Yomigaeri no Maou Chapter 8

Chapter 8 – Hour of Awakening＊

[‘When she awoke’]

Beyond the clear material of the Capsule slept a young girl without a breath, possessing an almost sculpted looking face, so beautiful that she didn’t seem real.

She had silver hair, almost transparent white skin, and fine and slender limbs.
Her age seemed about the same as Luru’s right now, and her face was young enough that you could say it was cherubic.

However, none of that mattered.
To Luru, what was important was that she her features conformed with the characteristics of the race now called the ancient demon race.
The extreme mana conductivity of the ancient demon race dyed their hair silver.
That was the most important feature of the ancient demon race.
Humans didn’t possess this kind of hair.
It seemed that modern people didn’t know about this fact, but of course Luru did.
He knew that this appearance was that of the ancient demon race.
That’s why he knew that the girl before him was of the ancient demon race.

And, what was even more important, was that he knew very well who this girl was.

There was no way he could forget.
It was the girl he was worried about during his fight with the hero.
The face that appeared in his mind when he regretted being eternally unable to celebrate her birthday.
The daughter of Bacchus Taesnola who had long ago been the Demon King Luruslia Nord’s trusted friend.

“…Iris…”

Muttered Luru.

Gran peered into the Capsule as well from behind Luru, and when he realised that what was laying there was a girl, he raised his voice in shock.

“…Oi, why the h.e.l.l is there a person in there!? Are they alive?”

With those words, Luru confirmed a second time that as expected, the characteristics of the ancient demon race weren’t pa.s.sed on to the people of this era.
To gran, she was nothing but a human.
In fact, excluding her hair, the girl’s – Iris’ appearance wasn’t different to a human’s whatsoever.
You could feel that she had a little bit more mana, but even so, the reason it felt like she was still a human was probably because she had been continuously sleeping for so long.
The long term sleeping system required a lot of mana to operate, so diminished mana during the sleep was one of the side effects of its use.
When Luru was the demon king, the effect of this was large enough that it couldn’t be ignored; enough that if one slept for 100 years, all of their mana would be used up. As a result, it wasn’t able to be put to practical use.
Since then, technology had probably progressed, and it had been reformed so you could sleep for even thousands of years without issue.
If it was using just a little bit of the mana within the body, then the ancient demon race could do so without problem at all.
Once their woke up and began moving about, their mana would return to levels befitting of the ancient demon race once feared by the humans, after all.
There were no major problems with the machine outside of that side effect after all, and being case, it meant that Iris was now safely sleeping.

That’s why Luru replied,

“I don’t know why but… she’s alive, isn’t she? There’s no way to check except by opening it up”

“Even if you talk about opening it up… how are we supposed to open this thing, anyway? I’ve never seen something like this before. There’s someone inside, so I can’t b.l.o.o.d.y well chop it open either.”

Gran spoke with a troubled expression.
The transparent Capsule that covered Iris was also made from ancient demon race technology, and not only had it survived thousands of years without a problem, you could imagine that even if you cut at it, it would be fine just like the doors from a while ago.
That being the case, they had no choice but to open it the way they were meant to.
In the doors’ case, what seemed to be the management system’s artificial voice had spoken when Luru touched it.

What if he touched it as well, this time…?

Thinking this, Luru slowly and quietly brought his hand to the Capsule.
It was a machine that had probably allowed a living being to sleep without dying for many, many years.
Because he was afraid of breaking it by handling it roughly, he had ended up touching it the way he did.
Though he comprehended that it wasn’t made of anything so brittle, this was a matter of the heart.

And then, Luru’s hand made contact with the Capsule.
And when it did,

『……suspend……long……ing equipment……number……?』

resounded the blurred artificial voice, once more. Thus, Luru replied,

“Please suspend it! With the life of the person using the equipment as priority!”

It would be trouble if all that happened was that the system shut down.
They had to wake make sure she woke up safely.
That’s why Luru said what he did.
The artificial intelligence created long ago via mage technology[/arts] had been created with the ability to obey these kinds of vague instructions in mind, so as long as there wasn’t some kind of flaw that developed as a result of the few millennia that had pa.s.sed, it would do as he intended.
And truly, the artificial voice said.

『……Understood……』

and began preparing to suspend the long term sleeping equipment.
Some kind of mist-like medicine or something was being sprayed inside the Capsule before their eyes.
What happened after was that the blood gradually began to return to Iris’ pale face.
Her chest that had been completely still up until now began to slowly rise and fall, and you could tell that she had begun to breath.
It was probably to wake her up.

“…Seems she’s alive, huh.”

Muttered Gran, as he watched over these events.
From his point of view, he probably couldn’t understand what on earth this Capsule was.
Even Luru couldn’t understand the details of this, even if he knew that Iris was being woken up.
It was unreasonable to expect the people of this era to understand.

How long pa.s.sed by after that?
It didn’t feel like too long had pa.s.sed, and it also felt like it was just an instant. When that time had pa.s.sed, a line suddenly appeared down the middle of the capsule, and after that, the Capsule opened, and the two halves of the transparent Capsule were stored in each side.

At last, Iris had awoken.
Thinking this, Luru approached the sleeping Iris with resolve.

Looking at her face up close, Luru felt a profound feeling of nostalgia[/longing].
He recalled the joyful face of his friend who had just had a child.
The many times he had celebrated her birthday.
Iris’ smiling face as she ran up to him to be spoiled.
And the happy expressions of her parents who watched this.

All of those revived in him when he saw her face.

Aaah, she was finally waking up.
Even though he had expected her to have died after his fight, she managed to survive safe and sound, and even reunited with he who should have died.

He felt deeply moved by this.

In the past, in the height of the war with the humans, when they resolved themselves to die, soldiers would say to their sweethearts before heading to battle,

『Even if I fall in battle, let’s meet again in the next life. The cycle of rebirth will definitely allow us to meet again.』

They were words of faith, of temporary comfort, and of consolation.
They believed in this in the depths of their hearts, but that didn’t mean that they truly expected to be able to meet again.

Despite all of this, Luru was now seeing such a miracle.

It was just a little, but he felt that he couldn’t believe it.
However, it was reality.

He who had become a human, and the daughter of his old friend, separated by thousands of years, met each other.

This was reality.

Like that, Luru gazed at her face as he stopped his emotions from leaking prematurely.

And then, the girl opened her eyes.

Slowly, and majestically.

Both Luru and Gran were for an instant entranced by that beautiful sight.

However, it was only for an instant.

The one who noticed first was Gran.

“…!? Luru! That kid is dangerous!! …Guah-!!”

Together with his scream, Gran was sent flying without reason and crashed again the wall.
The shocked Luru returned to his senses, and with eyes wide, he saw that the now awakened and upwards facing Iris had the palm of her right hand pointed towards Gran, with smoke rising from it.

Luru understood that Iris was the one who had sent Gran flying.

“…What are you…!?”

Shouted Luru in panic, but the rising Iris suddenly smiled, her soft gaze became sharp and she glared at Luru.
Her glittering red eyes burned with hatred and anger.

“…Human. Die.”

It was a dark voice, colder than a glacier.
A voice smothered in all despair.
And then, Luru noticed her words.
He hadn’t paid any attention, but it was a reality that he was a human, and long ago the demon race and human race had been enemies who killed each other.
It was a reality that to Iris, Luru looked like nothing but an enemy.

His seven years of peace living as a human had made Luru forget his wariness from his time as the demon king.

Iris slowly, but at a speed that was invisible from human standards, moved her arm towards Luru.

It seemed that she had no intention of using a chant.
Gathered mana compressed in an instant in Iris’ hand, and she fired it at Luru.

Luru felt shock at her ability to manipulate mana so quickly.
The Iris that Luru had known didn’t possess this much power.
She was nothing more than a young child, and not only was her mana in its growth phase, but she was at an age where her magic and magecraft would only develop later on.

Despite this, just now was at the level of a soldier.
Luru didn’t know just how much time had pa.s.sed after he had died.
However, he could tell from her power that she had gone through some considerably harsh training.

The red orb of mana, or Mana Bullet{Magia Globus}, that Iris had fired off approached Luru’s abdomen at a terrifying speed.

‘If it hits him, he’ll have no choice but to be prepared for death.‘

It was magecraft that possessed enough power and speed to make any onlookers believe so.

However, the one who stood there was the reborn Demon King, Luruslia Nord.

Regardless of the heights it may have reached, and regardless of the fact that she was an ancient demon, as long as it hadn’t escaped the level of an ordinary soldier, it was impossible to breach his defences.

The Magia Globus that had likely been Iris’ surprise attack was softly caught by Luru’s palm, and as though it was his own mana, he moulded it into four parts.
And then, he began treating it almost like a bean bag.

While freely manipulating the four spheres of mana, Luru immersed himself in the nostalgic memories of having often done this type of thing during his time as demon king.

As the demon king, he had visited children who had lost their parents to the war and played with them.

Playing included pointless activities, as well as many activities with the goal of improving their combat skills.
There were a number of games that helped children master their control of mana.

There was the game of tag where one would scatter their mana, and you had to find them.
There was the game of throwing Magia Globus at each other like a s...o...b..ll fight.
There was also turning your mana into a beanbag, and competing to see who could do it manipulate it more freely.

All of these were games devised for skill training, for the sake of protecting the lives of these children in battle,

Luru performing one of these games had made Iris stare at him, eyes wide.

There was no reason humans should know about this game, and even if they did, they wouldn’t be able to learn it like nothing.

It was not only that, either.

Just now, the number of Mana Bullets{Magia Globus} that Luru had on hand, numbered in the dozens.
The original four had gradually been split up, and the number of them gradually increased.
Now, not only were the numbers beyond normal, but so was the speed at which they flew around as well, each of them more beautifully and carefully controlled than she had ever seen before.

Even amongst the demon race, it was something that couldn’t be done except by those with considerable ability, and furthermore, with that number of Magia Globus, Iris knew of only one person who could do as such.

“…Ojisama?”

The feeble voice that she wrang from her throat was filled with complete confidence, which is why despite it being unsuited for his current age, Luru flashed the cynical seeming smile that he often did as the demon king, and said,

“…Iris. Uncle’s here.”

It was the line that he had said the most to her, when he visited his friends house.
It seemed that Iris remembered, and after widening her eyes with an expression filled with shock, a stream of tears ran down her face as she began running towards him.
The approaching Iris was small and slender.
She lightly jumped into Luru’s chest, and burying her face in it, she shouted with all she had,

“Ojisama-… Ojisama!”

Luru began to quietly pat Iris, who said nothing but that as she bawled.
After that, he glanced to the side at Gran.

The armour he was wearing was greatly dented, but he was alive, and neither were there any great injuries.
Since he seemed to have just fainted, Luru was relieved.

But really, Gran was also quite an unlucky man.
There was already no room left for doubt about the fact that Gran was a first rate adventurer.
Even if that technique was quite high level, and it was his first time seeing it, normally it would have been impossible for him to have been taken out without doing a thing.
That’s why it wasn’t as though Gran couldn’t see through Iris’ Magia Globus.
This time there was nothing that could be said except that it was a bad choice of opponent.

Gran had probably responded to Iris’ magecraft as a normal Magia Globus.
He must have judged that cloaking his armour in mana would be enough to handle it.
Like that, he’d be able to change positions easily, and on top of that he could dull the opponent’s morale; fact, it was because he was a veteran adventurer that he was able to consider these things and take action the way he did.

However, the skill that was indispensible to the ancient demon race was lethal to Gran.
Being able to see the circulation of the opponents mana, and then firing magic that would decompose it, was a skill that any full-fledged demon soldier possessed.
However, that kind of technique had been lost to the ages, and Gran who lived in the modern era couldn’t deal with it.
The simplest method for him would have been to simply avoid it, but if he didn’t know about the technique, then there was no reason he would take such an action.
In other ways, it was because of all this that things ended the way they did.
It really was pitiful.

And then whilst thinking about all this, Luru was at his wits’ end about what to do about all this.

Iris was one of the issues, and what he would say to Gran was another.
Once he got back to the village, he had to say something to Yuumis as well.

His objectives of saving his friends and investigating the purpose of this ruin was more or less accomplished but the amount of problems it had given birth to were too many.

Having said that though…

He looked at the crying girl at his chest.

When he did, she looked back up at him.
It was an awful looking face.
The face that really should have looked like a doll’s was now soaked with mucus and tears.

“Pfft…”

Because it was just too much, Luru had to stifle a laugh.
Seeing this, Iris pouted her cheeks a little.

“H-, how cruel… I have been living all this time thinking of taking revenge for you, Ojisama, but you laugh at me like that! Honestly…!”

“…But you really should look in a mirror. You look terrible, you know.”

Being told that, Iris tilted her head a little and asked,

“Is it truly that bad…? …Speaking of which, the way you speak has changed slightly, has it not? …And if I look carefully, your face too… What is going on? Mmm? Which reminds me, you should have perished in the battle with the hero but… And what time is it now? Where is this place?”

Once she began questioning one thing, a whole load of questions began to surface.
Luru as well couldn’t so quickly organise and answer these questions, so without any other choice he said,

“I’ll explain it later… A lot happened.”

“A lot… you say?”

“Yeah, a lot.”

“I see… Ah-, speaking of which, is the person that I sent flying earlier all right? They are one of your acquaintances, are they not? Umm, I believed them an enemy, and…”

Iris who nodded to Luru’s words started to become fl.u.s.tered.
Normally Iris wasn’t the type to hold hatred towards humans.
It seemed that she attacked in the beginning because she had just woken up, and moreover had been thinking about revenge for Luru as well.
However, Luru was alive, and now that she was fully conscious, she had calmed down.

Luru smiled at the panicked Iris once again.

“You know, even if you say that now… Well, that man, Gran, is alive though, so all you have to do is apologise later. He’ll probably forgive you.”

“Are they a magnanimous person, I wonder… So there are people as generous as Ojisama even in the human race, I see!”

“No, I’m not really that magnanimous, but… Gran doesn’t fuss about the details, so I think it might go well if we write it off as an unfortunate accident.”

“T-, then let us do as such…”

Their triling conversation was nostalgic, and Luru felt for the first time in a long time, fulfilled.
Once Gran woke up, first they’d start off with an explanation.
After that, they’d return to the village and explain to Yuumis as well.
After that, and after that…

Whilst imagining a bright future with an optimism that would have been unimaginable thus far, Luru continued to chat with Iris.

Iris uses ‘watakus.h.i.+’. If you don’t know what that is, don’t worry. Also she speaks very politely. It doesn’t flow as well in English because we now have fewer ‘levels’ of polite speech, but whatever. It’s a fantasy; get on board with it. As you probably know, a great many East Asian cultures refer to people of certain age by corresponding familial relations.h.i.+p. In j.a.pan they are ‘older brother’, ‘older sister’, ‘aunt’, ‘uncle’, ‘grandmother’, ‘grandfather’.
Here, Ojisama literally means ‘esteemed uncle’, but he is not actually her relative, but rather a close older male of an age appropriate of an uncle. Strictly speaking, 弾 can also mean ‘ball’, ‘bead’, ‘orb’, etc. but I prefer the translations of ‘___弾’ as ‘___ bullet’ when its a projectile weapon/skill. From the ‘globus’ part of the name though, you can tell that it also means ‘ball’.

/Chapter 8 END