The Devil Is a Part-Timer!, Vol. 4

by Satoshi Wagahara

  It was clear Emi didn’t want to face the truth. Her face was red, her eyes liable to tear up at any moment, but she was still a seasoned warrior. She wasn’t someone who didn’t know what was urgent, and what needed to take priority.

  “…Great. Well, go ahead. I’m counting on you.”

  “Don’t count on me! I’m doing this out of my own volition!”

  “All right, all right. That’s fine, too. Camio, if you wouldn’t mind telling—”

  “That woman.”

  “—her about… Huh? What about her?”

  “That woman… I was powerless to stop her. She had the strength of a demonic goddess.”

  “You’re…talking about Amane?”

  Maou, Chiho, even Emi doubted their ears.

  The Devil Regent nodded his small beak sagely, beady eyes wide open.

  “She was the one…who plunged my soldiers into the roaring of that enormous dragon…”

  By the time Ohguro-ya officially closed, the sky was already beginning to stain a dark red.

  Once five PM rolled around, demand dwindled for nearly everything except the lockers and the shower room.

  Briskly, Maou and the rest polished up the griddle, washed the drink cooler’s waste-water tray, placed the covers on the shaved-ice machines, and inspected the remaining food, drinks, and other merchandise.

  Amane printed a sales journal out from the register, showing off the approximate calculations for the day’s proceeds to everyone nearby.

  Once they emptied the lockers and coin-op shower locks, they would have a full grasp of how much they had made that day.

  “Just from the register alone…we made it past three hundred and fifty thousand yen.”

  The smile was genuine as she held up the receipt paper.

  “I still have to punch in Urushihara’s drink and shaved-ice proceeds, the to-go orders from Ashiya, and the coins from the shower and the lockers…but I think we may just break five hundred thousand when it’s all said and done. That’s probably the first time since we opened up.”

  “Yeah…but if Chi and the gang didn’t show up, it all would’ve fallen apart halfway through. We had to use a lot of petty cash to get going, too. We’ll need to rein that in if we wanna keep it going.”

  Maou compared the day’s sales record with the previous year’s accounting ledger.

  He’d underestimated the number of customers to expect, leading to a near breakdown in the afternoon—a point he still regretted. But simply comparing the numbers, they’d almost doubled their sales from the same day last year, an astronomical improvement.

  That was thanks to Maou’s sales strategy, to some extent, but the root cause likely boiled down to the happy-go-lucky, yeah-whatever approach Amane and her family took to the shop before now.

  “No doubt about it. We’re gonna get a ton of traffic. Lordy, if this is what we get every day, I don’t know what I’m gonna do! Oh! Yusa, Chiho, Kamazuki, I’ve got something for you!”

  The three women, back in their street clothes, were preparing to return to their inn when Amane called for them.

  “Here’s your wages for these past two days. You really helped out, you know? Thanks. I gave you a little bonus for that sand castle, Kamazuki. Almost wish I could ask you for one of those every day!”

  Suzuno’s Sarou-Sotengai masterpiece attracted some serious attention. The resulting word of mouth was undoubtedly the unsung hero behind today’s sales.

  Maou was already pondering over ways to harness that talent going forward.

  That odd, out-of-place aura Amane emanated in the guest room was a thing of the past by the time he returned to work.

  Even Chiho, returning to her own duties, was back to her usual bubbly self.

  But still, somewhere inside of Maou, the anxiety was still there. Camio all but wailing “no más” in Amane’s presence was troubling. That, and Emi’s awkward act.

  But after about an hour’s work, Emi came back to the shop space, Alas Ramus in hand. The look of sheer depression on her face was obvious to anyone with eyes.

  She played around a bit along the shore with Alas Ramus, along with Chiho and Suzuno now that they were off work. But a passing remark was all it took to cloud her expression once more.

  “Boy, it’s a shame you’re all leaving tomorrow, though!”

  Amane put some light pressure on them to stay, but Chiho had made a promise to her parents, and Emi didn’t have any more vacation days to spare. The Ohguro-ya proprietor didn’t seem genuinely interested in keeping them, but the sadness in her voice was still evident.

  “…Oop?”

  A vibration in Maou’s shorts indicated an incoming text.

  “……”

  Maou wasn’t foolish enough to look toward the sender.

  “What’s up, Maou? Your face’s lookin’ all dark.”

  It was. Thanks to a day spent working beachside, all the demons were sporting a light tan.

  The tan was inconsequential, though. Taking care not to let Amane hear him as she shot a photo of herself with Chiho in front of Suzuno’s sand castle, he beckoned Urushihara and Ashiya to come closer.

  “I’m going out tonight. You guys’re coming, too.”

  Inuboh-saki Lighthouse was designed and built in 1874 by Richard Henry Brunton, a British architect invited to Japan to help shore up their coastline infrastructure.

  After several remodels and reconfigurations to adapt it for war and peacetime, the tower was now one of only six “Type One” lighthouses remaining in Japan, its first-order Fresnel lens offering a sweep range of almost 22.5 miles.

  At the base of this tower, the beam of light lazily revolving above them in the dark, Maou, Ashiya, and Urushihara faced down Emi, a cardboard box in their hands.

  “By yourself, huh? What about Chi and Suzuno?”

  “I told Bell. She’s safe with Chiho now, just in case.”

  The chances of Emi choosing this moment for a final battle with the Devil King seemed slim. But was she still anticipating a “just in case” at the end of it all?

  Maybe that would become clear once he knew where his beloved daughter was.

  “And Alas Ramus?”

  “Right here.”

  This time, Emi pointed not at her head, but her right hand.

  “All right, so…what? You didn’t call us here to fight right now, did you?”

  The text that arrived as Maou closed down the store came from Emi.

  He didn’t recall giving her a working number. They were cyber-besties on exactly zero social networks. She must have harangued Chiho or someone for it.

  The text was simple enough.

  FRONT OF LIGHTHOUSE, 11 TONIGHT. BRING CUMIO. DONT LET AMANE SEE YOU.

  He didn’t reply—he was too busy snickering at her rendering of “Camio”—but Emi must have known they would show up.

  “That’d be kind of fun, but sadly, no. Tell ’em, Camio: Why’d I call the Devil King over here?”

  “…So be it. Peep.”

  Camio’s voice was clearer, more intelligible than before. The day he’d spent recovering must have done wonders.

  The three demons peered into the box. What kind of understanding did the Hero have with Maou’s Devil Regent?

  The ocean view from Cape Inuboh-saki was dark, murky, and foreboding.

  A cold wind, strangely cold for a summer night, played with the otherworldly demons’ hair.

  “Lord Satan… General of the Eastern Island… Lucifer. I fear that danger is rapidly apeep…approaching this land.”

  “Uh, dude, I got a title, too?”

  Camio ignored Urushihara’s whining.

  “When I heard that the Hero Emilia was here, a child serving as her holy sword… I thought I would faint on the cheep…spot. As we speak, there are forces—not the Devil King’s demons, nor of our realm at all, but another force—in a frenzied search for the Hero’s peep…sword.”

  “Not from my realm? The hell?”

  Maou curiously
regarded the chicken in the box.

  “Peep. It was several fortnights ago. A human…a mere human…visited me in our capital, Satanas Arc. This figure claimed that anyone who pro-peep-cured the ‘holy sword’ would gain enough power to rule our realm, the heavens, and Ente Isla in one fell peep. This declaration, it pains me to say, stoked the bloodlust of many among our remaining forces, seeking revenge against Lord Satan’s victor.”

  Ashiya and Urushihara both let out a surprised gasp behind Maou.

  A human had visited the demon realms. There was not a single previous example of this in all the realm’s long history.

  When faced with the demonic power that coursed through the very air in that land, a regular human would find it difficult to so much as remain conscious.

  Chiho, when faced with Maou in his Satan form at close range, could barely breathe in the face of his almighty force.

  “The way Camio put it, after your invasion army collapsed, the surviving troops split into two factions. One wanted to stage another invasion to avenge your death; the other took a more moderate approach, calling on the masses to believe in their lord’s survival and preserve the nation’s strength. Camio ran himself ragged trying to make the two sides come to terms. But this human visitor made the delicate balance he built collapse to pieces.”

  It was a strange picture, Emi explaining current demon-realm events to Maou. She continued, paying little heed to his suspicious sneer.

  “This person said that there were two holy swords. And one of them…”

  Without even pausing to ensure there were no average Japanese citizens milling around nearby, Emi made her sword materialize out of thin air.

  The Better Half.

  “There aren’t that many humans who know that the Better Half is here in Japan with me.”

  The hint was enough to finally make Maou understand.

  Why did Sariel know from the start where Emi’s sword was? Where did he discover that nugget of information?

  She was right. There weren’t many on Ente Isla who knew the holy sword’s location. Not many humans.

  There were the Hero’s traveling companions, Emeralda and Albert. Suzuno, better known elsewhere as Crestia Bell, became friendly enough with Emi to discover the truth. There were the six Archbishops who met regularly at All Bishops’ Sanctuary to deliberate over Church affairs, the ones who learned of Emilia’s survival from Suzuno before she left. Beyond that…

  “The human arrived with the ‘revenge’ faction in tow before disappearing. He peep called himself Olba Meiyer.”

  “Wh-What the hell’s he thinking? What’s he even doing?! And, dude, like, when?!”

  The name shocked Urushihara the most, given how much thought the fallen angel had devoted to him in recent days.

  Olba was the only person in Japan who knew Emi was there. He engaged in hostilities with her, never making up for it afterward. He had an inkling this would happen, but the news was still hard for him to swallow.

  “So much for taking pity on him…”

  Ashiya, who once crossed swords with Olba in Japan, gritted his teeth as he clenched his fists in rage.

  “Regent Camio. Who was leading the ‘revenge’ faction that followed Olba?”

  “It was…Barbariccia, aide to Malacoda, General of the Southern Island. Cheep.”

  “I wish you’d stop talking like a Pokéture when we’re trying to be serious.”

  Maou scratched his head distractedly.

  “But if we’re gonna have this conversation, why out in the open like this? Why not back at Ohguro-ya? Amane’s gone by now.”

  “Didn’t you hear Camio? Amane might have killed everyone in his force.”

  “Yeah, I heard that, but…”

  “Well, maybe you forgot because she’s a total Type A personality, but she’s that landlord’s niece, remember? Maybe she’s not our enemy, but don’t forget—she’s not exactly a normal person, either.”

  Emi spared nothing in her harsh rebuke.

  But this wasn’t her usual antagonism writ large. There was something more chiding to it now.

  “But even if Amane has some mysterious power we don’t know about, something strong enough to defeat Camio and a squad of demons…we can’t just leave what’s coming up next to her.”

  “What’s coming up next? What do you mean?”

  Camio swiveled his head toward the dubious Ashiya.

  “The moderates among us wished to prevent our struggle from speep…spilling out to other realms. Thus, before the human-agitated ‘revenge’ faction could vent their fury in this world, we decided to stage a covert opeep…operation to secure Emilia’s holy sword. Olba Meiyer stated only that it was in a land known as Tokyo, in the kingdom known as Japan. Our intention as a result was to conjure a Gate that existed on the realm’s far eastern coast, then search westward with the peep…proverbial fine-toothed comb.”

  Which meant that Camio’s appearance over Choshi, the easternmost point in the Kanto region, was a pure coincidence?

  “Uh, but this isn’t Tokyo, you realize? This is Chiba.”

  “Yeah, but a lot of buildings and stuff in Chiba are still named ‘The Tokyo Something-something,’ you know?”

  “Shut up, Lucifer.”

  “It was not simpeep-le coincidence. We used an object Olba left behind, claiming it would provide clues to the sword’s position. This region reacted to it first.”

  “Clues to its position?”

  That topic seemed like it had come up just recently, somehow.

  Before Maou could scour his memory banks, Camio continued.

  “But, I am afraid, it is now just as you peep…see. We were unable to defend ourselves against the great force that dwells in this realm…”

  Camio’s beady eyes drifted toward a corner of the box. His way of expressing shame, perhaps. Emi picked up his line of discussion.

  “He’s saying that the ‘revenge’ faction’s already headed to Japan… To Earth!”

  “What?!”

  “What did you say?”

  “Why didn’t you say that first?!”

  “Eeep!”

  All three demons verbally expressed their surprise, Maou accentuating his shock by absentmindedly dropping the box.

  “The…the Gate will open in the middle of the night, based on its size and our preepvious intelligence. We believe they will also rely upon their numbers to comb this land from its easternmost point forward.”

  The chicken strutting his way out of the box tucked his feet underneath his wings and sat upon the ground.

  “To be frank with you, that woman’s peep-power was simply inconceivable. I fear there is every chance a similar fate will befall the advancing force…”

  And to be even franker, Camio was more or less condemning this third-party force to death, seeing no hope for them against the power of a bumbling beach-toggery owner.

  Maou, relying on hearsay for the moment, had trouble picturing Amane as a presence strong enough to vaporize entire armies. But Camio was serious, more so than his naturally frowning beak signaled.

  “We may have peep…parted company, but Barbariccia was a comrade in our struggle to unify the demonic realms. I do not have the heart to wage hostilities against him…and I cannot sit idly by and watch as his enraged but nonetheless decent and sensible fighters die a fool’s death against that woman’s might.”

  “And I really don’t care about what happens to you guys…”

  Emi retained her strict I’m-different-from-you approach with the demons surrounding her.

  “But if Olba’s really involved here, I can’t ignore that. It doesn’t matter to me whether Amane’s this superwoman or whatever. Friend or foe, I don’t care.”

  She turned her glare toward Maou.

  “If Japan’s attacked by this army of demons after my holy sword, then it’s our job to drive them off. Mine, and yours. We’re the ones who brought the fight here. We can’t just palm this off on Amane.”

  A pow
erful light beam swept the skies above Emi as she stood tall.

  “I’d, uh…kind of prefer it if Amane’s a friend, but… Either way, she and my landlord are still good people. If they weren’t around, we’d be panhandling right now.”

  Maou flashed a lonely smile.

  “Emi.”

  “What.”

  “…You really believed it, huh?”

  “Sorry?”

  The question made Emi’s face burst into alarm mode. The tone of Maou’s voice suggested that he’d planted a story for Camio to tell her the whole time.

  “You probably think this is a trap, don’t you? All set up by this demon who risked his life trying to rescue me.”

  “…Oh. That?”

  Emi’s voice betrayed her blank disappointment.

  “Even if you and that chicken trapped me, you think I’d do something about that?” Now she was brimming with confidence, although it still seemed like an act.

  She tried to stand straight up, staring down at the demons, but then relaxed herself, thinking better of it…or, maybe, finding the act too idiotic to continue.

  “Would you mind not treating me like some stupid woman?”

  “Uh?”

  Emi winced and brought a hand to her forehead.

  “When Camio was talking to me, you know I had Chiho and Alas Ramus in there, too, right?”

  “Y…yeah…? So what?”

  He thought he knew. Or, maybe, he didn’t know at all. So he decided to keep staring instead. Emi turned her back, as if trying to flee him.

  “So, look, you’re an evil demon, the king of all devils, a poor, dirty bum, my father’s killer, the enemy of all mankind, worth nothing more than a piece of space debris to anyone. Anyone! But you know what?”

  The anger seemed to come from the heart as her nose and eyelids twitched in supreme annoyance.

  “At least to the point that I know you won’t tell a lie that stabs Chiho or Alas Ramus in the back… I trust in all of you demons! So…”

  She shot a look at the three, each blinking helplessly at her, overwhelmed.

  “I want you to step up and take responsibility for this! With me!”

  The shout echoed across the cape.

  “…Are you on board, or not?! If you are, forget everything I just said! You piles of space junk!”