The Melancholy of the Demon Army Officer
Translator: Tsukii
Editor: Lilia
Read at Watashi wa Sugoi Desu!
Chapter 044 – Drunken Ssulal [B]
“………”
The venue went silent.
Perhaps it was just his imagination, but Leonhart felt as if the air itself stood still as the temperature of the area cooled down.
Then eventually Ssulal said,
“…Leonhart, that’s super lame.”
And dealt the final blow.
…DAMMIIITTTT—! Ssulal, I’ll definitely… make you cry later… definitely, I say…!!
Leonhart cradled his face in his hands and refused to look at anything except the floor. He did swear to make Ssulal cry later, but he himself felt like crying right now. On top of that, the people around also seemed to feel bad for him and started clapping out of pity, which made him feel even worse. As they gave their sparse applause,
“We-well… I don’t hate it that much, yep… sake for liquor, and then for her sake… regardless whether it was interesting or not, it was well thought out with the limited time he had…”
“Rather than a one-shot gag, that’s more of a pun, though…”
“…Leonhart, that’s … the first thing that comes to your mind when ordered to do something interesting…? T-that’s amazing, in a way…”
“Leonhart-sama, you are cool, but I guess your sense of humor is a bit…”
“Fufuh… ah, it might be interesting to create this kind of atmosphere, so Leonhart-sama is actually quite skilled…”
“Leonhart-sama-! You slipped the gag, but it properly became a pun, so it’s alright!”
…Don’t give me those follow ups—! It makes it more painful!
Leonhart was desperately trying to maintain his image as a well respected majin, so he couldn’t shout that out loud and only wailed inwardly. Although right now, that very image was crumbling down, so maybe there was no point.
And while he was mentally writhing in agony, the evil minded, tyrannical girl who caused it all was,
“Hm~ it is Leonhart’s fault that the atmosphere cooled down…”
…Who, who did you say was at fault again—?!
Leonhart’s face flushed as he heard Ssulal’s merciless words. He felt like crying even more. Rather, he wished to wipe this memory completely from his mind. Although he was already sober, he swore to get drunk again as soon as possible so he could forget about it.
Meanwhile,
“…Leonhart-sama.”
Carol approached him. Then she smoothly said,
“Everyone will comfort you later, so it’s okay.”
“Carol…”
Such a thing. It seemed like the original plan, where there were people who would comfort Leonhart, had not been cancelled despite this recent event. Such loyalty made Leonhart feel a little moved.
He really deserved to have his apostle and the fan club girls who all yearned for him. There was nothing more appreciated than people who comfort you when you make a mistake.
However,
“…Comfort? Then, I’ll do it too~”
“—!”
Upon hearing that word, Ssulal seemed to want to join in as well. For a moment, he felt a chill run up his spine. However,
…Am, am I still safe…?
Looking at her casual attitude, it seemed that the real meaning of “comfort” wasn’t revealed yet. Leonhart was relieved. If Ssulal knew what was going to happen afterwards… honestly, he didn’t want to know what her reaction would be.
However, Leonhart forgot about something.
At the time like this, there was always somebody here who didn’t read the atmosphere, or rather, spoke out unnecessary things—
“Ah, Ssulal-sama. I didn’t mean comfort him normally, as for this time—“
“…Not comfort him normally? What do you mean then?”
It was Leonhart’s apostle, Carol. She answered Ssulal’s suspicious tone with a slightly embarrassed tone.
“Ah, that’s… we would like for Leonhart-sama to take all fan club members together later…”
“Ah, you fool—“
Leonhart tried to stop her immediately, but,
“…Hah? Take…?”
“—!”
—It was already too late.
Ssulal’s expression turned into a serious one.
And the foolishly honest Carol, with her usual cheery attitude,
“Yes! We already got Leonhart-sama’s approval for that… that we would all be taken altogether later…!”
Happily informed Ssulal of these indecent plans.
“…”
Ssulal fell silent. Then she slowly turned to face Leonhart.
“…Hey, Leonhart?”
“! Wha-what is it…?”
Leonhart replied with a quivering voice. The light atmosphere from earlier was completely gone and replaced with an ominous, stifling atmosphere. The attendees had trouble breathing, so heavy was the presence that now radiated from the platform.
It was the face that Ssulal usually showed to people she was not friendly with— in other words,
“—That thing Carol mentioned just now, is that for real?”
She fully revealed her existence as maou.
The pressure, presence and stuffy feeling she exuded weren’t just his imagination. It was the pressure exuded by the strongest creature on the continent, the being which surpassed all other creatures and made the majins, apostles, and demons cower in awe.
And that pressure was currently directed toward a single man in the form of a death glare.
…Huh… This, isn’t this like, really bad…?
And the unfortunate person was none other than the aide of Maou Ssulal, Majin Leonhart. For some reason, she shot a blaming gaze and accusing words towards Leonhart.
Although Leonhart wasn’t clear as to why she was so upset about this, he still felt fearful looking upon her unrelenting appearance. But I have to answer her question, so even as Leonhart was still confused,
“No, no, well… it is, true, I guess…?”
He stuttered over his words, but admitted to the fact, as if trying to keep her in a good mood by being honest.
“…I see.”
Her gaze was mixed with dangerous light. The next moment,
“Leonhart, you—“
For a single breath, Maou Ssulal unleashed her power.
“Stuuuupppiiiddd—-!!!”
“gh—GUUOOOOOOOOOooooOOO—?!”
Leonhart was blown away by that torrent of power.
As the very air vibrated and the entire building shook, the demon generals and demon captains witnessed the moment the maou unleashed her power and blew Leonhart away. Even if they wanted to help their leader Leonhart, they couldn’t move from their hiding places due to the maou’s pressure.
That was their instinct as demons. It made them think that poorly planned interference toward the absolute being known as maou would only end badly for them.
Also, they carried a strange faith with them. As long as it’s Leonhart, this kind of punishment won’t wound him too much, they thought.
After considering the rumors floating around and their earlier exchange, the general suspicion was that the maou and Leonhart were actually in that kind of relationship. And, if that was really the case, then it was Leonhart’s fault anyways. He deserved to be punished like that for being unfaithful and greedy, and it wasn’t like he would have permanent damage anyways.
Therefore, they devoted themselves to watching the show. As they all sent their apologies and prayers for mercy to Leonhart, they took a big step back for the sake of their own survival.
—And while the demon generals were adapting to the situation, Leonhart, who had brought maou’s wrath upon him was,
“U-UUOOooooOOOOoO?!”
Desperately cutting down the magic that was unleashed toward him. He drew the Demonic Sword Orpheil he always carried and just barely escaped from Ssulal’s magic.
…Wai, she…! It’s absurd…!
Leonhart was astonished by Ssulal’s magic. Although in the entire period of time he accompanied her, he had never seen her in combat, he had observed plenty of her magic experiments. Judging by the skill and ease at which she conducted complex experiments, he was well aware that she was good at magic control.
But what surprised him was the magic’s unbelievable power, concentration, and speed, which made him wonder if it was only possible to unleash such strong magic because she was the maou.
As he barely deflected one attack after another, Leonhart could feel his strength waning. It didn’t need to be said that a majin’s power was inferior to the maou’s. When Leonhart saw Ssulal unleashing magic he had never seen before, at the greatest power level he had ever witnessed, he felt like giving up immediately. Even so, he still desperately tried to resist.
The barrage of attacks seemed to stop, and Leonhart fell to one knee, breathing heavily and leaning on his sword. However, his momentary respite wouldn’t last for long.
“…Leonhart, you—“
“…! Oi, Ssulal! That’s—“
Upon hearing Ssulal call his name angrily, Leonhart looked up and noticed with horror the layers of magic circles piled up one after another around Ssulal. At the center of it, there was a concentrated sphere of magic power, so intense that the air around it looked like it was vibrating.
If a human who had never seen magic before in their life witnessed such an event, they would easily say that Ssulal was wielding unbelievably strong power right now. So Leonhart, who was the unfortunate target of this unimaginably strong magic, could only panic and shout desperately,
“W-wait! If you shoot that, I might actually—! That one really can’t be settled as a jok—“
“Iiidddiiioottttt—!!”
As Ssulal closed her eyes and cursed with all her might at Leonhart, a blinding white ray of pure magic power was unleashed.
That enormous ray of light rushed through the air and blasted straight towards Leonhart,
“GyyyaaaaaaaAAAAAAAhhhhh—??!!!!”
And once it made impact with Leonhart, it blew him through the building’s wall and also blasted a hole through the next hill.
Not only did the white ray send Leonhart flying away like a stone skipped over the surface of the water, but the entire surroundings had also been overturned. There was a clear gap in the trees and a dirt path carved out where Leonhart’s body had traveled. The banquet venue now had a massive hole in the wall, the tables had been overturned, and there was food spilled everywhere. The attendees were either coughing from the dust or splattered with food, and they were all huddled up against the wall.
“…Fuhhh…”
Ssulal exhaled and her posture relaxed after unleashing that massive blast. Perhaps her frustration had also been released by that attack?
However, the moment she opened her eyes,
“…Huh…?”
The platform she stood on was shattered, and her surroundings — the banquet venue — were completely messed up.
“Guh, guh, as expected of maou-sama… what powerful magic…”
“If we were the one who received that, not even our ashes would remain… but, Leonhart-sama was…”
“Kyaaaahh—?! Leonhart-samaaaaaa—! Leonhart-sama was sent flying—“
“We-we have to chase after him immediately! Please wait for a bit, Leonhart-sama! This Carol will come for you!!”
“…All the food is ruined…”
“…”
People around her were shouting, running, and even crying. All in all, it was a scene of complete pandemonium.
As she saw that, Ssulal finally—
“Did I … go too far?”
Muttered that, as if she had finally come to her senses.
Three days after the banquet,
A certain person visited Leonhart’s room.
“…Err, I thought today would be the day of the duel—”
It was Hunty Kalar, the second apostle of Majin Leonhart.
Her master, Leonhart, had ordered Carol to let Hunty know that the date of her visit would be shifted three days later, so she now came to visit him as instructed. However, upon entering and seeing the state of the owner of the room, it looked like maybe three days was a little optimistic. However, just in case Leonhart was crazy enough to still want to fight like this, Hunty asked, with an indescribable expression on her face,
“Ah… I’ll just ask just in case, but — do you want to have a go?”
“—Like hell I will!! You can easily tell that, right!!”
Leonhart shouted indignantly, but then immediately groaned in pain. His entire body was covered with bandages, and he could barely open his eyes with how swollen they were. He gestured towards his body with one arm, but to Hunty, she just saw a white stump covered in gauze waving around wildly. Beside him there were two girls,
“—Sorry! I’m really sorry about this!”
“It was really dangerous back then… when we first found him, he couldn’t even twitch…”
There was Ssulal, who kept apologizing while casting Healing at him, and Carol, who, for the first time, looked worried and had none of her usual enthusiasm. Seeing the pitiful scene, Hunty couldn’t feel happy about the duel being indefinitely postponed at all.
“…What the hell happened…”
“…Don’t ask. You’ll regret it if you did.”
Leonhart said that as he recalled the events of three days ago. As if remembering the trauma it suffered, his body began to tremble, and Leonhart was forced to grit his teeth, as even shivering was painful. He swore to forever keep two things in mind:
One of which,
…I’ll definitely… never participate in another banquet…
As for the other one — he won’t allow Ssulal to drink liquor at all, at any cost.
It was the first time Leonhart had a liquor event-related trauma that involved such a small amount of liquor, and he would never forget it.
T/N:
The spell used by Ssulal is likely to be White Destruction Beam if I go by the description. It is a spell that is exclusively usable by people with Magic LV2 or higher, usually goes to extreme effort before learning how to cast it. It was extremely powerful magic that went beyond the scope of normal magic, as it took the element to a critical level and transformed it into a turbulent blast of energy. There was another destruction beam, the Black Destruction Beam, which people of Magic LV2 had a hard time learning about, which made it almost exclusive to Magic LV3 people.
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