Care to Join the Demon King's Magic Club?
The principal had already been informed of the Hell Decapitating Sword Astaroth had hurled skyward.
Crimson flames embroidered the heavens, mana shards raining down in every direction as they shattered.
That once-impregnable magic barrier had cracked apart in a single strike—it would have been stranger not to know.
“A club… you say?”
Yet the breakthrough Lethe offered in that situation was some completely out-of-the-blue talk about a magic club.
He even tacked on the utterly absurd notion of making a Demon King the club president—something no one in their right mind would entertain.
Anyone else listening would have strained to phrase “Have you lost your mind?” as politely as humanly possible.
“Hmm. That… actually seems rather fine.”
Then again, holding the post of academy principal was hardly a job for the fully sane either.
“Those of us who lived through the war may still break out in hives at the mere word ‘demon,’ but the students are different. A few of them—small in number, yet certainly present—will have their eyes stolen by the sheer power and spectacle right in front of them.”
“That’s exactly what I was thinking. And young people, as a rule—”
“—tend to take an immediate interest in newcomers who share their passions.”
Lethe and the principal were aiming for the same goal: the successful settling of peace between the Empire and the demon race.
For that, the first button that had to be fastened was the Demon Kings living well here at the academy.
No matter how loudly the hardliners crowed that demons could never be trusted, the moment the Demon Kings thrived at the academy, that argument lost its teeth. After all, these four were the ones who would keep the remaining demons in check.
And if the new generation that would one day steer the realm grew close to the Demon Kings, the worry that relations might sour later could be eased as well.
In that light, a magic club was a rather promising option for them both.
“So you mean to make that red-haired Demon King president of the magic club. What of the other three?”
“At first I considered stuffing all three into the same club with her. But that would only invite strange talk. I plan to split them up one by one.”
“I agree with Sir Lethe. The hardliners would love nothing more than to shout, ‘Who knows what plots the Demon Kings are hatching when they gather in one place!’”
Nonsense might be best ignored, yet the hardliners still carried considerable weight. What choice was there? The very engine of their power was the war whose architects had been none other than the demons.
If only those bastards had been a little less savage. If they had at least left the prisoners alone, it would have been something.
What kind of lunatics, in all the world, not only slaughtered their captives but ate them as well?
And ta-da—those lunatics were the demons. Good grief.
They had started the war, wielded merciless violence, and even devoured prisoners.
No wonder Imperial citizens, elves, and dwarves alike still eyed the demons with wariness and loathing—even after the four Demon Kings had harvested every last neck of the warmongers.
So for now the wise course was to give them nothing more to seize upon. No room for idle talk.
Even if it meant tying the Demon Kings to something as innocently student-like as a club.
“Still, Sir Lethe. Even if we two have settled the matter between ourselves… it seems to me one crucial problem remains.”
“Whether the Demon Kings will actually throw themselves into club activities properly, I take it?”
“…There are moments when I look at you, Sir Lethe, and think the political arena would suit you far better than the academy.”
Wasn’t it an easy problem? Lethe shrugged and opened his mouth.
“The Demon Kings will devote themselves to the club more earnestly than anyone.”
“A prediction?”
“A certainty.”
At that answer, free of even a hair’s breadth of wavering, the principal fell silent.
And half a day later—
Magic Club Newly Established – President: Astaroth
A notice short yet fierce in content went up boldly on the bulletin board.
Beneath it, someone had scrawled another message for good measure.
Hey! You can use magic like a Demon King too! I’ll help you!
It was a club application form laced with the devil’s—no, the Demon King’s—whisper, something no one with even a spark of interest in magic could possibly walk past.
The Empire’s hardline nobles had gathered in one place.
A pack who had suddenly found the war over and themselves stripped, overnight, of every privilege and advantage.
To those who had clung to power by feeding on the fear the demons inspired, the peace that arrived with the Four Heavenly Kings was nothing short of a nightmare.
At this rate they would be lucky to save their own skins. This would not do.
So they were determined to keep the embers of wariness and hostility toward the demons alive by any means.
In that sense, the four Demon Kings at the academy made excellent kindling.
“They just casually unleashed high-tier magic like that at the academy?! This is perfect! We can say peace is impossible for demons after all—that someday that magic might come flying our way!”
“Mad creatures who fling barrier-shattering magic around in front of students without a second thought. Can a peace sealed with demons led by such monsters truly be called peace?!”
From the moderates came the usual replies: it was a simple accident, they were stretching things too far.
But the thoughts of those who had lived through the war would be entirely different from the moderates’.
Who had killed their fathers, husbands, sons? The hardliners? No! The demons!
The moment you lower your guard against them, it will be you who die! All of you will meet a horrific end, devoured by those creatures—that much is certain!
That was why, even if the moderates rose from the dead, they still could not overpower the hardliners under present circumstances.
Only the Crown Princess’s place among the moderates kept the balance of power from tipping completely.
“However. I hear our war hero is up to something pointless.”
“The club, you mean? Hahaha! What could possibly change because of some children’s game?”
“My thoughts exactly. After flinging such terrifying magic in front of the students, they suddenly pivot to a magic club? I guarantee our children will stand up and declare, ‘A club that might freely use dangerous magic must never be allowed!’”
Plenty of hardliner nobles’ children still attended the academy.
A few had withdrawn, claiming they could not share a school with Demon Kings, yet many remained enrolled.
They had already spoken to their own offspring and ordered them to oppose the new club with every fiber of their being. Do not simply stand by and watch demons form a club in the sacred academy, they had said.
Those children knew better than anyone what was required if they meant to inherit their houses!
“Even if the club is formed, I told them to keep throwing wrenches into the works.”
“You did warn them not to provoke too hard, I trust? There’s no telling what those Demon Kings might do once their eyes roll back. Keep pricking their true nature, but do not let them blow the academy sky-high.”
“Well, then our illustrious war hero will step in, won’t he? No matter that he raised those girls himself, he wouldn’t dare take the Demon Kings’ side over the Empire’s.”
“Even if he does take their side, it works in our favor. Then he becomes not a war hero but a fool who fell for the Demon Kings’ seduction. The Crown Princess’s footing will naturally narrow as well.”
Though never stated officially, most nobles had already caught on: the Empire’s war hero backed the Crown Princess. That support had only solidified her position further.
But if they could chip away at that war hero’s renown, the Crown Princess’s seat would rock of its own accord. Then, if the princes they backed stepped forward, who could say who would claim the throne?
“Ahahaha!”
“Kwahahaha!”
“Fufufu!”
The honey they had been sucking so greedily was too sweet; they had grown too drunk on it.
Even the reason they ought to have kept was paralyzed. The hardline nobles laughed.
Laughing, they waited fervently for their children to send good news from the academy.
But a few days later—
“…W-what is this?!”
“Impossible! H-how?!”
“You idiots! Why—why did you fall for it!!”
What they received was the tragic report that applications to the magic club had poured in like mad.
How on earth had such a thing become possible? For that, one had to rewind a few days earlier.
“I’ll be blunt, Astaroth. As things stand, we have no chance of winning.”
At the cold assessment from the strategist Sitri, Marmar and El nodded heavily.
The three Demon Kings were fiercely invested in the founding of the magic club—to keep Astaroth, who had lived with them like true sisters, closer now than blood, from landing in an awkward spot.
“No chance of winning? That high-tier magic of perfect completion I showed that day—this body, a Demon King herself, is offering to teach it personally, and they’re still saying no?!”
“That’s exactly the problem. Putting the Demon King front and center. A handful of students will feel curiosity, sure. But their numbers won’t be large. More than that, human students tend to sway with their friends’ opinions. The moment someone nearby says, ‘Why would you join a club with a Demon King?!’ they’ll go, ‘Yeah, maybe…’ and peel away.”
Sitri’s neat bob and cool analysis made her the very picture of a career woman; the impression only grew sharper.
“We need a gamble.”
“A gamble?”
“Mm. Something no academy student could possibly ignore.”
Easy to say—but how exactly were they supposed to approach it? Astaroth felt her head might split.
If this went sideways too, she might never be called Ashu again! That was a nightmare. Absolutely, absolutely not. Lethe was her light and her salt itself…
“…Wait.”
“Ashu?”
“I’ve got it. A method.”
Good heavens, Mister. You really are my light and my salt. Even in a moment like this you help me! I’ll love you forever. Mister. I love you! With every last scrap of my life!
The next day, a new post about the magic club appeared on the bulletin board.
Hey! You can use magic like the war hero too!
The war hero’s magic disciple is now president of the academy’s magic club!
Before she’s a Demon King, she’s the war hero’s disciple! Don’t you really want to learn his magic?!