Isekai Maou to Shoukan Shoujo Dorei Majutsu - Volume 14 - Chapter Pr

The Story So Far—

In the MMORPG Cross Reverie, Takuma Sakamoto was overwhelmingly powerful, and was able to role play so well that his performances were more boss-like than the actual bosses of the game. For this reason, he came to be known as the “Demon Lord.”

By defeating the Demon Lord of the Mind, Enkvaros, faster than anyone else, he obtained the super rare item, the 《Demon Lord’s Ring》. It was one of the ultimate pieces of equipment in the game, able to reflect all types of magic.

Then, one day, Takuma found himself summoned to a world that looked exactly like Cross Reverie! Having performed the ritual magic at the same time, the Pantherian, Rem, and the Elf, Shera, fought over which one of them was his summoner.

But thanks to the Demon Lord’s Ring he wore, the magic was reflected, so the Enslavement Collar meant for him clamped onto the two girls instead!

Faced with Rem and Shera arguing, Takuma was at a loss of what to do. While he may have been a superior player back in the game, he couldn’t talk with other people if his life depended on it. After struggling with what to say, the words that came out of his mouth matched the Demon Lord role play he had used in the game:

“Cease your pointless squabbling. You are in the presence of Diablo.”

Diablo soon after found himself foiling an invasion of one hundred Fallen led by a Fallen named Edelgard, as well as an attack from within the city of Faltra at the hands of the Fallen Gregore. Diablo then later found himself the recipient of a quest from the governor of Faltra, Galford. Prince Keera of the Elven Kingdom of Greenwood demanded Shera be returned to him, threatening open war with Faltra should they fail to comply. The details of Galford’s quest were simply to find a way to avoid the war. The bespectacled, straight-and-narrow Imperial Knight Alicia was assigned to the group as an observer to watch over their actions.

Using the 《Marionette’s Flute》, Keera manipulated Shera and unleashed a forbidden summon called the Force Hydra — yet Diablo still managed to rescue her.

After her rescue, the group set off to resurrect the Demon Lord Krebskulm trapped inside Rem. But in the process, Krebskulm had lost a portion of her memories as a Demon Lord, being reduced to a biscuit-loving young girl who was then nicknamed “Klem.”

Peaceful days passed by...

Suddenly, Alicia betrayed the group! Now awakened as a true Demon Lord, Klem went into a destructive frenzy. But thanks to one of Diablo’s ultimate spells and the sound of Rem’s and Shera’s voices, Klem was subdued and reverted to her biscuit-loving form. To ensure Klem would never go berserk again, Diablo bound her with the same enslavement magic afflicted upon Shera and Rem.

Through a string of coincidences, or perhaps God’s own guidance, Diablo found himself rescuing Lumachina, a holy woman, from the Paladin Gewalt. Being a High Priest, Lumachina was the highest ranking member of the church. However, due to her attempts at ridding the church of corruption and avarice, she was nearly assassinated. Still seeking to reform the corrupt church, Lumachina sought the help of the Paladin Captain Batutta, setting out to meet him in Zircon Tower.

As Zircon Tower was located in the perilous expanse of the former Demon Lord’s Domain, Diablo’s group of Adventurers accompanied Lumachina as bodyguards. After a long journey, they arrived at their destination, and were greeted by Batutta.

While there, Diablo claimed back his own dungeon, gained many pieces of helpful equipment and items, and fought off the new Demon Lord’s army, gaining new allies in the process: the Grasswalker Horn, and the Magimatic Maid Rose.

Shortly after, Horn decided to change classes and study to become a sorcerer, leaving for the magic academy.

But they could not celebrate their victories, however. Having been informed that the Elven king, Shera’s father, had passed away, the four traveled to her homeland where Shera was already engaged to a pig-faced elf called Drango (for the sake of the country, of course). Diablo thwarted the wedding, giving her a wedding ring and assuming the throne as the new king of Greenwood.

Diablo then fought and defeated his next great opponent, the Demon Overlord Modinaram. Saving Rem, who had been taken captive, he gave her a wedding ring also. But news of Diablo’s heroic deeds reached the king of Lyferia, Delouche Xandros. Diablo attempted to ignore the order calling him for an audience with the king, but still begrudgingly found himself in the audience chamber.

What awaited him in the castle weren’t words of praise, but gazes full of suspicion. Left with no choice, Diablo accepted a quest from the king as an adventurer in order to guarantee the safety of him and his companions.

His quest led him to the southern frontier town of Caliture, Rem’s hometown, where her family and clan of martial artists — the Gadou Clan — resided. There, Rem’s aunt, Solami, trained him in the use of the Glow.

The objective of his quest was to slay a clan of Kobolds, but Diablo ended up befriending the creatures and turning against the Kingdom of Lyferia. But before things could develop any further, the Gelmed Empire invaded Lyferia from the east!

Gelmed’s elite soldiers and commander, Aira, use Magimatic Sols, the same weapon Rose does. Lyferia’s army took to the battlefield to oppose them, led by the king himself. However, Lyferia’s efforts ended in spectacular defeat, and the King of Lyferia perished in combat. The Lyferian army was routed, and the capital, Seven Wall, became occupied by the enemy.

Diablo and his group infiltrated the castle and successfully slayed the enemy commander...only for Emperor Gelmed’s mobile castle, the Magimatic Castle Viovix, to appear!

“The Girl of the Vessel! Accept me! Conceive me, give birth to me, grant me new life! If you do, I shall make you into the holy mother!”

The former prime minister, Noah Gibun, was then revealed to be an outsider — a player of Cross Reverie who came from another world, like Diablo. Seeking the power needed to defeat Emperor Gelmed’s overwhelming strength, she recruited the young Demon Lord Klem to her side and asked Diablo to cooperate as well.

Traumatized by his social experiences, Diablo initially refused, but eventually...

“I admit it. You are the leader.”

“Thank you, Diablo. I will do everything to answer the trust you’ve placed in me.”

Diablo resolves to fight as part of a party.

Prologue

Although the sun should have been hanging overhead, its rays failed to extend to the ground. The rain that had been falling since early morning was gradually intensifying, and the wind was blowing hard. It was probably going to be a downpour.

—As fitting as weather for a decisive battle could be.

Diablo gazed up at the leaden sky. He’d gone out to the Inner Sanctum’s drenched balcony without even bothering to put on his robe.

One woman was there as the leader of their group, and Diablo stood still, listening as one of her subordinates. It was the first time he’d followed someone else’s lead since coming to this world.

That woman’s name was Noah Gibun. He didn’t know what her name was in the old world. She did tell him, her voice thick with resentment, that she was an office lady from some kind of exploitative business.

“We will now begin our attack on Emperor Gelmed’s castle,” she said, her voice dignified.

“It’s finally time to go ham!” Alan the Dwarf raised his voice enthusiastically.

The other members of the Palace Knights shrugged. Diablo felt like it had nothing to do with him, but he was still technically part of this group now. He heaved a small sigh.

—A party... Playing as a member of a party, huh...?

Never in his life did he ever perform well when it came to cooperation, team games, or really any group activities. It hung over him like a thick, smoldering cloud of depression. But he wouldn’t be able to overcome the enemy on his own.

The Magimatic Castle Viovix was capable of shutting down all manners of magic. If his teleportation or flight magic were to be canceled, he’d die a terrible accidental death before the fight even began. But Noah seemed to have some kind of transportation method in mind that could circumvent the castle’s defenses. Diablo didn’t know what her plan was; he was interested in finding out, and could ask her... But asking a question in the middle of a group discussion was too difficult for Diablo.

In fact, with his crippling social anxiety, even holding a conversation was a challenge in and of itself. He’d somehow managed to barely speak to people in this world by playing the part of his Demon Lord player character, but that wouldn’t fly here. He was a party member now. Even Diablo knew that throwing around arrogant “Demon Lord” lines at a time like this would be extremely tactless, so he had remained completely silent ever since this meeting began.

But while he held his tongue, all the words he wanted to say were bouncing around in his head.

—Aah. This reminds me of living back in my old world. Games were all I lived for, I’d only open my mouth when I had to eat, and I’d get to be a powerful Demon Lord in the MMO. 

His past flashed before his eyes. But as Diablo was lost in his reveries, Klem spoke up next to him.

“How do we get to that castle?” she asked, pointing at the gigantic Magimatic Castle floating in the sky above them.

She may have looked like an adorable girl, but she was in fact a real Demon Lord. And not just any Demon Lord — she was Krebskulm, said to be the strongest of all Demon Lords. Krebskulm was normally a gigantic, armored monster, but she had sealed that form for the time being, instead appearing as a young girl.

“You’re not going to suggest we climb all the way up there, are you?” she continued.

The Emperor’s castle was looming ever closer, like a poisonous insect poised to devour the fruit that was the capital. It was half a day away at best. It walked on tower-like legs, the castle itself standing higher than any mountain. The idea of climbing to that height was daunting.

“We’ll use 《Teleportation》,” Noah answered.

“Mm...? But won’t its barrier deflect magic?”

“That won’t be a problem,” Noah said, taking something out of her pockets. “We’ll use this magic item. We’ve already tested it and confirmed that it can break through the castle’s protection.”

It was a folded fabric. It didn’t look all that expensive; it appeared no different from any hemp cloth sold on the market. But when Diablo focused and tried to see if he could detect any magic energy flowing through it...the light-brown fabric seemed to be glowing with light.

“Hmph,” Klem scoffed at it. “It reeks of magic this Demon Lord doesn’t know. Did you make it?”

“No, I received it from the Archsage Marine. She’s lived for many years and created many unusual magical tools.”

“I see,” Klem said and fell silent, her expression still slightly dubious.

Apparently something still felt somehow off to her. Diablo knew very little about this world’s Archsage, since Marine was an NPC that hardly appeared in the game.

However! A Demon Lord couldn’t let on that he didn’t know about something. That would look lame. And so, Diablo crossed his arms with the most pensive expression he could muster and nodded briefly.

“Hmph, a magical tool made by the Archsage,” he said vaguely.

Noah and the sorceress Utata snuck suspicious glances at him, but neither of them actually asked him if he knew about it. Thankfully.

“This time, I asked a certain woman for help,” Noah continued. “She should guide us within the castle.”

As if that were her cue, a Kobold girl appeared, clad in the Gelmed military’s uniform.

“I’m Aira Arjana, former commander of the Gelmed Empire’s Magimatic Sol unit. I was forced into servitude by the Empire, but thanks to him, I’ve been set free.”

Everyone else followed Aira’s gaze, which settled on Diablo. All the attention almost made him squeal, but he desperately suppressed his panic and kept up his Demon Lord role play.

“Hmph! You think a Demon Lord like me would save you? Don’t delude yourself! I merely sentenced a fool who opposed me to death!”

This was his attempt at masking his embarrassment. But his appearance and the acting he’d perfected to the point of muscle memory actually made it convincing.

“M-My apologies...” Aira winced.

The Palace Knights all looked at him, their eyes clearly nervous. The only ones who remained calm were Klem; her attendant, Edelgard; and Noah, who knew Diablo’s true identity.

“Regardless of what happened before, she’s on our side now,” Noah said in an indifferent tone. “We should set aside our differences, so as to not create unnecessary discord.”

Diablo held his lips, so as to urge her to continue. Noah continued her briefing.

“This magical tool can form a door that will lead us to any place our eyes can see. This means it won’t help us indoors, and as you can see, the castle is quite large, so we’ll absolutely need Miss Aira here to guide us. She was once in charge of the castle’s garrison, after all.”

“Yes,” Aira affirmed. “It’s been a couple of years since then, but there hasn’t been any major remodeling that I know of.”

“I’d imagine. It’s said the Empire’s castle has never been breached by enemy soldiers before. They wouldn’t remodel the place if they didn’t have to.”

“The Empire only acts based on rationalism, after all,” Aira nodded.

“We’ll be relying on you,” Noah told her encouragingly.

It really felt like an office lady being recruited into a company in the middle of her career. The members of the Palace Knights welcomed Aira easily enough, and Diablo was the only one still scowling. Utata, the Grasswalker girl, keenly noticed that and questioned him.

“Oh, you there. Displeased, are you? Having a former enemy commander guide us through their castle is all sorts of comfy, isn’t it?”

“...It is convenient, yes.”

Having a door that takes you everywhere and a guide to go with it...

“What’s making you so prickly, then?” Utata asked.

Although he knew she wouldn’t understand, Diablo replied.

“...We’ve got a new dungeon to explore, but it’s like reading the strategy guide about it before we even go in. It’s boring.”

“I’ve got, like, no clue what you’re talking about~” Utata said flippantly.

“Hmph. Mere mortals couldn’t hope to understand the thoughts of a Demon Lord,” Diablo retorted proudly.

Of course she wouldn’t get it. This was a matter of personal preference. Diablo did look through message boards and walkthrough sites and use the knowledge and impressions of other players. But he believed that a dungeon’s first run ought to be a blind one, if only for the sake of fun.

—There’s nothing like tackling the new event early and being the first to beat it without any cheating or walkthroughs! That’s the gaming addict’s way!

Of course, Diablo did understand the situation and realized he couldn’t approach this like a game. The lives of many hinged on their success. He couldn’t prioritize having fun here. It would be the kind of irrational argument that would get him chewed out in public.

—Still, emotion and personal taste aren’t influenced by rationality or weighing risks and benefits!

Diablo knew that moving purely on emotion was a problem in and of itself. But fun, both in games and outside of them, came from a balance of challenge and reward. The less challenging a game was, the more it became a chore, its enjoyability decreased, and Diablo’s interest faded. And honestly, Diablo hoped he wouldn’t need to experience that kind of bland disappointment in this world too.

†

Noah spread out the cloth.

“Magical energy, sufficient! Magical Tool: Cloth Gate... Open!”

Diablo’s heart danced for a moment. The sheer theatrical nature of the cloth’s activation was so fantastic in appearance that Diablo couldn’t help but get excited. The Palace Knights didn’t show any surprise, though. This clearly wasn’t their first time seeing this, so Diablo tried not to let his excitement show on his face.

“Enter!” Noah called out.

The Palace Knights raised their voices in a battle cry at her order.

“Let’s gooooooo!” Alan the Hero led the pack.

He was a silver-haired Dwarf with an aggressive attitude who excelled in single combat. Perfect for a vanguard. Thanatos the Elf fencer followed after him. The group’s leader, Maximum Abrams, remained at Noah’s side, prepared to defend her in any situation. The other members hurried inside.

—I think it’s my first time having to wait my turn to invade a place.

“Rem and Shera might have come to see us off,” Klem told him.

Diablo was silent. If he looked back, perhaps he’d see them there. The others could have come too. Rose, Lumachina, Horn, Sylvie... Maybe he could spare one last look.

But Diablo shook his head, as if to banish that thought. He couldn’t find the words to respond to Klem.

—I can’t get used to this.

At least whenever he acted out the role of a proud Demon Lord, he’d never been at a loss for words like this. But now he was Noah’s subordinate, so it felt like acting all high and mighty was absurd. And he was so socially inept that the moment he even started wondering about tact, he was done for. If he were to act like his true self, all he’d do was stammer and stutter. And he couldn’t let his friends see him like this.

So Diablo didn’t turn around.

“Seeing off, needless? Needless!” Edelgard the Fallen said with her particular manner of speech, standing next to Klem. “Emperor, defeat! For sure! Sooo, back soon!”

“That’s right!” Klem nodded with a grin. “We’ll be back soon and have lots of biscuits!”

—Even if we drive away the Imperial army, I doubt there are any bakeries that could still bake biscuits in the capital’s ruins...

“And that apple tart too!” Klem pumped her fist into the air.

Such a fancy sweet didn’t exist in Lyferia. But Noah, being an outsider, introduced it to this world. The very same Noah who was now urging them to go ahead.

“Don’t dawdle!” she called out to them.

—It’s the first time I’ve walked into a battlefield with that kind of thing said to me.

Diablo sprinted after the Palace Knights and crossed the Cloth Gate. Klem and Edelgard followed suit behind him. He could hear the sound of the wind around him change, and when he opened his eyes on the other side, a different sight spread out before him. He could hear the sound of weapons clashing.

The time for leisurely conversation had come to an end.

†

Sitting in her office in the Inner Sanctum, Lumachina received a report.

“Prime Minister Noah has led the Palace Knights into the Magimatic Castle Viovix!” the Paladin Tria said with a salute.

Lumachina nodded and turned her gaze to the people gathered in the room, eventually settling it on Rem and Shera.

“Are you sure you shouldn’t have gone to see them?” she asked.

“If Diablo had wanted us to, we would have,” Rem said with a serious voice. “But we can’t get in the way of his concentration. I trust him to come back safely.”

“I wanted to hug him before he left, but Rem said not to!” Shera whined.

“We shouldn’t do anything unnecessary before a major battle,” Rem said tersely.

“Won’t he get lonely?”

“He won’t.”

They’d been bickering like this the whole time. And since Rem and Shera wouldn’t see him, the rest abstained from doing so too. Rose’s expressionless face somehow made her annoyance clear.

“I surely would have accompanied him had my Magimatic Sol not been damaged,” she said bitterly.

“I mean, if I were thirty years younger,” Sylvie shrugged.

“Me?!” Horn squealed, seemingly talking to some figure in her head. “I’d just hold them back if I went! Use the Holy Grail...? What, no, no, no way!”

She was acting cheerful, but maybe she was under some kind of severe stress... Lumachina couldn’t help but feel concerned about her.

Of course, Horn was actually talking to Babalon, goddess of the Holy Grail. But since Babalon was a goddess from another world, no one but the owner of the Grail — Horn in this case — could see her.

“We can’t assume they’ll come back safe and sound from a battle like this,” Lumachina said, rising from her chair. “We should begin preparations for aid and healing.”

“Understood, Your Grace,” Tria said with a deep bow.

The other believers all began to move in accordance with her words.

“Shera, we should be prepared to fight too, in case something happens,” Rem nodded.

“Fight what?” Shera asked her.

“I don’t know. But protecting the people is an Adventurer’s job,” Rem said resolutely.

Rem’s firm words seemed to have filled Shera’s heart with excitement. She clenched her fists.

“Yeah! Let’s help!”