Manadeshi ni Uragirarete Shinda Ossan Yūsha, Shijō Saikyō no Maō toshite Ikikaeru

C4: Healing the Heart

There may be other Miracle Armaments nearby, like the one I just saw.

“How do I find……?”

I brought up the spell list again. There were roughly two things I needed to do. Locate the surrounding Miracle Armaments and destroy them.

“Oh, I like that one.”

Search: Detects the area around the caster. The type and range of detection varies depending on the level of the caster.

“Search.”

I thought to myself, “I want to find an autonomous Miracle Armament.” Immediately, an image of the castle and its surroundings appeared in my mind. Here and there in the sprawling wilderness, the same mechanical beasts that I had seen earlier were moving around, there were about a hundred of them.

“……There’s more than I thought.”

Some of them are attacking the demon tribe.

“Homing Ray x 100!”

As before, I created a hundred or so tracking magic bullets.

“Target is the autonomous Miracle Armaments. Go.”

When I gave the order, the magic bullets flew in all directions.

“This should take care of the Miracle Armament.”

Maybe, but…

“Amazing, Demon Lord!”

When I explained, Lilim and the others shouted with joy.

“Let me know if you find any that I missed. We’re pretty much outgunned, aren’t we?”

I’d better check with Stella about that.

“Which way is the audience hall?”

I decided to ask for directions.

“That……I got a little lost.”

It’s not cool for the Demon Lord to get lost in the Demon Lord’s castle, but it can’t be helped. I can’t keep wandering around like this forever.

I need to set up a defense system for the demon world to protect these guys. I’m not a hero or a demon king, but I want to follow my honest feelings now.

“You’re not familiar with it yet. If you want to get to the audience hall, go straight along the outer wall and turn left at the fountain to find the entrance.”

Lilim showed me the way.

“And…..if you’d like to take a look at this.”

She offered me some portable rations.

My stomach grumbled. Come to think of it, I haven’t eaten anything since yesterday.

“I thought maybe you might be hungry.”

“Captain~, the Demon Lord always eats the finest feasts, you know.　Our food is not fit for his taste.”

“Oh, I see…….I’m sorry, Demon Lord. I’m sorry, I’m not going to do it again!”

At the words of his subordinate, Lilim’s face turned haggard. She bowed her head apologetically.

“No, I’ll take it since you asked. Thank you.”

“How kind of you, Demon Lord……”

The eyes of Lilim and the soldiers were watering. Hmmm, I guess my reaction is a bit over the top. Well, I don’t feel bad, being with these guys warms my heart. Even the wound in my heart from being betrayed by Lyle seems to be healing.

I took the rations and moved to the shadows.

“Demon Lord?”

“No, you can’t eat unless you take off that mask.”

If I take off the mask, there’s a chance they’ll know I’m human.

“I don’t think the Demon Lord…”

Lirim’s face was flushed. Does this guy sense that I’m human? I brace myself.

“You’re so shy that you don’t want people to see your real face. You’re so cute.”

“Oh, oh……”

I turned my back on them, took off my mask and ate my rations.

“Okay, I’ve decided.”

I put on my mask once again and turned to face Lilim and the others.

“Decided what?”

“What we’re going to do.”

I laughed at Lilim’s question. After all, I don’t want to let them die. Of course I don’t want to invade the human world either, even if we have to fight the fire that’s coming down on us…. I’ll try to find a way so that no one gets hurt or suffers, so that these guys can live in peace.

“Good morning, Demon Lord.”

When I returned to the castle, Stella walked up to me.

“Have you been outside?”

“Yeah, I thought I’d take a little walk around the castle…….”

“The soldiers were happy to see you. You protected them from the weapons the humans left behind.”

“Hmm, how did you know that?”

“I have clairvoyance. I was looking for you when I didn’t see the Demon Lord around.”

“…… I see.”

“Captain Lilim and the others were happy to see you.”

“Yeah.”

Remembering their praise earlier, I was embarrassed.

“The castle seems to have regained its vitality. I’m so glad you’ve been reincarnated as the next Demon Lord.”

“Stella ……”

“But please be aware that you are a former human…….”

“I know.”

I don’t want to feel like I’m hiding something from them but humans and demons have an adversarial relationship. If people knew that the king of the demon race was a human being, there would be many who would have bad feelings towards him.

I’ve been thinking about the situation of the demon tribe for a while now. I think my mind is more familiar with myself as the Demon Lord than I thought.

I’ve been betrayed by various people until now, even Lyle, who I trusted the most. Maybe that’s what’s making me distrust people. On the other hand, the people here are warm, I don’t think it’s just because I’m the king and they respect me.

It’s a strange thing, but I feel like I’ve become more human since I came to the demon world, caring for others, laughing and enjoying each other’s company, or getting angry and fighting when one of us is hurt. It’s more than just the army of heroes fighting for glory and power, outsmarting others, and even sacrificing someone else to get results.

“……What’s wrong, Demon Lord?”

“No, it’s nothing.”

Shaking my head, I asked.

“Come to think of it, what’s a Demon Lord supposed to do?”

As I asked, the first thing that came to mind was defense. I had fired a homing ray at the autonomous Miracle Armaments earlier, so they would be swept away soon enough.

I should probably shoot them periodically in case I miss a few, or maybe I should just look around myself. As for the rest…

“Under the current circumstances, we’d better do something about the castle.”

“That’s right. The Demon Lord’s Castle is the center of the demon world. It is the symbol of the majesty of the Demon Lord, and at the same time, it is the final defense base of this world.”

Stella said.

“Now that the heroic army is invading various parts of the demon world. I think it would be desirable to repair and, if possible, strengthen the defenses of the castle.”

Come to think of it, is there anything like that in the Demon Lord’s spells? Spells that repair or strengthen buildings….

I took a look at the list.

“Oh, I think this is it……Repair!”

I cast a spell of material restoration on the entire castle. The cracks immediately close up, and the shattered walls and large holes return to normal. This was convenient, but it didn’t completely restore the damage. It was only about seventy percent restored.

“Repair.”

I chant it again.

“……not working.”

The restoration of the castle went no further.

“This spell’s not stackable?”

There was no detailed explanation of this in the list. So I’ll just have to try it out in the field. Well, all I have to do is mobilize the engineers and have them repair the rest.

“It’s amazing……can repair so much in just a few seconds.”

Stella looks at me in surprise.

“……you’re not going to start yelling ‘Demon Lord’ too, are you?”

“Yes? Demon Lord?”

Stella nodded her head.

“No, it’s nothing.”

“As expected, Demon Lord.”

Stella smiled.

You’re…..saying that.