Demon King Daimaou: Volume 1 Read online

  It was 2:00 AM — the dead of night, when most people were fast asleep.

  A small light raced across the night sky.

  If any resident of this world looked up and saw this light, they would immediately know exactly what it was. It wasn’t a falling star, a bird, or an airplane. It was the light emitting from the mana that a magic user had used for their flight magic.

  Cleaving through the air as if it was frozen was a black-haired woman clad in a magnificent, long coat. Judging by the mist forming behind the woman from the sweat running down the cheek of her stiff face, her tense expression was not simply because of the cool night air.

  There was a shining silver symbol on the breast of her coat — it featured a snake holding an apple in its mouth, wrapped around a double cross. It was a symbol worn and favored by the black magicians of this continent.

  And, a small hand appeared from the inside of the coat and played with the symbol. She was holding a baby in her arms.

  As the woman soothed the baby, she looked behind her. It was impossible to fly without disturbing mana, so if she was being pursued, she would able to sense their presence. Right now, there was no sign of anyone. Even so, the woman was heavily disturbing the mana around her mid-flight, so even from far away, her position must have been pin-pointedly clear.

  “I have to ensure they don’t figure out where this child came from...” the woman muttered. To stay unnoticed, she flew to the ground just before her destination and walked through the darkness without using any sort of light magic to guide her way. From the air, she had confirmed that there was a small town at the end of a narrow road through the thicket. This was an unknown land to her, but from the layout of the town and the symbol engraved on the front gate, she was certain this place would serve her purpose.

  The town was dead silent. Despite the fact there were only a few hundred odd residents, the church near the entrance into town was far bigger than that number would imply, and seemed to be equipped with the necessary facilities to perform baptisms. This child absolutely had to be baptized. Even though it was difficult to part with the child, the ruling god here was Ko-Roh, and benevolence and love were the main tenets of his faith. It was the most suitable place to entrust the child.

  Entrust the child... She thought this, and finally an emotion close to reassurance welled up inside of her. That’s right. Our child, our long desired child, will be entrusted to live with the people under the sunlight.

  “Grow healthy, and grow strong for the day you realize your destiny.” As she chanted the words of this ancient prayer, she took off her coat, gently wrapped the child in it, and laid him down in front of the church.

  “The child of our hopes and dreams...” As she ran away, she looked back at the child, the look of a mother fearing for her child in her eyes. But—

  —No!

  Her face clouded as if she had immediately realized her own mistake, and she quickly turned back to face forward.

  This feeling of failure had come from squarely meeting the eyes of the child through the darkness.

  The baby didn’t cry and had just returned his mother’s look. A certain expression had surfaced in those eyes, one that did not suit the eyes of a baby not even a year old. They were the eyes you’d see in a timid man in his twenties who’d been dumped by a woman. It was as if the baby was sulking, or had simply given up.

  —Well, nothing can be done, it’s my fault anyway...

  That was what the baby’s eyes were so eloquently saying.

  “Your destiny might be different than predicted... No, that might be exactly what we are hoping for...” The woman muttered to herself to try to put herself at ease as she disappeared into the trees.

  The extremely precocious abandoned baby looked up at the sky, as if it was brooding over its next move.

  Ten years passed.

  The baby that had stared up at the stars had grown into a young boy who was now vacantly gazing up at the midday sky. Akuto was his name, and others had a hard time understanding his personality. Reaching his mental peak at the age of five, he was a child with an astute understanding of the world and great self-awareness.

  When he was five years old, as the orphanage teacher was going over the timetable on how the children were to spend the day, he looked at it perplexed from the side. “Will you get mad if we don’t obey this schedule?” he asked. “Is it that we need to be supervised because we’re weak?”

  Once, when they went on a scenic outing to the mountains and they were given an especially lavish lunch, upon eating it Akuto said, “This is by far the fanciest thing I’ve eaten since living at the orphanage. Even though I haven’t done anything to deserve it, I’m thankful for this happiness that was given to me. But unless I go out into the world and work, this will be the greatest thing I ever experience.” With this sudden realization, he began to cry.

  In this way, Akuto quietly spent his days at the orphanage. Despite being a strange child, he tried to not cause any trouble for others. It seemed he had the strong urge to be a good person, and while he displayed eccentric behavior now and again, it never caused any major incidents.

  Around halfway through elementary school — at the age of ten — there was a small disturbance when he left the orphanage to live with a foster family. A young girl who was the same age as Akuto came to the orphanage to take his place.

  All of the children at the orphanage had come here because their parents had died and they had no relatives to stay with, but this girl did nothing but cry. Seeing this, Akuto stopped in his tracks. Even though it was his big day, the reason that no one had come to see him off was because they were preoccupied with this girl.

  The teachers at the orphanage were using their usual comforting tactics. It’s not as if there was a manual for doing so, but they were used to cheering up children this way. They would play with stuffed animals and use soothing, gentle words. Rather than put their heart into it, in most cases it was more effective to use superficial methods instead.

  Akuto had already experienced this firsthand, but with a personality like his he couldn’t help but consider it unpleasant. What was even more displeasing was the fact that, despite the deep sorrow they must have felt, this interaction with the teachers was enough to make every single one of the orphans cheer up and smile. But before long Akuto realized that this girl was no normal child. Even when she was given a piece of toy jewelry, she’d only show interest for a split second before continuing to cry without end.

  Akuto decided to stop the girl from crying. After dropping his things off at his new home, he needed to return the orphanage’s suitcase. He left it in the entrance way, and walked to the market area in the center of town, where he entered the only accessory shop that sold jewelry. Emptying his wallet of all his money — a few months’ worth of adult living expenses — he purchased a jewel-encrusted hair ornament and returned to the orphanage. The young girl was still crying, and the teachers were wondering what to do.

  Akuto slipped past the teachers, and as he stood in front of the crouched girl he tugged on her hair, pulling her head up. The teachers were shocked and scolded Akuto for his behavior, but Akuto remained silent and thrust the hair ornament out in front of the girl’s face.

  It took quite some time for her to notice what was happening, but despite the unusual situation, her crying stopped. She returned Akuto’s gaze with swollen, red eyes, and a dumbfounded expression.

  Round eyes and a round face. She had several clumps of frizzy hair that stood up on end, which swayed back and forth every time she rubbed the side of her eyes with her balled-up hands. Her hair was a bright, fiery red, so those clumps of hair gave off the impression of a flame flickering in th
e wind. Anyone would think she was cute for a girl her age, though with her features it seemed that she’d always keep that child-like quality no matter how old she was.

  Akuto averted his eyes from the girl’s face and forcibly thrust the hair ornament into her hand. The girl didn’t resist, but when she noticed that there were jewels embedded in the eyes of the bird-shaped ornament, she looked at Akuto with a frightened expression. Even children understand what the real thing looks like. Of course, it was far too extravagant a thing for a child to have. Without giving the girl as much as a glance, Akuto faced the teachers and declared that while this ornament was expensive, it was still hers, and that no one was to steal it, nor should the teachers try to hold onto it for her.

  “Th-Thank you...”

  The girl said with astonishment, looking back and forth between Akuto and the ornament. She acted like an explosive had been placed in her hands.

  “I intend to work from now on, so I don’t need anyone else’s money. You can sell this when you leave the orphanage, or you can keep it. It is yours. But I want you to remember that, in the end, simply receiving something is usually enough to stop a person’s tears. Even so, it took something very expensive to make you stop crying, so that might mean that you’re quite an incredible child. You could even be a match for the Demon King.”

  As he spoke these words, Akuto returned to where he dropped off his suitcase, and once again donned the long coat he was finally able to wear without it dragging on the ground.

  “Where are you going?” the girl asked.

  “I’m leaving.”

  “Wait. We could have been friends.”

  “That is unfortunate. But I believe that your time in this orphanage will be over in a few years. I’ll remember you if you keep that ornament, and one day we’ll be able to meet again, right? See you later.”

  Then, without listening to the girl’s reply, Akuto left the orphanage.

  After this, another five years passed.

  The house that took Akuto in was a typical knight’s household. Taking care of an orphan was normal for a knight, so the knight’s interactions with Akuto were very businesslike. For Akuto, this kind of relationship made it easy to live there, but at the same time he realized that this dynamic made it difficult to form a relationship with his foster parents. Due to this environment and Akuto’s personality, the five years he spent living there was a difficult part of his life. His daily schedule began with waking up before dawn to deliver milk, after school he would work at a café, and at night he would study to prepare for his entrance exams.

  During this period, Akuto grew into a handsome young man that would catch the eyes of any girl his age. But with his personality and daily life as they were, nothing ever came of it. Even as he advanced to middle school, he never had a single close friend, let alone any romantic relationships.

  If any girl was charmed enough by his features to approach him, he’d say in a distressed voice, “As humans, we should associate with people free of discrimination and favoritism, and forming a special bond with someone naturally results in some kind of discrimination. I’ll concede that no one can get along well with everyone, and seeing a beautiful girl getting along well with someone else is somehow particularly vexing. However I still believe that getting close to a beautiful girl just to ease that vexation is wrong. What do you think?” This attitude made it difficult for his female classmates to become interested in him, and the boys didn’t want to befriend another boy with that kind of attitude towards girls.

  Personality aside, there was a reason that Akuto led such a life. Akuto intended to go to a high school that granted scholarships — the prestigious national high school, Constant Magical Academy — and become a qualified magician. Even if living through this dark time in his life without any friends only worsened his odd disposition, it was all worth it to become a nationally qualified magician.

  The top-ranking state magicians — without a doubt, these individuals were the ones who ran this country of Japan. In this society that had just past the year 3000 of the Gregorian calendar, these magicians bore the core responsibilities of the government. Because they worked to serve society, they were the only people that had no limits placed on the use of their magic, and were active participants in a number of different fields.

  Akuto genuinely wanted to help people, so in order to become a productive member of society, his goal was to become a state magician. He had an argumentative side, but he was a fundamentally good-natured person. Furthermore, his life as an orphan had convinced him that his purpose in life was to support others.

  At long last, the day he was accepted into the Academy had come. Akuto was so happy that he jumped for joy. Now that he had been accepted, he would be able to live in the campus dormitory, and because he had also received a scholarship, he was able to completely escape from being under someone else’s care.

  Akuto had hoped that this would be his chance to start his life anew, and now it was really happening.

  However, his brand new life unfolded in a way he never could have imagined.

  1 - A Demon King Is Born

  Akuto got off the whale-like long distance bullet train onto the white platform. A mana screen materialized in front of him via specialized train magic, which he used to confirm the time schedule before making his way through the station, dragging his suitcase beside him. The station was packed with people of a wide variety of races and social stations. There were stands selling the capital’s famous green onion-shaped sweets, bookstores, and more lined up inside of the station. One could even compare it to the hustle and bustle of a market. Despite the crowds, it seemed that there were no disturbances to speak of — in the middle of the concourse, a blue-uniformed security magician was swaying the shock baton on his waist back and forth, looking bored.

  —The capital is incredible... Even with so many people going about their business like this, it isn’t chaotic at all. Are they accustomed to each other’s movements? No, each person is headed towards their own destination, towards things they want to see or buy, so that can’t be it. I see, maybe the architects of this station knew exactly what people want to do and see. So they designed the station with these desires in mind, so the crowds would flow properly through the station. The magic of high-ranking state magicians truly is impressive.

  Giving it far too much serious thought, Akuto followed the mana screen floating in the air and headed towards the station for the non-stop air bus to Constant Magical Academy. The bus stop was built on the highest floor of the towering Central Capital Station, and faced up into the sky. There was a long staircase that led there. Quickly after he started to climb the stairs, Akuto saw an old woman who seemed to be struggling in the middle of the staircase.

  The old woman was wearing a kimono and had a large, heavy-looking bag.

  —That kimono means she must have been baptized by the god Suhara.

  Akuto quickly rushed up the stairs and called out to the old woman from behind.

  “Do you need a hand with your bag?”

  The old woman glanced back with a surprised expression before replying, “I suppose if it’s not too much trouble...”

  There was a reason for the old woman’s surprised reaction, just as there was a reason for Akuto speculating about her faith. In this society, it’s a given that every person is faithful to a god. So the way the followers of Suhara displayed their faith in such a conspicuous manner indicated a stubborn, proud devotion to their god’s doctrine. As such, they were known to be extremely difficult to interact with. These followers oversaw national defense, so you could describe them as either proud or arrogant depending on your perspective.

  “My family serves the government. That’s why I don’t often receive any help in town,” the old woman said, and looked at Akuto like he was a rare creature.

  “I think it’s only natural to help someone with something heavy. By the way, you said ‘serves the government?’” Akuto asked about the unfamiliar
words.

  “It means that we are public servants, who are devoted to Suhara. I suppose you could say that we are knights, and hold titles.” The old woman replied calmly.

  “Is that so...”

  “By the way, are you a student at the Magic Academy?”

  “Yes.” Akuto nodded and the old woman smiled, like she was embarrassed.

  “That bag is my grandchild’s. She’s a student at the Academy, too. She returned home over the break, but ended up forgetting all of her things when she left.”

  “She forgot everything?”

  “Strange, isn’t it? She must have thought she was heading off to school as usual and left with nothing but the clothes on her back.”

  Akuto and the old woman laughed, and a figure appeared at the top of the stairs as if drawn by their voices.

  “Grandmother! I thought that was your voice!”

  The voice came from a young girl the same age as Akuto. With a surprised look on her face, she looked back and forth between Akuto and the old woman. She wore a Constant Magical Academy uniform.

  “You forgot this.” The old woman grinned.

  “Huh? Forgot? No way... What the—?!”

  The girl’s eyes grew even wider in surprise and she covered her mouth with her hands. She had shiny hair and almond eyes, and a beautiful face that was slightly intimidating. Nonetheless, her current expression clearly showed what was going through her mind.

  —She hasn’t had her bags this entire time, and still goes “No way?”

  Akuto was surprised. Despite the impression of being a beautiful, cool-headed girl, it seemed that she was somewhat of an airhead.

  Then as she looked at Akuto, the girl’s face suddenly grew red and she cleared her throat.

  “Grandmother, who is this?”

  “Ah yes. This boy carried your heavy bag for me. Kids like this are rare nowadays. It seems that he goes to the same school as you, so look out for him, okay? Although, more than likely you’re the one that will need looking after.” The old woman giggled like a child.