Maou – Chapter 28-29: Fairy-tale play

—Satanist’s headquarters.

“Just what in the world is going on?! They used it way too early!” (Utopia)

Utopia raised a voice filled with anger and hit his fist onto the throne.

He is a man that has almost never raised his voice. Seeing Utopia in such anger, the girl at his side was trembling slightly.

“Damn Merge…what made him lose his marbles?!” (Utopia)

“T-There was most likely…an unexpected happening.”

Utopia sends a cold snake-like gaze at the girl that was trembling by his side.

Even without saying anything, his eyes were saying: ‘you failure’. This girl that can see the emotions of others in colors reflexively closed her eyes.

Because she saw the ‘pitying color’ that she doesn’t want to see.

“Tron, tell them to use the remaining two in front of the Holy Castle. You can at least do that, right? You mixed failure.” (Utopia)

“…Y-Yeah.”

The black goth loli clothed girl walked slowly, and looked back at the throne once.

The girl might have been hoping for ‘something’.

But what was given to her was an incredibly cold response.

“Hurry and go, you are an eyesore.” (Utopia)

Utopia waves his hand as if shooing a dog and turns his face away.

It was the kind of gesture that said: I don’t even want to see you in my line of sight.

For a Devil like him who has strong power and an extraordinary standing, the very existence of a mixed one is displeasing.

If he wasn’t lacking in workforce, Utopia would have dismembered all of her extremities with his own hands.

She is the same as Organ, a Cambion.

■■□□■■□□

A single clown is approaching Artemis.

It wasn’t a metaphor, he really had an attire like that of a pierrot. He separated on his own accord from his designated team and was acting individually.

His steps were extremely light.

The Holy Maiden they have been aiming for for so long was unbelievably defenseless without a single bodyguard and was enjoying a meal.

The moment he heard that, he separated from his group, and began moving in order to assassinate the Holy Maiden.

“We’ve got quite the stupid Holy Maiden…”

His name is Carmiya.

He is a pretty well-known assassin in the underground society. His flashy outfit would lower the guard of the surroundings, and he would enter many kind of parties and tournaments, and killed his target.

He utilizes many kinds of poisons and a blowgun. There’s a lot who show delayed effects, so he would escape the venues without anyone being able to know who the culprit was, and that’s how he has been able to continue on his job.

He now has entered the Satanist organization to get his earnings, and many nobles have been his targets. You could say the Holy Maidens are at the top of this list.

However, he is different from the people in the Satanist organization. It is not as if he worships the Devils. He simply is doing this to earn a living -it is a business relationship.

“So this is that woman’s house, huh…” (Carmiya)

Carmiya says words of unknown meaning as he opens the door of Artemis.

There’s a lot of customers inside the restaurant, and there were of course nobles within those, but there’s no problem. Rather, it is incredibly convenient for him.

People in high positions like nobles fancy clowns. They probably don’t think of them as humans but as monkeys that can understand words.

They would make a fool out of them without holding back, look down on them, and would throw coins at them with pity. A clown is an important existence to satisfy the self-esteem of the nobles.

“Oh my, what a precious gathering we have today! I feel like my eyes will be crushed!” (Carmiya)

Carmiya staggers around while covering his eyes in a faked fashion. It was the gesture of them being so dazzling that he can’t open his eyes.

Those movements of his were joke-like, and the children of the nobles laughed.

“It is so dazzling that an elegant rose is coming from my eyes…!” (Carmiya)

The moment Carmiya separates his hand from his eyes, two beautiful roses appeared in them from who-knows-where, and those petals gracefully danced in the establishment.

The unexpected sleight of hand from him brought an applause from the people in the restaurant.

From the eyes of the customers, this is a ‘performance brought by the restaurant’.

“As expected of Artemis. Even though we are in a situation like this, they called a clown to bring peace of mind to the customers.”

“Umu, as nobles, we should stand tall in times like this.”

“If we were to be scared of this kind of ruckus, our brave ancestors would laugh at us.”

Nobles are a mass of pride.

They must be thinking ‘the neighboring table is enjoying the event leisurely, so if I alone were to be to scared, it would affect my reputation’.

Even when they are still scared by the uproar outside, they were raising applauses and whistling as if trying to deceive that sentiment.

Carmiya ‘follows along’ with that and moves around the tables, making them laugh with funny gestures, and at times he would bring out pigeons from his hat, and the silver coins that he was being given had finally changed into gold coins. And respecting his skilled sleight of hand, they poured applauses and cheers to him.

There’s no one who thinks that he has actually come to this restaurant to assassinate someone.

And then, he finally arrived at the Holy Maiden’s table.

What was unexpected for him was that a central figure of the social gatherings, Madam Butterfly, would be here. She is incredibly strict when judging others, and her discerning eye is by no means something to be underestimated.

Carmiya felt tension as if he were walking on top of naked blades.

However, the one he should have actually been cautious of wasn’t Madam…but the beautiful woman that possessed a charm to the level of being fascinating.

“What an amusing Clown-san. Is it okay if I show you a trick of my own?”

“Ara, to think someone as beautiful as you can do tricks too! I’m so jealous!” (Carmiya)

Carmiya made an exaggerated gesture of biting a handkerchief and this brought about big laughter from the customers.

This man would have been able to gain a living even if he wasn’t an assassin.

Even while he was joking around, he didn’t let the Holy Maiden out of his sight…but his eyes stiffen.

His right arm was nowhere to be found.

“Heeh…O-Oh my…my…” (Carmiya)

Unable to understand what happened, he gulped, and right at the next instant, his left arm disappeared.

And it was cleanly cut right from the shoulder joint.

“O-Oooh…why are my arms…” (Carmiya)

There’s no pain.

Not a single drop of blood is coming out.

But there’s no arms.

Even if he tried to move them, he didn’t feel them.

The moment Carmiya was about to scream, the beauty kindly asked him.

“—What you dropped was a right arm? Or a left arm?”

The beauty laughs

Her hands were holding both of his arms respectively.

The beauty was showing a devilish smile that would bring down any man. Carmiya’s heart began to beat hard.

Of course, it wasn’t something sweet like love. It was a thick sense of death.

“B-Both…I think…” (Carmiya)

“Ara, a greedy one. But just for today, it will be special service.”

<<[God Hand: Stitch]>>

Just what in the world was going on? Both of his cut arms were now back in place.

Carmiya’s whole body was sweating like a waterfall.

“Oh my…Sorry. I put the right and left in the wrong place.”

“H-Hey there! That’s not funny~!” (Carmiya)

The scream of Carmiya made the customers applaud and laugh out loud.

Not even in their dreams would they think that his arms had really been cut off. They were thinking this was some kind of trick too.

Rather, they were amazed by how thorough the ‘preparations’ of Carmiya were.

“That clown is quite something… Let’s invite him to our house next time.”

“Papa, call him to ours as well!”

“Umu, calling the family of the viscount and hosting a party doesn’t sound bad.”

“What company did that clown come from? I want to make him the central act in my next dance party.”

Things were getting bigger and bigger without the knowing of Carmiya, but the current state of mind of the person himself was a tragic one. Because the place where his right hand is supposed to be, he had his left hand.

It wasn’t something that you could wrap up as a mistake.

This way too bizarre appearance of his made it even more convincing that this was a trick.

“Then, Onee-san…will properly place them this time. Isn’t that great, Clown-san?”

“Y-Yaaay…! T-They are back! My hands are back in their correct place!” (Carmiya)

Both of his hands returned to the correct place, Carmiya was so moved that he raised both of his arms up high.

The success of this trick that could be said to be flabbergasting brought about big applause from the customers. Aku and Luna were also smiling as they applaud, and even Madam was smiling.

The people of that table were thinking this was some kind of setup from Maou. And to reinforce this belief, Yuu whispered something in the clown’s ear.

“Make sure not to drop them next time, Clown-san. Also, the poison at your pocket…smells terribly. If you want to kill people, you better make a better one, got it?” (Yuu)

“Y-Yes…” (Carmiya)

“Next time I see you, I’ll slice you into pieces of sashimi, so be very careful.” (Yuu)

Carmiya nods rapidly up and down, and that gesture of his was like that of a broken doll.

There’s no doubt she would actually do what she has said without any hesitation and with a smile on her face. Carmiya has only known her briefly, but he was able to feel that in his skin.

After that, Carmiya waved his hand awkwardly at the customers of the restaurant, placing the coins he was thrown at into his leather bag, and left the store.

(I have to leave, I have to run away…as fast as possible!) (Carmiya)

After that, Carmiya ran to the north on horse like crazy, and maybe he didn’t feel safe even there, he ended up going all the way to the City-State.

Surviving an encounter with the Witch would be considered incredibly lucky.

And in this way, the incident in Artemis came to a close, but…the core of the uproar was still ongoing.

Something strange happened at the remaining two points.

• Chapter 29: To the Holy Castle

—Holy Capital: High Class District

There was an attack in this high class district too and there are many casualties happening.

Maybe it is because the nobles have many residences, the attack was aggressive. Most of the Satanists are people that don’t have things, so that grudge of theirs was most likely pushing them further on.

They would light up places here and there, and they would kill everyone mercilessly be it children or women.

There were not only humans within the attackers, there were also Death Mists and Skeleton Soldiers. They must have concentrated their fighting force here, because the headquarters of the Knight Order is located here.

They fall into the lowest rank of the Devil’s familiars, but their numbers are quite the problem. More so when there’s the need to put out the fire as well as rescuing people.

Within all of that, a yankee woman and a big man were rushing through the raging fire.

It is the Holy Maiden, Killer Queen, and Mount Fuji.

“Anego, at this rate, there won’t be enough hands.” (Fuji)

“Idiot. Is that mouth of yours only there to spew out shit?!” (Queen)

Queen does a kick while shouting and the head of a demonic dog was sent flying.

Next she hits the waist of a Satanist with her metal rod, and his body was broken in two as it flew off.

At the waist of Fuji, there’s three heads hanging that are probably from Satanists.

Whoever sees this would shout ‘these guys are devils!’.

But in front of those two, two real Devils appeared.

Low Devil, Honeytrap.

She has an appearance like that of a woman, but it is actually a Devil that loves bewitching human men, and not only would she drop them into confusion, she loves to make them kill each other.

“Hey, the big man over there. Play with m—” (Honeytrap)

“You smell a hella lot. You…are a Carnage Bringer.” (Queen)

Before she could finish speaking, a combo of six attacks was released by Queen.

First, the cute face of Honeytrap was crushed beyond recognition, and then, several big holes were opened in her body.

Honeytrap didn’t even have the chance to raise her voice as she falls onto the ground.

“You piece of shit lower than barf, go fuck a bucket of manure.” (Queen)

Queen faced the dead body and gives it the middle finger. An undeniable ‘fuck you’.

The punch she made, the words she says; they were all dreadful things that are far from being considered that of a Holy Maiden.

“Y-You people…killed my little sister…!!”

The remaining Honeytrap attacked Queen, but Fuji grabbed her face, and with inhuman strength, he crushes her head within his grip.

A nasty sound like that of an apple being crushed rang, and the cranium of Honeytrap was a crumpled mess now, but the face of Fuji was the same as always.

“Dullard, how’s the other districts?” (Queen)

“The Holy Castle is being protected by White-sama. The Church is—” (Fuji)

Those words were cut off in the middle.

Faraway at the commercial district, an explosion that one would think came straight from hell had spread in the sky.

“What was that…?! Was it Luna?!” (Queen)

Queen shouted on the moment, but she thinks back on it and realizes that’s impossible.

It is true that Luna’s magic power is bottomless, but Fire is outside her expertise, and if she were able to use magic like that, Queen would be bragging about her the whole time.

“I didn’t feel magic from it, but…if it is not magic, there’s no way something like that…” (Fuji)

Fuji was also looking at that spreading ‘inferno’ with a shocked expression. That color, that power; he could only think of it as something that would bring disaster into the mortal world.

Even the rampaging Satanists were looking at the sky in shock.

In battles, every event -no matter how strange- can decide victory or defeat.

That explosion became the trigger for the morale of the Satanist’s side to drop.

The knights were capturing Satanists one after the other, and even the nobles that are normally hidden on the back began to move decidedly in putting out the fire.This was no fire on the other side of the sea; if they didn’t move, their own residences would be lost too.

“Well, looks like things will work out somehow over here…” (Queen)

“Yeah, Arts-sama is leading his troops and moving around to suppress the matter.” (Fuji)

“That damn geezer…think about your age.” (Queen)

Queen said this bitterly, but Fuji smiled at it.

Queen’s like and dislikes are very pronounced, but Fuji knew that, at the very least, she acknowledged the old noble.

Finally, the remaining Satanists were retreating one after the other and were running at a certain direction.

The direction they were running was…the Holy Castle.

■■□□■■□□

—Holy Church: General District

Organ was lying down on a roof and was watching the battle below as if bored.

She has absolutely no interest in the fights between humans. Just that, her companion Mink is participating all pumped up, so she is simply tagging along with her.

Right now Mink was covering her face with her right hand, and while looking at the opponent, she begins to chant a spell. For some reason, Mink likes to use that pose when fighting.

In the words of the person herself, ‘the darkness has descended’, apparently.

“My unfathomable darkness, rain grief upon this insolents! [Holy Rain]!” (Mink)

The rain that is filled with divine power rained on the Satanists.

For the people worshipping the Devils, this was literally burning their bodies. What she was saying and the magic she activated were practically the complete opposite though.

Her chanting didn’t stop. For an S rank, consecutive chants are easy.

“Kuku, humans are truly brittle. [Bubble Cure]!” (Mink)

Healing bubbles cover the people of the church that had been injured. The flowing blood soon stopped, and their paled faces were regaining a red tint.

It truly is the pinnacle of holy healing magic.

What she was saying was a complete mess though.

“Mink-dono, my gratitude!”

“As expected of an S rank adventurer…What unbelievable magic power!”

“B-But that chant…”

“Ssh! Shut up, newbie!”

“She is one of the few that are called Star Players. She must have a deep reason for it.”

“There might be a secret to that chant…”

The people of the Holy Church were speaking whatever came to mind.

In this world where eighth-grade syndrome is not recognized, there’s no one who would understand the true meaning of her words.

Especially when she is a world celebrity, a Star Player. There’s adventurers who have been drawn in by her chants and poses, and have even begun to imitate her.

“Follow me. Offer your blood to the freezing darkness!” (Mink)

““Y-YEAAAAAaaaaa….ah?””

The words of Mink made the church people rise up, and there were some who tilted their head in confusion, but they rushed onto the Satanists.

There’s already no telling who is the light and who is the darkness.

“Just what is she fighting with…” (Organ)

Those words came out from Organ unconsciously. One of the reasons why she is together with her is because she doesn’t get bored looking at her.

When Organ made a slight smile, a sword was swung down from the sky.

For her, it was a speed as if a mosquito was stopped.

“Need something?” (Organ)

She lightly avoided the brought down blade and Organ asks as if bored.

That look of hers didn’t have anger or even surprise.

“Kakka, ‘need something’, you say. As expected of a Cambion-sama, quite the big deal. Yeah, impressive.”

“…”

“I was thinking about cutting down the rumored Demon Lord, but to think I would find a Cambion. How unexpected it was to find a great seed here, it makes me so happy. Oops, I am late in my introductions. I am the Sword Saint, Albedo. Nice to meet you.” (Albedo)

Organ’s eyes narrow.

She should have erased everyone who knew she is a Cambion, and yet, why does this man know?

“A pathetic demon that I cut to death at a north dungeon told me. Telling me that you are a mixed failure!” (Albedo)

Albedo evades the knife that Organ had thrown silently.

It was quite fast, but it looks like that man had enough skill to deal with that. In the face of a Cambion, a Star Player, this could be said to be quite courageous.

“A four stars, huh… You do well for a B rank.” (Organ)

“When you rise in the ranks, your freedom to move around decreases, you see. This rank works just fine for me.” (Albedo)

Just as Organ said, there’s four blue stars at the armor of Albedo.

It is made from one of the precious metals, Blue Metal.

Adventurers will increase in these kind of stars as they rise in ranks. The lowest rank, Rookie, doesn’t get any, but once you get to E rank, you get one star.

With one star you are finally acknowledged as a capable adventurer, but most can’t get out of the rookie rank and it is normal to see them leaving to other honest jobs.

In this world, most of the people can’t overcome the wall of talent.

“Well then, will you play with me, Ojo-chan <Young Lady>?” (Albedo)

“You brat.” (Organ)

When the two faced each other, an unbelievable explosion covered the sky of the commercial district.

The two reflexively directed their gazes at it.

“O-Oi, Ojo-chan…Did you possibly call a Devil friend of yours?” (Albedo)

“Don’t joke around. Do you want your heart eaten?” (Organ)

“That’s just not fair… Could it be that those golden sparkly clothes were…” (Albedo)

The excellent vision of Albedo barely managed to catch golden clothes.

Because of this, he falls into thought.

If the one in the middle of that explosion was Carnival, the one who did this must be quite the monster.

“Was that the rumoured Demon Lord? It doesn’t look like Ojo-chan was the one who called him, but…woah! You are one trigger-happy girl, oi!” (Albedo)

Several magic swirls appear from the body of Organ.

It was so much magic power that her cloak was fluttering.

But the expression of Albedo didn’t change. He seems to have some sort of overwhelming confidence.

“Crush the unprepared and open my path, [Dark Depths Beam].” (Organ)

“…Wait, no way! 5th tier magic, is that even fair?!” (Albedo)

The several swirls become one and a black beam is shot.

Albedo rolled off the roof and barely managed to evade it, but the house that was in the travelling path of the black beam had been pierced completely, opening a round hole.

Seeing Albedo who rolled down pathetically, Organ laughs. One was crouched on the top of a roof, and the other looked like a dog who had fallen into a pit.

“That position suits you, Puppy.” (Organ)

“Hehehe…dogs are unexpectedly tough, you know? They would bite your throat in the moment you least expe—woah! Wait wait, let me finish what I am saying!” (Albedo)

Organ shoots magic one after the other while laughing.

Moreover, it is consecutive attacks of the superior darkness element. It looks like she is planning on tormenting him rather than killing him.

“What’s the matter? Run. Your kind master is accompanying you in your walk.” (Organ)

“What a terrible personality this brat has! I would like to see your parents!” (Albedo)

“…..”

Those words make the expression of Organ change.

She at least had signs of sanity until now, but the insult that Albedo shot at her must have blown all of that sanity away.

That’s right, talk about her parents is taboo.

“I changed my mind. I will be burning you alive.” (Organ)

“O-Oh hell no! I have already decided that I will be dying in the embrace of a woman!” (Albedo)

“You degenerate.” (Organ)

The moment Organ tried to shoot magic, an unnatural commotion resounded from where the Holy Castle is, and a big cheer reverberated.

One thing was being shouted…

““The D-Dragonewt appeared!!””

It was a battle that suddenly happened in the Holy Capital, but…the climax was finally approaching.

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