Editing Shinmai Maou no Keiyakusha:Volume 8 Chapter 1 (section)

===Part 2===
The time was approaching for the high-level discussions to be held between the Moderates faction and the Current Demon Lord faction in Wildart Castle. Lucia, who was in charge of the preparations, had already finished a final confirmation, including the security details. Lucia was now in a place that was different to the interior of the castle. It was a balcony that overlooked Wildart City. At present, there were two other people in this place aside from Lucia. In front of Lucia, who was waiting some distance away from them

“Please wait. Do you mean to say that, in the future—”

“—That is correct. In the future, we will essentially have nothing to do with each other.”

The person who answered Basara’s question with indifference was Lucia’s master — Ramsas. —Currently, Basara and Ramsas weren’t even looking at each other properly. Basara was looking at Ramsas, but Ramsas had turned his back to Basara as he continued to watch over Wildart City which was below him. Ramsas’ idea was something that Lucia was already aware of. It was the stance which the Moderates Faction and the demons would take against Basara and the others from now on.

“As you may be aware, there is a high risk that you guys will light the spark which causes a new battlefield to arise in the Demon Realm.”

Ramsas spoke with a heavy tone.

“At this important time when a military alliance is about to be formed between us and the Current Demon Lord faction, we cannot be seen to have any involvement with your group, as that would sow unnecessary seeds of doubt amongst each other. It would also cause unnecessary speculation amongst the other factions.”

Therefore

“In order to prevent that, we demons will cut off contact with you guys as much as possible…of course, there is also the possibility that some may with malicious intent may target you, so I will continue to leave Maria in your hands. Considering that Zest has also entered into a Master-Servant contract with you, you have no shortage in terms of combat force should the need for self-defence arise.”

After saying so, Ramsas continued

“In order to maintain fairness and transparency, observers from the Current Demon Lord faction will most likely continue to be dispatched to keep an eye on you guys. However, though we will not be enemies in the future, other factions may try to take advantage of the power and presence of your group, and even go after your lives. That girl has been entrusted with the power of Wilbert, so that much is to be expected.”

And then

“If you guys have serious problems, it will be reported to both the Moderates faction and the Current Demon Lord faction fairly — so that we can implement a solution.”

It meant that both the Moderates faction and the Current Demon Lord faction would intervene if necessary, if an emergency situation was to befall Basara and the others.

“…That is reassuring. Thank you.”

“—What are you misunderstanding?”

In response to Basara’s words of gratitude, Ramasas responded with hostility.

“If the situation is more serious than we expect, and it is judged that a rescue it too difficult, there is a possibility that we will eliminate you guys ourselves in order to rid ourselves of that danger.”

“………”

In response to Ramsas’ cold words, Basara remained silent. But

''…Basara-dono?''

Lucia, who had been watching Basara, involuntarily frowned. It was because his expression was not a difficult one, but a gentle one. And then

“So, you’re going to keep up that cold attitude of yours until the very end huh….”

Letting out a bit of a sigh, Basara stared straight at Ramsas as he spoke. His words were straight to the point.

“Are you really going to part with Mio like this, without telling her the truth?” 

Toujou Basara slowly watched as Ramsas turned around to face him. Then

“…What are you talking about?”

That response seemed to prod at the ‘true intention’ behind his words.

“What I’m about to say is just my speculation as I have no evidence to back it up.”

After that preliminary remark, Basara began to speak. Before the decisive battle with the Current Demon Lord faction — whilst considering a plan to assassinate Belphegor, Toujou Basara arrived at a certain ‘truth’ whilst thinking about the process that led up to the execution.

“Your attitude and the way you speak to Mio clearly shows unfriendliness. No matter how dangerous the situation became, you never sent any escorts aside from Maria, and the decisions you made had absolutely no regard for Mio’s life…you thoroughly avoided Mio, and kept distancing her away from yourself.”

''Why?''

“Someone who told me about the circumstances said that you were still bitter about the fact that your younger brother became the Demon Lord, and not you. He said that this was the reason why you were so cold towards your own niece, Mio.”

Basara extrapolated further based on the speculation that Takigawa had spoken about. But what came next was a disproof, rather than proof.

“But, this time, you called Mio to the Demon Realm and tried to extract the power of the former Demon Lord from her. Because we defeated Zolgear, people like Klaus-san began to intensify their opinions that Mio should become the next Demon Lord.”

Klaus was loyal to Wilbert, and that’s why his support for Mio to become the legitimate successor was obvious. However, Ramsas and Klaus disagreed with each other over this.

“To go against those who supported Mio, you insisted that you would be the one to gain that power. If you look at this normally, then it certainly does seem like these selfish actions of yours are an attempt to satisfy your vanity as the prideful older brother who was jealous of being surpassed by his younger brother.”

That was why when Basara came to the Demon Realm that night — Ramsas had made an insult towards Mio at this place. Mio had been left alone up until then, but selfish requests were imposed upon them as soon as the situation changed, and he couldn’t forgive the fact that Ramsas and the others were trying to use Mio.

“But…”

And then, Basara stole a glance at Lucia

“When I saw the relationship between Lucia-san and Maria, it was a hint for me to change my perspective.”

“Me and Maria…?”

As Lucia frowned, Basara nodded as he affirmed that.

“Before coming here, someone gave me a piece of advice ‘Don’t be short-sighted. Look at things flexibly’. She’s someone who’s given me valuable pieces of advice over and over many times…that’s why her words remained in my mind.”

Then

“I thought again as I looked at Lucia-san and Maria…the love that’s poured in to a family is not as simple as an act of kindness that can always be seen. And then I met my father here, and that thought turned into conviction.”

The answer that he derived. It was

“Whilst we children are doing the best we can to live our daily lives, our parents — they’re looking ahead for us into the future.”

“………”

Ramsas kept silent without changing his expression as Basara continued. Although Ramsas’ emotions could not be ascertained from his facial expression, his silence meant that he could not deny his true intentions. However, Toujou Basara didn’t care as he went on

“That’s when I changed my view. Your attitude and your behaviour towards Mio was not meant to satisfy your own pride, it was all for Mio’s own sake…”

If that was true, then the meaning of everything up until now could be traced in reverse like a chain reaction.

“The former Demon Lord Wilbert made his subordinates act as her parents so that his daughter Mio could live as a human being in the human realm…so that his only daughter Mio would not become a tool in the politics of the Demon Realm. All of the actions and decisions that you’ve made up until now can also be viewed as an extension of the will of Wilbert.”

And that’s because

“Maria was the only escort for her, and you didn’t assign any more escorts than was necessary to prevent Mio from being recognised as the Moderates faction’s princess. That’s why you distanced yourself from her. In order to prevent Mio from getting caught up in the politics of the Demon Realm, you went as far as possible not to make contact with her.”

And then, Basara continued

“If you thought about Mio that much, you probably had various measures in place to act as insurance against threats…for example with Sheera-san, one of those insurance measures was to make Mio the inheritor of Wilbert’s power. Of course, the probability of being targeted because she had inherited that would increase, but there was also a risk if she had been left without it.”

Moreover

“Even when Zolgear first targeted Mio, you permitted Maria to use her ‘key’ to transform into an adult, so that they could make it out of a struggle…but, that wasn’t the only thing, was it?”

After saying that, Basara once again directed his eyes towards Lucia

“Lucia-san…when Maria reported to you that Zolgear had taken Sheera-san hostage, you told her to focus on her mission of protecting Mio.”

“………”

Lucia stubbornly remained silent and maintained her expressionless façade. This silence meant that what Basara was saying was getting closer and closer to the hidden truth. Toujou Basara revealed a part of that truth. Looking back at Ramsas instead of at Lucia, he said

“But Lucia-san hadn’t abandoned Sheera-san…did she get captured by Zolgear on purpose?”

 “………………”

This was the conclusion that he had come to after thinking and reversing everything. Ramsas’ long silence was an affirmation which boosted the correctness of his reasoning

“That’s because Sheera-san can build a spatial tunnel without Lucia-san even noticing. Zolgear had captured Sheera-san from a location that was not his own residence. With that in mind, there would have been many chances for her to get away.”

But, Sheera didn’t attempt to run away — why?

 “Even though the observer was dismissed, Zolgear didn’t give up on Mio…that’s why she pretended to be caught by Zolgear and stayed there. Because Zolgear’s strong obsession with Mio was dangerous, she stayed there because she considered what might happen if Mio was captured.”

It was highly likely that not all of this was Sheera’s own decision, and that Ramsas was also involved. In any case

''…Lucia-san was also aware of Sheera-san’s aim.''

That was why she instructed Maria to focus on her mission. And so — because she was loyal to her master, she wouldn’t have done so without Ramsas’ permission. Therefore, it was a concrete fact that Ramsas was aware of this.

“Yes. Everything was for Mio’s sake — you thought about everything to protect her.”

Quietly…but with a clear voice, Basara said

“However, as I mentioned earlier, we defeated Zolgear, and this caused the attention of both the Moderates faction and the Current Demon Lord faction to gather onto Mio. In order to prevent Mio from becoming a tool of politics in the Demon Realm, the quickest way to cause her value to diminish was to extract the power of the former Demon Lord from his only daughter. And that’s why you tried to extract that power from Mio.”

Surely, it was an inevitable decision.

“There was a possibility that taking away this trump card from Mio would cause her to lose all magical power, but you didn’t mind…as a mere human being, Mio would be free to live as an ordinary girl, and she also had us around her, who had defeated Zolgear. Therefore, you thought the risk of people trying to target her would decrease because she would just be an ordinary girl.”

At any rate

“As the leader of the Moderates faction, it appeared as though you continued to look down on Mio’s existence. From the perspective of other factions, a Mio who had lost her powers would no longer have any value as a hostage against the Moderates faction. That’s why you wanted to extract that power from Mio, leave her in our hands, and then try to deal with the problems of the Demon Realm by yourself. However, before that could happen, the Current Demon Lord faction attacked us with the spirits, and as a result, we were forced to head to the frontlines.”

But, Basara still continued

“Then, the question arises…”

That is

“The timing with which you appeared in the Moderates Faction, and the cold attitude that you displayed towards Mio. Suppose we go with my theory that you were an older brother who picked up the dying wish of your younger brother Wilbert, and that you were an uncle who thought dearly about Mio. If that was the case, then there was no reason for you to go out of your way to oppose Klaus-san and the others. It was Wilbert’s wish that he didn’t want Mio to get involved, and you were simply carrying this on.”

Then

“…Don’t you think that these contradictions arose because your theory is incorrect?”

Finally, Ramsas opened his mouth. His statement was a sound argument. However

“—I don’t think so.”

Toujou Basara felt confidence in himself as he continued. That was because

“I was watching when you guarded and protected Mio from Chaos. The expression on your face when you gently held her in your arms after she lost consciousness from using Wilbert’s power showed that you truly cared about Mio…that is the undeniable truth.”

Basara continued to assert with a firm tone

“That’s why I thought like that. The reason why you continued to show a cold attitude towards Mio was because there was some kind of circumstance which ‘gave you no choice’.”

Going by the assumption that Ramsas had considerately thought about Mio, he pursued that possibility. —For the sake of that, Toujou Basara came here. Ramsas appeared before the Moderates Faction — but what about the events which transpired before that? After extensive reasoning, the conclusion derived from that was

“—The Moderates Faction boasted the greatest power in the Demon Realm at the time.”

Basara began to speak in a low tone, so as to supress the excitement in his voice as he steadily approached the truth.

“However, rather than agreeing with the idea of the late Wilbert’s desire for peace, I heard that the majority of people were attracted by his charisma as the man described to be the strongest Demon Lord…the soldiers of the Moderates Faction who boasted great power adored their own king, and instead of seeking peace after the war, the voices calling for the unification of the Demon Realm grew louder, isn’t that right?”

Klaus was a good example that the loyalty Wilbert’s followers showed to him was in fact terrifying. Even after his death, his reputation held such influence. When he took up the throne of the Demon Lord, the charisma that everyone felt from Wilbert was unparalleled, and it was far from what it was now. …However, this was the opposite of the name and values of the ‘Moderates Faction’, as it was essentially domination by force. This kind of self-righteous thinking was no different from the Council. Although his desire for peace was greater than anyone else, it was ironic that his charismatic nature as the Demon Lord was the source of his torment. —To Wilbert, it would have been a more painful situation than anything else. Those who respected him asked him to take the place of the Council to become the ruler who would dominate the Demon Realm. Day by day, his control of the situation began to slip away and spiral out of control. And so, the strongest Demon Lord began to think about how he could regain the Moderates Faction of his ideals, and how to bring true peace to the Demon Realm so that it would be free from the control and influence of the Council.

“The answer that King Wilbert arrived at in order to stop the Moderates Faction from spiralling out of control was — for himself to disappear.”

But in case of an emergency, he still wanted to be able to protect the Moderates Faction. No matter how conceited they became, they were still an important existence that Wilbert wanted to protect.

“In order for the death of the strongest Demon Lord to be convincing, and in order to remain a deterrent against other factions, you wanted to avoid something like being killed and defeated by someone. However, making it look like an accident was also difficult. If the king passed away in an accident, then the cause of that would be thoroughly investigated. Given such circumstances, there was the least risk in death by illness.”

However, there were still other things to consider. There was in fact something more important for Wilbert. It was

“However — he also wanted to avoid anything that would put a burden on his own daughter Mio as much as possible.”

Basara then looked straight into Ramsas’ eyes.

“He sent Mio to the human realm together with his subordinates who would act as adoptive parents, while he observed her growth from the Demon Realm. When the opportunity arose, he faked his own death by illness — and then came up with a plan to return as a different existence.”

After a pause

“He wanted to see how the Moderates Faction would change as a result of the death of a great demon, and to see whether the thirst and ambition would spiral out of control. He also wanted to identify how the Council would move — everything was for the sake of this.”