13-31. Demon Lord Shin
Satou's here. I feel that there have been less adults who scold their children compared to when I was a child. I wonder how are children who aren't scolded when they did bad things going to learn the society moral.
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"Wlcome~"
"Welcome back nanodesu!"
Tama and Pochi jumped to me, so I quickly equip the mask, stop them with both my arms and then we descend to the ground together.
It seems these two saw me when I had teleported back in the sky.
Mia also played a BGM with my arrival, she must have found me from the spirit light.
Arisa runs as if rolling toward us who have landed on the ground.
"Mou, where have you been! I couldn't reach you even with 『World Phone』!"
"Sorry, sorry. I was getting rid of a space kaiju in the void sky."
Arisa's telephone probably didn't reach me because of the effect of the space magic's [Planet Guard] that I used to protect the earth and the world's tree from the wave of after-effect from my attack magic.
It's a version of [City Guard] spell I found in the forbidden library during my catalog search that I half-jokingly remodeled.
I didn't think that it would have its turn when I remodeled it, but I'm glad that I made it.
Putting that aside, since Liza and Nana are rushing here, I turn to them.
"Master, thank you for your rescue."
"Master, is it a result of the new magic chant, so I ask."
"That's right. Look, ■■■ Breeze."
I hand Tama and Pochi over to Liza, and demonstrate a chant to Nana.
Lulu and Mia who are left alone on the grove beyond are waving their hands, so I pick them up with [Magic Hand].
"Eh? Wasn't there something strange just now? How did the chant succeed with that."
Arisa found some fault in my chant.
Certainly, I do feel that the intonation isn't elegant, but the magic properly activates and gets listed in the magic column, so it's fine right.
Demanding everything to be perfect is not good.
"W-wait. Rather than that, why are you able to use magic in the magic void space?"
Hikaru asked some strange question.
Come to think of it, I feel that the effect of [Seal Binding Ice Coffin (Shield Coffin)] earlier was a bit lower.
I try creating some magic arrows, and then they begin to break down after several seconds.
After confirming the demon lord's unique skill, I found the reason why Mito couldn't defeat the demon lord.
Apparently, it has a Unique Skill with bad affinity for Hikaru who's specializing in magic battle.
--Huh?
I noticed something unusual when I saw the demon lord's name as I was checking its stats.
"Isn't this Shin boy! Why did a hero like him turn into demon lord?"
"That, you see~ We don't know either."
Both Arisa and Hikaru shake their heads to my question.
Shin boy's title has changed into [Demon Lord], his [Hero] title has become a hidden title.
There are other hidden titles too, [Artificial Demon Lord], [False King].
I can somehow guess that there's something in his body from these titles.
I'll pay no mind to his level turning into 50 from a single-digit number.
"....Two hero Nanashi?"
Looking at the voice caught with my Attentive Ears skill, I see the dying Heim of Shiga Eight Swords lifting his head.
For some reason, Princess Menea and Souya boy who are unconscious are lying near him.
I don't understand the situation, but I make him sleep with [Anesthetic Sleep] magic, and heal his wounds with healing magic.
"Then, I'll ask Shin-kun his situation for a bit. It'll be bad if any damage happen here in the Royal Capital, so I'll be going to the desert."
Before that, I'll defeat the greater demons.
I thought of using them for our girls' power-leveling, but we can find as many strong monsters as we like, so there's no need for some misplaced inclination here.
I invoke the forbidden spell of destruction magic [Divine Ash], turning a demon together with the shield coffin into black dust.
"No way, wasn't now a forbidden spell?"
"Yeah, there's no damage to the surrounding despite being a forbidden spell, it's a convenient spell, see."
I explain it to the surprised Hikaru.
This was also something I found in the forbidden library during my catalog search.
It turns even the adjoining space into ash, so it's a convenient spell against a foe like the sakuramochi demon from before. It seems it can defeat monster with no substance and barrier too.
It's a single object magic, so I use it again for 15 times continuously.
The magic requires 300MP for one shot, so I use a mass-produced holy sword as a battery along the way.
"F-Forbidden spells, chantlessly?"
Hikaru leaks out voice of surprise, but for some reason, I can use forbidden spells from the magic column normally.
Being able to instantly use forbidden spells that normally need several minutes to several dozens of minutes chanting, I think it's quite a cheat.
I open the [Gate] of space magic, and throw Shin-kun together with the Shield Coffin's pillar into it.
I hold back Arisa and the others who were going to follow with my hand.
"I-I want to go too."
"You can't. A demon lord can use unusual attacks in various ways, so everyone should wait here in the royal capital. Furthermore, a state of emergency happened here, so there are many things that need to be taken care of right?"
When I say so, everyone besides Mito pulls back.
Bringing Mito who's a hero along should be fine, but I want her to do something, so I ask her before she can talk.
"Mito, please go to the royal capital and tell them that the demon lord has been eliminated."
"I can do that after he's been--"
"Master! Can you turn him into a human again like you did with Hisui last time? Is it impossible to turn him back, not killing him?"
Arisa desperately spoke, interrupting Mito.
Mito who sees that Arisa is having a complicated expression with resignation mixed in.
She's probably seen many things during her time as Ancient King Yamato. Next time I'll listen to her complaints and hardships together with some liquor.
"That's my intention from the start. I can't guarantee that he'll absolutely turn back, but I'll try to take as many measures as possible."
"U-un. Master can surely do it. I believe you!"
I undertake that while patting Arisa who has tears on the corner of her eyes.
As an insurance for if anything happens, I have to turn that back into human by all means.
After teleporting everyone to the places they want with Unit Arrangement, I take a wand that's specialized in expanding range from my Storage.
It looks like a dead twig with a lot of emerald-colored branches.
It's something manufactured from a branch growing on the world tree in the void sky, so calling it a twig isn't necessarily wrong.
I use the mind magic's [Flat People] toward the people of the royal capital.
This is an original spell I've created from mind magic's [Shepperd] and [Brain Wash] in order to suppress panic and unrest of people.
After confirming the effect on the map, I move to the desert where Shin-kun is waiting with Unit Arrangement.
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The shield coffin where Shin-kun's imprisoned is waiting among the dry air where the sun is blazing.
It's a composite of space and ice magic so it's not something so fragile it can melt from heat.
Nevertheless, I can hear the sound of ice crackling from inside the shield coffin.
Demon lords really can't be sealed with just this much after all.
When I look better, violet mist has begun to ooze out from the inside.
I reach my hand to see if I can touch it like with magic and barrier, but my hand just passes through it. It somehow looks like when I tried to cut a [God's Fragment] with a holy sword.
It'll be troubling if he forces himself and gets his demon lord-fication progressed, so I decide to release the magic myself.
Oops, before that let's move to a better place where I don't have to worry about environmental damage.
I make a sub-space using the forbidden spell of space magic [Another World].
The enclosure doesn't surpass the sub-space created by the goblin princess Yuika's Unique Skill, that one is just in another league compared to this.
By default, there's nothing inside the sub-space, so I set it to transcribe the surrounding terrain.
The sub-space is as vast as the current desert, so it'd be alright even if we fight.
I restore my magic power that has been used up in large quantity from the mass-produced holy sword, and then move to the sub-space.
After closing the entrance to the former world, I release the shield coffin that imprisons Shin boy.
I put a troublesome-looking recovery item called [Magic Crystal Pillar], that has been imprisoned together with him into, into my storage.
Shin boy appears while scattering white chunks of ice.
"W-where is this? Has my magic turned the royal capital into a desert?"
Shin boy made a guess while glaring at me.
Unfortunately, his articulation was a bit strange.
It seems to be the initial stage of a broken soul vessel, so I have to make him stop using his power.
Looking at his Unique Skill's name, it should be a passive-type, so its effect to the [Soul Vessel] should be lower compared to active-type ones that have number of usage limit.
"Do you want to know where this is?"
"Say it!"
In order to intimidate him, I destroy the [Sand Spear] magic that Shin boy used with [Break Magic].
"Impossible! Erasing a magic invoked by me, the ruler of magic?"
Next, he began to summon greater demons, but I hindered it by using [Break Magic] whenever their heads showed up, forcing the greater demons back.
"Duaamnnn you out-of-bounds reincarnated personn"
Shin boy roars, but his magic has been used up, so I can only hear it as sour grapes.
Far from even fighting, he probably can't even use a reinforcement magic.
Shin boy notices that the [Magic Crystal Pillar] is gone when he was trying to recover his magic power, he looks around the surrounding restlessly.
I cross my arms while examining him.
He seems to be a child without patience, I'll answer him once as a bait to pull information out of him.
"I'll talk to you so calm down. This is another world."
"Another world? What do you mean."
Shin boy asked another question to my vague answer.
"The so-called sub-space see."
"S-sub-space? ....That means you used the age of gods magic, 『Another World』!"
He can see through the magic name from the 'sub-space' term probably because of his [Master Wizard] Unique Skill.
I think the age of gods magic refers to [Magic used when gods were living among people], but please stop adding a new category since it's confusing.
"You're all questions huh. I'd like you to answer my questions sometimes too."
"Hmph, what do you want to know."
--Huh? He's awfully obedient.
"Who made you into a demon lord?"
"I wanted to become demon lord myself."
He wasn't forced by anyone huh?
"Not that, I mean the people who cooperated with you in order to turn you into a demon lord."
"The one who gave me the Demon Lord Orb was my shitty father."
--Demon Lord Orb?
Looks like the theft disturbance in the Royal Capital was actually aiming for that Demon Lord Orb.
I tried searching on the map, but the thing called Demon Lord Orb doesn't exist around him or in any known area.
Still, an item that changes a person into a demon lord huh....
Don't tell me, the shitty father he's talking about is the demon god?
"You shouldn't call your father shitty."
"I don't care about someone who thoroughly caused troubles to me and my mother, and then became a demon lord in another world after dying."
Good. Apparently he's not the demon god--.
Although it'd be bad if the father is the type of a demon lord that could mass-produce demon lords like himself, guessing from Shin boy's [False King] title and what I heard from the Dog-head, his father probably turned his own [God's Fragment] into the shape of the so-called Demon Lord Orb and gave it to Shin-kun.
Nevertheless, even though Shin-kun is saying whatever, he's still explaining it properly, it seems his nature is still a virtuous one. Having the interrogation easy is truly nice.
I have to visit his father once I've finished talking to him.
"Answer my question this time."
Turn end huh.
Well fine. Looks like we can have a discussion for now.
◇
"--I wanted to be strong enough to beat that shitty father."
After some long dialogs, the reason why Shin boy used the Demon Lord Orb is this.
There are also other desires like wanting the power needed to survive in this harsh world, but the biggest one seems to be that.
His line of thinking of wanting the result immediately is very like a boy, but there are things that you should not choose in order to obtain the result.
"Then you could have just become a hero."
"Hmph, only the elites chosen and summoned by God Parion can become heroes. A human that can only grovel on the ground like me can only become a demon lord."
No no, normally you don't become a demon lord either.
Still, it's a failure....
It's too late now, but if I just talked about his hero title when I met him, he wouldn't become a demon lord.
Well, it's really too late now.
There's no way anyone can know that unless they have the ability to see the future.
--Right!
I wonder if he'll agree to turn back into human if I tell him about the hero title, making him lose his attachment to demon lord?
I should try to persuade him by leading him.
"You have the qualification to become a hero."
"Grandma said that crooks whisper the thing you want to hear to play with people's heart."
What grandma said is right, but it's the truth in this case.
"Then you should check it yourself and see. You can use magic to check your own title right?"
"Ah, that's right."
Shin boy begins to chant, I copy that through my ears.
The chant is of the magic version of appraisal skill.
>[Mimic: Magic] Skill Acquired.
Oh, it looks like quite an useful skill.
I have to activate it.
"....I really have the hero title."
"Do you have any idea? It seems you've defeated an overwhelmingly powerful enemy and obtained it."
It's about what the [No-Life King] Zen talked about back then.
"I do.... When many monsters appeared in the Royal Capital, I fought a monster while guarding the orphanage kids.... When I was swinging my hatchet around and almost getting killed.... I might have died if a light arrow and an invisible cannonball didn't fall from the sky and defeated the monster."
Ah, the time when red rope monsters appeared en masse huh.
Shin boy probably talked about [Remote Arrow] and [Remote Stun] magic that I used.
"However, I'm a demon lord--"
Regret dwells in Shin boy's voice.
I guess now is the right timing to persuade him?
"You can just start over. I have turned a creature that had turned into a monster back into a normal bird. I'm certain that I can turn demon lord back too."
Since Hisui changed into a God Bird, Shin boy might turn into a High Human or something, but since he'll be upwardly compatible then, do pardon me.
Hearing me, Shin boy looks downward and repeats a monologue from his mouth.
--He really can't believe it after all huh.
I listen to it carefully, waiting for his answer.
"C-can I really start over?"
"Yes, of course."
I answer Shin boy's shaking voice with a dubious smile.
It's not visible since I'm wearing a mask though.
"--Like I'd say that! You hypocrite!"
Shin boy assaults me with a sword sparkling like a diamond created from magic.
According to AR reading, it's called Dragon Rending Sword with performance that exceeds the original holy sword Excalibur.
The chant spell that he's been chanting in low voice since a while ago is probably the forbidden spell [Dragon Rending Sword (Dragon Slayer)].
I think the Dog-head from before said that it's the sword that the demon god uses. I was lucky to get the spell from a windfall.
It has terrific performance, but there's no meaning to it if the user is clumsy.
"I-Impossible! Stopping a sword between hands?!"
I strike the Dragon Rending Sword stopped between my hands with my knee, destroying it.
Looks like the durability isn't that big of a deal.
It seems there are still rooms for improvement for this magic. I'm thinking of fully remodeling the spell, dyeing it with my preference.
"A magic sword with Indestructible attribute--destroyed?!"
Shin boy is surprised exaggeratedly.
In the first place, there's no way it can be broken if there's such an attribute.
I'm interested in the [God Dancing Armor] that the Dog-head was saying too, but I'd be putting the cart before the horse if his demon lord-fication progressed because he forced himself, so I restrain myself.
I didn't stop him from chanting the Dragon Rending Sword spell because I thought it'll be easier to persuade him if I broke his trump card.
By no means it's because I was interested with a code I had never heard before, forgetting to stop him.
--Nope.
His magic power must've run out again after using the Dragon Rending Sword, so he can't use magic for now.
Time to persuade him before it's too late.
"Now then, do you want to retire being a demon lord or stop being a human, choose what you like."
I turn a cheerful smile toward Shin boy.
Of course it was just a little threat. Just as I've promised to Arisa, I don't intend to kill him.
Shin boy is desperately thinking his next move while leaking gununu voice, but he probably won't come up with a good idea.
Now then, after this I just need to take out the [God's Fragment] from him, and then everything is settled.
Truly a happy end!