Chapter 89 - Emergency Medical Aid

Chapter 89 - Emergency Medical Aid

「It’s you, blockhead? So you could still move… look, I’m already finished, leave and go somewhere else. The Evil Dragon doesn’t seem to have much interest in trash like you either.」

「Exactly, I have no reason to let a Demon King Commander go just based on the wishes of someone like you. If you have any objections then I shall return you to nothingness.」

「Ahh… If I can’t save the life of my master then return me to nothingness first. A doll who has lost its master is worthless.」

Rēko then silently turned her right hand towards him. She’ll probably release some kind of energy wave from her hand and annihilate him - if it’s this girl, she can probably do it. The Ikumen puppet clenched his teeth and tightened his fists as he readied himself for death.

「Kuh, I apologize, my master… It was all my fault for needlessly provoking the Evil Dragon that your life had to end here in some unknown place.」

「Hah, don’t worry about it blockhead. As a proud Demon King Commander, I challenged the Evil Dragon—’s kin. This end, if the Demon King were to know of it, he would definitely praise me…」

「Even if you say that, master. I don’t think that the Demon King Army, even including Demon King himself, would mourn for your death. Loyalty is a doll’s very greatest trait but, for one as great as you to be bound by loyalty… You should have much more freedom. Even now, the invitations that you excitedly write to gather the Demon King Commanders, the number who turn up are only a few…」

「Shut up!」

Sousou roared angrily.

But, Rēko used her hand to seal the rabbit doll’s mouth. The rabbit doll struggled hard but of course it had no effect on Rēko.

「Hoh, I’m very interested in the inner workings of the Demon King Army. Continue speaking, mannequin.」

「Master… was originally a doll owned by a young magician girl. The doll was then stained by the owner’s magic power and eventually became a living doll but… with a careless mistake, it spoke. The owner then discarded it because it was creepy.」

「Well, normally, that would be the case」

In fact, it could be considered good luck that it wasn’t deemed as a magic beast and put down then and there.

「So from that grudge, my master swore that she would destroy humanity.」

「Isn’t its determination a bit too amazing? Why not keep your grudge down to the micro scale?」

「After a long journey of training my master gained tremendous power, but even so, it was difficult to destroy humanity alone. Which led my master to start gathering comrades but… that’s where the problems started. It’s the appearance. My master’s lovely appearance couldn’t inspire other demons to follow.」

Under Rēko’s hand, Sousou objected heavily. It repeatedly said “Heelyu!”, probably it was trying to say “I’ll kill you!”

「And so, my master could only choose to reach out to the Demon King Army who were recruiting- what came back suddenly was a notice of suddenly being promoted to a Commander. My master was in joy, and in her joyful momentum, proposed an event called the commander gathering but no one turned up to the first meeting… Especially you, Revendia. There was even a specially prepared seat for you as the main guest…」

「Ah, yeah, I’m really sorry. Although I had no idea at all, I’m sorry anyway.」

Within Rēko’s arms, Sousou dropped it’s limbs lifelessly, if you want to kill me, do it fast, or so it wanted to say. It appears that the Ikumen doesn’t realize that trying to save his master’s life ended up with him slowly executing his master’s mentality.

「During the second gathering, the invitations had a little something extra to it. “Participants will each receive a medium class living doll to use as your pawn”, and this worked. Although the higher up commanders were the same as before and didn’t participate but from areas that lacked manpower, the commanders there showed some reactions. In fact, I was also one made to be an extra for that gathering. The spiritual demon Lord “Hollow” created a clone and possessed an aggregated pile of butter to attend but at least some participation is still participation…」

「Rēko, I’m starting to get sad over this talk, isn’t it about time to end this conversation?」

「You can shut up now, mannequin. Anymore and it will be jarring to Lord Evil Dragon’s ears.」

「I say nay! Female kin of the Evil Dragon! Using my life in exchange, I won’t shut up! I will tell the tale of how pitiable and sad my master’s life is! I have the duty to convey the sadness and anguish of my master’s life! Nothing shall stop me!」

Meanwhile, Sousou tried to release magic threads from its hand to strangle itself.

To those suicidal tendencies, Rēko stopped them all.

But, the public execution didn’t continue for long. The Ikumen puppet demon fell to his knees and collapsed to the ground, his breathing was rough.

「Kuh, It seems my life is at its limits… It can’t be helped. I’ll explain in simple words.」

「You would go so far as to shorten the tale of your master’s life?」

He ignored my comment since he had no time.

「In conclusion, my master just wanted some friends. Even after knowing such misery, will you still insist on taking my master’s life, Evil Dragon…?」

「I think what you just did was the same as taking your master’s life.」

The rabbit doll in Rēko’s hand curled up and trembled in embarrassment - on the other hand, the one who stabbed it was talking as compassionately as possible.

With that, the Ikumen squeezed out the last of his powers to crawl up toward me and then whispered quietly -

「…So that’s the case Revenedia. Order that girl to spare my master’s life, otherwise, using the last power of my life, I’ll end you here.」

Towards my chest, he held his shaking fist up.

His movements were so feeble that Rēko didn’t even bother to care about him but if he attacked with mutual destruction in mind then I have no confidence that I would survive.

Immediately I burst into cold sweat and whispered back.

「Y, you- I’m the Evil Dragon you know? That kind of attack would never work on me.」

「Ahh, it’s true that from seeing your kin’s strength and your appearance, whichever one represents the one and only Evil Dragon. However, concerning your own strength, I hold many doubts- In reality, in addition to the response from you during our first fight, the Saintess from Seiren also said you were weak…」

The Ikumen puppet glared at me with a face saying “I thought so”.

「If you spare my master now, I would not tell anyone of this. My master included, and of course the Demon King Army. If you don’t believe me, then after this, you may destroy me. On my pride as a doll, I swear to protect my oath. Otherwise prepare for mutual destruction right now.」

This is troubling. If I died, Rēko would turn into something unthinkable.

I turned towards him and whispered “Really?” repeatedly and he nodded with a serious expression.

「Okay. It’s a deal then. Rēko, Let go of that Demon King Commander-」

「Hey Sousou, you see, in that case, why don’t you quit the Demon King Army and come become my friend? I’ll treat you real well~. I’ll clean you everyday and prepare beautiful clothes for you.」

By the time Ikumen-san and I turned back, Sheina was already performing solicitations.

It was apparent that she had evil intentions by bringing Sousou into her control.

「What the hell are you doing? Even for an instant, it’s the opponent we were fighting just a while ago you know.」

「Ehh, after all, it seems like if you butter it up a bit, it’ll become an ally of the humans.」

「Don’t you change your pace a bit too fast? Like with the spirit, if you get a chance, you’ll be soliciting someone.」

「Well calm down Lord Evil Dragon. Just leave it to me for now, if it goes well, we’ll gain a strong ally…」

However, as expected, the Ikumen puppet won’t be deceived by her ulterior motives so easily.

「My master, you can’t be deceived by such sweet words. That is merely an evil plot by a human aiming for your strength. I beg you to not be deceived… Master? Master?」

Sousou was silent.

If you look at it now, the magic power that was filling it up until now was leaking and gradually turning it into a normal doll.

Rēko closed her eyes.

「So it was satisfied and then purified huh…」

「That’s impossible! I won’t let that happen! Master! You don’t have anyone who you can call a friend! What she said before was all lies! You’re born lonely and will not be loved by anyone! Even if you look above the heavens and down on the earth, you’ll not find anyone who will be your friend! I beg you to accept your loneliness and return to this world!!」

The doll that was lifeless a moment ago, returned to life with a “gugu” sound as if an angry soul flew back in. Ikumen-san looked at his master who regained life and breathed a sigh of relief, then dashed back towards me.

「It’s too soon to know what will happen. Evil Dragon! I beg you to insult and show contempt towards my master without remorse! I would be troubled if it became satisfied and left this world. “I’ve never had you in my eyes” or “Bastard that only knows how to play with dolls”, use something along those lines to abuse my master.」

「You… Have you ever thought about wishing your master happiness once in your life?」

「It doesn’t matter what happiness there is, what comes first is saving lives.」

「That’s the right argument but…」

I thought that something was wrong but I nodded towards what he said last.

I walked up towards Sousou.

「Ahh—… Uhhm, I apologize but, I’ve never really had any interest in you so… Sorry.」

With a KAH! A flash of red light appeared within the dolls’ eyes.

「Ahhhhhhh! Every last one of you is making a fool out of me! Just watch! I’ll definitely get my revenge!」

After saying so, Sousou’s body was wrapped in purple magic power and surprisingly was able to free itself from Rēko’s hands.

At that point, Rēko just tried to finish it off with her dagger and released a slash but-

「Don’t think that I would be afraid of a mere kin!」

Towards that slash, Sousou received it from the front. Although Rēko didn’t go all out, she also didn’t hold back.

The whole area trembled like an earthquake occured from the collision of magic power.

-The result, Rēko’s slash was dismantled.

「Master! Please retreat!」

「Shut up! I know!」

In an instant, strings stretched toward the sky beyond the horizon and Sousou, who was wrapped in strings flew through the air.

Rēko also grew her wings and attempted to follow up but-

「Stop Rēko. It’s fine to let them go.」

The Ikumen puppet glared at me so I had no choice but to stop her.

「But Lord Evil Dragon. To stop my slash, that demon’s somewhat strong. If we let it escape now, who knows what it will do in the future.」

「Well… It’ll be fine. It didn’t seem to be extremely evil or anything but it did seem to be a bit pitiful.」

「So it ran away huh. It would have been interesting if I could have become it’s friend~」

Sheina kicked a few pebbles in dejection but to refresh herself, she then picked up the spirit from the ground.

Released from the control of Sousou, it went back to looking leisurely and bit sleepy.

Although it could be said to be dangerous back there, it’s safe to say that the danger’s past.

「It’s good that you’re safe, my master… I wish you happiness…」

Meanwhile, the Ikumen puppet was happily shedding tears of joy while kneeling towards the direction Sousou disappeared toward. This led to Sheina also looking in that direction, then she seemed to realize something. From her pocket, she took out a compass and compared the direction to the needle.

「That direction seems to be the direction of the capital of our country… Is it going to be okay?」

From the bottom of my heart welled up a touch of unease.