Hataraku Maou sama Volume 5 Part 1

Hata-Maou Vol 5 translations 

Vol 5 Prologue 

“Fwaaaah……”

The man yawned, and got up from the large chair.
At the beginning, his shoulders and waist will feel stiff even after just sleeping one or two hours, but now he felt that he had already gotten used to the shape of the chair and when he woke up, he would no longer feel as tired as before.
“I didn’t even know that my ability to adapt is so strong.”
The man stretched again, picked up the toothbrush and cup placed next to the DERU brand computer monitor, walked out of the compartment and towards the washroom.
High ceiling, spacious, and the countless shelves and compartments taking up this space. Inside, the only sounds were from the air conditioning and sounds of movements from the other customers, this is a cybercafé within the city.
“Ah, the light on the Oolong tea lit up.”
After walking into the free drinks area, the man discovered that the switch for the Oolong tea was lit up, indicating that it needs to be refilled.
“Oh, Greek guy.”
“Ah, good morning, Satou.”
At this moment, the man coincidentally met someone he knew, and the customer who addressed the man as ‘Greek guy’, was a male known generically known as ‘Satou’.
“Satou, you’re really unlucky, the Oolong tea ran out.”
“Ah? You can’t be serious!”
Satou glanced at the drinks area and mumbled unhappily.
“Che, such bad luck. It feels like today won’t go smoothly at all.”
It can’t be that bad, it’s only Oolong tea, just tell the boss at the counter about it.”

“What idiotic things are you saying, the shop manager will only come in this afternoon. At this time, the one manning the counter is a foreigner called Ka-kun or something, that person would become super nervous once he sees me, I don’t want to talk to him at all.”
“Then give up and drink Cola instead?”
The man did not know ‘Satou’’s actual name.
Satou was insistent on not drinking anything else other than Oolong tea. According to the person himself, it was to maintain his health, so he was very conscious about sugar and fat.

“Are you kidding?! I don’t wish to die early. After I drink some water, I’m going out to work.”

After saying this, Satou poured some water from the drink machine and left quickly without looking at the man.

“So you have work today, congratulations!”

The man shouted towards Satou’s back and the other party responded by raising a hand, not turning back at all.

“……Sigh, drinking Cola in the morning, that is pushing it a bit.”

The man mumbled softly while walking to the washbasin in the washroom at the same time, and started to brush his teeth.

Because of the fact that this cybercafé “CYBER@SAFE” can be registered when registering a place of residence at the public office, it was quite well-known in this area.
Even though the man chose this place to get a cheap channel of information and place to sleep, before he knew it, he had stayed here for quite a long time.

During this period of time, he got acquainted with Satou.

The man did not know why Satou was unwilling to reveal his real name, but when he asked about it----

“If I carelessly announced my real name, it might trouble a bunch of people.”
The other party had strangely evaded the question in this manner.

However, the man did not tell Satou his real name as well, and just allowed the other party to address him as ‘Greek Guy’. The man did not look like a Japanese person at all, but Satou still warmly struck a conversation with him from their first meeting, therefore to the man, Satou was an interesting person to observe.
Even though Satou was not willing to reveal his actual name, he was quite talkative about his history.
He came to the city from the countryside, and graduated from a national university with rank 14 within his major, and entered the central government through a national civil officer examination, and after working there for a few years he resigned during the technology bubble to start a new career path. Apparently, Satou was very powerful for some time, not only did he build a detached house with a lawn, he also had a villa in Karuizawa.

However, as Satou, who ran the company by himself, lacked popularity, after one of his subordinates misappropriated public funds, the business operations of his company declined sharply and not only did he have to hand over the running of the company to other people, he even incurred a large amount of debt.
However, Satou still entered a transportation company based on his natural force of motivation, and spent ten years to clear his debt. Just when he thought he could finally start anew, the transpiration company he worked for suddenly had a lot of competitors due to the government loosening their regulations and was acquired by other companies, Satou was also unexpectedly fired, and he was now on the streets, left with nothing once again.
Even so, after a few months of living a nomad life, Satou did not give up and saved money through temporary work, and the two people met after the man stayed in this Internet café which can be registered as a residence for two months.
According to Satou, he intended to first steadily save money, move into a more suitable apartment next year, and without learning his lesson, he intended to start up a business again.
“Amazing. I never met a guy with such strength of character.”
The man did not care if what Satou said was true or not.
At least based on this country’s standard of living, Satou’s situation definitely cannot be called affluent. However----

“He looks lively, the look in his eyes is indeed different.”

After brushing his teeth, the man splashed water on his face and wiped it with a towel.
Turning his gaze towards the mirror, it reflected a large sized man with silver hair and deep red irises. If the T-shirt bearing the words “I LOVE L.A” was not shown underneath the long robe he wore, from his appearance, he would look like an ‘Ancient Greek person’.
Whether is based on complexion or health, the man was much better than Satou, he also looked strong, and not to mention, he was also younger. But----

“……even the eyes of the frozen red seabream sold at the supermarket, are even more lively than mine.”
Born from the Tree of Life, the spheres which built the world-----Sephira, their guardian, Gabriel, mocked himself while shrugging.
“Oh my?”
After returning to the compartment he borrowed, Gabriel hurriedly picked up the device which was ringing from where it was placed next to the computer.
“Hello.”
As long as he used the device which this world had, the ‘mobile phone’, he would be able to conduct a more accurate ‘mental transmission’, this was Gabriel’s recent new discovery.

Gabriel, who taken a fancy to this, ordered his subordinates from the Heaven Troops to stay in Japan, stay in nearby internet cafes, and keep in contact, however, the one who called this time wasn’t them.

“Oh, you’re already here. Yes yes yes, it’s my fault for not producing results, I’m so sorry.”

Gabriel shrugged, and from his tone, it didn’t feel like he was reflecting on it at all.

“Is the ‘war’ over there alright? Oh my, you didn’t cause it huh. Oh! Understood. Then, where are you? Obelisk? Oh, there. Let me say this first. That is no obelisk, that’s a building humans work in. Yeah, just wait on the roof there for a while. I’ll go there to get you.”

Without any motivation, Gabriel hung up the phone.

“Now then…..for what reason should I work for next.”

Those red eyes which were originally more lifeless than those of a seabream were now shining because he seemed to look forward to the current development of the situation.

“As an angel, I still wish to work for the sake of justice after all.”

Vol 5 Chapter 1: Demon King, forcefully deciding to buy a television

That building was known as ‘Villa Rose’.

Ever since ancient times, the rose was seen as a symbol of beauty, and was loved by the people in power, that blooming beautiful flower could always be seen in human history.

That ‘villa’ which was given the name of this queen of flowers, naturally has that corresponding magnificence and beauty, and accumulated a long history, it is a place where an important customer known as a ‘king’ can rest his body and gain tranquility.

Therefore, for an angel worshipped by many to visit this apartment with a history equivalent to the rose, queen of all flowers, ruled by a solemn master, which is able to provide a place for a king to stop and rest, was something which was perhaps, to be expected.

However, the ‘Villa Rose’ was still a physical object of Earth, and its capacity was not sufficient to receive an existence from the Heavens.

Shone upon by the light of the angel, a huge hole appeared in Villa Rose which led to the destruction of the Eden, and announced the end of the stable life of the king.

“The period of our outing isn’t that long, but it isn’t that short either.”

The king looked at the wall of Villa Rose which should have a huge hole caused by the angel.

“In reality, it should be considered short, since we didn’t even work for half the time of the original schedule.”

The servant beside the king also raised his head to look at the villa.

“I’m relieved actually. Like this, I can continue to stay at home.”

The parasite being provided by the king expressed this without any motivation.

“Even though there is a saying that ‘once you stay in a place for a long time, you’ll see it as the Capital’, but looking at this, there really is a feeling of ‘I’m back’.”
(T/N: The idiom used here is .... in Chinese or .... in Japanese. It means that once you stayed at a place for a long period of time, you’ll develop feelings for it such that no matter how poor the conditions of the place are, you would still see it as the Capital city, the best place.)
The inquisitor living in the room next to the king said to herself with feeling.

“But, I didn’t expect that it will be restored to its original state in four days.”

The junior at the king’s workplace looked at the villa in awe.

“This really defies common sense, such a huge hole can actually disappear without a trace in four days.”

The nemesis of the king rebuked this calmly.

“Home, become pretty?”

The child who treated the king and the nemesis of the king as parents asked the king.

“Sigh, even though everyone should have a lot to say, but I want to ask the landlady one thing!”

‘Villa Rose’, also known as ‘Villa Rosa Sasazuka’.

The one who planned to conquer Ente Isla, the king of demons, Satan----Maou Sadao looked at the sixty year old wood constructed two story apartment situated in Tokyo, Shibuya district, Sasazuka and said loudly,

“Why do we have to move everything out, this place hasn’t changed at all, right?”

The Demon Fortress which had a big hole due to the damage from Archangel Gabriel’s attack, room 201 of Villa Rosa Sasazuka.

The outer appearance of the apartment which included the Demon Fortress was restored to how it looked a few days ago, quietly sitting in a corner of the residential area of Tokyo, Shibuya district, Sasazuka, simplying depicting the passing of time.

.

The ‘Yesod’ is born from the Tree of Life, and one of the ‘Sephira’ which form the world.

In a battle revolving around the fragments of ‘Yesod’, the fragment which materialised into a young girl, Alas=Ramus merged with the ‘Evolving Holy Sword, Better Half’ owned by the Hero Emilia, and fought a fierce battle with the Archangel Gabriel. The Demon Fortress situated in room 201 of Villa Rosa Sasazuka in Tokyo, Shibuya district, Sasazuka not only ended up getting a hole which made it unstable for habitation, the inhabitants of the apartment had to leave the place because of the renovation works.

Even though the inquisitor living next to the Demon Fortress, Crestia Bell----Kamazuki Suzuno decided to stay in the apartment belonging to the Hero Emilia, also known as Yusa Emi, but for Maou, who met with his workplace temporarily closing because of refitting works and the renovation of the apartment, he lost his home and workplace at the same time.

Under the arrangements of the apartment landlady Shiba Miki, Maou decided to go to a beach house at a beach in Chiba, run by Shiba’s niece, to stay there and work for a period of time, so the Demon General Alsiel----Ashiya Shiro and Lucifer, who had become Urushihara Hanzo, followed Maou to Chiba.

Emi, Suzuno and Sasaki Chiho, a high school girl who was the only one who knew about the true identities of Maou and Emi as well as the foreign world despite being a Japanese person, also followed them to Chiba.
At that place, they met the Demon Minister Kameo, who was originally in charge of watching over the Demon World, and from him, they heard about the large shift in the situation in Ente Isla and the Demon World, and they also learnt the truth that the Earth was also filled with many mysteries and so on.

However, for Maou, as the Demon King, the most important thing is that the beach house which he was supposed to work at for half a month, literally disappeared in less than four days.

Even though Maou, Ashiya and Urushihara did get a salary which was higher than Maou’s half a month of income in the end, but for the work to end much earlier than agreed, Maou found it difficult to hide his disappointment at this fact.

The message which Kameo passed about the situations of the division of the Demon World, and that the humans of Ente Isla were starting wars in order to obtain Emi’s ‘Evolving Holy Sword, Better Half’, caused Maou and Emi to become heavy hearted.

At the same time, during this incident, the group discovered evidence that the person who had caused chaos in Japan, the previous comrade of the Hero as well as Suzuno’s superior----the highest ranked priest in the Church of Ente Isla’s Western Continent Olba Meyers, had been controlling things from the shadows.

If more trouble occurred around Maou and the rest when they were in Japan, they might face danger with regards to their food money after next month.

This is what happened on the first week of August, when the group should have been working at the beach house, Ooguro-ya.

.

“Alright, let’s go up, Ashiya.”

“Understood. Urushihara, you have to direct us properly.”

“Alright alright, be careful not to take a wrong step.”

A few cardboard boxes and appliances were placed on the front yard of Villa Rosa Sasazuka.

Even though they had to move these things into the rooms next, once Ashiya knew that extra fees had to be paid to hire movers to carry the furniture to the second floor, he rejected this additional cost.

Therefore, it had turned into Maou pulling from the top, Ashiya pushing from the bottom, Urushihara standing on the front yard looking at the stairs to provide the directions, the situation where the three of them worked together to move the large electrical appliances to the second floor.

For two males not well versed in transporting furniture to carry heavy furniture, and challenging the stairs which caused the Hero with the Holy Sword to misstep and fall down, it can be said that it would require courage exceeding the amount possessed by the Hero.

But if the fridge cannot even be moved to the second floor of the apartment after gathering the King of demons and Demon Generals, then they can forget about conquering the world.

“Anyway, I already cleaned up the room a bit……please be careful.”

Chiho poked her head out from the Demon Fortress upstairs.

Even though Chiho volunteered to tidy up the place after the lighter items such as clothes, clothes drawers, dinnerware and so on were moved upstairs, but she seemed to think that Maou and the others would not allow her to help to move the electrical appliances, so she watched Maou and the rest worriedly.

“Move faster, there’s still someone waiting behind!”

On the other hand, Suzuno who was staying at the front yard of the apartment, looked at the stairs with an unhappy look on her face, and urged the three people mercilessly.

Compared to Maou and the others, Suzuno owned more pieces of furniture and electrical appliances, a clothes cupboard made fromPaulownia wood to contain the Kimonos, a family sized fridge which looked too big for someone living alone, a heavy vanity made from cherry wood and so on, they were all items which people will worry about breaking once their hands slip, posing a heavier mental burden compared to the items belonging to Maou and the rest.

However, Suzuno also simply rejected the suggestion to employ the help of the movers to move them to the second floor.

Even though she used ‘there are other guys here to help’ in order to dismiss the movers, but because of this, including the fridge in Maou’s room, the two males were mentally prepared to properly move these  furniture and electrical appliances upstairs.

“Do your best, Papa!”

Emi, who was standing a short distance away and carrying Alas=Ramus, watched this scene indifferently.

Even if they borrowed Emi’s strength, transporting these things is still a difficult job.

Then again, from a common sensical point of view, it would be impossible for just two females to move all of the furniture in Suzuno’s room upstairs.

Who would have expected that the debt incurred at the beach house Ooguro-ya would be paid back at this time.

When thinking that one careless movement would drop or damage these valuable furniture, even if they aren’t Maou, their blood will still run cold.

“Demon King-sama! What are you daydreaming about!”

Ashiya, who discovered that Maou was distracted, shouted this frantically.

“Ah, s, sorry,then I’m going to lift it up okay, you support it properly……oof!”

Maou, standing on the common stairs pulled the fridge upwards and lifted it up a little.

“Alright, I’m going to exert some strength!”

Ashiya grabbed the handles at the side, and used all his strength to push the fridge up on step from the ground.

“Ashiya, move to the right a little, if not, you might get stuck in the corner. Hm, it’s alright like that now.”

Urushihara franctically moved around and underneath the narrow stairs, giving directions after confirming the surroundings, as for Maou and Ashya, they adjusted their posture, and with much difficulty, they moved the fridge up one step.

At this point, the three of them were sweating.

“G, good, we’re going to continue moving upwards now!”

“Un, understood! Continuing with this pace, there are only twelve steps left!”
“Good! We’re going to go up one more step, get ready! Up!”

“Haaahh!”

“Maou, you grazed the wall!”

After a series of crick-cracks and bam-bangs, the Demon King and Demon General worked together, going up the stairs step by step to transport the fridge to the Demon Fortress.

“Maou-san, do your best!”

Chiho shouted from the top of the stairs, cheering for Maou.

“Seriously……if we just paid the 3000 yen, it wouldn’t become like this……”

Urushihara said in a fed up manner from downstairs.

“Only for this time, I agree with Lucifer.”

Emi, who watched her two enemies moving the fridge in a strenuous manner from afar, sighed deeply.

“So, Bell, you don’t really intend to ask them for help, right?”

Emi asked as she looked at Suzuno’s furniture.

Suzuno shook her head in reply.
“Of course I do not intend to do such a thing. As long as I ask Chiho-dono to help watch the surroundings, for this bit of luggage, I can carry them up by myself.”

Just moving a normal fridge was already pushing the limits of two large men, so what can the petite and slender Suzuno do about the large family sized fridge.

However, Emi replied in this manner----

“That’s true.”

She did not doubt it at all.

As the two of them were talking, Maou and Ashiya finally successfully moved the fridge to the common corridor of the second floor without dropping it.

In the heat of the August summer, the two people were already covered in sweat.

“Hey, it’s not time to rest yet, the washing machine hasn’t even been moved yet!”

The nagging from Urusihara below was really annoying.

“Maou-san, Ashiya-san, there’s only a little more to go, do your best!”

As usual, indeed, only Chiho sided with the two of them.

“Chi-chan, can I trouble you to bring over some empty boxes?”

When they packed earlier, Ashiya had took a few cardboard boxes from the supermarket, therefore Chiho did what Maou asked, and passed over two empty cardboard boxes which had contained clothes to him.

“Ashiya, move it forward by a little……good, this padding is behind.”

Maou placed the cupboard box underneath the fridge in the corridor.

“Now then, we’re going to start pulling now, ready……”

Next they started to slowly pull the fridge to in front of the porch.

So Maou had put down the cupboard box beforehand in order to prevent the bottom of the fridge from scratching the floor.

In the end the two people reached the gates of the Demon Fortress which they had missed, also in front of the main door of room 201, and in one go, lifted the fridge over the threshold before finally returning it to its original fixed position.

After plugging it in, the interior of the fridge started to produce cool air which did not lose to the heat of the summer.

“Good good, seems like it’s not broken……”

Maou touched the door of the fridge, and said to Ashiya, covered in sweat and looking very tired,

“Hey, we have to transport the washing machine next, if we rest now, we’ll be scolded by Emi and the rest.”

“Al, alright, my, my arms are shaking.”

Ashiya wiped the sweat on his forehead, and with Maou’s chiding, raised his head and prepared to leave the room, however, when they were about to leave the porch----

“Wah! Su, Suzuno-san?”

At the same time, they heard Chiho’s shout as well as the sound of something heavy being placed on the floor.

“What is it, Chi-chan……huh?”

The object in front of Maou’eyes made him feel a sense of disbelief.

The washing machine of the Demon Fortress which had been sitting in the yard up until just now, was already properly placed next to the drainage pipe in the corridor.

And on the other side was the wide eyed, tongue tied Chiho, as well as Suzuno, calmly shaking her hands.

“If we followed your pace, it would be dark by the time we finished moving everything.”

Suzuno creased her forehead, covered in sweat because of the sun, and said this nonchalantly.

Maou and Ashiya, who poked their heads out from the room, looked at the washing machine and Suzuno in turn.

“Th, this, you, by yourself?”

“That’s right, what about it?”

“Uh…….how……huh.”

Maou gaped in shock, completely tongue tied, while Ashiya subconsciously hid hands which were shaking because of the heavy work.

Maou and Ashiya were completely unable to imagine the image of Suzuno, who was petite and slender and wearing a fluttering Kimono, walking up the stairs of Villa Rosa while carrying a washing machine by herself.

“Er, erhm, Su, Suzuno-san, ea, easily……”

Chiho, who was rarely flustered, suddenly started to stammer.

“Chiho-dono, there is no need to be so surprised. To me and Emilia, something of this standard is nothing.”

After casting a sidealong glane towards Maou, Ashiya and Chiho, who were all to shocked to speak, the straw sandal wearing Suzuno swiftly went down the stairs with a ‘thump thump thump’.

Suzuno walked passed the equally wide eyed, tongue tied Urushihara, and walked towards the fridge belonging to her own room.
“Oof!”

Only to see her easily pick up the fridge like she was carrying an empty Styrofoam box.

“Hey, Demon King, Alsiel! You’ll cause Suzuno to be unable to enter the corridor if you stand there, quickly get out of the way!”

Emi spoke, reminding Maou and Ashiya who were upstairs, and the two people who were shocked speechless obediently backed up into the room.

Chiho slowly backed up as she watched the fridge approach her.

“Chiho-dono, my apologies, can I trouble you to open up the door of my room?”

“Ah, al, alright.”

At the request of the fridge, Chiho opened the door of room 202 without any objections.

“My thanks.”

The fridge bowed lightly, and entered room 202 together with a Kimono wearing female.

“……Thinking about it, that Suzuno……”

Maou watched this scene and said to himself in a daze.

“When she first came here, didn’t she effortlessly carry a box filled with udon……”

“Can, can it be that unlike her appearance, she is actually super strong……”

“Hey, I can hear everything, both you dull witted demons.”

After hearing Maou and Ashiya whispering to each other, Suzuno walked out of room 202 unhappily and lectured the two people.

“This is only the strengthening of the muscles via simple holy magic. Shouldn’t you guys know about this.”

“……Oh, so it was that.”

In other words, their physical ability is strengthened via holy magic, and the highest level would be like Emi’s ‘Heavenly Boots’, able to even fly in the air.

This was originally a spell used by the doctors of the Church to boost the patient’s physical strength when they are undergoing treatment to ensure that the operation can proceed safely.

In addition, for this spell, it wasn’t just simply inserting holy magic into the body, if it exceeded the original capacity of the patient, not only will it waste the holy magic of the caster, it would even have the side effect of decreasing the other party’s strength because of the breaking down of the spell, so it was not commonly used to increase the arm strength of the soldiers.
Therefore this technique can only be used by fighters which are highly ranked inquistitors who can use holy spells----like the huge hammer Heavenly Iron which Suzuno had.

Part of the holy magic which is seen as a miracle within the Chruch of the Western Continent was actually used to move a fridge and washing machine to the second floor, Maou couldn’t help but think that some problem existed with this kind of inquisitor.

“Ah, so as long as Maou-san and the rest also used demonic magic……”

“If they could do it, then they wouldn’t have drowned in the sea of Choshi to begin with.”

Emi walked up the stairs with a face which mocked Maou and the others, she was carrying Alas=Ramus with her right hand while easily carrying Suzuno’s microwave with her left hand.

Even though Maou planned to talk back to her immediately----

“Papa was blowing bubbles the whole time.”

But once the innocent Alas=Ramus said such a thing, the rebuke which was about to be said suddenly had nowhere to go and could only be dissipated with a sigh.
“Alas=Ramus……she won’t end up being like her Mama when she grows up right……”

“What’s that supposed to mean, is that a bad thing?”

Emi did not miss the mumblings which Maou said out of depression.

“It should be a literal meaning. Alas=Ramus is still young, it’s better if you minimise her exposure to slanderous or harmful words, right?”

Urushihara, who immediately entered the Demon Fortress after coming upstairs, answered this when he passed by everyone, even though Emi wanted to rebuke him, but because what he said was considered reasonable, Emi let it go by glaring at him unhappily.

For unknown reasons, Urushihara would only say serious things when it comes to things related to Alas=Ramus, about this, not only Emi, everyone also felt it was strange and difficult to comprehend.

“B, but, that means Maou-san used all this power to protect Japan right!”

“As expected of Sasaki-san, you really understand.”

Chiho interceded frantically and Ashiya nodded to show his approval.

“In addition, with regards of Maracoda’s incident, didn’t you say that you want to share the responsibility?”

“Uh.”

With Maou pointing this out, Emi was momentarily rendered speechless.

“So for us to have to strain ourselves to move the luggage this time, you have some responsibility as well!”

“What are you talking about! Those two things are totally unrelated!”

“How is it unrelated! Bascially, what is that about, only you guys are suddenly able to use holy magic at will! If we have to use our power, then the consumption on our end is larger, you have to consider this as well!”

Until today, the inhabitants of the Demon Fortress still did not know that for Emi and Suzuno, through their comrade in Ente Isla----Emeralda Etuva, they had received the concentrated holy magic drink Holy Vitamin ß.

“Even so, for you guys to use demonic magic in this sort of place, don’t you feel that it’s really sad?”

“There’s no reason for Suzuno being allowed to use it while we can’t, basically……”

“Anyway!”
As usual, Maou and Emi got into a pointless argument, and in the end, the one who stepped between them was a clothes cupboard made from Paulownia wood.

“The both of you are obstructing things, standing there like that.”

“Ah, sorry.”

“S, sorry.”

“Even though I do not wish to imitate Lucifer, but for parents to quarrel in front of the child, it seems to have a bad effect on a child’s development.”

After the Paulownia wood clothes cupboard did a rare action of teasing them, it passed between the speechless Emi and Maou and leisurely entered room 202.

“So everyone, let’s get along!”

Unsure if she read the atmosphere, Chiho followed up on Suzuno’s words and made a strange conclusion.

“……”

Maou and Emi looked at each other awkwardly, and after that, simultaneously decided to turn their faces from each other, ignoring the other party.

“Papa, Mama, no fighting okay.”

However, after Alas=Ramus who lacked any feelings of nervousness  mediated in this manner, the task of moving the luggage belonging to the Demon Fortress and Suzuno, ended in this messy atmosphere.

“……But, it really didn’t change at all.”

Maou commented when he scanned the interior of the room once again.

Maou, Ashiya and Chiho, who sat around the kotatsu, and Urushihara, who sat at his fixed position at the computer table next to the window, were currently drinking brewed wheat tea to replenish their fluids.

As Emi, Suzuno and Alas=Ramus were drinking tea in room 202, the dinner gathering which were originally held in Suzuno’s room also ended naturally.

As a large group of people always gathered in the past few days, even if there were four people present, it still felt a little lonely.

“No, that isn’t the case.”

Ashiya pointed to the sink in the kitchen.

“The loose tap was fixed. Recently, it keeps dripping no matter how it turned it, and caused me to accumulate a lot of stress, this is really a big help.”

“……I see.”

Faced with these overly serious thoughts of Ashiya, Maou could only answer in this manner.

“Even though part of it is because the hole was patched, but the walls of the room should have been repainted.”

“Eh, really?”

“Yeah, it originally should be a darker green, but now it is a beautiful matcha colour, it should have been repainted to match with the patched up wall, I guess?”

“I didn’t notice that at all……”

Like what Chiho said, the walls of the room did look brighter compared to before.

But these changes are so minute that even those inhabitants who have lived here for more than a year were unable to clearly prove them.

“Sigh, the room rent didn’t change anyway, so to expect too much is a little shameless.”

“That’s right, I hope that Maou-san and the rest can always stay near here, so if the rent increases, I would feel troubled.”

Chiho naturally followed the flow of Maou’s conversation, however Maou, with a surprised look, asked her in return,

“Why would Chi-chan feel troubled?”

“Eh? That’s because I don’t wish for Maou-san and the rest to move to a faraway place. Honestly, I was worried if things would become like this some time back.”

“We won’t be going anywhere, yeah? We don’t have anywhere to go, and we don’t have money to move house either.”

Maou answered normally and Ashiya nodded in agreement.

Chiho said softly to herself, “That’s not what I meant”, and continued,

“If so, then that’s good.”

This time she replied in a volume which the two people could hear.

“……Seriously, it looks like the person involved unexpectedly doesn’t understand.”

Urushihara, who as usual, followed the flow and listened to this conversation, lazily got up to confirm the power for his laptop.

After that, he took the charger out from the cupboard, connecting it to the laptop and plugging it into the power plug, looks like it needs to be charged.

“Eh?”

At this point, Urushihara discovered a foreign object.

“Did it look like this originally?”

For Villa Rosa Sasazuka, there were two power plugs in the kitchen of every room for the fridge, microwave, electric rice cooker and other electronics, there was also a power plug at the bottom area of the common corridor outside the porch for the washing machine, and as for the window and wall facing the backyard, there were two power plugs for common use.

Even though one power plug was normally occupied by the plugs related to Urushihara’s computer, but on that electrical panel, besides the two power plugs, there was also another connector.

Before Villa Rosa Sasazuka was renovated, the appearance of the connector was two screws securing one gold plate like a door latch.

As there were no electrical appliances in the Demon Fortress which uses that connector, no one who pay special attention to that connector, but the outer appearance of the connector which appeared in front of Urushihara’s eyes right now, was obviously different from the connector before the group went to the beach house Ooguro-ya.

“Could this be……”

Urushihara mumbled this subconsciously.

It was a round connector.

There was a screw on top of the connector, it was a round cylindrical protruding object with a hole in the middle.

At this instant, a thought suddenly flashed through Urushihara’s mind.

“Don’t tell me!”

Maou, Ashiya and Chiho widened their eyes in fright at Urushihara’s sudden shout.

However, Urushihara, ignoring the three people, ran outside.

For Urushihara to go out voluntarily, it was more unbelievable than the ancient goddess who had locked herself in Ama-no-Iwato suddenly becoming a competitor in a Triathlon, but before Maou and the others could react, Urushihara had already run down the stairs, looking back at the roof of the apartment.

(T/N: The ancient goddess refers to Amaterasu, the sun goddess in Japanese Legend went into hiding in the Ama-no-Iwato (Heavenly Rock Cave) because she was angry with the rampage from her brother Susanoo. For the full story, check Wikipedia.)
When he saw a certain object on the roof, Urushihara was sure about his suspiscions.

“As I thought……!”

As the look on Urushihara’s face when he came back was too serious, for Maou, Ashiya and Chiho, who did not know what happened, could only quietly wait for Urushihara to speak.

Next, the ancient fallen angel with amethyst eyes spoke in a heavy tone,

“Maou, this is serious.”

“W, what is it?”

Maou subconsciously swallowed his saliva.

Urushihara looked at the three of them with a never seen before sincere expression, and what he said next brought a huge shock to the king of demons and the other Demon General.

Villa Rosa Sasazuka……now has the capability to support digital television!”

The place fell silent. Chiho could not understand why Urushihara had to be so anxious.

However, for Maou and Ashiya----
“What……”

“What……”

““What did you say?””

“Wah!”

“What happened, Alas=Ramus fell asleep after a lot of effort, but she was woken up by you guys!”

“What happened, did enemies attack?”

With all their might, they shouted so loudly that Chiho froze in shock and Emi and Suzuno ran out of the room in surprise.

.

In this period of over one year, even though the Demon Fortress spent a large amount of money to buy a fridge, washing machine, computer, bicycle and other kinds of items, but because of various reasons, they had not bought a television.

Other than the fact that they could not allocate any budget for a television, the main reason is that for Maou and Ashiya who just arrived in Japan, they could not understand the concept of ‘watching television programmes’.

Even though they understand later that television helps in getting commercial advertisments, news reports which helps in understanding the situation around the world, as well as weather changes and other information, but not just television, there were many other methods to get this information.

Also, the fact that digital television has become the trend of the modern era was the top reason why the inhabitants of the Demon Fortress were hesistant to buy a television.

Currently, the atenna connector in Villa Rosa Sasazuka could only receive analog signal, and in the rental contract, nothing was mentioned about digital television.

After Maou and the others did some investigation, they found out that if they wanted to install a digital television, they would need to bear the fees of installing the antenna, and if they wanted to install the antenna on their own, they were afraid that the fee collectors from MHK would largely deplete their profits.

(T/N: MHK is a parody of NHK.)

Just buying a television would need such a huge amount of determination, if they aren’t careful and asked the landlady about the antenna, and she decides on her own to install one and increases the rent, it would be unthinkable.

Even if they do not depend on the television, there were many way to obtain information in Japan, compared to the fridge, which is closedly related to the issue of rations and the washing machine, need to maintain cleanliness, buying a television is not an important issue to the Demon Fortress.

“Sigh, anyway as long as there is a mobile phone and internet, there won’t be any problems with watching the news or weather forcast.”

“Once you said that, I feel rather angry.”

Emi, as a fellow visitor from a foreign world, said this happily, causing Maou, this Demon King, to want to find a hole to hide in.

“That’s true, I recently started to know how to obtain information through mobile phone and internet after much difficulty.”

Suzuno held up her recently bought, ‘Easy Call Phone’, an easy to operate phone released by Docodemo.

“If you put in the effort, you can even use mobile phones to watch television……but it uses up a lot of power, so I don’t use this function often.”

Chiho’s folding style phone was one of those models where the screen can be turned to the front and folded.

“Recently the problems related to batteries have increased. Even though it’s decided by the usage, but it would be good if it could last longer. For the slimphone, a charger needs to be brought along when using it.”

Emi sighed because of Chiho’s words.

Even though Emi is a customer service call officer in the customer service centre of the mobile phone company Docodemo, but after the information endpoint device with powerful functions----the Slimphone started to become more common, the enquires related to the battery had increased a lot from before.

For the technology in the Slimphone, rather than calling it a mobile phone, it was more like a mini computer, even through transmission and the use of the functions can largely affect the battery life, but the standby time was normally shorter than the traditional mobile phones used by Chiho and Suzuno.

“I say, you do guys really think my mobile phone is so advanced that it can watch television?”

Maou gave the three females who were having a conversation about mobile phones with an unhappy look on his face.

“Listen carefully, then be surprised. The mobile phone belonging to our king of demons, does have an antenna installed inside.”

“Eh?”

“Eh?”

“Hm?”

Urushihara’s words, said in a pompous manner, caused Chiho to suck in a breath in surprise, Emi’s eyes also widened, as for Suzuno, she looked confused because she did not understand its meaning.

“And it only needs to be charged every two days.”

“Eh?”

“Once every two days?”

“Is that considered long? Or short? I don’t really understand.”

This time, even Emi reacted in shock, and Suzuno still didn’t grasp the situation.

“I bought this not long after coming here, because I said it’s fine as long as it’s cheap, so I choose this one in the end.”

After Maou said this, he took out his own mobile phone from his pocket.

Even though there were some scratches on its surface, it can still be seen that Maou treasured his own mobile phone very much, and that mobile phone obviously looked older than the models used by Chiho and Suzuno.

“My, my dad used this kind of mobile phone before.”

For Chiho, who grew up in an information based society, when she was aware of the things around her, electronic products like the mobile phone naturally appeared around her, so once Chiho saw the design of Maou’s mobile phone, she knew it was an old model.

“……this, what mobile phone brand is it?”

That brand logo shown on the back of the mobile phone, even Emi, who worked in a job relaed to the mobile phone and knew abou the brands of other companies to a certain standard, had not seen it before.

“From Maou-san’s mail address, it should be ae right?”

Maou nodded in response to Chiho’s question.

“The phone bills are paid to ae. But when I bought the phone, the staff said things like quota and unlimited smooth calling, which I didn’t understand at all, I replied that it’s enough as long as it can make calls and message, and the person gave this to me.”

“Enough to make calls and message……could it be, it’s Thu-Ka right?”

Thu-Ka is a mobile phone brand whose selling points are simple operations, functions and payment methods, but because the original service had stopped, its telecommunications service was merged under ae, one of the three major brands in Japan.

(T/N: ae is a parody of au, the mobile phone brand in Japan marketed by KDDI Corporation.)

“Because the mobile phone itself is free, and the operation is simple and doesn’t need additional payments, so I chose this one.”

Even though Maou said this nonchalantly, but with the influence of Slimphone, even the market for the models of which used to be known as Next Generation phones were shrinking, so the number of people who were still using these old generation Thu-Ka phones naturally were few and far between.

Before that, just the fact that Thu-Ka mobile phones were able to use current protocols can already be considered a miracle.

Just like Thu-Ka’s slogan at that time ‘In conclusion, it’s enough to be able to make calls and send messages’, Thu-Ka’s mobile phones do not have internet features.

“T, then Maou-san, until now, how have you been checking the weather forecasts?”

“Eh? I call 177.”

Chiho asked agitatedly but was immediately rendered speechless because of Maou’s reply.

“But until now, I still call the time reporting hotline once every five times.”

“Emilia, what is 177?”

“It’s a hotline used to check the weather forecast via phone. By the way, the time reporting hotline is 117. Even though I had an impression that a special number needs to be typed at the beginning from calling from the phone, but because it was mentioned during the work training that this is knowledge which isn’t used in the modern times, so I forgot about it.”

As expected of Emi, who works in a field related to mobile phones, being able to answer the question Suzuno asked in private.

“But right now, even the standy screens will show the weather forecast on their own, I never thought that there are still people who use this service……then again, if you don’t want to call the wrong number, then save it inside the phone book.”
“This isn’t the first time dead stock was pushed onto us anyway.”

Urushihara looked towards the laptop and shook his head in intolerance.

“Th, then about the news……”

In Chiho’s impression, Maou did not look like he could not keep up with current affairs when he talked to other people at the workplace.

Therefore, Chiho always thought that for Maou, whether it was politics and economics, international news, crimes or the latest sports news and other themes, he would have a certain standard of understanding.

“Sigh, we do have a computer after Urushihara came, and I would read the reports that come with photos placed by newspaper agencies at the bus stop, or stand at the bookstores to read some magazines, so it’s not difficult to keep up with the topics around me.”

“……”

To Chiho, who was used to the modern information society, Maou’s words were beyond belief.

“Sigh, about my mobile phone, anything is fine. It’s not inconvenient, and I have no intention of changing phone models. But, this apartment finally installed an antenna for digital television……”

Maou looked at the antenna connector with feeling, but once his eyes rested on the plug connected to the charger of Urushihara’s computer, he frowned.

“Hey, Ashiya.”

“Is something the matter?”

Maou spoke like he was speaking to himself,

“Let’s buy a television.”

“Ehhh?”

“What kind of reaction is that.”

Maou’s face became guarded because it looked as if Ashiya was going to shout his throat sore.

“From what Demon King-sama’s conversation just now, the conclusion should be there is no need for an umbrella……and didn’t you say that even if there is no television, you can still know about world affairs? In addition, don’t we have the computer and internet?”

Ashiya looked towards Urushihara angrily.

“Don’t make it sound as if that my reason for existence is only computer and internet, okay?”

“I can admit that you have grown and became a vending machine who can organise queues.”

“At least say that I am a vending machine who can cause queues to form.”

The two Demon Generals said some meaningless nonsense.

“Sigh, but what Alsiel says makes sense. It’s been some time since I bought a television, but other than watching the news in the morning, some movies and period dramas at night, as well as the weather forecast, it’s usually turned off. I don’t think there is a need to forcefully buy a television because the antenna changed.”

“You don’t let Alas=Ramus watch childrens’ shows huh.”

Maou looked at Emi’s head.

Alas=Ramus, who was asleep in room 202, was currently merged with Emi.

“Did you forget that performance held at Tokyo Dome City some time ago?”

Emi looked back at Maou in astonishment.

“Whether it’s cartoons for children, or ‘Fun with Mama’ on MHK Education channel, the colours appearing inside are all very bright. I’m worried that this child will act up like last time, so I am minimising her contact with television,”

“Ah, so it’s like that.”

Some time ago, Maou, Emi and Alas=Ramus went to watch the Heros show at Tokyo Dome City, and after watching the colourful special stuntmen Heros move vigorously around on stage, Alas=Ramus started showing signs of a seizure.

Large trees and things with bright colours have deep connections with Alas=Ramus, causing her to remember the ‘Sephira’ which are in charge of different colours each and formed the world, as well as the Tree of Life which she was born from.

In reality, at the moment, what Emi and the others knew about the Tree of Life is only limited to what they heard from rumours.
Even though no one at this time can deduce what effects this condition will have on Alas=Ramus, ever since Alas=Ramus felt uncomfortable, Emi tried her best to avoid letting her see things which would make her remember the Tree of Life.

“In the past, there was one time I thought it would be good if we owned a television.”

Maou started to talk about some bitter memories.

“This happened before Chi-chan came to work at MgRonads. Doesn’t Mags have a Happy Meal deisgned for children? The one that comes with a toy.”

“Ah, yeah, there is one.”

“For these toys, there’s a big difference between popular and unpopular types right. At that time, the ones released were toys from ‘Pokemon’, and one day a child who looked like he just started elementary school ordered a Happy Meal and was preparing to choose a toy. When I asked the child which one he wanted----”

When Maou reached this point, he frowned deeply.

Even Ashiya had not seen such Maou show such a troubled expression in quite a number of months.

“That child said that he wanted the type that goes ‘gero gero’.”

Maou said this with much effort, causing Ashiya, Chiho, Emi and Suzuno’s eyes to widen.

“That’s right! My feelings at the time, were just like the expression you have now. Exactly which toy is the one which goes gero gero? At that time, I didn’t even know that every Pokemon had their own unqiue call, of course I wouldn’t know which one can go gero gero. However, there were almost ten types at that tiem, so there was no way for me to guess it by instinct.”

Because the group did not know when Maou’s story will come to an end, so they could only listen quietly, but unexpectedly, it was Urushihara who broke this silence.

“I tried looking up on it, it seems to be a special Pokemon which only appeared in the movie edition. It’s the basic form of Dragohelios, a legendary Pokemon which appeared in ‘Dragohelios, Path of the King of the Sky’, and is known as Dragos. It’s a water type frog Pokemon which appeared in a certain well, and became a dragon because of a mutation.”
(T/N: I’m not sure if this is the actual Pokemon name, but it seems to be a parody of Gyrados, and the first part of the name kind of sounded like the Dratini, Dragonair, Dragonite series, so I ended up naming it like this.)

“Can you please speak in human language?”

To Suzuno, who was not familiar with modern Japanese culture, Urushihara’s words sounded like a curse.

“But Demon King-sama, if so, couldn’t you deduce that it should be the model which looks like a frog from the ‘gero gero’ sound?”

“Ashiya, you only think that way because you have already lived in Japan for more than one year. But if you think about it carefully, only in Japan would they use ‘koke kokko’ to describe a chicken’s call.”

In the first place, for Earth, animal calls and onomatopoeia would vary because of the changes in country and region. So without even talking abot the world, for Maou who didn’t even know that there were different species in biology, how would he know that ‘gero gero’ is describing the calls of a frog, and the only person who could lecture him on this, is only the MgRonalds store manager, Kisaki Mayumi, who did not know about this matter.

“Anyway, the Happy Meal was collaborating with that movie at that time, and because that Pokemon has something to do with the core of the story, it will appear for a while in the trailer. That child did not know the name Dragos and also did not remember the creature’s appearance. In the end, we did not know which type it was and so the child’s mother picked ‘Pirichu’ directly.”

Pirichu was the most well-know and normally the most popular mascot creature in the Pokemon series.

“However, because the Pirichu toy was so popular, there was no more stock. As a result, that mother chose a jellyfish which looked like it had a lot of magnets stuck on it, a toy which did not look cute or cool, even in my eyes.”

Everyone present did not understand Pokemon, so even if they heard the features, they still did not have a clue.

“……So, what is the point of this story?”

Emi asked, unable to hold the question in.

“In other words, if I had carefully watched the movie trailer on television and obtained sufficient preparatory knowledge, I should be able to smoothly provide the products which the customers want. Even though it was regretful that Pirichu was out of stock, but at least there were other types left.”

“Too long!”

Urushihara’s words expressed the thoughts of everyone present.

“So what does this have to do with buying a television? Even if it’s not to the extent of Ashiya-san, but I feel that these information can be found through the internet.”

Maou nodded in response to Chiho’s question.

“If the research is not done based on interest, a person would probably not take the initiative to find the information. Even if failure is the mother of success, but if we do not avoid those failures which can be prevented just by paying a little more attention, then it wouldn’t be called a failure, but neglect, right?”

“So, isn’t it good to investigate through the internet? If you just want to obtain a wide expense of knowledge, I heard that you can get news like the one on television and newspapers through the internet.”

Ashiya’s attitude totally revealed his thoughts that he did not want to use the budget on buying a television, and Maou said with a wry smile,

“Let me give you an example which you can understand more easily, you should have met with a situation where you found out that minced meat is being sold at a supermarket ad special price, and as you decied to go out to buy ingredients to make hamburger steak, you suddenly realised that salmon fillets are cheaper and changed the menu to butter salmon, then use the few tens of yen you hsaved to buy beansprouts to increase the nutrition and portion, is that so?”

“Eh……yeah, I did experience this a few times……”

Ashiya became a little flustered when the topic suddenly switched to housework matters.

“Hamburger steak is served with gravy and tomato sauce, but if salmon is too be cooked, then butter has to be bought. And after that, as long as the menu uses salmon, butter and beansprouts, you will pay more attention to information on special prices related to these, right.”

“Yeah, that’s true.”

Suzuno, who cooked frequently like Ashiya, also agreed.

“How should I put it, if information is gathered through the internet, then these things won’t happen. Even though when we think of hamburger steak, we will think of Japanese style radish mash, demiglaze sauce, cheese hamburger steak, tofu hamburger steak, shops specialising in hamburger steak or Germany’s Hamburg and other things, but we will not think about butter salmon and beansprouts right. How should I put it, there is no way to expand the coincidences.”

“Expand the coincidences huh……”

In a rare occurrence, Urushihara listened to Maou attentively, and leaned forward from his Japanese style seat.

“Of course, there are many methods for expansion, and they can’t be lumped together. But just talking abou the internet, for things which one is not interested in, they won’t pay any attention to them, and there is no need to pay attention to them as well.”

“Sigh, that’s right. But for television, won’t you turn it off if you’re not interested?”

Emi, the only inhabitant from a foreign world with a television, expressed her opinion, and Maou shook his head in reply,

“For programmes prepared for television, even though there are some things which one may not be interested in when it first airs, an interest in them can occur later on, it can’t be simply seen through turning on or off. Just on this point, doesn’t the internet allow people to only see the information which they want to see? In this world, there must be some things which may not be specially need right now, but end up being useful somewhere in the future right?”

“……Demon King-sama, why do you have such an understanding of television?”

Ashiya asked an innocent question.

“Ah, I wast just remembering when I first came to Japan, there was once I ate at the soba restaurant which had a television in order to handle a dispatch job, even if the news on television just happened to be giving an advance notice that the dispatch company I was registered to had met with some issues, but when I was waiting to watch the news because I was concerned, the customer beside me suddenly changed the television channel to a strange entertainment programme, making me quite angry.”

“Even though it’s strange to only ask it now, but Maou-san should be the Demon King of a certain world right?”

“Chiho-dono, don’t say such things which will make others depressed. As a Demon King, actually talking about soba restuarants, hamburgers and salmon fillets, these random things……”

In a certain way, this enemy was more worried about the Demon King’s future more than his subjects.

“Anyway, I feelt that this kind of unintentional contact with information, resembling a ‘game’ is quite good. Of course I know that internet is more convenient, but as a beginning point for kindling an interest, television is still very important. If interest has formed, and more information is wanted, at that time it’s fine to use the internet to research properly.”

“That’s true. Even though some people claim that television is no longer needed, but the top searches or popular keywords, seem to be deepy influenced by television.

In a rare occurrence, Maou nodded deeply to agree with Urushihara’s words.

“I don’t need funtions like 3D or Blu-ray. It’s just that as long there is an information endpoint which had an important standing in human society, then in the future, not only can there is better understanding of the human world, perhaps it might be useful when conquering the world.”

“Uuhhh……”

After hearing Maou’s thoughts, Ashiya groaned and went deep in thought.

“Besides that……”

Emi looked towards Emi this time.

“Doesn’t the television show flash reports on accidents or disasters? Such as thunderstorm reports and such.”
“So what?”

“In that case, if something does happen, then a counter measure can be carried out immediately.”

At this point, Maou used the index and middle fingers on both hands to show the shape of a sickle.

“……”

Emi could immediately tell that Maou was referring to the Malebranches who she fought with in Choshi.

“Sigh, even though this is a reason which was added on later, but at least when an incident or accident which doesn’t conform to Japan’s norms occurs, we can still investigate if it’s because of interference from the people on that side.”

Even though this point is a source of worry for everyone present, but the group had already clashed with angels a few times in the city center and earlier, they had stopped a Demon Army over the seas of Choshi.

Even though they have tried to minimise the damages until now, no one could guarantee that future incidents could still be concluded peacefully.

Since our side can only passively wait for incidents to happen, then when we are in Japan, to the best of our ability, we should ensure that we have methods to gather information, Maou’s opinion is reasonable.

“That may be so……but……”

Ashiya felt very troubled.

It’s not as if he didn’t understand the thoughts of his master, and if possible, he would also want to express his agreement. But on the other hand, budget and the existence of alternative approaches still materialised into shackles, causing Ashiya to be unable to quickly make up his mind to buy a television.

“There’s still the issue of the MHK broadcasting fee.”

Urushihara added this sentence like he had read Ashiya’s mind.

“……Then Demon King-sama, how about this?”

Ashiya raised his head with an agonised expression on his face and said,

“The words of Demon King-sama does make sense, but we are still faced with a practical problem known as a budget, so why don’t we conduct some market research first?”

“Market research?”

“First, let’s go find the apartment agent and confirm that the television viewership contract is still unchanged after the modification of the antenna. If us tenants still have to continue paying the MHK broadcasting fee, then this issue will be voided.”

“For the apartment I’m living in, other than the electricity and gas bills, the rest are included in the rent……”

“Emilia, don’t interrupt unnecessarily! Honestly, I am reluctant to buy a television!”

“Ashiya-san, aren’t you being too honest here?”

Maou and Urushihara seemed to be used to Ashiya using this tone of voice, so they only nodded lightly in reply.

“And only if we are lucky for the MHK broadcasting fee to be included in the rent just like Emilia’s apartment, and that the rent is not increased, then we will go to the electronics outlet to research the price and functions. I heard that compared to the analog televisions before, the prices of the super slim televisions which can support digital are higher. If the cheapest model is too expensive, then this incident will also be dropped.”

“That, that’s really strict……”

“Of course! We were supposed to be working at the beach house for this half month, you know? Even though we still got paid an amount which is slightly more than the amount that Demon King-sama gets by working at MgRonalds for half a month, but it’s still not a situation where we can leisurely and easily buy expensive electronics like a television!”

For Ashiya to take such a tough stance, naturally there was a corresponding reason.

Since they lost the job at the beach house Ooguro-ya, then before the MgRonalds in front of Hatagaya station opens, in reality, Maou is in a state of unemployment.

Even if the three demons have already avoided the crisis of becoming destitute and homeless, but considering the income for next month, the three of them would still hope that the work at Ooguro-ya can be their job in August, using this working salary of 150,000 yen to fill in for the salary which Maou would originally receive in September.

Even though Maou’s salary for July will be deposited on the 25th of this month, but this income definitely wouldn’t be sizable enough for them to buy a television.

“However, the small sized televisions now are quite cheap, you know? If you don’t have any special requirements on brand, you should be able to buy a cheap model.”

“……Sasaki-san……that’s why……”

Even if Ashiya could brazenly scold Emi directly, he was still unable to use such a tough attitude on Chiho.

“……?”

On the country, it was Emi who looked at Chiho, who had suddenly interrupted, with a confused look on her face.
Even though Emi had clearly just ruffled Ashiya’s feathers by agreeing on buying a television, it was unexpected for Chiho would say something like this after that happened.

“After listening to what Emi and Chi-chan said, it looks like the chances of being able to buy a television are pretty high. Oh yeah, Ashiya, if there are no problems with MHK and the rent, what kind of price is acceptable for you?”

About this, Ashiya answered without hestitation.

“Considering the income for the three of us at Ooguro-ya, it would be 30,000 yen if we give 10,000 yen each. Even if there is compromise, it would be 35,000 yen at most, it can’t go any higher.”

“Eh? What? I have to contribute as well?”

Urushihara was genuninely surprised with Ashiya’s calculations.

“Originally I was planning to use all the money you have earned this time to make up for your accumulated spending till now, you know?”

But because of Ashiya’s fierce expression, he immediately stopped his protesting.

“Heh heh heh, 35,000 yen, Ashiya, you said 35,000 yen right!”

On the other hand, Maou showed a fearless smile.

“Ashiya, didn’t you forget something?”

“Wh, what is it?”

Because of Maou’s smile, which had crossed over the boundary of being fearless until it became weird, he subsconsciously became wary.

Maou, who was still smiling, pointed towards the fridge firmly.

“Do you remember where we bought the fridge? And where we bought the washing machine outside?”

“The fridge and washing machine?”

The two home appliances which Maou spent almost all his savings at the beginning of summer to buy, can be said to be the the most expensive products in the Demon Fortress.

Of course, compared to the things in Suzuno’s room, they would be inferior in terms of price and function.

“I remember, it was at Yodogawa Bridge Home Appliances at Shinjuku Nishiguchi which Demon King-sama……ah!”

At this point, Ashiya also realised it.

Maou, who had taken out a synthetic resin wallet at an unknown time, started to tear the Velcro on the wallet.

Next, as if he was trying to torture Ashiya who was already shaking from fear, he took out a card with a silver shine.

“It looks like you finally realised.”

Maou waved the card in his head, and swung the card in a sharp arc to stop in front of Ashiya.

On the card was the logo of Yodogawa Bridge Home Appliances and the words ‘Points Card’, and on top of the thin film, the shiny words of ‘6239 points’ was printed.

“That’s right……the points! Did you think I thoughtlessly bought things without considering anything? At that time, there was an event where 10% of the price of allproducts would be converted into points!”

“Wha, what did you say?”

Because this was the first time Ashiya heard about his shocking truth, he fell onto his bottom on the tatami, but in reality, he was already sitting down to begin with.

“Seeing your expression, it seems like you really want to ask me why I haven’t used these points until now! Hmph, calculate it yourself! Calculate which consumables can be bought at an electronics outlet while taking the needs of the Demon Fortress into account!”

Talking about the consumables which can be bought at an electronics outlet, the first things which come into mind are lights and batteries.

However, the kitchen of the Demon Fortress and the three tsubo (T/N: the size of six tatami mats) room uses florescent lamps, and except for the washroom and the porch which uses lightbulbs, there were no other illumination devices, the fridge and the washing machine were bought at the beginning of summer, and after that they had only changed the washroom lightbulb once.

The electronics which uses batteries in the Demon Fortress were only the emergency use torch, and as for Urushihara’s old computer and the digital camera and printer used to record Alas=Ramus’s daily life, even though the time bought was different, they were bought at an inexpensive shop in Akihabara, and had nothing to do with the points from Yodogawa Bridge Home Appliances.

Even for the ink catridges, because they are an old model, the original factory stock could not be found in large stores, so even if they found a general use ink catridge after much difficulty, they had only changed the red one once before.

Even if electronic outlets also sell daily use products and foodstuffs currently, but there wasn’t any need to intentionally go to Shinjuku to buy these things at all, many cheaper stores could be found in Sasazuka for this.

In other words, from the beginning of summer, these points were only used on one lightbulb for the washroom.

“35,000 yen? Hah, this is enough! As long as we add these points, the upper limit can be raised to a maximum of 41,239 yen! As long as there is 40,000 yen, there wouldn’t be any issues even if we want to buy something a little better than a basic television model!”

“H, how can this be!”

“Hahaha! Ashiya, your intelligence has blackfired! With this, there is one less obstacle to buying a television! I can’t wait to find the apartment agent now!”

“M,m,mwahahaha, Demon King-sama, don’t be so full of yourself! Right now, we cannot guarantee that the contract from the apartment agent won’t affect us! Have you forgotten that we have agreed that this issue would be voided as long as we have to pay the MHK broadcasting fee and if there are any signs of increase in rent? With that, even with those points, they would be useless! Don’t forget that pride comes before a fall!”

“Very good! Then I will look for the apartment agent immediately to decide who the victor is as soon as possible!”

“I don’t mind. Demon King-sama, because it is sincere advice, that is why it is grating on the ears, allow me, the subordinate to teach this principle to you!”

The Demon King and the surbodinate Demon General completely ignored Emi and the others and got excited because of the points from the electronics outlet on their own.

“……I’m sorry, let me apologise this time. This is really embarrassing.”

In response to this sentence from Urushihara, Emi and Suzuno could only nod in reply.

Only Chiho looked at Maou and Ashiya, who only looked like they were quarrelling based on the atmosphere alone, with a rather happy expression on her face.

“Maou-san really wants a television, ne.”

“Sigh, he seemed to have watched a movie before……he’s probably really interested……”

Emi’s shoulders drooped in a demoralised manner.

“Hm, if I’m interested later, I’ll consider buying one as well.”

Suzuno, who had ample finances because of proper preparations, took the chance to add this sentence on.

.

As Maou and Ashiya had already ran to find the apartment agent in a shameless, un-adult like and even un-demon like manner, and the luggage were mostly moved in, Emi left the apartment together with Chiho to go home.

“Ah, but this is really great.”

“What do you mean?”

On the streets which were still filled with the heat of summer, Emi asked Chiho this.

“Even though a lot of things happened, but everyone eventually returned to Sasazuka safely, Maou-san and the others as well as Suzuno-san returned to the fixed apartment without any issues, giving off the feeling of returning to a normal daily life.”

“Normal huh. Recently, I am unsure what is considered normal anymore.”

“And Maou-san and Suzuno-san said they want to buy a television, that’s great.”

“Eh? Why?”

Without considering Suzuno, since the Demon Fortress decided to add onto their home electronics, it showed that a certain level of leeway had been created in their lifestyle.

From Emi’s standpoint, for the demons to have such leeway and leisure, it meant that she would have to be more wary.

Even if they had to work together to lift a fridge, or quarrelled over the points at an electronics outlet, but they are still demons who shook up a world.

Even if these things were put aside, even though the finances of the Demon Fortress have become more well-off, there should be more important things to buy other than a television.

During the few days when Alas=Ramus stayed at the Demon Fortress, because Maou and the rest did not have futons, they stacked towels into a pillow and let her sleep directly on the tatami, and after Emi found out, she had hit them very hard on the head.

“Basically, after the Ooguro-ya disappeared, they should be jobless, right? Why do they look like they have so much leeway?”

“It should be like that. And MgRonalds will only open on the 15th……”

Chiho took out her phone to confirm the calendar.

There was still one whole week before the reopening of MgRonalds. Even though it was difficult to imagine Maou and Ashiya not working, and leisurely staying at home, watching television, it was quite easy to imagine if the subject was changed to Urushihara.

“However, since it’s Maou-san, he should have his considerations. For example, isn’t there quite a number of openings for one day’s work?”

“Hm~is that so?”

It felt like if Maou had any plans, Ashiya would not have objected so strongly. Even though Ashiya did have a tendency to be overly thrifty, but he is quite open minded when it came to reasonable spending.

At this point, Emi suddenly realised something.

“Sigh, even if they did end up feeling troubled because they spent too much, it doesn’t affect me anyway.”

Even though she had no need to be concerned about the financial status to the Demon Fortress, why was she worried about the future of the Demon Fortress just now.

The advantages of television which Maou illustrated were important, but on the other hand, television will not always spread useful information.

For example, there are the celebrity variety talk shows which Emi could not relate to, as well as the comedy performances which she could not understand where the humour lay even though she lived in Japan for one to two years.
Besides that, there are the shopping programmes which made a person wonder why such products could not be bought outside when they are so good, and the celebrity gossip news which had no effect on one’s daily life and so on, even if Emi did not understand what these programmes which were produced were trying to express to society, she had realised that, nevertheless, every channel were showing similar things at the same time slot.

Of course, Emi thought that way mainly because of her identity as a person from a foreign world, even if the period dramas she liked were just a programme which allowed people to pass their leisure time, but no matter what, whether buying a television would help the Demon Army conquer the world, the answer should be no.

Chiho watched the side profile of Emi, whose face clearly showed the complicated feelings she was feeling inside, and making sure that Emi would not notice, she gave a wry smile.

“……But no matter what, since Maou-san and Suzuno-san wants to buy a television, that means that they will stay in Japan for the time being right?”

Chiho steered the topic back on track.

“Your meaning is?”

Emi was confused because she did not understand what Chiho implied with her sentence.

“Didn’t a lot of Demon-sans arrive while we were in Choshi?”

Even though using Demon-san to address them seemed overly familiar, Emi still nodded in reply.
“I kept worrying about whether everyone will return to Ente Isla becase of this incident. If that did not occur over the seas of Choshi, but in a place like Shinjuku, wouldn’t it cause a huge panic? I was thinking if Maou-san or Emi-san said ‘I don’t want to cause Japan any trouble’, then what should I do.”

“It’s not as if that thought hadn’t crossed my mind before.”

Emi said softly.

“A television isn’t a home electronic which can be bought just because it’s cheap, but something you would buy because you are planning to use it in the long term right? I think that since they want to have that, it means that everyone still wants to stay in Japan for the time being.”

Chiho said with a refreshing smile.

“Even though I’m glad that you welcome us so much, but don’t you feel scared?”

Emi specially asked this.

“Chiho should know as well, right? Regardless of angel, human or demon, when push comes to shove, they will not hesitate in harming this country. Didn’t Chiho already have a near death experience once?”

In that incident, not only demon, but even humans were involved, and that human was even one of her past comrades, this point made Emi feel a deep sense of remorse.

“Hm~I’m not that afraid now. Even though it was rather frightening at the beginning, but Maou-san and Yusa-san have always been protecting me.”

Without knowing if she sensed Emi’s inner feelings, Chiho unexpectedly replied without any hesitation.

“Even if I don’t really understand the affairs of Ente Isla, since the strongest amongst the humans, the Hero and the strongest amongst the demons, the Demon King are protecting me together, it would be rather rude if I don’t feel assured.”

“I, I see.”

Chiho’s words made a lot of sense. An existence which made friends with the Hero and the Demon King, and accepted the protection from both sides, even if the whole world was searched, perhaps Chiho would be the only one who fit the description.

“……Of course, I have not forgoteen that the ultimate goal of Yusa-san and Suzuno-san is to defeat Maou-san, and that both of you must be unable to forgive what Maou-san and the rest did in Ente Isla. So I kept thinking about it, whether there was any way to let the people I like the most to obtain happiness in the future.”

“There’s none.”

“Please don’t answer so quickly.”

Chiho pouted intentionally. Actually Chiho already knew that Emi would reply in this way, as in the first place, Emi would frequently express those intentions.

Chiho, who had been looking at Emi’s side profile, turned her gaze to the large shoulder bag which Emi was carrying.

“Even though I can only say that my wish does not have any fulfilment authority, but if I place my hopes on Alas=Ramus-chan, there shouldn’t be a problem right?”

“……Sigh, I admit that this point troubles me.”

Emi shrugged in frustration.

“Is she still asleep?”

“Yeah, if she doesn’t wake up, it should be better if I let her out after returning home by train.”

Alas=Ramus, currently taking an afternoon map, was merged with Emi at the moment.

If they wanted Alas=Ramus to take a nap in Villa Rosa Sasazuka, which did not have any air conditioning, then there would be a need to take note of the room temperature, for any sleeping time besides the one at night, Emi would allow Alas=Ramus to merge with her.

Even so, in Emi’s shoulder bag, she would still prepare spare diapers, electrolytic solutions for oral use as well as a water bottle which came with a straw, recently she had become more and more like a mother character.

“It’s fine if she was just merged with me, but she had to be merged with the holy sword. Since she treats the Demon King as a father, then as long as I use the holy sword to fight, I will cause this child to commit patricide…..however, even though a child is said to be the bridge between the parents, there is still a limit to that.”

“Yeah, I’m sorry.”

Chiho, who sensed that she could have crossed the line, bowed her head and apologised honestly.

“……In addition, I also met with some situations which prevent me from going back. As long as the Demon King doesn’t throw a tantrum and sas he wants to go back to Ente Isla because he couldn’t buy a television, then I should be staying here for the time being.”

“Yusa-san is unable to go back now?”

Chiho felt confused because this was the first time she heard such a truth, but Emi only shook her head lightly.

Therefore Chiho did not press the matter, and until they arrived in front of Sasazuka station, the two of them were silent.
“Then, we’ll be leaving first.”

Once they arrived at Sasazuka station, Emi waved lightly to Chiho and prepared to enter the ticket gantry.

However, on the way there, she seemed to notice something and swifty widened her eyes---

“Chiho, sorry, please wait here for a while.”

After saying this, Emi frantically ran into the ID quick photo booth situated in the corner of the station.

Of course, Chiho did not know why Emi suddenly ran to that kind of place.

As expected, Emi came out, carrying a blearly eyed Alas=Ramus with a wry smile on her face.

“She seemed to want to say ‘bye bye’ to Chiho-nee san no matter what.”

“Fw…..hm……Chi-nee chan, ah bye.”

Alas=Ramus who spoke with a slight slur as she jst woke up, opened her dazed eyes with all her might and waved at her small delicate hands at Chiho.

This appearance caused Chiho to be unable to hold back a smile.

“Yeah, bye bye, Alas=Ramus, let’s play again next time.”

“Uu……want to play in water again……”

“Yeah, let’s go swimming together next time.”

“Uu……fwah……”

“Alright alright, you can take another nap when we return home……being on break the last few days, when I think that I have to go to work tomorrow, my head starts to hurt. Then we’ll take our leave now.”

Emi placated Alas=Ramus, who was starting to return to slumberland and readjusted her hold, acknowledge Chiho with her eyes and this time, really started to walk toward the ticket gantry.

Since she had already carried a toddler in public eye, then remergeing with her would not be possible at this point. Chiho watched the two of them go with a wry smile, and until the both of them could not be seen anymore, she started on her journey back home, a smile on her face as she recalled Alas=Ramus’s cute small hands and expression.

“Oh my, you’re back, that’s quite early today.”

When Chiho reached the door of her home, she happened to met with her mother Riho, who had walked out of the door wearing clothes for going out.

“Mum, where are you going?”

“Hm, I have some things which I need to settle in Shinjuku. An old classmate from the outside regions said she’s coming here, so I’m going to drink tea with my friend, I will be back before dinner, can I trouble you to wash two cups of rice?”

“I understand. Since it is two cups of rice, that tmeans Dad won’t be coming back, right.”

“I don’t know. He didn’t contact me. There are still instant noodles at home, if Dad does come back, then he can eat that.”

As long as nothing much happens, for the policeman occupation, the time they get offwork is actually unexpectedly fixed, however if something does happen, just going home is difficult.

It was a bad habit of her Dad to not call back home if he will be coming back for dinner, but to let her father eat instant noodles on the chance he may come back after work was too pitiful, so after Chiho saw her mother out, she decided to wash three cups of rice.

Once she entered the house, there was still some coldness left over from the air conditioning her mother had turned on earlier, causing her sweating skin to feel comfortable.

“I’ll take a bath after taking a short break, after all, it’s fine to wash the rice in the evening.”

It was only 3pm. Since it was rare that there were no club activities or work arrangements, and there wasn’t any incidents related to the foreign world, Chiho picked up the remote control on the living room table.

“I wonder what kind of programmes will Maou-san watch after he buys a television. Unexpectedly, he seems to like quizshows and miscellaneous knowledge.”

Chiho imagined the scene of Maou, Ashiya and Urushihara fighting for the television to watch quizshows, cooking programmes and anime, and couldn’t help but laugh.

“No, no. Maou-san and the others have always been serious.”

Chiho, like any normal person, also watches television.

TV shows and music programmes are important material when talking to friends at school, and her personal interests are watching travel programmes and documentaries, and at the same time, she would watch a quizshow at a fixed time every week.

Recently, because of Emi and Suzuno’s influence, Chiho also started to watch some period dramas which she did not pay attention to before, once she thought about being able to talk with Maou about topics regarding television, and that their normal lives would be more interesting from now on, she felt that the future did not just contain unlikeable things.

“I wonder what is showing now……”

Chiho picked up the programme list on the living room table and glanced through it.

“Ah, the rerun of ‘Aitaka’ is going to start. The news seems to be showing now, so I’ll just watch some MHK news then watch ‘Aitaka’.”

Saying this, Chiho pointed the remote control towards the television.

After turning on the power, a two second lag unique to the slim television model which supports digital signal appeared on the screen. Then----

“……Eh?”

The instant the image appeared, a white light engulfed the living room of the Sasaki household.

.

Emi sat on the train back home, and thought back to the phone call Emeralda gave her via mental transmission when she just reached home from Choshi.

After saying goodbye to Chiho, Alas=Ramus started to feel sleepy and was dozing off in Emi’s arms.

“Swimming together with everyone huh.”

Emi casually looked out of the train window, and at this moment she could see the street scenery roll past from the overhead railway of Sasazuka station.

The Rapid train on the Keio Line was currently quickly leaving Daitabashi, the station after Sasazuka, and heading towards Meidaimae.

(T/N: On the Keio line, no trains stop at Daitabashi station.)

As long as Emi transfers to the Keio Inokashira Line there, she would be able to return to her living place in Japan.

“This ‘nomalacy’, I wonder how long it will last.”

From Emi’s tone, one couldn’t tell whether she felt it was good for bad for it to continue.

Most likely, even Emi herself did not know the answer to this.

Compared to the reports of recent events until now, the contents Emeralda delivered over the phone were more urgent.

But after the chain of events which happened in Choshi, for Emi, who was already mentally prepared for any sudden events, she did not feel especially shocked as a result.

When Emi’s past comrade, Emeralda, called yesterday, it was the night when Emi had returned from Choshi.

Because the renovation works of Villa Rosa were completed earlier than planned, Emi stood next to Suzuno, who lent a room from her and was packing her luggage, and started to talk to Emeralda over the phone via mental transmission.

“The humans of Ente Isla are currently starting a large scale war~~so Emilia~~please do not come back for now~~”

According to Emeralda, just as the frequent sightings of remnants of the Demon Army were reported on the Central Continent, the Afsahan Empire of the Eastern Continent decleared war on the Five Continent Knight Alliance as well as the nations they belonged to in order to snatch control over the Central Continent. The most shocking thing was that demons were included in the Afsahan army.  

This fact of demons mixing in with humans, caused Emi to remember the Demon World war advocate Barbariccia, who had been mentioned by the Demon Minister Kameo, and Olba, who had instigated them from the shadows.

For the Eastern Continent to suddenly declare war, perhaps Olba was involved in it, so Emi raised his possibility, as well as the fact that the demons of the Eastern Continent Army being the Malebranche to Emeralda.

When she heard Olba’s name, even Emeralda was too shocked to say anything for that instant, it looked like she had other objective information on the Malebranche, and this reaction confirmed that Emi’s guess was accurate.

“But, why can’t I go back? Amongst those Malebranche, it seems that there are demons who are on par with the Southern Continent Demon General Maracoda!”

Emeralda answered Emi’s question in a succinct manner.

“Isn’t it obvious~~because currently this is only a conflict between nations governed by humans~~”

There were definitely demons within the army of the Eastern Continent.

However, the one who declared war is still the Afsahan Empire controlling the Eastern Continent, and the name they used was of the ruler Unifying Azure Emperor.

“If it was made known publicly that the saviour who passed away has joined a certain force and is fighting~~even if the war is won~~the various nations, in order to guarantee their own safety~~will start a war to obtain Emilia~~”

“Am I a nuclear weapon?”

“Nuclear weapon?”

“……no, it’s nothing.”

“Even though the methods of the Unifying Azure Emperor are very sly~~even though the reason is unknown~~but other than the control over the Central Continent~~he also seems to want Emilia’s holy sword~~”

With regards to this, Emi had already expected it to a certain extent. Since this incident was related to Olba and Barbariccia, then it goes without saying that more than the Central Continent, their true goal is the holy sword.

“Commanding demons and coverting the holy sword huh~~do you know anything about their methods~~?”

Emeralda’s question caused Emi to go deep in thought.

Afsahan, ruled by the Unifying Azure Emperor, was a nation with frequent internal conflict, but even then, that person is still the ruler of the country.

During the journey to fight the Demon King, Emi had been to Afsahan before, even though that place had many poor and unstable regions, there are still many rich and prosperous cities, as well as citizens who are loyal to the Unifying Azure Emperor.

This meant that the leadership powress and influence of the Unifying Azure Emperor had spread throughout the broad and extensive continent. And for a person like the Unifying Azure Emperor to command demons and declare war on other nations, what did that mean.

“Even though I do not know who orchestrated this scheme, but despicable people are really despicable to the core.”

“You realised it~~?”

“It’s good if victory is achieved. But even if they lose, they can claim that these are not their actions, and push the responsibility to others right?”

“Correct~”

A wry smile could be sensed from Emeralda’s tone.

That was Afsahan’s method.

If they could smoothly grasp the control of the Central Continent and make the Knight Alliances of the North, West and South submit to them, then without question, it would be Afsahan’s victory.

On the other hand, even if an unknown factor like ‘Hero Emilia’ entered to mess things up and cause their defeat, as long as they give a reason like ‘we were tricked by demons, the whole nation was snatched by demons’, and in Ente Isla, who had yet to recover from the fear of the Demon Army, it would be difficult for the voices asking for compensation and investigation into the responsibility of the Unifying Azure Emperor to last.

Rather than that, it’s more like if one of the sides from the divided North, South and West fell to the East, and Emi rashly participated in the battle with the holy sword, she would be accused with ‘Hero Emilia has betrayed her fellow humans’, causing the justice held by the existence of the ‘Hero’ to waver.

“I know that. But, Em should be more careful too. Currently, whether it is Heaven, the Demon World, or Ente Isla, the relations are too complex, making it hard to tell who is enemy or friend.”

“Don’t worry~~because no matter what happens, Emilia and Alberto will always be my comrades~~”

This sentence from the comrade who did whatever she liked, caused Emi to be unable to hold it in, her eyes turning red.

“……Haha, that’s right, you’re right about that.”

“As the saying goes, when in a real pinch~~even the parents will be asked to help~~perhaps Emilia’s help will be needed in the future someday~~but for now please work hard as ‘Yusa Emi’~~”

“Yeah……thanks.”

“You’re welcome~~I should thank you for providing such useful information~~so~~help me say hi to everyone over there~~as well as your husband and cute daughter~~”

“……Em.”

“Ahaha~~that was intentional~~”

Even when faced with Emi’s tone which was cold enough to freeze magma, Emeralda still laughed indifferently and hung up the phone.

Emi told Suzuno the contents of the call without hiding anything.

Including the atrocities of the Afsahan Empire, the fact that this war might have something to do with Olba, and even the fact that they already had the information reported by Kameo, even if Suzuno could not hide the shock she felt, but she ended up reaching the same conclusion as Emeralda.

The Hero Emilia cannot return to Ente Isla now.

Suzuno stopped her packing and turned to Emi, she though that with the things as they are now, a danger which they had never predicted might appear.

“Emilia, perhaps……we would have to do something totally opposite from our original goal.”

Suzuno frowned and said this with regret.

We might just……have to protect the Demon King.”

“Eh? What does that mean?”

Emi’s eyes widened because of this sudden declaration, but Suzuno was serious about it.

“Think about this, during the Choshi incident, the Demon World already knows that the Demon King is still alive. As Olba-sama, who is suspected of pulling strings between the Demon World and Eastern Continent, also knows that the Demon King is in Japan, right?”

“That’s right.”

“If we’re not careful, perhaps the Demon King would be taken to Ente Isla.”

“Ah?”

“Pwah!”

Even though Alas=Ramus was fast asleep due to the exhaustion from the journey, she still reacted to Emi’s sudden shout, and after Emi frantically covered her mouth, the girl finally turned over slowly and produced stable breathing sounds.

“……taking the Demon King away, what does that mean?”

Emi asked Suzuno with a lowered voice.

“Think back to what Kameo said. Why would the forces of the Demon World split up after the collapse of the Demon Army? That is because Kameo, who believed that the Demon King is still alive, decided to preserve national power,but Barbariccia and Ciriatto chose to carry on the Demon King’s will and started planning to conqueur Ente Isla right? Now, what will happen if the Demon King goes back now?”

“What will happen……”

“Didn’t Kameo return to the Demon World after agreeing to the Demon King staying in Japan? So we don’t have to worry about that side. But it’s different with Barbariccia. If he knew that the Demon King was still alive, he would definitely ask him to make a comeback in order to revive the Demon Army. Because the war advocates of the Demon World only broke away from the original organisation after political conflict, they have not lost their loyalty to Demon King Satan.”

“Sigh, after summing up Kameo’s words, it’s true that the situation would be like that.”

Emi nodded.

“In addition, there are the atrocities committed by Afsahan. From the beginning, Afsahan is not good at diplomacy, and exerts pressure on the surrounding nations from above. Within the nation, internal conflicts happen continuously because of the iron fist ruling of the Unifying Azure Emperor, and he is seen to be an evil dictator. However, to be confused by this information is not a good thing. Even though it does sound like a sly excuse during defeat, but we cannot completely eliminate the possibility that the Unifying Azure Emperor has really submitted to Olba-sama and Barbariccia, and is being controlled by them.”

“That, that’s true……”

Even though Emi expressed her agreement, but she was already certain that the Unifying Azure Emperor planned to gain control of the Central Continent because of greed, so she had used an ambigious tone when she was replying.

This is the difference in thinking between Emi, a warrior on the frontlines, and Suzuno, a politician in the background.

“Without considering if his ways of ruling are correct, I still have a high opinion of the Unifying Azure Emperor as a politician. After all, he is ruling the huge Eastern Continent as one country. And I also heard that not only has he been in power for more than 20 years, he is also nurturing a successor.”

“……The external relations missionary department will also investigate such a thing?”

“Of course. Before spreading a religion in another country, there is a need to understand the religious views of the one in power. I can even say confidently that in the entire Ente Isla, there is no country which the Church does not have a clear picture of its political situation.

Suzuno said this nonchalantly.

“As for why I think the Unifying Azure Emperor might be manipulated, it is because of the years he has been on the throne.”

“Eh?”

“Think abou it, when the Demon Army was still around, who was the Demon General in charge of supressing the Eastern Continent?”

“Ah!”

At this point, even Emi realised it.

“Alsiel!”

“That’s right, even though he is like a nagging househusband right now in anyone’s eyes, but he is the only Demon General who has not been fought by Hero Emilia. And even before the Demon Army forces started to appear, much much earlier than that, Alsiel had already supressed the Eastern Continent. If the fear felt at the time still remains in the memories of the Unifying Azure Emperor, it is possible that he might submit to the demons once again to preserve his country and his own life. Not only that, if Barbariccia brought not just the Demon King, but also Alsiel who possesses theknowledge on how to rule the whole of the Eastern Continent, then these demons might build a bridge to conquer Ente Isla from the Eastern Continent.”

“……”

The more Emi heard, the more she thought that situation was serious.

“However……even though it’s not my intention to flatter the Demon King…..but for Barbariccia to do such a thing……wouldn’t the Demon King get angry?”

“Yeah, he’ll probably be angry.”

Suzuno acknowledged this without hestitation.

“The reason why we are able to establish a surface collaborative relationship with the Demon King in Japan is honestly because he has a generous personality. Even though I do not iwish to admit it, but it is something which needs to be acknowledged.”

“……That’s true.”

Emi certainly did not want to acknowledge this point, but the events which happened in the past few months betrayed her feelings.

“If Barbariccia used any forceful methods, the Demon King would probably get angry and punish him. But however, that guy is still a ‘king’. During that incident in Choshi, I am very clear about this fact.”

“King?”

“What I mean is once faced with a decision, he probably would not abandon the citizens and subjects who rely on him. Then he……will never return to Japan.”

“Ugh……”

Emi sucked in a breath.

It was possible for Suzuno’s predictions to come true.

Even if he normally looks like he is just sitting around at doing nothing, but when Maou needed to think, he would do so properly, and already, he had announced in front of Emi quite a few times that he will definitely return to Ente Isla.

In addition, the Demon King would probably not give up on the demons of the Demon World, who look up to him as king.

The fact that he forgave Ciriatto, who broke away from Kameo and left the Demon World, and allowed him to return, was proof of this.

Then----

“……Eh?”

Emi moaned softly.

Maou returning to the Demon World as the Demon King.

Emi was shocked because the first thing she considered when she thought about this was actually ‘Alas=Ramus will be sad’.

“Eh? Eh? Wrong, it’s not like that……”

Chiho will definitely be sad as well.

“N, no, it’s not like that too, ugh, even though it’s not completely wrong……”

Even though he still owed her so many favours, he still wanted to escape just like that?

“It’s not like that!”

“Hm……fwa……whine.”

Alas=Ramus shuddered once and was shocked into wakefulness because of Emi’s subconscious shout, this type of awakening seemed to make her unhappy, and it can be seen that her expression became more and more distorted.

“Ah, ah, s, sorry, Alas=Ramus, suddenly shouting like that.”

“Uwah, wahhhhhh!”

In the end, Alas=Ramus cried.

Emi picked up Alas=Ramus, trying her best to comfort her, and with that, many thoughts started to run through her mind, and she was unable to concentrate and think.

And strangely, Emi’s mental state was also transferred to Alas=Ramus, causing the girl to cry non-stop.

In the end, Emi could only continue to placate Alas=Ramus until she fell asleep again because she was exhausted from the crying.

Only after using wet tissues to wipe Alas=Ramus’s face, which was covered in tears and snot, did Emi put the girl on the bed.

“……Sigh……”

Because she was really too tired, so just like that, Emi plopped her head next to Alas=Ramus.

At this time, she finally remembered.

“I will definitely not allow him to reform the Demon Army. That guy……besides being Father’s sworn enemy, he is an enemy of the humans……”

“Your tone is really stiff, huh.”

It felt as if Suzuno was smiling wryly.

“Noisy……I feel very shocked myself, don’t rebuke other people.”

I am the Hero, that guy is the leader of the Demons. It not as if I have not considered the safety of the humans and the peace of the world, more importantly, I am unable to forgive the Demon Army who destroyed my father’s simple, happy life.

Even though they could not be forgiven.
 However----

it had become something which took her a long time to remember.

Perhaps she had already sorted out her feelings?

How could that be.

“It can’t be…….like that……”

Emi mumbled weakly.

Even though it wasn’t a conscious action, but after Alas=Ramus flipped over, she warmly placed her hand in Emi’s head.

As if she was comforting Emi.

“…….uuuuuu!”

Emi, overcome by sadness, bit her lip and plopped down again.

“If she cannot see the Demon King, Alas=Ramus will be sad.”

Suzuno mumbled softly.

“Chiho-dono will be sad too. Then we will be unable to maintain the same relationship with Chiho-dono in the future.”

“……”

“Moreover, the guys from the Demon Fortress owe us a lot, if they run to other places before paying back, it doesn’t feel good at all.”

“You even read my mind. Such a bad hobby.”

Emi said softly in a tone close to throwing a temper.

“It’s nothing like that, it’s just that the things I’m thinking about is about the same as yours. But in the parts after that, it would definitely be different from Emilia, as an inquisitor, no matter what the reason, I will not allow adults make child conduct patricide for their own convenience, it’s the same even if the target is the Demon King. So----”

From the sound of the clothes rubbing against each other, Suzuno should have stood up.

“Currently, just to be safe, we can only protect the Demon King, and prevent them from falling into the hands of the demons of the Demon World.”

“Seriously……I don’t want to, it feels troublesome……”

“I will not ask you to protect them. I live next to them anyway, and the one who wants arrange it such that the Hero defeats the Demon King the most, is no one else but me. At least let me carry out this responsibility. As long as enemies like archangels or the leader of the Malebranches do not appear, even by myself, I would be able to barely handle it.”

“……Let me say this first, there is nothing more boring than watching us.”

Without lifting her head, Emi said these un-Hero like, unmotivated words.

“Alsiel always lives a stiff fixed life to save on the household expenses, as for Lucifer, he is always glued to the computer. As for the Demon King, he only works continuously, and serves the customers with a full service spirit with a smile on his face. Sometimes, it makes me wonder if I, watching them, am a stalker.”

“However, MgRonalds is still closed right now. At the very least, they need to be protected properly during this time. When the shop reopens, Sariel-sama will start to exert his influence, those demons should be unable to act rashly.”

Opposite the MgRonalds in front of Hatagaya station which Maou works at, is a Sentucky where archangel Sariel is acting as shop manager.

Sariel, who had a deep crush on MgRonalds shop manager Kisaki Mayumi, was so cordial to Maou in the past few weeks to the point of disgusting.

Even though it did not mean that Maou and Sariel have reached a compromise, but Barbariccia should not be so dumb to kidnap the Demon King within an archangel’s zone of influence.

“……I see.”

Emi mumbled uncaringly, and continued to speak,

“Ne, Bell. Do you know why I like period dramas? And I’m not referring to those swordsmen or warrior stories, but dramas like ‘Mito no Fukushogun’ or ‘Abarenbo Shogun’……even though I started to like ‘Onihei Hankacho’ recently, that is.”

(T/N: These are actual dramas in Japan. Mito no Fukushogun is probably a shortened version of Mito man’yuki : tenka no fukushogun.)
“Hm? That……”

Suzuno blinked her eyes continuously because she did not know what Emi wanted to express.

And after that, Emi finally lifted her head and said,

“Because those stories will have righteous people with hearts of justice teaching a lesson to those bad people who do not listen in a satisfying manner to right those wrongs to welcome a clean straightforward happy ending. At least in stories, it’s good to be able to carry out justice in such an innocent manner.”

“I see, in short the affairs of the world do not go the way one wishes, isn’t that so.”

“What is that about.”

“It’s something mentioned in a book I read recently.”

“Is that so.”

Emi groaned while standing up, and Suzuno pretended that she didn’t notice that the corners of her eyes were red.

After sniffing once, Emi shook her head weakly.

“……At least……”

“Hm?”

“If only that apartment has air conditioning……”

“The Hero who saved the world really became soft.”

Suzuno stroked Alas=Ramus’s hair, and said this in a rare teasing manner.

Emi stared at Suzuno with a stony face.

“What is the rent of the apartment over there.”

“45,000 yen.”

“For this room, because of various reasons, it’s only 50,000 yen per month.”

Once she heard this price, Suzuno couldn’t help but look around the room.

“Oh, t, then, hm……perhaps it still can’t be helped.”

This is a two room, four tsubo (T/N: around 8 tatami mats) apartment with a large attached kitchen. Besides having air conditioning and a washroom, even the kitchen appliance is an electric stove, as for the hall at the front porch of the apartment, it uses an automatic lock.

“That’s not right, for the rental here to only be 50,000 yen, it’s strange no matter how you think about it right?”

“There really are a lot of reasons. Sigh……there still seems to be a lot of empty rooms opposite, it looks I have to make up my mind one day.”

Suzuno intentionally did not ask where opposite referred to, and also did not ask when one day referred to.

“Whine……mama……”

Alas=Ramus spoke in her sleep and at the same time, her soft delicate hands stacked on top of Suzuno’s palm.

Suzuno stroked the girl’s soft and cute skin, and subconsciously showed a smile.

“I……do not dislike this kind of peaceful life.”

“Eh?”

“Don’t you feel that the situation now is very stable? Even though we experienced a lot of things, but as long as the Demon King stays in Japan, he is only a diligent and safe person. And in this unbelieveably abundant civilisation, we can also leisurely spend everyday with friends and unstanding people. I wonder……”

Suzuno tenderly grasped Alas=Ramus’s hand, and helped her pull the towel to her shoulders.

“how long can this life of ours last.”

Whether it was Suzuno or Emi, or even the Demon King, there was no way they would know the answer to this question.

“Mama, when can we go play in the water next time!”

After returning to Emi’s apartment in Eifuku town, Alas=Ramus, who almost woke up completely on the way back, asked Emi this.

“About that, when would be good.”

Emi replied in an ambiguous manner.

“If Alas=Ramus can be a good child……no, if everything remains as it is, we might be able to go very soon.”

“I want to go! Let’s go play in the water and splash splash!”

It wasn’t clear if Alas=Ramus sensed Emi’s inner feelings, the young girl’s eyes sparkled only because of ‘able to go very soon’.

While thinking about what Suzuno said yesterday night and seeing this behaviour of Alas=Ramus, for that moment, Emi quite some sadness.

“……Alright, Alas=Ramus, you sweated a lot right. Come take a bath with Mama.”

“Bath! Play water!”

Alas=Ramus likes baths a lot.

It seems that she had good memories of going to the bath house with Maou and the rest while she was at the Demon Fortress, so once she entered the bathroom, Alas=Ramus will become very lively.

It was only recently did Emi realise that did had nothing to do with Alas=Ramus’s birth from the Tree of Life and that she simply liked to play with water.

As it was the hot summer now, and considering that the other party is a child, so as long as the bathtub was filled with warm water, even Emi would be able to enter the bath comfortably.

“Then, I’ll go make some preparations, be obedient okay?”

“Yeah!”

Alas=Ramus raised her hands enegetically and walked towards the living room, placed the hat on her head on the table and sat lightly on the sofa. She picked up the paper birdcage on the table and turned around to glance secretly at Emi.

This is a sign that she was being obedient.

Emi, smiling and giving a nod to the young girl, after putting the shoulder bag in the corner of the kitchen, she walked towards the bathroom directly, and just as she drained the water left in the tub from the washing of the clothes in the morning and was planning to take the sponge to scrub the tub and turn on the shower head----

“Mama! It’s wrrr wrrring!”

Alas=Ramus, who had been settled down just a few seconds ago, actually took the smartphone which Emi put inside the shoulder bag and stood in front of the bathroom.

And when she looked at the screen carefully, she realised that she had already picked up the call.

When she took the phone out of the bag, perhaps she had touched something accidentally.

Once she thought that the other party might have heard Alas=Ramus’s shout, Emi’s face turned pale.

“He……hello? Emi?”

After confirming the voice from the speaker and the name on the screen, Emi finally breathed a sigh of relief.

“Thank you, Alas=Ramus, but next time, don’t touch Mama’s phone on your own, alright?”

“Cannot?”

“Emi? Hello----?”

“Yeah, but thank you for helping me bring it over.”

“Hee hee, un!”

After being stroked on the hand, Alas=Ramus seemed to laugh from the ticklish feeling and returned to the living room.

“Emi, is Emi there?”

“Hello, sorry, Rika, Alas=Ramus touched my phone on her own……”

This call came from Emi’s colleague and friend, Suzuki Riko.

Even though she did not know about the events of the foreign world Ente Isla, but she knew Maou, Chiho, Suzuno and the others, and also knew that Emi was asked to take care of a young girl called Alas=Ramus.

“How dangerous. Better not find out that she made an international call later, and that you have to pay a few ten thousands of phone bills.”

“Sorry sorry, I will pay more attention later. So, what do you want to talk to me about?”

“Uh~that……”

Emi had just finished her question and Rika immediately started to stammer.

“?”

“Ne, Emi, there seems to be some sounds on your end? Where are you?”

“Eh? I’m in the bathroom, planning to take a bath.”

“Is that so, hm, then it’s fine if we talk about it later, sorry for disturbing you……”

“What is it, what happened? This doesn’t suit your style, will it take very long?”

Rika’s tone was very hesitant. From her usual lively and magnanimous personality, it was difficult to imagine she would give such a jittery call.

“No, it won’t take that long, erhm, how should I say this……perhaps, it might take some time……”

“Rika……? What’s wrong? Did something happen?”

Emi asked in a rather strict tone. Perhaps Rika has some troubles.

From the fact that Rika became downcast when asked about what happened, it didn’t seem like a small matter.

Emi sat on the edge of the bathtub, adjusting her posture so she can listen to the other party’s words more carefully.

“If you have any troubles, just tell me about it? You called me because you wanted to day something to me right?”

“……………Don’t laugh alright?”

After mulling over it for a while, Rika asked this.

After hearing this, Emi became a little relieved. Since it was something she was worried that others would laugh about, it should not be an extremely negative worry.

“I won’t laugh. What is it?”

“E, erhm……I also feel that asking other people about it is strange.”

“Hm.”

“But other than Emi, I don’t have anyone else to discuss it with……can you discuss it with me for a while?”

“Alright, what is it?”

Emi prompted Rika to speak. Since it was a worry from an important friend, Emi would definitely help her reconcile and try her best to help her solve it. Until now, Emi had already discussed many things with Rika, and Rika also helped Emi a lot.

Since it made Rika feel troubled to this extent, it was certain that this worry wasn’t a simple one.

“That is……”

Rika seemed to take a deep beath in order to make up her mind.

“What kind of clothes do you think Ashiya-san would like?”

“……………………………………………………………………………………………….”

Sitting on the edge of the bathtub, with the phone against her ear, Emi froze like this with a smile on her face.

“…Emi?”

Because Emi did not reply immediately, Rika called out to her in surprise.

Even so, Emi did not snap out of her frozen state.

Even people meet with unexpected situations, they would always consult their previous experiences and try to observe the situation with what matches their own expectations.

The Emi right now is in this state.

“Probably……cheap clothes I guess.”

Therefore she squeezed out this answer with much difficulty.

“Cheap clothes? Are you referring to clothes which aren’t branded?”

“That’s right.”

Emi still remained frozen, and her tone seemed to become rather stiff.

“I have never seen him wear anything other than UNIxLO. Even for shoes, perhaps it’s because he likes it, so he would also wear cheap goods……”

“Eh? Hey, Emi, wrong, that’s wrong, that’s not what I meant. I’m not asking what Ashiya-san normally likes to wear or what clothes he buys.”

“……Then, your meaning is?”

For the first time, Emi’s expression changed.

A bad feeling flashed through her brain, and the fact that her heart and stomach felt heavy wasn’t an illusion.

“So, so, seriously, you should know right! I’m asking about what kind of clothes girls wear which Ashiya-san will find cute!”

Rika must have summoned up a significant amount of courage to ask this question.

This wasn’t something which can be discussed with anyone.

Amongst the people around Rika, the females which knew Ashiya earlier than Rika were only Emi, Chiho and Suzuno. And from Emi’s point of view, Rika was not so close to Chiho and Suzuno to be able to ask that kind of question.

Even though Rika already became very close to Chiho because of an incident related to Alas=Ramus, but in conclusion, by asking what to wear for a certain guy to think it’s nice, it is 99% equivalent to admitting that she liked that guy.

“Be, before answering, Rika, can I ask a question?”

“W, what is it?”

To Emi, even though she was so shocked that her heart was going to stop and she was going to become a statue, but the other party had also lost control from the heat of confession and was very agitated.

“Did something happened between you and Al……Ashiya?”

If nothing happened at all, then it wouldn’t be possible for Rika to say such a thing.

When Rika and Suzuno met Ashiya by coincidence at the Sentucky at Hatagaya, Emi did feel that Rika’s attitude towards Ashiya was different from normal, but after that, did Rika and Ashiya have a chance to interact with each other?

“No, nothing at all! Nothing at all! B, but, but……”

Rika denied it in a panicked manner.

However, her voice became smaller and smaller after that, and in the end, in a voice close to a mosquitoes whine, she said a sentence which caused Emi to freeze completely.

“Ashiya-san……asked me to……buy things with him……”

Emi felt the scenery in front of her become dark.