Akuyaku Reijou no Naka no Hito

Chapter 20.2

Extra Story — What The King of Demons Thinks, Part 1

Translated by KaiesV
Edited by KaiesV

But having actually met her and exchanged words, I changed my plans. Remilia was… She was serious, she just wanted to「save the demon tribe from going crazy,」and she wasn’t lying when she said that. She knows how to save us through the revelation given to us by God, and she is doing it, and she is convinced that the demon tribe will be saved by it. Even when she said there was no benefit to her,「Because that’s what I have to do,」and her beautiful blue eyes, without a trace of regret in them, shot me a glance, I still felt her words with all my heart… she said so without any falsehoods.

Some people may misunderstand me, but my Heavenly Eye does not detect the truth, it only sees the awareness of the lie that the person has told. She… Either she sincerely believe that the fantasies she had seen are true, or she had truly been given knowledge by God and tasked with saving the world.

Now it’s on the verge of falling… I would be very shocked if it was true that the miasma was being generated from the god of creation to which the Demon Tribe devotes its faith. But the story makes sense, because the noxious gas is actually distributed around the area where the temple is located. I clung to hope. I had been sent to learn that there was a way to control the madness, and that this damsel of salvation could teach me how to do it. I wanted to believe that.

I was to go with her to the back of the temple where the God Of Creation was about to fall. The key is indeed a national treasure, but a strong seal was also placed on it by a Demon King six generations ago, who strictly stated,「Do not set foot in the depths of the temple.」The Demon King of that time were concerned about the God Of Creation, who had long since ceased to descend, and they proceeded to the back of this door. However, they only recorded that「when they tried to approach the God, a divine punishment fell and a tragedy occurred,」and this door was sealed without any other good explanation.

According to the records of the surrounding Demon Tribe who were not accompanied to the back of the temple, none of those who went to the God Of Creation returned except the Demon King at that time. Among them were the wife and two children of the Demon King.

I looked at Lady Remilia with a sideways glance. She didn’t say much about herself, but she would not have had anything to do with this kind of life of making abrasions and exchanging lives with demons by becoming like a soldier. Her fingertips are rough and her nails are chipped. Her hair, the same dark golden color as my eyes, was tied up in a haphazard bun, and she wore no makeup at all. However… She was simply beautiful as she looked forward to her mission. She could have cursed God and wondered why she was the one to do it. As far as I can tell, she was given a revelation from God… There was an evil entity that didn’t like it and seemed to be disturbed by it, and yet she seemed sad about it, but I didn’t sense any anger. I was curious about her, wondering how she could live as such a good person.

God would be cruel to have imposed such a fate on her. God must have entrusted my fate to this person because of me. She never whines, she never backs down when I try to get her to do something, she just does what she believes「should be done,」and she was so dazzling.

When asked if she was ready to enter the back of the temple, she replied,「Call my name,」for some reason.

For a moment I didn’t know what she had said, too abruptly. However, when I think about it, there is a possibility that I will need to make a decision on the spur of the moment, so it is not convenient for me to remain as「His Majesty the King of Demons.」In fact, when I go around destroying the miasma, everyone calls me「Your Majesty,」or「Angel」if they know me well… It must have come out of hee mouth because it was necessary before going into battle, I concluded.

In the depths of the temple, in the darkness where nothing is visible, she tells me stories one after another, stories that even I, the king of the Demon Tribe, did not know. She said that this is also the knowledge given by God to save the world.

…I was choked up when she affirmed, not directly but with full words, that「you have done all you can do」for the history of the Demon Tribe, which until now had lived groping in fear of going insane. As I recalled my lost family and friends, I was filled with sentimentality, thinking,「It is because of everyone’s efforts that the entire Demon Tribe was able to prolong its life and reach this day,」but I was also filled with a sense of hope.

Some of this information was information that I thought could have been used to her advantage to negotiate with me in the audience chamber. Otherwise, how could she teach all those revelations given to me by God without getting anything in return? In the first place, if she had used her knowledge when she was in the land of humans, she could have destroyed the Demon Tribe, which is identified with demons, and even cut off the cause of the demons.

When I asked her why she could be so accommodating, she curiously replied,「Because it would make both the demons and the humans happier」…As if to say,「Because that’s the way it’s supposed to be.」She seemed to have no other ideas, and I even felt guilty for being wary.

I didn’t suspect her anymore. Not because her words did not lie, but because her wish to「save the Demon Tribe」was genuine. All I hope now is that whoever gave her the knowledge is a real god or supernatural being. I prayed that if there was an evil god left over from the legends, he would not be using Remilia to finish off the Demon Tribe.

If that were to happen, she would give up even her life to make amends. Such an ending would be terrible for Remilia, who has done so much for others.

Fortunately, I was relieved that the oracle given to Remilia seemed to be true. As she teaches me, I was told that I need to thoroughly cut down the Fallen God Of Creation in order to purify it, and joins forces with her.

Remilia is brilliantly responding to various attacks that even I, the Demon King, have no idea about by changing the attributes of the demonic barrier wall she deploys each time. You can’t imitate this kind of thing for the first time against this technique… I guess she knew all this because of God’s guidance. Even though I was in front of her, she created a thick barrier on my side as a matter of course, or even used themselves as bait to save the day in situations where I was in danger. It’s irresistible because she does it all with a face that says,「Of course.」

After that, we managed to subdue the God Of Creation thanks to Remilia, who prioritized strengthening magic and recovery for me, even putting her own injuries on the back burner. I, myself… I was exhausted from what I’ve felt was the toughest battle I had ever been in, but Remilia seemed to be having a harder time, as she didn’t even seem to have time to heal her own wounds anymore. The white skin has lost even more blood and turned pale. The magic potion she brought with her may have been used up, and she doesn’t appear to be taking any means of recovery. She looks as if she can barely stand up.

Covered in scars and with her equipment in tatters, she was so beautiful that I wanted to「embrace」her.

The black haze that had enveloped the God Of Creation, which no longer seemed to be moving, had cleared to reveal the shape of a white dragon, perhaps having released all the stagnation that had accumulated. As she approached it, Remilia put something that looked like a plant seed out of a vial she had taken from her chest into her palm. When she poured her prayer-like magic power into it, the seed instantly sprouted, and when large leaves grew and buds formed, a large, pure white lotus flower bloomed. She sais that the maiden in the center, glistening in white and silver, is the youngest daughter of the Goddess Of Creation, the Goddess Of Purification.

The goddess was very worried about her father, but was very grateful that we had set up a place to purify the Goddess of Creation.

The goddess of purification gave me, in return for my help,「a technique to remove the Miasma from the body of the Demon Tribe.」It seems I require to have the aptitude to use it, and since I didn’t have it, it was given to Remilia. If the person has not developed the Madness, they can be saved by simply applying it, even if they are on the verge of it.

Thanks to the fact that the noxious gas no longer occurs, there will be no new Madness incoming, but some of them will be in poor physical condition. If we need more users, Remilia says, we will find and spread the word about those who have the aptitude.

The Lord of the Heavens, who had sealed the Goddess of Purification… I regret to think that this technique was not given to the Demon Tribe because of the deeds of this woman, who I believe is the evil god, but… On the contrary, I finally gave up because I was convinced that I had already done all I could do.

And Remilia, the center of this salvation, had been given the title and blessing of「Maiden Of Purification」by the Goddess.

「No way, I don’t think I deserve this title at all…!」

She never lied when she said that… The behavior, which is so healthy and humble, is so「wonderful」that I worry that I have「to protect her from being harmed by malicious intent.」

At the time, I thought… this was a thank you to her for being the savior of the Demon Tribe.

After visiting the God of Creation, each passing day and hour brings joy to the entire demon tribe as they realize that「everything has been resolved.」

Until now, we had barely maintained equilibrium by going around crushing the Miasma pools, but now the Miasma is fading away without us having to do anything. There are naturally no people with the onset of Madness.

Those who were lying in fear that they might develop the disease tomorrow are all recovering now that Remilia has eliminated the noxious gas from their bodies… They and their families all praised Remilia as a Saint and a Goddess, to which I nodded deeply inside.

The fact that the Miasma no longer causes a miasma will make it much more difficult to create high-threatening demons. For the first time, the Demon Tribe was elated at the thought of the future, of being able to「live to be happy」instead of「live to survive.」

She said that she did so and saved the Demon Tribe, but Remilia further said that she would go around the country and remove the Miasma from the areas where the Miasma was thick, just as she did to the Demon Tribe’s bodies. I almost declined, saying she could put up some leniency, but she… She was adamant that since the whole country was looking up to be happy, the chances of being threatened by powerful demons should be as small as possible.

I felt my heart tighten when I heard the terms of the exchange. Remilia, as we heard, was treated as a sinner by her former fiancé and family and forced to leave her place… In doing so, she said, the person who orchestrated it used the「Potion Of Attractiveness」to plant false favors on those around her and sprinkled falsehoods on them. Remilia said she wants to save these traitors from what could be called a curse.

I asked her if she still had feelings for him, and I was obviously relieved by her answer… Remilia didn’t seem to notice, but I guessed what I was feeling. I… I am attracted to her.

I had given a name to my feelings and instantly started to be even more conscious of Remilia, but she seemed to be so preoccupied with the Demon Tribe still living a hard life that she did not notice my gaze. However, I am more thankful for that now. It hasn’t been that long since we met, and more importantly, I wanted to wait for Remilia to heal from the wounds of being betrayed by her former fiancé and others.

While the life of the Demon Tribe was gradually improving, Remilia was spending most of the time she should have been using for herself on studying magic. The「Technique of the Water Mirror Of The Past,」which she mastered to uncover the truth behind the incident, has reached a high standard in image quality and sound, and now there are probably only a few among the Demon Tribe who can match her in this art.

Under the pretext of helping to record the footage, I learned the full story about the incident in which Remilia was once humiliated. The woman called “Pina,” the Star Maiden, seemed to be very good at doing evil. Remilia, who was so good-natured, would not have been able to resist the subterfuge. She was too familiar with fabricating crimes… Those who were complicit were difficult to uncover without questioning them with the certainty of perjury, huh? But there was a way to expose them, and if they trusted her, they wouldn’t have suspected her in the first place. Hence, they have no excuse.

Looking at the past footage, I wonder if the love potion was this strong in its effect, it doesn’t work on demons, of course, but even on humans, it should be a soothing feeling… I almost twisted my head and remembered. Remilia… She was talking about the power this woman Pina had. She could strengthen her people, increase the fruitfulness of her farmland, and revive water sources that were dying… She said she had an ability called「Star Prayer」that could increase the potion’s ability to heal. I guessed… that it had something to do with it. It’s now… already too late to talk about that.

Still, I wonder if the real devil is the one who took this lead, and if she’s done something so ugly… How can someone give this kind of power to those who do it willingly? If it is such a strong power, it should be given only after determining who can use it properly. Someone like Remilia.

Assuming it were true that the power of the love potion was enhanced by the Star Prayer… As Remilia said, that thing does not brainwash or take away reason. I kept quiet about the hypothesis that I had come up with, thinking that if that was the case, she had most likely had it coming to them. Remilia forgives them… I want to take away any chance of that.

I don’t want to work hard to free those men… As soon, as soon as possible, I want her to live for her own happiness.

The diplomatic relations with the human kingdom were established, and the lives of the Demon Tribe began to be enriched by entertainment, albeit gradually. Miss Sofia, who is like Remilia’s right hand, looked serious and requested to see me. I restrained her from bowing and continued the conversation, apologizing for my busy schedule. I wondered what was going on and was told, “Look at this,” and an image I had conjured up in the past through the Technique Of The Water Mirror was played back.

「Hey, I’ve been useful again, haven’t I? Because you know…」

「I’ve already had sex with Romano-san～」

「Even Pina likes you. She’s a really bad woman.」

「You’re terrible, that’s…」

A man called Romano embraces the woman who humiliated Remilia and puts his hands on her breasts over her clothes… Then, with a snap, the image was cut off.

Sofia, who was assisting Remilia in organizing the recordings, found several unnatural breaks in the video, including this one. She asked me if I could confirm this continuation, and I confirmed the spatio-temporal coordinates of the images in the magic stone and connected them… It’s a little less colorful than Remilia’s… but it was enough to confirm the event.

From there, what was shown was a scene of a coitus between a whore and a criminal, which was horrifying even to mention. From the conversation, this man seems to be an escort… How dare she hire him to betray her master with money and a woman’s body…

A man named Romano, at the request of a woman named Pina, happily spread the story to the commoners that「Remilia made a pass at me, and when I refused… she brought up my family and I was forced to serve the woman I didn’t like.」If he was in front of me right now, I would kill him myself. That seems to be how Sofia feels as well.

And how awful, the man who betrayed Remilia by fornicating with the Star Maiden is this other man… There seemed to be as many magic stones as there were images interrupted in the middle of the video.

「Sofia… I have a plan. I need Remilia’s help in a confidential way.」

「Yes, anything to help Remilia-sama!!」

When Sofia heard about my plan, she was happy to help me and asked for my cooperation. The day we put this into action… Conveniently, the aristocrats over there were very receptive to the goods from the Magical World, which were in higher demand than originally planned. The trade was supposed to be a wait-and-see affair over the next few years, but they offered to take advantage of the opportunity to expand the scale of the trade by holding a large-scale friendship event to celebrate the passage of one year since the start of the trade. Let that be the place… where the truth is revealed.

「Leave it to me, Your Majesty the Demon King. The kind-hearted Remilia-sama, in order not to make things worse, requested a secret meeting after the social gathering, and on the spot… And she said that, at any cost, in the middle of the evening party, in the public eye… she’s going to get that woman to apologize.」

「Ahh, I see then. Remilia alone is going to be bonded to her and she’s going to forgive her somehow, then I’m relying you.」

「Even if Remilia-sama forgives her, I won’t…! I won’t feel better if I don’t retaliate more than Remilia-sama did!」

As for Remilia, she find Sofia very reliable. After finishing editing the video, Sofia sealed it tightly, saying,「It would be terrible if such an outrageous thing were to get into the eyes of the pure Remilia-sama,」and naturally, she left it with me.

I wouldn’t want to have one of these either… Well, is it better than keeping this near Remilia…?