Hataraku Maou-sama! - Volume 11 - Chapter Pr

PROLOGUE 
On the night that Maou, Suzuno, and Acieth set off through the Gates of Hell in Ueno-Onshi Park for Ente Isla, Chiho gingerly looked up at the figure standing to the side, too preoccupied to worry much about Urushihara now that the screaming siren of the ambulance that took him away was no longer audible. 
That figure was Miki Shiba, landlord of Villa Rosa Sasazuka and a woman that Maou and Ashiya seemed to morbidly fear, and certainly, seeing her in person like this made Chiho realize the sheer impressive force that her body projected. Not the literal, special kind of overwhelming power that angels and demons seemed to bandy around her lately, though. To Chiho, she was just a middle-aged woman who weighed a fair bit and preferred to advertise it with excessively loud clothing. 
If there was anything odd about this meeting, it was that she and Shiba were having their first encounter alone in the apartment. Just a moment ago, Chiho was having the secrets of the world, so to speak, unveiled to her by Amane Ohguro, Shiba’s niece. Amane seemed to know about Maou’s true nature, as well as that of the demons from Ente Isla, and the Sephirah, and the life-giving trees that powered entire worlds. Maou and Suzuno had just gone off to rescue Ashiya, Emi, and Alas Ramus, and Chiho felt obligated to gather more intel while they were gone. Miki interrupted that—and then Urushihara, trying to eavesdrop on them, fell unconscious and ended the interrogation for good. 
The landlord’s sudden appearance clearly made Amane panic, and Urushihara was nonresponsive in Devil’s Castle. The landlord wound up making Amane summon an ambulance, and before very long, both Amane and Urushihara were gone. So, at around two in the morning, Chiho found herself alone with this woman. 
“Now, about Amane—” 
“Y-yes?!” Chiho asked, frazzled. The woman didn’t bother turning to her. 
“Amane’s always taken kind of an easygoing approach to things, I know. She wasn’t rude to you at all, was she?” 
“Um… Rude how, do you mean…?” 
“I mean, did she give you any incorrect information, as the offspring of a Sephirah?” 
“Oh…” This threw Chiho. She recalled Amane’s own words: “Miki Shiba’s another Sephirah child.” 
“I, umm…” the girl stammered. 
Which meant that, if anything, the woman in front of her lay at the very core of the truth Chiho wanted to learn, even beyond Amane. She opened her mouth, attempting to continue where she had left off a moment ago, but was stopped. 
“Chiho Sasaki.” 
The name stopped Chiho cold. Not because Shiba couldn’t have known the name, this being their first encounter; no, it was something else. Chiho swallowed, her very soul submitting. 
The moment her name was invoked, every fiber of Chiho’s consciousness fell to its knees before this insurmountable force. It brought her back to her younger years, when her mother yelled at her for committing some forbidden act. Her heart commanded it to her—the figure in front of her must not be defied. 
“Allow me to make one thing clear: You knowing the truth will not allow you to change a single aspect of it. You realize that, and yet you still want to know everything?” 
“…I…” 
“You were born on this world, without any special sort of ability, and that is exactly what makes you special. It seems you are unaware of the meaning behind the slight amount of holy force housed within your body. Knowing everything may very well cause your heart to break, leaving you unable to bear your powerlessness any longer. Yet you still wish to know?” 
She didn’t understand the question. Of course she didn’t. If she did even try to figure out the meaning of what Miki had just said, then of course she wouldn’t comprehend the question either. “Even…” 
“Yes?” 
“Even if knowing makes me curse my powerlessness, or gets me scared and I regret it later…” 
She willed her soul to get up off its knees. There was no pulling back. She didn’t have the force, the knowledge, even the life required to fight in unison with them—she knew how little she was capable of. But doing what little she could was the hill she had to die on. If what she learned made her flee the scene and simply become a passive observer, she’d no longer be able to stand next to them all. 
“I don’t want to run away from knowing. If I do, I feel like it’ll all be over.” 
“…” 

“Even if that new knowledge doesn’t enable me to do anything myself…the me who understands that situation will be born. So I…” 
Her wispy body fought back the stillness of the night, and the overwhelming pressure placed upon her soul. 
“I believe that, if I know everything, someone with the power to care for me can use that. As a tool. To fight and change all of this!” 
At that moment, Chiho could feel the force attempting to bind down her heart loosen a little. Shiba looked down at her admiringly. “…My,” she said, clutching at the gold chain on her purse. 
“I’m sorry if this is brazen of me. I know I’m powerless, and I’m not saying this out of some noble creed or what have you. It’s just…” Chiho looked up toward Villa Rosa. “I want to stay friends with the people I love. That’s the only reason why I’m here.” 
“There are few, indeed, who can fight for the sake of such motivations. I think I’m starting to see why She put her eyes upon you.” 
“…Oh?” 
The force on Chiho’s heart subsided as Shiba extended a hand toward her. 
“I’d like you to stay at my home tonight. I could hardly ask you to venture home by yourself this late, and it’d be rude of us to enter a tenant’s apartment without permission.” 
“A-all right…” 
She had a point. They couldn’t just invite themselves into Maou’s Room 201, and Amane, currently house-sitting for Room 202, was in the ambulance. 
Chiho meekly agreed to the offer and followed her into the Western-style house next to Villa Rosa. It boasted a large yard area and a house about three times that of Chiho’s own—by inner-city standards, it was a stately manor. Going through an entryway that would’ve looked at home in a prime-time soap opera, she made her way to an elegant, refined-looking parlor. 
“I know it’s late,” Shiba said as she motioned for her to sit on a sofa decorated with embroidered silk, “but I have a question or two for you as well, if that’s all right with you?” 
She provided some fresh, steaming tea for the nervous teenager. One mouthful of the soft, sweet, fragrant drink ever-so-slightly took the load off the young woman’s shoulders. 
“Now, Amane might have told you already, but on this world of Earth, there used to be something known as the ‘Tree of Life.’ This tree bore a jewel—a Sephirah—that forms the structure of a world; it was a keystone in creating human life.” 
“O-okay…” 
Chiho suddenly realized that she’d left her pen and notebook in Suzuno’s room. 
“Oh, you can write this down if you like,” Shiba said, providing paper, a feather pen, and a jar of ink from nowhere in particular. 
“Th-thank you.” 
Chiho began to write, struggling with these wholly unfamiliar instruments, but before she could even put a complete thought down, Shiba unleashed a bombshell. 
“As a rule, all of the Sephirah are required to stay within the world they were born in.” 
Once she understood what this meant, Chiho instinctively tried to hide her right hand. It didn’t escape Shiba’s notice. Her eyes turned toward the Yesod fragment embedded in Chiho’s ring. 
“Lately, though, the Earth has been visited by Sephirah that, well, don’t belong to it. I cannot feel them right now, but I very much doubt they have returned where they came from, now have they?” 
That was the question. Which Sephirah was Earth’s? 
“The Sephirah jewels hold the information needed to build worlds. Without them, the people who call that world home will slowly die out. They may survive for a short period, but the Sephirah still needs to go back to its world. As soon as possible.” 
As far as Chiho knew, this encompassed three people. One: Erone, a boy being dragged around by a demon. Two: Acieth Alla, the girl being dragged around by Maou. And three: Alas Ramus. The “child” of Emi and Maou, and a child that held an irreplaceable position in Chiho’s life.