With The Little Demon King

Bella was away today, so I was the one accompanying Mureen as her bodyguard.

At the moment, we were taking a walk together through the mansion garden.

I had completed the fortress the other day, but we were still using this mansion as our main residence.

I’d focused so much on appearances and ignored livability when building the fortress that it was horribly uncomfortable to live in.

If we ever intended to actually use it, remodeling the interior would be essential.

“By now, Bella should be at Aziara of the Cyclops tribe’s place. I am worried…”

Mureen murmured softly, and I nodded.

Of course, I was far more worried about the Cyclops chieftain.

Anis and Pisca were with Bella, so surely it wouldn’t turn into a complete disas—…no, actually, it very well might.

Depending on how things went, those two were entirely capable of enthusiastically egging Bella on.

I’d heard that Aziara had an aggressive personality, but if he insulted Mureen, or perhaps even me, there was no doubt all three of them would attack without hesitation.

Even I couldn’t ask them to restrain themselves in that situation.

Villa, who was the most capable of looking at things calmly, had far too many tasks only she could handle, so we basically couldn’t send her away from the mansion.

That was why I’d originally intended to go personally, but then Villa had said,

“The influential figures who accepted our invitation suffered such treatment, so we cannot afford to be lenient with those who refused. Let us dispatch Comrade Bella and have them receive the same treatment.”

And that was how things turned out.

A Demon King’s Army united through fear of Bella.

It somehow lacked dignity, but admittedly I was aware that I could be a little too softhearted.

There was no question that Bella was the better person to send instead of me.

Well, I’d heard Cyclopes were exceptionally tough, so all I could do was pray from afar that none of them accidentally died.

“Bella is strong, so she’ll be fine. If we’re talking about a straight-up fight, she’s probably the strongest among us.”

I picked Mureen up and seated her on my shoulders.

Unlike me, Mureen apparently really had been worried about Bella.

This little Demon King-sama was truly attached to her.

“Oh? She is stronger than you, Lept?”

Rather than being surprised that I’d picked her up, Mureen widened her eyes at what I’d said.

Since she knew Bella was one of the devils serving under me, I supposed that was unexpected.

“It depends on the conditions. If Bella and I faced each other at close range, I wouldn’t stand a chance against her. From far away, though, I’d probably win.”

At the very least, if we started fighting from within fifty meters of each other, I had almost no chance of victory.

Even if I tried to fly away or use a Gate to teleport and create distance, she’d close the gap in an instant before I could manage it and beat me senseless.

If I surrendered control to my close-combat AI, I could probably hold out a little longer, but with Bella, she’d likely defeat me before the AI could fully keep up with her movements.

Bella’s combat instincts had already been exceptional back when she was still Cerberus, and after becoming a devil, they had developed to the point of being almost impossible to handle.

On the other hand, if we started farther apart than that, I almost certainly wouldn’t lose.

All I’d have to do was keep my distance and blast apart an area larger than Bella could cross in a single instant.

The collateral damage would be tremendous, but that level of destruction was only natural when serious High-Ranking Devils fought.

Mureen nodded repeatedly, clearly impressed by my explanation.

“I see. So depending on the conditions, if one uses their strengths and strikes at the other’s weaknesses, who is strong and who is weak can change. Father also used to tell Brother and me that if we wished to win, we must know our enemy.”

Apparently she understood even that much.

She was extremely intelligent despite her young appearance, though perhaps that was only natural for a long-lived demonfolk.

Mureen’s father, the previous Demon King, had traveled through human lands disguised as a human, so he seemed to have fully understood the importance of knowing one’s enemy.

And yet, regrettably, his son—Mureen’s older brother, Demon Prince Zere—seemed to behave as though he had failed to inherit that lesson properly.

The reports Anis and Pisca brought back about the fighting between Zere’s forces and the human races were… quite bad.

Even now, Zere continued charging forward through brute force while insisting that humans were inferior beings, so although he inflicted heavy losses on the enemy, his own forces were steadily being depleted as well.

When we sent him an invitation to the unveiling of Mureen’s guardianship and our appointment as the Four Heavenly Kings, his only reply had been that if we possessed fighting strength, we should place ourselves under his command.

His failure to look beyond what was directly in front of him was enough to make me question the previous Demon King’s approach to education, but at this point, it actually felt strangely unnatural.

Judging from Mureen, I couldn’t imagine the previous Demon King had neglected his children’s education.

Every story I’d heard about him reflected the composure and intelligence one would expect from someone who had saved demonkind from destruction.

So why, then, was the son who inherited his blood and teachings behaving with such blind stubbornness?

There was probably some hidden intention behind it…

But now wasn’t the time to investigate that.

What we needed to do first was unite all the Demon Realm’s factions other than Zere’s.

Then, with those accomplishments behind us, we could create an opportunity to speak with him directly.

“All right, Mureen. It’s almost time for Villa’s lesson. Let’s end our walk and head back.”

At my words, Mureen’s expression immediately darkened.

As that reaction clearly demonstrated, Villa was a demon when it came to teaching.

She accurately assessed her student’s ability and condition, then crammed into their brain exactly the amount and difficulty of material they could just barely manage if they concentrated and worked as hard as possible.

Mureen was exceptionally bright despite her young appearance, but precisely because she was so capable, Villa’s lessons were extremely demanding.

They made my sorcery lessons, which alternated with hers from day to day, seem like children’s games.

Well, actually, I personally thought it was perfectly fine for them to be children’s games.

Children learned efficient ways of moving their bodies through play.

So just as they learned how to use their arms and legs, it was fine to learn basic sorcery while having fun.

Of course, accidental magical outbursts were dangerous, so I didn’t allow her to practice outside my supervision.

“I’ll take the lesson with you too. Yeah, let’s do our best, okay?”

I patted Mureen’s knee as I carried her and offered some words of encouragement.

…I should probably tell Villa to go a little easier on her.

Unlike AIs and devils like us, living creatures couldn’t operate at one hundred percent effort all the time.