Chapter 129 – Interrogation and Mobilization
“First, what’s your goal?” the knight commander asked.
“Urgh… freeing… the demon god… Lady Samael… from the hero’s sword…”
I created the truth serum off the cuff, but it seems to be quite effective[1]. He talks, very reliably at that.
“Why did you abduct the princess?”
“…She is to serve as a sacrifice… for Lord Samaeyl… It won’t work… without a descendent of Mephilad…”
When the king heard that, he clenched his fists tightly. He seemed to desperately hold down his anger. His nails dug in, and blood trickled from the palm of his hands.
“Where is the princess?”
“I don’t… know…”
Well, this truth serum does nothing but its job. When he doesn’t know something, he’ll say he doesn’t know. If he’s merely an underling, they wouldn’t have given him any important information.
“Is that the truth? Aren’t you simply unwilling to tell us?”
“You… you’re wrong…”
“Knight commander, even with my truth serum, he cannot tell us what he doesn’t know. Rather than wasting time on the same question, we should ask him something else.
“Understood.” the knight commander agreed. “Then, let’s change the question. Where are your headquarters?”
“In a dark… crevice… in hell forest…”
“Where exactly?”
“It’s inside of… the shadow of a tree… Those without permission… cannot enter…”
“By what means are you able to enter there?”
“…You need… an item…”
“Are you in possession of it? The item to enter that shadow.”
“I don’t… have it.”
I should be able to create something like that.
“Well, if it’s an item, I can manufacture it, Sir. With the skill… Item Master.”
“If that’s true…! Then breaking into their base shouldn’t be out of the question.”
“In that case, if we storm their headquarters quickly…” the king cut into our conversation. “Ready the soldiers! We’ll attack them immediately. If we waste time, they might do something to Karua.”
“Your Majesty, you needn’t to worry about that,” I tried to calm the king down.
“Alim… Why do you say so?”
“Your Majesty, I gave Karua a national treasure grade accessory I created. It wasn’t in her room, so Karua should still be wearing it.”
“Miss Alim, was it that accessory,” the minister asked, “that informed you earlier about Princess Karua being in peril?”
“Yes. But it has other effects, Sir. If something touches Karua with the intention of hurting her, the accessory will form a shield of magic power called ‘Great Protection’. That shield should be able to continuously ward off the attacks of an SS-Rank magic beast and I expect it to hold for at least a day.”
“That you’d go that far for my daughter… Alim. You have my gratitude. Nevertheless, for now, gather the troops. We’ll rescue Karua!”
…That’s right, isn’t it? But it’d be better if there were no senseless casualties. Sure enough, at this point…
“Wait, your Majesty.” I stopped him. “If we’re merely rescuing her, I should be the only one to go.”
“Wha… What did you say?! You want to go to our adversaries’ base by yourself and extricate Karua?”
“No need to be concerned, your Majesty. All the SSS-Rankers told me this plenty of times; They said my true power equals SSS-Rank. If it’s just a rescue operation, rather than recklessly cutting down the castle’s military force, it should be better if I go by myself.”
“Hm… hmm… but…”
“Your Majesty, I’m worried if it’s only Alim, so I’ll go, too,” Mika spoke up. “According to Miss Parasuna, the amount of magic power I have is on par with an SSS-Ranker. If two SSS-Rankers participate in the rescue, I don’t think it’ll be a problem.”
“What?! The ‘Grand sorceress of all Creation’ told you…? Understood. Then you two will… Wait, let’s send a dependable adventurer with you, just to make sure. If it’s just two little girls, I’d be worried for sure. Minister, summon Bacchus!”
“Yes, your Majesty!”
Until Mr. Bacchus arrived, the knight commander continued the demon’s interrogation.
The information we gained was roughly the following:
| -There were 8 people in the upper echelon, 4 among those holding absolute power. There were several other people who were also key figures in the upper echelon. -The name of the leader-like being was Mephistophales. He was the only one with absolute control. The three others were called Beal, Baalzebub and Lucifeyr.[2] -The names of the remaining 4 people in the upper echelon were Asmodens, Astarohd, Amon, and Balial. -A flock of these demons was called “Shaytan[3]” and, once the demon god Samael was revived, their plan was to annihilate the humans. |
When I heard the names of these demons the first time, I couldn’t help thinking “They sound like out of a video game”.
Baalzebub is like Beelzebub. Beal might be Baal, and Lucifeyr sounds like Lucifer.[4]
Those are the names of legendary fallen angels, who became demons, only changed a bit, right? Once again, makes you think this world is quite fantastic.
However, when the king, the knight commander, and the others heard those names, they all displayed expressions of shock. Almost all of those demons apparently had the names of enemies that were defeated by the hero and his companions.
As I though, it’s probably correct to assume, the demons were revived by something.
Furthermore, according to writings, the demons holding absolute power were said to have strength that’d make Mr. Ruin, Miss Lilo and the others[5] turn green with envy, so the king and the others were worried if we’d really be alright.
We’ll turn transparent, should I get the feeling, they might try to keep us here somehow. It shouldn’t be a problem.
Or rather, it’s Mika’s and my stats that I think won’t lose to anyone.
The knight commander asked if the demons somehow survived, or if they had been reborn, but the demon told him they were apparently born by a pawn from darkness[6]. It didn’t look like he knew much about it, either.
I also asked the demon for details about the place their headquarters was located at.
Thanks to that, I can compare that tree with the other trees in hell forest, and if I use the item in the place that looks like some kind of entrance, to slip into the shadows there, it should work.
Well, finding that place in the forest would certainly be though, but if I use the Tozumaho’s map function, it won’t be an issue. I’m sure, it’ll compute the location immediately.
After a while, Mr. Bacchus turned up. I gave him an explanation of the situation, an overview about the tools we’d be handling, and we talked tactics about how to rescue Karua together.
“Got it, Alim, Mika. I’ll do my best, too. Let’s go rescue Princess Karua.”
“Then, please enter my Magic Room first. I’ll move at high speed while holding onto it, so we can reach our destination as fast as possible.
“Alright.”
Mika and Mr. Bacchus entered my Magic Room.
While the king was seeing us off, he raised his voice. If no one controlled him, he’d probably charge the enemies’ stronghold by himself.
He was that vigorous.
“Please, my precious daughter. The memento of my wife. Save her… please.”
“It’ll be fine, your Majesty. Karua is important to me, too.”
“…Is that so? Then I entrust her to you!”
The king grasped my hand unhurriedly.
Certainly, I just have to rescue Karua, right?
Also, thanks to the king… She’s my friend.
I left the castle, then the town, and hurried at full speed to the forest.
___________
_______
____
Alim had just left the castle.
A lone soldier, with a look of panic, reached the king and the others.
“Your… your Majesty!” he yelled. “It’s dreadful!!”
“Hm…?” the king wondered. “If you are talking about Karua’s abduction…”
“Oh?! Did something happen?” the soldier asked. “What did your… F-first of all, please calm down…”
“Could there be anything more lamentable than the abduction of my daughter? Speak quickly!”
“U-understood… Your Majesty… the body… someone stole… no, snatched it…!
Everyone present was left speechless.
This situation dealt the king, who was already despairing thanks to Karua’s abduction, another blow.
“…You don’t know who did it?” the knight commander questioned the soldier.
“I do not know. …We didn’t receive notice about either humans or magic beasts entering the shrine.
This country’s queen… She was the mother of Tuhl, Ruin, and finally Karua. They had made careful use of both magic and magic items, to ensure the corpse of the king’s wife would keep her beautiful form and didn’t fall to decay.
This was because of the king’s request.
The queen was loved by the whole nation, both for her looks and her personality. However, the year after Karua was born, she suddenly died without much advance warning. They still didn’t know the cause.
At first, no one in the nation, including the king, accepted the queen’s impending death. If she was merely suffering from a disease, they could tell themselves, there must be someone in Anazumu who could restore her. The leaders of Anazumu’s friendly nations knew of the queen’s benevolence, too, and supported Mephilad… but, of course, a cure… was not to be found.
Thus, the king made very careful preparations before her death, to keep that beautiful body safe, at least.
Certainly, there hadn’t been anyone, to try to steal it during the previous 12 years. Because there was no way to take her body. It had been enshrined according to the King’s wishes, and if humans or magic beasts approached the place, the automatic repulsion system and the alarm should activate.
However, only humans or magic beasts triggered the system, not demons.
“…in all likelihood, again,” the king muttered, “were it demons…?”
His face was brimming with resentment and rage towards them.
TL notes:
Edit 24-02-10: Fixed a small translation error.
Edit 24-02-12: Changed Lady Samael to Lord Samaeyl. We don’t know the gender and the archangel Samael is male.
[1] He talked big when explaining the effects to the others, but wasn’t sure about it himself?
[2] I modified the names to reflect they’re like the names we know, but a bit different.
[3] Original is シャイターン (Shaitaan). Most likely inspired by the Shaitan/Shaytan/Sheitan, an evil spirit from Islamic mythology.
[4] And now we finally know the reason for the bane of previous translations. The differences are small enough, so MTL software will just use the “normal” names.
For comparison:
| Anazumu version | Normal version | |
| Mephistopheles | メフィストファレス (Mefisutofaresu) | メフィストフェレス (Mefisutoferesu) |
| Beelzebub | バルゼブブ (Baruzebubu) | ベルゼブブ(Beruzebubu) |
| Belial | バリアル (Bariaru) | ベリアル (Beriaru) |
| Lucifer | ルシフエイル (Rushifueiru) | ルシフェル (Rushiferu) |
| Baal | ベール (Bearu) | バール(Baaru) |
| Amon | アモン (Amon) | アモン (Amon) no change here |
| Asmodeus | アスモデンス (Asumodensu) | アスモデウス(Asumodeusu) |
| Astaroth | アスタロード (Asutaroodo) | アスタロト (Asutaroto) |
| Samael | サマエイル (Samaeiru) | サマエル (Samaeru) |
[5] It’s weird he uses Seinforce as a yardstick here, with how weak they are portrayed in the story. Or maybe that’s the point?
[6] This might also be “They were *poof* born from darkness”. Japanese onomatopoeia can be weird, especially when they’re written the same as a foreign word (“Pawn” in this case).
Chapter 129 – Interrogation and Mobilization
“First, what’s your goal?” the knight commander asked.
“Urgh… freeing… the demon god… Lady Samael… from the hero’s sword…”
I created the truth serum off the cuff, but it seems to be quite effective[1]. He talks, very reliably at that.
“Why did you abduct the princess?”
“…She is to serve as a sacrifice… for Lord Samaeyl… It won’t work… without a descendent of Mephilad…”
When the king heard that, he clenched his fists tightly. He seemed to desperately hold down his anger. His nails dug in, and blood trickled from the palm of his hands.
“Where is the princess?”
“I don’t… know…”
Well, this truth serum does nothing but its job. When he doesn’t know something, he’ll say he doesn’t know. If he’s merely an underling, they wouldn’t have given him any important information.
“Is that the truth? Aren’t you simply unwilling to tell us?”
“You… you’re wrong…”
“Knight commander, even with my truth serum, he cannot tell us what he doesn’t know. Rather than wasting time on the same question, we should ask him something else.
“Understood.” the knight commander agreed. “Then, let’s change the question. Where are your headquarters?”
“In a dark… crevice… in hell forest…”
“Where exactly?”
“It’s inside of… the shadow of a tree… Those without permission… cannot enter…”
“By what means are you able to enter there?”
“…You need… an item…”
“Are you in possession of it? The item to enter that shadow.”
“I don’t… have it.”
I should be able to create something like that.
“Well, if it’s an item, I can manufacture it, Sir. With the skill… Item Master.”
“If that’s true…! Then breaking into their base shouldn’t be out of the question.”
“In that case, if we storm their headquarters quickly…” the king cut into our conversation. “Ready the soldiers! We’ll attack them immediately. If we waste time, they might do something to Karua.”
“Your Majesty, you needn’t to worry about that,” I tried to calm the king down.
“Alim… Why do you say so?”
“Your Majesty, I gave Karua a national treasure grade accessory I created. It wasn’t in her room, so Karua should still be wearing it.”
“Miss Alim, was it that accessory,” the minister asked, “that informed you earlier about Princess Karua being in peril?”
“Yes. But it has other effects, Sir. If something touches Karua with the intention of hurting her, the accessory will form a shield of magic power called ‘Great Protection’. That shield should be able to continuously ward off the attacks of an SS-Rank magic beast and I expect it to hold for at least a day.”
“That you’d go that far for my daughter… Alim. You have my gratitude. Nevertheless, for now, gather the troops. We’ll rescue Karua!”
…That’s right, isn’t it? But it’d be better if there were no senseless casualties. Sure enough, at this point…
“Wait, your Majesty.” I stopped him. “If we’re merely rescuing her, I should be the only one to go.”
“Wha… What did you say?! You want to go to our adversaries’ base by yourself and extricate Karua?”
“No need to be concerned, your Majesty. All the SSS-Rankers told me this plenty of times; They said my true power equals SSS-Rank. If it’s just a rescue operation, rather than recklessly cutting down the castle’s military force, it should be better if I go by myself.”
“Hm… hmm… but…”
“Your Majesty, I’m worried if it’s only Alim, so I’ll go, too,” Mika spoke up. “According to Miss Parasuna, the amount of magic power I have is on par with an SSS-Ranker. If two SSS-Rankers participate in the rescue, I don’t think it’ll be a problem.”
“What?! The ‘Grand sorceress of all Creation’ told you…? Understood. Then you two will… Wait, let’s send a dependable adventurer with you, just to make sure. If it’s just two little girls, I’d be worried for sure. Minister, summon Bacchus!”
“Yes, your Majesty!”
Until Mr. Bacchus arrived, the knight commander continued the demon’s interrogation.
The information we gained was roughly the following:
| -There were 8 people in the upper echelon, 4 among those holding absolute power. There were several other people who were also key figures in the upper echelon. -The name of the leader-like being was Mephistophales. He was the only one with absolute control. The three others were called Beal, Baalzebub and Lucifeyr.[2] -The names of the remaining 4 people in the upper echelon were Asmodens, Astarohd, Amon, and Balial. -A flock of these demons was called “Shaytan[3]” and, once the demon god Samael was revived, their plan was to annihilate the humans. |
When I heard the names of these demons the first time, I couldn’t help thinking “They sound like out of a video game”.
Baalzebub is like Beelzebub. Beal might be Baal, and Lucifeyr sounds like Lucifer.[4]
Those are the names of legendary fallen angels, who became demons, only changed a bit, right? Once again, makes you think this world is quite fantastic.
However, when the king, the knight commander, and the others heard those names, they all displayed expressions of shock. Almost all of those demons apparently had the names of enemies that were defeated by the hero and his companions.
As I though, it’s probably correct to assume, the demons were revived by something.
Furthermore, according to writings, the demons holding absolute power were said to have strength that’d make Mr. Ruin, Miss Lilo and the others[5] turn green with envy, so the king and the others were worried if we’d really be alright.
We’ll turn transparent, should I get the feeling, they might try to keep us here somehow. It shouldn’t be a problem.
Or rather, it’s Mika’s and my stats that I think won’t lose to anyone.
The knight commander asked if the demons somehow survived, or if they had been reborn, but the demon told him they were apparently born by a pawn from darkness[6]. It didn’t look like he knew much about it, either.
I also asked the demon for details about the place their headquarters was located at.
Thanks to that, I can compare that tree with the other trees in hell forest, and if I use the item in the place that looks like some kind of entrance, to slip into the shadows there, it should work.
Well, finding that place in the forest would certainly be though, but if I use the Tozumaho’s map function, it won’t be an issue. I’m sure, it’ll compute the location immediately.
After a while, Mr. Bacchus turned up. I gave him an explanation of the situation, an overview about the tools we’d be handling, and we talked tactics about how to rescue Karua together.
“Got it, Alim, Mika. I’ll do my best, too. Let’s go rescue Princess Karua.”
“Then, please enter my Magic Room first. I’ll move at high speed while holding onto it, so we can reach our destination as fast as possible.
“Alright.”
Mika and Mr. Bacchus entered my Magic Room.
While the king was seeing us off, he raised his voice. If no one controlled him, he’d probably charge the enemies’ stronghold by himself.
He was that vigorous.
“Please, my precious daughter. The memento of my wife. Save her… please.”
“It’ll be fine, your Majesty. Karua is important to me, too.”
“…Is that so? Then I entrust her to you!”
The king grasped my hand unhurriedly.
Certainly, I just have to rescue Karua, right?
Also, thanks to the king… She’s my friend.
I left the castle, then the town, and hurried at full speed to the forest.
___________
_______
____
Alim had just left the castle.
A lone soldier, with a look of panic, reached the king and the others.
“Your… your Majesty!” he yelled. “It’s dreadful!!”
“Hm…?” the king wondered. “If you are talking about Karua’s abduction…”
“Oh?! Did something happen?” the soldier asked. “What did your… F-first of all, please calm down…”
“Could there be anything more lamentable than the abduction of my daughter? Speak quickly!”
“U-understood… Your Majesty… the body… someone stole… no, snatched it…!
Everyone present was left speechless.
This situation dealt the king, who was already despairing thanks to Karua’s abduction, another blow.
“…You don’t know who did it?” the knight commander questioned the soldier.
“I do not know. …We didn’t receive notice about either humans or magic beasts entering the shrine.
This country’s queen… She was the mother of Tuhl, Ruin, and finally Karua. They had made careful use of both magic and magic items, to ensure the corpse of the king’s wife would keep her beautiful form and didn’t fall to decay.
This was because of the king’s request.
The queen was loved by the whole nation, both for her looks and her personality. However, the year after Karua was born, she suddenly died without much advance warning. They still didn’t know the cause.
At first, no one in the nation, including the king, accepted the queen’s impending death. If she was merely suffering from a disease, they could tell themselves, there must be someone in Anazumu who could restore her. The leaders of Anazumu’s friendly nations knew of the queen’s benevolence, too, and supported Mephilad… but, of course, a cure… was not to be found.
Thus, the king made very careful preparations before her death, to keep that beautiful body safe, at least.
Certainly, there hadn’t been anyone, to try to steal it during the previous 12 years. Because there was no way to take her body. It had been enshrined according to the King’s wishes, and if humans or magic beasts approached the place, the automatic repulsion system and the alarm should activate.
However, only humans or magic beasts triggered the system, not demons.
“…in all likelihood, again,” the king muttered, “were it demons…?”
His face was brimming with resentment and rage towards them.
TL notes:
Edit 24-02-10: Fixed a small translation error.
Edit 24-02-12: Changed Lady Samael to Lord Samaeyl. We don’t know the gender and the archangel Samael is male.
[1] He talked big when explaining the effects to the others, but wasn’t sure about it himself?
[2] I modified the names to reflect they’re like the names we know, but a bit different.
[3] Original is シャイターン (Shaitaan). Most likely inspired by the Shaitan/Shaytan/Sheitan, an evil spirit from Islamic mythology.
[4] And now we finally know the reason for the bane of previous translations. The differences are small enough, so MTL software will just use the “normal” names.
For comparison:
| Anazumu version | Normal version | |
| Mephistopheles | メフィストファレス (Mefisutofaresu) | メフィストフェレス (Mefisutoferesu) |
| Beelzebub | バルゼブブ (Baruzebubu) | ベルゼブブ(Beruzebubu) |
| Belial | バリアル (Bariaru) | ベリアル (Beriaru) |
| Lucifer | ルシフエイル (Rushifueiru) | ルシフェル (Rushiferu) |
| Baal | ベール (Bearu) | バール(Baaru) |
| Amon | アモン (Amon) | アモン (Amon) no change here |
| Asmodeus | アスモデンス (Asumodensu) | アスモデウス(Asumodeusu) |
| Astaroth | アスタロード (Asutaroodo) | アスタロト (Asutaroto) |
| Samael | サマエイル (Samaeiru) | サマエル (Samaeru) |
[5] It’s weird he uses Seinforce as a yardstick here, with how weak they are portrayed in the story. Or maybe that’s the point?
[6] This might also be “They were *poof* born from darkness”. Japanese onomatopoeia can be weird, especially when they’re written the same as a foreign word (“Pawn” in this case).
