It was hard to tell without actually fighting her, but Diablo and Klem were probably stronger than Noah one-on-one. In fact, the captain of the Palace Knights, and even Alan for that matter, looked stronger than her too.
“Why should I be the leader, you ask?” Noah replied with composed boldness. “That would be because I have the strongest leadership skills out of everyone here. You, on the other hand, are probably the weakest when it comes to that.”
Diablo couldn’t argue with that. He’d tried to lead a charge into the castle, but it only resulted in his comrades splitting up. If it wasn’t for Horn’s quick-witted actions, there was no telling how that attack would have ended.
And the same was true when they charged the Grand Cathedral before. He couldn’t give his allies the appropriate orders... If he had given them any orders at all.
“...This is foolish.” That was the only reply Diablo was able to eventually make.
“Is it?” Noah asked him.
This reminded Diablo of his old world. He was known for being the strongest player, so parties that believed in gathering strong people tried to convince him to join. But with Diablo’s personality being what it is, he never accepted.
“If I have a reason to fight, I will fight. I will think things through on my own and make my own decisions! What point is there to living if you must follow someone else’s orders?”
“Everyone that’s under my command is only here because they made that choice on their own. I didn’t force them into obeying me. I didn’t do anything to coerce you either, did I?”
Well, you’re definitely trying to corner me into saying yes. I hate normies like you, trying to force their will onto other people.
“...I am a Demon Lord from another world, Diablo! You are a fool if you think I will obey anyone’s words, no matter who they may be!”
“Then it’s a pity, but if you won’t acknowledge me as your leader, there’s nothing I can do,” Noah shook her head. “It doesn’t matter how strong you are, you’re useless to us if you won’t cooperate. All you’ll do is sabotage our efforts.”
Her words were reasonable, but the things she said pried Diablo’s old wounds open.
You can’t do this on your own. You don’t have what it takes to lead. You’re useless if you can’t cooperate.
Taking orders from the races went against what a Demon Lord stood for, but that wasn’t the only reason Diablo tried to distance himself from Noah. Being around her made things he didn’t want to think about surface in his mind.
No one else seemed to feel that way, though.
“Lord Diablo, remember that the Palace Knights are the strongest force Lyferia has,” Lumachina said. “Can’t you find it in yourself to cooperate with them?”
Lumachina was good-willed to the core, so it only made sense she’d make this kind of suggestion. Sylvie seemed to be in agreement, too, and even Rem was pressing him to change his mind.
“...Diablo, please reconsider. Noah’s suggestion is valid, in my opinion. We’re up against a menacing enemy, and we’ll need as many strong people on our side as we can get.”
“Yep, yep! Let’s all fight together!” Shera nodded, as cooperative as ever.
Before he knew it, everyone other than him was in favor of joining forces with the Palace Knights. He was the only one left out.
...What the hell?
Just moments ago, Diablo was... maybe not at the center of attention, but at least everyone was on his side. He felt a sense of unity with them. But now, Diablo was the only one still insisting on having his way.
Alienation... Loneliness...
Diablo turned his back on them. In the end, it was always like this. They only needed him because he happened to have a high level... And now, when they had a whole group of high level people to rely on, he was seen as uncooperative. Unnecessary.
I knew it’d be like this... I really can’t live with other people.
But just as he was about to leave the room, someone reached out to him, pulled him back, and embraced him.
“Wait, Diablo!” Shera’s voice reached his ears.
“...Don’t go off on your own,” Rem begged him.
“We need you, Diablo!” Klem scolded him.
“H-Hey... Cut it out, you three.” Diablo stuttered, trying to shake them off.
“We’re going together!” Klem shouted, grabbing tight onto his cloak.
It was like a little girl begging her father to take her to the amusement park on a weekend...
“Heheh...” Sylvie walked up right behind him. “Look at how much they love you, Diablo♪”
“...Kuh...” He grit his teeth bitterly. “I... cooperate with no one...! Why not ask the Palace Knights for help?”
“Because we cannot win that way!” Klem shouted at him. “Believe what this Demon Lord says, Diablo!”
“Mm? Do you know something about Emperor Gelmed?” Diablo asked, narrowing his eyes.
“Well, I am a Demon Lord, after all!”
That was a hard answer for Diablo to accept. Following her advice after she said that would be admitting he wasn’t a Demon Lord. And then he would lose all his relationships, be seen as an obstinate fool, and everything he did would be reduced to meaninglessness... He had to stick to his role play. Otherwise, he’d have to reveal his true self.
“Fine,” Diablo sighed. “Get away.”
The girls let go of his clothes. But then, he swung through the air with his staff.
“《Ice Wall》!”
“Huh?!”
He formed a massive wall of magical ice before them. It wasn’t a high level spell, so if they really wanted, they’d have been able to bust through it without much effort.
“Diablo, why?!” Rem raised her voice in shock from the other side of the layer of ice, her face distorted by the mirror-like surface.
If I could cooperate with people just because it was more efficient that way, I wouldn’t have been alone all this time!
“If you think you need the Palace Knights, ask them for help. But I don’t go begging to anyone!”
Turning his back to them, he left the room.
†
Diablo stood on the Inner Sanctum’s balcony. Since the Inner Sanctum was levitating over the capital, there was a great distance between the balcony and the surface. If he didn’t have flight magic, Diablo’s knees might well have buckled in fear.
Diablo glared silently into the distance, where the Magimatic Castle Viovix loomed menacingly. Under the cover of nighttime, only its contours were visible, but even now it floated in the sky overhead. As Diablo looked out, the light of dawn was beginning to wash over the dark canopy of the stars. A red glow drew jagged lines from behind the ridges of the mountains in the east.
Daybreak was fast approaching.
“Are you thinking of going alone?” Noah’s voice asked him.
Being approached from behind made Diablo outright jolt, but he couldn’t display any fear in front of others. Silencing his emotions, Diablo kept his eyes fixed on the Magimatic Castle.
“You do not order me around,” he spoke composedly, as if to imply he’d known she was there the whole time.
But what Noah said next truly and honestly shocked him. Enough so to make him spin around with eyes wide in shock.
“Do you know about an MMORPG called Cross Reverie?”
“What... did you just...?!” Diablo couldn’t hide his surprise.
Noah had spoken the game’s name. A name no one in this world had ever spoken before.
Is she... Is she the same as me...?!
“Heheheh...” Noah brushed back her short lock and chuckled. “I knew it. So you do know about it. You really were from that side. Yeah, that’s the only way everything fits.”
Her tone had changed. While before she talked in a polite, almost theatrical tone, Diablo could clearly make out her emotions now. It was actually a bit unsettling...
“So you’re from there, too...?” Diablo asked.
“Yes, I’m a... visitor in this world. Yeah, that works. Same as you, anyway. Was ‘Diablo’ your screen name in the game? That’s not your real name, right?”
Takuma Sakamoto. Diablo still remembered his name, but wasn’t inclined to speak it.
“...Old names have no meaning in this world.”
“Good answer,” Noah said, a bitter smile on her lips. “I feel the same way. I don’t miss or care for that cesspool of a world.”
“I... wouldn’t go that far...” Diablo uttered, taken back a bit by the venom in her words.
“Oh? What, did you live the good life back there?” Noah asked him coldly.
“...Ah... Ugh...” Thinking of that old life made Diablo’s throat clench up.
Reverting to his natural self took away his ability to parse words properly. He was a NEET, a shut-in, a crippled gamer. Calling that “the good life” felt wrong.
“I was an office lady,” Noah said, a sardonic smirk on her lips. “I’d go to work on the earliest train and go home on the last one. The pay was crap, there were no days off, and my superiors at work would harass me for fun. Even sexually, sometimes. Couldn’t get through the day without gulping down the meds my psychiatrist gave me.”
“That sounds like hell...” Diablo muttered.
“What year are you from?” Noah suddenly asked.