Mizuki Demon King Daimaou: Volume 1

1. Auflage 2017
ISBN: 978-1-7183-0078-1
Verlag: J-Novel Club
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: 0 - No protection

E-Book, Englisch, Band 1, 250 Seiten

Reihe: Demon King Daimaou

Far in the future, Japan has become a land ruled by magic and those who wield it. Akuto Sai arrives at Constant Magical Academy-the most prestigious magic school in the world-for his first year of high school. The only student to pass the Academy's intense entrance exam, he has his sights set on become a High Priest, the most powerful and virtuous magician in the land. However, when he arrives at the Academy, his future occupation is prophesied to be... The Demon King?! Now Akuto is the number one target on campus, and he must navigate his way with the help of his friends-a troublesome delinquent, a beautiful observer android, an honor-bound class representative, and a mysterious girl from his past-through the seedy underbelly of the world's premier magic academy.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Mizuki, Shoutarou

Weitere Mitwirkende

Itou, Souichi

Musto, David

Leseproben

It was 2:00 AM — the dead of night, when most people were fast asleep.

A small light raced across the night sky.

If any resident of this world looked up and saw this light, they would immediately know exactly what it was. It wasn’t a falling star, a bird, or an airplane. It was the light emitting from the mana that a magic user had used for their flight magic.

Cleaving through the air as if it was frozen was a black-haired woman clad in a magnificent, long coat. Judging by the mist forming behind the woman from the sweat running down the cheek of her stiff face, her tense expression was not simply because of the cool night air.

There was a shining silver symbol on the breast of her coat — it featured a snake holding an apple in its mouth, wrapped around a double cross. It was a symbol worn and favored by the black magicians of this continent.

And, a small hand appeared from the inside of the coat and played with the symbol. She was holding a baby in her arms.

As the woman soothed the baby, she looked behind her. It was impossible to fly without disturbing mana, so if she was being pursued, she would be able to sense their presence. Right now, there was no sign of anyone. Even so, the woman was heavily disturbing the mana around her mid-flight, so even from far away, her position must have been pin-pointedly clear.

“I have to ensure they don’t figure out where this child came from...” the woman muttered. To stay unnoticed, she flew to the ground just before her destination and walked through the darkness without using any sort of light magic to guide her way. From the air, she had confirmed that there was a small town at the end of a narrow road through the thicket. This was an unknown land to her, but from the layout of the town and the symbol engraved on the front gate, she was certain this place would serve her purpose.

The town was dead silent. Despite the fact there were only a few hundred odd residents, the church near the entrance into town was far bigger than that number would imply, and seemed to be equipped with the necessary facilities to perform baptisms. This child absolutely had to be baptized. Even though it was difficult to part with the child, the ruling god here was Ko-Roh, and benevolence and love were the main tenets of his faith. It was the most suitable place to entrust the child.

Entrust the child... She thought this, and finally an emotion close to reassurance welled up inside of her. That’s right. Our child, our long desired child, will be entrusted to live with the people under the sunlight.

“Grow healthy, and grow strong for the day you realize your destiny.” As she chanted the words of this ancient prayer, she took off her coat, gently wrapped the child in it, and laid him down in front of the church.

“The child of our hopes and dreams...” As she ran away, she looked back at the child, the look of a mother fearing for her child in her eyes. But—

—No!

Her face clouded as if she had immediately realized her own mistake, and she quickly turned back to face forward.

This feeling of failure had come from squarely meeting the eyes of the child through the darkness.

The baby didn’t cry and had just returned his mother’s look. A certain expression had surfaced in those eyes, one that did not suit the eyes of a baby not even a year old. They were the eyes you’d see in a timid man in his twenties who’d been dumped by a woman. It was as if the baby was sulking, or had simply given up.

—Well, nothing can be done, it’s my fault anyway...

That was what the baby’s eyes were so eloquently saying.

“Your destiny might be different than predicted... No, that might be exactly what we are hoping for...” The woman muttered to herself to try to put herself at ease as she disappeared into the trees.

The extremely precocious abandoned baby looked up at the sky, as if it was brooding over its next move.

Ten years passed.

The baby that had stared up at the stars had grown into a young boy who was now vacantly gazing up at the midday sky. Akuto was his name, and others had a hard time understanding his personality. Reaching his mental peak at the age of five, he was a child with an astute understanding of the world and great self-awareness.

When he was five years old, as the orphanage teacher was going over the timetable on how the children were to spend the day, he looked at it perplexed from the side. “Will you get mad if we don’t obey this schedule?” he asked. “Is it that we need to be supervised because we’re weak?”

Once, when they went on a scenic outing to the mountains and they were given an especially lavish lunch, upon eating it Akuto said, “This is by far the fanciest thing I’ve eaten since living at the orphanage. Even though I haven’t done anything to deserve it, I’m thankful for this happiness that was given to me. But unless I go out into the world and work, this will be the greatest thing I ever experience.” With this sudden realization, he began to cry.

In this way, Akuto quietly spent his days at the orphanage. Despite being a strange child, he tried to not cause any trouble for others. It seemed he had the strong urge to be a good person, and while he displayed eccentric behavior now and again, it never caused any major incidents.

Around halfway through elementary school — at the age of ten — there was a small disturbance when he left the orphanage to live with a foster family. A young girl who was the same age as Akuto came to the orphanage to take his place.

All of the children at the orphanage had come here because their parents had died and they had no relatives to stay with, but this girl did nothing but cry. Seeing this, Akuto stopped in his tracks. Even though it was his big day, the reason that no one had come to see him off was because they were preoccupied with this girl.

The teachers at the orphanage were using their usual comforting tactics. It’s not as if there was a manual for doing so, but they were used to cheering up children this way. They would play with stuffed animals and use soothing, gentle words. Rather than put their heart into it, in most cases it was more effective to use superficial methods instead.

Akuto had already experienced this firsthand, but with a personality like his he couldn’t help but consider it unpleasant. What was even more displeasing was the fact that, despite the deep sorrow they must have felt, this interaction with the teachers was enough to make every single one of the orphans cheer up and smile. But before long Akuto realized that this girl was no normal child. Even when she was given a piece of toy jewelry, she’d only show interest for a split second before continuing to cry without end.

Akuto decided to stop the girl from crying. After dropping his things off at his new home, he needed to return the orphanage’s suitcase. He left it in the entrance way, and walked to the market area in the center of town, where he entered the only accessory shop that sold jewelry. Emptying his wallet of all his money — a few months’ worth of adult living expenses — he purchased a jewel-encrusted hair ornament and returned to the orphanage. The young girl was still crying, and the teachers were wondering what to do.

Akuto slipped past the teachers, and as he stood in front of the crouched girl he tugged on her hair, pulling her head up. The teachers were shocked and scolded Akuto for his behavior, but Akuto remained silent and thrust the hair ornament out in front of the girl’s face.

It took quite some time for her to notice what was happening, but despite the unusual situation, her crying stopped. She returned Akuto’s gaze with swollen, red eyes, and a dumbfounded expression.

Round eyes and a round face. She had several clumps of frizzy hair that stood up on end, which swayed back and forth every time she rubbed the side of her eyes with her balled-up hands. Her hair was a bright, fiery red, so those clumps of hair gave off the impression of a flame flickering in the wind. Anyone would think she was cute for a girl her age, though with her features it seemed that she’d always keep that child-like quality no matter how old she was.

Akuto averted his eyes from the girl’s face and forcibly thrust the hair ornament into her hand. The girl didn’t resist, but when she noticed that there were jewels embedded in the eyes of the bird-shaped ornament, she looked at Akuto with a frightened expression. Even children understand what the real thing looks like. Of course, it was far too extravagant a thing for a child to have. Without giving the girl as much as a glance, Akuto faced the teachers and declared that while this ornament was expensive, it was still hers, and that no one was to steal it, nor should the teachers try to hold onto it for her.

“Th-Thank you...”

The girl said with astonishment, looking back and forth between Akuto and the ornament. She acted like an explosive had been placed in her hands.

“I intend to work from now on, so I don’t need anyone else’s money. You can sell this when you leave the orphanage, or you can keep it. It is yours. But I want you to remember that, in the end, simply receiving something is usually enough to stop a person’s tears. Even so, it took something very expensive to make you stop crying, so that might mean that you’re quite an incredible child. You could even be...