Chapter 113

The castle where Lesser Demon King Melvis slept was in the center of the country.
I suppose you would call it the capital.

While it was just a town, it was the most developed part of the country.

“Well, it would be rather boring to just go straight back.”

After all, there was no rush.

During the meeting, several things had been decided in terms of the direction that the country would go in.
First, Demon King Tralzard’s troops would be coming after thirty days.

And they would be our trump card in the battle against Lesser Demon King Leninoth.
Given how much Miralda wanted to stop Leninoth and Fara from gaining prominence, we could expect them to be very different from your average soldiers.

While nothing would be decided until they arrived, we would likely wait for the perfect moment when Leninoth and Fara were fighting, and then invade.

“As for that invasion…General Dardaroth would likely lead.”

Now that Gorgodan was dead, the new General, Tulart, would have to train his reconstructed army.
And I suspected that it would take some time for them to fully recover from that blow.

As for General Farneze’s army, which I was now a part of, we would probably protect the capital.
She had fought battle after battle, and gone off to kill Leninoth with a small group, and lured out Fara’s army…well, that part was me.

And if things were to go in rotation, I doubted she would have much to do this time.

“I wouldn’t mind staying here protecting the castle.”

After so much fighting, the idea of taking it easy and resting was quite appealing.
I could sightsee and kill time in the castle.

Yes, I had high expectations for General Dardaroth and these powerful soldiers our neighbor was sending.

“Oh, what sweet-looking fruit.”

And so I went shopping in the town.
Now that I was working directly under the General, my pay had gone up a little.

Where would I spend the money if not here?

“Mister. This fruit was brought in from General Dardaroth’s town. You won’t find them anywhere else in these parts!”

He looked like a boy with green hair, but he was a fully grown adult.
They were called Grassrunners. A race that lived in the prairies and were not suited to fighting.

“I’ve never seen them before. They don’t have these in my village.”

“Of course not! But these really are sweet! They grow on the sides of steep cliffs. So they can only be picked by people who can fly.”

There were various things that were sweet in this world, and fruits were one of the most common.

While this one looked like a rough pineapple, it did smell quite sweet when I picked it up and brought it to my nose.

“I’ll take one then.”
“Ah, thank you!”

My first time eating this fruit.
Normally, you would wonder how you were supposed to eat it. But not us Ogres.

I opened my mouth wide and bit it in half.

“…Hmm. I see. It really is sweet. The core is quite hard though, is that the seed?”
The fruit was very juicy and delicious.

I finished the rest in one bite and then looked at the shocked Grassrunner.

“How many do you have?”
“Uhh…there are five in this sack.”

“Alright, I’ll take the lot. Just give me the bag.”
“…Ye-yes!”

They were also about the same size as pineapples.
And while the Grassrunner had carried them on his back, to me, it just felt like a small bag from a convenience store.

“This should make a good gift.”
I would give them to Saifo and Beka. They would love it.

“…Now that I think about, I better grab something for Rig as well.”
My adjutant was always helping me.
Of course, he just saw it as his duty, but he also took care of things around the house.

It would be good to return the favor in times like these.

“How about this?”
I saw that a pretty box was being sold. It was made of carved wood.

My guess was that it was made by Leprechauns, since they were so good with their hands.
And it was said that they liked to use wood.

And while it wasn’t exactly cheap, I decided to think of it as an investment.
It would be worth it as long as he was happy.

“Oh, and I can’t forget Painy.”

It would look bad if Painy the Reaper was the only one who didn’t get a gift.
Well, she wasn’t the kind to complain about such things, but that was even more worrying.

“So…Painy. What should I get…”
I went around the different shops, but nothing caught my eye.

In the first place, there wasn’t any tradition of buying people souvenirs in the Demon World.
And so there were no gift shops or the like.

People didn’t really ‘dress up’ here.
No, they did, but it was very different from how things were in modern Japan.

Most people just dressed so that they could be differentiated from others.

“…This is nice.”

My eyes landed on an umbrella.
Even here, people used umbrellas when it rained.

Sometimes people just wore coats made of straw, and there were some races that didn’t care about getting wet.
However, most of them did use umbrellas like this to stay out of the rain.

The one I had found happened to be light and a nice color. It was perhaps similar to a parasol.
“Now I have something for everyone.”

Well, everyone who came to my house regularly.
I could imagine their smiling faces now. And it was with such warm thoughts in my head that I rushed back to the village.

“I’m back!”
I opened the door to my house while carrying the bag of gifts.

“Sir Golan. Welcome back.”
“Ah, Rig. Did anything happen while I was gone?”
I always asked this question.

“Hey, Golan.”
“You’re finally back.”
“Welcome home.”

Saifo and Beka were there. So was Painy.

“Perfect timing. I got you all something…”

“Sir Golan. Speaking of things that happened in your absence, one of General Farneze’s messengers was just here. They want you to lead the troops that are to be sent to the Demon King’s land. And so you must organize your men and go to the General’s town at once.”

“What…?!”

“You are to lead the unit that is being traded…”
“I heard you.”
“…”

I was to be part of the trade with Miralda? Surely not…
Why me?

My arms went limp and the gifts fell to the floor.
One of the fruits rolled towards Beka, and she purred, ‘ah, that smells good!’

“…She can’t be serious.”

I looked upwards.
The dirty ceiling looked back at me.

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Makai Hongi