Volume 2 Chapter 7 – Creeping Shadow

Creeping Shadow

— Kingdom of Holy Light: on the road to the Holy Capital

(This is a bath…!)

Aku had been continuously surprised after entering the base.
The first thing he noticed was the fundamental difference in its sturdiness compared to the homes in his village. For example, if a bear or a boar attacked, wouldn’t it be completely unharmed?
He felt that this place wouldn’t be broken into even if the opponent was a brutal monster.

The inside of the base was even equipped with beds and a kitchen, and he finally felt like he had become a real human.

In his old home, the best he could have managed was to place a shabby cloth on top of some straw and to sleep on that.
Compared to that, this place was practically heaven.

(And the high point of this, is this bath—!)

According to Mr. Demon Lord, this is called a “drum can bath.”
Surprisingly, it contained “hot water” inside! While in the bath thinking of the unbelievable luxury, his body was still unable to stop trembling.

(But, Mr. Demon Lord was apologizing for some reason…)

To be exact, it was, “Sorry, this base is the best I can do right now,” or so he thought. Honestly, he didn’t really understand what Mr. Demon Lord meant.
It was just that if this was “the best,” then it was only natural; he couldn’t even imagine anything more luxurious than this.

(I wonder where Mr. Demon Lord came from? I thought maybe he came from Hell, but…)

He was also a little interested in the “Great Empire” that he talked about when he was drunk.
Maybe that was Mr. Demon Lord’s home town.
While thinking about such things, he heard Mr. Demon Lord’s voice from the other side of the door.

“Sorry it’s cramped. But just you wait — eventually, I’ll install a ‘hot spring inn’ for you.”

After saying that, Mr. Demon Lord left along with the sound of his footsteps.
Mr. Demon Lord’s words were very difficult… maybe if Aku were smarter, he would be able to understand, but that was probably asking for too much.

(At any rate, I wonder what a hots pringinn is?)

Aku was enjoying the drum can bath, while thinking of this basic question —
What a peaceful sight it was.

On the other hand –

The demon lord lay on the bed and looked up at the night sky through the window.

(So this world has a moon too…)

If he stayed like this for a while, he would probably sober up.
It had been some time since he had come to this world, and it didn’t look like he could just naturally go back to his original world.

(I wonder if I will really be able to go back if I regain all the admin privileges…?)

At the very least, admin privileges were things related to the GAME, so there was no such command as “return to original world.”
If he was really summoned by that evil-god like statue, wouldn’t the only possibility be to find something like that and ask it to return him back?

(The biggest problem is that even if I’m able to go back, will it be to the same time?)

There’s no problem if he can return to that same time and place he left.
But, if both the time he spent here and the time in his original world flowed at the same rate, then that would be fatal.

If he went back in, say, a month from now, he’d be treated as a missing person, and that would be a big mess. There’s no way he’d get by with saying, “I went to another world, teehee.”
He’d be forcefully incarcerated in a hospital with iron bars on the windows.

(For now, I guess I’ll try to regain all my admin privileges?)

It still wasn’t clear what was required to regain them.
If he simply needed to earn SP, earn money, or gather items.
At any rate, there was nothing he could do by just staring blankly here. Instead, it would be more constructive to treat this as a vacation and enjoy it.

(Even if I do go back, it’s just work, day after day…)

“Mr. Demon Lord! This drum can bath is wonderful!”

At that exclamation, Kunai couldn’t help but burst into laughter.
It’s not like this is wartime, so he was troubled at the reaction of a bath like that being wonderful.
He didn’t know what kind of fate caused them to be traveling together, but… as he regained his admin privileges, it wouldn’t be bad to surprise the boy with various things.
It seemed like Aku hadn’t lived a very happy life until now.

(A hot spring inn… I guess I might as well restore the “Nightless Castle.”)

Nightless Castle — the final area of the GAME in which “Kunai Hakuto” and all of his subordinates were located.
It was a place where only a select few from even the extremely wealthy in the world would be invited to enjoy in the GAME in realtime.

An impregnable fortress with a final line of defense guarded by not only his close aides, but also 2000 soldiers.
That creation was the pinnacle of the Great Empire’s technology. If he showed it to Aku — what kind of reaction would he have?

It was a bloodstained place that had continually repelled multitudes of players for over ten years, but if he had the Nightless Castle now, he would be able to guarantee perfect security.
After all, that place had only fallen once in the past.
And if his other subordinates were able to come to this world, his area of influence would be vastly increased.

“Mr. Demon Lord, I washed myself with the cleanser today too.”

“Mmm… that’s definitely a nice fragrance.”

“Is that true? Heheh…”

Aku happily laughed and then crawled into the bed.
Perhaps because of the boy’s blonde hair, Kunai felt as if he had been hugged by a fluffy kitten.

“You, are you planning to sleep with me?”

“Is that not allowed?”

“You seem to be viewing me as a father-figure type of old man, but I have to tell you something very important — understand, the real me is like a ‘big brother’ of a family. I’ll say this again; I’m not an old man yet.”

“Mr. Demon Lord, I don’t understand what you’re saying.”

In this way, the demon lord was making a futile struggle as the night wore on.

■□■□

Several Days Later — Kingdom of Holy Light — In the Mountains

Around 40 bandits were moving around the mountains.
They had obtained information that said that the carriage of the holy maiden would be passing by the base of the mountain. There was no way they could let such a perfect chance slip by, so they were preparing for an attack.

In this area, this group was called Mole, and they were completely loathed.

They weren’t selective about their prey.
No matter how weak or strong their opponents were, they would attack them all the same.
Because of that, they would, at times, suffer from severe counter attacks, but the total count was increasing rather than decreasing. It showed that the country was in that much disorder.

The chief of that reckless group was leisurely sitting on a tree stump gazing down at the base of the mountain.
He had started out as a bandit in his teens, and now he was the chief of a band that was well known in the area. He was already 51, but his tough body was no different from how it was during his prime.
As he leisurely tilted his alcohol bottle, he saw the figures of people at the foot of the mountain.

—It wasn’t their expected prey.

He was able to tell immediately, but something else came to mind.
In such a far out wasteland of a place and not even riding in a carriage, he saw two people walking.

—Maybe it’s a trap.

A small number would be sent out, and after the bandits had taken the bait, the main force would come from behind —
But before they could realize it, they would be surrounded and be forced to run away. That occasionally happened.
He was finally able to understand the holy maiden’s reason for coming here—the holy maiden planned to draw them out and eliminate them.

“… Heh, we’re being underestimated.”

“Chief, what do you want to do with those two?”

“Kill them. We’ll withdraw before the main force comes.”

Perhaps due to his long experience in the profession, the chief’s decision was swift.
He had no leisure to ponder on decisions; if you didn’t act, you would die. There were many who were indecisive at important times and died because of it.
His henchmen started moving soundlessly and nocked arrows to their bows.
Then they simultaneously released them — it was a movement that showed absolutely no hesitation to kill.

■□■□

(How lame…)

The demon lord sighed while watching the approaching arrows.
The bandits hadn’t been able to erase their presences, and the arrows used were completely normal ones.

—They didn’t even have any skills on them.

If this was in the GAME, then there would be attributed skills such as << Early Summer Rain Strike>> that would cause dozens of instant deaths caused by the arrows flying over. From the demon lord’s perspective, these arrows appeared as if they had just randomly shot at passersby and were completely unsightly.

(Should I just take them head on—?)

The demon lord made up his mind and decided to let the arrows strike him.
He probably wanted to know how much damage he would take. After running into that devil, there have been no other enemies, so he hadn’t had any further opportunities to experiment.
This was the perfect chance.

Just in case, the demon lord had turned off the auto-intercept and auto-counter functions.
He wasn’t sure what were the requirements for those to activate, so he wasn’t able to trust them.

If he was unprepared, he might accidentally cause a fatal counterattack in reaction to a harmless action. There may be no issue if his opponent was a monster, but if it was directed toward a human, it would definitely cause problems.

“Aku, move back.”

“… Huh?”

To the demon lord’s eyes, the arrows flying towards them looked almost as if they had stopped.
But that was to be expected —in the GAME, he evaded the bullets from machine guns and was able to avoid the shot from shotguns.
The flying arrows had finally almost reached the demon lord when a soft electronic sound was heard, and they lost their power, falling to the ground.

“I see, less than level 30… you’re just trash.”

Because of the system in the GAME, only players that were over level 30 were able to damage the demon lord, the last boss. Players who were lower than that didn’t even have the qualifications to confront him.

Even players who were max level would hardly be able to confront the demon lord directly — befitting of the last boss of an RPG, he would barely take damage unless various items were used, and his stamina was ridiculous.

“Trying to have someone killed, but you’re just sitting there and spectating —?”

At the demon lord’s words, the bandits finally showed themselves.
Their faces all showed expressions of shock and confusion.

“You, what did you do… are you a mage!?”

“Don’t get ahead of yourself. Once a mage runs out of vitality, they’re nothing but a paper tiger.”¹

“I see, a paper tiger, huh… that’s good to know.”

Though they were in a critical situation, the demon lord’s expression relaxed.
He had heard the word “magic” from Aku, but since Aku didn’t know the form of it, his comprehension had not progressed.

“If you have a mage with you, by all means, I’d like him to take a shot.”

The bandits showed a wave of uneasiness at those words.
It wasn’t at the level of just making fun of them — somehow, it was as if he were conducting miscellaneous experiments on some insects.
Finally, unable to bear it, the chief showed up with his beard swaying.

“Hey, old man, you sure can talk.”

“Who’s an old man —!”

The demon lord reflexively yells.
But, no matter how he tried to gloss over it, his outer appearance was definitely not that of a young man. The chief was taken aback and sank into silence; the mountain was suffused with an awkward atmosphere.

“I’m the chief of Mole, Oh NGohl. Who’re you?”

“Own Goal?” ²

It’s Oh NGohl! Don’t say it in a weird way!”

“… And, what does Mr. Scores-Against-His-Own-Team want from me?”

“Who’s Mr. Scores-Against-His-Own-Team! Is there something wrong with your ears!”

It was an ugly fight between two old men.
At the same time as the chief was being angry, the bandits came down from the mountain one after the other and surrounded the two.

“M, Mr. Demon Lord! It’s dangerous… Let’s run away!”

Aku, who had acquired glossy skin from taking drum can baths for the past few days, yelled.
Truly, he was of a budding age – a being who completely stood out from the dirty, old men surrounding him.

“Wha… demon lord…? Old man, you’re having that brat call you by such an exaggerated title?”

One of the bandits laughed uproariously, and some men around him also clapped their hands and roared with laughter.
While an angry mark rose on the demon lord’s temple, it was certainly natural for the bandits to laugh.
To others it looked like he was “playing demon lord, at such an age.” Their one error was that the man was truly a “demon lord.”

“Well then, everyone… Let’s play a game—”

With those words, the demon lord gave the first man that laughed a “flick” on the forehead.
The man was blown away as if he was hit by a great wind, bounced a few times, and tumbled in an unsightly manner.
When he stopped, the man’s body spasmed a few times, and then he completely passed out.

“Hey, it’s your turn now— Oh? You can’t get up? That’s too bad, I guess it’s my win by default.”

The demon lord showed an arrogant smile and looked around at the bandits.
They all fell deathly silent but finally recovered and started making an uproar. Looking on, the demon lord started to laugh.

“As expected of a group lead by someone named ‘Own Goal.’ I guess the direction you flew off in was your own team’s goal?”

“Don’t mess with me! Bastard, what on earth did you dooooo!”

“This bastard must have some kind of magic hidden in his finger!”

“What did you say about magic?”

The bandits looked over at the direction of that voice after they heard those words.
It was only a brief moment after they gazed over when screams and shouts echoed around the mountains.
A golden light poured forth from the owner of that voice and the bandits bodies were torn apart.

□　□　■　■　□　■　■　□　□

One part of the data was made available.

“Attribute Skill”
Can be invoked after the first strike.
FIRST SKILL――SECOND SKILL――THIRD SKILL – connected strikes that make a hellish combination. With Kunai’s attack power, if he is able to connect all the way to the THIRD SKILL, even a brutal devil would run away crying.

Though they are powerful in the GAME, they consume a considerable number of weapons, so they are also a two-edged sword.
If the weapon used was a gun, the chamber would be completely emptied.
In a heated battlefield, it isn’t unusual to be killed while reloading.
Kunai’s weapon was an NPC specific item, and it’s quantity was infinite.

Author Note:

It’s the second day posting
I was grateful to be ranked 51st.
I’m thankful for your warm support.

1. a person, group, nation, or thing that has the appearance of strength or power but is actually weak or ineffectual
2. オウンゴール I believe this phrase is used in sports like soccer when someone accidentally scores in their own goal and the other team gets a point.