Omniscient Demon King's Viewpoint
I was in the middle of lunch with the Demon King when an intruder showed up.
"Wanna come along?"
"...Sure. Could use a walk to digest."
A long, lazy yawn slipped out of me. These days, intruders didn't even register as much tension as mosquitoes on a summer night.
"Nice work."
I kneaded the Demon King's shoulders after she'd turned the guy into pulp.
"Ahh— th-there..."
She squirmed under the massage, twisting with a look that was just a little too suggestive.
The intruder, whose cheek she'd pinched, howled in agony and rolled across the floor. And then, after getting his own ass handed to him, he had the gall to snap at me.
"Guhhh. You! You're a human—how can you live as a servant of the demon race?!"
...What kind of moronic nonsense is that, you doomed idiot.
Thanks to a well-honed talent for reading a room, I had never taken a single hit from the Demon King. That was the difference between me and the groaning wreck currently sprawled on the floor. I was trapped here, sure, but I was perfectly fine. You, on the other hand, were about to get beaten senseless, have your memory wiped, and get sent home...
...Huh?
Wait a second.
Wasn't that actually the better deal?
Come to think of it, in all the time since I'd arrived, the Demon King hadn't killed a single person. It was like she'd locked herself into a pacifist route—she smacked them around, erased their memories, and kicked them out. Even my old party. Their skulls had gotten cracked at the time, of course, but they'd all held hands and gone home together.
If you leave me behind, you're really gonna die.
Nine's words drifted up from some far, faded corner of memory. Who had left who behind, exactly? The whole thing was utterly preposterous.
"Servant of the Demon King! Answer me! Have you no pride as a human being?!"
"He's not a servant. He's my... f-friend."
The Demon King squeezed her own cheeks in her palms, looking thoroughly embarrassed. Then she glanced at me. The look said I was supposed to chime in.
".....Yeah. We're friends."
"Kyaa."
It occurred to me, suddenly, that my situation looked a lot like Mr. Satan hanging out with Majin Buu.
"Take this!"
Wait, what?
The intruder, who'd been watching for an opening, suddenly flung something.
A sharp whoosh cut the air.
I fully expected the Demon King to block it. Instead she just slid neatly out of the way.
This traitorous bitch!!
Ten seconds ago she'd been going on about friends, and now she'd sold me out without a shred of hesitation. I caught it on reflex.
...What. It's just a bead.
"Tch. Threw the one I use for catching deer by mistake."
"There's mixing things up, and then there's whatever the hell that was, you moron."
"Yeah. You moron."
The Demon King parroted me without missing a beat.
The intruder scrambled to his feet and bolted for the entrance. Ranger class—he was fast. I figured the Demon King would teleport after him. Instead she cocked a finger, lining up a flick.
"Flying Finger Flick."
Flying Finger Flick
A ranged finger-flick shockwave. Bullet-like concussive force.
She flicked. A gunshot cracked off the back of the intruder's head. Hit by the Flying Finger Flick, he went under all over again. I didn't even know that was possible. Try to run, and that thing would punch you right in the back of the legs.
Looting time, then. The Demon King and I walked over to him.
"Did you kill him?"
"No. He's not dead. Do I look that mean?"
Well...
When the king of all demons asks if she looks evil, what exactly are you supposed to say?
A question of my own surfaced.
"Hey. These guys all come here to kill you, right?"
".....Yeah."
"So why bother keeping them alive and sending them back?"
The Demon King had been shaking the fallen intruder, trying to wake him. She didn't take her eyes off him when she answered.
"...When a bug gets in."
"...What?"
"You don't kill it. You let it outside, right? Even though just killing it would be faster. It's like that."
...The analogy was surprisingly decent. Unfortunately, the person delivering it killed bugs with Chain Lightning, so it had approximately zero credibility.
She crouched over the intruder and started rummaging through his pockets, fishing for anything worth money. She looked every bit a bandit.
"Oh my. Look how stuffed this guy's pockets are."
She was as delighted as if she were picking meat out of a fat, heavy snow crab.
Hmm... I've seen this bead somewhere.
Ah.
It was an item Yuria used to pull out now and then.
Surveillance Item
Attach to a target, then close your eyes to see through their vision.
Duration: approximately one day
A surveillance item...
"Hey! Look at this! There's raisins too!"
The Demon King happily shook both fists, each one full of loot she'd fished from the unconscious man's pockets.
I swallowed. Then, very carefully, I crept up behind her and stuck the bead to the back of her shoulder. She didn't seem to notice. Fortunately.
I might be able to learn some secret of hers. A weakness, even. Not that I wanted to kill her, or hurt her—but it could be a useful card in the next game. And if I got lucky, I might even find a way out.
I closed my eyes.
Water trickling. Dishes clattering.
I was looking at a sink. Her pretty hands were scrubbing bowls without so much as a pair of rubber gloves.
Her gaze whipped around.
I came within a hair of pissing myself. A little actually came out.
The Demon King's eyes had snapped straight to me—standing there with my eyes closed.
....Did she notice?
"...What are you doing? Praying?"
I opened my eyes, looked at her face, and answered.
"No. Just thinking about something."
She turned back to the dishes. Even so, she glanced my way every so often.
"...Want me to help?"
"It's fine. More importantly—you know today's the day I teach you Ddoli, right?"
That would be Iron Fist.
"So if you quickly roll the down input here..."
"Mhm mhm."
Ddoliya! Ddoliya! Ddoliya! Ddoliya!...
"Huh? What. That's not five."
It was demonic talent, plain and simple. I'd only shown her the method, and on the first attempt she pulled off a 4 Wind God. In study terms, it was like sitting through a single sample lecture and then solving the killer problems on the exam.
"No, you're doing well. Your hands just aren't used to it yet."
"Yeah. Hehe."
Being the one doing the teaching was comfortable. It meant I could beat the Demon King without stoking her competitive fire, or any thirst for revenge.
Owa!
Ddoliya!
Old sound effects spilled from the TV, and for once I played with something close to ease.
Except for one thing. Something had been bothering me for a while.
Whenever I closed my eyes—whenever I was sure she'd be completely swallowed by the game—the Demon King kept glancing at me. Did she always do this?
It wasn't once or twice. Roughly every fifteen seconds, a little peek.
"Is there something on my face?"
"Huh? What?"
I timed it to the exact moment she was looking at me. She whipped her head away and played dumb.
"Ah—no. Why?"
"....Never mind."
I could hardly say, I planted a surveillance object on you, and through it I can see you glancing at me every fifteen seconds.
Ddoliya! Ddoliya! Ddoliya! Ddoliya! Ddoliya!
She'd been practicing for less than an hour.
...I genuinely want to train her.
It was an absurd fantasy, but if I ever made it back to Earth with the Demon King, I would have thrown my full support behind her as a female pro gamer.
"Uh—uh! I did it, right? Right? Yeah?"
"Yeah. That's it. You're amazing."
"....Heeheeheet... kihit! Thank youuu!"
I wasn't inflating her ego. I meant it.
"Woooooahh... hehe..."
If it's now... this is the moment.
The Demon King was a creature of mood. And by my estimate as a veteran Demon King trainer, I could ask her for something right now and actually get it.
"...Hey."
"Yeah?"
Her arms were looped around the back of my neck. I asked anyway.
"Can I head in a little early today? And you should practice Wind God alone from now on. You'll improve faster that way."
The Wind God part was a bald-faced lie, but she would believe it. The way a martial arts master's disciples would have no choice but to nod along even if he told them to shut up and stack stone towers.
"...I have to do it alone? How long do I have to practice?"
"Hmm... well..."
I wanted a long stretch away from her. Time to set an impossible condition.
"6 Wind God. You need to pull off a 6 Wind God."
To do a 6 Wind God, you had to wave a 4-Electric into the string. Completing that without being told was, for all practical purposes, impossible. That ought to keep her planted in this room for a good while.
"Okay. I'll try."
"Yeah. I'll be rooting for you."
Done. I was as light on my feet as a kid on the first day of summer vacation. I scurried straight back to my room.
I lay down on the bed, closed my eyes, and watched her play. I meant to keep watching. Instead I fell asleep.
"Nnh..."
I had no idea how much time had passed. Outside, it was already full dark.
Don't tell me she's still going.
I closed my eyes, and her vision filled mine. In a darkened room, she was still practicing Wind God.
...Man. She's so earnest.
I felt a little sorry for her—believing my lie like gospel, drilling Wind God like an idiot.
I should go tell her.
I'd rested enough. I'd go teach her the trick—
Huh?
Ddoliya! Ddoliya! Ddoliya! Ddoliya! — a smooth, sliding wave —
A 4-Electric as a wave?
Ddoliya! Ddoliya!
She actually did it. She set the gamepad down, and her viewpoint—suddenly higher—started bouncing up and down. She was jumping. Obviously, wildly, delighted.
"....Haha."
Amazing. Genuinely. There was a reason she was playing Demon King at the top of the Tower.
Only then did she switch off the game, kill the TV, and leave the game room.
Soft footsteps in a dark hallway. I could tell exactly where she was headed.
My room.
I threw off the blanket, opened the door, and stepped out. I'd just barely gotten a whole day to myself, and coming out now might be handing her an opening to pester me—but.
"Ah!"
At the far end of the dark hallway, a figure white as snow. The Demon King spotted me, hopped once, and came running.
"I did it!"
"Congratulations."
"Yeah! I'll show you next time!"
"Sure."
"I'm gonna warm up some milk. Want some too?"
"...Sure."
She'd dragged me to the kitchen in the middle of the night, and she was so excited she poured out the entire 6 Wind God success story in a breathless rush. Fortunately it wrapped up in thirty minutes, so I didn't have to regret leaving my room.
"I'm going back to sleep."
"Mhm mhm!"
I said goodnight and returned to my room. I closed my eyes to sleep, but the bead still had time left, and the Demon King's viewpoint kept rolling.
In the end, I didn't find anything that special.
Thinking about it, that was obvious. I spent all day glued to her side. Being able to see through her eyes was never going to reveal anything extraordinary.
Huh?
I'd assumed she'd tidy the kitchen and go to her own room. Instead, she headed for mine.
Soft footsteps. Coming closer.
She stopped in front of my door. She gathered the hem of her dress, sat down right there on the floor, and hugged her knees.
The Demon King was staring at the closed door. Once upon a time, that would have been enough to soak me in cold sweat. Maybe I'd been trained out of it. I didn't feel afraid.
...Can't sleep, huh.
She stayed there a long time after that. Bouncing a pale foot. Tapping her fingers against the floor. Gazing at the firmly shut door, she whispered, very quietly: