The Melancholy of the Demon Army Officer
Translator: Tsukii
Editor: geli
Read at Watashi Wa Sugoi Desu!
Chapter 14 – Galtia [D]
“—?!”
They were surprised by Galtia, who seemingly changed his attitude all of a sudden. He smiled at the boy like he usually did, but when he spoke, his words were completely incompatible with his expression.
“Then there’s no reason to keep hiding it. You’re right. Everything you said just now is true. I killed your parents — or to be exact, I left them to their deaths.”
“—!”
“If you listened in to what we were talking about, then you surely know about the majin, right? I got tired of living as a feeble human. Those people who are unable to fight without me there are almost at their end. That’s why I decided to switch sides.”
The words that came out of his mouth as he spoke in his usual tone were words that he would never say. However, the boy’s lips gradually started trembling. The boy had already lost his judgment to see through lies.
“The Demon Army seems more enjoyable anyway. Don’t you think so? Then how about you go join the Demon Army—“
“SHUUUUUTTTT UUUUUUPPPPPPPP—!!!”
The boy’s yell echoed within the command center. A second bout of silence descended on the place.
Unlike before, it was Galtia who moved first this time. He looked at the boy with a cold expression.
“…I see. Then—“
I’ll have you sleep for a bit. Galtia attacked the boy.
“! —Gal, tia…”
There was no way the boy could have reacted to Galtia’s speed; he got hit by Galtia’s venom — a sleep-inducing toxin, and fell asleep. Galtia, who caught the falling boy’s body, felt relieved as he confirmed the boy was completely asleep.
“…Seriously, you will trouble me until the end. —Leonhart!”
“…Ah, I know. Oi!”
“—Eh, Ah, Yes!”
The demon captain had been dumbfounded while he had witnessed the situation, but he snapped back to his senses when Leonhart called out to him.
The demon captain thought that he would be commanded to dispose of the boy, but his expectations were betrayed once again.
“Drop this kid off near the settlement.”
“Hah!… hah?”
The demon captain stammered stupidly as he thought he was mishearing things. Send what back? The kid?
The demon captain asked once again to reconfirm the command.
“That… is that okay?”
“Don’t kill him on the way there. If I find out the kid got hurt even a little…”
“If you find out…?”
“—I will cut you down. If you understand, then go quickly!”
“Ye-ye, yes—!! Immediately—!!”
The demon captain quickly moved toward Galtia to take the boy from him and then immediately left the command center as if he was being chased.
Leonhart also called out to the demon general on the side.
“…You should go out for a bit. Now this human — Galtia, will be turned into a majin by Maou-sama. Don’t let anyone approach the command center.”
“…Hah! Roger that!”
The demon general understood through his brief contact with Leonhart that it was better to not go against him. He blindly obeyed Leonhart’s order and left.
Only Leonhart, Galtia, and Ssulal were left in the command center.
Leonhart and Ssulal felt somewhat depressed and couldn’t hide their dark expressions.
Then Galtia called out to them.
“Sorry to trouble you. As expected, it became a mess once I set it up myself…”
“…Is that okay?”
“Ah? What do you mean? I came here since you told me to come and become a majin.”
“—That’s not what I mean! I asked you if there’s any need to portray yourself that badly!!”
“Ah-… you meant that one.”
Galtia saw that neither Leonhart nor Ssulal were demon-like and laughed.
“I don’t see why you guys have to be that depressed about it though?”
“…! Are you really okay with that!! By saying that much, it will spread throughout your whole settlement as the truth! You’ll end up as a target of hatred, the person who cowardly decided to switch sides to the demons!!”
“But it’s the truth. I don’t see why I need to deny—“
“Didn’t you save your settlement by doing that—!!”
Yes, that was the actual truth.
That was the condition for Galtia to become a majin and to swear his loyalty to Maou.
It was a condition that Leonhart told Galtia.
That same condition was given by Ssulal to Leonhart.
—Leonhart was ordered by Ssulal to ask Galtia to become a majin and swear his loyalty to Ssulal, and in exchange the Demon Army would withdraw from the settlement.
This was how it ended.
Let us see how this all happened. Ssulal was interested in a strong human who had managed to repel the Demon Army, and was thinking about turning said human into a majin — just like she did with Leonhart.
While the reason for such actions was unknown — that wasn’t really important. What was important was the fact that Ssulal put up a condition of withdrawing from the settlement to convince him to agree and let himself be turned into a majin. And she commanded Leonhart to tell said person that.
To accomplish the order he was given, Leonhart aimed for Galtia. Of course, he took care to not accidentally kill him… Unfortunately, by that point he could no longer accomplish his given order.
So he made the Demon Army withdraw, and told him that “If you are willing to become a majin and swear your loyalty to Maou Ssulal, then the Demon Army will withdraw from the mushi users’ settlement,” before they parted. Then the boy, who had been eavesdropping, only caught his last sentence of “I’ll be waiting for you.” If only this part of their conversation hadn’t been heard, then the misunderstanding would’ve never happened.
Then the Elder told the mentally cornered boy that Galtia would switch sides with the Demon Army, a lie which somehow managed to reach the truth. As the boy was in shock about what he’d heard, he was put to sleep by mushi, and was carried to the vicinity of the Demon Army encampment. By the way, the mushi user who carried the boy was already dead. Either he got unfortunately discovered by a demon on his way back, or maybe—
“The elder sure is foolish… he didn’t need to go through all that trouble since I would’ve chosen to come here by my own will.”
Galtia had chosen to become a majin to save his settlement. Galtia had chosen to use his life to save his settlement.
If only the Elder had honestly asked him to die to buy them some time to escape, then Galtia would’ve gladly done so.
“The kid too… there’s no way I would choose to kill his parents…”
Galtia kept indifferently pouring out his thoughts.
Galtia and the boy’s parents were childhood friends, and they were best friends. They were his precious friends who’d accompanied him since his childhood.
Even after they became adults, even after both of his best friends got married, their relationship didn’t change. However, that relationship suddenly ended. Both of them died on the battlefield. At that time, even Galtia had to endure his sadness. Even when he ate the whole day, the food didn’t taste good. His mushis also shared his feelings and weren’t feeling well.
However, Galtia had been entrusted with something by his best friends. It was the boy who was their child. Galtia took care of the boy as much as he could. He was normally a kind man, so it didn’t take long for them to become close.
However, Galtia laughed inwardly at the fact that he ended up getting hated by the only living memento of his best friends.
“Hahah… they’re really helpless people.”
However, Galtia just laughed it off. He didn’t seem to be saddened despite what had just happened to him.
“Why…!”
Leonhart felt indignant at Galtia’s attitude. He shot out questions towards Galtia, as if he was pulling them out of his chest.
“You saved your settlement…! You fought for others all this time…! Shouldn’t you deserve something better for all that you have done for them…?! Why do you have to be hated for that…!”
“Leonhart…”
“You…”
Ssulal’s expression clouded as if she was looking at something painful, and Galtia saw that and sensed Leonhart’s anguish to some extent.
For Leonhart, Galtia’s current treatment reminded him of his past self.
The reason he first entered the battlefield was none other than to protect the people who were precious to him and his homeland.
Despite being an unruly child, the people around him had treated him warmly. He had thought to repay their kindness, even for a bit, and chose to fight against the demons. He hadn’t been so arrogant as to say that he could save everyone, but if he could save even a few — he admitted he had harbored such thoughts before, as embarrassing as it sounded.
And that wish was fulfilled — in the form of his sacrificing himself.
He passed his days being despised by the people he had protected and was treated as a monster. Why weren’t my actions rewarded? I didn’t ask for much. Nobody needed me as a person, what they needed was merely my power. In that case, what have I been fighting for all this time—?
“Galtia… Why are you laughing like that!! You will be hated by the people you protected?! Why, why don’t you hate them—!”
It was as if he was questioning himself.
—I begged Maou to overlook the people of my settlement as I was turned into a majin — it was a question he couldn’t answer on his own.
“…Hahah, I see. That was—“
Galtia easily gave his answer, as if it was the most obvious thing to him.
“—There’s no rule that says that just because other people hate me, I must hate them back.”
“—!”
With that, it felt as if the scales fell from Leonhart’s eyes.
For Galtia, it was an obvious thing that didn’t need to be stated. However, it seemed that his words managed to become the answer for the majin before him.
“You’re actually already aware of it, right? It doesn’t matter even if you’re being hated for it. If you achieved your goal, then you should be happy about it.”
“…Ku, Kuhahah.”
Leonhart unintentionally bared his white teeth as he laughed.
Was he laughing at Galtia’s words or at his own stupidity? Anyway, it seemed that the things that had been burdening him finally lifted, and he resumed his usual expression after he was done laughing.
“—Ah, I understand. Well, I should’ve understood it already though. I couldn’t be as masochistic as you are. As expected, I wanted to be liked a bit for it.”
“Aah? You’re supposed to agree here, considering the mood. Also what do you mean by masochistic… No, that’s fine.”
“…You’re fine with that? I felt we could get along before, but now I also feel we could take things very differently.”
“You’re a bit too stressed. Things seemed difficult for you since you cared too much about it.”
“…I was suddenly granted the post as one of the Four Elite Majin and as the demon army officer just after I got turned into a majin, so my stress has piled up.”
“He-h, so you are that amazing. Ah, what about the Demon Army’s food situation? I want to know the details about—“
“Aaah——!! Shut up for a bit!! Stop!!”
Ssulal shouted loudly; she could no longer endure the two’s bantering. In fact, they would have been talking endlessly at this rate. Ssulal’s choice was an apt one.
“Why are the both of you getting along so well while ignoring me!”
“Is that what you’re angry about…?”
Leonhart was astonished as he looked at Ssulal. Galtia looked at the two and said,
“…Hey, she seems very different from how I’d imagined the maou to be, but is she really the maou?”
“She’s a genuine Maou-sama. Well, it’s true that we shouldn’t waste too much time like this. Hey Ssulal, hurry and turn Galtia into a majin—“
“Don’t order me, the Maou, around—!!!”
“…I don’t think it will be boring.”
—That day, a new majin joined the Demon Army
Majin Galtia. He was a majin who’d turned from a clan of humans known as mushi users.
And he was the second majin created by the Maou Ssulal — the kindhearted King of the Beasts.
Tsukii Note:
There goes, Galtia become a majin! Some people(outside those who knew the series) might already guessed it, so it wasn’t much of a surprise.
The original depicted Galtia was lured by Ssulal through use of food to make him into a majin. Whether it surprised you or not, you could judge that by the time he ate Ssulal’s food
Anyway, here’s his pic
https://i.ibb.co/Lg6Syvn/Galtia-no-apostles.png
https://i.ibb.co/HBvrv3S/Galtia-sword.png
The reason the pic only came now is because it is pretty much a spoiler if I gave the image. Some people will also suffer the same treatment, so I apologize in advance.
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Also, Tsukii has picked up a new series called “A Story of a Cannon Fodder who Firmly Believed He was the Protagonist, Misunderstood the Actual Protagonist as the Cannon Fodder, and Ended up Victorious!” The title really says it all. It’s available now for patrons.
From what I’ve gathered, this fanfiction should be on hiatus right now. Though this is secondhand information so you might want to fact check it. Thank you for the chapter either way!
i know, thus the slow update, seeing the 1 chap/week, it will be very long till it caught up the hiatus chap, which is 342. not to mention most chap is partitioned by 2, so perhaps the author will resume it by then
a quick count from me result about 11 years of continuous update to caught up to hiatus chapters, so maybe series wil resume before i reach that point
Ah… Well, if you’re resolved to spend a decade on this, which you sound like you’re prepared to spend at least a year on this project, I wish you luck. Hopefully, your dedication to the series will pay off. I’ll stick around as long as I can.
i really wish it is. this series lacks love, after all. hopefully more people read on this.