Chapter 80 The Name Of The Mastermind
In Leaf's hometown, Dead End Village.
The king of the demon, Demon Lord Vandesdelka, was alone at the village head Arthur's house in the hero village.
"Oh my, if it isn't Van-chan."
Giggling cheerfully is Merlin, Arthur's wife.
Vandesdelka sweats profusely, trembling more than before, lying on his back showing his stomach.
"Oh? What's the matter, grandpa?"
"Seems like he's begging for his life. To this guy, you're probably his biggest trauma."
Back when the Demon Lord Vandesdelka was mischievous...
There was a time when the young Merlin, who was even more mischievous, gave him a good beating.
"After all, Grandma in her younger days was quite the wild one... Hmph!"
Wind magic, Wind Hammer, activates without an incantation, turning Arthur into a piece of meat.
Crunch!
"AAAAHHHHH!"
Vandesdelka, who once revived his trauma, rolled his eyes back... and died.
Not an exaggeration, he really died. It was a shocking death.
In his mind, the hellish torment inflicted by the young Merlin was replayed...
"Huh! I'm alive again!? Why?"
"It's Leaf-chan's Elixir. There was some left."
Arthur, who had just turned into a lump of flesh, was lively again.
"Oh, did Arthur-senpai also drink the Elixir?"
"No, I did it on my own. Even if I turn into mincemeat, I can regenerate without magic up to that extent, you know?"
"Oh, I see."
...The Demon Lord trembled as he spoke.
Vowing once again from the bottom of his heart to never defy this monster.
After a while,
Vandesdelka sat formally at the entrance, facing an elderly couple.
"You should come inside, Vandesdelka."
"No! I'm fine here!"
Even getting close is too scary... or rather, he is too frightened to approach them.
"And what's this about? Sending familiars over, asking me to come."
The reason the Demon Lord came here was because he received a letter from the bird familiar sent by Merlin.
"About Leaf-chan..."
"Leaf?"
"Umm. I haven't heard from Leaf-chan. It seems like the demons are causing trouble."
Arthur knows. Merlin, being fond of her grandson Leaf to an extreme degree, is closely monitoring the situation through the familiar.
Additionally, she doesn't neglect to keep track of how their relationship is progressing by talking to his granddaughter.
Merlin is secretly trying to get her granddaughter and Leaf together. This way, Leaf will become a true part of the family. But let's put that aside for now.
"What!? W-what, demons!? That's news to me!"
Vandesdelka widens his eyes and shouts.
Arthur narrows his eyes. He is a master of martial arts, having trained his human body to its limits.
Therefore, he has a good understanding of the structure of the human body. It's the same for others' bodies as well.
Arthur could tell that Vandesdelka was not lying from the dilation of his pupils and irregular breathing.
Merlin relaxed her shoulders when Arthur nodded silently.
If the Demon Lord had been harming Leaf as part of a plot, the Demon Lord's body would have exploded into trillions of pieces.
"So, the demons causing havoc now are not under your command?"
"Of course not. Why would demons... cough, harm humans when there are heroes around? They'd be wiped out in an instant if they did something like that. It's just foolish."
Arthur and the other heroes have an agreement. They try not to get involved in worldly matters as much as possible.
Each of them possesses power akin to that of a god.
Because that power is too immense, it can have a significant impact on the world, for better or for worse.
Therefore, they have established the rule of never leaving the borderlands and peacefully spending their remaining years.
...However, there are exceptions.
That is when a great evil that humans cannot handle spreads.
The Demon Lord falls into that category... but the ranking between Vandesdelka and the heroes has already been decided.
Vandesdelka understands that the heroes are dangerously powerful. It's pointless to challenge them and only leads to death.
So, the Demon Lord promises not to attack humans and keeps his word.
In essence, the heroes currently control the Demon Lord and the power of life and death over his subordinates.
"Hmm... I see. It's not Vandesdelka. So, are there others manipulating the demons?"
"I don't really want to think about it, but yeah. After becoming the Demon Lord and ordering them not to attack humans for no reason, dissatisfaction has been brewing everywhere."
The demons look down on humans. When Vandesdelka ordered them to stop interfering with humans, few obediently followed.
"So, the demons aren't all united, huh?"
"Yeah, that's right, big sis Merlin. In places I don't know, there's someone controlling the demons, making them attack humans, probably."
"Is that referring to [that person]?"
Merlin was aware that the spider demon was approaching Leaf.
If it were true, she could have cast a powerful spell from afar, but she believed Leaf could handle it on his own, so she didn't intervene (※If she had cast it, the entire continent would have been wiped out).
The one the spider demon mentioned.
It wasn't the Demon Lord. Something else...
"Van-chan, do you have any idea?"
"...I don't have any."
Vandesdelka looked at the two and said,
"Even though I'm considered the strongest Demon Lord in history."
"No, you're weak." "You're just a worthless grunt."
"Well, compared to you guys! ...No, compared to the demons."
The strongest demon lord in history, Vandesdelka.
"The demon race is basically engraved in their blood to obey the demon lord's bloodline. But they are acting against it. That means..."
"There's a sinister being behind the scenes surpassing the demon lord...right?"
Yes, Vandesdelka nods.
"The ancestor of the demon race, who was considered equal to me, and the worst demon lord Venomzard... created by that... evil god."
"Could it be... an evil god?"
"Nod," Vandesdelka then speaks the name of that evil god.
"[Nyarlathotep]. That's... the mastermind's name."
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