The Former Hero Wants To Lead An Ordinary Life Chapter 3

Several days after the dodgeball incident, the demon king went missing.

A short time after returning home, I got a phone call from school.

(The demon king has gone missing…)

Those words were laughable, but the situation wasn’t. Even though he was the demon king on the inside, on the outside he was still a third year elementary school student. This world too, well in its own way, also has dangerous events. Of course it was still better than the other side where a moment of carelessness could end up with being sold to a slave trader. By the way, I was one of those sold by my parents. Because I was an outspoken brat, I was the unwanted child sold in order to reduce the number of mouths. It was a common pattern in rural areas.

After returning from the meeting, that guy didn’t go home and seemed to simply disappear. I was asked if I had any idea of his whereabouts, but of course I didn’t know. Somehow, the poor relationship between myself and that guy was misunderstood by the teacher in charge as being close friends.

Those were annoying words.

There was an uproar in the school as to whether the kidnapping was for money or possibly some degenerate had zeroed in on his appearance.

…. this line is what my mother said who had exchanged information with the neighborhood housewife network.

What an amazing mom-net. (1)

This information. I had no choice. With a heavy heart I got up.

“I’m going out for a bit.”

“Eh, why? Mom’s going to go to work soon” (2)

“It’s fine if you go.”

“No way. It’s no good if you go out. Maybe you’ll get attacked by a pervert.”

“….I get it, I get it, I’ll be good. Why don’t you go?”

“Really?”

To my mother who seemed suspicious, I wore the face of a well behaved child and nodded.

“Really, really”.

My mother was a nurse and today she worked the night shift. I saw her off as she left with painful reluctance, then I immediately took action.

“Sorry Mom.”

Wearing a black hoodie, I silently apologized as I left the house. Attempting as much as possible to avoid being noticed, I walked through the neighborhood. It was a skill from my former life… however I’m pretty good at erasing my presence. Stealthily approaching a demon from behind. I acquired this skill for the sake of being able to attack from the rear. It wasn’t cowardice. A hero’s strength isn’t infinite. For the purpose of retaining physical strength, stealth and misdirection abilities were used. I glanced at a group of gossiping older women and concentrated my awareness.

“… hasn’t returned…”

“Police… teachers too…”
“… worried…, after all…”

I collected crumbs of information as I pa.s.sed by. It seems the demon king hadn’t been found yet. Police, teachers, and parents were all cooperating in a simultaneous search. According to the words of these older women, they were also patrolling the neighborhood. Having a keen feeling about a certain direction, I began to run. I was aiming for the school. I don’t know if it’s a special ability or not, but when I concentrate I can tell the location of the demon king.

–The moment I saw him, I knew clearly that the transfer student was the demon king.

Even without thinking about it, his awareness was pulled over there. Truly, that guy’s existence was a bother.

(…I wonder if this is a remnant of the time I was a hero)

I don’t need such a limited special ability, … however right now it was coming in handy. When I arrived at school there weren’t any signs of people. They were probably searching within the school. However, there was the shadow of a person in the staff room and a police car and police officer can be seen parked in the parking lot.

(It’s a major incident, isn’t it)

I confirmed this from a distance, then feigning casualness, I slipped through the school gate. However, I was stopped by a male teacher standing near the gate.

“What’s wrong? You should have been told not to go out today.”

“I’m sorry! I forgot something…”

The teacher smiled bitterly as I exaggeratedly dropped my shoulders.

“It can’t be helped. Hurry up and get it.”

“Thank you!”

I answered like an energetic elementary school student and accepting his direction, hurried towards the school building. I felt the teacher’s gaze on my back. Once I entered the school building, I removed my shoes and with bare feet I ran down the corridor and then put them back on and went back outside. Fortunately, I didn’t run into any other teachers in the corridor so I didn’t have to give a poor excuse as to what I was doing there. I stood in front of a hut in the corner of the school meant for the purpose of raising animals. There were several rabbits comfortably lying down on the other side of the fine wire mesh.

It was a peaceful scene.

Although they were being raised, they weren’t kept for the purpose of being eaten. It was for the purpose of emotional education. As far as I was concerned, emotional education was a mystery. … when I was in the first grade of elementary school I didn’t understand what it meant to raise a rabbit but not eat it.

Yeah, how nostalgic. My mother was astonished to hear me ask when we would eat the rabbit… The common sense of this world is absurd. Rabbits were not raised for food, but for affection. This is what I learned. In my previous life, dogs and cats were kept as pets, but not rabbits. Rabbits were food. Rabbits are roasted or stewed and are delicious when cooked. In fact, in my previous life it was my favorite dish. Slurping back the drool, it was unbearable.

Emotional education, emotional education.

Rabbits are not for eating.

Silently praying, I headed over to the door on the side of the animal hut. The hut was divided into two areas. On the other side was a doorway. The room on this side held cleaning implements and various things necessary for the care of the rabbits. The door on the other side led to the area where the rabbits were kept. The door of the rabbit hut was designed so that it can be locked from the inside or the outside.

I took a deep breath and with a ‘clink’ used the key to unlock and open the old door. Light streamed into the dark room. My first impression was of a pungent animal smell and damp air. After smell came sight. A narrow s.p.a.ce holding miscellaneous items. A rusted metal shelf. ….and, a small bundle crouched on the ground. My face turned grim the moment I noticed it.

–A naked demon king was lying on the ground with his hands tied behind his back. Only wearing underwear and socks but nothing else. Although we had been enemies in my previous life, I didn’t feel like laughing at the current unsightly appearance of the demon king within that child’s body. I noticed his bare thin shoulders were trembling and so I immediately rushed over to untie the cloth binding his arms. He had been tied with his own pants.

“Are you alright?”

However, although I called out to him with concern, that guy immediately pushed me away once he’d been freed.

Then,

“I’m gonna leak!” (3)

He shouted and in his naked condition he jumped up and ran out. Just like a bullet. I was dumbfounded. Left behind in the hut with one hand holding that guy’s pants, I watched his figure recede into the distance.

“…gonna leak?”

I come back to my senses at hearing my own words and left the hut after gathering up that guy’s scattered clothes. I concentrated on his presence and headed out in his direction. ….unexpectedly, he was in the nearest restroom in the school building. Before I arrived, I put on a pleasant expression. It seemed he had been at wits end.

“Haa, in the nick of time. I thought I’d leak.”

“…I’m glad I made it in time.”

I handed over his clothes and noncommittally responded while I waited for the demon king to finish dressing.

“The human body is very inconvenient. If you don’t eat, you can’t move. If you lack sleep you become unsteady. If you don’t excrete your belly will explode.”

Huh? Wait a minute. Just now you said something I can’t overlook.

“…hold on, I’m not asking about yourself, but the demon king didn’t eat, sleep, or excrete?”

“Didn’t”

“You didn’t…!”

Only after reincarnating did I become aware of the demon king’s shocking way of life. I was truly astonished. The demon king didn’t need to go to the restroom. The Showa era idol is also surprised. (4) This was the genuine article. No, he was the demon king. In his previous life he was an enigmatic existence wrapped in a variety of veils. Demons and monsters are different things. They more or less eat, sleep, excrete, and do other such things. A source of nourishment is essential for any living thing.

“…how you lived is a mystery.”

“Well, I don’t know either.”

Even though the demon king himself wasn’t interested in explaining, he was still the demon king. I too already was thinking ‘It can’t be helped, because he’s the demon king’ and somehow or another I thought it was just another curiosity.

(I was able to defeat such a strange existence)

My previous existence was amazing. I silently praised myself and then noticed that the demon king had finished changing his clothes so I spoke up.

“Nevertheless, if you were about to have an accident, you should have raised your voice and called for help.”

Even though it was the corner of the school, one of those searching for the demon king would have noticed his call for help. However, he nonchalantly refuted my point.

“Why should I ask humans for help”

“…is that so. What a splendid att.i.tude.”

“Naturally”

The demon king was oblivious to my sarcasm. It would have been good if you’d wet yourself, I muttered. What would you have done if I hadn’t shown up…. It was exasperating. Probably bladder inflammation. It’s pretty painful. My mother the nurse has said this in the past.

“If you say that, before long you’ll get sick and then die”

Because you’re human now. Be more self-aware. I try to offer some advice in my own  way. I’m a good guy. As to be expected of a former hero.

“Don’t worry. The demon king won’t die. I’ve revived many times.”

No, well you could say that situation may be the case.Because we’ve both reincarnated.

–Saying things like that will cause you hardship. I quickly abandoned trying to persuade the stubborn demon king.

“…so how did you end up like that?”

“I put rabbit droppings in the shoes of those guys who were always chasing me. So they stripped me and locked me up in the hut.”

The method of retaliation was demon king like without a shred of mercy.

“The commotion those guys made when they noticed the droppings in their shoes was amusing. Stupid humans.”

Rabbit droppings are fairly pungent. It seems they also screamed. However, the demon king only sneered with a smile on his face.

“Who do they think they are, meddling with me they’ve bitten off more than they can chew.”

…I don’t ask what he intended to do. Because it’s clear when you see the sadness and gloom in his eyes. Just like a demon king, his way of thinking leaned towards violence. To begin with how was this normal for an elementary school student? This is peaceful j.a.pan. It is not the world where demons can play with humans or a.s.sault men and women.

“I’ll be satisfied if I can go out and strip those guys naked. Those cowards won’t have the courage to fight back.”

For a demon king who nearly wet his underpants, his threat didn’t carry much force.

“…and yet you end up beaten black and blue every time.”

“Did you say something?”

“No, nothing.”

The demon king and I parted ways and separately headed home. At the school gate, “Take care and return home soon!” said the teacher. “Ye-s!” I waved my hand and innocently replied with a smile on my face. Perhaps I should become an actor.

The next day, the cla.s.sroom was noisy due to the affair of the missing demon king. The person at the heart of the matter had a face like it was someone else’s problem. Unexpectedly, that guy might also be an actor.

Translator’s note:

(1) Mother internet

(3) Not sure if that’s the normal way of saying you need to visit the toilet, but that’s what it says.
(4) I have no idea, google doesn’t offer any clarifications either.

Labor day present! I’m not picking this up… I just got a little worked up when I saw the pictures posted on the spoiler page and so I ran off and translated the next chapter. The s.p.a.cing is bizarre and I don’t think I broke it up very well. However, I’m much more familiar with j.a.panese, so it’s a lot easier for me to get through. Still mostly mtl though. Maybe someone will see it and pick it up for real. If not, then I guess I can maybe release something every few months… maybe.

p.s. There’s also a prologue, but it’s just the battle where the demon king died and I couldn’t get up the interest to translate it. There’s a line in the middle about a wish that seems to be foreshadowing something I think…