Chapter 198
Chapter 198
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 198
Chapter Title: This World Won't Leave Me Alone. (10)
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“Grr, beautiful.”
I gaze at the brilliantly shining red seal stamp.
Maybe because she's a beautiful person—no, a beautiful demon—she stamped it so prettily.
“Sniff…….”
A fine deal indeed.
She seems pleased too, letting out a small sob after stamping it.
-Master, no matter how I look at it, those aren't tears of frustration and regret?
-Where can you find a deal this good? Just hand over a bit of land and manage it roughly, and she'll make me the Demon King!
-But that big sis looks like she's lost the world.
-She looks like she owns the world.
She's the Demon King, after all. Ruler of an entire continent!
I don't know much about the Demon Continent's size or resources, but assuming it's comparable, that's a higher position than even the Karan Empire's emperor.
And she's handing that over for free—what a contract!
-If it were such a good deal, you wouldn't have used the Geass Roll.
-Lately, you've been roasting me at an expert level, huh?
-I learned it all from you, Master!
I've raised a tiger.
Lately, she's been nagging me so much that I'm starting to suspect she's actually my biggest enemy.
I get it if it's stress buildup, but just tallying up the people she's whacked lately makes for a full novel protagonist party.
Hero, elf, priest, dragon, Demon King's daughter!
At this point, it's not stress—it's so much fun she's dancing with excitement.
No, maybe she's doing this because she's having too much fun?
“What will you do now?”
The hero approaches me, wearing the face of a part-timer with tons to say but afraid of getting fired.
“What else? Help the Demon King's daughter become the Demon King.”
“Isn't it strange for a human to meddle in demon realm affairs?”
“Strange? If we leave it alone, the demons will invade the human world. You planning to just watch?”
“Well…….”
“If Shuttle were here, he'd get an oracle from the God of Nature saying to hurry and help the Demon King's daughter defeat Agreat and bring peace between humans and demons!”
The Demon King's daughter, Belegrerea, said.
Agreat, who's currently leading the rebellion, aims to make a world for demons only.
He's trying to restart the war between humans and demons for that.
How many would suffer if that happens!
Like in the Great War of old, countless would die in battle, and prolonged war would strip farmers of their grain for military rations.
Starvation would follow, and unlike the past, a human-demon war could cause damage several times worse than the Great War.
In such a crisis, what should a hero do!
To protect peace, eliminate the tyrant Agreat and make the peace-loving girl Belegrerea the Demon King!
-In short, fight for the world because you're the hero? And you get some side benefits?
-For the world. For the world! Heroes are creatures who overcome all hardships for the world by nature!
The hero arrived in the demon realm, and the Demon King's daughter appeared right in front!
This is clearly a divine revelation to fight for peace.
-And take a good look at that Demon King's daughter. She's pretty, right?
-Don't tell me, since you can't marry in the human world, you're thinking demon girl…….
-Not me, pair her with the hero. Classic trope: if the Demon King births a son, endless fights with the hero; if a daughter, all sorts of stories lead to the hero and Demon King's daughter getting together.
-You're insulting every Demon King who had a daughter, aren't you?
No.
By tradition, heroes click with female Demon Kings, or hook up with their daughters if they have one.
Fatherly love, maybe? Demon Kings with daughters tend to be decent. Her dad led the demons' golden age and worked for peace over war with humans, right?
“What if that demon tricked us?”
But the hero doesn't seem keen on fighting for world peace.
After staying silent, he spouts that. Foolish guy!
“You think you can make excuses like that after getting hit with the iron bat?”
“Ah…….”
Those who've been hit know the pain best.
One hit drains your strength; two or three make your body obey your mind's flow.
Lying to spin a tale in that state? If they try that hard, it's polite to play along.
“Anything else to say?”
“Do we really have to take out that Agreat and make the former Demon King's daughter the new Demon King?”
“Yes.”
“No other way?”
“Nope.”
“Really for world peace?”
“Of course.”
The world must be at peace for me to be at peace.
Sure, even in peaceful times I fled to the Demon Continent, but peace matters.
Wars restrict travel between villages.
Back in the Great War, I was imperial with some power, so it was easy; for a regular farmer, war is hell.
-Master, you need to snap out of thinking you're ordinary.
-Where can you find someone as ordinary as me!
Just some backstory with my daughter, quirky pets, weirdly tangled with the hero.
-You know that's not ordinary, right?
-Ugh…….
All the hero's fault. If he hadn't followed, I'd still be tucked away in a continent corner, prepping this year's farm with my daughter!
He chased me with oracle talk, forcing me to the Demon Continent!
Think about it: it's because he made the princess fall for him!
Yeah, all his fault!
“Go on, disciple. Save the world.”
I say it seriously, and he nods, seeming to grasp his mission.
-Not because I'm in your hand?
-Nah.
What are heroes, after all!
For world peace, they'll toss their lives like rags!
The hero eyes the iron bat, but deep down, he'll think he can sacrifice for the world.
Right? Yeah?
I believe in you, hero!
#7 Their Circumstances: A Certain Hero's Circumstances
World peace? Ever heard such bullshit?
How many moth-like heroes stake their lives for it.
I just took down a dragon— not some thousand-year ancient, a 20,000-year-old one!
So why dump this on me? No heroes left in the world?
I know there are thousands of self-proclaimed ones, nearly a hundred church-recognized!
Why me? The instructor, probably.
No, keep climbing: it's those brothers who sent me to Howling.
If I ever hit the empire, I'll smash that house to bits.
A grand duchy maybe survives, but expose their secrets and even they'll face reckoning.
I've spent more days outside the house than in, but I can uncover grand duchy secrets easy.
Trade travel-found eateries for their secrets with Mira!
I trust you, Captain Mira! As captain, you'll snag those hidden secrets easy!
For some reason, I believe you can!
Sure, she probably knows those spots already, but my oracle-wandering continent experience might snag one? At least one, maybe three.
That's enough to move Mira.
“Um… hero?”
While plotting how to doom House Raina grand duchy more, the former Demon King's daughter beside me—now a fellow companion, not slave—spoke softly, looking gloomy.
“What happens to us?”
How to put it. Like a fallen noble dragged to a slave trader? Yeah, spot on vibe.
Asking me, already in the slave cart, about her future?
What's with this perfect analogy?
Sadly, it includes me too!
“What happens? Nothing special.”
Belegrerea's eyes tremble faintly as she looks at me.
Eyes full of emotions: anxiety, expectation, despair, hope.
I've made that face plenty, staring at someone, but the end was always the same.
Yeah, this feeling. Answered like this.
I chuckle involuntarily.
“Obviously.”
“Obviously?”
My bright smile wipes the negative emotions from her eyes.
Ah, right. I'm a hero.
Heroes have that image: symbol of hope.
So, time for reality.
With the iron bat right there, our fates were sealed.
“We're screwed.”
Her eyes plummet from hope to abyss—odd thrill.
Is this how the instructor always dangles hope?
Hope's light far off, you run; arrive, it's farther—his light.
You think the light means an end, rush; but it's his lantern, retreating when you advance, advancing when you rest, teasing reachability.
But I'm not an ex-evil org instructor or Yuglasia professor like him.
I'm a hero. Even if not by choice, one folks admire.
Sure, Belegrerea's a demon, not human, but as hero, I must save her.
“Feels like we could escape? Some hope?”
Her eyes darken.
Yes, you're getting it. That's the hope I can give.
“Yeah, if possible, would we be here?”
I shake my head, pointing at me and Ria beside.
“Impossible.”
“Then…….”
Black pupils matching her hair.
But something beyond color overlays them; I nod.
“Yeah, give up and it's easier.”
“How can…….”
I turn from her despair, looking aft at the cart.
The iron bat, having heard it all, plays with pink-haired girl Ellis.
Golden cat curls on Ellis's lap, relaxed; beside, oddly named dragon Kkoko chats with two girls.
So peaceful. But iron bat, succubus, dragon in that peace.
Whoa, factoring races turns that idyll hellish.
Ha. Ha. Ha.
“We're done for.”
Crossed the no-return river.
Screw the Nature God—should've ignored and fled the continent. Why follow the instructor into this absurd mess?
“Figured it out now?”
Ria's voice from beside, already resigned—refreshingly cool laugh.
“Knew but didn't wanna admit?”
“I get it.”
“Couldn't change it anyway.”
“Hahaha, yeah?”
Hahaha, hohoho.
Ria and I laugh amiably.
“This can't be true…….”
Only Belegrerea denies reality, but time will teach her.
Naruan, Ast, Niserwin.
Ah, Marx now?
Whatever the name, tangle with the instructor means no normal life. No ordinary future.
She'll learn soon.