Maou – Chapter 3: Shrine of Wishes

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A long haired man is piggybacking a young child.

Just hearing that, you would think of a parent and child, but the appearance of the man is abnormal. Having black hair that would be considered rare in this world, and on top of that it is long like that of a woman. To top it off, his clothes are all black, and for the people who see him, they would only think he looks like a Devil or a Death God.

“You were talking about the shrine of wishes, right? Is it like a place where you throw money in and put your hands together to make a wish?” (Maou)

“I don’t know much about it, but I have heard that by borrowing the power of that shrine, Cherubim-sama sealed the Devil King.” (Aku)

Those words made Maou mutter ‘An occult place, oi’.

He completely thought that it would be some sort of Shinto shrine, but it doesn’t seem to be the case.

In the first place, even if he is told about Cherubims and Devils, it didn’t click with him.

The person inside, Oono Akira, was completely unrelated to religion, and could be considered close to an atheist.

In regards to Kunai Hakuto, if he were asked about God…he would answer, ‘that’s me’.

No matter how one thinks about it, the both of them are not suited to live in a fantasy world, and if there were a hunt for heretics, they would be the very first to be burned at the stake.

“I am beginning to feel like there won’t be anything I am looking for there…” (Maou)

“T-That’s not true! There’s a legend that says it fulfills the wishes of visitors.” (Aku)

Saying this, the arms of Aku that were around the neck of Maou increased in strength.

It seems like the walking speed of Maou is scary fast. It might be to prevent himself from falling, but looking at his behaviour, that might not be all there is to it.

“T-This amount of contact with someone else is, uhm…a first for me.” (Aku)

Aku said this with his face pressing on his back, but Maou who heard this raised a brow.

(I still don’t know the gender of this child at all…)

“If Maou-sama goes to the shrine, I am sure you will be able to get the power to rule over the world or something like that!” (Aku)

“I don’t need that power!” (Maou)

Maou’s behaviour as an adult was already beginning to crumble, but they finally reached their objective. Inside this practically deserted forest, there’s a space where even more people wouldn’t get close to.

A cave that’s open at a big rock surface.

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(Oi oi, could this smell be…)

When he approached the cave, an offensive smell entered the nose of Maou and he frowns.

“Aku, wait here. It looks like the inside will be dangerous.” (Maou)

“O-Okay!” (Aku)

He soon learned what was the source of the smell. At the depths of the cave, there’s the corpses of people scattered around.

Corpses that were cut open by what seemed to have been big claws, bodies that were sliced apart, bodies that were burned to a crisp; the blood that was caused by all this, mixed with the excretions that were spread around from the intestines, was creating a terrible smell.

(Is this a dark magic ritual or something?)

A single stone statue was enshrined there as if looking down on the corpses.

It is a statue that wafts an aura of evil, to the point that it would make one think that it might have moved and killed people. This sight diverged way too much from its name of Shrine of Wishes.

The moment Maou took one more step, the statue’s eyes shone a red light.

Seeing this, Maou’s right hand went for the knives, but the statue showed no further movement, or rather, those eyes were as if it were observing the whole body of the intruder.

The mouth of the statue that shouldn’t be able to move opens, and speaks something.

“I see…you are indeed a ‘Demon Lord’.”

“Hm?”

“I have fulfilled the wish of many, but this will most likely be my last one.”

“W-Wait a moment… What do you know? Could it be that you are the one who called me here?” (Maou)

The statue maintained silence for a while at the question of Maou, but it in time opens its mouth. That answer was incredibly important to Maou, but the statue speaks without much drama.

“It wasn’t me…it is more accurate to say that it was the people there. They were trying to make a ‘Demon Lord descent’.”

“These people?! Were these guys the ones who called for the monster just now too?” (Maou)

“That one came back on its own strength… Thanks to him, my power is already on its way to running out.”

“Running out, you say… Then, please return me to my original world before that happens.” (Maou)

The answer of the statue was truly a simple one: ‘I can’t’.

It was an incredibly clear tone…it made Maou scratch his head.

“Why can’t you? Do you want a monetary offering? You are not going to say something like offer up corpses -like the guys here- I hope.” (Maou)

“Those corpses were done in by Greol. Also, I can’t fulfill wishes that go against wishes…”

They wished for the descend of a Demon Lord, and it was fulfilled… So that must mean it can’t fulfill wishes that would go against it. In a sense, it is integrous.

“Even so, you will most likely be the last visitor… I will give you this.”

A sinister ring appeared from the statue, and it was forcefully inserted in the finger of Maou. Seeing that repulsive design, Maou desperately tried to take it off, but the ring didn’t budge at all.

“Don’t mess around! Walking around wearing a ring like this is basically punishment!” (Maou)

“I pray that your wish be fulfilled…”

“You damn wicked god, wait!” (Maou)

“I was originally of white appearance… With the long passage of time, the evil wishes of humans have changed this body of mine.”

With those as its last words, the statue began to crumble, and finally, it turned into sand and spills from the pedestal. Maou couldn’t do anything even after seeing this, and the only thing he could do was watch over that crumbling.

“Hah… Even if you go giving me this ring, what is it I should do?” (Maou)

Looking at the ring that he was made to wear in the middle finger of his right hand, Maou groans.

No matter how much power he tried putting into it, or tried to do, it wasn’t coming off. It was completely a cursed item in looks and behaviour.

“Admin Rights – [Item Appraisal].” (Maou)

Maou mutters as he appraises the item, and groans even further.

He used an item that purifies an object to try and take it off in case this is an item that has the ‘Curse’ attribute, but it looks like that wasn’t it.

“Why is it treated as a normal item? …On top of that, the appraisal also uses SP…” (Maou)

The sighs of Maou were unending.

This is not the Shrine of Wishes but the Shrine of Sighs.

When he left the cave, Aku went ‘how was it?’ with a smile, but Maou still had a grumpy expression.

“Was it world domination as I thought? Or maybe something like indulging in debauchery?” (Aku)

Hearing this, Maou wordlessly wrapped his arm around the neck of Aku and locks it tightly.

And with a slow and light fist, he presented it to his head.

“Yoga! Yoga!” (Maou) <Reference to Street Fighter Dhalsim>

“Ouch ouch! Please stop, Maou-sama!” (Aku)

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(What to do… Should I go to a town somewhere and gather information?)

Brushing my long hair back, I ponder.

There’s way too many things I don’t know and don’t understand.

If I continue on without knowing anything at all, I might end up falling into unexpected pitfalls. It is probably time to move out from this remote forest.

(I didn’t find anything from those corpses after all…)

Just thinking back on that sight, it made me want to puke.

There were corpses everywhere all the time inside the game, but it is way too different when seeing them in reality.

If that Devil was the one who created such a sight, then it was the right choice to eliminate it.

There’s no doubt that Devil would have mass produced corpses just by being alive.

“Aku, is there a big city around here?” (Maou)

“Yes…but can you please pass by my village before that? I don’t have much, but I do have things I would like to bring…” (Aku)

“Hm? You are planning on coming along?” (Maou)

“C-Can I? …You see, I was offered as a sacrifice, so I can’t just return and continue living there… Uuh…” (Aku)

What Aku said made me want to hold my head, but I reconsidered it since it didn’t sound like a bad idea.

Because there’s way too much I don’t know of this world. If there’s a resident of this world at my side, it would be reliable.

Also, from what I have heard till now, Aku won’t be having a good time even if he were to stay in the village.

“Understood. Let’s head to your village first. Is it close?” (Maou)

“Thank you very much! If it is with the speed of Maou-sama, it won’t take long to arrive!” (Aku)

And with this, the sight of the Demon Lord giving a piggyback to a child had been recreated.

Maou was muttering ‘This isn’t *lone wolf and cub*…’, but Aku’s expression was loose, and it seemed as if he were somewhat happy.  <Japanese folklore>

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(Now that I have the chance, I should ask a variety of things in the way to the village…)

I tried to throw a variety of questions to Aku.

It looks like japanese works, so I tried to write japanese characters, numbers, and the alphabet in a piece of paper, and it seems like he was able to read them without problems.

Maybe there’s some sort of filter at work here, or it might be that this world already worked with japanese; I can’t tell that much.

“Well, there’s no problem in it working… I wouldn’t want to learn the language of another world at this age.” (Maou)

“…? It was an incredibly beautiful writing and it was easy to read though?” (Aku)

That’s right, the writing in the paper was scarily beautiful.

It wasn’t my writing but the writing of Kunai. As expected of someone with the setting of dignitary.

My writing is ugly, so I felt a strange sense of defeat from this.

“Even so, sacrifices are quite the old practice… Do the places around here have those kind of customs?” (Maou)

“The Devil King had returned a few years ago, and destroyed the area around, so…it turned into the villages bringing out sacrificed in turns…” (Aku)

“I don’t understand… Is the ‘country’ you spoke of not doing anything? This sounds like something that should be subjugation worthy.” (Maou)

“This land is far from the Holy Capital, so…” (Aku)

In other words, from the eyes of the ‘city’, this is a land of no importance?

I have seen occasional news about remote settlements and isolated islands in Japan too, but is it something like that?

“Uhm, Maou-sama……Where did you come from?” (Aku)

I was troubled for a moment at what to answer.

Even if I said Japan, he wouldn’t understand, and if I were to say Grand Empire, that would be even more of a question mark. That was something that was made in the game world and doesn’t exist in reality after all.

“W-Well…let’s just say it is faraway.” (Maou)

I use vague words to slip out from it, and quicken my steps. Even if I were to speak of it as it is, no one would believe me, and in the best case, they would think of me as a lunatic.

“Ah, Maou-sama, at the other side of that fence is where my village is!” (Aku)

“That, huh…” (Maou)

I was scared at how I was getting used to being called Maou, but the sight at the other side of the fence was scarier. Rather than calling it a ghost village, it was more like a run-down village that normally shows up in ghost stories.

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A part of the data is now available.

-Equipment: Demon Lord’s ring – Satan Ring.
The last miracle of a Throne.
If chaos and destruction were to be brought to the world, it would fulfill many a wish.
Rather than bringing light to the earth, it would be more desirable to reconstruct from zero.

-Administrator Right: Item Appraisal

Due to the passing of time, the right has been unlocked.

Costs 1 SP.

It can only identify the item’s name and attribute, so it doesn’t tell details.
There’s also a Right that allows the user to appraise high-grade items, but it is far ahead.

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