Hata-Maou Vol 4 translations
Vol 4 Prologue
Emeralda Etuva could feel her already short height decreasing because of all the stress.
Not only is she the Holy Court Magician of the Saint Aire Empire, she is also widely known as the companion to the Hero, and is currently one of the most influential people in the Western Continent.
The Court Magician, a scholar, always gives others the impression of a consultant, and before the invasion of the Demon King’s army, Emeralda had no reason to interfere in politics and foreign affairs. However, her accumulated knowledge as a result of travelling around the various lands as the Hero’s companion attracted the attention of the Five Continent Knight Alliance, the people in charge of restoring the land.
Ever since she was able to give her opinions as one of the important members of the Knight Alliance, the amount of responsibility which Emeralda had to carry is now a lot more compared to before they challenged the Demon King’s army.
Not only did she incite the feelings of jealousy amongst the important people in Saint Aire, she is also seen as an enemy because of Olba’s incident, which caused a major uproar in the church.
“After the restoration of the Central Continent, I really want to escape~~”
The stress Emeralda is under is so serious that she started to complain very seriously to Albertio, her travelling companion in the past.
The only thing to be thankful about is that after she was summoned to the Five Continent Knight Alliance, she ended up commanding the section in charge of the wiping out of the demons.
Of course, unless the demon is a really strong opponent, Emeralda would not need to handle it personally.
Even then, seeing the fighters from various countries banding together to get rid of the demons in the Central Continent to carry out the pure justice of protecting the weak, she can still feel that these lands are still filled with hope.
But there is something which only Emeralda knows.
The battle between the Hero and the Demon King is still going on in a faraway foreign world.
However, people do not know about this. Not even two years after the defeat of the Demon King’s army, most people have already forgotten Hero Emilia, treating her as a ‘Legend’.
Emeralda and Albertio had worked hard, hoping that Emilia will regain back the fame and reputation she had lost because of Olba.
However, the world right now did not need the name of Hero Emilia.
Alive or dead, to most of the people living in this world, Emilia Justina is only “The Hero who Exists Somewhere in this World”.
Based on what Emeralda knows, there are only a few people who can see this name as a reality.
In order to restore Emilia’s name, the unrighteous actions of the church, who seek to seal Emilia up as a legend, would have to be exposed, causing them to lose their authority.
However, if the rulers decide to carry out their justice in outrage, sometimes it would hurt the citizens in the end. If the two great powers in the Western Continent, Saint Aire and the Church, decide to go against one another, the whole continent will be split into two, thus weakening the nation as a whole.
Emeralda felt perplexed.
Since the other four major continents are focusing on the restoration, naturally she would try to avoid the situation where only the Western Continent is wasting their effort on internal conflict.
Compared to her friend’s reputation, as a politician, Emeralda Etuva chose the nation’s future.
This did not mean that Emeralda is cold. Something happened which caused her to make up her mind.
Church Inquisitor Crestia Bell.
The top Inquisitor with the nickname “Death Scythe Bell” which people tremble in fear of is now a reliable comrade of Emilia.
A member of the Church who can express her opinions directly to the Pope is currently taking action to restore Emilia’s name and rebuild the church. To Emeralda, this is very good news.
In addition, she belonged to an organization under Olba, this brings about huge implications.
Even if the citizens hesitate because of the punishment from the “Six Archbishops”, if Crestia corrects the actions of the Church in Emilia’s place, it would appear that the Church is handling things internally, and the stability built up through the religion will not be shaken up as much. Meaningless political battle or restlessness amongst the citizens would be kept to a minimum.
In the end, if Emilia, with her far reaching reputation, openly opposed the church, then the matter would definitely develop into something which cannot be controlled while greatly shaking up the citizen’s lives.
As Emilia’s friend, this kind of result does make her slightly unhappy, but after considering her friend’s reputation and the stability of the citizens, Emeralda decided that it would be more advantageous for Crestia to handle the situation.
She wondered if she would have a chance to meet Crestia face to face in the future to praise each other for fighting for the same friend.
“I hope such a day will come! But at the same time, I don’t really want to~~”
Emeralda said to herself as she read the reports in the office assigned by the Five Continent Knight Alliance.
“However~~it might be better if Emilia doesn’t return at all~~”
That peaceful and prosperous foreign world known as Japan.
It might not be that bad for Emilia to treat that nation as her second home, staying there and living a peaceful life.
Emeralda glanced at the magical tool at the corner of the table, the “mobile phone”.
“Hey, Em, listen to me!”
Even though the other party sounds rather angry, it also held some signs of liveliness.
“Those people are supposed to be the Demon King and demons, but they actually participate in community cleaning, it’s laughable.”
This knight of the Church who staked her whole life to avenge her father---
“Hey, Em! I lost! I actually lost to the Demon King! Why are diapers so difficult to change?”
Getting angry, crying and laughing in a manner which matches her age.
A few days ago, when Emilia discussed with her about the true identity of “the girl who was born from the apple”, even she was shocked. However, rather than being concerned about the birth of the girl, Emilia seemed more concerned about the girl treating her and Maou and mother and father, and did not care too much about “Heaven” or “Sephira”, topics which should be taken seriously and thought about.
“I want to restore my father’s wheat field.”
That was Emilia’s dream in the past.
However, once she returns to Ente Isla, she would become Emilia Justina, the Hero who saved the world. Once Emilia’s reputation is restored, she would be a true symbol of justice; but for her, she would be unable to fulfill that small dream.
Even though she is able to interact with Emilia simply as a friend, but she would still face many obstacles in her path.
Unrelated to what Emilia represented, she is already an important person in the field of politics.
“In this world, things really don’t always go one’s way~~”
In order to prevent herself from becoming shorter, Emeralda gave a huge sigh, changing her mood. Whatever happens after Emilia achieves her original goal will be decided by Emilia herself.
It doesn’t matter if she returns to Ente Isla or not, Emeralda will work hard to create the ideal world. This is her responsibility as one who admires a young girl as the Hero.
After that, Emeralda realised that she had made the assumption that Maou Satan will no longer return to Ente Isla.
The reason is simple. Because the Demon King now is no longer the Demon King known by Emeralda or the citizens of Ente Isla.
The one who judged that Maou Satan is now working hard in the human world, living together with humans, and acting as a parent and taking care of “the girl who was born from the apple” is no one other than the Hero Emilia.
“Peace was created without anyone being aware of how it was done~~should I reveal everything even at the cost of new sacrifices~~how troubling~~”
Emeralda Etuva, Emilia’s friend and the Holy Court Magician of the Saint Aire Empire, these two identities were conflicting with one another in her heart.
“Eh……?”
Emeralda, who was automatically stamping documents while thinking complicated thoughts, stopped her movements because of the contents of one document.
She realised that the numbers of slain demons have increased in the recent 2 weeks. Even though it’s slow, according to eyewitness accounts, the frequency of the appearance of demons had increased.
“…It feels~~I have a bad feeling~~”
Even though there were days where the number of encounters were zero in the previous month, with the passing of each day, not only have the number of demons increased in these past 2 weeks, there was no decrease at all.
The numbers are not much, but the number of encounters had increased, this also means the number of sacrifices will increase, this caused Emeralda to frown.
If this goes on, it might be better for her to investigate this personally.
As she thought about it, and was about to write down her thoughts on another piece of paper—
“Emeralda-sama!”
A visitor ran into the office nosily. It was an apprentice knight assigned from the Northern Continent.
“What’s wrong~~?”
The young apprentice knight looked pale and was breathing hard, his eyes filled with unease.
Before he opened his mouth, his expression already told others that this definitely wasn’t good news at all.