How NOT to Summon a Demon Lord: Volume 2 Read online

  The Story so Far—

  In the MMORPG Cross Reverie, Takuma Sakamoto was lauded as the Demon Lord, a being of overwhelming power.

  By defeating the 《Demon Lord of the Mind, Enkvaros》, faster than anyone else in the game, he had acquired an extremely rare item: the 《Demon Lord’s Ring》. It was one of the ultimate pieces of equipment found in Cross Reverie, able to reflect all types of magic.

  Takuma called himself “Diablo,” and turned his own personal area in the game into an elaborate dungeon where he acted as its boss. Acting like a Demon Lord, he would entertain any challengers who came to face him—and then destroy them.

  And then, one day—

  Takuma was summoned to another world that was almost exactly like Cross Reverie.

  In front of him were two girls: the Pantherian, Rem, and the Elf, Shera—And then they suddenly kissed him!? They called it an 《Enslavement Ritual》, a ritual magic necessary to control a Summon.

  “...I am the one who summoned him. Your magic was a failure.”

  “You’re wrong! He’s mine!”

  Having performed the summoning magic at the same time, Rem and Shera fought with each other over who really was Diablo’s Summoner.

  But thanks to the “Demon Lord’s Ring” he wore, the magic was reflected. The 《Enslavement Collar》 that should have been put on the Summon to control them was stuck on the girls instead.

  Takuma was at a loss of what to do when faced with the two girls arguing. While he may have been a superior player in the game, he had nothing in the way of communicating with other people. After mentally tossing and turning it over in his head, his first words were from the Demon Lord role play he used in the game:

  “Cease your pointless squabbling. You are in the presence of Diablo.”

  After leaving Starfall Tower and testing his magic on the grassy plains, Diablo took the girls and headed towards the nearby city of Faltra.

  One of the most important figures in the town, Celes of the Mage’s Association, came to visit them at the inn. It seemed Rem was harboring a terrible secret: sealed inside of her body is the soul of the 《Demon Lord Krebskulm》.

  Rem was afraid that Diablo would try to distance himself from her when he found out. He told her: “Leave it all to me. No matter what your circumstances may be, I will accept it all.”

  That night, Diablo was confronted by a man named Galluk. One of Celes’s guards, he had a strong elitist attitude. After sending his Summon, Salamander, after Diablo, the self-proclaimed Demon Lord destroyed it with just one blow. As such, he became the target of Galluk’s one-sided hatred.

  The next day, Diablo and the others headed to the Adventurer’s Guild to register themselves as Adventurers. While there was some trouble in determining his level, Diablo managed to receive special permission from the Guildmaster, Sylvie, to become an Adventurer.

  Their first quest was a hunt in the fearsome Man-Eating Forest.

  Upon their arrival, they found themselves in a trap set by Galluk—an elite squad of Elves had been lying in wait for them, and tried to take Shera back by force. It turned out that Shera was not only a member of the royal family of the Elven Kingdom of Greenwood, but their princess!

  The squad of Elves faced Diablo while using the treasures of their kingdom, 《Tempest Arrows》.

  Despite this, Diablo easily fended off his assailants.

  The difference between their levels was simply too great.

  It was then he truly felt the difference between himself, who could respawn even after dying in his game, and for the people of this world, where death was the end.

  The following day, when heading out on another quest outside of Faltra—

  The Fallen Edelgard spearheaded an invasion with one hundred of her fellow Fallen. At the same time, a powerful Fallen suddenly appeared in the middle of town. Galluk, after having been punished by Celes, had been tempted into assisting the enemy by helping them infiltrate the town.

  Rem and Celes were already with each other in the inn when they came under attack from the Fallen. Having been driven into a corner, the two of them were in a hopeless situation.

  That was when Diablo appeared. After driving back Edelgard’s one hundred Fallen army, he had returned to Faltra via teleportation spell.

  Diablo confronted the tenacious Fallen, Gregore, and obliterated the Fallen with his overwhelming magic power. And thus, Celes, Rem, and the town of Faltra were saved.

  Prologue

  The front lines of the descendants of the Celestials: the Stronghold City of Faltra. Along the western street could be found the “Peace of Mind Inn - Twilight.”

  There was only a solitary window in the stone wall that allowed for light to flow into a dreary room with one large bed.

  The time was almost noon.

  Three people sat on the bed, while their guest stood in the doorway.

  The man in the middle of the bed was a Demon with ominous horns growing out of his head: the Demon Lord, Diablo. On either side of him were girls with enslavement collars around their necks.

  One of the girls was the slender Pantherian, Rem Galleu.

  The pair of panther ears on her head; the long hair that came down to her waist; and the thin tail that unfurled behind her were all a bewitching black. Normally, Pantherians were leopard-spotted, with black being a rare color for them.

  From what could be seen of her thighs, it was easy to see that they were firm and tight.

  Her face was young, yet beautiful. Her eyes were slanted like a cat, with her thin mouth showing the strength of her will.

  The other girl was the Elf, Shera L. Greenwood.

  She had elongated ears known as the particular characteristic that all Elves possessed. Having been called the race closest to the Celestials, they had the beauty to match.

  Shera’s wavy hair was the same color as melted gold. Her eyes were as cerulean blue as the sky, while her skin was smooth and white.

  Usually, she would be wearing a green tunic to help her blend in with the forest...

  But right now, she was wearing an outfit consisting of barely anything at all.

  It seemed she had prepared this lascivious outfit in order to cheer Diablo up, although this “outfit” was only really a few pieces of cloth wrapped around her.

  Normally, Elves were slim and lacking in the “curves” department. Shera, however, possessed a rather robust chest and a sensual body. Even now, it looked like her breasts were going to spill out from what little clothes she was wearing.

  Leaning with her back up against the door was the Guildmaster of Faltra’s Adventurer’s Guild—Sylvie.

  It looked like she had the body of a 10-year-old, but her true age was unknown. Grasswalkers like herself would keep their child-like appearance even after reaching maturity. But not only that, she also had the ears and a tail akin to a rabbit’s.

  Her outfit was similar to what Shera was wearing, with it only covering her chest and the area around her hips. Unlike Shera, however, because Sylvie looked more like a child, it gave off an impression of innocent beauty instead.

  The Guildmaster opened her mouth:

  “The governor of Faltra received a request from the Elven Kingdom to hand over one Shera L. Greenwood. The deadline is in ten days. If we don’t comply by then, they will declare war.”

  With a smile on her face, Sylvie made the shocking announcement.

  —Declare war!?

  There was a sovereign Elven Kingdom by the name of Greenwood. Shera was the princess there. Due to various circumstances, she had run away from home; but now the Elves were trying to bring her back.

  Several days ago, Diablo had fou
ght against an elite squad of Elves trying to do just that. At that time, they were a group of only ten, and by no means could the event have been called a war.

  The Guildmaster heaved a sigh.

  “Normally, in this situation, you’d hand over Shera, right? We don’t want to go to war here. But, there’s just one problem with that.”

  Diablo listened, silently. He had a feeling he knew what she was going to say.

  Sylvie pointed a finger at him.

  “And that problem is you, Diablo... You’re not going to let Shera go, are you?”

  “Obviously.”

  “The governor has to make a decision after receiving a demand like that... That’s either to defeat you, Diablo, and steal Shera away; or you don’t hand her over, and end up going to war with the Elves.”

  —Beat me... or go to war with the Elves!?

  Not good...

  Fighting against the governor meant fighting against an army. A huge amount of people would be coming after him.

  Back when he put on his Demon Lord act in the game, he had fought against six other people at once.

  He had fought against countless monsters—

  He had not, however, ever had the experience of fighting against thousands, or tens of thousands, of people. There was no way he had the MP for something like that, either.

  Diablo had to give the impression that fighting against him, a Demon Lord, would be disadvantageous to them.

  He wanted to avoid an all-out war between Humans and Elves, of course, but first he had to make sure that nobody was coming after him.

  All he had to do was skillfully negotiate his way through this...

  —Yeah, that ain’t gonna happen.

  Diablo had zilch when it came to communicating with other people. He was using his Demon Lord act as a cover because he couldn’t talk well.

  He could only stammer out a few “Ah’s” and “Um’s” if he was acting like his true self.

  Though Sylvie had the appearance of a child, she was a Guildmaster with a great number of Adventurers working under her. The governor of Faltra had entrusted her with this task, yet Diablo was not like her. He couldn’t even talk to his peers. This was simply too much for him.

  It looked like all he had was his Demon Lord role play.

  Diablo opened his mouth.

  “Heh heh heh... Very well then... I was just getting tired of lying around in bed, anyway. It shall be fitting to have the imperial army as my opponent. I will reduce this country to cinders.”

  He said it in as low a voice as possible.

  In a panic, Sylvie waved her hands in front of her face.

  “Wait, wait, hold on now! I’m saying that’s not an option here! Fighting against you, who took on a whole legion of Fallen by yourself, would be as bad as taking on a whole country... Or maybe even worse.”

  “Hmph... Looks like you narrowly avoided death.”

  —By you, I mean me!

  While Diablo acted displeased, on the inside he felt nothing but relief.

  Sylvie raised her index finger.

  “Then here’s a quest from me and the troubled governor of Faltra: stop us from going to war with the Kingdom of Greenwood, Diablo!”

  —I refuse.

  He wanted to say that with every fiber of his being. But, of course, in order to protect Shera, he had no choice but to accept.

  The person at the center of this maelstrom of activity timidly cut in.

  “U-Um, hey, Diablo... I... I can just, you know... run away by myself again...”

  “What?”

  Flustered, Shera added:

  “B-But! I made it this far running away on my own... And if I’m not around, then there’s no reason for Faltra’s governor, or for you to have to hand me over to anyone, right?”

  “Are you going to be able to escape, by yourself, from the squadrons of Elves after you?”

  “Ooh... That’s, um... They might catch me... but that’s just how it goes. If I fail, then I’m the only one who gets sad... but that’s just how it goes...”

  She clenched her fists.

  Diablo asked her again to confirm.

  “‘That’s just how it goes...’ Is that how you truly feel?”

  “It is! I mean, I don’t want a war! I don’t want to see people die! That’s why... there’s nothing else for me to do!”

  He knew what she was trying to say.

  She wasn’t wrong. If Shera ran away by herself, then the war between Humans and Elves would probably be avoided, and no one would be aiming for Diablo.

  But, could she manage to get away?

  It would certainly be difficult.

  If that’s the case, then could he protect Shera while fighting against the Kingdom of Greenwood? That would only be reckless.

  What should he do?

  If this was when he had first come to this world, he would have refused with no trouble at all. Asking someone to stop a war by themselves was too much for one person to handle. He might have even said “There’s nothing I can do about that.”

  There were no correct choices here.

  But he had already given his answer.

  That’s because, right now—he was the Demon Lord, Diablo!

  “Do not underestimate me. There is no feasible way that a Demon Lord would yield to a few soldiers.”

  Shera opened her eyes wide.

  “Huh!? What are you going to do...!?”

  “The other day you assented to being property of the Demon Lord, did you not?”

  “Y-Yeah. I did say that.”

  “If you truly meant what you said, then cease this nonsense about running away by yourself. Do you doubt my power?”

  “I don’t... but... I don’t want Humans or Elves to die.”

  “Hmph. I will not hold myself back against any who dare face me... but, at the very least, I will offer them a warning. Leave everything to me.”

  There he went again with his Demon Lord role play.

  He had just made an exorbitant promise without considering the consequences. His back was covered in a cold sweat, and his mouth almost began to twitch.

  Shera teared up.

  “...I can... be with you, Diablo?”

  “I will not say it again.”

  “Waaaahhh! Thank you! Thank you, thank you! I was really—!”

  Tears in her eyes, she wrapped herself around Diablo.

  The feeling of her chest squeezed up against him.

  Without thinking, he almost let out a little yelp of surprise, but held fast and resisted the urge. A Demon Lord would not be flustered by having boobs pressed up against him!

  Rem let out a sigh.

  “...In the first place, because of that enslavement collar on you, it might not even be possible to leave Diablo and do things like run away by yourself.”

  “Sniff... What do you mean?” Shera asked, wiping her tears.

  “...I have never heard of the Enslavement Ritual being reflected before. For that reason, we do not know the exact details about the collars currently wrapped around our necks. However, a Summon cannot normally stray too far from its Summoner.”

  “Oh, is that right?”

  “...In some cases, it is because they are ordered not to leave them.”

  “But what about when you stayed in town while Diablo and I went to the Bridge of Ulug?”

  “...You remember well for a dumb Elf. But for you to run away, you would need to escape to another town, or go even farther away than that. Have you even thought about whether that is possible or not?”

  “Don’t call me dumb! And no, I haven’t really thought about it!”

  Rem let out a second sigh.

  “...Well, if Diablo says that he will protect you, then I guess there is no need to consider that, anyway.”

  This was some serious responsibility being laid on him. While seemingly calm and collected on the outside, he was a turmoil of panic on the inside.

  —What do I do? WhatdoIdowhatdoIdowhatdoI—
>
  Sylvie clapped her hands together.

  “Alrighty, everything’s decided, then! Whew, glad that’s all taken care of. To tell the truth, the Kingdom of Greenwood actually put out a bounty for capturing Shera— Ah, but not through the Adventurer’s Guild! We don’t make quests out of crimes! It’s just a rumor I heard floating around, that’s all. So you might have a few ‘misguided’ Adventurers gunning for you... But that’s no problem if Diablo is going to protect you!”

  Diablo furrowed his eyebrows.

  “The King of Greenwood... Shera’s father did that?”

  “No, the client was apparently Prince Keera. Sounds like whoever brings her back gets a one billion frith reward. For a commoner, that’s enough money for an entire lifetime.”

  “...What a complete lack of common sense,” Rem muttered.

  Shera had a horrified expression on her face. Without thinking, Diablo raised his voice.

  His rage overtook him.

  “He placed a bounty... on his own sister? How could he be any more of an imbecile!”

  A black aura suddenly emanated from the entirety of his body.

  Rem, Shera, and Sylvie all cried out in shock.

  It felt like he had lost some MP in the process.

  When his feelings had gone out of control after hearing something as ridiculous as a sibling placing a bounty on their sister, it felt like he had consumed a bit of his MP.

  Thinking back on it, he felt that his magic was stronger when he took the time to get a clear picture of it in his head.

  There may just be a connection between emotions and magic.

  —What would have happened if I was holding Tenma’s Staff? I don’t think it’d be a good thing if my magic just spontaneously fired off, thought Diablo.

  Because he had been living an idle and lazy life for the past few days, his all-important Tenma’s Staff was lying in the corner of the room.

  Diablo took a deep breath and calmed himself down.