CH 34

In a room of an inn on the Lisante road near the convention site, with the sign “Krull’s Inn” written on the wall.

“Kuukuukuu….Hahaha, hahaha…..HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!”

A man was laughing loudly, as he couldn’t stop laughing.

“Kukuku….Just as planned….!”

The manーーOr rather, me, Jirei Laro, couldn’t help but look at the scene in front of me, and my face twisted into a villainous grin.

“Phweeeee….Th, that’s a lot of money! One, two…..I, I can’t even begin to count them all…..!?”

Luna, a young girl sitting nearbyーーAlso saw this, and seemed to shiver with fear.

The second day of the magic convention was over and the sun was about to set for the evening.

Since thenーーI won the first and second rounds of the magic tournament in good form, and I’ve also won the third and fourth rounds on the second day…..And safely got passed through the A block.

Incidentally, all the matches I participated were ended in an instant by using magic bullets as soon as the match started to extinguish my opponents before they could feel any pain.

The result. A new star “Loray the magic bullet user” suddenly appeared, and I was surrounded by other participants and reporters. …I have no problem because I escaped from them.

In addition, I was wearing my “hana-glasses” throughout the tournament, so my face was not visible.

Now that I’ve changed my hair to red with the ring and my convention name is a pseudonym, there’s no inconvenience at all, no matter how conspicuous I am. Perfect.

And nowーーーI’ve moved to an inn, piled up the gold coins I’ve earned and I’m enjoying myself.

“ーーーBut still, you were that strong!? You took them all with one punch, one punch! That’s amazing!”

Luna, perhaps excited by a pile of gold she had never seen before, repeatedly asked, “Why are you so strong!?”, I answered, “I’ve been training my muscles and defeating demons”.

“Fuhe…..With all this money….We can buy lots of cute clothes that would look good on the Demon Lord, and even build a house just for the two of us, without telling Dole and FiaーーーFuhe, fuhehehehe”

Yuri was staring at the pile of gold coins, and with a disheveled look on her face, she was off to her fantasy world.

“…That’s right! Demon Lord, let’s bet all this on tomorrow’s game, where this person will be playing! Then we won’t have to worry about money for the rest of our lives!”

“Good idea, Yuri! Red manーーーOr rather, ‘Loray’, I bet everything on you! I’ve chosen you!!”

Luna pointed at me with a lively voice.

“……Sorry to break up the excitement, but you can’t bet on the final round because it’s a no-go.”

When I say something like that, the of them clearly dejected, “Ah, I see…..”

These two are not suited for gambling because they get easily heated up. One minute they’re making money, the next moment it’s gone.

Also, Loray is my tournament name, and my real name is Jirei…….Well, it’s too much trouble to correct them, so I’ll just leave it as it is.

“…..Okay. I’ll take this one from here. I’ll see you laterーー”

As I was about to walk away.

“H, hey, wait a minute, Loray! You’re obviously getting less than I am…..?”

Luna pointed at the bag of gold coins (about 10 million rien) that I had picked up to take with me.

“…Well, I got your help this time. I couldn’t have done it without you guys, so I’m fine with this much.”

“B….but! If you put it that way, we owe it all to Loray for inviting us…..And since I bet 30k and you bet 30k as well, we might as well split itーーー”

Luna is not convinced and does not back down, even though I tell her this is fine.

“….I don’t really need much money because I just want to be able to relax. And the reason I wanted money this time because I needed it.”

And….For some reason, if you have a lot of money for nothing, you frequently get in trouble.

There was a time when I was trying to earn enough money to be a hermit for the rest of my life just in case I didn’t become the king, but when I had accumulated a considerable amount of money, something troublesome happened and it all disappeared.

In the worst cases, I’ve spent more than I had, and before I knew it….I was in debt. It makes no sense at all.

So I basically try not to have more money than I need.

If I need money, I just earn it, and I have no desire to live a luxurious life. If I have a lot of money once in a while and can buy magic tools, that’s fine with me.

There are rare cases when I suddenly need money like this time, but….Still, I have managed somehow every time so far.

So, there’s no problem. Besidesーー

“…Well, why don’t you use the money to buy clothes or snacks or something? And if you had the money, you wouldn’t be bad kids and try to steal from us.”

Glancing at Luna and Yuri’s shabby clothes, I shrug my shoulders.

I had no choice but to do this because I don’t want them to steal from the store like they did the other day.

According to what I’ve heard, they are traveling together and from what I’ve seen……They don’t seem to have any parental figures. Yuri seems to be the older sister, but I don’t think they are related because of the different hair color.

“Really, really….You are a good man! I’ve never seen such a kind person….!”

With a twinkle in her eye, Luna somehow says such a thing in an impressed manner.

“You did it, Demon Lord! Then let’s use this money to buy some clothes that would suit you! Let’s go, let’s go right now!”

“A, alright, don’t grab my clothes! Stupid, you’ll rip them off!”

Yuri was huffing and yelling with her cheeks reddened and flirting with Luna. I thought it was a little weird that Yuri was so excited.

….Hmmm? What a déjà vu. I feel like I’ve seen someone who looks like Yuri somewhere….? Well, it must be my imagination. I’m sure I’ve never met Yuri before.

“Human! You seem to be quite yourself, so when the Demon Lord takes over this world, she may let you live speciallyーーー”

“Yuri! Loray is a benefactor of mine, so don’t be rude to him! …Loray, I have finished my business here, and after watching your match tomorrow, I will take a carriage to another city….I look forward to seeing you again! If there’s anything I can do for you then, just let me know!!”

“Oh, I’m looking forward to it too.”

I put a bag full of gold coins into the storage space, and as I opened the door to walk out of the room, I said that without looking at Luna, waving my hand.

…Luna said things like that, but I probably won’t see her again.

It doesn’t happen often that you run into the same person over and over again on your journey. Life is a once-in-a-lifetime encounter.

After checking out, I looked back at Luna, who followed me outside and waved to me with a smile on her face, as if to see me off.

I started walking towards Char’s mansion….To sleep and rest my body for tomorrow’s final battle.