How NOT to Summon a Demon Lord: Volume 1

by Yukiya Murasaki

  Because of the powerful barrier, no monsters or Fallen could enter the town, making it a safe haven—that was its backstory in the game.

  Diablo was aiming for the drawbridge located on the west side of the town.

  He was a 《Demon》.

  This was one of the playable classes you could choose when starting Cross Reverie.

  According to the game’s setting, Demons were a race of humans who had somehow received the blood of the Fallen. Tattoo-like marks covered their face and body, and while their physical prowess was lacking compared to the other races, they excelled at anything related to magic.

  This was especially true for the INT (Intelligence) stat, which determined the power of your spells. It was only this class that could max out this stat.

  Since their HP and AGI (Agility) stats were weak, even among the other Sorcerers, they were a class for players that had to rely on protection from their allies.

  It was extremely unusual to see a solo player like Diablo use a Demon Sorcerer as their class.

  Because the town’s barrier would repel anything related to the Fallen, Demons, as well as weapons and armors made by the Fallen, could not enter the town.

  Because of this, there were gates placed at the four cardinal directions of the town that anyone could pass through.

  Though you could come and go through them as you pleased in the game, Diablo was already expecting them to be under even stricter watch than the Bridge of Ulug.

  People were actual living beings in this world. They were different from NPCs who would only act according to their programming.

  By the time they had reached the gate, it was already dusk.

  The setting sun lit up the stone walls, painting it the color of amber.

  The plains they had traveled across were dyed red, as if they were on fire.

  It was a beautiful scene.

  Rem and Shera did not say anything as they were used to seeing it, but Diablo was secretly moved by it.

  They crossed the drawbridge.

  Six guards in armor were standing in front of the gate.

  Turning up the lapels of their clothes and using their hands to cover their necks, Rem and Shera passed by while hiding their collars.

  This time, no one tried to call out and stop them.

  He could feel stares following them. They were attracting attention.

  They entered the town.

  Continuing through a large thoroughfare sandwiched between tons of stone buildings, Diablo decided to head toward the town plaza.

  At this point, it wasn’t so much that this was a habit he picked up from the game, but it was simply because he wanted to go sightseeing. The goal: to look around town.

  Despite it being the early evening, the area around the west gate was packed with people.

  Just walking was a challenge.

  —So these are all NPCs?

  It was an amount you would have never seen in-game. This was an obvious difference though, as a game where you couldn’t even walk because of all the NPCs around wouldn’t be fun at all.

  They weren’t shopkeepers or receptionists at the Adventurer’s Guild, but just normal people who looked like they had nothing to do with any kind of quest progression whatsoever.

  As for the races here: there were Humans; long-eared, slender bodied Elves; Pantherians, with their triangle-shaped ears; Dwarves, who had thick beards and dog-ears; Grasswalkers, who looked like children with rabbit-ears and tails; and finally, though there weren’t many of them to be seen, Demons, who had marks covering their bodies and faces.

  They were wearing everything from plain clothes to armor, carried knapsacks and weapons, and were walking, talking, and buying things as they pleased.

  At first, he had been excited to see all this... But he was actually bad with crowds. On top of that, he was mentally fatigued from all the sightseeing he had done as well.

  —I don’t feel so good...

  Though the fatigue had not affected him despite how far he had walked until now, it was starting to weigh heavy on his shoulders.

  Rem, who was standing right next to him while hiding her collar, cheeks flushed as if she were embarrassed, started to speak up.

  “U-Um...”

  “What is it?”

  “I would like...to go to the inn...”

  Her face turned completely red as she fidgeted around.

  —Does she need the little girl’s room?

  If that was the case, he would feel sorry for her if he had to ask why out loud.

  “Hm, yes. I was just thinking that I would like to head to the inn myself.”

  It was then a voice reached his ears.

  “That’s Rem and that Elf girl, isn’t it? Why are they wearing those collars?”

  Maybe it was because they had stopped, but by the time he had noticed, they were surrounded by people.

  He could hear parts of the conversations they were whispering to each other.

  “Huh? Those two weren’t Summons, were they?”

  “But aren’t they wearing Enslavement Collars? That should go on the Summon...”

  “No, they aren’t just for Summons. They go on slaves, too...”

  “Does that mean those two became that guy’s slaves!?”

  “Shh! Don’t say it so loud! ...Look at that guy’s face, he’s bad news. He may be a Demon, but I haven’t seen many like him before. Look at those horns... They’re twisted, real ominous-looking too...”

  “You got that right... Making Lady Rem into a slave, doesn’t that make him pretty dangerous? Might be a good idea to report this to the Mage’s Association.”

  “From what I hear, that Elf girl over there is supposed to have come from a pretty crazy background.”

  “She’s definitely no normal Elf, that’s for sure... Something must have happened if he made those two into slaves, right?”

  “Oh crap, he looked at us. Be best not to get involved with him, he’s gotta be something like the Fallen.”

  They were saying some pretty horrible things.

  It seemed Rem and Shera could hear it, too. Their faces red, they cast their gazes downwards. Their shoulders were shaking a little.

  —Now that’s a shock. I wasn’t expecting there to be slavery in this world!

  He had thought they were embarrassed about their collars because the enslavement magic had reflected back onto them, but he had been wrong.

  They were embarrassed because they would be mistaken as slaves.

  There was nothing like slavery in the game, so the thought had not even crossed his mind.

  Not only that, but Rem was famous enough that people were calling her “Lady,” while Shera was supposed to have some kind of amazing family background.

  —Oh my god, what do I do!?

  He was just now realizing the cruel reality that he had paraded these two around town as slaves.

  Diablo was filled with all kinds of regret at this.

  They continued to gain more and more attention.

  “Hey, you two, what are you doing standing around for? Did you not want to go to the inn?”

  Since the townspeople had started to give them a wider berth, it was a little easier to walk around town.

  †

  They arrived in front of the inn.

  It was a stone building located in between the west gate and the plaza.

  About halfway through, Rem and Shera had led the way for him.

  While there was only one inn in the game, there were multiple ones to be found even in this one area of town. Also, you usually couldn’t enter any buildings that didn’t serve some kind of function, and any places that had nothing to do with quests always had their entrances blocked off.

  But this world was different.

  Not only could you enter most of the buildings here, even the signs found on them did not all have the same pattern. A good portion of the buildings were built out of stone, were two stories high, and had triangular roofs and doors made of wood
. He couldn’t even tell them apart.

  —Back in the day, there was that one RPG that had scenery graphics that were so good you didn’t know where you were going. It was a big title for the dawn of the 3D era of gaming.

  It might be harder to not get lost than to use magic...

  If only he could have had a map function or something.

  Diablo reached out and grabbed the metal doorknob. Pulling the wooden door open, he entered the inn.

  It had been a while since he had been in the town’s inn.

  Since he had customized his dungeon into his own personal space, he rarely left it.

  In the game, inns did not only serve as a way to recover your HP and MP. The first floor was made into a bar; it was a place where you could gather information from NPCs or mingle with other players.

  First of all, there was the reception desk.

  There, a young Pantherian girl with yellow cat-ears—well, technically panther-ears—could be found.

  It was an NPC Diablo had remembered seeing before.

  With brown hair that came down to her shoulders, the Pantherian girl gave them a smile that spread from ear-to-ear.

  “Hello, hello! ☆ I’m the idol of the 《Peace of Mind Inn》, Mei~ ♪ Kyaha!”

  —Ah, so this is still the same as it was back in the game.

  He didn’t know whether to feel relieved or amazed at this.

  It seemed that the girl always acted like that in this world, since Rem and Shera did not seem to pay it any mind as they went to talk with her.

  “...Could I get a key for a room?”

  “Rem! Welcome back~☆ Was your summoning a success?”

  “...It was... The summoning part, at least...”

  Rem was hiding her collar with her hands.

  The receptionist girl made a puzzled face.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “...Never mind that... I would also like to get one extra room.”

  —That should be mine, right?

  He felt bad about having her take care of him, so Diablo was planning on at least paying for his own room.

  However, he wasn’t sure where the money for that would be.

  What happened to his money, anyways?

  There was a display on the bottom-right of the screen in-game that would show how much you had. It wasn’t an item he possessed.

  He didn’t have any kind of leather pouch that seemed like it could be it, either. No matter where he patted himself down, he couldn’t find anything.

  The currency used in Cross Reverie was something called “friths.” The icon for it in-game showed them as either bronze, silver, or gold coins, but...

  No matter how much of a different world this was, he was sure that commoners wouldn’t be using gold coins as currency for their everyday lives. They must be using silver or bronze ones, but he couldn’t see any anywhere.

  —So that means...I’m broke right now?

  If it came down to it, he could bite the bullet and sell his equipment or items or something. And if this was a world where you could work as an Adventurer, then someone as strong as himself could easily start saving up some money...

  The receptionist craned her neck.

  “Another room? For the guy behind you? Hey there, mister! I’m the idol of the—”

  “Excuse me!”

  Shera suddenly raised her voice.

  Though she was surprised, the receptionist girl still managed to respond with a smile.

  “Hey to you too, Shera! ☆ What do you need today? If it’s a key you want, I’ll get it out right away. ♪”

  “I-I would... um... I want to add one more person to my room, is that all right!?”

  Her face was bright red.

  —Is she talking about me!?

  This is where Diablo had to put his foot down.

  “Listen, you... You aren’t talking about me sharing a room with the likes of you, are you?”

  His true feelings were something along the lines of, “If I have to share a room with a girl, I won’t be able to sleep at all. Please stop, you’re going to kill me.”

  Shera grit her teeth.

  “But, but...! I don’t have the money to pay for two rooms! And if you go stay in the room Rem’s getting you, then it makes it seem like she’s your Summoner!”

  Rem gave her a frigid smile.

  “...I was the one who called Diablo to this world, so it is only natural for me to prepare a room for him. Do you understand? You should just go enjoy being poor by yourself.”

  “You’re wrong! I’m his Summoner! A Summoner and their Summon should always be together!”

  “...No, someone as amazing as Diablo should be with someone who is equally amazing. That would be with me. So, you see... I will prepare... No, he will stay in my room.”

  It was true that Diablo was penniless.

  But what was all this about living together with a girl!?

  It seemed like there would be no compromising with either Rem or Shera.

  The receptionist clapped her hands together.

  “Alllllrighty! Three guests to stay in our extra large room~ ☆”

  Shera started to panic.

  “What!? No, no, no! That’s actually kind of a problem! Why am I in the same room as Rem!?”

  “...Staying in the same room as this dumb Elf is highly unappealing to me.”

  While still keeping her smile, the receptionist tilted her head. You could almost see the sound effects for rumbling appearing behind the two.

  “Je~ez, it’s a problem if you two start fighting at the front desk. ☆ I’m gonna put you bad kids in the same room, then! ♪”

  Rem seemed as if she was going to say something in protest, when the receptionist’s smile disappeared.

  “I’ll throw you out.”

  In the face of this intensity, Rem and Shera could only nod silently.

  The smile returned to the receptionist’s face, and she handed Diablo the key.

  “Then there you go! Try to keep it quiet at night, okay? That’s a special request from me, the idol of the inn. ☆”

  He took the heavy, worn iron key.

  Sharing a room with two girls...

  It took an extreme amount of effort to keep his hands from noticeably trembling.

  †

  There was one large bed in their room on the second floor.

  —There aren’t three of them!?

  There weren’t even distinctions like “large rooms” or “small rooms” in the game. The fee to stay the night was always fixed, so there were already a lot of things different here.

  The bed itself was a wooden frame filled with straw and some sheets thrown over it. The smell of hay wafted throughout the room.

  It seems like these were the kinds of things people slept on back in medieval times... He never thought that he would end up sleeping on a straw bed himself. And with two girls, no less.

  If he had told himself last night that “Tomorrow night, I’m gonna be sleeping in the same bed as an Elf and a Pantherian,” he would like to think he would have responded with, “What the hell is wrong with me!?”

  On the bed, there was only one blanket for the three of them.

  He didn’t think it would get that cold at night, but...

  —Just one blanket, huh...

  There was nothing else there in the way of furniture. The windows were made of wooden boards, with no glass of any kind being used.

  There was no attic to be found, and the triangular ceiling with beams criss-crossing it was of a medieval design that you would never see in the modern day. The candles on the walls gave the place an antique kind of feeling.

  It was a simple room.

  But it made Diablo remember the feeling of excitement he got from seeing this kind of scenery for the first time.

  From the entrance of the inn all the way to the room, no matter how much he stared, he never got tired of it—

  But there was only one bed.

  Standing on eith
er side of the bed, Rem and Shera were shooting nasty glares at each other.

  “...How did I end up sharing a room with you. It would have been fine with just me... No, with just the two of us... Maybe...? No, we definitely would have been fine together.”

  “That’s my line! If you hadn’t said those things about being Diablo’s Summoner, then I would have already finished my Adventurer’s registration by now!”

  All sorts of luggage was piled up by the side of the bed.

  Diablo stood in the entrance to the room.

  No matter who he took a step toward, it looked like one of them would either get angry or start crying, so he couldn’t make any foolish movements.

  “...And how does a tramp of an Elf who is not even registered as an Adventurer, such as yourself, even plan to pay the inn fee? Sleeping outside would suit you better.”

  “I can’t even imagine life without a bed! For money... Well, you know... I was gonna start saving up... Or, you know... I have to save up...or else that would be bad...”

  “...You didn’t come here without enough money to pay for the inn, did you?”

  “I have it! I have...it? Yeah, I have it... I feel like, I have it... I still have some pretty-looking stuff I took from the treasure room... I-It’s fine! I’ll start saving up! I’m gonna start saving up with Diablo!”

  “...I thought I told you not to use the Demon Lord I summoned however you pleased—”

  —These two sure love to fight, don’t they?

  Diablo was already past feeling troubled by all this, and had started to find the whole thing kind of charming.

  They had taken out their weapons when they fought at first, but they seemed to be keeping it to just verbal arguments for now.

  That said, there was something he wanted them to do before they got too much into their fighting.

  “Hey, you two. Before you start your petulant quarrels again, first you shall tell me more about yourselves.”

  He already knew their names from their conversations with him.

  The small Pantherian with the black hair and panther ears was Rem Galleu. She possessed seven Summons and appeared to be quite an accomplished Summoner, with some of the people in town going so far as to call her “Lady.”