“Why!? Why is the main body here!? Moreover, Eda-chan is the main body!? Eh, no way!?”
“So, you’ve finally noticed. Does that mean you wouldn’t have noticed if I were in a female form? Hmm, I’m curious about the mechanism…or should I say, the reason…”
“Damn it, let go! I can’t end here…!”
Chrome, who had realized my true identity, started violently struggling on the spot. However, as long as I have a firm grip on his wrist, his resistance means nothing.
The weakness of not being able to use the banishing skill when coming into contact with the demon king, I had already taken care of that. Unless it suddenly becomes unusable during combat, there’s no chance of losing my ability if I intentionally touch him in a calm situation like this. I’ve secretly practiced balancing the power tug-of-war.
That being said, Demon King Chrome can’t escape. As long as he’s caught by me, wrapped in the [Invincible] escape is impossible unless he has overwhelming superhuman strength capable of nullifying it.
“In that case…”
“Hmm?”
I felt a powerful energy filling Chrome’s entire body. I must handle this immediately. I plunged my free left hand into the [Stranger Box] and tried to pull out [Dawnbreaker] which had been put away for a long time…
“…Damn it!”
Before I could, the power that had filled Chrome’s body dissipated. Instead of the sword, I grabbed Chrome’s black hood and pulled it off, revealing a face identical to mine, wearing an expression of frustration.
“What’s going on? Weren’t you about to do something?”
“…I thought so. But if I used my power here, this town would be blown away, wouldn’t it? I didn’t want that.”
“Why not? You’re me…you’re the Demon King, aren’t you?”
“While it’s true that I’m the Demon King, I am myself. I don’t want my beloved idols, especially my favorite Tia-chan, to get hurt.”
“…I see.”
I let go of Chrome, who I had been holding, and sat down across the table from him. However, Chrome didn’t show any signs of running away. He just slumped down on the table.
“Ah, is this my “end”…”
“Hey, Demon King Chrome. What have you been doing in this world? What kind of life have you been leading?”
“Why do you ask that? Isn’t it all over once the main body absorbs me?”
“Why not, tell me. Sure, I am you, and you are a part of me, but at the same time, I am me and you are you, right? So, I want to know. We’ve got plenty of time, fortunately.”
Thinking about the off chance that someone might come, or if the situation escalated, I reverted to Edda’s form, pulled the cork out of the wine bottle on the table, and poured it into two of the four glasses. As I placed one in front of Chrome, he took it with a dark look in his eyes, sighed slightly, and then took a sip.
“Huh…Alright, I’ll tell you. As you already know, we demon kings are anomalies in this world, but that doesn’t mean we are enemies of the world. However, most demon kings can’t control their enormous power at the initial stage and run amok, so by the time their egos have established and they can control their power, they are often seen as threats by the world. I was no exception. In the beginning, I couldn’t control my power at all and turned most of this world into a desert.”
“Wow, that’s…wait, a desert? But now…”
“That’s right. I turned the earth into sand and almost ended the world. But I didn’t wish for such a thing, and the world didn’t confront me either as they were too busy surviving the rapidly disappearing greenery. So, I, who had gained wisdom and knowledge, established my selfhood, and managed to change the direction of my power, turning the desert back into a green world. But because I did it forcefully, the world ended up becoming a forest.”
“Oh, that’s why this world is full of forests. Well, it’s a million times better than a desert, I suppose.”
While there may be ways to live in a sandy world, the difficulty is vastly different compared to a forest. Actually, this world doesn’t seem to be in any particular distress. After all, even idols, a form of entertainment profession, are flourishing… This wine, it’s damn good.
“If things continued the way they were, the forests would slowly decrease over a few thousand years, and the natural distribution would return to something more typical… But that’s beside the point. Anyway, I removed the reason for the world to antagonize me. Although I am the Demon King, I have never been attacked by a hero. But then, I had a lot of free time. So, I traveled the world…and that’s when I encountered something wonderful.”
“Something wonderful? That would be…”
“It’s a song.”
As I listened to the story while enjoying the surprisingly tasty wine and food, Chrome’s expression brightened in front of me. The flush on his face was not just due to the alcohol.
“In a certain small farming village, a young girl was singing a song. I was captivated by its splendor and immediately fell for it. I wanted to listen to her song anytime, forever. But she was also a worker, so she couldn’t sing all the time. So, how should I go about it? If it’s bad to sing without working, then the song itself should become work. That’s what led me to create the ‘Idol Church’! By the way, I didn’t make it a guild but a church because it was easier to gain understanding and cooperation from others, and I could use my power in a good way and disguise it as a ‘miracle’.”
“Eh, you created the Idol Church!?”
“That’s right. I’m the founder!”
In front of me, surprised, the Demon King Chrome confidently flaunts. It’s also my face, so I feel a bit awkward, but I still have questions.
“You’re the founder, but now you’re just an archbishop’s assistant?”
“…I realized that becoming too powerful brings many political troubles and hassles. So, I’ve maintained moderate power to support the idols, and I’ve devoted all my energy to watching my favorite idols. However, because of this, a slight problem has occurred.”
“Problem…is it by any chance about that? The archbishop deciding that ‘idols should be trios’?”
“That’s right! There are three archbishops, but one of them suddenly started advocating something incomprehensible! Moreover, the remaining two who initially opposed him also started to support this ridiculous opinion for some reason… As an assistant, I couldn’t stop this flow. What on earth happened…”
“As for that, I have a slight idea.”
I say, and tell him about what happened in this world so far. Upon hearing this, Chrome lets out an outraged voice.
“What is that!? Although I built the church, I think gods really only do terrible things!”
“Right? Seriously, we should punch them at least once.”
“Please let me punch them too when that happens! How many potential idols had to swallow their tears because of that strange rule… Ahh, just thinking about it makes me so frustrated that I could cry!”
“Right. If Tia and I hadn’t teamed up, Rain would probably have given up being an idol.”
“Rain-chan’s song is truly a miracle! It’s a universal loss to let that be lost! Gods are crap! Ah, but, if you consider that Tia-chan became an idol as a result, gods are still gods…?”
“You idiot, Tia would be a god even if she hadn’t become an idol!”
“Indeed! That’s exactly right! So that means, Tia-chan is a god…!?”
“No way! Don’t compare Tia to that crap god!”
“Guhh!? Please don’t hit me, it hurts! I’m a Demon King, you know? An archbishop’s assistant, you know?”
“I don’t know and I don’t care! If you’re gonna go there, I’m the Demon King of the End! Also, a mercenary…ah, that’s not impressive, is it?”
“It doesn’t matter! Anyway, Idol Tia-chan is the best!”
“Yeah! She’s definitely the best!”
Before I knew it, Chrome was next to me, his face as red as can be. That means my face is probably beet red too.
Empty wine bottles lined up on the table, and the food, which should have been too much to finish, was considerably diminished.
Chrome called me, I answered, I deceived as the Last, and Ed started the meeting. Enveloped in a relaxed atmosphere and hazy thoughts, my own banquet, by me and for me, continued in an incomprehensible way.
The next morning, when Johnny, who was worried and came to check on us, saw me snoring loudly with pants on my head and in my underwear, and Chrome, in a black hood with a face pattern on his belly, groaning uncomfortably with his face buried in my chest…