left a hint as to what crimes he was trying to bring to light. He hid the map over the portion of the const.i.tution that approved the establishment of the Imperial Public Safety Committee.
He doubted anyone else talented enough to break the dragon’s seal would appear for several decades. No one in the government could break the seal other than by following the hints he had left behind. And if all went well, the pa.s.sword would fall into the hands of the black magicians who worked in secret. Even if that did not happen, the map would cause enough of a commotion that it would be seen by the government’s main faction and normal people before his enemies. If that happened, it would be impossible for them to monopolize the dragon.
And with that complete, one task remained.
He had to erase his memories of the pa.s.sword itself and of hiding the map. He would soon be captured. Once he was, he would be killed and necromancy would be cast on him. He had to erase the records of his memories from his G.o.d Muleet while he was still alive.
He used his authority as an a.s.sociate priest to summon his G.o.d. He erased the appropriate records of his memories. He was forced to erase most of his school life. This would likely be hard on his family after his death.
His job was now done.
That man stood before him. The man was unpleasantly beautiful. He gave a cheerful and refreshing impression, but he was different on the inside…or perhaps he was not. It may have been that cheerful and refreshing side that had led him to work so hard toward his objective.
“Really? You erased your memories!? That keeps us from acquiring that dragon! Well done! This will delay our work by quite a bit. But this just means I need to think of another method.”
The man shrugged. It served him right.
But he could not stand up to that man.
He would soon be killed.
The man stretched out his hand.
There was pain.
And shortly thereafter, only darkness.
“What was that!?” said Akuto.
Everyone else had the same expression as him.
Korone calmly explained, “These were memories recorded by the dragon. That dragon is illegally logging and saving the memories of every imperial citizen.”
“So is it the G.o.d of the black magicians!?” asked Akuto in shock.
“It seems that function alone has continued even as it slept. No one was able to use it in that time, but after one hundred years, it is usable once more.”
Despite Korone’s explanation, there was one thing Akuto still did not understand.
“Why were those memories sent to all of us?”
“I believe someone acted as an intermediary. I do not know who, though.”
Akuto looked over at Keena. She only gave a blank look in return. It seemed she did not know either.
—It doesn’t matter who it was. We have seen it now. That is all that matters.
Akuto smiled in Keena’s direction.
When she noticed, she smiled back.
“Okay!”
The student council president easily picked up on that atmosphere.
“This means nothing. I will not hold back,” she said before making shooing motions toward Hiroshi and Keena.
“Korone,” instructed Akuto.
Korone put on those roller skates she seemed to have taken a liking to, dashed over, grabbed Hiroshi and Keena under each of her arms, and moved away.
“Hattori-san,” called out Akuto.
Junko shook her head and said, “A Suhara follower does not retreat.”
“You can’t do this. There is no reason for you to force yourself. This is my responsibility for sticking my head where it didn’t belong.”
“No, I need to pay Teruya Eiko back for what she did. I also think you made the right decision. And…and…” Junko trailed off, blushed, and continued quietly. “And you chose me, so I will-…”
“Eh? What was that?” Akuto asked because he could not hear her.
“You idiot! What I mean is-…” shouted Junko.
However, Akuto was once more unable to hear what she said. Before she could finish, Akuto’s entire body was knocked back by an impact.
—Wha-!?
He was slammed against the ground before he even knew what was happening.
The same happened to Junko. And she seemed to have taken more damage than him. She groaned and was unable to get up.
“What did-…?”
He looked up and tried to say “what did you do?”, but another impact struck him from the side.
However, Akuto managed to see what had hit him this time.
The student council president’s arm had grown. She may have momentarily created more of the tissue forming her arm or it may have been a strike created solely out of mana like Junko’s copies. Either way, the president had punched Akuto from the side while standing still ten meters away.
“The gong rings the instant you decide to fight,” declared the president. And then she made a disinterested addition. “I saw those memories the same as you did. I understand how you feel. But I cannot allow you to pa.s.s for the sake of what I believe in.”
“Then…” Akuto stood up. “Enough surprise attacks. Let’s have an enjoyable fight.”
“It seems you like fighting even more than your appearance lets on. Then let us have an enjoyable fight. It’s been awhile since we met, but I have yet to introduce myself, have I? My name is Lily Shiraishi. I have a bit of a short temper.”
Lily stretched out her right arm once more. Akuto twisted his body in an attempt to dodge it. And then a strike came from the opposite direction. Akuto was. .h.i.t directly on the jaw. Lily had stretched her left arm out from below.
“At least expect a feint. You must not be as used to fighting as you let on.”
Akuto shook his head to clear his muddled mind.
“Your judgment was wrong, president. I hate fighting.”
“Come to think of it, these three mentioned that. They said you hesitated a lot despite your ridiculous strength.”
Lily used her chin to point at the three.
“Is that so? Well, they were quite kind. They avoided making any fatal injuries. That is, except for the last one.”
“When she transforms, she grows truly wild. Now, enough chatting. I am known to be quite kind as well. I would like to knock you out as quickly as possible.”
As Lily said that, she pointed behind her.
The dragon fired something from his open maw. The legends said dragons breathed fire, but this dragon released a metal rod carved into a screw.
This meter-long metal rod stabbed into the ground with a great roar. The stone pavement was torn apart between Fujiko’s legs where she still lay collapsed. It then rotated as it dug down into the ground.
“I created that within myself, so it is a portion of my body. Projectiles are cowardly, so one should wear down one’s own body. That is how the previous demon king thought. Now, girl. Stand and face me. I provide even the unqualified with a chance to fight. The previous demon king told me to prioritize my feelings over my duties and so I shall,” said the dragon.
Fujiko stood on trembling legs.
However, those memories she had seen were still lurking in the back of her mind.
—Brother…
She had learned the truth. The feelings she had held for ten years had all been based on lies. This made her feel that everything about her was meaningless.
“So you have stood. But you can do nothing with such shaky footing,” declared the dragon coldly.
“There you have it.” Lily shrugged at the dragon’s words. “It would be best if you were unconscious. You don’t want to see a drill tearing into a girl’s body, do you? Once it kills Etou-kun, the dragon will go back to sleep. If we then destroy the recorded pa.s.sword, everything will be over. It will all come to an end while you sleep.”
“I’m standing up to you because I can’t accept that.”
Akuto stared directly at Lily.
“Then what will you do? Overcome me and fight that dragon?” she said mockingly. “Doing that would be the same as choosing to be a demon king.”
She was right about that, so Akuto was at a loss for words.
“I-I just need to do it in a way that doesn’t make me a demon king.”
Lily burst out laughing.
“Ha ha ha! Excellent! I certainly can’t let someone pa.s.s if they aren’t even prepared to do what must be done!”
—I-it may be true that I am not prepared….
Akuto realized that his feelings were wavering. He had a bad habit of trying to look good, so he had a feeling he had come this far on nothing but momentum.
However…
“Do not worry! Do not worry about that, Sai Akuto!”
He heard a voice.
Junko had stood up.
Akuto looked up.
Junko raised her voice as she spoke to both Lily and Akuto.
“You may not be prepared, but I am! If you become a demon king, I will kill you!”
Those words brought clarity to Akuto’s mind. He stood up as well.
“Honestly… If you say that, I have no choice but to get up.” Akuto looked over at Junko. “I know how problematic my personality can be.”
Junko blushed as he looked at her.
“Wh-what do you mean?”
“I want everything to go well both in the present and the future. It makes me indecisive and I lack resolve. But if you will kill me, then maybe I can accept what might happen.”
Akuto smiled.
Junko looked away and said, “Y-you are pathetic.”
“There you have it, president.”
Akuto turned back toward Lily. Her expression was one of admiration.
“You’re quite the lady-killer. You would make a great ruler.”
“Eh? I’ve never thought about it that way.”
“I see. So you don’t even realize it.”
With that comment, Lily’s arms grew once more. However, they stretched toward Junko instead of Akuto.
“Kh!”
Junko somehow managed to stop the punch with her sword, but the punches continued on and on. She was ultimately unable to withstand it all and was blown away.
“Hattori-san!” shouted Akuto.
Junko groaned after being knocked to the ground again.
“Uuh… I’m fine, so...”
“Understood.”
He understood Junko’s resolve painfully well, so he turned to face Lily.
“Here I come.”
Akuto recalled the amplified tornado he had used in the crypt. If he could remember that wind spell, he could reproduce it without the bullet. He recalled the spell pulse that bullet had caused. He moved his fingers such that it drew out the same signals in his brain and used language to follow through with those signals.
“Transform this stirring in my heart to wind!”
A whirlwind appeared in Akuto’s hand and instantly expanded into a tornado that approached Lily. This roaring tornado was several dozen meters tall, but Lily received it with an unconcerned expression.
“This is nothing but mana wind. The flow of mana can be stopped with more mana. That is a lesson you need to learn.”
Lily created wind in her hand as well. This wind also instantly grew into a tornado. When it collided with Akuto’s tornado, the two winds disappeared as if they had never existed.
“Remote mana attacks are easily eliminated by controlling mana. The way you once broke your enemies’ arms and legs with mana pressure would be impossible without a great difference in power. One’s power weakens considerably at a distance,” explained Lily.
“Thanks for the lesson. I’ll take that to mean a direct fistfight is the best plan. That brings it down to a simple matter of how much internal mana we have. With your small body, you should be at a disadvantage,” said Akuto.
He had meant it as a casual comment, but the three officers watching on all stiffened as if they had been struck.
—?
Lily began acting oddly. She lowered her head and began trembling while her hand slowly crawled along the brim of her stylish hat.
The three officers all began panicking.
“Not good, gya!”
“Nothing good comes of the president touching her hat!”
“Gaahh!”
Lily’s entire body was trembling.
“My small body?”
When Lily raised her head once more, her expression was overflowing with anger. She grabbed the brim of her hat and pulled it to the side to reverse the hat’s direction.
“Ahh! She finally reversed her hat!”
“She can’t be stopped once she does that, gya!”
The three officers all clung to each other and trembled in fear.
“Diiiieee!” roared Lily.
Both of her arms disappeared from her body.
—Ah!
Akuto was shocked. No, he did not even have time to be shocked. Fists rained down on his body from every direction.
“Waaah!”
While being pummeled from every direction, Akuto saw that every direction around him for several dozen meters was filled with fists.
The torrent of blows tossed Akuto’s body into the air and refused to let him fall. The fists dancing around in the air looked like a sphere several dozen meters across. And Akuto was at the center floating around like a feather in the wind.
After seeing that Akuto was no longer moving, Lily finally brought an end to the fists. The look in her eyes had finally returned to normal.
“So you are finally unconscious.”
After seeing Akuto fall to the ground, Lily returned her hat to normal and checked behind her.
Fujiko seemed to be somehow avoiding the dragon’s attacks. However, she specialized in making medicines, so she could not handle close quarters combat. She had been backed up against a corner.
“Poor thing. But I will make sure to take revenge for you,” muttered Lily too quietly for Fujiko to hear.
But then…
“This isn’t over yet,” rang out Akuto’s voice.
Lily turned around in shock.
Akuto was covered in bruises, but he stood up. He moved forward on unsteady legs.
“You want more!?”
Lily sent out intense punches with both arms. She had not lost her cool this time, but she still sent blows accurately at Akuto’s vitals with the same force as before.
However, Akuto did not stop walking forward.
“Ha ha. You really are kind, president. You went out of your way to teach me how to fight. I get it now. If you know it’s coming, it doesn’t hurt! That’s the trick,” muttered Akuto.
“Ah ha ha… So you’ve caught on!”
Lily laughed out of bravado but was actually half filled with fear. The student council president was known as the strongest in the school. Her fists had once destroyed an entire group of knights that had called her short. Yet Akuto continued forward despite receiving those fists.
“You three!” shouted Lily to the three officers.
“Right!”
The three officers straightened up and immediately prepared for battle. One hardened her clothes into a silver color, one put on armor, and one transformed into a beast.
“Don’t hold back! Get him!”
The three officers displayed a perfectly coordinated formation. They attacked Akuto from three different directions simultaneously. A silver blade came from above, a beast’s fangs came from the right, and an axe as tall as he was came from the left. Each of these attacks had troubled him before and now he had no way of avoiding them.
However…
Akuto did not stop moving forward.
He caught the silver blade with his teeth, he grabbed the beast’s claws with his right hand, and he grabbed the axe with his left hand despite the blade digging into his fingers. And he continued forward while dragging the three officers along with him.
Lily continued the rain of blows, but Akuto did not stop.
Finally, Akuto arrived right in front of Lily. He shook his body to throw off the three officers with surprising strength. They flew about ten meters through the air.
“Waaah!”
“Gnyaaah!”
“Ohhh!”
The three of them let out different screams as they crashed into the floor. They slid across the floor while producing a tremendous racket.
Lily stopped her fists. While sweat poured from her brow, she looked up at Akuto.
“This is no joke. Why do you need to go this far?”
“I just have a feeling. I thought up a way of resolving all of this nicely, so I want to try it out. I haven’t given much thought to the repercussions, but I just have a feeling it will work.”
Akuto looked down at Lily with his battered face.
Lily shrugged.
“Are you stupid? If you’re willing to put in this much effort for a reason like that, I don’t even care anymore. I was going to show you my best attack, but never mind. You’ll either be killed by the dragon or Hattori, but this will kill you either way.”
When Akuto realized what she meant, he gasped.
“Then…”
“Shut up. I didn’t lose. I just can’t be bothered to continue fighting.”
Lily pointed behind her.
“Thank you,” said Akuto with a bow.
“You should be thanking Hattori. This is based on my trust in what she says. I am still convinced what you are doing here is wrong.”
Lily used her chin to point toward Junko. Akuto turned around to find Junko finally standing back up. She held her bruised cheek in embarra.s.sment and waved her hand to urge Akuto on.
“I will bring this all to a happy ending. Do you really think I’m wrong?” Akuto asked Lily.
Lily lifted one corner of her mouth and replied, “It’s because you’re wrong that we call you a demon king.”
Akuto tried to pa.s.s by Lily, but she called out to him as if she had suddenly remembered something.
“Wait a second.”
“?”
Akuto stopped and Lily instructed him to crouch down.
He did not understand but did so regardless. Lily stretched up.
“I forgot to give you your promised reward.”
Lily then kissed Akuto on the cheek.
Part 4Fujiko trembled in fear as a metal rod crashed into the wall like a stake next to her face.
She no longer had any means of resisting. She had used up all of the medicines she had on her. Not to mention that she was not sure those medicines worked on dragons.
Even while driven up against that wall, Fujiko continued to think about her brother.
For quite a long time, she had viewed her brother as dishonest. However, it turned out her brother had been honest and strong. Her childhood image of him had been accurate. But it was too late to regret it. Even so, she could not help but feel frustrated that she had taken such an odd direction for her life. She had always wanted to love her brother and she regretted suppressing those feelings. The effort she had put into creating her outward face had been for nothing and the cowardly means she had used to create her secret face had been nothing but a meaningless bluff put on by someone without the talent of her brother.
—But I will be set free from all of this when I die. According to the common religious beliefs, I suppose I will be going to join my brother.
Fujiko seemed to lose her mind with that thought and a smile appeared on her lips.
And as she smiled, the dragon opened his maw wide. A metallic smell flowed out from deep within his throat. Fujiko felt sick to the stomach.
And then…
“It’s okay now, senpai. I will handle this.”
She heard Akuto’s voice.
Fujiko turned toward it.
His tall form had pa.s.sed the gate. He stood directly behind the dragon. Despite clearly being so battered he could barely stand, he was puffing his chest out proudly.
The dragon turned his head to look as well.
“Most humans who act so tough are actually very shallow. Having the unqualified act as if they are qualified only irritates me.”
As the dragon spoke coolly, he opened his mouth toward Akuto and fired a metal rod carved with a spiral at tremendous speed.
It was about a meter long and it caused a tremendous roar as it rotated.
However, Akuto did not evade it.
“Ryaaah!” he shouted as he mustered up every last bit of strength.
He swung his right fist toward the rotating metal rod.
As it rotated and flew through the air, the metal rod crashed into his fist.
The painful sound of metal sc.r.a.ping against metal reverberated throughout the area.
“What!?” cried the dragon in surprise.
Akuto’s fist stopped the metal rod in midair. It did not stop rotating, but its tip did not drill a hole in Akuto’s fist. Sparks flew from the fist and the rotating tip of the metal rod and the metal rod finally let out a great noise as it rotated. With a dry sound, the metal rod fell to the ground.
“I don’t really know how to fight, so this is the only method I know.”
Akuto shook his right hand as if it hurt.
The dragon spoke up in an interested voice.
“I do not know if you are qualified or not, but it has been 100 years since I met someone like you!”
“That’s just because you’ve been sleeping for the last 100 years. You’re overselling this.”
Without waiting for Akuto to finish speaking, the dragon swung his tail to the side. His tail was as thick as a log, but Akuto stopped it with his fist.
Sparks flew from between the dragon’s scales and Akuto’s fist. The dragon pushed his tail down to knock Akuto the ground.
Nevertheless, Akuto held his ground and pushed back the dragon’s tail. While covered in sweat and breathing heavily, he swung his hand once more.
“What are you doing?” asked the dragon in puzzlement.
“Thinking about how to end this so I don’t have to kill you and you don’t kill me or senpai. I think an old-fashioned brawl would be best. Even if we are different sizes.”
Akuto seemed to be completely serious, so the dragon let out a laugh.
“Ha ha ha ha! No one has ever said that to me before! Fine. Let us have a wonderful brawl!”
The dragon and Akuto stood facing each other and sent metal rod against fist and tail against fist. They both managed to count up to 20 blows, but they were too tired to continue counting beyond that.
And…
The dragon may have decided this would be the final blow because he swung his head toward Akuto. As that head approached with a roar, Akuto sent out his fist.
The sound of metal clashing and then breaking rang out.
Once that noise died out, the human and dragon slowly collapsed to the ground simultaneously.
As Fujiko watched this unfold before her, she could not comprehend what had happened. Even so, she knew what she had to do.
Fujiko ran over to Akuto.
“What is your name?” asked the dragon from where it lay next to Akuto.
As he lay face-down on the ground, Akuto was sick of it all but felt he had to answer.
“Sai Akuto.”
“What a horrible name.”
“They gave it to me at the orphanage. Leave me alone. What about you?”
“Peterhausen.”
“What a horrible name.”
“My dead master gave it to me. He had a terrible naming sense, but I quite like it.”
“Sounds like you had a good relationship with your master.”
“He was an excellent man. And I hope that relationship can continue.”
“Isn’t he dead?”
“With my new master.”
“Oh, that’s nice. Congratulations.”
“You are a fool, Sai Akuto. I mean you.”
—What?
Akuto instinctually sat up.
“What do you mean?”
“Once I awaken, I require a master. Otherwise I will kill everyone who awakens me.”
“But don’t I need to be qualified?”
“Defeating me is part of that.”
“No, wait a second! I refuse! I don’t want this!”
“Are you sure? If you refuse, I must return to killing the people around me.”
“No, wait! So what responsibilities do I have to take on if I become your master?”
“Nothing. However, my master is generally referred to as the demon king.”
—Oh, no… I didn’t think about the consequences again…
Akuto held his head in his hands.
And suddenly Fujiko ran over and embraced him.
“Wah! What are you doing, senpai?”
“Please stop calling me that!”
Fujiko looked at him with teary eyes.
—This is not good. Did her personality change due to the shock of what she saw?
“No, senpai. Calm down…”
“I told you to stop calling me that! Oh, my demon king! I will serve you for the rest of my life as a black magician!”
Fujiko pushed Akuto down to the ground.
“W-wait!”
—This is going to make my dream even harder to achieve… I wanted to be a top cla.s.s national…what was it again?