“If something went wrong at work, Maou-san and the others may end up going to someplace far away…… Yusa-san,
and Suzuno-san at well……”
Even though she cannot fight like Emi, Suzuno or Alas=Ramus, but she could at least help Maou when it comes to
work. However, the pre-requisite would have to be that their workplace needs to be near to Sasazuka.
Right now, she is still a normal high school girl being protected by her parents and cannot imagine how she could be
like them, surviving on their own.
Chiho lowered her head with a darkened expression.
Currently, only the sounds of Riho washing the cutlery could be heard.
“Let me say this first, even if you want to go together with Maou-san and the others, I won’t agree to it.
“……Yeah, I know.”
It was expected for her mother to say that. No matter how much they trusted the other party, there wouldn’t be any
parents who would allow a high school girl to work in a place where she had to live with other guys.
She couldn’t lend Maou-san her power.
Just as Chiho, feeling dejected, decided to raise her head.
“Then again……”
“Eh?”
“Not just Maou-san, Yusa-san seems like a dependable person. She may be young, she responds to others in such an
awe-aspiring manner. I feel that the aura she gives off is rather different from the young people today.”
Her mother suddenly started talking about Emi.
Even Chiho, who was not a native of Ente Isla, can also guess that Emi must have experienced a cruel past for her to
become the person she is now.
But Chiho did not feel that her mother and Emi spoke that much during the period of time when Maou fainted. Or
did they talk about some deep topics when Emi was about to leave?
Chiho paused in shock because she could not guess her mother’s intentions.
“Since you are earning your own money, as long as your reason is sensible and logical, I won’t say too much about it.”
“Mum……?”
After washing the cutlery and wiping her hands, Riho mischievously winked and patted her daughter’s head.
?
“Hey! What happened? Why does his complexion look worse compared to when he first left the house?”
“Papa, what’s wrong?”
“You’re back. But what exactly must happen for something like fainting in Chiho-dono’s house to occur?”
Urushihara, Alas=Ramus and Suzuno welcome Emi, Ashiya and Maou with different questions of their own.
When Emi saw that Urushihara is placating Alas=Ramus, who was on his back, and that Alas=Ramus looked like she
was enjoying herself, she got a huge shock.
Could it be that Alas=Ramus had sensed some kind of resonance from Urushihara?
“…… I’m not too sure, it could be that too many things were too much of a shock for the Demon King.”
“So it was a cursed tape after all?”
Compared to the pale looking Maou, Emi replied, as cool as a cucumber, however Urushihara’s face immediately
became a shade of pale which did not lose to Maou.
As Emi did not want to bring Maou, who had collapsed at the Sasaki home, back by herself, she called Suzuno, and
asked her to get Ashiya to come over to fetch him instead.
After Maou, who was holding on to Ashiya’s shoulders, paid his respects, he left the Sasaki home and returned to the
Demon Fortress.
Maou walked shakily into the porch and was immersed in the darkness of the Demon Fortress.
“What cursed tape. It’s wasn’t anything much at all.”
Emi nonchalantly looked at the pale faced Maou.
“Actually fainting after seeing a female dance, how rude.”
“Dance……”
Urushihara seemed to remember something because of this sentence and his face started to stiffen up.
“Seriously, you guys are too exaggerrating too much. Chiho and Chiho’s mum finished watching it normally.”
“Ehhh? You’re lying?”
“Lucifer, Mama won’t lie!”
As Urushihara did not believe Emi’s words, Alas=Ramus, who was on his back kept hitting the back of Urushihara’s
head with a “Papapa” in protest.
But Emi’s testimonial is the truth.
Riho honestly praised the landlady’s clothes, and apart from being surprised that the landlady is a large sized woman,
Chiho did not have any other special reactions.
“Anyway, from the day after tomorrow, you will be going to Chiba with the Demon King. You will stay at a beach
house run by the landlady’s relative until the end of the Obon festival in August.”
“Oh? In other words, it’s a job which provides accommodation. Doesn’t that fit your wishes nicely?”
Suzuno clapped in admiration.
“Is Mama going to Chiba too?”
Alas=Ramus asked as she poked her head out from her perch on Urushihara’s back, Emi smiled wryly and lifted
Alas=Ramus from Urushihara’s back.
“Mama will be together with Alas=Ramus, okay?”
“Yeah!”
In order to avoid the situation in which Alas=Ramus will keep asking to go to Chiba together with “Papa”, Emi carried
the young girl and changed the topic with an adult’s slyness while looking towards Urushihara.
“She’s not that light now. Ah~ how heavy. So, Chiba? Hm, it doesn’t sound so bad.”
Emi did not miss what Urushihara said to himself as he shook the arm which supported Alas=Ramus.
This fallen angel did not include himself as part of the working staff at all.
“Even though I’m thankful that you helped to take care of Alas=Ramus, you shouldn’t start complaining because of
such a small thing. Work at a beach house sounds difficult, you know? I think this is a good chance for you to change
those Neet habits of yours.”
“Eh, what, I have to work too?”
Emi thanking him and the content that followed caused Urushihara to be surprised twice in different ways.
“At least that’s how those guys planned it. Then again, accommodation is already provided, do you still think you’re
the only one who doesn’t have to work?”
“Uh, that, because, eh?”
Urushihara fiddled with his bangs and stuttered when he answered.
“What is this, isn’t a beach house too much. It’s so hot already, why do we have to specially go to a place with such a
high temperature…… then again, why didn’t anyone discuss this with me first……”
“You are really clueless about your own standing.”
Suzuno, who stood at the side, lectured Urushihara sternly as he talked to himself.
“Even if it was discussed with you, there won’t be any constructive opinion. Emilia is right, this is a good chance. Just
treat it as going to a counselling centre!”
“I don’t want to! What kind of analogy is that! A, and, I never worked before, and I might cause trouble to others
instead, in addition, even if Olba is in detention, it wouldn’t be good if I appeared in front of other people now, isn’t
that right?”
Towards Urushihara, who shamelessly kept making excuses, both females looked at him coldly.
“Since you’re making so many excuses, how long do you plan on not working?”
“You say that it’s inconvenient for you to appear in front of other people, then why do you always meet with the
driver from Amazon’s Sasuke Delivery Company so nonchalantly? Hm?”
“It’s been almost three months after the incident with Olba, has anything happened? Don’t you go to the bath house
as well? Or has the police looked for you before and put you in some dangerous situation?”
“Bu, but, it’s easy to get careless when the sense of danger is lacking! Even if nothing happened today, it doesn’t
mean nothing will happen tomorrow, if anything, it’s because I admit that I have committed a crime, so I’m staying
at home to reflect……”
“If you are really staying at home to repent and reflect, then I have nothing to say, but you, who is idly wasting time
and leeching on your superior and colleague, you have no right to say such nonsense. Rather than that, you would
be a little cuter if you had helped the Demon King make plans to conquer the world instead.”
“Uh…ughh!”
Having the two females lecture him in such an organized and logical manner, tears started to appear in the corner of
Urushihara’s eyes.
“If you don’t work, then what do you plan to do? You don’t have a place to live, so how are you going to shut
yourself at home? If you plan to do evil things like when you teamed up with Olba, I won’t let you off this time.”
“Even though it is still possible for you to be the only one who doesn’t work and impose on the other party, but it
should be rather embarrassing. However, if you have the courage to ask a stranger for food even through you don’t
work, that would be another matter.”
“Mama, Suzu-nee chan, don’t bully Lucifer, okay?”
Even though Alas=Ramus only knew the two people were lecturing Urushihara, she still protected Urushihara with a
troubled look on her face. However, this only hurt Urushihara’s pride even further.
“Sigh, this is a matter of the Demon Fortress anyway, I have no reason to be worried about all of you.”
“True. He’s just a low grade demon who fell from the sky. His sense of shame and hardworking attitude must be
fallen with his status as an angel.”
“Y, you people! I’m going to cry! If you continue, I’m really going to cry! Basically, isn’t Bell not working as well?
Don’t act so high and mighty!”
Urushihara shouted loudly with a voice which sounded like he is already crying.
“Even though Bell isn’t working in Japan now, but she is a proper inquisitor in Ente Isla, and is taking action with a
clear goal in mind. In addition, whether it’s cleaning, laundry or cooking, she does it all herself. Even though she
doesn’t have a job like you, the disparity between you and Bell is like the sky and the earth.”
“Damn……! Damn! Actually looking down on me!”
“Lucifer, boys can’t cry, okay. Pain pain go away, Away!”
“I’m happy, yet not happy at all!”
Even though it seems like only Alas=Ramus is on Lucifer’s side, Urushihara still rejected the frantically outstretched
hand with teary eyes, causing Emi and Suzuno to roll their eyes.
“Forget it, I understand! As long as I get serious, Maou won’t be able to match me when it comes to work! I will
definitely make you take back your words!”
Urushihara shouted agitatedly and closed the main door to room 201 without waiting for their reply. Emi and
Suzuno saw this and looked at each other, relieved.
“Looks like it went well?”
“It should be alright… mostly.”
“Mama, Suzu-nee chan, don’t keep scolding Lucifer, okay?”
With a tried look on her face, Emi pacified the protesting Alas=Ramus while looking at the tightly closed door of the
Demon Fortress.
“If they became homeless because they are unemployed and gave up entirely, it would be troublesome. Let’s not
discuss about the Demon King and Alsiel. As Lucifer might really harm the Japanese, it’s especially worrying.”
The reason for Emi’s strange behaviour in helping Maou solve his unemployment problem was because of this.
Emi was worried if Urushihara, who lacked self-control, lost the current stability in his life, there was no telling what
he might do. Now that the three demons finally found a stable job and a place to stay, she could finally relax.
“However, that city called Choshi should be really far away from Sasazuka.”
Simply put, it is in Chiba, but this range is still very large, and Emi wasn’t sure where exactly is Kimigahama situated.
However, just this time, Emi wasn’t that worried about the movements of Maou and the rest.
“Bell, have you met with the landlady before?”
“Hm, we have only communicated via letters……”
Emi remembered the first time she met the landlady---Shiba Miki of Sasazuka Villa Rosa.
“I can’t really express this well…… but as long as it is related to that landlady, I think that even if those guys want to
do bad things, they won’t be able to achieve their goal. Of course, I don’t plan to just watch from the side, but even
if I don’t follow them closely, there shouldn’t be any problem.”
“What does that mean?”
That day when Urushihara and Olba took Chiho as a hostage and challenged them.
Even though only a few months passed since then, it felt like something which happened a long time ago.
“As a human from Ente Isla, we own a lot of this world, or we have a power and unexplainable things that the people
of Earth do not. However……”
----Shouldn’t you be the most knowledgeable about how powerful belief and faith can be?
“The Earth must have a lot of power which we do not know about and unexplainable things.”
Suzuno, who did not understand what was said, tilted her head.
“In addition, there is still the matter of Chiho.”
“Chiho-dono?”
“Whether that child is willing or not, but she is already too deeply involved with us. Even if we want to go after the
Demon King and the rest, we need to ensure her safety before leaving Sasazuka.”
The inhabitants of Ente Isla and Heaven have already decided that Chiho is one of the people involved in the battle
between the Hero and the Demon King. Currently, even if they manipulate Chiho’s memory, it will not change the
fact that she is important to Emi and Maou.
If Chiho was captured by Sariel or Gabriel as a hostage, it would be too late.
Emi crossed her arms in front of her chest, deep in thought.
“The best way would be to obtain consent from Chiho’s mother, and bring her along……but it should be difficult to
do that……it would be a lot easier if her parents happened to go overseas.”
“You should face reality.”
A high school girl would still have to act according to the situation of the adults, this is the troubling thing.
?
The day after Maou agreed to accept the accommodation and work for Landlady Miki’s niece, Ooguro Amane.
Maou and the others are busy preparing for the next two weeks.
After the Demon King and Demon General begged the inquisitor next door with all their might, the other party finally
agreed to let them store their fridge, washing machine and other appliances in the same storage unit.
“I really want to take a photo for this and treat it as the Church has beaten the Demon King.”
The way the both of them knelt down was so perfect that Suzuno said this in surprise.
After ensuring the furniture and the electrical appliances have been taken care of, the next thing would be to
prepare for the lodging which starts from tomorrow.
“No matter how much luck has worked well for us so far, if we neglect our preparations, we might miss out on the
luck.”
The one who took this seriously would of course be the Demon Fortress’ house-husband Ashiya.
Even though the other party said that the only necessity is beach sandals, but in reality, it is not possible to go there
with just a pair of beach sandals. Since they have to stay there for two weeks, then they would naturally have to
prepare enough change of clothes.
“Shirts, underwear and socks, it should be enough to bring four days worth. If we adjust the frequency of the laundry,
we should be able to get by.”
“The shop doesn’t seem to have a uniform, so we have consider wearing T-shirts during work?”
“If so, do we have to bring T-shirts specially for work......as for pants, it should be better to bring short pants.”
“Sigh, even though I think wearing jeans and folding them up is fine as well……but how should I say this, normally I
am wearing the same uniform as the rest while working, so I have no idea how it feels like to work with this kind of
relaxed work attire.”
“You’re right. Even the east, west, south and north troops of the Demon Army wear the same badge.”
“How about this, why don’t we go to UNIxLO and buy a few of the same T-shirt?”
“Buy the uniform with our own money? This reminds me of the short time contract work which we did when we first
arrived in Japan.”
“Ah, you’re talking about those shirts where we had to buy with our own money which had the company logo
printed on it. But weren’t those long sleeved?”
“The weather is so hot, I really don’t want to have others wear those kind of clothes.”
Maou and Ashiya flipped the clothes they prepared over as they discussed about their luggage while Urushihara
watched this scene, unable to butt in at all.
As if some strange wind had blown, Urushihara seemed suddenly motivated and decided to help Maou and Ashiya
out.
However, when washing the dishes, there would still be some oil stains remaining; when folding clothes, they will be
shaped like a parallelogram; when hanging the towels, they will accidentally be dropped into the backyard; not only
is Urushihara not of any use, he ended up causing more trouble, so he was banished to the corner of the room to
reflect as punishment.
“What, isn’t everyone like this at the beginning?”
Urushihara, who rarely got motivated, complained immediately.
Maou and Ashiya are the leaders in the army, which also meant that they are in the position to command others.
Even though in their hearts, they always have the spirit of “If I don’t show others, tell others, and let others try and
praise others, then I won’t be able to have others act”, this time, not only is the other party a fallen angel, but also
the commander for the invasion into the Western Continent, Demon General Lucifer.
The two of them are even beginning to suspect that because Urushihara did not do a good job command the
western invasion army, which allowed Hero Emilia to rise in the Western Continent.
Whether there is any relation between unable to wash to dishes clean and stopping the Hero’s advancement, when
Maou imagines the case in which he had flown to Japan with Lucifer, who is good at nothing except for watching the
house, instead of Ashiya, who is good at all the housework, he would feel a chill go down his spine.
“……Ashiya……I’m really lucky to have a follower like you.”
Maou said with feeling, putting his hand on Ashiya’s shoulder.
Even though Ashiya stared blankly at the hand on him because of this sentence, after his brain processed the
meaning, he suddenly wavered and kneeled in front of Maou.
“That, that is, thank you for your praise, but why did you suddenly say this? Uh, that, it’s definitely not because I
don’t like to be praised……”
In order to hide his embarrassment, Ashiya looked around the room and finally focused on one spot.
“Urushi, Urushihara, use that stack of magazines over there to wrap the dishes and put them in the box. You should
be able to do something this simple, right.”
“Don’t look down on me!”
Ashiya lectured Urushihara loudly to hide his embarrassment, and Urushihara, who was dragged into this, got angry,
but was unable to rebut him further. With a displeased look on his face, Urushihara approached the magazine paper
and cardboard boxes, using the old flyers and newspapers to wrap the fragile dinnerware.
“Uh, that, I don’t want to pamper Urushihara, but is it really alright?”
“Are you talking about the fact that I may have a warrant on me? Hm……at that time, I didn’t really pay attention to
the surveillance camera.”
For Urushihara to say that he had been a robber in Japan without an ounce of regret, he is definitely a demon.
“Your demon form and appearance isn’t that different. You should think before you act.”
“That’s because I never thought that things will turn out like this.”
Just as Urushihara turned away unhappily and Maou, in charge of folding the clothes, was battling with the
extravagant decorations on the mantle which he ware when he was the Demon King----
“Ah, Demon King-sama. Because Demon King-sama’s mantle is thick and absorbs moisture easily, it can be eaten by
bugs, please remember to put some insect repellant inside.”
Ashiya sudden added a perplexing sentence.
“……Two years ago, I never expected that I would be putting insect repellent in my own mantle.”
Maou gave a displeased look to Urushihara, who was laughing to himself, and following Ashiya’s instructions, he
placed insect repellant into the gaps of the cardboard box.”
“Then again, did that guy Olba really get arrested by the police?”
From what Maou and the others knew, when Maou solved the commotion caused by Olba and Urushihara’s
schemes after recovering this magic, Olba was taken away by the police.
“He did break the Law Controlling the Possession of Firearms and Swords, so it seems like he was arrested later.”
“Is that so?”
“Yeah. Even though some time has passed, but it was reported on the online news before. It looks like it wasn’t
serious enough to make it to television or newspapers.”
“Hey hey hey, isn’t that bad?”
“No, I think there wouldn’t be much problem.”
Ashiya interrupted.
“I’ve seen that piece of news before as well. It seems like he was seen as a foreigner who entered illegally and used
the gun he had to destroy property. Because of that, he is being suspected of being supported by an underground
immigration special service or a violent organization. Of course, he was also suspected of being related to the
robbery incidents which happened earlier……”
“However, the damages weren’t large, and no one died, so there’s no news value.”
“As the initiator, you shouldn’t be the one to say this. Then again, Ashiya, where did you see that piece of news?”
“The computer at home. Even though it’s counted as Urushihara’s now.”
Ashiya glanced at the laptop computer which had completely became Urushihara’s internet surfing tool.
By the way, as Urushihara insisted on bringing the laptop, everything, including the wireless equipment, would be
brought to Chiba.
“Even though he’s just a good-for-nothing now, he is still a criminal before. So I was thinking that if anything
happened, I’m going to hand him over to the police.”
“Wah, you don’t trust me that much? Aren’t you being too much saying that?”
“From that day till now, which part about you is worth trusting?”
In response to the cold words from Ashiya, Urushihara had nothing to say.
“Anyway, there were no reports related to the incidents Olba caused after that.”
“Totally no reports?”
Maou suddenly paused in his movements, deep in thought.
“Hey, Urushihara, Olba shouldn’t have used up his holy power, right?”
“I think so. But during the battle with you and Emilia, he did use his full power, so I’m not sure if he still has the
means to open the “gate”. Why? You’re worried that he would cause trouble in Japan with the holy power he has
left?”
“Sigh, that’s right.”
“Hmm……I don’t think so.”
Urushihara shrugged, and continued,
“After all, Olba doesn’t know my current situation, and basically Emilia is his enemy now, right? Wanting to break
out of jail and take revenge without recovering his holy powers first is impossible in terms of battle strength. The
most he can do is report me, or use spells to run off. Isn’t Bell revealing the unjust acts of the Church right now? In
this way, even if he returns to Ente Isla, he shouldn’t be able to wield the Church’s power as he pleases.”
“Honestly, the most troublesome thing he can do is report you. If a member of my household is a criminal, I might
really be fired.”
“Urushihara, if the Demon Fortress really gets investigated, in order to protect Demon King-sama’s job, we will act
like we don’t know you and hand you over to the police.”
“As you wish! Didn’t the police come over before? Nothing much happened that time.”
“Ah……the time when Suzuno broke the bicycle.”
Even though Maou was severely scolded by the police for leaving the remains of Dullahan in front of Tochomae
station, at the beginning he had thought that they had come because of Urushihara.
“Relax, we’re only going to Chiba during the summer. I’m not even publicly wanted, aren’t you thinking too much
about it?”
“Aren’t you caring too little about this…… however, it’s better to investigate a little about this when we have the
time.”
To the inhabitants of the Demon Fortress who want to live a peaceful life in Japan, Olba Meyers’ existence is like a
fish bone stuck in one’s throat, a leek stuck on the molars, or black sesame stuck between the front teeth, a factor
which occasionally makes one feel uncomfortable.
“Then again, Urushihara, have you wrapped the dinnerware?”
“I’m done. Basically all these are plastic. Even if I don’t specially do it, they won’t break right?”
Even if he shows the willingness to help others, Urushihara would still say some unnecessary things, so Ashiya
lectured him, saying,
“Even if they are plastic dinnerware, if the surface gets scratched, they will still be a breeding ground for bacteria!”
“Ah~~alright alright, I’m sorry, I get it, I get it!”
Urushihara covered his ears, showing that he is not listening.
“Seriously……oh yes, Demon King-sama. Have you contacted Manager Kisaki?”
“No, I’m going down later, I want to tell her personally. Even though a lot of construction workers would be going
down today, she said that she would be in the store until evening.”
“Then it would be better if you left earlier. Since the packing is almost done, then all that’s left is buying the
necessities.”
“How about this, I can buy them after I visit the store?”
“Because we need to buy luggage cases, it would be better for me to go since I know the total amount of the luggage
we have. If there are no special requests, I’m going to buy the beach sandals as well. In addition, I need to let some
people know as well……”
“Ah, is that so?”
Till today, Maou did not hear Ashiya talk about which people he knew or where he had worked. Even though he had
some questions, but when he thought carefully about it, there was no need for him to know everything about Ashiya.
Even if he didn’t hear it from the person himself, but Maou knew that Ashiya would occasionally accept some short
term work, using the salary received to supplement the household income and finance the magic civilization
research which Maou kept forgetting about recently.
Faced with the suggestion from such a loyal subject, Maou would definitely agree easily. Right now, even if Ashiya
knew the shoe size of every single person, Maou wouldn’t be surprised.
“Is that so, alright, I’ll leave it to you.”
“Understood. I wish the talk between you and Manager Kisaki will go smoothly. For our future……”
“And the meals from tomorrow onwards.”
While talking, Maou and Ashiya left the house and headed towards Sasazuka to accomplish their respective
objectives. Urushihara watched the two of them leave as a question which did not suit his personality came to him.
“Those guys, do they really plan to conquer the world? Haven’t they been mixing up their objectives and methods
recently?”
This is a question which Suzuno, Chiho and Emi have thought of before. But even if Urushihara thought about this
now, he is unable to grasp Maou’s true intention.
*
Scaffolding and tarp to block out the dust had been set up on the outside of the building stationed in front of
Hatagaya station. Once Maou reached the store front, he heard someone calling out to him.
“Maou-san! Is your body alright?”
Even though Chiho had come to submit the shift timetable for after the renovation, which is the second half of
August, she was still worried about Maou’s health condition, who had fainted last night.
“Ah, thank you very much for yesterday, hmm, even though it’s a little, but it’s alright……yeah.”
Maou thought back to the scene of the landlady’s belly dancing from last night and at that moment, became a little
dizzy.
Chiho, who looked wistful, looked at Maou worriedly and fell silent. After all, no matter how worried she is, from
tomorrow onwards, Maou would be heading to an unknown workplace where she cannot follow.
“Chi, Chi-chan, is something wrong?”
Even though Maou’s keen senses picked up on the strange atmosphere, Chiho only shook her head weakly.
In this delicate atmosphere, the two of them decided to enter the store to greet Kisaki in order to get rid of the
awkwardness between them.
“I see, you found a good place to work.”
Maou explained that with the landlady’s recommendation, he would be going to work at a beach house in Chiba
during the renovation period, Kisaki nodded understandingly.
“So, you’ll still be coming back right?”
“Eh?”
Faced with Kisaki’s sudden question, Maou gave an expression which showed that he didn’t understand.
“You shouldn’t have any plans to travel between Sasazuka and Choshi everyday right? So if the other party didn’t
provide accommodation, then you would be moving there, correct?”
Kisaki shifted her line of sight to the handwritten shift timetable Chiho had submitted and asked this while
intentionally not looking at Maou’s expression.
“I have no plans to tie you down. But for me to develop someone to the point of being able to be my right hand man
is a rare thing. Having to let you go would be a pity.”
Kisaki said in a neutral tone. But Kisaki won’t say jokes which are not amusing and does not tell lies. So when talking
about her opinions on Maou, it should be Kisaki’s real and sincere thoughts.
“I’m only staying there temporarily. I will definitely come back!”
Because of the boost he received from Kisaki’s opinions, Maou’s voice was filled with manliness.
This sentence, full of assurance, allowed Chiho to relax a little.
Kisaki, who finally smiled, looked at Maou in satisfaction.
“Very good, I always remember that you had mentioned in your interview that you wanted to be an outstanding full
time staff. And from your work attitude, I know that you were serious when you said it.”
“Even though I performed really badly in various aspects this time……”
“This doesn’t count as much, rather than that, you were too capable from the start. You’re more adorable if you fail
occasionally like an ordinary person. When you can still recover from your failures, you should take the chance to
experience this a few more times. You can use these experiences in the future.”
Even though Maou had mixed feelings when he heard “like an ordinary person”, Kisaki, who did know anything,
laughed lightly and said,
“In order to punish you for forgetting to confirm important matters, and causing a situation which can impede your
career, after the reopening, I want you to work twice as hard as before, okay.”
After saying this, Kisaki patted Maou’s shoulder, which almost caused him to be unable to hold back his tears.
“For Chi-chan, even though you don’t have shifts lined up for now, don’t push yourself too hard after this. I know
you want to work together with Maa-kun, but you’re still young, take this summer to learn things other than work
related ones.”
“Ki, Kisaki-san!”
In a rare chance, Kisaki said something cheeky. For Chiho, who had yet to give up on going together with Maou, it
was as if she was seen through.
Maou, who felt uncomfortable because of this, turned his line of sight to another direction.
Kisaki looked at the two young people with a smile and changed the topic.
“Then again, since Chi-chan didn’t raise any request to be transferred to other branches, don’t tell me you’re
planning to go to Choshi? You should know that Maa-kun is going to Choshi, correct?”
Chiho got a shock because of this sudden question.
“Eh, ah, th, that is, I……”
After giving an extremely naïve reaction, Chiho replied after glancing subtly at Maou,
“Without any relation to Maou-san, I’ve been wanting to go there since some time ago……”
“Oh?”
“Kisaki-san, Maou-san, have you heard of the Choshi Electric Railway?”
For Maou, he definitely remembered the term which he had heard over the phone only last night. As for Kisaki, she
thought for a while and found the answer in her memory.
“Choshi Electric Railway……is it the regional railway which went into financial difficulty and the staff started to sell
local desserts in order to allow it to continue operating?”
“That’s the one. The news mentioned that the high school students there also participated in making the local
specialty goods, those people who are my age actually helped the railway company and the area they are living in,
this surprised me, so I wanted to see what kind of place it is.”
These words which Chiho spoke with emotion caused Kisaki and Maou and turn towards each other.
“How should I say this, Chi-chan is really a serious child.”
Kisaki sighed with a wry smile.
“Eh?”
“It’s nothing. Having a curiosity to know more is a good thing. Sigh, if you want to go, you have to obtain your
parents’ consent first. It is quite far away after all.”
For Kisaki, it was just a reminder of something which is common sense, but the phrase “obtain parents’ consent”,
caused Chiho’s originally relaxed expression to grow heavy.
“Yeah, I would confirm with them first.”
Chiho replied with a cheerful tone after much difficulty, but she didn’t know if Kisaki would interpret it this way.
After they talked about some unimportant topics, and Maou and Chiho were about to leave the shop----
“……………………………………………………………………………………………………”
The two of them encountered by chance, in a perfect “stunned” pose-- to the point where the rose looked like it was
going to wither, Sariel.
“Ah, it’s Sariel-san……”
The moment Chiho, who only recently got rid of any feelings of disgust she felt towards Sariel, spoke, Sariel, who
snapped back to reality suddenly used this special ability “Wicked Light of the Fallen” at full power, and shouted at
Maou agitatedly,
“Ma-------ou-------you-------!”
“Wahhh!”
Maou’s shirt was forced grabbed by the shorter Sariel which caused him to lean forward unwillingly.
“What is going on, what kind of underhanded methods did you use, why has the shop belonging to my eternal
goddess closed, you low life demon, spit it out, tell me everything about the dwelling of my goddess, else I will burn
you to ashes with the fire drawn from my heartbroken feelings of love!”
It looks like Sariel’s range of sight is as narrow as Maou’s on a different meaning. As Kisaki had always stuck a notice
telling customers that it would reopen, Sariel had simply overlooked it.
“It hurts, it hurts, the rose thorns really hurt!”
The rose bouquet hit Maou’s face with Sariel’s movements, causing him to be continuously pricked by the roses.
“The generous me even rejected Gabriel’s offer to work together, but you are so ungrateful. Then again, why didn’t
you tell me if the shop is going to close, in that way I can bet all my assets and courage to confess to my goddess
how I am going to offer up the rest of my life----!”
Judging by common sense, a rebuttal regarding what does assets refer to or how effective the confession would be
will cross one’s mind at this time, but compared to Maou, who was already in a lot of pain because of being pricked
by the roses, it was Chiho who reacted first.
“Wait, Sariel-san! You mentioned about working with Gabriel-san, what is that supposed to mean?”
“Oh?”
Once Chiho touched the hand which Sariel used to grab the front of Maou’s shirt, shaking him back and forth----
“Heh, I never reject the invitation from a beautiful girl. How’s this, after this, why don’t we eat Sentucky’s new menu
item, Indian chicken wrap while drinking tea?”
Sariel immediately let go of Maou, and grabbed Chiho’s hand with the pose that he was preparing to kiss it.
“I’m going to tell Kisaki-san, you know.”
However, Chiho did go through multiple instances of dangerous situations, life threatening as well as various strange
situations. Right now, she was not so weak that she would panic at this kind of low standard harassment.
Partly because she was feeling depressed due to being unable to go along with Maou, Chiho’s tone of voice became
very cold.
Once Sariel heard this, he gave an expression which bordered between hope and despair.
“Ugh……please, please spare me…….so, is my goddess still in this store?”
Swords weren’t needed to deal with Sariel. It was enough to depend on the word “Kisaki”.
“If you want to know the answer, then answer my question. You said you refused to work together with Gabriel.
what is that supposed to mean?”
“Ugh, uh, that, that is……”
For the moment, Sariel was at a loss for words. It was obvious he was regretting the fact that he let such a thing slip.
Compared to that, Maou was in awe towards Chiho, who had Sariel wrapped around a little finger.
“Chi-chan, you’ve grown stronger……”
He had changed a person’s life in many aspects. Habouring various feelings, Maou imprinted this incident into his
memory.
“As long as you’re willing to explain this honestly, I will tell you what happened to the store. If not, I’m going to call
Kisaki-san and tell her “Sariel-san seems to want to sexually harass me.”
“Earlier, Gabriel came to my store. He wanted me to help in retrieving Emilia’s holy sword and the ‘Yesod’ fragment,
and told me about many things as well.”
Hearing what Chiho said, Sariel immediately explained everything honestly, answering Chiho’s question smoothly.
Sariel’s attitude can only be described as capricious.
“Is it really alright for you to be like this?”
As for changing the life of an angel, Maou felt that it really did not matter after just two seconds.
As the two of them were talking, Sariel kept holding Chiho’s hand. From the way Sariel did not care about the
suspicious gazes of the people passing by, perhaps he was fated to go down this path in life.
“The reason I wanted to retrieve Emilia’s holy sword was originally to cover of Gabriel’s mistake. It’s just that at the
beginning, no one had told me that ‘Yesod’ had split into many pieces, and that one of them had assumed the form
of a child. Honestly my mind is currently filled with matters related to the goddess, so I didn’t think about the holy
sword at all. Talking about that, that guy hasn’t come to the store after that.”
Even though the term goddess can easily confuse people, but simply put, Sariel’s meaning is that he is fully focused,
mind and soul, on Kisaki, and did not care about the mission from Heaven. Archangel-san, is that really alright?
Really though, it really matches Sariel’s style of working, but Maou still sensed that something was strange from
what was said.
“Wait, you just said “had split into many parts”. That means you already know that ‘Yesod’ was split by someone?”
“……Woah!”
Sariel groaned. It looks like he let something slip again. He subtly lifted his head and looked at Chiho.
“You know about it, don’t you?”
“……Yes, I know.”
Chiho did not give the other party any leeway. Sariel weakly drooped his head.
“Because amongst the shattered fragments, one of the fragments must be with Emilia, so I was given the mission to
retrieve the holy sword.”
At the beginning, even when Sariel met Alas=Ramus directly, he didn’t realize that she was one of the fragments of
‘Yesod’.
Even if it can be deduced that the “Evil Repelling Armour” which evolved after merging with Alas=Ramus is also
related to the ‘Yesod’ fragment, it can be said that even the forces of Heaven is currently unable to accurately grasp
what had changed within the fragments of ‘Yesod’.
“With regards to retrieving Emilia’s holy sword, Gabriel seemed to have failed as well. Which is why he would come
looking for me, the one who arrived earlier, hoping that we can work together to retrieve the fragments of ‘Yesod’.
But I rejected him because I was busy. Just based on the fact that the battle strength of those opposing you did not
increase, you should be thanking me already.”
Being asked to be thankful or something which happened without one knowing was really troubling.
However, to put it in another way, since Gabriel did not retreat, this also means he had not given up on Alas=Ramus.
Maou and the rest had consecutively chased away two Archangels, so Heaven should be lacking in personnel who
could stage an attack.
As for not knowing when or how the other party will take action, for Maou and the others who could only go on the
defensive, this kind of situation is still rather unsettling.
“……?”
“Sa, Sasaki Chiho, what kind of look is that. I was totally honest about everything.”
“Ah, yeah, even though this is about enough……”
Just like Maou earlier, Chiho was looking at Sariel like she couldn’t quite accept some things.
“Sariel-san, why do you have the means to confirm where one of fragments is located…..”
Just as Chiho intended to ask about this----
“What is it, the both of you haven’t…….returned yet…..?”
Sariel expression, because of the voice he heard from behind Maou and Chiho, lit up by a kilowatt.
However, for Maou and Chiho, frozen because they detected a dangerous atmosphere at the ending tone in the
voice, they turned back with blue faces.
Kisaki, who had changed out of her usual working uniform, was wearing a light gray suit and had let her hair down.
With a large briefcase slung over her shoulder, that was how she appeared in front of everyone.
The one Kisaki noticed was not Maou, and not Chiho. With an angry gaze that could even freeze the king of the
demon world, she was glaring at Sariel, kneeling on the ground while holding Chiho’s hand.
“……Mitsuki Sarue, what are you doing to my employees?”
Even though he was being glared at, for unexplainable reasons, Sariel was still full of smiles.
It was said that in North Europe, there was a young man who was stabbed in the heart and eyes by a demon mirror,
which caused him to be tricked by the sweet words of an ice queen.
The biggest difference between this young man from North Europe and Sariel should be whether they were loved by
the ice queen.
“No, wrong, this is, to describe it, this is a negotiation, I could only use this strategy because I wanted to know where
you were ……”
“Seeing that you were contributing to the earnings of the business, I originally wanted to close one eye when it
comes to you, but for you to be lacking so much honour such that you would take action against an underage
employee, you can’t be seen as a customer. As long as you’re within my line of sight, you’re temporarily banned
from entering this place!”
“Ngoh?”
Archangel Sariel, who cannot be harmed by Emilia’s holy sword, simply because of a sentence from a human female,
was instantly frozen to the spot and shattered into pieces, the pieces scattering across the ground.
“The both of you should hurry home. Maa-kun, even though you were together with Chi-chan, how can you not
protect her properly!”
“Ah, yes, that, I’m sorry.”
Maou decided to apologise first, while Chiho, with a frantic expression, looked at Sariel, who at this time seemed like
he was being melted by the summer sun and was going to flow into the roadside gutter.
“Chi-chan, we should be heading back.”
“Eh? Ah, yeah, that, alright, thanks, thanks for the hard work, Kisaki-san.”
Maou and Chiho quickly left MgRonalds and walked along the pedestrian walkway on Koshu Kaido with complicated
feelings.
“We, we seemed to have done some disservice to Sariel-san……”
“Sigh, just treat it as a payback for what he did to Chi-chan earlier during Suzuno’s incident, alright? The rest of it
was the result of his actions. Rather than that, Kisaki-san is amazing, being able to tolerate such an excitable guy.”
Maou shot down Sariel mercilessly.
“Talking about earlier, Maou-san……”
“Yeah, I know.”
Right now, they should be unable to obtain more information from Sariel. Without Chiho’s prompting, Maou is
rather concerned about one issue.
Sariel was very sure that “one of the fragments of ‘Yesod’ was with Emilia”.
Logically, after Emilia and the holy sword came to Japan, Heaven had ignored her for over a year. In that case, how
were they able to find the holy sword, which is Emilia’s location?
“……Sigh, it doesn’t matter anyway. They’re not chasing after me, so whatever happens after is Emi’s own
problem…..”
Thinking about it calmly, this is originally a problem between Heaven and Emi, besides being attacked by Urushihara
at the beginning, Maou is practically an outsider. Just as he decided that he did not need to think too much about
this----
“Then it is fine regardless of what happens of Alas=Ramus-chan?”
Chiho, who had predicted Maou’s reaction, asked this with half lidded eyes.
“Yusa-san’s holy sword is currently almost equivalent to Alas=Ramus-chan, isn’t that so.”
“This, about that……but, but Emi is a lot stronger than me, who can’t fight properly in Japan, even if I don’t specially
do anything…..”
“That isn’t the issue. Since you’re her father, how can you not protect her properly? Alas=Ramus will cry like this.”
“Chi,Chi-chan, which side are you on?”
For Maou, this question implies many things.
“I just hope that the people I like can get along well, and remain together forever.”
Chiho replied with a rather sad expression.
“……What, what’s wrong? Did anything happen?”
Chiho, who had once thrown a jealous fit because she mistook Emi for Maou’s ex-girlfriend, had become strangely
mature recently, and also seemed to be very concerned about the development between Maou, Emi, and
Alas=Ramus.
“Yes. I didn’t hide it on purpose though……are you willing to listen? It might become a heavy topic.”
“Ah, yeah, sure.”
“Maou-san said before that you trusted me, and hoped that you could rely on me, right? However……with the way I
am now, it’s not enough.”
“W, why not?”
“Unlike Yusa-san or Suzuno-san, I do not have any fighting ability, and unlike Ashiya-san, I cannot always be with
Maou-san. By chance, I happened to stay by Maou-san’s side and coincidentally, I knew the truth. Even if I worry
whether Urushihara-san would be able to work properly, I cannot go to Choshi with you.”
Even with the calls of the cicadas coming from the trees on the pedestrian walkway, Chiho’s voice could still be
heard very clearly by Maou.
“So I feel that I should be working harder, learning more things, and became an adult who can help Maou-san. For
someone to rely on me is a rare thing, of course I will hope that I can live up to the other person’s expectations.”
“……Ohh.”
“In addition, I haven’t received your reply. In that case, I hope to be able to receive a positive answer at the end, so I
must work hard for this goal. And after that, one day……”
Chiho suddenly crossed her arms, puffed out her chest, and with an intentionally fearless smile, said in a low tone,
“I want to become the top Demon General in the new demon army, and fight with Yusa-san with Maou-san on the
line!”
“Geh!”
Chiho’s declaration gave Maou a huge shock.
“That, that topic just now, what exactly happened for Chi-chan to be involved with the Generals?”
“Some time ago, Ashiya nominated me before. Of course, I rejected it at that time, but after thinking about it
carefully, it would be better to nominate myself first after all.”
Chiho said this in a relaxed tone, like she was only running for the position of class president.
“Even though it may sound like a joke, if I want to surpass Yusa-san, I would need to become more mature and
obtain a weapon which can be used to fight with Yusa-san, and it should be a different type of weapon as well. I
want to enter university and learn various kinds of knowledge, widen my horizons, and become a girl who Maou-san
can rely on, whether it is in Japan or Ente Isla.”
As if Chiho had become more become more passionate because of the summer heat, in reaction to her words, which
were much more filed with vigor compared to everything she had said before, Maou was very surprised.
“University huh……but I feel that until now, Chiho has already helped us a lot, you know?”
Maou had just finished his sentence when Chiho looked at him, an unsatisfied look on her face.
“Even though ‘Maou-san’ does rely on me a lot, I am always being protected by ‘Maou Satan’.”
This time, Maou was really staring in shock.
“I wish to become a human who ‘Maou’ can completely rely on at any time.”
Even though Maou himself was not aware of it, it seemed like after the both of them were lectured by Kisaki some
time ago, the sentence which Maou said to Chiho, acting like a spell, had granted her inner strength.
“……I……”
Just as Maou did not know how to reply such a person who is willing to selflessly contribute to him, and was
obviously shuttering----
“Ah, it’s Ashiya-san.”
Chiho’s attention had already turned towards a totally unrelated direction.
Taking a closer look, Ashiya had walked out of Sasazuka station at this moment. Even though he had an unfamiliar
looking wheeled luggage case with him, and it will be used later, it was still difficult for others to understand why he
would be walking out of the station with this object.
Because of Chiho’s voice, Ashiya’s attention focused in their direction, and after lightly raising a hand, he walked
towards the both of them.
“Welcome back, Demon King-sama. Sasaki-san is with you as well?”
“……Yeah.”
“We met at the store. That case, it would be brought to Choshi? You bought quite a good luggage case.”
Chiho said as she turned towards the luggage case which Ashiya was pulling along.
“Because the living necessities during our accommodation need to be prepared by us, so I was quite troubled by
this……”
Ashiya placed this hand on the brand new large luggage case with a troubled look on his face----it was a large
capacity luggage case with wheels which has enough space for the clothes, underwear, towels and daily necessities
for three demons.
“Since we can’t leave anything in the apartment, then we have to bring along the important items such as passbooks
and seals. And since the security facilities of the place are unknown, it would be better to buy a sturdy case with a
lock.”
“I see. That makes sense.”
“Did you take a train to buy it?”
“That’s right. The products in the city center are more complete, and since we are travelling a long distance
tomorrow, I wish to preserve some energy today. And later on, I still need to use the public phone at the bus stop.”
As it took about 30 minutes to walk from their apartment to Shibuya, therefore Ashiya would always choose to walk
there to save on the 120 yen transport fee. However, pulling a luggage around under the hot summer sun
unexpectedly uses up a lot of energy.
In addition, Ashiya still needed to buy beach sandals, spare clothes and a number of other things, so Maou would
not reprimand him because of the transport fees of one stop.
Even though Maou was rather curious about the person Ashiya wanted to contact, he had no right to pry into the
private matters of his subordinates, even if he is the Demon King.
With Ashiya’s personality, he would not specially hide anything from Maou, so even though he thought that this
telephone conversation is needed, it should not affect the whole situation that much.
After Maou concluded thus, he turned towards the new luggage cases. Even though the tag is still there, it seemed
to have a design where it will automatically open when luggage checks are conducted at the airport.
“You really bought a good one.”
“It is possible that we might go overseas to recover our magic in the future. I treated it as an investment for that
time.”
“Ah, this is all for the sake of conquering the world.”
Even though the other party is a great demon who ruled over one continent, it should be difficult to find a human
who can say the words “conquering the word” so easily.
“That’s right. Oh yes, Sasaki-san is always taking care of us, please look forward to the local specialties which we will
buy. I heard that Choshi is one of the few fish habours in Japan.”
Ashiya, who replied the high school girl cheerfully, made the weight of the words “conquering the world” seem
lighter than helium.
“Yes…thanks.”
Compared to the weight of the words conquering the world, it was Chiho’s feelings which became heavy as a result.
Even though it was expected, Ashiya did not count Chiho as one of the people who were heading for Choshi.
But at this time, Chiho suddenly remembered the people who would definitely follow Maou to Choshi, and asked
Ashiya,
“……Talking about conquering the world, I suddenly remembered. Did Yusa-san or Suzuno-san say anything about
the Choshi trip this time?”
As if to confirm that the weight of “conquering the world” had flown off, Maou and Ashiya glanced at each other.
“Talking about that, it’s rare of them to not raise any complaints this time. I thought that they would misunderstand
our intentions and think we are planning to run off, saying that they would chase us to the ends of the Earth and
other ridiculous things like that.”
“Emi did meet the landlady before, so she might think that the other party is someone related to the landlady and
we would act more honestly as a result? But those two people seemed to have scolded Urushihara on his bad neet
traits and caused him to cry. How should I say it, including helping us to ensure we have a job, they’re especially nice
this time.”
“Tr, true…… I, I also think that Yusa-san is especially kind to Maou-san this time……”
Especially in Emi’s case, it was not possible for her to sit by and watch Maou go someone far away. But this time, she
gave the impression that she was very composed about it.
In addition to the dangerous information from Sariel earlier, all these factors made Chiho feel uneasy. If Maou and
Emi were unable to grasp each other’s situation, even Alas=Ramus might be in danger.
The even bigger pity is that, even if she told Emi about the information, Chiho was unable to imagine Emi and Maou
working together.
----Sigh, if you want to go, you have to obtain your parents’ consent first. It is quite far away after all----
----as long as your reason is sensible and logical, I won’t say too much about it----
The voices of the two adults resonated in Chiho’s mind.
Chiho, making her decision, took out her mobile phone.
This might be her first selfish act in her whole life. Even if she wasn’t lying, to her parents, it might be a dishonest act
with warped logic.
Even so----
Chiho wanted to reduce the chances of the people important to her going away.
After making eye contact with Maou and Ashiya, she walked to the side and called home.
“Hello, is this Chiho? Is something wrong?”
As the phone at home displayed the telephone number, her mother knew almost immediately that it was a call from
Chiho.
Chiho suppressed her accelerating heartbeat and breathed in hard.
“Mum……”
“What is it?”
“I want to see the Choshi Electric Railway. Can I find a day and go with Yusa-san and Suzuno-san?”
Vol 4 Chapter 2: The Hero helps the Demon King, reforming the business
“Wow! What a cute carriage!”
Chiho let out an exclamation at the terminal station of the JR Matsumoto line – Choshi station.
The group had left from Sasazuka, and transferred trains (which they were not used to) at Shinjuku, Kinshicho and
Chiba station. Then they boarded the train that went onto the Matsumoto line at Chiba. The whole journey took a
bit more than three hours.
The platform of Choshi’s railway which ran on electricity was located at a quiet corner of Choshi’s JR line. The train
that entered the station had an appearance that Maou, Ashiya and Urushihara had never seen before.
To demons who have resided in Japan for slightly less than 2 years, a subway is a transport system made of stainless
steel carriages that have been joined together and have 4 doors with long benches.
But the ‘subway’ before them completely toppled the strong impression of the city’s subways that these demons
had.
The train had ignored all laws of aerodynamics. The bottom half of its long rectangular body was painted a dark red
while the top half was painted an old-fashioned black; And its only round headlight was fitted on the center of the
top of the train. There was only one carriage but its sound echoed heavily when it moved.
In comparison, the stainless steel train looked like something from the future.
Honestly, the train before them looked very old. It moved slowly into the platform and let out a heavy metallic
sound as it braked.
“Is this really a train?”
Urushihara, who had nothing nice to say, received Chiho’s condescending look when he opened his mouth.
Although this railway, which was different from what Maou was used to, made him blank out for a moment, but he
quickly started to be aware of the hustle and bustle that was going on around him.
Everyone who was present was smiling at the old fashioned train that was unusual even to Maou.
Simple, nostalgic and full of antiquity, it was worth it to come here and so on, the place was filled with exclamations
of joy and wonder.
Every person took out their digital camera or mobile phone and started snapping pictures of the train.
“Eh, I guess all of you won’t be able to understand this kind of nostalgia.”
“…..You spent almost as long as we did in Japan and you have the cheek to say this kind of things.”
Maou turned his head unhappily when he heard the laughter from behind him.
Before him, was Emilia carrying Alas=Ramus and Suzuno who was holding an umbrella.
“Yeah, this is the Choshi electric train model 1001. It started operation in year 1950. Based on the earliest research
that I did, during that time, the whole of Japan was using this kind of train.”
Suzuno explained while looking at the free booklet that was distributed in the station.
Maou had always wondered what Suzuno actually researched about the last time and where she got the information
from.
“Speaking of which, where are we supposed to buy the tickets?”
The platform for the Choshi train is connected to the platform for the JR line yet there was no mechanical gate for
the transfer of trains; there was only a small IC card reader on the way.
But for Maou and others who travelled from Shinjuku, they only bought tickets from the JR window.
“Erhm, it seems as though you need to get them from the station employee in the train or on the platform. That
gentleman over there is holding something that looks like a ticket clipper, I guess we can purchase the tickets from
him.”
“It’s...manual?!”
“What's there to be surprised about? Even Shinjuku, Ikebukuro and Shinagawa used manual ticket purchase and
checking a few decades ago.”
Suzuno seemed especially energetic when introducing Japan of the past, especially of the Showa era.
When she started researching on the situation of this society, it seemed, unfortunately, that she was stuck at the era
where the terminal stations were using manual ticket sales. It was too bad the only member of the group who was a
Japanese person, Chiho, was born in the Heisei era.
Chiho only had the general level of understanding of the current situation. Of course, Maou and Emi were even
worse off.
“But there is an IC card reader over there, why would they use such an inconvenient and troublesome method on
purpose….”
“You idiot. That inconvenience and trouble is the selling point.”
“What?”
Leaving a confused Maou behind, Emi and Alas=Ramus headed towards the station employee.
“To Inubo, a ticket for one adult and one child…ah, I want to keep the ticket…”
According to the explanation from the other person, infants and babies do not need a ticket, but Alas=Ramus was
staring at the old bag of the station employee with great eagerness.
Alas=Ramus happily accepted the ticket with the “checked” chop and tightly held it in her hands.
“Thank kwew!”
Alas=Ramus’s gleeful look brought a smile onto the station employee’s face.
“In a way, it’s something like this. If we were using an automatic ticket dispenser, you wouldn’t see such a scene,
would you?”
“……Yeah, that’s true.”
After Suzuno’s comment, even though Maou could not understand it, he still agreed after seeing the smile on
Alas=Ramus’s face.
Ashiya followed Emi and bought a ticket as well, while Chiho was busy snapping photos of the train with her digital
camera. And Urushihara, who could not bear the summer’s heat, weakly collapsed on the bench in the station.
“By the way……I never thought that all of you would follow us all the way here.”
Maou shrugged and looked towards Suzuno. Suzuno, who was holding an umbrella above her head, smiled in a
practiced manner and replied:
“I already said it a few dozen times already. We did not follow you. Our travel destination just happened to be the
same.”
There’s a limit to trying to be deceiving.
This happened a few hours ago when Maou and group were setting off from Sasazuka.
Chiho suddenly showed up at Sasazuka station at eight in the morning, breathless.
At first, Maou thought she was there to see them off. When he saw that Chiho was carrying a large bag, he then
guessed that she just happened to, like them, have some business that required her to travel.
By common sense, no matter how much Chiho’s parents trusted Maou, there is no way they would let their second
year high school daughter go with him to a place where they had to stay at a men’s only work place.
Therefore, Maou never thought that there was any chance that Chiho’s destination was Choshi.
“Is Chi-chan heading out as well? We’ll be going the same way till Shinjuku.”
“Nope, we’ll be travelling together even after that.”
Chiho replied cheerfully while entering the station with Maou through the automatic gate.
Thirty seconds later, Maou knew the reason why Chiho was happy.
“Good morning Chiho. What’s with those three behind you?”
“Chiho-dono, we have been waiting for a while. You met the Demon King and group? What a coincidence.”
“Papa! Chi-nee chan!”
Emi, Suzuno and Alas=Ramus were sitting on a bench at the platform for the train heading from Sasazuka to
Shinjuku.
Maou, Ashiya and Urushihara stared and gaped in surprise, and were momentarily silenced.
As the demon trio had left early in the morning, they did not greet their neighbor, Suzuno.
No matter what it was, Emi and Suzuno probably planned to wait at the station earlier. And they only greeted Chiho
and pretended to coincidentally meet Maou and gang as they wanted to tease the three demons.
There was a luggage with wheels in front of the two. That’s right, these two were definitely planning to follow along.
“It’s not just to Shinjuku, we’ll be on the same route all the way to Choshi. Don’t worry, I definitely got my mother’s
permission.”
Chiho declared proudly as though she was announcing the answer.
The three demons were still gaping with their mouths wide open. There was no way that any parent in existence
would agree to this kind of thing.
“Did you misunderstand something?”
Emi, who was sitting on the bench, grinned at the confused trio.
“Although the destination is also Choshi, Chiho is not going with all of you, she’s coming with us.”
“…..What in the world….”
Even if one wants to twist the story, there’s a limit to it.
“By the way, how about your jobs? You’re not planning to stay at Choshi for two weeks, are you?”
When Maou asked that, Emi answered in a fluent manner:
“Because Bell is staying with me , I applied for leave earlier. What do you mean by two weeks? The three of us girls
just plan to take a look at the railway. What makes you think that we will stay for so long? Don’t tell me you’re guilty
about something?”
Emi said in a scheming manner. Though Maou glared unhappily at Emi---
“Papa, Papa, I have something to say!”
Upon seeing an excited Alas=Ramus, he couldn’t react.
“We are going to the beach at Chiba!”
At that moment, Maou understood what was going on and he bowed his head weakly.
From then, roughly one hour passed…..
Maou, Chiho and the rest set off from Sasazuka station, changed to the Matsumoto line while they had a good view
of the Tokyo Skytree from Kinshicho station then they reached the terminal station at Chiba. While they waited for
the train towards Choshi from the Matsumoto line, they had a train bento on the platform. Then the whole gang
took the train to Choshi, when they were approaching Asahi station which was near their destination ------
“Chi-nee chan, a windmill! Windmill!”
Alas=Ramus was sitting on Chiho’s lap.
Including Emi and Suzuno, the ladies occupying the four-seater were obliviously snacking. Meanwhile the three
demons were seated on another four seater across the aisle. There was a large and stocky salary man who planted
himself in the fourth seat, so whether it was physically or mentally, they felt very uncomfortable.
As they were nearing Choshi, a large power facility which harnessed the wind’s energy through windmills appeared
and Alas=Ramus who was looking at the scenery became very excited.
“Alas=Ramus-chan is amazing. You know what a windmill is.”
“Hee hee,I know.”
As the windmills slowly left Alas=Ramu’s sight, an announcement that they are reaching the terminal station Choshi
rang throughout the carriage, informing the passengers to prepare to alight.
On the platform of Choshi station, Maou stared at Suzuno in a judging manner and said:
“Whether or not Chi-chan originally had interest in this train track, it’s about time you all came clean on what your
purpose is. Anyway, I bet both are you are planning to use Chiho as an excuse to pester us.”
On the contrary, Suzuno paid no heed to Maou and went straight to the point.
“That’s true. Who knows what kind of schemes you will pull off when you leave our sight. Do not think that you will
be able to evade our watch. Hopefully, you can do some civil activities even when you are so far away from
Sasazuka.”
“You bastard, I am the kindest and most honest Demon King in the whole of Japan.”
“But you are still the Demon King.”
That’s true, there was no room for argument.
“You’re actually expecting the Demon King to make judgments that aligns with my moral conscience, are you
misunderstanding something here?”
“Hmph. I already said it a dozen times already, it just so happens that our travel destination is the same. Alright, pay
no attention to us, head to your work place.”
“Listen to me….”
No matter how you think about it, Suzuno and the others are going to follow them to the beach house.
“Demon King-sama, I bought the train tickets.”
That moment, Ashiya brought the tickets and returned. Meanwhile, Urushihara slowly made his way up the train
and once more collapsed on the seats in the vehicle. It was expected that the Hero and her group would still be
following them, but considering that she still has to work, Emi who is the greatest threat should not be able to stay
for too long.
Living their daily lives under the careful watch of the Hero, the demons have even taken into account the Hero’s
work schedule; they still have some future as demons.
“…..this…doesn’t really look like a train ticket.”
Ashiya passed Maou a flimsy piece of paper. It had the station names of the Choshi line and looked like it can be
easily torn apart with bare hands. It was then-----
“Young men, is this your first time taking the Choshi rail?
“Eh?”
Maou jumped because someone suddenly struck a conversation with him.
Next to Maou was an old lady wearing a sun hat and carrying many bags. Who knew when she appeared.
“You are shocked by its ancient appearance right? Young people aren’t that used to these kinds of things.”
“Ah, uh, about that….”
Though the lady was talking very familiarly to Maou, Maou completely did not know her, so he did not know how to
respond.
“But, this is the most popular colour. As this place gets trains of various shapes and sizes from many different places,
this place has many different models. And the most popular one among the lot is this black and red carriage, how
nostalgic.”
“Nostalgic…is it?”
“We see it every day so we are used to it, but it is really rare to see such an old train in operation you know. The
electric 1001 model has been running since its completion in the 1950s.”
The old lady said proudly as though she was praising her own family member.
“Even though it ran into quite a few tight pinches, but as young people like all of you come here and due to their
perseverance, these trains got more loved by the masses. I really thank all of you.”
Even though Maou and the rest did not do anything, not to mention that his age is a few times more than the old
lady’s, since the other party is already happily lost in her memories, Maou decided not to interrupt her and just
mumbled some form of agreement.
“Are you boys here for sightseeing? Are you going to Inubo?”
“Ah, that’s right. But rather than sightseeing….”
“Over at Inubo, the sight of the sun rising from the horizon is very beautiful. Even though I see it every day, I still feel
that my heart is being cleansed by that sight all the time. Ne, once you become old, you start getting up earlier.”
“Yeah…….”
Speaking of which, Ooguro Amane seemed to have mentioned that they can head to Kimihagama from Inubo, and
that there is the earliest place in Kanto to see the sunrise.
“Ah, when you talk about Inubo, you would think about the nure-senbei (T/N: moist rice crackers). When you get
there, do try some. They’re really delicious.
From then on, the old lady continued chatting with Maou until it was time for the train to depart. As such, Maou also
avoided Suzuno’s badgering.
Although Maou felt a bit troubled in the beginning, he heard a lot of sightseeing information from the old lady
regarding the Choshi railway. Chiho and Emi also joined the conversation half-way through, even if they were
strangers, they still hit off quite well.
Once it was time to set off, the Choshi rail 1001 which carried the Demon King and other humans started to slowly
move forward.
Even though the density of people in the carriage was higher than that of the Mastsumoto line, Maou could still see
the view in front of the driver from where he was sitting.
“Wow! It’s a wooden tunnel!”
Chiho greeted the scene with a cheer.
“This….feels like we are having an adventure.”
“Uh-huh…..”
Ashiya and Urushihara could not resist gasping in awe themselves.
Under the rays of the summer sun, the tram moved onto the green tracks decorated by the mountains and forests.
The summer flowers were blooming by the sides of the metal railway, even though the carriage appeared old, the
sound of the engine inside the carriage produced a sound and power that made it worthy of the name of a steel
horse carriage.
The small path had a simple tram line and wooden electric poles installed.
For Maou, Ashiya and Urushihara who only knew about the written records, this was a first for them to experience a
“period feel”. (T/N: experiencing something from the past)
“It really has a feeling, not bad at all.”
The old lady was all smiles and nodded in agreement to Ashiya’s opinion.
“Like I said!”
Later, the old lady alighted at an empty station called Nishi-ashikajima.
“We didn’t even ask for her name.”
Ashiya mumbled softly after the train left Nishi-ashikajima.
“That’s alright, that’s what we call a chance meeting. For us, that granny is like a period feel, even though we come
into contact with it, we can’t keep it.”
“…What are you saying. Did the heat scramble your brains?”
Emi said something rude and Alas=Ramus who was being carried by her stared motionlessly at the driver’s seat.
Maou replied without being especially angry:
“Right. About my ambitions to conquer the world, I had some new ideas.”
“Oh, is that so. You finally decided to give up and live the rest of your life in Japan?”
It was obvious that Maou was trying to change the topic so Emi did not answer him seriously. Maou decided to
remain silent afterward and Emi felt that there was no need to continue in this line of conversation.
After the train went past Nishi-ashikajima, Ashikajima and Kimigahama, Maou and group finally arrived at the
eastern most location of the Kanto region—Inubo.
“Looks like some effort has been put into this station.”
Ashiya, who was the first to alight carrying the luggage, said while wiping sweat from his brow.
The outer walls of Inubosaki station were adorned with Southern European style white tiles and since this was a
tourist location, there was also a station employee present.
After Maou alighted, the train began making its way to the terminal station over the mountains. Maou and the rest
ignored the tourists who were taking photos of the train and walked into the train station. Even though it was bright
and sunny and the tea coloured tiles in the train station seemed very cooling, there was a heavy atmosphere floating
around.
The group entered the train station with other tourists and they quickly noticed a woman roasting rice crackers in
the shopping area on the right hand side.
“That, that’s the nure-senbei that the granny from just now was talking about right?”
“That’s it! The savior of the Choshi rail!”
When Maou asked the question, Chiho quickly answered, flustered, and they rushed inside.
“Mama, that, what’s that?”
Emi put Alas=Ramus on the station’s bench and started wiping sweat from her using a handkerchief. She looked in
the direction that Chiho was speeding towards and replied:
“It’s Nure-senbei, senbei. Does Alas=Ramus like it?”
“Senbei!”
Alas=Ramus suddenly left Emi at the mention of “senbei” and ran towards the direction of Maou and Chiho.
“Ah, hey, Alas=Ramus, wait a minute, you’ll fall down!”
“Papa, Chi-nee chan. Senbei! I want to eat senbei!”
“Eh? Alas=Rmaus, does mama usually buy senbei for you? Oi, it’s a bit too soon to let her eat senbei, isn’t it?”
Maou’s last question was directed at Emi.
“It's salad rice crackers that are specially made for small children. She knows how to bite then by herself, this kind of
standard is no problem at all.”
“I wonder if Alas=Ramus-chan is able to eat Nure-senbei? Ah, but this might ruin her appetite. How about sharing
half with onee-chan?”
Chiho squatted down and asked. Alas=Ramus raised both hands and started cheering:
“Share half!”
She energetically expressed her desire to eat.
“We really can’t do anything about you. Ah, don’t bother, Chi-chan, Emi will pay for it.”
“Aren’t you supposed to say “I’ll pay for it”?”
Emi frowned at Maou who was so stingy that he had to use “Mama’s” money to make Alas=Ramus happy. But
Ashiya looked at the whole scene with a gloomy expression on his face.
“…..Demon-King-sama! Please inform the other party that we are here.”
Ashiya advised Maou and the rest who are completely in a sightseeing mood.
“Ah, that’s right. Sorry, sorry.”
Maou replied awkwardly, took out his phone and walked towards the large space outside the train station.
Emi stood in front of the cashier counter in the store and watched Maou walk out of the station from the corner of
her eye—
“Then, Chiho, can we talk for a bit?”
Then she called Chiho’s name softly and pulled her to the corner of the train station.
“You really surprised me yesterday. I never thought your mother would agree to this.”
“….sorry, for calling you out of the blue.”
Chiho’s mother unexpectedly readily agreed to a request that can only be described as odd, that being allowing her
to see the Choshi railway. Even though Chiho asked that she discuss the conditions with her companions, Emi and
Suzuno, Emi was very shocked that the other party would so generously let Chiho go to Choshi.
“For us, this allows us to watch the Demon King as well as take care of you safety. Also…..”
Emi smiled and turned towards Suzuno.
“Chiho-dono, your honourable mother wants us to pass a message to you.”
“Eh?”
Suzuno took out a note from her luggage.
“As long as you choose to reside in this hotel as suggested by your honorable mother, and one of us must contact
her at specified times, then you are allowed to stay here for three days and two nights.”
“Eh? Eh? Eh?”
Once Chiho heard that, she almost dropped the evenly split nure-senbei that she was going to share with AlasRamus.
“This way, you can relax and see if they are working well right?”
“Wh, why…”
Initially, Chiho was determined to be satisfied with just a one day trip and does fully intend to do so. Basically, why
would her own mother ask Emi and Suzuno to pass the message?
“Since we will be travelling with Chiho-dono, then we must let your honorable mother have a way to contact us
right? After informing her of a way to contact us, she called us using the phone on her own accord.
(Since Chiho said that, I believe that she must have some basis. Chiho usually trusts Yusa-san and Suzuno-san a lot,
and treat both of you as very important people. Maybe it is my own stubbornness, but in order to eliminate Chiho’s
insecurity, may I request that both of you help her….)
From Emi’s point of view, she felt extremely guilty for always dragging Chiho into Ente Isla related affairs so she
decided that she might as well agree to Riho’s request. Subsequently, the two of them even argued for a while on
who is the one to foot the bill for the 3-person stay at the hotel.
Of course Chiho is unable to tell her mother about the situation in Ente Isla. But even if it’s just something that “must
have some basis”, Riho decided to completely believe her.
Emi had met Riho before and did not feel that she was being stubborn. Instead, what Riho had said just reinforced
the fact that this mother-daughter relationship was a very wholesome one.
Emi just found out about the existence of her mother and knows that the other party is not a human and vanished
very suddenly. This made Emi feel slightly envious about the relationship between Chiho and her mother.
“Eh, simply put, your honorable mother has her complete faith in you and to help buy some local goods from Choshi
and braised mackerel for your honorable father who has been left out of this discussion as goodwill. Don’t worry, we
will go with you to get them.”
“….Mom….I was really defeated by her.”
Chiho lowered her head, her eyes brimming with tears.
“Then, what's the reason that Chiho-dono is trying so hard? It shouldn’t be that you are only worried that Lucifer will
cause all of them to get fired? If that is so, you would have made your decision once you finished watching the video.”
After sniffling, Chiho put Alas=Ramus on the ground.
“…..Actually yesterday, I heard from Sariel-san. Gabriel-san has not given up on taking away Alas=Ramus-chan.”
Emi and Suzuno’s expressions showed a change when they suddenly heard Gabriel’s name.
“Whether it is Maou-san, Yusa-san or Alas=Ramus-chan, all of you met with a few dangerous situations, but as you
were all not fighting alone, in the end, you all managed to barely pull through right? Of course, I’m not asking you to
forgive what Maou-san did at Ente Isla. But if you both encounter another dangerous situation, I think it would be
safer if you were all together, however….Yusa-san seems to be very happy that Maou-san is going on a faraway trip.”
“Ah….”
Emi nodded her head without thinking.
The two had fought side by side the previous few times on the basis that they that was the only method they had.
Even though Emi got out of a mess a few times due to Maou, Ashiya or Urushihara’s presence, but this does not
mean that Emi herself is enthusiastic about asking them for help.
As Maou and group are only going to the home of their mysterious landlady’s, Shiba Miki’s, relative, so Emi did not
think there was any special need to follow them. But for Chiho who did not know the landlady, she felt that Emi’s
attitude was strange.
“Whether it is Maou-san or Yusa-san, or Suzuno san, Ashiya-san even Urushihara san. Everyone stayed at
Sasazuka….by my side due to a series of small coincidences. So as long as one of these factors becomes unbalanced
and everyone disappears, I’ll feel really frightened. Although, this is probably beyond my capabilities, but as long as I
try harder a bit, maybe I can maintain this balance….”
Chiho looked at Ashiya and Urushihara who were sitting on a station bench a distance away, holding something like
an ice-cream box and she continued saying:
“Maybe one day, you would need to return to Ente Isla to settle things once and for all….But with this as a goal, just
when it is required, I hope that all of you can work together.”
No comments:
Post a Comment