Chapter 121: The Sage Discovers a Modified Weapon

I arrived at the training ground.

According to Henry, Diella was supposedly performing maintenance on the weapon at the moment.

I thought it was about time to let her go.

If she stayed for too long, others would get nervous.

We initially kept her identity secret.

However, since she often let her identity slip out in her conversations, it became semi-open secret.

Since I realized it was impossible to keep it hidden, I chose not to care too much about it.

Diella of the dragon race was the previous Demon Lord who was revived by my abilities.

That was the perception within the military anyway.

Therefore, she was treated like an executive.

The actual circumstance was different, but it would be troublesome to correct it, so I left it alone.

As of now, there weren’t any inconveniences as a result.

That and she didn’t seem to mind being misunderstood as my subordinate.

I walked through the training ground.

There were few people there during this hour.

They were either on break or did other training somewhere else.

After walking a while, I found a strange weapon.

It was a tank, but its exterior was covered with scales and carapaces.

Moreover, unlike an ordinary tank, it had three cannon barrels on its top.

The two attached on its left and right were magic cannons.

When I looked closely, I could see there were a number of guns in the gaps between the scales and shells.

There seemed to be a mechanism installed that allowed it to shoot in many directions.

What is this tank…?

I was confused.

There was no such weapon within the things adopted in the Demon Lord’s Army.

I also never saw it in the laboratory.

I didn’t understand why this kind of tank existed in the training ground in the first place.

“Oh, you came to visit me! You’ve done well1!"

Diella’s face popped out from behind the tank.

She ran up to me.

Behind her was the offshoot of the Great Spirit, Yuura.

It was a rare combination.

It seemed that both of them were doing something together.

Diella, who stopped in front of me, put on a proud expression.

“Don’t worry, I already performed maintenance on the weapon and leveled the ground. There’s no way I'll be scolded at this point… in other words, I’m invincible!”

“Rather than that, what is this thing?”

“Hoho! So you’re curious as expected. In that case, I shall tell you.”

Diella showed a happy smile.

She then opened her eyes wide as she pointed toward the deformed tank.

“This would be my custom-made tank — it is the Demonic Dragon Rakshasha! 2

“…”

“It’s the Demonic Dragon Rakshasha!”

Perhaps she took my silence as me not listening, so she repeated her declaration.

But seeing as I still didn’t respond to her, she anxiously frowned.

“Isn’t your reaction a little weak? Why is that?”

“Yuura, please explain the situation.”

I quickly stopped our exchange and asked Yuura who seemed able to explain.

She nodded quietly.

“Accepting Master’s instruction — I shall tell you the chronology of the event.”

According to Yuura, this tank was made by her and Diella.

It used a wrecked tank from the last mock battle as its foundation.

Diella freely came up with a modification plan with Diella, of which Yuura remodeled it based on her ideas.

“End of explanation — I heard the tank modification would encourage Master, so I did it.”

“Is that true?”

I then asked Diella this time.

Diella nodded and gave her approval as if it was the most obvious thing to do.

“A man loves things that are full of romance. If you are to see this tank, I’m sure you’ll feel ecstatic!”

“Have you ever seen me being ecstatic?”

“Mu, now you mentioned it, I never have…”

After having pointed out something obvious, Diella folded her arms and choked her words.

Her face became wet from sweat.

I probed her further to get to the bottom of her visible agitation.

“What’s your real reason for remodeling the tank?”

“I… I was jealous of Yuura’s custom-made golem! So I also want something that is custom-made for me. I thought if it was a ruined tank, I could use it as I like, so I did.”

“…”

Seeing Diella who painfully confessed the truth of the situation, I felt a headache coming on.

It seemed she made use of my name to convince Yuura.

And she made Yuura help her remodel the tank.

Only during this time did she make use of her wisdom.

What a troublesome former Demon Lord.

Meanwhile, Diella was restless as she made excuses.

“We-well, Yuura is also guilty this time! She could be considered an accomplice!”

“Rebutting the claim of the individual named Diella — I was just deceived to do so. You have the majority of the responsibility. Master, please give her a harsh retribution.”

“You! You’re plotting against me…?!”

Diella and Yuura began their unsightly argument.

Since they were unlikely to end anytime soon, I quickly arbitrated for them.

“Don’t quarrel. I won’t punish either of you. It’s just… if you want to do this next time, ask for my permission beforehand. Unless what you’re planning is something absurd, I won’t forbid it.”

“Kuhahah, the Demon Lord of this generation sure is tolerant. If it was during my era, their heads would be separated from their bodies.”

Diella completely returned to how she was before and laughed.

There were no remnants of her prior attitude.

Since it would be troublesome if she didn’t reflect at all, I decided to threaten her a little.

“Is that what you want? …Do you wish to become like that?”

“No way! I’ll resist with all my might!”

Diella ran behind Yuura and pushed her forward as a shield.

Yuura, who was pushed, seemed to be very annoyed.

It was a terrible sight.

I didn’t want to think this person was once my nemesis.

As I tried to kill the disappointment in my heart, I called out to Yuura.

“Diella sure annoys you. Leave the rest to me.”

“Accepting Master’s instruction — it wasn’t annoying. It was fun.”

“I’m glad for that.”

It seemed that Yuura also enjoyed remodeling the tank.

If she really hated it, she wouldn’t have helped her.

It didn’t seem to have been a lie that she was having fun as well.

This modified tank would also be useful.

It was stable as a weapon, and it was in an interesting state.

It was complete enough to be brought to the laboratory and shown to the director at a later date.

She would be very enthusiastic and analyze its internal structure.

It was also a plus that we discovered Yuura’s unexpected capability.

As I observed the tank with such thoughts in mind, Diella clapped her hands together.

“You promised to have a meeting, but has the policy already been decided for your Demon Lord’s territory?”

“Yes, it’s decided.”

I told her the decision we made in the conference room earlier.

After she heard that, Diella nodded as she stroked her chin.

“Fumu fumu, so you chose to abandon the Republic's territory and concentrate on solidifying your own… it’s not a bad choice.”

“Keep in mind, other nations might choose to go for the previous Demon Lord’s territory as well. Just in case, be careful.”

As I warned her, she snorted.

She then licked her lips while making a ferocious expression.

“Of all the things you could say, that’s the thing you tell me? I might’ve lost against you twice, but the power of your predecessor still hasn’t diminished just yet.”

“That’s not it. What I meant to say is for you to not take it too far. You should be aware of the defense mechanism, right?”

In response to my gaze, Diella immediately made a bitter expression.

It seemed she had remembered something unpleasant.

“…Of course I know. They were extremely annoying people. It’d be best to not get them involved.”

As expected, Diella, the previous Demon Lord, knew about the defense mechanism.

She must have been warned by them when she was fighting against humanity.

Back then, her goal as Demon Lord was to restore the demonkin race.

That shouldn’t provoke the defense mechanism.

Perhaps they kept their respective distance and acknowledged each other.

Diella’s bitter face lingered for a while, but it soon went back to normal as she looked at me.

She immediately burst into laughter.

“Of course, I could kill them if I felt like it! I have overcome my death twice and achieved great growth. Regardless of whether it’s the Great Spirit or Dragon God, killing them would be like taking candy from a baby!”

“As expected of the previous Demon Lord. Those sure are strong words.”

At that moment, a monotone voice echoed beside us.

We immediately turned toward the source.

There was Yuura, who was floating there with enormous magic power.