How NOT to Summon a Demon Lord: Volume 7

by Yukiya Murasaki

  They needed a king.

  “But the king doesn’t have to be an Elf...”

  “How many times will I have to say no!?” the queen snapped at her. Shera’s shoulders drastically sagged.

  “Incidentally, that collar is also an issue,” Drango changed the subject once more.

  “Ah...” Shera placed her hand over her neck, blushing.

  “I’ve heard about it from Celsior.” The queen sighed. “Apparently she had a 《Slave Collar》 placed on her.”

  “No! This is an Enslavement Collar! When I summoned Diablo, his magic reflection went all ‘whoosh,’ then it was on my neck!”

  “It’s all the same, really. But as you can see, she wasn’t given any strange orders and none of the sacred treasures are missing. You can rest easy, Drango.”

  —The Elves’ sacred treasures...

  He recalled Prince Keera mentioning the treasures. The Elves seemed to have some pretty powerful artifacts slumbering in their vaults.

  “Used goods...” Drango whispered.

  “Huh?”

  “Ah, no, I don’t mind! But, err... Well, we can check and see if she was given any strange orders, but the collar would stick out during the wedding... Please, excuse me.”

  He moved from where he was sitting, moving to Shera’s side, and reached for the collar. Shera tensed up and looked ready to flee, but, realizing it would be rude, she merely stiffened.

  “Hmhm...” Drango touched the collar. “This is amazing! It would take more than a day or two to remove it.”

  “O-Obviously! Even Diablo couldn’t get it off.”

  “But if you have it on during the ceremony, the citizens would surely be anxious. In that case, let’s do this... Let light and wind cloak thee, and nothing be reflected upon you...”

  Drango recited an incantation, and snapped his fingers. Just like he’d performed some sort of magic trick, Shera’s Enslavement Collar disappeared.

  —He dispelled it!?

  “Impossible!?” Rem rose to her feet. She knew firsthand how difficult it was to remove the collar, so her reaction was only natural.

  Diablo was also surprised, of course, but letting his surprise show on his face would ruin his Demon Lord role play.

  “That’s an interesting trick you pulled there, Drango,” he said confidently.

  “I thought this would be a good solution for Princess Shera. I cast a concealment spell on this powerful magical tool, but it may be unstable.”

  “Hmph...” Diablo scoffed.

  —Concealment magic, huh?

  He hadn’t dispelled the collar, but rather rendered it invisible. Still, his skill with magic would have to be considerably high to do that. Cross Reverie didn’t have any spells to render equipment invisible though, so Diablo had no way of knowing how strong his magic was.

  “...Unbelievable...” Rem’s eyes were wide with shock. “This is, without a doubt, high level magic...”

  “Duhuhu... I don’t have much magical energy though. I shamefully admit I was born with a rather small capacity.”

  “Isn’t he resourceful?” The queen beamed, apparently pleased to see the groom she’d chosen for her daughter prove his worth.

  In contrast, Diablo’s heart was awfully discomposed...

  Chapter 5: The Elves’ Sacred Treasure

  The following day—

  As they all went to sleep late at night after the dinner party, Diablo had just woken up after noon. He could hear music in the distance, and, sitting up in the bed, he could feel Rem’s breathing tickling his ear.

  “Meow... Nnn... Ah, good morning, Diablo.”

  “Hmm.”

  “...It’s rather lively today, it seems.”

  “I’m sure Shera will know the reason.”

  A princess wasn’t allowed to spend the night in the same room as another man right before her wedding day. Shera wanted to be with them like always, but last night the queen insisted on spending the night with her instead.

  Rose stood against the wall, as she didn’t need sleep and instead received her magical energy from Diablo.

  “Good morning, Master. Rose awaits Master’s commands.”

  “Hmm. What is the meaning of this disturbance?”

  “Rose will proceed to purge and silence them.”

  “That’s not what I meant...”

  There was a knock on the door, and Rose walked over to welcome their guest. Rafflesia, the Dark Elf, raised her hand in greeting.

  “Good morning, friends. I heard your voices and reckoned you were finally awake. Hohoho... You are quite the sleepyheads, given you are Adventurers.”

  “Hmph... Being a Demon Lord is demanding work. Getting proper rest is part of my duties.”

  “Well, our food has been prepared. Or do you still need more sleep?”

  Rem jumped out of bed at the offer of food. Diablo adjusted his clothes and went out into the common room after them.

  They all sat around the table, their meal consisting, as was usual in these lands, of different fruits. They were certainly good, but Diablo was surprised the Elves never got tired of them.

  Rafflesia sat opposite of him, her massive breasts resting on the table. “My, this is convenient... Perhaps I should get a table like this for my room back home.”

  “They’re heavy, are they?”

  “Ohohoh... Would you like to try picking them up? They’re quite bountiful.”

  “B-Bountiful!?”

  Diablo leaned forward despite himself, only to feel Rem’s cold glare stab into him.

  ...Staaaaare.

  “Master...” He could feel a terribly menacing aura coming from Rose as well.

  Putting his best efforts forward to kill his sorrow, Diablo pretended to laugh scornfully.

  “H-Hmph... I do not care for such frivolities. I’m a Demon Lord after all!”

  “...Incidentally, do you know why there’s such a ruckus out there?” Rem shifted her gaze outside. “Is it like this all the time in the Elves’ country?”

  “Singing and dancing are the norm here, but this is a rather special occasion. They’re celebrating the wedding.”

  “...Wedding?”

  “Princess Shera’s of course. Apparently the ceremony will be held the day after tomorrow... Did you not know? I’ve heard the Elves discuss it here and there.”

  “That fast!?”

  It usually took at least a year to prepare a program for a wedding, or three months if one were in a hurry. And with royal weddings, it wouldn’t be surprising for it to take many more years to prepare, especially with how long-lived the Elves are.

  “It’s been half a month since the king passed away. If you were to neglect watering a flower for two weeks, what do you think would happen?”

  “...So that’s why they’re in a hurry. How absurd. They’re tending to Shera’s life like it’s a garden to maintain.”

  “Ohohoh... Leaders are essentially slaves. They’re expected to sacrifice themselves for the well-being of the people, and aren’t allowed to run away.”

  “...This is far too impatient, even if it is for the good of the forest.”

  “It could be more than just that, you know.”

  “...I do not know very much about the Elves. Could you teach me about them, Lady Rafflesia?”

  Rafflesia rested both of her hands on top of her impressive breasts, then rested her shapely chin on them.

  “I’m not an Elf, so all I know are stories I’ve heard from the past.”

  “...That will be more than enough.”

  “Rumor had it that the Kingdom of Greenwood was entrusted with something very important from God, and ordered to defend it forevermore. The presence of a king was necessary to do so.”

  “Something...important?”

  Diablo bit into a nut, then crushed and swallowed it, before rising to his feet.

  “I will not rely on rumors and hearsay. Let us have Shera and the queen explain it to us. Whether that will convince me or not is another
matter.”

  †

  They all walked through the forest, guided by Shera. When they approached the queen’s room to ask for an explanation, Shera told them:

  “I have something I have to show you. Could you follow me?”

  For the past hour, they walked through the emerald forest. Eventually, they reached a mound made up of large rocks. It looked to be an Elven monument of some sort. Diablo inferred it had been there for many years, judging by the vines and moss covering it.

  “It should be here...”

  Shera walked behind the monument, her face unusually serious. There, she found a stone door with a peculiar pattern etched on it. Diablo couldn’t see it clearly because of the moss covering the door, but it did seem familiar.

  —Isn’t this the same as the holy mark from Lumachina’s church?

  When Shera laid her hands on it, the stone door opened to the sides with an ease Diablo wouldn’t have assumed from its aged appearance. A staircase leading down had revealed itself.

  It was similar to Diablo’s personal dungeon, the Demon Lord’s Labyrinth. Could this be the Elves’ dungeon? If so, there could be monsters lying in wait. He had the Tonnerre Empereur in hand, just in case.

  They descended down the stairs. It was dark, so after confirming with Shera that there were no problems doing so, Diablo cast a Light spell.

  The staircase led underground, with brick-like, triangular stones—set together so as to leave no gaps—making up the walls. It was clear to see this wasn’t a natural cavern, but an artificial structure. It was quite wide, so while casting spells in a cramped space was usually dangerous, as it could hit himself and his allies, that wouldn’t be much of a problem here. Diablo had become used to unconsciously confirming these things, which he never had to consider when playing the game.

  The ceiling drew an arch, and was also made of painstakingly carved stone. Unlike the structure’s exterior, there were no vines or moss there.

  Lowering his gaze and examining along the walls, he saw an oblong stone. It was roughly at waist height, and was too low to be a work table. So what could it have been used for?

  “...Isn’t this a bit strange?” Rem asked, looking up at the ceiling. “I’d assume an Elven structure would have tree roots serving as the ceiling.”

  “That may mean this place wasn’t built by the Elves.”

  “Huh? But isn’t that odd, Diablo? This place is in the depths of the Elven territories...”

  “Hmm. Maybe...”

  He was going to jokingly suggest that the map designer probably got lazy, but realized that joke would go over Rem’s head. Diablo just decided to leave it as him being cool by “saying something suggestive and leaving it at that.”

  Rose was walking behind them silently...though Rose always had her eyes on Diablo and no one else.

  Rafflesia’s gaze was fixed on the depths of the underground chamber. The Light spell’s illumination didn’t reach that far, but her night vision allowed her to see despite that.

  “I believe you are correct, Sir Diablo.”

  “What makes you say that?”

  “The far wall has God’s holy mark etched on it. And not just that. I can’t find the Kingdom of Greenwood’s crest anywhere here.”

  Had the Elves built this place, they would surely put their crest somewhere to mark it as such. For example, Faltra’s church had not only the holy mark on it, but also Lyferia’s flag.

  “Are you saying God made this place?”

  There were many traces of God’s existence in this world, and Diablo believed it was an entirely different sort of existence from the God he’d heard about in his world.

  “Yeah.” Shera nodded. “God definitely made this place.”

  “...Back in the capital, I recall hearing the Grand Cathedral’s Inner Sanctum was made by God too.”

  “Right, there was that as well.”

  “...Is this some sort of Elven church? Is this where you’ll hold the wedding?”

  Maybe Shera had come to terms with the wedding, and brought them here to say she was intending to go through with it?

  “No, it’s not.” Shera shook her head. “We hold our weddings in much brighter places than this. We all gather up on top of the tallest tree in the kingdom, where we sing, dance, eat, and have fun.”

  “...Then what’s this place?”

  “It’s a grave.”

  Diablo felt chills run down his spine. Looking around, he saw oblong stones set along the walls which he thought were work tables of some sort... But they were containers with the holy mark etched on them.

  These were sarcophagi.

  Shera said these were the tombs of past Elven kings, and, stopping before one of the sarcophagi, she brought her hands together. Unlike the other ones, this one was covered with a new, black cloth.

  This was the deceased king’s, Shera’s father’s, tomb.

  Realizing this, Rem also brought her hands together, and Rafflesia followed suit. Diablo closed his eyes, and wished for the king’s peace in the afterlife.

  “Haaa...” Shera raised her head, wiping her eyes. “I finally got to visit his grave. Thanks, you guys. This was my main goal, but it took a pretty roundabout way to get here.”

  “...We know the situation didn’t allow for it. Are you ready to tell us what you wanted to say?”

  “Hmm, I didn’t intend to keep anything secret. I just didn’t know where to start.”

  “...We’re well aware your memory, sense of judgment, and communication skills are worse than a common rat’s.”

  “Rude...!?”

  “...Let’s try to put things in order.” Rem suggested. She sighed, wearing a pensive expression. “The Demon Lord Krebskulm was sealed inside my body. And we removed the majority of it through a certain ritual. You two already know this.”

  They nodded. They did, however, keep it a secret that they hid the gluttonous Klem in Faltra. If the king of Lyferia were to learn of that, her current way of life would surely be lost.

  “Some faint remains of the Demon Lord remained sealed inside me...” Rem continued. “And however faint these remnants were, there was still a chance they could awaken. That was when Celes’s letter informed me the Dark Elves may have a ritual capable of extracting the Demon Lord’s soul.”

  “That happened while I was sick in bed, so I don’t know the details about that.”

  “...The details don’t matter... Anyway, we visited the Dark Elves’ village...and with Miss Rafflesia’s ritual magic, finally removed the Demon Lord’s soul from my body!” Rem raised her voice dramatically, which showed how important that was to her.

  She placed a hand on the pouch dangling from her waist. That was where the Divinity Crystal containing the Demon Lord’s soul was.

  “...But the promise Shera made to enable that has put us in a complicated position. Which brings us to you, Shera.”

  “I still think the Elves and the Dark Elves getting along is a good thing!”

  “...I won’t deny that, but do settle down. There is an order to things. Firstly, your objective was to return home. Even if you ran away again, you can’t leave your mother be now that she’s left all alone after your father passed away.”

  “Yeah, I think so too.”

  “...Regardless of that, you made a promise to the Dark Elves. An oath. You swore on God and your life that you’ll give the Dark Elves part of Greenwood’s forest.”

  “So the Elves and Dark Elves would be able to live together.”

  Rafflesia, who stood nearby, nodded. “I’m sure everyone has their own thoughts on the matter. And it would be hard to have everyone change their minds immediately. But I believe that if we are allowed to live in this forest, we would surely be able to coexist peacefully.”

  “That’s right!” Shera smiled happily.

  “Nnnn...” Rem crossed her arms, moaning in exasperation. “You did promise that the Elves would relinquish some of their territory to the Dark Elves to regain that peace.”<
br />
  To begin with, the reason for the dispute lay with Lyferia’s king from three generations ago. He sent an army called the Crusade against the Dark Elves, suspecting them of being Demon Lord worshipers. That was because they possessed knowledge regarding the Demon Lord which was entrusted to them by God—the very same ritual magic that saved Rem.

  It was an unforgivable act of foolishness, but that was all in the past. Diablo couldn’t do anything to change that now. And when the Dark Elves were subjected to that attack, the Elves abandoned them. They didn’t fight. Doing as much forced a wedge between the two races...

  But the truth was, the Elves had no choice but to obey the Crusade, as their king was taken hostage. So said the queen, but alas, there was no proof to her words. And yet, Rafflesia still chose to accept them as truth.

  “...I think that’s a very good thing...” Rem stated her feelings on the matter. “Especially since the Demon Lord awakened in the west. The races will have to fight for their existence again very soon. It’s important we unite our powers. Having the grudge between the Elves and the Dark Elves clear up would be a very joyous thing.”

  Shera nodded enthusiastically.

  “I think so as well,” Rafflesia agreed.

  “...But without a king, the transfer of territories can’t be arranged. The Kingdom of Greenwood still follows many old traditions, and this is one of them... No, I’m sure it’s the same for the other races too. It’s impossible for a nation without a ruler to delineate territory. Convincing the people to agree is too difficult without one.”

  Decreasing a country’s territory made it harder to live in, and it was a king’s job to defend his people’s way of life.

  “I’m also sure there are those among the Elves who hold a grudge against the Dark Elves as well.” Rafflesia cast down her eyes.

  “...Let us put that idea aside for now. Whatever the case, the Kingdom of Greenwood needs a king. Based on what the queen says, he is necessary to maintain the forest... To fulfill that old promise, they have to coronate a king.”

  Shera pouted. “Mother just keeps saying, ‘An Elven country needs an Elven king.’”