After all....

　The Drismegian of the Four Heavenly Kings of the Demon King's Army, 'Sha Fire'.
　It was a name he had heard a lot about from the 'Heaven and Earth' Ida-san and the others who had come here earlier.



　Someone was advancing from my side.

''Lady Granberza...!

　He is my benefactor and a leading figure in the Demon King's army.
　Even if you put him in the history of the past and present, he should be the strongest person who can claim the name of the strongest, but....

Dariel, listen to me. The villagers of Lux village are evacuating as fast as they can.

　He whispers to me.

'I don't want a full-scale collision until the evacuation is complete. Stall the conversation as long as you can. Stall for as long as you can.

　Indeed.
　The reason why the inferno rode into the city with impunity was not for a good reason.
　He is sure to be planning something outrageous.

　Taking a lesson from the recent attack on my village, I asked the Adventurer's Guild to dig a shelter.
　Now that it's large enough to accommodate the entire population of Luxe Village, they're probably hurrying to evacuate according to the drills we repeated several times.

　We need to ensure their safety until that is completed.

''So Mr. Drismegian?　Are you alone today?

　Ida told me about it. He and his friends, who have escaped from hell together, supplement each other's bodies to form a single entity.
　That formation is the inferno.

Do you know that much? They are on their own. We have Ida being held back in a faraway place.
..........

　I almost got tongue-tied.
　So that means Ida-san and Estelica-san can't expect them to come out to support me.

''Drismegian-sama. If you are trying to master fire magic in the demon race, everyone will respect you and advance toward you...''

　Granbaza-sama joins in with the questions and answers.
Sahih and "kagashii-fire". It's a miracle that these two mastered flames confront each other across the ages.

It's a miracle that the two master flames confront each other beyond the ages. As long as you don't make your own existence a taboo. You are the strongest person of all time in terms of merit and ability. But unfortunately, your only regret is that you lack entirely in common decency.
What's the point of leaving your name behind for posterity?

　The man whose name was erased from history replies to Granbaza, the man who is truly the strongest man of all time, "That history was also created by him.

He said: "That history was also made by him. What is the point of carving your name on such a thing?　That's why you guys aren't getting any better because you're happy about it.
Is it better to go to hell?

　I'll take over the rest.
　Having spent most of his life in the Demon King's Army, Granberza-sama has yet to lose his reserve for his great predecessors.

You've been talking about it all day long, as if you're the only one who knows everything. ........Then let's hear it, what do you know?　Why are you trying to defeat the Demon King?

　He was relentless in his attempts to get at me, to plan ahead.

　I could never understand the principle of his actions.
　Is this due to a fact that only he knows and I don't?

"Huh, okay, I'll tell you.

　The other man came on board.

"Dariel, it's what you need to do to keep up with me. Listen to me, and you will see that you are a smart man. Then, wise man, you will see that he is the worst danger to the world. You will see that he is the worst danger to this world. Until he is defeated, mankind will never truly be free.
Yeah, I'll ask you. Tell me.
Why do you think the humans and the demons are fighting in the first place?

　Drismegian said.

''The brave men of the human race will try to defeat the Demon King, and the Demon King's army will prevent them from doing so. At the heart of this battle is the Demon King. But why do the human race want to defeat the demon king?　Why do the demons protect the Witch King?　A question that no one can answer. It's been in the world too long to even be questioned until now.
You think you have the answers?
Yes.

　The answer was clear.

That's why I was killed and d*mned. ... no, no, no. Hell was created.
What do you mean?
Hell didn't exist until I fell. That world was created by him to house my soul. So I was the beginning of hell.

　There was something proud about his "I'm sorry, I don't know what happened to you," kiss.

I've got a lot of people who are just as unforgivable as I am," he said, "and then he started throwing people into hell. You can say I'm the master of hell. No, hell itself. Therefore, I call myself the inferno.
'If you're the Lord of Hell, then you have a problem with being away, don't you?　Why don't you go home now?
I can't do that. I can't do that, because I have a mission to fulfill in this world. That's what I'm talking about........phew, we're going around in circles again.

　No, don't laugh.
　There's nothing funny about it.

Yeah, I came up from hell to take him down. With a small group of like-minded people. But you claim that you can't understand what I'm doing. You say that I'm the one who's mistaken for a monster, while overlooking your own ignorance.
So what do you know about it?

　We're going in circles again, darling.

"A brave man slays the Witch King, an army of demons stands in his way. And the reason for that battle is..........

　I finally came to a conclusion.

Because that in itself is just a game to him.
..........
Well, you don't look surprised. You mean, you knew it was coming?

　It wasn't just me, Granbaza-sama lined up next to me didn't raise his voice or move his expression.

''........Anyone who has been in the Demon King's army for a long time will know that. That gentleman has never once blamed his subjects for their failures. In my Four Heavenly Kings lifetime, several other Four Heavenly Kings have been defeated by heroic parties and retired after losing their lives or being severely injured beyond recovery.

　It wasn't just once or twice that we lost the Rasperda Fortress to the human race.
　We took it back each time, but it was one of the fiercest in the history of warfare, and the era of the two titans, Aranzir-san and Lady Granbaza, was not a smooth ride.

'But I never once saw the gentleman go into a rage when I reported any failure.

　We don't get angry because it doesn't matter.
　If you take everything as a game, you won't get angry or happy about every single thing.

''Well maybe so. But you still don't understand the depths of the matter. He's not just enjoying this world as a game. This world itself is a game board that he has created for his own amusement.
"?　What does that mean?
For instance there's this guy called the God of War, right?　It's not familiar to you demons, but it's said to be a transcendent being who gave the human race their aura powers.

　If you say that the demon king is the one who gave the demon race magic, then the fighting gods are the only ones who are equal to the demon king.

I'm sure you'll find that the fighting gods don't appear in front of the human race.　Even though the Demon King is in touch with the demon races to the point of overkill. Of the two races, only one transcendent is exposed and the other transcendent is absent. The reason for this is...!
Because they're both identical.

　I said.
　Next to me, Granberza-sama looked at me.

''The Demon King and the God of War are originally the same being. In other words, if it was the Demon King who gave the Demon race magic, it was the Demon King who gave the human race its aura.

　This world was fought by those who received blessings from the same entity.

That's right.... Hmph, how did you notice that, I'm surprised.

　The signs that Inferno emitted were somewhat disappointing.

'How did you notice it?　There must be only one way to get to that fact other than me.
The giant statue of a fighting god in the Center Guild. That one looks just like the Demon Lord. That's how I knew.

　Of all the Center Guild sightseeing that I didn't get much out of, that was the best part of it.
　It certainly felt like a glimpse into the truth of the world.

　I am a former dark soldier in the Demon King's army.
　Also, because of my position as the Four Heavenly Kings' assistant, I've attended several audiences with Granberza-sama to the Demon King.

　That's why I knew that man's face.

''I see. So you've taken the opposite route to the regular one.''
"Regular?
That's his prank. A man who is determined to defeat the demon king offers his vows to the fighting gods he worships at his starting point. And if he or she arrives at the Demon King, he or she will see the same face that he or she prayed to.

　So, for the first time, one learns that the demon king and the fighting gods are the same entity.

''It's a game of bad taste,''
'Right?　He likes to surprise people like that. It seems that he likes to surprise everyone more than he likes to be the one who surprises them.

　Well, then, it's exactly the opposite of what I saw.
　I looked at his face first, and then at the face of the statue. I may be the first person in history to see the statue in that order.

'This one thing should tell you that. It's not just the demon race. The human race and the heroes are also just a plaything for him to pass the time. The blood and tears of the people who are thrown into the grandiose contraption are his amusement.

　If it was the Demon King who gave the human race the power of aura, then even more so.
　The human race and the demon race. If the reason for giving different powers to the two races is so that they can fight each other, it's understandable.

　But if that's the case, as Inferno says, this world seems to be fundamentally set up by the Demon King for his own pleasure...!

"Dariel, but you do not yet understand. You do not yet understand his sinfulness. How far he has perverted the world for his own amusement.
What do you mean?
'What is the human race and the demon race in the first place?　That's what I mean.