Maid Chapter 087

However…if this is the cause…this is certainly not something that can be [defeated]. Because it’s just a ball.

“What should we do now, Hagasaki-kun? If Maito-san has this, it will not hurt us, so we can take it back.”

“It’s fine to take it back. It’d be idiotic to stay here all the time to protect the cause.”

…yeah, well, this island isn’t such a cozy place.

“Then I’ll [Transfer].”

We returned with the mysterious ball tentatively called the cause.

 

“Welcome back, how was it?”

When we returned to the lakeshore, everyone was eating, so I let go of the ball I was holding in my hand.

“It looks like this.”

As soon as I let go, everyone visibly lost energy. Hmm, as expected, everyone has a lot of corrections.

Because I felt sorry for them, I grabbed the ball again and everyone’s energy got visibly restored. Yeah, this is a little fun.

“We think this is the cause. When it’s floating, it absorbs the corrections around it, and when someone is touching it, it’s possible to remove a significant portion or all of the corrections on that person.”

“I see, then it’s better not to touch it other than Maito.”

“Agreed.”

…hey, this is the second time, but I wonder if it’s okay to cry…

 

For the time being, it turned out that the mysterious ball can be anywhere on the body as long as it touched skin, so I asked Katori to make a bracelet that could fit the mysterious ball.

Let’s wear this on my upper arm. Also for everyone else’s sake.

“So, we got the cause. If it’s the hero’s duty to somehow [erase] this, then we’re already the Demon King.”

Right. …ah.

“By the way, [Alive Grimoire]-san said that if we’re going to be hostile to the temple, it wanted to cooperate, so I can go talk to it. Can I talk to it for a bit?”

“You’re right. Then we’ll go to George-san in the meantime and explain it to him as well as Sagara-kun and the others.”

Right. They’d be surprised if their classmate suddenly became a Demon King. If we became hostile, it’s hard to get rid of the misunderstandings, so it’s best to inform them first.

“I’ll also contact Saegusa and Homura, so please lend me the [Communication] bracelet.”

“Got it.”

I removed the [Communication] bracelets on my wrist and gave two to Suzumoto. One is [Communication] with the Information Room / Newspaper Group, and the other is [Communication] with Homura-kun and his friends.

I gave them the two bracelets, so I guess it’s my time to report. I’m already used to headbutting. Yup. [Share].

 

[…hm, looks like you’ve got the cause. As expected.]

Suddenly, this book seemed very happy.

[Then, to bear the cause…are you hostile to the temple?]

“Yeah. Well, that’s it. This time, we’ll call ourselves the Demon King.”

When I reported that, for some reason, [Alive Grimoire] froze for a moment. The next moment, the pages flipped crazily and it made a big fuss. …this looked to be how the book laughed.

[I see! Demon King, the Demon King, huh! Did your companion think about this?]

“That’s right.”

[Demon King, to raise the name of the Demon King…hmm, this is good. Isn’t this good? There’s a bit of irony in it!]

The pages were fluttering so much that I can’t read them. I do know it’s having fun, though.

[Then, are you the one who’ll claim to be the Demon King?]

“No, maybe I’ll be playing a role like [Fuhahahaha! I’m the weakest of the Four Heavenly Kings!]”

[No, call yourself the Demon King.]

…ha?

[You can change your appearance, right? Then you can just remove it later. Besides, when the Demon King learns that another person who calls himself the Demon King appeared, there’s room for forgiveness if it’s a beautiful girl…if a macho man used his name, isn’t it unforgivable as the Demon King?]

…ha?

[I didn’t say anything bad, thou shalt call thyself the Demon King.]

U-uhmm…what you mean is…there really is a Demon King somewhere…

“U-uhmm, that, the real Demon King, if we anger him…wouldn’t it be bad?”

When I said that, it laughed again.

[Wouldn’t he feel good instead? Aren’t you hostile to the temple? For that reason, he’d be willing to lend the Demon King’s name once or twice.]

R-really? …yeah, well, I think it’s a loss to not do it since it looked to be interesting too. Yup.

“Okay, then I’ll suck it up and call myself the Demon King!”

[Umu, that’s the spirit! Don’t even start with the Demon King’s behavior and come to report from time to time. First of all, the appearance. When it comes to that, there should be a cloak. It should be flashy. Doesn’t embroidering something to protect you a good thing?]

“Yeah, well-“

[I think the color of twilight is good! Because he’s the Demon King!]

“O-ou.”

[Then the apron isn’t good either, right?]

“No, if I remove this, my identity as Head Maid will collapse.”

[Nuu, is that so? Then in that direction…]

 

In this way, the book’s [Demon King’s Style Course] continued for quite a bit. It seemed to like this very much. It touched on the equipment and talked about not only me, but also everyone’s equipment, so it’s fine…no, it was a great help. This know-it-all book.

…but anyway, this book is in high spirits.

Why don’t you change your name to [Alive Cosplay Guidance Book]?

 

“Hey? I’ve heard before that this cause is to be erased, but can the heroes erase this?”

And when there was a break, we made some conversation.

If it can’t be helped, I’ll just show the bangle in my arm.

[Umu.]

“I think the temple has a way of erasing the cause, but we don’t know it.”

[There’s nothing you can do about it since the method is kept secret by the temple.]

…yes?

“Eh, why? In the case of a crisis for the whole world, it’d be more efficient for the temple to cooperate with other institutions. Is there some reason why they can’t do that?”

Ah, it’s gone.

Until now, I tried to ask questions that didn’t take the form of [questions] but I feel like I already asked it many questions.

[So you’re asking that. …hmm, then let’s think a little. Do you know what a temple really does?]

Oh my, so [Alive Grimoire]-san is still in high spirits, huh?

“…worship the Goddess?”

I think George-san said that.

[Umu. Correct. The temple enshrines the Goddess. So why does an institution that worships the Goddess even do the work of erasing the cause?]

…right. Somehow…uhm, uhm…

“The temple also does work to prevent this world from collapsing, I think…no, because the Goddess doesn’t want this world destroyed?”

[Correct, the Goddess, not the temple.]

…huh? Then, can the Goddess collapse this world? However, it seemed correct that the temple enshrines the Goddess. …then…

“Is the Goddess different from the Goddess enshrined by the temple?”

[Different, huh? In a sense, you can say that. Hm. Then, what would the temple think?]

What, come to think of it…the reason why the temple keeps this information secret is…because of power?

No, isn’t that inefficient?

[…then let’s talk again the next time you come here. Next time you come, be dressed like a Demon King!]

Ah, damn, that mysterious light. Deportation! Ahhahhahh, I still have something to ask!

 

“…welcome back, oi, what’s wrong, Maito?”

When I was expelled from the book, everyone had already returned. Oou, we talked for quite a long time.

“Uhhm…yeah, this book, is in high spirits…”

“…I see.”

Yeah, that’s right.

“It said I can call myself the Demon King.”

“Ahh, we thought so too. You’re gonna crush it.”

…thank you. My [Fuhahahaha! I’m the weakest of the Four Heavenly Kings!] role seemed to have become a dream again.

 

Looking out the window, it was already dark, so I started preparing dinner.

In the meantime, what we have to do is make equipment.

Katori is now able to [Dye]. However, he could only [Dye] cloth or paper. And it seemed like he acquired a new skill called [Painting].

And making full use of it, he’s making a new armor. …what a scary guy.

Geez. Hope you guys don’t overdo it. Toriumi, who’s good at that kind of thing, created the design. President and Hagasaki-kun talked about structural problems and tried making a prototype with Toriumi and Katori. They tried it on, and then, Katori’s [Bestowal] became useful at this time.

[Bestowal] is a wonderful skill that can have various effects on skills and magic, and coupled with [Jewel Processing], they can make some nice parts.

And the finishing touches were to apply [Light Magic]. From one side, it’s completely like a mirror, and completely transparent from the other side.

…it seemed to hide their faces. Well, that’s right. It’s a bit like a punishment game to appear and call yourself the Demon King. Yup.

…uhm, what about me?

 

Dinner is seasoned spare ribs with steamed vegetables and corn soup.

The corn soup was the most annoying to make. Yup.

And the people from the English Lab were slowly eating corn soup, bread, and soft steamed vegetables on their own. Yeah, let’s not make them eat meat yet.

 

“Maito-san, try wearing this for a moment.”

Yes, Katori gave me something.

“…OH.”

A metal apron. …it has breast armor and a single-layered kimono.

I’ll try it on for the time being.

“…heavy.”

I can’t move.

“Ah, as expected, it’s no good…yeah. But if I make it lighter than this, it’ll become a metal plate like paper.”

Seems like everyone was thinking of armor for me, but it’s difficult because I have no correction. No matter how thin and light, no ordinary high school girl can wear armor and move around!

“In the worst case, I can make it into a thread and make an apron with that.”

“Yeah, as expected, it comes to that. Then I’ll think about head equipment next time.”

Everyone started making equipment as soon as possible, so should I also help them?

 

Although not as much as mine, Hagasaki-kun and President also have a little correction in their physical ability. So they can’t wear heavy armor. …they could wear it to some extent but I can’t!

Then, well, they limited it to breastplates and such things, so their equipment is basically cloth products.

All of them already have the strongest equipment made with the black “Great Black Snake Scales” and the red “Dragon Scales”, but the embroidery isn’t perfect since there’s no time. And so, especially for these two people, their physical defense power would be weak unless I covered them with embroidery.

So I’m currently embroidering.

Or rather, I collected all their equipment and said I’d embroider them.

There’s also that. I’d embroider the equipment on a level that it’s less noticeable than Suzumoto’s Pheonix kimono.