CH 30

“Nuh-uh…..! Almost there, almost there, and that’s where the peach garden is….!!”

“Fight, Demon Lord! ….But instead of doing this, why don’t we just knock down this wall? Ah, if you want, I could——”

“——That’s why I said no! In the first place, I told you never to harm humans!”

“Ehh, but——”

The blonde-haired little girl and the green-haired girl were arguing with each other as they carried each other on their shoulders. They were so loud that it was quite obvious.

Fortunately, there are few people on the street, so it seems they haven’t been noticed. But….For a thief, this is too poorly done.

“——Hey, you guys.”

I watched them for a while, but they didn’t seem to notice me at all, so I called out to them.

“——!? N, no, I am not a thief……! Hiiii! A, a demon?!”

Then, the little girl was startled, as she turned to face me with a painful excuse——Somehow, she fell from the other person’s shoulders and took a big distance from me. Eh, what’s with that reaction?

“Demon Lord, please calm down! This human’s eyes are cloudy, but he doesn’t have black hair! It’s a different person! Maybe!!”

“Th, that’s true, that hair color is different from that demon….His eyes are cloudy, but it looks just like….”

“What are you guys mocking me for?”

These guys have been calling me a demon and my eyes are cloudy……For the first time, it’s just too much. I’m going to cry.

“It looks like you were trying to break into this store…..Do you have anything to say about that?”

I pointed my fingers at the window, which they must have opened in an attempt to break in, and asked with a little pressure.

“Th…..That’s, I forgot to close the window, so I thought I’d close it——”

The little girl makes a poor excuse.

“Hou, that’s great….Ah, are you an employee here by any chance? That makes sense….”

“Th, that’s right! I am an employee of this company! That’s why——”

“——But, that’s weird. I know the person who runs this place, and I’ve never met anyone like you. That’s strange, isn’t it? I wonder why??”

“Gunuu….Y, you set me up…!!”

When I tilted my head deliberately, the little girl gritted her teeth in frustration and glared at me as if she held a grudge. …No, I think it’s your fault for falling for that. I’m worried that you’re going to be fooled by the wrong people.

“Hey! You’re a human being with intelligence! The Demon Lord here is the one and only being who will eventually rule the world and overrun everything! Humans like you are destined to become livestock——”

“Yuriii! For the last time, I told you to stop it! How many times have I told you to call me Luna, not the Demon Lord——”

The green-haired girl, Yuri, lunges at me and screams something I don’t understand, but the little girl, Luna, panics and jumps to cover Yuri’s mouth.

I thought to myself…. ”She looks like a very unhappy little girl”. She’s still a little girl, but she seems to be going through a lot.

Perhaps they’re playing a game or something where they say she’s a demon king. When I was a little, playing hero was popular in my village…..If you’re a girl, maybe playing demon king is popular.

“…”

I glanced over at the two of them to get a better look.

There was a young girl with a smooth golden haircut below her chin with slightly curled ends and,

A young girl with deep jade green hair that reaches her waist and who looks like a ladylike young lady when she doesn’t open her mouth.

“….I see.”

The two had one thing in common: They both wore clothes that looked so cheap that you could buy them at any thrift store.

They were dressed like some slum kids or a slave….Which is definitely not the case.

If so…These two girls may be the henchmen of some lady, or they may be girls who have fallen from nobility and have become commoners.

Or maybe they lined up in the morning to get a lottery ticket, but didn’t win or couldn’t buy one, and out of desperation tried to break in.

Well, either way, stealing is a crime. It is necessary to take appropriate measures….But.

“——Hold on a second.”

“Y…Yes?”

That’s all I said and headed to the back door for the store. Luna was puzzled and had a question mark above her head, but I didn’t explain and walked.

I then took out the duplicate key for the employees that Char had given me, opened the back door, and went inside.

“This, this….And this….Well, that’s about it.”

I took a few snacks that caught my eye from the showcase of glittering sweets and stuffed them into my handbag.

“——I’ll give you this, so hurry home. Your parents will be worried.”

Then I returned to Luna and the others and presented them with a basket full of sweets.

Luna stared back and forth between me and the basket of sweets with a puzzled look on her face, as if she didn’t understand the situation, and said, “Eh, you’re giving me this?”. I nodded my head.

…Apart from that, I could have taken appropriate action and taken them to the Knights.

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But as I looked at this frightened little girl, I thought….Well, I can make an exception this time.

Besides, it’s a fact that it’s dangerous to make noise in front of the store after closing time when the sun is almost down. So, I gave them the sweets they wanted and asked them to quickly leave.

But, I’m not doing this out of the goodness of my heart. I’m not that good of a person.

That’s why this action is not a good intention, but a good deed…..If I let these girls go and they get kidnapped or die, I would definitely have had a hard time sleeping. So….Everything I’ve done now is for me. It’s for my sake.

“Th, there are so many….! Y, you’re a good guy, aren’t you!? I’ll never forget what you did for me!!”

Luna’s eyes sparkled as if she finally understood the situation, and she held the basket full of sweets with a very happy face.

“Ah, I’ve got some money——”

“I don’t want your money. In exchange——Don’t ever do that again. You understand?”

She tried to take money out of her pocket, but I refused and told her so. Luna looked at me with sparkling, pure eyes and nodded her head.

In the first place, I was told by Char that I could come to the store anytime and take sweets for free. So there is no need for money.

“I really….wanted to try it once before I died…..I’ve been standing in line since morning many times, but I didn’t win the lottery and couldn’t buy any candy, I lost my wallet and had to sell the clothes I was wearing…..I thought it was the only way——”

“I, I see….”

Luna murmurs with a tragic expression. She looks more like a little girl in an unfortunate situation than I thought. I’m starting to feel sorry for her.

“….But, I guess humans are good people after all! They’re so different from that black demon!”

“The Black Demon?”

I don’t know who she’s talking about, but I think she’s playing “Demon King” and she’s using that name for someone she doesn’t like.

I used to call a dark monster “Abyss Apostle” when I was suffering from puberty-related illness. I guess it’s similar.

“Hmm! Is it possible for a human-like you to gain the favor of the Demon Lord——”

“——Yuri! …See you again, red person! I will never forget this debt in the name of Luna Dulke Eucharis!”

Luna held Yuri, who was still poking at her, with her hand, waving, and hugging the basked with great care.

“…They were a weird bunch, weren’t they.”

Well, now there won’t be any sickening news on the front page of tomorrow’s magic newspaper. No worries!

Okay, I’ll go home, have dinner and go to bed. I think I’m going to sleep well today.

“……Hmm?”

I tried to go home at once——But I suddenly felt like I was forgetting something, so I stopped.

“——That’s right. More importantly…I have to somehow get money.”

It had completely slipped my mind after the powerful encounter, but I remembered my original goal: I had to make money. I had completely forgotten.

“What do I do…..Hmmm….”

I tried to twist my brain, but I couldn’t come up with any innovative ideas. There’s no time to lose before the magic tournament…. That’s right, how about participating in gambling that takes place within the magic tournament to predict who will win and who will lose?

…No, come to think of it, I don’t think participants are supposed to bet on themselves. But I don’t want to play a game where I don’t know who’s going to win, and I don’t know anyone I can trust to bet on me…..Hmm, trust?

“——!”

Click! A revelatory epiphany landed in my head. I couldn’t help but feel like praising myself for being a genius.

“Hey, you two from earlier! I’m going to need you to pay me back for what I did for you——”

I ran to the two people I had just given sweets to, who were still in sight, and proposed a deal to them, who looked at me strangely.

The reactions of the two were contrasting: Luna’s was negative, Yuri’s was positive.

In the end, I persuaded the anxious Luna to go along with my innovative plan. The money problem is now solved. I did it.