Kanzaki Demon Lord, Retry! Volume 5

1. Auflage 2020
ISBN: 978-1-7183-6306-9
Verlag: J-Novel Club
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: 0 - No protection

E-Book, Englisch, Band 5, 372 Seiten

Reihe: Demon Lord, Retry!

Having rescued Luna's childhood friend, a demi-human named Eagle, from the Tzardom of the Light, the Demon Lord finally advances through Animania into Hellion territory, finding himself in a slave market. He launches a full-on war against the Hellions in order to free the enslaved humans. What will happen when the Grand Devil Belphegor, Olgan's father, hears word of this? The Demon Lord plunges further into the turmoils of this fantasy world, as he continues to search for the truth behind this world and his place in it.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Kanzaki, Kurone

Weitere Mitwirkende

Iino, Makoto

Seacord, Adam

Leseproben

The Military Leader and the Village of Rabbi — Part 2

Harts and the Madam walked out onto the streets and were immediately met by crowds of people. With the exception of Yahooo, eastern Holylight was mostly barren wasteland. There had never been any other place that drew a crowd. Following the Madam’s leisurely and graceful walk, Harts observed his surroundings. Construction projects were being done all over the village, each of them going fast enough to maintain a cloud of dust.

(Are those barrels of water...?) Harts noticed workers coming up to who must have been the water attendants, receiving large steins of water to quench their thirst. Some workers even asked for a wooden bucket of water to shove their heads into. There was no explanation as to how a mere worker could afford such a luxury. Harts then noticed the pair of men hurriedly running a wheelbarrow up and down the streets, filled to the brim with buckets full of water. “How generous... You must have Dona’s eternal gratitude,” Harts remarked. The practically-exclusive water source in Holylight was the Spell Stones mined in the west, which Dona controlled. Harts wanted to snarl as he imagined all this construction work lining Dona’s pockets more than anyone else’s.

“You have it all wrong. The Demon Lord provides all that water.”

“The Fallen Angel Lucifer has control over water, too? Never heard of such a tale.”

“I wouldn’t have believed it, either,” the Madam whispered. No one in this world could have imagined infinite water, both hot and cold, being used every day. Harts had to experience a bath himself in order to believe it. However, no one of this world may ever truly understand it, no matter how many baths they took. The facilities in this village were of Akira Ono’s world, and would never not be foreign to this one. Imagine technology from Mars or an ancient ruin on Jupiter materializing on Earth. It was too much to ask for anyone to understand such a thing.

“The Demon Lord gives out salt to all of his workers, too.”

“Get off of it...” Harts dismissed the idea. It was ridiculous. Holylight, an inland nation surrounded by mountains, imported its salt, which made it extremely expensive. Even though the salt brought in was crude batches of boiled down salt water, it was nonetheless valuable. Even in the northern land of the military nobles, salt was extremely rare. Any amount they had was kept secure in a vault.

“You should try the salt sauna later. I think it’ll open up your mind.”

“Sau—what...? Come to think of it, that Tahara mentioned something like a ‘public bath’...”

“Right. It might be a good idea to get your feet wet there.”

“What sort of euphemism is this...? What thing or concept could it signify in the world of the Fallen Angel...?”

Hart’s straight reaction reminded the Madam that, despite having completely acclimated to it, this village was filled with unimaginable miracles. Most sane people of this world would struggle to grasp them. “Yes, there’s no rush,” she said. “Why don’t you spend some time here for ‘rehabilitation’?”

Harts had suffered some major injuries, which made the term more fitting. “So many people are waiting for me,” he answered. “I don’t have the time to waste in this village. In any case...” He observed his surroundings with the eyes of a skilled military man. The ground had been leveled, multiple streets paved, and each section of the village had a defined function. The concept seemed simple, but putting it into practice required an exorbitant amount of funds. The prerequisite to the project was demolishing everything in the space and starting from scratch, and failure was not an option. In fact, they had to give up all functionality the village already had in order to start the project. It required serious guts on top of finances.

“Waiting for you, you say... I think you’ve fought long enough,” the Madam said, halting Harts in his tracks. He had just told Luna the same thing. “No one will blame you for taking a little break. In fact, I won’t them.”

“I never thought I’d hear a caring word come out of you. It was worth surviving this long, after all.” Harts couldn’t help but turn to sarcasm, but who could have blamed him? The Madam’s comment was the off-putting one, considering their relationship.

Then, a jarringly cheerful voice interrupted them. “Oh, it’s Harts. Now what do you think of my village?”

“Lady Luna...”

Decorum might have dictated asking about his injuries first, but Luna hadn’t changed. She simply couldn’t wait to brag about her village.

Eagle looked frazzled behind her, but stepped forward and deeply bowed to Harts. “U-Um... Lord Harts... Thank you, for what you did the other day. I’m sorry that—”

“You’re Lady Luna’s friend.” Harts didn’t know how to feel. The demi-human before him might have triggered a war between Holylight and the Tzardom, yet she was the very reason that Luna’s powers as a true Holy Maiden had been awakened.

Seemingly oblivious to Harts’ plight, Luna continued with her usual cheeriness. “I’d love to brag all about— I mean, show you around the village, Harts, but I’m giving my servant the tour today. Better luck next time! Take it away, Madam!”

“Uh-huh,” she answered. “And where are you going, Little Luna?”

“The farms! Aku’s helping there again... What’s she thinking, always working instead of hanging out with me?!”

If the Demon Lord had heard, he would have asked Luna what she was thinking, never putting any work into the village. Then Luna skipped away, pulling Eagle by the hand. She came and went like a gust of wind. The pair who were left behind couldn’t help but feel like Luna took the tension between them with her.

“She makes me feel silly for holding onto grudges all of these years.”

“She’s much more approachable than before...” Harts’ sentiment was genuine. The Luna he knew before had always exuded animosity toward the powerful and higher-ups of Holylight. She even seemed to always have her teeth bared against those around her. Harts noticed that her expression was much more relaxed and kind. He could have said the same for the Madam, however. (She’s changed quite a bit, too. This one used to be impossibly imperious...)

After passing through each sector of the village, they finally arrived at the front, where the chain of carriages continued out, causing the entrance to the village to be congested with people and supplies.

“There’s even more than before...” Harts remarked. Judging by the cloud of dust towards the back of the line, he imagined more coming to join them. He couldn’t believe his eyes.

Tahara was blowing some kind of whistle and directing the carriages through the entrance, as Tron stared out at the crowd with sleepy eyes from atop a fence.

“That man’s no good. Dirty color. Trying to steal money, or something.”

“A petty thief, huh? Hey, you. Get out of here.”

“H-Huh?! Wait a minute!”

“You’re not on the list.” Tahara shooed him with his hand. One can only imagine how the man felt, having his crime discovered before he even committed it.

“Wh-What proof do you have to— Ahh!”

A bullet pierced the ground by the man’s foot. Tahara had fired it, without even looking in the man’s direction. “You’re a lucky guy... If the Secretary had been here, you might have been skinned alive to make an example.”

“Wh-Wh-What the hell is this village?!”

The man fled, and Tahara resumed traffic control like nothing had happened. It was a sort of demonstration that made it clear to those around them that anyone bearing ill intentions toward the village will not get away with it.

After watching that scene, Harts felt a chill down his spine at the mysterious line of defense. Was that little girl using some sort of magical item that detected malice? If such an item did exist, it would bring about a revolution to defense strategies around the world. “Everything about this village is incomprehensible. Least of which this drove of carriages...” Harts muttered, exhausted.

“This will be about a tenth of the cargo coming into the village,” the Madam answered, much to Harts’ surprise. “I have them buying a lot of preserved meats and vegetables, wine, along with materials like stone, metal, steel, bronze, lumber, leather, Spell Stones, and fertilizer, too. Oh, and well-made salt.”

“It sounds like the making of a trade post.” Harts couldn’t help but tighten his fists. All of the things she had just listed were dire necessities for the military nobles, especially during war season when their prices spiked. If the line of carriages really were a tenth of the entire import, the cost for all of those goods would have been astronomical. Any other business in the country would have been shaken at the sight.

“Those goods will be unloaded at Gatekeeper.”

“At our fortress...? What for?!” Harts raised his voice.

The Madam bowed in apology. “Harts. I apologize for everything I’ve done over the years.”

Harts was seeing white from the sudden turn of events. “Apologize...? What’s gotten into you...?!” he blurted out in dismay.

The Madam continued, keeping her head down. “You...