The Melancholy of the Demon Army Officer
Translator: Tsukii
Editor: Shizukuku
Read at Watashi wa Sugoi Desu!
Chapter 097 – The Fateful Day
Carol, apostle to Majin Leonhart, was experiencing a moment of bliss.
Her current location was her dear master’s private study, on top of his bed. The owner of the fluffy bed, laying on his back and looking up, was obviously Majin Leonhart.
It was nighttime. It was the usual time for them to sleep. It wasn’t rare for Carol to be present at her master’s bed at this time.
Ever since the day they tied their knot, her master usually went to Ssulal’s room every night, and Carol would sneak into her master’s bed to sleep there. Carol was happy enough with that, but as expected, she wanted more, and tried various measures such as pushing her body against him and inviting him in various ways, but she still was not claimed by her master.
However, although Carol had no idea why, her master finally laid his hands on her. She didn’t know whether it was because her love finally reached him or he just felt like it. But regardless of the reason,
“Hmn, fuu… I’m happy…”
“…I see.”
“Hmn…”
Her master replied bluntly to her words while patting her head. Carol loved every moment she could feel the sensation of her master’s hands on her.
It was the mission of an apostle to devote themselves to their master, and for Carol, doing so was her purpose in life and her joy. It didn’t matter whether it got rewarded or not.
However, Carol also thought being praised like this was the most irreplaceable reward and receiving such love from her master was an unexpected joy for Carol. It could be said that her dearest wish came true.
But now that her dearest wish had come true, she couldn’t help but pray it wasn’t only a one-time thing, or that it was actually just a dream.
“—Hmnhehe…Leonhart-shama… that place is…”
“…Her sleep-talking is amazing today…”
Leonhart, lying on the bed in his room, saw Carol sleeping with a happy expression, then muttering with a troubled expression.
They slept on the same bed quite often, and even though Carol would sometimes go on delusional trips, he knew that she rarely sleep-talked. When she got noisy, she would get excited on her own, wrap herself in a blanket, and make a mess of the bed. Leonhart would normally kick Carol out of the room when that happened, but for today,
“…Well, I guess it can’t be helped…”
Leonhart covered Carol’s naked and exposed skin with a blanket. Then, with a sigh,
“Even so… even if she came too many times, to think she actually went to sleep ahead of her master, isn’t it bad for an apostle?”
He mumbled so with half-lidded eyes. Carol would normally wake up the moment Leonhart talked. Since she hasn’t woken up in spite of that, she must have been quite exhausted. It seemed being too loyal was something to be concerned about.
Thanks to that, I felt incomplete combustion. As he cussed inwardly, Leonhart left the bed naked. It was already morning, so he drank water to calm down and stood up,
“Geez, what a troublesome apostle…”
Leonhart said so with a wry smile, even though his tone sounded nothing like that.
Shortly before that.
“—Hmn… It’s already this time.”
Ssulal woke up to an empty bed, which hadn’t happened in a long time.
It’d been quite a while since she first spent a night together with Leonhart. Thanks to that, she almost never felt lonely or anxious at night, and felt more happiness instead.
But instead, it meant she robbed away his time that much. It was important for him to keep interacting with other people close to them. That applied to both of them. That naturally meant they spent more of their time together at night. But even so,
…Sometimes, I should make time for him.
Otherwise, Kesselring and Carol wouldn’t get the rewards they deserve, and even Leonhart would want some alone time every once in a while. It was irritating for Ssulal that there would be new women attracted to Leonhart whenever he spent his time alone though. He even got acquainted with the holy gal demons the other day, so Ssulal couldn’t let her guard down. Ssulal had indeed given permission for him to have such relationships with other women. She did, but… she would still feel troubled if they kept increasing in number. She would prefer if he took more time, and let her know beforehand. She needed to organize her feelings after all. She might reluctantly accept it, if it was just one, but suddenly having another four was unacceptable to her.
As expected, I should have punished him more, such a thought appeared in Ssulal’s mind. But on the other hand, she also felt the sense of superiority that her man was also loved by others. But the heart of a woman could be scary. She didn’t mind him being popular, but him being popular with women was irritating to her. It felt contradictory.
It was just,
“Compared to the past… the present feels better.”
She wholeheartedly thought so. And that warmed her heart.
—When she first became the maou, there was no one around her.
No, there were— but there was no one that was formerly human like she was. There were only those who were affiliated to the demonic faction.
Strictly speaking, since Ssulal was the maou, they could be considered comrades in that sense.
However, among those majin, despite being referred to as “jin”(human), there were none who were formerly human among them.
All of those majins and apostles were formerly dragons or demons. Most of them were former demons. Although they followed her command, she couldn’t think of them as her comrades.
She felt like she might get killed if she let her guard down. She felt she might get backstabbed at any moment. Such worries wouldn’t leave her head as she kept her role as the maou for the first hundred years. Meanwhile, she was filled with solitude and anxiety behind the scenes.
She kept seeking for those who could be her allies. That was why she looked for them, strong humans that could be her allies. —And she found him.
He was a human known as the King of Swords. Despite being a mere human, he managed to repel the Demon Army several times.
Once she was done with her preparation, she headed to the settlement he reigned in.
Then Ssulal commanded the sole majin that seemed decent in her eyes, Meglass, and had him fight said human.
It ended with the defeat of said human. However, she could feel the possibility in his strength.
She didn’t find his personality to be problematic and he seemed talented. As for judging by his appearance… it would be a lie to say she didn’t have such criteria. After all, she would prefer a cool comrade.
Anyway, she went there to speak with the dying human, made a deal, and turned him into a majin.
The first majin she made — Leonhart.
She could still remember that moment clearly, even now. Even though he was confused, he still pledged his loyalty to her. It was in exchange for the peace of the settlement where he was born and raised.
Ssulal’s first thought was that she couldn’t understand why he would choose to save those people, who treated him as a monster.
Yet he still did it. And she also came to understand that he was a gentle person.
At the very least, among the many other majins who loved committing acts of violence, he didn’t seem to be one who loved to do so.
And just like Ssulal, he was a former “jin”. Just with that, it made her heart feel a little relieved.
Since then, many things had happened.
There was the majin who wanted to duel with him, and he killed said majin. Now Ssulal recalled it, he was already a battle maniac back then.
She tried cooking for others for the first time, and she came to learn that the food she cooked was terrible.
She asked Leonhart to recruit a new comrade. It was Galtia, a glutton with a refreshing personality, and he became their comrade. His surprisingly unique mushis also chose to come along with him.
Ssulal requested Leonhart to not destroy the humans. Although she didn’t speak of it, Leonhart understood her meaning. He accepted her request. She ended up forcing him into more trouble than necessary.
Leonhart made an apostle. Her name was Carol, a very cheerful and lively girl. She was a little restless, but Ssulal thought Carol was a good and carefree girl.
Leonhart then made another apostle. This time, it was a dragon kalar apostle, Hunty Kalar. The process of how it ended up like that was in a mess, but Hunty had come to accept it now, and she seemed to enjoy her current life. Hunty was a cheerful and compassionate person.
Ssulal then granted Leonhart his first long vacation. He had relationships with two kalar women during that period. She couldn’t understand how it ended up like that. One of those two women, Kesselring, was turned by Ssulal into a majin. Ssulal was already contemplating how to turn the King of the Night into their comrade, so Ssulal took the opportunity when it presented itself. Ssulal first thought to ruin Kesselring for having such a relationship with Leonhart, but as Ssulal actually talked with Kesselring, Ssulal decided to turn her into majin instead. Thinking about it now, Ssulal felt she made the right choice back then.
But after that, Leonhart fought against the one of the legendary Four Great Saint Dragons. Ssulal was quite worried since their abilities were close, but the battle ended with Leonhart’s victory, and she got to see the scenery at the top of the Rising Dragon Mountain together with Leonhart.
When they went to the Abyss to investigate, they got to meet the majin who was called the King of the Abyss, Masuzoe, and brought him back along. With him came a haniko and his two apostles. Masuzoe was unique in his own way. Also, he seemed lonely.
Next, Ssulal went on a date with Leonhart and then… They tied their knots. Ssulal thought it was weird to construct a whole town just for the sake of a date. She’d also heard that the first experience would be painful, but she wasn’t even in the state to feel the pain back then. She’d already guessed it, but Leonhart was… dangerous in multiple ways. She was already used to it by now, but she didn’t know if she could feel happy about that.
They went to the beach, and because there were things about Carol and Kesselring, Ssulal lightly gave permission to Leonhart, but then four holy gal demons came to the town and decided to live there. It was unknown how things would develop. Perhaps they would stop at mere friends, but maybe… If they truly loved Leonhart and he wanted to answer their feelings, Ssulal didn’t mind giving him permission for that. It was hard to say before it reached that point, but she would at least speak sarcastically to Leonhart about it. Leonhart was at fault after all, yep.
There were many other things that happened. Be it when Leonhart fought Camilla and destroyed part of Maou Castle, Ssulal drinking liquor with Leonhart, Ssulal and others teaching Leonhart magic, Leonhart’s fan club event, playing together, eating together, scolding and being scolded, or having fun as they spent their time.
There were a lot of comrades here. Ssulal stopped being obsessed with humans before she knew it. There was always someone.
Her anxiety and loneliness disappeared before she knew it.
Those were lively and happy times, and they would continue. She would make sure they continued.
Ssulal had come to learn the happiness of being with someone. She could no longer return to being in solitude and she didn’t wish to. She didn’t want to lose any of them.
—The current state of the world won’t continue forever. It wouldn’t be weird if it disappeared at any moment.
She knew that well. That was why she tried to destroy such destiny. And as the first step for that—
“………Okay.”
She had the four keys at hand and enthusiastically spoke out.
She was ready. She prepared various things for whatever might come along the way.
It was before dawn at the moment. If she went now, she might arrive at her destination around noon.
If everything went smoothly, she could immediately return after that. The teleportation magic circle could be activated without problem.
Leonhart was busy today and, if possible, Ssulal wished to return before anyone had noticed she was gone. Then she would show what she earned.
“I’ll do my best—”
She clapped her cheeks to regain her spirit, and Ssulal left the Maou Castle without anyone noticing.
“—? What the…?”
It was during work. Leonhart suddenly felt something was off. He held onto his head and furrowed his eyebrows. Carol, who saw that, tilted her head as she asked,
“Leonhart-sama? Is something wrong?”
“…No, it’s just a slight headache. Don’t worry about it.”
Actually, that wasn’t all. He felt a strange palpitations and something uncomfortable, but he waved his hand lightly to appeal he was alright.
However,
“That’s bad, Leonhart-sama! To cure your headache, how about using my body—”
“…Don’t get carried away.”
“Auh.”
Leonhart lightly flicked on Carol’s head, as she was about to say something stupid. Looking at Carol, who raised her voice, Leonhart said while sighing,
“What does that have anything to do with a headache? Geez… we’re still working right now.”
“Uuh, I’m terribly sorry, Leonhart-sama. Certainly, you have an appointment with Kesselring-sama’s turn today. I guess it’s boorish of me…”
“…That’s not wrong, but that has nothing to do with it. It doesn’t make it okay even without that…”
Leonhart nodded with a delicate expression while he gently denied it. Rather,
“…If that appointment was with Housesnurse instead—”
“I’ll stop it! I’ll do my utmost to stop it!! That person not only broke the rules, but she also caused trouble for Leonhart-sama…! It’s outrageous, unacceptable! But since I can’t afford to disturb Leonhart-sama, I’ll have Leonhart-sama release your remaining bullets to me…”
“I think that is already disturbing, though…”
However, it was certainly true that Housesnurse was troubling him. Because she fell for him, she would try to appeal to him without minding the TPO… Leonhart had thought it since the beginning, but she was quite bold, or rather, willing to attempt something messed up,
[“Darling… this place will be our new dwelling—”]
Such was the thing Housesnurse had said as she tried to confine Leonhart in the dungeon she made under the Maou Castle. She wasn’t known as Housesnurse of Earth for nothing, as she had made that within minutes.
That pissed Carol off and she was about to proceed to conquer the dungeon — along with Kesselring and Galtia, but Leonhart escaped the dungeon on his own before that. Even if Housesnurse was a holy gal demon, it was easy for Leonhart to escape.
She seemed to have done it out of love, so Leonhart didn’t feel bad— or was it? …Err, it was hard to say, but probably he didn’t feel bad. He was troubled to get bothered by that, so before he left the dungeon,
[“I’m happy you love me, but if you really love me, shouldn’t there be something you do before that?”]
He said that half seriously, half thinking that perhaps he should just reject her, but the next day, after Housesnurse modified her dungeon,
[“Darling… I connected the dungeon with your room… how is it?”]
That’s not it.
It wasn’t like Leonhart escaped because he was dissatisfied with the place she lived in.
Leonhart felt a headache about that, but for the time being, he said “That’s not enough. You should think better about what you ought to do” to buy some time. It could be said he was just pushing off his problem to a later date. Such became his worries. What should I do about her…?
After that, Camilla told him, “I want a castle”, so Leonhart half-jokingly said “Should we make a castle for the Four Elite Majins?” But then Ssulal agreed to it for some reason, raised a proposal to do it for real, and the discussion about it was currently underway. There were various problems, such as where to build or which part of the Demon Army would be stationed there. It became a worry that was included in his work. By the way, Kesselring said she didn’t want it, but it was undecided what would happen to it. Perhaps it would just be given to those who wanted it?
Leonhart felt a little melancholic due to things like that, but he was still motivated to do his best. It was for the sake of none other than Ssulal and his comrades. Leonhart didn’t mind being troubled about that. His work as the demon army officer and the supreme majin was directly linked to the betterment of his comrades.
Although things were still stable now, he still needed to prepare just in case. In case of an emergency, it was always useful to always assume the worst. Therefore, Leonhart began to think about a plan to maintain the Demon Army for thousands of years aside from his work. Be it about strengthening forces, expanding territories, or improving productivity. He also needed the justification to not obliterate humanity and the related measures. In some cases, he might need to do behind the scenes work for the human side as well, to make a reliable rigged match. Everything was for the sake of the happiness of Ssulal and his comrades. It was to make both the demons and humans prosper as much as possible. He had the resolve to do anything for that sake.
Perhaps the scale was too grand or big to talk about, but it was worth the challenge. He had many comrades that supported him. It should work out somehow. However,
“…Perhaps I worked too hard…?”
It would be meaningless if he ended up getting sick. Leonhart heard majins wouldn’t get sick, but an upset of physical condition could occur. He needed to be careful, since it would make Ssulal sad otherwise.
“Muu… Leonhart-sama… as for being soft to that person, if possible… muu…”
“Hm? Aah, sorry. You’re right. I’ll think about it.”
“Rather than that, let’s continue our work,” Leonhart said, and Carol reluctantly nodded.
…Somehow, I feel like I’m getting softer towards her.
Most likely, it was because of what happened yesterday, or rather, today, but it feels like seeing a new side of her, so I guess it’s all good, thought Leonhart as he returned to his work.
I guess I should visit Ssulal later to report, thought Leonhart.
—Leonhart was sure the thing that happened that day wouldn’t be forgotten for the rest of his life.
—At a certain ruin.
—By placing the four golden statues on the pedestal, the door of the god would open.
—It was the pathway to meet the god, who didn’t live in this world.
—the person who entered this door appeared on this day.
“…”
—The white haired, red eyed maou met the god and said her wish. And that,
“—”
Became something that determined one’s destiny— it was a fateful day.
Author Note:
You know what it is().
Tsukii Note:
Okay, we reached here. Although I understand why she did all this and didn’t confide in others beforehand, this one thing sealed the fate of people she is related with. It could no longer be taken back. Well, considering how much of an asshole the gods are, not that she has a choice to begin with, but it would be preferable if she at least confides it to others before she proceeds…
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