Makai Hongi

“Rejoice, for I have returned to your town!”

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I just thought it would be fun to say that.
There was no real meaning behind it.

“We already sent word ahead.
And so we should head straight to the castle.”
“…Ah, that’s right.
You’re well prepared.”
Rig said, ignoring my announcement.

“Perfectly prepared, sir.
I have told them that we will be waiting in front of the castle.”
“I-I see.”

Yes, this was an Adjutant who knew what he was doing.
Last time I came, I had been made to wait for several days.
I had to take a room at an inn until I was granted an audience.

But this was how different things were when Rig was with me.
Preparations were already complete by the time we were in town.
It was amazing.

I did know that he was moving a little frantically around the time we passed the previous town, but what did that matter?
If he had arranged things so that we would arrive in this town just in time, well, it was almost too good to be true.

Maybe I should start calling Rig ‘Too-good.’
Well, that name was already taken.

“What about the gifts?”
“My men have them.
I even checked them yesterday.
And a list of the items was already submitted, so there should be no problem.”

“I see.
No need to worry then.”
“Yes.”

When Demon King Tralzard’s messengers came to our country, they came bearing an extravagant amount of gifts.
It was her way of saying, ‘let’s continue this friendly relationship.’

However, they were a great country, while we were small.
And so if there was no return gift, then we would end up owing them a debt.

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And since we did not want them to ever ask for a favor in return, we had come here to deliver a gift as well.
I suppose it was our way of saying, ‘we don’t owe you anything.’

Of course, while they may just feel that what had been given had been returned, they could also take it as, ‘now our debt is paid.
The next time we meet, it will be on the battlefield.’

But this was Tralzard.
So I doubted things would take such a dark turn.

The people who were in charge of such diplomatic matters in this country were likely of the non-combat races.
And they would know of Tralzard’s will.
So surely…nothing bad would happen?

I hoped they would accept the gift without issue.
I had recently memories of magic attacks being launched at me during a first encounter…but I wouldn’t think about that now

We walked down the main street of the town.
It was a large town, and there was quite a distance to walk until we reached the castle.
“It looks like reconstruction has been going well.
The damage to this area was pretty bad.”

This was where the residents of the Celestial World had wreaked havoc.
As a barrier had been set up, the area outside of the town hadn’t been affected much.
But inside, it was a disaster.

Still, the restoration was going smoothly by the looks of it.
It was proof that they had laborers who were properly disciplined.

Now, as for this expedition.
It was the usual members.

While many had died during the war, we brought in new people to make up for the loss.
Also, the Lamias were a new addition.

The Lamias had a strength that was similar to the high-ranking races.
And while they were probably better fits for civil servants, they were still tough, and were great in combat.

When I really stopped to think about it, my corps was made up of a pretty impressive bunch of soldiers.
The Ogres were well-trained, then we had high-ranking Vampires…though, they were now meatheads.

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And then we had the Reapers and Lamias, who were both intelligent and powerful.
Then there were the idiot siblings and me, who had undergone special evolution.

“Hey, Rig.
Don’t you think that with this lineup, we might be able to take over a country?”
“…Sir Golan.
Your voice is too loud.”

I had meant to address Rig, who was right behind me.
But apparently I was too loud.
Maybe it was because my body was so big.
My voice just boomed.

While I mused on such things, I realized that the townspeople were now looking at me with pale faces.
I even saw a few of them start running towards the guard house and castle.

“Hey, it’s not as if we came here to declare war.”
“Like I said, Sir Golan, your voice is too loud.
Please abstain from mentioning war.”

Rig said with an angry look.
Rig was quite cold towards me recently.

We continued on our way without incident.
However, it was just as we reached the castle that we were surrounded.

“So, which one of you declared you were going to conquer this country… Oh, Golan?”
The person standing in front of the castle gates with folded arms, was none other than General Miralda.

“It’s been a while, General Miralda.”
“So, Lesser Demon King Melvis wishes to fight my lord?”

General Miralda said with a dark expression.
“No, no, no… Not at all.”
There was a misunderstanding.

For some reason, it was now up to me to explain myself in front of the castle gates.

“You never change Golan.
Always causing trouble.”

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I was now alone with Miralda in a waiting room in the castle.

As I had been able to resolve things, we were allowed to enter.
My men were in a different, larger room.

I was going to have an audience with Tralzard as a messenger from Melvis.

“Never change? I don’t remember causing any trouble before.”
My presence was the embodiment of peace itself.
In fact, it was rare to see intellectuals like me in the Demon World.

I was so calm that people were bound to start calling me ‘Golan the Cat.’

“…Well, if that’s what you say, then we’ll pretend that it is the case.”
General Miralda said with some hesitation.

“More importantly, you’ve returned, eh?”
“The west is not stable yet, but this country is not likely to take any more damage for now.”

Even if the western countries formed an alliance, they would no longer be able to antagonize such a large country.
They had fought each other for too long, and their strength was depleted.
Because of this, General Miralda had time to return to the castle.

“You were originally fighting in the south, and on your way back, you went east…to our country.
Is that right, General?”
“Yes.
And then we fought in the west.
But I’ll be working in the castle for a while now.”

I see.
Then it was no wonder that General Miralda was here.

“Also, that incident earlier.
I was just muttering some joke.
Don’t you think the reaction was a little extreme?”
Surely it should take more for a powerful country like this to start shaking?
“Do you think so?”

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“I do think so.
It’s like the entire castle here is on edge.”
“Hmm… So it’s that obvious then.
Well, it seems that Legard is getting very serious recently.
A number of independent corps were sent to attack us.”

“Independant corps…huh? That does sound bad.”

According to Miralda, Legard’s soldiers had crossed the border in secret.
And Tralzard had only found out about it after the damage was done.

They were currently investigating the scale and objective of the enemy.
Not only this town, but other towns sent out scouts as well, and they were calling for any information about the enemy.

It was no wonder that the townspeople and castle soldiers were on edge.

From their perspective, we were outsiders who were not connected to their Orbs of Control.
And we were a large group, mostly made up of combat races.

On top of that, I had to run my mouth with ominous words.
And so someone had run ahead and warned the others.

Yes, they were right to act as they did.
Still, it was a little overblown.

“We knew that Lesser Demon King Melvis had sent friendly messengers.
And now the misunderstanding has been resolved.”
So the matter had been dealt with then.

“Thank you.”
I was here as a messenger.
The last thing I wanted to do was to fight in the castle.

But what was the most scary to think about, was that even though we couldn’t take a country with our current lineup, I felt that we could go pretty far.

“There is no need to thank me… Ah, Her Majesty will see you now.”
Someone entered the room.
Apparently, it was time for my audience with Tralzard.

“Then I will go.”
“Mmm.
I will go with you.”

And so General Miralda and I stood up.