The Melancholy of the Demon Army Officer
Translator: Tsukii
Editor: Shizukuku
Read at Watashi wa Sugoi Desu!
Chapter 088 – The Relationships of the Two People [A]
At Maou Castle, there was a pair, a man and a woman, spending their time silently in Ssulal’s study.
They were Maou Ssulal and Majin Leonhart. Both of them were sitting together and reading different books. There was no conversation between the two. Because,
“…”
“…”
—It’s awkward.
Even as Leonhart’s eyes were on the book, he was more concerned about Ssulal. He had been invited on a date through Kesselring and had spent his time preparing for it. That much was fine but,
…Now I think about it, this means we will have spent our time awkwardly until the date comes…!
Leonhart was inwardly holding onto his head. It was something that could be easily thought of as long as one thinks properly.
He visited Ssulal’s room almost every day. Of course he didn’t visit whenever he was too busy at work or in the midst of an expedition, but he pretty much visited Ssulal daily, except for those times.
Therefore, it was natural for things to turn out this way from the moment Ssulal had asked him for the date. Leonhart thought Ssulal should have known that too, but considering how she kept glancing away from her book to look at him all this time, it seemed she wasn’t expecting this. Notice it from the beginning, will you?
…Really, what should we do…?
He felt like knowing it yet not understanding. What did she want to do?
Perhaps he would learn of it after a month. But for now,
“…Hm.”
“!”
When Leonhart blatantly closed the book and stretched, Ssulal’s shoulder also twitched in an easy to understand manner in response.
Then, while looking away from her,
“…Ah… I have a lot of work for today, so I guess I’ll be leaving…”
He said it with a light tone, as if nothing had bothered him at all.
Then Ssulal raised her face from the book and turned her gaze diagonally upward,
“I-I see. Since it’s work, it can’t be helped…”
“Aah… It’s work after all.”
“It’s work after all…”
The conversation was awkward. Normally, the conversation would extend to several topics, and it would last quite a long time before Leonhart finally left the room, but it seemed today’s atmosphere didn’t make them feel like doing that, and Leonhart also had an awkward time staying.
The period of indescribable silence lasted for a few seconds, but Leonhart forcefully spoke out to shake off the atmosphere.
“…See you later then.”
“! W-wait!”
“…What?”
Ssulal called out to him in a panicked voice, right as Leonhart was about to leave the room. He didn’t know why she called out to stop him, but he still turned around for now,
“…W-well… that’s…”
“…”
Ssulal’s body shook, and she turned her gaze downward as her mouth fluttered.
It gave Leonhart an indescribable feeling. He felt weirdly embarrassed to see her like that. It made him feel confused and he wanted to leave right away but,
“…L-Leonhart…y-you see…”
Ssulal eventually looked up toward Leonhart, albeit still in confusion,
“…The date— I’m looking forward to it…”
“—”
The moment he heard those words, he felt something run in his body.
He felt his heart thumping and he stopped moving. However,
“T-that’s all I want to say! Good night!”
“…A-aah…”
Ssulal, who had a flushed face, said so with the momentum to drive him out the room, so he just followed her intention and slowly went out.
The door closed and Leonhart casually walked a few steps away from the room. It was mostly unconscious behavior.
But there, he leaned his back to the wall. Then he put his hand to his chest,
…It’s sure, beating fast…
He didn’t say what was beating. However, it grew stronger and faster.
His body became hot, and the urge to roll around rampaged in his chest.
He recalled her words, expressions, and gestures earlier in detail, and repeated them in his mind,
“…Ssulal.”
He muttered her name without meaning to. Then the urge in his chest became stronger. He held onto his head with his right hand, not knowing if he could endure it.
Then, as his fingers passed through his bangs, he combed them back and looked up at the same time.
It was true that he had work to do and he had to leave early. At least his reason was appealing, but,
“…Ssulal.”
His instinct was thinking about her,
…I wonder why…
He strongly contemplated it. He thought of her behavior earlier.
His impression was,
“…………She sure was cute…”
The moment he said that,
“—!”
…What did I say just now?!
He couldn’t help but feel embarrassed after saying it aloud. Even though there wasn’t anyone around, to say such a thing in a place like this,
“…Aah, damn it…!”
As he moved his hand to scratch his head, he let out a cuss to relieve his anger.
However, the feeling he had earlier didn’t disappear,
“Kuh, anyway, I should go to work now…”
Perhaps this itchy and embarrassing feeling will settle down, thought Leonhart as he left the scene.
—The scene had already become a battlefield.
“Hurry, hurry up! We have no idea how much we’ll need! Just grab everything we can carry with us!!”
“Draw the blueprint as quickly and accurately as possible! For the time being, we’ll begin with constructing a building that could be used for any purpose!”
“This area is to be leveled, dig from here to there! As for the specifics, the demon captain in charge of the scene will tell you instead!”
“Y-yes!”
When the night got deeper.
The members of Leonhart’s Army were still working, while illuminating the area with a bonfire.
Their numbers — were roughly 200,000.
The entirety of Leonhart’s Army that was present, gathered, and had started construction on the plains.
Few hours had passed since the meeting where the idea of Carol, Leonhart’s apostle, was approved. In the meantime, the demon soldiers were summoned, and as soon as the person in charge of each duty was decided, they went to the plains and started working.
Most of them were divided into material groups, design groups, and engineering groups. For the construction work, only the building’s skeletons were made first, and the building would be built in sequence from the place where the land preparation had been completed. In the meantime, the materials would keep being transported, and the headquarters would put them together and give instructions.
The task would continue all day long, but each group was further divided into three groups, and the work was done in shifts of eight hours a day. Although it wasn’t impossible for demons who possessed physical strength superior to humans to work continuously for a whole week, the period of work was a month, so it was too much to ask them to do so without resting, as not resting would just lower the efficiency of their work. In the first place, it was decided that Leonhart‘s Army should rest properly whenever they could. It was because Leonhart himself, who led them all, was particularly strict in that regard.
The tasks for the demon generals and higher would be much harder when compared to that of the demon soldiers, but there were no generals who would complain that much. When it came to their missions, they were filled with a burning desire to accomplish the mission as best they could, regardless of what the mission might be.
And finally, the perfected blueprint would create something gorgeous by combining the most memorable parts of the human town. The design was drawn by Carol. It seemed she had a good memory and wasn’t satisfied just by describing the appearance of the town, and considering how she often made various things to challenge herself, the drawing was actually quite decent. 1
Meanwhile, Leonhart arrived at the work site,
“—It seems you’re all doing it.”
“Ah, Leonhart-sama! Over here!”
Carol, who was giving instructions with a stack of paper in her left hand, waved her other hand and asked Leonhart to come over. As Leonhart followed that and came to her,
“Then excuse me, but I want you to cut this stone into this shape right away!”
“Aah.”
At the location Carol pointed to, there was a huge rock being carried by demon soldiers.
Leonhart cut the rock using his demonic sword as instructed and turned it into stone material. It could be used as pillars, the base of a building, or as material for structures where wood alone wasn’t enough.
It was a strange sight to see a majin doing labor under the instruction of his apostle, but Leonhart had asked for this himself, so there was no problem.
Rather, with a majin participating in the labor, the atmosphere became tightened.
It might be a troublesome task from demon soldiers’ perspective, but it was done under the direct command of the Supreme Majin for the sake of Maou-sama. Not only did they not have the right to refuse to begin with, but the fact they got to use them once the facility was completed made them feel motivated. They were simple fellows, for better or worse.
The task was done all night like this, and it was done endlessly with the occasional changing of shifts.
Leonhart and Carol also had their normal duties for the Demon Army, but the majin and apostle had no need for rest. Therefore, there wouldn’t be any issues, even if they didn’t sleep a wink for the whole month.
The work was going well. There were occasional problems in some places, but it was improved by making corrections one by one. The demon soldiers, who were more powerful than humans, were very useful in hard labor and they worked steadily until completion.
In the meantime, the only problem was regarding Leonhart’s inner feelings, but there were no external issues.
Occasionally, they’d gather collaborators and conduct rehearsals, and they also formulated the essential date plan.
—And finally.
After a month of preparation, in front of Leonhart’s group who had completed their task,
“—IT-IS-DONE! Finally!”
“—Aah, it’s completed…!”
—The town was completed.
As the sun rose, the members of Leonhart’s Army who witnessed the completed town raised their voices with a sense of accomplishment and excitement.
Great General Lee approached and spoke with a voice that exuded his admiration,
“We did it, Leonhart-sama…!”
“…Aah, we did it…! We’ve all done it…!”
“We did it! We’re the strongest!”
“Uooooohhhhhh!! It’s our very own town—!!”
Others were also wrapped in a sense of accomplishment and they clapped each other’s hand to share their joy. Carol also mixed in and gave a high five, and the other generals were also shouted in excitement.
“Leonhart-sama, let’s have a celebration! It’s the commemoration of the town’s completion!”
“Aah, that’s a good idea! There are leftover ingredients from food we prepared, so we can just use it as is—”
Just as Leonhart said that, he remembered the reason they had done all this,
“No, that will be after today is over! Once the day has passed, we will hold the commemoration banquet!!”
Indeed. Today was the morning of the date.
Leonhart had specified the time to be during lunch, so he needed to prepare himself from now on. The work had basically proceeded smoothly, but they had barely made it to completion.
Therefore, the celebration would be delayed until later. Even so, as the demon soldiers heard Leonhart’s words,
“Ooooooooohhhhh!! We’ll have a banquet at night—!!”
“We’re going to play hard—!!”
They showed simple happiness, so there shouldn’t be any problem.
The generals issued their command to tighten their attitude,
“Well then, those who have their roles should take their place! Those who don’t have any, rest until the night comes!”
“It will be your favorite banquet after today is over! You can use the facilities here as you like!”
“Hah! Roger that!!”
The demon soldiers scattered at those words. Seeing that, the great general continued to say,
“Well then, Leonhart-sama. All you have to do is to make the day a success. — I wish you luck!”
“Aah… you too, thanks for the hard work…!”
“No, it was a rewarding mission, so I don’t think it was hard!”
“…Fuh, I see.”
Leonhart laughed at those words. He sure is a serious person, Leonhart lightly retorted to that inwardly as he tightened his heart.
…Even so, the day is just the beginning for me…!
Although he felt anxiety within him, he would feel sorry for his subordinates who had worked so far if he failed. Therefore,
“No matter how I do it, I will make it successful…”
Although he had no idea how to make it successful, it would be okay if he entertained Ssulal.
He felt like the meaning and purpose got switched, but he hadn’t lost sight of his purpose, which was to entertain Ssulal.
And by 12:00 noon.
The curtain of the decisive battle between Leonhart and Ssulal was opened.
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