The Small-Town Girl Becomes The Demon King (EP 19-21)

EP 19: The Macho Grandpa and the Little Slime Girl came to us

When Merle returned to the Demon King’s Castle, there was an unfamiliar figure standing in front of the crumbling drawbridge: a white-haired man with a muscular body.

“Who is that?” Merle asked.

“I haven’t seen anyone like him,” Succubus said. “He doesn’t look like the King’s men, either.”

“Put me down by him,” Merle said.

“At once, Your Majesty,” Succubus said.

The strange man noticed them as they descended, waved as if they were close friends. “Your Majesty, my apologies for the sudden visit,” he said with a deep bow and a laugh. His mouth was full of white, shiny teeth.

“My apologies, but who are you?” Merle asked.

“It’s me!” he said. “I’m the mayor of the town you gave the fruit too, Your Majesty.”

Merle remembered that time but didn’t quite remember him being this well-built and healthy, to say the least.

“It’s only natural you wouldn’t recognize me,” the Mayor said. “I was so weak then, but eating that fruit every day has made my body so muscular,” he said as he proudly flexed a bicep. “We were all starving, but thanks to you, everyone is now in perfect health and our town has been rebuilt. We’re eager to use all this strength to expand and build an orchard as well,” he said before he let out another laugh, his smile gleaming.

“So if your town is going through so much development, why we are talking about it out here and not inside the castle?” Merle asked.

With the Mayor clinging onto Succubus’ foot, they all moved to the throne room. As the Mayor knelt before Merle on her throne, he continued, “Aside from that, the Hero Eliza has regained consciousness and returned to the city. She was still under the assumption that we were brainwashed, but we seemed to have cleared up that misunderstanding.”

“I see, I see,” Merle said. “That’s good.”

“The residents are so much happier than when we were under the King,” the Mayor said. “All thanks to you, of course, Your Majesty.”

“Feel free to praise me more,” Merle said, lifting her head high and folding her arms over her chest.

“Your Majesty has saved my life,” the Mayor continued. “For that, I am deeply grateful.”

“Good, good!” Merle said. “I hope you continue to honor me like this.”

“Hahaa!” the Mayor laughed.

“Ah, I almost forgot: last night, we built a new fortress, Castle Slime, in a nearby forest. Since you’re making an orchard, can you deliver the harvests to it?”

“It will be no trouble at all,” the Mayor said. “In fact, it will be our pleasure.”

Merle nodded. “I believe you’ll see where it is as soon as you step out of the castle.”

“I’ll return to the town and start coordinating the deliveries,” the Mayor said.

“Pleasure to be working with you,” Merle hummed as she stood up and saw him off.

As soon as the Mayor was clear of the lava moat, he ran down the mountain. The sight was so unlike what you’d expect from a man his age and was more like what you’d expect of a professional athlete in his prime.

“Now then, what do to now…?” Merle said as she returned to her throne and sat down on it. “Huh?” she went as she felt something strange on her skirt.

Something cold hit her foot. She rolled up the hem of her skirt and saw Slime crawling inside it and clinging to her legs.

“Ooohhh! Your Majesty! <3” Succubus squealed. “It’s so bold of you to expose your legs like this! … Aahhh, but Slime is there! What are you doing sticking to Her Majesty’s skirt?!”

“Slime!” Merle yelled. “When did you get here?”

“Forgive me, Your Majesty, I split myself and hitched a ride when you left,” Slime said.

“Can you leave immediately?!” Succubus yelled as she forcibly peeled Slime off. She was stuck on so firmly that Succubus ended up pulling off Merle’s skirt and her legs out from under her, sending her crashing on her butt.

“Your Majesty!” Succubus yelled. “Your wonderful clothes! Wait never mind that, are you injured?!”

“Are you alright, Your Majesty?!” Slime asked.

“I’m fine…” Merle said as she stood up and rubbed her butt. “Thankfully, my butt is pretty sturdy… but what’s wrong, Slime? Isn’t the forest safe enough for you to live in again?”

“It is, but I have my other half guarding the castle so I can be by your side, Your Majesty,” Slime said. “Is… that okay?”

“It’s alright,” Merle said. “I couldn’t sleep with Succubus around and now I don’t have to worry about her anymore. Slime, you’re in charge of defending my chastity.”

“Your ‘chastity’…?” Slime asked.

“Nooooo….!” Succubus wailed. “This is supposed to be a love nest for just me and Her Majesty-yyy….!”

The Hero and the Old Man with a bone to pick

EP 20: Ill omens

With Slime inside the Demon King’s Castle, Merle was able to sleep in her bed for the first time. Come morning, she stood in front of the full-length mirror and combed her long black hair. Her comb moves seamlessly through her luxurious hair.

Then, it suddenly broke in two and fell to the ground without a sound.

“Oh come on, what is this? Some kind of ill-omen?” Merle asked as she picked up and examined the break.

“What’s going on, Your Majesty?” Succubus asked as she continued to lay in her bed, sleepily rubbing her eyes.

“My comb broke,” Merle said. “I’ll have to get Slime to make me a new one soon.” With that, she laid the pieces by the mirror and went back to bed as if nothing had happened.

Succubus hugs Merle’s arm and goes back to sleep. At the same time, Slime also rolls over and hugs Merle’s other arm.

---

After leaving the town of Ola and returning to the city, the Hero Eliza prepared for a trip to a temple where a sage was said to live.

Merle’s easy victory over her left a deep wound in her heart, especially with the Hero’s blood running through her veins. At the rate things were going, the Demon King was going to conquer the world, and as a Hero’s descendant, she was the one who had to put a stop her.

But to do that, she needed more strength.

The sage was a party member of a former Hero who slew the Devil King, said to be well over 100 years in age. If anyone could help her in her quest, it would be them.

Eventually, she found herself at an abandoned temple in the middle of the barren desert. The structure seemed to be waiting for its inevitable end as the sands gradually wear it away, Eliza finds a huge dune blocking the entrance.

Eventually, she finds a way inside, finds a dimly lit hall with seats on either side of her, a stone statue of the former Hero lit up in the very back.

The sage kneels before it in prayer.

“Sage,” Eliza says.

The Sage stood up and turned around, they did not look 100 years or even close to it. On the contrary, they were a young and beautiful woman, and if she were seen outside this temple, she would have been easily mistaken as a village girl.

Her name was Frey, the sole survivor of her party after they slew the Demon King.

“You’re a descendant of the Hero,” Frey said. “I dreamed of your visit, just why are you here?”

“The Demon King has returned,” Eliza said.

EP 21: Sacred Power, there’s no cooler way to say it

By the expression on Frey’s face, Eliza did not need to say more. With a gloomy, pitiful look, Frey slowly closed her eyes.

“Please help me,” Eliza said. “No, please help humanity.”

“I can no longer help you,” Frey said. “I’ve exhausted all my magic in the fight with the former Demon King, I am nothing more than a storyteller now.”

“That’s not true!” Eliza shouted. “No magician in the world can surpass your power!”

Frey turned her back to her, Eliza chose her next words carefully. “Please, Great Sage, can you give me the strength to defeat the Demon King once more?” she said as she knelt and bowed her head as if in prayer.

Still, Frey did not look at her. “I cannot help you.”

“Great Sage, please,” Eliza said as she put herself before Frey. “Think of the people. The world is in danger. Please, I’m begging, you,” she said as she bowed so low her forehead pressed against the floor.

Exasperated, Frey looked over her shoulder and said, “Very well, but I cannot fight. Instead, I will give you the Stigma, the Holy Power that the Hero once used.”

“Thank you, Great Sage!” Eliza cried.

“Now, give me your right hand,” Frey said.

As ordered, Eliza held it out, Frey took it with both her hands. White light shone from Frey’s hands, the back of Eliza’s hands felt warm. When Frey pulled away, Eliza found a stigma on her hand, in the shape of a cross inside a magic circle.

“The Stigma has the power to ward off evil spirits,” Frey said. “With this, you will be able to resist their corrupting influence. Now, go: you are the Hero now.”

Eliza made a fist with her right hand and beat her chest. Immediately, she felt the Stigma’s power, a light so pure it would shine bright even in the darkest of times—a power that could counter even the Demon King. “I swear I will defeat the Demon King and protect the peace of this world,” she said.

“I wish you luck,” Frey said.

---

Merle and her two companions slept till late in the afternoon, had breakfast in bed with their eyes still half-closed from sleep. Or rather, Levantine floated nearby, waiting for them to finally wake up, then tossed forbidden fruit at them.

As Merle chewed on her fruit and wondered what to take under her control next, a curtain of the canopy bed suddenly fell to the floor. “Woah, is that supposed to happen?” she asked.

“No, it is not,” Succubus said. “I build this bed myself. I designed it to be sturdy and safe so that I can make a child with Her Majesty at any time.”

“There’s nothing more to say,” Merle said. “First the comb this morning and now this curtain. Aren’t there too many ill omens?”

“’Ill omens’?” Slime asked as she sat on atop Merle’s head as she ate her fruit. “What are those?”

“It’s a sign of something bad about to come,” Merle explained. “It’s just superstition, though.”

Still, she couldn’t help but gaze at the fallen curtain through her half-asleep eyes; though they should have been pink, they turned white like they’d been bleached by the sun.