The Devil Is a Part-Timer!, Vol. 9

by Satoshi Wagahara

  “Hmm?”

  “Why, in that case, did you show me the scene outside?”

  “Oh, was that a problem?”

  “If the role you envisioned for me was just to keep that seat warm for you, Gabriel, you would have never let me see Heavensky. This…Heavensky, almost completely bereft of Malebranche.”

  “…Ooooh.”

  His reaction was trivial as always, but Gabriel’s expression suddenly grew far more serious.

  “In fact, you should never have shown yourself to me in the first place, now should you? The kidnapping should have been carried out strictly by the Malebranche and the humans, no?”

  “Uh, if you don’t mind my asking, what makes you say that?”

  “It is simple. Not even all the Malebranche leaders in a unified team could ever hope to scratch you. And I know you are not the noble, pure-hearted demigods praised to no end by the humans’ scripture. With you in the picture, it is easy to imagine that this is all the work of heaven afoot. Olba Meiyer, Barbariccia—they are all here now, and it is thanks to your sweet words cajoling them so. Am I wrong?”

  Gabriel kept watching him.

  “Now that I see this angel is present, I realize that the Malebranche forming a new Devil King’s Army and the Malebranche-supported Efzahan waging war against the world are nothing more than a cover. Your true mission is hidden behind all of that. That is why you should never have revealed yourself.”

  “Hmmm… Well, hell, if you put it that way…”

  The archangel scratched his head, grimacing like a held-back student in algebra class.

  “You read me like a book, I guess. I shouldn’t have appeared in front of you, no. I needed to have Barbariccia at your side when you woke up, not me. That way, I could’ve—”

  “You could have made me the great hero Alciel,” he interrupted, “guardian of Gwenvan, back where he belongs?”

  “That sounds like the next summer blockbuster more than anything else, y’know?”

  “I am, after all, the only Demon General Emilia is not on record as having personally defeated.”

  “Would you mind letting me finish? …In fact, how ’bout I start interrupting you for a change? See how you like that, huh?”

  “I have noticed how the final events in the Central Continent Devil’s Castle are still the subject of unfounded rumors here. If the Demon General Alciel has returned to the Malebranche-ruled Efzahan, I suppose everyone would assume the return of the Devil King’s Army is nigh.”

  “Oh-ho! And then?”

  “And then…the people of Ente Isla would wait for the return of the Hero to slay this new threat to their existence. That is why you have Emilia here, yes? However you managed to do it?”

  “Okay, go on. I’ll let you have the floor.”

  “…First the Devil King’s Army, then the Hero. With both resurrected, the people will pine for the Hero’s final victory. I presume your plan is to have Emilia defeat Barbariccia and me. Thus, the revived Hero Emilia will defeat the evil Devil King’s Army once more, returning the light of purity to Ente Isla. The script could hardly be easier to follow.”

  “Eesh, I don’t think it’s that easy…but I suppose it is for you, huh? Given that you’re one of the participants.”

  “But two questions remain. One, why bring up Emilia again? Two, why are you angels going through all this trouble? Emilia’s presence would help the Church publicly admit to Olba Meiyer’s crimes and reform itself—that much I understand. But I still fail to understand what lies behind all this scheming.”

  “Yeah, well, I never showed you.”

  Alciel ignored the aside.

  “But, hey, we’re still angels, more or less, yeah? Inviting the demons and instilling a little hope in people would set the stage perfectly for weakening the demon realms and protecting the peace on this planet, mmm?”

  “What are you prattling on about? Our Devil King’s Army had four-fifths of Ente Isla in the palm of our hand, and you lifted not a single finger.”

  “…Nooooo, but…”

  “It makes no sense, you going through all this trouble simply to swat away a few meddlesome Malebranche leaders. If you had that much of a drive to act, you could have assassinated me and His Demonic Highness in Japan far more easily… What are you after, Gabriel?”

  “Hm? What d’you mean?”

  “If we do nothing and enough time passes, Emilia will appear here, and the Malebranche and I will be pressed into battle. An untold number of powerful demons will lose their lives, and your mission to restore hope to the lives of Ente Isla’s humans will be accomplished. But that is not your mission at all.”

  “What makes you think that?”

  “Many reasons. You showed me the outside. You gave me the time and materials needed to grasp the situation. Even that is enough to tell that you wish to put Emilia and me in place to do…something. Something besides what the heavens called upon you to do.”

  “…Guess you’re more than just a guy agonizing over what grade of eggs to buy at the store after all, huh?”

  “You… Where did you see me doing that, you dirty little rat?”

  That, for some reason, was what made Alciel’s formidable presence crumble. Gabriel snickered, sat down on the edge of the balcony, and took in the sight of the imperial palace grounds below.

  “Well, sorry to burst your bubble, but I’m not really expectin’ a hell of a lot out of you and Emilia. Like you guessed, this whole charade’s meant to show off Emilia defeating the Malebranche to the general public. Nabbing Nord Justina along the way was one heck of a winning lottery ticket, I’ll admit. Now, not only can the Hero Emilia once again defeat her bitter enemy, this nefarious Great Demon General, and save Ente Isla once more…why, she’ll be reunited with her long-lost father, too! We’re gonna be showered in Oscars next year!”

  Alciel steeled his gaze at the angel.

  “Me, though,” Gabriel continued, “I’ve already had enough of this two-bit farce.”

  “Oh?”

  “Feel free to dis me for it, but I’m scared. Yesod, Gevurah… Y’know, those aren’t the kinda things I’m s’posed to be messin’ with. The ‘dark’ blood I ran into when I kidnapped you, in its complete form… Man, I thought I was gonna jump outta my toga. Life flashing before my eyes, the whole bit.”

  “Complete… What?”

  “I’d kinda like to save heaven, yeah?”

  “What are you talking about?” Alciel grumbled in a low, threatening tone. “The heavens are hardly under threat of invasion.”

  “True, true,” the angel laughed. “But they are about to repeat a mistake they made in the past. They had a single chance, and you know what? They had to play it off as a ‘cataclysm,’ when it was all said and done. All so they can enjoy this lazy, listless peace they have. Sad to say, though, there ain’t much I can do by myself. As intelligent and handsome—and did I mention modest?—as I am, not even I can fend off that kind of rabble up there.”

  A pause.

  “…Um, you were supposed to chime in with one of your bons mots right then? Like, personally, I know that rabble’s beyond saving, but they’re my friends, yeah? I don’t wanna lose ’em for nothing. No matter how stupid and lazy and arrogant they are, they’re still the gang I spent the past ten thousand years with, y’know?”

  “…You are truly the worst straight man in the world.”

  Gabriel exploded in joyous laughter. It made him fall off his balcony stoop. He stood up, stretching his legs out.

  “…Y’know, there’s really only thing I want from you: When Emilia shows up, try to keep the fight going as long as you can.” He placed a hand on Alciel’s shoulder. “Mm-kay? ’Cause with the kind of safety margin I need, a good forty-eight hours would be juuust about right.”

  “Um…”

  Before Alciel could speak, the archangel slowly walked away. He watched him leave.

  “When we first met,” Gabriel called out, “I had no expectations for him what
soever. Like, he was so ready to dish out his life for every stupid little thing. But…I dunno. All that time he spent in that other world… Must’ve made him think a little, hmm?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I mean that I’ve been waiting two thousand years for this—for a new Devil Overlord to be born. And I think this is about the last chance we got.”

  His voice was just as fluttery and obnoxious as always, but soon it was gone, too far for Alciel’s ears to pick up on.

  “Dahh!” the shrill voice echoed across the palace grounds. “Why did this have to happen, I ask you?! Where did Olba disappear to?! Why won’t he come back?!”

  It belonged to a figure perhaps a shade higher than your average grown man, but peeking out from his robe, one could easily spot the enormous curved claws on both sides—the telltale sign of a Malebranche. They were far longer than those of a typical tribe member, forming strong and beautiful scythe-like crescents in the air—and they could belong to none other than Barbariccia, leader of the entire Malebranche force.

  “Please, Lord Barbariccia, calm yourself! Wailing about it will not help our situation.”

  “Silence, Farlo! How could anyone remain calm at a time like this?!”

  The Malebranche called Barbariccia shot off his seat, almost knocking it to the floor, and slashed one of his mighty claws down. Farfarello, the young officer who had faced off against Maou and his new generals in Japan, was forced to watch as it tore through the table they were seated at. He sighed.

  “Raguel!” Barbariccia shouted, not bothering to notice Farfarello’s exasperation. “You were with him! Where did Olba Meiyer go?”

  “…Can’t say I know,” replied the man with the Afro cut, not letting his superior officer’s glare faze him.

  “Like hell you don’t! I cannot allow this!”

  “Whether you do or not, man, I don’t know. Ain’t you kinda in enough trouble right now, though? It’s not like losing Olba’s gonna change a lot for you either way.”

  “Gnnnh…”

  Barbariccia, who had taken the post of Malebranche leader after the death of the Great Demon General Malacoda, sized up the map of Efzahan strewn among the battered remains of the table. “What is going on in Phaigan and Gwenvan?!” he bellowed, tramping on the papers and debris like a movie monster.

  “Something bad, I’d guess?” Raguel said, keeping his legs casually crossed as he watched the map get torn to shreds. “Whatcha gonna do, though? The way the Eight Scarves in the capital are putting it, you two are about the only Malebranche leaders left. You guys and Libicocco, and he ain’t exactly in any shape for battle right now. Not after what happened in Japan.”

  There was hardly a trace of urgency to his voice, but Raguel’s choice of words made Barbariccia’s and Farfarello’s faces visibly darken.

  “I had thought,” Farfarello sharply replied, “you were all here to counsel us during emergencies like these.”

  The punky-haired angel scoffed at him. “I think you and I got different definitions of ‘emergency,’ man. I thought you guys told me we were invading Ente Isla with your forces, and no one else’s. Otherwise you’d never be able to live up to Devil King Satan, or whatever. Right? Ain’t that what you said? And then I said I’d help set the table. I don’t remember ever saying I’d come galloping in to the rescue.”

  “Youuuu…”

  “Besides, haven’t I earned my keep enough already? Alciel could wind up being your supreme commander by the end of this, and now he’s right here. Right alongside Emilia’s father, the guy with the other holy sword. I set everything up perfectly for you, and you’re still cryin’ about how you can’t do anything by yourselves?”

  The mention of Alciel’s name, in and of itself, helped soothe Barbariccia’s frayed nerves a little. It only made Farfarello feel even more depressed about his fate.

  “Perhaps we should have listened to His Demonic Highness after all…”

  “What, Farlo?!”

  “…Er. Nothing.”

  “…So be it. Our first order of business, then, is to confirm Draghignazzo and Scarmiglione are alive. That, and find out what we are dealing with in the force invading Heavensky from Phaigan! Farlo, fly over and examine the front lines for me and—”

  It was perhaps just as well that Barbariccia’s not-so-well-thought-out orders were interrupted midway. The ponderous doors of the meeting room opened, revealing a figure that immediately made he and Farfarello sit straight up in their seats. It didn’t affect Raguel’s stance at all, although his face did stiffen a little.

  “Ah…”

  “Lord…Alciel…”

  “Give me the situation,” his low voice rumbled. “Be concise.” He raised a finger, and instantly the smashed table and ruined map were returned to perfect condition.

  “Ah, Lord Alciel! I have heard the particulars of your run-in with Farlo in the alien world of Japan. I certainly empathize if he has angered you in any way, but I promise you, we of the Malebranche would never dream of interfering with—”

  “I said, give me the situation concisely.”

  Mown down by the Demon General’s sheer force, the leader of the New Devil King’s Army fell dumb.

  “Let me present it, my lord,” said the young Farfarello as he stood at his end of the restored table.

  Alciel, looking at the demon’s haggard face, nodded. “You are the one Erone serves, yes?”

  “Yes, my lord. I regret that I was the one who treated His Demonic Highness and his new general, Her Excellency Chiho the MgRonald Barista, so rudely in Japan. I will gratefully accept any punishment you wish to mete out after this is over, but first, allow me to answer your question.”

  Farfarello saluted, then used a claw to point at the map of Efzahan.

  “We, the Malebranche, have invaded and occupied Efzahan with the aid of Olba Meiyer and the angel Lord Raguel, an aide from the heavens. At one point, we had every major city in Efzahan under our control. From there, we intended to seize the site of Devil’s Castle on the Central Continent, so we may be ready to provide Lord Satan his proper setting in the future. To achieve this, we needed to take apart the Federated Order of the Five Continents, the unified knight corps rebuilding the land. That is why we have bolstered the ranks of the Eight Scarves and declared war against the rest of the world.”

  “Mmm.”

  “Our move had the desired effect. The human knight corps returned to their homelands to prepare for war, leaving the Central Continent comparatively unguarded. We also made advances at the holy sword wielded by the Hero Emilia, which was being concealed by the Church on the Western Island. Doing so, we believed, would disrupt the balance of military power across the islands, stoking discord among the human race and preventing them from putting up the sort of unified front that so devastated us before.”

  Alciel stole a quick glance at the smirking Raguel.

  “So why are you in this current predicament?”

  “The cities under protection from our Malebranche forces and the Eight Scarves corps,” Farfarello briskly replied, claw pointing at different marks on the map, “have been forced to capitulate one after the other in recent days.”

  “Hohh.”

  Alciel nodded briskly, but his eyes were no longer on the map. They were on Raguel, now a silent observer as events unfolded around him.

  “We have lost contact with Scarmiglione and Draghignazzo, whose forces were garrisoned at two points between Heavensky and the naval port of Phaigan. The lands under the control of Libicocco, currently recuperating in Heavensky after being wounded in combat in Japan…I fear their seizure is a matter of time as well.”

  “I see.” Another emotionless nod. Alciel crossed his arms, eyes still on Raguel. “So you fools let Olba and these rats from heaven sweet-talk you into ravaging the lands I worked so hard to conquer. And not only did you fail to take Devil’s Castle, you let the lives of His Demonic Highness’s people go to waste for little to no benefit.”

&nbs
p; “…I have no defense, my lord,” Farfarello meekly replied.

  “Y-yes, but Lord Alciel…”

  “Silence, Barbariccia! You damned fool! There is no point in criticizing you for raising your forces at this point. You had every right to be stoked to anger after the cruel humiliation we were dealt. But! Why did you refuse to faithfully carry out the orders His Demonic Highness gave to you, Farfarello? He specifically instructed all of you to return to the demon realms!”

  Barbariccia remained silent.

  “We… I apologize for this disgrace, my lord.”

  “Aw, don’t be so pissed off at ’em, man! They just kinda stuck their necks out a little too far, you know? It was lookin’ pretty good for a while there, too.”

  “This is exactly what you wanted all along, no doubt, you scurrying little rats of the sky.”

  Alciel had no time for Raguel’s advocation for his fellow demons.

  “Rats? C’mon, bro. If anything, we’re on your side here. I set the table for this whole thing!”

  “I have had enough of you angels. You and your false pretenses. I have yet to discover what you are using us for, but I, Alciel, am not the sort of obedient demon willing to wag my tail and do as you say!”

  Just as he finished, Alciel disappeared into thin air. The next moment, he was behind Raguel, claws poised to strike his head—not that he needed to be too careful with his aim, what with all that hair.

  “Ngh?!”

  But another arm stopped him—stopped the most powerful body in the demon realms. And the person doing it was as small as a child.

  “Y-you…!” Alciel exclaimed as he turned around to see the ashen-skinned boy behind him. His hair was black, save for one streak of red.

  “You… Erone… The one Farfarello used…”

  For a moment, Alciel thought the Malebranche were rebelling against him. Raguel quickly set the record straight.

  “Oh, uh, I was kinda lending him to the crew for this effort, so that guy isn’t backstabbing you or anything. No worries, right?”

  “Lending him…? Ngh!”

  The physical strength of Erone—the boy borne from the Gevurah Sephirah who sent Suzuno flying and deflected the Alas Ramus–infused Better Half—proved too much even for the fully powered Great Demon General to resist. Stony-faced, the boy pulled Alciel down, then threw him straight into the wall behind them.