CH 174

“Bell, at least put this on.”

Having completely forgotten he was currently nude after the earlier drama, Margherita had to chase down the Demon Lord while carrying a gown underneath her arms.

“These guys, they’re a kind of plant zombie.”

After how Margherita had gotten angry and treated him with such disdain, the Demon Lord was thankful that such wonderful targets as these had shown up for him to work through his feelings.

“Dealing with trash like this here would only pollute the store,” the Demon Lord growled, eyeing each of the pumpkin heads, formally called pumpkin zombies, in turn. With a wave of one hand, each of the shambling zombies were frozen in ice, and with a wave of his other hand, he lifted all of them off the ground with telekinesis. Finally he moved the immobile pumpkin heads out of the store, and once they had been relocated onto the street, he shattered them on the spot.

Margherita finally managed to catch up to him afterwards and threw the robe over the Demon Lord. She then threw her arms around his waist, pulling the opening closed and tying it off with a belt.

“Try to be at least a little embarrassed when you run around like this!”

But the Demon Lord ignored her complaint, turning on her and irritably declaring loud enough for anyone to hear.

“Miss, no, Margherita!¹ We’re going to keep talking about this once I’ve cleared away all these pumpkins! I’m not letting you run away!”

“Ah……..”

The Demon Lord didn’t wait to hear Margherita’s reply, running away in the direction the pumpkin heads were coming from.

This was Freedom Promenade.

A massive outbreak of pumpkin heads had sprouted, and no matter how many the soldiers stationed there killed, they kept coming one after another. Once defeated, the decaying bodies fade away, but the heads shrink down to a pumpkin the size of an adult’s fist. These pumpkins land at the soldiers’ feet, disrupting their footing, and making the battle even more dangerous.

Wheat Grace’s soldiers and Wisdom’s mages are capable of responding to the threat with their swords and golems, but the problem is it seems like the pumpkin heads are actually growing faster than they can kill them. Mebett is there riding on Ka-kun’s back, but because the soldiers are too close to the zombies, the Mechanical Dragon can’t use its breath attack and is forced to kill the pumpkin heads one by one with its tail. Marcosia is there aiding in the battle as well with her wolf demon form, but she was having enough trouble guarding Trans Happy’s entrance where all the normal citizens had evacuated to.

And yet despite the situation deteriorating at a rapid pace, there was one girl there who felt completely out of place.

“Eel grandpa, what kind of game are we playing this time?”

“Sorry little miss, but I don’t have time for games right now. Please hurry up and evacuate.”

“No, I want you to play with me more. Should I just erase these pumpkin heads?”

“Well, I’d certainly appreciate it at least.”

“Then try saying that earlier grandpa.”

Until now Ferdinand had been batting away any of the pumpkin heads that had tried attacking Berunal, but he was starting to reach his limit. But that ended when Berunal finally got out of her seat with a smile.

She took a step forward, casually standing in front of an attacking pumpkin head.

“That’s dangerous girl!”

Ferdinand tried getting between her and the monster, but he already knew he wouldn’t make it in time. But Berunal didn’t scream, instead only placing her hand over the pumpkin head’s pumpkin head.

“Goodbye.”

With a simple farewell, the pumpkin head disappeared. A fist-sized pumpkin wasn’t even left in its place. It had simply and completely vanished without a trace.

Berunal had used her special ability {Deportation} just now. The pumpkin zombies were plants from the Demon Realm, so just like with any other demon, she could force them to abide any order she gave them.

“I’ll go ahead and erase the rest grandpa.”

Berunal happily turned away from Ferdinand, erasing any pumpkin head that got close to her with little more than a wave of the hand.

Disintegrating every single pumpkin that entered into his line of sight, the Demon Lord continued walking towards Freedom Promenade with a frustrated scowl on his face. Margherita silently followed after him while pulling on the receptionist’s hand.

“Margherita, when you think about it, it’s not like you and I had done anything yet. So isn’t it strange to have me completely banned from the building!?”

“Bell, how can you talk about that at a time like this!? That’s not important right now!”

“It’s important to me! I don’t understand what’s wrong! I did my best to be kind and gentle!”

The Demon Lord was getting more and more upset. Before anyone realized, a countless number of fire balls manifested, floating at his back.

“Ah, I’m seriously pissed!”

The Demon Lord launched the fire balls, each one exploding on impact with a different pumpkin head and killing them instantly. Margherita was flustered, yet she and the receptionist continued chasing after him.

The receptionist had been staring at Margherita for a while now, mystified by the expression Margherita was making. Between this never before seen emotion from her boss and the conversation these two were having, the receptionist couldn’t help but to think, “These two make a cute couple,” as the rest of the city fell to pandemonium.

On Warren’s eastern front.

The Ceramics army left behind its lord and his royal guards to begin the march on Warren. The troops thought it was odd that Warren’s Guardian Dragon wasn’t swooping down on them, but they continued marching as ordered.

“So then, what should we do?”

“It looks like the back is staying behind to make sure the center doesn’t retreat.”

“Izerina, can you still use that one spell?”

“Yes, and I received a wonderful present from the girls as well.”

“Hoh, does this mean they’re expecting something from us? Well, I suppose we can at least hold off these yahoos until they get back.”

Maria, Theseus, Baltis, Izerina, and Flint instructed the stationed vigilante corps members to hold their positions as the five of them walked to meet the enemy army alone.

Once Ceramics noticed the enemy unit, they released a volley of arrows that fell like hail with their superior numbers.

“{Arrow Protection}!”

However with their smaller unit, all it took was a single defensive spell from Maria to keep everybody safe.

After that came Izerina’s turn.

“{Summon Swamp}!”

A spring of water appeared right underneath the approaching army, mixing together with the dirt, and dropping hundreds of soldiers into a thick, muddy swamp.

“Uwaa!”

“What is this!?”

“Oi, those in the back, quit pushing! Oi, stop!”

It took a moment for those soldiers who hadn’t fallen in the swamp to notice what had happened, so continuing to march in line together, those in the back kept pushing more and more people into the water.

“That spell’s as amazing as ever.”

Theseus had on a wide grin with his hand over his forehead to get a good look at Izerina’s work. And as for Izerina,

“Your ring is nothing to scoff at either,”

she was laughing right alongside him.

“Well of course. Now here we go. {Summon Electrical Sprites}!”

Theseus lifted his hand into the air, and after repeating aloud the command word for the ring magical tool he was wearing, over a dozen balls of electricity appeared around him.

“Yosh, go take a small bath. Don’t touch any of the people inside.”

As if understanding what Theseus was saying, the little electrical balls flew out towards Ceramics’s vanguard, landing in the muddy water at their feet.

The electrical current ran through, traveling through swamp water in the blink of an eye.

And so just like that, each of the soldiers still stuck in the swamp was hit by an electric shock, and they all started to fall, one after another.

“Looks like we don’t have to do anything this time.”

“Someone will need to be terrorized or assassinated eventually.”

Flint and Baltis were standing in front to protect Maria and Izerina just in case, but as they watched Ceramics’s army squirm, they had little to do besides flap their gums.

“Heeey! What’s happened!”

A messenger from the army ran back towards Ceramics’s lord to report on the recent development. The men hadn’t yet reached the enemy army, yet hundreds of them had fallen unconscious after they fell into a swamp with an electrical current running through it.

“Such a, wake them up, and tell those idiots to advance!”

As the lord started shouting at his useless subordinates, a voice suddenly echoed inside his mind.

“Oi, come save me! You lot never told me about this!”

“What’s the matter!”

“I knew setting foot in Warren was a bad idea! My life is over!”

“Just explain what’s wrong!”

“It’s the Demon Lord and Berudeus! Damn! Gyaa!”

Zakuroma’s communication cut off there.

“The Demon Lord is here……..isn’t that super bad?”

The demon disguising himself as Ceramics’s lord broke out in a cold sweat. Dangerous, really truly dangerous.

“Maybe if I keep pretending to be a human he won’t notice me?”

If he were to use any of his demonic abilities poorly right now, he would be easily captured thanks to Berudeus’s ability to detect demons. Staying as a human right now should help mask his presence.

The lord then ordered his soldiers back, calling off the current attack and instituting a temporary retreat. In the event of the worst case scenario, he had a wall of flesh between him and the Demon Lord to help him escape.

“Oh, those guys are pulling back. Why?”

“It might be a trap. But well, at least it buys us more time.”

After seeing the enemy troops withdraw, Baltis and Flint returned to their own army alongside the other three guildmasters.

In Freedom Promenade a short time before.

“Is Master here to play too?”

Berunal had on a wide grin when she welcomed the Demon Lord after erasing the last pumpkin head. By now Berunal had managed to clear away every single one of them in Freedom Promenade, shocking Wheat Grace and Wisdom’s soldiers with her overwhelming strength, especially after how their general had been treating her as just a little girl before. Although when thinking about all the other stories they’d heard concerning Warren before now, the soldiers decided not to mind it too much as they spread out through the rest of the city to kill any other pumpkin heads that remained.

Marcosia had already changed back to her beastman form and was sitting down in front of Trans Happy. Mebett was pretty tired herself, and after climbing down the Mechanized Dragon, she started nodding off under the dragon’s protection.

“Who’s here to play? Anyway Berunal, these things were pumpkin zombies right? Then there should be somebody around here responsible for spreading the seeds, so hurry up and find them.”

The Demon Lord was able to perform a basic trace while destroying pumpkin heads which is how he ended up back in Freedom Promenade.

Berunal was capable of performing a more accurate scan and did so on the Demon Lord’s instructions.

“Ah, over there.”

Berunal turned around and pointed to a stable behind the boutique.

“Oh, I see him too. Hey you over there, I’m not mad, so come on out.”

After a second passed, a great demon showed himself.

“So it’s you then? You planted these pumpkin heads?”

“That is correct My Demon Lord, Berudeus. I am Zakuroma, and planting these pumpkin zombies was my doing. However I never knew My Lord would be here. Please, I beg your forgiveness…….”

The demon fell to his knees and began rubbing his forehead into the dirt.

Meanwhile the demon’s words left all the nearby soldiers along with the women and children hiding inside the nearby buildings in a state of shock.

“Straw Hat is the Demon Lord?”

Even Ferdinand was left with his mouth agape at the news.

“You, so now you’re going to just carelessly reveal our true identities? I was thinking I’d go easy on you, but your death has already been sealed.”

The Demon Lord’s fury reached its zenith, traveling through the air and becoming all too clear for Zakuroma.

“Eeeeek! Please forgive me! I don’t want to end up like Zavnat!”

The people watching this all from the side were more flabbergasted than ever before. Here was a great demon, strongest of all the demons, bawling his eyes out while digging his head into the dirt as he bowed down to Straw Hat and the Rosen Princess. Just how big of monsters must the two of them actually be?

Unfortunately, all this bawling and screaming woke Mebett up from her nap.

[???? ??????? ???? ??????]

“What happened Ka-kun?”

[??? ????? ???? ??? ? ????? ????? ????

“Really?”

[??????]

Mebett jumped on Ka-kun’s back, ready for war. Looking around her, she quickly found Great Grandpa Fel, his men, and Marcosia standing next to them. She then saw Margherita and the receptionist standing in front. There was that one guy in his usual straw hat, and the Rosen Princess was there too.

Finally she found the demon.

Enemy lock on.

“Ka-kun! {Hailstorm Breath}!”

In line with Mebett’s orders, the Mechanical Dragon fired his strongest breath attack at the great demon without bothering to ask any questions. Scores of ice spears flew out, piercing the demon’s body and locking down his movements.

“Then the follow-up Giant Tail Attack!”

Ka-kun then ran forward as fast as it could, stopping right before the demon and performed a full 180 degree turn.

*SQUASH!*

What remained of the pitiable great demon’s body was flattened under the Mechanical Dragon’s heavy, metal tail.

Mebett then turned back to the watching crowd, proudly sticking out two V signs with her fingers to proclaim her glorious victory to all.

“Amazing Mebett!”

Berunal broke out into a round of applause, and even the Demon Lord made an impressed “Hoh” as he admired her gallant figure. Everyone else remained comparatively silent on the matter, unsure of what they should do in this situation.

1. In Japanese, rather than speaking submissively like an M would call an S, the Demon Lord’s started calling Margherita by her name without any honorifics. I’d feel really weird suddenly using honorifics this late in the story, but I’ll use them in future works for occasions exactly like this. There are too many people calling other people Nee-san or Jii-san and I feel the constant ‘Sister’ or ‘Grandpa’ all over the place is weird.