| Author: SS Samurai | Original Source: Syosetu |
| Translator: rm31439 | English Source: Re:Library |
Since I was running at full speed, we arrived at Mephilad castle in a few seconds. The King and the others were waiting in the lobby. It looked like a scene out of a TV drama, when the family is praying for the success of a surgery.
As soon as he saw Karua, the king flew to our side at a speed unthinkable of a normal human.
“Ohh… Karua…”
“Father… I caused you so much worry.”
“No… It is fine. Since you have returned… Ah…”
Thus, Karua and the king successfully reunited. With tears in his eyes, he embraced her tightly.
Despite this being Karua’s long awaited return, the minster’s and knight commander’s faces were dispirited.
At a time like this, shouldn’t they have happy expressions? I wonder, did something happen?
“Mr. Minister, is something wrong?” I asked him. “Despite Karua’s hard-won rescue, everyone’s faces look to be grave, don’t they?”
“Yes, thank you so much for rescuing Princess Karua! However, the truth is…”
He told me, in short, that the body of Karua’s mother, the queen, had been stolen by someone. There appeared to be a strong possibility, that the perpetrators were demons.
Come to think of it, I feel like Mephistophales talked about a “replacement”.
“Mr. Minister, you see, I also think it was demons. Three demons from the upper echelon were guarding Karua, and one of them… the one who, according to what our captured demon said, is the upper echelon’s leader, Mephistophales, said that there was a ‘replacement’. I suspect that might be…”
The minister’s face turned grim. Resentment could be seen in his eyes, as he understood.
“That’s probably the queen, right?” he finished my thought. “…So, they plan to use her body as a sacrifice for their abhorrent demon god, what a humiliation…!”
After he had fired that off, the minister whispered in the king’s ear and informed him about the situation.
The king’s face filled with what seemed to be unbelievable sadness, regret, and hatred.
Look, it’s true, first his daughter gets abducted, and now his wife’s body has been stolen, right?
Of course, he is full of loathing.
“Damn… Just how far will their cruelty go, until they’re satisfied? Cursed demons…”
“Father…”
Karua grasped the king’s hand tightly, as if to calm his rage.
That moment, for some reason, a thin, yellow-colored sheet of paper fell from Karua’s back. The knight commander picked it up.
“Hm?” he asked. “Lady Karua, did you happen to drop a piece of paper?”
“Eh? What?” she replied. “That is…”
The knight commander turned the paper over and took a look at it. What he saw, made him open his eyes wide in surprise.
“It’s a letter… from the demons…”
“Wha-…?!”
Everyone was in an uproar.
I suspected that it might be rigged, so I tried to appraise the paper from a distance first, but it didn’t seem to be a trap.
I was curious about the content.
“Read it to us!”
“Y-yes.”
At the king’s order, the knight commander read the letter out loud.
|
To whom it may concern, I wish you a good day. I am the one called Mephistophales! It looks like you have been taking good care of my brethren, have you not? You see, I would not mind much, even if you were to kill him. That is, because at best, he was created to serve as a pawn, merely to be sacrificed. Oh, yes, what about the queen’s corpse? Since we are already making good use of it as our esteemed demon god’s body, I am afraid it is too late to return it. It will completely restore the demon god’s power, and, in 3 days, she should properly come back to life. For that reason, we declare war on you! To get straight to the point, let us engage in a bloody feud and wage war. The demons against the humans! To sever the infuriating royal line, who sealed our demon god, we will destroy the Mephilad Kingdom! To achieve that, on the day of the demon god’s revival, vast numbers of demons and everyone currently in our leadership, will pay you a visit in the company of magic beasts. Please have a safe death! Sincerely, the jester, Mephistophales. |
Our surroundings fell completely silent.
3 days from now, there will be war with the demons, and furthermore, the demon god will be resurrected, too…? It looks like things will get… very hectic.
However, this might be convenient for us since it’d be a chance to annihilate the demons.
“Hah~…” the king sighed. “Gordes and Oraful. Today in the early morning, have all the knights and soldiers assemble. Notify all of this country’s guilds and then then the friendly nations that might support us, about the war with the demons. Additionally, summon the 3 SSS-Rankers, too. Gather only the adventurers of D-Rank or higher. Also, tell the citizens, they might need to evacuate… Got it?”
“Understood, my King.”
“As you say, your Majesty.”
The knight commander and minister received their orders from the king, and, after bowing to him, left.
Moreover, Bacchus also accompanied them.
It looked like Mika and Karua, too, went back to Karua’s room for now.
TL notes:
Mephistophales (at least in the chapters I translated) always talks in the most polite form, even when talking to his enemies. Having someone act extremely polite in English can seem sarcastic, but I guess in Japanese he appears more like a “weirdly persistent salesman”, as mentioned in chapter 132. I tried to translate the letter here somewhat over-the-top and intentionally sarcastic, since it’s obvious he mocks the humans.
