The Demon King Visits!

Morning at the mansion.

I was running down the hallway with a sword in one hand.

A powerful monster had come to the shop.

In order to save Teti, who was watching the shop, I ran through the dungeon passage glowing red.

However, the moment I came out into the shop, the excited voice of Teti, the elf girl, struck my ears.

“Amazing, amazing! I super love Demon Reincarnation! I’m so happy I get to meet the author!”

“Fuhahahaha! It seems my greatness transcends race! Hmm~, I shall make a special exception and sign it for you!”

Inside the narrow shop, there was an extremely flashy and casual man.

He had spiky hair and tanned brown skin. He wore a short-sleeved aloha shirt and shorts.

His eyes were hidden behind sunglasses, so I could not tell, but his jagged teeth gleamed.

—Just as Kou said, he certainly is a suspicious man.

However, ignoring my suspicions, Teti stood up from behind the counter with a smile.

“Really!? I’ll go get volume one right away!”

Teti was about to run off, but the flashy man laughed through his nose.

“Hmph, wait. Are you trying to say I am such a stingy man that I would only sign volume one? Bring every volume! I shall sign them all! Fuhahahaha!”

“Kyaa, so cool! I’ll bring them right away!”

Teti came into the back room with light steps as if she were skipping, then passed by me and entered the dungeon entrance connected to the wardrobe.

I left the back room and went out into the shop.

The man standing pompously in front of the counter smiled cruelly, his jagged teeth gleaming.

“It is our first meeting, Hero Alec!”

“What are you? You seem to be a powerful monster.”

“Hmmph, it seems a strong one can understand the difference in our caliber. I shall call that impressive! —I am the Demon King! Tremble in fear! Fuhahahaha!”

The Demon King threw back his chest and laughed loudly.

He had an arrogant attitude, but he also did not feel very Demon King-like.

He looked flashy and casual, too.

—But if he really is the Demon King, this is a bit troublesome.

My role as a hero had been to defeat the Demon King.

If I defeated the flashy man before me, Liricia would return to heaven.

The cloth partitioning off the back room swayed, and Liricia came out.

Her face also looked anxious and sorrowful.

I turned back toward the Demon King.

“So you are the Demon King. This is a problem. Actually, I have quit being a hero. I no longer have any intention of exterminating the Demon King.”

The Demon King’s sunglasses gleamed.

“Oh? Are you saying you do not wish for people’s happiness?”

“If you intend to make people suffer, then I will have to defeat you… But for now, you haven’t done anything bad, have you?”

“Well, no.”

The Demon King frowned in dissatisfaction.

I shrugged and said casually,

“If you do nothing and stay as you are, I’ll leave the hero’s work to some other hero.”

“Hmph! Why must I live while watching your mood!? —The reason I came today is none other than to declare war against you!”

“What did you say!?”

“Your Holy Wave energy no longer works on my army! I shall trample the humans underfoot!”

“No, wait a moment.”

This was bad.

If the Demon King went on a rampage, I might end up having to exterminate him.

On the other hand, saying I would not exterminate the Demon King because I did not want to part with Liricia would become a weakness, so it seemed better not to say it.

Could I somehow gloss this over…?

I glanced at Liricia. She also nodded, though her brows were drawn together in distress.

She stepped forward and spoke to the Demon King.

“Demon King-san, why do you want to conquer the world?”

“Hmmph, well asked! World conquest is nothing more than a passing point for me!”

“A passing point…?”

“I will beat down the god who made this damn ranking system! I shall liberate the monsters from the shackles of the rank system! Fuhahahaha!”

The Demon King boasted along with loud laughter.

I nodded in admiration.

“Ooh. You’re thinking about something pretty big.”

“Hmmph, I am not a man who will end as a mere Demon King!”

That brought one question to mind.

Because it did not seem related to world conquest.

“Then why are you writing novels?”

“Muh. That is… Yes! It is to confirm that I am a being accomplished in both the literary and military arts! While I am a Demon King worshipped by countless subordinates, I shall also enchant the world with my literary talent! I absolutely did not do it to feed my subordinates, for I am the world’s most cruel man, after all! Fuhahahaha!”

He declared this pompously, but for some reason, sweat was shining on his forehead.

While listening to that story, something clicked in my mind.

I continued while pretending to be casual.

“It’s certainly impressive that you can write novels, but…”

“What?”

“From what I’ve heard, they’re erotic, grotesque, and violent novels, aren’t they? You haven’t written every genre, have you?”

“Muh… Now that you mention it, that is certainly true.”

“In that case, wouldn’t it be fine to conquer the world through novels first? In terms of taking wealth from humans, it’s the same, right? If you write many different genres, you can take wealth from even more people.”

I said this while putting on as fearless a smile as I could.

The Demon King widened the eyes behind his sunglasses in shock.

“Wh-what!? You… what a villain you are! To think you would come up with such an inhumane idea that even I had never imagined… You are too good to remain a hero! Are you truly a hero?”

“A former hero.”

Being admired for something strange, I shrugged and defended myself.

At that moment, the curtain at the back of the shop swayed, and one woman came out.

She was wearing a robe that made her look like a mage, but she had several rings and necklaces all over her body.

Her red twin-tailed hair swayed like flames.

“Hmph. To think the Demon King would personally barge in. What a foolish man.”

She stood imposingly while making her accessories jingle. She was as arrogant as the Demon King.

Facing her, the Demon King narrowed his eyes behind his sunglasses.

“You appear to be quite strong… A fire user, are you?”

“Rubel, you came?”

“We have formed an alliance. Naturally.”

Rubel stood inside the counter with her arms crossed.

While making his jagged teeth gleam, the Demon King looked around the shop.

“Hmmph, so I am surrounded… It seems you made quite thorough preparations. As expected of a hero—no, I should say former hero.”

—Huh? What is he talking about? Did he mistake the patrolling knight order for something?

He seemed to be misunderstanding something, so without denying it, I nodded solemnly.

“Please leave for today. Fighting here would hurt both sides, wouldn’t it?”

“Very well. Today was merely a greeting. However, the next time we meet, it will not be the same.”

“I understand.”

At that moment, Teti returned from the back of the shop. Her skirt and twin-tails bounced energetically.

Then she stacked the books she was carrying in her slender arms onto the counter with a thud.

“I brought them all~! Sign them, please sign them~!”

The Demon King glanced at the spines of the books and widened his eyes.

“Ooh, not only Demon Reincarnation, but Pretending to Be a Hero too! What is your name?”

“My name is Teti!”

“Good, very good~! I shall write them with your name included! Fuhahahaha!”

The Demon King, now fully into it, picked up the books and began signing them one after another on the inside covers.

Liricia and Rubel watched the scene in amazement, their mouths cutely half-open.

They seemed surprised.

Suddenly curious, I picked up one book.

I wondered what his name was.

Surely he had not written “Demon King,” had he…?

When I opened it, “Mao” was written there.

“Your name is Mao?”

“Hmmph, at times I am the novelist Mao, and at times I am Mao Mao, president of a bookstore chain! —However, my true identity is—”

Before he could say everything, Teti interrupted with shining eyes.

“Eeeh! You’re also the president!? Amazing! I’m planning to apply for the Mao Mao Novel Award too~!”

“Ooh, so you are also one of the volunteers who corrupt humans. Good, good~! Rule the world through entertainment! Fuhahahaha!”

“Kyaa, so cool! I’ll do my best! …But I’m worried about whether I’m writing it properly…”

Teti furrowed her brows into a troubled expression.

The Demon King made his jagged teeth gleam and smiled boldly.

“Typos, omissions, structure, and the like may be somewhat strange! A novel only needs to be entertaining!”

“Being entertaining seems like the hardest part, though…”

“What matters is not the setting or story! As long as the characters are overwhelmingly charming, the rest will work out somehow! —Just like me! Fuhahahaha!”

I could not tell whether he was referring to the fact that he was a Demon King despite being a flashy man, or to the novel he had written.

But it seemed to have reached Teti.

She nodded over and over with sparkling eyes. Her blond hair rippled.

“Yeah, I’ll try my best. Thank you, Mao-san!”

“I shall look forward to your submission. Now then, farewell—fuhahahaha!”

The Demon King turned on his heel with a full smile and dashed grandly out through the shop door.

He was like a storm.

“But, somehow… I wonder why I can’t think of him as a bad guy… I have to find some kind of peaceful solution.”

I headed toward the shop entrance.

It was to confirm whether the Demon King had really gone home.

I went outside the shop and looked far down the back alley.

However, the Demon King was nowhere to be seen.

“He’s fast… Well, I’m glad he left.”

“What’ll you do? I could follow him if you want, though.”

A voice suddenly spoke, so I turned around. A tall man was leaning against the wall beside the shop door with his arms crossed. Sharp eyes gleamed from beneath his messy black hair.

I had not sensed his presence at all. The surprise slipped out of my mouth.

“Edgar? You were here?”

“Yeah, Kou-chan called me.”

Still with his arms crossed, he raised only one hand and showed me the screen of his sub-device. It was the screen of an app called LaLine. It seemed Kou had contacted him.

—I see. When the Demon King said he was surrounded, he had noticed Edgar’s presence.

Even I had not noticed him. I reconsidered a little, thinking that the Demon King might be a formidable opponent.

“No, if he came alone, that means he must have prepared accordingly. Chasing him alone would be dangerous.”

“Roger that.”

Edgar drifted away from the wall. Though he gave off an unmotivated air, his movements were light.

I scratched my head.

“Still, this is a problem… A declaration of war, huh.”

“Should we find out where he is and all charge in together?”

“No, the opposite. I don’t want to defeat the Demon King.”

“Huh?”

“Actually…”

I told him about Liricia. About the hero’s mission and Liricia’s role.

Because he already knew that Liricia was an angel.

After hearing the story, Edgar scratched his messy head.

“Seriously…? Then you can’t defeat the Demon King, huh.”

“Do you have any good ideas?”

“Assassination, disturbance, and investigation are my specialties, but… I can’t really think of anything.”

“I see. Well, I’ll think about it a little more myself. Also, I may ask for your help with something else.”

“What is it?”

“I’m gathering the dragon’s jewel orbs, and it seems one of them is in the Luktia Holy Papal State.”

“Do you want me to sneak in?”

“If it’s in a troublesome place, I’ll ask you.”

“Roger that. —Ah, it looks like something happened to the kids.”

Edgar placed a hand by his ear as if listening for sound.

I also strained my ears, but I could not hear anything.

He lightly raised a hand and headed toward the alley beside the shop.

“Then, I’m off.”

“Be careful.”

Edgar’s figure disappeared into the alley.

Curious, I peeked into the alley, but he was already nowhere to be seen.

“He’s fast… Is he really a thief?”

I tilted my head and returned to the shop.