Demon King Daimaou: Volume 11 Read online

  Prologue

  The leather sofa in the room was an antique, and the table was hewn from a single giant tree. But other than the desks and chairs, the only decorations were the abstract paintings on the wall.

  A strange group had gathered here, in this room overlooking the palace in the center of the Imperial City. Several of them were wearing masks to conceal their identities, but from their silhouettes it was clear that they weren’t human. The ones who weren’t wearing masks, on the other hand, all had handsome, striking faces. It was like someone had gathered together a group of unforgettable men.

  “If the Jeweled Branch’s seal has been broken, then all the people around the world who carry the blood of the imperial family will begin to return to the Empire. Which means...”

  One of them spoke. He was a handsome man, the sort some might derisively refer to as a “dandy”. His name was Kento Kurahashi. He was a member of C-MID8, and the smartest and most capable of them. His codename was USD. He was famous as perhaps the greatest genius humanity had, and was the only one of the members whose identity was not kept secret.

  “...For our part, no matter who these others might be, we want to continue to support the existing Empress.” Kento looked around the room in search of agreement. It was clear that he was the member of the group with the most influence. But there was one voice who spoke out against him.

  “You always jump to conclusions, without allowing for any debate. The government never interferes with the doings of the royal family. And C-MID8 is now nothing more than a group of individualists, correct?”

  No one in the room appeared to speak, but the voice could be clearly heard. Kento answered, without seeming to find this strange at all.

  “Individualists or not, we need to come together for the sake of our original goal. I’m referring to, of course, the wishes of the late Boichiro Yamato. Specifically...”

  The voice cut him off, as if it already knew what he was going to say.

  “...To appease the outer universe. Or, failing that, to fight and defeat it.”

  And then, the voice added its own thoughts.

  “...Appeasement seems the more likely of the two options.”

  “I hope you’re right,” Kento said coldly, and then looked down at his feet. There was a large dog curled up around him. It was a long-haired breed, with droopy eyes buried beneath a mountain of fur. If it wasn’t moving, you might think it was a particularly large mop. The dog lazily craned its head and looked up at Kento. Its mouth began to move.

  “But since I’m the one saying it, perhaps we can’t be so sure?” The long-haired dog was speaking human words. Kento didn’t seem perturbed by this. He shook his head as if he was sharing his gripes with an old friend.

  “Even if you were one of them once, we still don’t know that for sure.”

  “It’s true. I don’t represent them.” The dog put a particular emphasis on the word “them.” His codename was “The One.” He was a very rare type of talking dog. But in truth, he was...

  “You’re the only human from ‘their side’ on this planet. Don’t tell me you don’t represent them.” There was a cold edge to his voice.

  The One bared his dog-like fangs, and smiled a sarcastic smile.

  “That’s one way of looking at it. But still, I betrayed them.” There was a strange sort of tension between the two. It was a girl’s voice that broke it.

  “Kento, One, that’s all you ever talk about. So, what exactly do you want us to do?” The girl’s only movement was to put a hand up against the side of her head, and then tilt her neck a little, but somehow it seemed strangely seductive. Both Kento and The One slumped their shoulders, as if they no longer felt like fighting.

  “Kei, what I’m trying to say is that we all need to come together to protect the Empress,” Kento said. The girl he’d called Kei brought a hand to her chin and looked upwards.

  “Hmm... but it’s not up to us to decide whether the Empress is worthy of that or not. The Demon King’s on her side, right? Doesn’t that mean that if anything, we’re her enemies?”

  “But the Empress is the only one who can use the Jeweled Branch. And we need the power that it awakened. It’s probably the only thing we have that can fight the Outer Universe. Still, if that’s all, then it doesn’t matter who the Empress is. We’re going to use her power for our own ends no matter who she is, right?” Kei leaned back in her chair and put her hands behind her head.

  “That’s right. But the power is used by the Empress. But all we need is the power itself. That’s where the issue lies. Which means we need to convince the Empress to obey us,” Kento explained, but Kei seemed to still not understand.

  “Do we actually expect that to work? Is that Demon King going to do what we tell him?”

  “Given what we know about his personality, I don’t expect any problems. He’s afraid of the Empire’s way of life coming to an end. Which means that we can talk to him. Or perhaps I should say, we can take the people of the Empire hostage. Either way, protecting the existing system is going to be important, right?”

  “Does that mean that the plan for me to take his place is being called off, then?” Kei leaned further back in her chair, her feet coming off the floor.

  “That’s dangerous, so I think we should avoid that. You’re our ace in the hole. I’d like you to listen carefully to say about what you should do, and refrain for any foolish actions.”

  Kento’s tone was slightly different than it had been before. It was as if he was being respectful of her, but also that there was something more. Kei leaned forward and sat up in her chair.

  “Alright. If you say so, Kento. You’re probably right.”

  “I am, Kei.” He smiled at her. Then, Kei seemed to remember something.

  “Oh, right. Aren’t we supposed to call each other by our code names? Don’t call me Kei, USD. People will think there’s something going on between us, even though we’re both men,” Kei said, and laughed. Kento’s expression was hard to describe.

  “You’re the one who didn’t use my code name to begin with, Esper.”

  “Is that right? I try to keep my personal life and my work separate. Right, Kento?” Kei gave him a look that was clearly meant to be meaningful.

  “Stop that. People will think we’re in some kind of special relationship.” Kento shook his head, but Kei’s gaze only became even more meaningful.

  “Who cares what people think? It’s important to get along with your co-workers. And anyway, don’t you think The One is just itching for a chance to betray us? ’Cause if we help another Empress, and they get the power of the Jeweled Branch, then the one who actually uses it will be... you know?” Kei looked around the room.

  Kento coughed a little, and The One just laughed.

  “Hahaha! Your one flaw is that you sometimes act like you’ve really got the psychic powers that your name implies.” But Kei just grinned back at him.

  “I’ve got exceptionally good intuition. I’m working for Kento. And I’m willing to do anything for the sake of my job. Listen, One. I’m not going to let you betray us.”

  The One shuddered, but in a clearly sarcastic manner.

  “This is the only place I have left. I’m going to do whatever I can to ensure humanity’s survival.”

  “Enough of this talk.” Kento cut them off. “...Humanity is in greater danger than it’s ever been before.”

  1 - Empresses, Gather!

  The old knight’s wrinkled brow furrowed with an even deeper exhaustion.

  His name was Joji Yuki.

  He was the oldest member of the Royal Guard, and in this world of long lifespans, he was among the very oldest. And even in his long life,
he had never seen anything like the person in front of him. And what was worse, was that this person was the Empress.

  “If we’re all part of the royal family, then we should all be friends. If we all eat a meal together, we’ll be instant friends. That’s right, we can all line up in a row, and eat with our chopsticks at the exact same pace. One, two, one, two. Like that. If you just focus on eating white rice, you can forget anything bad that’s bothering you!”

  The person sharing this unique theory of conflict resolution was Keena Soga, the current Empress.

  “Your highness,” Joji began. His voice was calm and level. “What is it?”

  “Are you suggesting we hold a banquet?”

  “Nope. Just eat white rice. Those banquets always have big, complicated courses, right? You can’t get to be friends like that.” Keena’s eyes were shining, and she was totally lost in her own world.

  Joji coughed slightly.

  “You want the other candidates for Empress to eat nothing but white rice? White rice?”

  “Yup! Won’t it be wonderful?”

  “I’m afraid, your highness...” Joji’s expression was that of a man undergoing horrible torture. “...I don’t think that’s going to work. If anything, it will only spark conflict.”

  “Oh, okay...” Keena sounded disappointed, but then she slapped her hands together as if she’d suddenly had a wonderful idea.

  “I know! If we all have a sleep-over...”

  “Your highness...”

  “What is it?”

  “I’m terribly sorry, but are you following what I’m saying?”

  “Yup. I’ve got it. Now that the seal on the jeweled branch has been broken, everybody who has the royal bloodline will gather in one place, right? And the Jeweled Branch is actually the key to unlock the seal on some incredible power, so I need to be careful...”

  Keena’s explanation was simple, but not very detailed. That said, even Joji didn’t know much about the branch.

  “This is what the legend says. The Jeweled Branch will choose the true emperor. And the true emperor will revive the ‘Faceless Power’ and lead the people...”

  The legend he was referring to was an imperial one. Legends were usually things found in civilizations that hadn’t advanced very far. But in the Empire’s case, that wasn’t true. The Empire had been a single nation for over a thousand years, even before the dawning of magical civilization. So the legend wasn’t just a story, it was based on information that, for some reason, had been hidden in the past, which had partially leaked and become rumors that had formed the legend’s base.

  “What’s the Faceless Power?”

  “A power without a face, presumably. It’s believed to simply be a power for which no particular use has been prescribed,” Joji explained.

  “But it doesn’t really matter what that is, right? I heard that the first problem was that a lot of people were going to show up had the imperial bloodline...” Keena said.

  Joji nodded and displayed a map on his mana screen. The map showed in red the island that formed the empire’s center, as well as the vast territory that stretched towards the continent. As he pointed to the southern edge of the territory, Joji began to explain in a serious voice.

  “Except for your highness, most of those who carry the imperial bloodline are those who have lost some past power struggle. It’s common for them to be seeking some form of revenge. For example, this region. We believe that someone from the bloodline is here, but there is a terrible reason why this land is sealed...”

  Before he could continue, a young member of the Royal Guard rushed into the room.

  “Something’s happening at Constant Magical Academy...!”

  “You’re in the presence of the Empress. Control yourself,” Joji said, and the knight quickly straightened his posture.

  “I beg your pardon. As I was saying, something is going on at Constant Magical Academy. The academy...” The young knight trailed off, still standing at attention.

  “What is it? It’s rude to simply stop talking in mid-sentence. Even if the current Empress is a kind girl, you still lack discipline.” Joji began to lecture the knight, but he shook his head.

  “I’m sorry, commander, but...”

  “What is it? Now you’re cutting me off again...!”

  “No, um...” The young knight fearfully pointed behind him. “The Empress has fled again.”

  “What?” Joji turned around to see Keena’s clothes on the floor. Of course, her underwear as well.

  “I’ve served the imperial family for well over a century... and I’ve never seen a royal who was this much of a handful...” Joji began to break down and cry, and the young knight simply sighed and decided to continue.

  “Constant Magical Academy has suddenly been covered in huge plants. We believe it to be some kind of Affu magic, but an enchantment of that scale requires several casters to control it, which means it’s likely a large scale attack...” Joji gasped and looked upwards.

  “It must be someone from the place I was just talking about!” Joji turned towards where Keena had been a moment ago, but quickly realized how stupid he looked and turned back to the knight.

  “No, um... I see. Contact the academy immediately. It must be a Marlai invasion!”

  ○

  The students had been driven out into the yard of the academy... no, even further than that. Both students and teachers were standing helplessly on the hill that had once served as the Imperial camp during the Demon King War.

  “Since we know it’s magic affiliated with the god Affu, it’s not much of a mystery...” Mitsuko Torii whispered.

  “Yes, that’s the only sort of magic that could make plants grow like that...”

  Next to her was Yoshie Kita, who had converted (without permission) the school’s basement into her own personal lab. She lifted up the analyzer goggles she’d been wearing and rubbed her eyes with the back of her hands.

  “But I don’t even want to imagine how much energy it would take to accomplish something like that...”

  Both of them were looking at the school building, which was now covered in green. No, that was far too mild a way to put it. The school had turned into a jungle. The building itself was covered by a canopy of tall trees, and vines and branches were poking out all the windows. It looked like the building had been abandoned for hundreds of years. Affu was a god who granted blessings for agriculture and fishing to his followers.

  Whoever it was had used one of his spells, which was used to make plants grow faster and thus speed up the rate at which crops could be harvested. Specialized plants which could absorb mana were able to absorb water and nutrients from the soil, and grow at an incredible rate. But the faster the rate of growth, and the more plants you tried to control, the more difficult it became to control the mana.

  And the magic used this time went even beyond that. It wasn’t “difficult” so much as “impossible,” at least for most of humanity.

  “Were there multiple casters, then? But I didn’t see anything to indicate that somebody infiltrated the grounds.” Mitsuko crossed her arms.

  “If it was one person, they’d have to be on the level of the Demon King,” Yoshie said, and then looked over to Akuto Sai, who was standing nearby. Akuto shrugged when he noticed her.

  “Well, drat. I’m going to have to get violent with someone, aren’t I?”

  All the other students were staring at him. It was natural that they would. Akuto was now the biggest troublemaker at school. And this was an especially weird case. The whole school had turned into a jungle overnight.

  Akuto didn’t know what was going on either, but he was pretty sure it had something to do with him. No, at this point, he was almost resigned to it. He was even starting to think that instead of trying to insist that it wasn’t his fault, and dealing with the inevitable consequences, he’d do better to just deal with it himself.

  “I’ll take a look. It’s almost certainly dangerous in there.”


  Any normal person would hesitate, but Akuto headed over towards the building like he was taking a walk.

  “It’s so amazing to see he doesn’t feel like he’s in the slightest danger at all...” Fujiko Eto whispered to herself in awe as she watched him go. This was going a little far, even for somebody as in love with Akuto as her.

  Junko Hattori, who was standing nearby, interrupted her.

  “It feels more like he’s just in a little bit of a different world... Normally you wouldn’t be able to walk into a bizarre world like that so calmly...”

  But Fujiko just snorted.

  “Hmph. If you think so, then you should just leave Akuto alone. If you can’t handle this, then you never should’ve said you liked him.”

  “What...?”

  At the inn “Sasahara,” Junko had inadvertently confessed her love to Akuto, and received a straight (almost too straight) answer. Just remembering it made her want to scream and run away.

  “B-But that was... He said he loved everybody, and he didn’t really mean anything by it...”

  As Junko stammered, Fujiko’s face took on a victorious grin.

  “Hmph! I expect better from you. Every one of us has to give our utmost to support him, as his mistresses.”

  “M-Mistresses?”

  “You don’t understand the responsibilities that come with your position. Somebody like you, who’s only good for straight-up fighting, should be right by Akuto’s side.”

  Junko’s face began to twist with doubt.

  “Ugh... Y-You’re right, maybe I should’ve gone with him. But it feels like I’d just slow him down... No, that’s not okay. I need to get stronger...”

  Mitsuko, her teacher, interrupted her with a clap.

  “Come on now. Don’t be silly. Akuto’s the only one who needs to go. Unlike everything else that’s happened so far, this is actually a problem involving the school. So you need to do what your teacher tells you. It’s dangerous, so he goes alone. Everyone else can hear what he has to say and give him advice.”

  Mitsuko looked towards Yoshie as she spoke.

  “Well, you heard the lady. Can you hear me, Akuto?” Yoshie glanced over at Mitsuko and then sent a telepathic message to Akuto.