Volume 2 Chapter 9 – Parallel World’s Town

Parallel World’s Town

—Kingdom of Holy Light, Commerce City “Yahoo”

“This country’s naming sense is really terrible.”

“Is that so?”

The bustle of the crowd of people going to and fro was certainly appropriate for a lively commerce city.
The town didn’t have anything that could be called a specialty product, but it was located at the intersection of highways, allowing for products from all the regions to be gathered here.

There were people with turbans wrapped around their heads, warriors with strong builds, and even women dressed like dancers showing a lot of skin.
There was also a suspicious looking old woman on the side of the road telling fortunes and a merchant riding a giant lizard.

“I’m amazed they can ride something like that…”

“That’s called a sand lizard, and they’re fairly tame creatures.”

Aku spoke happily.
Normally, he was the one who was surprised, so he was happy to be able to inform the demon lord.
Even so, Aku was mostly ignorant of the town. He hadn’t left the village since his parents passed away, so that memory was one of long ago.

Looking at the main street, there were many street stalls—because the various roofs were colorful, it seemed almost as if there was a festival going on. There were plenty of poor areas in the backwaters of the Kingdom of Holy Light, but on the other hand, the prosperous areas were very prosperous.

(I guess that’s what you call the ‘wealth gap’?)

The demon lord vaguely thought about such things, but the disparity between rich and poor in this country was certainly extreme. It wasn’t just the different regions, but among individuals as well.
The descendants of the ones who fought the devil king along with the Cherub became nobles and enjoyed their extravagant lives above the commoners.

Thanks to the religion that worshipped the Cherub, this was a unified country, but there were numerous factions within. There were those that wanted to get rid of the system of nobility, as well as those who despaired at that society and finally fell, worshiping the devils.

All of this domestic discord was made possible because it was a region far from the demon territory.
In the regions where demons were dominant, people didn’t have the “luxury” for such things.

“We have money now, so do you want to buy something?”

“That’s the holy maiden’s money, isn’t it…”

“What kind of holy maiden would suddenly try to kill someone… and it seemed like she was enjoying the spanking too. She’s just wholly cheeky maiden.”

The demon lord approached a street stall and looked at its wares.
It seemed as if some kind of meat was being grilled, and there was the faint scent of pepper.
Suddenly, the demon lord’s stomach rumbled.
Until then, all they had eaten was the <<hardtack>> that was stored in the base. Aku happily ate it, but to the demon lord, it was nothing but torture.

“How much for this?”

“Three skewers for 5 coppers.”

“Aku, which ones are coppers?”

“It’s this one! Ah, amazing… there are even large copper coins in there. Oh, are these the silver coins that I’ve heard of!?”

While giving the surprised Aku a sidelong glance, the demon lord casually grabbed the small yet beautifully minted coins and handed them to the shopkeeper.
Even though it was someone else’s money, he didn’t appear to have the least bit of hesitation in squandering it away.

“Aku, it’s my treat—eat as much as you’d like.”

“Um, I’m saying this for the second time, but… that’s the holy maiden’s money, right…”

“This is the result of legitimate self defense. Actually, I think I can say that my treatment of her was overflowing with kindness.”

The words of the demon king were, in fact, not wrong. No matter the reason, she suddenly tried to kill him, so she wouldn’t be able to complain if he had killed her.
It was just, in this case—
The opponent was the holy maiden, which was too unusual in many ways.

“If this was an R-18 game, it’d end up with a title like <<The Captive Holy Maiden ~I don’t want to make children with you~>> and straight to the sex slave route or something like that? If you think of it this way, I’m moved to tears by my own kindness.”

“What’s an arr eighteen game?”

“Hey, you… that unfamiliar clothing, you must be a foreigner. Slavery is forbidden in this country, you know? You shouldn’t even talk about it jokingly.”

The shopkeeper was unable to let the demon lord’s words pass without saying anything.
While there was a large wealth gap in the Kingdom of Holy Light, slavery was absolutely not tolerated. If someone broke that ban, no matter how high a position they held, they would face immediate judgement.

“From what you’re saying, it sounds like slavery exists in other countries.”

“Well, in the north or the east… they’re uncivilized over there.”

(Uncivilized, huh… I think one of the higher ups of this country was plenty uncivilized too.”

Instead of voicing his internal thoughts, the demon lord ate his skewer.

■□■□

— Inn “Gugure”

“There sure are a lot of terrible names.”

“Do you think so…? I think it’s sort of cute.”

Though it had a queer name, it was known as being the best high-class inn in Yahoo.
Commoners would not usually be able to pass its threshold.
The demon lord headed to the counter and spoke to the innkeeper. Though this was his first time in a town, he was not the least bit timid.

—He certainly had guts.
At this point, you could say he had become completely defiant.

“Innkeeper, give us your best room.”

The innkeeper furrowed his brows for a bit after hearing the demon lord’s words, but after looking at him, changed his mind.
Though the demon lord’s clothing was unfamiliar, the innkeeper’s eyes had been trained by long years of customer service, so he could tell at a glance that the clothing was made of excellent quality cloth and well tailored.

“If it’s the best room, it will be one gold coin…”

“Aaah, you can’t! Mr. Demon Lord!”

“D, Demon Lord?”

While Aku was yelling about the excessive price, the innkeeper sent them a suspicious gaze at the mention of “demon lord”.

“Eh, er, my name is De Monlord. It’s rather confusing and troubling for me.”

“I, Is that so…”

The innkeeper made a doubtful expression, but didn’t question them further. His appearance was that of a foreigner, and many countries had various naming customs.
With a sidelong glance at the innkeeper, the demon lord and Aku began to confer using <<whisper>>.

<<I told you not to call me demon lord in front of other people! Call me “big brother.”>>

<<But… That’s, I think that’s a little unnatural…>>

<<Then how about elder brother, buddy, big bro, there are lots of things.>>

<<H,How about Papa…?>>

<<Don’t mess around! I’m a spunky bachelor!>>

By using an obsolete word like “spunky”, this man has already lost the right to be called something like ‘big brother.’

“A, At any rate… you said one gold coin, so this should be good.”

The demon lord pulled a golden coin out of a bag and handed it to the innkeeper.
Aku was flailing around while his mouth was covered, but the innkeeper received the gold coin with a pleased expression and led them to the room.

■□■□

“… This is a pretty good view.”

The demon lord looked arrogantly out over the scenery from the window of the high class room.
Inside, he was surprised by the extravagant interior, but in front of Aku, he acted in a haughty manner.

“A, Amazing… it’s like an aristocrat’s manor!”

“Hmph… sooner or later, I’ll build a castle worthy of myself.”

The demon lord boasted so, but if such a thing was actually built… what kind of influence would it have on this world? This man still hadn’t thought that far.
No, this man probably hadn’t even thought about being responsible for such a vague concept as “the world.”

And who would actually think about their conduct in relation to the entire world in their everyday life anyway? Each person would work for himself, eat for himself, sleep for himself. In the same manner, this man would try to regain all of his admin powers.

A result may be that much blood would be shed, or it could be that many could be saved.
At this point, no one would be able to tell what the future would bring—

“Anyway, calling me Mr. Demon Lord is bad in many ways. Isn’t there some other way you can call me?”

“I, Is Mr. Kunai… okay?”

“Hmmm… that doesn’t feel quite right.”

He was a difficult man to please.
When going out to eat or going out on a date with this type of man, it would always be difficult to settle on a location.

“Isn’t big brother okay after all?”

“No way.”

The demon lord gave a final struggle, but was mercilessly rejected by Aku.
It seems like Aku has matured since they first met. At this rate, he should grow up to be a good “brake” for the demon lord who tended to behave recklessly.

“At any rate, that meat we had earlier was really delicious.”

“Hm…? Yeah, I guess so.”

The demon lord hesitates a bit at Aku’s innocent words.
From the demon lord’s perspective, that meat was definitely not something that he could easily call delicious. The blood hadn’t been removed properly, and it was tough and left a gamey taste.

That was probably why it had been flavored so strongly with pepper.
That was one of the reasons the demon lord had especially come to a top class inn. He at least wanted to have a decent meal for dinner.

“Ah, but I really like the <<hardtack>> too. It’s faintly sweet and makes me so happy.”

“Happy, huh…”

The demon lord’s expression clouded for a moment as he watched Aku’s happy expression.
The hardtack was emergency rations to use during disasters.
It was certainly the case that in the GAME settings, the Great Empire had even put effort into the flavor of the emergency rations, but the demon lord just couldn’t think of it as a meal.

“Then, to find another ‘happiness,’ let’s have a fancy dinner today.”

Hearing that, Aku happily walked toward the demon lord and held his hand.
For a moment, the demon lord looked at Aku’s pitiful right leg, but he didn’t say anything and lifted Aku up on his shoulders.

“Before that, let’s do something about your clothes. I don’t know how it is in this world, but how you dress at a dinner is important.”

“Clothes??”

At this point, the demon lord had completely forgotten that their money actually belonged to the holy maiden. He was completely treating it as his own money.
There wasn’t a hint of guilt in his eyes.
If Own Goal saw such a thing, he’d probably yell, “That guy is the real bandit!”

And thus, the demon lord and Aku’s shopping trip began—

□　□　■　■　□　■　■　□　□

One part of the data was made available.

“Magic”
Manipulating the basic elements of this world and commanding them.
The four basic fundamental elements — “earth”, “water”, “fire”, “wind”
The less understood — “light” and “dark” made for 6 total.

Among these exist higher level elements, and only those who are able to surpass this wall are able to set foot into that territory.
Those talented are able to combine elements and manipulate composite elements.
They are labeled from 1st Level Magic to 10th Level Magic, but even the devil king with his exceptional magical power could only use up to 6th Level Magic.

Incidentally, the holy maiden, Luna, was able to make use of — “gold”
The superior rank of the “light element” is the “holy element,” and the “gold” that she uses is independent of “light” and can be called a unique element.
The reason Own Goal took a blow from this and didn’t die was because he had a special skill.