Tap the text to show or hide reading controls.
“Angel, can’t you fly any faster? It’s only a thousand kilometers—how long are you planning to take?”
The angel, carrying the ex–Demon King girl on her back and me dangling from her neck, ground her teeth audibly.
“This damn brat… maybe I should just drop you.”
“A low-tier angel chick talking back?”
“Wow, seriously? Hey! I’m doing this because of you! I can’t even teleport and I’m stuck playing pack mule—why won’t teleportation work?!”
“You really are ignorant for an angel. Even sealed, the resources that make up Akathastasia, the North Demon King and adversary of the world, are still preserved inside me. They’re only suppressed from leaking out. Did you really think your paltry laws could move someone like me?”
“Oh, I see. In other words, you’re too damn heavy to teleport. Must be nice being a fat load, huh? Our dear North Pig.”
“North Pig?! What an abhorrent insult—like something spat by a man who’d hang your ancestors in three generations and quarter them before parading the remains! How dare this regionally overpadded wench slander my flawless proportions!”
“Flawless proportions? Please. You’re barely 150 centimeters. If you want to talk proportions, look at me. Though I guess an AAA-cup runt like you couldn’t even imagine something on my level.”
“Typical. Kids these days think if they’ve got big boobs and hips, that’s all it takes. Vulgar, honestly. Tsk, tsk.”
“Yep. That’s all it takes, washboard girl.”
“W-washboard!? Y-you oily sack of feathers—!”
“Look at your voice shaking. Did I hit a nerve? You said having curves was vulgar—then isn’t being a washboard basically a compliment?”
Dangling below them, I stared in disbelief at their utterly pathetic bickering.
Sure, I never expected a Demon King and an angel to get along, but still…
“A lowly pigeon chick!”
“A brat who looks like she got shoved through a milling machine!”
Was this really supposed to be the holy angel of myth and the Demon King who defied the world? Even the baby babble of my snot-nosed nephews back on Earth had more dignity.
“Hey. Knock it off and be quiet already. I’m getting airsick enough as it is. Do you really have to?”
“Ah, Hero, just stay quiet.”
“Hero, you may leave us be.”
These brats… I snapped back at them.
“Fine, I’ll just undo the seal.”
The angel just scoffed, clearly unimpressed. But the ex–Demon King girl? She reacted like I’d struck a trauma trigger—her sea-blue eyes lost their light, and tears began dripping down her cheeks.
“H-hero… the only reason I regained freedom was because your seal stripped me of my value as a Demon King, a cog of the trial. If you take that rank back, I’ll be chained again, locked in a cold ice fortress forever, alone, endlessly… That’s far too cruel…”
Even if she was a former Demon King, right now she was just a small, pretty girl crying. I quickly raised my hands in surrender.
“No, no, I didn’t mean it. If I undo it, we’d all be screwed. I was just joking. There, there, stop crying.”
“S-sniff… really?”
“Of course. Really.”
She instantly smiled as if she’d never cried at all. The smile was so bright and cute, I forgot what she was and found myself grinning like a dad.
The angel, meanwhile, pouted and muttered.
“Tsk. No wonder you look at me like I’m a chicken. So that’s how it is.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“…Lolicon.”
“That’s slander!!”
“Ugh… we’re here.”
The angel finally set us down in a place that was still cold but survivable.
As I touched ground, I shuddered at the sight of the two still growling at each other.
“Unbelievable. How do you keep fighting for three straight hours? You only just met today—you’re acting like lifelong nemeses. If it were me, I’d get sick of it.”
“We are lifelong nemeses.”
“We are lifelong nemeses.”
They answered in perfect unison.
“Look at that timing. You two secretly get along, don’t you?”
“Hmph.”
“Bah.”
Anyway, noisy as the flight was, it hadn’t been a total waste. Between their arguments, I actually picked up some useful info.
From the ex–Demon King girl, who’d never even left her fortress, I learned she still knew plenty about the Northern Continent.
“It was knowledge injected from above, as a foe of the world. To defeat the enemy efficiently, one must first know them well.”
But about the other three Demon Kings—Notos, Anatore, and Disis—she knew almost nothing.
“Them? I don’t know. Whether they’re human, beast, plant, or spirit, nothing. Just as I exist wholly as the North Demon King, they too exist wholly as South, East, and West Demon Kings. Aside from the title ‘Demon King,’ we share no overlap at all.”
As for the angel—
“I think I’ll be getting a big promotion soon, all thanks to you, Hero.”
“I’ll probably be overseeing the scouts active on Earth. After seeing your performance, our boss raised expectations for your world.”
“I’ll look out for your family personally. Don’t worry about them.”
“Once you’ve settled down, I’ll show up on Earth occasionally too. I need to maintain contact with you and check this washboard brat’s seal regularly.”
“And as you wanted, we won’t be ‘ordering’ you around. You won’t be forced into mandatory quests like other heroes. Just check the normal quests sometimes—the rewards are pretty good.”
There was more chatter too, but most of it was just noise, so I shoved it all in the back of my mind.
At any rate, after dropping us off, the angel pointed toward a long stone wall in the distance.
“I’ll have to part ways here. From here on, it’s human territory. Take it easy and enjoy the Northern Continent as a traveler.”
“Oh? Alright then, take care.”
I waved my hand dismissively, and the angel wrinkled her brows.
“Seriously? A comrade who shared life and death with you says farewell, and that’s all the sincerity you can muster?”
“We’ve known each other less than a day—what life and death? Fine, whatever. You’ve worked hard too. And congrats in advance on your promotion. Promotion really is the best thing for a corporate employee, huh?”
When I ruffled her hair in thanks, she blushed and turned her head aside.
“A-a mere mortal touching an Archangel… how insolent!”
“Tsundere, huh?”
“S-stop it! Take your hand off! Anyway, here—take this!”
Squeezing out what little dignity she had left, the angel thrust something at me.
It was a backpack that looked stylish even by Earth standards.
“What’s this?”
“Hero’s package.”
“Hero’s package?”
“Basic supplies given to every freshly transferred hero.”
“Ahh…”
“Of course, I added a few things of my own discretion to yours.”
“Hmm…”
Opening the backpack, I saw it stuffed with items. As I pulled them out one by one, the angel explained.
“That backpack itself is a powerful artifact. It’s enchanted with spatial expansion. Normally you’d get about 27 cubic meters and 50% weight reduction. But yours has 27,000 cubic meters with 99% reduction. Oh, and I added a binding function, so no one can steal it.”
“Wow… that’s insane.”
No kidding—an entire thirty-by-thirty-by-thirty-meter space in one bag. Honestly, I could make a living just hauling cargo with this thing.
“And that in your left hand is an artifact map.”
“This? Looks more like a notebook.”
“Open it.”
I did, and a 3D image floated in the air.
“Holy crap, is this a holographic map?”
“Yes. I retrieved the sacred map displayed in the Lumina Temple of the Danan Kingdom, just for you.”
“So basically… stolen goods?”
“Not stolen! We gave it to them in the first place. Our boss even sent down an oracle: ‘Taken back for your many sins.’ It’s fine.”
“Sins? What sins?”
“That’s for them to know. Religion and corruption are two sides of the same coin. I’m sure they had something to feel guilty about.”
“…”
“That’s a pouch of gold coins—use when needed. This one’s your ID for when you settle down. That one’s a Northern Continent Guidebook, Sacred Continental Calendar year 1440 edition. It’s twelve years old, so keep that in mind.”
“Right…”
“And that’s the sword I gave you before. I reported it as broken during the Demon King battle, so you can keep it. Mass-produced upstairs, but down here it’s treated as a divine blade. You know how strong it is.”
“Mm…”
After finishing her explanations, she pulled three cards from her robe and handed them to me.
“And these?”
“Summon tickets.”
“Summon tickets?”
“Yes. Tear one and call my name, and I’ll be at your side within ten minutes, no matter where you are.”
I eyed her suspiciously, half-lidding my gaze. She bristled instantly.
“Ah! You’re thinking, ‘What could a pigeon like her even do,’ aren’t you?!”
“…No.”
“Don’t lie! I just read your mind!”
“I told you not to do that.”
After seeing the angel off, I felt small hands on my shoulders. The ex–Demon King girl had climbed up and was now riding piggyback. I grabbed both her ankles firmly.
“Comfy up there?”
“Yup!”
“No plans to walk on your own?”
“Nope!!”
“Suit yourself. Anyway, let’s get moving.”
Delighted by her higher vantage, the girl shouted cheerfully.
“Over that wall, about an hour and a half’s walk, there’s a village! Shouldn’t we head there first?”
“Sure. Maybe I can pick up some souvenirs.”
And so, about two hours later—
“Whoa…”
Arriving at the village she mentioned, I felt more than ever that this was another world. More than even when I first fought the Demon King.
“…Akathastasia. What the hell is this place?”
“An orc village. Been around about ten years, I believe.”
“So those things that look like someone smashed a human and a pig together—that’s an orc?”
“Ah, right. This is your first time seeing orcs, Hero.”
“And those human men…?”
“Naturally, they’re the ones kidnapped by those orc females.”
“Those are females?”
“Can’t you tell by the breasts?”
“I thought those were pecs. Anyway, why would orc females kidnap human males?”
“Well, to build and maintain a village, you need children.”
“What?”
“In other words, this is a village built by orc females who abducted and raped human males. Isn’t it obvious?”
“…This other world is insane.”
Reading Settings
