The Melancholy of the Demon Army Officer
Translator: Tsukii
Editor: Derpy
Read at Watashi wa Sugoi Desu!
Chapter 047 – Vacation
In the hardest location to approach within the Maou Castle, Maou Ssulal’s study, there were currently four shadows.
One of them sat on the sofa with her legs crossed as she looked forward — the girl who was also the owner of this castle — Maou Ssulal.
The rest were Majin Leonhart and his two apostles who had just finished sparring. Leonhart sat on the sofa opposite Ssulal, while the two apostles stood at attention behind him.
Usually, the apostles would also sit and enjoy the tea, but since they were here on official business this time, they tried to maintain professionality.
In other words, the exchange was between Ssulal as the maou and Leonhart as one of the Four Elite Majin and a demon army officer.
Even so, the atmosphere was relaxed because it was Ssulal’s private room, but since Leonhart told his apostles to keep it formal, they followed his order.
Therefore, the pair was also ordered not to talk during this occasion. At the very least, it would only last until they were asked to do otherwise in the situation.
Leonhart spoke out first in the silence of the room. His expression turned serious at what Ssulal had just told him. He expressed confusion, as he had yet to process the words, and disbelief at what he just heard. As if to reconfirm it, Leonhart clarified,
“…Sorry, can you say that one more time?”
Ssulal sucked in a breath at his request.
Although her expression was wrought with exasperation, the maou once again repeated her command.
The content of the order was,
“…You, Majin Leonhart, are to—”
“…”
“—Take a vacation.”
“…?!”
Leonhart was astonished by her order.
“…”
“…Leonhart-sama has made an expression I rarely see…”
“Let’s see— uwah, it’s true. He looks really surprised… or rather, it seems he didn’t expect such an order to come around…”
When the pair of apostles glanced at Leonhart, observing that he was as stiff as a statue with his jaw dropped, mouth agape.
Just like Hunty had said, the word ‘vacation’ simply wasn’t part of Leonhart’s vocabulary, so he was still stupefied for a while, but then…
“…Don’t tell me—”
Eventually, his expression morphed as if he just realised something. His complexion paled as he anxiously looked at Ssulal. Then, with a quivering voice, he asks,
“—Do you mean… Am I… being fired…?”
“…Eh?”
This time, it was Ssulal’s turn to be dumbfounded by his unexpected response.
Leonhart stood up abruptly with his head held in his hands,
“To suddenly grant me a vacation now, isn’t this just a roundabout dismissal notice…?! Kuh, did I make a mistake somewhere…?”
With that said, he began to mutter under his breath, “Is it that thing that caused this, or is it that one instead?” Such was how he began to reflect on his past actions. At the sight of that, Ssulal finally came back to her senses and said with slight panic,
“N-no, that’s not it! I’m not firing you, okay? Calm down a bit…!”
“Is… Is that so…? I’m glad then, I guess I just jumped to conclusions…”
At Ssulal’s desperate denial, Leonhart finally patted his chest in relief. Then he sat back down on the sofa.
“Why is that the conclusion you reached…?”
“There’s no way Leonhart-sama could be fired!”
“…Well, sorry… The word vacation is just so unfamiliar to me…”
The pair of apostles reassured Leonhart. They were quite surprised by his sudden panic, but the reason behind it was simply the word, ‘vacation’.
Once Ssulal heard that, from her lips spilled an, “Uuh.” Then she looked up at Leonhart as if trying to gauge his reaction,
“…Err… is a vacation really that unexpected to you…?”
Leonhart nodded without hesitation.
“Aah, it’s been over 300 years since I first took on the post of a demon army officer, but I have never had a decent vacation. Although I do get a break about one day per month, most of the time there was some sort of other reason for them—”
His words stopped there. Then, he clapped a hand over his mouth in realisation,
“…Now that I think about it calmly, don’t I work too much…? How long have I worked for…?”
“Ah, do you want me to calculate it?”
“…Please do.”
Carol replied with, ‘Leave it to me,’ as she pulled out an abacus from somewhere and began to count, the clicking of the beads echoing inside the room.
“Err- let’s assume that there was a regular break day once a month, then that would make 353 working days a year. Since it has been 320 years since you first began, that would make—”
The abacus revealed the answer, and that was,
“A grand total of 112,960 working days!”
“…”
In contrast to Carol’s bright answer, the faces of the other three were complicated. But Carol carried on with her observations regardless,
“Even the demon generals who work in the castle have 2 days off each week, with the exception of wartime. I also take a day off every week as well!”
Carol happily informed Leonhart. The off-day rule was decided on ever since Leonhart began serving as a demon army officer. But for the Demon Army prior to him taking charge, there was no such thing.
Although the subordinates would work if their superiors told them to, and leaving aside the majins and demon soldiers who basically did all they liked, there was no such a thing as a day off for the demon captains and generals who basically worked every day of the year. When Leonhart first took the post, he felt that it fostered a terrible working environment, so he commanded them to at least take a day or two off every week if possible.
By the way, the ones who had it worse were the apostles. Since they were the personal servants of majins, they worked every day to serve their master. However, most apostles were deeply loyal to the majins who turned them into apostles. In other words, since they were doing what they liked to do, they didn’t find it a chore.
In fact, Carol still helped Leonhart and served him on her days off, just like most of the other apostles. Since the order was to do as they liked during their off days, they freely chose to serve their master. Therefore, Leonhart has practically given up on pushing the subject with the apostles.
Ignoring such circumstances, Carol proudly announced,
“This would mean that Leonhart-sama is the person who has worked the most in the Demon Realm! …Well, I prefer it if you’d slacked off sometimes like how Ssulal-sama and Camilla-sama do once in a while, though…”
“Kuh!”
She didn’t say it out of malice, but Carol’s offhanded words made Ssulal grasp her chest in mock pain. Although Hunty’s name was not included, her face crumpled similarly,
“…That somehow makes me ashamed to only come once a month. By the way, err… how is Camilla-sama—”
Hunty awkwardly mentioned Camilla’s name since she was still weak against her. Carol, who was aware of such a thing, once again replied without malice.
“Camilla-sama basically spends every day as she likes. She either lazes in her room the entire day, stares at beautiful things, or wanders around the castle for no reason. She also leaves fetching food and other sorts of duties to Shichisei, so the only time Camilla-sama has actively worked would be during wartime. The amount of time she has spent not moving is much longer than when she has moved.”
Carol said with a smile.
“If Leonhart-sama is the person who has worked the hardest in the Demon Realm, then Camilla-sama is the laziest in the Demon Realm! …Huh? That somehow sounds like an insult—“
“That’s definitely an insult!!”
Hunty complained.
In Camilla’s room within the Four Elite Majin’s quarters, Camilla suddenly gripped her chest.
“Guh…”
“Ca-Camilla-sama?! What’s wrong?!”
“…Nothing.”
Camilla frowned due to the sudden mental distress.
Although it was unclear what she had been thinking about, after a while, she said,
“…Let’s go outside today.”
“Eh… Ah, alright. I will accompany you.”
“And we’ll go far away, too.”
“…Isn’t it alright once in a while?”
Shichisei had a large question mark pop up inside his head because his master emphasised it for some reason.
“…Uhm, but I consider that attitude of Camilla-sama’s as queen-like leisure, and it is very admirable. So I definitely didn’t mean it as an insult, okay?”
Carol put all her inner feelings into her words as she explained. Everyone there was simply glad that Camilla was not present to hear it.
“…Anyway, Leonhart works too much, so you have to take a vacation…Well, it’s mostly my fault though…”
“…No, that’s fine and all, but… don’t get too depressed, okay…?”
“Uuh… It’s not like I’m just being lazy in my room… I am merely doing my research… although it is true that I rarely go out, and I do have the time to enjoy my snack while being lazy, that’s definitely not all I do…”
Ssulal looked down, perhaps feeling depressed due to Carol’s words, as she muttered words mixed with self-deprecation under her breath. To be honest, Leonhart felt she could do whatever she liked since she was the maou.
…But well, what should I do about this?
To take a vacation. That would mean it wasn’t just for a single day, but for several at once. Leonhart seriously thought about it for once, but what crept up in his mind was nothing but worry.
“…Is it really okay for me to take a vacation…?”
He thought out loud. Ssulal then clapped her hands and resolved with vigour,
“—It’s okay! I’ll work in your stead while you’re not here!”
“I’ll also work! I will be of help to Leonhart-sama!”
It was followed by Carol’s dashing voice.
On top of that, Hunty also shrugged her shoulders and claimed,
“…Well, it can’t be helped. I’ll help as well.”
“…”
Leonhart was inwardly surprised that even Hunty offered her help. Even as he silently asked her whether it was really alright with his gaze,
“I usually don’t work that much after all… I’ll do it at least at times like this.”
“…I see.”
Leonhart exhaled deeply once he heard her words.
Although his worries weren’t fully abated yet, it made him feel like taking a vacation since they assured him that much. He felt grateful for their consideration and didn’t feel too bad about taking the vacation to at least not waste their efforts.
In that case, thought Leonhart as he made up his mind,
“…Since you’re willing to do that much, I’ll take up your offer.”
He decided to accept the vacation.
“Uhn, take a good rest. I’ll also do my best.”
“Leave the management of the Demon Army to us and enjoy your break freely, Leonhart-sama!”
“…That seems to be the case. I’ll also do my best to help.”
“…Aah, thank you.”
Leonhart was grateful for the words of the three.
In fact, even though he had thought, it shouldn’t be a problem even if I left for some time, his feelings leaned more toward, I shouldn’t let their feelings go to waste, as he accepted the vacation.
Besides, it had been a while since he rested for more than a day, and now that he has been granted a vacation, it wasn’t like he didn’t have anything he wanted to try.
As Leonhart began to think about his vacation, Hunty lightly queried about his vacation plans.
“And what are you going to do during your vacation?”
With the flow in place, Ssulal and Carol also asked,
“Ah, that’s right. If you have nothing you want to do, should I lend you some books?”
“Leonhart-sama! You can be lazy in your room and let me tend to your needs! I will come flying if you call for me even if I’m in the midst of work!”
“Hm… well, let’s see. I’m thinking about it right now, but—”
Leonhart kept thinking for a bit.
Indeed, being lazy all day while reading some books like Camilla might be nice, he thought. Since he was usually busy, that might be a good option for relaxing.
However, Leonhart also thought. He had something planned for the vacation so he gave a different answer.
“…I guess I’ll journey alone for a bit…”
“Journey?”
“Eh, you’re leaving the castle?”
“…Ah, you’ve mentioned that before!”
Everyone tilted their head in question when they heard the word, “journey”. However, Carol soon clapped her hands together in understanding, drawing Ssulal and Hunty’s attention to her.
Carol continued to talk as she began to recall,
“I remember Leonhart-sama muttering to himself saying that he wanted to travel alone to visit various places before!”
Leonhart’s eyes widened. Now that I think about it, I seem to have mentioned such a thing before, such was how he remembered it but couldn’t remember it exactly. It must be something that happened within the last 120 years, but as usual, Carol sure remembers it well regardless, thought Leonhart as he was impressed.
“Well, that’s how it is. Basically, I’ll be going on a training journey with sightseeing on the side, something like a trip, I guess?”
“Huh? But I thought Leonhart often visited various locations when you led the Demon Army out for expeditions…?”
Hunty asked out of pure curiosity, but Leonhart immediately answered no.
“I went for work-related purposes on those occasions, it is completely different to going for personal leisure. With my subordinates around, I need to keep my actions in check. Besides—”
Leonhart paused slightly before continuing,
“—When I visit during the Demon Army’s expedition, the town and the road would mostly be messed up and dirty. It isn’t something you could consider sightseeing.”
“Ah… I see.”
Hunty was convinced with visible disgust on her face. It seemed she understood his point.
“…I see. Then, have fun out there, I guess?”
Although she was a little disappointed, Ssulal bid him a good trip with a smile. While Leonhart remained curious about that, Ssulal reminded,
“Ah, please bring back some souvenirs. I’m looking forward to it, so I’ll get angry if you forget, okay?”
“…I’ve never forgotten to bring back any whenever I’ve gone out without needing to be told, right? I won’t forget.”
Leonhart said with a weird expression on him. He often brought souvenirs back whenever he went out for expeditions or dungeon explorations, so it seemed Ssulal looked forward to it.
Since he understood that, he already intended to return with souvenirs, but now that it was asked directly of him, it somehow made the expectation heavier so it was quite mysterious.
But well, Ssulal is mostly happy regardless of what I give her, so I don’t need to worry too much.
As he thought that, Carol suddenly asked,
“Leonhart-sama, have you decided where to go? If you don’t, then please let this Carol, the best tour guide of the Demon Realm, give you some suggestions about where to go…”
“Aah, about that…”
Indeed, since Carol’s appearance was similar to humans, she often infiltrated human cities during the expeditions for reconnaissance and brought him some souvenirs when she returned. Therefore, she didn’t self-proclaim her title this time. As of now, the person affiliated with the Demon Army who was most informed about human cities would be Carol.1
Although that might’ve been a good idea, Leonhart replied,
“I’ve already decided where I want to go first.”
“Aah, I see…”
Carol shrugged her shoulders in disappointment. So Leonhart added,
“…Just in case, tell me your recommendations. Perhaps I might go there to visit.”
“Certainly!”
Carol was immediately revitalised. This easy-to-understand attitude was one of her good points.
As Leonhart noticed Carol approaching him, he proceeded to pat her head on a whim. As happiness radiated from her, Ssulal then repeated the question,
“So in the end, where will you be going?”
“That is—”
Leonhart told the three about the location.
The place he had in mind was—
“The highest mountain in the world — Rising Dragon Mountain.”
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