1 — Chapter 1

“Hmph! An attack spell like that won’t work on me!”

I puffed out my chest and took the fire magic head-on.

To be precise, it did hit me a bit and it actually hurt… but I endured it because showing weakness would ruin my cool image.

“What?! Not even the attack magic of Mage Selene worked?!”

Angelica, the Hero of the enemy side, was struck with shock.

The Female Hero, Angelica. I believe she was only sixteen years old. To form an all-female Hero party at that age was quite an achievement.

However—in the end, they were just amateurs. They weren’t strong enough to defeat a Demon King like me.

My name is Garto Ryuzen. I am the Demon King who rules over this continent of Masgenia.

That said, apparently there are plenty of other Demon Kings on other continents, and the human nations are constantly fighting amongst themselves. It isn’t as simple as “the human world is saved and everyone is happy” just because I’m defeated, but there is no doubt that I am the enemy of these girls’ kingdom.

“Here’s one in return, Mage.”

I launched a fireball at Selene.

With a scream, Selene collapsed.

Now, only the Female Hero remained.

“Angelica. You all are still just children. I’ll give you a special chance to start over. Run along home.”

“Hmph! I am the Hero! There’s no way I can turn my tail to a Demon King!”

She certainly had spirit.

But as for me, I didn’t want to fight…

To be honest, for very personal reasons, the Female Hero Angelica somehow reminded me of my late wife…

My wife, Sasaya, passed away about three hundred years ago.

One of the Four Heavenly Kings at the time started a rebellion to kill me.

However, I wasn’t at the castle that the King attacked. I had been out on an inspection tour. And, as luck would have ones way, only my wife was there…

Of course, I received word of the treason immediately and tore the traitorous King limb from limb, but my wife Sasaya, who had resisted desperately, was left in a state of being half-dead, half-alive, and passed away a few days later…

Since seeing my wife through to the end, I have lived my life alone, reaching an age that even among demons is called middle-aged.

Talk of remarriage came up many times, but I rejected them all.

There is no other woman like Sasaya—gentle, yet possessed of a strong inner core.

Even if I did remarry, the new wife would surely be miserable if she were constantly compared to my previous one.

But to think the Female Hero would have a face slightly resembling Sasaya! No, it was only slightly…

Perhaps this, too, was karma. Regardless, I didn’t want to lay a hand on her.

Also, lately, people have been getting quite noisy about that sort of thing in both the human kingdoms and the lands I rule… There’s a growing trend that even if they are enemies, if they are children or women, they should be sent back without doing anything too cruel.

—For the reasons stated above, I wanted the Female Hero Angelica to go home.

“I won’t lose! If I lose here, everything I’ve done until now will be in vain!”

Using her sword as a cane, Angelica somehow managed to stand.

Damn, she has no intention of retreating…

“Wait, wait. Saying ‘everything will be in vain’ is a bit much… Your life experiences so far definitely won’t be wasted, so go try again. You guys are still young… You’re in your teens, so your lives have only just begun.”

“Why is a Demon King talking like a teacher?! What’s with that, acting all high and mighty just because you grew a beard!”

Well, I am middle-aged, so of course I’d grow a beard. I’d appreciate it if she didn’t criticize that.

“Prepare yourself, Demon King Garto Ryuzen!”

As the Female Hero charged forward with her sword—

I swiped her away with my right arm.

“Kyaaaah!”

Angelica’s scream echoed in my ears. Just like that, she fell with a thud. Since I held back, she probably isn’t dead, but she likely fainted.

She hadn’t been able to focus on her movements due to fatigue and her wounds.

Effort alone does not bring about good results.

“Well then… If I leave them here, they’ll just become Hellhound bait… I suppose I’ll drop them off…”

I chanted a teleportation spell.

Since I am a Demon King, that level of magic is trivial.

And so, I arrived at the hometown of the female mage.

Yes, while it wasn’t common knowledge, it was actually possible for me to visit human towns.

I spotted a man who looked like the female mage’s older brother, so I called out to him.

“Ah, excuse me. This young lady collapsed during a battle in the demon lands, so I’ve brought her back.”

“Ah… Selene, Selene!”

“She has some light burns, but her life is not in danger. Please rest easy.”

“Thank you for going out of your way. It really is true that demons don’t use much violence against women these days.”

I actually ended up being thanked.

That was the way of things now; even if you captured an enemy, you weren’t supposed to subject them to cruel punishments or torture. I felt like the conflict between humans and demons was entering a new phase.

“Well then, I’ll be off. I still have to deliver the other party members.”

“Thank you for your trouble!”

That was the first one finished. If I could just keep sending them back peacefully like this, everything would be fine.

If I handled them too roughly, I’d end up getting complaints from the Demoness Women’s Association.

I once suggested, “Fine then, I’ll only fight male Heroes. That way there’s zero chance of me ever hurting a human woman, right?” but apparently, that was also a no-go because it hindered women’s advancement in society.

They told me the mindset that dangerous jobs like adventuring should be for men only was also problematic. Honestly, everyone was so loud about everything these days.

And so, I proceeded to deliver the Hero’s party members one by one.

I could have easily let my subordinates handle it, but these were people who had made it all the way to the Demon King’s throne. Out of respect for that feat, I chose to return them personally.

Finally, only the Female Hero, Angelica, remained.

“When she’s unconscious, the resemblance is even stronger…”

Naturally, I knew she was different from my late wife, Sasaya. For starters, Sasaya had horns. Even so, the likeness was enough to make me keep remembering her.

“No need for useless, strange sentimentality.”

I picked Angelica up in my arms and chanted the teleportation magic.

The rural village where the Female Hero was born was well-known, so I knew the location. It wasn’t that the village itself was famous; it had become famous specifically because it was the Hero’s birthplace.

If I recalled correctly, the Female Hero’s father had passed away early, and she had been raised by her mother alone.

If that was the case, I felt she should have stayed by her mother’s side instead of taking on a dangerous job like adventuring. I suppose this was just an old man’s meddling.

At the Hero’s house, a single woman was sweeping the front of the home with a broom.

“Um, is this the home of the Female Hero? She collapsed in the demon lands, so I’ve come to deliver her. She is alive and well.”

“Oh my, how kind of you. Really, thank you so much~”

The woman who was sweeping looked up.

In that instant, I felt as if I had been struck by lightning magic.

She looked far too much like my late wife!

The way her eyes drooped slightly. Her gentle, easygoing way of speaking.

Above all, the aura she radiated.

“Um… excuse me, but are you the Hero’s… older sister?”

“My, you’re quite the flatterer. I am that girl’s mother.”

Her mother! She didn’t look that age at all… No, I suppose if she’d had Angelica in her teens, it wouldn’t be strange for her to look this young…

I-I see. Even Angelica had a touch of Sasaya in her.

Naturally, if you took that girl and removed the “bratty” elements to bring her closer to adulthood, the resemblance would only grow.

“Could it be that you are the Demon King? Looking at your impressive physique, that’s what I suspect.”

The Hero’s mother said, peering up at me.

“Y-yes… I am currently serving as the Demon King. My name is Garto Ryuzen…”

I ended up introducing myself quite normally. I wondered if I was being a bit too lacking in dignity.

“Um, if you’d like, why don’t you come in for some tea? I was just about to make some herbal tea.”

The way she didn’t build any walls even with someone she’d just met was also an exact match.

“In that case, I would be delighted to have a cup…”

I proceeded to enter the Hero’s home just like that.

“Forgive me, but might I ask your name?”

“Me? I’m called Leitia.”

“Leitia, I see.”

I was completely floating on air.