Chapter 75: A Critical Situation*

So the cooking battle at the Demon Castle ended with our victory, but I wanted to ask some questions to a person before celebrating.

「Hey, dad. Can you explain this situation? 」

I wanted him to explain if this girl Hell was really his daughter or not.

「What do you mean? You didn’t notice it? I thought you were aware of it. Ah, well, that child is “Elle”. She is your mother’s daughter, so she is my daughter too. She is your real sister.」

Heyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!!!!

I felt crazy here!! All because of this useless father, who have been hiding the truth!!

Wait a minute.

「Mom. Did you know about this and kept silent!? 」

She nodded with her usual smiling face upon hearing my panicked question.

「Yes, of course. However, Kyou-chan, you seem to have forgotten that you met Hell-chan a long time ago, so I thought I’d tell you, but Hell-chan said, “You don’t have to tell him!”. So I ended up not saying anything at all.」

「Ah, mom! Why did you treat it as a confidential matter…! 」

Hell hurriedly fluttered at the talk show between my mother and me.

I wondered why all the important people around me messed around with such important things. That Goddess did the same with me, and now my parents too.

「Wait a minute. Then, was Hell born here? 」

「That’s right. Contrary to you being born and raised on Planet Earth with your father, this child was born and raised in this world with me as the daughter of the Demon King. I sent her to play with you once because I told her she had an older brother and she wanted to meet you.」

「Is…Is that so…But why did she say that she was a relative’s child at that time?」

「That’s because it was troublesome for you to confuse various things due to our family circumstances. Actually, what would you think if you knew you had a younger sister, who grew up in a different world, but that came to meet you to play only for a short moment?」

That made sense, but in the case of my father, I was sure that he would find 100% troublesome to explain things to me.

「…So, if you remember me now, brother, I have one request.」

「Re…Request? Wha…What is it?」

I saw the face of my sister, who was glaring at me with a grudge, but her cheeks were swollen as if she were sulking.

「I want to stay with you my older brother as the punishment for forgetting me. There is no veto right.」

「Ahh, well, that’s fine with me. I certainly forgot my promise. By the way, were you impersonating a character during the match?」

「That’s not true! I always try to have a dark tone that is suitable for the daughter of the noble Demon King. I’ll make you a scar so that you won’t forget that existence again, so be prepared for that!」

Having said that, she immediately entwined her arm around my arm, but was it the first time for her to take such a positive action? Immediately after that, her face turned bright red, and her body seemed to be clearly tense.

Well, when I was little, she was a weak child who was stuck behind me.

That essential part probably remained unchanged.

When I recalled that nostalgic scene with a smile, I felt a tremendous gaze from behind.

Mainly from Fitis and Dora-chan.

「Well, in any case, the competition is our victory. You will stop the invasion of my Valkyria territory, right Demon King.」

Amines talked to the Demon King after the battle was settled.

On the other hand, my mother, the Demon King, sighed deeply and shook her head vertically because it couldn’t be helped.

「Yes, a promise is a promise. I will not invade you in the future. However, if you invade my territory, I will take countermeasures.」

「No problem. In fact, invading other territories is not my thing.」

「I often hear such words. But you were the one who attacked my territory first.」

「What are you saying! I just said invading is not my thing!」

Hmm? I felt that this conversation made no sense.

「Hey, mom. If you had won, what kind of request would you have asked?」

It was a meaningless question now, but that was the cause of this conflict. I wondered if there was a hidden opportunity for the Demon King and Valkyria to fight. Then…

「I already decided what to ask. I was going to demand the release of my ally. A SS-rank monster, the guardian of the earth, Behemoth.」

Hmm?

「What are you talking about? There’s no way that we would’ve caught that monster.」

「Don’t fool me. We’ve certainly confirmed that you wanted to invade my territory and we got the information that Behemoth was kidnapped. I can confirm this since I’ve seen your soldiers carrying your flag towards my territory…」

「I already told you many times over that invading is not my thing! 」

Wait a minute. This was strange. Obviously strange.

Amines’ spirit clearly showed the feeling of anger because my mother falsely accused her.

However, my mother, the Demon King, did not seem to lie either. Rather, her feelings were also true anger because of the invasion of her territory.

Then, there were only two answers that could be derived from this.

Was one of them lying? Or, alternatively, there was a mastermind trying to crush the two at the same time.

「Wait a minute, Amines and mom. I have a few questions to ask.」

I interrupted their quarrel with a question.

「Neither mom nor Amines are lying, right? 」

「Of course, there’s no point in risking my own country to fight in demon territory.」

「I’m the same. Unless you invade, I won’t do a meaningless invasion or retaliation.」

I checked their facial expressions, but both were definitely telling the truth.

「…I understand. Then, there is only one possible cause.」

I told them immediately what I thought.

「There must be someone who benefits from your competition. What if that person’s aim was to achieve his plan by having you two fighting?」

Amines noticed my words before the Demon King.

Yes, this battle between the Demon King and the Kingdom of Valkyria. A different realm was clearly trying to take advantage of this chaos.

This war was probably predetermined from the very beginning.

At that moment, Amines’ communication crystal shined.

The crystal was one of the promised goods of the fantasy world that allowed people to talk to others who were far away.

Amines immediately took out the communication crystal, and a familiar soldier’s face reflected from the other side of the crystal.

「What’s wrong? Did something happen? 」

Amines questioned the soldier; however, the soldier reported the ongoing facts with an upsetting and breathless expression.

「Please forgive us, Lady Amines…! The hero of our enemy the Alburs Empire captured Lily, the “Beast Hero”, who was leading our army moments ago!」

The suspected mastermind behind the cause of the ongoing war defeated of our incredible and fearsome companion.

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*Fūun kyū wo tsugeru (風雲急を告げる) meaning to have grown tense (of a situation)/ to have become critical (and to be on the verge of a major upheaval).