The Melancholy of the Demon Army Officer
Translator: Tsukii
Editor: Lilia
Read at Watashi wa Sugoi Desu!
Chapter 072 – The Gourmet Majin’s Wrath [B]
In the forest at night, two shadows collided.
The pair who clashed in the middle of the battlefield were two men. One of them was a large, muscular human — the Warrior Chief, Arnold Hogan. He wore armor that covered his entire body and fought using a battle ax that was taller than he was.
And the other was a majin with brown skin and green hair — Galtia. His hand wielded a slender sword with a zigzag-like blade. Despite the awkward shape, he swung that sword skillfully and left jagged cuts across the opponent’s skin.
But that wasn’t all. Occasionally, Galtia would launch other types of attacks, including bombs, lasers, poisons, and thread, and these attacks worked in tandem with his sword slashes. The armor was surprisingly sturdy, so Galtia had to aim at the gaps between the pieces of armor to attack. It seemed like Galtia’s attack might be able to pierce through the armor if the strength was concentrated enough, but it didn’t happen. Rather, this human was surprisingly,
“Guh, haah… a mushi user majin… what a troublesome fellow…!”
Galtia whistled in amazement. “Dude, you’re quite something, despite being a human.”
Galtia was impressed by the human’s strength. He put a decent amount of force into his attacks, but the other party managed to stay firm and deflect most of the attacks.
…Powerful… I think his strength goes beyond what could be described as that. Is he really a human?
Even though Galtia didn’t go all out, it was already weird enough for a human to be able to compete with a majin in power. This human, Arnold Hogan, was anomalous. It was exactly because Galtia was aware of his own strength that he understood how amazing the man was.
Galtia was also impressed by the fact this human managed to keep up with his sword. Although Galtia’s skill in sword was inferior compared to Leonhart, his swordsmanship was still among the top of the majin. The fact that this man managed to block Galtia’s attacks showed that he was not only strong, but also had the skill to utilize his strength properly. It seemed Arnold’s claim to be the greatest warrior in the world wasn’t an empty title. —Of course, only by human standard, that is.
…I don’t need to use more power. I could win if I just keep pushing.
Galtia thought as he looked at the big guy in front of him. He lacks composure, Galtia observed. He’ll soon lose all his focus and tension.
Due to the wounds the man suffered and the toll of trying to keep up with Galtia’s sword, Arnold’s breathing was heavy and he was slouched over. The man was also unable to respond properly to the mushi’s attacks. He seemed to know about mushi users, but he didn’t seem to know much about how to properly counter mushi user attacks.
Maybe he hails from the southern land, guessed Galtia. Not that it meant anything.
And while the man lacked composure, Galtia still had a lot of it. Well, it would be untrue to say that he didn’t lack composure, but that was due to completely different reasons. Regardless, he was superior in this fight.
Hunty, who had already gone ahead before Galtia knew it, defeating soldiers along the way, didn’t seem to have returned yet. Rather, there didn’t seem to be anyone other than him and Arnold around. Perhaps the rest of the humans retreated, and Hunty went to chase them down, one by one. There’s no way they could outrun her since she is capable of Instant Movement, poor them, thought Galtia. You all just happened to be present in a bad battlefield, just give up obediently and accept your fate.
…Ah-, what should I do? I guess my match against Leonhart is definitely gonna end with my defeat.
I took too much time dealing with this man, thought Galtia. He wouldn’t be able to catch up with Leonhart’s kill count even if he went all out now.
I guess I will just insist I won when it comes to the quality of the enemy by killing this man. It’s a really shameless argument, but…
Just as he thought of that, Galtia felt the cry of the mushi inside of him.
…I’m starving…
Therefore, Galtia said the following sentence. He casually knocked his enemy’s battle ax away, took a few steps away, and asked,
“—Sorry, can we pause for a bit? I gotta eat.”
“…Ha-hah?”
Looking at the man who opened his mouth in astonishment, Galtia continued.
“You see,” he explained,
“I haven’t eaten anything since lunch. Both me and my mushi are too hungry, and I just can’t help it.”
“…A-and how are you going to eat?!”
“Don’t worry, I brought my meal properly.”
With that said, he took out some bone-in meat that had been carefully wrapped to preserve its freshness. It was a masterpiece created by the cooks in the castle. It’s still delicious even after cooling down, thought Galtia as he proudly showed off his meal.
“Sorry, but can you wait until I’m done eating? If you want, I don’t mind sharing some with you. Is that okay with you, dude?”
“…”
Arnold went silent. Was he considering the request? Or did he think it was too rude to do so in the midst of combat?
But if left as is, the mushi inside me are too miserable to fight well because they’re starving, thought Galtia. I guess it’ll be hard to eat if he doesn’t allow it. I can negotiate to let him keep his life, but I guess I shouldn’t let the enemy leader escape. While I don’t mind either way, Kesselring and Hunty will.
However,
“…That’s okay.”
“Oh, seriously?”
The enemy nodded. That really helped, Galtia thought. This dude is quite an understanding person. I guess that’s the warrior’s spirit for ya.
As Galtia said his thanks with a smile, he looked at his opponent. Arnold also looked at Galtia and showed his smile.
“Aah, I’m hungry too after all. There, give me some of that tasty looking meat.”
The man stretched his hand out. Galtia approached him with admiration.
“Ooh, you can tell how tasty this meat is too? You see, this meat is seasoned properly, right from the beginning of its preparation. Since the quality of the meat is so good, no strong seasonings were used, so the pure taste of the meat can be properly appreciated. The amount of salt and pepper used was exquisite—”
“Aah, I really do understand…”
Then Galtia offered the meat to Arnold. The moment Arnold reached out and received the meat, he shouted,
“About— how much of a fool you are!!!”
“?!”
Suddenly, Arnold swung his battle axe.
He was attacking Galtia, intending to use this opportunity to cut off Galtia’s hand.
The impact blew Galtia away and slammed him against a tree.
Seeing that, Arnold opened his mouth wide and proudly stuck out his chest.
“Gahahahahahaha!! Idiooot!! Who would want such dirty meat!! The great me can eat much tastier things once I return to my mansion!!”
Arnold continued to laugh as if to make a fool of Galtia.
He repositioned his battle axe toward Galtia, who was leaning against the tree trunk. Galtia’s head was bent, so he looked like he had taken quite some damage.
However,
“…”
Galtia kept looking down, ignoring Arnold.
His gaze was only focused on the meat that had fallen on the ground and became covered in dirt. It was definitely not edible anymore.
“…”
—It was the moment something seemed to break down inside of him.
“Gahahahahaha! I’ll kill you and go home afterward!!”
“…Bastard…”
Galtia finally turned his gaze toward Arnold, who laughed loudly.
The smile that Galtia had before was gone. And,
“Gahaha— oops—?!”
Arnold swayed on the spot as he suddenly lost his balance. He didn’t understand what happened. At first, he thought he only imagined that something had changed.
However, the surrounding atmosphere was definitely different. Yet, he didn’t notice any abnormalities or strange noises.
Galtia raised his voice.
“For those… who don’t treat food with appreciation…”
Galtia said with a quivering voice, which was unusual for him. It was without a doubt, the manifestation of a certain emotion.
It was anger.
“—There’s no need for them to live on.”
“…Ah? —Uooh?!”
In an instant, there appeared a massive hole in Galtia’s belly, and it began to draw in its surroundings with a terrible amount of force.
Everything around it was sucked in.
“Wha-what’s this—?!”
As Arnold clung to the ground, Galtia’s belly sucked in everything around him, one after another.
Be it leaves and branches that fell from trees, or abandoned weapons and armor, or even human corpses: none of them escaped.
And finally,
“Gah, guh, gaaaaaaaaahhhhhhh—?!”
Finally, Arnold could no longer resist the pulling force, and was forcibly yanked into the air and sucked towards Galtia’s belly.
At the end of it, he heard Galtia’s quiet voice.
“…So today, you shall be the food.”
And so, Arnold completely disappeared into Galtia’s belly. His screams cut off instantly, leaving no trace of him behind. 1
After Kesselring wiped out the humans around her, she casually chatted with Ssulal, who had followed her while staying hidden.
The topic of the conversation was,
“Are there only a few domineering people among majin?”
Ssulal was confused.
“? That’s not true. Most of them basically have a rough personality. Why did you think so?”
“…If the only majin I met was Leonhart, then I would think he is a special case, but the other majin I met was Galtia, who is very powerful, but also seems to be a person with big tolerance. What’s more, the apostles I’ve met so far also seem like reasonable people, so…”
Ssulal was convinced by Kesselring’s words. I see, since the sample of majin she met happen to be a very good-natured group of people, of course she would think this way.
Especially when it came to Galtia,
“Well, Galtia is an easygoing person by nature. Even if he was treated rudely, he would just laugh it off or ignore it completely…”
Regardless of what other majin would tell him, he never seemed to be bothered by any of their comments. Galtia, who treated everyone with the same attitude, made the higher-up’s opinions of him wary, but he was the type of person who was popular with his subordinates and with girls.
And Kesselring seemed to think of Galtia as a good person as well. She kept asking about him as they kept talking along the way.
“Certainly, he seems to be a person who doesn’t care about details. He also seems to be a person who is not related to negative emotions… Does he ever get angry or sad?”
“I don’t think — ah, he did get angry sometimes.”
Ssulal could remember a few times when Galtia did get angry. It rarely happened, though.
That seemed to draw Kesselring’s curiosity. She squinted her eyes and pondered, then after a while, admitted,
“…I can’t imagine it.”
Ssulal seemed to find it amusing how Kesselring was thinking about it so seriously, and proceeded to tell Kesselring the answer.
“—It’s when someone treats food poorly.”
When Ssulal turned her face, she saw Kesselring’s expression move a bit in surprise. But Kesselring soon nodded as she was convinced,
“Fumu, I see. Now that I think about it, he is a mushi user. They are well known for eating a lot of food.”
“Yes. Moreover, Galtia is a gourmet himself. When he is in the castle — no, he also acts this way when he’s outside. He’s only quiet now since he only brought a little bit of basic food with him today. But, usually, no matter where he is, he is always seen eating something and making his evaluations about the food he ate.”
But he didn’t seem angry when eating terrible food, though, thought Ssulal as she thought about Galtia. After all, even the dishes she made, which were deadly to everyone else…
…No, Galtia said those foods are delicious. It makes me depressed thinking about it, though…
Although Ssulal appreciated that Galtia said her dishes were delicious, it was pretty terrible when she tasted it herself, so she couldn’t honestly be happy about it.
If possible, I would have preferred it if any majin who ate it could taste it as delicious. In that case, then Leonhart would—
Ssulal shook her head at the moment. There’s no point in being sad about it right now. I have to focus on the present.
Back to the topic. Anyway, Galtia was a gourmet, and he really appreciated any food. That was why,
“…When did it happen again? There was a time when Galtia was eating, then there was a human who tossed perfectly good food away in front of him. It would be tolerable if it was by accident, but since it was clear the human did it on purpose, it made Galtia angry.”
She said it. The action Galtia took at that time was,
“He then proceeded to eat that human.”
“……Eat, a human?”
“Yes,” Ssulal confirmed as she nodded. After seeing Kesselring’s horrified expression, she wanted to take it back. Saying it this way makes it seem like a horror story, Ssulal worried. I should explain myself.
“Even if I say ate, it’s not like he ate it through his mouth, or proceeded to cook that human into dishes and then eat them afterwards.”
“Then how did he do so?”
“The human was sucked into the hole in his stomach.”
“—”
Kesselring was really at a loss for words this time. Considering how ridiculous it sounded, it couldn’t be helped.
However, it truly happened. Ssulal then proceeded to tell Kesselring that fact.
“That’s the ability Galtia gained the moment he turned into a majin. He could absorb anything into his stomach. Be it human or inorganic stuff, everything can be sucked into it.”
“The ability he gained when he turned into a majin, is it…?”
The reason Kesselring was convinced after hearing this and became lost in thought was because of the change she felt when she turned into a majin. In fact, the ability she gained when turned into a majin was considered quite significant when compared to that of others. There were some who didn’t experience any apparent changes when they turned into a majin, but most new majin experienced changes related to their original species and to their mentality as an individual.
Galtia was a mushi user majin. In his case, it seemed like the transformation most heavily affected his physical being, more specifically, where his mushi — who were now his apostles — could reside in, and his capability to eat a lot of food. Such was Ssulal’s hypothesis.
But Ssulal didn’t understand where that hole in his belly came from, or why it was so powerful. Kesselring asked Ssulal about that.
“But I wonder where that hole in his stomach is connected to?”
“…I don’t know.”
At the very least, it wasn’t something she could find out just by observing from outside. Even when she examined his body, his other bodily functions were normal.
The weird part was how she couldn’t find his stomach organ. Yet the food he ate was properly absorbed and utilized by his body.
So far, that was all that Ssulal could understand. If she wanted to find out more, there was no choice but to enter that belly, but there was no guarantee she could return, so she didn’t try it. It was way too risky. Even though his apostles could come and go without problem, those apostles didn’t seem to bring out anything from inside, so Ssulal leaned on the possibility that they couldn’t do so. Especially considering Launea had a habit of leaving food half-eaten.
However, based on that knowledge, the one thing Ssulal could say was,
“Anyway, although I doubt you’ll do such a thing, don’t treat food poorly.”
“…I understand.”
Kesselring nodded with a serious expression. Considering how Galtia was as a person, it was doubtful he would suck in people that he got along with, but there was still a chance that it might happen. Although she had no such intentions to begin with, it was better to be careful from now on.
…But really, I wonder what that belly is?
Galtia’s belly was one of many things Ssulal didn’t know about. Does anyone feel like going there and investigating? Ssulal casually wondered about that.
—-Without knowing that, around the same time, there was a living human that just got sucked into Galtia’s belly.
Author Note:
Ssulal : “Well, this version of me knew well about it, though!”
Hunty : “…How to say this, that’s a setting that makes a lot of stuff come to one’s mind.”
Galtia : “What’s with that comment? Did you mean that certain pink round creature?”
Carol : ”Ah, you mean Ki○by. I also loved that. That fountain of dream is a masterpiece, but personally, having playing that with multiple people is more attractive—“
Leonhart : “Don’t use direct names!”
Launea : “… (It would be our time for action next chapter!)” fist pump.
Want early access to Cannon Fodder, Melancholy of the Demon Army Officer, and I Was a Man Before Reincarnating, So I Refuse a Reverse Harem? Support the translator on Patreon!
