episode_0042

“I thought at least heroes, if not soldiers, would gather and attack… Why is it so quiet?”

A week has passed since Naira announced the appearance of the Demon Lord, but the academy continues to maintain the same peaceful atmosphere as usual.

[So, even if you acknowledge that the Demon King is being resurrected, you cannot acknowledge that the Demon King is active?]

“What do you mean?”

Silence, who was an agent of the Intelligence Department of the Demon King’s Army Intelligence Department, had been preparing for any possible situation by eavesdropping on the conversations of important officials in the city, such as lords and ministers of various departments, even before rumors of Naira’s appearance spread widely.

but,

[Because the Demon King has not committed anything in particular other than turning men into women, I do not want to call up the military and spend the national treasury, and my pride does not allow me to allow power equipment to be brought into the city for the warriors to watch and fight. What did you say?]

“G… Really?”

[Yes, really.]

In Silence’s testimony, Naira began to understand to some extent the statements made by those who called themselves the Devil’s Cult when they said that humanity has no future.

The Demon King has infiltrated the Academy within his city. Does it seem common sense to leave him alone since he doesn’t seem to be particularly dangerous?

[Already, all but the minimum stationed troops have been conscripted and sent to the front lines in order to prevent the dungeon runaway, so it seems like they came up with such a strange story because summoning more troops here would have caused too much damage to the city’s productivity.]

“Still, it’s strange. Am I the devil? Are you the descendant of the devil who brought humanity to the brink of annihilation?”

[Then would you like to visit sometime?]

“Where?”

[Yeongju Castle.]

————–

———

—

“Is this… right..?”

The next day, Naira entered the reception room of the lord’s castle without any restrictions.

A demon mask worn while working as a demon lord, and a black robe that completely hides the body from the neck down.

The hair, trimmed and decorated by Silence’s hands, was arranged so that the horns growing on the forehead were clearly visible.

“Hahaha! Demon King! Thank you for taking this precious step into such a squalid place.”

And the old middle-aged man with a lot of fat on his neck sitting in front of Naira is the lord of this city, Kael Pick.

[Demon King, as I said before, be as solemn and dignified as possible.]

Naira, who came to her senses with the voice of Silence ringing in her head, loosened her stiff vocal cords.

“Keuhm… Yes, thank you, my lord, for welcoming my sudden visit request.”

“No, it is just an honor to actually meet the legendary Demon King.”

As a provocation, Naira sent a letter to the lord through Silence saying that he would like to visit in person, but the lord was embarrassed when he instead welcomed the devil.

“Isn’t humanity hostile to the Demon King’s army? Very friendly, my lord.”

“Hahaha, isn’t it impossible to move forward into the future if you’re tied up in things from hundreds of years ago? I believe that even if we were enemies yesterday, we can be friends today if necessary.”

“That…yeah…”

Even when the invitation to the Lord’s Castle arrived at the Academy, I thought Naira would suddenly shout ‘Enemy of humanity!’ and pull out her sword.

“But wouldn’t it be dangerous if the fact that we welcome the devil like this spreads?”

“Hahahaha, if it reaches the ears of the religious community, there may be some backlash, but isn’t that right? The Demon King is a much more important business partner than religious bastards who have no territory or private armies.”

“… What can you get from me? I do not deal with human currency.”

“But you have overwhelming force. Do you know? Historians once predicted how much humanity would be able to endure with its current military power when the Demon King was resurrected.”

Of course, I know the age at which I received my education as a cadet at the academy.

At that time, the difference in power between the Demon King’s army and humanity was so overwhelming that it was impossible to compare, to the point that even if a thousand people flocked to catch one Demon, they could not win.

However, since then, mankind has been studying various types of martial arts, starting with the academy established by the hero.

“1 year.”

Unlike in the past, when more than half of the continent was lost in one month, it took a year to be completely wiped out.

In the first place, it would be impossible for humanity to defeat the Demon Lord’s army in history unless extra-standard beings such as heroes appear.

“Just from the damage caused by the monsters and demons that have come out of the dungeon right now, humanity is in chaos. Dozens of cities have fallen, and some are experiencing major financial problems due to refugees.”

Unless there are special cases like the Academy, most cities do not install water-based equipment to prevent large-scale invasions by monsters.

Even if a monster appears, it is only one or two unique entities that escaped from the dungeon, and it is more efficient to summon a hero at a low cost and deal with it rather than using a large magic circle that costs a lot of maintenance.

“That’s why I’d like to ask. What does the Demon King need from us? Isn’t the reason you came here in person because you saw something that could benefit us?”

“….”

Naira, who dreamed of becoming a warrior, did not like the lord’s attitude of being ready to stab his allies at any time.

“Yes, what we need is a sacrifice.”

Since Naira had already decided to betray humanity and become the Demon Lord, there was no reason to hold others accountable for her moral responsibilities.

“There must be people in this city who are difficult to dispose of, right? Such as poor people who disturb the city’s public order. We, the devil’s army, will have such people.”

“Hahaha! If that’s what the Demon King asks, I’ll give it to you! Anyway, the citizens are now distracted by wondering what’s going on with the monster attack and what’s going on with the devil lord, so you can catch as many poor people as you want and no one will know.”

No matter how poor they are, Naira inwardly clicked his tongue at the sight of him casually accepting the statement that external forces would traffic in the citizens of the land he ruled.

“Roughly speaking, the justification is that they are inspecting the safety of buildings in shantytowns, and if they fail the safety inspection, wouldn’t it be okay to siphon them to the devil by offering them temporary housing until they find a new place to live?”

“… It comes out smoothly as if you have already done it many times.”

“Hahahaha, the Demon Lord is a lot more pure than he looks, right? Is it just us? There is no better justification than safety and hygiene to kick out poor people who fail to pay taxes and disrupt public order.”

The country of the elves where Naira was born and raised is a country founded on the communist ideology of communal ownership and joint childcare.

Therefore, if the concept of the poor does not exist and there are people who cannot eat, clothe, or sleep under the socialist ideology, it is natural for them to share what is theirs.

For Naira, who had lived in such a world, the ideas of people who had been corrupted by capitalist ideas were instinctively repulsive.

“We will supply to the Demon King’s army those who have a negative impact on public order, called ‘poor people’, and now it is time to tell the Demon King’s army what we want.”

“Wait a minute, I came to a conclusion about that in my head.”

To be exact, it was decided together with Silence.

“Safe.”

“Yes?”

“We will ensure absolute safety under the command of our Demon King Army so that no monsters or demons will commit hostile acts against this city.”

A transaction that uses military force as collateral.

This is a negotiation and a threat at the same time.

If this deal falls through, or if conditions are put forward that you don’t like, your safety cannot be guaranteed in the future, which could be interpreted as a declaration of war, which the other party may find uncomfortable.

“Hahahaha, of course you are the devil!”

This can be said because the Demon King’s army possesses overwhelming force, enough to endure such inconveniences.

“Then, will you decide on the treaty between the Demon King’s army and our city right now? Or would you like to schedule another date?”

“Do it right now. I’m not that leisurely.”

————–

———

—

After the agreement with the city was made, Naira returned to her demon castle, lay down on her bed and sighed.

“Ha… I’m not sure anymore.”

[What do you mean?]

“Up until now, I’ve always been taught that the Demon King’s army is bad, humanity is good, and what humanity has done is just, right? But I don’t think that’s necessarily the case.”

Even the lord I met today was a person closer to a villain than any demon I had ever met.

[… Demon King, may I tell you for a moment about the former Demon King?]

“Yeah… what is it?”

[Sentai Demon King said that today’s humanity will always be imperfect. In order to create a better world, we need to evolve humanity one step further.]

“Yes..”

Even in the legends about the Demon King, it is said that the Demon King always called humanity an inferior species.

[So the Demon King decided to improve the breed of mankind, and that is how our Demon was created.]

“Really? Then the goal has already been achieved. Why do you bother to conquer humanity?”

[It was to conquer all of humanity, dispose of all inferior humans, select only superior humans, and breed them with demons to create the next generation. They say that if inferior genes remain, the good genes will eventually be tainted.]

After hearing this, it dawned on me that the demon lord called Naira might not be a villain at all.

As expected, the devil was a villain.

[It went smoothly at first. The second generation demons, who were born from 666 demons, were not as strong as the first generation, but they were stronger than humans. Then, at some point, the nightmare began.]

The sudden appearance of a hero and the retreat of the Demon King’s army.

This is a story we’ve heard ad nauseam from the Academy.

[The Demon King had told me before he had no choice but to engage in a decisive battle with the hero, that he was a stranger sent by a being from a different planet, and that such an unreasonable being had been summoned in return for destroying the balance of this world. ]

“Yes, I have heard that the hero is a person from another world. However, I didn’t know that the Demon King was like that too…”

[So, Sentai Demon King realized that what he was doing was wrong and that it was a plan that was bound to fail. So, to avoid repeating this, we have set strict conditions and waited for future generations to appear.]

Hundreds of years since the Demon King was sealed.

After such a long period of time, a person named Naira was finally recognized as the successor to the Demon King.

[So, the current Demon King is different from the previous Demon King. It is not a mannequin that follows what the previous Demon King did, but it simply leaves the Demon King’s forces to the possibilities of the current Demon King’s true nature. It is purely the Demon King’s choice as to which Demon Lord and which Demon Lord will become from now on.]

“My choice…”

My decision determines whether the Demon Lord will become a villain or a benefactor.

Naira, who clearly understood this, remembered a person she had longed for and envied.

“I…”

Because I wanted to become like that person and act like that person, I worked hard.

“I will become a warrior.”

I decided to become a demon king and a warrior at the same time.