THE HERO GETS HER ACT TOGETHER

The moment he set foot on stable land, Urushihara’s knees gave way, and he fell flat on his rear.

“Are you all right?” Laila inquired from next to him, not looking very concerned.

“No, I’m not all right, dude. I want to start fighting people. Anything to get this queasiness and irritation out of me.”

Still blue in the face, Urushihara gave the boat behind him a reproachful glare.

The sailing journey from Welland Isa, the commercial port city on the far southern tip of Ente Isla’s Northern Island, to Noza Quartus, the government hub on the northern end of the Central Continent, was no more than two days long. To Urushihara, who suffered from extreme motion sickness, it was like traversing the road to hell and back. He barely ate at all, and whatever he managed to choke down came right back up in short order. Going up on deck made the nausea simmer down a little, but the crew directed all passengers to stay in their rooms at night, and the pain kept him from sleeping much. The subsequent groaning affected Laila’s sleep schedule as well, and the rings around her eyes were as clear as the irritation on her face.

“We’ll be taking a stagecoach from here to the outskirts of Noza Quartus. Try to keep it together, okay?”

“I just wanna fly over! I don’t care about the stability of the world or whatever any longer! A stagecoach? What year is this?! They have reclining seats in the other world!”

He was being ridiculous (since reclining seats wouldn’t cure his motion sickness anyway), but in Urushihara’s mind, he never wanted to see the inside of a moving vehicle again.

“Besides, if we take a stage, won’t that make it easier to track us? And who knows when Kinanna might start growing again. Even if it’s a risk, we need to get out of the city ASAP!”

Sitting there whining made Urushihara look like a spoiled child.

“…I don’t see any change to him yet.”

Laila opened the lid a little on the large wicker cage hanging from her arm, an accessory befitting the pet of some nobleman. She peered down at the ancient Lenbrellebelve demon inside, sleeping peacefully.

This demon, found by Maou and friends in the demon realms, was one generation older than even Camio, among the oldest classes of demons currently existing. He was a living witness to the history of the realms, or he would be if he hadn’t gone as senile as he was. It was generally agreed upon that the stone embedded in his throat was the Astral Gem, one of the Devil Overlord Satan’s relics—but Kinanna had been gravely wounded in battle deep underground in the demon realms, and he had clearly been unwell since.

Until now, they had been “keeping” him in Japan, where the lack of magic prevented him from absorbing any and growing to a Godzilla-type threat. But if the bearer of this relic should happen to die on them, there was no telling what kind of problems that would cause. So they decided to take the risk of more violent outbursts and return him to Ente Isla, so he could at least recover a bare minimum of magic force. But here they were now—on the Central Continent, the one region of Ente Isla where magic was at its most concentrated—and Kinanna showed no signs of recovery.

“Look, I just want to tell Ashiya what I’ve remembered as soon as I can. I think that’ll help all of us relax a little, so…all right?”

“Maybe, but flying’s still out of the question. We’d stick out too much.”

It wasn’t unheard of for Ente Islan sorcerers to fly long distances. But doing so still drew attention from anyone who witnessed it. And Laila and Urushihara didn’t look like sorcerers at all—Farfarello had procured them some clothing that would help them blend in on the Central Continent.

“…”

But the listless bum seated by the harbor showed no interest in moving from the spot.

“I know, Lucifer! There’s a great way to keep you from getting carsick.”

“If it involves massaging the base of your thumb or eating mints or drinking soda in advance or other old wives’ tales, I don’t believe in any of it.”

“The thumb thing’s backed up by science, I think.”

“I don’t care what it’s backed up by, dude! That kind of ‘helpful hint’–type stuff doesn’t work on me! So what’s your amazing idea?”

“The big thing recently is to reduce the amount of light that enters your eyes. Just wearing sunglasses reduces carsickness by a lot, apparently.”

“Yeah? And where are we gonna get sunglasses around here? This is Ente Isla.”

“Right. So instead of that, I have another method.”

“Another one?”

“Yes,” Laila confidently asserted, “and this one’s pretty certain to work. You see, you never get motion sickness…if you’re the one doing the driving.”

Urushihara looked up at the incredibly self-assured woman and gave her the biggest wince he could manage.

“………Huh?”

“W-wait! Waaaaaaait!”

“What are you doing…?” Looking drained, Urushihara pulled the reins to stop his horse. Turning around, he saw Laila a fairly long distance behind him, fervently petting the neck of her own mount as it stood motionless. “How many times does that make it? We’re never gonna get anywhere if you act like this.”

“B-but I’m not even doing anything, and it’s just not moving!”

“‘I’m not even doing anything’ is probably the least believable thing you can utter in any language, dudette.”

With a well-versed tug of the reins, Urushihara turned and directed his horse over to Laila.

“This is so ridiculous! I come from a farming family! I took care of all kinds of livestock! So why can someone like you who lies around and browses the Net all day beat me at riding?!” she exclaimed.

“Not only is that slander, but your comparison ain’t even valid.”

Urushihara looked unaffected as he sidled up to Laila’s horse, took the reins from her hand, and gave them a light flick. The horse shook its head, a tad disgruntled, but still quietly began to walk in unison with Urushihara’s.

“Hey, hang on to the reins.”

“Ugh… This is so humiliating.”

“You’re pulling too hard. You know why the reins are connected to the bit in its mouth? Because they’re sensitive there. So if you pull too hard, it hurts, and then they’ll have no idea what you’re trying to do. Whoa, don’t slouch forward like that. It’ll mess up the position of your hands, and you’ll start pulling again. Keep it straight.”

Laila likely never imagined in her life that someone like Urushihara would be warning her to keep her back straight. The humiliation and embarrassment made her tremble as she looked at him, and the way he was now expertly handling two sets of reins.

“S-so why are you some kind of equestrian savant? I really doubt Satan and Alciel ever taught you…”

Her suggestion for avoiding motion sickness was to have Urushihara do the driving himself. And for two people in Ente Isla seeking long-distance transport, a packhorse was your best (and only) bet. But then something unexpected happened: Despite making the suggestion in the first place, Laila was utterly incapable of handling horses. Meanwhile, Urushihara had no problems at all, even with the carrying pole they had in place to keep Kinanna from being too shaken by the ride. He had real talent, while Laila faced difficulty getting on its back, getting it to walk, and getting it to keep walking. Any confidence she had was now shattered.

“I learned it after we invaded the Western Island. Not for traveling or transporting goods or anything but, you know, for fun.”

He flashed a clearly malicious smile at his fellow angel. It made her wince.

“For fun how?”

“Well, I could tell you, but I’m sure it’d make Emilia and Bell yell at me. You know, the Western Island is the big stronghold of the Church, right?”

“Yes, I suppose.”

“And there’s a lot of myths about angels or heroes or whatever riding in on majestic steeds and saving humanity. So sometimes I’d go riding in someplace we invaded and spread my wings, and… You know, I look pretty human, right? The sight of a guy with wings on a horse running in just floors them. They didn’t even notice the wings were black. It was all like ‘ohhh, an angel’s come to save us!’”

“…All right. Spare me the details. I can figure out the rest.”

“It was so much fun to smash dudes like that up…”

“I told you to spare me the details.”

In so many words, Urushihara had learned horsemanship to harass and torment the populace of the Western Island for laughs.

“Why do you need a horse, though?” she asked. “You can pretend to be an angel any day without one.”

“Oh, with the white wings I don’t have?”

“Well, no…”

“You know how grown-ups always say that playing is a waste of time? But it’s fun because it’s a waste. Enjoying pointless stuff like that is the kind of spice we all need in our lives. If anyone tells you you’re wasting your life with something, that means they’re missing something they need in their lives. I really feel for people like that. Playing around is fun because it’s pointless. And right now…”

Urushihara gave Laila a side glance, clearly enjoying this.

“Moments where I get to stand on top of someone who treats me like an idiot all the time are such a rush. You never know when something you learn helps you out down the line, y’know? But maybe someone like you, who’s no good at anything but living forever, wouldn’t get that.”

He was playing innocent about the way he lived his own life for the time being, but Laila had absolutely nothing to counter with.

“Still, at this pace, I think we’ll get there faster than walking or taking a stage.”

“It’s rare for someone as lazy as you to be in a hurry. Is what you need to tell him that important?”

“Well, it’s not like it’ll massively impact our future plans or anything. But if we do know it, then if push comes to shove, it’ll be a little easier to pick up the pieces, you know? I’m gonna have to dredge up some regrettable things from my past, but…”

“…I’m kind of surprised.”

“About what?”

“I don’t know what ‘regrettable thing’ this is, but it’s not something you’d want to talk about if you could avoid it, right?”

“Yeah.”

“But you’re still diligent enough to hurry up with this. It’s kinda out of character for you.”

“I get it. You’re picking on me, aren’t you?” Urushihara gave this an annoyed chortle then looked upward. “If this were just about Maou or Ashiya or Emilia, I wouldn’t be so serious about it. But Alas Ramus is involved, y’know? And Acieth and Erone, too, I guess. Depending on the situation, they all could be stronger than Maou or Emilia. We don’t wanna mess up how we handle them, all right? And turn them against us.”

“Right, true…”

“And it doesn’t exactly feel good to see a kid you know crying. It’s a pain in the ass. I’m not generally in the habit of trying to make kids cry, Alas Ramus in particular. So, you know, if I do this, it’ll make assorted things easier later.”

His roundabout logic didn’t make him too comprehensible, but Laila still grasped that Urushihara was actually lifting a finger for Alas Ramus’s sake. It made her eyes widen in surprise.

“If I could ask, what’s happened to you in the past year?”

“Huh?”

“It wasn’t that long ago when you destroyed Sasazuka Station and sent the Shuto Expressway crashing down, was it? And before that, you were breaking everything that wasn’t nailed down in Ente Isla and the demon realms… What did one year of living in Sasazuka change in you?” she asked.

Urushihara looked even more puzzled about the question than Laila. He replied, “If you find a new restaurant and you like their food, wouldn’t you wanna keep going back?”

“…What?”

“The Net’s fun. Video games are fun. Manga’s fun. And Maou pays for everything. If I kept destroying things, I wouldn’t get any of that. So I need to protect this environment, to make sure I can keep profiting from it. Right?”

“I think there’s room for debate over whether one can call Satan’s enabling something worth protecting.”

“And if I make Alas Ramus sad, he yells at me about it. Compared to that, dredging up some bad memories is easy.”

The fact that Urushihara placed embarrassing events from thousands of years ago and an Internet environment well behind modern times on the scales and chose the Net anyway was…strange. Acceptable, perhaps, but strange.

“Well…if you’re fine with that, so am I.” She gave a light huff.

“I hate it when you say that. Are you trying to rile me?”

“You are such a pain to deal with!”

“Like you aren’t.” Urushihara smiled spitefully, then let out a sigh. “But I don’t think I’m gonna be sick now, so we can take our time. Judging by things on the Northern Island, the Church isn’t in any shape to move with much speed right now, so we don’t need to keep a breakneck pace.”

“Didn’t you say a bit ago that we needed to hurry for Kinanna’s sake?”

“Oh, he’s fine. If he looks about to die, just have him eat a twig or some grass or whatever. He chomped on our apartment, and it was no biggie, so he’ll live.”

“Ugh, can you be serious about this?!”

Urushihara seemed almost recklessly carefree, but by this point, they were far away from the busiest part of Noza Quartus, and they were in no shape to dispose of their horses now. All Laila could do was go where they took her. And as long as Dhin Dhem Wurs could function as their bulwark in the Northern Island, there was no need for extreme haste. As a matter of fact, Maou had his shift schedule locked in for the next three weeks from now, just like always.

But the longer a stability like this lasts, the more intense the effect when change finally comes.

Spring was a time of encounters and separations. Four months had passed since the new year, and their first steps toward declaring war against the “god” of Ente Isla.

Over in Japan, Chiho Sasaki had announced her departure from the Hatagaya MgRonald in order to focus on her duties as a student. Mayumi Kisaki, the store manager who’d served as a guide and inspiration to the Hero and Devil King of another world, had also been transferred by the company, leaving the site under the direction of new boss Kotomi Iwaki. And under the Iwaki administration, in an attempt to address the holes in the staff list, Malebranche chieftain Libicocco had stepped in like a thunderbolt.

Back when Maou and Ashiya had rescued Emi from her confinement in the Eastern Island, they’d launched a plan to gradually relocate the demons of their realms to Ente Isla. As he prepared for the battle against heaven, Ashiya had also been forging clandestine agreements with several major hitters in Ente Isla’s geopolitical scene—including the Azure Emperor of Efzahan, the most powerful man on the Eastern Island; Chief Herder Dhin Dhem Wurs, the main spiritual support of the Northern Island; and Warrior Chief Rajid Rahs Rian of Vashrahma, the military state that served as the keystone of the Southern Island. The project to make a MgRonald crewmember out of Libicocco had a hidden motive to it—it served as a test case for the demons who’d soon be trying to integrate into human society.

Emi had no outward opposition to this, although the idea of Libicocco working part-time in Japan made her notably anxious. Maou wanted to get the battle with Ente Isla’s heaven over with fast, but there was still no guess how things would turn out over there. With the Church’s declaration of a “Crusade”—a long-range deployment of their knightly forces—on the Central Continent, the fateful moment of conflict was drawing ever closer. All this, even as Emi and her friends had an encounter that made them reconsider just how powerful the angels really were.

With all of that—plus the ailing state of Kinanna, the ancient demon bearing one of the Devil Overlord’s relics and a key element of the upcoming invasion of heaven—the murmur of distressing news had grown into a full-throated chorus. Everyone had a common interest in avoiding casualties, both in Ente Isla and among the Devil King’s Army. They needed to address, and solve, these anxieties at once—and to gain a clearer picture of the now-blurred makeup of the angelic forces, Urushihara and Laila had taken a route through the Northern Island to bring Kinanna to Devil’s Castle.

In the meantime, thanks to some intense motion sickness on the boat from Noza Quartus to Welland Isa, Urushihara had recovered some of his older memories—memories that, he claimed, were highly relevant to the relics of the Devil Overlord Satan.

Chiho heaved a deep sigh under the warm spring sun.

Her shirt, her skirt, and her visor were neatly stacked up in the dry-cleaning bag. She gave it a light squeeze as she passed by the automatic doors she had gone through countless times.

“Welcome! …Oh.”

The deep-throated voice from behind the counter echoed toward the entrance, as its owner nodded his greetings to her. Chiho walked in, seeming to savor every step she took along the well-polished floor, then looked up at the “new guy” in front of (and above) her, looking mightily constricted in his red crew shirt.

“Is Ms. Iwaki here?”

“Yes, she’s in her office.”

“Ah.”

Chiho nodded then looked around her, a little concerned.

“What’s wrong? You know where the staff room is.”

“Oh, no, um, I do, but…”

Chiho smiled a little at the new guy’s slightly arrogant demeanor. She took a peek at the calendar deeper in the kitchen, just barely visible from the counter.

“You know, I’m not on the staff starting today, so I don’t want to just barge in.”

“…You actually care about stupid nonsense like that?”

The girl seemed to expect this reply from the start. “It’s important to me, Libicocco,” she replied, giving him an exaggerated shrug. The page-a-day calendar indicated today was May 1. As of yesterday, April 30, Chiho had departed the crew of the MgRonald at Hatagaya Station.

“I’ve never quit a job before. I can’t really ask my coworkers about this, so I’m not sure how to go about it.”

“It’s not like anything’s changed between yesterday and today. They didn’t build a barrier over the staff room.”

“In the human world, you know, the barriers are all in your mind… Ah!”

Just then, Chiho noticed Iwaki herself leaving her office, through the very same door Chiho had used without a passing thought until yesterday.

“Oh, there she is! Sorry!”

With a bow to Libicocco, Chiho jogged up to Iwaki. They exchanged a few words, then Chiho disappeared into the staff room, invited by her ex-boss.

“I don’t understand,” Libicocco said as he watched, doubtful of the whole procedure. Then:

“Welcome!!”

Reacting to the sound of the automatic doors, he showed off his smile—an affable smile despite his scary face, one that now came naturally after just over three weeks of training—to the next customer.

“All right. Thanks for taking these back.”

Iwaki gave Chiho’s returned uniform a quick once-over and nodded.

“But I didn’t think you’d provide it right on the first. You could’ve waited until after the holiday weekend.”

“Well, what if you brought someone else in right after me, and you didn’t have a uniform for her? I heard you couldn’t get Mr. Libicocco on immediately because you didn’t have his size.”

“Oh, Libby’s kind of an exception. You’ll never find a MgRonald location that has his size in stock.”

With a smile, Iwaki placed the uniform (bag and all) above the lockers. This made Chiho raise an eyebrow; she’d expected her to put it on a shelf or in a locker. Iwaki gave her a wry look in response.

“I’ll keep it for you, Sasaki,” she said softly.

“Huh?”

“Once you’re accepted and get used to things in college, come on back for us, okay?”

Grasping the woman’s intention, Chiho smiled a bit. “I’d love to,” she replied, “if I can. But I heard that there’s a lot of good-paying jobs available once you’re college age, and besides, I already started going to a test-prep academy last week. I’m gonna be so busy studying, I might forget all the procedures here.”

“Oh, I’m sure you’ll be just fine, Sasaki. I’m not going to ask you to go through training all over again. You’d start from the get-go as a Class A crewmember!”

Her tone was light and friendly, but Iwaki was clearly going to miss Chiho’s presence. “Oh, right! Can you take this with you?”

Iwaki produced Chiho’s MgRonald Barista certification, with CHIHO SASAKI engraved on it and everything. This and the other certifications were put on display by the counter in the MgCafé space; Iwaki must have taken it down for her. Chiho had totally forgotten about it, but seeing her name engraved on this official-looking framed document made the past year of work experiences flash before her eyes, warming her heart.

“Are you sure?”

“Of course. After all, it’s yours.”

Chiho had cleaned them all regularly, but there was still a layer of dust on the top of the frame. Even that gave her warm fuzzies as she put it in her bag. A MgRonald Barista was just an internal title, something any crewmember could earn with a few days of basic class instruction—but to Chiho, this title was a decisive step toward the future, after a year that had brought dizzying changes.

She took a deep breath, straightened her back, and bowed. “It’s been a great year here. Thanks again for everything.”

“No, thank you…not that I really can, given how new I am. Still, you, and everything you’ve left here, are a huge asset to this location. You can come back to visit us anytime you like…and, of course, we’d love to have you join the team again.”

“I’ll be sure to consider it.”

This quite grown-up conversation was—in a very real way, in her mind—her last piece of work for the year she’d just experienced.

Back at home, Chiho placed the framed certificate in a prominent position on her work desk, took a deep breath, and gazed at her tidy workspace.

Starting today, this desk would be her battlefield. Not the apartment where the Devil King and his minions dwelled; not the fast-food chain she worked alongside the Devil King and Hero at; not some other world whose lands were shaped like a holy cross. It was her last year of high school here in Japan, and this was where she’d be waging her own battles—and, of course, there was nothing unusual about someone her age stepping up and firming her resolve along these lines.

She exhaled sharply, steeling herself, and took a test-prep textbook out from a drawer in her desk. She had joined this academy just before they worked out what her final day at work would be—but by the standards of Japan, beginning to prepare for college for real in May of your last high school year was a pretty slow start. Even if her test scores and grades were pretty good at school, if she wanted to believe that gave her an advantage in college entrance exams, then waiting this long was a trap. In Chiho’s case in particular, the grown-ups in her life had placed a lot of expectations on her, all but demanding a promise, and she had a strong desire to live up to that.

So she couldn’t be too casual about this—and it meant she had to deliberately tone down her relationships with the people of Ente Isla, people she loved and cherished. It would be a grueling battle, but now was no time for complaints. Not even the titans of the Devil King’s Army and the Hero’s own companions knew very much about the college admissions system of Japan. She couldn’t rely on anyone else. With the MgRonald at Hatagaya Station behind her, Chiho was now facing up to the battle for her continued education.

“…!”

The phone in her bag rang. It snapped her out of her thoughts, but she couldn’t yell at the caller about it. Hurriedly opening up the pink flip phone, she found a highly unexpected name on the screen—someone who would normally want to avoid contact with her at all costs. But it was still a phone call, like any other in Japan. It wasn’t an Idea Link, the long-range magic she used regularly to speak with friends in other worlds. Whoever had placed this call was physically in Japan right now.

“Hello? Suzuno? What’s up? Are you in Japan right now?”

Suzuno Kamazuki, high-level cleric for the most widely practiced religion in Ente Isla, was forced by the responsibilities of her position to support Chiho and the Devil King’s Army from the outside. She should have been in Sankt Ignoreido right now, the headquarters of Ente Isla’s Church. Suzuno and the Devil King’s Army should keep any communication to a minimum, to keep the people of Ente Isla from discovering that army’s true mission.

Everyone involved was aware of this. Chiho had decided to stay hands-off with the army until things had settled a bit on the exam-prep front, and even when she had a shift with Maou or Emi during her final days on the job, she made it a point not to discuss Ente Isla. That was why, even after Libicocco came along and Urushihara, Laila, and Kinanna had been off in Ente Isla for several weeks, she had no idea what they were doing or how much of it was being fed back to Maou.

Suzuno was supposed to be in Ente Isla, keeping the Church from exposing them, and here she was placing phone calls to Chiho in Japan. Chiho had zero expectation of good news.

“Is something bad going on in Ente Isla…?”

“Yes. Something bad, indeed.”

The voice was listless; Chiho could easily imagine a pale-faced Suzuno on the other side of it.

“Bad…? Did something happen to Devil’s Castle?! Or did Urushihara run into some kind of trouble?! Did Kinanna eat Laila or something?!”

Suzuno didn’t have the energy to protest Chiho’s poor impression of the angels.

“No, um, it actually relates to me.”

Despite every potential terrifying scenario Chiho could think of, Suzuno’s reply came as an unexpected surprise.

“I have done nothing to deserve this, but I have been promoted.”

“…Pardon?”

“I have been promoted. Me.”

“Huh? Promoted? What are you talking about, Suzuno? Can you explain things a bit more… Like, also, where are you?”

“At the apartment. Room 202.”

The response was the same as always—except it shouldn’t have been the same as always. It made Chiho feel dizzy.

“I need to return to Ente Isla promptly, but I thought it prudent to tell someone about this directly, However, I fear the Devil King and Emilia might be at work presently, so—I apologize, Chiho, I know you have your studies to attend to…”

Suzuno sounded fairly frantic.

“That’s fine! I’m not doing anything in particular right this minute or anything! But what happened? Take a deep breath and tell me everything!”

It was virtually the first time Chiho had seen Suzuno this out of sorts. She wasn’t sure how to address this, but in another moment, she had her answer.

“I’m becoming an Archbishop…”

Chiho spent a few seconds chewing over the term. Then she realized just how weighty this was.

“What?!” she shouted from the pit of her stomach. “Archbishop? You mean of the whole Church?! Like, part of the group of six at the very top?!”

“Yes… Exactly.”

After a tumultuous year, the six Archbishops, who had the final say in all Church affairs, were currently faced with two empty seats. Over on Ente Isla, the “Crusade”—the large-scale Church deployment to defeat the evil teeming around the Devil’s Castle on the Central Continent—was a hairbreadth away from deploying. This deployment needed to be delayed as much as possible to aid Chiho and the rest of the Devil King’s Army, and Suzuno was supposed to be aiding in that sabotage effort. However, while it would be one thing if her delay tactics were exposed and she were punished for it, it was quite another to be awarded a promotion. Becoming one of the most powerful people in the Church meant her actions would be more restricted than ever before, prying eyes upon her at essentially all times. It was a huge blow to the Devil King’s Army.

But even with that in mind, Suzuno’s reaction seemed odd. Chiho knew her to be a talented fighter, a gifted tactician, and a shrewd politician. The Suzuno she knew would use this new position to turn the tables and direct Emeralda and Rumack to carry out some new strategy for her. If she was this frazzled about it, Chiho thought, the issue must be about more than this very sudden personnel change.

“I’ll head out for your apartment right now. Can you wait there a bit?”

“…All right. I am unsure I can fully grasp this situation alone, so…”

Sensing something ominous, Chiho got her things back together and flew back out the door. She could clearly picture, for some reason, the normally cold and dignified Suzuno on her knees in her darkened room, dejected and discouraged. If she didn’t come over right now, what kind of friend was she?

But as Chiho ran along, the monologue that came across through the phone only added to the chaotic confusion.

“And if only that were all… I have also been appointed the commander of the upcoming Crusade.”

“……………Huh?”

Suzuno commanding the Crusade. In other words, before very long, she’d be engaging in open warfare against the Devil King’s Army, led by Ashiya, right on the Central Continent. Now Chiho realized it—this wasn’t just some personal drama carried out on the corridor of Villa Rosa Sasazuka; this was something that could cost thousands of lives over in the lands of Ente Isla. She shook her head to stave off the panic.

“…What will we do?”

“I cannot say,” Suzuno replied with a sigh, and Chiho had nothing to answer her with.

“Why don’t you just ignore your orders, then?” Maou bluntly stated, looking down at a Suzuno who appeared even smaller than usual.

“…My liege, don’t you find that a bit irresponsible?”

This fairly understandable retort was lodged by Libicocco, fresh from his work shift.

“Besides, we all know right now that there’s no god at all on Ente Isla’s side,” Maou continued. “No matter what the Church or anyone says.”

“…Your Demonic Highness, I don’t think that’s how religion really works.”

“No, but… I mean, what’s the big deal if Suzuno gets a promotion at this point?”

“…I imagine it leads to problems we don’t have an insight into quite yet.”

“Libicocco’s been talking a lot more sense than you lately,” jabbed Emi.

Suzuno sounded just as dejected as she looked. “If I were able to refuse the position, I would. But there is a yawning gap between the responsibilities of an Archbishop and those of a mere bishop.”

Chiho asked, “But why did you wind up promoted in the first place? You didn’t do anything in particular, did you?”

In another time, this sounded like a question Chiho would throw in Urushihara’s direction. But it was the truth, and Suzuno lightly nodded at it.

“Hmm…things have gone a little too well, you could say.”

As she explained, after her return to the Church headquarters, she had sincerely devoted herself—too sincerely, as it turned out—to preparing for the Crusade, resulting in delays across the board for the entire project. She had made sure there was a thorough consensus on everything, held multiple Reconciliation Panel meetings, and even set off on journeys to assorted holy sites, claiming to seek guidance from theologians across the continent, even if it meant the panel meets had to be stopped for days on end. That, and all the personnel she had commandeered from all over, claiming it to be part of the PR effort for the Church’s followers.

The subsequent delays were such that one day Cervantes Reberiz, de facto leader of the Archbishops, called her into his office. She had assumed it was to upbraid her on all the stalling, mentally preparing a passionate speech about how all of her work was strictly necessary for this grand mission ahead, but instead she was greeted with a highly unusual ordination to the post of Archbishop.

“But there’s still four other Archbishops, aren’t there?” Emi asked dourly. “I think the other three besides Cervantes are all pretty ancient, but… Do you think they suspected you or something? Did they have their eyes on you?”

Chiho tried to picture the other Archbishops engaging in workplace harassment with Suzuno in some way. But Suzuno denied it.

“I told you…it has all gone too well. How to put it? My underground connections with the Devil King’s Army, my deceitful secret meetings with Chief Wurs—none of that has been exposed to anyone. That is why…”

Her eyes turned to a faraway point in the air.

“Archbishop Cesar Quaranta was sent to the city of Welland Isa the other day. His mission was to negotiate for the Church to establish a large base for Crusade goods and personnel on the Northern Island. Chief Wurs came to meet with him, and, well, what she had to say did not portend good things for our side.”

Wurs, of course, had signed a pact with the Devil King’s Army to ensure she’d never give the Church any encouraging news. But beyond that, problems arose. Cesar sensed that negotiations could potentially drag on for a while, but his own business was also weighing heavily upon him. If he was stuck dealing with this issue indefinitely, it’d leave him dealing with other, non-logistics-related issues that he really didn’t want to be bothered with. They needed more staff on duty, he concluded, and so the four Archbishops deliberated over whom to add to their cloister—and this was the result.

“Archbishop Cervantes said so himself. He stated that all this delay in Reconciliation Panel preparations and excessive groundwork was due to me being unable to pull enough rank as bishop.”

Suzuno’s eyes, bereft of light, stared down at the tatami floor of Room 202.

“But a bishop’s pretty high up, isn’t it?”

She nodded at Emi’s question, sighing. “It is. But there are ranks within the bishopric as well.”

Suzuno Kamazuki—Crestia Bell—was an ordained bishop and leader of the Reconciliation Panel. A rank-and-file Church bureaucrat she certainly was not. But in practice, her bishop title was an honorific one, because she did not have a cathedral of her own to preside over. A cathedral—a bishop’s “diocese,” the part of Church land they held direct jurisdiction over—was run by a parish bishop, and compared to someone like Suzuno with a bishop’s title and nothing else, there was a clear pecking order in place.

“In addition, there are more than a few people in the Church bureaucracy who do not view the Reconciliation Panel in a friendly light. It used to be the Council of Inquisitors, which led to a great deal of spite from a humanist perspective. And since the Panel was convened to root out corruption among our clerical ranks… Well, more than a few among our flock see us as troublemakers.”

“Funny how the Church is supposed to be this standard-bearer for human morals,” Maou tossed out, “but they hate their own internal police like that. Contradiction much?”

Suzuno chuckled at this casual diss of the entire human race.

“So I suppose the four Archbishops voted unanimously to kick me upstairs, as it were, to eliminate annoyances in several different ways… And while the decision’s not official as of yet, I’ve already been granted all the powers of the office, so essentially, I have been tasked to throw my weight around and get things done more quickly.”

Cesar had been talking with Suzuno as well.

She had close relations with many officials from Saint Aile, personnel who would no doubt play a major rule in this Crusade. Her Archbishop rank would eliminate a lot of the red tape gumming up diplomatic negotiations; her presence would no doubt change the attitudes of many of their foreign partners. Considering her past work at the Reconciliation Panel and Council of Inquisitors, she seemed suited to serve as the Archbishop’s specialist in diplomacy and missionary activity—someone who could pick up where Olba Meiyer had left off.

Thus, this appointment had a symbolic aspect. The exceptional rise of a young cleric under Olba’s service was a good way to preserve the honor of a Church heavily damaged by the ex-Archbishop’s crimes, while also lending a better impression to the Reconciliation Panel and its activities.

It also meant that the Northern Island sea route was even more vital to the Crusade than before. Saint Aile had been in contact with the Chief Herder of the land regarding the miracle that occurred during their zirga, the land’s most important political gathering. They had liked what they heard, and now wanted Suzuno’s power and connections to help negotiations between Chief Wurs and Saint Aile’s staff.

This was the nature of Cesar’s proposal, and the other Archbishops—Cervantes, Mauro, and Verdigris—rubber-stamped it without comment.

“…”

“Huh…?”

“…That…”

“That’s a sad story.”

Maou, Chiho, Emi, and Libicocco stared agape at Suzuno’s confession. Cesar’s scheme, as far as everyone in the room was concerned, came far too late to matter.

“…How am I going to face up to Lady Emeralda and General Rumack now?”

From this point forward, Suzuno would represent the Church, running hither and yon to deal with Crusade details. She would thus have to confer with Emeralda and Wurs as part of her official responsibilities—but thanks to being too personally friendly with all of them for so long…

“I am sure they will have their complaints for me… Lady Emeralda will tease me, no doubt, for how clumsily I conducted myself. The mere thought depresses me.”

There was no denying that. But was it really worth getting this depressed about?

“Ah…”

Suddenly, something dawned upon Chiho.

“Um, Suzuno, where did you come here from?”

“…Haaah.”

She paused for a moment.

“From the Goat Pasture.”

That told Chiho everything she needed to know. “So have you already talked to Wurs…?”

“I never thought someone could bring me to tears with their voice at my age.”

“…Oh.”

The Goat Pasture was in Phiyenci, the main city and spiritual center of the Northern Island. Suzuno had already met with Chief Dhin Dhem Wurs over there, and the results had been, to say the least, humbling. In fact, her going to the Northern Island was likely the cover story for her as she licked her wounds here in Japan.

“When do you have to go back?”

“By tonight… I have taken ill and sought refuge in government lodging, is what has been reported. But I will need to report back to headquarters tomorrow. There are assorted procedures and ceremonies for my ordainment.”

She couldn’t have looked less enthusiastic about returning home. But she had no choice.

“Well, it’s still a little early today, but why don’t we have some udon noodles? Then we can think about what to do over there!”

“…All right.”

Then Maou, Emi, and Libicocco watched as Suzuno followed Chiho outside, shuffling along like a duckling imprinted on its mother. They watched, then gave each other looks.

“…Well, a little food and vent session, I suppose?”

“I get it, but I don’t think a bowl of noodles is gonna be enough to help her recover from this…”

Maou and the others understood just how downtrodden Suzuno was. All three of them glanced at the calendar. It was May 1. Two months remained until July, and the Devil’s Castle–driven trip to the moon.

“We might be in trouble here.”

“Hey, Emeralda, did you hear?”

“…Oh, about Bell? Yes, of cooourse I have…”

At the head office of the Holy Magic Administrative Institute, located in the Saint Aile capital of Ereniem, Emeralda was pouting at the sight of Hazel Rumack charging inside.

“Well, now what?!”

“Yesss, this is about the wooorst thing I could think of…”

Emeralda scrunched up her small face as best she could, head hung low.

“Could it be Crestia Bell was coerced into this? Because she has connections with us, or with the Devil King?”

Rumack’s department couldn’t be blamed for making that conclusion. But Emeralda shook her head.

“An ordination to Archbishop isn’t the kind of event you can throw around for thaaat sort of reason. There are scooores of bishops and cardinals waiting their turn for that role, and she was an honorary bishop originally. Based on precedent, there’s no waaay she’d normally be an Archbiiishop.”

“The news is supposed to be private, but the whole nation’s in a state of confusion. Was she born in Saint Aile?”

“I’ve never aaasked, and there’s nothing in the records about her. I should have popped the question when I had the chaaance. Being in the Council of Inquisitors, I’m sure her personal history’s been eraaased to some extent.”

The six Archbishops of the Church essentially served the role of king in the Western Island…or perhaps something even more powerful. That meant the origins, and birth nation, of a new Archbishop was something of utmost importance to Church followers. The late Robertio Igua Valentia came from a small nation in the Western Island, and his tale—the story of a backwater cleric who rose to become one of the most powerful men in the world—had already become an ensconced part of Church lore. Cervantes, Verdigris, Cesar, Mauro, and even Olba were feted as great men in their respective homelands, some of which even made the date of their native son’s ordainment a national holiday.

“If I had to guess, Cervaaantes and the rest really are serious about this Crusaaade.”

“…Serious, you say?”

“A religious leader needs a good sense for the politics and economy of the secular wooorld, after all. They may be pious in their heaaarts, but they may not be extremists, all ‘God above all,’ like some of the lower-end cleeerics might be.”

“No, I’m sure you’re right. Personally, I think Cervantes would be far more useful as a knight captain than an Archbishop.”

“But I imaaagine that holy dreeeam they all had must’ve shocked them to the cooore. It set their spiiiritual sides aflame again, these pure blue cryyystals that the vagaries of Church politics had dulled over tiiime.”

Emeralda was supposed to be a religious woman in her own right. She didn’t seem too interested in giving the Church higher-ups their due.

“So I thiiink Bell’s ordination is part of that new mooovement. I mean, to our believers and the general public, it’s the epic tale of heeeroes rising up to the challenge, isn’t it?”

She placed both elbows on her desk, looking distracted.

“So they’ve recognized her diplomacy and missionary efforts, on the Council and on the Paaanel… They appointed her based on her taaalents, not on whether she’s an honorary or parish biiishop…and now this young, beautiful new Archbishop is going to lead the largest Crusaaade in history… Isn’t it the most moooving piece of mythology you ever heeeard of? They’re serious about this, deaaadly serious. They want to use this Crusaaade to take over the whole world.”

Although they had the mandate of their religion covering it up, if you scoped out the scene impartially from above, this was nothing less than a Western Island–led invasion of the Central Continent. Being called a “Crusade,” however, meant the average man on the street didn’t think this was about seizing territory at all. And, in fact, even if the Church’s knight corps captured Devil’s Castle and everything leading up to it, it wouldn’t mean the subjugation of the former Isla Centurum of the cities that stood upon it.

But:

“No matter how it turns out, the Church gets to keep their glorious victory, doesn’t it?”

“That’s riiight. Because your people are kind enough to just sit there and do nothing.”

Emeralda grinned a bit as she complained.

“Is that what you have to say to me?” countered Rumack. “If you’re going to bring that up, none of this would’ve happened in the first place if the Devil King’s Army didn’t invade us. If that’s how you feel, take an army over to this ‘Japan’ and fetch Emilia for us.”

“Boooo…”

Rumack didn’t press her further. She had expected that reply.

“Your people,” in this case, referred to the Federated Order of the Five Continents, the military force stationed on the Central Continent since the Devil King’s defeat. Even before the Eight Great Scarves knights from the Eastern Island pulled out following the instability in their empire, the Federated Order had run on a complex set of intertwined international interests, resulting in an army without much in the way of cohesion. For its size, it had little function to speak of, a fact that made Rumack want to abandon her post as its supreme commander more than once.

The Federated Order was performing tasks like peacekeeping and infrastructure rebuilding for the cities and nations of the Central Continent. But its original mission was to dismantle Devil’s Castle—and that, of course, had seen no progress at all.

Out of the four surviving administrative cities, Wezu Quartus still had less than half of its peak population (and functionality), even though Noza Quartus had already by and large recovered, leaving the Federated Order with little to do up there. Ea Quartus to the east, meanwhile, was keeping the Order at a deliberate arm’s length—likely out of respect for the empire of Efzahan, a short journey away in the Eastern Island. Saza Quartus down south, however, was in semi-open conflict with the Southern Island religious state of Haruun, a member of the Federated Order—and thanks to that, it wasn’t cooperating at all with the other three cities.

With a situation like this, what would happen if the Church, with its clear and morally sound mission, marched into the center of the Continent and planted its flag in the ground? No other city or nation had an independent military large enough to take on the Church knights’ forces. The Continent’s natives found the current disunity in their land—a far cry from the glory days of Isla Centurum—a gloomy, distressing sight. Should the Church succeed at their Crusade, it would mark their name for all time as the force that put a final end to the Devil King wars. They’d likely establish a new Isla Centurum on the spot. The old Isla Centurum prospered thanks to free economy and a nondespotic government, but now that it was a “holy land,” the site where God and sword defeated evil once and for all, it would become a Church city in name and deed.

“But listen to me. Yes, the Devil King’s Army is there right now, but it’s not like there’s some inscrutable evil lurking about, like the Church imagines. How will they decide that this Crusade is a ‘success’ in the first place?”

“Oh, they don’t need to defeat any exiiisting enemy to succeed. Wouldn’t taking down Devil’s Castle be the simplest way, hmmm? Then they can say, ‘Ah, the final traces of evil have vaaanished,’ or ‘We have succeeded at long last where the Federated Order faaailed,’ or ‘Isla Centurum is back in human haaands again,’ right? Besides, isn’t a good sixty percent or so of the Church forces noncombatants? Builders, farmers, those kinds of expeeerts at rebuilding? To them, as long as they start off on the right foot, that’s ninety percent of the goal right theeere.”

There would be no “failure” in this Crusade. No matter how many had to be sacrificed, no matter how much money was wasted—if the ultimate goal was to demonstrate God’s authority, it would be a “success” from the moment it began. But, of course, having real results to back up this lofty quest would be nice. And this time, they had a concrete goal in mind—the now-empty Devil’s Castle, a site everyone in the world was aware of. In a post–Devil King’s Army world with no real public adversary for this Crusade to slay, the Church couldn’t possibly have an easier time with it.

“The one thing that does bother meee… Why would they give Bell the honor of leading this Crusade that’s all but guaranteed to be a rouuusing success?”

“You think they want to give her a role similar to Emilia’s?”

“Nooo. There’s no clear, easy-to-grasp enemy like Satan the Devil Kiiing this time. And yes, the three Archbishops besiiides Cervantes are all in their twiiilight years, but it’s not like the supreme commanders would be fighting themseeelves. There just seems to be no reeeason to give the aisle over to this new giiirl.”

Rumack sighed as she watched Emeralda ponder over this. “Either way, if this marks the birth of a new Archbishop, Saint Aile can’t just idly sit and let it happen. I’m sure there will be a huge ordination ceremony at Sankt Ignoreido—a sort of festival before the Crusade—and I’m sure that Crusade will be scheduled to march through areas related to her. We’ll need to revise our plans a fair amount. You know, if you’re free, come on over to me once your cabinet meeting is over…”

Just as the general made the invitation, there was a heavy knock on the office door. Rumack, concerned, fell silent.

“You’re being quite louuud. What is it?”

“E-excuse me, madam. I have urgent news from the Northern Island for you—!”

It was a sorcerer, one Emeralda had personally selected as part of the force taking on heaven in two months. Seeing him made Emeralda and Rumack both feel a bad omen looming.

“The Northern Island? From Chief Wurs?”

The sorcerer took a look around him as Rumack asked, softly closing the door behind him before nodding.

“H-have you two heard the news about Bishop Crestia Bell…?”

“Yes, we were just discussing that.”

“Did something happen to herrr…?”

“Well, Bishop Bell seems to be in Phiyenci at the moment, and she has information for you. Information so vital that she imparted it to Chief Wurs, who imparted it to Lord Farfarello, who imparted it to Sir Arvaeim Willand in order to reach you as soon as possible.”

“I…do not like the souuund of that.”

Even Emeralda was looking a bit ill now. Judging by the channels Suzuno had gone through, this was something to be kept strictly confidential—and it was unlikely to be good news.

She took the letter presented to her and ran her eyes across it for a few moments. Then, out of nowhere, she shouted.

“You’re kiiiiiiiiiiiiidding me!! Bell, you utter foooooooooooooool!!”

“Wh-what?!”

The sound of Emeralda virtually shrieking made Rumack and the sorcerer shiver.

“No, no, no, can things this ridiculous even happen?! Is this even possible?!”

“Wh-what is it? What’s it say on there?!”

“It’s terrible! The absolute worst possible situation I could even think of! Bell’s made a glaring mistake! She barely even deserves to live after this! Why couldn’t she have shared this with us before now?! That udon-obsessed maniac!!”

“Udon…? What is that?”

“Look at this!!”

Taken aback by Emeralda’s unusually frank criticism, Rumack picked up the letter she’d tossed aside, reaching the section pointed out to her. It made her face tense up as she groaned.

“Th-this…”

“You see? Isn’t this terrible?!”

“Indeed, given the times… But I’m not sure she could have done much about it…or, at least, she doesn’t deserve to be raked over the coals for it…”

“I’m telling you, she should have let us know before this happened! I came to know her months ago by now! She should have told me from the beginning! Then we could have taken up some other plan from the very start! By now, there’s just nothing we can do, is there? All our efforts are up in smoke now!”

“Y-yes, but… I mean, neither we nor she could’ve imagined that she would be promoted from honorary bishop straight to Archbishop…”

“Then she should have resigned! That, or she should’ve given up on interfering with the Church, quit her job as cleric, and gone back to Japan! Maybe run a noodle shop while keeping Chiho and Sasazuka safe! Then none of this would have happened!!”

Emeralda was taking advantage of Suzuno’s absence to essentially let her mouth run unguarded. But Rumack couldn’t blame her for this outburst.

The letter came from the hand of Arvaeim Willand, with a message mixed in from Dhin Dhem Wurs. It stated that Suzuno had already entered into secret negotiations with the Northern Island to establish a Church knight garrison; that the new Archbishop Crestia Bell was native to Saint Aile; and that Bell Parish, the diocese from her homeland currently run by her father, just happened to be in the port town of Lamoise, in the republic of Kierence, a port town serving as the front door to the entire Western Island.

“We went through all of this trouble to funnel all of our logistics to the route between Saint Aile and Lamoise, and now it’s all going to be one massive boon to the Church! We didn’t delay them at all—we helped them speed things up! It’s going to be one giant welcoming parade for the new Archbishop! They’re going to march their armies from Saint Aile straight to Lamoise, come hell or high water! Right down the route we tried to overload with supplies!”

“Calm down! Calm down, all right?!”

“How can anyone stay caaalm at this…?!”

Like a balloon full of air that suddenly sputters it all out, zooming through the air, Emerald’s head settled down upon her desk.

“Do Emilia and…the others…know about this?”

“I—I cannot say.”

“No, Emilia and the rest of the group in Japan don’t matter here. The issue is Alciel. If his side doesn’t know, there’s nothing we can do. We only considered the route to Noza Quartus through the Northern Island up to now, but if there’s a new Archbishop with close ties to Lamoise, or Kierence, the Church could stake its honor on restoring Wezu Quartus and decide to build a route to Devil’s Castle straight from the west. Whether they can do that in two months is another matter, but if we’re advanced upon from two directions, the Devil King’s Army might engage in direct battle with the advance forces. This is terribly bad news! Rumack, we need to form a strategy at once!”

Judging by the suddenly fast-paced, staccato manner of speech she was now taking, it was eminently clear just how fazed Emeralda was by this.

The Church knights’ vanguard army making contact with the Devil King’s forces didn’t just mean that Maou’s goals would never be realized. Emeralda and Rumack had made secret contact with the Devil King’s Army, to say nothing of Suzuno, and that—along with Wurs’s control over the whole effort—was in grave danger of being exposed. If it were, a simple military conflict would become the least of their worries. It would throw all of Saint Aile and the Northern Island into chaos. The entire world could very well split apart.

“…I understand that now is a difficult time for them…but the future of the Western and Northern Islands lies in the balance. We have no choice.”

“What do you mean? What’s that?” Rumack asked.

Emeralda took out a palm-sized yellow bar of some sort from a desk drawer. The general gave it a confused look.

“Oh, did I never show this to you, Rumack?”

Emeralda grimly began tracing her finger on the surface of the bar.

“This is a secret trick of ours. In fact, it’s the latest model, apparently. Emilia purchased it for me.”

It was nine in the evening when Chiho, fresh from commiserating with Suzuno over some fresh udon at a just-opened noodle restaurant, finally got back home and sat at her desk, ready to enter exam-prep mode for the first time. But not half an hour after she began, her phone rang. She scowled at the screen.

“Oh, is this…?”

Looking at the number—or lack thereof—she realized this was an Idea Link, not a phone call.

“…Hello?”

“Hellooo! I hope I’m not bothering you at night! It’s niiight in Japan, isn’t it? Are you free at the moment?”

“Emeralda?! Y-yes!”

Chiho noticed the tinge of fatigue in Emeralda’s voice. Then it dawned on her.

“Is this about Suzu—I mean, Bell?”

“Ahh, yes, you’ve already heeeard?”

“Yeah, I guess she’s now at the top of the Church? And Lady Wurs is super angry at her…”

“I’d like to give her a piece of my miiind, too…”

“Um, would you mind going easy on her for me? Because she never saw this coming at all, either.”

“Oh, it doesn’t matter nooow. What’s past is paaast. But enough about thaaat. Chiho, I have a really big favor I need to ask you fooor…”

“Yes?”

“Can you find a waaay to contact Alciel for meee?”

“Ashiya?”

“Yes, I know it’s straaange to ask this of you from Japan, but Bell becoming an Archbishop has some rather far-reeeaching effects…”

Emeralda gave Chiho a digested rundown of just how much of an impact this news brought to her world.

“So if Alciel doesn’t have accurate informaaation to work with, I think that could lead to trouuuble should push come to shove…”

“That does sound awful. And come to think of it, Urushihara and Laila set off for the Central Continent a while ago, but I haven’t heard anything in particular from them since…although I haven’t had a chance to talk with Maou and everyone in a little while anyway…”

“Lucifer…? Exactly how long ago was this?”

“Exactly? Umm, it was just after Ms. Kisaki left, so it’d be around three weeks ago. Twenty days or so, at least.”

“Twenty days or so?!”

“Emeralda?!”

“And Al hasn’t contacted me, eiiither… Boy… It just feels like we’ve all wasted sooo much time here…”

“Is—is it that bad?”

“Well, it’s partly my fault for not staying in contaaact with Bell, but there’s a lot of fishy bizzzness surrounding Bell’s promotion. Our backs may be against the wall more than we thiiink right now. I hate to interruuupt you while you’re busy, but if you can reach out to the Devil Kiiing, or Emiiilia, or Nooord, or anyone, and tell them to relay the daaangers I told you about to Alciel for meeee…”

Chiho resisted the urge to sigh and physically nodded at Emeralda. “All right. Actually, do you want me to send an Idea Link to Ashiya right now? That would probably be best…”

“Ah, ahh, that’s a little daaangerous, so if you could avoid thaaat for now… As I said, with Bell’s ordinaaation, the whole schedule of the Crusade’s being turned on its heaaad, so I think the eyes on the Central Continent will be gazing down harder than ever befooore. If some advance fooorce there picks up on an Idea Link from Japaaan, it could put your own home in daaanger…”

“…Okay, I understand. I’ll talk about it with Maou and the others.”

She understood, but Chiho couldn’t come up with any other ideas. She knew full well that Urushihara and Laila had set off themselves because direct communication with Devil’s Castle on the Central Continent was too risky. The only option left was to have someone follow their trail and travel through the Northern Island to relay the message. The likely candidate for this was Farfarello, currently with Wurs—tossing an Idea Link to the Northern Island posed less of a problem, and that was why he was stationed there in the first place.

“Ahh, but I’d like to keep the Malebraaanche attending to Lady Wurs where he is, if I couuuld—”

But Emeralda cut herself off before she could even propose the idea.

“Lady Wurs is in a rather delicate situaaation at the moment. Unless she has protection from our side she can trust at all tiiimes, we may not be able to guarantee her saaafety, if it comes to that. And we still don’t know the motives of the other Archbiiishops here…”

“…Ah…”

“I will try to find a way to contact Alciel from myyy end as well, so see if you can figure out an approach from Japaaan for me.”

“All right…”

“Sorry to botherrr you!”

After the call, Chiho held on to the phone for a few moments, her eyes blank. But the world, and fate itself, was still not ready to leave an aspiring college student in peace.

“Hyah?!”

The phone was still pressed against her ear when it began vibrating again, receiving a signal from somewhere. It made her yelp a bit as she let it fall out of her hand. Picking it up in a rush, she looked at the screen…and the name on it made her wince all over again.

“…Hello?”

“Huhh? Why’re you soundin’ like such a sourpuss, huh? If I caught you sleeping, that’s my bad.”

The completely carefree voice on the other end required no introduction. It belonged to Gabriel, who should have been in Devil’s Castle on the Central Continent right now.

“Y’know, there’s something I need to tell ya, so… To tell you the truth, I’m actually way underground right now.”

“Underground?”

“Mm-hmm! And it took a looot of work, mm-kay? You keep on telling me about how you don’t want the Church knights peeping on your Idea Links…sooo, I dove deep into an underground lake on the east side of the Continent, opened up a small Gate, and that’s where I’m callin’ you from. It’s not an Idea Link! It’s part of my phone plan! Pretty neat, huh?”

“Uh…”

Chiho wasn’t sure what was so neat about this.

“You won’t be detected this way?”

“Well, it beats doin’ nothing, yeah? It’s harder to spot anything this deep compared to the surface, and they can’t use sonar to interfere with me…but how ’bout you let me brag about this later? We kinda have a pretty big problem over here, and I figured, y’know, maybe you’d want to know and stuff?”

“…Yes…?”

“So anyway, I got good news and bad news, buuuuut…”

“I’m seriously going to lose my temper soon. Start with the good news.”

“Aw, you’re so nice! All angry, but still playing along with me. So the good news is that Kinanna, you know, he’s totally better now! Just wanna start with that.”

“Oh, is he? That’s good.”

It was good news. The fate of Kinanna, with the central role he played in launching Devil’s Castle and kicking off the war in heaven, made him the literal core of the entire conflict. Maou seemed to be hoping for a lot from whatever memories he had left, but the Astral Gem in his throat took top priority. He was old, he was senile, and he had a propensity for absorbing magic with abandon and turning into a movie monster, but being in Japan had almost killed him, so Urushihara and Laila had reluctantly decided to take him back to Ente Isla. If he was healthier as a result, that was a rare bright spot among the minefield of concerns they had.

But Gabriel’s voice proceeded along, as dryly as ever.

“So then the bad news is…uh, well, he’s gotten too better. Kinanna, I mean.”

“…Oh?”

“And he’s still senile.”

“………Oh?”

It took a few moments for Chiho to realize what Gabriel’s words meant. Imagining the fallout from it made her eyes turn into saucers.

“W-wait, so, um, are you all right?! How’s everyone in Devil’s Castle…?”

“Oh, a few of them were hurt, but nobody’s in critical condition, mm-kay?”

“People got hurt?!”

That struck Chiho as enough of a serious matter. But judging by the tone of Gabriel’s voice, that wasn’t the end of it.

“I tell you, it scared the crap out of all of us! Like, I knew he got big, but not that big!”

“…That big?”

“Definitely Godzilla size.”

“No! You’re kidding!”

“I’m not gonna take all this risk just so I can clown you over the phone, y’know.”

“Wha-wha—how can you be so relaxed about this?! Aren’t you supposed to be protecting Devil’s Castle, Gabriel?! What are you even doing?!”

“Hey, Alciel and Lucifer and a lot of other folks are workin’ hard to deal with him right now, mm-kay? So that’s why I’m all the way down here, lettin’ Japan know. But I’ve also kinda run into some guff on the way here…”

Gabriel’s dry voice was starting to give Chiho dizzy spells.

“So it looks like our kaiju friend got spotted by the Federated Order knights stationed down in Saza Quartus.”

“Wha…?!”

If Emeralda had been around to hear this, she’d be on the ground, foaming at the mouth. Even Chiho found her mind a blank, unable to comprehend these events. This was a disaster, one that made Suzuno’s promotion look like a drop in the bucket. Depending on what the Federated Order chose to do, everything they’d built up to now might need to be shelved as soon as tomorrow.

“Yeah, so why d’you think I’m taking this roundabout approach to contactin’ ya? Sorry to bother you and all, but you mind telling the Devil King and Emilia about this ASAP? Because I have no idea how this’ll turn out, feel me?”

“A-all right! I will! B-but…”

“Mmm?”

“Why didn’t you just call Maou directly, then…?”

“Well, I thought about it, but then I realized I never got his number…”

“…Why do you know mine?”

“I asked Alciel for it earlier. A little bird told me that in an emergency, I’d be better off contacting Chiho Sasaki ahead of the Devil King, soooo…”

“…Who said that?”

“Gee, who was it? Either Lucifer or Laila, I think—but anyway, the Devil King can’t access his phone during work, right? But you quit your job, so even if you’re at school, I figured you’d check your phone no sooner than, like, three hours from now, mm-kay? And you know how much Emilia hates my guts. If she saw a call from me, she’s, like, guaranteed to let it go to voice mail, and who knows when she’d get to it? But whether you hate me or not, you’re still willing to deal with me, right? You’re, I’d say, the glue that holds everyone together. Their manager, sort of thing.”

“…”

The fact that Chiho couldn’t deny this out of hand upset her stomach a little.

“So anyway, that’s the breaking news from Ente Isla, so can you spread it around? Alciel’s the one making the final calls over here, but I don’t want Emilia and the Devil King whinin’ at me afterward. Oh, and I don’t think we’re gonna have much way to contact the North and West right now, so if you could figure out a way to reach ’em, then super. You can toss them an Idea Link no problem, right?”

Depending on how things turned out, Chiho thought she might have to contact Emeralda immediately. She somehow found it in her mind to recall the errand Emeralda had just asked of her.

“Okay. Now, um, Gabriel?”

“Hmm?”

“I need you to give Ashiya a message for me, too, actually. Suzuno’s going to become one of the six Archbishops, and the whole North and West are in a tizzy about it. Emeralda gave me a frantic call to tell me.”

Chiho went on to explain how the news energized the entire West, to the point that the Church may decide to rebuild Wezu Quartus, the main city on the Central Continent’s west side.

“…Ooooh. Sounds like Alciel’s gonna have another ulcer soon, huh?”

Even Gabriel instantly understood the portent of Suzuno’s promotion.

“But boy, you are one reliable young woman, aren’tcha?”

…But he still reacted in his usual manner, which almost gave Chiho an ulcer of her own.

“Anyway, I’ll tell him, but I’m not sure he can do much of anything about that. Just make it clear to the Devil King and the West and the North that we’re kind of in panic mode over here too, ’kay? Okay, laterrr!”

Chiho stared at her phone for a moment after Gabriel had hung up, Then, as if he had waited for that exact moment on purpose, Maou called her. She reflexively pushed the “Talk” button.

“Hey, uh, Chi? Sorry to call out of nowhere. I think you paid too much money for your part of the bill at the udon place, so I was wondering how you wanted me to pay you back—”

“Maou!!”

“Uhh, yeah?”

The tone and emotion behind Chiho’s voice made Maou stand up straight on his end of the line.

“Maou…”

“Y-yes?”

“…If I don’t pass any of my entrance exams this year…it’ll be your fault, all right?”

“Huh? Huh?! Wh-what happened?!”

“…I need everyone to assemble in Room 201 right now.”

“Huh?”

“I need Yusa, and Nord, and Maou and Libicocco, and Acieth, too, in Room 201 right now! I’ll be out in front of my house! That’s all!!”

“Ah, wait…”

Leaving the flustered young man behind, Chiho took up her phone, a blank expression on her face, and sent a message off to Emi, bashing the keys to the point that she could have broken them right off.

Then:

“I’ve been involved for this long, so of course I’ll help you as much as I can. But I can’t accept the fact that people see me as some kind of secretary or manager for Maou and everyone. I’d like to have some better treatment, please.”

“I’m really sorry.”

“Sorry about that.”

Atop the brand-new tatami floor in Room 201—surprisingly occupied for this late at night—Maou and Emi were currently on all fours, bowing to Chiho with mixed emotions on their faces.

“Everybody’s just counted on you for how tolerant you were. Try not to be too mean to them.”

Libicocco’s attempt to assuage Chiho fell on deaf ears. She was at the end of her rope.

“I had to muster up a lot of resolve to quit my job at MgRonald. I even started going to test prep before I quit, so I wouldn’t be wavering about it! I didn’t think I could aid you guys in your war coming up, and I can’t fight anyway, so I figured I’d just be meddling if I volunteered to help. So I didn’t think that the moment any of you got in trouble, they’d call me instead of you two!”

After the zirga, where she played a major role in taking back the Spear of Adramelechinus, Chiho quit her job at MgRonald, a special place where she’d first met a special man in her life. She was taking herself away from the front lines of battle—and then this happened. Even worse, every problem presented to her was far beyond anything she could solve. So why were they all calling her first?

“Well, it is because Chiho, she has the respect of everyone, no?”

It sounded like something Gabriel might say, but it came from Acieth, who had joined Nord here.

“I know,” a stern-faced Erone replied. “Chiho’s the kind of person who can accept whatever comes her way.”

“I’m not, and I can’t.”

“Everybody, they do not want you to be solving the problems for them, Chiho. But sometimes people, they talk to someone, they get calm, yes? Your voice, it calms. In a way, you are like the mother to everyone in mmmph—”

“Acieth! And you stop, too, Erone.”

Acieth and Erone meant to compliment Chiho, no doubt. But Nord put his hands over their mouths anyway. He knew that wasn’t the reaction Chiho was trying to get.

“Regardless, this is a serious situation. There’s a chance that the Federated Order of the Five Continents stationed in the south may be on their way to Devil’s Castle right now. If the port town of Lamoise starts to send boatloads of supplies to Wezu Quartus, we could see forces come in from the west, and then Lidem’s interference from the force will be only half as effective. To be honest, we’re no longer in a situation where we can wait until July.”

“…Oh…”

“If the Federated Order in Saza Quartus moves now, when Suzuno has become an Archbishop and Emeralda and Rumack’s interference has backfired on them, Lidem’s not in any position to stop the Church forces more than necessary. In fact, both the Federated Order in Noza Quartus and the Mountain Corps in the Northern Island may have to roll out.”

“R-right…”

“But right now, Kinanna’s spreading havoc around Devil’s Castle, and we can’t really count on Ashiya, Urushihara, or Gabriel being able to help with anything else.”

Chiho set her eyes upon the faces around her.

“We can’t do anything about Kinanna being in Ente Isla, or Suzuno getting promoted after all her interference. None of this is anyone’s fault in particular. But right now, we’re the only ones with a complete picture of the situation. I think now’s the time to make a formal decision of some sort. Maou?”

“…Yes. Um, right. Yes.”

For some reason, all the news behind the trends occurring in Ente Isla, the demon realms, and the heavens kept being channeled to a Japanese teen—and even more, this teen’s analysis of it all was so astute, nobody else knew how to address it.

“We need to launch Devil’s Castle as quickly as we possibly can. I think that’s the only option.”

Her conclusion, as well, was nothing anyone could complain about.

“Like Emeralda said, the timing of Suzuno’s promotion indicates that the main Crusade force will begin their march no later than one month from now. A normal Archbishop ordination normally takes half a year and is marked by all kinds of fancy ceremonies, but this is an emergency situation, and it’s coming right before a Crusade, so chances are they’ll use the military march from Saint Aile to Lamoise as a sort of celebratory parade for Suzuno as well.”

“I—I see…”

Maou was overwhelmed by Chiho’s assessment, particularly a girl who shouldn’t have known anything about Ente Isla’s geography.

“But that theory doesn’t bring Kinanna, and his discovery by the Federated Order, into account, so they could go into action even faster than that, apparently. They could deploy a large advance force ahead of the main knight battalions, just to be sure they don’t lag behind the Federated Order troops. In that case, we could be looking at a week or less, even.”

“But they could both be delayed, depending on what happens first…or I guess we can’t rely on that, huh?”

“Wishful thinking could lead to bad things later,” Chiho said, cutting down Emi’s less-than-confident observation.

“The plan was to evacuate General Rumack and Bell’s troops out of the area when we’re ready to launch Devil’s Castle, right? Does everyone on the ground know about this plan?” Nord asked.

Maou bitterly shook his head. “We didn’t anticipate a retreat against forces attacking us from multiple fronts. If it wasn’t for this Crusade, we expected to have either Rumack, Emeralda, or Suzuno at Devil’s Castle at all times.”

“What about the commanders General Rumack and the others left behind?”

“It’s an open question how much we can trust them. They’re just as starved for information as anyone else…and no matter how much Dhin Dhem Wurs guaranteed their safety later on, that was still nothing but an oral promise. Once they hear one knight corps or another is about to attack them, they might decide to ditch the scene sooner than later. The people working directly under Rumack ought to be safe enough, but below them…? Crap. Emeralda’s right, isn’t she? We really did waste a ton of time. I really shoulda told Urushihara and Laila to come back immediately once they got there.”

“Gabriel went through an incredible amount of trouble to call me, and Emeralda warned me about it herself, so I really do think we shouldn’t send any Idea Links from here in Japan. Which leaves us…”

“The only option’s to send someone after Lucifer, isn’t it?”

Chiho nodded at Emi.

“And that’s got to be me, right?” Emi asked, resigned to her fate. “In this case.”

“Whoa, Emi, that’s…”

Maou, surprised, tried to stop her. But Emi put her hand up.

“I know what you want to say. But who else do we have? If we send you or Libicocco, they’ll immediately spot your demonic force and it’s all over. Father and Chiho can’t defend themselves, and Acieth and Erone are even worse ideas. So that just leaves me, doesn’t it?”

“But what if that space suit shows up…?”

“If she does, she does. Thinking about it here won’t tell us who she really is. Lucifer and Laila were supposed to be comparing their memories with Gabriel, but we haven’t heard anything from them, so I’m assuming the three of them didn’t come up with any big breakthroughs. So no matter when I run into her, it’s gonna be the same thing. I’ll just have to probe her out and keep from making any funny moves.”

The resolve present in and around her words prevented Maou from making any further arguments. He had other things to say, but saying them wouldn’t help any.

He did want to keep Emi and Alas Ramus away from the threat of that astronaut, but more than that, they had refrained from getting Emi involved in the prep for this battle (she was totally hands off, in fact) because Emeralda and the others just wanted her to have a quiet life once it was all over. They wanted to wipe the tactical weapon known as “Emilia the Hero” out of people’s minds so Emi could focus on rebuilding her home village. That, alongside preserving the future of Saint Aile, was one reason Emeralda and Rumack had signed on to the war against heaven.

If Emi descended into the Central Continent right now—at the height of its chaos, right when all the world’s forces were bearing down upon it—that hope would instantly vanish. After everything in Efzahan, there were already enough rumors that Emilia the Hero was still alive. If she showed up in front of the Church knight corps and Federated Order and her survival spread around as the official word, then Emi, Nord, and the land they called home would never be at peace.

“What else can we do? I’m sorry for everyone who’s covered for me until now, but at this point, I’ve got to give up and face facts. And you know how much crap Bell has gone through to protect my future life. I can’t just sit here and let all of you protect me forever. This was supposed to be for Alas Ramus, and if it is, then there’s no way I can just sit here.”

Emi smiled a bit, recalling the “daughter” currently sleeping inside her.

“…Emilia…”

“I’m sorry, Father. I know it may put you through some hardship again as well…”

“It doesn’t matter to me, Emilia. But may I ask you one thing?”

“What’s that?”

Nord faced up to his daughter, a woman who had already borne the brunt of the world on her shoulders once.

“If you’re going to do this, take it all the way. No matter what happens, I’ll always be on your side. So follow the path you think is right, and follow through with the choice you make.”

“…Yes. Of course.”

Emi nodded then stood up, shaking all the questions and obligations out of her mind.

“Thanks for persevering through all this, Chiho.”

“Oh, not at all…but Yusa, you aren’t going right now, are you…?”

“Not right this minute, but as soon as I can. Tomorrow morning, if I can manage that. Devil King, Libicocco…”

“Yeah?”

“…Yes?”

“Can you take my shifts for me? I’ll contact the manager about it.”

“…You got it.”

“…Very well.”

Because neither Maou nor Emi expected things to develop this quickly, they had both taken a decent number of part-time shifts, albeit not as many as usual.

“You know, I think about it, and Maou, he doesn’t do much—mffh—”

“Acieth!”

Acieth, faced with the sight of a Devil King and archdemon picking up shifts for the Hero, saw no reason to hold back. Nord did, again.

Then, unexpectedly, Emi shook her head once more.

“Acieth, I know he doesn’t look like much, but the Devil King’s very helpful.”

“Hohh?” Acieth said.

“Don’t talk about me like I’m something you got at the hundred-yen shop.”

“And you stop pouting after I compliment you for a change.” Emi smiled at him. “It’s kind of embarrassing to admit,” she began, “but do you remember, Devil King, the evening of the day after I first saw you in Sasazuka?”

“The evening of the………………yeah, I… Yeah.”

His odd turn of phrase made Chiho blush a little. But as she thought about it, nothing good could’ve come from Maou and Emi’s first meeting in Japan. It helped her calm down quickly.

“How could I ever forget?”

“What did I say to you then?”

“You wanna bring that up now?”

Maou gave Chiho an awkward look.

“I forget the exact wording, but, like, if I gave up on conquering the world and stayed here in Japan forever, you wouldn’t rip my head off, and stuff.”

“…Huh?”

Chiho looked at Emi, not expecting this. Emi could feel her eyes upon her but nodded at Maou instead.

“You phrased it a little more evilly than I did, but yeah, pretty much. Acieth?”

“Mmm?”

“I’m so glad that everyone’s been working to help me and Father live quietly in Sloane someday…but you know, if it comes to it, there’s another way for us.”

“Yusa, do you mean…?”

Chiho’s eyes opened wide as Emi finally turned to her and nodded.

“Once this is all over…becoming a full resident of Japan might not be bad, either.”

“…Yusa!”

Chiho’s concern for Emi, knowing her past and current position, intermingled with her joy for her as a friend. It lent a complex mix of emotions to her voice.

“It’s common for people to leave the house when they’re done with school and never live there again, right? If I want to, I can start a farm in Japan, too. And, you know, having people like Maki look into colleges for me… I think there’s a part of me that always knew I could never have a quiet life in Ente Isla any longer. Besides, with the Devil King…or thanks to the Devil King, I guess…I’ve trained myself to the point that life in Japan wouldn’t be a handicap to me at all.”

“So he is…helping you?”

Emi nodded at Acieth’s question. “Yes, for better or for worse. But as you can see, I trust him enough to let him handle work shifts for me, so he is helping, you know?”

She lowered her head a little after she’d finished speaking.

“…You sure about that?” Maou said. “Work is one thing, but if you disappear from Ente Isla, that’ll probably open the door for us to do whatever we want.”

It sounded like a not-so-veiled threat but Emi seemed not to care in the slightest.

“Well, that’s fine, really. Seeing Libicocco get used to the job has made me realize that you and Alciel and Lucifer weren’t some exception when it came to demons mastering human life. So why not let your demons do what they like? Once we defeat heaven and help Alas Ramus’s friends, I’m officially retiring as Hero, and I don’t care what people say. Let everybody else in the world figure it out. At the very least, I’m sure leaders like the Azure Emperor would prefer things that way.”

“…Wow. Not exactly a thrilling end to it all.”

“But let me emphasize one point.”

“Huh?”

“Despite all that, I haven’t forgotten that you’re the root cause of all this. I’m still looking to make you repay that debt sometime.”

“…What’s the deal with that?”

Maou thought Emi was way too late in drudging that up again. But unlike before, at least she didn’t seem intent on lunging at him with a sword. In fact, she was even turning a bit toward Chiho as she said it.

“Yusa…?”

“…Never mind. But if we’ve decided on a direction to take, I’m heading home for now. First thing tomorrow, I’ll call Ms. Iwaki, have her switch my shifts around, and then I gotta prepare for the trip.”

Refusing to answer Chiho’s question, Emi half talked to herself as she headed for the Room 201 door.

“If I think it’ll take a while, I’ll figure out a way to stay in regular contact. Until then…”

She opened the door, sounding for all the world like she was taking a quick vacation to a neighboring prefecture.

“…Oh?”

Then she noticed a faint aroma in the air. It made her nose wrinkle.

“Oh, great, it’s raining.”

“Huh?”

Chiho looked up as Maou opened a window. A light drizzle had started to fall.

“You’re right. Did they predict any rain?”

Maou turned on his TV with the remote. He was just in time for the weather forecast on the late-night news, the meteorologist telling viewers to expect light rain from mid-evening until tomorrow afternoon.

“You wanna spend the night downstairs, Emilia?” Nord suggested.

Emi shook her head. “Alas Ramus fell asleep before I could give her a bath, so I want her to take a shower tomorrow morning. So…Devil King?”

“Hmm?”

“I’m gonna borrow your umbrella.”

Not waiting for a response, she grabbed the large black umbrella hanging on the wall by the door.

“You don’t use this much, do you?”

Unclasping the fastener revealed a pattern of dust. It had clearly not seen much time outside.

“Well…no, not really.”

“Let me take you home on the way, Chiho. This is big enough for the two of us.”

“Oh, all right. See you guys later.”

Chiho hurriedly stood up, quickly bowed, and followed Emi out the door. After seeing them leave, Maou gave Nord an uneasy look.

“…You’re okay with this?”

“It was Emilia’s choice to make. I’ll accept it.”

“No, I didn’t mean that…”

“What I think about it doesn’t matter. It’s not that I’ve forgiven Lucifer’s army for torching my village, but by this point, it’s a trivial issue.”

“Not that I’m one to talk, but…trivial?”

Nord turned to Maou, his face surprisingly serene. “My home in Sloane, my fields… They were precious to me. Irreplaceable. I put everything I had into keeping those fields healthy. I inherited a home packed with the memories of my own parents. I lived with my wife there… They’re valuable to me. But…”

Nord turned toward the empty space near Maou, where Emi had sat a moment ago.

“You’ll never find a father out there who doesn’t value his child’s happy future more than anything else. I think you understand that now, don’t you?”

“…Ohh.” Maou felt like he was being exposed to Nord’s full, fatherly majesty.

“As a king, perhaps you’ve faced bitter decisions between someone you cherish and your duty as a leader. But me, I’m just a farming man like any other. I’d gladly tell anyone that my daughter’s happiness is my own. If Emilia says she wants to live in Japan, I have no reason to stop her. I don’t want to get in the way of my own child, so I suppose I’d give up on returning to Sloane and find some work to do here, in Japan. If Laila’s with us, I’d be happy being our househusband, and Japan’s agricultural industry is practically dying for people. Maybe I could try starting a new farm, in some new place. With Laila by my side, anything’s possible.”

“Wow, Dad, whatever you do, you are always stuh-born, huh?”

The casual side comment from Acieth, along with the incredibly warm declaration of love from Nord, made Maou look a little sullen.

“I guess I asked a stupid question, didn’t I?”

“I guess so,” Nord said with a smile. “But what about you, Acieth? Do you want to stay with the Devil King, or downstairs?”

“Mmm, maybe I stay with you, Dad? Ever since Ashiya leave, food at Maou’s, it is the too much flavor, yes? Fewer the choices, too.”

“Eesh.”

“How dare you…”

It was the unvarnished truth, but having Acieth give it to them rankled Libicocco as much as it did Maou.

“Well, I suppose we’ll be on standby for a while again, but war is war. Let’s all make the most of it.”

Coming from Nord—a man who, after being chased out of his home, had been spending much of the past few years waiting, and enduring—the words had real weight. Maou gave him no special reply, even as this waiting game, coming as it did at the very climax of matters, slightly irritated him.

After Nord and Acieth had left, Maou and Libicocco found themselves joined by an uncomfortable silence instead.

“…So, wanna go to sleep?”

“I suppose so.”

There was not much else left to the day, no TV program they were dying to watch, so while it was still a tad early, all they could do was brush their teeth and turn out the lights.

“Maou owned an umbrella like this, huh?”

Chiho, shoulder to shoulder with Emi, looked up at the charcoal gray umbrella above her. It was wide enough in diameter to keep both her and Emi completely dry, the framework durable enough to withstand most sudden gales. Between that and the famous menswear brand engraved on the handle, it was clearly a cut above almost anything else Maou owned.

“Maybe he bought it for his managerial training or something, huh? …Yusa?”

“…Hmm, eh?”

“Yusa?”

It may have been her imagination, but Emi’s profile looked tense.

“Oh, what did you say, Chiho?”

“Huh? Oh, um, just that Maou sure didn’t skimp on his choice of umbrella…”

“Ah. Y-yes, you’re right. But it’s not that uncommon, is it?”

“Well, if it’s just light rain, he’ll usually just bike over as is…and if it’s not, he usually has this cheap clear-plastic umbrella instead, I think.”

“It was six thousand yen, too…”

“Huh?”

“Never mind. It’s nothing. I’m sure it’s just Alciel telling him that buying it is fine and all, but it’s too fancy for regular use or something. Ha-ha…ha-ha-ha…”

“Ohh, right. Not to dump on Maou, but that sounds about right with him. So good thing you spotted it, Yusa! It wasn’t visible at all… Did you know where it was, or…?”

“No, no, absolutely not, I just figured that there’s three of them living there, but in terms of who’s actually likely to leave the apartment, it’s just going to be the Devil King and Alciel and they probably swap it, so I did a little looking around and it just happened to be there so I borrowed it! That’s it!”

Emi paused to take a breath.

“Oh, really?” Chiho asked, overwhelmed by her momentum. That was the last she spoke of the umbrella.

As for Emi:

“…”

After dropping Chiho off at her house, she headed back toward Sasazuka Station, hefting up that high-society black umbrella and sighing.

“I could never tell Chiho in a million years that I gave it to him…”

To be frank, she had so little interest in what happened after that evening that she completely forgot about the umbrella all this time. It was sheer coincidence that she came to notice it, and it was Chiho’s fawning over how out of character it was for Maou that jogged her memory. Yes, it was her gift all along.

“…It wasn’t a gift. I just returned it.”

The rain was much heavier that day. When she was caught in the drizzle and drenched, Emi was presented with a pathetic little plastic affair, reportedly grabbed off a nearby mailbox it was hanging from. Being granted this bit of charity—once she knew who’d granted it—was so frustrating, so humiliating, that she broke it into tiny bits and threw them all in the garbage. She felt so guilty about it later—and it felt so pathetic that her mortal enemy was using something like that—that she bought this one as payback for him.

This one had been bought at Takashimada-ya, a department store in the central district of Shinjuku that was on the way between her job at Dokodemo and home. The wider it was, she figured, the more useful it’d be if he was carrying a bunch of shopping bags around. Too expensive, and he’d give her an earful and maybe not accept it at all, so she deliberately took the cheapest model in the brand. She was fussy about its being brand-name because, recalling the date Maou had with Chiho in Shinjuku and the clothes he’d picked for it, she thought it’d be useful when dressing up or as formal fashion.

“I must have lost my mind…”

What could she have been thinking? Especially when she had been so much keener on taking Maou’s life back then? She had been ready to kill him the moment he showed any opening to her. So why had she considered his feelings so much when choosing that umbrella?

“I better make sure he doesn’t tell anyone about this later.”

Maou was notoriously loose-lipped about odd things like these. There was no way she could let him tell Chiho that she had bought this. But then, once she’d reached Sasazuka Station and closed the umbrella, she realized:

“Actually, I’m not gonna see him for a while, am I?”

Given the situation, once she contacted Iwaki tomorrow, she may very well have to set off for Ente Isla right then. She wouldn’t have a chance to return this. Stopping by Villa Rosa Sasazuka in the morning was an option, but considering that she’d be in Ente Isla for at least a week, she already had a ton of Alas Ramus’s stuff to pack. It was in the midst of Golden Week, the string of holidays that dominated the first week of May in Japan, but tomorrow was a regular weekday. She didn’t want to carry all this on a packed commuter train tomorrow morning, and it wasn’t like Maou needed it back immediately. It could probably wait until after she returned.

“I’ll just text him a note, then,” she said to herself as she shook the water off the umbrella and folded it up inside the station.

“…”

Holding it underneath her arm, Emi waited for the next train home to arrive. On the elevated platform, she had a view of the general neighborhood around Villa Rosa Sasazuka. It made her smile a bit.

“‘I want you to give it up and find a new life for yourself,’ huh…?”

The next rain-soaked Keio train rolled into the station just then, drowning out the words. It was still wet, but Emi held the umbrella to her side, making sure it didn’t hit anyone on the crowded car.

“It’s so embarrassing… Jeez.”

The next morning, Emi called Iwaki the moment the store opened, and she apologized for the sudden shift change. Iwaki, following in Kisaki’s style, didn’t demand that she find someone to fill in for her, but considering the circumstances, Emi strongly suggested that Maou and Libicocco would likely step up. The new manager seemed relieved about that, which relieved Emi in turn as she hung up.

After breakfast, she brought Alas Ramus into her body—fending off her earnest requests for playtime—put on a winter fleece jacket, and strapped on a large backpack.

“Well. Can’t wait to see what kind of disaster this turns out to be.”

Whining to herself, she took a single feather out of her pocket and dropped it on the carpet beneath her.

The entire floor of Room 501 in Urban Heights Eifukucho turned into a Gate to Ente Isla. It may have been her imagination, but Emi thought she heard the thundering roar of some mythical lizard on the other side.

“Heroes aren’t supposed to fight kaiju. It’s totally the wrong genre.”

With a wry grin, she jumped in.