Well, that was a strange interruption, Alexei Guberg sighs.
He’d sensed the presence of the two devils since the game had begun.
When and how would they intervene? Or were they only planning to spectate? Alexei kept a watchful eye on them. And of course, they had to butt in right at the competition’s climax.
What’s more, they tried to erase me as well. Though I’m not surprised.
From the Devil Lord’s point of view, Alexei was nothing but a useless peg who’s off clowning around on his own.
As long as there’s a risk of Alexei leaking information about the Devil Lord to Shiva during their showdown, the servant devils are bound to try to eliminate their master’s scrap of consciousness as soon as possible.
Not surprised at all. After all, the Devil Lord Lucifyra and I do think alike.
Alexei can’t stand the thought of his games being interrupted.
Now that he has access to a portion of Lucifyra’s memories and powers, he can fully sympathize with the entity; however…
Whether or not I submit to his rule is a separate issue. If the Devil Lord is trying to rob me of my fun, then he’s my enemy.
But Alexei is no match for the Devil Lord in terms of power.
All he has is a tiny shred of the Devil Lord’s knowledge and a sample of his powers.
As soon as Shiva leaves with the two intruders, the tension in the dungeon room instantly eases.
Only Charlotte flits about excitedly, glancing this way and that way at seemingly nothing in particular.
“Whew!” she sighs blissfully. “Thank you so much─that was incredibly entertaining!”
Who is she thanking, and for what?
In any case, she seems to have settled down and now she’s basking in the afterglow of something satisfying. She’s certainly left herself wide open to an attack.
“Charlotte, I must declare your team the winners.”
“Huh?”
Alexei waves a white flag.
“My entire party, except for myself, has been disabled. Meanwhile, your team is almost completely uninjured. Even your strongest warrior who was out of commission is now fully recovered.”
Sheet-ghost Flay is back on her feet. Her drapery sways as she glowers at her enemy’s leader.
I’d still have a shot at winning if I give it my all…
One against many might seem like a disadvantage, but it also means that he can unleash his full power without having to be mindful of his teammates. Moreover, there is a wide disparity of strength among his rival team members. Targeting the weakest link would easily invoke chaos and confusion.
But Alexei surrenders the fight anyway.
“If there’s no chance of winning, there’s no point in engaging in activities that risk someone getting hurt.”
“In that case, Mr. Alexei…” Charlotte looks at him expectantly. “Does that mean you’ll join us in overthrowing the giant evil organization and preventing the revival of the Devil Lord?”
“Um… Sure.”
How much of the situation is this girl actually aware of?
Either she’s speaking pure fantasy or she possesses extraordinary intuition and insight.
“And what about the other members?” She looks around.
The rest of Numbers are sprawled on the ground, unable to get up. They each take turns pitching in.
“If that’s what our leader has decided, then I guess we have to go with it.”
“Given the circumstances, we can’t really blow it off as a kid’s silly game of make-believe anymore…”
“If you’re telling me those guys were servants of the Devil Lord, then yeah…”
Having seen the menacing devils with their own eyes, the members of Numbers have no choice but to agree.
Charlotte throws both hands up in the air.
“Yay! Now, will you do the honors?”
Huh? Just as Alexei and his team wonder what she means by that…
“Numbers surrenders! The victory goes to Team Charlotte!” a voice announces.
Shiva, who’d returned before anyone could notice, grabs one of Charlotte’s hands and raises it in the air.
Did he already defeat those two devils?
But the evil duo had a special secret power: the ability to fuse into a much more destructive gigantic being. Alexei knows this because his fragment of Lucifyra knows this.
The blond boy had figured that Shiva could beat them─but not this quickly.
Is this man truly more powerful than a god?
Alexei is astounded. Meanwhile…
“I hereby declare the members of Numbers to be provisional Knights of Camelot. Welcome! But please understand that I cannot permit you to enter Pandemonium.”
…Charlotte makes a gibberish announcement.
In a room of the royal annex…
Lucifyra─in Queen Gizelotte’s body─hears a faint whisper in her ear.
‘Shiva is a devil. An irregular existence endowed with almost all of his creator’s power.’
The voice is shaking and strained.
Your one job was to gather intel and this is the best you could do? How useless can you be?
Gizelotte sighs deeply and accepts that it must mean the enemy is simply that powerful.
“I sensed that his powers are close to mine. But… I see… Tee-hee-hee-hee…”
From this iota of information transmitted by Murzalla, Lucifyra sees it all.
“What a surprise─there was already another Devil Lord here. But if it’s birthed a devil with so much power, that explains why I didn’t detect the main entity. It’s probably a strategy to mislead the God Killer. If so…”
Lucifyra reaches the same conclusion as Murzalla.
“That child is, indeed, what I’m looking for. If I destroy the creator, its creation should vanish as well.”
A little girl with an extraordinarily high mana level tucked away in the herd of meek humans.
Having transferred most of its power to its human vessel, the Devil Lord is now passable as a normal person. And yet that human still stands out from the crowd.
“Charlotte Zenfis─ah, what’s this, Gizelotte?” Lucifyra notices a surge of venomous energy from the vessel. “I see the idea excites you quite a bit. Yes… I like that hatred. Of course. You have a score to settle with the girl.”
“I, too, have business with her. Tee-hee-hee… This shall be fun.”
Lucifyra lets out a loud peal of laughter…
…completely unaware of their rudimentary misunderstanding.
✦ ✦ ✦
Hello! I’m 澄守彩 (Sumimori Sai). I’ve also been active on the online novel-publishing site, Shosetsuka ni Narou (Let’s Become Writers) under the name すみもりさい (Sumimori Sai).
Thanks to you, here’s volume five! Volume five! (I said it twice because it’s important!) Seriously, thank you so much!
If I’m being honest, I’d love to continue the series. Your continued support would be much appreciated.
In volume five, we finally have our first swimsuit episode. You may be annoyed that it didn’t happen sooner, but it totally slipped my mind. Sorry about that!
There’s also a hot springs episode (second one, in fact) in this book. I hope you’ll forgive me.
With a mysterious transfer student coming in at the beginning of the volume (Haruto’s adoptive little sister, obviously), our protagonist’s aspirations to enjoy an on-campus shut-in life seems destined to be beset by troubles! Or maybe not? No, it is. Probably.
Also, everyone’s excited about a showdown with the (not-so) mysterious and hilarious student club and meanwhile, wh-wh-what’s this? Something fishy about the queen?
Seems like there’s trouble brewing in the shadows, but not to worry! To quote his greatest admirer and biggest fan of an unnamed magical girl, Brother Haruto is the strongest!
As always, here’s another rowdy volume of “Will Brother Haruto ever see his long-awaited hermit days?”
The manga version that’s being published on Nico Nico Seiga’s magazine Wednesday’s Sirius is getting great reviews, too. Thank you!
And I really appreciate your support for the light novel as well. Truly.
Lastly, some words of thanks.
To Ai Takahashi, who did the illustrations for this book and the manga series. The swimsuits! Are! Awesome! (I’m at a loss for words). Personally, you nailed the new characters. And as a reader, I look forward to every new chapter of the manga. And I’m definitely looking forward to our future collaborations!
To all the editors at K Ranobe Books, and to my editor, Mr. M. It’s been a while since you became my new editor─I’m so sad we haven’t been able to meet during these times. Here’s to more projects together in the future!
Lastly, I want to thank my readers from the bottom of my heart. Your support for the light novel and the manga is what makes it possible to come this far. I cannot thank you enough!
Whether or not you follow the web version, I hope very much that you enjoy this book!
Sai Sumimori