The Demon King attacked.
The news spread like wildfire across the nations surrounding the magic university.
The attack and the intelligence.
Normally, the intelligence would have come first.
But the Demon King's movement speed was so extraordinary that the information reaching each nation and the Demon King arriving at his destination happened almost simultaneously.
Every nation panicked.
Demon Kings, by and large, never left the Demon Continent.
The warlike and militant Demon Kings had been virtually wiped out during the Laplace War.
As a result, only the moderate and conservative Demon Kings—those with no interest in fighting—remained on the Demon Continent.
But moderate or conservative though they might be, they were still kings who ruled the Demon Continent with overwhelming power.
If any of them went on a rampage for whatever reason, the devastation would be catastrophic.
Upon hearing of the Demon King Badigadi's invasion, the three nations of
At the same time, they put out a call to adventurers.
But the university was quite far away.
Sharia—the magic city where Ranoa Magic University was located.
There stood the Magic Guild and the Adventurers Guild.
And stationed there was the combined knight order of the three nations.
They scraped together what few forces they had and surrounded the magic university.
If it came to it, they would hold the line until reinforcements arrived from the three nations.
But the Demon King's purpose was utterly unknowable.
His appearance was somewhat famous.
Jet-black skin with six arms.
The immortal Demon King Badigadi.
One of the ancient Demon Kings who had lived since before the Laplace War.
His ability was, true to his name, "immortality."
Because he was a moderate, few knew the extent of his combat power.
According to one account, he had even fought Laplace himself.
If that was true, it meant that even Laplace had been unable to destroy him.
What had brought such a Demon King to the magic university?
And why had he been knocking out innocent students and beast race members?
It would be a little while yet before the nations—and the magic university—learned the reason.
---
In the dead center of the vast, empty courtyard, I was facing off against Badigadi.
He stood with his arms crossed, legs apart, chin thrust forward—an imposing figure.
But inside, I was shaking.
Well, obviously.
Being glared at by this towering, jet-black Demon King— how could I possibly stay calm?
Sure, lately I'd been thinking, "Hey, maybe I'm actually pretty strong?"
But against a Demon King? "Pretty strong" didn't even begin to cover it.
I felt like someone had just slapped me back to reality.
Actually, I wanted nothing more than to bolt.
I'd been running laps for days like this.
As long as my stamina and mana held out, I wanted to keep running.
"..."
If I looked behind me, there was a massive crowd of onlookers.
Male students, female students, teachers.
All staring at me.
If I took off like a rabbit now, what would they think?
No, honestly, I couldn't care less what they thought at this point.
But it felt like I'd missed my window to flee.
Suddenly, one of the onlookers jogged over to me at a brisk pace.
A man who wore a rather conspicuous hair accessory with style.
...So wigs existed in this world too, apparently.
"I heard the situation from Geenas. Sorry, but can you buy us some time? We're gathering forces now."
He said his piece briefly and headed back.
Wait, who was that guy?
I'd seen him somewhere before...
But I understood what he meant.
I didn't know what Geenas knew or what was going on.
But if I could buy time, they'd handle things.
As always, people with authority were the ones who had it made.
"Hmm, not yet?"
"I think it'll be just a little longer."
Badigadi stood waiting with all six of his jet-black arms crossed.
Right now, I'd asked Fitz-senpai to fetch "The Arrogant Water Dragon King" for me.
He was waiting patiently, honoring my request.
But it was taking forever.
The library wasn't that far from the dormitory.
I was sure I hadn't hidden it anywhere strange.
As always, I kept it by the bed with cloth wrapped around the tip.
It should be easy to find.
"Hmm, I thought you humans were impatient, so I hurried over, but you don't seem the impatient type.
Worthy of being recognized as my fiancée, as expected."
"Fiancée... um, Kishrika, was it?"
When I asked, Badigadi nodded with a "Mm."
Demon Emperor Kishrika Kishirisu.
I hadn't forgotten.
She was the one who'd given me the Mage Eye.
At the time, I hadn't believed she was the real thing, and she'd appeared and vanished so abruptly that I was just left dumbfounded.
But why on earth was her fiancé showing up now?
He couldn't possibly be here to propose marriage like the Beast Race had been, could he?
"I only spoke with Kishrika-sama briefly. She did give me the Mage Eye, though."
"Kishrika had nothing but praise for you—said you were amazing, amazing.
It had been ages since I'd seen her that excited talking about someone.
Even generous old me felt a tiny bit jealous, you could say."
He raised one eyebrow and grinned as he spoke.
Jealous?
There was nothing about me that should provoke jealousy.
What had I done to get on his bad side?
Could it be that offhand joke about asking for a punch?
No, that didn't count.
He'd refused because I had a fiancée...
Oh, damn—the fiancé she mentioned back then. So it's THIS guy.
"I'm a small fry. Nothing but a pitiful little mouse.
Surely someone as great as a Demon King has no reason to be jealous?
Kishrika-sama probably just exaggerated things a bit."
Hiding my inner turmoil, I answered as calmly as I could.
At which point, he burst out laughing.
Laughing like it was the funniest thing he'd ever heard.
"Fwa-ha-ha-ha-ha! Don't be modest!
I've heard all about the tremendous mana sealed within you."
Tremendous mana.
Even so.
I'd only recently realized I had overwhelmingly more than other people.
But surely it wasn't enough to make a Demon King jealous... right?
No, wait—now that I thought about it, she had said something to me back then.
What was it again?
All I remembered was her laughing her head off.
"Um, my mana is... perhaps a bit more than most people's?"
"Fwa-ha-ha-ha-ha! Yes, just a bit!"
Badigadi laughed for a while.
But then, without warning, he stopped cackling and dropped heavily to the ground.
"Sit."
I did as I was told and sat down on the spot.
Even sitting, Badigadi was still enormous.
Muscular barely began to describe it.
I wouldn't mind having muscles like that.
"It seems you don't truly understand what it means for the Demon Emperor Kishrika Kishirisu to have called you amazing."
"...What do you mean?"
"There exists someone with tremendous mana. Greater than Laplace's.
She had never said that about anyone before—until you."
Laplace. The Demon God, right?
Being told I had more mana than the Demon God didn't exactly sink in.
Sure, I'd stopped running out of mana as often lately.
But my physical abilities weren't anything special.
"The Demon God Laplace's total mana capacity ranks among the highest in all of history.
Which means—you possess one of the top mana capacities in the world."
"You flatter me."
Even as I said it, my heart fluttered just a little.
After all, this was a Demon King.
A being with accomplishments to his name.
It was like a professional player telling you, "Actually, you've got real talent."
"I can't verify it myself. Kishrika tends to be rather... casual about these things.
For all I know, she may have simply misread something."
As he said this, Badigadi's expression turned somewhat pained.
Did he have his own doubts about it?
Still, if it was that Demon Emperor, something like that did seem possible.
"It's true, I've been training to increase my mana for a long time, but calling it top-class is a bit much.
If anyone did the same training I did, they'd all become the best in the world."
"Mm, normally that would be impossible."
Normally impossible.
So could it be possible for someone like me, who had reincarnated from another world?
Or had I, without realizing it, received a cheat from the Human God?
Maybe I should ask.
"Come to think of it, Demon King—there's something I'd like to ask."
"Sure, ask away."
"This—please don't take this the wrong way, but I'm definitely not a subordinate or lackey of the person I'm about to mention.
I just don't want you to suddenly attack me over it."
"You told me to wait, did you not? A Demon King keeps his word."
I'd take him at his word.
Really, though.
Don't push. Absolutely do not push.
"Do you recognize the name '
"...Where did you hear that name?"
"It comes to me in my dreams."
Badigadi unfolded the upper pair of arms from his crossed position and stroked his chin.
He seemed to know something.
"Hmm, I see... in dreams, was it?"
"You know something?"
Hearing my question, Badigadi thought for a moment.
Then he shook his head with a "Mm."
"I see. I don't know!
I feel like I've heard it somewhere, but I can't remember!
At the very least, I haven't heard it in the last few hundred years!"
"Oh, I see. Thank you."
Several hundred years—that was awfully vague.
"Mm, I'll let you know when I remember! Fwa-ha-ha-ha-ha!"
"Please do."
"What a dull fellow—you should laugh too. Fwa-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!"
Badigadi was the kind of person who laughed joyfully.
Even though I hadn't said anything particularly funny, he just kept on laughing.
I was suddenly reminded of the time I'd met
Back then too, we'd deepened our bond by laughing together.
Laughter was a universal language, even in this world.
He was the one who'd come up to me, laughing and chatting.
It would be rude not to return the smile.
Alright, I'd laugh.
"Fu-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!"
"Good, good! That's what Kishrika said too— always laugh, no matter what!
Come to think of it, when Kishrika died before, she was laughing her lungs out too! Fwa-ha-ha-ha-ha!"
Badigadi said that and laughed.
He looked terrifying, but he wasn't such a bad guy after all.
"Hm?"
Just as Badigadi and I were sharing a laugh, the crowd behind us suddenly erupted in commotion.
I looked back to see people making a fuss.
Straining my ears, I could make out their conversation.
"Let go! I have to deliver the staff!"
"Stop it! If you deliver that staff, the duel will begin!"
"What happens if the fight starts without a staff?! Are you going to let him die?!"
"W-Well..."
"Leave this to me!"
"Oh—
"Zanoba Shirone! Fine—let go, let g—ow ow ow ow!"
Fitz-senpai burst out from the crowd of onlookers.
And came sprinting toward me at incredible speed.
The kid was fast.
Probably about three times my speed.
I sure hoped his face wasn't red with horns growing out of it or anything.
"Hah... hah... sorry, Rude... Rudeus-kun.
The teacher tried to stop me."
Fitz-senpai clutched the staff to his chest, breathing hard.
"Se-Senpai, you're... really fast."
"Hah... the boots...
They're a mana-infused item..."
I looked at the boots Fitz-senpai always wore.
So that's what they were—mana-infused items.
Maybe the mantle he always wore was one too, come to think of it.
He never took it off even when the weather got warm.
"Could those sunglasses be one too?"
"Hah... hah... these... hmm, no... that's... a secret..."
Fitz-senpai grinned sheepishly.
Why was this person's smile so adorable?
It made my heart skip.
"Hah... Here, Rudeus-kun—do your best, but don't push yourself too hard.
If you think you can't win, just apologize and run. Nobody will say a word about it.
Don't worry about pride—just stay alive, okay?"
I took "The Arrogant Water Dragon King" from Fitz-senpai.
It had been a while since I'd fought seriously with this thing.
Let's do our best, old partner.
As a parting gift for the afterlife, I'd tell them: that when we got back, I was going to marry Pine Salad.
I unwrapped the cloth from "The Arrogant Water Dragon King."
I could hear Fitz-senpai catch his breath.
A little mischief sparked inside me.
"...Fitz-senpai, look at the magic stone on the tip. What do you think of this?"
"Wow, it's amazing... so big..."
"!"
Something zapped me right at the base of my spine.
What was that?
No, enough joking around.
Badigadi stood up and rolled his shoulders.
Had I bought enough time?
Could I really keep the conversation going until the forces assembled?
Fitz-senpai reluctantly retreated.
It'd be nice if he stayed here to back me up.
Actually, please help me...
"Ready?"
"I'd love to keep laughing and chatting like this, if possible."
"Fwa-ha-ha-ha! We can do that later too!"
So he wasn't planning to kill me?
Nah, this guy seemed pretty laid-back about things.
He might say, "Oh, I thought your mana capacity was enough," and then kill me anyway.
Maybe I should make the life-or-death part clear upfront.
Badigadi stood there lazily with one hand on his hip.
It didn't seem like he'd be attacking first.
Was he waiting for my signal?
For starters, I activated my Foresight Eye.
"...Huh?"
The Foresight Eye showed nothing.
Where Badigadi stood, nothing appeared.
"What's with that surprised look... oh, I see.
You're using that Mage Eye Kishrika gave you.
Too bad—it doesn't work on me."
He said it casually and snorted.
Seriously?
The Mage Eye didn't work on him?
As expected of a Demon King.
But that was a problem.
It increased the odds that I wouldn't be able to dodge a near-fatal blow.
My physical abilities weren't that great to begin with.
The chance of getting hit in a bad spot went up considerably.
"Demon King."
"Badigadi is fine. I allow anyone who laughs honestly when I tell them to to call me by that name."
"Badigadi. I have a proposal."
"What is it?"
"If I lose, please spare my life."
When I said that, Badigadi burst out laughing.
"Fwa-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha! Begging for your life before we've even started! What a character!"
"Life should be treasured."
"Mm, indeed. Humans die so easily, after all! I've heard many of them share that sentiment!"
Badigadi cackled away.
"But to have such tremendous mana, and yet lack confidence in your own strength!"
"I nearly got killed by someone called the Dragon God about two years ago."
The moment I said that, Badigadi's laughter cut off abruptly.
"The Dragon God—do you mean
You fought him and survived?"
"I almost died. If he hadn't spared me on a whim or something, I'd be a ghost by now."
Badigadi's face had gone dead serious.
This was bad.
I'd been fine talking about the Human God, but Orsted was a different matter.
"In that battle—did you manage to wound the Dragon God in any way?"
"Huh? Well, I peeled the skin off the back of his hand, I suppose..."
"............"
Badigadi shut his mouth completely.
His expression was terrifying.
I—I should try laughing.
"Then let me make a proposal in turn."
"Wh-What would that be?"
I kept my expression meek, watching Badigadi's face carefully.
"Just one attack."
"...?"
"Fire your strongest technique at me—just once.
Let's say... the one that wounded the Dragon God.
If I take it and it penetrates my fighting spirit and inflicts damage, you win.
If it doesn't, I win. How does that sound?"
Oh.
That was exactly what I'd hoped for.
Wonderful.
The conditions were incredibly favorable.
And I wouldn't have to get punched.
Was that really okay?
"But wouldn't that put me at an unfair advantage?"
"Advantage? An advantage, you say? Hmm, you're right!
Very well—then if your attack fails to affect me at all, I'll counterattack. Just one strike!"
I felt like I'd just dug my own grave.
Because that one strike would probably pierce my heart or something.
Let's stop digging. No more grave.
No need to punch a hole through my chest either.
"Understood. Let's go with that, then."
"Mm!"
So saying, I took my stance with the staff.
I channeled as much mana as I could into it.
What I created was a Rock Cannonball.
But harder than the one I'd fired at Orsted.
That time, I'd made it bare-handed, with one hand, in the heat of the moment.
This time, I had my staff.
The power would be several times greater.
Formation.
I compressed the mana, making it hard, making it dense.
The basics were the same as sculpting a figurine.
But I didn't worry about toughness—just hardness.
I sharpened it as much as possible, into a fusiform shape.
I even carved drill-like grooves into it.
And then I set it spinning.
Spinning at the highest speed I could manage.
Just spinning, nonstop.
I had no idea how many rotations per second that was.
Next was the launch velocity.
Here too, I packed in mana.
I would fire it at the fastest speed possible.
I had never poured this much mana into a Rock Cannonball.
It took time to charge, and in actual combat, it would be nearly useless.
Even if I did use it, it would probably be overkill against most monsters.
But against a Demon King—it might just work.
I wanted to at least deal some damage.
I didn't want to get punched.
"Here I come!"
"Mm! Bring it!"
Fire!
A high-pitched hum rang out.
There was no recoil.
For some reason, magic never produced a counterforce.
But it certainly had an effect.
The Rock Cannonball struck Badigadi dead on.
With a tremendous BOOM, his upper body was blown to smithereens, all six arms scattered in pieces, and his lower half flew dozens of meters away before crashing down to the ground with a thud.
--- "...Huh?"
He wasn't moving a muscle.
Cautiously, slowly, I walked over to his lower half.
And stared down at the innard-spilling remains.
There was no blood.
Was it because he was a Demon King?
I'd thought he didn't look like the crying type, always laughing as he was.
But maybe he really was someone with neither blood nor tears.
"...Huh?"
No way.
Wait—what?
You're kidding...
Dead?
I couldn't process what had just happened.
I looked behind me.
The courtyard was dead silent.
Everyone was staring at me.
The stares were painful.
Nobody moved. Not a soul.
I swallowed.
My throat made a loud gulp.
D-Did I just kill him...?
No—no, that's impossible.
What?
Because— He'd been so confident!
And immortal!
The Demon King of Immortality!
He'd been so cocky, telling me to fire one shot at him!
W-Wait—?
Slowly, carefully, I turned around once more.
To confirm what I had done.
"Fwa-ha-ha-ha-ha! The great resurrection!"
I nearly fired another Rock Cannonball at him.
There stood Badigadi—now half his original size.
He was about my height now, though his face hadn't changed in proportion.
So he looked rather unbalanced.
Setting aside the size issue for the moment.
"Oh, you're alive."
I felt a wave of relief.
I'd thought I'd committed murder without even realizing it.
Thank goodness he wasn't human.
"Fwa-ha-ha-ha! I thought I was dead!
But yes—now I understand.
Not fighting you was the right call!
If I'd gone all out, this entire area would have been a wasteland!"
Badigadi laughed away.
From nearby, six arms came crawling and wriggling toward him and reattached.
Badigadi's frame swelled back up, growing larger.
But it didn't return to its original size.
"Oh my, they flew quite far... it'll take a while to get back to normal!"
Badigadi seemed somewhat excited.
"You win, Rudeus! You may even call yourself a Hero!"
"No thanks, I'll pass."
"Then at least raise a victory cry! Fwa-ha-ha-ha!"
With that, Badigadi grabbed my right hand— the hand holding my staff—and lifted it skyward.
Like a boxing champion.
Was it a split decision?
What a confusing outcome.
"Vi..."
Well, if he said I won, then I won.
"VICTORYYYYYY!"
The onlookers were dead silent.
For reasons I couldn't fathom, they were dead silent.
After confirming this, Badigadi nodded with satisfaction.
"What a bunch of killjoys.
Well then—time for me to land one punch."
He announced.
"Huh!? That's not what we agreed!"
By the time I realized the deception, his fist had already found my face.
Just one hand.
But with one hand, he had three fists.
With my arm grabbed, I couldn't even defend.
Three hits knocked me unconscious.
Liar of a Demon King...
--- After that, Badigadi apparently went off somewhere with the conspicuously accessorized old man from before, a handsome middle-aged man in full armor, and an elderly man in robes.
The important people were probably having some kind of discussion.
I was brought back from unconsciousness by Fitz-senpai's Healing Magic.
After that, Geenas led me to a room in the faculty building, where I was treated to refreshments.
They brought out tea and snacks, and I finally caught my breath.
Geenas didn't say much.
It seemed he hadn't fully grasped the situation either.
A Demon King had shown up out of nowhere and knocked out students—including outsiders.
Then he'd challenged me to a duel, and after I'd claimed victory, he'd punched me unconscious.
There was no way to wrap your head around that.
Also, apparently none of the students the Demon King had knocked out had died.
Badigadi was a moderate, after all—he wouldn't go out of his way to kill people.
As for his purpose, the bigwigs were apparently going to investigate.
The old man with the hair accessory turned out to be the school's principal.
What was his name again? Right—Georg, a Wind
I'd seen him at the enrollment ceremony.
Also participating in the discussions were the commanders of the three nations' knight orders stationed to protect the city.
And the head of the Magic Guild.
The four of them had gathered and were hashing things out.
"But truly, Rudeus-san—to strike the Demon King with a preemptive blow! And to be recognized by him for it...! The principal said he was merely an adventurer buying time, mired in a swamp of a situation. Who could have predicted this! At my age, I never thought I'd witness something so thrilling!"
Geenas couldn't contain his excitement and kept going on about it.
It seemed he hadn't been privy to the conversation before the duel.
That Badigadi had deliberately taken the hit.
That even if the attack hadn't worked, that would have been the end of it anyway.
After being stared at by Geenas with awe-struck eyes for a while, I was finally released.
For now, I was told to wait in the dormitory until things were decided.
--- When I stepped out of the faculty building, Zanoba came running over.
"Oh, Master! I saw everything! As expected of you! No—perhaps I should say, as a matter of course!"
Zanoba praised me, but I shook my head.
"I just got to use him as a punching bag."
The attack had certainly landed, but the other guy hadn't even tried to dodge or defend.
And then there was that regeneration ability.
If he'd fought seriously, I didn't think he would have let me win so easily.
"Don't be modest! The fact that a Demon King let you use him as a punching bag is incredible in itself!"
Zanoba said this with a grin.
Even from a distance, the splatter must have been obvious.
I'd shown her something frightening.
--- On the way back to the dormitory, I ran into a very flushed-looking Elinariase and
"Oh my, Rudeus—what's all the commotion?"
"Um, what were you two doing?"
"What were we doing, you ask?"
Elinariase giggled while Cliff turned beet red and snapped, "Don't say unnecessary things!"
While the Demon King had been on his rampage, the two of them had apparently been holding their own private meeting.
They looked quite lovey-dovey.
"I was challenged to a duel by Badigadi earlier, and I somehow managed to win."
"What?! He's already here?!"
..."Already"?
Already? What do you mean, "already"?
"You knew he was coming?"
"Yes, but he was detained at the oni village and said he'd be staying for a while, so he told us to go ahead without him.
You know how people like that tend to be... careless with the passage of time.
So I assumed he wouldn't move for another ten years.
In fact, the last time I parted ways with him was two years ago..."
When you lived for thousands of years, your sense of time apparently shifted.
Even in my previous life, time had started flying once I hit thirty.
The scale was just a bit larger.
"But he was a nice guy, wasn't he?"
"He wasn't a bad person."
Among the nobles and royalty I'd encountered, he was easily one of the nicest.
He laughed a lot, too.
He'd broken his promise, but considering he'd punched me once and I'd punched him back once, it balanced out.
"Hey, what are you guys talking about?"
"Oh my—Cliff, are you jealous?
Don't worry. Right now, the only person who has my heart is you."
"No—that's not—ah, get off me, Rudeus is watching!"
"I'm showing off, you see~"
They started getting all lovey-dovey, so I beat a hasty retreat.
I could hear Cliff shouting behind me, "There's no way a Demon King would come to a place like this!"
I'd been thinking the same thing until about an hour ago.
--- At the dormitory entrance, Fitz-senpai was waiting.
When he saw my face, he made an indescribable expression.
It was excitement again, no doubt.
His cheeks were flushed, and he was gripping his hands tightly.
He'd witnessed something incredible but couldn't find the words—that sort of look.
"Rudeus-kun, you're... so incredibly strong!"
Small-time.
That was the word that came to mind.
"I never expected a one-shot victory!"
"It was decided that we'd judge the outcome based on one attack and its power, so I used the strongest magic I could muster."
"The strongest...? Wait, isn't that the same one you used on me during the exam? That was the amazing one, right?"
"Yes, a Rock Cannonball. I charged it quite a bit, though."
"Even a mid-level spell can reach that kind of power if you perfect it..."
Fitz-senpai let out an impressed "Wow~" and proceeded to create his own Rock Cannonball, spin it, and fire it off.
A whooshing sound, and it drove itself into the ground in the distance.
Being able to reproduce it after seeing it only once or twice—that was real skill.
But the momentum wasn't nearly as intense as mine.
"I wouldn't say I've perfected it, though."
"Do you always use earth magic?"
"Yeah—I used water magic a lot for a while, but recently it's been all earth."
"Right? The more you use the same type, the better you get!"
Was that the case?
No, but I felt like my figurine sculpting was gradually improving.
"...I suppose you could say the accuracy increases."
"But the mana consumption goes up too, right?"
"Exactly. Making figurines takes quite a lot of effort."
Fitz-senpai seemed happy.
Come to think of it, I hadn't really had a chance to chat with Fitz-senpai about chantless magic.
"Oh—sorry, you must be tired. I didn't mean to keep you. Get some rest today."
"Ah—yes."
Fitz-senpai said that and ran off toward the school building.
I would've liked to talk a bit more, but oh well.
It was right after that whole incident.
He was a student council member too, probably busy.
I returned to my room.
Propped my staff against the wall.
Between the Demon King and everything else, today had been a lot.
Feeling both mentally and physically drained, I collapsed onto my bed.
So tired...
--- After that, a month flew by in the blink of an eye.
The three magic nations had apparently held talks with Badigadi and decided to treat him as a state guest.
In return for the trouble he'd caused, Badigadi offered one of his arms to the Magic Guild for research into his immortality.
He also took on a temporary position as martial arts advisor to the combined knight order.
And...
--- The next homeroom.
Two seniors emerged from the dormitory.
With Badigadi having dealt with all the Beast Race members, they could attend classes again.
"Thanks, Boss—meow. I'll get you something—meow."
"But we never imagined even a Demon King would come. We're women of demonic allure, you know.
You really protected us. As a reward, you can grope our breasts—Linia's, that is."
"Thank you very much."
I was given permission to grope breasts, so I took full advantage.
Linia's, specifically.
"Ginyaah!"
She scratched my face.
She'd said it was okay!
She'd said she'd get me something!
That was so mean.
So stingy.
Any married woman had them—what was the big deal?
"Master is quite brazen when it comes to women, and yet there's not a single scandalous rumor about you."
"Hey, Zanoba—stop! Don't say any more! You know—about that thing!"
"...Oh, my apologies. That was careless of me."
Recently, Cliff's seat had moved closer to mine.
He apparently heard about me from Elinariase from time to time.
I didn't know what she told him, but the rumors going around were surprisingly favorable.
Apparently, the story was that I'd been heartbroken when
Well, fine by me.
I'd gotten over Eris already...!
Over the past month, Elinariase and Cliff had gradually stopped being all lovey-dovey in public.
That said, they apparently hadn't broken up.
Cliff still sulked every two or three days.
He was probably being squeezed dry.
The reason they stopped with the public displays was probably because they'd had a proper talk about it.
More importantly—wasn't this affecting their studies?
Well, their business was their business.
Not my place to meddle.
A little jealous, though.
"...Grandmaster, this hard one needs more mana—do it."
Julie continued diligently making figurines every day.
Recently, I'd also been teaching her hand-digging in parallel.
Though that wasn't really her specialty, so the Coal Mining Race members in Zanoba's class helped out.
I'd only been briefed on the broad strokes regarding Demon King Badigadi.
Badigadi had said he'd come here because he was jealous of me.
If that was the case, did the blame fall on me too?
No—I wanted to believe Geenas would sort that out.
He was the one who'd recruited me, after all.
Just then, the door burst open.
All the special students were present except Silent.
The teacher wouldn't be arriving for a while yet.
Could it be—Silent had shown up for homeroom?
That was what I thought in the instant before— "Fwa-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!"
Loud laughter echoed through the classroom.
And in he walked.
Brazenly, without a care in the world.
He strode to the podium and surveyed us all.
"The immortal Demon King Badigadi, has arrived!"
You had to be kidding me.
He was wearing the school uniform...
--- He didn't really study or research anything in particular, but he'd occasionally show up for inspections, talk to students, and end up causing incidents that got reported.
Though if no one reported him, he might have actually shared some of his Demon King wisdom...
In any case, the Demon King invasion incident at Ranoa Magic University had come to an end.