Demon King Daimaou: Volume 1

by Shoutarou Mizuki

The crowd seemed to have calmed down. All of them were spellbound by the glowing rice pouring down and washing over their bodies.

  “You’re kidding...”

  “This is absurd...”

  Akuto and Junko both stood there in blank amazement. Keena was the only one delighted by what was going on around them.

  “I did it! I did it! Rice really can make everyone get along!”

  —I don’t know about getting along, it’s more like...

  Akuto realized something as he looked at the strange scene around him. He couldn’t shake the feeling that the students who were hit by Korone’s bazooka all seemed to be under the influence of some sort of drug.

  “Ah, hahahaha, hahahaha!”

  “Anyone else feeling kinda good?”

  “Man... This is great! I feel awesome!”

  Everyone gathered there started reacting to the rice shower.

  “Wh-What’s going to happen now...?” Akuto decided to put up a mana barrier, covering Keena and Junko as well.

  Dumbfounded, they watched the crowd as it started to move. They were all staggering around like a horde of zombies. They began to head down from the roof in droves.

  “You want to try and follow them?” Junko put her arm across Akuto’s shoulder and helped him stand. Akuto held pressure on his wound as he stood up.

  As they followed the crowd, their numbers gradually began to increase. It seemed that somehow or another, all of them were heading towards the girls’ dormitory.

  “What is going on?” Akuto tilted his head. But the answer soon hit him.

  The throng surrounded the girls’ dorm. The girls in the crowd started heading inside. Then, the boys who couldn’t go inside all started to yell one by one.

  “Mistress Fujiko Eto! Please show yourself to us! Just a peek is fine, but please show us!”

  Inside the dorm, the girls were clearly surrounding her room. Their coquettish cries of “Mistress Fujiko!” began to ring out from inside the dorm.

  “Wh-What...?” Akuto and Junko were both perplexed, when Korone came up behind them.

  “This is certainly some sort of drug. Keena, did you put anything else besides rice in that shot?”

  “Yeah. I put in some medicine I found,” Keena meekly nodded her head in agreement.

  —Medicine she picked up... It can’t be, was that the medicine that Eto gave me?!

  “Where did you ‘find’ this medicine?” Akuto asked, and Keena again meekly nodded her head.

  “Ackie’s room.”

  Looking at Keena’s carefree expression, Akuto was at a loss for words. But what if Keena had known everything, and had taken the medicine out of his pocket?

  —Did she steal it back when Korone warned me on the stairs? Could she have been invisible and followed me?

  “What exactly does this medicine do?” Akuto asked Korone.

  “It was never intended for aerial dispersion, so this is just conjecture, but its current effect seems to be making one fall in love with a specific target. The effect has weakened due to the fact it was sprayed, so I do not know what its original effect was supposed to be.”

  —If that’s the case, then does that mean Eto tricked me? No... There’s no proof, but... I guess I have to be careful.

  Various doubts began to well up in Akuto’s mind. If Junko and Akuto had taken a stronger version of the drug, wouldn’t that mean the two of them would have fallen under Fujiko’s control? If so, that meant Keena had tried to save them from that fate without saying a single thing about it...

  “Why did you put the medicine in with the rice?”

  “Huh? Isn’t it obvious? After all, I heard this medicine would make people get along.”

  “Did you follow me?”

  “Yeah. Sorry. I kept quiet about it, though. So don’t be mad, okay?”

  “Alright, so then Eto wasn’t trying to trick me at all?”

  “Why do you think that? Eto is a good person, you know?”

  Akuto had absolutely no clue about how much Keena understood, or how deliberate her actions had been.

  —Uhh... Whatever... Anyway...

  “When will everyone calm down?” Akuto asked Korone.

  “I anticipate that the effect will wear off tonight.”

  Just as Korone had predicted, the girls’ dorm remained surrounded until nighttime. Akuto couldn’t even imagine what could be going on inside of the dorm. All he could hear were Fujiko’s cries, and he watched on as the boys outside wept tears of great joy every time they heard her voice.

  Of course, Akuto’s subjugation remained unsettled. It appeared the medicine had a considerable effect on the minds of the students, and most of their memories from that day became hazy. This meant that even after all this, they reverted back to bitterly hating Akuto.

  ○

  Meanwhile, Fujiko realized that her plan had failed after a large number of students had surrounded the girls’ dormitory. Naturally, she had been watching Akuto from her monitor and understood what had caused the situation. She had realized that Korone had scattered her own medicine into the air.

  “He must have seen through my plan!”

  This wasn’t the case, of course, but it was natural for Fujiko to see things this way.

  “As to be expected of the Demon King! Now that he has seen my true nature, I cannot hide behind my facade! I’ll definitely make him mine, and sooner than later this world will be destroyed...”

  Fujiko took out her Notebook of Malice and started to jot down her grudge against Akuto and her plan moving forward. But then she heard the uproar outside through her crystal ball, bringing her back to the situation at hand.

  The girl students were already entering the dorm. Tearing her eyes away from the crystal ball and turning around, she saw that the door to her room was shaking from the girls’ knocking, as if they were about to smash through it at any moment

  “Mistress! Mistress! Mistress Fujiko!”

  “Mistress, take me!”

  She started to hear the frenzied calls from the girls outside her door. It appeared that because of its aerial dispersion, the effects of the drug had taken a strange turn.

  “I’ll need to calm down this disturbance first.”

  Fujiko put her hands on the lock to her door. The drug was meant to make others listen to her orders, so although there had been an alteration to its effects, Fujiko thought that she should be able to pacify the mob herself.

  But the moment she undid the lock on her door, the girls all stampeded into the room at once.

  “Whaaaaaaat?!”

  Before she knew, it she was mobbed by the female students.

  “Oh, mistress!”

  “I love you!”

  “I’ve always wanted to be with you like this, my mistress!”

  Hands reached out from all over the place, groping Fujiko’s body. Then, as they desperately tried to get their hands on her body, they began tearing off her clothes.

  “Nooooooooo! Stop this instant!” Fujiko cried out, but for some reason her screaming seemed to only make things worse.

  “Oh, what a lovely voice! Please, cry out more!”

  The girls only got more and more excited.

  “Stoooooop! Don’t touch me there!”

  “Oooh! Yes! Yes! This is amazing!”

  “Eeeeeeeeeek!”

  Completely naked and mobbed by the other girls, Fujiko’s hell continued until night time.

  “Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!”

  ○

  “Anyway.”

  After the uproar had died down, Akuto sat in his room, arms folded and deep in thought. He still couldn’t understand Keena at all.

  “What are you thinking about?” Akuto asked Keena directly.

  “Rice is delicious,” Keena answered. There was a rice cooker placed in front of her. She scooped some white rice out with a ladle.

  The rice cooker was something brand-new that Akuto had bought. Akuto had seen it as an investment in order to figur
e out once and for all what exactly Keena’s intentions were, but he still didn’t know whether it would produce any results.

  Then, there was a knocking at the window. Opening the window on her own, Junko thrust her head into the room.

  “Girls shouldn’t be in the boys’ dormitory!” she yelled, pointing at Keena.

  “You’ve come here too, haven’t you?” Keena complained.

  “I’m not actually in the dorm! I’m just standing outside the door!”

  “Huh? In that case, why did you come here in the first place, Junko?” Keena pouted her lips, and Junko’s face suddenly grew red, and began stuttering.

  “Sh-Shut up! I have to be here since I’ve decided to rehabilitate this guy! I’m going to train you so you’ll never do anything bad again! I hope you’re ready!” Junko pointed at Akuto. Then, with the same passionate momentum, she turned towards Keena.

  “More importantly, Keena! You made yourself invisible and snuck into my room, didn’t you?!”

  “Why do you say that? You don’t have any proof, do you?” Keena scooped up some rice and brought it to her mouth.

  “Proof? In that case, why did you know what I said to myself in private?!”

  “Are you talking about what you were muttering to yourself about Ackie? I didn’t hear any of that.”

  At Keena’s words, Junko blushed even more.

  “You did hear! You totally listened in on me! No, don’t bother denying it! Shut up! Just forget about it!” Junko noisily rebutted. Keena also raised her voice, and the two of them began shouting back and forth at one another right in front of Akuto, who put his head in his hands.

  “Jeez, what will happen next...”

  “If you knew that, I believe you’d certainly be able to become the Demon King, don’t you think?” Korone replied to Akuto, who had been talking to himself.

  “Boss! Do you want to play a game or something, boss?!”

  From the other side of the door, Akuto could hear Hiroshi’s voice.

  Akuto’s life at the Academy had only just begun, but it seemed to him that it would be even more dramatic from here on out.

  ○

  There were other people besides Akuto who were interested in his life at the Academy.

  Like the student council president and Miss Mitsuko, who were facing each other in the reception area of the staff room. Although she was petite, the student council president had an imposing attitude, which did not change even when speaking with Miss Mitsuko.

  “Well then! It seems Miss Fujiko Eto herself has realized that her true nature has been revealed to Akuto Sai, and I believe that means more black magicians will find their way to the school,” the student council president said, as if she was complaining about the situation.

  “I don’t know the details of what happened one hundred years ago, but I wonder if it will all play out like back then,” Miss Mitsuko said, pouting.

  “I don’t know, either. But it’ll all work out somehow, won’t it?” The student council president laughed loudly.

  “Anyway, whether he’s the Demon King or not, he doesn’t seem to be all good or all evil,” Miss Mitsuko said. “Take the appropriate steps to make sure he doesn’t take either side, okay?”

  “Miss Mitsuko, that’s easier said than done. If Hattori’s parents come out and oppose the black magicians, won’t he then go along with Hattori and take her side?”

  “You also need to adjust your actions accordingly around the feelings he’s developed.”

  “Being the student council president doesn’t make me a god, you know! Anyway, there was one other thing I was curious about.”

  “What?”

  “Who exactly is Keena Soga?” The student council president asked meaningfully. Her teacher tilted her head at the question.

  “Who knows? She’s just a normal student. Just a plain old, regular student.”

  Miss Mitsuko gave a big grin.

  Afterword

  I don’t know whether to thank you for all your support or tell you that it’s nice to meet you all, but in any case, my name is Shoutarou Mizuki. Are you all living it up? As for me, hm... same old, same old.

  This is totally random, but I used to know someone who was an absolute genius at finding restaurants with terrible food. And by genius, I don’t mean he just happened upon restaurants with awful food, or that he would remember to tell people about these places — that’d be bad enough in itself — but he’s the kinda person who’d say, “I found a place with really great food,” and bring you to this high-class, luxurious restaurant, complete with bronze statues and insane price tags... yet somehow everything they served you would taste awful.

  Everyone has their own ideas of what tastes good, but no matter who he brought to the restaurant, remarkably, they all agreed that the food was bad, and yet expensive. Nonetheless, he thought it was delicious, which in itself is more proof that everyone has their own ideas of what tastes good. But you have to agree it’s kinda strange, isn’t it?

  Anyway, if that was it the story would end there, but there’s a lesson to be learned here.

  “Even if the food is bad, you have to just get over it and move on!” This is what I learned.

  Things have gotten much easier since I came upon this realization. There are often people who agonize over where to eat, only to end up enraged over the taste of the food, the service, and so forth. But I’m sure their expectations are a large part of that. So if you get rid of those expectations, it’ll turn into a carefree and easy experience instead. In the end, you actually start welcoming bad food into your life.

  “This is awful! I’m actually impressed that they were somehow able to make something so terrible.”

  I started thinking this way, and ended up actively trying to search for restaurants with terrible food. It’s better if it isn’t a chain restaurant or somewhere cheap. I’m not looking for some café that just serves food out of the packages they came in. I want that sense of surprise I get when I ask myself, “Wait, did someone actually make this?”

  I also want to avoid weird places that serve up things like “sweet dessert spaghetti,” or foods that are an acquired taste, making it hard for many people to enjoy. If you eliminate places like this, it’s surprising how few and far between bad restaurants are. For example, one of the restaurants I’ve found was... Wait, I can’t just openly go on about them here!

  Incidentally, all of these are from different restaurants, but I will announce some of the names I’ve given to those dishes that truly moved me after I had finished eating them.

  “The Mysterious Cheesecake.”

  “Motsunabe from Hell’s Caldron.”

  “Roadkill Hairtail.”

  These would be the top three.

  Even now they are waiting for customers to come and order them.

  If you should happen to find a restaurant like this, please tell me about it! Even better if it’s around the Kanto region. Someday, I’m sure I’ll go and eat there.

  Anyway, about this book.

  I hope you had a fun time reading it. There’s no need to read too deeply into it.

  Although, as the writer I have put a tremendous amount of effort into the story, so I hope you took your time and enjoyed it.

  Relatively speaking, this book doesn’t really require me to say much about it, so I’ll leave it at that. I am delighted that you have purchased my book. While the schedule has yet to be decided, I would like to turn this into a series and give it my absolute freakin’ best! I’m gonna need all your support in order to do so! I won’t let you all down!

  Now for my acknowledgments.

  To the illustrator, Souichi Itou.

  Thank you very much for your wonderful illustrations. Even from the rough sketches, those involved with the book had nothing but praise for them, and Keena is already quite popular.

  To my editor, Ohashi.

  Thank you for all the hard work you put in during the end of the year holidays. Going forward, I hope t
o get through my work fast enough so I don’t give you extra work on your holidays.

  Finally, I want to thank everyone else who was involved in the making of this book.

  Well then, let’s all enjoy ourselves!

  Shoutarou Mizuki/Souichi Itou

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  Copyright

  Demon King Daimaou: Volume 1

  by Shoutarou Mizuki

  Translated by David Musto

  Edited by Carl Vanstiphout

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.

  Copyright © 2008 Shoutarou Mizuki

  Illustrations Copyright © 2008 Souichi Itou

  Cover illustration by Souichi Itou

  All rights reserved.

  Original Japanese edition published in 2008 by Hobby Japan

  This English edition is published by arrangement with Hobby Japan, Tokyo

  English translation © 2017 J-Novel Club LLC

  All rights reserved. In accordance with the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, the scanning, uploading, and electronic sharing of any part of this book without the permission of the publisher is unlawful piracy and theft of the author’s intellectual property.

  J-Novel Club LLC

  j-novel.club

  The publisher is not responsible for websites (or their content) that are not owned by the publisher.

  Ebook edition 1.0: July 2017