CH 355

“Are you stupid!”

The most rational and mild-mannered person in the Demon World.

I was also known to have a brilliant mind. But now I was being thoroughly rebuked.

And called stupid as well.

It was kind of depressing.

“Uh, General… The thing is…”

As I started to make excuses, she shouted at me and asked why I hadn’t been listening during the meeting.

Well, it was a meeting for the three Generals, and I had been a special participant.

It would have been normal to think that something was up.

“And you just had to be in agreement…”

General Farneze shook her head.

As for why this was such a big deal, it was because it would decide who would take Melvis’s place.

In typical Demon World fashion, it would be decided through combat.

Surely the strongest person in the country should represent Melvis? And so four people including me had been chosen.

And now there will be a tournament.

Well, you couldn’t argue that this wasn’t the best way to figure out who was the strongest.

In order to be the winning school in highschool baseball, you had to work your way up in a tournament, playing against other schools.

The team that never loses starting from the preliminaries is the only team that can win. It was just like that.

“…So in other words, it will be at least one fight, and two at the most.”

Indeed, it was very troublesome, but I could bear that much.

“Surely you don’t actually believe that you can take Melvis’s place?”

But it had already been decided in the meeting.

What did this mean?

I inspected General Farneze’s face and tried to imagine what was worrying her.

There were four people who could enter the tournament.

The person who won every battle would be the victor, and would take the position as Melvis’s representative.

That was fine. The General had already explained it to me.

But what did she say after that?

“Surely you don’t actually believe that you can take Melvis’s place?”

In other words, it meant that even if I won, I would not be able to transition to that position smoothly.

“…Do you mean Gekokujyo?”

Would people come to take my seat?

“This won’t be any usual Gekokujyo. The subordinates of the other Generals will challenge you one after another.”

“Oh…I see.”

In order to allow their leader to win… No, it probably wasn’t that.

In other words, they wanted to be a part of the top four.

After all, power was everything in the Demon World.

And they were too stupid to let an opprotunity like this pass them by.

And out of the top four, I would be seen as the one they had the best chance of defeating.

I was just General Farneze’s subordinate. I wasn’t a General.

So they would kill me and take away my right to fight.

Yes, it would not be surprising if I was attacked. No, it would be surprising if I wasn’t.

“You think they’ll target me?”

“Of course.”

Her answer was so blunt.

The days passed, and the day of the tournament arrived.

A lot had happened.

For instance, the Demon World was a lot quieter now.

There were some upstarts here and there, but Melvis went to them and made them quiet.

Quite a lot of them would remain quiet forever.

After that, it was quiet everywhere.

It was a good thing.

Today, the only place that wasn’t quiet in the Demon World, was Melvis’s country.

As it was the day that the top four would decide who amongst them was the strongest, warriors from all over the world had come to watch the fight.

“You were all just warring a short while ago!” I wanted to shout.

But now they were gossiping like old friends.

In fact, even though people from countries that were hostile against each other were here, no fights had erupted.

No one would be so foolish when this close to Melvis…well, there were a small few, but not any more. And there never would be again.

And so everyone was well mannered.

“Are you serious?”

I sighed as I watched the people from other countries gather around.

Had the Demon World always been this lively?

I thought they were the types who hated communicating?

Weren’t they the kind of people who immediately started fighting when coming face to face?

Why were they talking so peacefully to each other?

“The day has come then.”

General Farneze walked up to me.

She was covered in what looked like peacock feathers.

“You’re especially sparkly today.”

“It’s my special treasure. A set of armor. While it draws a lot of attention, I had to be safe. And so I wore my strongest set.”

“So you really worry about it. What might happen.”

“Of course. I am going to fight with the intention of killing. There is no room to hold back. I will not.”

In other words, we’ll only survive if we’re lucky? That’s the level of battle we were going into.

Well, I suppose you had to do it. Or you would be the one who was killed.

“If you do go against me, please be gentle.”

Our opponents hadn’t been announced yet.

In fact, we were going to draw lots on the spot in order to decide.

I had heard that they just had ‘first’ or ‘after’ written on them.

“Still, it’s impressive that you lasted this long.”

General Farneze said with a thoughtful voice as she turned to me.

“Yes. I thought I was dead ninety-five percent of the time.”

As the General had predicted, warriors from all over the country had come to challenge me.

And day after day, I had to fight them.

I didn’t like being so popular.

As I was General Farneze’s subordinate, they thought I would be easier to defeat.

And there were some who just wanted to wound me in order to give their master an advantage, or fight me until I was exhausted.

Still, I destroyed each and every one of them.

That being said, just as she said, there were several attacks that could have killed me had I made a mistake.

There were many dangerous moments, but I had somehow come out without being badly injured.

General Tulart was the second most popular after me.

He was a new General after the recently deceased General Gorgodan, and so many thought that he lacked experience.

Besides, there were some who were mystified that I had been chosen at all, and they wondered, ‘perhaps Golan is actually really strong?’ and so they targeted General Tulart instead.

It was a good decision. Things were easier for me that way.

General Farneze’s subordinates went in that direction in great numbers. But perhaps she had indirectly told them to stay away from me.

I had heard that a few even challenged General Farneze and General Dardaroth, but they were all annihilated with ease.

As no one challenged them after that, I was reminded of how different it was when everyone knew how strong you were.

“Golan!”

Someone shouted my name.

“Hmm?”

I turned around to see a familiar face.