Prologue

“So, Uzou. How long will it be before we can go back to Keima’s town?”

“...Who knows, Muzou. But it shouldn’t be too long before we’ve got enough money to pay him back.”

Uzou and Muzou were two C-Rank adventurer brothers that Keima had saved in the past. At the moment, they were working as hunters in a city within the Demon Realm—essentially, the Demon Realm version of adventurers. Reason being, the only adventurer work there was hunting monsters.

The bulk of work was done by undead monsters summoned by demons—the equivalent of nobles in the empire—which meant that outside of things like trade work and customer service, the only work available was hunting monsters. But both of those required too much training for adventurers to just do on the side.

Uzou and Muzou had been surprised at first to see skeletons pulling wagons and tilling fields, but thanks to that semi-automated labor, the people lived comfortable lives. It was questionable if those with such a demonic appearance should really be called “people,” though. Either way, the brothers got used to skeletons before long.

In any case, Uzou and Muzou were on their way back from the city after hunting some Iron Toads, which were frogs about fifty centimeters tall with hard skin. They had come to the Demon Realm on a quest after handing Keima his magic blade over a year ago. In the middle of their quest, they happened to save the life of a rich young demon, and ever since then they had lived as honored guests in the city ruled by that demon family.

During the rescue Uzou was badly wounded, and they covered the costs of his healing. The plan was for them to keep working until they could pay that back, but... they were taking their sweet time, which was why they had been there for over a year.

Incidentally, they reported the quest that brought them there as complete in a local Hunter’s Guild office. It was a different organization from the Adventurer’s Guild, but they did keep in contact with each other.

“Still, people of the Demon Realm aren’t too different from humans from the empire, huh?” Muzou said.

“Yeah. I’m always caught off guard by how they look, but they’re basically just humans with magic stones stuck in their body. And, heh. I heard you went drinking with a Witch, Muzou.”

“Just a bit, just a bit. She turned me down, anyway. Said she only cares about magic.”

“Hahaha! Feels good,” Uzou said, cackling at Muzou getting rejected. It was revenge for when Muzou laughed at him for being rejected by the Harpy working at the bar.

It was then that a Werewolf walked over to them. “Yo. Finally back, newbies?”

It was Sukjira, one of their drinking buddies. He worked in a two-person party with Shironaga, a Weretiger. Uzou and Muzou had at first been thrown off by meeting a Werewolf and Weretiger, but upon noticing they were basically like humans that could transform into a (quite furry) wolf beastkin, they didn’t feel too scared. It helped that Werewolves had magic stones in their hearts rather than somewhere visible.

“Hey, you listening, newbies?” Sukjira sniffed with his wolf nose.

“We’ve been here for more than a year, y’know. Isn’t that right, Uzou?”

“Yeah. Feels like it’s about time he calls us by our names, Muzou.”

“Alright, good point. It’s a bit much to keep calling you newbies forever. Uh, you’re Uzou and you’re Muzou, right?” Sukjira asked, rubbing his fluffy chin.

“Yup. And didja really have to ask? Shouldn’t be too hard to figure out who’s who. Am I right, Uzou?”

“Yeah. ’Specially since we’re always calling each other by name, Muzou.”

“Hey, don’t get the wrong idea. I’m just tryin’ to appreciate different cultures here. Some people get ticked if you call them by their first name,” he said, reminding Uzou and Muzou that in the empire, nobles all had long names, and they only allowed those close to them to use nicknames or first names. He was probably thinking of something like that.

“Makes sense. But don’t worry. These are our real names. Not even a single letter missing from them. Right, Uzou?”

“Huh? You forgot my name’s actually Uzordat? Hah, just kidding. Our names are just our names, Sukjira.”

“Good then. C’mon, you two. Shironaga wants to talk.”

Uzou and Muzou followed after him, wondering what was up. Shironaga probably just wanted to spar again.

They passed through the well-built city, buildings as tall and finely crafted as the imperial capital, before reaching the training grounds where Shironaga was swinging a weighted wooden sword in the air.

“Ah! Finally, you’re here!”

“Yup. What’s up, Shironaga? Want to train some more?”

“Yeah, but something else’s going on today!” Shironaga replied, prompting Uzou and Muzou to tense up a bit. “Y’know about the tournament coming up, yeah? Well, you two are gonna join in too!” he exclaimed, which neither of them expected.

“Huh? Wait, hold up. By Fighter’s Tournament you mean the Hell Tournament? Whoa now, we’re just normal old C-Rank adventurers. Right, Uzou?”

“Yeah. Hell’s Arena has a bunch of real-deal tough guys not even you can beat, Shironaga. We’d be dead in a second.”

“Idiots! Why’re you giving up before you even start?! And the Hell Tournament is the one demons participate in! The Fighter’s Tournament’s different!”

So he said, but either way, there would be nothing but a bunch of strong foes participating in both.

“Look. I’m not sayin’ you have to win. You two would be lucky to get even two wins in the tournament.”

“So why should we join, then?” Uzou asked, and Shironaga was ready to answer.

“First of all, you’re visitors here, but you’re not accomplishing anything special. That’s not gonna help out the young master.”

“Ngh!”

“W-Well, yeah, we knew that ourselves,” Muzou replied. He and Uzou were living off the money they earned themselves, but they were still being given the status of honored guests. The only thing they had accomplished at all in the Demon Realm was rescuing the young demon upon arriving. Nothing after that was worth noting whatsoever. They were doing nice hunter work, but that was just a normal job here if you weren’t hunting huge monsters. In conclusion, Shironaga was saying they needed to go to a public tournament and show that they were still worth keeping around.

“Plus, it’ll be good experience. Am I right, Sukjira? You fought in last year’s tourney. How was it?”

“Hm? Oh, yeah. It was real good experience. Plus, the tourney officials will heal you back to full health as long as you don’t die—not to mention the prize money. I got five golds for beating the first three fights.”

Five golds. That much money would let Uzou and Muzou pay off their debt and go home with more to spare.

“You heard the man. If you both can get through your first two fights, you’ll have more than enough to pay off that debt of yours. There’s not much left anyway, yeah?”

They could show that they weren’t cowards just by participating in the tournament. They didn’t have to worry about getting hurt, either, as long as they survived. Winning earned them money.

Everything about the tournament seemed great. How could Uzou and Muzou refuse after all that?

“Not like we’d die for losing, right, Muzou?”

“Yeah, might as well give it a shot, Uzou.”

And so, the two brothers decided to fight in the Fighter’s Tournament.

“Muzou, how far do you think Keima would get if he fought in it?”

“Y’know, he might actually win and earn the right to fight in the Hell Tournament. Though Keima’s in Tsia, so no way is he gonna be fighting in a Demon Realm tournament.”

Perhaps due to being distracted by pointless musing, Shironaga trained them even harder than usual that day.