That night, we play brave game, and spend the night in the space where the demon king is sealed.
Sephilia and I are lying on two futons on the ground.
The demon king has a bed with a canopy, but I guess she wants to sleep with Sephilia, because she crawls into her futon.
It’s like a kid that wants to sleep with her mom. Sephilia is a little taken aback, but doesn’t make fun of her, instead holding her and gently patting her head.
The demon king falls asleep, and I’m jealous of this little girl sleeping next to Sephilia.
“Friend, are you awake?”
Asks Sephilia.
“Yes, I’m still up.”
I turn around when she calls me, and she stares at me.
“Thank you for helping with today’s holy war. You were a great help to me.”
“No no, I’m just repaying you for yesterday, and I had fun too. By the way, how is your cold?”
“Much calmer compared to earlier today. I believe it will go away if I don’t push myself too much.”
That’s good to hear. I need to keep helping her, and not let her carry the responsibility of the demon king on her own.
She’s stroking the head of the sleeping demon king with a very soft expression, almost like a mother looking at her child.
I get the feeling that she’s been smiling more compared to half a year ago.
Iris, Till, Sephilia, and Nero. When I first met them, they were all pretty stressed because of Ghise.
I think they’re all regaining their original cheerfulness because they can now do what they want.
Ah, but Nero might be straying off course a little.
I thought things were going well when he started his own business, but I’ve never seen any customers there except us…
He was mumbling while facing a wall too. Is he all right? Probably not.
As I think about what happened the other day, I fall asleep in the warm futon.
The next morning, I wake up and see it’s seven o’clock. We played brave cards until three last night, but I manage to wake up at the same time anyway. Habits can be frightening.
“Munyamunya… Not fair hero. Attacking me with four people at once…”
She’s locked in a fierce battle with the hero’s party in her dream. Hero, mage, monk, fighter vs demon king.
Sadly, she seems powerless against this number’s advantage. I’m sure a beating that can’t be depicted is starting.
The demon king and Sephilia wake up an hour later, and I make breakfast in the meantime.
It’s a normal breakfast with mostly bread, and they say it’s very tasty.
As we sit around a table and drink milk with our breakfast, the topic of the Luminous farm comes up.
“How about we go visit the Luminous farm?”
Proposes Sephilia.
“Eh? Take Al outside? I don’t think that’s a good idea…”
“Yes… If you say so, friend.”
Sephilia’s eyes tell me that the demon king has been a good girl lately, who has been accepting people’s morals.
For example, when Sephilia gives her a spoken exam…
Q: What do you do when an elderly person is troubled?
A: Carry them on your back.
Sephilia is very moved by that answer.
Hm… I think she’s being tricked by something that just sounds good…
“Loyd, I understand very well that you want to be suspicious, but I have been revived recently. Even if I ran away, there wouldn’t be much I could do.”
She argues multiple times for why I should trust her.
Currently, the demon king is about mid rank in terms of power. but I definitely can’t let my guard down, because she’s just going to keep getting stronger.
However, thinking back, I don’t think I’ve ever really trusted her. We’ve known her for two months, but it might be nice to take her outside and get closer to her.
And so, I decide to trust the demon king. I have the sword master Sephilia with me after all.
“Did you talk about it with the others?”
“I just thought of it, so no.”
We can’t decide this by ourselves, so rather than doing it today, we’re going to use this time to convince the others.
I don’t want to just send a letter either, so we’ll go back to Minerva and talk to everyone in turn.
And here’s how that turns out.
■Iris
“That sounds nice! Till! I want to help Mister Loyd, so cancel all my plans from tomorrow onward!”
■Till
“If you and Sephilia think it won’t be a problem, I believe it. But I won’t be canceling anything, so please look after her.”
■Isolte
“Hm… Isn’t it a little early to take the next step?”
Isolte is a little skeptical.
In the end, all the members of the holy war gather that night and go to the sealed space.
“Thank you very much for gathering here late at night. I know everyone is busy. Today’s topic of discussion is whether or not we should take the demon king Albatross outside.”
I say to everyone.
“This is a serious issue.”
Because it might change the schedule starting tomorrow, I think to myself.
“Lady, your wishes of wanting to slack off are quite clear.”
Says Till.
“It will depend on the results from this book.”
Isolte takes out a book with a serious expression.
“What is this?”
“A book of morals that has been popular in the capital recently.”
“Eh, really? Why morals again?”
“This is only a rumor, but it seems a few days ago, someone was throwing bahamut bombs at people.”
Answers Iris instead of Isolte, with a grave expression.
Bombs at people… Scary…
Like with swordsmanship and magic, the most important thing is that person’s conscience.
I don’t know what darkness was in their heart, but I hope they pay for their crimes.
“This book has questions that I want the demon king to answer.”
Says Isolte as she places a piece of paper where she copied questions, on the table.
The demon king is sat down, and starts answering.
＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝
Q: You’re walking down the street and find money. What do you do?
A: Pick it up and deliver it to the police.
Q: You are a student in the magic academy in the capital. A quiet kid is being bullied. What do you do?
A: Tell the teacher in charge of the class.
Q: Your class in the magic academy can’t decide on what to do for the school festival. What do you propose?
A: A healthy program that does not run against public morals.
＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝
After the test, Isolte compares the answers to the answer sheet, and frowns.
“What is it? Is there a problem?”
“I’m just bothered by how short on content they are. And I feel like this is all just words to make the person grading happy.”
I know right?
The demon king’s answers are all just a couple of words, and it feels less like her true thoughts and more like picking what would make the grader happy.
There’s no one right answer in morals, so most of the time, people just write their thoughts. That’s where it’s important that the answers are long. It’s not like they just have to be long and that’s it, but I would expect at least a hundred characters.
It’s important to know how she reached those conclusions.
“Should we forget about it then?”
“No, these answers aren’t wrong per say, so it will be fine if you keep an eye on her. Tell Sephilia and the others it’s okay.”
“All right.”
I still have my doubts, but the test ends well, and we all sleep in the sealed space tonight.
The next morning, we start preparing to take the demon king outside.
The technique employed in this space has already been lifted, and it takes me about ten seconds to lift the seal on the demon king.
I feel bad saying that, but I can make a much stronger barrier than this. I guess the standard was much lower a hundred years ago.
“You’re an incredible mage, to so easily lift a barrier that a top class mage at the time had to try so hard to put up.”
Says the demon king with an amazed expression.
“That’s Mister Loyd for you.”
Iris praises me with a smile.
“Let’s go then, Al.”
I say while turning to where the demon king was, and see she’s not there.
“Fuhahahahaha!”
She’s standing at the entrance of the sealed space, laughing loudly.
“Foolish humans! You released me without question! Humans really are simple creatures. It was entertaining for me, pretending to be your friend! You were even more easily fooled than I thought! Listen well! I am the demon king Albatross! The king of demons who plunged humans to the depths of despair a hundred years ago! The king of demons would never follow lower beings such as humans!”
The demon king yells while cackling and jumping out of the sealed space. She then runs to the entrance of the mine.
What a very clean betrayal.
“But… We trusted you…!”
Says Iris with a sad tone.
“Lady, about today’s plans. You are to attend the briefing session of the harvest festival at twelve o’clock on the dot.”
“Nooooooooo!”
Till reports Iris’ schedule casually.
Whether the demon king escapes or not, the demonic planner will keep the schedule going as planned.
“I had a bad feeling, but she really did run.”
Isolte is calm. It feels like she expected this.
“I’m sorry everyone, I am responsible for this. Please wait while I re-educate the demon king.”
Sephilia stands in front of us, and bows deeply. I feel like there are flames behind her eyes.
She gives chase to the demon king, catches her in seconds, and pulls her into a side passage.
I start hearing weird noises and shrieks, and ten minutes later…
A very obedient and human loving kind demon king arrives with Sephilia.
“I was half joking…”
Her education really is powerful… I’m purposefully trying not to think about what happened in those ten minutes.
Then we stop by Minerva before leaving for the Luminous farm, and the demon king is excited to see the outside world after so long.
She points at buildings all excited, and people look at her horns with curious expressions.
It’s not like prejudice against demons is gone, but luckily, none of the townspeople look at her with hostility because of it.
Apparently it’s common to see tamed demons, and ones with slave contracts.
“It doesn’t seem like there is a problem with taking the demon king outside, for now.”
Says Sephilia while watching her play with some kids.
Yes, there’s no problem, but that’s all down to Sephilia’s power.
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