The Melancholy of the Demon Army Officer
Translator: Tsukii
Editor: Shizukuku
Read at Watashi wa Sugoi Desu!
Chapter 071 – Battle of the Kings [B]
“haah… haah…!”
“Don’t run away, little girl…!”
A kalar girl was running out of breath as she was being chased by human soldiers.
Her heart was pounding and her legs were about to give out due to fear.
She had only just joined the kalar warrior corps.
The girl had a talent for magic and thought to contribute to the settlement by using that talent, thus she volunteered for the warrior corps.
She decided to be like the person she admired, and headed to the battlefield to protect her compatriots from the humans. She resolved to endure the battle, no matter how painful it might be, to protect her comrades.
—However, it seemed she was too naïve. The girl had no idea what the battlefield was really like.
For the first time, the girl was experiencing the darkness of battle, where blood splattered, screams echoed, and the sound of blades clashing came and went.
When she saw her comrades die in front of her — no, even when she saw the corpse of an enemy soldier, the girl couldn’t endure the nausea.
She threw up the contents of her stomach and, by the time she got used to the feeling, the enemy was just around the corner.
“Ah, uh…!”
The girl tried to run away.
But she was soon cornered.
“Well then, it’s time to have some fun…!”
“Hahahah, it’ll be over soon if you just stay still. Make sure you don’t resist.”
The hands of the human men reached towards the girl. And the girl realized her shallowness.
It was a mistake for a person like me to be in the battlefield. It was a mistake for a person like me to think this is something I could do. It was a mistake for a person like me to dream and want to be like that person—
In her gaze that was blurred by tears, she saw the men’s vulgar expressions.
However,
“—May I ask for you to stop what you are doing?”
Suddenly, a voice sounded from behind the girl.
It was a female voice that closely resembled that of a person she knew,
“—Ah? You are…”
A soldier cast a suspicious glance toward the figure that had appeared suddenly and silently.
But before he manage to see who it was,
“—gh?!”
He felt something impact his arm. It took only a moment to happen. The man let out a painful groan. Nobody understood what had just happened.
The first to realize it was the man who received the impact. He looked for the hand that had been trying to grab the girl just a moment earlier,
“Ah—my… arm, is…”
“…Perhaps this is the thing you are looking for—”
A woman appeared along with those words. It was a kalar woman with a blue crystal on her forehead.
It was Kesselring. The kalar girl recognized her now that she had stepped forward. Kesselring had appeared while carrying something in her hand.
That object, which Kesselring casually tossed aside— was the man’s severed arm.
“A-Aaaahhh—?!”
The moment he noticed it, a terrible pain ran through the man’s whole body. His screams echoed through the woods.
But Kesselring ignored that and approached the kalar girl. Then, with a caring voice,
“Are you okay?”
“Ah…”
Kesselring glanced at the girl’s body and checked her wounds. Although there were no major injuries, scratches and scrapes covered her body from running through the battlefield, which were painful to look at,
“It seems you’re injured… You should immediately withdraw and tend to your wounds—”
[“…Don’t worry. I’ll take care of her wounds.”]
“?!”
From somewhere in the forest, the voice of another woman was heard. Then, as the girl’s body was bathed in light,
“Eh, my wounds healed…”
The girl was stunned. As the voice had promised, her wounds on her body were completely healed.
The girl guessed that what she experienced just now was divine magic — perhaps it was Healing? The girl didn’t know the answer to that, and it was Kesselring who opened her mouth and said,
“…Thank you very much.”
She spoke her gratitude to the voice in the forest, which made the girl understand it was that person who had healed her injury.
However, the existence that received the gratitude said,
[“I don’t mind. Rather than that, let’s take care of this quickly. Go ahead.”]
“Yes, I understand.”
The voice gave an order to Kesselring and, looking at how Kesselring obediently complied with the voice’s command, the girl couldn’t help but wonder who the owner of the voice was.
Kesselring, who turned back to look at the human soldiers once again, stood proudly in front of the girl as if to protect her and declared to them,
“My apologies, but there will be no mercy. None of you shall return alive, but— I suppose you don’t mind?”
That sharp look and voice shot through the men. The men trembled.
But they endured the trembling and one of them shouted,
“S-screw you! None of us will return alive, you say?! What could you do alone!!”
“…At the very least—”
Kesselring answered. And with the killing intent on her words,
“—I am aware I could easily kill all of you, though?”
When she said that, the surroundings turned dark.
Nay, it wasn’t that it was merely dark.
“Wha— this is…?!”
The soldiers raised their voices in alarm, due to the changes taking place around them.
Darkness encroached on them from the surrounding forest..
It looked like the darkness of the night — yet it wasn’t. The soldiers had torches with them, and some parts of the forest were still burning.
However, those things were meaningless.
A space where not even light could pass through was created and, inside the darkness where they couldn’t see what was before them, the soldiers were upset and didn’t know what to do.
Kesselring’s voice echoed around them.
“You people are sinful.”
Kesselring declared in the darkness.
“You people have tried to hurt those who are important to me.”
It felt like a scene where a criminal was being condemned to death, and that really was the case. Her voice indicated she had no intention of showing them any mercy.
“Therefore — may you people die miserably in the Darkness of Amor!”
Darkness of Amor.
It was one of the abilities Kesselring gained after becoming a majin, and she began to crush the humans with it.
The soldiers who had been robbed of their sight gradually panicked.
Perhaps it was because of the screams.
The sound of their fellow soldiers screaming in horror and agony, one after another, was evidence that Kesselring was killing them within the darkness. As they feared the worst and swung their weapon wildly, all they heard was the cries of their comrades. Their flailing attacks were only hitting their allies.
Trapped within the darkness, where they could neither escape nor fight back, the number of humans steadily decreased.
“Eat this — Thunder God Lightning!!!”
“Gaaahhhhhh—?!”
Along with Hunty’s enthusiastic voice, lightning struck the human soldiers.
Worthy of being called the highest level of lightning magic, both its power and range were enormous. Many of the humans were burned by the lightning and died.
Galtia put his hand on his chin, and he was impressed by what he saw.
…Heeh, she is really enthusiastic about this, after all.
He could feel Hunty’s emotions in this battle.
Perhaps it was natural for one to get heated in a battle to protect their compatriots.
That would also be the case for apostles and majin. After all, Galtia was the same, as was Leonhart, and also the newcomer Kesselring.
Since Galtia had also fought for the same reason once, he could empathize with her situation.
He also thought that he didn’t mind fighting to protect the compatriots of their new ally.
Since Ssulal had turned Kesselring into a majin, it meant Kesselring was now part of their family. Ssulal was gentle toward the majins she made herself, as well as their apostles, and she seemed to prefer close relationships. But she was detached with other people. It could be considered that Ssulal’s social circle included only them.
But she still had a conscience and couldn’t abandon them, so she was trying to take responsibility for what she did, at least to some extent. And they were in this situation now because of that,
…It’s been a while since I last fought for someone else’s cause.
One could say his battles as a part of the Demon Army could be considered fighting for the sake of others, but it was different from this.
This was a more direct involvement.
Perhaps the last time he did something like this was when he was still a human. As he thought of that, he also felt enthusiastic somehow.
Galtia usually didn’t think much about the meaning behind his battles, but he didn’t mind being considerate at the time like this. He also had a competition against Leonhart to win, so perhaps it was about time for Galtia to get serious. Hunty seemed to be too enthusiastic and she might go to deal with things far away as well.
But before that,
“…I’m getting hungry.”
Both he and his apostles that lived inside of his body needed food.
Perhaps it was because he had eaten less than his normal portion earlier. He did eat some fish and wasabi during lunch, but his stomach was already getting empty and the mushi inside his stomach were getting noisy.
I guess I’ll just eat the meat I brought as a snack, he thought. But just as Galtia moved his hand to take it out, someone appeared in front of Galtia and shouted,
“What the hell are you people—!!!”
An enormous, loud voice that came from a human male clad in heavy armor with a body to match his voice.
That man had ran out from the depths of the forest using all his strength the moment he saw Galtia,
“Who are you?! Answer me—!!!”
“Uouu, you sure are an energetic human… I’m Galtia, a majin.”
Galtia casually answered his question. The big man clearly possessed much greater strength than a normal soldier would, no matter how one looked at it.
Maybe he is? Galtia thought to himself, but the big man quickly answered his unasked question in a loud voice.
“This great me is the world’s greatest warrior, Arnold Hogan, the Chief Warrior-sama!!!”
Then he pointed at Galtia using his left hand, the hand that wasn’t wielding the big-ass battle axe,
“Majin!! I would like you to be a part of the legend of the great Arnold-sama!! Gahahahahahah!!”
“…Fu~hn. I see.”
Galtia nodded as he heard that. The words he weaved in his mind were an apology to his friend.
…Sorry, Leonhart. It seems I got the jackpot.
With his usual light smile on his face, Galtia prepared for battle.
Author Note:
Ssulal : “Kalar seems to have a thing where they always get attacked when they appear…”
Kesselring : “…”
Galtia : “Rather, it’s more rare for them to not get attacked when they appear.”
Hunty : “…”
Carol : “They were like that in the original game too.”
Leonhart : “Stop saying that.”
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