I was worn out after my fierce battle with Kaori, but regardless of that, I suppressed them.
After defeating them all, Kaori asked.
“Did you kill them?”
“No, I’ve thought about it a little.”
“Perhaps, that just now was the 『striking with the back of the sword…… 』thing?”
Kaori asked excitedly, but with an odd little playfulness in between.
“If I strike with the back of this sword, it will break.”
It’s a relic of the first generation; it’s physically a mass-produced sword.
If it’s not a technique, but a strike with a sword’s back―― if I hit it with all my might, it will definitely break off.
“But more importantly, what will you do about these guys?”
Changing the subject, I ask Kaori about the treatment of those who survived.
“What do you mean by what am I going to do to them?”
“Are you going to execute them? This is a rebellion, you know.”
“I won’t do that”
“You won’t?”
I was a little surprised.
Even though she is the Demon king.
“I’ve been saying it for a long time now. My mother ordered me not to mingle with politics, and I should not interfere with people of lower rank.”
“Eh? Is this about these guys who rebelled?”
“Yes.”
Kaori nodded.
“That is…… why?”
“It’s all right. I am the Demon King, and I should be unmoved by anything ordinary people do. I’m still recovering, and by the time these guys wake up, I can hum and stomp through everything.”
“I see”
“……”
“Kaori?”
For some reason, Kaori is silent and is staring at me.
When I stared back at her the same way, she opened her mouth with a solemn look on her face.
“I’m telling you this because we’re friends who have hit it off, and the truth is, I’m a little annoyed. It’s irritating to have bugs buzzing around you.”
“It’s annoying huh”
“That’s right. But I must abide my mother’s instructions.”
“……”
At this moment, a switch flipped inside me.
For some time now ―― the stuff that I had accumulated in the puddle of being the lord of Canoe exploded.
I didn’t like Kaori’s current situation, where she couldn’t do what she wanted to do.
So I thought about it.
I think about it a lot, and then put those thoughts together.
“Hey Kaori. How old are you?”
“Hmm? Nephew-chan is wondering how old I am? I don’t remember my age from about a hundred years ago.”
“Are you an adult?”
“Muh! That’s rude. I am a respectable adult!”
Kaori puffed out her cheeks and stuck out her chest so much that it warped.
Because of that, the sadness that she lacks breasts was emphasized―― I didn’t go through with it because it would be derailed.
“I can’t see that”
“You’re rude! Certainly, I’m a little short in stature……”
“That’s not it. I just thought that despite being an adult, you didn’t seem to have separated much from your parents at all.”
“Separated from parents…… is it?”
“That’s right. Adults need to be separated from their parents, and children who aren’t able to look like adults, that is the worst.”
“……Is it true?”
“Ah, it’s true”
“…… wait a minute.”
Kaori said that, and suddenly kyuin! She leaped.
Her tremendous flight, disappearing in an instant beyond the twilight, is truly that of a demon king.
“So you’ve recovered that much already……”
Just as she herself had declared, even if the incompetent and his men are resurrected, they won’t be able to do anything.
It’s like that, I think.
“I’m back.”
“Hiyah!”
She came back from the direction she had flown, just as fast as she had gone.
“Where have you been?”
“I asked servant no. 810. It was as nephew-chan said, adults are supposed to separate from their parents. …… Rather, she was taken aback, 『You didn’t know about it? 』”
For a moment, Kaori was a little shaken and depressed.
I don’t know who she is, but she seems to be the type of person who is very outspoken.
Well, whatever.
“It’s just like I said, right?”
“But how do I become separated from my parents? My father and mother are no longer in this world now.”
“I’m sure that if they were still in this world, you wouldn’t become the Demon King. Yes, it’s normal to go beyond what your parents tell you to do.”
“That’s right. It’s no good to rebel at all. That’s just rebellion, it’s just what a fifteen- or sixteen-year-old kids do.”
“Wait a minute.”
Kaori goes kyuin! again and flew away.
No. 810 again, that’s what I thought so I waited for a while and she came right back.
“It’s true. Based on no. 810, it’s children who are allowed to play pranks and revolt.”
No. 810 is radical but it seems like she’s a person of common sense.
“Right? So don’t just rebel. You have to think and go beyond what you have been previously told.”
“What do you mean by previously?”
Kaori honestly asked for an answer.
This is, this is a little problematic, but I think it’s okay to talk with simple things for now.
“Don’t touch humans at all costs, but think for yourself whether it’s fine to do so or not. For example, to wage war on a human nation for no reason ――”
The teacher feeling like a student, I urge Kaori to answer.
“It’s probably not”
“Yup And, how does the king punish the rebels?”
“In a normal way!”
Paah ―― Kaori’s face breaks into a smile.
“Yes, if you’re in the position of a king, it’s only natural to execute rebels. If you don’t, you’ll be ridiculed, and above all, the same things will happen one after another, and the country will not be stable.”
“I see!”
Kaori turned to the fainted incompetent and the others.
Then, after she raised her hand slowly, she swung it down.
Immediately after that, with just that one swing, everyone’s heads and torsos parted apart.
As expected of the Demon King, that was a terrifyingly fast handsword.
Death penalty, huh, well, that’s a fitting punishment for someone who plotted treason.
“Thank you! Nephew-chan made me feel a little better.”
“Is that so, well, that’s good to hear.”
“I will continue to execute more and more rebels.”
I feel like I opened a door that I shouldn’t have, so I’m going to follow up a bit.
“Executions are fine, but make sure you reward your subordinates for a job well done.”
“It’s all fine. I give all my servants a mansion and their own servants.”
“They’re treated like aristocrats even though they’re servants, huh.”
Well, they’re servants of the Demon King, so isn’t that how it’s supposed to be?
“Thank you!”
After thanking me with a big smile, Kaori stared at me with upturned eyes.
“What’s wrong?”
“Nephew-chan, please become no. 1025.”
“No. 1025…… Ah, you mean your servant.”
Kaori nodded.
A servant, huh…… Well, looking at her interaction with no. 1024 and no. 810, it seems that although they are a servant, they are someone who can be relied upon in a specific area.
I thought so, but I was afraid of making a mistake, so I asked just in case.
“You mean you want someone to talk to about parental separation?”
“That’s right”
Apparently, my guess was correct.
Well, if that’s what she was talking about.
“It’s fine”
“Really! Yay, I did it!”
Kaori was so happy that she jumped up and down on the spot.
“Then, I’ll let everyone know. See you later.”
Kaori disappeared beyond the sky with a kiyuin again, still with that tension.
I waited for a while, but she didn’t come back, so I decided that was it for today, and I went home too.
☆
A few days later, in the royal capital of Retim.
I was summoned to the royal palace and was alone with His Majesty the King in the garden.
“As expected of sensei, thanks to you, the battle with the Demon King’s army was averted.”
“No, I’m the one who started it all.”
“A messenger from Comotoria will arrive tomorrow. Did sensei bring formal attire? If you don’t have it, we’ll prepare it for you.”
“I didn’t bring it with me, but…… formal attire?”
“Formal attire”
“……for what”
It is nothing but a hunch.
I had a very bad feeling and sweat ran down my back.
“You became the Demon King’s special advisor, didn’t you? I’m still trying to figure out what she means by “men who hit each other under the railroad bridge and twilight.”, though”
“A,ah…… it’s that thing, huh. Yes, I have become. Why do I need to wear formal attire?”
“By virtue of being a special advisor, sensei will be given a title of unassigned rank. To be honest, I’m a little jealous that they took my sensei, but if that means we can avoid fighting the Demon King in the future, then I have nothing but gratitude to you.”
“……Ha?”
What’s that, supposed to mean?
A title for me…… Eh?
“What does that mean ……”
“I’ve heard that it’s a Grand Duke. It is not in the Aegina system, but you can think of it as the equivalent of a prime minister, above a Duke.”
“That’s not what I meant, and it’s the best all at once!”