CH 176

“Speaking of which, Bell really was the Demon Lord then……”

“Really was, does that mean you suspected me of being the Demon Lord before now then?”

“Yes, Bell did save my life. You were also the one who massacred all those demons when I was attacked. Here, pick up your feet.”

Inside a small changing room in Trans Happy, Margherita and the Demon Lord had managed to calm themselves down a little bit. Right now they were talking about worldly matters a little more important than just being banned from a building. While they talked Margherita slipped on her clothing as the Demon Lord obediently put on the clothes Margherita laid out for him.

“Well, it is true I’m the Demon Lord. Ah, but, I never said I wasn’t the Demon Lord, so I didn’t lie or anything.”

“I know. From the first day we met when you insisted on a Demon Lord play I thought what a strange customer I had.”

When the two’s eyes coincidentally met, they both started laughing together. But the laughter quickly stopped for Margherita, and with a now serious face, she asked the Demon Lord a question.

“By the way Demon Lord, are you really going to try conquering the world?”

“You can still call me Bell. Hm? Conquering the world……. Do you want me to conquer the world?”

“What are you………”

The two’s conversation was cut off by the resounding shout of the Hero. He was demanding the heads of the Dragon Maidens and their dragons.

The order caused Margherita’s face to turn a deep shade of blue.

“This is awful!”

“What’s awful?”

“Do you know about Warren’s Jewelry Box?”

“Ah, those are the girls who are always taking care of Berunal. They’re such nice girls.”

“Well when somebody mentions the Dragon Maidens, they’re talking about them. So why is the Hero suddenly demanding their heads? I need to go see what’s going on.”

“Well, then I’m going too.”

When Margherita and the Demon Lord finally left Trans Happy, nobody else was left in the plaza besides Berunal.

Just Berunal,

“Ah, Demon Lord, I’ve been waiting for you. We’re supposed to hurry up and meet up with Grandpa.”

and she was standing there with a wide grin across her face.

So pulled along by both Margherita and Berunal, the Demon Lord was dragged to where the sound of the Hero’s shout had come from.

“Uwaa! The Demon Lord!”

“Just scooch over a bit!”

“Straw Hat, is it a lie that you’re the Demon Lord?”

“Beats me!”

The Demon Lord took the lead with the girls, breaking through the gathered crowds while deflecting their questions, pushing past the assembled vigilantes corps, and taking a spot next to Warren’s Powder Keg. Ferdinand and Alphonse had already arrived there themselves.

Despite noticing his arrival, nobody there on the front could quite believe that this man in a farmer’s garb who looked so natural wearing a straw hat could truly be the Demon Lord.

The Demon Lord on his part ignored the stares coming his way, only looking at where the voice had come from.

“Huh!?”

The Demon Lord’s voice leaked out in astonishment. He then quickly used magic to increase the volume of his own voice before shouting at the Hero.

“Oi Mother-con, you, why are you playing around in a place like that!?”

Suddenly hearing a familiar voice, the Hero found where the voice was coming from and reflexively responded.

“What, Straw Hat, what are you doing over there?”

“I came here to play with Margherita. By the way, I don’t see your beloved red-haired girl anywhere.”

“Shut up!”

“Ah, you let her dump you! You idiot~!”

“You moron, don’t go deciding that Marionetta hates me on your own!”

“Be quiet Mother-con. By the way, seriously, what are you doing over there?”

“Knock it off with the Mother-con this, Mother-con that already! I’m the Hero, Hero Gray!”

“Really?”

“Really!”

The Demon Lord turned to Margherita, pointed at the Hero, and made one final check.

“Hey, is that guy really the Hero?”

And Margherita silently nodded.

The Demon Lord wasn’t sure what to do. The Hero is supposed to be really strong, so the Demon Lord didn’t want to meet him until all his equipment had been prepared. And he never would have thought the nice Mother-con was the Hero.

At the same time, there was one small detail there that irritated him, preventing him from backing down.

“Hey, aren’t you embarrassed demanding the heads of a bunch of little girls, or is this what it means to be the Hero?”

“Be quiet, it’s a royal decree.”

“Hoh, then if the King told you to pull down your pants and do a handstand with your underwear hanging around you ankles, would you do it? Would you break up with Marionetta? You’re a real dumbass aren’t ya.”

His words, especially the second half cut the Hero deeply, turning him livid.

“I told you to shut your mouth!”

The Hero drew his sword there and then, and with all the rage that had been building up inside him, swung it at Straw Hat.

“Get down!”

Sensing what was coming, Baltis shouted out an order to the others to try and avoid the Hero’s attack. But, in the next moment, they ended up seeing something unexpected.

“What, how tepid. I was expecting more.”

The slash of energy from the Hero that had managed to easily cut down a great demon was caught by a man in a straw hat and dissipated into the air.

“You, what are you!”

Stopping himself from performing another certain death slash, Gray dumbfoundedly asked his friend for an explanation. And in response,

“Hmm, I wonder. Let me give you a hint,”

the Demon Lord started reciting his spell.

“Ancient evil, distort space and time at my discretion. {Closed Dimension}!”

The Hero was trapped in a translucent box of light,

“Watchdogs from Hell, follow your desires and devour everything before you. {Hungry Brother}!”

and a number of hell hounds were summoned, one after another around him. Each dog showed its fangs, leaping at the Hero intent on devouring him.

It was a sight that shocked every single citizen from Warren who had been there during the demon massacre in town.

However after glowing for a moment, the extra dimensional barrier shattered into thousands of tiny pieces.

“I’d rather not butcher any dogs. I’m an animal lover.”

The Hero stepped forward as if nothing had happened, but he now looked a little lonely as he spoke to his friend.

“Straw Hat, you’re the Demon Lord. This is disappointing. I always thought of you as a good friend. But, I will put an end to your ambitions of conquering this world!”

“Stupid, what are you acting all high and mighty for? What were you about to do before stopping me from conquering the world? What a virtuous man you are cutting down a group of wonderful girls!”

“Silence Demon Lord! I’ll defeat you here and now!”

The Hero’s fighting spirit suddenly rose up.

“You shut up! I’m going to enjoy my life with Margherita!”

At the same instant, a powerful barrier formed around the Demon Lord.

“Well I want to enjoy a cup of tea with Marionetta you dumbass!”

The Hero held out his sword once again, and this time with a strength that far exceeded before, he brought his blade down.

“{Heroic Mega Slash}!”

The Demon Lord hit back with an accumulated mass of magic power.

“{Black Longinus}!”

Two energies of black and white collided against each other in the center of the open plain releasing an explosion of flashing lights and an ear-shattering roar. The very air trembled as the earth shook.

The two opposing forces were completely equal. The energy rebounded against itself, exploding outwards eliminating everything around it.

The troops from both Warren and Ceramics watching the battle instinctively closed their eyes and grit their teeth as the light swallowed them whole.

The singular thought, “I’m dead,” rose into all of their minds.

But the Demon Lord’s barrier protected the people of Warren from the blast while the Hero’s exuded fighting spirit protected Ceramics’s army. In the end, nobody was hurt from the blast.

This was all coincidental however. In this situation, if either the Hero or the Demon Lord were to lose, then every single person standing behind them would surely die. But at this point, there was nowhere anybody could try to escape to.

“What, your bark’s worse than your bite. The next one will be even stronger!”

The Hero struck the Demon Lord with a bluff, but in his heart,

“I still have the giga slash, but if he can stop that one too…….”

he was feeling quite troubled.

“You call that swordplay? I can counter that all day and not even feel it!”

The Demon Lord returned the Hero’s taunt,

“Dangerous, that guy’s attacks are simple but way too nasty. Any spells that require a chant are out………”

but he was sweating just as badly as Gray.

The two men glared at each other.

………….

The Hero was the first of them to move.

“Sorry, but I’m short on time. I’m giving everything I have in this next one.”

The Demon Lord responded with a smile.

“Then hurry it up. You’re going to end up bald before this is done the rate it’s falling out.”

………….

………….

“Let’s go!”

“Hmph!”

The moment the Hero moved and the Demon Lord readied himself to intercept the attack,

*POP*

a small water balloon burst over the two’s heads. Water dripping from the ends of their hair, soaking their shoulder, both of the men’s brains stopped working for a moment as a resounding, “Calm down!” echoed in their ears.

In the next moment, the Dragon Maidens’ Golden Mistress slowly descended in front of the Hero. As soon as her feet touched the ground, the little girl turned around and pointed at the Demon Lord.

“Margherita, Berunal, restrain the Demon Lord for a little bit.”

Having regained his senses, the Demon Lord realized just how ridiculously he had been acting. He tried walking towards the little girl, but Margherita and Berunal each grabbed one of his arms, stopping him in his tracks.

“Settle down Bell!”

“This looks like it’ll be fun Master.”

The little girl then turned towards the Hero. It was like the girl’s eyes could see right through him causing the Hero to unintentionally glower back at her.

“One life for an entire city certainly sounds like a reasonable trade! Take my head then!”

Suddenly making a declaration loud enough for everyone to hear, the little girl in a white blouse and red jumper skirt turned her back to the Hero and sat down in the dirt. She then pushed up her hair so the Hero could have full view of her neck.

“Cut me right around here. Please make it quick and painless.”

Both Ceramics and Warren’s armies were taken aback by her words. Just what was she accepting so easily!

But after that moment of shocked silence, Warren erupted.

“You moron! Ellis, what are you saying!?”

“Have you gone insane Miss Ellis!?”

“Get over there you guys! We have to save Ellis before it’s too late!”

Warren’s army tried marching forward, but they hadn’t traveled two meters before the Lady Bluegreen descended down and stood in their way.

“People of Warren, we appreciate your feelings, but this is the young lady’s will. So stop, stay where you are!”

While saying so Reeve drew out her katana and held it at the ready. Her eyes kept the entire army from moving, and her next words, “Just keep quiet and watch,” kept them from voicing any complaints.

“So then you stupid, dim, gutless Hero, please keep it down to a single strike.”

Ellis stretched out her neck a little more, slapping it with her hand to provoke the Hero a little more.

The Hero stared at the nape of Ellis’s neck to the point that his gaze alone was liable to bore a hole into it. The fight he had prepared himself for had suddenly turned into an execution.

He tried desperately to focus all his concentration on that singular point, but try as he might, the Hero saw more than a neck. The girl was too small, small enough that he couldn’t see her as anything other than an innocent. Sitting there ready for her death, she was so small, yet her back looked so large.

Meanwhile his heart was strangling itself in trying to prepare to lop off this girl’s head.

………………

“Yeah, I am stupid, dim, and gutless too. But, what am I supposed to do? Marionetta, I’m sorry……..”

The Hero let his sword fall.

There was a cold thud as the steel hit the ground and rolled away from his feet.

…………….

Gray barely managed to squeeze out his next words to Ellis.

“Ellis, I’m sorry for the trouble. I’ll go back to Skycastle now.”

“You pass.”

“Huh?”

In the next moment, Marionetta fell from the sky towards the Hero, tears streaking her face and a large smile on her face.

“Gray, I love you!”