Ogre Princess

It has been 60 days since the transfer to another world. Finally, two months had passed. Coming this far, Konoha had grown quite a bit. Mostly to the point where she could clean raw fish…

“Watch your hands. Here, I set out some staff meal for you, so eat up and hurry off to bed.”

“Thank you, Master!! Your food is always delicious, Master!”

“Oh, then maybe I should cook for you next time?”

“Hey, that’s not fair, I promised Konoha-chan first that I’d make her a meal, you know?”

“I want her to taste mine as well.”

“A-Ahahaha.”

(I’ve gotten quite close with everyone in the kitchen. But, as expected, I haven’t been able to make up with everyone in the class. I wonder if they haven’t come back yet today? Maybe I’ll go out to greet them.)

When Konoha arrived at the royal palace gate, it was right around the time the Hero’s party had returned. Everyone had grown dependable over these two months. In reality, they were greenhorns supported by Legato and the others, but to Konoha, who could not fight, they appeared that way.

(I-It’s fine. I just have to say ‘I made rice balls, so please eat them!’ Just that. There’s nothing to be afraid of, Konoha Kushibiki. All right.)

She leaped out with momentum and stood in front of everyone.

“W-Welcome back, everyone! U-Um, I have some rice balls… if you’d like…”

“Don’t need ’em. Get out of the way, useless.”

“Ah, no, I just thought it’d be a waste, ahaha…”

“Konoha Kushibiki, you’re a nuisance.”

“…I see.”

In class, they were people who had treated her kindly. That attitude of theirs toward Konoha seemed to worsen day by day.

(As expected, they don’t… No, did they hate me from the start… Did I fail again?)

Then, a certain person called out to Konoha, who was feeling down.

“Hey, Kushibiki.”

“Huh!? F-Funagata-kun?”

It was the Hero, Koya Funagata. Right now, he seemed to be hanging out with Gatari Shirataka and Kanto Tozawa. His sharp gaze pierced through Konoha. While feeling slightly intimidated, Konoha responded.

“Come here a second.”

“Eh, ah… okay.”

“Kyaa!”

Funagata forced Konoha against the wall. Those eyes were like eyes looking at a demon, eyes of hatred. He was clearly directing hostility toward her.

“Wh-What is it?”

While pressing on the shoulder that had been slammed, Konoha looked up at Koya Funagata. Koya was staring at Konoha slowly, but with insane eyes.

“What is it, you ask?”

“…Huh?”

“You’re freaking annoying, damn you!!! Looking at you, my irritation won’t stop, and a voice surges up from deep inside my body telling me to kill you, kill you. I feel like I’m going crazy, hey, Kushibiki. Damn you, are you aware of it?”

Funagata placed his hand on his head and began scratching wildly. Something was clearly wrong with his condition.

“Should I rape you? Should I kill you? First, it would be nice to savor you thoroughly before killing you. Ah, that sounds good. Haha, hahahahaha.”

“Wh-What are you… Kyaah!”

Funagata reached for Konoha’s clothing. Pulling with force, the clothing tore with a ripping sound. And extending his hand even further, Koya Funagata tried to strip away even the underwear that was revealed.

“N-No! Stop, mmgh!”

“Stay quiet!”

Pinning down Konoha’s frail hands, he took something out from his pocket. That was… a knife.

“Hee!”

“Be quiet.”

With the knife held against her, Koya stripped off Konoha’s skirt. Her white skin and pink underwear were exposed. Slowly extending his hand toward Konoha’s chest, he tried to touch her body. Faced with that humiliating reality, Konoha blushed and closed her eyes while trying to endure it.

(No. No no no no! I don’t want this! I have to resist… I don’t want to, I’m scared. Help me, someone…)

Furthermore, Koya removed Konoha’s bra, and slowly extended his hand toward what lay beyond…

“No!!”

Konoha brushed off the hand holding the knife and escaped from Koya. Though there was a difference in physical stature, Konoha possessed the Demon King’s power, and the knife flew away with great force. Koya Funagata snapped at that fact.

“Hey… What the hell are you resisting for, ah!? Just shut up and let me rape you, hey!!”

“Kyaaaa!”

Catching the arm of Konoha as she tried to flee, he pushed her back against the wall once more. Due to the overwhelming force, Konoha was slammed and pain attacked her shoulder.

“I see, then I’ll kill you right now. I intended to from the start anyway, so I’ll kill you. Ah, I’ll kill you. I’ll kill you! After that, I’ll use your body to my heart’s content!!”

“Kah… A-Ah.”

Funagata began strangling Konoha’s neck. But Konoha did not understand the reason for it. There shouldn’t be any reason to be hated this much, nor any justification for it.

“A-Ga, gah…”

(It’s no good… I can’t breathe…)

“Hey, Kushibiki. To stop this voice flowing into my head… I think I have no choice but to kill you. When I’m killing demons it doesn’t flow in, but when I return to the palace like this. Is it because you’re here? Hey!”

“A-Gah, it hurts.”

“Everyone decided it. If we kill you, that strange voice won’t be heard anymore. Ha, hahaha.”

(Everyone… who? Everyone? Everyone in class? My breath…)

“Every… one…?”

“Ah, everyone. Nobody liked you from the start, you fake cute girl!! If you die, everyone will be happy, you know~? So…

Just go ahead and die already.“

“Th-That’s a lie… It’s…”

“It’s the truth. Everyone, everyone, everyone!!! They all hated your guts!!! There’s no value in you being alive!!! Hahaha, haha, hahahahahahaha!!!”

(My breath… I can’t… My head is hazy… Am I going to die?)

“Die! Die die die die die!”

(No… I don’t want to die. I don’t want to die yet. Why, why like this… No, no, no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no!)

Konoha’s light body was lifted up. Konoha felt sensorially that oxygen was gradually ceasing to reach her brain. She felt death. However, what appeared before her eyes was not Koya Funagata’s insane eyes, but…

(A lead-colored sky?)

The usual dream. Could this place be heaven?

Before her eyes stood an unfamiliar person. It was not the usual girl. Though the face could not be seen, somehow she knew.

“Who… are you?”

“Sukuna. You are Konoha. Sukuna is Konoha. Konoha is Sukuna. Same, same.”

“Eh?”

“Accept it, Konoha. Konoha’s place isn’t here.”

Sudden words from the person named Sukuna. However, such a thing could not be accepted. Konoha’s place was still with everyone in class. She had not yet abandoned that hope.

“You’re wrong! I… I am everyone’s friend!”

“Those guys? You’re wrong. Those guys are going to kill Konoha soon. If this man fails, next the other ones will kill Konoha. They will kill you using any means. That is the Demon King’s fate.”

The person named Sukuna spoke matter-of-factly. As expected, her face could not be seen, as if painted over with black crayon. Even so, Konoha understood that she was not human.

“I… am…”

“Close your eyes and count to ten. If you do, Konoha will be saved.”

The girl’s inorganic voice. At that moment, she sensed that she would awaken from the dream.

“Wait! What should I…”

“It’s okay. See you later.”

The dream awoke. The lead-colored sky blurred hazily, and her consciousness gradually became unclear.

What was seen at the very end was her own status display.

Her body felt heavy. Languor, or rather a sensation as if she had used up all her physical strength. Her head hurt. She felt like she had been dreaming until a moment ago, but again she could not remember the contents. She felt like she had met someone, but she remembered nothing even of that.

While dusting off the dirt attached to her body, she slowly sat up. Was it all a dream? Up to where was reality was hazy. For sure, until a moment ago Koya Funagata was…

“Eh?”

Koya Funagata collapsed with blood flowing from his head.

“A-Ah, huh? Wh-Why? I-I…”

A sense of discomfort remained in her head. Having a bad premonition, she tried to touch her head, and…

“…Huh?”

The voice that leaked from her mouth was raspy. A hard object. Looking into a mirror that was just nearby, Konoha felt as if her entire body’s hair stood on end.

“Pitch-black… horns…?”

“Konoha?”

She turned toward the direction of the voice. Standing there with her eyes wide open was Hiiragi.

“Hii…-chan… I…”

“H-Hey hey! Calm down! What is this, why is Funagata collapsed… Tch! Konoha, put this on and hurry back to your room. I’ll handle the rest somehow.”

Hiiragi tossed her own robe toward Konoha. Grasping it with trembling hands, Konoha covered her head with it and ran. As if escaping, she entered her own bedroom.

Meanwhile, Hiiragi’s head was still confused regarding the unbelievable situation.

(What is this… Funagata with blood flowing from his head. Did he crash into the wall over there? And with tremendous force? Besides, those horns on Konoha… That means my hypothesis probably isn’t wrong.)

“What’s all the commotion!!”

“It’s over there!! There was a tremendous sound!!”

Pitter-patter echoed the sound of footsteps. The reason Hiiragi had rushed over was also the sound when Funagata hit the wall. The other guys had probably heard it as well.

(Ah, this is bad. How should I cover this up? It would be fine if I made it so that I blasted him away, but if I do that it’ll become ‘The Hero is so weak!’, so… well, whatever.)

“What happened… wait, Mamuro? No, hey!! Funagata!!”

The one who rushed over first was Gatari Shirataka. Continuing on were the Kingdom’s soldiers, Kanto Tozawa, Reiji Tendo, Karen Obana, Chidori Tsuruoka, Kisaki Sakegawa, and Sasano Mogami. Then the other classmates. Everyone was surprised by Koya Funagata’s heavy injury.

Taking a glance at that, Hiiragi was racking her brain over coming up with an excuse.

As soon as Konoha rushed into her room, she locked the door and turned off the light. Feeling the beating of her heart moving at unbelievable speed, she opened the status screen.

“Effect… can…cel…”

While pressing her trembling finger with her other hand, she managed to touch the display. The discomfort in her head vanished. Konoha, who calmed down all at once, lay down on the bed from that exhaustion.

(…Haa. What… is this. Did I… to Funagata-kun?)

The blood of Koya Funagata that she saw in that place crossed her mind.

(I wonder if he’s okay?)

Konoha herself still did not understand well what had happened. What she had done, why it had turned out like this. Everything was unknown to her.

(Is it because I’m the Demon King?)

The words from earlier crossed her mind.

(Nobody liked me from the start. If I die, everyone will be happy. So I will be killed? Because I’m the Demon King? No, before that, was I hated by everyone? Ah, I see. Here too, and in the original world too, as expected, I am an unwanted child.)

On this day, Konoha’s fate was completely decided. She had reached a point where she could no longer turn back as the Demon King. Konoha, who was falling into a deep sleep, did not yet know that fact.

~In the fourth district of the royal capital, back alley~

“Gah… Impossible… For me to…”

“Kyahaha, died, died died died died kyahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha.”

“Familiar… Damn it… What is your aim?”

“Gehahaha, fun, funnnnn! De, mon Kiinnnnggg.”

“De… mon King, you say?”

“Keha, ehahaha, gonna die gonna die gonna die, at the Demon King’s hands, everyone gonna die, ahahahahaha.”

(Damn it! Are the other guys dead on the spot… I have a wound in my stomach too. For a familiar to have come all the way here… I have to inform the royal palace quickly… Gah.)

A woman with her eyes gouged out and her mouth torn was floating in the air. A familiar was a “degraded version of a witch” employed by the demon race. With a terrifying expression, it tried to attack the knight while raising a crazed voice.

“Demon King, right now, to welcome you, ahaha, ahahahahahahaha.”

“St-Stop it! Don’t come, don’t come!! Uwa, uwaaaaa!!”

“Thank you for the meal. Ahaha, ahahahahahahaha.”

With a dull slash sound, the familiar’s mouth tore off the knight’s neck. A hooded man walked through that pool of blood.

“Even the Imperial Guard Knights are only at this level. It won’t be interesting unless the Inquisitors step out. Now then, let’s erase the scene.”

Taking out a staff from the hem of his robe, the man mumbled softly. Then, thinking that a light that dazzled the eyes for a moment had burst forth, it rained down upon the pool of blood and the corpses. In doing so, in no time at all it returned to the original back alley.

“Skill: ‘Illusion’, useful. Setting… about 2 days later should be fine. It doesn’t change much since I’m storming in after this anyway, but it would be troublesome if it’s found too quickly.”

“Keha, ehahaha, ahahahahaha.”

“Shut up.”

Opening a book, the man grabbed the woman’s head and pushed it inside. Laughter was heard for a while, but when he closed the book, even that was no longer heard.

“Now then, it seems that we are the only ones aware of the Demon King’s existence. The other demon folks shouldn’t have been able to identify the Demon King’s existence yet. With this, we can outsmart them.”

In the sky of the royal capital floated a large crescent moon. Looking up at the crescent moon, the man wore a fearless smile.

“Well then, shall we go to welcome you? Demon King-sama.”