The Devil Is a Part-Timer!, Vol. 3 (21 page)

“The tree bore ten fruits, known as Sephirah, each one corresponding to a different aspect of the world, or life itself. Each has its own planets, colors, metals, precious stones, and so on associated with it… For example, the first Sephirah, Keter, is said to govern over the soul, human thought, and imagination; it corresponds to the number one, its jewel is the diamond, its color white, its planet that of the god of the underworld, and its guardian angel Metatron. The fourth Sephirah is known as Chesed, governing over divine love; its number is four, its metallic element tin, its color blue, its planet that of the god of thunder, and its guardian angel Zadkiel…and so on down the line. All ten Sephirah possess aspects that correspond with the elements of the world, and I imagine Alas Ramus is attracted to colorful objects because they remind her of the colors each Sephirah lays claim to. Yesod, by the way, is the ninth Sephirah; it governs over the astral planes and one’s self-consciousness, its number is nine, its metallic element silver, its color purple, its planet that of the blue heavens, and its guardian angel Gabriel.”

The room fell silent for several moments after Suzuno’s quick rundown. Maou was the first to speak.

“…You actually memorized all of that crap?”

“These are the core tenets of our theology!”

“Can you just, like, give us the thirty-second recap, dude?”

“What right does a former archangel have to say that?!”

Suzuno bit back at Urushihara’s blithe request.

“Now, now, now… That’s just Urushihara being Urushihara, so…”

Chiho’s comment was enough to quell Suzuno’s anger, though she still remained dissatisfied at his lack of dedication to his heavenly origin. Next, Emi spoke up.

“So why did she call herself ‘Alas Ramus’ from the get-go? Why didn’t she say ‘Yesod’ instead?”

“It may be because this child is simply a fragment of the Sephirah,
or there may be some other, as-yet-unknown reason. It seems clear, at least, that Gabriel did not give her that name. He never once referred to her as Alas Ramus. But regardless, assuming we should take the old legends at face value, if Alas Ramus is truly a fragment…a segment of the Sephirah Yesod from the Tree of Sephirot, then everything Gabriel told us would make sense. In other words, the elements of the world governed by Yesod are facing imminent danger. A danger that could affect the whole world. And if Gabriel wants to protect the balance of the world, as is his job as its guardian angel, then he would need Alas Ramus.”

“Oh…so…”

Chiho sadly raised her voice.

“So Alas Ramus needs to go after all, huh…?”

“Not necessarily.”

Suzuno’s sudden veer over to her side caught Chiho by surprise.

“The presence of the fruits of Sephirot as the core that forms the world, and the guardian angels managing them are really only something laid out by our holy scriptures and mythology. It is not something anyone has ever seen with their own eyes. There has been no confirmation of it.”

“Confirmation…?”

“For example, the tenth Sephirah, Malkuth…”

Suzuno was stopped midsentence.

“Market!”

Alas Ramus immediately reacted to the term. Maou stepped in.

“…Come to think of it, she talked about being friends with ‘Market’ on the Ferris wheel. Do Malkuth and the other Sephirah have personalities like Alas Ramus?”

Suzuno shook her head despondently.

“I have never heard of anything like that…but I think the fact this is news even to me could lead to what I am trying to say.”

“Oh, right, sorry to cut you off. Keep going.”

“Yes. Malkuth is located at the bottom level of the tree of life, governing over the physical world. Its number is ten, its precious stone
crystal. It is associated with multiple colors, including bright yellow and olive green, and its planet is the Land of Life, which is meant to symbolize Ente Isla. According to legend, at least, if Malkuth were to cease existing for some reason, that would put the existence of crystals, the color yellow, and even Ente Isla itself in danger.”

Suzuno paused for a moment, glancing around her audience.

“But take a moment to consider this. Could you imagine all the crystals in the world disappearing all at once simply because some fruit fell off a tree in another world? What kind of phenomenon would it take for a single object to engineer such massive disasters across sea and land? Even the story in our scriptures about the ‘first human beings’ eating the forbidden fruit is subject to many interpretations. Is that fruit related to the Sephirah, or not? The Church has yet to reach a conclusive answer. As the Devil King just said, there may indeed be something to the Sephirah we could interpret as individual personalities. But, in the end, the idea that the Tree of Sephirot supports all in the world is simply something told in legend. There is no evidence of it. There are many of us who hold a connection with the heavens, but no human being has ever set foot in that divine realm. Thus, in my opinion, I doubt the world would be plunged into crisis due to Alas Ramus not being available.”

“Dude, I’m sorry, is this college all of a sudden?”

“…That being
said
, there is no doubting the existence of heaven, or angels, and if they wish to have this fragment of Yesod back, we have no way of resisting them. It is a horribly cruel state of affairs.”

The eyes of everyone were focused on Alas Ramus, held against Maou’s knees.

“…Man, this is a
total
pain in the ass.”

Maou blithely picked at his ear in response.

“Yo. Alas Ramus.”

“Hiii, Daddy!”

“That guy just now wanted to bring you back to his home, but do you wanna go with him?”

“No!!”

The refusal was clear and intense.

“Okay.”

Maou slapped one of his crossed legs.

“Right, end of discussion. If those guys tomorrow do anything Alas Ramus doesn’t like, we’re fighting to the end.”

“Wh-whoa! Wait a second!!”

Emi was less than accepting.

“Don’t you understand what kind of situation we’re in?! Bell and I don’t stand a chance taking on someone like Gabriel face-to-face, and Alciel and Lucifer don’t even have any of their power back!”

“I know. If it comes to that, I’ll take ’em on myself.”

“Yourself? Are you crazy?! How can you say that?! You realize what kind of shape you’re in?!”

“All
right
. Eesh, lay off a sec. Like me getting my ass beat by him is anything bad for
you
guys, right?”

“…I, wait, are you…?”

“This is what I
want
, okay? I don’t want to give Alas Ramus back, because
she
doesn’t want to
go
back. And to you humans, if I lose, then ding-dong, the Devil King’s dead and the Yesod fragment’s back where it should be in heaven, right? What’s the problem?”

“But…but…!!”

“Devil King! Are you truly fine with that?!”

“Maou!”

Emi remained unconvinced, as Suzuno and Chiho found themselves similarly unable to remain silent. Maou rolled his eyes as they confronted him.

“Hey, Ashiya? Urushihara? A little help here?”

“…Y-your Demonic Highness, this is simply…”

“Uhh…well, not like I give a crap either way, but I’m really startin’ to dig life inside this closet, so that would kinda harsh my buzz, y’know?”

“Oh, not you, too, guys…”

“And despite everything we say, you still fail to see?!”

Suzuno lashed out at Maou anew.

Alas Ramus, surprised at the suddenness of it, took a tumble off Maou’s lap.

“No! Suzu-Sis, you’re mean to Daddy!”

She stood strong, extending her little body as straight up as possible to protect Daddy from danger. Suzuno briskly pushed her aside as she moved to grab Maou by the collar.

“It matters little here whether you are Devil King or not! But all of us…even Lucifer, in his own way, finds the idea of Alas Ramus going someplace she dislikes as abhorrent! If Alas Ramus were to be taken away to a place like that…I would rather keep her in your hovel instead!”

“…I’m not exactly sure that’s how a Church cleric is supposed to talk…”

“I may be a Church cleric, but I am also a politician! I know how to compromise for the greater good! Besides, look at the sheer arrogance of that man, acting like he’s the sole steward of an object he let free for hundreds of years! The whole Tree of Sephirot is itself a pile of rubbish!!”

“So…is that what you’re all saying?”

“What?!”

“Saying how?”

“…What do you mean?”

“Yes, my liege?”

“What…”

Maou let out a wry smile, baring his teeth to the crowd.

“You guys all really like Alas Ramus, don’t you?”

“…!”

Suzuno gasped softly.

“…Well, thanks.”

It was the one word no Devil King would ever say, but one he had been throwing around over and over as of late.

“But when it comes to picking a fight against somebody holy, the Devil King’s kinda got a monopoly on that. This is too much for you guys. I’ve got something that belongs to the gods here, and I’m gonna keep it from them because I wanna. So if push comes to shove with Gabriel tomorrow, you don’t have to step in, okay?”

Suzuno, bewildered, removed her hands from Maou’s collar.

“And if it works out in the end, then great, right? Go hard or go home.”

“Hey!”

“Wait!”

“Maou!”

“My liege!”

“…Dude.”

“Guys, shut
up
!”

Maou waved his hands against the surround-sound wall of complaints.

“This isn’t some kind of movie. All the ’tude in the world isn’t gonna help me get past this guy. I’m a grown man, all right? Expect the best, but plan for the worst! Hey, Emi!”

“What?!”

“You’re sleeping over here tonight!”

This was not the kind of risk management anyone had pictured.

“Whaaaaaaaaaaa?!”

“How is this
possibly
risk management?!”

Emi glared at Maou, who still had Alas Ramus on his outstretched legs. She picked up the young girl, the toddler gleefully swinging her legs in the air in response.

“Hey, if I do wind up going at it with Gabriel, I figured that’d force you to get involved in the fight for me. You see? Always thinking two steps ahead! My mind’s a steel trap!” Maou announced proudly.

“…Do you seriously mean that?”

“Well, more than I don’t. I think I said this before, but it’s about time
you
step up to handle something for a change, right?”

“Oh, me handling the Devil King’s problems? Yeah, they’d be cheering my name back home if they heard
that
one.”

“Yaaaayy!”

Alas Ramus’s sudden cheer from within Emi’s arms was likely a coincidence. It was still enough to make Maou and Emi feel ridiculous for a moment.

“Anyway. More than I don’t, like I said, but I
am
trying to think
about this logically a little. I’m not asking you to take up my side or anything, but if we
do
wind up throwing down, you could at least make sure Alas Ramus doesn’t get hurt.”

“Oh…well, if that’s all you’re asking for…but what do you mean, you’re ‘trying to think’ about this?” Emi replied. “Do you have a plan, or are you just gonna enjoy your final night with this kid? ’Cause if you do, I’d like to hear it, or else I don’t know what I can do here.”

Maou wasn’t speaking as if he intended to lose without a fight, but he betrayed no evidence of anything resembling a fighting chance. Apparently his stance was to make the most of what time they had so she’d have something pleasant to recall on the other side.

So here they were, all sleeping in the same room.

By and large, Alas Ramus had been a good little girl up to this point, except for the occasional fit she pitched about Mommy not being around. As a parent, it was only natural to want to sleep with Mommy for a change, even if just for a single night.

Chiho was wholeheartedly supportive, and Suzuno approved as well, although she did so with the most acerbic facial expression possible. Ashiya was dead set against it, but ultimately she agreed on the condition that he be stationed in Suzuno’s room in case anything bad happened. Urushihara, meanwhile, could sleep anywhere as long as his laptop was nearby.

There was no guaranteeing anyone’s safety tonight, so Emi, seeing no other option, agreed to spend the night in Devil’s Castle so long as Chiho left early in the evening.

Ashiya accompanied Chiho back home, then invited himself into Suzuno’s room alongside Urushihara. It was a very unlikely room share, given everyone’s past history of being close confidants/mortal enemies.

Maou shot a glance at Emi, largely indifferent to her question.

“I’m just risking my life for a kid. Like any parent would. But, you know, I wouldn’t worry much. If anything happens, it’s probably not gonna be any big deal for you.”

“…I wish I knew where that confidence of yours comes from.”

“If you’re expecting some basis for it, keep lookin’. But it’s weird, you know? It’s like, if it’s for Alas Ramus’s sake, I feel like I can do anything.”

“Oh, so now the Devil King’s playing the spunky against-all-odds movie hero again? Didn’t you just say that a positive attitude isn’t gonna help anyone here?”

“Yeah, and I’ll probably be paying for that pretty soon. But, you know, all the guys who died against me and my demon forces…they probably kept going ’til the very end for their own kids, too. And if they can do that, why can’t the Devil King, huh?”

Emi was fully prepared to crack back at Maou. But the serenity in his voice gave her pause.

“What… What’s that… Stop acting like you’re starting some glorious new chapter in your life.”

In the end, that was all that came out. Even that was at a barely audible mutter as she averted her eyes, for Maou’s sentiment reminded her of the face her father made as she was taken away from her village.

And just as he said, this was payback. Just desserts for the king of all demons, the monster who took countless lives, and separated her from her father.

And yet, oddly enough, Emi found herself dejected.

The Devil King is facing the same torment, the same sadness I faced. So why is my chest in so much pain over it?