The Melancholy of the Demon Army Officer
Translator: Tsukii
Editor: Shizukuku
Read at Watashi wa Sugoi Desu!
Chapter 070 – Standing [B]
Galtia was the first to notice it.
The mushi radar inside of him kept him alert to what was happening around him. Information about any creatures that were approaching was relayed to Galtia without fail.
Right after Galtia said that, the next to notice was Ssulal, who immediately activated her perception magic.
A moment later, Leonhart also noticed it, followed by Kesselring and Hunty. Carol noticed it a bit late.
By the time Pale noticed it, however, something was already squeezing out through bushes. The shadow was almost beside her at that point.
A humanoid figure came running out of the forest. It was a kalar girl with long blue hair.
“Haah…Haah… I should, be okay, if I run this…?!”
The girl, who was already out of breath as she exited the woods, lost her words when she saw the group in front of her.
They were humans— or at least something that had the appearance of humans. The group that looked like a group of humans, but exuded an overwhelming atmosphere that was completely different from humans, stood there and looked at her. The moment the girl saw this, she thought, So this is how it ends. However, she failed to notice that there were familiar faces in the group because of her panicked state.
The familiar faces walked up to the girl who had already given up. They were the current chief Pale and the previous chief Kesselring.
“Are you okay?”
“Ah…”
As Kesselring crouched down and called out to the girl, the kalar girl finally realized there was a familiar face in the group. Her expression changed to a mix of surprise and relief. 1
Beginning to feel panicked, Pale asked,
“Di-did something happen?!”
“Pa-Pale-sama… Kesselring-sama…”
The clothes of the kalar who called their names were ripped and torn in places, her skin was scratched and battered, and there were lines of blood trailing from her wounds. Everyone had a bad feeling as they saw that, and the girl said in a quivering voice,
“Hu-humans are… humans are… attacking us…!!”
The first to react to those words was Hunty.
Her eyebrow raised and she was immediately ready for action,
“—!”
She tried to leave the place on the spot. Hunty was trying to activate Instant Movement, her specialty magic. However,
“—Wait, Hunty.”
“!”
A sharp voice sounded beside her. It was the voice of Majin Leonhart. Although he was usually quite casual about their hierarchical relationship, her master’s powerful voice wouldn’t allow any compromise at the moment, leaving Hunty no choice but to stop her movements.
But, even if she was impeded momentarily, her intentions didn’t change. She protested indignantly.
“If we don’t hurry, the settlement will…!”
“Calm down. —We need to listen to the situation first… Kesselring.”
Kesselring raised her voice in response to Leonhart’s call. Then he asked,
“How long will it take to reach the village?”
“…We’ll reach the outer perimeter if we proceed for about another ten minutes.”
“I see,” said Leonhart and he nodded. He then looked to Galtia. Leonhart addressed him,
“Galtia.”
“…Hm-, as expected, I can’t tell what the situation is, since we’re too far away. I need to get closer.”
Galtia knew what Leonhart wanted to know as soon as his name was called, so he immediately gave his answer.
Perhaps Leonhart found Galtia’s answer acceptable as nodded his head in response. Then he turned to Ssulal, beside Galtia.
But this time, it was with the attitude of asking his superior,
“That’s the situation, Ssulal… what should we do?”
“…Let’s see…”
Ssulal put her hand on her chin and squinted her eyes as she became lost in thought. Hunty and Kesselring finally realized what was happening as they heard the exchange.
What happened just now was the short meeting to decide how they would proceed as the leaders of the Demon Army. There was a war between humans and kalar happening in front of them, and Ssulal was on the brink of making a decision about whether to avoid the situation or to intervene in it.
That must be the reason why everyone’s expression suddenly tightened. Regardless of her decision, they were already prepared to go through it.
And the decision was entirely up to Ssulal. Hunty wondered what she should do as she saw this.
…Ssulal doesn’t like war to begin with. So the decision she would make is—
Ssulal hated being involved in combat. The choice was obvious, unless there was a reason for it. If Hunty wanted to convince her, she needed to come up with a good argument for it.
But on the other hand,
…Whose side do I stand on right now?
Hunty had made a quick decision to decimate the humans in order to help the kalars, and the fact she was calculating how to convince the maou to go along with it filled Hunty with both disgust and hesitation.
Kalars, humans, and demons. Hunty felt like she was betraying all of them. She had no idea where she belonged.
If Hunty was on her own, she could just help anyone she wished to help. It was in her nature to hate the sight of the weak being oppressed, after all.
However, her current self held the clear status of apostle to a majin. Her master was casual about their hierarchical relationships, so she could avoid doing things she didn’t want to do, and she was spoiled by her master’s good nature. But how could she, who was barely involved in the work of the Demon Army, have the right to speak about their choice in this?
“…”
As a result, Hunty could only grit her teeth as she stayed silent. She had to trust in Ssulal’s judgment.
Hopefully, Ssulal would be inclined to help. Ssulal wasn’t a ruthless maou, so Hunty had no choice but to believe in her.
And when Ssulal had finished considering it, she answered calmly. With a quiet voice,
“—The Demon Army won’t be involved in this.”
“—”
Hunty’s face filled with despair as she heard that. If one looked closely, Kesselring’s expression was also cloudy.
Meanwhile, Ssulal continued.
“It would be troublesome if the Demon Army became involved in a war between nations. Therefore, the Demon Army won’t be involved in this. —Is that okay?”
Leonhart, Galtia, and Carol quickly spoke their agreement. Kesselring also nodded after a while, and Hunty followed, eventually nodding in silence.
“But—”
“…?”
Ssulal still continued her words. What does she want to say? Hunty asked herself. And that was,
“Currently… This is personal time. Leonhart, Galtia, Kesselring, and your apostles as well, I allow you to move as you please for private business.”
In other words,
“So that means this is free time to do as we like… Is that okay, Leonhart?”
“Aah, that’s a good decision.”
Ssulal asked Leonhart for his opinion. And when he spoke his agreement, Galtia also turned his shoulder and showed a smile,
“Okay, let’s go wild as long as it doesn’t make me too hungry. Hey, Leonhart, let’s have a match to see who can defeat more of them.”
“I don’t mind. I’m still duty bound by what I promised Pale last time. I will attack seriously this time.”
“Ooh, that’s rare of you. You are actually considering going all out against small fries. This will be a tough match then…”
The two majins were having a lively discussion. However, the other majin present, who was left behind by the other two, raised her voice.
“…Ssulal-sama.”
“Hm, what is it?”
Hearing Ssulal’s light reply, Kesselring asked,
“…Is it really okay?”
It was a short and ambiguous question. However, the meaning of it was still conveyed.
Ssulal inhaled, then with a bitter smile,
“I don’t mind… Those two over there seemed to want to do this from the beginning… and personally, I also don’t like being left with a bad aftertaste.”
When Ssulal said that, Leonhart and Galtia both responded. Galtia was first to talk,
“Well, it might be another story if it were an enemy, but I don’t mind helping the allies of a comrade.”
“Battle is already considered a regular event anyway… we have no complaints about that. We’d be denying ourselves if we said otherwise.”
“That’s…”
Kesselring felt some light surprise at their words. It was something she could empathize with after all.
And another voice came from beside Hunty, who was watching this. It was the voice that belonged to the usual noisy blond,
“Hunty-san! This is our chance to show off what we are capable of! We must do our best to surpass Shichisei!”
“Yo-you’re right…”
Although Hunty was quite confused by Carol, whose usual attitude didn’t seem to be affected by the serious situation, she managed to respond anyway. Even though there was a fight, Carol’s demeanor really didn’t change. And that didn’t just apply to Carol,
“…Ahaha, they really haven’t changed at all…”
Hunty couldn’t help but think so as she looked around at her comrades. As Hunty came to that conclusion, Kesselring also opened her eyes wide for a moment, before returning to normal. Then, she closed her eyes and,
“…Thank you for your benevolent judgment, Ssulal-sama.”
“I-it’s not a big deal, though…”
Ssulal was a bit confused by the sudden gratitude, but she received it properly. Leonhart watched over that, then he turned to Pale and said,,
“Well then, I’ll have you to lead us to the battlefield. Consider this to be a light exercise before climbing the mountain.”
“Ah, ye-yes…! I understand…!”
Pale nodded as she received his gaze. Then she looked at everyone,
“E-everyone… thank you very much…!”
She thanked them deeply. However, nobody responded to her.
All they were doing was jumping into something that they coincidentally encountered in their private time. It just so happened that humans showed up when the majins group had gone for a picnic, so they decided to beat them away.
All they needed to do was act according to their usual stance.
And in front of Hunty, who already felt such a future, Ssulal ordered the group of majin under her command.
“—Go.”
As the voice of command was raised, the group headed straight for the battlefield.
Author Note:
Ssulal: “Continuing the previous topic… How did the plot go when Kesselring was a man?”
Kesselring: “I’m also curious about that.”
Carol: “Let’s see… It seems in that version, Leonhart-sama went to the forest together with Ssulal-sama. But since Leonhart-sama got lost in the forest, Ssulal is left alone in anxiety, and then she is found by Kesselring-sama. That’s the sum of it.”
Hunty: “Ah, I see… I somewhat get it.”
Carol: “By the way, Leonhart-sama is even more of an airhead in this version, so personally, I wish to witness such a moment…”
Leonhart: “Don’t wish for your master to be an airhead!”
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