Maou ~ Sou da, Yuusha wo Yome ni shiyou ~ Volume 1 Chapter 2

Along the border there was a checkpoint, but it was easily pa.s.sed through.

Pa.s.sing through the solid gate, the hero Flint suspiciously turned and looked back at the gatekeepers.

With his long silver hair tied back in a simple fashion behind his head, the color of his eyes were a transparent blue. His young appearance contrary to his age were due to his earnest looking large pupils. And even more so, his age did not reflect his swordsmanship, he was a lieutenant colonel in the royal army.

Flint was covered with a simple brown cloak, and similarly, in his surroundings were four women who wore the same cloak as well.

Lilia (15 years old) was a young girl with a plump figure.

Her brown hair was divided in half, the top part of her hair above her ears was tied up in a bun. With round and cute light brown eyes, she gave off a precious aura that makes you want to protect her.

Next to her was the short-haired Stina (18 years old). She had a tomboyish figure with long and slender limbs.

On the other side of Flint was a very voluptuous and attractive mature lady, Ari (28 years old). She had burning red hair and golden eyes. Walking next to her was the not noteworthy, but not particularly unattractive either, ordinary and common Sincere (23 years old).

「What happened, Fi」

His name was suddenly shortened before anyone noticed it. Ari gave a swift glance at the gatekeeper before immediately returning her line of sight back ahead of her.

While Flint was returning his gaze back in front of him, he tilted his head.

「No…It's just I thought we pa.s.sed through way too easily.」

「Well, that's because of the King's specially made ID's.」

Stina answered bluntly without any hint of amus.e.m.e.nt.

After just now crossing over from the Athena Empire to the Diurnal Empire, the atmosphere has completely changed.

First was the road. Approaching the national border, the Athena Empire's paved roads slowly turned to dirty roads. The medium sized cities leading up to it had gorgeous and dazzling lights and its roads were diligently managed, but nearing the border there was no one living anywhere at all so it's incredibly unmaintained.

However, in the Diurnal Empire, pa.s.sing through the gate, there was a flawlessly paved and wide road.

Furthermore, the blocks surrounding the border was br.i.m.m.i.n.g with people, as proof of the prosperous marketplace for merchants, there were many wagons coming and going all over.

It was not from the Athena Empire, who broke off all diplomatic relations and widely avoided the Diurnal Empire, it was the traders and merchants from the surrounding smaller countries.

Every store was lively, at the front of a shop, line and packed were large amounts of fresh food, the shopkeeper was speaking with a loud voice giving recommendations to people coming and going.

Flint took out the pa.s.s from his breast pocket that he showed the gatekeeper. 「Second cla.s.s business and commerce badge」was written on it. The license was of course, not from the Athena Empire who had no relations with the Diurnal Empire, but rather a forgery from one of the neighboring countries.

Just to make sure, they carried large bags on their shoulders, but the contents were not inspected. In them were just simple berries and fruits they had gathered, along with straws, so it was a blessing that they were able to proceed without an examination but –.

Flint once more turned his head backwards.

— Everyone else is having their luggage inspected…

Everyone who pa.s.sed through the gate, properly had a citation on their cargo as having been inspected. Flint did not understand the reason why only they were spared from the inspection themselves.

While wondering if the nearby walking Lilia though it was weird too, Flint tilted his head to the side.

「I wonder why we were the only ones that didn't have a cargo inspection…」

Asked with a spoiled tone, Flint especially loved that childish voice. And suddenly laughed with a grinning face.

「Surely it was because we barely had any luggage at all!」

Flint was just thinking the same question, but he suddenly gave a reason. Lilia swiftly turned around and widened her eyes, giving a soft chuckle. - (Uwaa, so cute.)

「I see. Yeah that's definitely it! 」

「Yup. It's okay, don't worry. If something happens, I'll do something about it.」

Stina wanted to retort him for his sudden declaration of protection but remained cool-headed and gazed. Ari was coo-ing like a child and Sincere was whispering something to herself.

「Frivolous and empty-headed fool…」

Flint groaned with an 'oof' and turned to Sincere teary eyed,

「I'm not empty headed!」

「Then, Impotent trash…」

Suddenly Flint's body stiffened. Lilia's round cute eyes looked mysteriously at Sincere and Flint. He can't let this end here.

「No! I'm a gentleman! 」

「Gentleman he says…」

Ari gave a profound laugh and gazed at Flint. (Flint's height is 170 centimeters, but Ari was a 180 centimeter tall beauty.) When her condescending eyes looked down on Flint, he felt a stir in his nether region. He reflexively covered his legs.

「W-what is it!? 」

「It looks like that isn't calming down is it…」

- No way, it shouldn't be that noticeable!

The journey from the Athena Empire was long. From the capital to the outskirts, they traveled with carriages, but from then onwards it was on foot. They wanted to use horses but, five people riding on horse would definitely look like they had some kind of urgent mission or something. Moreover, horses were expensive, ordinary people did not know how to ride horses at all. In order to not be conspicuous as possible and not gather the attention of spies, the 「Demon King subjugation unit」took three long weeks to travel from the outskirts to the border.

During these three weeks, the young Flint would occasionally have crazed eyes. Furthermore, the subjugation unit was all female other than the hero. For the women who didn't understand the suffering of the young man, they would occasionally walk around in lightly dressed attire, when everyone had fallen asleep at night, he would then relieve himself.

Even though in order to not be found out, he did it all silently, but Ari floated a smile as if she has seen it or something.

「Oya…Do not have experience… ? 」

With a 'fufufu' she gave a dubious laugh with her mature lips. For the young boy Flint who had zero experience with women, he turned bright red.

「w-w-w-w-w…What are you talking about… 」

「Well that's fine. The Demon King is right in front of us. Please don't let your guard down, Mr. Hero」

With that as the finisher, from his ear to his 'son,' Flint felt a shock in his body and let out a short scream.

- I have to hurry up and defeat the Demon King, and then score with Lilia-chan!

The hero flint was soundly more infatuated with the plump girl walking next to him than worrying about subjugating the Demon King.

One week after entering the country, the gang easily reached the Demon King's castle.

It was an impressive building. Relative to the Athenian royal castle that had white and gold as the keynotes, this castle had black and silver as its basis. The castle walls were as high as a two-storied house, the gate looked like black prison bars. In front of the gate were guards supposed to be protecting it, but there was no one in sight. Around the castle stretched a deep moat, above it was a drawn and defenseless suspension bridge.

Surveying the seemingly deserted scene, Flint squinted his eyebrows.

「What could this mean… It's completely defenseless.」

Ari gently stroked her chin.

「There's no welcoming reception for us? 」

Stina glared at the surroundings as she surveyed.

「There's no signs of concealed troops. It's completely unmanned.」

Lilia smiled with a wide grin.

「Then, before the guard people come back let's hurry up and enter! 」

「That's right! 」

Flint was charmed by Lilia's smiling face and unhesitatingly agreed. While he was running through the suspension bridge in one go, Sincere murmured,

「…It'd be fine 'it' was just cut off」

「Stop it! 」

Flint guarded his nether regions and became teary eyed.

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