The Devil Is a Part-Timer!, Vol. 5 Page 5

“All right. Maybe you can nap a little more at home, okay? …I’m gonna have a hell of a time trying to go back into work mode tomorrow. Have a good night.”

  Emi readjusted her hold upon Alas Ramus, already journeying back into dreamland, as she nodded at Chiho and made her way toward the turnstile.

  With the child out in the public eye, there was no fusing her back into her body now. Chiho grinned as she watched them go, the memory of Alas Ramus’s face and hand bringing the warmth back into her face.

  “Oh, hello! My, you’re home early today.”

  When Chiho made it back home, her mother, Riho, was at the door to greet her, apparently about to leave herself.

  “Where are you going, Mom?”

  “Oh, just over to Shinjuku for a spell. An old school friend of mine’s in town, so I’m having some tea with her. I’ll be back for dinner, so could you start up maybe half a bowl of rice in the cooker for me?”

  “Okay. Just half? Dad isn’t coming home today?”

  “Who knows? He hasn’t called, anyway. If he does, I’ll just whip up some instant ramen for him or something.”

  A police officer’s hours were generally pretty well set in stone, barring major incidents. But whenever disaster reared its ugly head, returning home could be a major challenge.

  Her father had a bad habit of not keeping his wife informed about whether he needed dinner or not. But as she waved good-bye to her mother, Chiho resolved to fill the entire cooker with rice. Dad deserves more than instant ramen, at least.

  As she stepped inside, she was greeted by a blast of cold air from the AC, still lingering after her mother turned it off.

  “Maybe I’ll just chill for a bit and take a shower. I don’t need to cook that rice until later anyway.”

  It was just before three PM. No work, no club activities, and—for a change—no demon-related errands to run. Chiho wandered into the living room and blithely picked up the TV remote.

  “I wonder what Maou’s gonna watch once he buys a TV, though. I bet he’d be into game shows and documentaries and stuff.”

  Her mind conjured up an image of the three of them fighting over whether they’d watch a game show, a cooking show, or anime. It made her laugh out loud.

  “Oh, brother… They’re always so serious about everything, too.”

  Chiho watched a fair share of TV herself. Dramas and music shows gave her something to discuss with her school friends, although her personal preferences leaned toward travel and documentaries. There were one or two weekly quiz shows she never missed, too.

  The influence of Emi and Suzuno on her life had driven her to give samurai dramas a try recently. Maybe talking about TV with Maou could make life more fun for them. Thinking about it that way, things didn’t seem entirely bleak going forward.

  “Anything on…?”

  Chiho picked up the program guide lying on the living room table and skimmed through the listings.

  “Oh, they’re rerunning Quaking Mad in a sec. The news is on, too. Maybe I’ll turn on MHK first and switch to Quaking Mad later.”

  She pointed the remote toward the TV set and pushed the power button. The two-second time lag between pressing the button and getting an image passed without incident.

  Then:

  “…Huh?”

  The moment the screen turned on, the Sasaki residence’s living room was bathed in white light.

  As the lurching train jostled her around, Emi recalled the Idea Link phone call Emeralda gave her right after returning home from Choshi the day before.

  Alas Ramus fell back asleep soon after waving good-bye to Chiho, dozing away in her arms.

  “The pool, huh…?”

  She stared out the window at the cityscape offered by Sasazuka station’s elevated platform. The Keio express train she rode blasted past the following station, Daitabashi, as it headed for the next stop at Meidaimae. From there, Emi would change to the Keio Inokashira Line on her way back home. Her home in Japan, that is.

  “How long is this ‘normal’ gonna go on for…?”

  If it kept going, was that good for Emi, or not? It was impossible to tell from her tone of voice.

  Emi couldn’t have known the answer herself.

  Unlike the usual updates she gave Emi regularly, this last call from Emeralda had a sense of serious urgency to it.

  It didn’t surprise Emi, though. After everything that happened in Choshi, she was prepared, in a way, for unforeseen events.

  The call from Emeralda Etuva had arrived the previous day, the evening after she had returned home from Choshi.

  With Villa Rosa Sasazuka ready much earlier than expected, Emi answered the call just as Suzuno was preparing to cart her belongings back to her apartment.

  “Looks like we’re gonna have a pretty big war over hereeee. I think you better not go hooooome for a while, Emilia~.”

  As Emeralda put it, the Central Continent was starting to see more demon sightings, and Efzahan, the empire that dominated the Eastern Island, had just declared war on the Federated Order of the Five Continents and every member country in a move to seize the central island. Even more surprising, there were apparently demons among Efzahan’s armies.

  The presence of demons among humans, of course, reminded Emi of what the Devil Regent Camio had told her: of Barbariccia, leader of the demon realms’ most potent forces…and of Olba, who drove him to the battlefield.

  Emi warned Emeralda of it all: the possibility that Olba was involved with this sudden declaration and how Efzahan might have beefed up its warpower with the Malebranche.

  The name Olba stopped even Emeralda cold for a moment, but the Malebranche seemed less of a shock to her. Apparently, they had already confirmed that on their side.

  “But why can’t I go back? There are demons among the Malebranche just as powerful as Malacoda, the general from the Southern Island.”

  Emeralda had a ready reply for the question.

  “Well, isn’t it ooooobvious? Because this war still hasn’t involved aaaanyone apart from human parties yet!”

  There were demons among the Eastern Island armies, yes. But the war was carried out under the name of the empire of Efzahan and the Azure Emperor who ruled over it.

  “Thaaat, and with our savior officially dead, if you started fighting for one side or anotherrrr… Even if you won, all the nations would start fighting again over you, so they could procure saaaafety for themselves.”

  “What am I, a nuclear bomb?”

  “Newkewler?”

  “Never mind.”

  “The Azure Emperor’s a slyyy one, too. They’re after the Central Continennnt, but—and I don’t know whyyy—but they want your holy sword, toooo.”

  Emi saw that coming to some extent. And if they just proved that Olba and Barbariccia were involved, her sword probably mattered a lot more than the Central Continent anyway.

  “They’re after your sworrrd, and they brought deeeemons over to do it, too. Can you guess whyyy?”

  Emi pondered over the riddle for a moment.

  The Azure Emperor ruled over a nation riddled with civil strife and conflict, but he was still emperor.

  Efzahan was part of Emi’s route as she journeyed to slay the Devil King. Some areas were dirt-poor, and some were in open revolt against the emperor, but there were also rich and bountiful cities, populated by vast crowds of citizens loyal to the leader.

  It was a sign of the influence the emperor wielded over his vast land. And now he was commanding a demon army as he took on the rest of the world. What was driving him?

  “I don’t know who came up with the idea, but whoever did must be rotten to the core.”

  “Oh, did you figure it oooout?”

  “If they win, it’s all good. Even if they lose somehow, it was all the demons’ doing, not theirs. That sort of thing, right?”

  “You guessed it!” Emeralda’s light chuckle came across loud and clear.

  Efzahan’s strategy went something like this: If they cou
ld seize the Central Continent and bring the knights from the Northern, Western, and Southern Islands under their sphere of influence, they had nothing to worry about. Victory for Efzahan, fair and square.

  But even if they lost, thanks to Emilia the Hero or some other unforeseen element, they still had an out. The demons made us do it! Those monsters took over our minds, our country. Ente Isla hadn’t lost its fear of the demon hordes yet; any attempt to demand restitution from Efzahan or prosecute the Azure Emperor as a war criminal would lose steam fast.

  Besides, the other islands hardly functioned as a cohesive unit. Any one of the Northern, Western, or Southern Islands could betray their allies and side with the East. If Emi whipped out her holy sword and joined the fray then, she’d be branded a traitor. The Hero Emilia, drawing her bow against her fellow humans! It would fatally damage her legitimacy as a savior of mankind.

  “All right. I get it. But you be careful, all right, Eme? Heaven and Ente Isla and the demon realms… They’re all getting crazily intertwined with each other. It’s hard to see who’s friend and who’s foe any longer.”

  “Oh, I’ll be fiiiine! No matter what happens, I’ll always be there for you and Albert, okaaay?”

  Walking—more like casually strolling—to the beat of her own drum, as always. It always distressed Emi a bit, somehow.

  “…Hee-hee. You’re right. I’ll bet.”

  “But you neeeever know when you might need the tools in your disposal, riiiight? I may want to borrow you sooner or later, Emiiiilia. For now, thoooough…just keep fighting as ‘Eeeemi Yusa.’”

  “Sure. Thanks.”

  “Oh, you’re welllllcome! I need to thank you for that vaaaaluable information, too. Say hello to your darling husband and child for meeee!”

  “…Emer.”

  “Ah-ha-ha! That was on purrrrpose.”

  Unfazed by Emi’s voice, low enough to flash-freeze lava, Emeralda laughed as she hung up.

  Soon, Emi relayed the entire phone call over to Suzuno.

  Word of Efzahan’s menacing moves, and the possible presence of Olba among them, made it hard for Suzuno to hide the shock, despite her previous conference with Camio. But the conclusion she came to was the same as Emeralda’s:

  For now, Emilia must avoid a hasty return to Ente Isla.

  Turning away from the box she was currently packing, Suzuno turned to Emi, her bunched eyebrows belying the clear danger she felt they were in.

  “Do you think, Emilia, that…that we face a danger unlike any before? That fate will ask us to do something completely the opposite of our appointed mission? That…we may have to protect the Devil King, with our own hands?”

  “Huh? Where’d that come from?”

  Emi’s eyes opened wide at the absurdity of the idea. But Suzuno was deadly serious.

  “Think about it—the events in Choshi revealed to all the world’s demons that their lord is alive and well. And Olba is aware of the Devil King’s presence in Japan, is he not? Even as he serves to tie the demon realms together with the Eastern Island, for all we know?”

  “Yeah…”

  “One wrong move, and the Devil King could be whisked away, back to his realm!”

  “Whaaat?!”

  “Bmhh!”

  Emi’s shout at the sheer ridiculousness of it all made Alas Ramus murmur her approval in her sleep. The Hero put a panicked hand to her mouth as the child turned over and began lightly snoring again. When she spoke next, she took pains to keep her voice down as much as possible. “…What do you mean, whisked away?”

  “Remember what Camio taught us. Why did the demon realms face such a monumental rift after its armies were destroyed? Camio, who trusted in his master’s survival, strove to lay low and preserve his nation’s strength. But Barbariccia and Ciriatto attempted to take up the Devil King’s flag and conquer Ente Isla anew. What would happen if the Devil King suddenly stepped into that chaos?”

  “What would happen…?”

  “Camio returned home because he was convinced the Devil King’s rightful place for the moment is Japan, did he not? Which suits our purposes fine. But Barbariccia is different. If he knows the Devil King is alive, plainly he will try to bring him back in order to prop up and rebuild their forces. Their main force has merely detached itself from the local rule, following a political struggle. Their loyalty for the Devil King has never flagged.”

  Emi nodded.

  “If you put everything Camio said together, then I suppose, sure.”

  “Now think about Efzahan’s rampage. Efzahan has never truly believed in diplomacy as a solution to anything. The situation at its borders has never been anything less than volatile. The Azure Emperor is rumored to be a tyrannical despot, one who uses brutal oppression to keep any insurgencies from boiling over. But we should not let this cloud our judgment. It may sound like a ready-made excuse if they are ever defeated, but perhaps the Azure Emperor truly has fallen to the demon forces led by Olba and Barbariccia. Perhaps they are manipulating his mind after all.”

  “M-maybe…”

  The idea seemed plausible to Emi. But given how she all but assumed the Azure Emperor was engaged in a simple, brazen power grab for the Central Continent, she was still loath to agree.

  That was the difference between Emi, the consummate frontline soldier, and Suzuno, the politician in the smoke-filled room.

  Regardless of his methods, I will gladly praise the Azure Emperor for his political acumen. No regular man could govern a land as wide, and wild, as the Eastern Island without at least a modicum of talent. He has ruled for over twenty years, and I understand he is busy grooming his successor at the moment.”

  “…You do that much research for your missionary work?”

  “Of course I do. When one sets off for a foreign land to proselytize, one needs to know what local policymakers will think of your religious efforts. I can say with full confidence that there is not a single inch of Ente Isla whose political situation the Church is not intimately familiar with.”

  Suzuno’s face indicated she felt this was as much common sense as knowing how to cross the street.

  “But that is the reason I feel the Azure Emperor might actually be under the demons’ spell. That lengthy reign of his.”

  “Oh?”

  “Back when the Devil King’s army was in full force, which general was it who conquered the Eastern Island?”

  “Oh.”

  Even Emi could pick up on it by now.

  “Yes! He may be a shadow of his former himself, little more than a bickering househusband, but he was the only Great Demon General that there is no record of the Hero Emilia having ever defeated in combat. Alciel took over the Eastern Island not long after the Devil King’s army made its first appearance. If the Azure Emperor still has dark memories of those dreadful days, there is every chance he would kneel before them once more to protect his nation, his life. And that’s not all. If Barbariccia can successfully bring back not just the Devil King, but Alciel as well—a demon well versed in governing the entirety of the Eastern Continent—that could easily gain him a beachhead from which he could invade Ente Isla once more.”

  “……”

  The more she thought about it, the more ominous things seemed to her.

  “But…I don’t…I mean, I don’t want to sound like I’m complimenting the Devil King or anything…but if Barbariccia did that, don’t you think it’d piss him off?”

  Suzuno briskly nodded.

  “He would be angry, yes. The fact that we are fighting together with him in this world—on the surface, at least—is in no small part thanks to his astonishingly generous, easygoing ways. I do not wish to admit it, but I must.”

  “……True.”

  Emi didn’t want to admit it, either. But the events of the past few months flew in the face of her gut feelings.

  “If Barbariccia were to make any such bold moves, it would enrage the Devil King. He would want to punish him, no doubt. He is still King, a fact he p
roved well enough in Choshi,” Suzuno added.

  “King?”

  “If he was pressed hard enough to make a decision, he would never abandon his people, his former close officials. And then…he would never return to Japan again.”

  “…!”

  Emi gasped. The idea was starting to seem entirely likely now.

  Maou acted like he was whiling away his youth, going through the motions as he tried futilely to keep his family in the black. But the way his mind worked never changed. Multiple times before, he proclaimed to Emi’s face that he’d return to Ente Isla.

  And all the countless demons who longed for their one true king… Could he ever just set them adrift like that?

  What other reason would he have for forgiving Ciriatto, the demon who turned away from Camio and attempted to carve out his own Devil Kingdom in Maou’s name?

  That, and:

  “…Ohh.”

  The groan from Emi’s lips echoed quietly.

  Maou, returning to his world, as Devil King.

  Emi was shocked. Shocked that, in response to that mental picture, the first thing that came to mind was, That’d sure make Alas Ramus sad.

  “What? N-no! I don’t…”

  And it’d be even harder on Chiho.

  “N-no! That’s… I mean, it’s not not true, but it…”

  After everything everyone’s done for him, he’ll just run off without repaying that?!

  “That’s not the issue here!”

  “Nnuhh… Fff…iihh…”

  Emi’s verbal sparring with herself made Alas Ramus quiver as her eyes opened. A rude awakening for her, it seemed. Her face began to contort itself.

  “Ah, uh, s-sorry, Alas Ramus, I didn’t mean to scare you…”

  “Hie-yaaaaahhhhh-aahhh!”

  She started crying anyway. Emi picked her up, trying frantically to calm her, but her mind was too frazzled to form a coherent strategy.

  That came across loud and clear to Alas Ramus, who showed no sign of stopping her bawl-fest.

  Until the child finally grew bored of the tirade and went back to sleep, Emi could do nothing but cradle her as reassuringly as she could.

  Eventually, dabbing her tear- and snot-stained face with a wet tissue, Emi softly laid her back down on her bed.