Hataraku Maou-sama! - Volume 21 - Chapter 2

THE DEVIL KING’S ARMY MOVES THE MOON

That day, the chief astronomer at Sankt Ignoreido, headquarters of the Church, submitted a very strange report.

The chief astronomer’s job was to observe the movements of heavenly bodies, craft weather forecasts and calendars, and divine good and bad fortunes. His words and predictions would occasionally carry more sway than even input from the Six Archbishops of the Church. What he reported to Archbishop Cervantes Reberiz and the assorted bishops and cardinals of the headquarters was so unusual that, at first, it made everyone doubt their ears. But perhaps the chief astronomer had anticipated this disbelief. And that was why he concluded his report with the following statement:

“There has been no error made in this observation. All observational equipment is in full working order, and all personnel involved with this observation are of sound mind.”

“Ur, urgghh…”

When Urushihara all but fell out of his capsule, everyone staring at the “root” of the Yesod Sephirah suddenly shivered and turned toward him.

“Ahh… I think the reason I get carsick so easily is because I’ve got an extreme case of claustrophobia.”

“After holing up inside that closet for half your time there? C’mon… And don’t scare us like that.”

“Look, there’s three aspects to claustrophobia, okay? Fear of dark places, fear of tight places, and fear of being constrained. I’m the last one—I feel sick if I’m in something I can’t get out of on my own volition. I think.”

As he made this rather sensible-sounding statement, Urushihara flapped his arms out, stretching all the joints in his body.

“Did… Did you know this was here?”

He winced at Emi. “I told you a million times, dude. I forgot about this entire setup. All I remembered was that my dad hid this relic, or something, around here.”

As everyone watched, Urushihara slowly gazed up at the Yesod root and the small bud growing from it.

“Or maybe I was right all along. He never told me how to claim this relic. Like, you see it in TV dramas and stuff a lot, right? Without a will, you can’t inherit what’s owed to you.”

“Lucifer, this is serious…”

“Stop acting like I’m always joking around, dude. I am serious. Because I never got a will—because no one ever told me about this—I never knew how important this place and its relic were to my life. That’s what it is.”

Urushihara had no time for Emi right now.

“The ancient Devil Overlord Satan was Satanael Noie, the angel who split from the heavens. He befriended the demons in their realm in order to resist Ignora and her continued research into immortality. But you can see how it’s working in here. No one person could lead the demon realms until Maou made Satanas Arc his home base. In other words, Satanael lost.”

Gabriel and Laila hadn’t spelled it out for him, but he had put everything he knew together, and that was the conclusion he made.

“All the broken robots around here were troops that invaded from heaven. So are the guys we and the Malebranche called the ‘Silverarms’ ages ago. Those things that caused us so much trouble after we merged with the Malebranche were probably the pawns of Satanael.”

“Those, huh? That means the Devil Overlord must’ve caused all kinds of chaos in the demon realms. But the way Gabriel put it, Satanael didn’t really have the time or resources for that. And why did the angels have to wage war against each other anyway? Up on Ente Isla’s moon, they didn’t have to worry about that killer disease any longer, did they?”

“…You’re surprisingly slow sometimes, Maou. Doesn’t Camio always chide you about not paying attention to people’s feelings?”

“Wh-where did that come from?”

“Don’t you get how much fear Caiel and Sikeena put into Ignora and everyone else? Gabriel, trained for battle and all, couldn’t take them. Neither could Satanael or Sariel, even in a one-on-one match. I guess you forgot this, but without Alas Ramus’s and Acieth’s power, even you and Emilia couldn’t have beaten Gabriel or Sariel—and the Sephirah children from the angels’ home planet beat the crap out of them. You know, Maou…”

Urushihara pointed at Amane, frowning as she looked at the Yesod root.

“…If Alas Ramus and Acieth weren’t around, could you even beat Amane? Or the landlord?”

“No way,” Maou immediately replied.

“You know, as a fetching young lady, I don’t really like being sized up like that. I wouldn’t lose, no, but…”

Not sure how Amane wanted to be treated, Urushihara soldiered on.

“Satanael thought that if they kept up with their immortality research, it would inspire the anger of the Ente Isla Sephirah. So he stole the root. But the angels freaked out. If the tree wasn’t operating right, they thought, who knew what was gonna happen? So they opposed Satanael by accusing him of messing up the Sephirah. If anything else happened, after all, there’d be no way for them to escape. Maybe it’s unethical, or whatever—but unless you’ve got an advanced society and order and stuff, that’s meaningless. Instead, they prioritized what was endangering their lives. They all nearly died once, you know.”

“Man, what the hell? That’s not very brave of them. It’s real ugly.”

“Could you say that to Chiho Sasaki?”

“Huh?”

Maou knew the angels only as they existed now. Urushihara rejected his observation out of hand.

“Could you say to Chiho Sasaki, like, ‘There are these guys who keep wanting to destroy Sasazuka, and you and your family with it, but you’re just gonna have to accept that, okay?’”

Maou winced. Emi gasped a little as well. There was no telling whether Urushihara meant what he’d said, but there was no way Maou or Emi would tell that to Chiho at this point. They couldn’t, they both realized at once.

“No, you’d try to do something about it, wouldn’t you? Not that I’m one to talk, but…”

Again, Maou and Emi realized that they had once put Chiho in that situation—a girl who knew far less than she did now, and who was nowhere near as strong in heart and body at the time. Back then, they had Urushihara under Maou’s control…but could they have really said that Chiho was safe, just because they took care of Olba the traitor? No, they couldn’t…and she wasn’t, hence why Sariel came along soon after. And until he did, Maou and Emi pretty much left Chiho in the lurch—not revealing anything, not doing anything.

“Most human beings, you know… They’d be terrified. Chiho Sasaki was all alone, and maybe it was hard for her, but it didn’t affect her surroundings. But once you get more people involved, that’s when consensus sets in. People start agreeing that they don’t wanna see that horror again, and that shuts their minds away from exploring other avenues. And if you think it’s someone else’s problem, you can say whatever you want about it ’cause it’s a faraway issue to you. Ignora and Satanael were afraid of Caiel and Sikeena’s return, for opposite reasons, so they fought things out in a hurry. The demons fought with Satanael after gaining his powers and those of the angels on his side, but in the end, they lost. And when their defeat was set in stone, the ‘will’ was lost, so to speak. This.”

Urushihara glanced at the capsules surrounding them. Kinanna was finally crawling out of his capsule, much as Urushihara had. He closed his eyes on all fours, and whether asleep or awake, he lay still thereafter.

“Emilia… Why do you think the relics of the Devil Overlord Satan were bequeathed to me?”

“Huh?”

“Why did they keep them at all? I can’t carry a spear that big around, and it’s not like the Nothung is that great a sword, even. Even if I bothered reading the Sorcery of the False Gold, it’s not like it would help me in the demon realms. And the thing in Kinanna’s neck… What is that anyway?”

“…Well… I don’t really know what you demons think of as the treasure of your realms, exactly, but… Wait, why are you asking me?”

“Because you’re the most likely out of anyone here to know.” Urushihara pointed at Alas Ramus. “Like, if Maou says right now that he’ll take in Alas Ramus and raise her himself, what would you do?”

“Huhh? He’d never do that.”

“You’re that sure, huh?”

Maou winced at the knee-jerk skepticism, but the thought of paying for her education took the edge off his retort.

“What if he had lots of money and Alas Ramus said she wanted to live with him alone?”

“That’d never happen in a million years.”

“It’s a hypothetical, okay? Stop dismissing it.”

“Even as a theoretical construct, I hate it. There’s no possible way the Devil King could be a single dad for Alas Ramus. He can’t merge with her, he can’t take care of a little kid…and, ugh, when I heard he didn’t even give her a futon to sleep on when she was at his apartment…”

“Well, Ignora probably thought the exact same thing. So, Maou, disregarding what Emilia thinks, if you were living with Alas Ramus and some unfortunate disaster happened to you, what then?”

Maou looked at Urushihara, Alas Ramus, and then Emi before turning around. He observed the large terrarium holding the Yesod root as he spoke.

“If I was living alone with Alas Ramus and something happened to me… Well, isn’t it obvious?”

An impulse drove him to put a hand on Emi’s shoulder. She didn’t brush it away.

“I’d have her go to her mom. What else?”

“So there you have it.”

It wasn’t likely meant as a signal. But Maou, Emi, and even Urushihara couldn’t help but think that those words were meant to trigger something.

“The sword, the spear, the sorcery, and the gem… They were nothing but a last will and testament, to guide us to the root underneath. Satanael gave them to four demons he trusted in case he lost them—these four ‘keys.’ He used them to guide me here and get me back to where my mother was. But before I could accept his last wishes, I was taken away from Satanas Arc. The demons that took Satanael’s relic keys couldn’t search for me, and with the exception of Kinanna, they all died. And your dad was among them, Camio.”

“Cheep… My ancestor…”

The shaking gradually grew stronger.

“…But what’s with this rumbling? Don’t tell me this whole thing’s gonna lift up like Satanas Arc and turn into a spaceship.”

“It’s nothing as stupid as that. I have a hunch it’ll stop real soon.”

The voice was the same, but this time it was Copyhara responding instead of Urushihara.

“The root’s started to move. So the thing the Devil Overlord took away long ago can be reunited.”

“Reunited…? Wait.”

Maou looked at Gabriel. He needed to be sure. The “split up” thing that he’d mentioned when discussing the past with him in Nerima could be only one thing—the moon of Ente Isla.

“I guess you can’t blame a kid for the sins of his parents, right? But it’s too late, dude. How laissez-faire were you with my upbringing anyway?”

The moons, split apart at the end of a “family argument” between God and the Overlord, were now approaching each other once more.

“The whole moon…?”

Amane looked up. “…Hey, Maou? I think you better hurry up and contact Kamazuki or Emeralda soon. They’re over in the Central Continent, or whatever you called it, right?”

“Oh, yeah, you’re right. If I don’t tell them when something happens, they can get scary with me.”

Maou hurriedly took out his phone and began tapping out a text.

“But, you know, this really opens up some prospects for us…but at the same time, we got a whole lot more to do, all of a sudden. Um, what should we start with once I contact them? Actually, Ashiya’s over in Efzahan now—maybe I should contact him and inform the other summit members. After that…”

“Um, hold on a second, Devil King.”

Just as Maou was restlessly considering his future plans, Emi suddenly stopped him cold.

“So we really have set up the whole path to finishing this, right? Then isn’t there something we ought to do now, while we can?”

Her stern voice made Maou lower the hand holding his phone.

“The things Lucifer made me realize… I think we need to address them, even if we have to start now. I mean…”

Emi frowned.

“At the end of this battle, at least one of us might wind up dead…and then we’ll lose that chance forever.”

Maou, realizing what Emi was getting at, turned toward Urushihara.

“You’re right. Which means we’ll have to work out plans with you, Urushihara, and Ashiya and Suzuno, too.”

Urushihara, a bit confused by having his name called out, looked back at him.

“Huh? What’re you talking about?”

“You just said it, man.”

“What?”

“But first we need to quiet down the turmoil across the demon realms. I’m gonna return to Devil’s Castle and see how things are over there and in heaven. Given the scale of what we just did, heaven might decide to storm us as soon as they can. We can decide what to do after we gauge the situation. All right?”

“That sounds good to me,” Emi agreed.

Maou put the phone back in his pocket.

“Urushihara, Camio, back to the castle.”

The resolve in his voice was unmistakable.

“Before the final battle, Emi, Urushihara, and I need to go and make some amends. We gotta let Ashiya and Suzuno know right now.”

“‘There has been no error made in this observation. All observational equipment is in full working order, and all personnel involved with this observation are of sound mind’…is it?”

At the Central Continent, in a camp built on the ruins of Isla Centurum, Suzuno Kamazuki grinned wryly at the message a Church knight brought from headquarters.

“Whatever is the matter, Suzuno, dear?” Emeralda asked.

“Nothing. But, you know, it can be quite nice to see someone who normally acts all stuffy and above it all fly into a panic.”

Suzuno, relaxing in her tent, read the parchment scroll over several times.

“This seal marks the document as top secret within the Church. It is sealed by holy magic, so nobody ranked lower than a parish bishop may open it.”

“Oh goodness, does that kind of holy magic exist? I’ve never heard of that.”

“Though it appears to be a normal red seal, there is a secret contrivance in the production of the wax. The only people who know how to produce it are the Archbishops, some of the cardinals, and the chief astronomer who sent this.”

“The chief astronomer sent it?”

“Yes. The moment has come sooner than expected…or, perhaps, at long last. And if the chief astronomer has spotted it, then before very long, every other observatory in the world will pick up on it.”

Rising from her work chair, Suzuno invited Emeralda out of the tent.

The sky was blue in the Central Continent; sunny, cloudless skies had persisted over the few days since the Devil’s Castle launch. In that short time, people were already telling exaggerated stories about this “miracle,” a divine blessing upon the devil-smiting Hero Emilia, the crusader force, and the Federated Order of the Five Continents. Every time she heard these tales, Suzuno had to prevent herself from laughing.

The sky above was beginning to segue into evening, the red moon and the blue moon hazily visible through the air in the atmosphere.

“I thought there was no option but to launch Devil’s Castle a second time from the demon realms…but it would appear they’ve found a far more innovative approach. Would you like to read it?”

Suzuno handed the message over to Emeralda. She read it, a tad puzzled.

“…Huh?”

She blinked several times.

“What? …Huh? What?”

Her eyes darted between the sky and Suzuno several times, a finger batting the parchment. She could tell this was beyond the realm of imagination—but to her, uneducated in the ways of astronomy, she couldn’t come to a ready conclusion about the impact this event would have. So she asked Suzuno.

The message from the chief astronomer on Isla Centurum was as follows:

“The red moon above is about to catch up with the blue moon at an incredible rate of speed. We cannot deny the possibility that the two may make contact very shortly.”

“So you mean to tell me the Devil King has moved the demon realm all by himsellllf? Goodness!”

“That appears to be the case.”

“And that’s going to result in a lot more than ‘nooothing,’ I imagine?”

Emeralda’s question was atypically uncertain.

Suzuno gave her a conflicted smile. “There’s not much I can tell you. But it will certainly make the world rather anxious. And after that… This is based merely on what I know from Japanese books and television and such, so please do not take it too seriously… But at worst, it may change the shape of our world’s coasts.”

“Huh? The coasts? …Ah!”

Startled, Emeralda looked at the moons in the sky. Suzuno, in a cold sweat, turned away from her face.

“Wait a minute, please! You don’t mean it will affect the power of the tides…?”

“Well, yes, I imagine it will…”

“What kind of ridiculous nonsense is that?! If you have these two enormous things moving this fast in such a short time, it’ll change a lot more than just that, you know!”

“Mmm, well, it used to be a single moon, after all…”

“…Bell… Did you think that once I heard the truth behind this world from Gabriel in Nerima, I would just settle down to a normal, boring life in Japan?”

“No. I assumed you would go on a lot of dining excursions.”

“Hmph!”

“Ow!”

Suzuno inadvertently blurted out exactly what she’d seen from Emeralda during her stay last winter. It was greeted by a swift chop to the crown of her head.

“Y-you did not have to hit me over it!”

“Hah! Hah!”

“O-ow! Stop! Not full force!”

“What kind of bad, bad girl bad-mouths other people’s eating habits without firmly guarding themselves?!”

The catfight continued for a while longer, Emeralda constantly on the attack and Suzuno desperately resisting.

“Huff…! Huff…!”

“Hee-hee-hee-hee-heee…”

The pointless bout between two of the strongest people on the planet dragged on. The nearby knights and Church officials silently kept a prudent distance, not knowing what was going on and not wanting to be caught up in it.

After about three minutes’ worth of karate chopping, Emeralda brushed away the sweaty hair stuck to her forehead and asked the panting Suzuno a question.

“Haah, haah, Bell… Have you ever heard the term ‘Roche limit’?”

“What does that mean? Is it Japanese? Rush… Roche limit?”

“More of a general Earth term, my dear. At its simplest, it means that, if a large celestial body is tooooo close to a smaaall celestial body, the tidal effects will cause the smaller one to disintegrate, unable to keep its form. The ‘limit’ is how close they have to be before it happens.”

“And what of it?”

“It means that ‘they used to be one moon’ is no obstacle, you know? They now exist as two separate bodies, so if they come too close, their gravitational pulls might destroy them both. And even if they somehow came together as one, if they’re inside the Roche limit with Ente Isla, there will be collisions and destruction; Ente Isla’s environment will be destroyyyed…”

“Oh… It will? Since when did you learn that, Emeralda?”

“During my ‘diiining excursions.’”

“…I apologize.”

Suzuno regretfully took her previous words back.

“But we’ll have to believe they took that Roche limit into account and made sure all was well. There’s nothing else we can do down here.”

“That’s truuue, but dear Bell, do you really think we or ‘Emiliaaa and her friends’ can defeat a god?”

“Where did that come from?”

“Breaking up moons, bringing them back together… No matter how powerful Alas Raaamus is, we’re talking about people with enough power to do all that loooong before humans arrived in Ente Isla. I can’t imagine we can outmatch them, can you? Heavens no!”

“That’s uncommonly timid of you.”

“Well, I’m not fighting on the front lines this time. It goes against my will to sit back and wait, naturally.”

“Yes, I think I know how you feel. I’ve always been a frontline person myself. All the desk work I have been faced with as of late bores me.”

“…But you don’t seem too anxious, dear?”

“No, because I trust my friends.”

She blurted it out so fast that it made her laugh at herself.

“Could you not say things like that? It gives me goose bummmps!”

Emeralda winced, visibly concerned.

“My apologies, my apologies. But there is no other way to put it. And, well, to tell the truth, should it come to battle, I have a feeling that it will resolve itself quite easily, in the end. With our victory, of course.”

“My, how connnfident of you. Might I ask for the reason, dear?”

Suzuno pointed at the couriered message in Emeralda’s hand. “That is Exhibit A. You would think the enemy would start attacking well before something like that happens.”

“Ahh…”

Even Emeralda could grasp what Suzuno meant now.

“We did exercise our due diligence before and after the day of the summit, certainly. But the fact that the heavens did not initiate any sort of attack until the demons launched their entire realm at it… It’s strange no matter how you think about it.”

“That it iiis.”

“And realistically speaking, the red moon must have set off on this journey several days ago. But neither here nor in the demons’ realms have we heard word of an attack. Based on that, I feel the heavens have little to no force left to deploy at this point.”

“Doesn’t that strike you as a little optimistic, dear?”

“Or do you think the heavens are so confident in their firepower that they can fend off an entire celestial body advancing upon them?”

“…Ahhh, yes, that sure doesn’t seem possible…”

It was a very simple matter. In the annals of warfare, it was no exaggeration to say that the stupidest move to make was to invite the enemy right into your stronghold for a single, climactic duel. A fight on one’s home turf was nothing more than a final struggle to delay the inevitable. The side with the advantage would never invite the enemy to its own territory, allowing them to damage the homeland—there was no point to it. If there was a surefire way to win, it involved fighting someplace where you couldn’t be hurt. Thus, if there had been no attack at all since the red moon began to move, it proved that the heavens lacked any long-ranged methods of assault—or the ability to wage war entirely, maybe.

“So…no ultra-long-range weaponry, then. If they had thaaat, they wouldn’t have a problem.”

“Indeed. If they did, there would be no reason to kill Archbishop Robertio, or to put any ‘revelations’ in their dreams. No need for these roundabout ‘miracles’ to drive a crusader force our way. If there is no way to engineer ‘divine judgment,’ it proves that the heavens’ offense does not work at long distances.”

Plus, as Gabriel had made no secret of multiple times, the heavens never had that big of a standing army. In fact, after Camael, Suzuno and her friends hadn’t seen another new angel come their way.

“But in that case…”

Emeralda returned the message to Suzuno, her face still dubious and anxious as she looked up at the moon, blue as ever in the daytime.

“What are the people up there doing if things have gotten that bad, I wonder?”

“…”

The angels Suzuno had encountered—no matter what supernatural powers they possessed, no matter how wildly they acted—all seemed to have personalities, characters, and motivations that were recognizably “human” in nature. Even Camael, with his extreme overreaction to the name Satan, didn’t deviate from the standard for human beings. So really, if you thought about it, there wasn’t a single factor that Suzuno’s side lost out to against heaven. Maou and Acieth, in fused form, completely overwhelmed three angels. Even with the guy in the space suit, they had been caught by surprise after Maou’s and Camio’s power was drained, leaving Emi their only fighter—and Acieth dominated that fight solo.

And even now, even if all their demonic force wielders stepped down, they still had Emi, Alas Ramus, Acieth, Laila, and Urushihara ready to do battle. All of them, plus Amane Ohguro. The Earth Sephirah vowed not to interact with Ente Islans, no matter what the circumstances—but based on previous experience, Alas Ramus and Acieth were exceptions.

Meanwhile, based on what Suzuno and the rest knew, the enemy’s deployable force consisted of Ignora, Camael, Raguel, and the requisitioned Heavenly Regiment. In the case of the space suit, Laila’s impression was that Ignora was inside, not some new, unseen foe. It was more natural to think that Ignora, having run out of pieces to play, was now coming out herself. Plus, though it had been caught by surprise, even the space suit had tasted defeat already.

“There should be nothing to worry about…”

But Suzuno had deliberately avoided thinking about it. The angels were human, too. And if they were, and if they hadn’t shown any sign of resistance or surrender yet, Ignora had only two plausible choices to make.

“No… Even if that were the case, something would have happened long ago.”

Suzuno tried her hardest to banish the thought. Ignora, too, was human. A human with a mission she had to fulfill, no matter how cornered. To the people of Ente Isla and Earth, and to the family members of the Tree of Sephirot, that mission was unacceptable, but it wasn’t a problem they could solve via negotiation. Ente Isla, after all, had nothing to do with why their homeland was attacked.

And so…

“Your face is all tense, darling.”

“I haven’t been able to eat any udon lately. I must be going through withdrawal.”

And so she busily banished the possibility that heaven would detonate itself out of despair.

“Ohh?!”

But the moment she chased that final ray of anxiety from the bottom of her mind, the phone nestled within her Church robes began to vibrate, making her voice ratchet up. Running back to the tent, she crouched in a corner and looked at it. It was a call from Maou. With a contented smile, she answered it.

“Hello? Sorry this is so sudden. You okay right now?”

She heard an unexpectedly low, sunken voice, erasing her smile in an instant.

“No problem. What’s wrong? What happened? An attack from heaven?”

She jumped straight to the worst thing she could imagine.

“No, not that. Not that, but…an equally important problem we gotta solve.”

“Oh…”

It pleased her to hear that nothing bad had happened to the members in the demon realms, but if it was something as serious as an invasion from heaven, she couldn’t breathe a sigh of relief yet.

“Emi told me she texted you about most of what happened here…”

“Yes. We’re seeing the red moon approach the blue moon here Ente Isla as well. Also, I find this hard to believe since I haven’t seen him, but she said a Sephirah that looks exactly like Lucifer showed up?”

“Yeah. He’s completely identical…and unlike Alas Ramus and the others, he didn’t come with a name. So I dubbed him Copyhara.”

“…Wow. Well. Right. Yes.”

Suzuno had only a vague response for this, unsure whether to laugh or yell at him.

“Did she tell you about how he came from Chi’s house?”

“She did. He appeared from her fragment.”

“Yeah, so about Chi…or Chi’s house, more like…”

“What? Wait… Did something happen to Chiho or her family?!”

If danger had befallen either of them, that would be more urgent to Maou’s team than a heavenly invasion.

“Did someone break through our protection around the Sasaki residence, or Sasazuka overall…? Ah, yes, Amane is with you, so… Oh, we should have contacted Sariel… Damn it!”

Why had she never considered the possibility?

“The enemy is not in Ente Isla. They are attacking Earth, attacking Japan, attacking Sasazuka! Was Ms. Shiba unable to do anything?! Ahh, now is no time for this. Emeralda and I must go at once…!”

“No, it’s not that. It’s not that…”

Maou, compared to the panicking Suzuno, was oddly calm. Frigid, even. There was nothing but remorse in his mind.

“In a way, there’s already nothing we can do.”

“What…was that…?”

“All we can do right now…to…nothing else.”

“Devil King! Devil King? Stay with me! I did not hear you. What are we doing? I will do anything that is required! Do not lose heart! Whatever I can do to help you…”

“…Sorry.”

“Sorry? For what? At this point…?”

Something devastating had happened—something that had depressed Maou like nothing before. That alone made Suzuno’s heart quiver.

“Devil King…”

“So we need to go and clean up the mess right now. I’m gonna get Emi and Urushihara to join me on the way to Sasazuka. I’m also gonna call Ashiya in from the East, but can you come to Sasazuka as soon as you can, too?”

“Yes… Yes, I understand. Just calm down… Ah, no, I also need to take a step back, but please, explain in detail what is going on. I must know what to prepare for.”

“Ah, yeah. Okay. You may wanna sit down for this, Suzuno, but…”

She strained to hear the dejected voice, speaking slowly in fits and starts.

“…………What?”

The words that flew into her ear were, in a wholly different way from before, completely beyond what she had imagined.

“………Ughh…… Ah, no, um, that is true… Devil King, why did you put it like that…?”

The more she heard, the closer Suzuno came to throwing in the towel on the whole thing.

“Yes… Right… Ahh, all right, all right. So? …Yes, yes, I understand this is very important. Ah, and it is meant for that, certainly… Well, no, not ‘meant’ per se, but yes, I do have it. All neat and ready. Anything else? No? All right… Right. I will wait for you to contact me, then. Okay. Farewell.”

At the end of it, Suzuno’s rear end was on the floor of the tent. She had been bowled over.

“…Ughhh.”

She looked at her closed flip phone, scowling at it.

“Do not dare threaten me!”

“What is it, dear?”

“Wahh?!” Emeralda suddenly came into sight, surprising her anew. Suzuno shot up to her feet.

“E-E-E-Eme…”

“You had quite the ominous conversation going, so I cleared out the folks by the entrance, all righty?”

“Oh. Right. Thank you. Yes, I should have been more careful. Thank you for being considerate.”

“It’s fiiine, but is there a problem with the Devil King, by chance?”

“Yes, a problem, or… Well, yes, an issue, but not exactly a big one. Serious, but perhaps in a different sort of nuance.”

“You’re not making much sense, but it’s not bad news? But…” Emeralda grinned a bit as she glared with her eyes—a neat trick to pull off. “You were all impassioned, going on desperately, like, ‘Ohhh, whatever I can do to help you’…”

“Aghh!”

Suzuno attempted to throw her phone at Emeralda. Instead, she bobbled it. It fell helplessly to the ground.

“You knowww, I have recently been flustered by the strange mysteries of human relationships…”

“Y-yes?”

“And I hardly want to aaask this, but you haven’t fallen victim to the Devil Kiiing as well, have you?”

“No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no!! Such nonsense!!”

“Will you knock that off, please?”

Now she was no longer smiling. Suzuno couldn’t tell if she saw through the lie.

“Sooo? Did something happen with Chiho? Will you be back in Sasazuka soon?”

“Ah, um, yes! I must return once I hear from the Devil King again.”

“And this can’t wait until everything else is over, dear? Aren’t you a bit pressed for time at the moment?”

“No, it definitely must be addressed right this minute. If any of us lose our lives during the assault on heaven, it will be too late after that.”

“Oh, myyy, rather serious all of a sudden, no?”

“I am serious. This could not be more serious. It could not, but…yes.”

Suzuno sighed, head buried in her lap.

“It can only be done now, is all I can say, yes.”

The classic main events of astronomy—solar eclipses, lunar eclipses, meteor showers—are often observable only under certain weather or geographical conditions. But if you have enough will and a decent method of transportation, it’s not hard to see whichever you want. That’s what Maou and Ashiya were doing right now—sitting atop the roof tiles of Heavensky Castle in Efzahan, over on the Eastern Island, taking in the sights up above.

It was far too distant to see with the naked eye yet, but as Ashiya put it, Efzahan’s astrological observers were already in a panic over how the positions of the moons had changed.

“So what do you think’s gonna happen?”

“About what?”

“The demon realms are red, and heaven’s blue, right?”

Ashiya looked up at the corner of the sky Maou pointed at, toward two particularly bright specks of red and blue. He used his own finger to circle the blue point of light.

“I think it will be far more than a matter of ‘red and blue make purple,’ my liege. There might be some more purple light in the night sky, but I am not sure the naked eye could detect it… But either way, the color will be little different from how it is now.”

“Yeah? Well, that’s boring.”

“That is the prediction, at least. Depending on the state of the atmosphere, it may not look red or blue at all afterward. That, and something called a Roche limit. The angels of the ancient past may have had the technology to move an entire moon, but considering they failed to save their home planet, it’s unlikely they were able to cancel out the Roche limit. I doubt we are going to see a single celestial body, when it’s all said and done.”

“No? What’s that Roche limit anyway?”

“It is the minimum range that two objects with mass in space can approach each other without one being torn apart by the gravitational pull.”

“Whoa. Where’d you learn about stuff like that?”

“I read about such research in the library once. Although the red and blue moons will come close to each other, they are unlikely to merge into a whole. If they do, in fact, it would wreak havoc on this world.”

“Ughh… So we’re not gonna have a giant purple moon, then?”

Maou looked up at the night sky.

“No, my liege, but things will look different indeed. The minimum and maximum orbital distances from the planet will have to change, in order to reduce the effects on the tides, and thanks to that, they will look fairly different in size from before. Have you ever heard terms like ‘supermoon’ or ‘strawberry moon’?”

“Yeah, they mention those on TV sometimes. But it’s, like, I remember stuff like that when I leave for work but forget about ’em by the time I’m off duty. Then I recall it late at night, and I’m not gonna bother going out again to see it.”

Maou shrugged, took a flip phone from his pocket, and looked at the calendar.

“So we’ll just barely have enough time?”

“I cannot offer guarantees, my liege, but assuming the two moons do not come together, I think we should delay our plans until we are sure they will not come any closer to each other.”

Ashiya nodded to himself, looking at his own smartphone.

“I still can’t get used to the sight of you using that.”

“Oh, I’ve rather mastered it by now.” He flicked around on the screen, bringing up his schedule app. “Alas Ramus came to Villa Rosa in July of last year, in the middle of Tokyo’s Obon holiday. It would have been ideal if we’d assaulted heaven before that day, but apart from Acieth and Erone, we all have adult responsibilities, so…”

This whole assault on heaven had gotten its real start because Maou had wanted to give the greatest present ever to Alas Ramus, his beloved daughter. Her birthday was the deadline for this endeavor, but…

“Based on my ballpark calculations, unless we delay our invasion of the heavens by at least a month and a half, launching Devil’s Castle and landing it on heaven will both come with some measure of danger.”

It was already mid-June. A delay like that would push the mission toward the end of July.

“If we give ’em that much time, won’t they try to hatch something on us?”

“By this point, that possibility is rather low. We have made a rather bold move, but ever since they tricked the Archbishops before the Crusade began, the heavens have done nothing. I reasoned they may attempt some form of sabotage, but we’ve heard nothing from any of the summit participants. I believe the enemy faces personnel shortages even worse than what I surmised from Gabriel.”

“Yeah, sounds right…”

“And however poor the enemy’s detection skills are, even they must know Devil’s Castle was launched toward the demon realms. And yet, still nothing. I put all of this data together to analyze every angle I could think of, but I sincerely doubt refusing to act against us offers any strategic advantage. Essentially, I have concluded that our enemy has no option left but to meet us on their home territory.”

Maou seemed convinced but still attempted to counter: “Do you think they’re waiting with some kind of all-powerful force that could wipe us out if we all struck at once? Maybe using some other Sephirah children or whatever to build a massive arsenal? Or a weapon only heaven can use?”

“I cannot completely disavow that hypothesis, but the probability is low enough to safely ignore, I believe. Based on their previous movements, whenever the heavens reached out to Ente Isla, they have preferred sowing confusion indirectly over staging a direct attack on mankind. They use little in the way of real force at all, and it is hard to believe they will begin to just because they are being cornered.”

In the past, they tried having Olba eliminate Emi. They tried seizing Emi’s holy sword. They tried stealing Alas Ramus and her Yesod fragment. They tried having Ashiya and Emi stage a second demons-versus-humans war. They messed with the Archbishops’ dreams in order to trigger a Crusade…

“…Yeah. It’s all petty like that.”

“Right?”

The heavens had tried to create chaos in Ente Isla many times before. The conspiracy in Efzahan caused heavy damage there, and in the demon realms—although most of the casualties were caused in battle by the two sides being tricked into warfare. As far as Maou’s team could tell, the only person to lose his life as a result of a direct attack from heaven was Robertio Igua Valentia, de facto leader of the Six Archbishops…and even there, they had no incriminating evidence.

“But enough about that,” Ashiya said, suddenly brimming with enmity. “What scares me far more is Emilia, demanding you pay child support in the midst of all this.”

“You’re pretty petty, too.”

“If our enemy causes trouble, we may solve it by defeating them. The only way you can solve money problems is to get more money.”

“Yeah. And no matter what I tell her, all I’m doing is delaying those payments.”

“Reality can be so cruel,” Ashiya all but cried out.

“Well, apart from that cruel reality, there are some crimes I need to account for, too.”

“Mmm…” Now Ashiya looked distressed. “That is a thorny issue. Not one caused by the enemy, nor one driven by money. Or perhaps wealth was involved at first, but… What do you think?”

“Not power, not money… Something from the heart, maybe? Trust? That kind of issue. So while I have the chance, I want to settle one more past sin as well.”

“Another past sin? …Ah.”

“Yeah. Everybody’s coming back to Sasazuka for their own reasons…but for this problem, it’s just you and me.”

Maou looked up at the blue moon.

“We’ve learned the hard way how tough it is to make money. And what do you think’ll happen if we wind up dying in battle?”

“Please, do not speak of such horrid things, my liege.”

“Look, it’s a possibility, isn’t it? And I don’t wanna die without apologizing for stealing.”

“There is no reason for you to have feelings of guilt toward any human…”

The sentence sounded more contrived than anything.

“…is what I would have said a year ago, I imagine.”

“Well, right now, I’m a ball of guilt. Especially considering the victim. I mean, really, I just wanna apologize for that, you know? It doesn’t need to be this big ‘atonement’ thing, but I still feel bad about it.”

“That is still much more sincere of you as a person than saying nothing.”

“Yeah. As a person.”

At that, the two demons exchanged a smile.

“And if I have your approval, that’s a shot of confidence for me.”

“I am honored, my liege.”

“So think of Emi’s demands as common sense, too, all right? It’d be supporting Alas Ramus, after all.”

“If it was anyone but Emilia demanding it, I wouldn’t be so stubborn like this! It is her presence that irks me!”

“Yeah. We both really have become human in that way, huh?”

“That is an even more horrid thing to say!”

“Hey, what’re you planning to do about Rika Suzuki, in the end?”

“Huh?! Why bring that up all of a sudden?!”

“Whoa. Rare to see you so flustered like that.”

“Of course I am. I never expected that topic for a single moment!”

“Tell me. Maybe I’ll learn something from it.”

“There is nothing at all you can learn from that, my liege! Besides, I believe I have fully turned her down by now! And yet, look at her!”

“You don’t have to shout about it. The Azure Scarves are gonna give you looks.”

This was the seat of government for the entire Eastern Island, built over generations by its emperors. Nobody ever climbed up to the roof of Heavensky Castle unless they were there on official roofing-related business. And now two grown demons were lying on it…talking about this.

“Ms. Suzuki is merely interpreting things to suit her aims. I have no intention of ‘doing’ anything about her.”

“Yeah. You’re probably right.”

“What about you, my liege?”

“…Me, huh?”

“Because that is a topic you surely don’t want to die leaving unaddressed?”

“No, you’re right, but…”

“One even less solvable with power or money than your other crimes. That, indeed, is a problem of the heart.”

“I don’t need you telling me.”

“You’re the one who guided me to the question.”

He was right. Maou regretted stirring that hornet’s nest. But maybe that’s what he was aiming for in the first place. Ashiya was correct—if he didn’t provide an answer, it’d show a severe lack of faith and sincerity. The moon was already on the move. Things were rapidly coming to an end. He didn’t have much time left.

“But do we really need to settle everything at this point? That’s not too sincere, is it?”

“I would advise you to stop trying to run away, my liege.”

The reply came like a whip. Maou had no leg to stand on.

“Ugh… Hey, Ashiya?”

“Yes?”

“It was really stupid of us, wasn’t it? Trying to conquer the world when we let these human women have their way with us.”

“It is common in history to see absolute rulers act subservient to their family, friends, or benefactors. Those are two different matters.”

“If I can’t see them as separate, I guess I’m sunk, huh?”

“Please, Your Demonic Highness, pull yourself together! You are a functioning member of society!”

“This is such a bummer…”

“My liege! Please, remember your dignity as you led all of us as Devil King!”

“Now I wonder how I even acted like that. It’s crazy what your environment can do to you.”

“Lord Camio would cry if he heard that.”

Maou, hands covering his face, was looking smaller and smaller. Ashiya smiled and patted him on the back.

“It is all right. Apart from the question of Ms. Sasaki, Sadao Maou has earned himself more than enough social standing. There are many who appreciate you. And I am sure…everyone will understand.”

“…Yeah,” Maou replied, breathing through his hands. “Now I’m sure of it. If you weren’t around, the Devil King’s Army would’ve been annihilated long ago.”

“You praise me far too much, my liege.”

Emi, Suzuno, and Chiho… Everything that everyone besides he and Ashiya had always thought and said—now, for the first time, Maou understood it.

“We really do need to settle all this.”

“We do.”

“Compared to that, waging a war against heaven seems easy.”

“It always was, I imagine. Our primary mission was to give Alas Ramus a birthday present.”

“Weren’t we talking about a Christmas gift at first?”

“Now that you mention it, we were. It’s already been half a year, hasn’t it? Time flies like an arrow.”

“Hell, put it that way, and it feels like just yesterday that I was fighting your Iron Scorpions.”

Everything was in the past now.

“I will need to make several trips between Ea Quartus and Efzahan. I will be on hand for a conference to discuss rebuilding the eastern Central Continent with the Federated Order and Eight Scarves, and after that, I will arrange it so I can meet with Bell to adjust plans. Are you going home now, my liege?”

“Yeah, I got work tomorrow. I’m heading straight home from here.”

“Then, Your Demonic Highness, may I ask you for a favor?”

Ashiya looked at Maou with earnest eyes as he stood up.

“If you could, please take our suits and dress shirts to the dry cleaner as soon as you can. If you can prepare a formal outfit for Urushihara as well, I would appreciate it.”

Ashiya normally washed and ironed their dress shirts at home. He rarely let Maou use the dry cleaner, even during his managerial training—but he immediately opted for it here. That was how serious things were.

“All right. I’ll send the request once I’m sure when everyone will be there.”

“Very well. Then for now, let us have Lord Camio watch over the enemy instead of worrying about it ourselves…and let us decide on a date to settle matters from our lives in Japan, and a date for the final battle.”

Maou and Ashiya both recalled that fateful day when they were tossed into Tokyo in the middle of the night. That, and the person who first took them in.

“No matter what, before we attack heaven… I need to apologize to Chi at her house for continually getting her involved in this…and we need to apologize for stealing ten thousand yen from her dad right after we fell to Japan!”

It was half past seven in the morning, just a few minutes since opening time, when the first customer entered the door, sending the bell above it chiming. Maou and Kaori looked up, only to find a familiar face. Kaori, who happened to be wiping down a window by the door, went over to their guest first.

“Hello and good morning! You’re the first customer today.”

“Hey, Shoji. Glad to hear that. I got my members card… Oh?”

They raised an eyebrow after spotting Maou at the register.

“Hey there, regular. The manager’s coming in this afternoon. I’m the main guy this morning.”

Maou, who was crouched behind the counter flipping through order forms, stood up and lightly waved at Sariel, dressed in a loose polo shirt and chinos.

“Oh, is she? Well, thanks in advance.”

“Sure. It’s hot out. C’mon in. And good morning to you, too, Yuzuki. Hot, isn’t it?”

Maou waved at the small girl cradled in Sariel’s right arm as well.

“…Yeh.”

The two-year-old who Maou called Yuzuki lightly nodded.

“You’ve sure grown since last I saw you.”

“Oh, has she? I don’t think she’s changed that much in the two months since I brought her in.”

“Maybe not to the parent, but to someone who only sees her once a month, there’s a huge difference, you know? Anyway, you want the breakfast special?”

“Please. And Yuzuki will have a child-sized bowl of udon. She’s been eating nothing but noodles lately.”

“All right. You can wait upstairs.” He motioned toward the staircase deeper in the café. “Hey, Shoji, Mr. Kisaki’s having the usual.”

“Sure thing! Here, Mr. Kisaki, take this receipt. I’ll come up to see you later, okay, Yuzuki?”

With that, Kaori typed “Mitsuki Kisaki”—the first customer of the day—into her tablet. The first floor of Yesodd’s Family Café was the main space, but upstairs, they had a special by-the-hour safe section meant for parents going out with young children—and that section just had its first visitor of the morning.

Bringing the morning breakfast special upstairs on a tray, Maou saw Mitsuki Kisaki, better known to him as Sariel, sitting limply on a floor cushion. On a nearby pastel-colored play mat, baby Yuzuki was playing with her favorite blocks.

“You worn out? You got rings around your eyes.”

“Yeah, last night was, well, she cried a lot.”

“Not even an archangel can beat a crying baby, huh? I made your iced coffee on the strong side for you.”

“Thanks. Hey, Yuzuki, time to eat! C’mon, let’s eat together.”

At Sariel’s bidding, she obediently toddled over and sat on a pillow next to Sariel.

“She doesn’t need a high chair?”

“She doesn’t like them. She kneels on these pillows when she’s eating at home, too.”

“Precocious kid. What do you want to drink, Yuzuki? No juice for now, right?”

“Barley tea is fine. What do you say, Yuzuki?”

“…’nk you.”

Sariel shrugged at the soft whisper of a voice, but his daughter, unfazed, began to eat.

“Well, enjoy,” Maou said, watching Yuzuki begin with the mini-tomato as he went downstairs. Kaori met him halfway.

“She showed up downstairs, so I came up to—ooh, Yuzuki, you’re a good eater, huh? That’s great.”

“Just tomatoes and udon,” Sariel replied. “That’s all she eats lately. It’s driving me up the wall.”

“Oh, right, Mr. Kisaki! I have some news.”

“What is it?”

“You’re on the clock, Shoji.”

“Aw, but I can’t keep this to myself! Did you hear about Chiho Sasaki?”

The moment the name came up, Maou shivered a little. It didn’t escape Sariel’s attention.

“Of course. What’s up with her? I heard she went on a little study-abroad trip a while ago.”

“That’s right! She had a homestay in the UK for three months, and she’s coming home from it today…but despite that, the president here made other plans instead of picking her up at the airport.”

“Oh? Well, that’s hard to excuse.”

“Right? Totally!”

Sariel, playing along with Kaori, looked up at Maou.

“When my wife comes off work, I always drive over to pick her up, you know.”

“Aww, how nice! You could learn from that, president!”

“Well, I get to be a stay-at-home dad, thanks to her job. It’s nothing to praise me for.”

“Enough, Shoji. Get back to work. Go check the self-serve drink machine for me! And don’t encourage my staff to goof off, either, okay?”

“Okaaay.”

Once he had chased off his overbearing employee, Maou turned to Sariel.

“But you pick her up every day? Isn’t she a manager in the customer support department now? That has to keep her late sometimes. What do you do with Yuzuki?”

“I don’t remember telling you about her promotion…but yeah, if it’s past ten, I don’t bother. On days when she gets off on time, I brush my kid’s teeth so she can doze off in the car while I go pick her up. It’s just hard otherwise. If she can’t see her mom before she goes to sleep, the crying gets three times worse at night.”

Then Sariel hushed his voice, ensuring Kaori in the upstairs staff kitchen couldn’t overhear him.

“I tell you, I really respect Emilia now. I’m shocked she could handle that baby by herself back then—”

“I know,” Maou interjected. “I had a small army of people lecturing me about it.”

“But Chiho’s studying English abroad, huh? I’ve heard people talk about doing it, but I never knew anyone who went through with it.”

“Yeah, her university arranged with a sister school so she could do it during summer break.”

“I see. I only heard about it from my wife, but she said it was one month, not three.”

“One month in London.”

“Oh! Well, that must’ve been a valuable experience. So where did she go the other two months?”

“You know that, don’t you?” Maou winced, still keeping a careful eye out for Kaori. “Well, she didn’t give me any details, either. She’d dodge the question whenever I asked.”

“So she’s completely lost her trust in you, huh? But I guess Chiho’s a junior in college now, isn’t she? Once she’s back, she’ll have to plunge right in to the job search. But not only were you unaware of her return date, you even put other plans first… It won’t be long before she abandons you entirely, I think.”

“Will you stop that? Like you know anything.”

“Hmm? But hang on. Wasn’t Shoji high school classmates with Chiho? Has she found a job yet?”

“I took a gap year, sorry! I’m still a sophomore, so I’m workin’ here instead!”

“Oh, pardon me.”

Kaori blurted it out as she passed by on her business, not looking none too concerned about it.

“We don’t have any extra toilet paper left, prez.”

“We don’t? Okay, can you buy some at the drugstore across the street? You can use our petty cash.”

“All right. The usual brand? I’ll be right back.”

Kaori took up the wallet they used for incidental purchases like this then lightly strolled out of the café. After she had disappeared into the summer sunlight, Sariel let out a small sigh.

“Three years… Well, five, from the very beginning. Compared to the rest of my life, it went by faster than the blink of an eye, but the days were certainly packed, I think.”

“I firmly agree. I didn’t even imagine any of this would happen at first…and you actually marrying Ms. Kisaki was completely beyond the realm of possibility. The news flipped out the whole Sasahata Shopping Arcade.”

It was three years ago when the archangel Sariel and Mayumi Kisaki, Maou’s former boss and benefactor, made the shocking announcement. Those who knew Sariel’s true nature, and the relationship “Mitsuki Sarue” had maintained with Kisaki originally, all treated it as some kind of tasteless joke. Once they had learned it was the truth, though, they all felt a shotput tossed by an Olympic athlete into the air in the middle of an earthquake. This was Kisaki they were talking about, after all, alongside Sariel, aka Mitsuki Sarue. Anyone who knew them both didn’t need any further information to see why this was such an impossible couple.

But now they had a child, Yuzuki Kisaki—and as Sariel said, he’d quit his job at Sentucky Fried Chicken to raise her. Mayumi Kisaki, meanwhile, was still working her way up the ranks at Japan MgRonald Holdings, demonstrating her shrewdness on a daily basis. (When asked why she married Sariel, Mayumi always had the same answer: “For my life, he’s the most convenient partner in the universe.”)

“Hee-hee-hee… Honestly, I still feel like I’m living in a dream right now. Every night, when I see my wife and child before going to bed, I say a little prayer, begging to not wake up from this dream. Even though there’s no ‘God’ in my life at all.”

I can’t believe this happened. He had thought it, stated it, and shared it with others more times than he could count. It was a complete shift from his life up to that point, and he felt like he had to put it into words, lest it proved to be an illusion all along.

“Yeah… And if anything, I value the time I spent here far more than you do. I wouldn’t trade my time in Japan for anything.”

“But you didn’t know that Chiho Sasaki was coming home today.”

“Look,” Maou spat out, “customer or not, you gotta watch your mouth, all right?”

Sariel gave this a smile as he bit into his breakfast sandwich. “Well, it’s what you get for holding back at the end. I wish I could give you even a tiny slice of the happiness I’m feeling right now.”

“No thanks. I got enough.”

“So what’s this appointment that’s so much more important than Chiho?”

“Man, lay off. I don’t wanna say. If I do, Shoji’s gonna start yellin’ at me again.”

Maou almost seemed to despair at the thought.

“But it’s a work meeting. And along with that, my ol’ ball and chain’s coming back with our daughter. They made a couple stops on the way and have a lot of baggage to carry, so I agreed to meet them at Tokyo Station.”

“Ball and chain? That’s a pretty old-fashioned term. I don’t think young people these days would understand it.” Sariel grinned as he pictured the “ball and chain” in question. “If you’re making metaphors, why don’t you call her your ‘gal Friday’ or something?”

“Shut up.”

Maou let the joke slide.

“As your friend, let me give you some advice: Watch your step if you’re out on a moonless night. If you get stabbed and this place shuts down, that’d be a crisis for the entire Kisaki family. We’ll lose our favorite rest stop.”

“You’re not my friend. And I ride a scooter to and from work, so I’m fine. Anyway, I got work downstairs, so enjoy your breakfast.”

Kaori had just brought up her bag from the drugstore, so Maou passed by her on the staircase.

“Eesh. Don’t even remind me of moonless nights.”

The mumbling was overheard by Yoshiya Kohmura, the other part-timer at this café; he had already changed into his uniform and had just taken an order from another customer downstairs.

“Good morning, president. Did you say something?”

As he began grinding the coffee beans prepared in advance for him, Maou groggily recalled the events of three years ago. The end of the “assault on heaven,” as he and his friends called it. The conclusive event that eventually led him here, right to this moment.

“Oh, good morning, Yoshiya. No, nothing.”

Waving the question away, Maou set off to prepare for the lunch hour…

“Prez, we have a special coffee for the customer on bar seat three.”

But for now, he had a new order that had come in at some point.

Turning the handle of his coffee mill, Maou found himself rubbing his back with his left hand.

“When I’m fatigued, these old wounds flare up, I think.”

After a quick rub or two, he looked into the empty kitchen, then saw Yoshiya, polishing utensils by the customer seating. He gritted his teeth and tensed up a bit.

“If I’m like this in the morning, it’s gonna get even worse later. Gotta pull it together.”

He continued muttering to himself as he adjusted the speed of his grinding. These were strong, full-bodied beans he got from Guatemala via his usual wholesaler; a coarse grind resulted in a smooth, perfume-like fragrance…or so he thought.

“All right, today’s special coffee… Huh?”

As he brought the expertly made cup back to the bar, he found:

“Ooh, I’m in luck. You’re running breakfast today?”

A person who’d just showed up in conversation earlier was seated there, her eyes as sharp as ever.

“Whoa, don’t surprise me like that! Hey, Yoshiya!”

Surprised, Maou turned toward Yoshiya. He sheepishly waved back.

“I told Kohmura to keep quiet about it. I didn’t want you all weirdly nervous over me.”

“Well, this startled me a lot more. Your husband and child are upstairs, you know.”

“I know. That’s why I’m here.”

After she had her child, Mayumi Kisaki cut short her long hair, which had been the envy of many. Her old shoulder bag by her side, though, was still overstuffed with a backbreaking amount of weight.

“But what are you doing here at a time like this? That’s rare. Are you reporting to work late?”

“Nah, well, I had this big job fall apart on me in the early morning. It was so sudden that I didn’t have anything else to allocate the time to, so I just said ‘screw it’ and took the day off from the department.”

That was certainly unusual to hear from her. She took a sip of her coffee.

“This is good. Guatemala shade-dried?”

“Would you mind not holding taste tests in here, please?”

“What? Just spying on my rivals.”

“I have a feeling MgRonald would blow us away.”

Kisaki gave him a mischievous grin as she looked around the café. “Hee-hee-hee! Every time I come here, I try to find holes I can bring up with you, but you patch them up whenever I come back. It’s boring.”

“Well, a good restaurant grows with its clientele.”

“You’re able to say that now, huh?” Kisaki eagerly eyed Maou. “Not only did you not wait for me to leave; you even leaped way ahead of me. Now I missed my chance to get out, and I wound up promoted again. What’re you gonna do about that, huh?”

“Congratulations on becoming a section director. I heard from one of your former staff.”

“Ugh. I can’t believe someone at my old haunt is just giving out internal company information.”

“Well, don’t yell at him too much. Want me to call him down?”

“They only just came in, didn’t they? I’ll head up once Yuzuki is done eating. If I’m next to her, she’ll start playing games and begging for attention, and she’ll lose focus. I hate to admit it, but Mitsuki’s a lot better at that kind of thing than I am.”

When they heard about Kisaki and Sariel’s marriage, the most preposterous pairing in all of creation, most people irresponsibly assumed it’d end in a quick divorce. But her old friends Yuki Mizushima and Himeko Tanaka, whom Maou met at the small but tasteful wedding reception he’d attended, both predicted that they would be just fine, as long as Sariel didn’t fall too far out of line.

“But how are things going with yours?”

“She’s growing up just fine. Getting a little sassy lately.”

“Oh?”

Kisaki, freely tossing the subject Maou’s way, smiled at the response.

“Ah, and isn’t Chi returning from her study abroad today? You going to go meet her?”

“Ms. Kisaki…”

“Hmm?”

“If my own former ‘staff’ keeps leaking stuff about the army to you, make him cry for me, all right? Why does he know, of all people…?”

“He’ll be joining me on the next group training session, actually. I’m looking forward to it.”

With a smile, Kisaki finished her coffee and stood.

“Well, I’ve got the day off. Time to go enjoy a little family time… Can you combine my tab with the one upstairs, President Maou?”

Maou, called that by his former boss, courteously bowed his head.

“Right away.”

In a few more moments, he heard “Yuuuzuuukiiii! Mommy got off from work today! Are you done with breakfast? Let’s go out with Daddy somewhere!!” shrilly shouted from upstairs. He shared a smirk with Yoshiya over it.

“Good morning!”

The manager of the Eifukucho location of Yesodd’s Family Café stepped in, despite being scheduled to replace Maou in the afternoon.

“Oh, good morning, manager.” Yoshiya looked at the clock. “You’re in early.”

Maou, meanwhile, shot her a look of surprise. “You’re super early, Aki. Was your mom all right?”

“Yeah. Thanks for covering me this morning, president! It wound up being no big deal…”

Akiko Ohki—a former frontline coworker of Maou’s at the Hatagaya Station MgRonald and current manager of this Yesodd’s location—cheerfully reported to her job like always. Maou had been pitching in this morning because Akiko’s mother had a medical emergency that required a trip to the hospital for surgery, but…

“Well, I heard she was being admitted at first, so I was super freaking out, but it wound up just being appendicitis. She’s absolutely fine now—fine enough that she kicked me out so I don’t cause trouble for my boss.”

“Really? I mean, I don’t think appendicitis is anything to joke about…”

“Yeah, but they wrapped up the operation last night, and the doctor said she’d be good to leave in two or three days. But you have an important business meeting today, don’t you, president? As hot as it is, I figured you’d wanna go home to change first, so I came in early.”

“Oh. Well, I’m glad your mom won’t be there for long. But I thought you might not be able to come in, so I asked for some help early this morning. We were just about out of to-go ice coffee bottles, too.”

“Really? Did I not order any?”

“There was nothing in the ledger system.”

“Oof… I’m sorry about that. I thought I did…but that was a close one. It’s a hot one outside, so we’re gonna sell a bunch.”

“It’s fine! You were worried about your mom. Just double-check next time, okay? Also…” Maou grinned. “You can use the company wallet to treat Kawacchi to something when he makes the delivery.”

“Aww… He’s so gonna whine about it again!”

“We got customers, manager, so try not to carry on too much about silly stuff. Go get changed, okay?”

“Ugh, yeah, if Yoshi gets on me, I’m done for…”

“Oh, and Ms. Kisaki’s upstairs with her family.”

“Eep!”

Akiko let out a half-shriek as she gritted her teeth at Maou.

“P-president… I promise I’ll work hard for you, so please don’t tell Ms. Kisaki about my ordering mess-up…”

“Why do you think Ms. Kisaki has firing power around here? Just go get changed!”

“All right.”

Akiko briskly sailed to the staff room, dodging Kisaki’s aura pouring from above. Her occasional bouts of airheadedness hadn’t disappeared much over the past three years.

Back when he was figuring out how The Maou Company, Ltd., and Yesodd’s Family Café would work businesswise, he tapped his old coworker Takefumi Kawata as an external observer. Much as Kisaki was agonizing over how she’d go about starting an independent operation, Maou pondered over how different business types would attract customers in the saturated, fiercely competitive café industry. At the end of it, he decided to try for a place that prioritized parents with young children first—and it was Kawata, who had studied regional business management, who guided him toward that idea.

Kawata himself had taken over his family’s restaurant after graduating from college, but his parents were still in good working health, so as a model for expanding his family business in the future, he agreed to help launch The Maou Company on a paid basis. He was still in this “observer” role, but sometimes he’d pitch in when they needed to plug a gap, like today.

As for Akiko, despite all her voiced concerns about finding a career during her time at MgRonald, the shaky employment nightmare came true for her when she began her job search. Her inbox was flooded with rejections, plunging her into a pit of despair. Between that and requiring an extra year to get into college, her parents were really putting the screws to her, apparently—so when she heard Maou was launching his own firm, she all but tearfully begged him for a job. He knew her Kisaki-trained frontline skills were worth relying on, and between that and a certain someone’s very authoritative recommendation, Maou brought her on. Judging by how the Kisaki family were regulars at the café she managed, there was no doubting Akiko’s skills in the post.

“Okay, if we’re all good here, I guess I’ll head out. Yoshiya, hold down the fort for me.”

“Yep. Have a good one, president. Oh, and also…”

Just as Maou prepared to leave, Yoshiya spoke up in a bright, unreserved voice.

“Say hello to Sasaki for me, too! She’s coming back from the UK today, isn’t she?”

“…You too?”

Please, guys, Maou sincerely thought to himself, stop worrying about other stuff and just focus on your work!

In the midday sun, with the heat seeming to work its way into his nostrils with each breath, Maou puttered down the side of the Koshu-Kaido road. He felt like a little more speed would help him cool down, but the old habits from his MgRonald delivery days made it impossible for him to go above 20 miles an hour. Speed limits on the street, after all, didn’t always match up with the law—but ever since he’d obtained the MgScooto, he swore never to break 20 mph on his way to and from work.

The Maou Company was a small business through and through, but he never fudged his staff’s work hours or other regulations, the way that was all too common with outfits its size. The way he ran the company, if a labor inspector came in five minutes from now for an inspection, he wanted to be sure they would uncover nothing untoward.

Unfortunately, this also meant that the company wasn’t as flexible as it could have been. So, despite the improbability of it all, Maou didn’t want to suffer an illness, injury, or any other setback. That, and if he wanted to retain this healthy organizational structure as the company grew, he had to exhibit model behavior as its first leader, even in places where people weren’t looking.

Fortunately, the Koshu-Kaido road was a wide one packed with stores and office buildings, along with parked cars doing this or that business. Even going 20 mph didn’t mean other cars were buzzing by him on the passing lanes.

“Man. The Devil King would never accept that.”

Noticing a truck parked by the curb—no parking space allotted, no cones put in place as the crew unloaded the back—Maou marveled at how the world carried on with its own business, regardless of what people thought was okay. But keep working that way, and you never knew when it’d come crashing down. Maou constantly reminded himself that he was a business manager, whether he liked it or not.

Making a right at the intersection in front of Sasazuka Station, he rode under the railroad overpass. By the time he’d passed the Bosatsu Street Shopping Center, he could faintly see his apartment building in the distance.

Villa Rosa Sasazuka had changed a lot as well. Every apartment was now equipped with an air conditioner—and, shockingly, the second-floor rooms now had expanded windows overlooking the backyard, opening up to small but functional balconies. There wasn’t room for private baths in each apartment, but compared to when he first started living here, the conditions had grown unimaginably better. By now, he couldn’t even remember how three men could live in one of these tiny rooms without any air conditioning. That, and despite the sea change in environment, the rent was still unchanged, at 45,000 yen.

“But then, Emi’s apartment is still 50,000, so I can’t be that thankful…”

Turning off the engine, Maou pushed the MgScooto to its parking space, removed his sweaty helmet, and let out a shallow sigh.

“Phew… Wish I could stop by the public bath before I leave.”

The local Sasanoyu public bathhouse used to be open early in the afternoon, but due to the proprietor getting on in age, it had recently moved its opening time back to three PM. His plans for today forbade him from lolling around his apartment that long just to take a bath.

“Well, I’ll change, anyway,” he said, making excuses to no one in particular as he carried his helmet up the stairs.

“Oh?”

Just as he opened the door to his apartment, he spotted something in the corridor that hadn’t been there when he’d left. It was a small used dish and cup, placed atop a plastic tray—the remains of somebody’s meal.

“…Well, I’m glad she’s eating…but this is from yesterday and there’s still some left. In this heat, you keep leaving it out like this, it’s gonna attract flies. Eesh.”

He picked up the tray as he grumbled, taking it inside Room 201. The air conditioner timer worked just like he set it, so the sweet nectar of cool air permeated the space.

Feeling the sweat evaporate from his skin, Maou opened the fridge and scanned its contents.

“I got onions and sausage left. Maybe I could make some kinda spaghetti…”

Working fast before the cool air could make him sluggish, he put the dirty dishes in the sink and washed them alongside the stuff he’d used for breakfast. Once everything was in the rinsing rack, he took a bag of precooked pasta from the fridge, along with some loose veggies, cut-up sausage, ketchup, and black soy sauce. A quick trip to the pot later, and he had a nice pasta meal plated out. There were more veggies than he’d thought at first, making for a hearty dish.

Letting it cool down a bit under the ventilation fan before delivering it, Maou changed out of his sweaty clothes and tossed them into the laundry basket. Then, grabbing a midsize tote bag, he put his wallet, tissues, a handkerchief, a small towel for wiping sweat off, and an antibacterial sheet for his hands inside. After that, he wrapped the plate of spaghetti he’d made and ferried it to the door of Room 202.

“Hey! I might be late tonight, so I put your food at the door. Try to eat your meals in order, okay? Even if you chill them. See you later!”

He knew there wouldn’t be a response. With a sigh, he placed the tray on the floor, checked that Room 201 was locked, and closed the door to the corridor.

“There you go.”

As he looked through the door’s window, he saw a pale, wispy arm reach out from behind the door of Room 202, grab the tray of pasta, and roughly shut the door again.

“What a pain. I really wish I could swap places with someone.”

Scowling, even though he wasn’t all that worked up about it, Maou walked down the stairs then set off for Sasazuka Station on foot. He checked his watch; it was a little past eleven.

“Crap. Maybe I was too slow again. It was twelve twenty, right?”

Checking his phone’s messages one more time, he stepped up his pace a bit, not letting the oppressive heat get to him.