Demon King Daimaou: Volume 11 Page 11

  “The jewels come off,” the Elder explained. Just as he said, several of the jewels on the branch were detachable. The only thing left was the branch itself, and a single jewel at the end. The jewel at the end fit perfectly into the emplacement. The hole closed around the jewel as she pushed the branch inwards.

  “This’ll do it, right?” she said, waving the branch, which now had no jewels left. But before she could check to see what happened, her gaze began to dart rapidly to the left and right around her.

  “What’s wrong?” Akuto asked, but Keena kept turning her head.

  “There’s a bug...” she whispered.

  “A bug?”

  “Yeah, there’s a bug... kyah!” Keena screamed. The branch was knocked out of her hand.

  “What...?”

  “Huh...?”

  Akuto and Nonimora shouted. The Jeweled Branch wasn’t knocked out of her hand. It was floating in mid-air. But just as the branch seemed to be floating on its own, the “bug” clinging to its end became a shadow, which grew larger and larger.

  “Oooh!?” Nonimora gasped in surprise.

  At first it was the size of a small fly, but before long it was about 30 centimeters in length.

  “So this is what sank our ship!”

  Akuto understood instantly. The “bug,” which was actually a human, was flying, carrying the Jeweled Branch that was the same size it was. It was probably a mage with the ability to shrink themselves. And they’d probably been aboard the ship the whole time.

  “I’ve been waiting for this moment!”

  Its voice was high and squeaky because it was so small, but it was definitely the voice of a human male. It was wearing a bodysuit and mask, which probably shrank and grew along with its body. The suit gave no clue to his identity, but he was clearly a member of C-MID8.

  “Pests must be exterminated!”

  Korone quickly took out a gun from her bag. But the enemy had predicted that. He quickly flew towards the floor’s emergency exit, with a speed that a normal bug might have. It was so fast that it almost seemed to be teleporting.

  “If he’s just fast and nothing else...”

  Akuto pointed his hand at the emergency exit. He tried to use his mana to trap the insect man. But...

  “Huh...?”

  Akuto wasn’t sure what had happened. He couldn’t properly control his mana.

  “What’s going on...?” he said, confused, just as Nonimora started to run. She was fast, but the insect man was faster and smaller. He slipped out of her hands and vanished out a ventilation window. Nonimora threw a tantrum on the landing of the emergency stairs.

  “You let him get away!”

  “I’m sorry. I couldn’t use my mana right...”

  Akuto said as he came out onto the landing with her.

  “It’s probably because the energy in this land is so weak. You can’t use as much mana here as you can in the Empire. You hadn’t realized how to deal with the difference yet,” Korone said.

  “Hey, he took it. What do we do?” Keena asked.

  The Elder had an answer.

  “It’s okay... Or maybe, it’s not okay. But it’s not an issue for the moment. Anyone can use the Jeweled Branch, but only the Imperial Family can make the Faceless Power answer.”

  “Then at least we can avoid the worst-case scenario... No, I don’t know what C-MID8 is planning, so we can’t be sure...” Akuto said, but then an incoming telepathic call was sent to Keena, interrupting his train of thought. Keena gasped when she saw the incoming call on her terminal.

  “I had so much fun with the villagers I forgot to call home... It’s from the old man.”

  Keena answered the call, and immediately heard a scream.

  “Your Majesty! You’re safe! I’m so glad!”

  It was Joji Yuki, with the royal guard.

  “You’re being pretty loud. Listen, our ship suddenly crashed...” Keena tried to explain, but he cut her off with a voice that sounded like it was in tears.

  “That’s not important now... Well, it IS important now... but also, the republic...!” Joji began to explain what happened.

  When Akuto heard this, he began to wonder if he’d been wrong about the worst-case scenario.

  ○

  When he arrived over the Marlay village, Hiroshi saw a warning on his visor and informed Marine of the situation.

  “Sorry, we’ve got trouble.”

  “What happened?’

  “The area’s covered in a field. It’s the suit’s weak point. It would take a long time to explain, but the enemy is trying to drain me of my energy.”

  “It seems there’s mana here, so I can fly too. But thank you for carrying me this far. I couldn’t have done it alone,” Marine said as he stepped away. Then he asked Hiroshi.

  “So does this mean the enemy is nearby?”

  “Correct. Somebody who works with the man you called the devil.” Marine’s expression changed when he heard this.

  “Then they’re my enemy too. If you can’t fight, I will.”

  “That’s a big help... Ahead of us. 15 degrees up, in the sky.”

  Hiroshi used his visor to detect where the energy was present, and passed that information on to Marine. Marine must have seen it himself, because he nodded. There was an airship floating there. It was the about the same size as the royal airship, the largest ship an individual could pilot on their own. But it was clear from its exterior that it wasn’t the kind you could buy on the market. It was painted pitch black to hide its affiliation, and was bristling with weapons.

  “C-MID8. That’s the name of their organization,” Hiroshi said bitterly.

  “The mana is thin, and there’s not much energy. I’m not sure I can do this. I may be forced to withdraw.”

  There was a bitterness in his eyes as he spoke, but his words were calm. He was an adult, Hiroshi realized.

  “If you can shut down the VPS field generator, I can use my full power. And if that happens, we’re unbeatable.”

  Marine nodded at his words.

  “Understood.”

  “I’ll do what I can with the energy I have, as well.”

  Hiroshi tried to fly towards the ship, but was shocked when he looked at his energy gauge. It was draining faster than usual.

  “What...?”

  He scanned for the cause. It turned out to be the black airship. It was equipped not only with a mana disperser but also its own energy unit. The technology was probably the same type as the Brave Suit. That unit was draining the suit’s energy.

  “Crap... Sorry, I have to fall back!” Hiroshi shouted, and then dropped into the jungle below to avoid dying from running out of energy. If he made it into the jungle, he could at least turn off his suit and hide.

  —If it’s using the same technology as my suit, does that mean USD sent it?

  Hiroshi landed in the jungle, feeling regret as he watched Marine fly away.

  ○

  After Hiroshi landed, Marine began combat with the airship. But it wasn’t only Hiroshi who was watching. They were fighting near the Marlay village, and were close enough to be visible.

  “The bugman flew that way. I can barely detect any mana, but I’ve got good eyes.”

  Nonimora pointed towards the airship. They’d come outside to chase the stolen Branch, but it seemed to be too late.

  “So their friends are aboard that ship...?”

  Akuto tried to gather mana in his hand to fire off a spell, but it didn’t work right. He still wasn’t used to the lack of energy and mana in this land.

  “He said the Republic is attacking and there’s probably gonna be a war!” Keena looked at Akuto, worried.

  “We can’t do anything until we know more about what’s going on... And who’s that fighting over there?” Akuto whispered. Korone handed him a telepathic call device. He’d been able to make and receive telepathic calls on his own easily lately, so it’d been a long time since he’d used one.

  “A call?”


  “It’s from Yoshie Kita. It seems she has a handle on the situation.”

  Korone was right. Yoshi was in the command center with Yuko, and she breathlessly informed him on what was happening.

  “I have three things to tell you. One: There are three candidates for Emperor right now. Keena. Nonimora. And Marine, the guy who’s fighting. He’s the King of the Republic.”

  “Why’s he fighting C-MID8?”

  “C-MID8 blew up the submarine force that was bringing him to the Empire. Brave saved him and is bringing him there so he can talk with the Empress. But it seems we’ve been interrupted again. I just lost touch with Brave right now.”

  “This is the worst-case scenario... I feel stupid saying this, but we just lost the Jeweled Branch.”

  “That’s... a big problem. But the war hasn’t started yet. The front lines are at the beach. Junko Hattori is in a town near the beach, and has managed to talk her dad out of opening fire, at least for now. This is the second thing I wanted to tell you.”

  “I’d like to head back there as soon as possible, but it seems there’s not enough mana here for me to teleport.”

  “Find a way to get back here, and bring Marine with you. This is not a good situation. The guy from C-MID8 who destroyed the Republic submarines seems to have the same power you do.”

  “The same power as me?” Akuto gasped.

  “Yeah. They managed to use the cells that were stolen from you to turn a normal person into a demon king. He’s currently in a standoff with the Republic fleet. Nobody can control him.”

  “C-MID8 wants to start a war?” Akuto said, panicking.

  “That’s what’s happening, probably. But I have this weird feeling that there’s more going on here. Like... I guess there’s a split within C-MID8, and some of them are trying to wipe out humanity. And the new Demon King is on the side of the people who are trying to destroy humanity. That was my third point. Shocking, huh?”

  “So all this happened while we were out wandering the jungle?”

  It was obvious now that C-MID8 had sent Akuto crashing into the jungle as part of a deliberate plot.

  “So for now, we need to help him...”

  Akuto looked up into the sky. But the battle between the airship and Marine was already over. Marine was being sucked into an open hatch in the airship. He was unconscious and floating in mid-air.

  “So they’re one step ahead of us.” Akuto said, bitterly. As Marine went inside the airship, someone else flew out of it, and towards Akuto.

  ○

  Meanwhile, after landing in the jungle, Hiroshi got a good distance away from the airship before deactivating his suit.

  “Tch... What do I do now? This thing is useless...” he said to no one in particular. But someone did answer.

  “I’m sorry about that. But there is another way.”

  “Huh?”

  For a moment he thought it was the suit’s activation bracelet that was talking to him, but when he turned in the direction of the voice, he froze.

  “I realize that I’ve been asking a lot of you.”

  It was Kento, AKA USD, the man behind this whole thing.

  “You!”

  Hiroshi went to summon a mana ball to fire at him, but realized there was no mana around him. He was surprised, and afraid, to see it, but when he realized that Kento was far calmer than he expected, he managed to control his fear.

  “I don’t understand... Are you my enemy? Or ally?”

  “You want me to make that clear? But I’m afraid I don’t know myself.”

  Hiroshi realized his usual arrogance was no longer present.

  “What’s happened to you? You disabled my suit when I tried to fight that Demon King. But you let me fight him above the ocean. And now you’re here in front of me. What the hell are you trying to do?” Hiroshi shouted. But Kento just adjusted his glasses and calmly began to speak.

  “The ship above is one I made. But now The One is aboard it.”

  “Who cares? I already heard that you were betrayed. I refused to help you, too. If there’s something you want to tell me, then come out and say it! And if there really is some way to shoot down that stupid talking dog thing, then tell me!” Hiroshi said, overwhelmed with emotion. But Kento cut him off.

  “The One is trying to give the Jeweled Branch to the King of the Republic.”

  “...Who gives a shit?”

  “If he uses its power, even I don’t know what will happen. But I do have an idea of what it is.”

  “What is it?”

  “The Faceless Power seals away the minds of all the people in another dimension. And he’s trying to release it.”

  Hiroshi froze for a moment and tried to think.

  “...I have no idea why I should care, and I don’t think that’s because I’m stupid.”

  “And that difficulty is exactly what The One took advantage of. According to him, this will lead to liberation, and further advancement of magical civilization.”

  “Again, I have no idea what the hell you’re trying to say. I’m sure there’s a lot of complicated theoretical bullshit involved here. Just tell me what I need to know.”

  “I want to stop the Republic King from using the Jeweled Branch.”

  Hiroshi snorted.

  “Well, you don’t have to worry about that. He’s not the kind of guy who would. If you want to stop that from happening, just bring down the ship. You made the thing, I’m sure you put in a shutdown, just like you did with this suit.”

  “Of course, I made it so I can shut down the ship. But I can’t do that.”

  “Why the hell not?”

  “They’ve taken a hostage. That’s the kind of person... or dog... that The One is.”

  Kento’s frustration was clear on his face.

  “I had no idea you had a soft spot like that. So you want me to save this person? You’re right, The One can’t see us here. He won’t know that you’re asking me to do it. So, who’s the hostage?”

  Hiroshi wasn’t even trying to hide his annoyance. He could see a moment’s hesitation on Kento’s face.

  “What’s going on? Is that hostage why you’re acting weird?”

  Again, Kento cut him off.

  “It’s Kei. Kei is the hostage.”

  “...Huh? You mean the guy who turned into the Demon King?” Hiroshi asked in surprise.

  Kento nodded.

  “That’s right. After he became a Demon King, I examined that device. It contains a system that allows The One to destroy Kei if he turns into a Demon King.”

  “Why would he do that to one of his own people!?” Hiroshi shouted, without really thinking about who he was talking to. Kento sadly shook his head.

  “We’re not all on the same side, in the end.”

  “You don’t seem like somebody who really cares about his friends, either. ...Wait a second. If you were never really on the same side, how was he able to use him as a hostage? You knew from the start this was a dangerous business. You should’ve been ready for him to die from the start...!”

  Hiroshi then suddenly realized. The look on Kento’s face, his attitude, everything indicated that he felt genuinely concerned. It felt like the same way he looked when he was worried about Yuko.

  “Wait... Don’t tell me you’re...”

  Hiroshi shook his head. Kei was a man, yes, but he certainly had a seductive air about him. Kento slowly nodded.

  “I’m concerned about Kei,” Kento said. That explained everything, but it still wasn’t something he could accept.

  “So that’s your weak point, huh? But so what? But you saw what he did to the people from the Republic! That’s why you didn’t disable my suit then!”

  Then suddenly, Kento bowed to him.

  “Please...”

  “Huh?” Hiroshi froze.

  “Please... Will you stop him? Even if he dies, I want to kill him for the choices he’s made. I don’t want him to die because The One used him as a hostage.”

  Hiros
hi didn’t know what to say.

  “But... you can’t...! He was so cruel... He must’ve decided to be Demon King of his own will! To do that... He... he...”

  But when he thought about it, he realized that what Kento wanted him to do was what he wanted to do, too. And more than anything, Kento was opening up and begging him.

  Hiroshi’s thoughts were in chaos, but he already knew what he would do. And he knew it was an answer that Akuto would never give. Many times he’d wanted to be like Akuto, and this was the first time he’d felt like he’d found his own path.

  “I’m going to kill him... If I have to,” Hiroshi said, and then gulped.

  “That’s fine. I’m sure he’d be happy to die after losing in battle. That’s who he is, you know.”

  “But I may not be able to defeat him with this suit. At least, if The One’s told him how to counter it...”

  “Don’t worry. I told you, I have a way. I’ll unlock more of its power. That should give you what you need to do this. Just do what the suit’s voice system tells you to.”

  As the talk turned to specific tactics, Hiroshi’s mind began to calm down. But he realized that his resolve was still just as strong.

  “So, where is Kei?” Hiroshi asked. Kento’s eyes narrowed.

  “Facing off with the Republic army. He’s being used as a threat to get the King to do what they want. The King saw Kei’s massacre. If The One tells him that Kei’s going to attack the Republic, that’s an extremely effective threat.”

  “You said that’s the kind of dog he is...”

  Hiroshi activated his Brave Suit, and waited for Kento to do whatever it was he had to do. Kento attached a cord from a small terminal to the back of the suit, and began to fiddle with it.

  “But if you can power me up, why am I going to Kei instead of the ship?”

  “I’m not sure if you can defeat that ship. And if The One wants to use Kei to start a war, stopping Kei can stop the war, too.”

  “Understood. But will I make it in time?”

  “I’ll add a teleport spell. Use it once you get close enough to mainland that you have enough mana and energy.”

  “Got it.”

  Kento finished whatever he was doing with the suit, then nodded to Hiroshi.

  “I’m counting on you,” he said.