Final Chapter: Speaking to Rem
The forest was dark. Diablo had defeated Solami and taken off after Rem, but...
Crap, I can’t see anything!
Elves, Pantherians, and Dwarves had good night vision, but Demons didn’t have that kind of sensory advantage. Hurrying would just make him run into the trees. Thinking of a more effective way to go about it, he lifted himself above the trees with flight magic.
With the moonlight on his side, Diablo was somehow able to survey the sea of trees. But from this position, he wouldn’t be able to see any of the markings on those trees, and consequently, wouldn’t be able to find the village. But just as he was at a loss over what to do, a pillar of fire flared up in the distance.
The enemy’s spell?!
He flew off at max speed. Still, it wasn’t all that much faster than walking on foot, and it took him the lesser part of an hour to arrive. By then the fighting had ended, and the forest was burning.
“?Weather Rain?!” Diablo waved a hand, conjuring up a magical shower of water.
Perhaps owing to the rainy climate, the clouds formed swiftly, moistening the ground. The flames burning the forest gradually shrank.
There was a figure standing in the rain. Her outfit was somewhat odd, but it was...
“Rem!”
Diablo called her name, to which she turned around.
“Oh, you... You came at just the right time.”
“I did? The fighting’s already over from the looks of things. I only put out the fire.”
“...Yes, leaving it be would be disastrous.” Rem nodded.
“The way you look... What happened?”
Her appearance was similar to something he’d seen before. It was close to how she looked when the Demon Overlord Modinaram possessed her.
“...If I told you I had a change of heart, would you laugh?”
“Don’t tell me another Demon Lord took over your body.”
Rem’s expression turned quizzical.
“...That’s not quite right, but isn’t exactly wrong, either. But this time, there’s no Demon Lord in my body. This is the influence of my own emotional state.”
“What emotional state?”
“An unfortunate one.”
“Mm.”
Rem’s eyes glinted red.
“...I wish to kill you... And then myself.”
She thrust her right hand forward, pressing the palm of her hand against Diablo’s left breast. It was just about the spot where Solami had ran him through earlier, and his clothes were torn. Rem’s hand touched his skin directly, and through that, Diablo could feel her Glow.
It was a seething heat. An intense storm. And he could feel, indeed, a sorrow, strong enough to spill into his own emotions.
She was crying.
Rem was weeping, all alone in a dark room...
Such an image surfaced in Diablo’s mind. And he realized he’d betrayed her. A person that hurt another had no way of seeing just how much the other side was hurt. Diablo surely knew that deep down, and yet...
The Glow emanating from Rem was too powerful. With Diablo being as defenseless as he was, even a single blow would be a fatal one. But she didn’t perform a single technique.
Why isn’t she doing anything...?
Someone had embraced Rem from behind.
Shera.
“Don’t. You can’t do that, Rem.”
She had hugged Rem from behind, shivering. Her voice was shaking, too. Diablo could tell at once that Shera was injured, too. Her clothes were violently torn and dripping with blood.
“...I know,” Rem whispered. “I haven’t lost that much of my reasoning.”
“Really?”
“...Who knows? If you hadn’t interrupted me, I might have run through him just now.”
Tears trailed from Shera’s eyes and down her cheeks. Those transparent pearls fell on Rem’s black hair.
“You can’t hurt Diablo.”
“...Even if you’ll never forgive me for it, I can live with that.”
“No. If you do that, you’ll cry, too.”
“...I swear, you’re always so...”
“We’d all be sad.”
“...Yes. I won’t be able to forgive myself either. That’s why I’ll use my own two hands to...”
Shera gulped.
“That’s messed up! You’d never say that, Rem! There really is something wrong about you now, Rem!”
“...Maybe there is.”
“Come to your senses, Rem.”
“Fuuu...”
Rem took a deep breath. And then a bursting bang! sound echoed out. Shera was sent flying and landed on her butt on the ground.
“Ouch!”
She shook Shera off?!
Rem’s eyes were moist. She cried, filled with quiet anger all the while.
“...That’s too selfish. Telling me to go back to the way I was...? Back to how I always just put up with everything?!”
Diablo clenched his teeth and breathed out. This was where his true battle was. A battle where no magic, no matter how powerful it could ever be, would be of any use to him.
“Rem. I really did weigh on your tolerance, didn’t I?”
“...Now you notice?”
“I’m sorry.”
“...You’re not the one at fault here. It’s all my emotions.”
That’s wrong. I’m happy you felt for me.
He was still racked with doubt, still anxious as to whether he was worthy of those feelings. He couldn’t even define how he himself was feeling.
But Rem’s despair was due to his failing.
“Hey... It might be... a bit too late for this...”
Rem regarded him with silence. But no matter how bad the situation was, it was no reason to give up. Diablo took a ring out of his pouch. “No, it really is... far too late.”
Rem’s eyes widened.
“...What’s that?”
“I actually had it made in Faltra. I don’t know where everything went wrong...”
He went to the capital because of the coupon for the monster girl soapland... Maybe that was the first big mistake, but he decided to forget about that for now. This was a serious discussion, and not the time to recall that.
Rem’s hand was shaking. He could feel it against his skin.
“...You had it made... for me...?”
“Yes.”
“...Can I really... really believe in you this time?”
She gazed at him with serious eyes. At a moment like this, there was no place for Demon Lord role play. He had to say it with his own words. Diablo steeled his resolve and parted his lips to speak, but...
“Aaah...”
He couldn’t. Rem was waiting for his words, as did Shera, who was sitting on the ground. And so he switched to a Demon Lord’s words.
“Believe me or not—that is your choice to make!”
Rem was silent.
“If you believe in this Demon Lord, accept it. And if you cannot, use your right hand to strike my heart out.”
Rem had thanked him for saving her countless times. But he’d hurt or angered her just as much. Shera gulped audibly. And Rem eventually... Extended her left hand.
“...I choose to believe you, Diablo.”
Shera heaved a relieved sigh. Diablo did the same inside.
“Hmph... Believing in a Demon Lord. You are a curious one.”
Putting on airs with his usual tone, Diablo slipped the ring—the real wedding ring this time—onto Rem’s left ring finger. Large tears slid down Rem’s cheeks. The red glint in her eyes was gone. What enveloped her body—the materialized Glow—crumbled away.
“...Diablo.”
She’d likely exhausted all her strength. Rem’s consciousness slipped away, leading to sudden slumber.
“Ah, hey, Rem!”
“Rem!”
Diablo and Shera hurriedly caught Rem as she passed out, naked.
†
“Saved us. Give thanks,” the Kobolds’ chief, Boldboss, said.
“No... We should be thanking you.”
They prepared clothes and a bed for Rem. They were in the village’s tunnels, where the Kobolds were hurriedly making preparations to move out. Eyeing them as they did, Diablo heaved a sigh.
“I couldn’t hold up my side of the promise.”
They’d stopped this attack, but the Humans’ objective was the silver mine. They’d send another army sooner or later.
“We not know our place.” Boldboss shook his head. “Seeing that battle made us happy we still alive.”
“She must have been very strong.”
“Me fight with fists, too. Can tell just how high, far away her abilities.”
“Mmm.”
Apparently, after going berserk, Rem beat a Fafnir and Efreet summon with nothing but her bare hands. Her firepower must have been absurd. She even turned her SP into armor... It was probably something along the lines of the martial art ?Psycho Armor?. There was no doubt she was a grappler of over level 140.
Why did she level up so suddenly?
Rem should have been a level 60 summoner. She also apprenticed under the swordmaster on the side, but hadn’t reached level 80 as a warrior yet. Diablo doubted she had simply hidden her true strength.
He decided to ask Rem once she woke up. If she was even stronger than Solami, Diablo might not be able to beat her.
That... was dangerous, Diablo pondered as he broke into a cold sweat.
Fennely hopped down from somewhere.
“Diablo!”
“Mm?”
“Me... made this. Take this... if want.”
She handed him a silver decoration that shined with a bright sheen.
“Mythril silver?!” Diablo’s eyes widened.
“Hii?! Wh-What? It weird?!”
“No, it’s fine. All right. I’ll take it.”
“Yay!” Fennely hopped happily, and then skipped off, disappearing down the tunnels.
Diablo eyed the ornament silently. Mythril silver. So one can mine highly pure mythril silver from this mountain. It was an absolutely necessary resource for crafting high-level weapons laced with magic. Depending on just how big the deposit here was, it made sense that the king of Lyferia sent a palace knight to secure this mine.
Boldboss’s lips turned to a frown.
“We decide to move deeper into mountain. Hide better next time. Will probably never meet again.”
“I see. That’s good.”
Diablo would return to the races’ country, but the Kobolds would hide from the mortal races. The one thing that kept Diablo and the Kobolds connected was gone.
“Farewell, our savior. Clan not forget what you have all done for us, Diablo.”
“Yes... Erm... Take care.”
Diablo wasn’t good with emotional goodbyes.
†
Parting with Boldboss, Diablo returned to the room they were given.
“How is she?”
“Oh, Diablo.”
Shera raised her head.
“You must be tired too.”
“I’m fine! Rem did most of the fighting... And your potion healed my wounds.”
“Don’t force yourself.”
Diablo sat next to Shera, who was sitting next to Rem’s sleeping form.
She’s out like a light.
He had used a potion on her to be certain, and her breathing and temperature seemed to be fine. He was no doctor and couldn’t tell much more, but it looked like she was just asleep from exhaustion.
“But are you all right, Diablo?” Shera peered at him.
“Mm? I didn’t use much MP.”
In the end, he only fought Solami this time. The girls handled Gewalt.
“You look kinda sad.”
“Well... Ah, no... I am a Demon Lord. Antagonizing a king of the races wouldn’t discourage me.” He said this grandly, but it was a grave matter in reality. What they did was outright treason.
Greenwood might go to war with Lyferia...
“I don’t really get it! But no matter what, it’s much better than the forest burning down!” Shera said cheerfully.
Even with the situation being as grim as it was, Shera remained endlessly perky. Diablo wished he could learn from her optimism.
Yeah, I don’t regret what we did today.
“When Rem gets better, we should head back to the capital. Leaving Horn and Sylvie there might be dangerous.”
“Really?”
“Probably.”
Diablo didn’t know this country’s laws too well, but they were considered accomplices of traitors. At worst, they could be executed.
“So we go back with Horn and Sylvie to Faltra?”
“Yeah, and after that...”
They take Klem and run off to Greenwood? But that presented a major problem: there were no biscuits in Greenwood.
I’ll think about the rest of the details later. First, we go to the capital. Getting in might be a problem...
“But worry not, Shera. Leave everything to me, for I am a Demon Lord.”
“Maybe we can ask Lumachina.”
“Mm?”
“And Alicia’s in the capital, too.”
“Her...”
The situation being what it was, they might have to rely on all the connections they had. Diablo was still anxious, but their policy for the time being was decided. Once Rem woke up, they would consult her to iron out the details.
Being underground messed with his perception of time, but it should have been approaching dawn. He’d spent the whole night awake, and felt fatigue creep over him.
“Shera, shall we take turns sleeping?”
She seemed to sink into thought, and then brought her face closer to his. He’d gotten used to seeing her, but having her all-too-beautiful face so close to his still made a blush creep over his cheeks. That’s one habit he’d likely never get over.
“Erm, Diablo...”
“Wh-What?”
“I, uhm. I saw it.”
“Huh?”
Shera blushed.
“I saw what you... did in the courtyard with Solami... last night.”
To be continued...
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