I Saved Too Many Girls and Caused the Apocalypse: Volume 1

by Namekojirushi

  Iris’s spaceship was locked in place by the Self-Defense Fleet’s anchors and brought here. We were taken to the center of a huge tower that stretched all the way up to the clouds. In the middle of the tower was an open “mouth.” The fleet’s ships formed a line and went inside. This was probably the headquarters of the Owaria, the committee that ruled planet Finerita.

  The first thing they did when we landed was take away my warp watch and laser gun. I tried using the warp watch to escape before they grabbed us, but it seemed like there was some kind of warp-blocking technology at work in the tower. I guess without some kind of blocker, the warp technology would be too dangerous to just let anyone have.

  We were brought to some kind of elevator that looked like a dais. I was scared that I might fall off the edge as the dais rose up, but Iris explained that there was an invisible force field surrounding it.

  Iris didn’t say much while the self-defense force people were surrounding us. Her lips were pressed into a thin line, and she looked down.

  Well, I guess that’s what you’d expect after the way her dad treated her. What was her dad, who was supposedly the head of the Owaria, thinking?

  We were taken like prisoners to a room with a round table at the top of the tower, where the Owaria met. The room was brightly-lit, with lights embedded into the ceiling. Part of the wall was glass, so you could look out and see the clouds.

  Sitting at the round table were old men wearing clothes with upturned collars. They were probably the members of Owaria, and they all looked very strict. Talk about a bad welcome.

  Sitting right across from us on the other side of the round table was a grim-looking, middle-aged man with short-cropped, silver hair and a wrinkled brow. His jaw rested on his folded hands, and he was glaring at Iris with a sharp gaze. I whispered a question into Iris’s ear, asking who he was.

  “That’s... my dad. He’s the head of the Owaria.”

  “Why’s he so mad?”

  “I don’t... know. It’s probably because I ran away from home... but I’ve never seen him so upset before.”

  Hmph.

  I glanced over at R. This time, however, she only shrugged. “Even I can’t make any guesses without more information.”

  That’s true. For now, I needed information. Otherwise, there was no way they’d let me go, and no way I could get back to Earth.

  “U-Um...”

  “I don’t know who you are, but please remain silent.”

  I hadn’t even said anything yet! But I was an outsider here. I’d just have to let Iris talk to her dad instead.

  “Iris.” I motioned for her to ask her father what was going on.

  “Oh, yeah...” Iris was probably having trouble watching her dad stare at her silently like that, too. She was fidgeting like she didn’t want to talk, but she finally looked up.

  “Um... Dad?”

  “What?” Even talking to his daughter, his voice was still firm.

  “Hwahh! Um...” Iris’s lips trembled when she heard his voice, and she looked back down at the ground.

  “D-Did I do something bad?” Her voice was barely above a whisper, but the whole round table froze when they heard her.

  Come on! That’s not a good question! I almost yelled at her, but managed to stop myself.

  It was clear from the atmosphere of the room that they were all mad. Asking if she’d done something wrong, as if she had no clue, was just pouring oil on a fire. Just like I expected, some of the men were smashing their fists into the table.

  “‘Did I do something bad,’ you ask?”

  “You don’t even know what you’ve done?!”

  “Chairman, even if she is your daughter, don’t you think you’ve spoiled her a little too much?”

  There was a storm of curses and harsh words that made me want to cover my ears. The other Owaria members, in particular, seemed to be the ones who were getting the most excited. Iris’s father was just pressing his lips together and waiting for everyone to calm down.

  “What’s going on here?” Iris sobbed, already in tears.

  I tried to figure out what was going on, but half of what I heard was just filthy curses, and I couldn’t get anywhere.

  “I see. So that’s it.” R, however, seemed to have figured something out.

  Before I could ask her what it was, Iris’s father rang a silver bell that was placed on the table. A high-pitched sound that threatened to pierce my eardrums and stab right into my brain stem rang through the room, and instantly there was silence. It must have been some kind of tool to calm down debates when they got too heated.

  “Our planet is now faced with greater danger than any other since we first attained spaceflight.” His voice was low and clear as he began to speak to us. No, he was talking to Iris. “Planet Finerita has already mined all its natural resources. We survive by importing resources from other planets, processing them, and then exporting them. You know that much at least, right?”

  Iris nodded a little, silently.

  “This means, however, that we have little ability to survive on our own. If some form of pressure were to cut off all our imports, we would have no choice but to starve.” His words stopped.

  Everyone in the room was looking at Iris.

  At this point, even I knew what was going on. Planet Finerita was about to meet the fate that the chairman had just described. And the reason was...

  “Iris, this is because you refused to marry King Satamonia.”

  Yeah, that was about what I thought.

  Iris shook her head, as if she really didn’t know what was going on. “But... but...” She didn’t say anything else. She just kept shaking her head.

  “W-Wait a second!” I moved between the men and Iris. Everyone started looking at me.

  “Who are you?”

  I gulped in fear before I answered his question. “My name’s Rekka Namidare. Why I’m here is a long story, but there’s something wrong with you people.”

  “This is none of your concern, child!” One of the Owaria members yelled at me, but the chairman raised his hand to stop them.

  “Rekka Namidare, I brought you here to find out what, exactly, my daughter has been doing, but that can wait for a moment. I’ll ask you to remain silent until it is time for you to speak.”

  Iris’s dad was talking like one of the teachers at school. I wasn’t good at dealing with that sort of person. But, well... I couldn’t just stand here silently.

  “You guys keep talking like this is all Iris’s fault. It was King Satamonia who asked her to marry him when she didn’t want to, right? So she should have the right to refuse, shouldn’t she?”

  “Unfortunately, no.”

  “Why?”

  “Because Iris is my daughter.” There was no emotion at all in his voice. “I am, for better or for worse, planet Finerita’s representative to the galaxy. Thus, I must always consider this planet’s interests, and its peace, my highest priority. That goes for my daughter as well.”

  “That’s your problem, not hers.”

  “So you’re willing to let an entire planet starve, just to help her?”

  “Uh! N-No, that’s not what I said...”

  “King Satamonia is a persistent and forceful man. If the marriage is delayed any further, he may invade our planet this time. There’re plenty of ways to fabricate a cause for war, if he wants one.”

  Would anyone normally go that far, just for one girl? No, the problem was that King Satamonia wasn’t normal. He might start an interstellar war if he had to. That’s why everyone looked so grim.

  The chairman glanced back at Iris. “Iris. You’ve lived a very easy life. And not only that, I’ve let you get away with most every selfish thing you wanted to do. All of that was because you’re the daughter of the chairman. Don’t you think that it’s time to repay the planet for all the benefits it’s given you?”

  Iris was looking down at the floor the whole time as she listened. Her face was pale. She must have had no idea
that her actions had brought all this on.

  Mmm... What should I do? I couldn’t think of any counter-arguments, either. I was starting to think that they were right.

  The whole room fell silent. Iris and I stood there helplessly. And then suddenly, all the lights in the room went out.

  “What happened?!” One of the Owaria members screamed.

  It was too dark to see anything. I could hear a confused babble surrounding me. The one thing I could make out was the sharp, low voice of the chairman, telling one of the guards to find out what had happened.

  I had no idea what was going on, and there was nothing I could do. All I could do was just stand there... but then, I suddenly felt a tug at the hem of my shirt.

  “Iris?” From the direction it was pulling me, I could tell that it was her. I could sense from her hand that she was shaking. Just before I spoke, the room lit back up.

  But this time, it wasn’t the lights from the ceiling. The glass window had turned into something like a computer monitor, and the light was pouring out from it.

  “Gwah fwah fwah fwah! My beloved Iris! You’re as cute as ever!” There was a nasty, nasty laugh. On the screen I saw a man that looked like a combination of a human, a pug, and a toad, with a bald head and antennae. His obese body was purple, and each time he laughed, his belly fat shook. Standing next to him was a thin man who was also purple.

  “So who’s that?” R asked. Her voice was as disinterested as ever.

  The chairman couldn’t have heard her, but he spoke to the man on the monitor with a bitter look on his face. “King Satamonia. I don’t remember opening a communications channel.”

  So this fatass was King Satamonia, huh? The king laughed again when he heard the chairman’s words.

  “Gwah fwah! Don’t be such a stuffed shirt. I was just so happy to hear my beloved Iris was back that I couldn’t help myself. Just ask my chief of staff here.” The thin man must have been his chief of staff. The slimy grin on his face was pissing me off.

  “Indeed. When you heard the report, you hurried straight to your communications staff, sire. You were in such a hurry that you stepped on one of your pets and crushed them.”

  “Hmm? Did I? I don’t remember.”

  “I’ll buy another of the same type for you later.”

  “Hmm... No, next time I want a Dumbrage gorilla from planet Janbarila.”

  Were they getting off-topic? The king and his chief of staff started talking about the next pet they were going to buy, seemingly oblivious to the fact that they’d interrupted our conversation. Of course, no one on the planet Finerita side was participating.

  “Your Highness, what can I do for you?”

  “What else? I’m here to talk about my marriage to little Iris.” Iris’s face tensed up when she heard that.

  King Satamonia was oblivious to her change of expression. If he’d been looking closer, he could’ve seen how much she hated the idea of marrying him. But if she refused, something terrible would happen to this planet.

  Everyone in the room was looking at Iris. They were all silently telling her to say yes.

  I was starting to panic, but in the end, I couldn’t say anything. I just stared at Iris’s face. If she refused the marriage, there’d be an interstellar war.

  A war... What was I supposed to do about that? All I had to do with the Demon Overlord was, well, kill the Demon Overlord. But a war was different. It wasn’t a problem I could solve on my own. One wrong move and millions would die. That was how war worked.

  It wasn’t something I could handle by myself. I couldn’t think of any way to resolve this. Should she do her duty, like the chairman said? Maybe she doesn’t have a choice, I thought to myself.

  I could tell Iris was about to give up and nod. She was biting her lip and still looking down. She was going to give up on her own wants, smother her own feelings, and do what everyone wanted to her to do.

  There was a single tear running down her cheek that she couldn’t quite hide—

  “Hold it right there!” I screamed.

  Everyone turned to look at me.

  “Rekka?” Iris looked up at me with tears in her eyes.

  “Hmm? Who the hell are you?”

  “Shut up, pig-frog!”

  “GWAP?!”

  I told the guy on the monitor to shut up, then took a breath to calm down. I’d been so overwhelmed by what was going on that I’d forgotten what was important. Even now, Iris’s “story” was heading straight for a bad end.

  And all I’d been doing was watching her cry, and telling myself that there was nothing I could do, or that I couldn’t think of anything. What an idiot. If everything was going to work out without me doing anything, I wouldn’t have had all this trouble today. The only way these stories were going to have happy endings was if I did something. I wasn’t sure if what I was doing was right, but I’d try my best anyway. I had to stop this tragedy from happening!

  “Are you guys all really okay with this?”

  Everyone looked at me as if they didn’t understand what I meant. Nobody answered me.

  The chairman’s eyes, especially, were sharp and narrow. I asked him again. “What about you, chairman? Are you really okay with Iris marrying this guy?”

  “Young man, please, be silent. This is our planet’s problem to solve. Not yours.”

  “I’m asking you if you’re okay with it.”

  “My personal feelings aren’t important. Protecting this planet and its people is my duty.”

  “Shut up and answer the question! I’m asking you, her dad, if you’re okay with marrying her off to someone she doesn’t want to marry! If you really think that’s going to make everyone happy!”

  Iris’s father’s expression twisted. He glared at me and bit his lip, showing anger for the first time. The stream of blood running down his lip told me exactly what he really thought. “Then what do you want me to do?”

  “All you had to do was look that way from the start. Right, Iris?”

  “Daddy...” Iris’s eyes were still red and puffy, but the tension was gone from her face.

  There was nothing harder, or more painful, than making an enemy out of your own father. She must’ve felt a lot better knowing her dad didn’t really want her to marry King Satamonia. The two of them would probably be fine now. All that was left was...

  “What are you people talking about? Are you trying to interfere with my marriage to Iris?” He finished with a furious belch. King Satamonia was spitting with rage at being ignored.

  R, who’d been watching the whole thing, sighed. “So now what will you do, Rekka? If you’re not careful, you might start an interstellar war.”

  She was right. That would ruin everything. Which meant... I didn’t have a choice.

  I glared back at King Satamonia. “Of course I am. Because... I’m the one who’s going to marry Iris!”

  “Wh-What?! What are you talking about?”

  “Shut up! I fell in love with her, damn it! I forced her to bring me here all the way from Earth, just so I could marry her!” That wasn’t exactly true, but it was close enough.

  “I can make Iris happier than you can! There’s no way I’m giving her over to a pig-frog like you!”

  “Wh-Who are you calling a pig-frog?!”

  “Did that make you mad? Then—” I raised my fist towards his face and shouted as loud as I could. “—fight me for Iris!”

  “W-Whaaawhuwhat?! I’ve never even heard of your little ‘Earth’ planet! Don’t you dare tell me what to do!”

  “If you’re a man, then fight with your fists! Or are you happy to invade a planet with your armies, but too much of a pussy to fight an Earthling one-on-one? Hah! What a wimp!”

  “Gebubububu!” His face had turned to a reddish purple, and his anger had reached its peak.

  “So what’ll it be, pig-froggy?” I shouted every provocation I could think of, and clenched my shaking, sweaty hands into fists.

  All my bloodline gave me was
a final chance to save a story. And if there was a chance I could succeed, there was also a chance I could fail. But the only thing I could think of doing was challenging the king to a one-on-one fight.

  Just looking at that Satamonian laser gun told me that his military must be every bit as strong as everyone said. In a one-on-one fight, there was a good chance he’d just turn me to ashes... but at least this way there wouldn’t be a war. In the worst case, no one would suffer but me. I could come up with a way to win later. For now, my job was to get him to agree to the fight.

  “Sire, may I have a word?” His thin chief of staff, who had been silent this whole time, suddenly stepped forward.

  “WHAT?!” The raging king spit saliva everywhere as he turned around, but the thin man smiled without even raising an eyebrow.

  “I have an idea. Let me whisper it to you.” As the thin man began to whisper, the king’s face turned from an angry reddish purple to a normal purple, and at last, he started to smile and chuckle.

  “Very well, boy. I accept your request.”

  “O-Okay...” My plan had worked, so why did I feel so nervous?

  “But you were the one who interfered with my marriage to Iris. So I’ll be the one to decide the nature of the duel.”

  “Fine...” Why did he look so confident? This was a longshot plan to begin with, but after the skinny guy spoke up, I was starting to feel even more worried.

  And then King Satamonia opened his big mouth wide— “Tonight, at midnight, I will drop a meteor on Earth.”

  —and told me what the duel would be.

  “Huh?” For a moment, I seriously didn’t understand what he was saying. But it was less that I didn’t understand, and more that I didn’t want to accept what I’d just heard. I mean... a meteor?

  “If you can stop the meteor, you win. If you can’t, I win.”

  “W-W-Wait! Then if I fail, that meteor’s going to hit Earth!”

  “Bwahaha. Don’t worry. I’ll make sure it’s just the right size to destroy the planet.”

  “That’s even more of a worry, damn it!” I yelled back, but that only made him happier.

  He rocked back in his chair and cackled. “Bwahahaha! Do whatever you want to try and stop it. Otherwise, it’ll blow up your planet! That’s what you get for making me mad!”