Now I'm a Demon Lord! Happily Ever After with Monster Girls in My Dungeon: Volume 8 E-Book

Ryuyu

• Herausgeber: J-Novel Club
• Kategorie: Gesellschafts- und Liebesromane
• Serie: Now I'm a Demon Lord! Happily Ever After with Monster Girls in My Dungeon
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2024

Seitenzahl: 351

Beschreibung

Reborn in another world as a demon lord, Yuki is off on another adventure. This time, he’s taking part in a dungeon conquest at Nell’s invitation. He heads to their destination with half a mind to sightsee when he spies a ghost ship floating in the ocean!

With his new mace in hand, he and his allies fight off the wraiths, skeletons, and other varieties of undead monsters infesting the ship. And then, they finally come face-to-face with the enemy demon lord. But their opponent is a powerful dark magic user capable of launching attacks that inflict debuffs?! In order to defeat the enemy demon lord, Yuki will have to unleash his secret, explosive spirit magic!

Leseprobe

Prologue: Form

Zaien—En—scrutinized her hands intently in silence. No matter how often she inspected her human form, it never failed to intrigue her. These things that looked like hands were temporary. Unlike her master, they weren’t real.

Like her, Shii, a slime, had merely transformed herself such that she took on a human form. Yet En suspected that her body was more akin to the dolls the wraith girls possessed. The only difference was that hers appeared much more realistic.

However, temporary though her vessel was, she felt warmth whenever she touched others. The sensation filled her heart, leaving her feeling nice and warm. For example, when she held hands with her master. Through her palm, she undoubtedly experienced something more than just the information a normal sense of touch would communicate. It went beyond mere physical contact.

Another example was when she played with the children here until she grew tired. At the end of such days, an indescribable feeling of satisfaction combined with the tiredness enveloping her whole body.

She could say the same of food as well. There was no real need for her to consume anything, but she experienced such supreme bliss when she ate the ovine young woman’s cooking that she felt as if she would float straight up to heaven.

It made En quite happy that even a puppet body like hers could provide such wonderful sensations, different from the powerful sense of satisfaction she felt when her master used her as his sword and allowed her to demonstrate what she thought of as her reason for existence. She found it very intriguing indeed.

According to her master, people used their brains to think, judge, and experience. But in addition to her original form being completely different from a person’s, she would be classified as an inorganic substance as well. Thus, the fact that she could do the same things as people indicated that, at the very least, her brain wasn’t the sole center of her senses.

In short, it was likely a matter of how the mind worked. For living beings, the vessels themselves mattered far less than what they contained: the ability to judge based on the intelligence and spirit within. Or so she theorized, anyway.

Phrased another way, it was the soul that mattered. The soul was something all life-forms possessed. Despite the vast physical differences between creatures, there was a strong possibility that the structure of the soul itself was surprisingly similar for all of them.

This thought was particularly strong for En when she looked at Shii and the wraith sisters. She wondered if that could be applied to Rir and the other pets too. They all had an organ corresponding to a brain, but since they looked so different from anthropoid species, it was hard to believe that they sensed things with just their brains. After all, they were still able to laugh, enjoy themselves, and be affected by emotions in the same way as people.

She had suddenly broached this very topic with her master once. When she had, he’d smiled ruefully and gently patted the head of her doll-like body.

“You’ve sure got a lot on your mind, huh, En?”

Do I really? Hmm. Perhaps I do. All she could do in her original form was think, so thinking had probably become a habit for her over time.

“I’m not smart like you, En, so I don’t really get difficult stuff like that. But I think you can solve that mystery yourself eventually. I feel like you’ve definitely got the makings of a researcher already.”

“Like...Leila?”

“Yup, exactly like her. The way you see the world is a little different from the way people see it, so who knows, you might become one of those outstanding scholars who leaves her mark on history. Even if you don’t, I bet you’d still be interested in that kind of research, right?”

“I...don’t know.”

He roared with laughter upon hearing her response.

“Ha ha ha! I should’ve known you’d say that. Well, regardless of what the future holds, En, all you have to do is live your life the way you want to, doing the things you like.”

“I...want to be with you, Master.”

“Yeah, me too. But it’s absolutely okay to have a lot of dreams too. There’s a whole lotta stuff in this world, and you don’t have to rush thinking about your future while you learn about all those things. You’ve got all the time in the world, y’know.”

Many things in the world. She knew how big this world was and the fact that it contained a variety of things. She had experienced it firsthand. Or...perhaps not. Because it hadn’t been very long since she became able to walk on her own two feet, there was still so much she didn’t know about compared to others.

I wonder how big the world really is, then.

“Lefifi...?”

“Hmm? What is it, En?”

The lazing dragon girl replied to her question in a gentle tone.

“How big...is the world?”

En had asked her because out of everyone living in this labyrinth, she would be the most likely to know. The girl considered her words thoughtfully.

“Mm. A difficult question indeed. Not only is it difficult to describe in words, but I am certain the answer will change depending on who you ask as well.”

With that preface, she began to give a proper response.

“How best to answer... Well, I have seen much in my days alone. But as immense as the world is, to the me of that time, it was narrow and gray. I could not help feeling constrained. Thus, I first truly felt the expanse of the world after coming here. As tiny as it is, to me, this place represents the big, wide world itself, stretching endlessly.”

“Wide...and narrow, narrow and wide.”

Words like a riddle. Yet for some exceedingly strange reason, En understood what she wanted to say. When she had been nothing more than a cursed magic blade, only despair colored her world. However, every day now felt vivid. Compared to her life then, her world now overflowed with so many different colorful shades.

“I...know how you feel.”

“Gah ha! I see, I see. In that case, you, too, should be able to perceive how vast this world is now, En. As long as you are aware of that knowledge, you can do anything.”

“Any...thing?”

“Indeed. Anything. I know very well how much you cherish being able to attain your greatest ambition as a weapon. Even so, through your own will, you have finally achieved that form, which allows you to stand on two legs. It is for that reason that you should consider what deeds you can accomplish using your feet. The road ahead is endless. Learn and feel as much as you can.”

The dragon girl wore a broad smile as she said all that. It was the kind of smile that made En think, This is what a mother must be like.

Things I can do using my feet.

After reflecting in silence for a bit, En responded.

“I want...to walk while eating yummy food.”

Lefi’s eyes widened momentarily before she let out a merry laugh.

“Gah ha ha! Is that so? Walking and eating, eh? What a superb notion. It does indeed sound sublime to wander the world and sample its many flavors. Since it is you we are talking about, I am confident such a feat can be accomplished.”

“You...should come with me, Lefifi.”

“Heh heh. I must admit, the idea is appealing. We shall enjoy a multitude of cuisines together, then instruct Leila on how to cook them.”

“Yes... That sounds wonderful. Leila will make them taste even yummier.”

“Indeed, for her genius knows no bounds. Upon further consideration, however, we need not do things in such a roundabout way. It will be much faster if we take her and everyone else along on our travels.”

“That...will be so much fun. I can’t wait.”

“I, too, am looking forward to it. We must consider our plans carefully after discussing this with the others.”

Their conversation on the topic continued for a long time.

Live my life the way I want to, doing the things I like.

En realized that she might have been overthinking things a bit. There had been no need for her to brood so deeply when she’d known all along that living with her master and everyone else was the answer. It was what she wanted to do, what she liked, and what made her the happiest. If she could do that, she didn’t need anything else.

Maybe, just maybe, everyone in the dungeon was of the same mind. They influenced each other, connected, and resonated. Perhaps the harmony created by their bonds was the true essence of comfort.

Or maybe, on the contrary, they were like the pieces of a puzzle. Though each took on a different form, they all joined together neatly to make a complete picture. The beauty of that image might have been what she felt resounding in her heart.

Whatever the case, she understood clearly that the differences between vessels had little to do with connecting with others. What was inside mattered the most. That was the reason everyone here could live together so peacefully despite being so outwardly diverse.

This thing called life is so wondrous and intriguing. Such a thought flashed unbidden through her mind.

Chapter 1: To the Dungeon

One day, not long after Nell and Ilyr had gone back to the royal capital, Iluna was teaching me how to use the Spirit Magic that the Spirit Emperor had bestowed upon me.

“Uhhh... Spin around me, please.”

The pale, floating orbs of light surrounding me—the spirits I’d summoned—acted to obey my command. They immediately lined up in an orderly fashion and started moving like a unified organism, spinning around me.

“Yes! That’s it! Amazing, Yukiki! I can’t believe how fast you’re learning!”

“It’s all ’cause I have such a great teacher. Thanks to you, even an idiot like me can pick it up easily.”

“Hee hee hee. You reeeally think so?”

Iluna smiled bashfully at me. How precious.

So, the spirits could do a bunch of different things. First, their most fundamental ability lay in determining whether a target was good or evil. They had apparently acquired it as a means of survival since spirits were a weak species. For as long as I’d known her, Iluna had always seemed to know if she was in danger or not, and as it turned out, the reason she could make that judgment was because she borrowed the spirits’ power.

Next, there were different spirit classifications, which determined the magic that could be used. Simply put, just like regular magic, spirits had attributes—Fire Spirits could use fire magic, Water Spirits could use water magic, and so on. As a result, their environment affected their abilities. Like, while Fire Spirits couldn’t demonstrate their powers in a watery environment, they could show them off to their full extent in a volcano.

One of the advantages of using spirits to release magic was that it let you utilize all magical attributes. To use myself as an example, the very first time I’d tried to use fire magic, I’d ended up scorching some of my hair. To this day, I could barely produce a bigger flame than you’d get from a match, so there was no way I was using fire magic in combat. But by enlisting a Fire Spirit’s aid, it was possible for me to unleash fire magic with solid offensive capabilities.

To put it another way, spirits made you an all-rounder, regardless of your strength or weakness with any of the magical affinities. The power of this magic depended on the spirits’ magical energy. Except the spirits themselves didn’t possess that much magical energy, so they couldn’t release any kind of astonishingly strong magic on their own. The only way they could do so was by using external magical energy, meaning that you had to transfer your own into them.

“Okay, I need to think of a good name... Got it. Ifrita, come forth.”

At my command, a few of the Fire Spirits gathered together after accepting my magical energy and coalesced into a blaze resembling a woman. Ooooh. Pretty dang good for my first try.

The humanoid blaze I’d dubbed Ifrita floated there as naturally as she pleased. She didn’t even check her own appearance despite having been brought into creation for the first time in this form. The number of Fire Spirits that had combined to make her exist was proportional to the amount of magical energy I’d given them.

Fusion robots probably made for the closest analogy. Those had multiple parts that combined to form a single, powerful robot, and the same thing happened here, just with spirits. This particular fusion spirit consisted only of Fire Spirits since they were the ones I’d given the command to.

Speaking of fusion robots—no, sorry, fusion spirits. On that subject, just like with elemental magic, the form the fusion spirit could take depended on the user’s imagination and the amount of magical energy transferred. The spirits and I had had a telepathic conversation about it.

“Can you look like this?” I’d asked them.

“We can!” they’d responded.

And that was how Ifrita’d ended up with her current appearance. The term “Ifrita” had immediately popped into my head when I’d thought about spirits of fire just as a general thing. I hated to admit it, but that might’ve been a sign that my mind had been poisoned... Well, regardless, the important thing was choosing something easy to understand and imagine. I’d stick to Ifrita’s image from now on whenever I fused the Fire Spirits.

Also, a fusion would fail if the amount of energy I gave to the spirits wasn’t enough to create what I was visualizing. Iluna had said that it was difficult to get the knack for measuring the right amount, so the best spirit users were supposedly the ones who could pass their powers to the spirits consistently and manipulate them however they wanted.

She herself had apparently failed at fusing spirits plenty of times. That made sense to me, though, seeing as she was still a kid. The amount of magical energy she possessed was appropriate for someone so young, so she couldn’t transfer much of it to the spirits in the first place. I was pretty sure that as she grew up, her ability to control the spirits would naturally improve.

“Ifrita. Can you face that way and try out an attack?”

The Fused Fire Spirit Ifrita nodded and turned toward the empty part of the meadow area I was pointing at. She thrust out both arms, and in the next moment, a fireball made a booming sound as it flew off at a tremendous speed. Then, it suddenly burst in midair, leaving behind an explosive roar.

“Whoooa... What a shocker. I did not expect the attack to be so powerful...”

“That surprised me too!”

For some reason, the exploding flames had looked quite lovely to me. Almost like fireworks. When I praised her, Ifrita smiled happily and spun around cheerfully. These spirits are so cute, just like little kids.

The nice thing about her was that she attacked automatically. I didn’t have to tell her what to do; I just set the target and she took care of the rest. In other words, if I created several fusion spirits in advance, I could use several kinds of magic at once. Plus, Ifrita had just shown that she had some major offensive strength. Thinking of her as a self-supporting mobile turret meant a huge increase in power.

Seriously appreciate the nice gift, Spirit Emperor. Then, I thanked the spirits and told them they were free to leave for the day. They danced around me as if saying, “Call on us again soon!” before vanishing into thin air.

“What do you think, Yukiki? The spirits are cute, huh?!”

“Yup, they sure are.”

It hadn’t been long since I’d thought of them as kids, but it might’ve been more accurate to describe them as innocent or pure because they listened to me without giving off even a hint of distrust. Having said that, though, it seemed that spirits lacked basically any will of their own. As beings who existed through the medium of magic, the only thing that mattered to them was whether or not their habitat was comfortable. Given that their users provided the abundant magical power they used as energy to live, it made sense that they obeyed orders so docilely.

The Spirit Emperor, who used to be an ordinary spirit, was capable of speech just like other races. But considering that old man’s Calamity-level designation, his existence might as well have been in a league of its own.

That reminded me that the dungeon had leveled up thanks to the Spirit Emperor, meaning my stats had changed too. They looked like this now:

Name: Yuki

Race: Demon Lord

Class: Demon Dragon King of Judgment

Level: 152

HP: 26,714 / 26,714

MP: 31,061 / 31,061

Strength: 3,391

Stamina: 4,290

Agility: 3,904

Magic: 5,173

Dexterity: 5,594

Luck: 92

Ability Points: 18

Special Abilities: Demon Eyes, Polyglot, Flight, Indomitability, Ruler’s Might, Spirit Magic

Abilities: Inventory, Analysis 10, Unarmed Combat 6, Elemental Magic 7, Stealth 6, Scout 6, Swordsmanship 5, Weapon Enhancement 6, Sorcerer’s Grant 10, Traps 4, Greatswordsmanship 7, Camouflage 5, Danger Detection 6, Dance 3, Awareness Priming 1

Titles: The Demon Lord from Another World, The Supreme Dragon’s Owner, The Adjudicator, Enemy of Humanity, One Who Defies Death, Demon King of Dragonkind, The Supreme Dragon’s Consort, One Acknowledged by the Spirit Emperor

Dungeon Points (DP): 160,840

Compared to before, I leveled up at a much slower rate now. I’d reached the point where it took quite a bit of time to go from one level to the next. But considering that I was only a year and several months old, my leveling speed was insanely high. And despite the fact that my level hadn’t increased too much, my stats themselves had gone up a good deal, which was probably because the Spirit Emperor had shared power with me.

That said, on closer inspection, I didn’t see much of a difference in my current stats versus my previous ones. I had enough self-awareness to realize how numb I was growing to the numbers as they went up over time. It wasn’t like they even mattered since they were still nowhere close to Lefi’s. Every last one was insignificant compared to hers. So, with that in mind, I didn’t give two shits about my current stat values.

I did have one new special ability in the form of Spirit Magic. Y’know, the thing I’d used earlier. It made me happy whenever I gained a special ability.

The same went for normal abilities. I’d gotten Awareness Priming as a drop when I’d had Nell do those loot rolls. I wanted to test it out as soon as possible.

An additional title had been added too: One Acknowledged by the Spirit Emperor. I guessed that whatever system was responsible for titles recognized it because I’d been given the power to handle spirits.

“All right, now that I’m done learning the gist of spirit magic and its capabilities...”

There was only one thing for me to do after gaining new abilities. Drumroll, please... Monster hunting!

◇ ◇ ◇

“Okay, lookin’ good, everyone! Surround it, just like that!”

Obeying my instructions, my pets maintained a careful distance while positioning themselves around our opponent—a bear with a thick, spiked carapace covering its whole body, kinda like how a human would wear protective gear. It was called a Panzer Ursa.

Though it was twice my height, there were plenty of monsters in the Demonic Forest way bigger than this one, so you could call a creature its size the norm here. After all, size equaled strength in these parts. Never mind the fact lots of small, powerful monsters existed in the Forest as well.

Among the monsters inhabiting the western area, it was faster to count a Panzer Ursa from the bottom of the hierarchy in terms of stats. But it was still incredibly strong by nature. Anyone who underestimated it would wind up dead.

Mr. Bear watched my pets with an intense, wary gaze as they surrounded him. Too bad your real enemy is me.

“Sorry for ruining your little chill sesh, Mr. Bear. Just think of this as bad luck and give up. Leviathan, come forth!”

In response to my shout, numerous spirits gathered together in one spot after accepting the huge amount of magic I gave to them. Then, finally, what appeared was a massive “dragon” with fins and scales like a fish. It resembled the water dragons I always used, its snakelike body similar to that of an eastern dragon. But unlike my water dragons sporting their singular shade of blue, this one was incomparably large and boasted a variety of colors. In short, it looked a whole lot like a real dragon.

“Mwa ha ha ha! Meet Leviathan, born of my Transcendental Spirit Fusion technique!”

Explanation time! The Transcendental Spirit Fusion technique involved assembling many spirits together, pouring a generous amount of demon lord magic into the formation, and creating a powerful fusion spirit made up of a composite of elemental attributes!

To no one’s surprise, “water” was my strongest elemental affinity, which explained why Water Spirits attached themselves to me in greater numbers than any other type did. My affinity was also the reason more of my magical energy ended up going to Water Spirits too. Essentially, water was my fundamental attribute.

However! Because Leviathan was a combination of several spirit types, including fire, earth, wind, and dark, the magic it could use wasn’t limited to water magic alone! Meaning it could unleash numerous attacks! Thanks to that, though, it took half of my magical energy. Not that I was bothered at all!

“Keh keh keh! Whaddya think of this, ya wild beast?! Be afraid! Be very afraid of my magnificent— Bwaaah?!”

Once it’d figured out that I was the one controlling the fusion spirit, the bear moved in a very shrewd, unbearlike way to attack me, cutting off my speech halfway through. I rushed to dodge it in response. The spot where I’d been standing only seconds earlier ended up smashed apart by the asshole bear’s savage punch.

“Goddammit! It’s not fair to cut a dude off while he’s warming up his monologue!”

Okay, to be fair, fairness wasn’t really the issue here. It was only natural that the monster had attacked me while I’d been spouting off nonsense in my excitement. Still, my irrational anger seeped into my voice as I ordered the fusion spirit, like I was a certain princess commanding a giant, rotten soldier against a swarm of attacking insects.

“Mow it down!”

Obviously, it wasn’t as powerful as Lefi’s Dragon Roar, but the breath Leviathan unleashed was strong enough to change the nearby terrain. Just like the villain monster from a monster movie, it destroyed its surroundings while repeatedly firing its breath attack. Then, it proceeded to go wild, its huge body felling trees as it continued to launch super heavy attacks at the damn bear. A relentless barrage of attacks.

Except Leviathan’s opponent was a monster from the western part of the Forest. It’d gotten its left arm blown off from one of the attacks landed by my fusion spirit, but that was the only substantive hit. All the others had only scratched it. Having lost none of its fighting spirit, the monster snapped its jaws ferociously at Leviathan, counterattacking with its thick muscles. But it didn’t see me coming.

“En!”

“Yes!”

I cut around it and swung En down toward its neck. By the time it finally noticed us and tried to evade with its sharp reflexes, it was already too late. I felt a moment of resistance when her blade made contact with its armored skin, but I bore down with all my might and forced it through, causing its head to fall off with a dramatic spray of blood. The headless body landed on the ground with a heavy thud, then it went motionless.

“Its HP is down to zero too. Very nice. Excellent work.”

I nodded in satisfaction as I stared down at the dead monster while shaking off the gore clinging to En.

The monsters in the western part of the Forest were no joke. No matter how many simultaneous attacks you unleashed or how many invisible attacks you mixed in, they detected them, avoided them all, and even counterattacked. Despite this reality, there was a good reason the shithead bear hadn’t noticed me until right before I’d sent it off to the next world: my skillful combo use of Stealth and Awareness Priming, the new ability I’d acquired not long ago.

With the latter, I’d forced its attention away from me for a moment, then taken that opening to activate Stealth so I could sneak up on it. Since I’d had Leviathan with me this time around, my fusion spirit had wound up attracting most of the damn bear’s attention. So even at level 1, Awareness Priming worked well enough for me to successfully remove my existence from its consciousness.

Heh heh heh. I’m one step closer to becoming a ninja in this other world. Someday soon, I’ll plant the fear of ninjutsu into the residents here and make them scream in terror, “Ahhh! A ninja?! A ninja, you say?!”

“Ahhh...shoot and damn. Not everything’s gonna go my way, huh?”

Though Leviathan had taken half my total magic, it must’ve consumed a good amount of it solely on maintaining its enormous size, because as far as I could tell, the spirits had started returning to their original forms one by one on account of running out of my magic in this battle alone. The fusion spirit was unmistakably powerful, but it was also unstable when used like this. While I liked how flashy it was, I wasn’t a fan of its terrible fuel consumption rate.

I needed to come up with a better way to make it a viable asset usable in successive battles in the Demonic Forest instead of just against one opponent. Maybe downsizing it? In any case, I was happy about having added yet another ace up my sleeve to my arsenal. It undoubtedly strengthened my hand.

“Mmkay, on to the next monst— Wait, what? Did you...change a little?”

My gaze was focused on one of my pets—the giant, bloodred serpent, Orochi. At my words, he smiled ruefully, as if saying, “Oh, you didn’t realize, hm?” Well, saying “smiled ruefully” was more a figure of speech than anything else. There wasn’t much change in his facial expression on account of him being a snake.

“Whoa, hold up. Orochi, you evolved!”

I’d only just realized. When before, Orochi’s race had been Giant Blood Serpent, it was now Crimson Evil Serpent King. Race evolution. Based on what I could see of his data, while he hadn’t learned any new skills, his skill levels had sure increased. His stats were way up too.

W-Well, he definitely has new parts on his body. What looked to be a coxcomb and a bunch of spikes. Plus his bloodred coloring seemed much deeper too. But, like, when the heck did this even happen? I basically let Rir manage the pets, so I’d never even noticed until now.

“Grr...”

“N-No, I mean, I definitely saw the coxcomb, but I just figured he was in that phase of life where he wanted to be stylish or something...”

Rir shook his head in exasperation like he was saying, “Really? You can’t be serious...”

Y-You can’t blame me for thinking that, though. The monsters in the Demonic Forest could easily camouflage themselves or change their appearances. I’d just kinda assumed that even Orochi could grow himself a coxcomb if he tried hard enough.

“Ahem... I-I see. Well, I’m happy for you, Orochi. You look really cool like that. Right, then. You’re the only one who’s evolved racially as of now, huh?”

I glossed over my idiocy by patting Orochi’s body. While I spoke, I checked my other pets’—Yata, Byaku, and Seimi—info as they drew closer and surrounded me. I was right. Though they’d grown too, Orochi was the only one who’d undergone race evolution. In hindsight, it made sense, considering his job as the main tank in combat. Since he faced off against opponents directly, he would level up a lot faster than the other three.

However, according to Rir, the others would also evolve soon enough. That’s exciting. I decided that I’d celebrate all four of them at once when the time came.

“Hell yeah! This is what I’m talking about! Keep up the great work, guys! Evolve into sinister, powerful underlings fit for a demon lord!”

After that, we’d devoted ourselves to monster hunting for a while. I’d headed home right around the time it’d started getting dark.

“Yuki... You are an adult, are you not? Pray tell, then, why you return covered in mud even though you were not playing with the children.”

“Jeez, chill, I’m sorry.”

I apologized meekly to Lefi, who stared at my mud-covered frame in exasperation. There wasn’t anything else I could do because she’d been helping with the household chores for some time now.

“B-But listen. Getting some dirt and stuff on me was inevitable, y’know? A natural consequence of fighting to the death against the monsters of the Demonic Forest.”

“Yes, I understand that. However, that is not the issue. When I see my husband come home looking like...well, like a small child plastered with mud, the sight rouses complicated feelings within me.”

She smiled wryly before continuing.

“In any case, go and take a bath first, Yuki.”

“Yes, ma’am. Oh, you wanna tag along too, En?”

My sword girl had changed into her human form, silently telling me she wanted to take a bath too. So I took her with me. We grabbed a change of clothes, and just as we were about to head to the inn, Lefi suddenly called out to me again.

“Um... Shall I wash your back for you today?”

“Huh? Wh-Why? Wh-Where’s this coming from?”

My reply was flustered. It wasn’t uncommon for us to bathe together, but this was definitely the first time she’d offered to wash my back. More often than not, she ordered me to wash hers.

“No particular reason, really. We have some time until dinner, so I thought I would extend the offer. As well, I deemed it appropriate to reward you for your efforts today since you seem tired.”

“Oh, yeah? Thanks. Now tell me the real reason.”

“I wish to eat unusual confections.”

Phew. Glad to know you’re the same as always. You’ll get your goods after bath time.

◇ ◇ ◇

In the meadow area.

“Ready or not, here I come, Lefiii!!!”

“I am always ready, Yukiii!!!”

I postured dramatically, then, with that roar, swung my arm using all the strength my demon lord body could muster. It moved flexibly like a whip as I threw the object in my hand: a ball. Lefi opened her eyes wide to keep her attention squarely on the round thing racing toward her in a straight, laser-like arc.

“Take this!”

She swung the bat she held with both hands in a magnificent display of power. To say that it sliced through the air was an understatement. The tremendous force of her swing reminded me of a vacuum wave attack from a certain battle monster series. There was just one small issue, though. She whiffed.

Her timing and positioning had been so off that the bat had never even touched the ball. I couldn’t help being impressed by how spectacularly she’d missed her mark.

“Wh-What?! How is this possible?! As I have such keen eyesight, I should have struck it perfectly!”

“Pffft. C’mon, now, Mrs. Lefi. I heard you shout, ‘Take this!’ didn’t I? So how come you didn’t even graze the ball? What gives?”

“S-Silence!”

Cheeks pink, she shouted at me.

I had no doubt her eyes were good enough to have seen the seams on the ball as it’d hurtled toward her. That was a big plus on her end. But seeing a ball and being able to hit it with a bat were two very different issues!

“Cheese Louise. I guess the only thing you’ve got goin’ for ya is your power, huh?”

“Wha— Grr... I shall wipe off that insufferable expression from your face! Just you watch!”

Rir, our ball boy, picked up the ball with his mouth and brought it back to me. I took it from him while taunting Lefi with a shit-eating grin.

Speaking of my buddy Rir, I could tell by the look on his face that he had a lot of thoughts on the current situation. But the way his tail wagged energetically made it clear that he wasn’t exactly displeased by his job of fetching the ball, so I knew I was in the clear. For now, anyway.

I had to say, it felt damn freaking good to see Lefi so pissed off. I’d invited her to play baseball with me because I was bored, but who’da thunk things would turn out so well for me?

“Hmph! One more time! This thing you call baseball, it is a best of three contest, yes?”

“Yeah, I guess. I’ll make the calls since you can’t.”

I wouldn’t be able to make the right calls anyway because I’d never actually played baseball myself. This was why the balls I threw were straight down the middle. I wasn’t skilled enough to execute any of the fancy throws or change the course of the ball either, so we’d just have a do-over for any bad pitches I made.

“Good luck, Lady Lefifi!”

“Good luck!”

We had a number of spectators watching this game. There were Iluna and Shii, who were cheering as loud as they could, and the wraith sisters, who were raising the hands of the dolls they possessed high in the air in a show of support since they couldn’t speak. En would usually be here too, but she’d wanted to play shogi with Leila, so she’d decided to stay in the real throne room today.

“Watch what is to come next closely, wee lasses! I shall transform this imbecile’s sneer into tears!”

“Oh, reeeally?! I’ma hold you to that, then! Can’t wait!”

With that, I took up a pitcher’s stance and threw the ball as hard as I could. The way I am now, I know for a fact that my pitches are much faster than ones thrown by the best major leaguers of all time.

Lefi opened her eyes wide again, staring fixedly at the ball. This time, she swung at the right moment—and set off my Danger Detection!

“Nuuuooooo?!”

Her bat made a beautiful cracking sound as it met the ball. Incidentally, the hit sent it flying straight toward my head. Thanks to my ability reacting, I was just barely, by the skin of my goddamn teeth, able to move my body in time to catch the lightning-fast ball right in front of my face. The impact on my palm was so ridiculously heavy that it felt like I’d been hit by a cannonball. I wouldn’t have been surprised if it’d blasted right through the mitt I was wearing. By digging both my heels into the ground and bracing myself, I somehow succeeded in stopping the ball’s insane momentum.

“Ngh! If I recall the rules correctly, you catching the ball means I am ‘out,’ yes? Which makes this my loss?”

“Y-Yeah... Yeah, that’s right. I win.”

“Grrraaahhh!”

She howled in frustration at my reply. I agreed with her assessment while concealing my pounding heart.

H-Holy hell! I damn near shit my pants! Jokes aside, I’d legit thought I was gonna die. Like, wouldn’t the ball have totally smashed my skull open, spraying my brains everywhere if I hadn’t caught it? Possible. Definitely possible. I saw the ball’s scorch marks as I stared down at my mitt. Pretty sure I only needed to catch that caliber of ball nine more times to burn a hole through it.

“Dude... Your comebacker is enough to cause casualties...”

I unconsciously uttered those words with cold sweat trickling down my back at the state she’d left my mitt in.

“Come-back-ur?”

“It means hitting the ball back to the pitch—to the person who throws it.”

“Oho, I see. Be at ease, Yuki. On the off chance I had indeed smashed your skull to pieces, I would have put it back together perfectly and healed you to your original state.”

“How the hell am I supposed to ‘be at ease’ after hearing that?!”

Had she expected me to say something like, “Oh, okay, then I guess I have nothing to worry about”? If she really thought I had the guts to just take that, she had another thing coming. The woman needed to give me a break and stop putting me on the brink of death during normal playtime every time, jeez.

On another note, she’d hit the ball on just her second try, hadn’t she? And it’d been one heck of a hit too. That’s...scary as hell. A clear demonstration of the Supreme Dragon’s power if I’d ever seen one.

“More importantly, I demand another round! Another round, you hear?! You should also take into consideration that this is my first experience with this thing you call ‘baseball.’”

“Y-Yeah, sure. Of course. I’m a generous guy, so I don’t mind takin’ it easy on ya for another round. Besides, we both know I’m gonna win no matter how many times we play, right?”

“Ha! We shall see about that! I will have you know that I am in top form right now. The next ball is mine! Wait and you shall see!”

I’d come off cool as a cucumber when I’d said those words to Lefi. In all honesty, though, things weren’t looking good. Real talk, I was feeling anything but cool.

Lefi had managed to learn how to hit a ball back on her second try. That was an indisputable fact. She had a solid chance of finding the sweet spot on the next pitch and hitting a home run.

O-Okay. Maybe it’s time for me to bust out the secret weapon I prepared just for fun.

My trickle of cold sweat turned into a torrent at the thought of the threat she posed. Even so, I smirked like nothing was wrong. I gripped the ball and positioned myself in the set for just a little bit longer than before. Then, I wound up and threw the third pitch.

It startled me how fast it zoomed forward, and perfectly within the strike zone too. But Lefi had already figured out the trick to batting. After judging the timing, she swung the bat at the right moment to hit the ball cleanly.

“Dwah?! Wh-What?!”

Or so she would’ve if it hadn’t curved unnaturally at the last second, causing her to bat at the air instead.

“Wh-What is the meaning of this?! I should have struck it flawlessly! So how?!”

“Keh keh keh... Mwaaa ha ha! Didja see that, Lefi?! This is the culmination of my true power, my demon miracle ball! I call it my ‘no one blocks my way to the top’ secret weapon!”

“‘N-No one blocks my way to the top’?!”

Dumbstruck, Lefi repeated the words as I pointed triumphantly at her. Man, I really love this about her.

Naaaturally, I couldn’t throw curveballs on account of the fact that I lacked the talent. My pitching repertoire consisted of fastballs only. How, then, did the trajectory of the ball change? The answer was simple: it was a trick ball. It had lead inside, so when it was thrown, it would swerve around in unpredictable, erratic ways, bewildering both the batter and the pitcher. In other words, I couldn’t predict its path either.

Remember how I’d been chilling in the set position for longer than usual earlier? Well, that was because I’d been futzing around in Inventory. I’d made the rift small enough to fit in the palm of my hand to avoid her noticing, then slipped my hand inside and swapped the normal ball out for my trick ball.

Keh keh keh. A baseball noob like Lefi definitely wouldn’t be able to pick up on my little trick. It was the perfect crime. As I always say, it’s only cheating if you get caught!

“I wanna see you try to break through my balls now, Lefi!”

No way will she be able to!

“Fine. I shall tear through them, and you will watch as I do! For the true thrill of battle lies in employing my power as the Supreme Dragon, the one who stands atop the world, to conquer you!”

“Heh. I expected nothing less of my wife! I accept your resolve and will use the entirety of my soul to be a worthy contender!”

Despite the cool lines I’d tossed out, if my cover was blown, she’d find out that it was a trick ball at the end of the day. But I shut my eyes completely to the truth and settled in for the windup.

“Taaake!!! This, Lefiii!!!”

“Come, Yukiii!!!”

I whipped my arm and released the ball from my fingers. Unlike before, when it’d curved just as it’d reached Lefi, this time around, it curved as soon as it left my grip. The ball’s trajectory went so wild that no one could predict where it would go next. My (trick) demon miracle ball whizzed around in such a crazy pattern that it almost looked like it’d split into clones as it sped toward her.

“Yes!!! I see it!!!”

“Wha— Dwaaah?!”

Though the ball had no fixed course, Lefi still hit it perfectly with her bat and sent it flying. And it was another comebacker to boot. Thanks to Danger Detection warning me of the projectile zooming straight toward my face, I managed to catch it again—except this ball had lead inside, which made it much heavier than the other one. I couldn’t get a firm grip on it because of that, so it broke out of the mitt and slammed right into my cheek.

“Hrngh?!”

“Ah.”

The weight of the ball lifted me into the air and lightly blasted me backward. I crashed headfirst into the ground.

“Y-You destroyed my precious d-demon miracle ball...”

The last thing I saw before dramatically blacking out was Lefi rushing toward me.

As I always say, cheaters never win!

◇ ◇ ◇

“Ugh...”

“Oh. You are awake, Yuki?”

Shaking my head lightly, I sat up. The first thing I saw was Lefi sitting next to me.

“This is...the dungeon, huh? Ah, did you carry me here?”

The last thing I remembered was catching the ball Lefi’d hit with my face. But the fact that I was in my futon right now clearly meant that someone had carried me here.

“Well, Rir carried you for the first half.”

She shrugged as she replied. Did that mean she’d taken over for the second half?

“I see... Then, thanks, I guess. For healing me too.”