Story of a Careless Demon Volume 7 Chapter 3 Part 1

Previous | Project Page | Next

---

Volume 7, Chapter 3: I Became a Saint Again, Part 3, Part 1

---

Kyoji knelt before me, taking my hand as he lightly touched it to his lips.

I’m still not quite used to getting ‘Kissed on the Hand,’ but somehow I felt that Kyoji was remarkably familiar with it.

 

“[…… (Yurushia) ]”

“……(What’s the matter?)”

“[…… (Don’t you remember? This is that guy that you sent to another dimension.)]”

“…………”

Even if he does get jealous, Rinne can’t be jealous when it comes to human beings, as usual. Although it’s good that you want to show me your better side, but for me, it’s okay to show your baser sides too, you know?

That being said, now that he mentioned it I remembered.

He was one of those kidnappers, who I’d sent into a different dimension through the dimensional gate that had no air, no water, and no light, right? I was trying to help him, but I’d never thought that he’d make it to another world.

 

“Is something the matter, Princess?”

“No, Kyoji-sama. My name is Yurushia. …… Are you possibly the “hero-sama” of this country, Sail?

 

Somehow, from the Kyoji of now, I could feel a power similar to that of Yuuki-kun that I hadn’t felt before.

Instead of like a toad, it’s more like a fast straight now, and Kyoji smiled at my question, even as his eyes narrowed slightly.

“Princess Yurushia has very nice eyes.  Your golden eyes look as if they would expose everything. …… don’t you think so?”

Kyoji added some sweet words to his question and muddied the answer, and so I riposted with a question of my own.

“Oh my, Kyoji-sama, I feel that your power is as pure as water.”

Certainly, according to Yuuki-kun’s data, the hero of Sail is supposed to be the [Hero of Water]. As I gave him an appropriate reply, I could feel Kyoji get ever so slightly warier against me.

“Hohoo…… Princess-san seems to have a pretty good “power”. We should talk again later…”

 

“Kyoji-sama!”

Suddenly, a voice cut in, interrupting our conversation.

Bianca directed a sharp gaze at me, even as her face turned red and her eyes reflected the image of Kyoji. I see how it is…… her motives are indeed thin.

“My apologies, Bianca-sama. I left you alone, but I am thankful for you, for constantly supporting me despite my imposing on you. “

“Well, such a thing…… Kyoji-sama”

Bianca’s cheeks turn rosy as Kyoji gently stroked her cheeks, turning towards me with an expression of victory.

…… No, even if you give me that face, that reaction means trouble.

 

Anyway, I guess we’ll have to restart negotiations with Kyoji later. At least that clearly tells me that he was the hero, although, I thought that it was a girl, and not Kyoji.

While re-contemplating Kyoji afresh, the nearby knights began to carry out their instructions.

 

“His Majesty will grant you your audience. Please come with us, Princess Yurushia and your followers.”

At Kyoji’s words, he had a very natural expression of gratitude just like an aristocrat’s.

He seems to not be making light of me…… Although I couldn’t get positive proof about Kyoji, but that’s what my intuition said.

 

Then, this fellow is one of the “Heroes of another world” that had killed Yuuki-kun.

 

But then… the timeline doesn’t actually fit…… Let’s examine our surroundings later.

Kyoji took Bianca’s hand to please her and walked ahead, leaving my escort to one of his subordinates, a beautiful knight.-

“[……(Hyooi)]”

When Onzada-kun appeared to block the knight that was approaching me inadvertently, they trembled with a start and moved away from Onzada-kun hastily.

There, there, you were quite scared, right? Though there was that spurt of blood, too.

“…[Let there be Light]…”

I lightly used the [Purification] holy magic and erased the blood that was stuck on Onzada-kun.

Maybe it was because he had no tolerance for [Holiness] unlike I, who was human, but Onzada-kun seemed to be trembling slightly like he was feeling disgusted.

“………”

I felt someone lightly gazing at me. Kyoji was observing the [Magic] that I used.

I stopped as Kyoji spoke to me as if he hadn’t been looking, even as I gave him, who was in front of me, a little smile.

 

“Princess Yurushia…… was what you used just now [Holy Magic]?”

“It’s called that in this world. Is Kyoji-sama able to use it as well?”

“Mine is like mere child’s play next to Princess’.”

 

We evaded answering each other and tried to lightly probe the other.

On Kyoji’s side, he wants to know if I am someone that he can use, and if I can be his ally, and so he wants to hide his abilities as much as possible.

But for me, I am merely [Checking the Facts].

I knew Yuuki-kun’s ability, and from the information that I’d gotten from his about heroes, heroes couldn’t use healing magic, and could only use [Recovery Magic] to boost their healing ability.

But that was information from twenty years ago.

And yet, Kyoji looked as if he was about 30 years old right now…… Although my intuition told me that Yuuki-kun had been killed by him, when Yuuki-kun died, Kyoji was still on Earth.

Did I guess wrongly? Or did the timelines get messed up……?

Although I haven’t done a thorough examination of the area, I wasn’t able to precisely measure Kyoji’s ability……

 

“That’s ridiculous! Kyoji-sama was summoned as a hero 14 years ago. With his healing powers as the [Hero of Water], the other heroes are nothing compared to him.”

 

““………”“

As Bianca proudly declared so, Kyoji’s smile grew cold, and my smile deepened slightly.

Is that alright, Kyoji? ‘I have to recover quickly’, no?

No, no, Bianca-chan, you’ll tell me a lot of things that I want to know.

A hero who can use the power of water to heal…… Which reminds me, I remember someone saying that the demons of Atra used that power too.

And 14 years ago? Surely, that means that the timeline has gotten screwed up. Even if you crossed a dimension, as long as you were a ‘soul’ like in Geas’ case, you could only really arrive early or arrive late, and not go back in time.

No, this is no good. I don’t have enough information yet.

There was the example where Geas became my grandpa, too, but he was an ally. In the case of an enemy, however, it worried me that I had no information about him at all.

 

Well, it’s no fun anymore, since Kyoji isn’t going to give me any more information, so I escorted Bianca and began walking ahead.

Although, that pretty knight from a little while ago also escorted us.

“Splendid.”

I kept walking as if I hadn’t heard anything. Because otherwise, I’d have to talk to those people who were trying to talk to me, and I don’t want that.

One of them was the knight that Onzada-kun had viciously beat up a while ago, and how he was looking at me with sparkling eyes, only to divert his gaze when I looked at his face. …… Is there something you’re really itching to say? And then, there’s the other bunch.

 

“H-hey, you…”

I thought it was the glasses-wearing guy, but it was a girl with strong features. Looking at the girls who had been abducted from Earth, I didn’t really trust them, but it was preferable to talk to them compared than the criminal ones.

“Oh, is something the matter?”

I turned as I lowered my voice so that only she could hear me as we walked, and although she seemed frightened, she resolved herself to speak.

“You…… weren’t the one to summon us? You didn’t do it, right……?”

“Yep, sorry. It was a cruel joke.”

As I suppressed my presence while smiling as gently as I could, she looked a little more relieved.

“But, why are things like this?”

“U-uhm,, you were also summoned, were you not?”

As I loosened up the atmosphere, the little girl also spoke to me.

“I am Yurushia. You are?”

“Ah, I’m sorry, my name is Mizuki,”

“I am Touka”

Oh yeah, there was one of them named that. I’d forgotten that I heard it, though.

“I-I am Daichi.”

“……Futa.”

The mood started to lift a little as they started a conversation. …… when I forget again, I’ll just get Rinne to teach me.

“And so…… why did you end up trying to imitate that situation?”

Touka and Futa turned towards me with looks of suspicion about that whole act.

“It was a little…… well, it’s because you guys have no sense of danger.”

“…………”

Futa had a hint of regret creep onto his face when he realized what I meant.

“Also, with regard to what Mizuki asked, no, I wasn’t summoned. I was just on my way back to my world, and merely took advantage of your summoning.”

“That’s…”

“……Can you advise us?”

Mizuki and Touka’s eyes went wide as they looked at me intently. I didn’t answer them, and merely gave them a vague smile.

…… Sorry, I’m not going to reply you because it’s funnier this way.

“Heey, who so you think you are?”

“We’ll leave the minor talk to later.”

And with that, I put a sock in that conversation.

“Soon, we will be meeting His Majesty the King. Please do not be careless with your words. Ask for help from my servants if you feel it is dangerous.”

As I said so to the four of them, they turned towards my attendants and swallowed hard.

 

They’re properly steeling themselves. Because after this the real main event for today.

If things broke down…… it might just be the end of this country today.

 

 

 

---

---

App’s Notes:

An actually good breaking point for once? What sorcery is this?

A bit of an exposition dump this and next week, but necessary.

---

Previous | Project Page | Next