Demon King Daimaou: Volume 2 Read online

  “And then after stripping her nude, he offered her his jacket... He’s just toying with her, isn’t he?”

  “And now he’s making her resist, and watching it with a mocking laugh on his face! He must be trying to make the class rep realize how powerless she is. What a terrible fetish...”

  “Well, he is the Demon King...”

  The male students gulped, while the female students blushed. And afterward, both groups looked at Akuto with hate in their eyes.

  “Uhh... Look, they’re saying some weird stuff about us. Hattori, tell them they’re wrong, okay?” Akuto subtly pointed towards the others, and finally Junko seemed to realize that her classmates were talking about her.

  “D-Don’t tell me... you’re trying to humiliate me as part of some terrible plot...” Junko’s expression turned to fear. She crossed her arms in front of her and took a step back.

  Akuto quickly denied this.

  “No, of course not. I’ve told you this before, but I really care about you, and I want to protect you from rumors like that...” Before he could finish, Junko’s face twisted and tears formed in her eyes.

  “You idiot! Idiot! It’s the way you act that’s the problem! Make it clear whether you’re a good guy or a bad guy! And if you really care about me, then...” Junko seemed to want to say something else, but she quickly turned away and ran off at incredible speed. There wasn’t time for Akuto to stop her.

  “J-Jeez...” Akuto stood there for a moment, not sure what to do. Then he was approached by Hiroshi, the boy who’d refused to practice with him before. He stood by Akuto’s side, nodding as if he was impressed.

  “Wow, boss. I’m impressed.”

  “Impressed with what?”

  “You’re a real mean guy, teasing your woman like that. And you even used a beginner-level class like this to show off your power to the rest of the class. I figured you might do that, which is why I turned down the chance to be your training partner.” Hiroshi didn’t seem to be flattering him. He really was impressed. There was a pure, shining light in his eyes.

  “...There’s a lot of things I want to say, but I’m not even sure where to begin,” Akuto sighed. Then, Miss Mitsuko approached them. She had her hand on her hip, and seemed to be chuckling as if she found the whole situation funny.

  “You need to learn how to control your mana, okay? You’re packing a ton of firepower to begin with.” Miss Mitsuko adjusted the position of her glasses on her nose, and looked in the direction Junko had run off to.

  “She probably won’t be coming to class for a while. She’s a very pure-hearted girl, after all.”

  “I’m sorry,” Akuto said, lowering his head apologetically.

  “There’s no point in apologizing to me. Instead, train your mind so that this doesn’t happen again.”

  “But how? This is the basic class for training your mind, right?” Akuto asked. Miss Mitsuko looked up thoughtfully, as if she wasn’t sure what to say.

  “That’s right... Oh, but wait! There is another way. It’s a little dangerous, but it’s worth trying.” Miss Mitsuko patted Akuto on the shoulder, as if pleased at her own idea.

  “Why are you so happy?” Akuto asked with confusion as he looked at her shining eyes.

  “Nobody at this school has done this type of mental training in years! Supposedly something terrible happened to a bunch of people who tried it, so they had to stop it, I heard!”

  “Can I ask a question?”

  “Don’t worry. It doesn’t put your body in danger. Something terrible happened, but it wasn’t that big of a deal.”

  “That’s not what I was going to ask. Why do you look so happy?”

  Miss Mitsuko suddenly gasped and put her hands over her mouth.

  “N-No, it’s nothing. Definitely nobody died over it or anything.”

  “I hope not...” Akuto looked at her coldly. He was suspicious that his teacher might be looking for a legal way to kill him. She didn’t fear him like the other students did, and she showed a certain degree of understanding about his personality. But she was interested in his Demon King powers and seemed intent on using necromancy on him after his death so that she could experiment on him.

  “So what exactly is this training?” Akuto asked. Miss Mitsuko nodded.

  “It’s called the Mental Monastery. I think you could say it’s similar to the Zen meditation that believers of Suhara use.”

  Hiroshi looked overly surprised when he heard this.

  “What?! The famous Constant Magical Academy Mental Monastery?!”

  “Is there something dangerous about it?” Akuto asked, and Hiroshi’s face lit up with excitement as if he were about to tell a ghost story.

  “There is. They say years ago, a student who went there died-mgwwh!” Hiroshi’s words stopped as Miss Mitsuko put her hand over his mouth.

  “Ufufufu, don’t worry. It’s just fine. It’s just fine!” Miss Mitsuko was smiling, but even Akuto wasn’t that dense.

  “I think I’ll pass...” But before he could finish, Miss Mitsuko cut him off.

  “Oh, you know, remember how I said it was like Suhara Zen meditation? If Hattori finds out that you completed the training, she might forgive you.” Even though she didn’t sound like she really believed that, it was enough to get Akuto to think about changing his mind.

  —Yeah, maybe it would...

  “If you say so...”

  ○

  School ended and Akuto came back to his room. He frowned when he saw a girl lying on his bed.

  Soft green hair. A perfectly pretty face, like a doll. She was a beautiful young girl, like a sculpture an artist had made of his ideal woman.

  However, she was lying on the bed reading a manga magazine, and chowing down on ningyo-yaki cookies from a bag next to her. Despite her pretty looks, she acted like a middle-aged housewife, or perhaps an unemployed kid.

  She was an artificial human called a Liradan. Her name was Korone. While you’d never guess it from looking at her, she was an observer sent by the government. She was living with him in his dorm to observe him, after the prophecy had announced he’d become the Demon King.

  “You’re back? It seems nothing out of the ordinary happened, huh?” Korone said without looking at his face.

  Even Akuto couldn’t help but feel exasperated. Before, she’d been at his side 24/7, but lately there were times when he couldn’t find her. As for what she was doing during those times, it was usually this: slacking off. It was a strange thing to do for an artificial human that never got tired.

  “Are you sure you were observing me? I’m pretty sure something out of the ordinary happened during class...”

  “It’s alright. No one was hurt,” Korone said confidently.

  “You were watching?” Akuto was suspicious, but Korone sounded sure of herself.

  “Yes. I can now monitor you from remote locations. And no matter where you are, I can get there instantly,” Korone said as she popped another ningyo-yaki into her mouth. For some reason, the cookies caught Akuto’s eye.

  “Those are ningyo-yaki, right? From Asakusa, in the imperial city.”

  “Correct. Would you like one?”

  “No, I’m fine. I was just wondering if artificial humans eat things.”

  “We can. A chemical reaction occurs within our body that transforms them into energy. It’s an extremely small amount, though.”

  “So basically, you don’t need to eat, right? So why do you?”

  “Because they’re delicious.”

  “That’s all?”

  “Yes. And I don’t get fat, no matter how many I eat.”

  “Well, you’re an artificial human. But are you worried about getting fat?”

  “I’m not worried, so I don’t get fat. That’s how it works.”

  “Huh? What?”

  Whenever he talked with Korone, he always got confused. She would always say things to tease people, while keeping her expression completely blank. Akuto just decided to ignore her
and started gathering some things for his mental training.

  “What are you doing?” Korone asked. He decided he had no choice but to tell her about Miss Mitsuko’s Mental Monastery idea. When he did, surprisingly, Korone put her ningyo-yaki down.

  “I will accompany you.”

  “Huh?”

  “I’m saying I will go with you, as an observer.”

  “Why?”

  “Because it sounds interesting.”

  “...Even though you usually just slack off?”

  “Is that a problem?”

  “...No, never mind.”

  Akuto got his things together. Of course, these “things“ were just a metal water bottle and a single waterproof bag. Miss Mitsuko had told him to make sure he brought them.

  He put the water bottle in his bag, and headed for the spot that Miss Mitsuko had told him about. Korone tagged along behind him.

  “This place doesn’t get a lot of use, huh?” Korone was right. The location was on the other side of a lake near the school. It was probably supposed to be a place for students to relax, but the bushes around it were too thick, and the humidity from the lake too strong. It was almost entirely unvisited, and it looked like a poorly maintained garden of an isolated country mansion.

  “Yeah, looks like it’s deserted,” Akuto said as he pushed through the bushes and tall grass, arriving at a square building with walls made of plaster. It was just big enough for a person to stand inside and stretch their arms out. There was a small door you’d have to crouch to enter, and once you were inside, you couldn’t do much but sit.

  “I see. Mental training’s about everything this could be used for,” Akuto said, impressed. He crouched and put his hand on the door.

  The knob began to flash, and an electronic voice spoke.

  《Once you pass through this door, it will be locked, and you will be unable to open it for twelve hours. Please secure a method of communication in case of emergencies, and enter at your own risk.》

  “So that’s how it works, huh?” Korone said.

  “Seems so. Okay, see you in twelve hours. Also, if I send a mana message to your student notebook, it’ll be an emergency. I’m depending on you,” Akuto said, then nodded to Korone and opened the door.

  There was a tatami mat on the floor beneath the plaster walls. He went inside, and the air was cold and musty. He closed the door.

  “Depending on me for what?”

  “Call for help, or open it up, or something,” Akuto said, and then he realized something was wrong. Korone was inside as well, and the door was completely shut.

  “What the hell did you come inside for?!”

  “I told you, I’m coming with you as an observer.” Korone seemed unconcerned.

  Akuto sighed. This was too small a room for two people. He couldn’t get any meditation done like this.

  —I was looking forward to having some time to myself, too.

  There was no light from outside, just a thin layer of illuminated mana on the ceiling lighting up the dim room. He looked around and saw that the wall across from the door was covered with tiny letters. He looked closer and saw that it was a long document. It was so dark it was difficult to read, but by concentrating his mana along his fingertips, he could make them bright enough to read by. As he went along, he found that he was looking at part of the Imperial Constitution.

  —The whole wall’s covered with the prelude to the constitution, huh?

  To read in this darkness, you’d have to control the light of the mana as you read. Was that how you were supposed to train your mind?

  “I didn’t really believe it to begin with, but there’s no way you could die from this. You’ll get awfully tired, though.” Akuto relaxed and sat down on the tatami mat.

  “That’s right. I do remember some strange rumors, but I’m sure they were all baseless. The Suharans don’t practice their mental concentration in such an old-fashioned way these days. At some point this building stopped being used, and it became a legend, most likely,” Korone agreed as she sat down herself.

  It was a narrow space, so of course, Akuto’s knees bumped into Korone’s. Korone adjusted her position, but no matter what she did she would still be pressed up against Akuto.

  “Listen...”

  “Yes?”

  “It’s really cramped.”

  “It is, yes.”

  “...That was me complaining, actually.”

  “There’s no point in complaining. I can’t become smaller.”

  “..........”

  “Please do not fall silent. Anyway, you’re here to train, right? Go on, read the constitution on the wall. I’m sure it’s boring, but that’s how you have to train,” Korone urged him on with a mocking tone in her voice. Of course, she was still completely expressionless.

  Akuto reluctantly turned his eyes to the wall, and tried to concentrate on controlling the mana light. But then he realized that Korone was squeezing up against him.

  “Listen...”

  “Yes?”

  “Can you get off me?”

  “I’m helping you with your training. Even in this situation, you must continue to train.” Korone pushed herself up against him more firmly. She was an artificial human, but the softness of her skin was the same as a real person’s.

  This, Akuto didn’t know how to handle. He looked at Korone, but she simply stared back at him. It was incredibly awkward. Then he looked down and saw that after all the moving she’d done in this tight space, her skirt had flipped up and revealed a flash of her underwear. At this point he was completely baffled.

  “You don’t need to help me!” Akuto tried to get away from her by crawling on his knees along the tatami. It was a small room, but he was able to make some space between them. However, when he ran he still found himself feeling the touch of a girl’s body.

  “How did you get behind me?” Akuto asked as he turned around. But there was nobody there.

  “Huh?” He turned back, confused. Korone was right where she was a second ago.

  “I didn’t move behind you.”

  “What?” Akuto nervously stretched his hand out into empty space. He touched something soft yet firm, like a leather bag filled with water.

  “Kyan?!” A scream echoed through the emptiness.

  —Ah, I should have known.

  Akuto glared into empty space, now sure of what was going on.

  “Keena, what the hell were you thinking, coming in here too?”

  After a pause, a voice spoke back.

  “I heard you’d be going into a room all by yourself and not coming out for a long time! I thought you’d need something to eat.”

  Akuto looked up a little, and saw something floating in the air. It was a wrapped lunchbox.

  “But did you really have to come in here?” Akuto sighed.

  Speaking to him from empty space was Keena Soga. She was a terrible student who had no luck with magic, so she’d always skip magic class. But for some reason, she was very good at flight and invisibility magic, spells that would take the average person incredible concentration. And so she’d use her invisibility magic to go wandering around.

  “The door shut on its own!” Keena complained as she ended her invisibility spell.

  Usually, the first thing you noticed about her was her burning red hair. You’d also see several tufts of hair sticking out from the top of her head like antennae. She had a face that you’d call gentle if you wanted to be nice, or spacey if you wanted to be mean. Just looking at her made you feel like you needed to take a nap.

  But the real first thing you’d notice if you looked at her right now was that she wasn’t wearing any clothes. Keena’s small breasts were floating right in front of Akuto, completely exposed.

  “W-Wait a second...!” Akuto began to panic, and Keena realized what was happening.

  “Kyaaah!” She folded up her arms and legs to cover herself.

  Keena could only make her body invisible. She would get naked and t
hen turn invisible, but sometimes when she came back she’d forget that she was still naked.

  “It’s dark in here, so I can’t see clearly,” Akuto said, and looked around. There was nothing he could give to Keena to wear. With nothing else to do, he took off his shirt and pressed it into her hands.

  “One of these days I’m going to run out of clothes to give...” Akuto sighed.

  “My own uniform is too small,” Korone said, and then looked at Akuto and Keena in turn. “It really is cramped in here, isn’t it?”

  “Don’t act so calm. This is a real problem. We’re stuck in here for twelve hours.” Akuto put his head in his hands. There’d been three of them in here ever since he first came in, but only now was it really starting to feel cramped.

  Even so, Korone was still calm.

  “It’s not a problem for me.”

  “Sure, not for you.” Akuto was starting to sound more and more frustrated.

  “Now now,” Keena said, trying to calm him down. “Don’t get mad, Ackie. You know you get mad when you’re hungry.” Keena, who was now wearing his shirt, offered him the lunch box.

  “This time, I don’t think hunger has anything to do with it,” Akuto said, but Keena wasn’t listening at all.

  “Don’t worry about a thing. Once you’re full, you’ll forget all about it.” Keena smiled.

  Akuto fell silent, but it wasn’t because Keena had persuaded him. He realized he could see Keena’s body, bare except for a single shirt, standing out against the darkness. He didn’t know what to say.

  “No, um... I’ll eat later.” Akuto looked away.

  “You’re here to train. To work on your concentration.” Korone waited for this moment to interrupt him.

  “Shut up!” Akuto said angrily. But then he calmed down and changed his mind.

  —Well, maybe this is a good chance to practice focusing my mind. Time to start training...

  As long as he was thinking about the two bodies around him, he certainly couldn’t do anything. So Akuto decided to focus on the small characters of the constitution in front of him. He summoned a mana light in his fingers, and went to move his face near the wall.

  —Alright, time to settle in and start reading. Maybe it’s a good thing that reading is my only escape...