If It’s for My Daughter, I’d Even Defeat a Demon Lord: Volume 6 (Premium)

by CHIROLU

  “Was Lady Epilogi’s prediction something bad?” Smaragdi guessed, his voice maintaining a kind tone. Mov looked down like she found it hard to say, but then peeked up at Smaragdi’s face and in a slightly sweet tone reminiscent of her younger self said, “It... wasn’t something bad. In fact, for the nation, it is an auspicious event.”

  “I don’t belong to the temple. So you don’t need to give me their answer, and can tell me how you really feel.”

  Mov’s expression relaxed just a bit when she heard those words. The typical tension in the air around her thinned. Mov always had to keep striving to act in a manner befitting of a high-ranking priestess, so as someone who would listen to her own thoughts and feelings, Smaragdi was incredibly precious to her.

  Mov was also aware that she had come to depend on that kind man, and that he had distanced himself as a result.

  Even so, she wasn’t able to suppress how she felt.

  A great many people called her the Lady Oracle who would guide their futures, and listen to her words. However, not even a single one among them tried to listen to her words.

  She understood that. And in the past, she hadn’t even questioned it. But through the time she spent together with Smaragdi, she came to understand just how lonely that was.

  She had wanted to always be pampered, like a normal child. There was only one person who would do that for her, who would indulge her and tell her it was alright to cry. It was because Smaragdi was that sort of person that Mov had run to him.

  As someone able to read countless futures, slipping out of the shrine wasn’t an impossible task for Mov.

  “I’ll... give birth to a ‘king.’”

  Smaragdi’s green eyes opened wide with surprise in response to Mov’s words.

  “My child will become king... that was Lady Epilogi’s prophecy.”

  In Vassilios, the word “king” referred to the nation’s ruler, the First Demon Lord. Ever since the previous one had been killed by the Second Demon Lord, that throne had been left empty, and it went without saying that a great many people wanted to see it filled.

  In that way, it was certainly an “auspicious” prophecy. In fact, it could be called a promise of the birth of a new king.

  “However...” Mov looked down once more with a pained expression on her face, and forced out in a tiny voice that was hard to pick up, “Ever since then, every day... men claiming to be candidates for the king’s father have been appearing before me.”

  “I see...”

  Understanding the situation now, Smaragdi’s expression darkened as well.

  The devils who lived in Vassilios had a matriarchal society, and children were raised by their mothers. However, it wasn’t as if fathers had nothing whatsoever to do with their children. The bangles that everyone wore were given from fathers to their children. That helped children understand who their father was, and also acted as a form of identification for devils. The child and father’s names were engraved in the bangle, and a promise that the father would protect their child for their entire lifetime.

  And so, thanks to the prophecy, ambitious men started to appear, claiming they were worthy to become the father of the coming king. Priests who wished to gain more authority in the temple, and those who wished to become involved in the government and shape the country according to their interests, claiming they were acting in the interest of their child... The form of their ambitions may have varied, but it was clear that they were all men confident they could use this child who would become king in order to elevate their own standing.

  However, that was placing a great burden on Mov, leaving her almost terrified.

  “If it is my destiny to lay with someone and conceive a child... then until I accept...”

  “Mov, that’s...”

  She had lived quietly in the depths of the shrine, only interacting with a very limited number of people, only to now suddenly be exposed to a great number of men and their overflowing ambitions. It was no surprise that the young girl would end up terrified. Smaragdi’s expression grew more clouded as he thought about that.

  “But, I... Even so, I...”

  As the tears continued to flow forth, Mov looked at Smaragdi with her golden eyes. Above her purple hair were transparent gems that closely resembled her tears. Normally, the gems used as horn decorations by high-ranking priests were purple in color, but her hair was a more beautiful color than such precious stones, so it wasn’t necessary to use such colors.

  “They do not even call me by my name, so why... why must I sleep with them...?!”

  “It’s alright, Mov. It’s only natural to feel that way.” He said those kind words she had wanted to hear as he stroked her purple hair with the palm of his gentle hand.

  In that way, Smaragdi listened to her selfishness that would normally never be allowed without negating anything she said. Feeling happy and just a little guilty, Mov sobbed out loudly, which she hadn’t even been able to do when she was a child.

  “Can I... stay here for today...?”

  “...I suppose there’s no helping it. It’s a rare request from you, after all.”

  Rather than forcing her to stop, he had instead affirmed that she should let her emotions out as much as she needed to. And when she let slip that request afterwards, Smaragdi broke out in a strained smile, looking slightly troubled, but he didn’t deny her request. After all, he didn’t feel like he could force her to leave after hearing what he had just been told.

  He let her have the bed and sat down in a chair, then lost himself in thought.

  Mov looked to have worn herself out from crying and nodded off, seemingly having no issue falling asleep in front of Smaragdi. From that unguarded nature not fitting to her age, he once again saw the fact that she was a sheltered child who grew up only knowing the depths of the temple, being unaware of the outside world.

  It’s no surprise that Mov would feel like running away... While thinking that to himself, he stroked the head of that girl, who was sleeping with an innocent look like that of a child on her face. Perhaps unconsciously, a slight smile appeared on her face.

  However... that’s the natural way of things there...

  While sighing, he reached out and adjusted the level of light. He would hate for it to interrupt Mov’s peaceful slumber.

  In the temple, nobody calls Mov by her name. That may be only natural... but for even the people trying to court her to do so...

  As someone respected for her rare level of divine protection, Mov was solely treated as the “Lady Oracle” in that place. Without any ill will, and not even noticing because they were acting out of respect, they were treating her personality as an individual as secondary.

  For her to have a child with someone like that...

  They may say that it’s her role to do so... but there’s no helping how she feels, not wanting to accept that.

  It wasn’t all that rare for a child to be born in that manner out of political necessity.

  Even so, Smaragdi wanted to grant whatever few requests came from this girl, who had put up with so much for the sake of her duty since she was but a child.

  It’s true that Mov is the “Lady Oracle” and the only one who can act as the successor to the grand priestess. But even so, that’s no reason she shouldn’t be able to voice her own desires.

  “Even you... should be able to wish for your own happiness,” Smaragdi whispered, a clear fondness behind his voice. However, that was most certainly not rooted romantic feelings that were burning with passion. Even so, because he had that thought, the next morning when Mov awakened, he asked her, “Mov, am I right to think... that you ran away here to my place because... if it’s with me, you wouldn’t mind having a child?”

  With those words, Mov’s cheeks flushed red and she looked happy. Mov didn’t generally show much emotion, but Smaragdi could clearly see her feelings on her face, lit up by the morning sun.

  However, Mov tightly grasped his sleeve, and shook her head back and forth.
She responded in the negative, looking as if she had cut herself free from her feelings, her expression and actions not matching at all.

  Looking straight at the girl, Smaragdi gently stroked her still shaking head while wearing a faintly strained smile on his face.

  “That’s because it will lead towards a bad future for me, right?”

  With those words, Mov looked up, wearing a shocked expression. She had neither confirmed nor denied, but looking at her face now was more than enough to provide Smaragdi with his answer.

  “You once told me that if I got involved with you, it meant I would die... If you and I have a child, will that lead me closer to death?”

  Just like how he had worn a gentle smile on the day they first met and she predicted his death, there was still no despair or hopelessness to be found in Smaragdi’s expression.

  And so, Mov decided to be upfront with him, telling him of the possibility that she saw.

  If she stayed silent, Smaragdi would grant her wish. If she didn’t inform him of this future, then that would increase the odds of things turning out as she wished. She knew that. But she didn’t want to use that knowledge to try to deceive Smaragdi.

  Those feelings of Mov’s showed in her trembling voice.

  “If we have a child together... then you will die for that child’s sake. You will sacrifice your own life to protect them... But if that child is not born... you’ll be able to live a proper peaceful, full life...”

  “So that’s the future you saw?”

  On that day when they first met, Mov hadn’t been able to see the possible futures that clearly. But after receiving this declaration from Epilogi and observing the possibilities that lay beyond her choices, she finally understood.

  It was her wish that drew Smaragdi towards a future in which he died... towards a possibility in which this kind person would be lost.

  And so, understanding that such an action meant the possibility of her wish not being granted, she left it to him to decide.

  “It’s alright, Mov. At least to me, that isn’t an unfortunate prophecy.”

  She had bet on that possibility, in which she would hear those words she had wanted to, accompanied by his kind smile.

  “I’ll be able to have a child, which wouldn’t be guaranteed no matter how hard I wished for it otherwise. That’s a happy prediction, I’d say.”

  Having her wish accepted with those kind words, she was overjoyed. As the tears flowed freely from Mov’s eyes, Smaragdi gently placed his arms around her.

  †

  Epilogi was quite old, but it was still several years more before the position of the highest-ranking in the temple was passed to Mov. When that time came, Smaragdi began openly visiting Mov in her room in the depths of the temple.

  Devils didn’t have a custom of getting married the way that humans did, so the norm was for a man to visit a woman for the sole purpose of having a child together. It wasn’t as if a woman would never visit a man, but as a matriarchal society, it was far more common for the man to visit the woman.

  During the process, Mov’s perception of Smaragdi was revised a bit. Normally, there were guards placed along the corridor between the portion of the temple visitors could enter and the inner sanctum. However, Smaragdi was permitted to freely pass by them without needing to ask permission each time. That directive had come from Mov, but there were still those who weren’t particularly fond of him, so they plotted to harass him in several ways on the way to her room.

  Mov was enraged when she learned of that. She felt guilty for having Smaragdi face such unpleasantness because of her, and her pride had been harmed by the way that they made light of her words as the grand priestess. However, she didn’t need to lend Smaragdi a hand.

  On that day, the one to appear before Smaragdi was a muscle-bound man. Both he and the others in priest clothing accompanying him had elaborate silverwork hanging from their horns. Looking at the number of purple jewels used in them alongside that, it seemed he was quite a high-ranking priest.

  The look in Smaragdi’s green eyes grew a number of degrees colder when he finished taking measure of the man. Mov only knew his gaze as gentle and warm like spring sprouts, so she would surely be surprised to see how cold it was now.

  “This isn’t the sort of place someone who is not even a priest should be coming and going as he pleases,” the man said with a sneer, clearly trying to provoke Smaragdi. His followers followed suit and laughed as well.

  With his cold gaze fixed on them, Smaragdi smiled back. Having sensed his disdain behind that, a rage akin to bloodlust could be sensed coming off the men who had judged Smaragdi as their inferior. Seeing them let their emotions show so clearly on their faces, Smaragdi’s evaluation of the men dropped another level.

  Such simple-minded men could never help support Mov, who faced the heavy responsibility of managing the government. It was presumptuous for any of them to even dare to offer their names as candidates to become her partner.

  “A scrawny man like you, with such pathetic mana, would never be able to sire a child fitting to become king.”

  On top of the matter of their intelligence, they also seemed to be utterly lacking in character. Smaragdi finished grading them in his mind, and gave them a failing mark.

  Even though he was facing opponents who far outstripped him physically, Smaragdi showed no sign of being afraid.

  “Ah, I was wondering who it was. I see, it’s Geranós’s child Zíleia and Nýchi’s son Pséftis. And you there, you’re Phérma’s boy, aren’t you? Your mother must be turning in her grave, to have raised such a mannerless brute with muscles in place of character.”

  One of the followers, Pséftis, visibly bristled after hearing those words. That raised his marks just a bit, but it was already too late, as he had received his failing mark. Before he could warn of how unusual it was for someone they should have been meeting for the first time to know not only their names but their lineage, Zíleia’s ignorance cut in.

  “You dare to speak that way to me, knowing who I am?”

  “Oh, I know. After all, your magic teacher was Pharos and your martial arts instructor was Sevasmós, both pupils of mine,” Smaragdi informed him without any hesitation. Understanding the meaning behind those words, the color at last drained from Zíleia’s face.

  “It’s true that my amount of mana isn’t all that great. However, Sevasmós should have taught you that it was dangerous to make light of an opponent based on that. I suppose I may have to re-educate that child from scratch, too,” said Smaragdi with a smile, but his eyes were completely serious.

  Training from Smaragdi’s favored pupils, Pharos and Sevasmós, certainly wouldn’t have been anything easy. Perhaps remembering that, Zíleia grew more and more pale.

  “If I recall correctly, you boasted a level of mana that far exceeded the average for a devil. And Sevasmós also recognized your physical strength as being beyond that of the common man.”

  Zíleia opened his mouth to pounce on the man’s words and say how he would show him that superiority firsthand, but he was unable to speak. Before he managed to get a word out, Smaragdi continued on in a cold voice, “But at the same time, your mana control is less than even that of a child, and you’re a fool who boasts of his reckless courage born from his strength. There was no point in the two of them teaching this much of a fool, I’d say. And to think that rather than devoting yourself to your studies after learning under them, instead you’ve grown arrogant... They truly have my sympathy, those children.”

  Zíleia’s pale face was flushed pure red. He gave into his rage and stopped even thinking. The fist he raised was a powerful enough weapon that it could have easily shattered the bones of Smaragdi’s slender body, and could have even taken the man’s life. Even so, Smaragdi maintained his composure.

  “《Magical Wall》”

  He had solely used the name, which didn’t fulfill the proper form for a chant used to cast magic. Normally such a thing wouldn’t even acti
vate, but thanks to Smaragdi’s high-level control technique, it manifested for just an instant.

  It was only a mere instant. But that was more than enough time to divert his opponent’s fist away from himself ever so slightly. In that way, he dodged the blow. At the same time, he smoothly recited a proper chant.

  “Oh light, appear before me and become my shield. 《Magical Wall》”

  It was a simply composed bit of magic, creating what should have been a makeshift wall of light that would shatter before such herculean strength. However, it stopped Zíleia’s fist with a dull sound, not even shaking the tiniest bit in the process.

  A cold sweat ran down Zíleia’s back. No matter how foolish he may have been, he at least had enough brain cells to comprehend what had happened.

  The wall that Smaragdi had created had been just enough to stop a single fist. He had displayed his ability to achieve the greatest possible effect with the smallest possible activation. As a race that was so intimately familiar with magic, any devil would realize just how difficult of a task that was.

  And that wasn’t all. Despite that being the smallest possible of shields, it had sealed his movements. That meant he had read Zíleia’s moves completely. It was something that couldn’t possibly be carried out without a keen eye for observation and great control technique.

  “It seems you’ve earned failing marks in terms of martial arts ability, too. Such an utterly simple attack didn’t even require any prediction to figure out.”

  Smaragdi didn’t have any skill in the martial arts himself. At least for a member of the hardy devil race, he was weak enough that it could be said that he had a delicate constitution. However, he was always aware of his own weakness.

  “Even if one is born with great power, if they cannot use it, then it holds even less meaning than the strength of those born lacking such things,” Smaragdi criticized in a cold tone. He had decided to crush the confidence of this man who believed he held a position of absolute superiority by showing him overwhelming power. Surely, such a clever little trick wouldn’t be sufficient for such a purpose. Smaragdi’s smile had a chill to it that called to mind an executioner.