Chapter 451: Intermission: Six Kings Festival ~~ The Agony of a Certain Demon ~~
Chapter 451: Intermission: Six Kings Festival ~~ The Agony of a Certain Demon ~~
There were many stalls at the Six Kings Festival. They ranged from the standard festival stalls to authentic restaurants.
Most of the stalls were run by the subordinates of the Six Kings, but invited guests could also set up their own stalls if they applied in advance.
Elise, a High-ranking Demon, was also one of those who applied to open a store, even though she wasn’t a subordinate of the Six Kings.
She was recognized as a High-ranking Demon due to the amount of magic power she had, but she wasn’t a Peerage-holder. She also didn’t have any combat power at all, and had little to do with the Six Kings.
However, Elise has a talent for fortune-telling and making magic tools, living a modest life while running a small shop.
She had a small connection with the Seditch Magic Tools Company, and through her connection, she was invited to the Six Kings Festival. Since it was a great opportunity, she applied to set up a stall for her specialty, fortune-telling, and she was able to acquire it.
To tell the truth, she also had a small ulterior motive, hoping that she could use this opportunity to get acquainted with at least a Count-rank.
She is just a timid person with no great ambition, but she still had a certain amount of greed. You could even say that she was a normal person. And she was now…… facing the biggest crisis in history.
[……I want you to read…… our compatibility.]
[Yesh!?]
After recovering from the shock of seeing someone who looked like his mother, Kaito and Isis were once again going around the festival. The two of them happened to see Elise’s store and out of curiosity, decided to stop by.
(D- Death King-sama!? N- No way, t- the real one…… No, she’s definitely the real one!? My body hasn’t stopped shaking since a while ago…… S- Scary……)
For an ordinary Demon like her, Isis-san was truly a symbol of fear, and just the fact that she was in front of her greatly made her break out in cold sweat.
And unfortunately, because of her great amount of magic power, she couldn’t faint.
(W- W- W- Why is Death King-sama in my shop…… T- The man she was together with…… C- Could he be that “rumored human”!? The human who received the affection of Death King-sama…… Ababababa……)
Although he wasn’t aware of it, Kaito was also famous in his own right in the Demon Realm. He has connections with the Six Kings, the pinnacle of the Demon Realm, and was the only person in the Human Realm who had a Black-rank invitation. To Elise, he was someone who had an extremely high social status.
However, Kaito didn’t seem to have much interest in using his Black-rank invitation, which would give him free access to all facilities “if he presented it”, so he paid for it as usual at the store and didn’t feel like presenting it this time either.
Half of the reason was that he would feel sorry for receiving services for free, while the other half was just because he didn’t want to stand out by presenting his Black-rank invitation.
But then, he was already standing out because he was together with Isis, but as observant as Kaito is sometimes, he didn’t notice that.
(R- Rumor had it that there was someone who “Underworld King-sama had lost against him”, that “he took out over 100 Black Bears in an instant”, that “he overpowered War King-sama’s subordinates”, that “he won against War King-sama in a physical battle”, and that “he beat Phantasmal King-sama into submission and made her his subordinate”…… He’s that rumored person!?)
They were rumors that would make the person himself hold his head in shame if he had heard about them, but for the general Demon populace, their impression of Kaito was roughly like this.
(R- Read their compatibility? The compatibility between the two of them? ……I- If a bad result appears here…… W- Wouldn’t I be killed!?)
Of course, that’s not going to happen. However, Elise had completely lost composure when she saw Kaito and Isis, who she viewed as beings as unreachable as the heavens.
[……What kind of…… fortune-telling…… is this?]
( !? Death King-sama…… doesn’t know about my fortune-telling? I- If so, I might be able to work things out! N- No matter what result appears, if I just say “it’s the best match”……)
[Errr, according to the guidebook, she uses cards to tell fortune. Errr, for her to tell the compatibility of two people…… Both people would start by drawing four cards, starting with the female, and then, she would read their fortune depending on the pattern and the order in which they appeared. All the combinations are also listed here.]
(Why the heck are you mentioning such unnecessary things, Human-san!? Or rather, what is with that guidebook? That thing also talks about the combinations? I- I kinda want a book like that too…… Wait, that’s not what matters now! W- W- W- What should I do now!?)
Even the faintest glimmer of light was shattered by Kaito, and Elise, with trembling hands, took out the cards used for fortune-telling and divided them into two piles.
For a moment, she thought about cheating and adjusting the design of the cards, but she wasn’t confident that she could fool their eyes, and thus, Elise was left with no choice but to tell the fortune as usual.
[……W- Well then, D- Death King-sama…… P- Please draw four cards……]
(In this situation, I don’t have any choice but to pray! Please, God of Creations-sama, I’m begging you. Please give her a good result.)
[……Alright.]
Elise’s compatibility reading was done with a deck of 28 cards, which consisted of four of each of the seven types of cards: heart, sword, sun, moon, star, flower and crown.
The result depends on the combination of the patterns that appeared and the order the cards appeared.
(I’m begging you. Please draw hearts! If it starts with a heart, most of the end results would be good……)
[……Moon……]
(Unyaaahhh!? M- Moon!? The result shouldn’t have started with a moon! That would pretty much lead you to a bad result……)
[……Star…… Sword…… Moon……?]
(……I’m done for. It’s the worst possible combination and order…… If the female side had such a result, unless the male side drew “four hearts”, it can only lead to bad compatibility. There’s no way he could draw four hearts in a row from a 24 card deck.)
The cards that Isis drew had only one pattern that would lead them to a “best compatibility”, and the rest of the combinations and orders would only lead to a bad compatibility.
With an expression that looked as if her soul was deprived from her body, Elise absentmindedly looked towards the next person that will draw cards.
[……It’s Kaito’s…… turn.]
(……I guess this is where I die huh. Even though there were still things I wanted to do, food I wanted to eat…… I know that I got a bit greedy. I was hoping to make a connection with a famous person…… However, for it to become like this……)
[Ah, yes…… Errr, a heart huh. The next one is…… arehh? A heart again. The third one is also a heart? ……The fourth one too? That’s quite unusual, isn’t it? It was all hearts.]
[Seriously!?]
[Hyeh!? Ah, y- yes.]
Elise, who had absentmindedly given up on her life, instantly came back to her senses when she saw the cards that Kaito had drawn, and suddenly brought her face closer.
Astonished at her sudden change in expression, Kaito nodded…… to which, Elise’s shoulders slightly trembled and clenching her fist, she exclaimed.
[It’s the best! It’s the best combination! The compatibility between you two couldn’t be more perfect! You’re so compatible with each other, as if the red strings of fate were bundled up with each other!!!]
[R- Really?]
[Yes, you two are the best couple ever!!!]
[……Best couple…… with Kaito…… I’m so happy.]
Thanks to the best result in the form of a great comeback, Isis-san happily smiled from the bottom of her heart and affectionately grasped Kaito’s hand.
Seeing such an Isis, Kaito looked a bit embarrassed, but he squeezed her hand back, and the sweet atmosphere unique to lovers began to form around them.
[……Thank you…… Here…… the fee.]
[Ah, yes…… wait, Death King-sama!? This is…… a white gold coin!?]
[……You can…… keep the change.]
[Eh? N- No, errr…… Yes.]
After handing the white gold coin to Elise with a really happy smile on her lips, Kaito and Isis harmoniously left her shop.
After absentmindedly seeing her off, Elise let out a big…… a really big sigh.
[Haaaahhh~~ ……T- Thank goodness. I didn’t get killed……]
Even if the results were bad, she wouldn’t have been killed. It was just a misunderstanding on her part.
However, there was something that the relieved Elise didn’t know yet. That after hearing about Isis’ compatibility with Kaito, the Underworld King and the Phantasmal King would also come to her shop together with Kaito……
~~ Extra: The Source of All Rumors ~~
“Underworld King-sama had lost against him”
Underworld King: [“The one who falls in love loses”, you say? Then, I guess I’ve completely lost to Kaito-kun!]
“He took out over 100 Black Bears in an instant”
Death King: [……I want Kaito…… to have an even…… more active role…… in this book……]
Bookseller: [By Death King-sama’s will!!!]
“He overpowered War King-sama’s subordinates”
A certain kemonomimi: [Listen here, when Master gets serious, there won’t be a speck of dust left of you! You better get this in your skulls that your intrusion in his life was the thing that saved yours!]
Twin maids: [ [ Yes! Chief Retainer!!! ] ]
“He won against War King-sama in a physical battle”
Neighborhood Gorilla: [I lost to Kaito. That guy really is awesome!!!]
“He beat Phantasmal King-sama into submission and made her his subordinate”
Pervert Extraordinaire: [……How envious. I want Kaito-sama to hit me too.]
Idiot: [No, it’s not like I wanted to be beaten by Kaito-san……]
Pervert Extraordinaire: [But it feels good, doesn’t it?]
Idiot: [Of course, it fe…… What the heck are you trying to make me say!?]
T/N: 30/270