The Greatest Demon Lord Is Reborn as a Typical Nobody - Volume 7 - Chapter 91

CHAPTER 91

The Ex–Demon Lord and Malice, Uncovered

Quickly after entering Megatholium, we noticed a strange atmosphere.

“The place appears to be deserted.”

Megatholium was a city-state, and its population reflected this.

It was early afternoon, which meant people were getting into the swing of things. The main avenue, however, was utterly empty.

“Something’s up. This place looks like a ghost town.”

“Did they go somewhere…?” Ginny remarked.

“…Or…”

“Maybe they’re hiding somewhere, preparing to fight.”

Just as Verda finished Olivia’s sentence, that became reality.

“Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh!”

A horde of armed enemies leaped out from the surrounding buildings. Their eyes glowed blue, and an insignia in the same hue was pulsing on their chests. They were puppets with no will of their own. Lizer had manipulated them with his Original so his range would be greater. It was well within the realm of reason to assume they planned to attack, but…

“Wh-what’s going on here…?”

“Why are they all children…?!”

That was right. The horde was comprised of children.

Lizer prioritized the rights and happiness of children above anything else in the world. So he would never force them to do this…or so I thought.

This twist had to be Mephisto’s doing.

As my friends stood there, flustered, I raised my voice.

“Even if our enemies are children, we must defeat them and press forward! Overcoming this adversity is our only path to the future we seek!”

Then they descended upon us—countless children; poor, defenseless kids-turned-dolls.

“Eek…!” Maria yelped.

As I held the frightened girl to protect her, I spoke gently. “Do not fear. No harm shall befall you.”

No sooner had I declared this than I cast the defense spell Mega Wall. A moment later, we were covered by a protective half-dome shield.

“Leave this to me,” I said.

These children being controlled by Lizer’s strange abilities were difficult to deal with. It wasn’t just their sheer power—it was the fact that they could strip you of your free will with a single touch. If that happened, we would start taking down our own allies or, in a worst-case scenario, kill one another off entirely.

However…

“I will not allow you to lay a single finger on me.”

I used wind magic against the incoming children. The gale whipped up a vortex, blasting many of them away.

“I knew Ard could do it! Even this is nothing for him—,” Ginny cooed.

“Blowing them away but also making sure no one gets hurt, huh? You’ve got skill.”

They might have been enemies, but they were victims, too. Right before the children were about to hit the ground, I cast a floating spell to stop them from getting hurt. This was both out of consideration for my opponents…and for Maria.

“Why is this happening…?”

Not that anything I did would alleviate her mounting concerns. Maria was clearly hoping for an explanation, but she’d never believe me in her current state. And…I didn’t have time to clarify the situation now.

“Hmph. Things are certainly not going to be easy for us.”

The attackers seemed to increase with each passing second. It was difficult not to lay a single scratch on the overwhelming surge of children. If we kept going like this, I’d eventually mess up somewhere and hurt the young victims unnecessarily.

As if foreseeing this, Olivia called out to me. “Shouldn’t we find a new route?”

I nodded once. “I’ll clear a new path from here. Please watch your step.”

Then I cast a spell beneath us. The cobblestone path abruptly broke apart and formed a giant pit. Just as we were about to drop down—

“Huh?!” Maria exclaimed as we all plummeted.

I immediately filled the hole to block the enemy’s pursuit as a falling sensation enveloped me. After that, I cast floating magic on everyone to soften our landing. The descent was not particularly eventful…and we safely landed in the sewers.

I soon turned to Maria. “…What did you see?”

The girl’s face was pale, expression disturbed. She was silent for a moment. “Everyone was there…but why…did they look so scary…?”

By “everyone,” she must have meant her friends… Did Lizer force his other beloved children to attack?

“Why is this happening…? What’s wrong with everyone…?”

I don’t know what’s going on. This is a nightmare, she seemed to say with her eyes.

“…Hey. Um, you guys know, don’t you? The reason for all this?”

If she wanted an explanation, it was our duty to provide one. We hadn’t had the time before, but we did now. Even if the truth was hard to swallow, she had the right to know.

“…Everything is Sir Lizer’s doing.”

“What?” Maria’s eyes grew wide.

I elaborated. “I understand this may be hard to believe, but it is the truth. The disaster in the city had to have been willed by him. There is no room for doubt.”

It wasn’t because the devil was controlling him. This was all Lizer.

Even for someone so diabolical, Mephisto never moved people by force. I remembered him once telling me that he got satisfaction out of a tragicomedy only when there was real emotion behind it. That was why I was certain that sending children out as a vanguard was Lizer’s own idea. This included the other children from the orphanage who he and Maria both treasured. I guess that, in the end, no one mattered to him except her.

But…Maria herself had a hard time accepting this.

“That’s not true…! He would never…!”

To Maria, Lizer was an honest soul, like the Champions in fairy tales. She wouldn’t believe he was responsible for the mess in the city just because I told her this was the case.

…This was why this girl would soon experience terrible suffering. Her future pained me.

“…I initially told myself that I must not place a heavy burden on a child as young as yourself,” I said. “However, we need you. You must see the situation with your own eyes…and make a decision.”

Would she follow alongside us or not? We were at a crossroads.

“H-help meee!” cried a voice in the dim sewers.

Soon enough, the source appeared from around the bend in front of us.

“Huff, huff, huff…!”

It was an adult man wearing threadbare and tattered linen clothing. He looked like some sort of vagabond. He came racing toward us. His face was marked with sheer terror, and he ran as if he was being chased by a monster.

“…Sorry, not ‘as if’ he was being chased. He is,” I corrected quietly.

Moments later, something else came rushing around the corner—a giant slug monster that crawled along the wall as it chased its prey. It was much faster than its fleshy appearance suggested.

“Eeeeeeeek!”

The man couldn’t hope to defeat this creature, but it was like a pest to us.

“Flare.” I cast out a fireball, careful to avoid the man. The fiery attack hit it dead-on, and the massive slug was incinerated.

“Wh-what?!” He glanced behind him and gave a cry of shock as he watched the creature die.

I approached the man. “Might I ask why you’re in the sewer?”

“…Huh?”

His expression all but asked aloud, What are you talking about?

“‘Why’? This is where all the adults end up. Even you—”

That’s where he paused. He spotted Maria and lifted one eyebrow.

“What’s a kid doing here…?”

“…I want to hear more about the situation.”

The man told us everything he knew. It was Lizer’s madness and malice.

“Once a citizen passes a certain age, they’re thrown into the sewers. No exceptions. Then…they’re forced to live in this monster-infested hell until the day they die.”

“Wh-who would do such an awful thing…?” Maria asked.

The man frowned and glared at the child, his eyes rich with envy, jealousy, and hatred. It was not the look you’d normally give a kid.

Growing fearful, Maria hid behind me. The man clicked his tongue before answering.

“The king. This was all his idea.”

Maria froze. “What…? L-Lizer did this…?”

“Yeah, that’s right.” His curt reply was coated with loathing.

The sheer intensity of his emotions served as proof enough. His cynicism was evidence of Lizer’s inhumane deeds.

But Maria refused to believe it.

“Lizer…would never…!”

The man clicked his tongue again. “…Anyway, thanks for helping me.”

With that, he left…still ticked off by Maria.

Olivia spoke quietly as we watched him go. “…So the kids live comfortably aboveground while the adults are forced to spend the rest of their lives here.”

“Well, that does sound like him,” Verda commented.

To Lizer, adults were the embodiment of evil. They were the ones who had taken everything from him, hence why he hated them. He brutalized them without a single thought of their humanity. He desperately hid this side of himself from Maria. It was proof of his own corruption.

“Lizer… But why…?”

Maria was shocked by the inconceivable truth…but her faith in him was cracking. Lizer had been Maria’s savior. To her, he was the holiest of saints.

And now, that image was falling apart.

“This is all a lie…” She closed her eyes and covered her ears to escape this reality, but it crept between her fingers.

…As we passed through the sewers, we rescued several more people. They thanked us with tears in their eyes, then…

“If I ever get out of here, I’m going to kill that king…!”

Every single person said the same thing…

“I’ll avenge my big sister…! The king is gonna pay…!”

…They voiced their hatred for Lizer.

“………” Maria continued to walk with us. Her expression was empty, and it was impossible to tell how she was really feeling.

“Hey, Maria. You doing okay?” Sylphy asked.

She didn’t respond. We continued through the sewers in silence…

“This ladder will lead us to the palace.”

…We’d arrived at our destination. The ladder led us to a storage room, and from there, we found ourselves in a long hallway.

“…It’s rather quiet here.” I cast detection magic and picked up on only one life-form. Most likely Lizer.

“I can’t confirm any other presences in the palace besides him,” I said. “But…”

“We better be careful. Even if we don’t detect anything, someone might be in disguise.”

I nodded at Olivia. “Sir Lizer is most likely in a first-floor hallway in the east wing.”

We proceeded slowly, keeping vigilant of our surroundings. You could hear a pin drop in the silence.

We were soon met…with a gruesome sight.

“Wha—?!” Sylphy’s eyebrows immediately knitted together.

No, it wasn’t just her. We all had on looks of distress—Maria, me, and everyone else.

“Are those corpses of children…?!” Ginny exclaimed as she broke out in a cold sweat.

Small bodies lay motionless before our eyes. Their causes of death were strange.

They appeared to be civil officials. Each one was hard as stone, and by their expressions, it appeared their souls had been pulled right out of them.

“They were so young…! This is vile…!” Olivia shouted, flushing with anger.

Sylphy, Ginny, and I felt a surge of righteous indignation…

But what was Maria thinking through all this? What sort of emotions churned in this pale young girl who trembled?

…I could only pray that the worst would not come to pass. Keeping at our current pace, we approached the sign of life—presumably Lizer. The closer we came, the more corpses we found. Then—

“A-aaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!” cried a young boy.

In the middle of the long hallway was an old man…squeezing the child’s head with both hands—

“No, this isn’t it, either.”

At that moment…a pure-white aura was sucked out of the boy’s mouth and absorbed into Lizer’s body. The boy became a corpse like all the others…and he was thrown against the wall.

“Li…zer…?” Maria’s voice echoed through the hallway.

“Oh?!” He reacted quickly, spinning around to face us.

Sure enough—

—this man, Lizer Bellphoenix, had turned into a monster.