The Melancholy of the Demon Army Officer
Translator: Tsukii
Editor: Shizukuku
Read at Watashi wa Sugoi Desu!
Chapter 065 – Ssulal’s Anxiety [A]
Majin Galtia felt troubled.
It was probably because of the sounds leaking out of the room in front of him. He was well aware that the walls of Maou Castle were quite thick, and Ssulal’s room was soundproofed by Ssulal herself. Therefore, Galtia himself couldn’t hear it, but it was a different story for the mushis inside of him.
As the mushis felt the vibrations from inside the room, they told Galtia, their master, about it, so he was well aware of the troublesome thing awaiting him.
“…Somehow, I feel like it’s going to be a rough day…”
As Galtia muttered that, he touched the door to the room. Being a human (although he was also a majin), it was important for him to face reality.
He knew that her symptoms would only get worse, based on what he had experienced so far. She would only become more troublesome as time passed. Therefore, he needed to deal with this as soon as possible.
With that in mind, Galtia went into the room. He lightly raised his voice as he entered,
“…I’m coming in, okay? Hey Ssulal. Today—”
“—Uwaaaaaaaahhhhhhnnnn!! I’m lonely, Leonhart—!!”
This was the sound that greeted him when he entered the room, the small girl’s voice echoing throughout the space.
The voice was coming from a bed near the center of the room. There was the figure of a white haired girl, holding her pillow while rolling around on the bed – this was the figure of Maou Ssulal.
“…Uuh… why haven’t you come back yet…!”
“…”
Ssulal buried her face in her pillow, shaking her face and body as she whined.
Galtia wondered how should he react to this situation,
“…Ah-.”
“!Leonha—”
The moment he spoke up, Ssulal spun around.
However, she stopped speaking when she saw his face. Their eyes met.
Considering what she just said, she must have thought Leonhart had returned to her just now. Her expression was one of betrayal.
Galtia could understand that and, with a subtle look,
“…I’m sorry to see you when you are in this situation.”
“Ah, no… this is not—“
“I know. I understand. You don’t have to explain.”
Galtia nodded and raised his hand. To be more exact, he raised his thumb, grinned at her and,
“I’ll just treat it how you said. —I never actually thought you shouted his name and jumped out of bed like that.”
“I’ll leave you alone for now,” said Galtia, as if he was being considerate to her and trying to leave.
And Ssulal’s face flushed scarlet in that moment,
“Tha, tha, tha, that’s really not it!! What are you misunderstanding about?!”
“Roger that. I understand. — I just need to keep it to myself, right?”
“That’s not what I mea— hey, don’t run away—?!”
Galtia swiftly left the scene.
“Ouch… you’re still bad at holding back as usual.”
“It’s because Galtia said such a weird thing… really.”
Although Galtia had escaped, he was still caught by Ssulal in the end and was once again facing her inside of her room.
Seeing Ssulal sitting on the sofa while hugging her knees, Galtia thought,
…She’s emotionally unstable today as well…
He knew this situation well, as it could be considered an annual event for Leonhart to be away for a long time. 1
If Ssulal didn’t meet Leonhart for more than a week, she would start having severe mood swings.
There were many possibilities for how she might respond. She might be sulking in her room like today, or have a weird tension about her and begin to research something, or, on the worst days, she would exude a breathtaking pressure, making the demons who live in the castle have to tread carefully in hopes of preserving their lives. It could be considered a maou-like attitude though.
However, she would become considerably calmer whenever she met with Galtia or Leonhart’s apostles, the people she was close with, so he often came to meet her during these times.
It was terrible when none of the above people were able to visit her during such times and, according to what he heard from the other demons, she exuded a terrifying presence which made everyone want to avoid her. Galtia didn’t know what that was like, since he never saw it himself, but he guessed it would be like when he first met Ssulal, back when he was a human, and she exuded that maou-like presence.
But as for today,
…It’s not as bad as I thought?
She seemed to be alright at a glance, but he couldn’t be sure. He wasn’t Leonhart, after all. Galtia couldn’t be like him, who could understand Ssulal’s mood at a glance.
Therefore, Galtia talked to her as he usually would.
“Are you free today? Please make me some food if you are.”
“…Sorry, I don’t feel like it today.”
She refused while burying her face in her knees. Galtia continued,
“Are you doing some sort of research?”
“That’s not the case… today I…”
Ssulal’s words cut off there. She was depressed after all. Her energy was quite low as well.
Galtia took a deep breath. It was something close to a sigh. Then, while scratching his head,
“…Then what should we do today?”
“…”
She didn’t respond. If she was her usual self, she would have at least given some sort of response but, since she didn’t even do that, perhaps her symptoms were particularly bad today.
As Galtia wondered what to say next, he heard Ssulal’s voice begin to speak. With a small, soliloquy-like voice, she said,
“…Hey, Galtia?”
“Oh, what is it?”
He responded since she spoke. Perhaps she meant to say something important. But she just said it before Galtia had a chance to consider what she might want to say,
“Leonhart… has something happened to him…?”
She said this with obvious anxiety.
Galtia’s movement froze for a moment. However, he immediately regained control of himself and took a breath,
“What do you mean by ‘has something happened to him’?”
“…That’s… perhaps he met with some sort of danger… making it so that he can’t return, even if he wants to…”
Galtia understood what she meant now. Basically,
“You’re worried that he might be wounded or something?”
“…Un.”
As he saw Ssulal nodding her head, Galtia started to think — but he almost immediately stopped. This wasn’t something he needed to think about at all.
Laughter leaked out from his mouth,
“If he were injured… I think he would have enjoyed putting himself in that state. Because it would mean that he was fighting against a strong fellow.”
“…I don’t think that’s something to laugh about.”
She glared at him from behind half-lidded eyes. Perhaps he had spoken wrong?
But it was something he honestly felt was true. Therefore, Galtia spoke frankly. With a light tone to the dark Ssulal,
“It’s not like there’s no possibility of him getting involved in something dangerous, but… I don’t think anything will happen to him.”
“…Why? He might be hurt out there.”
He tried to explain his logic to Ssulal, who puffed her cheek and responded with dissatisfaction. But it was simple logic to him.
“I don’t think there’s anyone out there who’s capable of wounding him to the point he couldn’t return.”
“…”
Ssulal turned silent. She didn’t have any words to counter that argument. Perhaps she knew this already.
“It might be possible if it were a fellow majin, though. Like Camilla… and I suppose you, as well. But I doubt normal humans or demons could beat him, even if they took him on together.”
“…That might be the case, but…”
“Then you don’t have to worry. He will return before you know it anyw—”
“—I know that, but!”
Ssulal looked up at him. It seemed she had thought of something to counter his argument with. She seemed to be angry and, with a loud voice,
“There’s still those that are dangerous for Leonhart out there! Like Kaijuu or Toppos… plus the dragon king and the Four Great Saint Dragons might still be alive out there and they are all dangerous, and there’s also—”
“…Hee, so there are quite a few of these strong fellows out there. That’s the first time I heard of it.”
“………ah.”
When he raised his voice as if he was impressed, Ssulal froze as she realized that she had said something that she shouldn’t have said.
I’ve never heard any of those names before, thought Galtia before Ssulal hurriedly said,
“He, hey… I didn’t say anything just now. Please forget about it.”
“Even if you say that, it’s already etched in my mind so I simply can’t help it, you know?”
“…Then at least don’t tell Leonhart about it… If Leonhart was to find out…”
As she tried to convince him, Ssulal’s voice was filled with unease at the thought of Leonhart knowing, so Galtia decided to be convinced after a while. I see, he thought. It was easy for him to imagine what would happen if Leonhart learned of this.
“You’re right, if he finds out about this, then he will likely go and challenge them one by one as soon as the opportunities arise. I guess I’ll keep my mouth shut.”
“…That’s right. I don’t want him to end up in a dangerous situation…”
Galtia personally thought that it would be okay if Leonhart just fought whoever he wanted to and, where Galtia might tell that to Leonhart if he were asked, it was none other than Ssulal’s own wish, so he would at least keep silent for now. Galtia thought that if he told Leonhart that he didn’t tell him for Ssulal’s sake, Leonhart probably wouldn’t have anything to say about it.
…So there are actually still fellows out there who could be dangerous to a majin.
He only heard of their names once. It was hard for Galtia to imagine what kind of creatures they might be, but they should be quite strong since even Ssulal felt anxious about them.
In that case, I guess there’s actually a possibility he is wounded and can’t return yet, thought Galtia as he revised his view.
Even so, he didn’t say that out loud since Ssulal would likely panic again. Therefore, Galtia only thought it to himself.
…But indeed, he sure is late…
Galtia reflected on Leonhart’s personality. He was sure Leonhart mentioned it before, that he was the kind of person who hated people who were always late and those that didn’t keep their promises.
Galtia didn’t remember it clearly, since it happened a long time ago but, if he wasn’t mistaken, Leonhart once told Galtia that people often broke their promises with Leonhart in the past. That made him grow to hate such behavior and choose to protect his own promises instead, or something like that.
His subordinates seemed to be well aware of this fact, so in Leonhart’s Army the demon generals put their effort towards ensuring his commands were executed properly and on time. The thing they called “adherence to discipline” seemed to be rooted from there. Although Leonhart wouldn’t be angry if he knew that they hadn’t done something on purpose, they chose not to take any chances. Perhaps they took after their leader and became a group of serious fellows.
So, if Leonhart said he would return early, then he should have tried to return early. This meant he should have returned as soon as his business out there was settled.
Actually, it was a vacation and, since he hadn’t specified any dates, there shouldn’t be any problem, even if he ran late. But Leonhart wasn’t the type who would stay away and keep resting just because he could. He was a serious person after all.
Because of his nature, it was highly doubtful Leonhart wouldn’t return just because he didn’t feel like coming back yet. There must be a reason why he couldn’t return.
It was possible he ended up meeting one of those strong beings by coincidence and fought them because it seemed like the thing to do. Leonhart was the type to get heated up as he fought. Perhaps he might have gotten involved in an accident— but that hardly seemed possible.
…I guess I won’t figure it out just by speculating.
Galtia was trying to make speculations, but he couldn’t come up with an answer. As he suddenly glanced at Ssulal,
“…Haa… Leonhart, what are you doing out there…?”
She began to get depressed and hugged her knees again.
However, they couldn’t know what he was doing out there. Perhaps Ssulal might return to her usual self once she knew that but, since they didn’t know anything—
“—Okay.”
Galtia slapped his own knee. He looked at Ssulal then casually said,
“Well then, how about we go there to play and watch?”
“………eh.”
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