「Alrighty, we’re going to jump!」

「Jump~!」 「*Pyo~n*!」

「D, don’t screw around! This thing is almost broken isn’t it?! Uwaaaaaa! I can see a huge bump ahead!!」

「It’s fine! The power of money is amazing!!」

「That’s not a proper reply!!!」

The interiors of the mysterious golden ship that was sliding down the sacred mountain was in an extremely chaotic state.

Every time that the ship would climb up a bump, the inside would be stirred around and the 22 Demon Lords would spin around.

Since the ship had accelerated enough, the twins let it be and went back into the ship and enjoyed the rocking and swaying it to their fullest. Laughing continuously and seemingly dancing in midair.

Seeing those two like that, the〈Fist Emperor〉, Salman, as if telling them to behave properly, made them sit down near him. He looked like a father who was being led around by his tomboy daughter.

After having caught the two girls, who would have been in a precarious situation if left alone, Salman looked around.

The first place that his gaze fell on was the window nearby.

There was one Demon Lord who was showing off an extremely disgraceful side.

「*puking*」

「Oi! Don’t you dare puke! What the hell happened to your graceful〈Sword Emperor〉style?!」

「*gulp* I, I’m not really good with vehicles…」

「If a beauty pukes, it’s even more depressing so just bear with it!」

At the window, with her neck stuck out of it, sprinkling vomit around, was the〈Sword Emperor〉Elma.

With her black hair swaying in the wind, her〈Demon Sword krishra〉, which was the reason for her〈Sword Emperor〉title, was thrown about in an extremely dangerous manner.

「*puking*...Ah, someone pick up my demon sword. Urgh...it’s dangerous…*puking*」

「Don’t talk while puking!!」

Salman retorted immediately.

When he paid closer attention, other than Elma, there were other groans that could be heard here and there.

Seeing the gruesome seasickness, Salman rumples up his already disheveled sand-colored hair and heaved a heavy sigh.

At that point, his gaze turned towards Merea.

Merea, at that time was,

「*Puking*」

「You too?!」

Next to Elma, with his neck hanging out of another window, he was grandly regurgitating.

「I, it’s my first time getting on such an attraction...th, the shaking is bad…!」

「Why the hell are you completely useless the moment you step away from battle!? What is with you two!? Are you siblings!?」

「In that case, I would be the younger sister *continues puking*」

「Don’t show a weird stubbornness here!! --Ahh! What’s with these two...I’m getting tired!」

「Isn’t it fine not to retort then?」 so said the other Demon Lords who were, for some reason, still very calm.

「Now that I think about it, I haven’t heard your name yet have I, Fist Emperor?」

「Hm? Mine? ...I’m Salman」

「Is that so, Salman huh. It’s a good na…*pukes*」

「I get it! I get it so, leave the complimentin’ for later!」

In this way, Merea and Elma, like buddies were sticking their heads out of the ship and vomiting, murmuring, 「Ah, the sky is pretty」 with hollow eyes. Salman then turned his gaze to the other Demon Lords.

「Money!! The money isn’t enough!!!! I need more money!!!!!」

What entered his sight was an eccentric man who looked to be in despair as he punched the floor of the gradually collapsing golden ship.

It was the〈Alchemy King〉Shaw.

Earlier, he had shouted out proudly that, 『The power of money is great!』, however, seeing him scream such weird things ended up just causing more anxiety.

Is it fine or is it no good? It was hard to decide.

--As a human, no matter how anyone looked at it...he’s definitely no good.

Thinking so, he turned his gaze to the side.

「Ah…, this is definitely going to make me sick…., ah….」

Next to the eccentric, the〈Flame Emperor〉Lilium, who had a crimson bird flying overhead, said that in a dull voice.

It wasn’t as bad as Merea or Elma but she seemed to be quite seasick herself.

At that point,

「Th, this might just be a little fun...huh」

Hearing that voice, Salman turned his gaze towards it. This time around, the voice was rather lively. Though, the one who said it was rather unexpected.

「Oi, you okay?」

「Ye, yeah. I’m fine..?」

The one who responded to Salman’s worried question with a vague smile, was the Demon Lord who, even among all the other Demon Lords, was especially delicate, the〈Heavenly Demon〉Aiz.

Despite having such a delicate body, in this situation, she showed an amazing endurance. It was extremely unexpected.

「Aiz-sama, a little while back, I found some 『Orange Licorice』 in a corner of the mountain and quickly picked it up. Would you like to eat it? It’s quite sweet and delicious」

Next to Aiz, sitting in Seiza, was a praiseworthy maid who took out an orange colored plant from her bosom and presented it to Aiz.

Her body didn’t have the slightest sign of moving and her face had absolutely no expressions.

「Ah, now that I think about it, the maid over there...what type of Demon Lord are you?」

Suddenly, as if just remembering it, Salman asked the maid about her identity. The maid, Marisa, looked over at Salman and in a casual tone replied to him.

「I’m the descendent of the Demon Lord with the title of〈Emperor of Violence〉」

「Uwaaa…」

「Why did you pull back?」

「No, well,〈Emperor of Violence〉is that right? Born into some battle crazy country and is the incarnation of violence…」

While talking, Salman suddenly bit back the rest of his words.

He wasn’t sure if it was fine to say the rest of that sentence to her, who was the descendent of the〈Emperor of Violence〉. The rest of that sentence wasn’t very nice, after all.

In that way, while he was stuck, Marisa, as if having noticed his hesitation, completed the rest of that sentence on her own.

「Yeah, the〈Emperor of Violence〉of the past was quite evil after all. He made use of force for everything and even conducted many invasions. --Knowing that kind of history, it’s normal to have a few misgivings」

「...No, isn’t that from the past?」

Salman said with a conviction that seemed to believe that Marisa was different from the previous〈Emperor of Violence〉.

Salman had no idea about Marisa’s past so, if anything, it was more of a 『Desire』 than anything else.

「You’re different aren’t you」 was the question, that seemed to be hidden in his words.

Marisa also seemed to have noticed the intentions behind his words.

「...Well, I personally, abhor the deeds of my predecessors. It’s complete nonsense. Those people didn’t know the pleasure that could be obtained from serving someone and seeing them happy」

She replied with a nod. Right before she replied, her expression seemed to cloud over slightly but, her words were clear.

The reason her expression clouded over might be because there was a conflict that couldn’t be expressed in a word.

In any case, the moment she called her ancestor’s deeds as nonsense, her eyes seemed to show a strong will. That alone was enough for Salman to believe in her words.

Since the conversation seemed to have taken a dark turn, he quickly tried to change the topic with a teasing smile on his face.

「The pleasure of serving someone huh. So, will you serve me as well?」

He raised his shoulders and, while laughing, asked, 「How’s that?」

For, but a moment, Marisa looked at Salman with a blank look and then immediately snorted. It seemed like she was saying, 「You’re absolutely no good」.

「I shall decide the people I shall serve by myself. My first master should be someone who is stronger than me. My second master should be someone who is cute」

「What the hell is with those criteria?」

Being snorted at by Marisa, Salman felt slightly snubbed but he immediately reacted to Marisa’s absurd criteria.

As if she expected to be asked this question, Marisa replied with a slight smile on her face.

「...After all, if it’s someone weaker than me, I might just end up killing them by mistake while serving them」

That’s disturbing.

He really did not expect to hear those words in a conversation about whether to serve him or not. Once more, Salman pulled back but this time, her smile had absolutely no hesitation.

「Why?! What is with you?! Are you an assassin maid or something?!」

「If it’s not someone who can handle me poking them, when I enter into my 『Violent Period』 they wouldn’t be able to stop me after all」

「What’s with that…?」

「It’s like a woman’s day of the month. It’s a day I end up becoming slightly brutal. Please don’t get a woman to talk about such things. You really don’t have any delicacy huh」

「Th, that kind of cheap shy expression isn’t going to make me shut up!! 『Violent Period』 definitely sounds like an absolutely frightening thing!! Don’t make it sound as simple as a woman’s time of the month!!」

Salman yelled at Marisa.

Marisa, in a very deliberate fashion, poked her head with her finger and made a 「Tehehe」 sound, however her eyes had no laughter in them. Rather, her face had no laughter in it either.

Pulling off a shy act with an expressionless face ended up being quite the eerie scene.

「....Haa...Well, you are a descendent of a Demon Lord. So you’ll have some form or the other of power passed down in your genes huh…」

However, Salman quickly calmed down and said so to Marisa.

When a Demon Lord’s descendent is born, there are cases where the child has the Demon Lord’s affinity already part of its body.

That was something that even Salman knew.

That’s why, there are cases where people end up with powers they never wished for.

When he reached that conclusion, 「If I continue this conversation, I’ll definitely pay」 was what his sixth sense warned him so he decided to quietly obey it.

However, there was one last thing that he wanted to know so he resolved himself and asked.

「In any case, is that, 『First master who is stronger than yourself』 someone who you want to have stop you during your 『Violent Period』. Basically becoming something like a mutually cooperative master?」

It was a guess.

Having heard the anecdotes of the〈Emperor of Violence〉of old, he could, to a certain extent, guess what kind of a thing the 『Violent Period』 would be.

In addition, if he added to that, what Marisa had just told him, 『A type of power that she herself could not stop』 would be the expected conclusion.

「I wouldn’t be able to have them stop me then」, those words from her had a hidden meaning of, 「I want to be stopped」.

As if to answer the hidden meaning of Salman’s words, Marisa answered with a nod.

「...That’s right. In a more fundamental meaning, it’s of no use if that person is not my master. However, if that person would use their own strength and stop me then I would offer even my life to that person. I would become a maid who they could not be able to live without. If it’s someone who can provide me with the freedom to do that, I have no qualms with offering all of myself」

Listening to her speech and the seeing the strong emotions in her purple eyes, Salman just said,

「...Is that so」

He, then, stopped asking her any further.

In reality, he really wanted to ask her further. 「In case that master is not able to stop you?」

However, he felt that it would be rather dangerous to ask something like that in this situation. He hesitated because he didn’t know how that question would affect her.

In this situation, where they were all escaping together, it may not be a situation that should just be left as it is. Even then, Salman did not have the courage.

In this situation, he didn’t have the 『unreserved courage』 to step that far in and ask her something like that.

However in the end,

「...It’s fine. If, because of me, this group ends up in a dangerous situation, I’ll leave by myself. That’s why, it’s fine. There’s no need for you to be that worried about it」

Marisa said with a faint smile, as if she could see everything that he was thinking about.

Normally, she would have a smile that had no emotions to it, like a doll. However, right now, her smile seemed to have a tinge of sadness in it.

Suddenly, Aiz, who had been quietly listening to their conversation from the side, placed her hand on Marisa’s hand.

「Are you okay?」, she asked with a worried face.

Marisa looked at Aiz and replied with a gentleness she only showed her.

「However, I have finally met someone who has shown me that 『Possibility』. It may just have been a coincidence but, I still end up thinking of it as 『a meeting through fate』, like a maiden. That is why, though I know that it’s shameless, I can’t help but hold onto that hope…」

Before anyone knew, Marisa’s gaze had moved away from both Aiz and Salman and was looking towards a completely different direction. Marisa’s gaze seemed to land on Merea’s back. At that moment, Salman got a rough idea of her wish.

The conversation finally died down and ended up with a mood that made it hard to say anything. Marisa kept looking down and had the usual emotionless smile on her face. Salman also, for a moment, looked down and shut up but he couldn’t handle being quiet like that for too long and quickly looked up and at Merea’s back.

Since, she herself had not yet clearly said that she was placing her hopes and wishes onto Merea so, he couldn’t very well be the first one to say it out loud.

But he did think things like, 「Work hard」 or 「Please help her」 would be okay to say.

Thinking that, Salman approached Merea.

He quickly reached Merea, who had his snow white hair swaying wildly in the wind.

--Alright!

「*Puking vigorously*」

「You ruined it!! How much can you possibly puke!?!? You completely ruined it!!!」

He ended up retorting unconsciously. In the end, he couldn’t offer any of those words of encouragement.