Chapter9，Part1 – Chapter 9  

「Welcome back, is the alliance……?」 「The agreement was concluded successfully. This one has materials for demons and magical stones, and that one has food and other necessities of life. They will do it on a smaller scale for a while to see how it goes, but it is still a much larger transaction than when they were using the store as a front. And the souvenirs Remilia advised me to bring back worked, too… This way the people can survive the winter without starving.」

「Thank goodness.」

I put on a smile from the bottom of my heart. It was essential to my plan that this alliance be amicable.

Well, considering that the Star Maiden, Williard, and his entourage had graduated from the academy less than a year ago and had not been leveled like Emi, they would not have the strength to face the demon tribe, including the Demon King, if they went against him. In the story, the leader of the Dominici Knights, who was the best in the country at the time, was killed in battle against the demon tribe, so it is impossible for a human being who has not been strengthened and nurtured to the point of being able to defeat a demon tribe in battle as in the story. It was a description that the protagonist, who had raised her level of skill considerably, were somehow able to compete with the soldiers of the demon tribe.

When I talked to Klimt, who had been to the royal castle over there with Angel, he told me that the people over there were like puppets, covered in cold sweat and just nodding to Angel’s words in front of the Demon King, who was a separated entity.

「Because Angel can tell a lie from a statement, he doesn’t properly see the actual expression and reaction of the person in front of him… I’m sure it’s true that the other side accepted it wholeheartedly, as the saying goes. He said it was as if it ended peacefully from beginning to end, but I’m sure the other side didn’t feel alive. How can we say no in front of a force that could destroy the country and is riding into the castle?」

「My brother doesn’t know how bad she is.」

I see, I says with a laugh, this will take one step further in my plan. After a while, my messenger whom I had released in the royal capital began to trade with the demon tribe in peace, and the disaster at the time of the calamity was not even a shadow of its former self even a while after I graduated from the academy,「Why?! How could this happen?」and projected the image of Pina raging in my own room.

I see now. She can’t travel around surrounded by men until the time of disaster comes. It must be annoying because you don’t meet the guy you’re supposed to be traveling with, and all the events that are supposed to have happened on the trip don’t happen the way you thought they would, right?

Ahh, it’s soon. Very soon. My hand is on the neck of the woman who maliciously destroyed the「Remilia’s happiness」 that my precious Emi desires. Before I start the final finishing touches, we begin the important preliminary work. Through the messenger from the royal capital, he brainwashed the consciousness of those who perjured me just a little bit. A sense of urgency that「something bad will happen if I keep perjuring myself in the case of the Duchess Graupner”」that suddenly arises.

Four have now told their families and colleagues the truth. Two of them even corrected their testimonies at the royal palace. Saying,「But there were lots of other people who testified,」「it’s not just my testimony that counts,」and「momething about that time made me feel like I had to help Miss Pina, even if I had to lie a little bit.」Well, well, that was a lot less effort than I expected. But this would have driven a wedge, albeit a small one, through the people of the royal court.

By conducting trade, prejudice against the demon tribe is slowly being lifted. The demon tribe, which is no longer exposed to the miasma, has not had a single person go insane since then, and they have successfully integrated into human society without being known about it. The word spread slowly as merchants and other citizens who actually conduct business with them conveyed the correct form of the demon tribe and the fact that they are different from the demons of folklore. Some of the trade goods coming from the demon realm, such as demon materials and demon stones, were probably welcomed as being of good quality.

With the disappearance of the source of the miasma, it is expected that the production of those products, which are now specialty products, will decrease…… the technology of magical stone processing and magical tools was higher among the demon tribe. If manufacturing were a little more active, such goods would instead be on the trading list.

As for the circumstances that led to its spread to the city.

The god of creation, whom the demon tribe worshipped, had his power reduced in a battle with an evil god, and the goddess of purification was also captured through an ugly trick. The Evil God had been creating monsters and other deadly weapons to torment both humans and demons for a long time, but after the rescue of the Goddess of Purification and the successful defeat of the Evil God by the current king of the demon tribe, peace finally returned to the land where the demon tribe lives, and this is how they came to establish diplomatic relations. Angel understands that this is a gentle lie that is necessary to keep the peace.

The people of the demon tribe had been cursed by an evil god to go insane, but they were told that since they had defeated the evil god, insanity would no longer occur. They say that the identity of the demon that people call the demon was hushed up, and all the people were forbidden to tell humans about the madness with a soul-binding contractual magic that only the demon king could use. The demons have some useful magic, could I have used this on Pina? No, that would not be fun.

The fact that the god of creation had fallen and was about to become an evil god was also not made public. The only demonkin who knew about it were the demon king Angel and Klimt, who was there. I suggested this not only to make the story that「it is the existence of the evil god that is to blame,」but also because belief in the god of creation was the foundation of the hearts of the demon tribe, and if they knew that they had suffered until now because of the miasma it created, some might feel constrained to live from now on. The demon tribe needs to live a happy life without worrying about the past. These are my sincere words, which I can say in front of Angel without any falsehood.

Pina tried to refute this based on the facts she learned on the story, saying,「That’s not true,」「how could a Star Maiden who has never left her country know such a thing?」and「no amount of Star Maiden can deny a story published by the head of a country over there without any evidence……」and「the god of creation fell and became an evil god? That’s the god they worship. If they hear that kind of accusation, there will be war,」and she was very unhappy with admonishment.

To sum up that woman’s soliloquy, she would say,「I should have been the one to be thanked by the demon tribe, which has nothing but beautiful faces, for clearing up the misunderstanding of the demon tribe, who call their deranged and dangerous state a demon and start living in human society while being persecuted for being identified with that demon.」It was certainly true in the story, but it was so silly and self-important that it was all the more pathetic.

Emi was helping someone without asking for anything in return. She is looking for a better future, saying,「I’m sure everyone will be happier that way.」It is unforgivable that my sweet Emi was hurt by such a woman to the point that she shut herself up inside of me in despair.