Chapter 136
Beyond the
Teleportation
Translator : PolterGlast
After hearing the story from Lirica, I decided to
immediately visit Alice. She seemed busy, as expected, but since my
matter was also important, I had her make time for me.
「I see, so those are the
circumstances...」
「So, because of that, I'm thinking of
lending my power to Lirica to make her the Demon Lord.」
「Did you go out of your way to come
here just to tell me that...?」
「That is one of the reasons, yes. And
the other is...」
The reason I hurried to Alice was because of a hunch
born from past experience. I hadn't found anything when I came regularly to
check before, but... within the range of my current Magic Power Perception,
there was a spot-on bingo of a reaction.
「Yeah, just as I thought... a demon
has come inside this castle.」
「...Is that true?」
「Mhm, my skill is telling me so, so
there's no mistake.」
Previously, when I went to negotiate with Emilia to
have her accept the Heroes, I discovered a demon inside the Imperial
Castle Novark. Demons are surprisingly good at blending in with humans. In
fact, according to Emilia, there are even demons who live disguised
among humans. It would be fine if they were just peacefully disguising
themselves as humans, but... if the demon that came to this castle today
belongs to the Subjugation Faction, things will get incredibly bad.
Right now, when I don't know how long it will take to train Lirica, it
would be disastrous if Odd led a raid on us with his demons.
「For now, I'll go catch him. Is it
alright if I beat him half to death before throwing him into the guest room?」
「Yes, that is... my own lack of
virtue. To think there was a demon inside the Grisnia Royal Castle...」
After getting permission, I took a shortcut using Jaunt
and headed towards the demon. Since I had the map of the Royal Castle
somewhat memorized, combining that with Perception made reaching the
source of the reaction take only an instant.
「Is this... a warehouse?」
The place I arrived at by following the reaction appeared to
be a food delivery area on the first floor of the Royal Castle. Looking
over, I saw merchants talking with guards out of the corner of my eye. Inside a
carriage parked to the side were wooden containers, which were currently being
inspected.
「Oh, Masaru-sama! Good
morning!」
Probably because he knew what I had done to the king, the
guard instantly gave an incredibly fast salute the moment he saw me. ...He
twitched and looked terrified for a split second there. A terrifyingly fast
switch in demeanor... if it wasn't me, I would've missed it.
「Umm...」
Checking the source of the Magic Power Perception
reaction, it turned out to be a slightly chubby man who was unloading the
inspected goods. When I told the guard things were about to get a bit rough, he
replied with a cracked voice, saying he understood. Am I, by any chance, feared
immensely? ...Well, if it serves as a deterrent, maybe I shouldn't worry about
it too much.
「You there, you're a demon, aren't
you?」
「—!? ...Who the hell are you?」
「Let me ask you one thing. Are you
with the Integration Faction, or the Neutral Faction?」
「T-The Integration Faction!」
I approached the demon and simply said, "Is that
so." But just as I broke eye contact using the carriage and turned back
toward the guard, Perception caught the demon's movements.
「Die!!」
What the demon unleashed was Fire Magic that produced
dark red flames, very similar to the ones the maid demon had used before. When
I purposefully created an opening, he fell for it so easily it was actually
funny.
「You die... Maelstrom.」
Using Jaunt, I slipped behind him and knocked the
demon unconscious. Also, since I didn't know the scale of his magic, I used Maelstrom,
a Water Magic spell learned at LV 7, to extinguish the flames. At
the cost of flooding the supplies, I successfully prevented an explosion and
neutralized the situation beforehand.
「Is it standard for demons to go wild
the moment their identity is exposed...? Ah, Mr. Guard, is it alright if we
take custody of this guy?」
「Sir, of course, sir!」
「Also, I'm sorry, I ended up soaking
the supplies, so regarding the compensation for that...」
「No, everything was due to our own
incompetence, so please do not worry about it, Masaru-sama!」
After thanking the endlessly apologetic guard, I headed
toward Lirica and the other, whom I had just granted permission to
become my disciples.
「Masaru-sama, what exactly is that...?」
「I caught a demon in the Royal
Castle. I thought it'd be best to find out which faction he belongs to.」
「Given that he is operating in a
highly visible place like the Royal Castle, he is undoubtedly from the Subjugation
Faction. They wouldn't do such things unless they looked down on humans.」
「I see, so that's how it is...」
In that case, the maid demon from back then was probably
from the Subjugation Faction too. I'm a little relieved. When I first
heard the story, I wondered what I'd do if she had been part of the Integration
Faction and just genuinely liked humans.
「I heard this from Alice as
well, but it seems only a very small handful of people, starting with the
former king's close aides, were informed that you and Lirica were
coming. Even so, I want to prevent information from leaking to the Subjugation
Faction as much as possible, so for a while, is it alright if my policy is
to just defeat any demons I find on sight?」
「...No, we cannot trouble Masaru-sama's
hands with something of that level.」
Saying only that, Priola cleanly sliced the demon's
neck with a hand chop. ...Fast. Faster than the drawing technique of the Revenant
samurai. If my Agility hadn't broken past its limit, I probably wouldn't
have been able to perceive that. Making an exception for the Knight of the
Holy Corpse, she's probably the strongest out of all the living creatures
I've seen.
「I will hand over a few magic tools
to you. If it is a magic tool invented in my territory, it should be able to
distinguish a disguised demon at the very least.」
「Heh... Magic tools developed in Priola-san's
territory, huh.」
In the Rusara Territory, Kingsglaive, where Priola-san
serves as the feudal lord, the adaptation of human technology is exceptionally
widespread among demons. There are many items that are demon-style adaptations
of magic tools created by humans, and among them are apparently magic tools
that can almost certainly identify demons.
「In that case, I'd be grateful if you
lent them to me. If possible, I'd like enough not just for the Kingdom,
but for the Empire as well...」
「I can distribute as many of those as
you need... Also, Masaru-sama. Please, call me Priola. I cannot
have the person who will be Lirica's master use polite speech with me.」
「...Mhm, understood, Priola.」
But even if we can identify demons, is there anyone in the
current Kingdom capable of defeating them? The Empire, which can
put up a good fight against demons, will probably be fine, but I feel some
lingering anxiety about the Kingdom...
(...No, wait. There was one person. A guy who won a
one-on-one duel against a demon and is now using his opponent's weapon.)
And so, after receiving the magic tools from Priola (surprisingly, Priola was a user of Space-Time Magic just like me!), and informing Alice and Lirica of the conditions, I immediately set off to visit the guy who is likely enjoying his other-world life in the Imperial Capital Elmoagrad...
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