Ch.126Demon Lord Maker – 1

“Do you perhaps have lingering attachments to the Demon Lord position?”

“I don’t understand the intent behind your question.”

During lunch break, when I called out Elysier, who was eagerly enjoying a human meal in the club room, that expression of “why would you ask such a thing” was returned.

“You lost your power along with the demon sword. I was wondering if you wanted to reclaim the demon sword, or maybe even become the Demon Lord again.”

“That’s not what I meant. I meant why would you ask such a question when you know I’ve been desperately hoping to escape the position of Demon Lord.”

“That’s what I thought.”

While pondering how to make Nika the Demon Lord, I had already reached my own conclusion. It was too obvious that Elysier had no attachment to the Demon Lord position.

After all, the only reason he had endured until now was to help me. If that hadn’t been the case, he would have thrown away the demon sword and everything else the moment he realized my identity.

Just as Laura, who had experienced the most regressions by far, still extremely avoids the same places from the original story and tries to stay only in places where I’ve been, Elysier was similar.

“And I have no intention of reclaiming the demon sword. It wasn’t my power to begin with, so what would be the point of getting it back? Explain why you asked such a question.”

“I heard about the situation in the demon realm from Nika.”

I summarized what I had heard. When I explained that the entire demon realm had fractured into chaos, embodying a true world of survival of the fittest, Elysier burst into clear laughter with an expression of utmost delight.

“Now that’s quite satisfying.”

“Since the Demon Lord position is vacant, I was thinking of putting Nika there. That’s why I asked. If you had any lingering attachment, I would have to give it to you.”

If he wanted to return, Elysier would naturally be the first choice. Since I hadn’t even told Nika about this plan yet, I could just pretend it never happened.

“Of course not. I would rather die than live as the Demon Lord again.”

Of course, as evident from the fact that I had already thought through the plan, I had already assumed Elysier wouldn’t want to return.

“What about you? Are you alright with this?”

“Alright with what?”

“To ascend to the position of Demon Lord, one needs the demon sword. Just as the hero has the holy sword, the Demon Lord has traditionally possessed the demon sword. A Demon Lord without the demon sword is no different from a hero without the holy sword.”

“Ah, if that’s the issue, it’ll be fine.”

Elysier showed an intrigued expression at my answer.

“That’s quite a confident answer. May I ask why?”

“Because it will definitely appear before me again.”

“The demon sword, you mean?”

“It could be the demon sword, or it could be a demon who has inherited that power, like Astaroth. Or it might go to one of the remaining generals. Either way, it’s clear that the Demon God won’t remain idle.”

It has already appeared before me and failed multiple times, hasn’t it? Starting from the Vampire Lord incident where it first showed its power, to the most recent resurrection of Astaroth.

All those attempts failed, but there’s no reason they won’t try again. I’m still fine, and so are they. I could be certain of that.

“Then will you just wait idly until then?”

“No. I’m planning to do some preliminary work in the demon realm. I’ll just cut down those who are rampaging to become the Demon Lord. I’m not thrilled about it, but I need to help the succubus establish her foundation.”

To be honest, I haven’t fully accepted the succubus as our ally. Even if her appearance on the battlefield was purely due to Astaroth’s orders, killing people through energy absorption was entirely her own will.

I’m helping her because her circumstances are better than other demons. If things don’t work out, Nika could always create a new succubus with his energy.

“I understand your intention… but are you really alright with this?”

“Of course I am. Even if things go wrong, I can always extract myself.”

“That’s not what I meant. Aren’t the final exams coming up soon? I was asking if your schedule would be alright.”

“Ah.”

“Time has already come to this.”

It feels like I’ve been through every possible incident, but in reality, we’re just about to finish the first semester of freshman year. I couldn’t help but feel absurd.

“You’ve been out a lot. Especially you, Mira, you’ve been involved in pretty much every incident.”

That was hard to deny. While stroking Priscilla, who was purring against my side, I looked at the lecture notes. It was a collection of all the lectures Priscilla had taken in her freshman year.

Since things have already twisted beyond repair from the original story, it probably won’t match exactly, but it should still serve as a reference. That’s also a courtesy to the person who made it.

When I suggested studying for the upcoming final exams out of courtesy, Priscilla claimed she could write lecture notes with her eyes closed, and indeed, she produced a perfect notebook without a single typo while actually keeping her eyes closed.

Everyone knew how much time was invested in those words, so no one was impressed. Except for Priscilla, who clung to my side asking for praise.

“Have you heard the news, Mira?”

“What news?”

Laura, who was calmly sitting there wearing my outer coat and shirt, suddenly spoke up.

“You haven’t heard yet, I see. Good. I can explain it to you.”

“So what is it?”

You need to tell me what news it is before I can judge whether I’ve heard it or not.

“The chairman has directly ordered that all your magic theory lectures be given perfect scores, and your combat practice as well.”

“…Why?”

“All the Magic Tower Masters insisted on it. They said someone who should be looking far beyond shouldn’t be studying mere intermediate magic theory. The chairman accepted the proposal immediately. As for combat practice, given all you’ve done, I won’t explain.”

It seemed to be because of what I had casually mentioned about mana breathing techniques before. They were already urging me about when I could learn it.

So this is what they meant when they said they would make time for me.

“This is still highly confidential information, so don’t go spreading it around.”

That person, or rather, that dragon, would naturally do that. Since accepting their offer to look after me, they’ve been desperate to provide even more care.

“Wait. That means I only have two subjects left to take?”

Almost all theory lectures overlap with magic, and the wide-area annihilation magic I had traded for with Ingrid at the beginning of the semester would have already been processed with top marks, so naturally only one theory class and dungeon practice remained.

It was the final exam, yet not really a final exam.

“Isn’t that a good thing? If you get perfect scores in those two classes, you can claim the top position as you declared.”

Seeing my dumbfounded expression, Laura chuckled.

“If we’re looking at the root cause, your continued presence at the academy is the problem. You killed Mahbat single-handedly, can face the Sword Saint, wander in and out of the demon realm as if it were your home, and even killed a Succubus Queen who wielded the demon sword and inherited the Demon Lord’s power. Expecting you to be treated the same as other students shows a serious lack of conscience.”

“…That’s true. My purpose for coming here was escape, not graduation. I enrolled thinking I could just quit once I achieved my goal.”

Originally, I had planned to graduate adequately and be done with it, but unexpectedly meeting another transmigrator brought me this far. A remarkable butterfly effect.

“Then early graduation wouldn’t be bad. With all the archmages and Magic Tower Masters mobilized, it could be possible as early as next semester. What do you think? Would you like to rewrite the academy’s history?”

“And graduate together with you? Your intentions are too obvious, don’t you think?”

“Oh my, have I been found out? How unfortunate.”

Despite having her intentions exposed, Laura smiled shamelessly.

Rosaria shook her head, ate the last chocolate on her plate, and headed to the refrigerator, presumably to get more. Typical behavior of the number one dessert thief.

The second was Leona, but she was replaced by Elysier a few days ago. Still, Elysier could be excused since he hadn’t been able to taste human food during the hundreds of years he spent repeating regressions as the Demon Lord.

As for Rosaria, I have no idea.

—Wooooong…

As time passed, Laura shamelessly demanded the clothes I was currently wearing, claiming the scent had weakened, Priscilla was slowly moving from my side to my thigh, and Elysier and Rosaria were enjoying tea time.

The communication magic tool I had received from the Magic Tower vibrated with a blue light. Rosaria giggled.

“You should put your smartphone on silent in the library. How rude.”

“Is that because you don’t have anyone to contact you, so you keep yours on sound?”

“Hey!”

Leaving behind Laura, who burst into laughter at what was so funny about that comment, and Rosaria, who shifted her target to Laura, I pulled the magic tool into my hand.

Whatever the Magic Tower had to say, it wouldn’t be something to hide from fellow transmigrators. If Ariana or Leona were here, I would have gone outside to take it, but those two are training separately with the Sword Saint.

“Speak.”

“I hope I’m not interrupting anything, Lady Mira?”

“If you were interrupting, I wouldn’t have answered. I would have broken it and asked for a new one later. Get to the point.”

“Just one more thing before that. Is Priscilla Agnes also with you?”

“She is.”

She’s having her cheeks fondled with a happy face.

“Perfect. Please relay this to Miss Agnes as well. The disposition of Miss Agnes’s sister, Gloria Agnes, has just been decided.”