“Just because you’re my observer doesn’t mean you can do stuff like this, okay? You shouldn’t be causing problems for the people around me. You’re not her classmate, so it’s not okay for you to mess with her!”
“That’s correct, yes. I am not her classmate, nor yours. I am simply an observer,” Korone said, but her monotone voice seemed a little different than usual.
—Huh?
Akuto suddenly realized what was going on. There was emotion in her voice.
“Perhaps I was wrong to interfere with your life. However, please know that I’m simply not good at this. I didn’t intend to hurt you,” Korone whispered.
“W-Wait...” Akuto began to speak, but Korone continued in her sad, flat tone.
“Please don’t let it bother you. This is my fault. Please don’t forget that I just want to be by your side.”
“Huh? What?”
But Korone turned and walked off before Akuto could react.
Junko seemed confused as well. She just fixed her swimsuit and watched her go.
“Wh-What happened to Korone?”
“I don’t know...”
“But that’s not normal for her. And those last words she said... don’t tell me that Korone...”
Her sentence was drowned out by a loud voice.
“Ackie! Look at this weird sea cucumber!”
Keena came running up from the beach.
Junko froze when she heard the words “sea cucumber.”
“Keena! Don’t bring any of those things over here!” Akuto said, but Keena didn’t answer.
A sea cucumber, differently colored that the one before, came flying at them. Junko started screaming as she tried to knock it out of the air, and Akuto had an awful time calming her down.
In the end, they never got a chance to talk about Korone. Later, when he asked Keena why she did that, she cheerfully replied: “I thought that a sea cucumber with a different color would be okay!”
○
While his classmates were playing at the beach, Hiroshi was visiting home.
He followed the tiny path off the road to the dorm and headed for the village. Several squat huts with distinctive Japanese-style roofs dotted the road. There weren’t many, but the path was well maintained, demonstrating the love the residents had for their homes.
Strangely, there didn’t seem to be a single person around, but Hiroshi thought he knew why, so he went straight towards his house.
—This is why I hate this place. They’re too scared of the Demon King to come out of their own homes...
He tried to open the door to his house, but it was locked, frustrating him further. Normally the doors in this village were never locked.
“Mom, I’m home.”
Only then was the door unlocked.
“Welcome back. You must be tired.”
His mother welcomed him in a cheerful voice, and Hiroshi relaxed a little.
“It’s good to be home, Mom.”
He hated the place, but home was still home. Just going through the front door was enough to make him feel at ease.
His dad and sister emerged from further in the house too. But for some reason, his parents started to put on their shoes near the front door.
“What’s going on? Are we leaving?”
“You’re coming too. There’s a meeting at the town hall.”
His father seemed annoyed that Hiroshi didn’t know this.
“W-Wait, at least let me settle in a little.”
“I said there’s a meeting. And we can’t leave the door open, so hurry up.”
His father stood up and left.
His mother chuckled.
“He never changes, does he?”
Hiroshi didn’t answer, but he turned around and followed his father. And then his little sister, Yukiko, tugged on his pants. She was a little younger than he was, still 11 years old.
“Welcome back, Brother.”
“Yeah, thanks.”
“Everybody heard you were coming back, so we’re going to have a party.”
“Yeah? That’s great,” Hiroshi said. But he didn’t really mean it.
There were no young people in the village, so he suspected the “party” was just an excuse for everyone to drink. Sure enough, when he got to the town hall, a sea of elderly red faces turned to look at him.
“Oh, the future hero’s back, huh?”
“If you’re here, the village is safe.”
The elders laughed. There was a banner hanging from the rafters.
“Welcome Back, Future Priest” it said.
Hiroshi tried his best to keep from showing his displeasure. He was given food and drink, but he could barely taste it. He did his best to smile and make small talk for a while, but before long everyone forgot about him and began to chat among themselves.
—They’re all just sucking up to me because I might become a priest.
Hiroshi wasn’t just being a rebellious teenager. The elders weren’t exactly subtle. He’d heard them “joke” about how he needed to help the village ever since he’d been accepted to Constant Magical Academy. Some of them hadn’t even bothered with jokes, and had come straight out and said, “Our island is so poor... in the future, you’ll help us out, won’t you?” Even with Hiroshi’s easygoing personality, he didn’t like that pressure at all.
The party seemed like it was going to drag on forever, so Hiroshi left early, claiming that he had somewhere to be for school. In the end, he wasn’t going to relax at home after all. His parents didn’t go with him, as they were probably expected to stay. But his little sister, Yukiko, did.
“Hey, is it true the Demon King is at your school?” she asked as soon as they left the town hall.
“It’s not what everybody things,” Hiroshi said.
“Everybody’s scared. They’re all talking about some legend.”
“That legend is just a myth.”
Hiroshi went around to the back of the town hall, looking for a place to talk with Yukiko. There was a raised brick flower garden bed along the wall. He decided that would do just fine. They sat next to each other.
“But at night, I hear all these weird noises, and see weird people on the street, and I can hear ghosts in the distance sometimes,” Yukiko said.
She seemed to believe what she was saying, but Hiroshi figured that she was just being a kid.
“You only hear that stuff because you’ve gotten yourself all scared.”
“Then the Demon King doesn’t really exist? I’m too old to be scared of ghosts, but all the grown-ups say he’s real...”
“No. There’s just a person that they call the Demon King,” Hiroshi said. From the way Yukiko was talking, people were really spreading rumors about Akuto, so it would be hard to deny that he existed at all. “But he’s not like this Demon King everyone’s afraid of.”
“What do you mean?”
“He’s not scary. He’s my friend.”
“Really? That’s amazing!” said Yukiko, gazing at him with awe.
“So you see? He’s not scary, right?”
“Yeah!” Yukiko nodded.
And then they heard voices behind where they were sitting. On the other side of the wall, there seemed to be a smoking area, and several villagers had come for a smoke.
“See? I told you Miwa’s son was no good.”
“Oh yeah. From the look of things, I bet his grades at school are nothing special. Magic is all about having a strong spirit, you know.”
Hiroshi could hear them, but they didn’t know he was there. He knew he wasn’t going to like what he’d hear, but if he moved, they’d notice him.
“But we need him to become a priest, or the village’s future is dark.”
“They say even having a single priest gets your village an aid package. Can’t you become a priest as soon as you graduate the Academy? It’s not like being a high priest.”
“But they say the Demon King is at the Academy.”
“Yeah, I heard that�
��s true. He’s causing all kinds of chaos. I heard he’s already running the place, basically. I don’t believe the legend, but if the Demon King is just somebody with powerful magic who causes a rebellion, then he probably really does exist.”
“That whole Academy’s filled with kids who love to fight, anyway. I heard their student council president wiped out an entire Knight Corps.”
“We’d better hope they don’t come to the village then. We’d need a hero to protect us.”
“The whole thing about demon beasts and heroes is probably all a lie. But Miwa sure believed his son was the hero, hahaha!”
“Hahaha. No way in hell, he’s been a coward his whole life. He was the only kid in the village who couldn’t swim. He was always crying, and if you scared him he’d piss himself.”
When he heard their laughter, Hiroshi felt his stomach sink. The mix of anger and sadness almost made him to cry, but he couldn’t with his little sister watching.
Once the men had finished smoking and left, Hiroshi and Yukiko stood up.
“Big brother...” said Yukiko, sounding worried.
Hiroshi smiled.
“None of them really know the truth. But you do. So make sure to hold onto it.”
They went back home silently. Yukiko still seemed worried, but Hiroshi had to go back to the dorm, so he said goodbye to her at the front door.
On his way back, he started to cry a little, so he stopped to wipe the tears away.
When he did, he thought he heard a howl in the distance. He turned around and heard what sounded like a low roar coming from the mountain in the center of the island.
Hiroshi knew the legend well. There was a lake at the base of the mountain that marked the exact center of the island. That was where the beast was supposed to appear from. And the hero’s weapon was supposed to be around there, too. But he knew better than anyone that neither the beast nor the weapon were real. And that the “roar” he was hearing was a fake.
—If there is a Beast, I hope it destroys the village. I know there isn’t, though.
○
Akuto realized that someone was watching him. From the bushes on his way back from the beach and from the window when he was unpacking at the dorm, he could sense an unknown person staring at him.
It felt like his own senses were getting sharper. Maybe his ability to detect mana was increasing. But if that were the case, then maybe someone really was watching him in secret.
—I guess I should find out who it is before they cause problems for anybody else.
Before dinnertime, he deliberately went out the front of the dorm. Sure enough, he felt somebody watching him immediately. With this in mind, he made a plan. When free time came after dinner, he grabbed his shoes from the front hall so he could leave out the window.
Just as he was getting ready to go, he found himself staring at Korone. She was standing outside his window.
“What’s wrong?” he asked.
“Nothing. There was simply something bothering me,” Korone said.
“Bothering you?”
“Someone is spying on you.”
Korone had been acting strange lately, but when it came to things like this, Akuto knew he could trust her.
“I’ve been wondering about that too. I’m going to follow them.”
“I hope it’s not dangerous. But if you’re going, I will follow,” Korone said.
3 - Surprises in the Dark Woods?
“If you can feel someone watching you, that’s a sign that your mana detection ability has increased,” Korone said.
It was just as Akuto had suspected.
“You mean I can sense the mana in their bodies?”
“Correct. It seems that humans are capable of detecting and remembering the subtle changes in mana patterns that occur within the body. That’s how ‘intuition’ lets you sense the presence of someone concealed.”
“Then that feeling that somebody’s watching me...”
“My sensor has detected it as well. You’re not imagining it.”
Korone showed him the sensor in her hand. It looked like a pocket watch, but instead of a watch face there was a gleaming radar screen.
“This is my mana detection radar. However, a powerful mage can hide their mana signal, and someone without much mana is impossible to detect, so in most cases, it’s useless. In this case, however, it seems to be effective.”
The radar screen showed a map of the area, with a shining dot on top of it. The dot was very close.
“So we just follow this thing?”
Akuto started to walk towards it. He’d have to make his way through some dense foliage to get there, though it wasn’t enough that he couldn’t move. But since it was dark in the woods at night, he borrowed a light from Korone. When he turned it on, the foliage began to stir. Someone was in front of him.
“Over there?”
Akuto started to run, and whoever was in the bushes began to flee. They were surprisingly fast. Akuto had trouble keeping his footing, and he didn’t know the area. He ran as fast as he could, but he still lost sight of them.
“Let me see the radar.”
He reached out a hand towards Korone as he panted for breath. Korone turned the screen towards him and spoke.
“Something’s wrong. I can’t detect them.”
“What?”
He looked at the screen, and could see that it wasn’t working. He couldn’t see the dot of light, and he couldn’t see the map, either.
“Is it broken?” Akuto asked. Korone shook her head.
“There is a mana disturbance in this area. It appears to be affecting any devices which use mana.”
“Are you okay?”
“I’ve switched to a mode where I don’t circulate mana outside my body.”
“Good... But I guess we lost them, then.”
“So it would seem. Our current location is unknown as well.”
“So we’re lost?”
“No. I’ve memorized all the scenery I saw on the way here. As long as you’re with me, you’ll be fine.”
“Then let’s go home.”
Akuto gave up on following the stranger. But then he felt a cold chill run down the back of his neck.
He spun around instantly, but there was nothing there.
Korone seemed to have sensed it too. She put her hand up to her ear as if she were trying to hear something.
“What was that?”
“I heard the sound of someone running. Let’s follow it a while more. I can see in the dark, so I should be able to pursue them visually to a degree.”
Korone suddenly began to run.
“Huh? Wait...”
Akuto hurried after her, but Korone was moving fast.
The woods were dark, and Akuto only had a single light. He fell behind Korone, and soon had no idea where he was. When he realized this, he stopped running.
“Well, this isn’t good... I guess if I wait here, Korone will come back for me soon...”
Akuto found a nearby tree and sat down with his back up against it.
This was the first time that Korone had run off and left him behind. She’d seemed to be behaving normally that night, but evidently not.
—You know, it feels like I’m really helpless without Korone. She’s become someone I can’t live without, huh?
As he sat there in thought, Akuto heard another rustling in the bushes.
○
Just shortly before Akuto had set off to chase his mysterious stalker, Fujiko was in the basement, locked in a deadly duel with Peterhausen... or not.
“That’s right! Akuto will be the ruler, and I’ll be his wife! If anybody tries to rebel, I’ll throw them in a pool filled with poisonous snakes, and then Akuto and I will drink wine made from blood and enjoy dinner while we watch! That’s my dream!”
Fujiko was talking excitedly, and Peterhausen was listening, very satisfied.
“At night, I gather beautiful women from around the country and strip them naked
, then make them try and seduce Akuto! But of course, he ignores them! He only shares his bed with me! And I make them watch us while they scream with jealousy! Their jealousy, envy, and sense of defeat only make me more beautiful!”
She began to shake with emotion.
“You have a lot of potential to be an evil queen. Work hard and make that potential reality,” said Peterhausen as he nodded strongly.
“Of course! That’s why I have to serve Akuto, and do everything I can to bring the black mages together!”
Fujiko sipped her tea as she clenched her fist. Several hours with Peterhausen were enough for her to get over her fear. When she was at her best, Fujiko was a master at using words to lie and deceive people. It didn’t take long for her to open up to Peterhausen. Of course, it wasn’t just her conversational skill. Peterhausen seemed to have taken a liking to her rather nasty personality as well.
“I hope you do. My master’s lack of ambition is a serious problem,” Peter sighed, like an old prime minister struggling to raise a young general.
“I think it’s less a lack of ambition, and more that he’s just a good guy,” a different voice answered.
Both Peterhausen and Fujiko turned towards it simultaneously.
A short girl had walked into the underground palace. She was wearing a wide-brimmed hat with a face on it, and she wore a mischievous grin.
It was Lily Shiraishi, the student council president.
“Oh, it’s that brat.” Peterhausen snorted.
Blue veins appeared on Lily’s head, and her expression became stern for a moment, but she seemed to keep herself under control. She made no efforts to hide her displeasure as she walked up to Peterhausen with her arms crossed.
“Don’t call me a brat. I’m a proper maiden, you know. And I’ve got good news for you.”
“Then speak.”
“Man, you really are arrogant. Well, whatever. The Student Council, actually, the whole school, has decided how we’re going to deal with you.”
Peterhausen seemed uninterested, but Fujiko tensed up. She knew that Peterhausen’s presence was, in a sense, a problem for the school.
“Which side did the school pick?”
So far the school had been giving Akuto his freedom, on the theory that he wasn’t currently the Demon King. But it would make sense if Peterhausen’s presence had caused them to change their mind and side with the extremists.
Demon King Daimaou: Volume 3 Page 5