CH 89

Chapter 89 : Length of Life

T/N: You know, after a long hiatus the author’s style really changed. Now she likes to write longer paragraphs compared to before.

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I was groaning while thinking of a plan to capture the Hero when Velke, who had been staying quiet all this time, proposed a plan with a demure expression on his face. 

“That’s right, it’s not a solution but I do know something that can work to fight the current’s generation Hero.”

“Huh?! Is there a way to fight him?!”

“Master, you won’t choose this method. I’m sure of it.”

“Isn’t it fine if I hear it first?!”

After I kept pressing him on, Velke finally talked while choosing his words carefully. 

“We simply need to wait for the Hero to die. After that we can proceed with our path toward peace.”

“Huh? But the Hero is so strong, the normal kind of attack won’t affect him.”

“No matter how omnipotent your magic, power and divine blessing, you’ll bound to die eventually.”

“Huh???”

“Human’s lifespan is roughly 80 years. Compared to a demon’s life span, 80 years is just like a blink of an eye.”

“O-Oooh!!”

Certainly, you will eventually die no matter how strong you are.

“You’re right but…”

“In another 50 years, the Hero’s physical body will deteriorate. It will be easier to handle him compared to now.”

“U-Uwah…. You’re right.. You’re right but…”

“But Master, you won’t choose that method, right?”

“Well… Yeah… He’s the strongest Hero out of all generations and.. Killatur is also the Hero that saved humanity by killing the previous generation Maou so he has a lot of influence over the humans….”

“I knew Master would say that.”

Velke really knew me inside out, he already knew before he told me that I’d be reluctant to go with his plan. 

Which reminds me, I had a question related to this topic.

“I’ve been wondering…. A lot of demons still look beautiful even though they’re old, don’t they? Even Chaos, the dark dragon who had been living like a retired old man while waiting for his time to die, looked like a handsome DILF.”

Is it because you’re immortal?

Was what I wanted to ask but I swallowed that question down and asked another one instead. 

Velke had also lived for a long time but he still looked so young.

“A demon’s lifespan or age and their youthful appearance is not related. I couldn’t speak for all demon races but generally speaking, the higher your magic power is, the longer your lifespan is and the stronger you are, the more beautiful your physical appearance is. Also because we’re constantly fighting for various reasons, many demons have a sturdy body that can hold out even when we’re on the brink of death. Because of that, the physical appearance doesn’t really change much after we’ve reached adulthood.”

“Strong and beautiful… The demons who are serving me right now are mostly very beautiful too…”

So is it because you’re immortal?

Was what I wanted to ask but of course I swallowed it down again.

“They’re the ones that are able to survive when the humans are trying to destroy demonkind after all. Of course most of them can be called one of the strongest in their race.”

“I see… If that’s the case then shouldn’t my face become a little bit better now after I’ve gained so much magic power….? But why… My face still looks so… Ordinary….”

I slapped my face with my small hands repeatedly as I grumbled.

“It’s because Master is already charming enough.”

Velke stroked my cheeks gently as he said so.

I stole a glance at him, as expected he looked as dashing as ever. 

There was not a single scratch on his unblemished face. 

I never told it to Velke and the others but I hope I could be a little bit cooler too.

{{For Maou, the deciding factor is your soul, not your magic power.}}

If you’re going to pick a soul from somewhere, shouldn’t you give a ‘beautification’ option as a bonus?!

{{The God specifically chose you because your soul is so ordinary and plain so the Hero won’t be able to find you. After all, your soul lacks the dignity and beauty of a Maou. Your face gives the impression of “I’m not assertive”~ Or “I’m harmless”~>

I feel like the system just said something incredibly mean to me…..

“So Velke’s race is also one of the race that hardly changes after reaching adulthood?”

“That’s right. My appearance hardly changed after I became an adult. Even among the Velluclesis race, my magic power is pretty high that’s why I have a long lifespan. Including the time when I was held captive, I’ve lived for 600 years. I think I still have roughly 120 years left to live.”

“What?!”

It was hard to say whether 120 years was a long or a short time but he really caught me off guard when he gave me the exact number like that.

“Velke… So we can only be together for about 120 years more…?”

“…. Maou-sama, when you tug on my clothes with your eyes wet like this, it makes me lose my reason and wants to push you down…. Nonetheless, we still have a long way to go. I’ll be sure to stay with you until the end.”

“Uuuh… Uuuuuh….”

“Come on, blow your nose first…. Even if we have to say goodbye, I’ll come back to you right after.”

I blew my nose with the handkerchief Velke pulled out of his coat.

{{ Well, the soul will go through the cycle of life after all. The demons who are serving you right now are deeply attached to you so there’s a chance they might be reborn early, you know? Maou’s lifespan can exceeds ten thousand years so if you just wait for it, they will be reborn on their own.}}

Really? Is that how it works?

{{ That’s how the cycle of soul in this world works. God just keeps on recycling and recycling the souls over and over again.}}

Now that I think about it, this world’s God is kinda negligent, huh….

{{ You’re right… God decided that making a Maou’s soul from scratch to revive demonkind is troublesome so God just picked an existing soul and be done with it.}}

To think I was picked because God deemed it was troublesome….

I have this mixed feeling inside of my heart when I remember the reason I was chosen in the first place too…

“Well then, let’s put a stop to this topic. I will end up feeling sad instead. Now the topic about the Hero… Will be put on hold for an indefinite future!”

“Understood.”

I have been taking care of all different kinds of problems since this morning so I’ve become a little tired. 

I wanted to take a break for a moment…

Just when I was about to take my well deserved rest, two small figures of a demon came trotting to me. 

“Maou-sama~~~”

“Oh! Mist!”

“Wait, Mist! You mustn’t disturb Maou-sama!”

The dark elf’s child, Mist and velluclesis’s child, Lucis came into the hall.

“…. Mist, Lucis. Don’t disturb Maou-sama. Maou-sama is still working right now.”

Velke reprimanded the children.

Certainly the topic we had discussed was not suitable for children….

“Velke-sama! I’ve come to protest! The adults are… Hogging Maou-sama all to themselves! Not fair!! We also want to spend time talking with Maou-sama!!”

“Mist! I told you we shouldn’t do this! Ever since Maou-sama got better, he’s been busy with work so we shouldn’t disturb him!”

“Don’t wanna! …. The others are also missing Maou-sama… Everyone also wants to see Maou-sama looking all healthy…”

Aaaaah…. That’s right….

The children were also worried about me when I was mourning about Blob…

I had been busy dealing with all sorts of problems right after I returned to work.

I had forgotten about my daily visit to the Fountain of Life and the children’s nursery…

Mist was a little mischievous but ever since the incident where he and the others escaped from Maou’s Castle, Mist had been taking care of the other children. 

That must be why he came here as the representative of the children. 

“Okay, Velke. Can you please adjust my work for this afternoon? I’m going to play with the children.”

“Understood. If that’s what Master wills then… I will go talk to the kitchen staff to prepare pancakes for an afternoon snack.”

As expected from Velke! He knows me so well!

“Really?! Maou-sama! I’m so happy!”

Lucis seemed more ecstatic than Mist.

He must’ve tried to stop Mist out of a sense of duty but actually he also wanted to play with me so badly. 

“All right! I will play whatever games you guys want to play! What should we play? ‘Tag, you’re it?’? Or hide and seek?”

“Tag you’re ‘it’..? Oh! Tag you’re Hero! It’s a game where we have to run to avoid the ‘Hero’!”

Uwah… I kinda expected it but they really hate the Hero, huh…

“Mist, you always take the role of the first aide. You need to let the smaller one be the first aide once in a while!”

“Eeeeeh?~ But I won’t give up the role of being Maou-sama’s most trusted aide~”

Be Maou-sama…? Oh! It’s like playing house…? Pretend play?

“What exactly do you do when you play ‘Be Maou-sama’?”

“One person be Maou-sama and the other be the aide then the aide will pledge their loyalty to the one playing as Maou-sama!~”

“Then the kid who plays as Hero will come then we will all band together to kill him!~ The Hero’s part is the least popular so we are taking turns on becoming the Hero!~”

That.. Is it fun…?

“Okay, okay. I understand, then let’s play….. Ugh!!”

Suddenly, a warning sound rang inside my mind. 

The warning stopped as quickly as it came but it seemed there was something in the forest. 

“Maou-sama, are you alright?”

“This is… In the forest… A demon? But why… He’s limping… Maybe he’s injured…”

I used ‘Detection’ as soon as I knew there was a demon. 

LV 15 Werewolf

Status : Hurt

Injured Part : Leg

“Mist, Lucis, I’m sorry. I need to postpone our play time a little bit. There’s an injured demon in the forest. Perhaps he’s running away from the human. I have to save him soon.”

“!!! We… Understand… Maou-sama, we’re fine so please quickly help the injured demon!” 

Lucis said.

“Maou-sama, promise us! You will play with us later!”

“Yes, I promise!”

Sensing how grave the situation was, Mist and Lucis obediently listened. 

Sorry, Mist, Lucis.

“For now, since I don’t know his exact coordinates, I need to project the image of the forest first…”

I used magic to project several images of the forest inside the hall. 

After switching several images, we finally found the image of a demon that looked like a humanoid dog with a bloody leg, limping in the forest. 

“This is it! Umm… Now I need to close all the image but this one… Enlarge it.. Ugh… Where is this….”

“Me! Me! Me! I know where he is! I’m going to go for a bit!”

Mist, who had been watching the image beside me, widened his eyes at the realization.

His eyes shined before he suddenly disappeared.

“Mist!! Ah! You idiot!!”

In the next moment, on the image of the forest projected in the hall, Mist appeared beside the limping werewolf. 

『 Maou-sama~~ Look~~ Look~~ This is what you call ‘noblesse oblige’, right?~~ As a higher ranking demon, I’m helping an injured demon!~』

He waved his hand in the air proudly.

“Y-yeahー You’re right but, no that’s not it! The location is… But you’re amazing! You can teleport to the demon’s exact location!”

『Which reminds me, I’m not good at healing magic. How do I teleport another demon with me…? 』

Amazing! I really didn’t expect Mist could do that!

Jill and Joe, who had been watching his son ever since he entered the hall, approached me. 

“Mist, you’re doing something without thinking first again.”

“I wonder who he’s taken after.”

“He detected the demon’s presence then teleported to that exact coordinates.”

“He’s got excellent detection skills.”

“He’s able to do what even Maou-sama couldn’t do in an instant.”

“He teleported to that exact location without any transition.”

「「Maybe our son is a genius?」」

I thought they were going to scold their son but I was wrong.

They were boasting about their son instead.

“Geez, Mist! Even though you haven’t learned how to teleport several solid objects! Maou-sama, my apologies, I couldn’t stop him. The only thing I was able to do was cast magic on Mist’s clothes….”

“No, Lucis was able to mark Mist’s clothes in a split second. You did great!”

“I couldn’t stop him though… But since I was able to put a mark on him, we can catch up to him in no time!”

“No, you really have helped us!”

Lucis seemed to be able to guess what Mist was about to do and cast marking magic at that moment. 

“I’m going to pick Mist up with Lucis. Lucis, give me your hand.”

“Yes, father. This is the coordinate of the mark.”

“To be able to make a decision calmly in an instant… My son must be a genius.”

Velke countered the dark elves boasting with his own.

Velke used teleportation magic and appeared in the bushes near Mist. 

『My coordinates are a little off.. I’m sorry, father.』

『It’s alright to miss this much. Let’s go grab those two and return to the castle.』

『Yes, father.』

『Oi! Lucis! Velke-sama! Here!』

Mist, who was staying by the werewolf waved his hand.

『We’re goin-………!!!』

The moment Velke replied to Mist.

The world was filled with murderous intent. 

―――WARNING WARNING WARNING

A loud clanking warning reverberated inside my head.

Velke immediately pushed Lucis deeper into the bush and set out three layers of barrier in front of Mist and the injured werewolf.

But it was not enough.

While Velke put barrier after barrier to deflect the absolute attack magic, Velke spread a magic thread toward Mist and werewolf.

The moment the thread touched the two of them, Velke immediately teleported them back to the castle.

Had Velke been late even by a second.

The two of them would’ve vaporized into thin air.

The absolute holy magic attack that broke through the barriers, left a hole on the ground and dissolved the surrounding vegetation. 

In the hall of Maou’s Castle, Mist and werewolf appeared while unconscious.

It seemed the power from the absolute was so overwhelming it made the two of them faint.

The nearby demon immediately brought them to the nursery ward but that was not our main concern.

I didn’t think- No. I hadn’t even thought of it.

『The recent attack on a facility that experiments on demon.』

creak

The ground that he stepped upon melted and creaked like a fine porcelain.

『There hadn’t been any sighting of demon in this forest so I never gave it a second thought but…』

creak

『To think a dark elf child would come after I let an injured demon roamed free…』

creak

If we, the demon, could hide our presence as a demon well.

creak

『If there’s a child, that means there’s a settlement nearby. So….』

That meant the other side could do the same thing as well.

creak

『I’ve seen your face before. I never thought you were a demon.』

There he was, the absolute strongest, the incredibly overpowered enemy of demons…

The strongest Hero, Killatur was here.

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T/N: Noooo! I want Velke and Maou to be together FOREVERRRRR!!! (ಥ﹏ಥ)