Maou na Ore to Fushihime no Yubiwa:Volume 3 Chapter 3
Status: Incomplete
55.6% completed (estimated)
Chapter 3: Lineage of the Maou
We, having had a blast at the beach until it got dark, driven by Lilith-san, went by car to the lodging hotel.
“Erm… There’s something that has been bugging me for a while.”
“Yes, what is it?”
“Aren’t there any other monsters around here? Even in the beach there were no other visitors besides us…”
“Yeah. This place is a demesne of us demons. No one has been entertained here apart from you.”
“…? But, a while ago, I think I saw in the sky some monsters that resembled birds…”
“I beg you pardon. It seems I’ve expressed myself wrong. Properly speaking, I meant there were no intelligent monsters… Monsters able to adopt human form. We differentiate unintelligent monsters by calling them magical beasts[1]."
“I see.”
As if our conversation had made her remember something, Zonmi, who was seating at the nearside, turned back.
“… Since we are at it, there’s something I should explain to the little sister. The difference between zombies and ghouls lies in what the succubus has just mentioned.
Though, properly speaking, there are no less of a thousand differences between both races from the historical standpoint… Explaining it with easy to understand words, it comes to ghouls=intelligent zombies.”
“Wow. Is that so?”
To tell the truth, I also hadn’t heard about the difference between ghouls and zombies.
I see.
To Zonmi, mistaking ghouls with zombies is the same as to a human being treated as an animal.
That is, that’s the reason Zonmi gets mad.
“Manami… chan, have you listened?”
Despite being the chance to better the way Manami calls Zonmi…
“… ZZZ”
“Wha, she’s sleeping!”
I’d say, that’s because she was frolicking at the sea.
The youngest group of Manami & Iris were soundly sleeping, cuddling to each other at the back seat.
“… There’s no way. Let’s explain it to the little sister on another occasion.”
Seeing Manami peacefully sleeping, Zonmi gave up.
Returning to her original position, Zonmi sat once again on the nearside.
“It’s a pity for those sleeping but… People. We’ll arrive soon.”
“Could it be… Is that the hotel we’ll be staying at…”
“Of course, it surely is.”
“… Haha. This is great.”
What appeared in our sights from beyond the window was a fairytale-like scenery you wouldn’t usually see at the human world.
The building in front of us… Rather than an hotel, it would be better called a castle.
It had a classy air that made it seem directly taken off from the Middle Ages Europe.
“Well… Let’s get down. From here on, we’ll go on foot.”
After waking up Manami and Iris, we got down as Lilith-san had said.
The gardens of the hotel were so spacious that it seemed like you could use them to play golf like that.
Furthermore, they not only were spacious, it looked like time and money had been spent in every nook, like the carefully planted and arranged trees or the uniquely shaped fountain.
Like that, it seems you could kill enough time simply by observing the scenery.
Standing before the hotel (castle?), we opened the huge door with a dull sound.
“““““Welcome home, masters!”””””
Next instant.
There was a battalion of more than ten maids to greet us.
Moreover… Each one of them was, to some extent, a beauty (the “to some extent” right here comes by rating them with “compared with the girls around me, they are a bit lacking”, in truth they are striking beauties).
“They are like me, lesser demons, succubus. As you see, they’ve been gathered by their looks. If something troubles you, feel free to command them as you like. After all, we have personnel to spare.”
“… Now, have you said as we like?”
The instant I asked, I felt stares overflowing with killing intent coming from the girls around me.
“… Of course sexual requests are forbidden?”
“I-it’s not like I was asking with that purpose!?”
“… Why have you suddenly started talking like a tsundere[2]?”
Kyouko rebutted me with a cold stare.
Is it you saying that?
“Quite right… I always tell them to give maximum priority to attend to the guests. So… If that’s what Chiharu-sama really wishes, they may not be able to really refuse.”
“Hoho!”
My cheeks softened unconsciously with the answer brimming with romance as if in the dreams of any man.
“Oniichan… Do you know what will happen if you do something like that?”
“Chiharu… Are you aware of what will happen to you if you do something like that?”
“Haru… You know what’ll happen if you do that?”
“Yeah! I know! Since I know, please don’t tell me the same sentence the three of you…”
How regretful.
As I’m under close surveillance by this lot, it seems that I can’t ask *KYAKKYA UFUFU* things from the maids[3].
So, putting an end to those delusions, I felt somewhat anxious.
“… Do you feel unwell, Iris?”
Ever since when entering the hotel, Iris has been behaving suspiciously, walking as if she were hiding behind us.
Pale as a sheet, Iris every movement felt as if it was lacking her usual brazen demeanor.
“… There’s no issue. Just a little fatigued.”
“Is that so? If you say so…”
What the heck?
This uncomfortable feeling I can’t get rid of—.
Is Iris really just tired?
Looking carefully, her petrified stance, as if hiding behind us, can be perceived as her being scared of something.
“… It’s all right. There’s no one here that’ll bring you harm.”
It took me a while to notice that Lilith-san’s words were meant for Iris.
With what intention has she said that?
Without finding a satisfactory response to what was what she had seen, thinking in her own way—.
In the end, we were led like that inside the hotel.
After that.
As we had free time until the start of dinner, each one went their own way.
Like that, being told by Lilith-san “I have something I want to show you”, I went to the hotel’s basement.
In spite of the above ground facilities being a gathering of the newest things that are not inferior to those of the human world, the basement was worn out like a dungeon from a RPG, it created a sharp contrast.
“… It’s a considerably dusty place.”
“Yeah. Since this hotel has been reformed from a Maou castle that was used up to two hundred years ago.”
“… So it was like that?”
Is that the reason the exterior of the hotel is so castle-like?
“But then… This underground tunnel is the only thing that’s kept intact in the same state as back then.”
“Why haven’t you refurbished it?”
“As this basement stores many things like rare valuable expensive antiques and magic artifacts… So as to guard them, a lot of life-threatening harmful traps have been installed. That’s why… Not even us can carelessly remodel it.”
“Erm… I’d have liked that you had told me in advance about that important thing of ‘life-threatening’…”
Fearing harm, after that, I walked carefully down the stairs.
Hey… What the heck?
While I was walking, I realized one thing.
That was that Lilith-san, who walked before me, was maintaining at all times a distance of just over a meter[4] from me.
If a walked faster, she also walked faster, If I walked slower, she also walked slower.
Since that gait wasn’t something she had become accustomed for nothing, I unconsciously became impressed.
“Just Lilith.”
While we were going down the stairs, Lilith-san softly muttered as if remembering something.
“… Eh?”
“I think I should have said it to you before, but… Just call me Lilith, please, no honorifics. If I tell you my true feelings, serving a man… Though it’s more humiliating than being ravished by cattle… Since, in the end, it’s a job requested by my benefactor Kanae-sama…”
“… Is that so?”
I feel that, if only a bit, I’ve learned a part of her background.
Despite being a total man-hater, for the reason “since it’s my job”, she’s forced to adopt a subservient attitude towards a man.
This is nothing other than my personal guessing, but that may be the reason why, until now, she has behaved so awkwardly.
“Lilith.”
“… Uh.”
“Lilith!”
“… Guh!”
“Lilith?”
“… Ng.”
“…”
Why is it?
Despite having said it’s humiliating, each time I call to her I think she puts a pleasure-filled face.
Could it be that this person… She has in fact a fetish?
“Erm… If you dislike it, why don’t I stop calling you without honorifics for no reason…?”
“…”
Once I suggested that, Lilith-san dropped her shoulders as if she was a little dejected.
“I see. Chiharu-sama, you have quite a brute hobby. Knowing I cannot refuse… You dare to restrict my options…”
“Of course I don’t plan to do that. I mean… Are you all right?”
“What the heck do you mean by that? Of course I’m not all right. I feel as disgraced as if you had forced me to clean a public toilet’s urinal with my tongue.”
“… No, I didn’t ask with that meaning. It seems you’re having a nosebleed?”
“… Wha.”
Right after I pointed that out.
Lilith-san’s face turned beet red and she got flustered.
“Th-th-this… It’s not what it seems![5] It’s not like… I was having dirty thoughts or anything. Turning humiliations received from men into pleasure… It’s decidedly not that!?”
“… Hah, is that so?”
In the first place, getting a nosebleed by having dirty thoughts is a trope from manga and anime without any scientific basic[6], but… Judging by this girl’s reaction, there’s no doubt.
“Here. A hankie.”
“… Th-there’s no need. I have mine.”
Saying that, Lilith-san turned back and started briskly walking by herself.
Mmm. Lilith-san may say that, but I feel that it’s still a bit earlier to leave honorifics out.
While thinking that, I once again went down the stairs, chasing after her.
“Well. We have arrived. Our destination lies at the other side of that door.”
Have we been walking for around 20 minutes after that?
Pointing at the wall in front of her, Lilith-san said those words.
“What door… Not matter how you look at it, that before us looks like a dead end.”
“Is that so… To the eyes of an outsider it may seem nothing more than a wall… But if I press here…”
After Lilith-san pressed a part of the brick wall, next instant.
With the sound of something being pulled, the wall before me opened right and left.
“I see. A hidden door?”
This is looking more and more like a typical RPG.
Still wary of the traps, I walked through the hidden door.
And, what came into my sight—.
“Is it this? The thing you said you wanted to show me…”
It wasn’t like after the hidden door there was a treasure in gold and silver.
It wasn’t like there was a huge monster.
What laid there was a regular small room.
No, to be accurate, it doesn’t seem to be any different from the human world.
For having expressly come walking till here, I’d say it lacks impact… What a let-down.
“Yeah. This could be considered to be the den of the former Maou.”
“!?”
Just as I heard Lilith-san words, I felt my back growing stiff in an instant.
The king who rules over the Netherworld—the Maou.
Even though up until now I’ve regarded that existence as something as distant as the weather on foreign countries, recently I feel that the frequency I’m hearing that word has increased all at once.
“… Why is such a thing here?”
“… The reason is as I explained a moment ago.
This hotel was originally reformed from the castle of the Maou. For said reason, it’s nary a wonder even if something remained.
“Surely… That’s possible…”
At least, I’d like that you explained to me beforehand.
I’d say it’s bad for my heart or something. I wish you put yourself in my shoes when you are suddenly told “this is the Maou’s room”.
“… What’s drawn in that picture is the countenance of the former Maou.
The 34th Maou—Cruel[7]. There are no words to describe the greatness of his achievements. Being a fanatic of the human world’s… especially Japan’s culture, he brought many technologies to the Netherworld and brought forth an engineering revolution.”
“…”
I see.
So the fact the scenery at the Netherworld didn’t differ much from that of the human world is due to this Cruel guy.
“… He’s more ordinary than I expected.”
That was what I honestly felt when I saw the man in the picture.
If we talk about the personal image I have of a Maou, though I picture him as a character with a more sinister and wicked face, the one in the picture, the pair of horns growing from his head aside, looks like a regular old man you could find anywhere (?).
“Surely… You cannot say his looks are good even as flattery.
However, there’s one legend about Cruel… I heard he was popular with the ladies at such a level that it looked like a love potion was emitted from his body [8].
“… You joking?”
I’m not so gullible.
That this… Old man like the ones you can find anywhere is a popular guy on legendary levels, how can it be[9].
“Incredible… That’s the kind of face you have right now.
By the way, it’s recorded that the Maou Cruel, in the 300 years he ruled over the Netherworld, he in fact married 14 wives and left more than 20 heirs.”
“Fourt…”
Is this old man for real?
Grrrr. Harem man… Unforgivable[10].
“Even so… Being popular with the ladies has its merits and its demerits.
It’s said Cruel made only a single mistake in his whole like… And that was all of the women troubles he brought on himself and did nothing about.
Was it about twenty years now? This constitution that granted him excessive popularity with the Netherworld ladies was a curse, Cruel tragically met death under the cover of the night at the hands of a single woman moved out of jealousy.”
“…A-are you serious?”
I take back my words.
Isn’t it the best to have everything in moderation?
You can even die from being too popular with the girls… I don’t think that way out of envy.
“Then, since Cruel has died, what kind of person has become the next Maou?”
As I went and asked, Lilith-san put on a meek face and gently shook her head,
“Unfortunately… That still hasn’t been decided.”
“… Eh?”
“It’s as I told you a while just now. I told you the sole mistake Cruel made in his life was his women troubles that left him with too many heirs.
After Cruel’s death… A bloody war unfolded between his more than twenty heirs to see who held the title of next Maou.
Especially, the dispute between those who oppose the changes of the Netherworld and the supporters of the constant peace up until now increase day by day in violence.
It’s not an easy thing to say, but the origin of the monster incidents that happened at the human world in recent years… Have as one of their causes the political disturbances brought by this turmoil.
“…”
I didn’t know.
References and Translation Notes
- ↑ Majuu, with “ma” being the same as in “monsters”, “demons” and “magic”, while “juu” means “beast”. Is the name given to mystical and magical animals that can’t use human speech in Japanese mythology. The term has been usually translated to English as “magical beasts” in RPGs and TCGs.
- ↑ As in “new type” tsundere: a character (often a girl) who hides its feelings beneath a mask of violence (usually verbal, sometimes also physical) and rejection. “I-it’s not like…” is a usual sentence starter for tsundere characters to deny the real intention of their actions, so that the other party doesn’t get the wrong (right) impression.
- ↑ KYAKKYA are surprised or scandalized yells, while UFUFU is an evil small laughter. I leave it to your imagination.
- ↑ Just over a yard.
- ↑ Once again, it is. This is also tsundere.
- ↑ More information about that here.
- ↑ Surely a pun between the transparent meaning of the word and the “-el” (god) suffix in the names of many angels (even fallen ones) and high-level devils (usually of angelic origin).
- ↑ aka “Manga main character syndrome”.
- ↑ Like you are one to talk.
- ↑ See note above
| Back to Chapter 2 | Return to Main Page | Forward to Chapter 4 |
