I Saved Too Many Girls and Caused the Apocalypse: Volume 8 Page 2

  “Well, it doesn’t matter. Whatever the reason, they seem to think I’m still the Demon King. Let’s use that to our advantage.” Corona turned to the gatekeeper. “Hmph. I just went for a walk. Hurry up and open the gate already.”

  “Of course, Your Majesty... Wait, who are your guests? I didn’t realize the Demon King had any friends.”

  “...”

  “What’s this? Are they even demons...?”

  “Gatekeepers who take up more than three seconds of my time will be fed to a roc.”

  “I’m opening it right now! Give me a break!”

  The goblin hurriedly threw open the gate.

  “What’s a roc?” I asked.

  “A ferocious bird of prey with a body three meters long.”

  We all followed Corona into the castle after that.

  “The layout of the corridors hasn’t changed... but the interior design has gotten worse.”

  “Hmm... Does that mean someone’s changed things in here?”

  The only one who should have the authority to make changes in the Demon King’s castle should be the Demon King, right...? And since Corona had been sealed away, we knew it wasn’t her.

  I had some doubts about the situation, but at least we’d made it inside safely. Now all that was left was to collect one of Corona’s possessions from Aburaamu.

  “Corona, where’s the item you mentioned?”

  “In the throne room.”

  “The throne room? Why would you put it there and not in your room?”

  “My last day here in the castle was two days before I was sealed in the Ruler’s Dungeon. I hid it in the throne itself so it would be safe. I suspected my successor would throw out anything and everything in my private quarters.” Corona answered my questions in rapid succession as we hurried down the corridor, but her voice slowly faded into a mumble. “...And it was precious to me.”

  What could she have wanted to leave behind even after she was sealed?

  Either way, no one we passed dared to stop a party led by the Demon King, so we arrived at the throne room without a problem. It was heavily decorated with flashy gold and silver treasures. It was impressive, sure, but pretty tacky.

  “This isn’t your style, is it, Corona?”

  “Of course not.” Corona scoffed and looked down at the floor of the throne room. “There’s even a carpet now.”

  “Is that unusual?”

  “There simply aren’t many demons with the skill to craft this kind of thing. While blacksmiths are a dime a dozen... Well, even the guys you passed in the corridor just now were only wearing the top half of their armor. They were basically naked from the waist down.”

  “What?!” the girls all shrieked at Corona’s offhanded comment.

  “Well, they hide what they need to.”

  “No one wants to see naked men in armor, after all,” R said.

  For once, I agreed with her.

  Wait, that meant the goblins, werewolves, and other unidentified creatures we passed just now were all... Nope. I had to stop that train of thought right there. I was about to hurl.

  Overwhelmed by the sudden urge to leave this place, I pointed to the back of the throne room and tried to get things back on track.

  “So, is that the throne?” I asked.

  The intricate throne seemed to be carved into a polished boulder. It sat rather modestly among the other extravagant decorations in the room.

  “This throne has been used by generations of kings. No scoundrel would dare lay a hand on it.”

  Corona mumbled to herself as she approached the throne, which was placed atop a dais. One by one, she ascended the familiar steps up to it... and someone suddenly jumped out of the shadows and swung a bladed object at her. The attacker leaped forward with a yell.

  “Kyeeeh! En garde!”

  “Who are you?”

  “Ack!”

  Corona promptly knocked her attacker down with one hand. He was surprisingly weak...

  “Hmm? Is that you, Eskro?” Belatedly coming to a realization, Corona muttered the assassin’s name.

  “G-Gah! M-My arm! My arm’s broken! S-Someone help, gyah!”

  The demon she called Eskro looked like a bipedal lizard. Unlike the other demons we saw earlier, this guy writhing in agony on the floor was wearing clothes. He was also wearing gold accessories around his wrists and ankles, and a small crown had fallen from his head.

  “Ah... I see now. So you were the one pretending to be the king this whole time. I knew something was weird.”

  Corona narrowed her eyes as she looked down at Eskro, but she didn’t appear to be angry. If anything, she looked exasperated.

  “Gweh! M-My legs are broken, too! I’ll die if you hit me again, gyah!”

  “Your acting is as terrible as ever.”

  “Gyah!”

  Corona planted a kick in Eskro’s gut and sent him rolling along the floor. He bounced two or three times before hitting the wall, then stood up on wobbly legs. Apparently they weren’t broken after all. It seemed Corona had gone easy on him.

  “Um, Corona? Who’s that?” I asked.

  “Eskro. A strategist in my army. He was valued as one of the few demons that could actually use his brain. His only flaws were his compulsive lying and occasional backstabbing. Oh, and his affinity for flashy things that often led to him pocketing army funds. That caused some trouble, too.”

  “Aren’t flaws like that normally considered pretty damning...?”

  “He was originally a refugee from the neighboring territory. In a situation where he only had himself to rely on, he was able to survive this violent world with just his silver tongue. This is the same man that won over the demon leaders, people who are more inclined to talk with their fists than anything else.”

  When she put it that way, it did sound kind of impressive.

  “And his prowess in illusion magic made him useful on the battlefield... You used that magic to deceive the retainers, right?”

  “W-Well... yes. That’s correct, gyah.”

  Eskro confirmed Corona’s theory, then took a folding fan from his breast pocket and started fanning himself.

  “You’ve been living it up in my place, so when I suddenly returned out of the blue, you made a spur-of-the-moment decision to assassinate me.”

  “Y-Yes, gyah....”

  He cowered under Corona’s stone-cold gaze, averting his from everyone. There was a tense pause as the real Demon King glared at the lizard like a predator staring down its prey. Then her expression relaxed as she sighed.

  “Whatever. You’re forgiven.”

  “That was fast!”

  I was surprised at how quickly Corona forgave him.

  “Everything was placed on his shoulders after I was sealed, after all. He could’ve easily elected a new Demon King to do the work instead. And while I didn’t expect him to be slyly impersonating me this whole time, well... from what I saw of the land, he’s been governing the territory well enough. I have no complaints.”

  “Heheh... What royal graciousness, Your Majesty! So understanding, gyah!”

  Eskro picked up the fallen crown and placed it on her head. In his relief at being forgiven, he had immediately turned to flattery. What a suck-up...

  “But why didn’t you use your signature illusion magic just now? You would’ve had a better chance of landing a scratch on me with trickery.”

  “Only a scratch, gyah...? Anyway, I’m out of mana right now.”

  The lizard scratched at his head and laughed sheepishly. Corona cocked her head in confusion.

  “What do you mean you’re out of mana? You lasted three days and three nights during the Spirit War, shielding our base from the prying eyes of the enemies all the while.”

  The Spirit War that Corona was referring to was probably the conflict between spirits and demons that occurred just before she was sealed.

  “Oh, well, about that. It’s Magic Deficiency Syndrome, gyah.”

  “Magic Defici
ency Syndrome?” Corona asked.

  “Oh, right. Your Majesty never falls ill, gyah. It’s a sickness. The same magic-draining sickness that spread through our army during the Spirit War, gyah.”

  “Oh... that kind of rings a bell.”

  “You were there! It was a really rough time for us, gyah. The afflicted soldiers were sapped of their energy along with their mana. They became sluggish and fell behind in marching... Fortunately a strange sickness spread through the spirit army at the same time, so we managed to make it through alive, gyah.”

  “So you’re suffering the same illness again?”

  “It’s pretty much chronic now, gyah. The symptoms subside once all the mana in your body is used up, but they resume once you’ve recovered enough mana, gyah. I can only use my illusions for short periods of time because of it, so now everyone thinks Your Majesty is a shut-in who never leaves her room, gyah.”

  “I see... You’ve had it tough, too.”

  “That’s right, gyah. All the other demons rely on strength rather than magic, so they’ve barely suffered at all while I’ve lived in constant fear of being discovered and killed.”

  Eskro spoke sadly about his woes over the last few hundred years.

  ...Wait, this wasn’t the time to be waxing nostalgic!

  “Hey, uh, Corona... could we wrap up the reminiscing here?”

  “Hm? Oh, that’s right.”

  “Come to think of it, who’re these guys, gyah? Acquaintances of Your Majesty, gyah?”

  Finally taking note of our presence, Eskro curiously tilted his head as he looked at the group of us.

  “Oh, they’re the ones who broke my seal. I owe them my life.”

  “Is that so, gyah? Then thank you for taking care of Her Majesty... unnecessary as it was, gyah.”

  Might wanna watch your tongue, buddy. Got a little honest there at the end.

  Although Corona probably heard Eskro’s mutterings loud and clear, too, she ignored him and headed for the throne. Reaching into a gap between two engravings, she pulled out a small ring.

  “Is that it?” I asked.

  “Yes. This ring belonged to the sorcerer who summoned me to Aburaamu... Pastel. She entrusted it to me when I returned to this world.”

  “I see.”

  I took the ring when she presented it to me, then turned to Harissa.

  “Harissa, do you think you can use this?”

  The only way for us to get to Aburaamu from here was with Harissa’s new spell. And for that to work, we needed an item that had a strong connection to Aburaamu. Would this ring do the trick?

  “Lady Pastel has long passed,” said Harissa. “But there’s a splendid grave for her in the capital. If this ring was hers, that’s where it should take us.”

  “All right!”

  In that case, we should head off immediately—wait!

  “We’ll need to take something with us that has a connection to the spirit world, too.”

  Without that, we wouldn’t be able to return and save Lyun’s story. There was no time to do anything about it while we were fleeing from the Spirit King and his men, but we really should have thought about this sooner. Returning to the spirit world now to get something would waste so much time...

  “Then use this,” Corona offered.

  She took Eskro’s folding fan and tossed it to me. The lizard demon protested with a screech.

  “This guy’s been using that thing for hundreds of years now. I can open the gate to the spirit world anytime, so all we’ll really need to do is get back here.”

  “I see.”

  “Your Majesty! That’s a memento from my great-grandmother!”

  “Liar.”

  “Ugyah!”

  Corona delivered a swift karate chop to his throat to shut him up.

  While I kind of felt bad seeing Eskro snivel so miserably, we didn’t have any more time to waste here. I decided to go with it and borrow the fan for now.

  “All right, let’s head to Aburaamu!”

  ▽

  A blinding flash of white light and a weird floating sensation later, we crossed the boundary between worlds. The first thing that came into view as the magical light faded was a well-maintained grave.

  “There’s no mistaking it. This is the same grave I once saw in a memorial service for Lady Pastel,” Harissa said, nodding with certainty as she looked at the grave.

  At last, we’d finally arrived in Aburaamu.

  “So, this is Harissa’s hometown, huh?” Tsumiki muttered while looking around.

  There wasn’t anything in the immediate area other than the grave.

  “...”

  Harissa seemed a little speechless at her own homecoming, but unfortunately, we didn’t have any time to waste here.

  “That just used up the last catalyst for your new spell, right? We’ll have to get our hands on some more Red Threads.”

  “Ah, yes!” Harissa snapped back into the present.

  “Where can you find them?” I asked.

  “They’re sold at just about any magic shop, but I don’t have any Aburaamian currency on me right now...”

  “You need currency to buy things here?” Lea asked curiously.

  “I have my savings in the bank, but in order to withdraw it, I’d need to go back to the dorms I was living in to get my national sorcerer’s license. It’s pretty far from here, so let’s go to the castle instead.”

  “The same castle you summoned me to before?”

  “Yes. There’s a national magic research facility next to the castle that has all kinds of magical items stocked. You need permission to take them... but I’m sure you could make something work, Sir Rekka.”

  “So, you’re saying I should go throw around my name as the hero to get what I want, and then come back and apologize later?”

  “That... is exactly what I’m saying, yes.”

  It was quite a bold suggestion coming from the usually docile Harissa.

  “But you and your world are in trouble! There’s no time to be fussing over the details.”

  “Yeah...”

  I had to agree with her there. Tsumiki, Lea, and Mio didn’t seem to have any objections to the plan, either. So with that settled, we made to leave... Well, most of us.

  “...Sorry, could you go on ahead? I’ll catch up later,” said Corona.

  Her eyes never left Pastel’s grave. The expression on her face was hard to describe. Her eyes were filled with emotion as she gazed at the name carved into the tombstone. I guess this was the grave of a former comrade of hers...

  “All right. We’ll go ahead.”

  “It’ll take a while to make catalysts from the Red Threads anyway,” Harissa added.

  Corona only nodded in response, not saying a word.

  We left her behind for the time being and headed for the magic research facility. Because the graveyard where Pastel was buried was reserved for the royal family and a select few important people, it wasn’t exactly close to the city. Fortunately, however, the tower of the royal castle was visible even from this distance, so I figured Corona would be able to use that as a landmark to find us later.

  “Come to think of it, we were planning on visiting your village while we were here, Harissa.”

  Now that we were here in Aburaamu, I recalled the reason Harissa had made this new world-jumping spell of hers in the first place. We’d finally made it to her home world—after a few complications here and there—but now we were rushing to leave just as soon as we could. I felt kind of bad for her.

  “Don’t worry. That can wait until another time. Once everything is over, maybe.”

  “Sorry.”

  We all ran down the road leading to the castle. There seemed to be some people in town who recognized me as the hero, but we were hustling along at such a brisk pace that no one stopped us. We couldn’t afford to waste time chatting with the citizens right now. Of course, however, things didn’t go as smoothly once we reached the research facility.


  “Hero!”

  “The missing hero has returned!”

  “Lady Harissa, too!”

  We received a much warmer welcome than expected. Before we knew it, we were surrounded by people clad in robes like what Harissa wore.

  “L-Little ole me ain’t anyone worthy uva title like that!”

  Embarrassed by the way she was being addressed, Harissa’s country accent slipped out. I could sympathize with her. I was pretty embarrassed myself.

  “You really have saved people from everywhere, huh? I guess I knew that already, though,” Tsumiki sighed.

  “Lady Harissa! There are no summoners in the country right now. Please lend your powers once more for the good of Aburaamu!”

  “U-U-Um... you see... I’m in a hurry right now! The fate of the world is on the line!”

  “What! D-Don’t tell me the Overlord is...?!”

  “I-It’s something like that! Now please let us through!”

  When Harissa raised her voice, her fellow sorcerers parted like receding ocean waves on either side. She asked the crowd where the stock of Red Threads was kept, then led us away.

  I guess it was true our Demon King was a lot like the Demon Overlord they knew, and the fate of the world was at stake... It was just Earth, not Aburaamu, and the Demon King was on our side this time.

  “That was some quick thinking. You saved us, Harissa.”

  “I-It was nothing. This is an emergency, after all.”

  Anyway, we made our way to the basement where the Red Threads were stored after that. The storage room down there was a disordered mess, but Harissa was familiar enough with it to locate a wooden box of Red Threads right away. She got to work crafting the catalysts immediately while the rest of us waited for Corona, who showed up eventually. In order to avoid rousing suspicion, she’d hidden her horns and tail and was wearing the clothes Tsumiki had lent her.

  “Sorry for the wait.”

  “No worries. You okay?”

  “Hm? Well, this place was easy enough to find, but I panicked a little when one of the sorcerers said I looked like the portrait in the hall.”

  When I’d asked if she was okay, I really meant about Pastel. Seeing her friend’s grave must have been hard and brought some dark feelings like sadness or grief to the surface. But wait a minute... If there was a portrait of the former hero Corona, then did that mean there was one of me, too? Wow, that made this all even more embarrassing than before.