The Melancholy of the Demon Army Officer
Translator: Tsukii
Editor: Lilia
Read at Watashi wa Sugoi Desu!
Chapter 059 – Round One 1
“—Hey.”
“What is it, Raizen?”
“…I wonder when will this war end?”
“Aah? Isn’t that obvious… until either that giant thingy dies, or we all die.”
“…So it’ll have to continue until one side dies out, huh.”
“What, are you dissatisfied about that?”
“…What about you?”
“Me? As for me… I doubt I can win against that giant, but I think I can leave a good hit on it!”
“…Are you going there to die?”
“Hahah, of course I am! Witness it with your eyes, and engrave it into your mind, how glorious my death will be, Raizen!”
“…” 2
“Hey, what’s wrong? You are weird today… don’t tell me, did you catch some disease that made you become a coward? You are Raizen, not that foolish Avel.”
“…No, I’m not afraid of the battle itself.”
“…? Then isn’t it okay? You are absurdly strong anyway. Won’t you try and challenge the king once the war is over?”
“…I have such intentions, but what are you laughing for?”
“Hahah, isn’t it exciting? Our Raizen is going to rise up from his successes to greater heights. From a common soldier to captain, to corps captain, to general, and finally, to a king! You could possibly be the greatest among dragons, you know!”
“…It’s not like I—”
“Then be more excited! You could possibly win that Camilla-sama for your own. With that, the legacy of our tribe will be secured!”
“Stop that, that’s disrespectful.”
“…You sure are a hard one as usual… ah, but I am not referring to your scales when I say hard, okay?”
“I know that, so you don’t have to explain. —It’s about time.”
“Oh, I’ve been waiting for this! Heheh, give us your command, Raizen! All of us are itching for a battle!”
“…You guys are…”
“? What is it?”
“…No, nothing. —Follow my lead!! We will teach that giant that the dragons are the rulers of this world!!”
“OOoooh—!!”
Leonhart was lying on top of the bed when he regained consciousness.
“…Ugh…”
Leonhart grunted as he felt the feverish pain from all over his body.
And once he completely awakened and opened his eyes, somebody called out beside him.
“You—! You woke up…!”
“You are…”
He could see a face hovering over him. It was a familiar face.
The face belonged to an elegant, beautiful woman with long ears and short light blue hair. Leonhart, who still felt a bit dizzy, called out the name of the person.
“Kesselring, huh… where is thi— guh.”
“! You shouldn’t get up yet. Your wounds are wrapped, but they’re not healed. If you get up, they might split open again…”
As Leonhart tried to get up, he felt pain run all over his body. Looking at his expression of agony, Kesselring tried to gently convince him otherwise.
However,
“No… I’ve recovered enough to get up… hup.”
“Ah…”
He used his hand as support to sit up. Then he immediately checked the damage to his own body.
Although he didn’t feel any damage to his vital organs, he could feel how severe his external injuries and bone fractures were. Fortunately, the fractures his legs and arms suffered weren’t crippling. While it was painful to move them around, there was no problem in doing so.
Although some of his ribs were broken, his organs should be saf— nope, some had been stabbed by the broken ribs. Perhaps it was his stomach that got punctured? Fortunately, his heart and lungs were still okay, since he was able to breathe and move.
…I got seriously injured after all…
Although it was still possible to move if he forced it, his physical ability would be drastically reduced. If he were to fight right now, he could only exert a fraction of his usual strength. If he tried otherwise, his life would be in danger.
Leonhart looked at his own body. His last memory was that he was bleeding out all over his body, but now, the bandages that were wrapped around him looked completely clean. It seemed that something had been applied to his cuts to properly stop his bleeding. Could it be that…
“…Did you nurse me? Where did you get the bandages and medicine?”
“…Um, the medicine was made from some herbs that Pale harvested in the forest, and as for the bandage, I used whatever was available in this house.”
“I see…”
As Leonhart heard Kesselring’s explanation, he understood what had happened. The bleeding had been stopped by the bandages Kesselring expertly wrapped around him, and the tingling sensation he felt was from the herbs Pale gathered so that he wouldn’t be in pain when he woke up.
Pale should be harvesting herbs in the forest, but if Kesselring trusted Pale to do that on her own, then it must not be too dangerous outside.
Although he wasn’t concerned about the herbs,
“…Is the owner of the house around?”
Leonhart asked the thing he was curious about. When he walked through the woods and found the log house last night, his consciousness was barely holding on at most. He had no energy to spare to think about if someone was living there.
Once he laid both kalar on the bed, he had immediately gone outside to stand guard, so all his focus was on staying awake to protect them. But now that he thought about it, he behaved pretty arrogantly and impolitely, since he just casually took over the house like this. Since everything had turned out okay, he should remember his manners.
Therefore, he thought he should at least give his gratitude and apology to the owner of the house.
But Kesselring shook her head in reply when he voiced this concern.
“I don’t think there is one… at the very least, there isn’t any now.”
“…So that means there was an owner in the past.”
“Yes,” replied Kesselring with a nod. “While there were indeed the bare necessities for living, they’re all covered with a thick layer of dust, and there’s no food stocked in the house. However, this is definitely a house made with human hands, so someone must have lived here at some point.
Leonhart nodded back in agreement.
Then Kesselring continued her explanation,
“While you were sleeping, Pale and I took the opportunity to scout out the immediate surrounding area. I would place our current location at the western region of the forest. There are no kalar settlements or similarly civilized creatures living in the vicinity. There should be various demons living in this region… but this place seems to be an exception. If I were to guess—”
Kesselring spoke out her opinion.
“—This should be the house that a kalar, who didn’t feel comfortable living inside the settlement, built for herself to live in.”
“…What do you mean?”
Leonhart asked for an additional explanation. There should be a reason why she said so. Leonhart had almost no knowledge about how kalar lived, but he was surprised that she was so sure it was a kalar.
The question he asked along with his gaze was answered honestly by Kesselring.
“…Well, it’s just a simple elimination method. This forest isn’t suitable for humans to live in. Demons live here, but they wouldn’t build and furnish a house like this. Therefore, a kalar would be the most likely candidate. However, this place is located too far from any existing kalar settlements. So this should be a place where a kalar, who didn’t fit in with a group, lived.”
“…Is something like that possible? ”
“Yes… there also one more thing, the major reason why I concluded this—”
Kesselring stopped her words there for a moment.
Perhaps there was something on her mind, seeing as she looked away from Leonhart.
…What is it?
Leonhart was quite suspicious of her behavior, but Kesselring spoke out her reason before he thought any further.
“…Humans leave bones when they die— but a kalar leaves nothing. Therefore, seeing that there were no traces of human remains in this house or the surrounding forest, I thought a kalar would be the most likely candidate…”
“Aah…if I am not wrong… that is because of the time of change, right?”
“…That’s right.”
As Kesselring nodded, Leonhart pondered deeply on this topic. Now that I think about it, I have heard of such a thing.
According to what he knew, once a kalar lived a certain number of years, they could become either an angel or a devil according to the deeds they had accomplished throughout their life. For the kalar, who never grew old, this was the equivalent of the end of their lifespan.
Ah, but, I wonder who I heard it from, again? thought Leonhart as he tried to recall where he had learned it. Perhaps it was Hunty who had told him. She was a dragon kalar, but they probably had similar lifestyles. 3
..But I can understand her reasoning.
Leonhart inwardly agreed with Kesselring’s observations. He didn’t notice any traces of human existence when he walked around and found this house. Not only were animals absent from the vicinity, but he couldn’t detect any traces of human remains, or death in general.
Since there were only a few demons that roamed in the vicinity of the house, any inhabitants could only die from injury, disease, or old age. Unless there was some kind of abnormal existence that ate even bones, there should be skeletal remains.
It was more natural for a kalar rather than a human to live this deep in this forest.
Even so, how did they build such a house alone? Did someone help that person? While such questions ran through his mind, he couldn’t find the answers. It was possible that the original owner chose to live in isolation because they were capable of building the house alone.
…But, well… let’s leave it at that.
I guess I’m lucky, perhaps karma is finally being generous to me? Leonhart inwardly sneered.
But rather than that—
“…Ah-…well…you see.”
“? What is it? If you need something, I can bring it to you.”
“No, that’s not it.” Leonhart shook his head.
Then as he looked into her eyes,
“…It’s very considerate of you to nurse and attend to me so wholeheartedly. Thank you.”
“!”
He sincerely expressed his gratitude. He ignored the pain in his body and lowered his head towards her.
Kesselring’s eyes widened as she was taken aback, but after a while, she put on a serious expression,
“…No, I should be the one expressing my gratitude.”
Kesselring stood up from her chair and looked straight at Leonhart and said,
“I’ve heard the detailed story from Pale, and I understand that you didn’t lie—”
“Aah…oi.”
Kesselring ignored his call and slowly bent her waist and lowered her head.
Following that,
“…For saving our settlement… and for saving both Pale and my life. —Thank you.”
Moreover,
“For putting up with me, who pointed my hostility at you, and was too arrogant and caught up in my prejudice to listen to any explanations, despite the fact that you saved me and everyone in my settlement. —I’m terribly sorry. Please tell me if there’s anything I can do to make it up to you.”
“…”
During her entire speech, Kesselring’s posture never wavered. She kept her head down and never once looked up at Leonhart, who was sitting up in bed, staring at her in wonder.
Her series of movements, from when she stood, up until she expressed her gratitude, was sophisticated and her speech could only be described as elegant and high-class. She was like a queen, on a level higher than regular people.
The only thing someone could point out as ruining that fantasy was the fact that she was still bowing her head. As if waiting for Leonhart’s words, she held that position without even twitching.
But even that showed her strong sense of honor, which made her look even more beautiful. If a third party was to see them, they would think it was a scene from a painting or a fairy tale.
Although Leonhart accepted both Kesselring’s gratitude and apology,
“…”
Leonhart was watching the woman who directly faced him while bowing.
…She sure is a serious woman.
To be honest, I don’t think she needs to go that far, thought Leonhart.
Even if he did save the kalar back then, that was because of a deal he made with Pale. He wasn’t so heroic as to just help whoever looked to be in trouble. And the actions he took afterward were indeed easily misunderstood, so he didn’t mind her actions. In fact, he admired her loyalty to and protectiveness of her fellow kalar.
In addition, although he did save them from falling to their deaths from the mountainside, half of the reason he did so was for himself. One could say that he merely made use of them to further his own growth.
And since they were still nursing his wounds even now, he considered whatever debt they had as already repaid properly.
But even so,
…I don’t feel bad receiving her gratitude.
Since it was rare for him to be receiving gratitude from anyone who wasn’t a demon, he felt like it might show on his face in a weird way. While he was happy for the gratitude, he felt a bit awkward having her keep bowing her head.
So Leonhart thought to open his mouth to tell her to raise her head, but,
“—?!”
But then he noticed. He had no idea why he didn’t notice it earlier.
Before Leonhart’s line of sight was the elegant figure of Kesselring, who bowed her head. There was something aesthetically pleasing by the way she bent at a perfect right angle towards him. It would be tiring to keep such a posture for such an extended period of time, so he admired her strength and endurance.
It was an interesting coincidence, that the height of his line of sight was about the same as the height of Kesselring’s bent head. She was tall for a woman, so when Leonhart looked at her, his gaze naturally fell onto an area just under Kesselring’s head.
As for what he meant by this,
—It was boobs.
In front of Leonhart’s gaze was Kesselring’s upper body. With her learning forward like this, he could see her breasts very clearly.
And hers wasn’t just any average pair of breasts. It was a pair of big boobs.
Moreover, it also wasn’t just any pair of big boobs. He could see a deep valley peeking through the gaps of her clothes.
…Ooh…! This is, quite… amazing…!
Leonhart could only think of praise as he was hypnotized by the sight of those…generous assets. It was truly a work of art.
A woman’s breasts were by nature soft things, yet they were elastic and had the power to return to its former state, no matter how much they were disturbed. However, they also had the potential for change. If a woman’s chest was large enough, then, because of gravity, the shape of her breasts would change depending on her posture.
Kesselring was one such woman, and with her leaning forward, the considerable weight of her breasts meant they were pulled downwards.
But despite that, they didn’t completely drop down. Their elasticity was trying to return them to their original shape.
As a result, a wonderful valley perfectly cradled by a pair of mountains could be seen.
This was the manifestation of the clash between the determination of the human body to maintain its original shape and the unstoppable force of gravity following the laws of nature.
It was the fruit of paradise produced by earthly struggle. Leonhart, who had the privilege of witnessing such a divine event, put his hand to his chin and seriously examined it.
He remembered that Kesselring said earlier that she would do anything to make it up to him.
…Uhm, while I could just ask her to allow me grope it, I would want to do more—
Leonhart shook his head. What am I doing? He thought. She had such pure feelings, and he responded with shameful vulgarity.
No, I think this is fair payment. I have enjoyed the view long enough, so I should ask her to lift her head.
“…Fuh.”
Leonhart exhaled and switched his thoughts. It was at that moment.
“…I, I’m back — eh, Le, Leonhart-san!! You woke up!”
“! Pa, Pale huh…”
The door of the house suddenly opened and Leonhart jolted out of the trance Kesselring’s chest had put him under.
The voice belonged to the other kalar woman Leonhart saved: Pale.
…To think I was so focused that I didn’t realize the presence outside…
Although Leonhart felt ashamed of that, he somehow managed to regain his thoughts.
Pale carried a small basket in her hand with several flowers piled on it. She must have been picking herbs this whole time.
“I’m so glad-…! These herbs were difficult to find, but the effort was worth it in the end —eh, Kesselring-sama? What are you doing?”
Kesselring did not react to Pale entering the room, and she still silently bowed her head to Leonhart. Pale noticed that and called out in wonder.
I think it’s better for it to end naturally this way, Leonhart realized. He was a little, no, very disappointed about that, though.
“Well, this is—”
It was at the moment Leonhart spoke out to explain, there was another voice speaking over him.
“…You came at the right moment, Pale. Don’t you have something to say to Leonhart as well?”
“Eh, eeh…?”
“…I am showing my gratitude and appreciation for what Leonhart did.”
“Eh, ah, does that mean…”
“…”
With that said, Kesselring turned silent once again.
If Kesselring said more than that, it would seem like she forced Pale to apologize and Kesselring didn’t want that. If someone only said things because they were told to do so, then it wouldn’t truly come from their heart. This was how sincere her feelings were.
Pale heard that and was dumbfounded for a moment, but she quickly recovered. Her expression changed to one of determination.
“…”
“Pa, Pale?”
Leonhart was confused. Pale gently put the basket of herbs on the desk and approached him, standing beside Kesselring.
No way. as Leonhart’s mind began to run wild, Pale bowed her head,
“—Le, Leonhart-san! Um… thank you very much for saving us!”
Along with her words of gratitude, she bent forward at the waist, just like Kesselring, and executed a perfect bow. Leonhart couldn’t help but shout in his mind.
…The boobs became two—?!
No, is it more correct to say that it became four in this case? Leonhart frantically thought to himself. But it was too late to think about it any longer. He was completely frozen, and his mind went blank, as if he uncovered a forbidden truth.
—Leonhart continued to watch for nearly a minute afterward.
Author Note:
Ssulal: “Hey…! Why don’t you let me see what is beyond…?!”
Carol: “This is tyranny-! An oppression-! An opposition action—!”
Galtia: “Guguh, you guys! Protect this door with your lives!”
Demon soldiers: “Ye, yes—!”
Shichisei: “Why am I getting dragged into this…!”
Galtia: If Ssulal sees what is beyond, this whole area will become flat!”
Demon general: “Aah… maou-sama is flat aft—“ psh
Shichisei: “The demon general disappeared?!”
Galtia: “Yes, be careful. That’s Ssulal’s newly developed magic, ‘magic to kill anyone who makes fun of a flat chest.’ Anyone who does so will be erased. Especially Ssulal’s who happen to be very fla—“ psh
Shichisei: “Galtia-samaaaa—?!”
Launea: “… (To make fun of someone’s physical characteristic is definitely bad behavior!)”
Hunty: “Please keep your pranks in moderation…
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