episode_0005

“Where am I?”

This was the question that came to mind as soon as I woke up.

Of course, the bed I was lying on was still there, but there was a window and an open door, so I could tell that this wasn’t the prison I was in. Even if the owner of this place was the Demon King, that didn’t mean that the Demon King was a bunch of crazy guys who would put windows in a prison and a door that would allow prisoners to escape at any time.

By the way, why does this Demon King guy change the place I wake up in every time I fall asleep? Does he like low ceilings? Then he should just get hit by a truck from another world.

As I was thinking about that, I found a memo in my hand. I roughly opened it and checked the contents. It said that if you don’t stay in your room all the time, you will meet the members of the Demon King’s Castle often, so I will introduce you to them. Of course, even if you plan on staying in your room, I will drag you out myself.

I crumpled up the note and threw it against the wall in a boiling rage. I couldn’t help it if the landlord told me to. It was more suffocating being around humans than demons. And it would be better to stay here to get revenge on those damn bitches.

-Rust.

Suddenly I felt a presence. I tilted my head back and looked to the right.

“Ah, ah… Hello…!! I, I… Ugh…! Nice… to meet… you…?”

I could spot a female demon with pink hair, stuttering. She was probably a low-level demon. So was she an imp? I think the playful imp managed to stay quiet without saying a word until I turned around.

…If it were normal, I would have just cut him down without answering him, right? Because he was a warrior.

But now… I feel like all that stuff is meaningless. Those who betrayed me were either humans or elves. The ones who directly killed my family were monsters, but according to the research of the scholars of the Magic Tower, demons and monsters are separate entities. Come to think of it, I fought with Magic Tower a lot. I didn’t receive the bell. Thinking back now, Magic Tower was wise. I was just a idiot.

Well, in the end, the ones I’ve fought my whole life are the Demons, but my enemies ended up being completely different people, and since my resentment and hatred towards other races is so strong, as I said before, it was easier for the Demons to talk to me like this.

“…Yeah.”

After going through that thought process, I gave a vague answer. In fact, it was also because the demon looked like he would cry if I didn’t. And I thought that if I woke up and heard someone crying right next to me, it would have a significant impact on my mental state, which was not in a good state.

“I’m Hira! A succubus… but… the, the Demon King asked me to… help you… so… it won’t be uncomfortable… right…?”

The name and race that I didn’t even ask for, and even the reason why she was next to me, came out. By the way, a succubus? My guess was wrong, right? That’s unexpected. Ah, maybe even if I had experienced it, I could talk to the demon without any resistance because of the weak power of charm applied.

“That… By any chance, your name… May I ask…”

“…Leah.”

“Leah? Wow… What a pretty name…! Hehe… Somehow Leah feels like a really pretty doll… And there’s no one who talks to me this long…”

I thought about naming him Leon, but then changed my mind. Leon is dead. He was killed by those who were my party members. So all that’s left is an empty Leah.

By the way, is this succubus a nerd?

In fact, there is a very high possibility that it will be so, without the need to ask yourself if you are honest and considerate. There is a saying that if you want to know the strength of a succubus, you have to look at the mead. This is not because the Empire is a gathering of people who love mead, but because the stronger the power of seduction is in a succubus, the more it tends to manifest in the body and make the body plump, and the succubus in front of me right now was, to put it bluntly, a cliff.

And among the demon race, succubi are a species with a particularly strong survival of the fittest hierarchy, so a succubus that weak wouldn’t be treated well, let alone welcomed.

Even just looking at it now, it seems like they’re clinging to me like this, even though I’m a human, and it’s obvious that they couldn’t have been treated well by their own kind.

I even thought that maybe the Demon King had anticipated this situation and had placed the child next to me on purpose so that I wouldn’t be able to feel pity. In fact, I thought that I had lost any feelings of pity a long time ago, but I couldn’t feel pity because I thought of this child as a kind of mental healer for me.

“…Where is this room?”

For that reason, I wasn’t planning on kicking you out anyway, so I thought it would be better for me to just ask you what I’m curious about.

“Ah, y, this is…! The Four Heavenly Kings… room… but… in the fourth room… ..Eek…?! I’m, I’m sorry…! What, what, if there’s something I did wrong, I’ll apologize, so please don’t abandon me…!”

…The Four Heavenly Kings’ Room? This is it? You put me in the Four Heavenly Kings’ Room?

“Then, the Four Heavenly Kings are here?”

When I asked back in bewilderment, I received another unexpected answer.

“That… That’s right… The Four Heavenly Kings… The four of us… got along well, back then… We were all… so close… We arranged our rooms… in a row so that they were right next to each other…”

So you’re saying that right now, in the rooms next to me to my left and right, there’s a succubus queen, or that damn lich, or a vampire lord who loves human blood, or some unknown unidentified Four Heavenly King? And the owner of this room is also one of the Four Heavenly Kings?

…I was a warrior?

“Did you get the wrong room assignment? If you had common sense, you wouldn’t do that, right?”

“Ah, that, that… Even if the Demon King says so… I arranged it properly…”

Fuck.

That Demon King didn’t kill me and brought me here, and judging by his actions, he’s not in his right mind. So, is he the Demon King?

“I don’t want to leave the room…”

“Eh, uh… why?”

“Well, I’m a former warrior, so it’s uncomfortable to have the Four Heavenly Kings right next to me. Actually, it’s a little uncomfortable for you too, but it’s okay.”

At least that means the Demon King’s guarantee is over… Wait, now that I think about it, why am I trusting that guy’s guarantee?

“…Now that I think about it, it might not be okay.”

“Ugh.”

“I’m kidding.”

In fact, I know that the reason I am having this normal conversation right now is because of the charm that Hira is unconsciously using. But even for a moment, the emotions that filled my heart were relieved by the favor that was forced in, and I felt like my suffocated breath was relieved again. That is also why I said that Hira was a mental healer earlier.

Ah, so that’s why the Demon King put Hira next to me? If so, then it also means that the Demon King knows how to calculate and live to some extent, compared to the slightly screw-less behavior I saw today. It was actually natural, but the impact of that brief glimpse was so great that such an obvious thing was surprising.

“Um, uh… uh… if I tell you honestly right now, will you forgive me…?”

“…what?”

Before I could pause for a moment at Hira’s words and think about what he meant, the door opened and Galvein came in.

“Damn succubus queen, the demon lord wants that warrior to come out.”

…while talking nonsense. Galvein is clearly not a puppy, but a bone that a puppy would love to bite and suck on, so why is he talking nonsense?

“Succubus Queen? Where?”

“I’m next to you.”

“There’s… something… next to me…”

I was so dumbfounded that I asked Galvein back, but after hearing his answer, I turned my head absentmindedly and met Hira’s eyes.

Galvein is looking for the Succubus Queen, and the succubus right next to me is Hira.

And the owner of this room is the Four Heavenly Kings.

…if?

“Let me introduce myself again… I, I am the succubus queen… Hira…!”

This kind of thing… The Four Heavenly Kings? My head is spinning. Rather than being dumbfounded, I’m worried about the future of the Demon King’s army. So, did I treat the Four Heavenly Kings as a mental healer? I thought to myself, “How can I live so luxuriously when I’ve been kicked out of the warrior party?”

“…Was that personality an act? And the appearance was also a disguise? ”

“Oh, no! There’s no way I would ever deceive Leah or do anything like that!!”

Hira felt my mood getting colder and colder as he flapped his arms and desperately argued back.

“Big, ahem.”

Fortunately or unfortunately, before this topic could really catch fire, Galvein coughed and cut off his words. Of course, I had a bad feeling toward Galvein to begin with, so I didn’t have any positive feelings about it.

If it weren’t for Galvein, I would have continued to be deceived by those damned bitches, but apart from that, as the only warrior who fought on the front lines and the only one who showed his face at the forefront, the grudge from fighting directly with swords as one of the Four Heavenly Kings was not easily resolved, and the one who had the most significant influence was the enemy of my third leg, whom I had never used. Why on earth did that damn Four Heavenly King develop TS magic?

And these guys can’t even do basic teamwork, seeing as they just blurt out in front of me that their colleague is a succubus queen.

“Let’s chat later. Is the Demon King waiting?”

“…I’ll go.”

“Aren’t you going to rebel… warrior?”

“If you don’t want to live with humans like the Demon King said, you’ll have to live here, so it’d be better to at least see their faces. And I’m not a warrior anymore.”

“…Okay.”

Richie nodded quietly. There seemed to be no further objections. Perhaps it was his own consideration.

*****

-Thump, thump.

For a while, there was only silence along the path that Galvein, I, and Hira walked.

At first glance, they look like a wizard grandfather and his two granddaughters, but in reality, they are two of the Four Heavenly Kings and one former warrior.

“…I have a question.”

“What is it?”

“Not you, to Hira.”

“Yes, yes?”

“Why doesn’t the Demon King kill me? …Why does he welcome me, a warrior who was the enemy of the Demon Clan?”

“Ah, that… that’s…”

“The Demon King had a childhood friend. And… …I won’t say any more because I think he’ll get angry.”

“Is it malicious?”

I asked Hira on purpose to be awkward, but you interrupted and cut me off mid-sentence.

“How can a scholar resist answering a seeker of knowledge?”

In short, it’s called Speedwagon, right? No, this isn’t even knowledge to begin with, it’s a leak of personal information.

“…I’m almost there. Can I ask you one last question?”

“Of course.”

This rich guy would tell the warrior his weaknesses if he could answer anyone’s question. When I was fighting that guy, instead of rushing in and saying that it was pointless, I guess I should have asked him about his weaknesses first.

“Last time, the Demon King talked about me becoming a TS, and something felt strange. It felt like… he was lying. He said it was the first time he saw me, but it felt like he knew this appearance before.”

“…”

“Galvaine, who told you to create ts magic?”

“I can’t say that-”

…It still won’t work. No matter what, it can’t be this sloppy…

“Yes. It’s the Demon King.”

?

“What?”

The first thing that surprised me was the security awareness of the Four Heavenly Kings, and the second thing that surprised me was that the cause was the Demon King.

“To be exact, to study magic that changes the nature of a person’s soul, not gender – bang, bang.”

Galvein’s words suddenly stopped, and Hira was looking behind me with eyes filled with fear.

“Galvein, you are a good subordinate, but you talk too much.”

…it’s a familiar voice.

“Devil King…”

“Warrior, forget about the nonsense Galvein is talking about.”

Judging by the look of confusion on his face, this must be important, right?

I nodded my head in agreement, thinking deeply about what was said.

“Yeah, Galvein, you raise your hand… No, you don’t have any muscles, so it won’t be hard. Just read the magic book I gave you. ”

Looking over Galvein’s shoulder, I see the contents of the book…

‘Levitation magic. First, you and your friend grab each other. Second, you lift your friend up. Third, your friend lifts you up before you fall. If you repeat this with teamwork, you can fly in the sky.

Blind magic. Prepare a box with a mirrored interior. Then, illuminate the inside with light magic, quickly close the box, and hand it over to the enemy to open. Then, light will be emitted all at once, blinding the enemy!’

…was written.

“Kaaah!!!”

I heard Galvein screaming. I covered Hira’s ears.

“Ignore that skeleton, and you’re probably wondering why I called you here, Hira?”

“Yeah.”

The Demon King threw something at me, and I instinctively caught it.

“What is this…?”

“Appointment Letter of the Four Heavenly Kings. From now on, you are the fourth Heavenly King.”

That’s how I became one of the Four Heavenly Kings of the Demon King’s army.

…it’s not surprising anymore.