Side Story 1: Demon Lord Gustav’s Daughter

This is the story of something that happened several centuries ago, in a country of demons somewhere in this world. The king of that country, Gustav Baal, reigned as an overbearing tyrant. This man, who would go down in history as a Demon Lord, treated the invasion of his neighboring countries as a pastime, and was feared by both allies and enemies as the most demonic of all demons. He granted death to those who opposed him, and terror to those who submitted. It was in this manner that Gustav continuously expanded the territory that he ruled.

“Father, look, look! I leveled up from my training session just now! I’m so close to being Level 50!”

However, even this man had someone that he completely doted on: Sera, his beloved daughter. Around this time, she was ten years old, and the imposing stance that she was adopting, with legs spread, arms crossed, and a proud look on her face, suited her very well. The two of them were in a secret mansion, hidden deep below the main castle. A very limited number of people knew of its existence, much less had permission to step inside.

“Is that true?! What joyous news indeed! My Sera is a genius, no doubt about it! Viktor! Get to preparing a feast right now!”

“A thousand pardons, but if I may, Gustav-sama, did we not already host a feast yesterday celebrating ‘The First Time Sera-sama Ate Her Bell Peppers’? How many consecutive days would this make —”

KA-BOOM!

“Spare me your bullshit logic and get to cooking already!”

“S-Spoiling should be done in moder— Ugh! In moderation, if I may...”

The one who had just taken a straight right hook from Gustav and ended up crashing into a wall with enough force to put a crack in his carapace was none other than Viktor, his loyal retainer. In the future, Viktor would grow powerful enough to put up a fight against the Hero as one of the Four Demonic Generals, but at the moment, he was nothing more than the leader of an assault squad. So what was he doing in a place like this?

Within the world of the demons, there was an extremely strong tendency to over-value skills related to fighting. Due to that, the number of individuals who acquired the Cooking skill were few and far between. For better or for worse, Viktor had come into possession of Cooking at a high rank thanks to his unique skill, Intemperate Feeding. One of the humans he had eaten the day before had been a chef from some famous restaurant. Although the rank of the skill had fallen a bit upon consumption, it still made Viktor the top cook in the country.

Well known for his serious and sincere personality, and in command of great respect from his peers, this opportunity saw Viktor instated as Sera’s official caretaker. Although he had not even known that Gustav had a daughter prior to the appointment, under normal circumstances, it was a great honor to directly serve the royal family. However, the very first words that Gustav had said to him after giving him the position had frozen him to the core.

“If you lay a single hand on my daughter, be prepared for the consequences. Being flayed alive will seem like a mere massage in comparison. Understand?”

And that was how Viktor had started his new job, with Gustav’s deadly serious eyes mere inches from his own...a beginning that did little to instill motivation, to say the least. However, he proved extremely proficient in his new role. His main duties included the management of everything related to his charge: education, tutoring, and combat training. Sera, who had a direct and curious personality, absorbed everything voraciously. Her remarkable talents soon blossomed, and she rarely caused Viktor any unnecessary trouble.

However, not everything was smooth sailing. This is the account of a certain incident that took place several months after Viktor became Sera’s caretaker. It was morning, and he was in the middle of giving Sera her fighting lessons as usual.

“Hah!”

“Your fist was not wreathed in magic! And your starting motion is still too slow! You won’t get far as a pugilist if you’re relying solely on your Pugilism skill!”

Having taken the punch thrown by Sera, Viktor barked out pointers for areas where she needed improvement. Every once in a while, he would have her fight against monsters that had been captured and brought in, but generally, the bulk of her training consisted of working on her fundamentals and sparring with Viktor in this way.

“But it’s hard to do! I don’t get how it feels to wrap my fist in magic!”

Viktor snickered. “Me being here would lose all meaning if you were capable of doing it from the start. There is no option but to patiently continue your training until the sensation becomes second nature to you. There is no need to rush; we demons have long lifespans. I will be here for you until you can do it.”

“Our lifespans...”

Viktor’s words were meant to grant Sera peace of mind, but for some reason, she fell silent, dropping her eyes to stare at the ground.

“What is the matter?”

“I...will I be living in this mansion for my entire life...?”

“Sera-sama...”

Since she had been born, Sera had never set foot outside of her home. The only people that she interacted with were her father, Gustav, and her mother, Eliza. There were also several demons tasked with taking care of things around the mansion, but none of them made for a good conversation partner for a girl Sera’s age. Aside from those people, there was pretty much only Viktor, her caretaker.

Gustav was keeping his daughter’s existence a highly classified secret. Although this was a measure born from Gustav’s efforts to thoroughly eliminate anything that might prove a threat to his daughter — and his country’s rocky relationship with its neighbors did give credence to his worries — he had yet to realize that everything he was doing was suffocating the very person he was trying to protect. Doting parents can be blinded by their emotions.

“Father has been coming every day lately, but now he has to go somewhere far away for work, and won’t be able to visit for a while.”

“Does that make you feel lonely?”

“Mmm...nope! I have Mother here with me, so I’ll be fine! Come on, let’s continue training! Just watch, I’ll master this in no time!”

Sera’s tone was as bright as always, but Viktor could tell that she was merely putting up a front. Ten years old was an age where demons would feel driven to play and explore, to make friends, to share experiences with other people, and perhaps even to find a first love. Sera, however, was being denied all of those things. Back when Viktor had started and simply thought of his position as a mere job, it had not bothered him much. But now, it was a seed that had planted roots inside his heart, paining him more and more as it grew each day.

Is this what it feels like to be a parent?

He could serve as Sera’s conversation partner, but he could not be a friend and interact with her as a peer. Their relationship as teacher and student prevented him from teaching her what she needed most right now. Despairing at his powerlessness, Viktor rolled his thoughts around in a corner of his mind, trying to think of anything at all that he could do for his charge.

“Sera-sama, is there anything specific that you want to eat for lunch?”

“Where did that come from?”

“Don’t worry about it. Just tell me.”

What could he do for her? He could satisfy her stomach with the Cooking skill that he had acquired by chance. That, and he could put in a word with Gustav to allow her a short excursion.

I’ll probably have to resolve myself to getting punched, of course.

These were the only two ideas that had come to mind. In the future, such things would perhaps be left in the hands of the person — the demon — who could stand up to Gustav and with whom Sera would share reciprocated feelings. Although barebones, this plan of Viktor’s was slowly taking shape inside his head.

Hm...entrusting Sera-sama to this as yet theoretical person is fine and all, but it does make me feel slightly irritated. This is a new emotion that I’m feeling. How about I give this person a little test before Gustav-sama gets to him? Oh, yes, that is a good idea.

Much farther down the road, this idea would spur the construction of the Tower of Trials, the designing of which involved giving one floor to each of the Demonic Generals and situating Demon Lord Gustav at the very top, but that was a story for another day.

“Hmmm...oh, right!”

After appearing to be deep in thought for a short while, Sera suddenly jumped up and dashed out of the training grounds. It wasn’t long before she returned with a book in her hand.

“This!”

“What...is this?”

“It’s a dish called ‘curry’! I want to eat this!”

The book that Sera held out to Viktor did indeed have the dish’s name inscribed on its front cover, along with what seemed to be a drawing of its intended appearance. However, the volume was very aged, to the point where various parts of the pages within had simply faded away. Just as Viktor was about to say that he couldn’t do it, he found Sera looking at him with eyes sparkling like precious jewels. He forced himself to swallow his intended words.

“S-Sure, I’ll make it for you. Today’s lunch shall be curry!”

“Really?! Yayyy!”

There was no backing out after that. Viktor pumped himself up more than he had ever done before, then set off for the “battlefield.” He drew upon all the cooking knowledge that he possessed, and ended up making nikujaga — basically, meat and potatoes without the curry sauce — instead. But Sera looked more than happy with it, so all’s well that ends well.