CH 39

Chapter 39 – Calling

The kingdom’s army troops come to a halt about three hundred meters in front of the cliffs where the city walls are placed. They are within range of our heavy machine guns and rifles, but I raise my hand and order everyone to stop firing.

I don’t know what the hero will do, but I’m going to wait and see and decide accordingly.

If he wants to surrender, it depends on the conditions…

“Come out, Demon King!”

――Huh?

I can clearly hear the voice of that depressing gorilla macho, despite the considerable distance. It must be some kind of loudspeaker magic, but that doesn’t matter now.

Who’s the Demon King?

I’m at a loss for reaction and turn to look at Myrril-san. “Oh man, I wonder what that guy is talking about~?” I’m trying to get her to agree with me, but she doesn’t even make eye contact with me.

I asked the beastman shooters on the other side, and they just nodded with a wry smile.

…Hey, hey, hey, wait a minute. What’s that all about?

“Well, the Demon King…”

“Pretty sure it’s Yoshua.”

“That’s a strange thing to say.”

“No, no, no, why? You’re the one who took this innocent, middle-aged salaryman, you know?”

“I’m not sure what you mean by innocent middle-aged, but whatever the case, you are the Demon King for the kingdom’s army. It can’t be helped.”

“There’s no way I can accept that! I don’t have any demon subordinates or even acquaintances, and I’ve never seen anything other than dragons!”

“Hmm, that’s quite negligent for a Demon King.”

“Don’t proceed with your decision on the Demon King position! I mean, is there really such a thing as a Demon King?”

“I’ve heard that it used to exist, but I don’t know what it really was.”

“Demon King! I’ve known you’re a demon since I saw the power you displayed in the White Room!”

“Shut up, you phimosis! I’m only a merchant!”

It seems that calling me a Demon King is already established, but I don’t know what that gorilla wants to do.

“So much for plotting against innocent people! If you don’t come out, I’ll kill the subhumans one by one!”

The atmosphere of those who were standing on the city walls froze at those mangled words. Myrril looked through the binoculars and handed it to me, spitting out a small curse.

At the end of the plain, I could see the main camp of the kingdom’s army, decorated with magnificent banners. It must have been nearly two kilometers away. There were several stakes set up at even intervals, which had not been there until yesterday. I could see a few figures on and around the stakes, but my eyesight was not good enough to identify them.

“The one standing next to the stakes is probably the first prince of the kingdom. The unfamiliar man and woman next to him are probably a sage and a saint, protected by nearly 30 soldiers and mages.”

“I don’t care about that. Are those really subhumans that are tied to the stakes?”

“There are three beastman children, an elf and a… dwarf.”

Myrril’s face paled as she looked back at them.

“Do you know them by any chance?”

“…Yes, …that’s Misnel. My… little sister.”

Her voice was trembling, thinner, and more fragile than I had ever heard it before.

“…Why is she here? …I thought she had led the people to the tribal union!”

“I’m not sure if I should mention this, Jou-chan, but on the side of the union that’s close to the kingdom, many of the chiefs are controlled by the kingdom. It’s also possible that they’ve been sold or captured by them.”

“…No way, …how many goods we have accumulated, …and how many hostages they have taken.”

“We’ll talk about that later. They’re still alive, aren’t they?”

“…Ah, …y-yes. Now… they’re still.”

My eyes can’t see clearly, but I can see a slight reddish-black from the silhouette, is that blood?

You’ve got to be kidding me. Myrril held my arm tightly as I tried to push the binoculars away and jump out. She spoke quickly, holding me on as if she would never let me go.

“There are about ten mages packed into the camp. They’ve already seen Yoshua’s tactics in yesterday’s battle, so their job is to put up a magic barrier or a barrier to block magic power in case of attack. On top of that, there are nearly 20 heavily armed infantry. Isn’t it obvious that it’s a trap!

“You’re right.”

“Then let’s take a look at the situation…!”

“It’s a trap, so what?”

“What?”

“A trap? Enclosing walls? Barriers? Who cares? I warned them so much, and they still messed with my people. It means they’re already prepared to die, right? Then I’ll give them what they want!”

“B-but Yoshua, if he is the hero you spoke of, he knows your guns, bombs, storage, and teleportation, right? If you go in like this, you’ll end up in the enemy’s grasp…”

“I don’t give a shit about that!”

I shake off Myrril’s hand. I saw out of the corner of my eye that my binoculars had flown off, and Yadar, the tiger girl, had narrowly caught it. Everyone around us seemed to be having trouble dealing with Myrril and me, but I had no intention of retreating at this point. I don’t care what anyone says; I’m not going to back down.

“If you want to be a coward, that’s fine, but don’t get in my way. If you keep babbling on like this…”

“Don’t make fun of me!”

“Gefuhh!”

I was thrown forward by a sharp hook that pierced my liver. My eyes go dark, and I can’t hear anything.

I’m not exactly dying in agony like the thugs in the royal capital, so maybe she took it easy on me, but I’m losing a lot of HP. It’s like a revolving lantern! I could see the old lady in Koriyama waving at me!

“….S-sta, tus…”

Name: Yoshiaki Takefu

Occupation: Merchant of Death, Terrorist, Guardian of the Subhumans, Observer of Malice, Deep-Fried Onii-chan, Demon King

Rank: 06

Physical Strength: 174

Magic: 892

Attack: 621

Resistance: 789

Defense: 796

Skills:

Appraisal: 131

Teleportation: 1232

Storage: 1457

Market: 1976

[T/n: I changed Cordage to Bond because it seems that a lot of you were complaining about this. Well I thought it has the same meaning since Jnovel also used it in the realist hero novel.]

…I shouldn’t have looked at it. There was no point in looking at it. It’s just more weird stuff. There is no information that can be put to good use, and there is no indication of how to use my abilities. However, the fact that the basic parameters have been increased by an unbelievable amount, but the physical strength is strangely low is definitely due to the effect of the noja loli hook!

“H-hey, are you okay, Yoshua?”

“I-I’m, fine.”

It seems that one of the elves cast a healing spell on me. I don’t know if my physical strength increased because I had turned off my status, but I managed to get up.

When I looked up, I saw Myrril staring at me with a crying, shaking face.

She and I both had nowhere to go with our emotions. She may be angry, hateful, sad, but most of all, she is scared. She must have lost something that she had almost regained, and I’m sure she’s been through this many times before.

I stroked the dwarf girl’s head, which seemed to be on the verge of tears again, and patted it awkwardly.

“It’s a good punch, Myrril.”

“…I-I’m sorry.

“No need to apologize. That cooled my head off. Thanks for the help, really. I’ve been thinking that I should just go in there and kill everyone without thinking before.”

I hugged her fluffy curly hair to my chest and called out to Kemich with my eyes.

The giant anti-tank rifleman came right over to me. And then.

“It’s no problem; we just need to break the coordination of the mages. We only have to destroy the top mages that are concentrating their magic power. The distance is within range; it’s easy.”

As soon as he understood my intentions, he came up with a plan. It’s not within effective range, but the elves seem to think that they can hit at maximum range. And indeed, they do.

In addition to their high mobility and eyesight, elves are extraordinary individuals with an aptitude for magic and marksmanship. For them, a bunch of human mages would be nothing compared to what they can do. I have no choice but to trust them here.

Judging by the nods from the surrounding elves, the idea seems to be highly effective. I’ll take it.

When I nodded, Kemich smiled like a maniac.

“Time is up, Demon King! I’ll kill the first one!”

At the same time that the hero, who has become a filthy scum, shouts out, Kemich fires his Simonov. Four shots in a row. At a time interval from the thunderous sound, I saw some sort of translucent shards of glass shattering in the main camp of the kingdom, like a splash of water.

Shortly afterward, something reddish-black burst from behind it.

“Haha! Watch it, assholes! All right, Yoshua, go! Blow them to smithereens!”

“”Yes!””

I teleported to the main camp at once. The AKM bullets are struck one by one into the mages, who are shaken when they see me suddenly appear in front of them. It seems that the remaining mages were not strong enough to stop the 7.62 x 39 mm bullets, regardless of the magic barrier or barriers; the mages are all dead with their chest plates gouged out and vomiting blood.

The heavily armed infantry was next. They hurriedly put up their shields, but I don’t care. I’m going to kill them all.

“You’ve already lost your magic support! Don’t think you can stop me with armor and shields!”

“All hands, shield up!”

The surrounding heavily armed infantry, who seemed to have a collection of a good amount of elite, combined their tower-shaped shields and took a position of encirclement and extermination. While changing magazines, I tossed a grenade into a gap at their feet ― a leftover antique from a trap. I throw it into the distance just in case and keep my distance ― spraying a rain of splinters inside the shield defense.

As they screamed and broke formation, I fired my AKM in a barrage of single shots, 30 rounds of 7.62mm piercing the armor and creating a pile of corpses.

“Don’t panic; just hold your shield at an angle, and it will bounce off!”

Some of them seem only to have a little brain. I don’t know if it will work, though. Those who were hiding behind the shields and looking for an opportunity to strike were blasted in the toes by short machine gun point-blank shots, and when they lost their stance, their helmets were shot off one after another, turning them into corpses in no time.

…Huh? Submachine gun?

“It’s a little boring, isn’t it? Is this really how they greeted us? Yoshua?”

Wait!? What are you doing here, noja loli-neesan? Where did you come from?

“What are you doing? Can you not just stand there? Everyone’s watching.”

They’re probably watching. The subhumans can see us from the city walls and with the naked eye.

“Don’t be afraid! Surround them with numbers and kill…”

“Try it yourself, if you can.”

With a natural motion of pointing, Myrril sent a death bullet from the UZI. The head of the commander who was hit in the eye socket flipped over as if he had been hit with an uppercut, and he fell flat on his back. One of the bullets struck the soldier in the eye as he tried to turn around — another one in the eye of the soldier who was about to come at me.

“Their eyes, I can see them, in this distance…♪”

I can’t help but shudder at the sound of Myrril’s happy whisper. At this distance, she will not miss again. As long as she shoots out the eyeball, armor is meaningless. As she pointed the muzzle of her gun at them, one by one, with each shot, their eyeballs and lives were shot out and popped.

A group of strong, heavily armed infantrymen surrounded a small, pretty girl, but they just couldn’t step forward.

The kingdom’s soldiers, who don’t know anything about firearms, can’t even identify the moment when the magazine is changed, and even if they do, they can’t do anything about it with their skill, which only takes two seconds to change.

“You shall learn of our wrath!”

Myrril uses her right hand for the UZI, and her left hand for the M1911 copy, in a move that looks like something out of an action movie, to take out the heavily armed infantry in one fell swoop. It seems that my turn will not come.

I leave the scene with eye contact with her and approach the prince or whatever he is standing in front of the stake. The sage and the saint have either fled or gone into hiding, and the only person waiting for me is a man in the armor of a Kingsguard cavalryman. I don’t know why the prince is dressed as a Kingsguard, and I’m not interested either.

“Hey, red cape. Release the hostages now!”

“Don’t be ridiculous! Drop your weapon, or you’ll be…”

“Enough. I get it.”

I shoot him in the stomach with my AKM. I didn’t even check to see if it was the prince, but the man died without a scream.

“Kyaaaaaa! Prince!”

The one screaming in the shadows of the tent was the saint from before. She was covered in some kind of paint (like the queen), and her hair was wrapped around her head, making her look weird, like a foreigner in a comedy show. I don’t care. It looks like she’s desperately trying to cast a healing spell on the prince, but the distance is too great for her to reach him. Even if it did reach him, he would still be dead.

A thin, handsome man who seems to have become a sage, perhaps as a guard for the saint, holds up his staff, and I point my AKM at him.

“Before I count to ten, take her and disappear. If you ever stand in front of me again, I’ll kill you.”

“You think you can just go away after killing the first prince…?”

“I think so. What the hell are you talking about now, huh? In fact, I have already killed the third prince, so adding more princes won’t change anything. If you have a problem with that, come and get me, you scum.”

“The third prince… is it the one who went missing!?”

“Missing? I thought I left his body on the side of the road.”

“Don’t be ridiculous! His Majesty the King will not give up on those who harm the royal family, no matter who they are! He will kill you all! No matter what the cost!”

“…Huh? I don’t know what’s affecting you so much that you’re talking like a madman, but do you understand what’s going on here?”

“You can shoot me if you want! We will burn the subhumans out of their dens and exterminate them all.”

I shot the sage in the knee — first, the left.

A 7.62mm bullet will not only puncture the knee but almost tear it to pieces.

“Ah well… I’ve lost interest in you.”

“Gyaaaaaaa…!”

“That’s right. It’s not just the hero that’s tainted by this shitty chosen people mindset. You were not just being ordered around, but you were also on the side of the kingdom, right? Sorry, sorry.”

“P-please don’t kill me! Please! We’re both Japanese, aren’t we?”

What’s the matter with this guy now? I shot the sage in the knee again — this time on the right.

“We’re not the same, you shit! I’m sick to the stomach just thinking that people like you are Japanese.”

I leave the saint, who is desperately trying to cast a healing spell on the sage, behind as I remove the hostages from the stake.

“Are you okay?”

“Of course, they’re just a bunch of small-fry. Who do you think I am?”

Myrril came running up to me immediately.

The young girl, who, instead of having a flower but a forty-five in each hand, smiled with relief when she saw the hostage that had been lowered from the stake.

Myrril tilted her head suspiciously at the saint, who was collapsed on top of the sage, probably because the healing had exhausted her magic power.

“You don’t kill women?”

“I didn’t kill the man either. Those two are the countrymen who were summoned with me.”

“Did you take mercy on them?”

“No, the opposite. I felt so much hatred for them that I wanted to make them suffer more than kill them. A living hell in a foreign land with no friends and no one to rely on.”

“…That’s really like you.”

“All right, just give me a little more time. I will get you out soon.”

The subhuman hostages we freed were all young children. They were all so tiny and light that it was painful to look at them. As I held them all together, Myrril smiled and clung to my back. The way she holds my belt in both her tiny hands and clings to me is really like a wild child.

“…So, you followed me with my teleportation.”

“Yes, because Yoshua and I are inseparable, aren’t we?”

I don’t think so, but that’s okay.

With the children all over my body, I teleported towards the city walls, where gunfire rang out.