Emilia looked ahead and saw nothing but a fast-food place that sold fried chicken, fries, and burgers. She was puzzled. Weren't they supposed to be looking for Satan?
Inside, they caught sight of a skinny, dark-haired young man, deeply bowing.
"Hi! I believe I can do a good job. Please give me a chance!"
Watching him, Emilia was reminded of herself when she'd been job-hunting.
"Welcome! May I take your order?"
A sweet-sounding girl with pink hair in braided pigtails, dressed in a waitress's uniform, greeted them. Rei Ao recognized her: Sasaki Chiho, a key girl from The Devil Is a Part-Timer!. She was just doing her usual job, but upon seeing Rei Ao and Emilia, a hint of surprise flashed across her eyes: They're both so pretty and so handsome
Rei Ao casually ordered,
"Two fries, two colas."
His voice caught the attention of the dark-haired young man who was in the middle of an interview.
That voice is so familiar he thought.
Their eyes met.
Rei Ao narrowed his gaze and said,
"We meet again."
"!!!"
Seeing Rei Ao's face, the young manMaou Sadao, in fact Demon King Satanwent weak in the knees and dropped to the floor.
It's him!!!
"Huh?" The manager frowned at this unexpected display. "Maou Sadao-san, there's no need to bow that deeply just for a job interview"
"I'm sorryI'm not looking for work anymore!"
Leaping to his feet, Maou dashed out of the store.
Need to get awayfast!!! He had no intention of continuing the interview, not with such a terrifying person there. The one individual he least wanted to run into in this world was Rei Ao.
After Rei Ao "warned" him last time, a demon from this world (not the Ente Isla demon race) came to find him.
After some tough interrogation, he'd had to sign a humiliating contract not to cause any trouble. At that point, returning to his home world seemed impossible, so he was scraping by in this one.
Those other demons had set him up with an identity in the human world. He went by Maou Sadao, and his companion Alsiel by Ashiya Shirou.
But a new name and papers weren't enough to surviveyou still needed money for rent, utilities, food, etc. Ashiya had found a job, but then lost it unexpectedly.
Now he was unemployed, and Maou had to come out and look for work. Yet on his first day of interviewing, he ran into the last person he wanted to see.
Seeing the bizarre way Maou Sadao bolted off, the manager could only shake his head in dismay.
"If you aren't serious about the job, why come for an interview at all?"
He muttered under his breath, then went back to work.
"Here are your fries and colas!"
Sasaki Chiho hadn't really focused on what happened. She handed Rei Ao and Emilia their order, and Rei Ao nodded in thanks.
"Oh, rightmiss? When you bent over just now, the button on your chest area popped open. You might want to fix that."
"Huh?"
Chiho froze, then looked down at the straining button near her, well, ample figure. Sure enoughit had come undone.
"Wah!"
She blushed and hurried to fix it. By the time she looked up again to thank them, both Rei Ao and Emilia were gone.
"Huh? Where'd they go?"
Outside on the sidewalk, they'd already left the store. Emilia held her cola in one hand and fries in the other, staring at Rei Ao with an odd look.
"You didn't just bring me here to see that girl, did you? You pervert," she accused.
"You're overthinking it," Rei Ao replied. "That girl was a coincidence."
"Hmph, I don't believe you."
Emilia huffed.
"You said we were going to see Satan, the Demon King. So where is he?"
Rei Ao turned back, grinning at her.
"But you did see him."
"Huh?"
She'd been suspecting something weird, but now she felt sure Rei Ao was messing with her. She certainly hadn't recognized any Demon King. If Satan had been there, she would've sensed it. In Ente Isla, they were mortal enemies.
"Ah," Rei Ao continued. "Have you forgotten how you changed when you lost your holy magic?"
Losing her Holy Law power had changed her physically. It suddenly dawned on Emilia.
"Wait You mean the Demon King also changed his appearance?"
"Glad you caught up."
"I'm not dumb!"
"Right, but if you were paying attention, you would've realized that skinny guy who ran just now was Satan. He bolted so fast because he recognized me, not you."
Emilia ground her teeth in frustration at his teasing. She never imagined the once-mighty Demon King, Satan, would become such a scrawny-looking young man with no hint of demonic aura.
"No wonder he took off in such a hurryhe recognized you, not me. I guess since I look so different, maybe he had no idea it was me," she admitted, annoyed.
"Heh, no shame in it. Anyway, we didn't come to catch him," said Rei Ao with a casual shrug.
"Let's go straight to his apartment instead. I've actually got a few questions for him."
~~~
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Chapter 456: Shabby Demon King
An old, shabby rental apartment.
Bang!
Maou Sadao burst in, quickly locking the door and windows behind him before collapsing onto the floor, panting hard.
Ashiya Shirou, wearing an apron, emerged from another room.
"Demon King, what's gotten into you? Did your job interview go badly? If it's really impossible, I'll go look for another job."
"That's not it!"
Maou Sadao's expression was grave.
"I ran into that man again!"
"That man?" Ashiya frowned. "Who do you mean, Demon King?"
"Remember how, right after we arrived in this world, we ran into that unbelievably strong guy who threatened us? The one whose namesomething Ao?"
Maou Sadao couldn't quite remember.
"Rei Ao," came a sudden prompt, making Maou's eyes light up.
"Right, that's itRei Ao!"
The next instant, though, his entire body froze. Because in this cramped, narrow apartment of his, two more people had just appeared: a red-haired woman and a smiling man. Emilia and Rei Ao.
"It's you!!!"
Ashiya instantly darted in front of Maou Sadao, shielding him. No wonder his master was so flusteredit was because this demon of a man was after them again. But no matter who he was, Ashiya had to protect the Demon King.
"Sheesh, we've met before. No need to get so wound up," Rei Ao said with a laugh, seeing how terrified they were.
But Maou Sadao and Ashiya were both silently protesting, "Meeting you that day was all threatssome 'friendship' that was!"
At length, Maou stood up.
"Ashiya, stand down."
"But"
"It's fineif he wanted to take us out, he would've done it already."
Maou saw things quite clearly. If Rei Ao had wanted to attack them, he wouldn't have waited for Maou to run home. Then again, it might also be that he was enjoying the chaseMaou still couldn't be sure.
""
In the end, Ashiya grudgingly stepped aside, though he remained on guard. Maou Sadao looked at Rei Ao.
"Lord Rei Ao, we've already signed the Three Realms Agreement. We're living here as honest, law-abiding citizens in the human realm. You wouldn't give us trouble over that, right?"
First thing he did was invoke that pact. They were keeping their heads down and living quietly; punishing them anyway would be too harsh.
"I don't recall ever saying I was here to cause trouble for you," Rei Ao said with a shrug. "I only came to see how you've been getting on."
He cast an eye around the cramped quarters. His immediate impression was pity. The place was so bare-bones there wasn't a single superfluous decoration or appliance.
A jar of pickled vegetables sat on the tableclearly no proper dishes. Their lives must be quite rough. Even Emilia, discreetly surveying the room, was stunned to see the great Demon King living in what was practically a kennel. What a joke
"Oh, right. I also brought along an 'old friend' of yours."
"Old friend?"
Maou Sadao glanced at Emilia.
"Her? Who's that?"
He didn't recognize her.
"She" Ashiya squinted, scrutinizing Emilia's face. She looks vaguely familiar, aside from her hair color Where have I seen her? Slowly, realization dawned on him. Her featuresminus the hairoverlapped exactly with the hero who once defeated the Demon King.
"Gulp."
He swallowed hard and whispered to Maou:
"Demon King doesn't she look an awful lot like that Hero?"
"Hero?" Maou Sadao froze. The moment Ashiya pointed it out, he noticed, too. His eyes went wide, and his trembling finger pointed at Emilia.
"Hero Emilia!"
"Oh dear, is the powerless Demon King losing his eyesight, too?" Emilia scoffed, arms folded.
""
Maou Sadao forced down his shock. He stared at her sharply:
"Emilia! Why are you here?!"
"You're asking me?" Emilia bristled. "If it wasn't to finish you off, why else would I have chased you into this godforsaken place?!"
She wouldn't have become what Rei Ao called a "wage slave" if not for that.
""
Maou remembered how he'd torn open a dimensional rift and jumped in randomly. Apparently, the Hero had plunged in after him, determined to kill him.
"What do you plan to do nowkill me?" Maou Sadao narrowed his eyes. "Considering I've lost all my demonic power, you likely lost your holy magic, too. Are you sure you can kill me in your current state?"
""
Emilia didn't answer right away; the truth was she couldn't do it easily. But she refused to show any weakness and sneered,
"I could kill you with no trouble if I wanted to. The only reason I'm not doing it is because of Rei Ao. Consider yourself lucky you're squatting in this peaceful world. The moment you set foot back on the Holy Cross Continent, I'll chase you down and destroy you!"
Spoken with utter righteous confidence. Rei Ao, who'd been watching silently, figured he'd seen enough.
"All right, cut it out, both of you," he interjected. "This world has its own rules. You can't just break them like I can. So let's keep it civil."
""
All three fell silent. Indeed, Rei Ao was the one person powerful enough to bend any rules. Rei Ao turned to Maou Sadao:
"You recognize this thing?"
He flicked a finger, and thud, a giant bird's head fell onto the floor with a clunk.
"Huh?"
The trio startled.
Emilia was the first to react:
"That'sa demon!"
Ashiya's eyes shrank:
"That's one of the bird demons from the unit!"
"Seems you know exactly what it is," Rei Ao mused.
Maou Sadao's face was grim.
"Yes, I do. It's a 'bird demon,' one of the beast-type devils in my subordinate Lucifer's regiment."
"Lucifer, hmm" Rei Ao rubbed his chin. In the story, Lucifer also crosses into Maou Sadao's world. That might be something worth paying attention to.
~~~
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Chapter 457: Enju Aihara
After Rei Ao finished questioning Maou Sadao, there wasn't much else to do.
He turned around and said to Emilia, "Right now, you don't want to kill him anymore, do you?"
That made Maou Sadao and Ashiya Shirou tense up, ready to flee at a moment's notice.
""
Emilia glanced at the two of them. After a brief pause, she snorted in contempt.
"They're worse off than beggars. Not even worth it."
"All right, let's go."
In the blink of an eye, the pair disappeared. Maou Sadao and Ashiya Shirou both let out a long breath. Their backs were already soaked in cold sweat. Rei Ao could have quietly ended them without a trace.
"D-Demon King, what should we do about this giant bird's head?" Ashiya asked uncertainly, pointing to the massive thing on the floor.
Maou Sadao eyed it, too. In his gaze flickered a certain something: Meat.
"Hey, Ashiya, we can eat beast-type demons, right?"
"Er"
Ashiya understood what the Demon King was implying.
Gulp
He swallowed hard.
"Y-yes. Because beast-type demons are likesub-intelligent creatures to uskinda like animals."
"Then"
"Yeah, Ashiya, let's get to work."
Meanwhile, one Demon King and his marshal were about to dine on demonic beast meat, while Rei Ao led Emilia somewhere for a hearty meal. Seeing that she was in low spirits, he remarked:
"You seem down. Why's that?"
Ever since she'd run into the Demon King, Emilia had been spaced out.
"I justdon't know what my purpose is anymore."
She had thought the moment she saw the Demon King she'd want to stab him through the heart. But the reality? She'd felt almost nothing. The so-called Demon King, now poor as a beggar, didn't spark any urge to killonly pity.
Next to them, her life with Rei Ao was basically paradise by comparison. The drive to destroy him was gone, leaving an immense emptiness inside her. Plus, her daily life now easily outclassed theirs. She felt she'd lost all sense of purpose.
"What's to be confused about? Just live for yourself," Rei Ao suggested.
"Livefor myself?"
Intrigued by his words, Emilia wanted to hear more. Rei Ao set down his chopsticks, lacing his fingers under his chin, deep in thought.
"Your hatred for the Demon King was for vengeance, right?"
Emilia trembled, lowering her head.
"Yes Demons killed my father."
"You saw it with your own eyes?"
"No, but my hometown was destroyed when the demons passed through. There's no way he survived."
"Oh?"
Rei Ao recalled that in the original story, her father was still alivebut dead or not, it hardly mattered at the moment.
"So you became a Hero to kill demons, to avenge him."
"Yes!"
Emilia's gaze sharpened.
"Killing demons also brings peace to the Holy Cross Continent."
"Got it," Rei Ao said, nodding. Then he posed a new question.
"But have you ever done anything just for yourself?"
"Formyself?"
That stumped Emilia. She realized she had no answer. Looking back, everything had revolved around killing demons and destroying the Demon King. She'd never considered anything else.
"Judging from that lost look, I'd say no."
Rei Ao chuckled.
"Since you're stuck in this world and can't go back anyway, why not cast aside that 'responsibility' and truly live for yourself?"
Emilia found her heart stirring at the idea.
"ButI don't know how."
"What's so hard about it? You can try eating all you want, traveling, even looking for romance," Rei Ao said, giving a sly grin. "But if it's romance, it can't be with anyone other than me."
