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My name is Haakudoku. I am the right hand of Bro Gestaf who will become a king in the future. He told me to learn a variety of things, so I am currently serving as a lackey under Brother. 

Brother is not my actual brother, but the distance felt right to call him that, so I am calling him Brother. 

…He is doing the groundwork for the desire of Bro, so he is not a bad guy at core… No, he is a bad guy. No doubt about it. He is the epitome of rotten. 

Why, you ask? Even though I am seriously trying to get along with him, his treatment is so bad that it makes me want to pointlessly talk about myself in this fashion. 

“Why was everyone away when I woke up… *Sniffle*.” (Haaku)

There was even a note left on top of my face written by Wolfe, saying: ‘Counting on you to look after the house!’…

If I remember correctly, it happened when I opened the door in order to welcome the visitor. Instinct-sama gave an unbelievable reaction and I lost consciousness in an instant. 

I think there was a super hot lady and a handsome butler, but…that was the same as before. 

Thanks to the things that Brother prepared called sunglasses, I stopped losing consciousness, but is this limited to Brother? I honestly don’t know. 

It makes me look better, so I put them on without much issues, but wouldn’t it be better if I investigated the workings of this? 

“…It would be pointless for me to try and investigate this on my own, huh. Maybe I should clean… I finished that first thing in the morning…” (Haaku)

There’s nothing to do. I am not really interested in the stuff that is in the shed, and entering their private rooms is a bit… I don’t feel like entering the rooms of the women, and the room of Brother…I am interested in it, but I feel like that would be dangerous even without Instinct-sama warning me. 

In that case, I am currently alone without anything to do… Well, let’s train my right arm. 

I undo my bandages and stare at my black right arm. There’s not that much difference in height between me and Bro. That’s why I didn’t worry too much about the length of my arm. 

But once I began using my right arm for real, I could tell the balance had gotten somewhat bad with the devil covering the surface of it and tying it up. 

“Well, the chances of Bro’s arm being injured have decreased with that, so I am fine with it though.” (Haaku)

This devil does move to a certain degree at my will. I can make the tips pointy, make my whole arm into a sword, or spread it out to make it into a shield…

That said, my mana is so questionably low that the quality of the hardening is way too low. This stuff would only serve as much as wooden equipment. 

It is better than nothing against a defenseless target though, but it is no good as a defensive measure. It shouldn’t even be considered. 

I need to find a cooler way to use it. My hidden trump card and my right arm can’t be used anymore. I should begin training with my left arm.

“Leaving aside how to use it, it would be for nothing if I can’t deploy it fast.” (Haaku)

I change it to a random shape I thought of, and then bring it back to its normal arm shape. Then change it to a new shape, and repeat. 

It takes around 5 seconds to transform it once, huh… Bro can use two pens with this arm. He is really impressive. 

No, Bro being impressive is a matter of fact. What’s necessary in my growth is effort. I should be thinking about myself only. 

If I can transform it in an instant, I could even create a curtain that blocks the vision of the enemy, but…if I just leave it fluttering the whole time, they would just be wary of it… No, that would still be useful?

Let’s try transforming it into a hanging curtain… Nope. It is so fluttery to the point of being extremely inconvenient. This would only hamper my normal movements. 

“It might be faster to just consult with Brother…” (Haaku)

“I have no fighting skills, so I can’t give you much advice.” 

“Gohoh?!” (Haaku)

I unconsciously let out a weird sound at Brother and Sis who were behind me as if natural. When I am concentrating on the control of the devil, my concentration on the detection magic weakens!

“That was a pretty weird scream.” 

“So you are back now… Or more like, why didn’t you wake me up?!” (Haaku)

“Purple was together with us after all. Let me explain it in simple terms.”

Brother explained to me the reason why I have been losing consciousness. The hot lady I saw was the Purple Demon Lord, and Instinct-sama reacted excessively to the Demon Lord. 

Also, the mana of the Black Demon Lord is inside Brother. These sunglasses make it so I can’t see a tiny bit of mana. 

“Is that so. In other words, the warnings given by Instinct-sama were not directed at Brother but at the remnants of the Black Demon Lord?” (Haaku)

“Remnants? You know a difficult word.” 

“I know at least one or two difficult words!” (Haaku)

“You probably thought a word Gestaf said was cool and investigated it yourself, right?” 

As expected of Brother. He nailed it perfectly. But this is relieving in a way. 

The danger I feel from Brother is because of the Black Demon Lord. Then, that means the danger Instinct-sama feels towards Brother is on the level that doesn’t react. 

I of course know how amazing Brother is, and I know for myself that he is not someone I can underestimate. 

Even if so, it is relaxing in my future interactions with him that his existence in itself isn’t something that I reject.

“But Brother, are you fine even with having the mana of a Demon Lord inside you? It is the same as the mana from the Nether, right? A normal person apparently falls ill when staying too long in the Nether, you know?” (Haaku)

“I don’t feel any burden in my body. On the contrary, I have gotten more stamina since coming to this world.” 

“And yet, you’re still so weak?” (Haaku)

“Leave me be.” 

I can tell just how weak Brother is even without using detection magic. I have the confidence I would be able to win regardless of when I were to attack. Well, I definitely can’t do it with Sis being present though.

“But well, that means I won’t be losing consciousness as long as I don’t see the mana of the Demon Lords.” (Haaku)

“You were fine in the underground battle. You would most likely be fine as long as you are combat ready to a certain degree.” 

“Now that you mention it, that’s true. Hm? Does that mean I would be able to do it if I were to look at Brother with strong resolve?” (Haaku)

I take a deep breath and take my sunglasses off. 

“Ugoh…” (Haaku)

Instinct-sama really went wild. Displease spread through my whole body as if my heart had been grabbed. 

If I lower my guard, my consciousness will be taken away in one go…but, I see… It is not impossible. I was convinced of this, so I put the sunglasses back on. 

“Looks like you have gotten a certain degree of resistance. It will be impossible to maintain that state the whole time though.” 

“Haaah… Haah… But this is a good sign. Being together with Brother means that there will be times when I meet Demon Lords. If I were to lose consciousness at every instance, I would be worse than dead weight. It wouldn’t be bad to train this every now and then.” (Haaku)

“True. It would serve as mental training in a sense, so I don’t mind helping you as much as I can when you ask for it.” 

“Yeah, please do. I will eventually be able to laugh in your face even without the sunglasses!” (Haaku)

I honestly didn’t like losing consciousness when looking at the face of Brother when he was looking after me. I am happy being able to feel growth even if it is slight. 

“I feel like it would be faster to improve the sunglasses though.” 

“Hmph! Don’t look down on how hard I can work. More importantly, hurry and—” (Haaku)

“What are ya guys talking about?” 

Someone cut into our conversation. I obviously looked at that place. 

The one who was there was a demi-human woman with golden hair and ears, and a splendid tail. She looks like a slightly more adult version of Wolfe… Ah, Instinct-sama is taking away my consciousness.

“…Ahyun.” (Haaku)

I saw the face of Brother as if he were saying ‘Ah, so that really did happen’ before I fainted. 

In that case, the one just now was most likely the Gold Demon Lord. What’s up with this house where 2 Demon Lords have visited in a single day? 

◇◇

“What’s with him losing consciousness when he sees my face? This one can’t turn off her beauty though.” (Gold)

“He is a sensitive man in a lot of ways. Please forgive him. By the way, it is rare to see you at this hour.” 

We returned from Troid’s place and thought about guiding Haakudoku to the magic research lab, but to think Gold would come here herself. Haakudoku has bad timing. 

“No one was present when I moved my mind here. We are talking about Purple, so I thought she had come to yer place, thus I have come to get in her way, Ser.” (Gold)

“Purple has gone shopping with Mix.” 

“What. To think Purple had the will to act together with someone aside from Ser.” (Gold)

But her getting along with Mix is a happy change. I am worried about the treatment of Dyuvuleori, but it should be okay. 

“Right. There was actually something I would like to report to you.” 

I shared the fact that I talked about Colorless in the castle. I also explained to her about Haakudoku.

“I see, so that’s why.” (Gold)

“Is there something that bothered you?” 

“At the time when ya moved into my simulated worlds, you had no mana left after all.” (Gold)

“Really?” 

I looked at Ilias. Ilias nodded as if remembering. 

“Yer mana is hard to even sense if you don’t concentrate on feeling it. I thought even my ability to sense mana had been numbed when we changed bodies, but it was that ya didn’t have it to begin with, huh.” (Gold)

Speaking of which, Ilias said ‘he doesn’t have a shred of mana’, and Rakura said ‘his mana is dried’. So they weren’t exaggerating there and I really didn’t have any.

“There’s no actual harm as of present, right? I am sure ya would have consulted with me immediately if that were the case.” (Gold)

“True. It would be faster to consult with you or Purple in regards to the Demon Lords.” 

“It could just be the remnants of the summoning magic after all. Even if so, it can still show ya dreams. That’s Black for ya. But this man…the detection of an Illegitimate can differentiate a Demon Lord with just a look. I am scared of the others.” (Gold)

Haakudoku’s talent is his ability to detect danger by instinct. There’s no one who surpasses him on this point. 

That goes for the mana of Wolfe, too. The Illegitimate have a single talent that’s comparable to the Hero -to Yugura Nariya.

And there might be new talents being born even now. 

“Just how many Illegitimate does Leitis have? It would be better to proceed with this investigation as soon as possible.” 

Marito has already given the order to the anbus and has made them investigate Leitis. But as long as there’s the possibility of Illegitimate in their members, we have to avoid acting carelessly. 

Especially if there’s someone who has an outstanding talent in stealth. 

“This one would like to cooperate too, but…the anbus of Gahne are honestly not noteworthy.” (Gold)

“I didn’t even know you had.” 

“Technically. That said, it is within the sphere of sending them into other countries as normal merchants and bringing back information they get from that. Not much different from a regular person.” (Gold)

It is basically as if, instead of making someone disguise as a merchant, it is more like they are having merchants do the job. It is not too suitable when investigating secret organizations. 

But they most likely can act more safely than a half-baked pro when it comes to getting a broad picture of the nations. 

“Gahne will be busy with the military preparations from here on. I am fine with leaving this matter to the other countries.” (Gold)

Considering the base of the Scarlet Demon Lord, the places that are easier to attack would be Gahne and Mejis. Kuama and Taizu have limited routes to move in. There’s the need for Gahne and Mejis to properly prepare for war since there’s a high chance of a fierce battle happening. 

“That’s right. I was thinking about telling ya this, Ser. A conference will happen in Gahne soon regarding Scarlet. The invitation letter should arrive to the Taizu King tomorrow. Of course, ya will be coming too, Ser.” (Gold)

“Well, I will attend, but I don’t know about a Demon Lord being able to call the kings of the nations.” 

The ones who know that the king of Gahne is a Demon Lord are: Marito, Pope Euparo, and King Zenotta.

The Archbishops of the Yugura Church know to a certain degree, but we have made them hold back from telling this information to other countries. 

If this were Earth, this information would have easily reached the ears of the kings, but the Archbishops are trying to avoid unnecessary chaos.  

If they were to spread rumors carelessly, the fact that Yugura is an asshole would also be discovered. They can’t do anything thoughtless. 

“Nfufu, the letters for the kings of Torin and Serende have already been sent to them regarding that. I am going to make them laughingstocks if they aren’t careful.” (Gold)

“So you introduced yourself as a Demon Lord? Isn’t there the chance they will attack you?” 

“Kuama is between Gahne and Torin; Mejis is between Serende and Gahne. Both nations should hold them down if they were to pull something.” (Gold)

So underhanded. Gahne’s neighboring countries are: Taizu, Kuama, and Mejis. In order for Torin and Serende to attack Gahne, they would need to go over a country. 

There’s obviously no country that would easily agree to soldiers from another country moving inside their territory.

There’s also almost no worries of Mejis and Kuama turning sides when they are raising their wariness against the Scarlet Demon Lord. 

“But that’s only until the invasion of the Scarlet Demon Lord is present. There’s no assurance they won’t cooperate once public opinion tilts.” 

“By that time, yer country should have taken form, right? There’s no country that would attack a nation where 3 Demon Lords are present right after defeating Scarlet. We just have to do something about the public opinion in that timeframe.” (Gold)

Gold says this with full confidence. It is as if she is saying that, for her, manipulating the public opinion is not a big deal at all when she can create a variety of plans using her Ruling. 

“You are awfully confident.” 

“Nfufu, this one has the man with 3 Demon Lords serving him after all. I will be counting on ya.” (Gold)

“So you are leaving it to someone else? Well, I will help you though.” 

I obviously can’t abandon her. Quite the laudable personality I have if I do say so myself. Also, I am getting used to it recently. 

“I shall grant ya as much of a reward as ya want. Even me—” (Gold)

“Right. Gotta have Gahne help out Gestaf in the building of the nation.” 

“Such a lack of desire. Even though this one’s beauty is enough to strike a man unconscious.” (Gold)

“That’s only Haakudoku.” 

But this battle will make all the nations of the world know about the situation. Even if the invasion of the Scarlet Demon Lord is wrapped up safely, the flow of the world will be different from what it was until now. 

 

“Now then, let’s try waking this person up once more.” (Gold)

“Please don’t play with him. Look at how he has fainted with such a sad face.” 

Accidents like this will be happening in the future anyways. The 3 Demon Lords on our side are people who move as they please, and don’t care at all about the circumstances of Haakudoku.

The only thing I can do here is help out in the mental training of Haakudoku. 

——-

I got the okay from the editor to post the roughs of the character designs as publicity. 

And so, I will be adding this with the published chapter. 

First, the owner of Dog’s Bone: Gozu. 

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