Maou-sama no Machizukuri! ~Saikyou no Danjon wa Kindai Toshi~ Vol 9 Chapter 1 Aug 03, 2019

Publishedat 12th of July 2019 10:02:56 PMChapter 1

Chapter 1: The Ones that dared to challenge the Emperor

It was finally the day for the dragon’s trial . I was currently getting ready in the room lent to me .

The previous day, we had such a great party . The alcohol and food were all first class .

I was especially surprised about the food .

In terms of cooking techniques, Avalon’s chefs had the edge . Instead, the reason behind why even I, someone who was so used to delicious food, was surprised was the quality of the ingredients used . They were definitely of finer quality than those found in Avalon where the best things in the world have gathered .

When I asked how that was so, I was surprised again .

Apparently, the meat used were item drops from monsters .

A fixed time after a monster has died, it would turn into blue particles of light . There would be nothing left of the deceased monster except for items that could drop at fixed rates .

Among these item drops were meat items .

Basically, these meat items were categorized into pork, beef, poultry, and lamb meat, while some rare monsters dropped uniquely named meat . They were also graded as inferior, average, superior, and first-class .

Naturally, the higher the grade of the meat, the better tasting it was . And the flavor of the first-class meat items, which unsurprisingly could only be dropped by B rank or higher monsters, was enough to make any gourmet feel ecstatic .

Because nobles and other wealthy people were willing to pay large amounts of money for the first-class meat items, adventurers would often dive into dungeons looking for such things . A lot of the time however, before these adventurers could get out of the dungeon with their loot, they become exhausted and die .

According to what I heard, the food served to us used what was recovered—and later preserved—from those adventurers .

“I guess I should have known that unfamiliar flavor . ”

A Demon Lord that ran a so-called orthodox dungeon would surely be familiar with the deaths of their monsters within the dungeon as well as with item drops .

However, I didn’t run such a dungeon .

In fact, I built Avalon primarily so that I could avoid the deaths of my monsters as much as possible .

…and then, it hit me . I finally understood why [Time] Demon Lord Dantalian said that last night’s feast was something only he could have prepared . Certainly, I wouldn’t have been able to serve the same food .

While arriving to that conclusion, I used the water from a water jug in the room and washed my face .

Good, my eyes look perfectly awake . Let’s go .

Next, I went toward the [Time] Demon Lord’s arena .

Already rushing to the audience seats were the [Time] Demon Lord’s monsters . Their excitement for the fierce fight between S rank dragons were visible on their faces .

A few moments after I arrived, my dragon did too .

His name was Duke, and he was a Black Dragon of Death Siegwurm .

Just like yesterday, he was wearing the tailcoat suit that his Dwarf Smith wife had made for him .

“Good morning, Duke . Were you able to get a good night’s rest last night?”

“Not really, my lord . I can’t stop picturing defeating the world’s strongest dragon and taking its place . ”

“You’re as reliable as ever, Duke . ”

A few moments after that, Stolas and Enlil the Storm Dragon Knight Bahamut came along .

Enlil dropped down from Stolas’s shoulder and reverted to his true form: a large, jade-green flying dragon .

Each of his scales were filled with astonishing amounts of magic power . So much so that each one glimmered like an emerald .

Stolas standing side by side with Enlil while he had a stoic countenance in that form, it was truly a sight to behold .

“Enlil, what good wind we have today, right? I hope you’ll fight well together today and emerge victorious . ”

“GYAAAAAAAAAAAAAA”

Enlil replied with a forceful roar .

Seeing that, I could tell Duke also wanted to transform into his real form, but his had a time limit and that vexed him .

At any rate, the challenger side was complete .

Now, all we needed to do was wait for the champion .

And right on cue, they arrived . With their appearance, the [Time] Demon Lord’s monsters cheered . The whole place shook because of it .

Three Demon Lords climbed up the stage .

One was a beautiful looking young man, one was beautiful brown-skinned woman with wolf ears and a wolf tail, and the last one was an old man whose body was thoroughly trained .

They were the three strongest Demon Lords . [Time] Demon Lord Dantalian, [Beast] Demon Lord Marchosias, and [Dragon] Demon Lord Astaroth .

If these three were together, there was nothing they couldn’t do . Even world domination would be easy .

The [Dragon] Demon Lord then walked toward the center of the stage .

He then crossed his arms and assumed an imposing stance .

“Come!”

When he shouted so, dragons that each had crazy amounts of power appeared from all directions . Each of them had been made with the ability to level up and had been trained to the utmost . As if that wasn’t enough, each of them had [Berserk], allowing them to go against even S rank monsters . Each was a monster capable of destroying a country .

And there were 19 of them .

They landed in such a way that they surrounded the arena’s stage . They then roared . It wasn’t meant to threaten, but rather to revere something, to request for something’s affection .

As if to answer those roars, a crack appeared in the sky . That crack was then pried open from within .

And what emerged was Caesar the Emperor Dragon Typhon .

Standing at over 20 meters tall, he was large even by dragon standards . His reddish-brown body was wrapped in some kind of golden light . There was something malicious but at the same time holy about it .

Just with his arrival, the battle has already begun .

He didn’t glance at the other dragons . He simply looked from above at Duke and Enlil to evaluate them .

Enlil let out a growl . The fear in his voice was quite apparent .

To make someone like Enlil be afraid, Caesar definitely was a dragon among dragons .

Duke was somehow able to maintain a calm face, but I could see that his hands were shaking .

“This is the apex dragon… the true [Dragon Emperor]”

As for me, I leaked out such words with a dumbfounded expression on my face .

This is the kind of monstrosity we’re going against?

I knew Caesar was going to be a formidable enemy from the get go, but when I got another look at the thing we were challenging, I froze .

…no, stop .

As Duke’s master, I knew I must snap out of it . As it was, my fear was already being transmitted to Duke .

Duke believed I was a superb Demon Lord, so I should act like one .

Like that, I took a deep breath, walked a step forward, placed a hand on Duke’s shoulder, and said:

“Duke, he’s strong, stronger than any monster you’ve fought before . However, I have one thing to say: I command you to win . ”

Duke once said to me that whatever I ordered him to do, he would accomplish it . According to him, I wasn’t some incompetent Demon Lord who would give him a command that I knew myself to be impossible to accomplish . Believing I knew for a fact that he could do what I commanded him to do, he would do everything to make it so .

Duke didn’t turn back to face me, but his back told me enough .

Meanwhile, Stolas faced Enlil and reached out her hand . When Enlil lowered his face enough, she petted the tip of his nose .

Just like that, whatever anxiety Enlil had was brushed away .

Such was a knight’s disposition, I guess . He couldn’t stomach letting his lady see what he considered an uncool sight .

And so, Stolas and I nodded at each other and then went up the stage with our dragons . Once there, the [Dragon] Demon Lord spoke again .

“Fumu, so, you’ve chosen to stay and fight my [Dragon Emperor], have you? That alone deserves recognition . Truth be told, I was worried you’d get cold feet and back out . ”

What he said was incredibly condescending, but if anyone had the right to say such things, it would be him .

Before replying, I just smiled thinly while Stolas just stared at him .

“We came here to defeat you and inherit Caesar’s [Dragon Emperor], and that’s exactly what we’ll do . ”

“We’re going to surpass you, Astaroth-sama . Here and now . ”

Echoing our resolve, Enlil roared while Duke yelled .

Seemingly satisfied by that, Ast nodded .

“Good, you’ve got drive… The audience for this grand fight isn’t just Marcho, Dan, and his monsters . We also have my [True Dragon Squadron] . They are here to ascertain whether their new leader is worthy or not . You better keep that in mind . ”

The 19 dragons that appeared earlier weren’t here to simply watch the fight . They were here to evaluate their possible new leader .

The bar had been raised even higher, but I had complete trust that Duke and Enlil would pull through .

“Ast, Procell, Stolas, no matter what happens, rest assured that I will rewind time . So, feel free to go as wild as you want . ”

“I’ll also provide magic power to the barrier, so you don’t have to worry about the audience either . It’s been a while since I’ve broken a sweat . But holding back the attacks of three S rank monsters might tire me out more than I’ve hoped . ”

This was the reason these two were here .

For a battle of this scale, if an ordinary barrier was used to surround the ring, that barrier would be dissolved by just the aftereffects of the dragons’ attacks . Only truly tough monsters would remain in the audience .

To prevent that, Marcho decided to participate . By pouring her magic power into the barrier, not a stray attack would get pass .

As for Dan, he was going to turn back the time for those within stage after the fight had reached its conclusion . Even if a monster has died, they would be as fine as they were when the fight started .

What that meant was that both sides could fight with the intent to kill without any repercussions .

Everything was set, all that was left was to formally begin the fight .

“Then, let us begin . My lord, I assure you, we will achieve victory . ”

“Yeah, I believe in you, Duke . ”

Like that, I sent Duke off to battle .

His form then changed into a large black dragon whose body was clad in dark miasma .

In this form, he could exhibit his full potential .

“GRYUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUR”

“I’ll leave it up to you, Enlil . I love you . ”

Enlil roared like that and dyed the wind whirling around him turn jade-green .

The golden dragon was now standing opposite the jet-black dragon and the jade-green dragon .

For some reason, that made the [Dragon] Demon Lord smile .

And then…

“I hereby declare the dragon’s trial begun!”

The [Time] Demon Lord loudly announce that the fight to determine the new [Dragon Emperor] has begun .