The Devil Is a Part-Timer!, Vol. 4
Page 25
What drove him to do all of that, however? She still couldn’t even guess.
“If I had to imagine, this Yesod fragment was stuck on there to try and offset the demonic power in my horn. Kind of a safety valve to keep my force from leaking out of the sword…although it still leaked out enough that it kept Camio and that cyclopean in their demon forms on Earth. Not that I know why he’d give this fragment up so easily, even though he’s going nuts looking for your holy sword.”
Emi peered at the purple Yesod fragment in her hand.
“But anyway, it’s not much use to me. Let Alas Ramus have it. Maybe it’ll make you stronger or something, huh?”
“Th-Thank you… Wait, no thank you! Are you serious?!” Emi shook her head, desperately trying to keep her gratitude from slipping through for all to see. “You realize you’re not kidding, right? This is seriously gonna amplify my power. Just merging with Alas Ramus let me beat an archangel!”
“Oh, you don’t want it?”
Maou snorted indignantly.
“Don’t kid yourself, girl. Just a few bits from my horn that you so kindly shattered to pieces was enough to transform both myself and three other top-level demons. If I ever get my full strength back, I’m taking over this entire planet. You included.”
“What?!” It was Chiho who picked up on his declaration first. “So you’ll really do it, Maou? You’re going to conquer the world? Really?!”
There was something about the way Chiho used the term “conquer the world” that seemed to drain it of all meaning as it dissolved into the air.
Emi was nonplussed, her face red with shame.
“I… Oh, now what’re you going on about?”
“Emilia, it is not too late. We could search for Amane right now, have her transport the Devil King and his cohorts back to the world, and slay them there. Yes. We should do it at once. Come.”
Suzuno’s invitation sounded more like an incantation, emanating from her dark, brooding visage.
“My liege, if you could restrain yourself… There are people nearby.”
“Dude, you are seriously embarrassing me right now, Maou. It’s too hot for that crap. Can we go? I don’t wanna get sunburned.”
To the wrong pair of ears, Maou might just have sounded like someone making a serious threat. Ashiya fretted to himself about it, while Urushihara actively jeered—making sure he was a safe distance away first.
“I…I have never been so humiliated in my life!”
Emi’s face burned with rage. She looked ready to pounce upon Maou at any moment.
But even she was prudent enough not to break out her holy sword.
It was a childish and altogether immature argument between human and demon, and soon, it was absorbed into the cloudless summer sky and disappeared.
EPILOGUE
The great city of Noza Quartus, located on the north side of Isla Centurum in the middle of Ente Isla, was both the seat of the local government as it rebuilt the island and home of the Federated Order of the Five Continents, the international brotherhood of soldiers charged with protecting it.
The news that reached the Noza Quartus administration in the early morning threw the government representatives and Order commanders—so used to the current peace that reigned across the land that they were already focused on their old political infighting and border squabbles—into a paroxysm of chaos and despair.
Efzahan, the mighty empire that spread out across the whole of the Eastern Island, had sent a declaration of war to the knightly orders of the Northern, Western, and Southern Islands, each stamped with the seal of the unifying Azure Emperor who led the nation.
The communiqué declared the empire’s intention to stage a military takeover of the Central Continent.
Controlling all of the Eastern Island as it did, Efzahan enjoyed the largest territory and population of any country in the world. But this size was thanks to the swallowing up of multiple neighboring countries over the years, creating a near-constant cycle of internal strife and political instability.
Since the empire was already well-known for starting, then retreating from, small naval skirmishes at its borders with the Northern and Southern Islands, the idea of Efzahan declaring war on the rest of the world seemed less than credible in terms of international diplomacy.
But that wasn’t all. News was spreading like wildfire among the Federated Order that among the armies stationed along Efzahan’s borders with its neighboring islands and the Central Continent, there were some demons sighted in their ranks.
It spelled the end of the Order itself. All the Eastern Island knights stationed in Noza Quartus were recalled back to their homeland, and soon, almost every local army was calling upon its native soldiers to return and defend their homelands for what was anticipated to come.
To the Central Continent, laid bare on the ground and with little to no warpower of its own, it was an extremely precarious state of affairs.
The text of the Azure Emperor’s declaration was unsparing in its cruelty.
It offered no chance at peace or reconciliation. Only by swearing deference to the Great Efzahanian Empire or providing suitable tribute to its ruler would the Central Continent be allowed to retain any form of autonomy.
The “suitable tribute,” in this case, made it difficult for the Continent and its three allies to work as a cohesive team.
War-weary representatives from the North and South, memories of the Devil King’s invasion fresh in their minds, strongly criticized the Western Island for retaining exclusive control over this “tribute.” The Western Island, in turn, could not present a unified front, tensions between the influential Church and the Holy Empire of Saint Aile finally brimming to the surface.
Thus, the peace that reigned over Ente Isla was, for the first time in over two years, gravely imperiled.
The “tribute” that Efzahan demanded:
The Better Half.
THE AUTHOR, THE AFTERWORD, AND YOU!
Back when I was a kid, at the Chiba seaside town of Onjuku for a family vacation, a firework shot off by some people on the beach changed direction in the wind and hit me directly on the head, causing severe burns.
I managed to avoid permanent scarring, thanks to the lady at the inn and her timely first aid, but for a while after that, I couldn’t bring myself to use any fire spells in the RPGs I played. It may not seem like that big a deal written in words like this, but to a child’s frame of mind, it was pretty traumatic. I went bald in the spot where it hit for a while, too.
So when you’re playing with fireworks, make sure you follow the rules and clean up afterward. The More You Know.
Telling a Devil story in the area where the Devil King and Hero “worked” together in this volume was actually a goal of mine since the initial brainstorming phase for the series.
This area is the site of no less than two actual miracles.
The first is a natural miracle—out of anyplace in Honshu, the largest of the islands that make up Japan, this is the spot where the sun rises first every day (unless you’re up on a high mountain or off on one of Japan’s more remote islands).
The sunrise as viewed from Inuboh-saki, the easternmost point in Chiba, really is too beautiful to put into words. It’s almost a mystery, how nature can create such a supreme and overpowering work of art on such a regular basis.
The second miracle is a human-engineered one—the way that an entire region and its industry was rescued by a timely opportunity, a local souvenir, a gathering of people, and a senbei cracker.
The story of the Choshi Electric Railway—one where the concerted efforts and training of many people allowed them to connect with the rest of Japan via the net and keep on operating, keeping themselves alive without having to rely on charity or external support—is kind of an ideal, I think, in terms of people working hard and being economically rewarded for it.
Like the classic grandmother out in the country, I thought that the Devil King and his cohorts might learn
a thing or two working out in the sticks. But it’s doubtful that either the Hero or her nemesis learned anything that constructive. They were too busy giving their all in this unfamiliar place, flailing about as they tried to carve a path to the future for themselves. That’s how the story turned out.
I’d like to take this opportunity to express my heartfelt sorrow for Urushihara’s rantings and Ashiya’s occasional (unintentional) slip of the tongue. If anyone at the Choshi Electric Railway or NASA’s Apollo program are offended, they have every right to be. My bad.
I’d also like to note that, in real life, Shiosai Park in Kimigahama isn’t open for swimming due to high waves and rip currents. You won’t find any beach to play on there, and there’s no hyper-dimensional snack bar either, so don’t visit expecting either of those.
With this volume, The Devil is a Part-Timer! is now enjoying its first full year in publication. I simply must thank my editor (Mr. A), my illustrator (029), everyone at ASCII Media Works, the proofers, the printers, the distributors, the bookstores, and, most important, the people holding this book in their hands right now. I’d like to wrap up this afterword by saying, with every fiber of my body and soul: Thank you.
Thank you for buying this ebook, published by Yen On.
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Copyright
THE DEVIL IS A PART-TIMER!, Volume 4
SATOSHI WAGAHARA, ILLUSTRATION BY 029 (ONIKU)
Cover art by 029 (Oniku)
Translation by Kevin Gifford
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.
HATARAKU MAOUSAMA!, Volume 4
©SATOSHI WAGAHARA 2012
All rights reserved.
Edited by ASCII MEDIA WORKS
First published in 2012 by KADOKAWA CORPORATION, Tokyo.
English translation rights arranged with KADOKAWA CORPORATION, Tokyo, through Tuttle-Mori Agency, Inc., Tokyo.
English translation © 2016 Hachette Book Group, Inc.
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First eBook Edition: April 2016
ISBN: 978-0-316-39806-0
E3-20160325-JV-PC