Chapter 153 : Traveling entertainers in the Spirit Forest
T/N : Hi, I’m Valiant, and I’ll be taking over the translation of The Misfit of Demon King Academy. My other TLs are :
The Best Assassin, Incarnated into a Different World’s Aristocrat A Former Child Soldier Who Uses a Magic Sword Wants to Live with an Older Sister of a Former Enemy Executive
I’ll see if I can keep up the pace for this one. Enjoy!
Reno turned her amber eyes in my direction.
The reason she was making such a curious expression was probably because I looked like a small child.
Even if it was possible for one to rejuvenate themself with the <Reverse Growth Cursula> spell, anyone would be hard pressed to find a demon who would want to turn back into their physically underdeveloped six-year-old self.
In the mythical era full of perpetual conflicts, doing this could cost you your life, after all.
“…Anosh, you’re a demon, right?” (Reno)
“I am.” (Anos)
Reno stared at me with her eyes full of vigilance.
“Are you a subordinate of the Demon King Anos?” (Reno)
“No, I don’t belong to any side. I’m something of a traveler. We’re a troupe of traveling entertainers.” (Anos)
“Traveling entertainers…?” Reno muttered before turning her attention to Misha and the others.
Zeshia was waving her small hand at her.
Reno replied to her with a smile, and turned to me again.
“Is this true?” (Reno)
“It is. Show her, Sasha.” (Anos)
“Show her what!?” Sasha shouted in surprise.
Reno looked even more doubtful.
“Fair enough, you do know such a great number of tricks. I can’t blame you for asking me which one to showcase.” (Anos)
While fooling Reno with this follow-up, I gave Sasha the time to think of something.
In this day and age, there was one special performance only Sasha could pull off.
“I was thinking of that one. You know, the one that made your audience burst into laughter in Dilhade last month.” (Anos)
Knowing her, she would realize that I wasn’t asking her for anything unreasonable, and what was my intent behind it.
“A-Ahh, that. G-Got it.” (Sasha)
Hmm. Sasha looked like she clearly had no idea what I meant.
“Brace yourselves for it!” Sasha exclaimed in desperation, raising her hands high in the sky.
She was buying time.
Next, she slowly brought her hands down to announce the beginning of her performance.
Then, she turned to look at Reno, as if she had suddenly figured out what to do.
“Look at me, I’ve got the Magic Eyes of the Demon King of Tyranny!” (Sasha)
“…Pfft!” (Reno)
Upon seeing Sasha’s Magic Eyes of Destruction, Reno unintentionally chuckled a bit.
Originally, the <Magic Eyes of Destruction> weren’t the kind of magic eyes the demon race possessed. Since it was something that could only be mastered thanks to my unique constitution, it couldn’t be achieved, or even imitated, in the Mythical Age where I had no biological descendant.
That being said, the <Magic Eyes of Destruction> Sasha just showed were so imperfect they looked nothing like the real deal. It was a superb imitation, not overdone, yet similar enough to be difficult for others to pull off.
“S-Success…” (Sasha)
Sasha secretly clenched her fist.
“Gosh! What was that? They look just like the eyes of the Demon King Anos. It’s feeble, but yours actually do have the power to bring about the destruction of everything around you. Your imitation was needlessly over-accurate. Wasn’t it too inappropriate and offensive to do it in Dilhade?” (Reno)
“Not at all, the Demon King Anos is surprisingly fond of jokes. He appreciates comedy.” (Anos)
“Ah… Now that you mention it, I feel like I did hear a rumor about it, but I thought it was nothing more than hearsay.” Reno said as she shifted her gaze to me.
“I’ve had this impression for the past while, but don’t you look kind of similar to the Demon King Anos…?” (Reno)
“Glad you noticed.” (Anos)
I crossed my arms in a majestic fashion and adopted a standing posture most typical of the Demon King.
“I am none other than the Demon King of Tyranny in his juvenile form, Anosh Porticollo!” (Anos)
“Pfffft…!” (Reno)
“Did you think that just because I’m a child, I can’t be the Demon King?” (Anos)
“AHAHA…! You sound…! Exactly…! Like him…! If the Demon King Anos actually turned into a child, he would definitely say that…!” (Reno)
Reno covered her own mouth as she laughed.
“Huff… Okay… That’s enough… laughing… You look so much like him, and I’m sure this is what the Demon King must’ve sounded like in his childhood…” (Reno)
Hmm. That went pretty smoothly.
If I had tried to hide it instead, she would’ve gotten suspicious.
Therefore, by telling her the truth myself, I made her believe that it couldn’t be true.
“But how did you all enter this place? No ordinary demon should’ve been able to cross the wall at the entrance.” (Reno)
“The thing is, it takes a certain degree of strength to live in these times as traveling entertainers. We had this girl break through the wall for us.” (Anos)
I shot a glance at Misha.
“…I’m…” (Misha)
She thought, then she said the following.
“…A traveling performer stronger than the Four Evil Kings…” (Misha)
Reno tilted her head in confusion.
“…Hmm… Come to think of it, the Demon King did say that a demon’s strength is only matched by their desire to live as they want… Maybe I should ask Shin about it…” (Reno)
Living as traveling entertainers in this era wasn’t something that could be achieved with half-baked strength. That’s the answer Shin would give her.
“Still, your troupe is quite the unusual mishmash. You have demons, humans, and spirits in it. I wonder if that’s part of being a band of traveling entertainers.” (Reno)
Perhaps she had dropped her guard, but her speech was becoming more casual.
“Comedy knows no borders. Racial differences are but a trivial matter.” (Anos)
Upon hearing that, Reno smiled gently.
“I see… That sounds kinda nice. It would be great if this was the norm in this world…” (Reno)
Reno let her own feelings show before asking me a question.
“You said that you were interested in spirits, right?” (Reno)
“Yeah. Lena.” (Anos)
I called her name, and she walked up next to me.
“She’s part of our troupe, but we’re looking for her memories. Apparently, she’s suffering from an unusual case of amnesia. And we heard that the Great Spirit Reno was the mother of all spirits. Do you know anything?” (Anos)
Reno stared at Lena.
“I’ve never seen you before. You’ve lost your memories?” (Reno)
Lena nodded.
“Yes, I don’t know why.” (Lena)
Reno tilted her head.
“You don’t know either?” (Anos)
“Even if I’m the mother of all spirits, that doesn’t mean I understand everything about all of them. There are things I don’t know.” (Reno)
Hmm.
Well, I guess that happens.
“Lena apparently remembers something about Aharthern. If you don’t mind, we’d like to stay here for some time.” (Anos)
“I don’t mind, but come here for a minute, Anosh.” (Reno)
Reno pulled me by the hand, and we moved a little further away.
“What is it?” (Anos)
“That girl, Lena, is the Love Fairy Fran.” (Reno)
I remembered seeing her in the green book.
But the pages were torn out, so I couldn’t find out the details about her.
“The spirit that gives shape to unrequited love and brings people together?” (Anos)
“…Yes, that’s right. You know about her despite being a demon…?” Reno asked in a curious tone.
The demons of this era hardly ever associated themselves with spirits, after all.
“Oh, that’s nothing. I simply studied under a spirit at one point.” (Anos)
Two thousand years later, that is.
“But why did you pretend not to know about her earlier?” (Anos)
“The Love Fairy Fran is a spirit that wanders around, looking for her memories. If she ever realizes that she’s the Love Fairy, she’ll disappear, so she must never know.” (Reno)
So that’s why she lied.
“You have to remind her what love is first.” (Reno)
Remind her what love is, huh.
However, I had no idea how.
“Can you tell me more about Fran?” (Anos)
As soon as I asked that, the ground trembled violently.
With a tremor, a Divine Beast Gwen, so gigantic it was the size of a small castle, showed itself.
“…Where was that thing even hiding…?!” (Reno)
“Heh, it doesn’t matter how big it is. Shin would’ve cut it down in a heartbeat.” (Anos)
At that moment, Gwen opened its jaw wide, then bit into something that was on the ground, and held it in it.
The <Illusion Mimicry Lynel> was dispelled, revealing whom it bit into.
It was Lay.
He was bracing his arms and legs to prevent it from closing its jaw on him, and hanging on to it to avoid being swallowed.
If he had a sword, he would surely manage to get away in a second, but at the moment, he was unarmed.
“Is he part of your troupe too?” (Reno)
“Yeah. Well, there’s no need to worry about him, though…” (Anos)
I had no doubt that Lay would survive even being devoured whole, but there was a chance it would reveal the existence of his seven sources.
Well, in Shin’s case, he would just cut the beast down and leave it at that.
When I glanced at him, he was holding his God-Slaying Sword Guneodros at the ready.
“Don’t do it, Shin! That man who’s about to be devoured is a demon. That makes him one of yours, no?” (Reno)
Reno jumped at Shin’s arms as he was about to slice the beast without question, regardless of Lay’s predicament.
“…Your safety is my top priority, My Lady. If a stranger is caught up in the struggle and dies, then that was as far as his strength could take him. Him being there was a stroke of bad luck, and I believe the weak dying is part of the natural order.” (Shin)
“I don’t like that kind of order. Do something about it!” (Reno)
Shin cocked his eyebrows a bit.
He was probably feeling troubled. His swordsmanship wasn’t suited to save anyone.
“Shin. You should summon one of your unique swords.” (Anos)
At my words, Shin turned his head my way for a moment.
After ignoring me and turning his gaze back to the Divine Beast Gwen, he did a double take, as if he had just realized something.
He was now staring at me, still and silent.
“…Could it be that…you are-?” (Shin)
“My name is Anosh Porticollo. I’m just a traveling entertainer.” (Anos)
Shin stayed silent.
It wasn’t too hard to stop him from realizing who I really was.
For a moment, Shin may have thought that Anosh and the Demon King Anos were one and the same.
But now that I had introduced myself as Anosh Porticollo, the man wouldn’t pursue that matter any further. If he believed me to be the Demon King Anos, then he would interpret this as an order not to expose me.
And if he didn’t believe it, then he wouldn’t need to pay attention to me in the first place.
Either way, he would treat me as Anosh Porticollo. No matter how likely I was to be the Demon King Anos, he would stubbornly stick to it.
“He’s my guest. But more importantly, we have to do something about his friend!” (Reno)
After telling that to Shin, Reno looked back at me.
“Anosh. You said that if you had a unique sword, you could work something out?” (Reno)
“Yeah. Knowing Lay, as long as he has a sword, even the fangs of a divine beast will be nothing to him.” (Anos)
After that, Reno held out her hand to Shin.
“Bring out one of your swords. What was it called, Sieg-something…?” (Reno)
“Siegsesta, My Lady.” (Shin)
As he said that, Shin drew a magic circle, and summoned Siegsesta.
“Although, I have never met anyone capable of handling it other than My Lord and myself…” (Shin)
“Then that man will be the third.” (Anos)
I took Siegsesta and threw it as hard as I could at Lay.
“The sword is coming your way, Lay! Now hurry up and get out of there!” (Anos)
“Thanks!” (Lay)
Lay reached his hand out to Siegsesta flying his way.
However, as if to avoid the incoming demon sword, the Divine Beast shook the ground and jumped back from his spot.
The demon sword kept flying in an undesired direction.
“Ah…!” Reno cried out.
“…No. It appears his claim about him being able to use that sword was the truth.” Shin muttered beside her.
“…Come to me, Siegsesta…!” (Lay)
After Lay called out to it, Siegsesta’s trajectory bent. The demon sword drew a large arc, and landed into his hand as if it was drawn to it.
In an instant, a flash of light sparkled.
“Phew…!” (Lay)
Four fangs were sliced off, and the Divine Beast Gwen groaned.
At that same moment, Lay flew out of its jaw.
“How surprising.” (Shin)
Shin smiled faintly.
Just as Lay’s hand seemed to blur due to motion, the next moment, the Divine Beast in front of him was cleanly sliced in half.
Its giant body fell, and the ground trembled loudly.
“Dilhade truly is a wide place. Never would I have thought there would be a demon among civilians who could master Siegsesta.” (Shin)
Before I knew it, Shin was standing right in front of Lay.
“Why did you not participate in the Great War despite possessing such skills? You might even have been able to slay the Four Evil Kings.” (Shin)
I suppose it was typical of Shin to discern Lay’s true potential just by witnessing a single of his sword strikes.
“I love swords, but I hate war.” (Lay)
“What an interesting thing to say.” (Shin)
“Shin, these people are a troupe of traveling entertainers.” (Reno)
Reno called out to Shin from behind.
Lay held out Siegsesta to return it to him. But instead of taking it back, Shin said the following.
“My name is Shin Reglia. May I ask your name?” (Shin)
After hesitating for a moment, Lay replied.
“Lay.” (Lay)
“From the looks of it, you do not seem to carry any demon sword, do you?” (Shin)
Lay smiled spontaneously.
“Sadly, I left mine in a far away place.” (Lay)
At that moment, Shin suddenly turned on his heel.
“I shall lend you this demon sword during your stay here. In return, I request that you leave a scratch on me.” (Shin)
For a moment, Lay was confused.
Hmm. Shin seemed to be quite excited to find a demon whose swordsmanship could actually be a match to his.
Thinking back on it, he did seem to be having a lot of fun when he crossed swords with Kanon.
If the latter had been a demon as well, I think we would’ve had a different future.
“Does this mean you want me to return the favor by fighting you in a duel?” (Lay)
Shin didn’t reply.
Surely as a way of saying that he didn’t even have to.
“I don’t think a mere demon like me could stand a chance against the Demon King’s right hand man, though.” (Lay)
“With your brute force swordsmanship, that may be true for now.” (Shin)
Shin stored the God-Slaying Sword Guneodros back into its magic circle.
“Come at me whenever you wish.” (Shin)
After saying that, he returned to Reno’s side.
