The Devil Is a Part-Timer!, Vol. 14

by Satoshi Wagahara

  “Cerrrtainly, I’ve never heard her taaalk about that.”

  Sensing their curiosity, Emi placed a blanket over Alas Ramus up to her shoulders and turned toward them. “Well, I wouldn’t exactly call it all good memories, but this was the first place in Japan where I ever found any comfort. Plus, thanks to this apartment, I was able to keep pursuing the Devil King in this city.”

  “Not in terms of, like, being in a nice place energized you or whatever?”

  “No, more of a direct thing. This was back when I first set foot in Japan, when everything was new and unfamiliar to me and I had no idea what was going on.”

  So Emi began to tell the story, a tale that seemed to take place years ago but was really just a slight distance in the past—the tale of when she chased Satan, the Devil King, through that Gate and plunged into the vast, unfamiliar realm of Japan.

  The skyscrapers loomed like giant gravestones, large monoliths of black towering over a city bathed in light. The tiny lamps dotted around town shone their lonely beams, as if positioned to make the structures look as black as possible, flickering on and off like the candles carried at funeral processions.

  “Over there…no one will see me…”

  She was already at her physical and emotional limits. In this light-soaked world, all she wanted was darkness, a cave where she would never be seen.

  “The gate… It won’t open.”

  The front gate, illuminated by yellow light, was fitted with a lock that refused to budge. But by now, she was sure that the building in front of her had nobody inside.

  Over the past few days, she had witnessed enough gigantic dwelling structures that she was sick of them, far taller than any imperial castle from her homeland, light trickling out from every window, but all of them looking inorganic and uninviting from the outside. Inside many of them, people were engaged in activities like none she had seen before. But while this building here looked the same as all the others, it was clearly free of inhabitants. There were merely a string of pale lights along it, like the torches placed to ward off evening intruders at a citadel, but no one seemed to be standing patrol under them.

  She probably stood at the site for a good five minutes.

  “…I’m going to use this,” she declared to no one in particular, before her body began to lightly float in the air. Jumping over the gate, she landed in a courtyard area.

  Nobody seemed to be around. The poorly maintained hedges around the building were just a bit higher than her line of sight, keeping away the prying eyes of outside passersby.

  “It doesn’t seem abandoned…”

  Approaching the building, she found this one was also made of unfamiliar material. It looked like stone or brick, but felt wholly different from those materials when she touched it. It was smooth, lustrous, hard, but also seemed lightweight.

  “Maybe a little higher would be best.”

  Looking at the higher floors that melted into the night sky, she floated up once again, following the outer wall as she ascended. She turned around as she did, taking in the light that defied the darkness as far as her vision could see. The colorful lights carpeted the land, as if all the stars in the sky had fallen to earth. The shock when she realized that every flicker indicated human activity was something she thought she’d never forget, no matter what happened to her.

  “Devil King,” she whispered, “where did you disappear to?”

  He had to be here, somewhere in this land of light she’d chased him into. Right at this moment, he might be gouging a pit of darkness into this land, his demonic wings beating down over the night sky. She had to find that evil presence as soon as possible and defeat him, before he could snuff out any of the light before her.

  “But he’s nowhere to be found. I cannot even sense him…”

  It was unthinkable. No matter how wounded he was, how much of his power was gone, there was no mistaking the demonic evil of his existence. But the demon she was chasing had blinked out of existence, as if drowned out by this gigantic whirlpool of light.

  “…Will this work?”

  She settled down on a corner of one of the terraces situated on every story of the building, partitions set up between each window. Standing there, she looked into the room through an astonishingly transparent pane of glass. It had a wooden floor, but no evidence of habitation. The floor of the terrace above her served as a ceiling, keeping the rain away.

  “Hahhh…”

  The moment she knew nobody could see her, the fatigue finally won out. She sat right there, on the floor, in this partitioned terrace on a brand-new, yet abandoned building, exhausted enough that even these cramped quarters offered the solace she long sought.

  “If I could have finished off the Devil King there, then this…wouldn’t be…”

  She clenched her fists tightly, cursing herself. Then, as if responding to her will, light began to gather in her hands, forming something that hadn’t been there before. It was a sword, exquisitely designed and emitting a divine light.

  “…My holy sword,” she said, her voice strained. “Why isn’t its guiding light showing me where he is? Did it lose its powers in the battle?”

  The sword didn’t answer. The purple jewel in its handle simply shone on, revealing the light of a faraway land, here in this moonless, starless night.

  “…Eme,” she groaned, holding her knees. “Al… Olba…” She buried her face in those knees, giving breath to her scratchy voice.

  “Help me…”

  Emilia Justina, the Hero, had staked the fate of all Ente Isla on one final, climactic battle—but right at the last minute, she failed to slay Satan. Five days had passed since then, after she had chased the Devil King and the Great Demon General Alciel beyond the Gate they had fled through and into this world and its hyper-advanced civilization. One more blow, she thought, should do it—but the Devil King’s power was still nothing to scoff at.

  She was sure the real final battle would begin in this world past the Gate, but that presence which felt so ominous in her homeland was nonexistent here. She went through the same Gate they had, so they couldn’t have been sent to some other world. The Devil King and Alciel had to be here, somewhere—but the Satan Emilia knew all too well was nowhere to be found.

  It plunged Emilia into a panic.

  She had no way of imagining how large this world was, but it was entirely possible that the Gate deposited her in one end of it, and the demons in the other. That would mean a great time delay before they could engage each other again. Satan was powerful enough to turn the Central Continent into a living hell overnight—wounded though he was, that would be more than enough time to annihilate one or two kingdoms on this world. She couldn’t afford to have the Devil King’s Army snuff out any more lives.

  Emilia herself was wounded and exhausted by battle, but her desire to fight raged as brightly as ever. She immediately began to search for traces of the Devil King, but right up to today, her efforts were fruitless. Time marched on, allowing her barely anything to eat or sleep upon. She’d been ready to give up yesterday, in fact. But in this land filled with light, there was no safe harbor for Emilia to take advantage of.

  “Ugh… I’m so tired…”

  The events of the past five days were a cavalcade of unexpected surprises, none of them anything she wanted to ever recall again. She leaned her armored back against the glass window as she reflected on it.

  “Haaa…aaaaahhhhh?”

  Then the window slid to the side, knocking her off-balance.

  “Huh? What’s…? Ah?”

  The sword disappeared the moment she hit the floor, but Emilia paid that no attention, instead standing up and taking in the unbelievable sight. The window was open, as if inviting her inside. Beyond was a soundless, unpopulated space, and before she realized it, Emilia had stepped through the opening, tempted by this empty cell.

  She hadn’t intended to let her guard down, but not even she could say how much of her wits she had about her at t
he moment. Even if this was an abandoned building, that didn’t mean she was free to enter it; the lack of dust on the floor indicated that people were here on regular occasions. But Emi, her loneliness and fatigue pushing her emotions far beyond their limits, was unable to resist the offer of a shelter free from prying eyes.

  Closing the window behind her, she was greeted by a perfectly silent space.

  “Ahh…”

  She all but threw herself on the hard floor, sprawling out over it. Her thoughts were still rational enough that she chose not to remove her armor, but for the first time in several days, Emilia tasted a sense of freedom in this enclosed space. At the same time, the fatigue attacked her in waves. As expected—she hadn’t found any place where she could close her eyes and sleep soundly for several days. Her body, her mind, and everything else were at their limits—and the moment she closed those eyes, her consciousness went black.

  Soon, she had a dream that took her back to a certain day in her home village of Sloane—a day after she was taken away by the Church to become a Hero, even though she couldn’t have been there to witness it. The Emilia in the dream was lightly running across the village at full speed. Her father should still be there—but, try as she might, she couldn’t seem to locate him, or anyone else for that matter. She searched for one day, then another, in her dream, but couldn’t find any evidence that people dwelled here at all.

  Then, in an instant, it all changed dramatically. Hearing an explosion behind her, she turned around to find a humongous demon towering above her, framed by flames shooting behind his back. In one hand was the lifeless body of someone she knew.

  In a flash, Emilia tried to materialize her sword as she ran at the creature—but the weapon never appeared. The demon spun around on the spot, as if unaware of her presence entirely. She wanted to scream at him to wait, but her mouth wouldn’t work.

  The fire soon spread across the village. What she thought was an empty village was now echoing with screams. Winged demons flitted across the skies, as their grotesque-looking companions came around to destroy the homes. She had to stop them—she had the power to stop them—but the sword was gone. No matter how much she struggled, her legs refused to move forward. She couldn’t even speak.

  Then a familiar figure descended in front of Emilia. He was small for a demon, but his demonic force was easily that of a thousand of his kin.

  “Lucifer!!”

  Seeing the inhumane smile of the Great Demon General Lucifer immediately made Emilia attempt to engage him barehanded. But when she tried to punch him in the face, her fist went harmlessly through him, as if swiping at a mirage.

  Or perhaps Emilia herself was the mirage the whole time. Why couldn’t she fight? She had to stop this tragedy, and yet…

  “Aaahhhhhh!!”

  Then the scream pierced through her eardrums. From the village, from behind Lucifer, from the skies, from the land—or was it…?

  “Gah!!”

  Emilia’s body jerked upward at the strangely raw but very vivid scream. Opening her eyes, she was greeted not by Sloane being ravaged by demons, but by an unfamiliar, bare-bones square room. It was lit by the sun, not by flames and demonic force, and in another second, Emilia remembered she had sneaked into a mysterious abandoned building last night.

  “—!!”

  Then she realized how much of an emergency she was in: Someone was there.

  A woman. From this world, no doubt, judging by the common gray, well-tailored clothing she wore. Emilia’s back was to the sun, making it easy to see the face of the woman who stood by the door opposite the window Emilia had come in through. A face twisted in horror.

  By the looks of things, Emilia was an intruder, and the woman was likely meant to be in this building. Instantly realizing this much, she promptly regretted the mistake she had made last night—of closing, and locking, the window. The lock was similar to the ones she was familiar with back home, making it easy, and now that was biting her back.

  Breaking the window would leave evidence of her trespass. But if it’s come to this…!

  “Light Mirror!!”

  A holy spell that provided invisibility. She rarely had the opportunity to use it, but it proved useful whenever she wanted to infiltrate a demon-controlled stronghold without needless battle. Since it ran on holy energy, it was often ineffective against higher-level demons, and Emilia herself wasn’t that gifted in holy magic—but if someone like Emeralda Etuva cast it, she could even deceive her fellow human sorcerers.

  Using it against an enemy you’d already engaged would normally be pointless, since your adversary would know you were there, but it was a good way to escape a confrontation while they were unguarded. The only way out was through the door behind the woman, not the window…but things developed in a way Emilia wasn’t expecting.

  <“Eeek!”>

  The surprise in the woman’s expression and voice turned into fear. Her knees began to shake.

  <“She…she, disappeared… Aaaaaaahh!!”>

  “Huh? Wait…!”

  <“She was really here!!”>

  The woman turned white, screaming what sounded like nonsense, and fled so quickly that she ran straight into the door behind her. Emilia was hoping to perhaps strike a vital point and knock her to the ground, but her fleeing in horror just because the intruder had turned invisible was highly unexpected. Emilia’s casting was far from perfect—steel your eyes a little, and it wouldn’t take a seasoned sorcerer to spot her. Or was she deliberately fleeing because she feared an ambush and hoped to bring the battle to a larger space?

  Instinctively, Emilia made a break for the door, attempting to chase the woman.

  <“Nfhh!”>

  Then she heard a painful-sounding noise and voice from outside. Peering down the long hallway, she found the woman lying facedown on the floor. At the far end was something that resembled a wooden dowel on the floor—and, looking more closely, the shoes the woman wore now had differently-shaped heels on each foot. Emilia knew what high heels were, even if she’d only had the chance to try them a handful of times in her life, so she quickly realized that this stranger had broken a heel as she ran.

  She expected the woman to pick herself up quickly, but instead she stayed on the ground, her body lightly trembling.

  <“Eee, ah, no…”>

  Judging by the way she was dragging herself down the hall to get away from the room, she was still trying to flee. Now, for the first time, Emilia’s heart was filled with the dreadful feeling that she had done something terribly wrong.

  The woman didn’t look like a fighter or sorcerer; Emilia had seen several women dressed like her as she wandered around the world these past five days. She must be just a regular person, managing the building or living in a room Emilia hadn’t noticed. In that case, the only villain here—sneaking into a building without permission just because the window was open, then threatening a woman for no reason—was the girl in the armor.

  Slowly, Emilia opened the door. Despite being made of something heavy-looking like metal or stone, it was much lighter than she’d expected. The hinges creaked a little.

  <“Ah… Ah, ah, no, ah…”>

  The woman, still on the floor, turned around. She was shedding tears now. Emilia had to apologize for scaring her, and for going into that room in the first place. So she slowly approached her, still wearing her heavy armored boots, which clanged loudly across what felt like the single sheet of rock that covered the floor.

  <“N-no! What…What is that?! Who’s there?! S-stay away, stay away from me!”>

  The woman shook her head violently as the tears dampened her face, apparently looking for something but never looking at Emilia herself. Emilia didn’t know nearly enough of the language to know what the woman was saying, but she could tell these weren’t exactly tears of joy she was shedding. So she knelt down and, with some difficulty, repeated the apparent greeting she had heard many times in this country.

  <“H…Haah…”>

>   <“Eek!”>

  <“How, ya…doing…?”>

  This time, a sound that hardly sounded human at all erupted from the woman’s throat.

  <“Noooooooooooo! That voice is coming from nowhere!!”>

  “Huh?! Ah, wait, wait!”

  It was too late to call for reason. The woman threw off her shoes and frantically half-crawled away down the corridor.

  “W-wait a minute! Y-you’re going to…”

  <“Nooooooo…!!”>

  She must have run into a stairway beyond Emilia’s sight. The Hero at first thought she might’ve fallen again, but once her shoes were off, the woman quickly sped away from the scene, her screams gradually fading from Emilia’s ears.

  “Y-you don’t have to be that scared…”

  Yes, she was a trespasser, but she’d also been demonstrating a desire to communicate, hadn’t she? Emilia frowned, her feelings hurt a bit. Then she noticed a large, black object at her feet. It appeared to be a bag made of high-quality leather, with a brand-new gold clasp.

  “…Huh?”

  Looking at the well-polished metal surface made Emilia realize something. She brought a hand up to her eyes…then sighed.

  “That…would be scary I suppose, yes. She can’t see me, but she saw the door open, and those footsteps and my voice…”

  She had wholly forgotten to undo the invisibility spell before approaching her. If that unfortunate woman looked closely enough, she could’ve been able to see at least the shimmering outline of Emilia, but she must’ve been too terrified to notice.

  Either way, she now knew for sure that this building was neither abandoned nor a safe haven for her. She felt bad about terrorizing that woman, but it wouldn’t be smart to stick around now. She might call for a constable or soldier, and then Emilia would have to engage in violent measures against a fellow human being—something she absolutely didn’t want.