WE TRAVELED AROUND ON AN ARTIFACT CREATURE
Pecora had invited me over—well, summoned me, really—so I headed to Vanzeld Castle.
“Thank you for taking the time out of your schedule to stop by.”
Fatla’s voice echoed around me like an airline announcement.
The rest of the family and I were presently flying on Fatla in her leviathan form.
“It’s fine. I bet she sent you out in a rush, too. You’re basically the victim here.”
I could only imagine that Pecora had come up with some kind of scheme.
“I am very pleased with your understanding. Apparently, she has developed something new and wants to show it to you as soon as possible…”
The word developed caught my attention. Those demons really would come up with anything… But as long as it wasn’t destructive, then there was no cause for concern.
Powerful people in every world tended to do things according to whim.
That often caused trouble for others, but it occasionally brought about good results, and I doubted Pecora would genuinely try something dangerous.
“Where is everyone else, by the way? It feels really empty in here.”
I wasn’t the only one on board, but the population density in the relaxing lounge area was abnormally low.
“If I may hazard a guess: the casino. Halkara asked Vania to open it up on the condition they do not bet with real money.”
“…Right. I’ll go take a look…”
As I approached the casino, I could hear Halkara’s cries.
“I lost! Again! I can’t believe it, I can’t believe it… This is my fifth loss in a row!”
Vania stood in the dealer’s spot, laughing.
Before her was a conical roulette wheel.
There were small balls rolling around in it, and the point seemed to be guessing where they would land.
“My, my, what bad luck, Miss Halkara. I guess your beginner’s luck has already run dry.”
“N-no, it hasn’t! I know my luck will come back, and I’ll win big! Hit me again, dealer!”
Vania grinned. The manipulation was so obvious…
The rest of the family stood behind them in various degrees of exasperation.
Laika, in particular, had no interest whatsoever in gambling, and she looked on in disapproval.
“Gambling is bad. It encourages an individual’s desire to win big, rendering them unable to make calm, rational decisions,” she said. “In a way, this is a lot like a Brainwashing spell.”
“Big Sis Halkara is obsessed~ Falfa’s glad she’s not using real money!”
“When she won at the beginning, that number of chips became her standard. Now, as that number goes down, she feels as if she’s lost and can’t bring herself to stop. She has been caught in the quicksand. She will never get out.”
Falfa and Shalsha were calmly observing, too.
I’d heard that dealers let you win at first to make you feel good, then rip everything away. I guess that was all true.
“Man, Sis Halkara’s losing so bad.” Rosalie noticed as I entered the room and came over to me.
“How much has she lost?”
“If this were real money, I think she’d have lost about thirty million gold by now.”
Yeowch.
“I don’t gamble, but it can get pretty intense. There are a lot of ghosts who fall so deep into the habit that they eventually have no choice but to die~”
“Wow… It will literally destroy you if you get too into it…”
“Halkara looks smart, but she really isn’t. I, the great Flatorte, am much smarter than her,” Flatorte said, sitting at the table and sipping tea. Sandra was also seated.
It felt like everyone was curious about Halkara’s escapades and had gathered to watch.
“I see; so you’re not interested in gambling, Flatorte? That’s a bit surprising. You struck me as the type of animal who would particularly enjoy it.”
From Sandra’s words, I assumed it was pretty typical for plants not to be interested in gambling.
That aside, I had been under the impression that Flatorte—well, more like blue dragons in general—would be quite likely to throw all their money away on gambling. They weren’t so keen on working and tended to live hand-to-mouth.
“Blue dragons don’t have money, so we can’t gamble. That’s why none of us are super into it.”
So that was the reason!
“And if a blue dragon did gamble and started losing, I bet they’d wreck the place and breathe ice everywhere.”
The casino would probably be too scared to swindle them.
But whatever the reason, it was better not to get too into gambling.
Halkara was continuing to incur massive losses.
Once you got into a vicious cycle like that, it was really hard to get back out.
By the time dinner rolled around, Halkara was still pale.
“Hey, Halkara. You didn’t bet any real money, right? Why do you look so drained? Do you feel sick?”
“Yes…when I imagine doing that with real money…”
She was at rock bottom. This was even worse than when she was drunk.
“I calculated that I would have wasted one hundred million gold in a single day… No matter how one looks at it, that is such a reckless use of money… What was I thinking?”
“I’m glad you’re considering the consequences of your actions, but you could have started a little earlier.”
“Madam Teacher? If I ever try to gamble again, please just throw me into a cold bath. Thank you.”
“So we’re going with the physical cooldown tactic.”
It seemed like Halkara had understood the terrors of gambling this time around, so it probably wouldn’t be as bad next time.
In a way, the casino was teaching her some important lessons.
But if she’d ended up winning big, there was a chance she would have just gotten more and more obsessed… The casino was a dangerous place.
Then in came Vania, the one who’d won big against Halkara, carrying food.
Vania was in charge of the meals again this time. As always, her food was at such a high level.
“Miss Halkara is the archetypical sucker. You’d best stay away from now on~”
“…I was only watching from the sidelines, but it was a great lesson on what not to do,” I said. “And, Vania, I didn’t know you could act like a casino dealer.”
“I practiced in my spare time during university~ Here you go, roasted lamb chops with an herb rub.”
Maybe Vania just gave off a ditzy impression, and she was actually a multitalented genius…?
Then Fatla’s voice came over the announcements, as though she’d read my mind.
“Vania is capable in all things outside of work.”
In my opinion, that was better than being good at absolutely nothing outside of work, but if that was true, should she really be working as a government official?
We arrived at Vanzeld Castle on Fatla without incident.
The whole family was given the VIP treatment, and we had a little time to relax.
Meanwhile, I alone was led away across the castle grounds by Fatla and Vania. They said that Pecora had some special business with me.
“The item currently in development is in the courtyard,” Fatla explained briefly.
“By ‘development,’ do you mean, like, a magical artifact?”
“Precisely. It seems Her Majesty has made use of a bit of ancient magic again. I do not know the details, but she claims to have created a fantasy artifact that appears in one of her favorite books.”
So the magic from the Thursa Thursa Kingdom was involved, huh?
Well, I’d find out once I saw it all in action.
Soon, I arrived in the courtyard.
Before me stood what looked like a robot kaiju monster, almost seven feet tall.
“This thing looks like it could breathe fire!”
That was my first impression. It was made entirely out of metal, and it was in the shape of a kaiju-like monster. It even had eyes and a mouth.
Pecora and Beelzebub stood before the creature.
Beelzebub looked exhausted, so she was probably Pecora’s victim in all this.
“We have been waiting for you, Elder Sister! What do you think? Is it not magnificent?!”
“Er, possibly. But what is it?”
“Exactly what it looks like! An artifact lizard!”
After Pecora spoke, the artifact lizard roared. “Grroooaaaah!” It could make sound, apparently.
“Goodness, I’ve read so many stories that feature artifact monsters, and now I have finally completed the real thing! Isn’t it just so cool?!”
The lizard roared again. “Bwoooooh!”
It was loud.
It seemed robots had finally been introduced into this world.
“I didn’t know there were that many stories that featured artifact monsters…”
“There are! Plenty of famous titles!” Pecora said, circling behind the robot kaiju (it took too long to say artifact lizard, so I decided to use a nickname).
She then returned, carrying a stack of books in her arms. I guess she’d set them out beforehand.
There were pictures of what looked like robot kaiju on all the covers.
“Gargantuan monsters of magical technology that do not exist in reality go on a rampage of destruction! And then the heroic titan arrives to subdue it! It may be a bit clichéd, but that’s exactly what makes it so exciting!”
This world had actual monsters roaming around, but I guess there was still a market for this type of fiction…
Then again, sharks existed in my past life, and we still had a lot of movies that featured giant sharks, so maybe it wasn’t all that unusual.
“Up until recently, we had been unable to create artifact monsters with lifelike movements using magitech. However, we finally succeeded by harnessing the ghosts’ magic,” Beelzebub said, filling in the gaps.
“Maybe it wasn’t built with the demons’ power alone, but I have a lot of respect for really fresh inventions like this…”
The demons were exceedingly skilled at using old tech for new things.
That and putting their ideas into practice.
“Well, even we demons could not create something s—”
“Ubwaaaah!” the robot kaiju roared.
“Silence! Remain silent whilst the adults talk!”
“Gwah…,” the robot kaiju whined weakly in response.
“Even we demons could not create something such as this overnight. It should have taken a tremendous amount of time…” Beelzebub trailed off at the end of her sentence.
Pecora, meanwhile, looked gleefully proud.
“On my authority as demon king, I offered gratuitous funding to universities and research institutes! Technology develops so quickly when you give them money!”
Was she right to think of it like giving plants fertilizer…?
Though without money, it was hard to develop new technology.
Testing out new technology was kind of like a gamble. If an attempt failed, it didn’t make any money. As a result, the funding for more tries would dry up.
Which meant that throwing financial support at the developers so they could keep trying until they got it right was the correct way of doing things.
And unlike games at a casino, failures were still progress toward success, so there was meaning in failing.
“I know you were just doing this for fun, Pecora, but it’s probably a good thing you put so much money into it. I have a feeling this will give rise to a lot of new things in the future.”
“What kind words, Elder Sister. Please pat my head, too!” Pecora shamelessly presented the top of her head to me.
“O-okay… If that’s what’ll make you happy…”
It was a little embarrassing, but it wasn’t like I saw her every day, so maybe it was fine.
Pecora seemed really pleased, and I decided that this was a small price to pay if it made her happy.
I patted her head.
There sure were a lot of devilish ideas packed in there.
“Well, I saw the robo kaiju, so I guess that wraps up our business here, then?”
I could understand why kaiju fans would want to see something like this. The quality was so high that I imagined even nonfans would be interested.
“No, our real business begins now,” Pecora said. That sounded ominous.
“What? You didn’t call me out here to show me your invention?”
Beelzebub stood behind Pecora, arms crossed, shaking her head.
“This is what I wanted to show you!” Pecora whipped out a book from the stack she had brought over earlier and showed it to me.
The cover featured a person riding on the back of a robot kaiju.
The other covers all showed big robot kaiju making a mess of some city or other, but this one had a different vibe.
“What is this? Someone’s riding the creature?”
“Yes. The title of this one is Give Me Some Magic. An arcane researcher is unable to hire a carriage, so he decides to use the artifact creature he created to travel, but the artifact’s magic keeps running out along the way, and he has a lot of trouble getting to his destination.”
“Last time, you said you wanted to go on a carriage journey like the one you read about in a book, didn’t you…? You really like travel stories, huh…?”
I think it was a novel series called The Carriage Line Journeys.
We’d mimicked the events of the book and gone to a destination using only local carriage lines. But we got there really quickly because everyone involved was absurdly physically fit and rushed up the mountain.
“Yes! This time I want to ride on my artifact lizard and travel like in Give Me Some Magic! …Just the three of us!”
When she added that last part, I understood why Beelzebub looked so tired.
I didn’t even have to ask if Beelzebub was included in the count…
“You two, bring them out!” Pecora called, and Fatla and Vania dragged out two more robot kaiju from the back. They were probably extremely heavy, but the leviathans were strong enough to handle them.
Three robot kaiju stood alongside each other.
“I see; so these are vehicles…”
“Graaaah!” “Bwooooh!” “Aaaaaaah!”
All the robot kaiju roared at once! They were super loud!
“We will ride these lizards and travel to a town called Ehock, one hundred seventy gilro away from Vanzeld Castle! I am looking forward to traveling with you, Elder Sister!”
“Er, well… I haven’t said anything about going with you y—”
“Graaaah!” “Bwooooh!” “Aaaaaaah!”
The robot kaiju roared again, drowning me out.
“Thank you! I knew you would agree!”
“Sorry, Azusa. I cannot spend any time with the girls, but I will be coming along. Just bear through it for a few days.”
Both Pecora and Beelzebub had assumed I was actually going along with them!
“Hold on a second. This is all way to sudd—”
“Graaaah!” “Bwooooh!” “Aaaaaaah!”
I couldn’t hold a conversation because of these stupid robot kaiju!
Hold on; were they doing it on purpose? Were they drowning me out whenever I tried to say something inconvenient?
“Well then, I say we get right down to it and prepare for departure.”
“Our starting point is the Thirteenth Triumphal Arch. ’Twill take time to carry the lizards there, so there’s no rush.”
Oh dear, it sounded like I couldn’t turn them down anymore…
And so I was forcibly roped into Pecora’s weird scheme.
We moved to the Thirteenthth Triumphal Arch, which would serve as our starting point.
There we found the three robot kaiju from earlier—and a huge crowd of demons checking out the sight.
“It’s like a festival!”
“Three oddities such as these would capture anyone’s attention. That is not all, however.”
Beelzebub pointed at a sign.
Give Me Some Magic
A Journey from Vanzeld Castle to Ehock
The Demon King’s Titillating Adventure
“Why is she calling it a titillating adventure?!”
Wasn’t it kind of weird that she had decided it was going to be “titillating” before we even hopped on these things? What was she going to do if the trip was boring?
But Pecora ignored my commentary and waved to the crowd.
I guess it was a leaderly thing to do. At the end of the day, the people loved their demon king.
“Good luck, Mommy!”
“We pray for your success.”
“Be well, I suppose.”
I then heard some familiar voices. There was no way I could miss the sound of my children cheering me on.
“You came!”
Falfa, Shalsha, and Sandra were standing at the front of the crowd.
The rest of the family was there, too. That probably meant they had specially reserved seats.
But before I could approach them, Beelzebub rushed over.
“I’ll be going now. I hope you all behave yourselves. Now, if you need any help, just ask Fatla or Vania, all right?”
“Hey, being their mom’s my job!”
That was crossing the line, so I pushed her aside. I wished she would restrain herself.
“Ah! What are you doing? I’m enjoying my precious moments with my daughters!”
“That’s my line! At least wait until I’ve talked to them!”
“Look how greedy you are, despite getting to see them every day…”
Well, obviously I see them every day. I live with them.
The thought of Beelzebub moving into the house in the highlands in the near future terrified me…
Or if she developed some kind of easy long-distance teleportation skill, she’d be visiting every day…
In the end, I had to be thankful that getting around was so inconvenient.
Meanwhile, Flatorte, who had been hanging out with the others, slipped away.
“Wow… It’s made of such sturdy metal. Interesting.”
She was all over the robot kaiju…
“Oh, Miss Flatorte, please refrain from touching the creatures! No touching allowed!” Vania came over to stop her. Sorry about that, Vania.
“Why? Touching it isn’t going to do anything. You brought it out here; I wanna spar with it!”
“We cannot have you breaking them! Please stop!”
It’d probably shatter to pieces if Flatorte attacked it…
“Hop on, Elder Sister. You’re on Creature Number Two.”
On Pecora’s prompting, I hopped onto my robot kaiju. On closer inspection, I saw there was a patch with a number on its front. It felt like I was renting a bike.
“Oh hey, if you look at it from the back, there actually is a seat up there.”
There was a seat in the middle of the robot kaiju’s back, making it possible to sit down. Attached to it was something else that looked like a rudder. I was probably right to think of it as the steering wheel.
“Do not press on the main magic supply yet. That puts the creature in motion. You can adjust the speed by moving the lever on its back. When you want to stop, press on the pedal by your foot.”
“Oh, okay, I get it.”
This was more like a car than I had thought. Problem was, I’d never really driven before. I’d had a license in my past life, but I was really only a driver on paper.
There weren’t any cars in this world, so I’d probably manage if I just drove carefully.
I had no idea how fast these things went, though. It’d be disastrous if they suddenly took off like a car speeding down a highway… I wanted to believe that wouldn’t happen, though.
“And there should be a few buttons next to the rudder. Please press one of them.”
“Okay.”
Pressed it.
Cover the world~ In darkness~ And everyone will become one~
It started playing music!
“This is the song you sang when you were an idol!”
“We recorded music into it and designed it so the music plays when you press the button. You can listen to my songs anytime you like!”
“You demons really like adding random bells and whistles…”
Now that we’d had the controls explained to us, Fatla started making some introductory remarks.
“Ah, thank you all very much for taking time out of your busy schedules to gather here with us today. With the help of academic-industrial collaboration between various universities and businesses, we have successfully developed these artifact—”
“Brrrooooooaaaaaah!”
The robot kaiju roared loudly, cutting Fatla off.
I hadn’t pressed any buttons, so the vocalizations were apparently automatic. Probably would have been smarter to have a button trigger the roar…
“Along the one hundred and seventy gilro between Vanzeld Castle and Ehock, we have several—”
“Graaaaaah!”
The monster roared a second time, once again cutting off Fatla.
“Couldn’t you have made it so you could turn off the noises, Beelzebub…?”
“I do not understand why, but that was not legally possible, or so I hear. It must occasionally make noise to let others around us know that it is running.”
I guess a car that ran without making any noise would be a hazard.
The next extended growl came from Pecora’s robot kaiju, completely cutting out whatever Fatla was saying.
“… And that concludes my remarks. Thank you all for listening.”
No one was listening; I was sure of that.
“Let us go then, Elder Sister! Miss Beelzebub!” Pecora pressed the main magic supply button, and her robot kaiju started moving.
I pressed mine in turn.
Boop!
My robot kaiju started up!
The robot kaiju (officially called artifact lizards) raced through the town around Vanzeld Castle.
If I thought of it like a motorcycle tour, maybe it would be pretty fun.
It wasn’t long, though, before I noticed some discomfort.
“This thing really shakes you around!”
My body was swaying everywhere!
“I thought this would be like a car, but the movement is totally different! The bouncing is awful!”
“Of course. These lizards run forward by moving their two hind legs. It would be impossible to move as smoothly as a wheeled carriage.”
“Yeah, that’s a good point, Beelzebub, but…then shouldn’t it move forward on all four legs, including its front ones, instead of standing up on its back two…? Or maybe the legs should’ve been wheels to begin with…”
If they had wheels, then we wouldn’t get knocked around everywhere like this.
“No, of course not,” Pecora replied, puffing up her cheeks. “There is nothing exciting about wheels.”
“Exciting? Do you really need to be concerned about excitement in an industry like this?”
But maybe there wasn’t any precedent for these kinds of things? This was the first attempt at creating robot kaiju in this world, after all.
“In Give Me Some Magic, the main character went around on an artifact creature that moved on two legs! What point is there if we do not do exactly what they did?!”
“So you just based it on the book!”
“Well, I suppose I could get used to the rocking after a whi— Bah! Beh…” Beelzebub’s sentence suddenly got cut short. “Good grief… I bit my tongue…”
“See! We already have an injury!”
“All right, I do not mind you all chatting, but keep your eyes on the road. You must be aware of people who might attempt to cross the road in front of the creature.”
Right… There weren’t any traffic signals around, so we actually did need to pay attention.
We were going just over ten miles an hour. I didn’t want to cause any driving accidents.
Incidentally, the roads we were traveling were lined with demons who’d come out to watch.
“This reminds me of the relay race.”
“It is because Her Majesty is participating. The turnout is excellent because she is so popular.”
Pecora, indeed, was waving to everyone on either side of her. “Thank you~”
Maybe this wasn’t just any old journey, but more like a parade.
Watching the demon king herself marching (running, to be more precise) on a strange vehicle would sure leave an impression.
“People came to watch in Give Me Some Magic, too~ I successfully got enough people together to match the events of the book~”
“Could you try to be a little less concerned about that?!”
Because we started out right in the middle of the city, there were a lot of people, and we couldn’t go very fast. But the farther out we got, the more we could accelerate.
The roads were empty, too, so there were more and more places we could ride side by side.
“Hey, this is kind of pleasant… Well, maybe not exactly pleasant, but nicer than before.”
I’d gotten used to the jostling. Given up on it, more like.
This vehicle was just rumbly, and that’s how it was.
“Indeed. If I had to criticize one thing…I would say that it’s not as fast as flying.”
Beelzebub had wings, so she could fly.
I could float, but it wasn’t like I could go very fast. Beelzebub, on the other hand, could easily fly much faster than these robot kaiju.
“No, you may not fly! And you may not say how flying is faster! You have no appreciation for the excitement! That would go against the thrill!” the demon king warned us again. “Listen carefully. In the book, the researcher builds an artifact as a last-ditch measure because he is unable to purchase a carriage. It is supposed to be slower than a carriage.”
Pecora really wasn’t compromising on her faithfulness to the experience.
“Your Majesty, you had enough money to commission these artifacts, which means you had enough money to purchase a carriage. How many hundreds of millions did these cost to develop?”
“Miss Beelzebub! No snarky commentary from you! It is unbecoming of a minister!” Pecora warned again. “We could reach Ehock in two hours on the back of a wyvern! Practically in the blink of an eye! But we are deliberately taking our time getting there, and that is okay. We will see the sights we would have otherwise missed flying on a wyvern!”
I’d seen people like this in my previous life, insisting you would miss all the good scenery if you took the bullet train instead of the slower, local trains.
“Sigh… I still do not understand why we must use these vehicles, but if you insist, we shall do so, Your Majesty.”
“Before long, you will understand the significance of traveling on a slower artifact, Miss Beel—”
Pecora’s robot kaiju tilted forward! It was about to fall over!
“Hey! Pecora! Are you okay?!”
But the robot kaiju’s arms (its front legs, to be precise) whipped out and entered four-wheel (?) drive for a while.
“Hey, I didn’t know it could do that!”
“Yes, this is one of its modes.”
Then, after a few paces, it went back to running on its two hind legs.
“My, that was close. Its leg tripped on a small step there. But it can make up for falls like that just as it did now. Isn’t the design wonderful?”
“In that case, I feel as though perhaps it was not the wisest idea to have it run on its two hind legs to begin with.”
“I think Beelzebub has my vote on this one…”
Taking a leisurely journey was nice and all, but I really couldn’t care less about having the thing move like an actual monster.
“Neither of you understand the thrill of the journey! This will be a requirement next time! I cannot have an elder sister with no sense of excitement!”
Perhaps because we were running along on our robo kaiju, Pecora’s complaints drifted into the background.
It’d been a long time since I’d experienced sound like that.
For some time, we headed toward the outside of the city, before finally passing through the big—thick, more like—outer city walls and leaving the metropolis behind us.
At first, it seemed like the city continued even beyond the walls, but we eventually saw farmland stretching out before us.
“Hey, we’re finally on the outskirts!”
“Aye. Some of these plots are managed by the ministry, though, so this is also part of my workplace.”
I guess, due to the nature of her work, she did sometimes need big fields for experiments and whatnot.
Just then, Pecora’s robot kaiju made a noise. “Hweeeeeeeeeeee…” It sounded rather dispirited.
Then Beelzebub’s did the same.
“What was that? It sounded like they’re losing motivation…”
“Ah, they must be running out of magic~ We must charge them, otherwise they will stop working.”
So they worked on a charge system. Now that she mentioned it, I remembered the title of the book that had inspired all this was Give Me Some Magic…
I mean, I understood that, but—
“What?! We just left Vanzeld…and it’s already almost out…?”
“Yes. We have the technology to allow for magical recharge every hundred gilro, but I had them design it so a recharge is needed every twenty gilro, like in the book.”
“Being that faithful to the source has zero benefits!”
“Elder Sister, our lizards are about to stop, so please find somewhere we can borrow some magic,” Pecora said, like it was the most natural thing in the world. I, however, was hearing about this for the first time.
“Where on earth do I get magic…?”
Pecora opened her mouth and pointed to it. What did that mean?
“The lizards can convert food into magic power. In short, please find a house that will feed us!”
Pecora’s and Beelzebub’s robot kaiju had run out of power (they didn’t run on electricity, but it was basically the same idea), so they had slowed down and eventually stopped.
“Why is mine still going?”
“You are surprisingly good at driving, I’d say. You are preserving your magic level well since you do not often accelerate or decelerate.”
So it was like how driving well supposedly led to more efficient fuel consumption… I guess my experience was coming through, even as a carless driver.
“We will follow on foot, so go look for a store or a house along the road!” Beelzebub commanded.
“Seriously…? I have to bargain for food…?”
Well, I’d better get to it. To be honest, I thought this would go a lot quicker if the demon king herself went around asking for food, but I guess that wasn’t in the cards.
It wasn’t long, however, before I realized I was at a distinct disadvantage.
There were no houses here in the outskirts.
There were absolutely no buildings around me at all.
Just farms growing who knows what stretching out on either side of the road…
“This isn’t good… We could have managed if we were in town somewhere, but what am I supposed to do out here…? We should have fueled up before leaving the city…”
These were artifacts, not living creatures, so couldn’t they just convert stones and dirt into magic?
No… They’d probably break. I shouldn’t.
And since they looked sort of animal-ish, I wanted to feed them real food if I could.
At long last, my own robot kaiju started to make the “Hweeeeee~” noise. Even with my efficient driving, the extra time that had netted me was still about what you’d expect.
“What should I do now…?”
I got down from my robot kaiju and gave it a push, and its legs began to move, spurring it forward. It kind of felt like pushing a bicycle.
“Any shops…? No shops…”
Then I saw something move in the field next to me.
It was a demon, a farmer with eyes of two different colors wearing a hat. He had been hunched over in the middle of his work.
“Hmm? Wazzat? New scarecrow?”
“No, not exactly.”
He had spoken to me first, so I figured it wouldn’t hurt to ask him.
“Excuse me, but we were traveling on these, and it seems we’ve run out of magical fuel for them. Do you think you could give us some food so we can recharge?”
It was probably a little brazen of me to be doing this, but I didn’t know how long I would have to push this robot kaiju before finding a shop.
“Not sure I understand, but sure thing!”
Oh, thank you! My guardian angel! Or rather, my guardian demon!
“But the house is pretty far from where we’re at. How ’bout some of this crop here? Got more’n enough here to sell, so I can give you all the ugly ones that won’t do well at market.”
“Um… That should be fine. What are you growing anyway?”
The demon farmer lifted up what looked like a massive ball.
I could see unique striped patterns on a base of green.
“Cousin of the melon. Nice and sweet on the inside.”
So…watermelon, then.
The farmer hoisted up a watermelon considerably bigger than his own head and brought it up to the road, where he viciously struck it with his bare hands.
The ball split, and the red fruit inside became visible. It really was like a watermelon.
“There, you can eat that.”
“That’s an exciting way to cut it!”
“Cutting with a knife takes too long. Go on; eat as much as you like.”
I immediately grabbed a suitable portion of the fruit and fed it to the robot kaiju.
“Eeeeeeee…”
The dispirited noise came back, and the robot kaiju’s tail started swinging back and forth.
“It sounds like it’s groanin’ or something; does that mean it’s got its magic?”
“I’m not sure, but it should be okay!”
On closer inspection, I saw what looked like a meter next to the rudder, and the needle went up whenever I fed the robot some fruit. Before long, it would be fully charged.
By the time I had gotten it back to full, the other two came up behind me.
“Did you find food, Elder Sister~?”
“This guy gave me some~!”
Incidentally, when he saw Pecora, the demon farmer beside me exclaimed, “The demon king!”
Yeah, I’d exclaim, too… The sovereign herself had just sauntered up…
Afterward, as we fed the watermelon-like fruit to the robot kaiju…
We had a little feast ourselves.
“Mmm! This is delicious!”
“These lifeblood melons have a very high sugar content, Your Majesty!”
That sure was a creepy name!
“But they really are good. They’re so sweet; these watermelons are practically all juice.”
“What’s a watermelon? These are lifeblood melons.”
Well, they’re watermelons to me; could we just call them that?
“Thank you very much, good farmer. And for feeding us, too,” I thanked him graciously.
Our journey would have been rough had I not found him.
“Oh, not at all. I feel ashamed to have fed Her Majesty inferior lifeblood melons…” The demon farmer hunched his shoulders in humility.
“Not at all! They were delicious~”
“Indeed, they were! Besides, these are only considered inferior due to their strange shape, and there was no problem with the flavor. The protruding part that would act as the thorn simply is not there, making them round.”
“So the round ones are inferior…”
Anyway, it was thanks to this kind farmer that we had managed to charge up our robot kaiju.
“Thank you so much for your help. Here is a royal letter of thanks. I’d like you to have it~”
Pecora handed him what looked like a certificate of commendation.
The farmer exclaimed “Nothing would make me happier!” and graciously received it.
We once again set off on our robot kaiju.
All three of them made noises that sounded like sirens. It was time to press on!
But right after we headed off, Pecora tilted her head and said, “I had a feeling that might happen, but it’s not really ideal~”
“What’s not ideal?”
“If I were to ask for help, I would only be met with shock. I will have to ask you, Elder Sister, or Miss Beelzebub to negotiate for food from now on.”
It didn’t sound like it was easy for the demon king to enjoy a leisurely journey like this.
“Got it. We’ll do our best.”
After that, our journey progressed favorably.
Eventually, we found a little café where we took a break. While we were there, we gave some water to our robot kaiju and got a little bit of a charge from that. It seemed even water would do.
Things were going well.
The sun was starting to set, but there was no need to stop just yet.
“I know you said I’d get used to the bounce, but I really don’t notice it anymore.”
It didn’t matter if the robot kaiju was at full magic or about to run out—it was a clunky ride.
“Indeed~ I’m starting to feel more and more like I’m in the book! ”
“It seems like your main standard for how we are doing is accuracy to the book…”
“Yes! After all, I’ve never been able to experience such a strange and wonderful journey before.”
It wasn’t Pecora’s tone, bright as ever, that caught my attention; it was what she said.
That’s right—she was the demon king. She couldn’t take on an aimless, wandering journey, even if she wanted to.
Of course, whether everyone wanted to do something like that was a different story. There were plenty of people who weren’t interested in traveling, who were perfectly happy staying in the town they lived in.
But maybe it was in our nature to be interested in things we had never been able to do.
Maybe Pecora had always dreamed of taking interesting journeys—the same thought had struck me when we’d traveled on the local carriage lines.
“Pecora, if this kind of thing makes you happy, then I wouldn’t mind coming along with you occasionally.”
It wasn’t all that dangerous or trying; and she liked to call me her big sister anyway.
“Really, Elder Sister? You cannot take back what you’ve said, you know?”
Her eyes were sparkling.
“Yeah, of course. I’ll help you out, so long as it isn’t an unreasonable ask.”
“Hell’s bells, you give her everything she wants.”
Beelzebub looked annoyed. We’d been driving for so long that I now had the confidence to glance over at the other two while still moving forward.
“It’s not that big a deal. Better than being too harsh on her, I say.”
“Give your word without too much thought to Her Majesty, and you will pay horribly for it. I know more about this than you do. I have more experience.”
Well, obviously you’ve known her for a long time because you’re the agricultural minister, but that’s no reason to start acting like you’re the authority.
“‘Pay horribly’? It’s not like I promised to grant her heart’s desires or anything. We’re just riding on these monsters…I mean lizard artifacts, right? And it’s not like it’s going to take weeks and weeks to get to our destination.”
Beelzebub still didn’t seem happy with that response; her expression was cautious.
“The moment you think something is simple is precisely when she has a trap waiting for you. I have been tormented by Her Majesty’s whims too many times…”
“W-well… I’m not going to deny that you’ve been through a lot.” I remembered that Beelzebub had been forced to act as an idol before, among other things.
“Indeed, you’ve stopped making easy promises, Miss Beelzebub~ I must have failed to raise you properly.”
It sounded like Beelzebub often said similar things to Pecora, and she casually brushed it aside.
There was a bond of trust between them, such that Pecora wasn’t bothered hearing her vassal joke around like that.
“Now, then~ I hope we’ll be able to experience the best part of our journey before the day is done~”
Pecora sped up and moved ahead of us, which made her robo kaiju even noisier as it stomped along.
“The sun’s set, so maybe we should look for an inn for the night.”
Trees lined the road on either side of us, and it had begun to look like a mountain trail.
“We should! ”
Just then, I thought I saw a devilish smile cross Pecora’s face.
But she was moving ahead of us, so it was hard to tell.
“Mmm… I thought I saw Her Majesty smile devilishly…,” Beelzebub said, looking exhausted.
“So you saw it, too.”
“I have a terrible feeling about this. She may be plotting something…”
“But we’re all on this trip together, right? If something were to happen, wouldn’t Pecora end up a victim, too?”
“If she’s taken that into account, then there shouldn’t be a problem, but… What? What sort of trouble will befall us…?”
Beelzebub was really on her guard. Was that because she’d spent so much longer with Pecora than I had?
The path became a steep uphill climb.
Our robot kaiju slowed as we ascended.
And we had yet another problem—
“They’re using up way more magic than before…”
“It is a hill, after all… It makes sense it would use up more magic than traveling on flat ground…”
That was obvious.
Wait.
At this rate…weren’t we going to run out of power right in the middle of this mountain pass?
Just as the thought occurred to me, Pecora’s robot kaiju made the dispirited cry “Hweeeeeeee…” as it ran out of fuel ahead of us.
“Oh my, oh my~ I went too fast and ran out of power early. Please do what you can, you two~” Pecora said, waving to us.
I felt a horrible chill.
She was definitely plotting something.
Like when she rushed ahead earlier… Was her inefficient fuel usage intentional so that she would run out of magic before either of us…?
“We have no choice but to press onward, Azusa.” Beelzebub’s expression was that of resigned realization. “We have no choice but to trust that we will reach a place where we can stay up ahead… Even if it seems hopeless…”
“Wait, what do you mean…?”
“Precisely what I said. I doubt there are any inns along this pass. We would likely have been able to get through and stay at the next town over had we used carriages, but…with these artifacts, we are likely to be stranded in a less than ideal spot…”
Uh-oh…
“You didn’t book any inns ahead of time or anything?”
“No. Her Majesty insisted that the best part of the novel was searching for a place to stay… I have a feeling she planned for the artifacts to stop in a deserted area…”
And then, Beelzebub’s apprehensions proved justified.
Both of our robot kaiju came to a halt on the empty mountain pass. The sun had set ages ago, so it was pitch-black, too.
“What should we do…? There’ve been no buildings at all for a while now…”
“We simply have no choice but to keep going. We have gone much too far to turn back now… We have to push our artifacts forward until we find a place to stop…”
Beelzebub and I were dancing in the palm of Pecora’s hand!
We couldn’t stop here, so we walked along the pass, pushing our respective robot kaiju.
As we pushed them, our monsters would occasionally make weird roaring noises: “Grrroooaaaah!”
“Silence! Do not roar so! At least remain quiet when you have no power!”
I understood why Beelzebub was angry. Pushing these things up the slope wasn’t easy…
“These things are more than able to store five times as much magic, and yet I was not as suspicious as I should have been that Her Majesty did not allow for their full capacity to be used. It was all for this performance of inconvenience…”
“Guess so. I can’t imagine how miserable we look pushing these things.”
If we’d at least run out of power on the way down, we could have kept going with momentum.
We’d lost power at the worst possible time.
“How long is this mountain pass anyway?”
“We will be walking for some time yet… Now that I think about it, Her Majesty plotted our route perfectly.”
“What does that mean…?”
“This pass is indeed the shorter route judging by distance, but it offers no recourse should we run out of power on the way. If we had avoided going through the mountain and instead gone around it, our route might have been longer, but we would have found plenty of residents and shops, so we likely would have been able to deal with the situation and find a place to stay. She has led us straight into a path where we are helpless.”
Which meant…
“No matter how far we push, we’re not going to find any inns or houses…?”
Beelzebub nodded.
“That stupid demon king! This is so evil of her… It was her goal all along to see her traveling companions suffer! …Though, I’m sure she can’t be too happy with the situation, either.”
“That is precisely why you must not be too easy on Her Majesty. Her primary motivation in life is enjoyment, not comfort…”
I’d have to be more cautious from now on. Actually, there was something else I had worried about since entering this dark forest.
“Are there any bandits around here? The atmosphere is awfully eerie…”
Traveling through places like this at night was considered dangerous in the human lands. Merchants, especially, avoided it.
“Bandits? I doubt they would pose much of a problem,” Beelzebub quickly declared.
“Oh, that’s good~ I guess the demon lands really are safe, huh?”
Beelzebub pointed ahead of us.
There was a sign.
“This is not a place for bandits. If one were powerful enough to live here, then I have no doubt their talents would easily earn them employment elsewhere.”
“You mean it’s even more dangerous!”
It wasn’t the bandits specifically I was worried about, actually.
“Calm down, calm down. You and I would never be done in by such weaklings. In fact, I would be tempted to feed the basilisk to my artifact to recharge its magic if one attacked us.”
“That’s terrifying; please stop.”
I didn’t mind shooing them away, but I wasn’t so sure about turning them into food…
“Why? The strong eat the weak in nature. If they lose the fight against us, then they place their lives in our hands.”
She sure was ruthless…
I heard a faint rustling sound from up ahead.
Then a basilisk emerged. It was huge—a monster in its own right!
It looked a lot like a big lizard. Apparently, it could stand on two legs, and its legs looked kind of bird-ish.
…But when the basilisk saw us, a look of terror crossed its face, and it ran away…
“Hey, that pisses me off for some reason! We’re not monsters!”
“No, from that beast’s perspective, we are more than monstrous enough… It could tell we were bad news…”
I was glad my level was so high. But I guess if I was being forced to travel this road at a lower level, then I’d be suing Pecora.
From that point on, basilisks and snakes kept jumping out at us before meekly retreating.
One basilisk actually brought us some nuts.
“Uh… Are you…giving these to us…?”
The basilisk bowed its head. It was apparently an offering.
“It seems to be saying that it will give us these nuts in exchange for not laying waste to this land.”
“It’s treating us like bandits!”
“Ahh, ’tis much appreciated, however.”
Right after she spoke, her stomach growled.
These basilisks had really gotten the wrong idea about us, but we did end up with some dinner.
“Pecora hasn’t shown up yet, but should we start eating anyway?”
“It is my estimation that Her Majesty is deliberately taking her sweet time. And if she is indeed behind us, then she will certainly catch up while we are dining, so we shall set aside her portion.”
“You’re right. Let’s take a quick break, then…”
We roasted the nuts with Flame magic. I didn’t know if I was allowed to use fire out here, but this was technically part of a journey with the demon king, so it was probably fine.
“Hey, they’re not bad when they’re toasty like this.”
“Indeed. Back in my hometown, these were sold in shops.” Beelzebub really did know a lot about agriculture and forestry.
“Oh yeah, what is your hometown like anyway?”
“A—ahem, ahem… Mmm…what was it like? I can scarcely recall…”
“What an obvious avoidance tactic! You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to. I bet you come from a good family, though. Otherwise, you couldn’t act so haughty.”
“Aye… Yes, precisely… I have always been like this…”
She seemed really shaken. Maybe she was in a fight with her family?
Maybe I should send Falfa and Shalsha to ask her next time. I had a feeling she’d talk the second they showed any curiosity.
But maybe it wasn’t nice to wrench people’s secrets out of them.
“Pecora isn’t showing up at all. Don’t tell me she sneaked off on her own to stay at an inn…”
“That would not happen. Her Majesty has recognized the significance of being a regular member of this traveling party. She would not abandon us. It is more likely that she is moving as slowly as possible.”
“Hmm, I guess that’s preferable.”
And so our robot kaiju journey unexpectedly turned into a camping trip.
I could see how an unplanned trip like this might be interesting.
“These nuts are delicious. I don’t know what they’re called, but they taste expensive.”
“It seems as though that basilisk chose these nuts based on taste. A gift, perhaps. The basilisks in this area do offer food to their companions, after all.”
“So we are like bandits…”
And so we leisurely waited for Pecora to show up.
However, soon we were faced with an assault from a terrible new foe.
I heard a strange buzzing sound.
“Hey, is that the artifacts again?”
“No, they do not make such a noise.”
A massive swarm of bugs flew at us!
“Gaaah! What are these things?! We didn’t see any bugs when we were pushing the artifacts up here!”
“They are attracted to the light! They are going to swarm us!”
So they were reacting to the light…
“Get out of here! It’s dangerous! Go away!” I cast a small Flame spell.
I was warning them that I would burn them if they got close.
But the bugs didn’t care at all; they formed clumps and headed straight for us!
“Oh no, oh no!”
“Keep your mouth closed! They will get in!”
“Oh, I have an idea,” I said, continuing to produce flames.
“Oh? Let’s hear it!”
“Aren’t you the Lord of the Flies, Beelzebub? Can’t you tell them to go away?!”
“Do not make a fool of me! ’Tis not as though I was born a fly!”
Guess not. I thought it was a pretty good idea, though.
Beelzebub was casting a Blizzard spell to keep the bugs away, but they just kept coming.
“They’re so persistent for being so small! We don’t have anything like this in the highlands!”
“Insects in the demon lands are made of hardy stuff! I shall retreat for the moment!” Beelzebub dashed into the woods.
I wanted to run, too, but there was no way of telling what’d be waiting among the trees…
I was apparently the strongest person in the world, but I had no idea how I was supposed to deal with these bugs!
No, wait, I guess that was normal. The greatest fighting champion would still get annoyed by bugs swarming them… They were a whole other kind of enemy.
“You’re after the fire, huh? Then how about this wind…?”
I summoned a small tornado.
The wind seemed to work really well, and the bugs were flung away, scattering.
“Yes! More tornadoes, coming up!”
After I had made about five small tornados, the bugs vanished.
“Huff, huff… I feel like this is the first time I’ve used so much magic in a while…”
I really hoped nothing else would come out at us. I hadn’t been physically harmed, but I wanted a little rest after all the psychic damage.
But then the grasses near me started rustling.
What now? A basilisk? Was it coming to check out the commotion?
If it was a massive spider, then I was going to run right back the way we came without thinking twice. That would just be plain scary…
I prepared myself to run at a moment’s notice, waiting for the source of the sound to reveal itself.
What emerged was a huge deer…with Beelzebub riding on its back.
“A more comfortable ride than I had imagined.”
“You came in like the king of the forest!”
Its antlers were absurdly big—they looked like an upside-down chandelier. I wondered if the creature had made a mistake in its evolutionary path or something. And the deer itself was big enough to fit Beelzebub comfortably.
“This species is called the antlers-too-big faildeer.”
“You demons really give these creatures awful names…”
“It can understand us, so ’tis quite handy. I say we use this deer to cross the pass. Nay, I say we head straight for our goal.”
I hadn’t thought of hitching a ride from the local fauna!
But that would be no problem with a deer this size. And most importantly, it wasn’t going to run out of magic and cause us problems along the way…
“There are still more deer. Why don’t you hop on one, Azusa?”
“Well, if you insist…”
I entered the tall grass and found a bunch of deer the size of horses.
I hopped on one, and it didn’t protest. They weren’t so much domesticated as they were friendly.
“Nice. I’m starting to enjoy this.”
I guided the deer toward Beelzebub.
“These deer have learned that if they allow people to ride them, they will get a treat. Perhaps they took a troubled individual out of the pass and into the village and received a nice meal.”
“Judging by their reactions, you might be onto something there.”
Still—
Riding on a deer was a lot of fun.
It was a bit different than a horse. It wasn’t as rocky as the robot kaiju, either. And their round eyes were so cute.
“Deer, take us to Ehock, and I shall get you whatever you and your herd want. I promise this to you as your minister of agriculture.”
It sounded like Beelzebub was making political promises.
I hadn’t thought they’d understand speech, but the deer all gathered together and appeared to deliberate.
“They’re really smart…”
“I suppose only the cleverest were able to survive in such a harsh environment. The foolish ones vanished without receiving any food. The strong eat the weak here.”
That sure was a visceral way to put it…
The deer finally turned to look at us and started nodding vigorously.
“It seems our terms have been accepted.”
“They’re so smart!”
As I watched the deer, I started feeling more and more attached to them.
“Maybe we should continue our journey on the deer, then. I think it’d be a nice way to—”
“No! Changing the rules in the middle of the journey is against the rules!”
A clear voice echoed through the trees. And there was Pecora, earnestly pushing her robot kaiju.
“Oh, hey, Pecora. You finally made it.”
“You were quite slow, Your Majesty. Too slow.”
“Both of you are acting as though this is none of your concern! I was on the verge of tears alone in this dark wood, going uphill, just barely managing to push my artifact! It was so hard and grueling!” Pecora claimed, but…
“That’s not very convincing when you have such a big smile,” I said.
She looked like a mountain climber who had finally conquered the summit.
“That is because I managed to re-create the scene in the book where the artifact comes to a halt in a deserted area, and the main character finds himself in huge trouble~”
She was enjoying this like it was a ride at an amusement park.
“And, Pecora, you didn’t need to struggle to push your artifact up at all. You could have run.”
Beelzebub and I could have done that as well, but seeing as we were waiting for Pecora, we had decided not to. It wouldn’t be easy to meet up again if we got too far ahead.
“No! Normal people cannot run at such a pace! You may not say anything that ruins the atmosphere!”
This demon king sure was being picky about the setting…
“I was so discouraged as I was coming up this hill. I wondered what I would do if I were attacked by bandits.”
“Did I not report to you in the previous land survey that no bandits live here?”
“And there are basilisks and snakes around here, too~”
“I know they would have turned tail the moment they saw you.”
“Stop ruthlessly attacking my fun, Miss Beelzebub!”
Based on her protests, it seemed like Miss Beelzebub had been right on the money.
“This has always been my dream—traveling on an artifact, running out of magic power on a mountain pass…pushing it along a seemingly endless road, at my wits’ end…searching for a light that might suggest civilization, but unable to find it… That is Give Me Some Magic at its best!”
The words tumbled out of Pecora’s mouth at an alarming rate as her eyes glittered.
This girl was basically a nerd on the inside.
“I can’t say I understand, since I haven’t read the book.”
“Then imagine: a story where we reach our destination with no hiccups, no troubles brought on by a lack of magic. It would be quite boring, wouldn’t it? We need bumps along the road.”
“But these hiccups you’ve created are all fake.”
“La-la-la, I can’t hear anything. Now then, let us continue. Let us cry as we push our artifacts through the mountain pass!”
The words cry as we push really didn’t suit her cheerful tone.
“If we go that slowly, it’ll take all night. And besides, the deer are willing to give us a ride.”
“You cannot take a different vehicle! That would be like deciding to ride a dragon partway through a local carriage line journey! It is forbidden! And we cannot leave the artifacts behind!”
She was right—if we left the robot kaiju here, then we’d be leaving them parked (?) in the middle of the road.
“Then I would like you to compromise by allowing us to push the artifacts with our regular strength, Your Majesty. Then we should be able to reach the houses at the bottom of the pass tonight.”
In response, Pecora puffed out her cheeks in defiance.
She was being stubborn this time, as usual.
“No, we cannot use strength beyond that of a normal person. That is against the rules. If we did that, we could just do whatever we wanted. We have to slowly push our artifacts and cry!”
I wasn’t sure if Pecora was a genuine masochist or if she was just a little nerd obsessed with replicating her favorite book to a tee.
But how were we supposed to resolve this situation?
I really didn’t want to be pushing this robot kaiju all night if I could help it.
This was Pecora we were talking about. I could use my position as her elder sister and say You are being way too selfish right now; give us a break! and she’d probably listen to me. That would allow her to experience something straight out of another one of her favorite books.
That said, I didn’t really want to abuse my power as her big sister and force her to listen to me. Such selfishness would be no different from the demon king’s behavior.
At that moment, I sensed something watching us from the grass.
Oh, right.
In that case, we could work this out.
“Hey, Pecora? It’s not a problem if we can charge the artifact lizards and get them up and running again while we’re out here, is it?”
“Of course not.”
Yes, this was going to work out.
“Wait here. I’ll go negotiate. Though, I don’t know if they’ll be able to understand me.”
I waded into the grass.
Once there, I used all the gestures I could think of to communicate with the animals.
The creatures then ran off.
Please understand me. I’m counting on you!
—Ten minutes later, I could hear rustling from all directions.
Basilisks surrounded us. All of them stood on two legs; their front two legs (hands, really) clutching nuts.
They were like smaller monsters who’d come to bring their robot kaiju bosses back to life.
Beelzebub and Pecora were shocked.
“You said that these basilisks have a custom of giving food to their companions, right, Beelzebub? That’s why I decided to make a request,” I said.
“I see. We can use the nuts they give us to charge the artifacts!”
“You negotiated with the deer, so I thought I could do the same with the basilisks.”
With a triumphant look, I turned to Pecora.
“We can charge them with these, right? That isn’t against the rules, is it?”
“Ooh… It is touching to think that the warm hospitality of the locals has allowed us to charge up and overcome the obstacle that is this mountain pass… Very well, I will allow it.”
The locals were basilisks in this case, but they were native to the area, so it should be fine.
“No going back on your word, Your Majesty. Once we pass through with our artifacts, we should be able to stay at an inn at the bottom.”
Beelzebub seemed relieved at the thought of sleeping in a bed.
“Thank you, basilisks! You’re all good little kaiju!” I thanked them all by petting their heads and lifting them in the air like little kids. A normal person wouldn’t be able to do that, but my stats made it easy for me. “I feel like I’m hugging my own kaiju children.”
“I am afraid I do not understand the concept of ‘kaiju.’”
“I guess it refers to these kinds of animals, like basilisks and lizards.”
We filled the robot kaiju with magic by feeding them the nuts the basilisks had given us and once again set off on our way.
But our circumstances had now changed considerably.
“Hey, Beelzebub?” I didn’t think I needed to ask, but I was going to anyway.
“What?”
“There are a lot more of them now, aren’t there…?”
An entire herd of basilisks and deer were following behind us.
“The deer believe they will get good food simply by following us. I suppose they have determined that the contract between us is still valid. Well, food is a small price to pay. I shall buy some for them later.”
“But then why the basilisks? I didn’t ask them to come along. Maybe they’re following us because they’re not happy with us dining and dashing… We’ll have to get them something nice, too…”
“No, they have acknowledged you as ruler of these woods, Azusa. They follow you because they are your vassals.”
“I mean, the demon king herself is right here. Me being the ruler of the woods makes this a little complicated.”
The more the merrier, obviously, but this was kind of a weird group.
“Th-there was a scene in the book where the researcher finds more traveling companions along his journey… So this is all right… I will allow it…”
Pecora’s interpretations were becoming looser and looser.
Once our group started downhill, we immediately sped up and at last reached the village at the foot of the mountain.
We knocked on the door to the village inn. Incidentally, it was Beelzebub who was doing the talking this time.
“Pardon us, but we need a place to stay. We would like several rooms, if possible.”
“Sorry, but it’s late, so we only have one room open.”
Beelzebub glanced behind her. “Her Majesty the Demon King is with us, so get us rooms. We will even accept an unoccupied one in some resident’s abode. Her Majesty will pay.”
“…I—I will do what I can!”
In the end, we got rooms in what was essentially the community center.
The deer and basilisks slept outside the front of the building.
I even got my own room—so I wasn’t sure why Pecora was in my bed…
“Hey, uh, you know the room next door is open, right…?”
“But not having enough rooms and needing to sleep huddled together happened often in the book~ We should be grateful that there is an inn at all~”
Was this about matching the book, or was this just Pecora? I’d never read the book, so I couldn’t be sure.
“Well, whatever. You can stay as long as you don’t move around or talk too much.”
“Aww~ But we should share romantic gossip~ ”
“I don’t have any.”
I stayed on guard, wondering if Pecora was going to try to talk to me, but both of us were exhausted, and we fell asleep right away, so there were no issues.
We all had plenty of physical strength, but it was surprisingly tiring to do something new and different.
The following day, we hopped back on our robot kaiju to continue on toward our goal, the town of Ehock.
Even though we weren’t passing through any big towns, there were a lot of demons on the roadside.
“Did you ask these people to come out here ahead of time, Pecora?” I asked.
“No, not here. I think it is because of that.” Her gaze flitted backward.
The deer and basilisks were still following us.
“I guess that does attract attention…”
Being so noticeable was working in our favor—we received a lot more offerings on day two.
And thanks to that, our robots didn’t run out of magic or cause us any trouble.
“We can go at a leisurely pace and still make it to our destination on day three. I don’t think we’ll have any more trouble from here on out.”
“Oooh! My perfect accident plans were all for naught! I never imagined an unexpected accident would lead to their failure!”
“I feel like you’re regretting the wrong thing, there…”
So she had planned for things to go wrong.
Honestly, if we had kept a careful eye on our magic supply as we’d traveled, our robots wouldn’t have come to a stop on the mountain pass. The characters in the book probably just got into trouble at the most interesting moments for the reader.
“Well, not everything goes to plan when you travel. It’s all right. In fact, I would say that this is the true delight of the journey.”
“Now you’re getting it, Pecora!”
If we thought of the change in our plans as part of the journey, then we could keep going without dragging the mood down.
“We must reward those that are following behind us,” Beelzebub said. Yeah, the deer and basilisks were still happily following along, after all.
“I understand the deer, but I’m surprised that the basilisks can run such a long distance.”
“Weaker animals and monsters cannot thrive here in the demon lands. The strong eat the weak.”
The robot kaiju roared, “Bwaaaaah!”
The basilisks roared back: ““Bwaaaaah!””
“Hey, Beelzebub? Something just occurred to me.”
“What is it? No need to be dramatic, just say it.”
“What if the basilisks think of these lizard artifacts as their ruler, not me? They look similar, too.”
“…I believe you may be correct.”
I liked that possibility more than me becoming the lizard queen, so I hoped it was true.
“Nay, they may consider you the true ruler, since you are atop the lizard.”
“…Urgh. Yeah, you might be right…”
And then came day three.
Pecora’s original plan had us possibly reaching our goal at some point during the day, but we rolled into Ehock before noon.
The surroundings were looking more and more populated, so we dropped our speed. There were people on either side cheering us on.
Among them, I recognized a few people, like Pondeli and Nosonia.
“You’ve made it~!”
“You’re almost there~! I can send you clothes that will wick away sweat later!”
I was genuinely happy to hear so many people cheering for us.
“Thanks, everyone!” I called.
My robot kaiju also roared, “Gwooooh!”
The deer and basilisks cried out in chorus.
Then, just as we were about to cross the finish line, I saw my family and the leviathan sisters waiting for us.
“You have done excellently these past few days, Lady Azusa!”
“You can hop on my back on the way home, and we’ll get to Vanzeld in no time!”
The dragons’ voices rang out clear.
“It’s not like we charted new territory or anything, but I’m really touched,” I said.
“Indeed! This is precisely what drives us forward through the most difficult of journeys!” Pecora said, triumphant.
“Actually, I’m pretty sure you were enjoying the difficult parts the most…”
As Pecora and I chatted—
“Falfa, Shalsha, Sandra! I am home~!”
—Beelzebub was shouting, waving her hands.
“Don’t call my kids’ names before I do! That’s against the rules!”
“No such rule exists!”
As we chatted, we crossed the goal ribbon.
“Yes! We made it!”
My daughters rushed to crowd around me.
“You made it, Mommy! And now you’ve become friends with deer!”
“A sight that has no precedent. How fascinating.”
Thank you, Falfa and Shalsha, for coming to greet me.
“Animals will group up with other animals, I see. Well done.”
Lastly, Sandra greeted me from a plant’s perspective.
And so concluded our journey atop weird artifacts that constantly ran out of power.
The deer and basilisks that accompanied us to the goal were given the highest quality ingredients from the agricultural ministry.
It wouldn’t do if you started living here, so go back home, guys!
But even after returning to the house in the highlands, I had side effects from the trip.
“Madam Teacher, you have been bouncing your knee quite vigorously. They say that brings financial ruin, and I’m trying to run a company. Please rein it in if you can…”
It was Halkara who pointed it out to me.
“Was I doing it again? Sheesh, I was on that rocky artifact for three days straight, so I guess I need some movement to stay calm.”
It took me almost a week to stop bouncing my knee.
If I got the chance, I would have to go and thank the deer and basilisks for all their help.
No Comments Yet
Post a new comment
Register or Login