“Oooooh!! [Wooden Punch]!!” (Uriel)
The punch of Uriel sends Sasae-chan flying.
Even if he is a coward, that’s a Demon Lord for you. In terms of battle strength, he is on the world class level.
“They have finally begun fighting in close quarters combat. I think this is the first time I see Uriel fighting personally.” (Gabriel)
Until now, he has been fighting by using Slimes or Golems and it has always been with something in between after all.
This is also part of why he is called a coward Demon Lord.
“But once it is pushed to a close quarters fight, Uriel is strong.” (Michael)
“The Earth element is originally the most suited for close combat. By taking effect on the solids, they can adjust its hardness, weight, and sharpness as they wish with earth divine power. That power shows its most effectivity in close range.” (Haine)
“But the same goes for Sasae-chi.” (Celestis)
More so because Sasae-chan also has the technique. She has learned the use of her big scythe from her Oba-san and Yoneko-san.
Compared to that, Uriel had recently gained intelligence and, no matter how you think about it, he doesn’t have the know-hows.
In terms of technique, the difference is high.
He has no choice but to fill that difference with something.
“Damn it! Damn it!! What’s with this, what’s with this?! Everyone saying things that don’t make sense!!” (Uriel)
Uriel’s desperate state was already reaching new heights.
By increasing the height of his own wooden body by a crazy extent, he has somehow managed to oppose Sasae-chan.
“I…! I simply wanted to eradicate the humans! Eradicate the humans and have the monsters take the position of rulers that the humans held! That’s all it was for this battle!” (Uriel)
Uriel cried out as he lets out a barrage of punches -while spitting his own barrage of ‘this is not how it was supposed to go’.
“And yet, why do I have to pass through this painful experience?! Why do I have to pass through this scary experience?! I am a Demon Lord, you know?! The strongest existence in the surface world! Why is it that this position is being threatened?! No, in the first place, why is it that I have begun to feel things like fear and pain?!” (Uriel)
Why do you feel fear, why do you feel pain.
“I wouldn’t have even thought about it in the past…! The kinfolk that were born before me from my mother as well; they didn’t feel things like fear or pain. And yet…!” (Uriel)
That’s because the very thought of ‘thinking’ was alien for them after all.
No matter the thought or emotion, if you don’t have the basis of ‘feeling’, they simply can’t exist.
The Demon Lord is feeling danger to his life and is desperately fighting against it as he suffers because he now holds a heart that can feel.
It is because he has become a living being that holds a heart.
“How terrible! Were we born in this world to feel such things?! Were we born to learn about pain and harshness?! Meeting such a strong opponent was in order to experience pain?!” (Uriel)
Uriel extents several tens of roots, but even when he swings them around like a club or a whip, it was all cut to pieces by Sasae-chan’s scythe.
When a living being feels danger towards their life, they feel fear towards it. The Demon Lord must be the same.
“If I am to pass through such a painful experience…! It would have been better to not have had a life from the very beginning! That way, there would be no need for me to think or feel!” (Uriel)
Yes, you wouldn’t feel all that.
“Thinking or feeling…! If I didn’t have those, I wouldn’t be feeling this painful experience myself! My very self wouldn’t be here! My existence itself wouldn’t have been present! Thinking is…! The same as existing?” (Uriel)
“I think, therefore I am-dasu ka.” (Sasae)
Sasae-chan says this without stopping swinging her scythe.
“The second son of Sobo-chan, Reushi-ojichan, said that-dasu. He died from an illness last year though-dasu ga. He be a philosophical guy to the bitter end-dasu.” (Sasae)
Sasae-chan’s relatives are truly varied.
“I also hate tough things-dasu. Things like pain and things that ya don’t like, it wouldn’t be bad fer ‘em ta be resolved without feeling those kind of things-dasu. But no matter how harsh it be, if ye were to lose the very ability ta feel, that would be the saddest-dasu!!” (Sasae)
“Right… That’s true! I am already a Demon Lord. I ended up having a heart…! Giving up my heart now would definitely be the most painful and scariest of all!!” (Uriel)
The fighting had temporarily stopped.
Uriel looked down at his wooden body as if confirming its state.
“I don’t want that. No matter how painful and scary the future is, I definitely don’t want to forsake my heart.” (Uriel)
“Same here-dasu.” (Sasae)
“Why did I turn into something like this? Being tormented by pain and fear. Would it have been better to not be born at all? No, that’s not it! There’s no way that’s it!” (Uriel)
No matter what pain and how harsh of a life you have, you can’t just call your birth a mistake.
That same feeling is swirling inside of Uriel.
“I don’t understand! There’s no logical sense to this!” (Uriel)
Contradictions.
For the people that can only speak from logic, contradictions are just painful.
The current Uriel is…the Demon Lord Uriel is trying to overcome this.
By crossing over a problem that can’t be solved by logic, he will reach at what’s beyond it.
“Who was it?! Who was it that birthed me in this way?! Into something that just doesn’t make sense, into something that can’t be explained! Who was it?! Who was the one that created me?!” (Uriel)
At that moment, Uriel’s eyes stopped at one place.
The current opponent of his, Sasae-chan.
No, the one he is looking at is the existence that’s inside of Sasae-chan herself. The God that is currently providing power to Sasae-chan.
“I see… It was you…” (Uriel)
“…?”
“You certainly did say it.” (Uriel)
That monsters were created by the Gods.
That they were created to serve as the tools of the Gods.
Uriel must have remembered those words clearly just now.
“You created us…” (Uriel)
And the Earth Demon Lord Uriel speaks from the heart.
“…Thank you very much.” (Uriel)
- 336: Gratitude towards the gratitude
Why is he thanking her?
It is true that the one who created the monsters -especially the monster that gave birth to Uriel- was Mantle, but that was something far in the past.
Monsters obtaining self-consciousness was something they obtained on their own. Moreover, the Gods were looking at monsters solely as tools.
In the past, I fought the other Gods as the Dark God Entropy because of their treatment towards humans –even when compared to that, the standing of the monsters must have been harsh.
Even with that, Uriel gave his gratitude.
By simply looking at the part that ‘they have created us’.
“Oh my~!”
A fluffy voice resonates.
“Oh my, oh my, oh my, oh my~~!!”
That voice came from the adult Sasae-chan, but it was definitely different from Sasae-chan’s usual way of speaking.
“Thank you, he said! Thank you, he said!!” (Mantle)
“Mantle-sama?” (Sasae)
“This is the first time I have been told that!!” (Mantle)
For some reason, Mantle is happy to an incredible extent.
“I have always always done a lot of things in order to be of use to the human-sans. But it never went as I wanted, failed, get scolded by Inflation-san, and also get erased by Entropy-san…” (Mantle)
That is the undeniable truth.
“But being thanked by the monster-san must mean that I have been of use to the monster-sans, right?! Even if I wasn’t of use to the human-sans, I can be of use to the monster-sans!!” (Mantle)
“Eh? No, that’s not…!” (Uriel)
“Understood. As per the request of the monster-sans, I will eradicate the human-sans!!” (Mantle)
““““Wait, wait, wait!!””””
Mantle is deciding on things way too easily as always.
Changing sides on a single thanks?!
“Wait-dasu yo, Mantle-sama! We humans have also been giving our thanks to Mantle-sama everyday-dasu! We give our thanks from morning to night-dasu yo!!” (Sasae)
“Ara, really?” (Mantle)
We also thankful fer Mantle-sama creating us-dasu shi, and we also be grateful fer blessing us everyday-dasu! I also be grateful that ya made me into a God Hero-dasu!!” (Sasae)
“Ara ara ara, the human-sans were also this grateful?! They didn’t tell me directly, so I didn’t notice!” (Mantle)
“We always be giving prayers of gratitude everyday-dasu yo!! Also, I gave ya my thanks directly not that long ago-dasu!” (Sasae)
“At that time, what you said was ‘I believe in you’…” (Mantle)
“It basically be the same-dasu yo!!” (Sasae)
By the way, this conversation is coming from Sasae-chan and Mantle who is possessing Sasae-chan, so two people are speaking from the same mouth, making it quite the surreal spectacle.
“I-Is that so?! Then, I was properly being of use to the human-sans?” (Mantle)
“Not only properly, ya were doing a splentacular job-dasu yo!! Mantle-sama be the best God-dasu!!” (Sasae)
“Oh my, oh my, oh my!!” (Mantle)
I could tell the happiness of Mantle even from here.
“I have never been told something like that since the Genesis Era!! I was of use to the human-sans huh! I managed to stay as an useful God, right?!” (Mantle)
She is truly happy.
It is exactly because she is a God that can work that hard for the sake of others that she can be easily influenced in her everyday.
At any rate, it looks like Mantle’s desire of being useful for someone has finally been fulfilled after 1,600 years.
“Understood! For the sake of the human-sans that believe in me, I will eradicate the monster-sans that are trying to eradicate the human-sans!!” (Mantle)
“Wait, wait, wait?!” (Uriel)
This time, Uriel was the one agitated.
“That’s troubling! We can’t let go of the meaning we were born! We are also grateful for having been created by you!! Isn’t that what I said before?!” (Uriel)
“Ara ara, that’s true.” (Mantle)
Two hard to coexist truths were clashing inside of Mantle.
“Ara? Ara? …What do I do here? This is troubling. What should I do?” (Mantle)
If she grants the wish of the monsters that have shown their gratitude to her, she would have to eradicate the humans; for the sake of the humans that worship her, she has to eradicate the monsters that threaten the humans.
For Mantle who has only made incredibly simple decisions until now, this is a contradiction that she definitely won’t be able to find an answer to.
“What do I do, what should I do?! Eradicate the monsters for the sake of humans? Eradicate the humans for the sake of monsters? …Ah! Eradicate them both?!” (Mantle)
““No no no no no!!”” “-Dasu!!”
It was close to jumping into a catastrophic conclusion, so the two of them stopped her.
…This woman has a tendency of reaching destructive conclusions all the time.
“That’s no good, God-sama! Don’t reach such close-minded conclusions! Deliberate and discuss about it!!” (Uriel)
“That’s right-dasu yo! Also, that matter already has a conclusion-dasu!!” (Sasae)
Eh?
“I already said it-dasu! Which one is right or wrong be decided by who dies-dasu! The one who survives be the one in the right-dasu! And we have been having a match until now-dasu!!” (Sasae)
“But…neither of us has died?” (Uriel)
Uriel asks as if confused.
Looks like he couldn’t keep up the pace anymore and would scream at any moment now.
“One must die in order to reach a conclusion? You won’t say we are gonna be fighting again, right?!” (Uriel)
And there goes the coward.
“I won’t say that-dasu. This match has already ended-dasu. And the result has already been shown-dasu. Both sides didn’t die. Both sides survived-dasu. That means…” (Sasae)
The judgment was made.
“We both be right-dasu!!” (Sasae)
- 337: Offering a prayer
“Both are in the right? Oh my, oh my!” (Mantle)
Mantle lets out a voice as if she had been enlightened.
“I didn’t think of that! I simply thought that if one is good, the other one should be bad!!” (Mantle)
Mantle has always been separating everything in black and white since 1,600 years ago.
“By the way, I go by the word of ‘justice wins, evil dies’-dasu! That be why, whether it be good or bad be decided by whether ya die or not-dasu!!” (Sasae)
…As I said before, the way the Earth nation people think is scary.
“I have already clashed blades and judged-dasu! We both survived-dasu! And so, the judgment of ‘both being right’ be given-dasu! That be the style of the Earth Church-dasu!!” (Sasae)
“Hey, Gabriel… Wouldn’t it be better for you people to eradicate the humans? Like, the Earth nation might need a bit of cleansing, if you catch my drift.” (Celestis)
“E~h?” (Gabriel)
Celestis and Gabriel were whispering to each other, but we outsiders were respecting the radical conversation that was occurring.
“Uhm then, what should I do? If I don’t eradicate either the humans or monsters, who should I eradicate?” (Mantle)
“Ya don’t have ta eradicate anyone-dasu! Just as Karen-oneechan says, how about aiming fer coexistence-dasu ka?!” (Sasae)
“Eh?”
I shivered at Mantle who was unable to get away from the thought of eradicating, and I also ended up shivering at the strength of will of Sasae-chan in refuting her own God.
“Just as Karen-oneechan and the others said, the proposal of humans coexisting with monsters-dasu! But! If it be about coexisting with monsters, our Earth Church be the one with most experience-dasu!” (Sasae)
“Oh my, that’s true!” (Mantle)
They have been on friendly terms with the Golems for a century after all.
“Our Ishtar Blaze having an inseparable connection with Golems be common knowledge-dasu! Humans and Golems have always been getting along with each other-dasu! This also be thanks to Mantle-sama-dasu! Thank ya very much-dasu!” (Sasae)
“Ara ara, if you thank me that much, I am going to blush!!” (Mantle)
Being poured by gratitude, Mantle was at cloud nine.
“But! That relationship had been thrown into chaos because of Great Pillar-sama’s rampage-dasu! That truly be a regret-dasu!! Who was the one that threw cold water ta our relationship with the Golems?!” (Sasae)
“Ugu!” (Mantle)
Sasae-chan twists the knife naturally at her own God.
“On top of that! After seeing how Uriel-dono created Life Blocks an idea flashed-dasu! A nice idea-dasu!!” (Sasae)
““““““A nice idea?!””””””
The spectators were also confused.
“In this times when Great Pillar-sama’s gone and the Golems are not born anymore, Uriel-dono can go to Ishtar Blaze and make Golems-dasu! It will be the coming of another era of prosperity-dasu!!” (Sasae)
What?!
“Oh my, oh my! That’s truly a nice idea!!” (Mantle)
“No, but that’s…!”
It is true that coexisting is good, but isn’t this going a bit too far right off the bat?!
…No, that’s exactly why this can only be done because the Earth Church has been coexisting with Golems for a hundred years, but…even with that…!
“The conversation be wrapped-dasu! Now, Uriel-dono! I want ya to come to our capital, Ishtar Blaze, right now-dasu!” (Sasae)
“No… what’s this about the conversation being wrapped up? I am still in the stage where I am shocked by the development though!” (Uriel)
Uriel was surprised all the way.
But Sasae-chan and Mantle aren’t kind-hearted enough to play along with the other party’s surprise.
“Sobo-chan be bringing techniques from the outside ta fill in the gaps of the Golem! But it looks like we need another change of policies-dasu! We gotta go back immediately and have a meeting-dasu!!” (Sasae)
“Eh?! Eh?! Eh?! What are you tying me for?!” (Uriel)
Uriel is restrained while in confusion.
Sasae-chan had alchemized a rope or more like a wire to tie Uriel with.
While at it, she retrieved the Life Blocks of the Golems that had been destroyed and puts them into a bag that she had alchemized.
“Well then, Karen-oneechan! Mirack-oneechan! Celestis-oneechan! And the others!” (Sasae)
““““Y-Yes?!””””
Being called, it took our all to respond.
“It been a long time since we last met, but I will be taking mah leave for this urgent business-dasu! I wanna show this hooked fish to Sobo-chan as soon as possible-dasu!!” (Sasae)
“By hooked fish, are you talking about me?!” (Uriel)
Uriel, who looked as if he were a fish caught in a net, was bellowing.
“Well then, bye bye-dasu! I’m gonna meet ya guys in the near future and give ya a report of the current state-dasu!!” (Sasae)
“I will also go with you! I am shining the most right now in all this 1,600 years!! I am truly glad to be a God!!” (Mantle)
The excitement of Sasae-chan and Mantle were completely synchronizing!!
Are these two okay? Can they properly separate later?!
“Gyaaaa!! Wait! Wait!! I have not said a single word about going with you!! Take this off! Release me from this net!! At least stop dragging me as you go! My bark is tearing off as it scrapes the ground! Gyaaaa!! Are you actually planning on dragging me all the way like this to Ishtar Blaze?! By the time we arrive, I will only be left with my legs!! Seriously, wait! I said wait!! Ugyaaa!!” (Uriel)
Uriel’s cries of agony were disappearing in the horizon together with his figure.
“Uwa~~!!” (Uriel)
Left there, we at least gave our condolences to Uriel as we let out a sigh.
