Mage Milia (9)
The sight of a fireball falling from the sky and burning away Milia's tentacle monster looked, for all the world, like divine punishment.
Well, in reality, the falling fireball was a demon, and the tentacle monster was a spell cast by the Hero Party's mage.
In any case, the short version is that the flame that fell from the heavens didn't seem to deal much damage on its own.
And that made sense.
A spell with a material form like that would have carried an absurd amount of mana within it all by itself — no way it could be burned away with just this much.
But the important thing was...
“Haha? This is interesting, isn't it?”
It wasn't the flame itself, you see — it was the being inside it.
The 5th Corps of the Demon King's Army. That was where I belonged.
And the one commanding it — the corps commander, Five.
The shapely line of those pure-white bare legs glimpsed through the slits of her red dress was soothing to look at, but the truth is, no bitch alive is worse than she is.
I've lost count past ten of the times I've been shin-kicked for no reason while just walking past.
Bitch from hell.
It was because I fell head over heels for those legs that I'd applied to the 5th Corps in the first place — not that I have regrets.
Well, even without that, the magic battalions were already skewed toward the 5th Corps anyway.
“Impressive magic.”
Five stood atop Milia's withered, char-brittle tentacles, looking down at all of us with evident fascination.
Her personality is a dumpster fire, but her skill is the real deal. I mean, how many people can wield both sword and sorcery like that?
Yes — she is the Demon Spirit born from the corpse of the Hero of the past.
Considering our own Hero is a bonehead who can't use magic at all, that's genuinely impressive.
“No, us. What the hell is this—”
Get a grip, me. What am I doing?
KWAAAAAAAAANG!
Perhaps to punish my spineless sense of belonging, a roar detonated behind me the moment I tried to collect myself.
Followed, a beat too late, by a scorching blast of heat.
“KIEEEEK!”
I found myself thrashing my limbs just like Milia's tentacle monster, rolling across the snow.
“Our esteemed Lieutenant Jim. So this is where you were? I remember your face. Yeah, that's right. It was you.”
“...I'm a Captain now.”
“Oh? When did you get promoted? Sorry, I wasn't paying much attention.”
I quietly began putting distance between us.
I couldn't speak for other demons, but there was no way a corps commander — Five of all people — had come here to rescue me.
Besides, Lieutenant General Lilith had asked what our next destination would be after Glacies Magic Tower. She had no intention of conducting an operation here.
If I had to pick who to trust, I'd choose Lieutenant General Lilith every time.
She has a beautiful face, and a heart that is every bit as pretty — that is to say, not at all.
“What business brings you here?”
“Your tone is a bit insolent, isn't it?”
“I asked what errand was important enough to bring you all the way to a place like this.”
“There, that's better.”
I am Jim the weakling — a demon who will grovel as much as necessary before the strong.
It was precisely this nature that let me live within the Demon King's Army without drawing any particular suspicion.
“Mm, right... the infiltration plan for the Hero Party... or something? That one.”
“Yes, that's correct.”
Well, naturally.
If she knew I was here and came looking for me, it could only be about the plan, couldn't it?
The fact that she seems to have approached through some route other than Lieutenant General Lilith's is a little unsettling, though...
“Who planned it?”
“...I beg your pardon?”
Who planned the Hero Party infiltration plan? Well, obviously—
“As far as I know, Lieutenant Colonel Extra did.”
“...Does he have any awareness that he moved troops without authorization from above?”
“You'd have to take that up with the Lieutenant Colonel himself. Did he not receive authorization, then?”
“...”
Corps Commander Five glared at me.
Did she think I was lying? Unfortunately for her, I wasn't.
Look at these big, sparkling eyes of mine.
They're burning blue, aren't they?
“Corps Commander, your gaze is full of wrath.”
“Hahah! You caught me... The you I remember wasn't this perceptive, you know.”
“I'm afraid I don't understand why you're angry with me.”
“Shifting blame onto a dead Lieutenant Colonel makes things easier for you, does it?”
“Of course not. To this day, I still mourn the Lieutenant Colonel.”
“Me, I hate schemers. People who pull cute little tricks.”
“How unfortunate to hear. But the Lieutenant Colonel departed in truly artistic fashion, so perhaps you could forgive him?”
“Planning to keep playing innocent?”
“I have never once played innocent.”
That's right — I genuinely don't know anything.
The Hero Party infiltration plan really was designed by Lieutenant Colonel Extra.
From the start, when the operation was explained to me, I'd accepted it because I thought it would let me check out what the human side was like.
Well, by that point I'd more or less seen everything I wanted to see, and I was itching to go see the Demon King.
But above all, I truly believed Five had authorized it.
Apparently, that wasn't the case.
“Hmm...?”
“...”
Fortunately, Five swallowed her rage and began thinking in earnest.
Yes — for someone holding the position of corps commander, she ought to at least do that much.
I, too, cautiously extinguished the blue flame smoldering in my eyes and resolved to agonize alongside Corps Commander Five.
Lieutenant Colonel Extra.
Honestly, we hadn't interacted all that much. But his final moments left an impression, so he stayed with me.
Truly a man overflowing with loyalty, wasn't he?
A man who went out of his way to let himself be murdered by the Hero — for my sake.
I respect him.
Isn't that enough?
“Well, whatever. If it's not, then fine.”
“I'm relieved the misunderstanding has been cleared up.”
“...Did you really think I'd say that?”
“You just did say that?”
Because you did. Just now.
“No, that's not what I meant... I meant, did you really think I'd take that at face value and obediently go on my way?”
“If possible, I would prefer you take me with you.”
“Ah... yeah, that cleared things up. You were the resident troublemaker, weren't you?”
I have no idea what element she looked at to make that judgment, but that, right there, was exactly the effect I'd been hoping for.
Why else would I keep tampering with my own memories?
Excluding cleverness and putting nothing but ignorance on display — that works better than any performance.
...Or so it said in my diary. I suppose even I was afraid I'd forget, being the idiot I am.
In fact, I had forgotten until quite recently. It was only when someone forcibly tore down the fence I'd built around myself that I remembered.
The blood of a demon is a terrifying thing.
It turns people into gibbering idiots.
Or perhaps it's just the blood running through my veins that is idiotic and gibbering.
“Well, an idiot like you couldn't have deceived my eyes and done anything, I suppose.”
“That's a bit of an excessive thing to say...”
Whap!
Corps Commander Five's shin kick detonated against my calf.
A searing pain, like being set alight.
Fire-attribute my ass — this is why I hated this bitch.
“Still, something is odd.”
“...If you're about to claim my shin is the odd thing, you're mistaken. It didn't protrude at all.”
“No, not that. What I don't understand is why Demon King Belphegor and that woman Lilith are pouring so much attention into an idiot like you.”
“Lieutenant General Lilith is kind?”
“Oh? So I'm the bad one, then?”
“...”
Even an idiot like me knows this much: that is a person you do not answer.
Whap!
“OW?!”
“How about considering that silence is itself an answer?”
Just now, the scales inside my heart tipped back toward the human side.
I never imagined, in all my life, I'd be tipping them over something like this.
“Whatever. Fine. I'll figure it out once I drag you back. You did say you wanted to return, didn't you?”
“Yes, I did. Ah — though there's still a problem left to resolve.”
“And why would a corps commander like me have to accommodate your circumstances?”
“That would be preferable, yes.”
“...”
Five's gaze slid down to my shin. I shuffled backward in small steps.
“...It's starting to seem to me that Extra drew up that plan on purpose just to get rid of a troublemaker like you.”
“Hardly. The Lieutenant Colonel sacrificed himself to save me.”
“That's what the words imply, is all. So? What's this problem that needs resolving?”
“Ah, well, it's...”
The moment I tried to speak, the words caught in my throat.
I want to leave Milia a proper goodbye.
Just as she said, these three years weren't an empty stretch of time for me either. And besides — where there are meetings, there are partings, no?
And if you part, then someday you can meet again. That's how it works. I'd intended to leave her some words like that, to calm her down before I went...
But could I really tell her that, and ask her understanding?
What does Corps Commander Five think of the Hero Party?
Within the Demon King's Army, the official assessment of the Hero Party was “not worth the concern.”
...Up until a few days ago, that is.
But what about now?
Wouldn't she think it best to kill them and be done with it, given the chance?
“...Now that I think about it, it doesn't seem to be an urgent problem after all. It would be best if I simply returned quickly.”
If that were the case, then every second I lingered here was a liability.
Five's clone couldn't stray beyond a certain distance from her main body, so it would be far better to return to the unit and put some distance between myself and the Hero Party that way.
“Oh, I see.”
Five smiled, the picture of things falling neatly into place. And then, in that same breath, her hand shot out and clamped around my throat like a hawk snatching prey.
It all happened far too fast for me to react.
“I was too stupid to notice, but you do keep your eyes open, don't you? Thanks to that, my doubts are finally settled. I was wondering why you were still lingering here.”
“Ghk...!”
“You've grown attached to the Hero Party, haven't you?”
In an instant, flames began to swirl around Five and me.
“Attachment is a terrifying thing. When someone is blinded by it, they lose even the ability to imagine they might be betrayed. That's why I never keep people swept away by attachment in my corps.”
Her voice was relaxed, but the look in her eyes was deeply chilling.
Yes — it was rage. She was looking at me with the largest fury she'd shown yet, blazing in her eyes.
“Why should I spare someone swept up in that sort of thing? Worse still, someone attached to the Hero Party — enemies of the Demon King's Army?”
The slaughter she had swallowed became visible.
The flame demon that had devoured countless lives shook the fence inside me.
“Is that... from experience?”
“...”
When I came back to myself, I was staring straight through Five.
A mind gone unnaturally, eerily calm reached into her heart and pried it apart.
Ah... Now I've done it. This is a losing hand.
“...You, you were feigning stupidity all along, weren't you? Flawless acting.”
“Haha, hardly.”
“Bullshit.”
If only I weren't so hopeless at acting.