The Lazy King

Chapter 8: Melancholia, Part 4: Iyo

And once more, my daily life continued.

“Leigie-sama, it’s time for your meal.”

“Yeah…”

I eat the food Lorna made, and let her clean the room.

Once the room has been cleaned, she makes the bed, and in that time, I leisurely doze off in the armchair.

My soul is at peace, and I barely have any stress.

Without a need to work, even the enemies that had invaded at regular intervals stopped coming. It sure is nice.

“Eh? Hya…? L-Leigie-sama… this is…”

But today, Lorna raises a rare scream.

She had cleared away the covers, and her facial expression had become stiff. Her body had solidified in that position.

No, this isn’t my Melancholy at work.

On the bed was a small girl. Stark naked at that.

Embracing my pillow, she slept with a peaceful expression.

I don’t know her name.

“W-why is Medea… inside Leigie-sama’s bed…”

“… No idea.”

No, I have a vague recollection of her coming in, but I didn’t have any interest, so I let her be.

It’s not like she was going to harm me, or do anything, and the bed is more than large enough. I had no reason to refuse. No wait, it was just a pain.

I don’t know the reason, but just go wherever you want.

“Medea? Medea!? Wai… Wake up!!”

“Nyaa…”

Being shaken left and right, the female Demon named Medea painstakingly opened her eyes.

Her eyes were quite clouded and stagnant. She rubbed them in a sleepy gesture.

“…W … what?”

“D… don’t what me! W-w-why are you in Leigie-sama’s room…”

“I’m a pillow. That’s all. Sleepy. Good night.”

“Hah? Wai… wake up~!”

The form of her embracing the pillow again as she tried to sleep no longer held a fragment of her pride as a Demon.

Lorna tries shaking her again, but this time she shows no signs of getting up. And from her body, I feel a deep and quiet presence.

It’s one that I know all too well.

It’s nothing other than the power of 『Acedia』.

And as long as that’s true, I doubt Medea will be waking any time soon.

Sloth gives bonuses to sleep. No, it isn’t a Resistance, just…

“Lorna, leave her be.”

“Eh? A-are you serious?”

“… Yeah.”

I can understand the feeling of Sloth Demons all too well.

Waking her up forcefully won’t work. And it’s not like she’s causing any trouble.

After shifting her gaze between me and Medea for a while, Lorna eventually let out a deep sigh.

It was quite a rare expression from her.

“Understood. Leigie-sama… but as I thought, for a man and woman not in a relationship to sleep in the same bed, I cannot recommend it…”

“I see.”

This Demon sure says some ethical things.

Well, I don’t have any particular objections to those words. I’m not approving either, but to me, it was actually something that didn’t really matter all too much.

“I will be carrying Medea to another room’s bed. Is that alright?”

“… Yeah.”

It was a bloodcurdling expression I couldn’t say came from the living.

She’s not letting out any anger by any means, but her rare words backed by a strong will made me nod immediately.

As if she were carrying a large package, She hoisted up the unmoving Medea, and bowed before departing from the room.

It must be hard, being a maid.

As I faintly considered such things, I shrunk my body inside the chair.

It’s a new chair Kanon sent over. The previous one suffered too much ice-related damages, and became unusable, but this one isn’t bad in itself.

At that moment, the door opened, and yet another Demon stepped in. It was an everyday occurrence.

A Demon that governed Wrath, and one that seems to be observing me: Lize Bloodcross.

I don’t get what’s so fun about observing me, but if you’re just going to quietly watch, then observe all you want.

“Leigie-sama, so you were awake…”

“Yeah.”

She usually moved around with a suprising amount of vigor, but now, on her face, there were some rare signs of fatigue.

And as if her body was collapsing, she lowered her body into the chair by the table. Without saying anything, she slumped down.

“… You look tired.”

“… Yes. Observing both you and Heard Lauder simultaneously is going to make my bones break some day…”

I see. It seems she’s been charged with two subjects this time.

My deepest condolences.

“… Can I complain?”

Do whatever you want. I doubt there’s any meaning in complaining to me, but I’ll at least quiet down and listen to your words.

It’s not like I’ll take it to heart, and rather than listening, it’ll just be entering my ears, though.

“That Heard Lauder is a monster. Perhaps more so that Leigie-sama… on top of that, he moves around way too much. Even though he’s barely become a Demon Lord, He’s managed to annihilate all Demon Lords who set even a foot in his territory without fail… Even if they may have just wanted to rile him a little, he personally marches to the enemy headquarters, and perfectly destroys them.”

“…”

“On top of that, he seems to be intent on finding a chance to aim for Kanon-sama’s neck… He never gives me a single moment’s rest. Do you know just how many inspectors have been dispatched to his place? Ten. Ten people! Even if Pride is the most dangerous by nature… this is too much. It’s as if I can just see the anxiety on Kanon-sama’s face…”

“…”

“And he’s really loud, protesting to get her to raise Leigie-sama’s rank.”

“…”

“I mean, in an instant, he overruled all the Demons above him, and he’s already Rank One.”

“…”

“For the unmoving Leigie-sama, there was barely anything I had to do in the means of inspection, but having this much to do is troubling…”

“…”

I see. You’ve got it rough.

Then you don’t really have to come observe over here, you know.

I mean, I don’t have any enemies, and I don’t do anything but sleep. I don’t even move.

Even though I didn’t say it, as if she felt my will, she directed a tired, and stiff smile at me.

The power I sense from her body is incomparable to the Lize of my oldest memory of her. It’s truly increasing.

“… No, I’m just here for a little rest, so…”

“… I see.”

Then do whatever you want.

If you’re not going to get in the way of my sleep, then I mind not whatever you do.

No, if there’s something you have that can get in my way, then just try it.

“… I’ll ask just in case, but have there been any problems on your side?”

“… None.”

“I see… that sounds about right.”

Her face changes in relief.

that’s a lie. Just a single one, it’s not really a problem, but a bit of a change. A single thing has happened to the stagnant me.

I only noticed it quite recently. I don’t know exactly when it happened, but it was probably after I was deprived of my territory, and I returned to my quiet life.

The truth is, I’m not a Demon Lord anymore.

Class: 『Evil God』

My Demon Lord Class changed, and that’s my new one.

I never thought that was what came after Lord, and Evil God isn’t even a governmental position anymore.

Well, even if my class changes, what I’ll be doing stays the same.

I just live by existing as I am. Up ‘til now, and probably from here on as well.

Until the day someone annihilates me.

To change the topic, Lize spoke.

“… Come to think of it, recently there’s been a strong one among the Assassins Heaven’s been sending to provoke the Demon World.”

“…?”

And so?

As if she sensed a change in my thoughts, Lize shook her head.

I don’t even have to let out words anymore. The perception ability to be able to pick up everything. Lize is quite a hard-to-get existence for me.

“No, well… it seems they have the frightening power to even be able to annihilate those of Demon Lord Class… additionally, they can use their wings to soar through the sky. Their mobility is high, so perhaps even that Heard would let them slip by. Right now, Kanon-sama is preparing countermeasures, but I thought I would at least spread what’s become common knowledge…”

“An angel strong enough to kill Demon Lords…”

That definitely is a frightening existence.

In the first place, an Angel’s powers are the natural enemy of Demons. The magic wafting around the Demon World is said to give high enhancements to a Demon’s abilities, but even so, there are angels strong enough to kill Demons repeatedly. It’s a pain. That’s also the reason why, while Heaven occasionally invades the Demon World, Demons rarely go up and attack Heaven.

On my words, Lize slumped her body over the table, and turned her head to look at me.

“No, it’s not an Angel… Well, they’re still classified as angels, but… do you know about 『Valkyries』?”

Nope. Never heard of it.

Well, I may have heard the word once or twice in my previous live, but… It was a terminology from the fantasy genre, I think.

On my attitude, Lize let out a sigh.

“『Valkyries』 are a form of Angel, and a special type of unit that comes when the 『Einherjar』 called to Heaven experience an aberration. Compared to Demons and normal Angels that store up power over many years, they’re born with a vast amount of battle experience, so they can be quite troublesome… well, there shouldn’t be that many fallen warriors that can knock down a Demon Lord, though…”

Hmm, so there are things like that.

Good for them.

Seeing I had absolutely no motivation, Lize shrugged her shoulders.

“The Blade of the Silver Blue, Serge Serenade. She’s confirmed to be the strongest 『Valkyrie』 up to date. I think it would be best if you at least store the name in your memory banks.”

“… Yeah.”

An unexpected name. I try to lift my body for a second, but it won’t move, so I give up.

But the sight of battles long past revive in my head all at once.

I can’t believe it. Why is she still alive?

Dammit. So unlike Japan, the Dead can come back to haunt you in this world.

Even death is reversible. No, this time might be a bit different from reversal, but whatever the case, what a Fantasy.

I looked at my own class once more.

『Evil God』

It’s probably the highest class a Demon can attain.

“? You seem happy.”

“… No.”

But so be it.

I’ll wait here for you no matter how long it takes. That’s my field of expertise, and probably, as a single Demon Lord, as the Last Boss, my obligation.

Can you match up to the Evil God?

Show me your gallant figure.

Iyo.

Satisfied, I close my eyes. I dozed off soon enough.

I am the Lord of Depravity.

Who lives just by being there, a Needless King.

And I bring Depravity unto others, an incarnation of evil who will sink all of God’s creation into an abyss of despair

By the time I realized it, I had reincarnated into another world.

I kept sleeping, and at some point I became a Demon Lord.

Even though I never wished for it.

But for me to not have to work, this world is the best. It must be true that good things happen to good people.

The flavor of Sloth is as sweet as honey. Glory, diligence, virtue, or honor. I have no interest in anything like that.

What’s there to hide? The Lazy king is… none other than me.

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End of Part 1