Akuyaku Reijou no Naka no Hito - CH 7.2

「So…… daughter of humanity. Is it true that you can cure this madness?」

「Can you please forgive me for saying this? …Thank you. I certainly have a solution to the madness, although it is not the same as a cure.」

In the unkempt audience chamber of a deserted demon king’s castle, I was bowing in the manner of a …knight, looking like a female soldier who usually dives in a dungeon, when I was approached and slowly looked up to see that I was allowed a direct answer.

Madness is the time of destruction that appears in the demon tribe. Originally, demons did not have a lifespan like a life span, but at some point, symptoms like seizures that cause them to lose their reason and devour their own kind were observed. When they go insane, they lose their rationality, but all their physical abilities increase, and they control powerful magic that they could not use before, and sometimes some individuals use it to mess up transference and fly into human-inhabited areas. Such beings are on the human world as terrifying「demons.」It was also called a “deadly disease” among the demon tribe, which returns to reason when it eats enough volume to take the life of its own people, but has no other means of resolution.

It is apparently customary for demons who have reached a state of mania to kill someone before they eat them, but on rare occasions there are family members, friends and loved ones who offer themselves up. Those who have regained their rationality often choose to die in order to prevent themselves from going mad again, but there are others, like the people I am sheltering in my village, who choose to live among the human world. Those who were children at the onset of the disease often become so because those around them want them to.

「The “madness” is a miasma that occurs in this area, and by continuously taking in this miasma, one day one will surely lose one’s ability to reason and develop the disease. The amount of miasma that can be tolerated varies from individual to individual…」

「I don’t know where you got that knowledge from…… oh yeah, so you want us to abandon this land? Even though our numbers have dwindled, there are still 30,000 of our people, and where are they supposed to go? We don’t even all have the means to cross the sea.」

「No, I am not here to propose the postponement of such a problem. Besides…… as a powerful demon tribe, features such as horns and fangs are too conspicuous to live among people.」

「Then…」

The timeline was not detailed in the story, but at this point, if the cause of the madness is known to be a miasma, then we would also know that「the ease of madness depends on one’s power as a demon tribe.」The demon tribe that develops rabidness at an early age does not have strong characteristics as a demon tribe. Powerful beings such as demon kings, whose skin has hard scales, whose eyes have colors that are impossible for humans, and who have claws, horns, fangs, and wings, do not become rabid for several decades at first. After realizing this, it is a bitter pill created by this king to send weak demons born in a human-like form, who are prone to go mad, to the human world and let them live there. In this land filled with miasma, there is little fruitfulness, so they send them out to lands where the miasma does not produce miasma in order to save the demon tribe as much as possible in addition to their money-making efforts.

In the story, he makes a contract with Remilia to「receive this country after it is destroyed by the demon tribe」and causes a disaster because he wants a land where he will not have to worry about going mad. Considering the possibility that the power of the star maidens could solve the problems of the demon tribe, he was also working to secure the Star Maiden in secret from Remilia.

The ritual described as「demon summoning」at the beginning of the story was actually used to exchange goods with the demon world, and the remnants of this ritual were also used in a store in the royal capital. As I had expected that I could cross over to the demon world without researching demon summoning, it was possible to fly to the demon world from the coordinates of the transfer magic circle used by that store. No matter how much I may know, I usually cannot fly to a place I have never been to before.

Once feared as demons, they are the result of a demon tribe gone mad. It is said that individuals who have gone mad and become able to use magic…… that they could not use before instinctively jump to a different continent where the miasma is thinner, and those who appear in the world where people live are said to be「demons.」

The Demon King, who was portrayed as frightening looking, was a leader who ruled his country and suffered, a story that is revealed in the Demon World version.

The horned man standing next to him, now still alive, would be his brother. He lives as the first to offer himself to the demon king in the event that the demon king should go mad, as a use to restore the demon king’s reason. In the story, the demon king decided to destroy and take over a distant country to save the demon tribe, including his younger brother.

Soon after the beginning of the Demon World chapter, he is killed by the demon king who has gone mad. On the day exactly 140 years after the birth of the Demon King Angel, …… that would have been the time limit for Angel’s madness. Emi was crying in that story too. I think Emi gets too emotionally involved with characters who come across as villains, like Remilia, the villainess.

「Besides, this miasma comes from the god of creation that lies at the center of the demon world. If left unchecked, it will cover this entire world and turn it into a world where people and other living creatures cannot live, let alone a place of peace for the demon tribe.」

「Why do humans know that there is a temple of the Creator God in the land of demons……」

「There is only one way to prevent this. The stagnation that accumulates every time the God of Creation uses his authority as a god, and the goddess of purification『Renge』who had the role of dispelling this stagnation, is to be brought to the front of it, and returned to the way she should be. There is no other way」

「……And why do you know that? Human.」

I smiled and continued speaking. In the story, the demon king had eyes that could see through lies and truth. He understood that I am speaking what I have just said because I honestly believe it to be the「truth,」but unless you confirm the source of the information as to「how I know」it, you will not believe it to be true because it is too wildly absurd.

「I have the memory of a maiden who will save this world.」

「Memory?」

「Yes, it is only a memory, but I relied on that memory to improve myself and traveled alone around the world to collect keys and even defeated the Lord of the Heavenly Realm. I learned from the memory of the maiden who saved the world how to train, where to find the key to the heavenly world, and why the goddess who purifies the god of creation suddenly disappeared hundreds of years ago. However, it was interfered with by an evil minded being who didn’t think it was a good idea, and there is a big discrepancy from the events in her memory……」

It is true that Emi saved this world and has memories of it. In the story. It is true that Pina interfered with me, and it is a big divergence that I am not a baddie. I have not lied about anything. It’s easy to tell a story the way you want to tell it without lying. The demon king doesn’t seem to realize that.

In the demon king’s mind, it would appear that that「being with an evil heart」tricked those around her into banishing me.

「…If it is wrong, what do you do?」

「Only one foolish woman loses her life by approaching the god of creation, who is about to become an evil god. I believe that helping to purify the God of Creation and saving this dying world is what I must do. Your Majesty, may I borrow the key to the Temple of the God of Creation that you possess?」

「Such thing is,」

「I’ll go too!」

「Brother?」

「Hold off, Klimt… Don’t get me wrong, human. I don’t trust you…… because you didn’t lie in your words, I’m just going to keep monitoring you until you’re ripped to shreds.」

「…Thank you very much.」

Doing the math in my head. The current me lightly surpasses the final status of the original Remilia. It was planned that even one person could defeat the「fallen god of creation,」but if the Demon King was added to the force, he would not be able to save the day any longer. As expected, even I was prepared to go through some hardship.

The holy armor is not enough for the Demon King, but with the blessing of the Fire God, which was not planned, it is no problem because it can generate enough power for one person to nullify the divine punishment wielded by the God of Creation.

If the story is as told, to purify the god of creation, I must be thoroughly weakened once.

The reason is that the creation god, who is approaching the evil god in a perfect state, albeit at an earlier stage than in the story, cannot be purified as it is, nor can Renge be summoned in a state of thick miasma.

I concluded that it would be more profitable to have this man, and with tears in my eyes, I thanked him profusely.

It is true that I am grateful.

「Well then, Your Majesty. Are you ready?」

「……Call me Angel.」

「Ye—」

「That’s my name.」

Saying this, the Demon King …… Angel opened the door at the back of the temple without responding to my voice asking if「I was ready.」

I considered the reason that a long appellation is inconvenient to call out in battle, but apparently not. With his awareness of Emi, Angel was apparently beginning to take a liking to the「Remilia, who is trying her best to save the world without reward, even though she has been turned into a villain,」 look on his face. I’m not lying, I know Emi would.

No other demonic beasts appear in the dungeon of「Fallen God of Creation.」 There are no items either. Combat is only with the god of creation. This story with「Remilia the Villainess」was a social game that ended its service amicably, which was rare in Emi’s world, and the final chapter was delivered in the sixth year of a gradual decline in the number of active users.

There are a lot of settings that seem to be tacked on at the end, such as why the miasma occurs, why the god of creation fell, and the message board Emi was looking at was a bit rough because of that, but I am very grateful now that we know the solution and the background. Emi also bought the fan book that was released after the completion of the book, so I know everything that was written in it from my memory.

After solving the problem of the miasma that occurs in the demon world, the Star Maiden and her group have a happy ending, being praised for having saved the world. If there is more than one character who was the most likable or had reached the maximum limit, choose one of them for a happy ending. If you want to see other people’s endings, you can pay and buy exclusive items to see the wedding proposal with all of them. Even Angel was a target of this, but the villainess Remilia attempted to assassinate the Star Maiden in the middle of the last chapter and was killed by her former fiancé Williard, who was then killed by her. In her last breath, she said,「Even I wanted to be loved by someone, I wanted to be happy……」Emi cried for me, wondering why she was the only one who could not be saved.

In this dungeon of the fallen god of creation, one out of every five times on the road, when choosing an action, you must use「purification」from「item/magic」instead of「going ahead」or the demons and humans among your companions will randomly go crazy. If you do, you will have a battle with your friends, and if you win, you will return to sanity, but you will be dying. I must remember to apply purification because it is very troublesome if the demon king’s status makes him go crazy.

Since purification belongs to holy magic, Remilia, who can use healing magic, can of course use it. This was also true of Remilia in the story, but the attributes of the magic available have nothing to do with whether the person is good or bad. Because, you know, you can see how a body with an abysmal soul in it can use the power of a Star Maiden.

I would tell Angel about the behind-the-scenes information in the fan book. If it had been Emi, I’m sure she would have told him everything.

The story goes that demons and humans were originally the same beings, and that among the people who lived in places where miasma occurred, a race called the demon tribe was created 「as a result of the survival of those who could tolerate the miasma.」Instead of the fur of animals living in extremely cold climates becoming thicker, the same thing happened:「Only individuals with thick pelts can survive in extremely cold climates, and this characteristic is strengthened by the further interbreeding of individuals with thick pelts that survive.」

「The proof is that humans also go haywire if they stay in a place with a strong miasma for too long, although in many cases, the human body cannot withstand the change and dies in the process.」

「The fact that humans and demons can have children is proof that they are of the same origin as a race and that their bodies are not very different.」

「Countries with strong sunlight produce darker-skinned people, and people from colder countries have higher body temperatures. They just have slightly different characteristics where they were born. Therefore, I believe that humans and demons can work hand in hand and together we can create a world of peace.」

At my words, Angel was biting his teeth to hold back tears. I pretended not to notice Angel’s appearance and touched the pendant top of the bottle containing the lotus seeds from that pond, the catalyst for summoning the…… lotus seeds, over my clothes with a strong will.

Emi was also sympathetic to the situation of the demon tribe. Emi would have surely said so.

Madness is a symptom caused by the accumulation of miasma, but it is only recently in the demon world that miasma has been found to be the cause of madness. And the users of magic of the holy attribute that can dispel the miasma do not come from a demon tribe that is highly resistant to the miasma.

If they had undergone regular purification, there would have been no demon tribe that would have developed mania, and Angel would have been terribly saddened to learn this, so I am going to tell him that Renge told me about this after he purified the god of creation without talking about it alone. I smell that Renge taught him,「God’s willing, I know.」I will say that the demons could not know because of the Lord of the Heavenly Realm who had captured and locked up Renge, the Goddess of Purification, and that it was therefore inevitable. I want to reassure him that he did everything he could.

The Goddess of Purification said she would only forgive me this lie. I readily agreed, saying that I wanted to protect the hearts of the demons who had suffered until now.

Yes, I do. I want to save Angel, who was lonely and had to be ruthless to protect him. Because Emi would do this.

The battle against the fallen creator god ended much more easily than expected. As expected of Remilia, the villainess of the official cheat according to Emi, and Angel, the demon king, the real front boss. If there are no turn restrictions and plenty of recovery items are available, there is no reason to struggle as in the story. The status is higher than that of the protagonist’s side.

In fact, I ended up putting up a defensive barrier from behind Angel and only attacked when I could afford to, while applying recovery. Well, I’m glad I didn’t show all my cards.

After the purification, to help the god of creation, who was still in a weakened state, Renge told me that she would remain at the innermost part of the temple and bestowed upon me the title of「Maiden of Purification.」For a moment, I wondered if I could get it even if I were not a star maiden, but then I thought Emi would probably just be flustered and say,「I’m afraid so,」and I responded as she did.

「Such, a title, I hardly think I deserve it……!」

When I replied, the god of creation, who had regained his senses, also took a puzzled and accepting attitude as both Renge and Angel looked as if they were looking at something smiling and continued with words such as,「No, Remilia is the one who deserves it.」

In fact, I would never have wanted to be called such a name, no lie. I can’t believe it’s matching the star maiden in the story. I feel like Emi’s beloved「Remilia」 has been gifted with a Star Maiden’s hand-me-downs.