The Devil Is a Part-Timer!, Vol. 16

by Satoshi Wagahara

  Chiho bowed her head toward her.

  “…All right. All right.”

  With things having culminated to this point, Laila could no longer fight back.

  “Thinking about it, I have no right to go against your will, do I? Not after I sent you out to battle myself. But all right. I’ll have to be our contact with Chief Wurs either way. Now, we’ll need to convince Alciel and the others, get you into the zirga, lecture you about the correct way to handle fragments… Talk about a rush project.”

  “Okay. I’ll go to school real quick and retrieve my bow and stuff. I’d like to practice and fine-tune my moves for whatever’s coming tomorrow.”

  “Good,” Suzuno said. “Once that is done, I would like you to travel to Ente Isla at once. We need to introduce you to Dhin Dhem Wurs.”

  “Whoa! I’m gonna get to meet the most powerful person in the Northern Island? Wow, I’m getting nervous! I’m sorry, can you wait here one moment? I’ll be right back!”

  With that, she all but skipped out of her room.

  “Do you think this is all right?” Laila asked.

  “Nothing to fear. Apart from the constant griping the Devil King will give us later, it is smooth sailing ahead.”

  “That’s what I’m afraid of the most. Plus, really, no matter how composed Chiho seems, she’s just a normal teenage girl. The zirga isn’t war, but it is a major political event.”

  “I think you need to learn a little more about Chiho, Laila.” Suzuno stood up, looking out the window at the street running by the Sasaki residence. “She connected the Devil King and the Hero together, she is beloved by a Sephirah child, she is protected by the Hero’s companions, she was promoted to the rank of Great Demon General, she had hordes of demons bowing down to her, and she uses holy magic to travel across worlds. How many teenage girls do you know who can do that?”

  Suzuno smiled as she spotted Chiho jogging off to school.

  “She is our friend. And she is the strongest person this world knows.”

  That evening, after enjoying an audience with Dhin Dhem Wurs, Suzuno, Albert, and Laila, Chiho was formally admitted into the zirga.

  With a whistling tear that seemed to echo across the arena, Chiho’s first arrow landed in the center of the target.

  “She got it!” Maou shouted, despite himself. But he was drowned out by the rest of the crowd, far more enthusiastic about this round of archers than the previous ones.

  “I don’t know much about kyudo,” Rika said to Albert, who was using holy magic to pick up the girl’s Japanese, due to her lack of Idea Link skills. “Did Chiho just do something really great?”

  “That girl’s archery skills are beyond anything I’ve seen before,” he exclaimed from the adjacent box, smiling and unable to contain his excitement. “As you can see, that girl’s bow is twice the length of what’s normally found ’round the Northern Island. The emphasis around here is less on the accuracy of a single bolt and more on mobility and the stopping power against an enemy force. The Southern Island is the same way, although you’ll see a few differences between the Southern plains and the Northern mountains. I guess you can say it’s not so elegant as all that, y’know? And here you have that huge bow, that unique stance…”

  Chiho was still in her postfiring stance, her first shot landing right in the middle of the target, one a little bit larger than the standard used in kyudo. This was an exhibition, but zirga participants were still scored based on their bow skills, with points awarded based on how close to the center your arrow landed. Each round featured five volleys of arrows, and a shot on the star in the target’s center was worth ten points, going down to eight, five, three, then one point as you ventured farther away. These zones were marked in concentric circles on the target, much like in typical archery.

  In her first two rounds, Chiho had performed perfectly, an almost unheard-of feat, letting her finish over twenty points ahead of the runner-up. But due to her unique (“strange” by local standards) stance, she had been pegged as a dark-horse candidate by the bookmakers, meaning she was handicapped at pretty high odds.

  “For someone like us, landin’ it in the center of the target is a rush of excitement. But not her.”

  As Albert spoke, Chiho lowered her bow, then went back into her monomi stance, quietly sitting down and mentally preparing for her next shot.

  “She’s so…refined, you know? Mature.”

  The crowd was enrapt, watching on as she sat in silence for her next turn. The man firing after her was a muscle-bound giant, twice her size. He gave the seated Chiho a leer, then flexed his muscles to what seemed like three or four times their original size as he fired. The arrow certainly had the range to hit the target, but unlike Chiho’s straight, calculated shot, it whizzed over in an arc and landed a fair bit below the center.

  “Normally, that would elicit cheers, y’see? It sure won’t today.”

  “Oh… Wow, Chiho’s really good!”

  “Maybe so. But I mean, her whole approach to archery couldn’t be any more different from ours.”

  In a world like Ente Isla, where great advancements in holy magic had been made over the years, bow-and-arrow combat had undergone much less development. Unlike antiquity up to the Middle Ages on Earth, magic had always been the driver of long-range attacks on Ente Isla, along with things like one-shot surprise ambushes. The traditional approach in ancient Ente Isla was to start by lobbing long-range magic at each other, then charge forward with infantry or cavalry. Archers were, thus, only effective for a limited amount of time, and no nation dedicated themselves particularly to developing them. They were seen as mid-range threats, and tactics like firing rains of arrows from long distances were only seen in tomes and legends from the distant past, before magic made itself known. The accuracy of these descriptions, however, was an ongoing question. Apart from crossbows and other bows meant for siege or defensive warfare, almost all archery used in Ente Islan combat was seen as an emergency mid-to-long-range backup when casting magic wasn’t possible.

  It might be expected to see it used in areas like sniping, assassination, and other long-range purposes, if it weren’t for the simple fact that magic advanced more quickly. It was a given that any figure famous or notorious enough to be targeted for murder would always wear clothing or equipment enchanted to dull long-range attacks. And compared with the uncontrollable ranges of magic spells in ancient to medieval times, recent years had seen the rise of limited-range, self-repeating magic, focused more on pinning an enemy down than killing them—in essence, an upgraded version of the humble bow and arrow. Besides, a skilled sorcerer and a skilled archer took about the same amount of time and training to master their craft—but unlike archers, who needed high-quality tools and a ready supply of arrows to fight, a sorcerer could do their job as long as the holy force in the atmosphere was dense enough.

  On the Northern Island, with its many jagged peaks and valleys forcing battle to remain small-scale most of the time, archery had been developed for hunting in mountains and forests, for guerrilla warfare, and for covert operations. The third use had proven somewhat effective in coping with the Devil King’s Army in recent years, but a bow was still conventionally seen as a weapon that worked best in ranges of about 5 to 11 yards, so little development was done to expand on that.

  The targets in this exhibition were normally positioned around 22 yards from the stage.

  “Twenty-two yards?” Rika looked down as Albert explained all this. “It looks like more than that.”

  “Well, that’s why this girl is so amazing to us. In our test runs, she landed every single shot dead center, so they moved ’em back another eleven yards to make it a fairer match.”

  A pity, then, that nobody knew this was close to the exact range Chiho worked with the most in her kyudo club. To be exact, most high school kyudo teams fired in the kinteki range, which was about 31 yards. The different measuring systems between the two planets meant they didn’t add up exactly, of course, bu
t to Chiho, the challenge involved was totally familiar.

  In archery, being able to hit a 32-yard target didn’t necessarily mean that closer targets were proportionally easier. But all fields of shooting sports featured separate techniques for short- and long-range targets, and kyudo was no exception. To a fan of the sport, it wouldn’t be unnatural at all to expect Chiho to have no problem with the 22-yard distance.

  But one other difference had quickly made itself clear. In the Northern Island, archery had evolved as a hunting tool, one whose practitioners did away with fancy logic and took an “if I hit it, I’m good” approach. In kyudo, with its origins in Bushido, a samurai code, and its emphasis on stances and mannerisms, that was not the case.

  “And that,” Wurs remarked as she tapped at her monocle, “is another reason why Chiho’s out there. That fragment she has.”

  Then, as if waiting for that cue, Chiho looked straight at them.

  “…That’s right,” Wurs said, as if Chiho was right next to her. “Calm down. You’re more steely-eyed than anybody else on stage. Keep up the good work.”

  Chiho, despite being far too away to hear her, nodded deeply. Even Maou and Emi were floored. Chiho probably saw them in the audience just now. Their voices wouldn’t carry, but the box seats were close enough, and empty enough, that they’d be visible. But she didn’t acknowledge them, instead turning her face ahead and closing her eyes to focus her spirit. That face, right now, wasn’t the face of the high schooler who smiled at them all the time, who warmly accepted them.

  “Chi-Sis is tough!”

  “Huh?

  Alas Ramus, seated on Wurs’s lap, must have seen her face, too. Maou assumed she was talking about how resolute she looked, but Acieth saw it differently.

  “Not a single thread of the fear. She has the strong heart right now, she means! Her heart, it is settled.”

  Looking toward them, Maou realized both Acieth’s and Alas Ramus’s foreheads were still faintly glowing, ever since Wurs’s monocle emitted that first flash of light. Startled, Maou looked more closely. Then, he saw it.

  “Whoa, Laila, is Chi…?”

  “That’s right.”

  Laila nodded as she revealed a faintly glowing Yesod fragment in the palm of her hand.

  “But in the end, this is the result of Chiho’s internal strength and training. If she didn’t have the fundamentals down, any further power I could send to her would be worthless. I tell you, any normal teen wouldn’t be able to handle it.”

  She seemed to almost enjoy this.

  As they carried on, Chiho’s turn came up again. The crowd let up a mighty cheer as Maou strained his eyes, trying to peek at her right arm. The angle blocked it from his view most of the time—but the moment she launched her second arrow, he spotted a glint on her ring finger, sticking out from the archer’s glove she had on. It was the ring with the Yesod fragment in it.

  “…Mm?”

  Proceeding with her follow-through, Chiho saw her second shot had landed true and put her bow down.

  She had wanted this to go like any other kyudo session, so she only had her haya and otoya arrows in hand, but there were three more rounds to this exhibition. So far, the shots had been routine for her.

  “Well done. Nobody can stop you now.”

  Retreating to the waiting area, she found Nord Justina, serving as her assistant, greeting her with a smile.

  “I was pretty nervous with that one. Emilia and Maou are here. Seeing them made my hands shake.”

  “Your performance looked exactly the same to my eyes,” Nord replied, gently smiling like he hadn’t a care in the world. “Simply being here would make any of us nervous, but when your turn is up, it’s like your entire spirit is unified. That’s not something just anyone can do. You should be more confident.”

  “…Right. Oh, the feathers are a little messed up on that arrow. Can you replace it with the one over there?”

  “Got it.”

  Following her instructions, Nord replaced the arrow.

  “…Three to go.”

  Leaving Nord to care for her arrows, Chiho sat down, gathering herself. Nord was here because he all but fell over himself volunteering for it. He was no powerful sorcerer or fighter, but he was the least public figure among the group, so his assistance would not be seen as political or unjustified. His past tribulations had given him nerves of steel, he had hunted with a bow enough to know how to handle them, and he looked like a tall, muscular, bearded man, which let him play a bodyguard role for the small, young Chiho in this zirga full of huge, lumbering behemoths.

  He had just given some encouragement to Chiho, and in Chiho’s eyes, Nord wasn’t at all drowned out by the event. The presence of his wife, Laila, in the audience was one factor behind that—but like Chiho, he was thrust in the middle of this battle against heaven, fully aware of everything going on, but ashamed that he couldn’t help out Emi or Laila in any real way. That’s why he had told Chiho beforehand that being able to help in this world-saving quest behind the scenes came as a sheer joy to him.

  In turn, Chiho said to him in her mind,

  I’m counting on you.

  She was competing in this archery exhibition right now, but her position meant she was a part of all kinds of other ceremonies and conferences, and it was Nord who guided her through them. Having experienced life in the Western Island under Lucifer’s occupation, he knew exactly what refugees returning to their homelands would need—information that proved helpful to Chiho during tortuously long policy discussions. He wasn’t much help with horses, but if she navigated this exhibition the way they had planned it, Chiho wouldn’t have to wing it in the equestrian events anyway.

  “Three left.”

  Chiho brought her eyes down to the ring on her finger for just a moment, then focused on the star mark on the target far ahead of her. She scowled.

  “…Chief Wurs? Laila? I have a favor to ask.”

  “Hmm?”

  The wrinkles on Dhin Dhem Wurs’s face suddenly deepened.

  “Hey. Devil kid.”

  “Huhh?!”

  The great demon who once had the world wrapped around his finger was now demoted to “devil kid.” Maou might have lived for much longer than Wurs ever would, but the sudden outburst made him all but gasp in response, not that Wurs cared.

  “So from what I’m hearing, you know that brave, gutsy girl over there’s fallen in love with you, but you’re just toying with her emotions, huh?”

  “Who said that crap to you? Was it you?!”

  “Hey! Why’re you blaming me?!”

  Laila immediately protested, but she had no right to blame him. She had a rep, and she knew it.

  “‘Toying with her emotions’… You might be toeing the line toward that lately, yeah.”

  “Emi!!”

  Satan, the Devil King, didn’t want to give these baseless accusations the time of day, but then, Wurs looked at him again, tapping her monocle.

  “She says she wants to go without this from now on. She wants you two to see what she’s capable of.”

  “Huh?”

  It wasn’t Maou or Emi, but Laila who voiced her surprise.

  “…Hmm?”

  Chiho was still standing there, in her follow-through pose, but the arena was erupting. For the first time, her arrow was just to the right of the star. They were practically neighbors, there on the target, but the first taste of vulnerability she had given the audience today completely changed the atmosphere. The other competitors smiled, looking forward to chasing her down on points, but Chiho remained quiet, returning to her standby position.

  “I guess I really am nervous,” she told Nord, before he could speak up. “My stance wasn’t right there.”

  “What was wrong with it?”

  “I pulled my face up. That’s why it went right.”

  In kyudo, any issue or bad habit that affected one’s shooting was called fusei. In this third shot, the first one fired without the support of her Yes
od fragment, Chiho grew so anxious about her arrow going straight that she lifted her face toward the back—a classic fusei. This caused her whole body to lean ever-so-slightly to the right, and that was what pulled the arrow away from the star.

  “All right. Well, let’s fix that next time. If your muscles are getting sore, I think we’ll get a longer break between the third and fourth rounds, so try to stretch yourself out a little.”

  “Oh, do we…? All right. I’ll do that.”

  She didn’t know the time schedule for this event. It came as a relief to her. So she released her focus and stretched out her body, working all the soreness and anxiety out.

  “…I’m sorry. That’s not actually the only reason.”

  “No? What is it?”

  Chiho showed Nord her right hand as she gave him her equipment to hold. It had no ring on it.

  “I wanted to compete with my own abilities. I kind of got carried away.”

  “Oh…”

  Nord looked a little nonplussed, but then, he turned toward the targets and shook his head.

  “Maybe, but you had it almost in the middle. A lot of the competitors here aren’t getting nearly that close. It’s nothing to be depressed about.”

  “…Right.”

  She knew Nord was trying to make her feel better, but Chiho was starting to feel deeply anxious. She might have missed the star, but given Chiho’s inherent abilities, it was rare for her to score a hit that close to the center at all. In terms of force and stature, she was completely average for girls her age, which meant she hadn’t developed the muscle strength to fully support her stances.

  When it came to archery, there were often large performance differences between high school and college, and between college and adulthood. Growing in size was one cause of this, but another big one was whether or not your body was up for the sport. If it was, that connected to confidence, which, in turn, created internal strength.