novelAre you the demon king? No, I quit that? (3)
| ← Ch.03 | Ch.05 → |
TL: Eevee
Ed: adkji
"Contract complete. So shall we begin?"
As the light faded away, the smirking demon king lifted a finger again.
"Now then, my second point, I am the owner of this house and you are a guest. No, more accurately, you are a bandit."
"Bandit, my ass!"
Yuria's voice got even louder at the demon king's declaration that she was a bandit as soon as the contract was made.
"You didn't enter through the door; you broke through it. No, turning it to firewood would be more accurate. Plus, the tea. It's from the Eastern Republic so it's hella expensive. The teacup was made by a renowned artisan as well. You've also destroyed someone's property and damaged the contents as well. Even if you claim that the teacup wasn't deliberate, my door being diced into firewood was clearly your intention, no? As far as I remember, a thief steals sneaking around whereas a bandit goes around looting brazenly, so I can call you, who entered by breaking down my front door, a bandit."
"I said it before, I had no choice in order to capture you!"
"Fine. Then, most importantly, third!"
Another of the demon king's fingers rose.
"So what did I do?"
"You!"
Of all the words that had passed through Yuria's mouth so far, that was the sharpest yet. Her voice was filled with killing intent. But the demon king just faced it and laughed.
"You call yourself a hero? You know how funny that is?"
"What's so funny?"
"That I sacrificed hundreds of children? That thousands of people died due to my followers? So you'd put me before the empire's courts for that?"
"Yes! It's all because of you! You need to pay for those sins!"
The demon king folded his fingers and propped his chin back up with his hand.
"That's the funny thing. Me revive? No, I was summoned. Forcefully at that. Blood is not a sacrifice, but just to supplement the magic power of those dark sorcerers that were short of it. And all demonkin are evil? That's a stereotype as well. Like humans have good ones mixed with sub-animal trash, among the demons there are those who love fighting, and those who prefer peace. The reason why demons all look evil is because most of the demons that cross over like to fight, but can't lift a candle to the strong in the demon world."
He took a drink from his teacup to soothe his parched throat, and continued,
"Also, my followers? I came alone. The ones you call my followers are the ones who were all 'evil alliance' and whatnot. From the start, when they called on me to conquer the world with them, I said I wasn't doing it and came out on my own. In response to that the temples went 'oh, a demon king has arrived, get him~' and they sent their kids over and died, so what about all this is my fault?"
Yuria closed her mouth. If what the demon king was saying was true, then he was innocent. Rather, she was the one in the wrong.
'It doesn't seem... like a trap... So is it really my fault?'
"Let me ask you something. Why do you say you quit being a demon lord?"
The demon king smirked and said,
"People seem to be mistaking something, but I'm not the sovereign of demonkind. A demon king is the equivalent of a king in the human world, but to be more accurate, we're more like archangels that serve the demon king. Aside from me, there are 6 others that are the same rank as I am. And on top of that is the Demon Pope that acts as the representative for the Demon God."
"Th, there are SEVEN demon kings?!"
Even one demon king forced mankind to stake their existence, but there were seven such existences. At her shocked face, the demon king said with a smile,
"Oi, you were asking me how I quit being a demon lord? Pay attention."
"How can I pay attention when I hear there are seven demon kings!"
"There's no need to worry that much. Demon kings can't come through dimensional rifts and you'll more or less ruin a country to summon one with magic. Besides, there are several kinds of demon king. There's the battle-type, which humans keep panicking over because you can't fight them, the military-types who advises the demon god, and the ones like me, who manage domestic affairs. Of those types, I am the strongest."
"Don't the demons prioritise military strength over all else?"
Looking at this shabbily-dressed demon king that proclaimed himself the strongest, Yuria couldn't believe him.
"Don't believe me? Well it's true that I am the weakest among the demon kings. But, I am still a demon king named by the demon god. They call us the Seven Heavenly Demon Kings, Strife, Charm, Destruction, Nightmare, Darkness, Evil, and the last, I, Economy!"
"E, Economy?"
Yuria doubted her ears, surely she couldn't have heard that right.
Economics.
Governing all the goods and services essential for humanity's needs, as well as being responsible for production, distribution and consumption - all of these were regulated by the economy. Also, a word for the field of study that observed and analysed the social relations and economic phenomena which resulted from the economy.
But unlike all the other evil-sounding titles, Economy of all things?
"It's weird, isn't it? Because it's so different from the other demon king titles and all. Well, Strife, to put it in human terms, is the strongest general. He's the same as any brave leader spearheading the vanguard. Charm uses beautiful people to secretly shake up opposing troops, and Destruction, being the strongest demon king, leads the bulk of the demon world army. Nightmare specialises in strategy, Darkness in espionage work, and Evil takes care of the education of the demons. The ones that receive his teachings become the evilest demons that even other demons despise."
Pouring himself another cup of tea, he continued,
"You need to eat and live in the demon world, exactly the same as humans. Even the demon world has currency. And the finances of the demon world are managed by me. Even if Strife decides to pick a fight, if I cut his funding, that's the end. If Charm keeps bothering me, I can just cut the budget for beauty products, and Destruction has a mountain of debt because he keeps breaking things. If they don't listen to me, I can just sequester their castles. Nightmare is smart, and he knows he'll only come to a loss if he picks a fight with me so he's okay. Darkness once tried, but after I painted his entire black, miserable castle bright white under the name of 'special construction work, ' he decided submission was the easiest option. As for Evil, if I give him the money, he'll create some fun for all of us, so it's a good partnership. Ergo, I have the most authority."
Yuria blanked for a brief second. She had just remembered one of those Empire's peacocks that couldn't even squeak back against the Finance Minister. Who knew even the musclebrained demons also lived like that.
Looking at Yuria's expresson, the demon king smirked.
"So does this mean I won our bet?"
"Hey!"
"I swear by the Chief God, if this demon king is innocent, I, Yuria Ashrien will follow his Eve. Ry. Word~ didn't you say?" the demon king said, drawing out the word 'every. '
Yuria bit her lip. As the demon king had said, she had barged into an innocent demon king's house and caused a fracas, no better than a villain.
"Wh, what's your wish?" her voice quivered slightly. Her fate would be decided on what wish the demon king desired.
As Yuria looked at the demon king with eyes filled with anxiety, he said,
"I'm not that strong of a demon king, so I can't go back with just my strength. But I had a massive pile of work so I thought 'hey, perfect timing' and left it all behind, but since I brought nothing with me I found it kinda hard to earn a living, you know? So I tried my hand at farming, you know it's actually really hard work, you know that? Farmers really do deserve the respect they get after all."
"S, So?"
"I'm short on hands. So.... this is a command. From this point onward, you're mine."
"Eh?"
Yuria's head blanked again.
'I think I'm spacing out too much today...'
Looking on this Yuria, the demon king scratched his chin and made a shy expression on his face.
"So, yeah. This is a proposal. Love at first sight."
"Ehhhhhhhhhhh!"
"That view of you breaking the door down was so... how do I put it? ...Mmm, nah, just call it love at first sight. So... from today onward, you're mine."
"D, don't play around with this!"
"Are you not going to keep your promise? You swore on the Scales of the Chief God, you know? Are you not scared of the great god's divine retribution?"
At his playful, yet sincere look, Yuria started to blush.
"That, that's... Uuuu..." (Yuria)
"Cute?" (DK)
Fwoosh.
Yuria's blush escalated till her face could turn no darker shade of red. Turning her face up, she said,
"I... I get it... I've lost anyway..."
***
Empire Year 842.
The Demon King, conquers(?) the hero Yuria Ashrien.
End of Chapter 1
Translator's Notes:
[1] Obviously, they didn't actually send children after him. He's saying this sarcastically, more like 'minions' rather than anything else.
Let the fun begin.
| ← Ch. 03 | Ch. 05 → |