Translator: Tsukii
Editor: Lilia
Read at Watashi wa Sugoi Desu!
Chapter 36 – After the Incident
The demon realms deployed by Dangoon in various places were gradually destroyed with our and the kingdom’s army’s combined efforts.
It was a nuisance that dripped miasma harmful to humanity from the moment it was set up.
If left alone, demons would endlessly spawn from there.
In the game, if your party encountered enemies roaming inside the city before entering the final dungeon, well, this was the reason.
It seemed demons had already spawned by the time Cadenta was sent to deal with the realm.
Even so, the realm was still in its initial state, so it didn’t take that much time to destroy it.
By the way, when it came to the quality of the demons that spawned, leaving aside how strong they were, they all looked like regular mob enemies.
In fact, when I destroyed the demon realm that had grown quite a bit before, I got the impression that the demons spawned there lacked a sense of self.
……In the terms of the game system, decently strong demons could be spawned endlessly and increase the difficulty, but when seen in reality, they were more like puppets that looked like demons, and were tiresome to deal with.
Well, only the Demon Lord could make demons, after all.
I guess demons could only spawn something like a dead copy of actual demons.
I probably couldn’t understand the details unless I learned more about the civilization and the technology of the other side.
“Well, what do you think about this report?”
“I think it is good enough.”
Three days later, not only was the school building gone, but the land had also been turned upside down.
The vice principal and I, who had leveled the land and rebuilt the school building, had just completed maintenance of the staff room.
The entire school building had been flattened, but fortunately, the building had just sunk into the ground instead of being completely obliterated.
I was grateful that many materials were still usable and detailed documents were intact.
“I’m sorry to make you supervise during your time off.”
“If you put it that way, it’s also Haruto-kun’s time off, right?”
“So it’s the same,” said the vice principal with a smile.
What I had her look at was the report that summarized the sequence of events that would be submitted to the government.
As expected, it was a complicated mess of a situation.
It couldn’t be overlooked, as the demon realm had been deployed inside the nation.
That miasma-filled space wouldn’t appear unless a high-ranking demon secured enough resources and time to formulate the spell.
In my case, since I’d gone to lands reigned over by demons, I had seen realms that had grown even more.
However, this was probably the first time the army, in charge of national defense, had encountered a demon realm. That would explain the heightened response. I had heard that the situation was able to be handled smoothly thanks to Cadenta, who was working behind the scenes both domestically and internationally.
“Well, I hope this could serve as a reference in various ways.”
I sort out the documents and put them in my bag.
“By the way, Haruto-kun, what are you planning to do from now on?”
“……What do you mean?”
“I think the reason you became a teacher, or more specifically, the reason you broke up the party that day, is gone now.”
Aah, I see. So she was asking whether I would quit teaching and resume adventuring together with Mariemaia and the rest.
“Did those three come to you for advice?”
“It’s not just those three who are worried about it. There’s one more person.”
The vice principal smiled like a goddess and put her index finger to her lips.
“……Since I’ve already accepted the role, I’ll make sure to diligently work until they graduate.”
“I’d be happy if you did that. But this time…”
“Yes, I’ll discuss with them properly and decide.”
“That’s a good answer,” said the vice principal and patted my head.
Stop, please, I’m already an adult, it’s embarrassing!── such a thought didn’t cross my mind at all.
No matter how old I was, it felt good to be patted on the head by an older beauty!
◇
The next day, I came to the royal castle to submit the report.
I couldn’t just send it with a messenger or drop it off with an official.
A certain experiment would be conducted on the same day, and I had to be there for it.
I was invited as a member of security, or rather, as someone who would respond in case something happened during the experiment.
The location was a magic laboratory located deep in the royal castle, covered with multiple barriers.
Mariemaia stood at the center of the magic circle that had been set up.
Mariemaia had said she managed to perceive the location of Dangoon’s stock of souls.
According to her, she managed to trace back the link when he peeked at her memories.
To be frank, I didn’t understand what she was saying.
I knew that demons could see people’s memories without permission, and depending on the individual, could even manipulate them.
But I had no idea how to reverse-hack the link on the demon side instead.
It was even more difficult to understand how, after reverse-hacking the connection, she managed to use it to find the location of a soul stock. Those gave greater demons pseudo-immortality, so it was valuable information and would usually be hidden.
Overall, how the heck did she detect things in another dimension?
“So you’ve come, my compatriot.”
“Oh… Cadenta, good to see you again.”
Before I knew it, a woman with fiery red hair was standing next to me.
“If this experiment goes well, I’m sure you’ll have to accompany her and take out the greater demons all over the place.”
Of course I will. If things went well, I would suggest that myself.
If I could get rid of those annoying persistent fellows in the shortest possible time, there was no reason not to do it.
“……Well, to be honest, I think it’s difficult for these experiments to succeed.”
“Muu, why?”
Since it was bad to say something that would damper the situation as the preparation progressed closer to completion, I lowered my voice.
“It’s true that of all the greater demons I have fought so far, they always had a strong sense of loyalty to the demon lord. But I never saw fellow greater demons working together. I’ve seen a few who would quarrel with each other until they die, though.”
“Compatriot, you can’t call that a quarrel.”
Cadenta pointed that out with a straight face.
I also thought the same.
“Do you think creatures like that would store their souls in the same place? I think the place Mariemaia managed to detect is actually a space personally made and used by Dangoon.”
“Muu… I guess that makes sense.”
While I speculated with my classmate, the preparations were completed.
“Well then… ‘Go to a journey’ ‘people’s wishes’ ‘I am the eternal guide’ ‘may everyone gather together and create hope’ ……DRIVE.”
Mariemaia chanted and activated [Saint’s End Sanctuary] to prevent any harm from coming to us.
Then… she tore apart the dimension with both hands, stuck her arms in, and began to rummage through it.
“It’s a dangerous image.”
“That’s the exact movement that one would make when they’re trying to find something in an old storage box at the back of a shelf…”
Was she really in the middle of using a technique that interfered with other dimensions?
Wasn’t that the movement I made when I cleaned my room at my house by throwing everything under the bed?
As I looked on with skepticism, Mariemaia stopped shuffling around, and shook her head. Her arms were still stuck in the other dimension.
“So there’s no souls left, after all. There’s something else, though.”
“Then how about trying to take that out?”
Mariemaia nodded at the request of the person in charge of the request.
“Ah.”
“What’s wrong, my compatriot?”
“I have a really bad feeling about this. You probably won’t be using your sword anyway, so lend it to me.”
Cadenta had an indescribable expression on her face, but she still handed her sword over.
Immediately after that, Mariemaia pulled something out from another dimension.
What she had in her hand was the core that would allow deployment of the demon realm.
Perhaps it was something that Dangoon made himself and placed in the same place as his soul stocks.
If that core determined that the surrounding area was a human realm, it would immediately activate.
It was completely out of question to have something like that activated in the middle of the royal castle.
““AH.””
Everyone raised their voices at once as they noticed the danger.
The result was inevitable.
With Mariemaia in the center, a demon realm was deployed in the middle of the royal capital.
Everyone was stunned into silence. Nobody could say anything.
And perhaps because some sort of condition was different from usual, the demons had already spawned.
When the demons came out and saw they were completely surrounded, they stiffened.
On the other hand, we also stiffened when we saw the demons come out, as if it was the most obvious thing to do.
I raised up both my sword and Cadenta’s.
“ ‘Crushing myth’ ‘the baby’s prayers’ ‘I am a foolish martyr’ ‘may you lament the collapse’ ── DRIVE.”
After activating battle mode at lightning speed, I looked over at the multiple demons and at Mariemaia, who was half-crying, hands gripping the core.
“Ha-Haruto-sa~~~~n……!!”
“Aaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh geeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeezzzzzzzzzzzzz.”
I held the Hero’s Swords in both hands and charged into the group of demons, tearing the walls of the laboratory to shreds with each slash.
◇
The “Artificial Demon Realm Incident” was a series of related incidents caused by the greater demon Dangoon Perizephorus, in which multiple demon realms were deployed within the territory of Tail Kingdom.
It was an attack by a demon that occurred within the nation, something unprecedented in the history of the Tail Kingdom.
It was said that the final stage of the battle was a fierce clash between multiple demons and the Tail Kingdom’s strongest forces in the royal castle.
According to the record, a battle certainly occurred at the royal castle.
In other words, it could be concluded that there was a time when the royal capital’s defenses had been overcome.
The people of that time managed to win such a seemingly hopeless battle.
Later historians pointed out that this might have been the turning point in human history.
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