The Melancholy of the Demon Army Officer
Translator: Tsukii
Editor: Lilia
Read at Watashi wa Sugoi Desu!
Chapter 036 – The First Month
Ludo-Rathowm continent, eastern region.
That location was considered an inaccessible area due its proximity to the home of the Demon Army.
The reason for this was the Maou Castle. There was a figure on a small hill overlooking the place where many demons, apostles, majins, and maou resided.
It was the figure of a woman in a black-leotard-like body suit.
“—So that’s… the Maou Castle…”
Her appearance was that of a human. However, her long pair of ears, red crystal on her forehead, and long black hair was unlike the other members of her supposed race.
In fact — she wasn’t a human.
That was the case before, and it was still the case now.
However, despite the fact that I am already non-human to begin with, I can’t help but stiffen at the sight of so many non-humans, thought the woman.
“I don’t feel like doing it though…”
It was something she had thought about many times before coming to this place. Even if it was the order of the majin who became her master, she didn’t feel like visiting the Maou Castle, which was the main base of the Demon Army. Her perspective was still that of a human — while that wasn’t exactly the case, she couldn’t remove the instinct that demons were enemies just yet.
… But I can’t keep avoiding my responsibilities—I guess…
Even as she kept going back and forth, in the end, the only choice she had was to “go.” The reason she came to such a conclusion was either due to her master’s order, or her personality, or maybe both. As expected, she couldn’t afford to “not go” and escape such a thing irresponsibly.
She looked at the Maou Castle once again. Then she took a breath.
“—Alright.”
After she took a breath, the woman made up her mind and jumped into the air.
The next moment, the woman was no longer there, as if she had suddenly disappeared.
There was a certain room. It was located on the second floor of the Maou Castle, the floor where the executives of the Demon Army’s unit, like demon generals and demon captains, came and went.
In a room on that floor, there was a long, rectangular table that was similar to the shape of the room with many chairs surrounding it. There were many large, round shaped figures and two humanoid figures.
It was the conference room. In a room known as such, the demon generals were lined up on the side, and while they occasionally looked at the documents placed in front of them, they all looked at a certain person.
Their gaze was directed at the sole elevated seat. There was a humanoid figure who occupied the end of the short side of the rectangular table.
That person was not a human. His face, that was once that of a human, still remained, and his figure was still that of a human, so one could think he was a human.
However, the strength of his presence, stronger than any of the demon generals present, made such a conclusion impossible.
He was a man with blonde hair and an unassuming, strong yet handsome appearance, but the sharp gazes unleashed by his crimson eyes would cause demon generals who were still not used to it to shrink down into their seats.
He was an existence who was feared even by demon generals considered strong among the demons. That existence was — none other than a majin.
That majin called out to another humanoid figure beside him. She was a woman with similar blonde hair to the majin, but she also wasn’t a human. She was a faithful servant of a majin, an apostle.
“—Carol.”
“Certainly, Leonhart-sama. —Then everyone, onto the next document. It is a request document from the 7th Army of the southern front. Who is the demon general in charge of them?”
“Hah, it is me.”
One of the Four Elite Majin, the majin who also took on the role as demon army officer in this place, Majin Leonhart. As his apostle, Carol, called out, one of the demon generals raised his hand along with his voice.
The demon general turned to Majin Leonhart, who sat on the elevated seat with his arms crossed, and opened his mouth to explain.
“The other day, we successfully took control of the city in the region where the human army kept resisting. I received the report that they are currently looting them, but… since the casualties in the battle were enormous, I judged that it would be difficult to carry the supplies back. Therefore, I came to request an additional unit to be sent.”
He said that and waited for Leonhart’s reply.
Although it was a trivial matter, Leonhart frowned for a moment. Then he looked away, and few moments later,
“…Sorry, but I’ll leave for a bit.”
“Eh?”
Such sudden words made the demon general dumbfounded. It might be normal for other majins, but for Leonhart, who was known for being serious when doing his duty, it was rare for him to suddenly drop his job and leave.
Is there something problematic with the current topic? Before he managed to ask that, Leonhart said as he stood from his seat,
“I’ve got something I need to do. I will check the results later, so proceed with the conference as it is… Let’s go, Carol.”
“? …Yes! Certainly!”
With that said, Leonhart called Carol along and left the conference room. Carol was confused by his sudden action, but she prioritized her master’s command. She immediately went after him.
“…Hah, roger that. Thank you for your hard work.”
Meanwhile, the aide-demon general gave his approval and bowed his head, which made the other dumbfounded demon generals follow along and say “thank you for your hard work!” Since the aide-demon general had been with Leonhart for a long time, he recovered earlier than the others.
After Leonhart and Carol left, a demon general opened his mouth after a moment of silence to proceed with the conference.
“…Well then, let us continue. I will serve as the chairman. Err-, regarding the request from earlier—“
The one who spoke was the demon general who was the aide of Leonhart and knew him the longest among the people there. He proceeded to serve as a chairman of the meeting as if nothing happened, and others also proceeded to continue with the conference.
The one who sounded troubled was the demon general who made the request earlier.
“Eh…?”
The demon general was confused to see the meeting resume normally. Why are they unaffected by the sudden turn of events? Does Leonhart-sama often leave in the midst of work, is it just that I don’t know about it?
As the demon general had such thoughts, the demon general who sat beside him whispered to him,
“…I understand your thoughts, but concentrate on the conference.”
“! A, aah… sorry about that.”
He returned his focus to the meeting after being reminded. He glanced to the other demon general to thank him for the reminder, to which the other continued,
“…Since Leonhart-sama said that, perhaps it was really something important he needed to take care of.”
“…I, I see.”
Perhaps he spoke on behalf of the feelings of the demon generals there.
For many demon generals there who knew Leonhart well, they trusted him. Therefore, they immediately accepted his command to continue with the conference independently. They just assumed that something happened that made him have to leave the conference midway.
In the first place, it wasn’t like he had to participate in the conference no matter what. All he needed to do was to confirm the content later. In fact, Leonhart did say he would do so later, so if he found some problem as he reviewed the results of the meeting, he would fix the problem on the fly.
Therefore, what the demon generals should do right now was concentrate on their current conference, so there would be fewer problems for Leonhart to fix later.
The confused demon generals were also being reminded by other demon generals who were Leonhart’s subordinates, so the conference went smoothly.
While the demon generals continued with their conference, the Leonhart they talked about earlier was—
“Okay, you’ve come, Hunty! Let’s do it right away! Where will we do it?! … Let’s just do it here! Okay, let’s do it!”
“We, we’re doing it so soon?!”
He welcomed his own apostle who had visited his room and pressed her for combat.
Yes, the person who visited Leonhart was the person who met him during the war a month ago, the dragon kalar woman who had a deathmatch against him, Hunty Kalar.
She was Leonhart’s second apostle.
“Ah-hey! Wait a minute!”
“Aah?”
Hunty shouted as she pushed away the clinging Leonhart.
Hunty was confused by his sudden high tension. She wanted to ask about the promised one month reunion, but she also had other things she wanted to ask.
In the first place, during the reunion,
“…Just now, how did you know I was outside the window? I thought to knock on the window so you noticed my presence, but it turns out it was unnecessary…”
“Aah, about that.”
Leonhart answered her easily.
“For the last few days, I was sharpening my abilities, since it was almost the promised month, after all. I sensed your presence, or rather, the blood I gave you? Which allows me to sense the presence of my own apostle nearby, so I tried to detect it… and I was right.”
“…I guess, it’s better to not retort about how monstrous you are now.”
Leonhart easily explained that while smiling, which caused Hunty to exhale as if giving up. She thought it was quite wrong of her to blatantly enter the castle, so she used Instant Movement to roam about while searching for Leonhart, but she didn’t think he would manage to detect her presence.
Can I win against this thing? She thought. No, she didn’t think she could win in combat, but if they did fight, she had to aim for victory regardless.
It was at that moment, there was another voice who called her out.
“—Hey you!!”
“Heh?”
Suddenly, the girl behind Leonhart raised her voice.
It was a person with blonde pigtails who was familiar to Hunty, and she spoke out as she remembered them.
“Ah-, so you are from back then. As I thought, you are an apostle.”
“That’s right! I am Leonhart-sama’s first apostle and the perfect apostle! I’m also the senior apostle to you, Carol!”
“You emphasized the apostle part too much…”
Leonhart whispered, stupefied about Carol’s fierce self-introduction. However, Carol didn’t react to that and walked in front of Hunty.
Then she pointed her finger at Hunty.
“I have something to say to you!”
“Eh, something to say? To me?”
Hunty went wide eyed as she was pointed at. Carol seemed indignant. I wonder what I did wrong? Hunty thought. Carol continued.
“—As a fellow apostle, isn’t it rude not to give me, your senior, no greetings whatsoever?!”
She spoke loudly, pointing out Hunty’s lack of manners.
“…Ru-rude?”
“That’s right! As a fellow apostle of Leonhart-sama, greetings are important! That would make you struggle in the demon society!”
At that sentence, Hunty turned her eyes toward Leonhart. Then whispered,
“…Is demon society strict regarding manners?”
“No, well… people do treat those in superior positions politely… but it’s not like the manner itself is strict… I think it was only Carol who cared that much.”
Leonhart also replied to her question with a whisper. Perhaps Carol didn’t see both of them talking in secret, as she changed her expression and pose. She crossed her arms as her expression softened, seemingly trying to puff her chest out towards Hunty.
“…However, I am not so strict as to demand perfection from a beginner in demon society. Since I am super kind, I will forgive you if you give your greeting now.”
As she said that, Carol laughed proudly. As Hunty saw that, she thought,
…Err, does she mean that I have to greet her now?
I’m not sure, but I feel like the conversation won’t proceed otherwise. Also, we will get involved often as fellow apostles from now on. I somehow feel Carol isn’t that bad of a person anyway.
With that thought, Hunty greeted her as prompted.
“…Please take care of me. Err-, Carol-senpai?”
“!”
Hunty greeted Carol with a little joke. Then Carol went wide eyed and put her hands on her cheeks, seemingly on her trip in her fantasy,
“Se-senpai…! So I finally became a senpai…! It sounds nice— Hah?!”
“…”
“…”
And her voice trembled in happiness. Was it that delightful for her to be called a senior?
Perhaps she noticed Hunty and Leonhart were staring at her. She tried to deceive them by clearing her throat,
“Hhm! I, I don’t mind being called by my name. We are comrades, fellow apostles, after all… leaving that aside. Please take care of me from now on as well! Let’s defeat Shichisei together and claim the seat of the perfect apostle!
“Shichisei…? …Uhm, well, anyway, Nice to meet you, Carol.”
“…I’ll tell you just in case, but Shichisei is not your enemy, okay?”
Although Leonhart reminded her again, Carol already planned to involve Hunty in her quest to defeat Shichisei.
“Well then, let’s do it immediately.”
“No, I told you… isn’t there, like, something else to say?”
Those were the first words Leonhart said after settling matters with Carol, of which made Hunty retort immediately.
…He is still a battle maniac as usual, huh.
Just how much did he want to fight? No, although that was the very reason she was turned into his apostle, Hunty could only be stunned by that. It was their reunion after a month since she was turned into an apostle, so wasn’t he supposed to ask about her recent situation? It was weird for her to say so since she wasn’t aware of normal relationships between apostle and majin, though.
Also, she also had something she had trouble with, or rather, complaints she wanted to voice since she became his apostle. But Leonhart spoke first,
“It’s not like there’s — ah, no, there is.”
“Ah, so there is something.” Hunty responded.
Leonhart thought to deny her words, but he suddenly remembered something and spoke out the opposite words.
Hunty was a little relieved by that. As expected, she felt weird to suddenly have to battle him right after a reunion.
However, Hunty was surprised by the words that followed.
“Ssulal — the maou said she wanted to meet you.”
“…Hah?”
Hunty raised her eyebrow and made a questioning sound as she heard an unexpected name.
Maou. The Demon Army’s leader — the master of demons and the ruler of the continent.
That all-powerful existence had said they wanted to meet her.
Hunty held her head.
…Eeh… no, maou, you said… no well, of course they are there, but…1
Hunty was currently in Maou Castle. And she was now an apostle. In addition, her master was a superior majin who held the post of demon army officer and was one of the Four Elite Majin. Leonhart had obviously met the maou in person, and perhaps he did so often at that.
Having to meet the maou was quite hard for her. However, this was the response she got from Leonhart when she asked if there was something else other than the fight. Since she was an apostle, she couldn’t really refuse it, which made her painfully aware of her current situation.
Even as Hunty felt dejected, she asked Leonhart.
“…I guess that means I have to meet them no matter what — right…”
“…Well, yes. That’s indeed the case, and I somehow understand your concern, but—“
Leonhart looked at Hunty and somehow guessed the reason for her anxiety before continuing his words.
He sighed once and let out a wry laugh,
“Maou Ssulal — isn’t as terrifying as you think she is.”
“…”
He quickly stopped her imagination from running wild to dispel Hunty’s anxiety.
Leonhart’s words seem to display the deep trust he had in the maou. Hunty could understand that, despite only meeting him for the second time.
Then Carol, who stood beside them, put her hand on her own chest and proudly said,
“Ssulal-sama is a kind person, so it’s okay! The other day, she lent me the book she recommended!”
“…I can’t imagine that at all though.”
Even Carol, who was an apostle, didn’t look worried at all.
Hunty could only imagine the maou as a cruel master of the demons and a monster-like existence, though. Her image of maou was so bad that she imagined the book Carol got was a demonic grimoire that would parasitize her.
However, looking at the attitude of the pair, at the very least, maybe they were kind enough to the majin and apostle? Although she didn’t feel like meeting them, it wasn’t like she wasn’t interested in doing so.
After all, Maou Ssulal was an existence shrouded in mystery. Hunty had never heard the maou appear at any battlefield; furthermore, any information regarding the maou was barely known. There were only a few rumors, and those she heard were something in line with her fearful imagination of what maou was.
As Hunty was wondering what kind of person maou was,
“Well then, which do you want to do first?”
“—Heh?”
Leonhart suddenly asked such a thing. Leonhart raised two fingers as he heard Hunty’s dazed voice,
“Will you fight me first or meet maou first? … Personally, I recommend fighting first.”
“…Uwah…”
Leonhart gave a beatific smile as he said that. Though he did let Hunty choose, a bloodthirsty aura was leaking out of his body along with intense fighting spirit. He clearly meant to say, let’s fight first, without putting it into words.
And Hunty let out an honest, disgusted voice at those words.
Perhaps it would’ve been better had I not come here. Even with that thought in her mind, she couldn’t avoid either of them. She was only given the choice to choose which to do first, and it wasn’t like the other would disappear after, either.
…Ah- damn! Let’s just do this!
Hunty sighed once and resolved herself. It was half desperation, but she couldn’t avoid it now she was already here.
So Hunty spoke of her choice.
“…Then first—“
“…Hah.”
Leonhart answered her choice with a smile.
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Bruhh
the fateful choice…