Infiltrating The Demon Realm!

Morning in the Royal Capital.

After finishing the undead dungeon raid, Liricia and I returned.

As we walked toward Kou at the back of the hall, I took the dungeon cores out of the bag.

“Then before we head to the Demon Realm, make a magic bag and another Kou Phone for me.”

“Okaaay!”

The side of the sphere opened with a loud crash.

I put the three gem-like cores inside.

The little window shut, and Kou began to shine brightly.

Then two treasure chests appeared at the edge of the hall.

When I went over and opened them, I found a white backpack-style magic bag and a thin, board-like Kou Phone inside.

I picked them both up and asked:

“How much can this magic bag hold?”

“It can easily fit about one whole castle from the Royal Capital, Master.”

“Huge! With this, we can haul back all kinds of stuff from the Demon Realm. Liricia, you use the Kou Phone.”

“Yes, Master!”

I handed the Kou Phone to Liricia and packed the magic bag with rations, rope, lanterns, and other essentials.

Just like Kou had said, the capacity was absurdly large.

With the magic bag on my back, I spoke.

“All right, then. Connect us to the Demon Realm.”

“Roger.”

Another passage opened up in the front hall.

Sophia’s priest robes swayed as she jumped in surprise.

“Th-the Demon Realm!? Will you be all right?”

“We’ll probably be fine. — Okay then, I’m counting on you to mind the shop and guard Kou.” “Please take care of them.”

“Y-yes! Please have a safe trip!”

Leaving behind Sophia’s flustered voice and swaying blue hair, Liricia and I stepped into the passage.

We went through the passage and emerged from the entrance.

The sky was red, and the ground was black.

Twisted, eerie trees spread purple leaves overhead.

But as soon as I took a single step forward, all the leaves fell off.

And from far away, I heard a crumbling, rattling sound.

“Hm? What’s that sound?”

Liricia spoke while checking a rough map.

“It looks like the Demon King’s Castle is in that direction. I heard it had been half-destroyed. Perhaps the rest is collapsing now.”

“I see. Let’s still be careful and watch out for traps on the way.”

“Yes!”

With my sword in hand, I stayed on guard and walked ahead.

But we didn’t see any monsters or demons at all.

Before long, the ruins of the collapsed castle came into view.

Something about it felt wrong, though.

Several lights rose up toward the sky from the castle ruins.

“Hm? What’s that?”

“—Ah!”

“What is it?”

Liricia gasped.

She immediately thrust both hands forward, palms together, as her white wings spread out to cover her body.

“Soul Guidance! Princess Nobara!”

As her palms shone gold, a small white orb was sucked into Liricia’s hands.

She pressed it to her chest, and it vanished.

With a hunch in mind, I asked her:

“What is it, Liricia? Don’t tell me…”

“Yes! This is the soul of the princess from the Yamata Kingdom—the one Edgar-san has been searching for!”

“So it was in the Demon Realm…”

“I’m just as shocked. I never imagined that so many souls had wandered into a place like this…”

“It’s probably some kind of ritual, or part of the Demon King’s schemes.”

Liricia drew her slender brows together in a dignified frown and nodded.

“I think so as well. It may mean the Demon King really has resurrected.”

“Well, whatever it was, it’s good we could wreck his plan.”

“Yes, Master!”

Once we reached the ruins where the souls were rising, I gave Liricia another order.

“All right, next, search for the Philosopher’s Stone.”

“Yes—Dark Magic Detection!”

With a hand over her chest, Liricia bent forward slightly and spread her white wings wide.

White light rippled out in concentric circles like waves.

Feathers rode the waves and spread outward…

After a while, Liricia lifted her face.

With a radiant smile, she spoke.

“I found it, Master! The Philosopher’s Stone!”

“Seriously!? Where!?”

“This way!”

Guided by Liricia, we crunched over rubble toward the spot.

She stopped in roughly the center of the ruins.

Her slender brows scrunched together in concern.

“It’s down below here… and it seems to be quite deep.”

“So a kind of underground treasury, huh… Clearing out all this debris would be a pain.”

“Yes, we would need several people.”

“Hm. That’s a problem. —Wait, maybe not.”

“What is it, Master?”

I took out the Kou Phone while holding the magic bag.

“How about we have Kou absorb whatever he can use as materials, store any stones that look useful as footholds in the magic bag, and then take them out as needed?”

“As expected of you, Master! That sounds like it will work perfectly!”

Liricia’s violet eyes sparkled as she smiled.

With the Kou Phone at my ear, I spoke.

“That’s the plan. Think you can do it, Kou?”

“Yaaay, I can! I’ll get lots of Demon Realm material rich in magic essence.”

“Good, then let’s do it. —Lead the way, Liricia.”

“Yes, this way!”

We had Kou suck up the rubble as we shaped it into stairs and went down.

Kou kept grumbling, “There’s no magic essence left, it got purified into plain rock,” but I ignored her.

Eventually, we found a treasure chest.

“This must be it.”

“It doesn’t seem to be trapped.”

When we opened the chest, we found a gem about the size of a clenched fist.

It was an octahedral jewel, like two pyramids joined base to base.

It was a clear green and faintly glowing.

—So this was what I had been after.

One of the things I needed in order to become young again over and over.

Holding back the grin of joy threatening to spread across my face, I spoke as casually as I could.

“Looks like a big gemstone.”

“It looks like an emerald, but it’s definitely the Philosopher’s Stone… It’s glowing, after all. Congratulations, Master.”

Liricia said this while making little finger-binoculars.

I nodded.

“Thanks. It’s all because you stayed by my side, Liricia… While we’re here, is there anything else worth taking?”

“There are some gold coins… and a cursed axe. It seems to be the demon axe Lazy Strike, ‘Sloth Blow.’ Apparently it sometimes stops you from moving, but in exchange it becomes a one-hit-kill weapon.”

“Let’s pick it up, just in case. If we don’t use it, Kou can turn it into materials.”

“Yes, it’s over here.”

We then collected the foreign gold coins and the axe.

As I packed everything into the magic bag, I spoke.

“That wrapped up pretty easily.”

“Yes. The Demon King wasn’t here either.”

“The castle was still in ruins, too. If he stayed in the Demon Realm, a hero might show up, so I bet he’s hiding somewhere safe.”

“As expected of the Demon King, he’s not going to be simple to deal with.”

“Let’s head back, then.”

“Yes!”

With Liricia’s cute answer in my ears, I led her back to Kou’s dungeon.

A short while earlier, in the Demon King’s Castle.

The gaunt Demon King sat on his throne in a pillar-lined hall, marking up a stack of manuscript paper with a red pen.

There were only a few monsters stationed as guards along the walls of the hall.

The archmage Gobe, who stood at the Demon King’s side, shouted loudly.

“Next! Step forward!”

The double doors opened, and a man with a wolf’s head entered.

He walked down the red carpet to the foot of the throne, carrying a small treasure chest in his hands.

“Ha-ha! I have successfully miniaturized a mimic, Demon King-sama!”

“If it’s that small, won’t it be weak?”

The Demon King flicked his sharp gaze up from the manuscript.

The wolf-man’s eyes shone as he nodded.

“As expected of you, Demon King-sama! We turned that weakness into an advantage and made it so danger-detection skills can’t find it! For example, if you use it as a little container in a desk drawer or a jewel box in a safe, any careless hero or adventurer who opens it will get bitten!”

“Oh-ho, well done! As expected, I shall praise you! Approved! Fuhahaha!”

“Ha-haah, I am deeply honored!”

The wolf-man bowed his head low.

He was rewarded with gold coins.

Gobe raised his voice again.

“Then, next—hm?”

The Demon King’s Castle creaked and shook.

The Demon King glanced suspiciously at the pillars and ceiling.

“An earthquake? In the Demon Realm?”

The next instant, with a thunderous roar, the ceiling collapsed.

A wall of pale blue light surged toward them.

The Demon King leapt up from his throne in a panic.

“W-what is this!?”

The wall of light engulfed the monsters and blew them away.

The screams of the guards lined up along the walls echoed through the hall.

“Gyaaaa!”

“No waaay!”

“Save us, Demon King-samaaa!”

“It’s Alec—ghyaaa!”

The orc who yelled was pulverized and vanished.

The Demon King spread his cloak and shielded Gobe, wrapping him in black magic.

As he sprinted, he shouted desperately.

“Retreat, everyone, evacuate—ghah!”

The wall of light destroyed more of the castle as it rolled in, slamming into the Demon King as well and making his eyes roll back as he groaned.

In his left arm, Gobe wailed as he shouted:

“Demon King-sama! Leave me and escape, Demon King-sama!”

“D-don’t underestimate me… Instant spell—Arcane Step: Quick Warp!”

The Demon King thrust out his right hand, still clutching the manuscript.

On his finger, just ahead of where the light reached, a heavy ring shone black.

It was a ring imbued with a special escape spell prepared for dealing with Alec.

In the next moment, the Demon King was outside.

Behind him, the castle crashed down with a rumble.

Looking up, the Demon King’s eyes went wide with shock.

“Is that Alec!? Did Alec come here!? How did he even get in!? Why!? I sealed the entrance to the Demon Realm, destroyed the legendary dwarven mattock, and had it thrown into the sea!”

“Demon King-sama, we must flee!”

The pale blue wall of light advanced at a walking pace.

“Kh…!”

The Demon King ground his jagged teeth, spun on his heel, and ran.

In just a few seconds of that one strike, his hair was a mess, his clothes and cloak were in tatters, and his skin was marked as if burned.

As he ran, the Demon King kept looking back.

Almost no one had managed to escape the collapsing castle.

Then he saw a strange light.

From the castle ruins, small orbs of pure light rose into the sky.

“…What is that?”

“They are likely the human souls we used in the demonic death soldiers, Demon King-sama! We incorporated the souls of innocent young children—who obey orders very well—into their command systems, but it seems they have all been destroyed… all of them… all of them!”

“I see… So the demonic death soldiers and my elite forces are all finished… Forgive me, this is all because my power was lacking!”

Tears welled up in the Demon King’s eyes.

—The loyal subordinates I spent twenty years gathering and raising.

—The military might I spent twenty years building.

—All of it had turned to rubble and vanished.

As he ran, the Demon King yelled.

“My… my twenty years! All of it blown away and erased…! This isn’t just breaking the rules, it’s downright dirty! What is this monstrous strength!?”

In his arms, Gobe cried as he frantically tried to comfort him.

“Demon King-sama, please stay calm!”

“How am I supposed to stay calm!? They say truth is stranger than fiction, but this doesn’t even qualify as a story! What is this!? I refuse to accept it! I will not recognize Alec as a hero! Damn it all!”

“Demon King-sama…! Then what will you do now?”

“Kh, I’ll have to secure that one’s cooperation…”

“That person? As expected of you, Demon King-sama, to realize that!”

“Just you wait, Alec…! Ten years, twenty years from now, once you’re dead, they will surely destroy the world for me!”

He sounded bold, but the tears he shed for his subordinates ran down his cheeks without stopping.

Grinding his jagged teeth, the Demon King fled the Demon Realm, clutching the sobbing Gobe and his unfinished novel.