The Melancholy of the Demon Army Officer
Translator: Tsukii
Editor: Shizukuku
Read at Watashi wa Sugoi Desu!
Chapter 090 – Ssulal’s Attack [A]
“So, how was it?”
“It was interesting. The story was good, but Kesselring’s performance was especially impressive.”
“You’re right. It’s supposed to be this one time only, but it might be good to have her do it again, about every week.”
“I don’t think she would refuse if Leonhart requested it personally… but I think she would have a troubled expression.”
After watching the play, the two of them shared their impressions of the play as they left the theater.
It was such a performance that was hard to believe actually done by a group of amateurs, and Kesselring’s performance was so impressive that they thought she could make a living just by doing that.
After the performance, she bowed toward them, and although she looked quite embarrassed, she still acted in a dignified manner on the stage.
…I should thank her later.
Such was what Ssulal thought. In the first place, it was thanks to Kesselring that she was on a date with Leonhart right now.
And it didn’t stop there either, as Kesselring also cooperated by doing the play for the sake of their date, so Ssulal was filled with gratitude. Although Ssulal had a lot of mixed feelings toward Kesselring, Ssulal’s gratitude was still greater.
Kesselring had created the opportunity for them to enjoy such a good time. That alone was enough for Ssulal to forgive Kesselring’s faults and still leave some good grace.
Just as Ssulal thought of that,
“Next stop is here.”
“!”
Ssulal arrived at the next destination as Leonhart guided her by pulling her hand.
However, it was a place Ssulal didn’t recognize, even with Ssulal’s knowledge,
“…? What is this place…?”
Beyond her gaze was an outdoor court.
It was a mysterious, large space with a rectangular shape, surrounded by stone walls and fences.
In the rectangular area, there was a single line drawn on the ground and the two sides were separated with a net at the center, and many other lines were drawn, forming rectangular shapes without overlapping each other.
Seeing that, Ssulal searched the knowledge inside her mind.
…As far as I can see, this should be something that came from human culture. And it should be something that was invented recently, is it…?
Ssulal was thinking about it. Since she was greedy for knowledge about recent culture, it was practically impossible for there to be something that Leonhart and others knew about, within the scope of such a topic, which Ssulal didn’t know about.
However, since much of that knowledge were things Ssulal didn’t get to see firsthand, she was inferior to them in that aspect. That was to say, she might recognize what it was, but it would take some time for her to recognize it if nobody told her.
However,
…Hm? Is that— a ball?
When she observed the object on the court, she saw a large number of yellow balls in a basket in the corner.
But those balls weren’t as small as the super balls from earlier, they were instead the size of fists.
If one were to make a comparison, the size would be a little smaller than an apple. They were rolling around the court,
“—Ah.”
Suddenly, something seemed to come to her mind.
When the knowledge within her caught up with the actual scene, Ssulal realized it was something that she knew about after all.
Therefore, Ssulal spoke the answer.
With the tone as if asking Leonhart about it,
“This… If I’m not wrong — should be tennis, isn’t it…?”
“Aah,” Leonhart nodded and before she knew it, a demon soldier came near them and she received a certain object.
It was a handle with a net, the object known as “racket.”
“Next up, it’s time for games.”
“Ah, as expected…”
She felt bad for being a little reluctant but wished for understanding.
After all, it was a game where one had to move their body, and her opponent was Leonhart, the one who happened to move the most among majins,
“…I’m not that good with this kind of thing… I don’t think I could serve as a good opponent for Leonhart.”
Ssulal said that anxiously. However, Leonhart received her words and smiled at her,
“Don’t worry. I’m your teammate.”
“Eh? Then, our opponents are—”
Ssulal asked. If she recalled correctly, tennis was a game where an opponent was necessary.
Since Leonhart would be her teammate, it meant there were others to be their opponent.
Who is it? Just as Ssulal about to speak her question, she saw some figures entering the court.
They walked straight toward them.
Leonhart pointed at them,
“I’ve already prepared the opponents. Our opponents are—”
Before Leonhart spoke of their identity, the figures raised their voices.
The people in front of them were people Ssulal recognized. They were,
“—We shall be your opponents!”
“…I guess that’s how it is.”
“…I never thought it would end up this way.”
There were Carol, Hunty, and Shichisei. Also,
“…”
There was a beautiful woman with platinum blonde hair. Ssulal spoke that person’s name.
“—C-Camilla?”
It was Camilla, the platinum dragon majin, one of the Four Elite Majins.
Tennis.
It was a game that was popular among human aristocrats.
This exercise, which moved one’s body and competed using a ball known as tennis, was a game that could be played either one on one or two on two and used a handle with a net known as racket to knock the ball away to the opponent side of court.
That was what Ssulal knew according to her knowledge. Although there were detailed rules involving the game, Ssulal had something she was more curious about at the moment.
There was one person in front of her who normally wouldn’t involve herself with this kind of activity.
…That would mean Leonhart called her to do it, right…?
Was this really okay? Ssulal looked at Leonhart with that in mind. However,
“…Why is Camilla here?”
…Eeh?! You didn’t know?!
Leonhart also looked at Camilla with confused expression. However, the one who answered his confusion was his apostle Carol,
“I invited her in a hurry!”
“…What happened to Galtia?”
Leonhart asked another question toward Carol who declared that proudly. He didn’t ask about why she brought Camilla instead. He must have thought that making such a retort would be useless.
Rather than that — it seemed that the other opponent was supposed to be Galtia. Leonhart was suspicious why she couldn’t find Galtia, but Carol casually answered,
“If it’s Galtia-sama, he left saying ‘I’ll be going to conquer all the food stalls’ and hasn’t returned since. That’s why I went and requested Camilla-sama to fill in!”
“…”
…Aah, Leonhart has a face that says “Why did you ask Camilla of all people to fill in…” I can understand that feeling though.
But since it was Carol, she shouldn’t have any hidden intentions. There was no doubt Carol was just asking without thinking deeply. As proof of that, Carol puffed out her chest proudly, asking for a compliment from Leonhart.
Leonhart exhaled at Carol’s attitude, and turned his gaze toward Camilla this time,
“…Are you okay with this, Camilla? Rather, do you know what we’ll be doing here?”
She indeed doesn’t look like she knew about it. However, Camilla breathed in on that question.
“…I’m just killing time. I’ll accompany you for a while.”
“………I see.”
…Ah, he gave up.
Leonhart held onto his head. As he sighed and looked at Carol, he spoke out as to change his train of thought,
“Well then, let’s begin.”
“Okay! Shichisei and I will be in charge of the refereeing, the commentary, and the color commentary!”
“Why should I…”
“Muu, you should do this properly! You won against me, so I regard you as a tennis expert!”
“Although I indeed won against you… both of us only started tennis three days ago, didn’t we…?” 1 2
“Well then, let’s begin!”
Shichisei, whose remark was ignored, had a somewhat tired expression as he looked down. However, he quickly changed his train of thought and looked forward. He was quick to adapt. Perhaps he was already used to it. They understood retorting wouldn’t mean much, seeing as his master didn’t stop Carol.
…Rather, Carol. You came saying we’d be facing you — but you turned out to be the referee…
As Ssulal thought of that, she let out a dry laugh. Carol walked across the court, looked toward Ssulal’s team and the other team and said.
“From now one, the match between Leonhart-sama & Ssulal-sama pair — VS Camilla-sama & Hunty-san pair will begin!”
Following those words, the four people got into position.
While doing that, Leonhart looked at Ssulal,
“…Well, it’s just a game, so we can just do it appropriately. It’s our first time after all.”
“U-uhn… I’ll do my best.”
Although Ssulal wasn’t that good at exercising, Leonhart had already gone through the trouble of preparing this for her.
Besides, it was her first experience with the game, so it wasn’t like she didn’t look forward to it. As expected, while challenging the unknown filled her with anxiety, she also looked forward to it.
…Okay, I have learned how to do tennis in my mind… let’s do my best.
Ssulal held onto the racket and put it in front of her chest, getting herself motivated.
As Ssulal wondered about the state of the other team and looked forward, she saw,
“…”
“…Err… L-let’s do our best…?”
“…”
The scene where Hunty was trying to be considerate to her partner Camilla by talking to her.
…Uwah… that side seems to have it more difficult…
Hunty, who suddenly had to team up with Camilla instead of Galtia, seemed to be having a hard time.
It might be somewhat related to Hunty’s circumstances, but maybe Camilla already found out about Hunty, after all? As for Ssulal’s group, although it wasn’t mentioned directly during the incident at the Rising Dragon Mountain, it was practically an open secret with them. Hunty also didn’t seem to be burdened that much by those circumstances, so Hunty might honestly tell them if they asked. Ssulal felt they already established enough trust for that.
But even with that, it was different since the other party was Camilla. She was a special existence for dragons. And considering Camilla’s personality on top of that, Hunty must have had a very hard time dealing with it.
As Ssulal was sympathizing with Hunty who didn’t have much time to prepare herself before ending up paired up with Camilla, Ssulal looked forward.
Behind her, diagonally behind to be exact, Leonhart was there.
And in front of them was something known as a net that divided the court into two sides. There was Camilla diagonally front of Ssulal, and there was Hunty diagonally front of Leonhart.
It was done according to rules. As Carol stood by on the side of the net,
“Well then, Leonhart-sama will be the first to serve! I wonder what kind of wonderful serve he will show us?!”
“So being wonderful is already certain for you… Even so, Hunty would be the one to receive…”
Indeed. In tennis, the one to serve and the one to knock it back, basically the person to receive the serve, was already determined, so that would naturally become that way.
The first to serve was Leonhart, and the one to knock it back was Hunty. That was how it was.
“Well then, let’s do this—”
Leonhart tossed the ball overhead. And as he swung his right hand,
“—!”
The ball disappeared.
“?!”
Hunty’s eyes went wide as she saw the serve and tried to chase the ball but she couldn’t make it and the ball rolled on the floor.
Seeing that, Leonhart said happily,
“First of all, one point.”
The edge of his mouth rose as he smiled.
…I have a bad feeling about this…!
How to say this? Ssulal was filled with worry if they could even compete in a normal tennis game at all.
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