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There’s 9 remaining cards now.

I randomly select one and read it.

“—Hide-and-seek. Are you going to make a Great Devil infiltrate this place now?” 

“No, I will be the one doing the hiding here, you know? The rules are simple. Just find me hiding somewhere in this capital from morning until dawn, okay?” (Purple)

“This capital is pretty big though?” 

If it were just limited to buildings, it would be one thing, but searching in this whole capital would be almost impossible in just one day. 

This would normally be an impossible task, but we are talking about the Purple Demon Lord here. She must have thought of a measure for this. 

“Yes, that’s why, at the moment when the sun rises, I will make it so that you can find hints of my location, you know?” (Purple)

“There being hints means you won’t be moving then?” 

Rather than hide and seek, it is more like treasure hunting. I should be able to manage somehow with that. 

Beginning at the rise of the sun means that I will have to wake up sooner than that which will be a bit of a pain, but this is a competition where I am gambling with my own body, so this isn’t the time to be complaining about waking up too early. 

And so, I accepted the match without using my right to refuse, and we parted ways there. 

I gave pocket money to Rakura, had her head together with the Gold Demon Lord to Dog’s Bone, and went with Ekdoik to Marito’s place.

I was thinking about explaining the current situation, but it seems like Mix was stealthily observing this and already told him.

Even though she has a hard time even keeping her head up with Marito. It must have been tough to even report to him. I was wondering about how she did it, but I then caught a glimpse of a piece of paper written with beautiful calligraphy. 

I was relieved by this and spoke to Marito.

“We have safely defeated 2 Great Devils as of present, but considering the amount remaining, there’s still a long way to go.” 

“Right. The Great Devils are obeying right now, but if they were to continue losing one after the other in one-on-ones, they might try to pull something. We must not lower our guards even outside of the matches.” (Marito)

“Ekdoik is doing a great job on that front. Actually, what we should be wary of is in the middle of the match.” 

I can’t get the help of others in the middle of the match against the Purple Demon Lord. If something is going to happen, it will be there. 

It is not like I don’t trust her, but as long as it is a competition, there’s the possibility of her having some sort of strategy.

All the matches as of now have been simple. This might be a trap to lower our guards.

“The reinforcements of Mejis will be arriving tomorrow night.” (Marito)

“But it doesn’t seem like they will have their turn with the match already on its way.” 

“We could borrow their strength for the one-on-one against the Great Devils if there’s a strong one though.” (Marito)

We have managed to win without any issues in the 1st and 2nd battle.

I could just leave it to Ekdoik and Rakura, but the Pawn Mask’s special traits are giving me a sense of foreboding. 

Judging from the state of Gugugeguderstaf, he barely had any loyalty towards the Purple Demon Lord, so he most likely did it because he had no choice but to due to his life being in jeopardy. 

Fokudulkura looked loyal at a glance, but I felt like he had his grievances internally. 

If he had actual loyalty towards the Purple Demon Lord, he would have shown a more serious acting. 

The Purple Demon Lord is most likely choosing them in the order of loyalty. 

In that case, the effects of the Pawn Mask will steadily get stronger. At worst, they will only get stronger.

The feebleness of Fokudulkura can’t be helped because he transformed into a human, but a decent degree of effort was needed to defeat Gugugeguderstaf.

What will be coming from here on are Great Devils with their full specs as devils instead of transforming, so we can’t lower our guards here. 

“It would be nice if outstanding people were to come… By the way, is there anyone in this country who can match the Great Devils?” 

“The members of the Ragudo Division would be able to put up a fight. There’s also the other captains, I guess. The knights have the skill to fight one-on-one against humans, but they have been trained to fight monsters in groups after all.” (Marito)

Taizu has mostly monsters from the Taizu Nether show up. They would be monsters like wyverns and other big sized ones. 

The knights must be training with those in mind. 

I think of Cara-jii and Boru-jii. They might certainly be able to rival the Great Devils with their seasoned techniques, but considering the specs of the Great Devils when they are strengthened by the Pawn Mask, I am not really sure. 

It might be a good idea to have Cara-jii accompany us in the next fight and have him see with his own eyes. 

“In terms of skills, Mix has a chance too though. How is it, Mix?” (Marito)

“Eh, ah, y-yesh, I-I don’t think there would be any problemsh!” (Mix)

“I only see problems here. Can you please face this way when you talk?” 

I changed the direction she is facing and made it so Marito doesn’t enter her vision.

“Right. The second Great Devil felt somewhat problematic, but the first one, I think I would have been able to handle it.” (Mix) 

Judging from the words of Mix, her fighting style is most likely that of catching the enemy off-guard.

The kind where it is more hinged on the surprise factor to increase the success rate, but flipping that around, it means that if it is known, it can be dealt with. 

Fokudulkura who can imitate their appearance and techniques must have been a natural enemy of hers because he can read her cards.

In that case, I probably can only use Mix 2 times at most.

Even so, the Unique Class Great Devils have been further strengthened which is pretty terrible in itself, but there’s a lot of them to top it off. 

Can you believe that I am scared of even animals who are far below lesser devils, madam? 

“For now, I would like to ask Cara-jii to spectate the next battle. Ekdoik, can you tell Mix about the information you know of the Great Devils?” 

“Yeah, got it.” (Ekdoik)

“That would be a great help!” (Mix)

As for what I am worried about, it would be Ilias. I have only seen her on the passing recently, but she always looks exhausted. 

It seems like the coaching of Lord Ragudo has gotten even more intense after the competition with the Purple Demon Lord began. 

“Has Lord Ragudo told you anything about Ilias?” 

“I was told that it has been a while since he has found someone who doesn’t break from his coaching and his heart was dancing because of this.” (Marito)

“Even Ilias would suffer from this, huh.” 

“He also doesn’t want to lose to Gradona.” (Marito)

She really must be in pain there.

Wolfe is also getting tutored by Gradona, and there’s many instances where we passed by one another, but it didn’t look like fatigue was accumulating in her that much.

I did call her once in the first battle to show her the Great Devils, but it seems like that pumped her up. 

“Is it bothering you that she is not worrying about you?” (Marito)

“No, I know she must be worried about me to a certain degree after all. She must trust Ekdoik and Rakura.” 

“I don’t think it is just ‘to a certain degree’ though.” (Marito)

I thought I would be hanging out with the Purple Demon Lord the next day as usual, but Dyuvuleori left me a message telling me that the Purple Demon Lord will be busy thinking about the riddles for the hints, so she can’t meet me. 

I was taken aback by this, but if that’s the case, I will head to the magic research lab. 

I have been leaving everything to Ruko and Nora lately, so I need to show myself.

The Gold Demon Lord came with me for some reason. It is an important national secret, but she provoked back with “Even though this one showed all the internal affairs of Gahne, the Wise King of this country doesn’t even allow me to tour around? What a small heart’, and so, she was allowed freedom to observe as a special exception. 

“Oh, Nii-chan and Ekdo-niichan-na no da. Also…there’s a sparkly Nee-chan. Who is that?” (Nora)

“The Gahne King.” 

I obviously can’t tell Ruko and Nora that she is a Demon Lord. But it would be troubling if we were to slip up somewhere, so this is as much of a compromise I can give.

“G-Gahne King?!” (Nora)

“Nfufufufu, that’s right. This one is the king that rules over Gahne!” (Gold)

“That’s an impressive tail-na no da. Ei.” (Nora)

“Hiyowa?!” (Gold)

The Gold Demon Lord jolted at her tail being grabbed at the base. The mercilessness of a child is scary. 

“Stop that! The base is sensitive! If yer going to stroke it, make it elsewhere!” (Gold)

“S-Sorry-na no da… Ooh, it is so soft!” (Nora)

“N-Nora-chan, you shouldn’t do that to a king, you know?!” (Ruko)

“I don’t mind. It is only when children’s curiosity is satiated that they obtain the strength to rush off to the next thing to be curious about.” (Gold)

“I want this fur-no da. Can I tear it off?” (Nora)

“Stop that. So this one is Nora. What about the other one?” (Gold)

“Ruko-sama-na no da.” (Nora)

“Hooh, Ruko-sama, huh.” (Gold)

“Ah, no, please call me Ruko!” (Ruko)

Being called -sama by a king would make a hole open in her stomach as a maid. 

But she blended in with them faster than I thought. So the fox ears and fluffy tail can be useful in foreign relations as well, huh. 

She let Ruko touch her tail while talking. 

“Nora, I would like to use the temperature adjustment container that we made before.” 

“Ruko-sama knows the place. She has been using it for cooking-no da.” (Nora)

“Ahaha, it can adjust the firepower so conveniently, I just ended up using it…” (Ruko)

“It is an apparatus used for manufacturing and cooking, so I have no intention of finding fault in your actions. I was thinking about making the butter one more time, you see. This is goat milk.” 

“I know how to make it, so I will begin the preparations now, okay? Onii-san, please confirm the results we had while you were away with Nora-chan.” (Ruko)

I entrust the tool to Ruko and skim through the documents given to me. 

It seems like they have finished replicating quite a good deal of simple principles. 

If we were to prepare the parts of the machine to build it, and experiment with it, it should be possible to utilize it for a variety of inventions. 

It is a paper mache structure of replicating each and every single process of chemicals and electrical components to put them together, but as long as we know the structure of it, we can do a variety of things, which is big. 

“It is looking good. It is beyond what I expected.” 

“Ehehe~! And so, this is the prototype-na no da!” (Nora)

Saying this, she gave me a somewhat big box. It is a bit messy, but it has certainly recreated what I asked for. 

…I felt like teasing here so I ended up pointing it to the Gold Demon Lord as a test.

“Oh, Ser, what’s that? Stop that creepy expression! W-Wait, nuwa?!” (Gold)

Confirming the result of the experiment. A creation of Earth has been splendidly replicated. 

The problem would be that many people would be surprised the first time they encounter this. 

It really makes me think while I was getting smacked by the angered tail endlessly. 

Being able to progress in this fashion even with how busy we are is truly fearsome. 

———

All the Great Devils including myself and excluding Dyuvuleori were hiding in the shadows of the room and continued waiting for the order of our lord, the Purple Demon Lord. 

We were given the gigantic power that is the Pawn Mask, but the only one who feels pleasant when using it is Dyuvuleori. 

The one who showed a clear rebellious attitude, Gugugeguderstaf, died straight away. 

Fokudulkura, who simply found joy in obtaining power, died cruelly too. 

Our Lord will most likely be sending us to the execution grounds by the order of loyalty from here on. 

The humans are at an absolute advantage in this competition in the eyes of us Great Devils.

We will most likely be unable to avoid a one-on-one as long as there’s no unexpected result. 

We were happy about having obtained the Pawn Mask at first, and even felt like tagging along in their child’s play, but once the lid was opened, everything broke. 

The strength of the man called Ekdo surpassed all the Great Devils if not for the Pawn Mask.

It seems like it wasn’t a lie when it was said that he was the best creation of Beglagud. 

And then, the cleric that ended Beglagud, Rakura Salf. 

I was looking down on her because she is unreputed, but  witnessing the death of Fokudulkura, all the Great Devils realized ‘that woman is dangerous’.

There’s a high chance those two will be participating again. We might be able to cook up a way to win after analyzing a few battles as Great Devils, but there’s no point if you are included in those ‘few battles’.

All Great Devils aside from Dyuvuleori have escaped from the control of the Purple Demon Lord, and are devil kings that want to rebuild their kingdom again. 

“Hasharyukudehito, it is your turn next, you know?”

A voice echoed inside the darkness. I gulped, resolved myself, and appeared in front of My Lord. 

“Right Arm of Tying, Hasharyukudehito…has received My Lord’s will.” 

“You won’t be participating this time around. Just prepare for the one-on-one.” (Purple)

The Purple Demon Lord told me this and returned to her room. 

There wasn’t even a slight bit of emotion in those eyes. She was basically ordering me to get swept by the waves.

After witnessing this, I couldn’t endure it, so I turned into a shadow and moved to the rooftop. 

I look up at the stars. I feel like the stars entering my vision are a bit fewer than in the Mejis Nether. 

The light created by the livelihood of humans is reducing the number of stars in the sky. 

“Did mine life only amount to this much…?” 

As of present, it is unknown whether I have a chance to win against the enemy that that human has readied. I have no confidence in winning against the 2 that participated. 

Even if I were to win after a grueling battle, I would end up suffering deep injuries. 

If I were to be freed in such a state, would I be able to survive? 

I was satisfied with just being a king ruling in my little closed garden. My pride was maintained by looking down on the devils that I couldn’t feel any intelligence from. 

Even though I was satisfied with just that, that woman stole everything without hesitation. 

I obtained power from the Pawn Mask that I couldn’t even refuse. 

But if we were to revolt, we would definitely be killed by Dyuvuleori who has received the blessings of the Pawn Mask to its full extent. 

“Hasharyukudehito, are you scared of death?” 

“—Feibyushasu, huh.” (Hasharyukudehito)

A Great Devil appeared close to me. The Abdomen of Perplexion, Feibyushasu, showed up. 

Feibyushasu has been ruling a land connected to mine, but because we acknowledged each other’s strength, we didn’t fight, and enjoyed our lives in our respective closed gardens without fighting.

“I understand how you feel. If you die, I will most likely be the next one.” (Feibyushasu)

“I can see that. We both are treated similarly… It looks like that woman has no intention of winning.” (Hasharyukudehito)

She is dealing with a single human. Even if they were to have a fair competition, the details of it are way too cheap.

She is most likely going to be acting in a manner that will be advantageous for that human again in the next match.

“She might eventually turn it around and go for the win, but it is most likely not in our turns.” (Feibyushasu)

“Yeah… We are not even pawns; we are sacrificial pawns.” (Hasharyukudehito)

Since the day we lost against the High Devils that were wearing Pawn Masks and were brought here, our fates had already been sealed. 

We will be worn out as tools for that cruel Demon Lord’s entertainment and will simply disappear without seeing a chance for victory. 

“Hasharyukudehito, do you want to join in mine plan? If it goes well, we might be able to survive.” (Feibyushasu)

“…What do you mean by that?” (Hasharyukudehito)

“Not only that. We might be able to one-up that Demon Lord that shamed us. But do you have the resolve to…?” (Feibyushasu)

“Tell me. This life will be scattering soon anyways. If I can fight back against my current situation, I would like to hear it.” (Hasharyukudehito)

“We can’t match them as long as Dyuvuleori is present. There’s most likely no point in a direct revolt against the Demon Lord. But…I don’t know if it is a fortune or misfortune, but that Demon Lord has taken a liking towards an extremely brittle gem.” (Feibyushasu)

“Get to the point.” (Hasharyukudehito)

“I will eat that human. Help me out with that.” (Feibyushasu)

Feibyushasu grinned.

—

Author: this is an aside, but I as the author only remember the names of Beglagud and Dyuvuleori.

So for everyone else, just remember the first few letters and it will be fine. 

Translator: Dear lord, spare me.

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