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The Azusa Family’s Great Crisis
Harukara started to turn pale.
She then got on her knees instantly. Actually, she’s doing something that looks pretty much like a Japanese dogeza.
“I’m terribly sorry Demon Lord-sama! All that talk of fooling you were all just figures of speech and I didn’t mean it in the literal sense! Completely, absolutely honest! Please believe me!”
What she said was kind of rude… and probably not ok…
“Huh~? Haruka onee-san, you said you were going to fake being sick, but did your tummy actually start hurting so much that it’s making you curl up like that?”
“It’s said that sickness comes from the mind. A feigned stomach ache can come to realization if the mind wills it.”
Farufa. Sharusha. You know you’re just digging a deeper grave for her right.
“Oh my, you were even thinking of going that far?”
The demon lord had a vibrant smile, but that in itself was frightening.
“No… To the end I was just trying to avoid being disrespectful to you, Prott Pacona Elias-sama…”
“Seriously… Demon lord-sama’s name is Provat Pecola Aryess…”
Beelzebub was fed up.
Harukara froze stiff. She kinda looked like a frog.
“Azusa-sama, she’s been piling on more and more rude remarks. Is this really going to be alright?”
Leica seemed seriously worried as she watched from behind.
There’s no way we could cover for that combination attack.
The demon lord crouched down and patted Harukara on the shoulder. pon pon.
“Please get up. You’re not my retainer or anything, so there’s no need for you to lower your head”
Thank goodness. She’s willing to forgive her.
“Y, Yes! Understood”
This time Harukara shot straight up as if she was a soldier
Her head slammed against the demon lord’s chin in full force.
It was such a magnificent surprise attack that the demon lord crashed right onto her back.
Silence…
The atmosphere couldn’t have frozen more perfectly.
A perfect hit against the demon lord…
“Demon lord-sama, keep yourself together! Oh no, she’s lost consciousness!”
She might’ve gotten a concussion… No matter how strong a being you are, you’d lose consciousness when your brain is shaken wouldn’t you.
Leica started to tremble before Harukara did.
“Harukara-san, I can’t believe you… This time it really can’t be put off as just a joke…”
Harukara was unresponsive. She fainted while standing. Seems like her heart stopped allowing herself to think any further.
The demons who picked up on the disturbance started to make a ruckus.
“Demon lord-sama has collapsed!” “Quickly, take her to the sick bay!” “How in the world could this have happened!”
“Her spirit looks like it’s just about to fly out. Shit… if it manages to come out, it won’t be able to return…” Rosary commented, one appropriate for a ghost.
“Hey Leica… This is uh, really bad isn’t it…? What’s going to happen to Harukara?”
Leica gave a silent pause, then just shook her head left and right for some reason.
“W-What does that even mean? That’s way too ominous…”
Sharusha tugged on my arm.
“Sharusha isn’t entirely familiar with the laws of the demon race, but in human law it’s common for one to receive a death sentence upon bringing harm to royalty. There’s no way to excuse it…”
“No, but the thing she did, I mean, clearly there was no intention of harm right? Surely they’ll show some mercy?”
“Not just Harukara, we too may end up executed… That’s just how serious of a crime this was…”
“Wahh! Farufa doesn’t want to die~!” Farufa began crying aloud.
This might be the Azusa family’s greatest crisis so far…?
That’s right, let’s ask Beelzebub! If it’s her, then she’ll be able to come up with a plan to get around this!
But even that Beelzebub’s face had turned pale.
“If I’d have known it would come to this, I would’ve seriously considered letting her feign sickness. According to the law, she’ll be killed without a doubt. This isn’t something trivial like angering a provincial governor. There’s been no precedent for anyone being saved after doing something like this…”
“P-Please come up with something…”
Beelzebub came over and whispered to my ear.
“For now just remain silent. If you don’t resist, then everyone besides Harukara will still be treated as guests and sent to a room. You will be placed under strict surveillance though. As guests of honor, even if any of you are suspected of being accomplices, you won’t be sent to jail, but house arrest instead.”
“Alright, I’m fine with that.”
“As for how to save Harukara, there’s but one way.”
“What is it?”
I could see a bit of light after knowing that there was a chance.
“The only person who can overrule the law is demon lord-sama herself. That demon lord-sama is currently unconscious. At this rate Harukara will be tried, confirmed guilty of her crime, and according to the law be impaled on a stake then set on fire. On top of that, it’s likely that her elven hometown will in the worst case be wiped out.”
“You don’t have to go into so much detail about the punishment… But I’ve gotten a good idea of what we need to do.”
In summary, we just need the demon lord to say “Stop.”
“So we’ll have to get the demon lord to regain consciousness right?”
Beelzebub nodded slowly.
“For humans, you can wake them up by shaking them a bit, but for long lived demons, they can stay unconscious for several days. That’s too much time. We’ll need to force her awake somehow.”
“Alright, got it.”
“However, none of you are to leave the room, on the surface at least. Doing so will increase suspicions of you all being accomplices. Try to do something that will let you act while making it seem that you’re all still in the room.”
“G-Got it…”
I have no other choice.
“How much time do we have?”
“She was arrested and caught red handed in the act, so there’s not much time… Work under the premise that by tomorrow morning, Harukara will have become something else entirely… It would be great if demon lord-sama wakes up, but I have no idea when that’ll be.”
A burly male demon came by. He was carrying something that looked like a pronged man-catcher.
“This is the criminal. Take her away!”
They then dragged Harukara off.
Another set of demons came our way.
“We shall now be taking you to the guest room. Just to be safe, we will not be allowing you to leave your room.”
I obediently nodded my head.
I’ll definitely get us past this crisis.