The Melancholy of the Demon Army Officer
Translator: Tsukii
Editor: Shizukuku
Read at Watashi wa Sugoi Desu!
Chapter 083 – Handshake Event and Evolution [A]
A room in Maou Castle.
It was a room that was normally unused, but there was someone who was using it at the moment.
It was the demon general, a demon who was responsible as the commander of the Demon Army.
“Haah… my body feels heavy… Here goes.”
The demon general, whose body was about twice as large as the normal size of his species, sank in the chair and rested his body. He told maid-san, the gal demon responsible for this room, that he wasn’t in a good state at the moment, asked her to tell others that he couldn’t work at the moment, and got permission to use the room.
His big body sank into a chair and he exhaled. The thing that ran on his mind was,
…Recently, I often feel my body is not in a good state… Perhaps I am about to reach my limit…?
He felt melancholic about his bad condition for the past month but still, he also felt accomplished.
After all, it wouldn’t be weird for him to reach the end of his lifespan at any moment.
The species known as demon generals was considered to be long-lived among demons. They had lifespans that could last for hundreds of years. Considering all the gal demons and other demons who had died decades ago, he had outlived many demons.
Meanwhile, he had already lived for nearly two hundred years. This was abnormal even by the standard of demon generals, much less demons as a whole. While his fellow demon generals, the ones who were born at the same period as him, had already passed away long ago. All the other demon generals were now younger than he was, and he was respected as the most veteran within the Demon Army.
But the reason behind that was not because he was the most senior among demon generals, it was instead because,
“It’s all thanks to Leonhart-sama…”
He thought about his superior, the majin he respected most.
From the time he was born until now, the demon general continued to work under Leonhart, the demon army officer, which made the demon general convinced that was connected to his evaluation.
In fact, he was sure he couldn’t have achieved such a breakthrough if not for him working under Leonhart’s lead. The demon general had earnestly accumulated achievements in his duty and continued to improve himself so he could be of help to the person he respected, such was his purpose of living all this time.
…But I guess that will come to an end.
His bad physical state told him that the end of his lifespan was near. It would be hard for him to continue to work.
However, as he was aware that death was about to claim him, the thing that came to his mind was loneliness and pride.
If the demon general had been desperate to live, he could have asked Leonhart to make him an apostle while expecting refusal but,
…But if I did that, I would spend the rest of my life in shame.
Also, there was no guarantee he could be helpful to that person, even if Leonhart did turn him into an apostle. Perhaps all he would do was merely reduce Leonhart’s power unnecessarily. 1
In that case, meeting the end of his life with this satisfaction would be the best.
The demon general looked up at the ceiling and spun words with a peaceful feeling.
“…Hopefully, if there’s next time… I wish to fight under him again…”
Those were his last words as a demon general.
In the courtyard of Maou Castle, Leonhart frowned at the scene he saw.
He muttered the first question that came to his mind toward Carol, his apostle who stood beside him.
“—So Carol, what the hell is this?”
“Fufuhn, this is—”
Carol proudly praised the scene with her arms opened.
There were many demons, most of which were gal demons, waiting in several layers of lines. Almost all their gazes were directed at Leonhart while they waved their arms and many were raising their voices.
Carol raised her arms and loudly declared the name of the event, as if to tell the demons who were waiting there.
“This is an event held by the members of Leonhart-sama’s fan club — an event to commemorate his promotion to Supreme Majin!!”
“YAY!” Shouted the demons present there, following Carol’s words, which made Leonhart exhale while holding onto his head.
“…What do you want me to do here?”
“There will be a handshake event, so please do that at least!”
“…Aah.”
Looking at Carol who requested that without a single trace of guilt, Leonhart felt a headache starting, but he still reluctantly nodded.
Or rather, it was more correct to say he had no choice but to nod on this occasion. The demons gathered there were all his fans who came to celebrate with him. They should have been informed some time ago so they would be looking forward to the occasion. If Leonhart was to go home at this time,
…It would be bad to pour cold water on their excitement.
He didn’t wish to spoil the mood so, although it was sudden, Leonhart decided to participate.
And if he thought about it, it wasn’t like he hated it.
Those who gathered here were all fans who found him likable, and he didn’t feel bad about being liked this much. He had the capacity to answer their good feelings at least.
Therefore, he had no intention of denying them. So he intended to do his best on the task he was entrusted to.
As Leonhart found his determination, Carol was talking with the surrounding gal demons in a circle.
“You girls keep order in the lines. The girls over there are to distribute the merchandise. Others are to escort Leonhart-sama and guard the event venue with me!”
“Roger that!”
…It’s more orderly than I expected… rather, merchandise…?
The gal demons were probably the members of the fan club. Carol, the chairman of the fan club, was giving instructions to them. Meanwhile, Leonhart heard the word “merchandise” in Carol’s instruction, so he casually looked into the boxes piled up behind them.
There were,
“gh! This is………Me?”
There were various things in sight.
Most of them were small items like badges and bookmarks, but there were also large items like clothing and books. There were an abundance of miscellaneous items, but they were all unified and didn’t lose sight of their purpose. It was because all of them had illustrations that look similar to Leonhart.
“Leonhart-sama!”
As indescribable feelings filled Leonhart, Carol, who finished giving her instructions, approached him while he was looking at the goods.
I have to ask about it at least, he thought. With that in mind,
“…Carol. Did you… make all this?”
“Ah, you mean the merchandise!”
As Leonhart pointed at the objects and asked, Carol was picking up the merchandise proudly,
“Fufuhn! These were made by me and the members of Leonhart-sama’s fan club — the like-minded people produced it all! I mainly made the clothes and bedding!”
“O-ooh…”
Loenhart groaned as he was at a loss about how to react to the objects that were being pulled out. Leaving aside the clothes with his face drawn on it,
…Those folded things — those are bedding, right… Moreover, it’s a type that is used for hugging…
While Leonhart was astonished by the presence of the so-called hugging pillow, he swallowed his surprised reaction back into his throat. He suddenly suffered a heavy hit to his mentality, but it should be alright since he didn’t feel any disgust about it. He was merely overwhelmed. So he calmed himself down and listened to Carol’s explanation again,
“The books here are illustrated by Sketch-san the gal demon!”
“I-I did my best…! Ah, may I shake your hand…?!”
“…I see. I don’t mind a handshake.”
As Carol stepped sideways and introduced, there was a gal demon wearing a beret there, Sketch, who then bowed toward Leonhart and reached out her arm toward him.
Their species had others holding onto huge pencils and they were capable of drawing pictures to create pseudo-living creatures known as “Doodle Beasts” to fight for them.
However, their drawing skills — frankly, they sucked, but the illustrations in the books were pretty good.
As Leonhart was wondering if this gal demon Sketch was a superior or mutated species, their handshake was settled,
“Uhm…If you don’t mind, can you sign this sketchbook…?”
“…Aah, okay.”
Leonhart agreed, accepted the sketchbook and signed it randomly. He was just writing his name messily but,
“T-t-t-t-thank you very much…! I will treasure this!”
“Hm… good for you.”
As Leonhart saw Sketch holding her sketchbook preciously, words like ‘hey, it’s an important thing for her, species wise’ came to him, but Leonhart kept it inside his mind and saw her off. And as Leonhart gazed at the book with his illustration,
…I should be happy about this, but… I’m scared of reading it.
It would be fine if it was just a compilation of illustrations, but he couldn’t rule out the possibility that the content was “thicker” than he imagined. Therefore, leaving it alone would be a wise choice. It would be boorish of him to destroy their sanctuary.
As Leonhart tried to decide how to deal with the merchandise, Carol gave a cheerful voice.
“Leonhart-sama! We’re about to begin, so please standby in front of the desk over there!”
“…Aah, okay.”
Leonhart followed her words accordingly and stood in front of the desk placed sideways.
Then, as expected, the fan club members sensed it was about to begin and paid attention to Leonhart. As he received all those gazes,
…Well, it’s okay once in a while.
I’ll handle it properly so it won’t spoil my image, thought Leonhart as he began to feel slightly motivated about the event.
However—
“…………What are you doing here?”
“gh?! I-I wonder who are you ta— speaking to?!” 2
“…”
As Leonhart shook hands with the gal demons, who came to him one after another, a mysterious person suddenly appeared in front of Leonhart.
This person wore a top hat and a long black coat that hid her whole body. This person wore white gloves and held a white stick for some reason. In addition, this white haired girl wore a silver mask to hide her eyes. Leonhart called out her true identity.
“…Hey, aren’t you… Ssula—”
“I-I’m just a genius writer girl who happened to be passing by. My name is Lenolass! I’m definitely not the person you refer to as Ssula-something!”
This Ssula-something, or rather, Lenolass, said so while flipping her coat.
Both her appearance and voice were too familiar, and Leonhart narrowed his eyes as he looked at her.
As Ssula— or rather, Lenolass seemed nervous when she looked at Leonhart, who had stopped moving, but then Leonhart casually spoke,
“…………Lenolass.”
“W-what is it? I’m not really impressed to suddenly get questioned about being here!”
What character are you acting as right now? Leonhart swallowed back such a retort that was about to come out of his mouth.
“…This has nothing to do with you, but I happened to feel hungry before I came here, so I went ahead and ate a whole cheesecake, which happens to be the favorite food of the owner of this castle—”
“Eh, no way?! I was looking forward to eating that as a snack later! Leonhart, you idiot!!”
“…”
“—Ah. W-well, you shouldn’t do that, kind of thing, yep… It would make your master sad, okay? If you really ate it… then you ought to procure a new cake and apologize to your master immediately. Don’t forget to show sincerity when you apologize and say that you will do whatever your master requests—”
…Should I take off her mask, or eat some cake in front of her? I wonder how she would react then…
Rather, should I actually eat her cake? I have no idea of her purpose, and I’m beginning to get irritated somehow.
While having such thoughts over her poor disguise and acting, Leonhart exhaled loudly,
“…………So, should I shake hands with you?”
“Eh. Ah, aah, you’re right… you should.”
Why did she come here again? Rather, what’s with that Lenolass setting? This is the Maou Castle, but she is trying to insist she is a gal demon? While feeling a little annoyed by that,
“Hm.”
“Hm…”
He took her hand and thought, We could shake hands even if it’s not this kind of occasion though. While he shook her hand with that in mind,
“T-thanks.”
“…Aah.”
She bowed her head lightly and moved away.
…Seriously, why did she come here again…?
As Leonhart wondered about the mysterious actions of Ssulal — err, Lenolass, the next visitor was,
“—Leonhart.”
“Ah… hey, it’s you this time.”
The next person on the line was Kesselring.
Unlike the girl who came with a nonsensical disguise, Kesselring came with her usual outfit. Therefore, it made the surrounding demons feel a little nervous. Leonhart gave her a confused look.
“…What did you come here for?”
“Mu?”
Kesselring tilted her head. Since she didn’t seem to understand his question, he proceeded to ask a more precise question. It made him a little itchy to say but,
“This place seems to be an event site for my fans, but did you come here to shake hands with me?”
“…Aah, I see.”
Kesselring nodded once she understood his question properly.
However, she then smiled and,
“Well, I heard fan refers to a person who sees one in a favorable view, is it not?”
“…Well, I guess you can put it like that.”
“In that case,” continued Kesselring,
“That means I could be considered your fan. After all, I do love you, Leonhart.”
“gh—”
Leonhart couldn’t help but squint at Kesselring who blatantly said such embarrassing words. Perhaps it would appear that he was slightly glaring at her?
…I’m having a hard time responding.
Regardless of whether he considered Kesselring’s remark as being honest, pure, or straightforward, Leonhart had a hard time responding to it. He didn’t hate her affection, but he felt a little embarrassed by it somehow.
Moreover, because Kesselring was an elegant beauty, her remarks strangely fit her atmosphere, which troubled Leonhart further. It seemed very fitting to the point that surrounding gal demons who listened to it looked embarrassed instead.
That’s why,
“…Here you go, let’s quickly shake hands.”
“Umu, you’re right.”
The atmosphere would be better if I settled this quickly, thought Leonhart as he naturally reached out his hand.
Kesselring then grasped his extended hand and clasped it for a few seconds. Then,
“Umu, I really do like your hand.”
“…Aah.”
He could only feel troubled by being told that to his face. As he gave an ambiguous reply that was neither agreement nor disagreement, Kesselring left while smiling.
…Geez.
What troublesome fellows, thought Leonhart as he exhaled. He didn’t just refer to the two who visited him earlier, but everyone who came to the event.
He was aware that he didn’t look particularly bad, but Leonhart couldn’t help but to tilt his head in wonder, as he didn’t expect he was this popular. In the first place, during his time as a human — though half of the reasons were his own fault, he wasn’t a particularly popular man. Although tons of women approached him, the thing that was reflected in their eyes wasn’t Leonhart, but their immediate desires.
However, that wasn’t the case here. Although the degree varied, the people who gathered in this place in this moment all had their eyes on him,
…It couldn’t be helped, really…
He had a wry laugh at their affections.
While he directed similar feelings to the affection they directed at him,
“…I guess I’ve become an easy person nowadays.”
Leonhart continued to attend the handshake event while accepting their feelings.
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