Epilogue

Part 1

Thankfully, there wasn't a lot of damage done to the town during the battle.

The few people who did die were resurrected by Aqua-san.

"Hehe… Eris-sama is so cute... Eh? What am I doing back here? Why are you glaring at me like that, Aqua?"

She didn't seem to be happy with her task, though.

As for the captured demons, the Crimson Demon clan used their golem and earth magic to create a makeshift prison complex for them. There were a lot of prisoners, so that could potentially be an issue in the future if the war didn't end soon.

Still, since I knew first hand that prisoners on the Demon King army side were treated fairly well, I made sure to tell Lalatina to make sure that the demons had adequate shelter and food.

As for the captured Charia…

"Huh? What's that awful smell?! Yuck! It's coming from this shark girl! Oi, shark girl, close your legs! Something smells really rotten and fishy!"

"What are you trying to say, huh?!"

Aqua-san was saying some awful things about Charia.

In attendance was me, Lalatina and Aqua-san. Lalatina was there as the noble in charge of the lands, Aqua-san was there in case the prisoner tried to escape and she needed to use holy magic to contain her, and I was there since I had the most experience in dealing with the captured Demon King army general.

I went over to Charia, who was being kept in the police station for some questioning.

I took a few sniffs.

"Sniff… Sniff… Sniff… I don't smell anything."

In fact, even after she had an intense battle with us, I didn't smell any sweat from her. Maybe her ability to liquefy herself had something to do with it.

"Well, I'm telling you she smells awful! She smells like a demon!"

"She is a demon…"

Lalatina said, looking exasperated by Aqua-san's behavior.

"No, it's more like there's this condensed part that spells especially demonic… And the rest of her smells like any ordinary girl?"

We looked towards Charia, who had a lie detecting bell in front of her.

Charia sighed and squirmed in her bindings a bit.

"...I wasn't always a demon. I was cursed by some witch and ended up as a demon. I didn't have anywhere else to go, and I heard that the Demon King army was recruiting her generals, so I signed up."

"So you were just a normal girl! Aqua, doesn't this mean that you can use [Sacred Spell Break] to lift her curse?!"

Lalatina said, looking at Aqua with hope in her eyes.

Charia scoffed and looked to the side.

"I mean, you can try, but I already tried that before. There weren't any priests who could lift the curse, and most of them tried turning me into the police when the ritual didn't work. It's pretty pathetic how those hypocrites only perform their work if they benefit from it, but refuse to help if there's nothing for them to gain."

Aqua-san seemed to take offense to this. She slammed a hand on the table and said,

"Hah?! Those priests are probably from that shitty Eris-order! Don't lump me in with those chumps!"

"...Who are you again?"

"I'm the great Aqua-sama, the goddess of the Axis-cult!"

"Never heard of you."

"What did you say?! You should be praising me! My presence is a present, kiss my ass!"

Aqua-san turned around and tried shoving her rump in front of the disturbed Charia.

…What is she even doing?

"I'll show you that I can lift any kind of curse… [Sacred Break Spell]!"

Aqua-san emitted a bright light from her… Well, her ass.

She was shining that light from her bottom and washing it over the stunned Charia.

"I told you… It's not gonna work… Bleh! What's happening… Cough… Cough…!"

Charia started coughing until a black pearl fell out of her mouth.

As soon as that pearl was ejected out of her body, her features started to change.

Instead of the shark features she had, there was now a brown haired girl in front of us that looked like your ordinary village girl.

Well, she was cuter than your average village girl, I'll give her that.

She blinked, then touched her face. Lalatina got a small mirror and held it in front of the shocked Charia, who examined her face.

"Eh? Who is this cute girl that any guy would kill to date standing in front of me?"

…Has it really been so long since she got cursed that she forgot what her own face looked like, or was she just as egotistic as the Arch-Priest who cured her?

"Fufu… I told you I could lift the curse! You're welcome!"

"Nooo! You gave me the curse of beauty instead! With looks like mine, wars will be fought in my honor, you know?!"

"...I thought that you were trying to cure yourself!"

"Yes, but I had resigned myself to sacrificing my youth and beauty for the sake of the kingdom! Now you're ruined my sacrifice!"

"...But you joined the Demon King army to ruin that same kingdom…"

"Oh, right."

I guess she's just as stupid as Aqua-san.

Since Charia looked like an ordinary girl who didn't have access to her demonic powers anymore, Lalatina arranged for her to have a second identity, so she wouldn't have to be locked away in prison.

Maybe she wouldn't have gotten this kind of treatment if she was actually competent as a general and led her troops to victory, but because she didn't do much harm in the end, she received some favorable terms.

She was given a job at the Adventurer's Guild as a server, and Luna-san offered to have her live in her house for the first month or so.

And with that, the issue with the fallen Demon King general was resolved.

Part 2

With the Demon King army taken care of, we had little reason to stay in Axel any longer.

We still had to go to Elroad, and we already lost a lot of time thanks to our detour.

After loading up our carriages again, we prepared to leave, with onii-sama and everyone else helping us pack and seeing us off.

"Once again… Thank you for everything you did, Risu!"

Onii-sama smiled and pulled me into another deep hug.

In the end, I never revealed my identity to him.

Maybe I'd do so another day, but for now, it was fine if he didn't know.

"You're always welcome here, Risu."

Megumin-sensei said, taking her turn to give me a hug.

I was so overwhelmed with relief that I could hardly actually feel the full brunt of the happiness I was owed in that moment.

I guess just like how your mind protects you from bad memories, it also tempers your expectation by decreasing the amount of happiness you're able to feel from one moment, because the worst thing that can happen to someone is to have them keep expecting that more and more happy times awaits them in their lifetime, even if it will never come.

So, I simply basked in the subdued afterglow of that moment, hoping that more moments of happiness like this will come in the future that was starting to look more and more bleak.

With our carriage packed with our belongings, the party of me, Revi, Komekko-chan, Rori-san, Regina-sama, Serena-san, Sonia, Arue and Rueka set off to Elroad.

The carriage was spacious but it was still a bit cramped with nine people in there.

"...Isn't this party a bit too large?"

Sonia said, as she elbowed around to get some more room. Arue frowned and elbowed her back.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, it's way too cramped in here! Besides, I still have to wear these!"

She held up her cuffs. She was still technically a prisoner, so we couldn't just let her walk around without them.

"...Just deal with it. It's only a week's worth of travel."

"...A week is still pretty damn long! Damn this world without a shred of modern convenience! I miss cars! I hate these damn carriages that bump around everywhere."

She seemed to be worried about having a rough time while traveling. We were using the royal carriage, though, so she was in for a surprise.

This time, Serena-san was the one tasked to drive the carriage. She activated the magic carriage, making it hover from the ground. Then she commanded the horses to go forward.

We were moving, but the carriage was floating in the air, letting us have a quiet, peaceful ride.

"Eh! Whoa, these are even better than cars!"

I had a rough idea of what cars were, thanks to onii-sama's stories. They were carriages that didn't need horses to pull them. Or something like that. Sonia looked out the window at the passing scenery, which was becoming a blur in our eyes.

"..."

Revi didn't seem very happy despite the convenience of Belzerg's carriages, though.

He was staring at the girls in front of him, specifically, Arue.

Ah… I get it. He was hoping that he would get to watch our bouncing breasts the whole trip. Sucks for him!

While the carriage was moving, we started to chat among ourselves.

It wasn't exactly a fun road trip we were heading to, so our conversation topic was a bit grim.

"...Do you think that Belzerg stands a chance?"

Arue said, looking concerned.

"After what we saw in Axel, I think that the outcome of the war will depend on forces outside of the capital."

Regina-sama said, who still had dark circles under her eyes. She was looking fidgety, since she couldn't do her experiments while we were traveling in the carriage.

"What do you mean by that, Regina-sama?"

"The capital is locked in and has no choice but to fight a defensive war. Meanwhile, the Demon King army is sending out some of their forces to places like Axel in order to receive supplies from them. Due to the curse of the Demon King army, they need to indirectly gather food and rations from around the kingdom, without directly occupying those communities. This means that they'll have to split their forces just to form a supply line and keep their army fed."

"I see… It's not like a conventional army who can just capture cities right away and take all their food and crops. They can't take any overt actions."

This curse was most likely given to the demons by the gods to give humans a fighting chance against the aggressive, warlike demons.

"Exactly. So, with the forces of the Demon King army spread out, if there are towns like Axel who can hold their own against the Demon King army, then it will disturb the supply line, won't it?"

"...Axel is an exception, though. They have the Kazuma-led party, as well as the largest population of Crimson Demons living there outside of the Crimson Demon village."

They also have wild cards like Vanir there.

"That's true, but even just one broken link can make a difference. For example, if the neighboring countries and Elroad want to directly support Belzerg, they can use a place like Axel that have successfully defended themselves from the Demon King army as a stronghold to relay supplies to the capital."

Since the Demon King army didn't know about the secret tunnels yet, it could be used as a way to sneak supplies into the capital.

"...If this becomes a war of attrition, then Belzerg might have a chance, then."

While we were having this conversation, Revi snapped from his one-sided staring contest with Arue's chest.

"Wait… I just had a really bad thought?!"

"...You just realized where your eyes have been looking at for the last twenty minutes?"

"It's not that! I'm not ashamed of respectfully appreciating a woman's body! The thing I just realized is that… Isn't Elroad in danger?!"

"Well, with a pervert as its new leader, I do fear for your country's future."

"...You're being married off to that pervert, you know. Anyway, that's not my point! The Demon King army relies on the surrounding towns and cities for food. That's why the Demon King army around Axel was trying to develop a non-hostile relationship with the locals. They can't grow crops from the Demon territory, so they rely on looting other countries to feed themselves. But this is a problem because if they don't raze or capture the surrounding towns around the capital, then the capital will still have a way to receive supplies and rations!"

"What does that have to do with Elroad?"

"...Stupid princess! If Elroad decides to butt in and help with the war effort by sending supplies over, then the capital will be able to withstand the assault and win the war of attrition! They can't touch the surrounding towns, but they can certainly cripple Elroad and stop them from helping Belzerg!"

"...!"

Why didn't we realize this earlier?!

No, if we didn't see what the situation was like in Axel, we wouldn't have come to this conclusion in the first place.

Looking alarmed, Regina-sama said,

"...What should we do? Should we head back to the capital?"

"Why would we head back?"

"The boya has a point… We'll just be walking to a death trap if we go to Elroad."

"But we'll be walking into a certain warzone if we head back to the capital. How would they even invade Elroad if they need to keep their forces here to pressure the capital?"

Revi made a good point, but we couldn't afford to risk everything just because he had a hunch.

Besides, even if they did send some of their fighting forces over to Elroad, that would mean that they would be splitting their army and resources. It will end up benefiting us in the end.

After a while, Revi was finally convinced that we should just stick to the mission and continue traveling to Elroad.

We had no way of knowing that Revi was completely right on the mark.