The Lazy King Volume 2, Chapter 4: Superbia’s Arrogance, Part 3: I Cannot

Volu 2, Chapter 4: Superbia’s Arrogance, Part 3: I Cannot Run Away

Hiero, you are… beyond help.

While those words lacked any clear killing intent, they were filled with a force that surpassed that.

They were definitely the words of a Lord of Demons, but they were on another level from that of the Lord of Sloth I had been watching up to that point.

No, rather than level… perhaps I should say type.

The difference between, without any stimulus, the large power that could always be sensed… the force of Sloth, and the heavy oppressing power of Pride to suppress everything.

Kusu kusu kusu, even when he was frozen as well, and had to be saved by Kanon-sama, he’s acting way too high and mighty…

But I could never voice such a thing, and if I did, regardless of how high I thought myself over Heard-san, without even a mont to feel it, I would surely die.

It’s no joke. My life doesn’t exist for sothing like that.

But the reason I’m still alive is likely because Heard-san lost to Leigie-sama.

That’s why Heard-san went against his own Pride, and refrained from killing .

Without requesting a single armant, the Lord of Pride who took down the world with but his fists.

There are nurous cases where the source of one’s Superbia cos from the ‘self’ a Demon had trained up, but in Heard-san’s case, that wasn’t nearly enough to explain it.

His was an abnormal, and overwhelming conceit.

But his gaze that looked down on this Underground was sothing that I, who went in the complete opposite side of Pride’s spectrum, couldn’t understand.

(TL: After so many chapters… they’ve finally… given a reading for Demon World… as Underground.)

That’s why… I’d appreciate it if he stopped taking this out on .

“Tsk… damn Egoist. What is he plotting…”

Heard-san’s blade like glare was locked onto a wall.

It’s probably that he wasn’t doing that intentionally, but the pressure alone was enough to weight down my body. It wasn’t that sort of weight of air type pressure, but rather a definite force of gravity.

Breathing beca difficult. The inspectors keeping their distance from behind were looking at Heard-san with tired expression, and as if all of this was natural, they didn’t say a word.

Their job was to keep tabs on this Demon Lord. At tis, they assisted, and at tis, they gave advice, but they were generally neutral entities. As long as it wasn’t going to cause any real harm, they wouldn’t say anything about this level of pressure. This level of self-control makes comnd their professionalism.

Well… even if a gathering of ten General Classes were to challenge him, Heard-san wouldn’t even take the wave of a finger.

Perhaps the other Demon Lords finally collected themselves, as I was finally able to secretly take a breath of air in another’s Zone.

It wasn’t enough to prevent movent… but I was still in a bit of pain.

So the Devouring Lord, the forr Fifth Rank Zebul Glaucus of Gula survived.

That fact stirred up the eting quite a bit.

There wasn’t a single Lord who knew not the Devourer’s na.

And that wasn’t a complent there.

If it was in the number of Demon Lords she’d killed, that woman likely numbered within the top three of the Great Demon King’s army, and she was an incarnation of sin great enough to even swallow up this bleak and desolate Demon World. Of all else, the repulsive Demon even ate those of her sa race.

She was likely more troubleso that a Valkyrie who wasn’t doing anything but challenging Demon Lords, and much more abnormal.

If her continued existence was true, that is.

… I an, she should have been destroyed by the Lord of Sloth.

“Kusu kusu kusu, but… seriously, after all this ti, why is the Devouring Lord…”

Wrong. That wasn’t the main problem. I knew that. And I also knew it wasn’t sothing I should put to words.

The problem was that Leigie-sama had defied Kanon-san’s words, and allowed the Devouring Lord to run free.

No, that likely wasn’t the reality of the matter. Leigie-sama would never do sothing so troubleso. But from an outsider’s perspective, how would it look…

Normally, it would be a failure more than deserving of punishnt.

That was the important point here.

Even when I didn’t voice it, I’ll bet Heard-san guessed what I wanted to say.

He glared at with strong eyes, and gave an answer as if it were nothing special.

“Hm… to Leigie of Sloth, Zebul rely wasn’t even worthy of a finishing blow. That’s all there is to it.”

“I see…”

And I doubt there’s any Lord here who would be satisfied with such an answer.

But, still, in this world, Rank and power was everything.

As long as the highest ranked Heard-san, and the one who stood above all, Kanon-san, didn’t say anything, any more words would put the speaker’s life at risk.

Just what was Vanity-san thinking when he suddenly proclaid the Devourer’s survival in an atmosphere like that?

I don’t know his intent. Rank Four. His status likely wasn’t a re decoration.

But there was one thing my instincts told when I saw his eyes.

Vanity-san… gave off a scent sowhat like mine.

Even if they were both Demons of Pride, he and Heard-san were water and oil.

Whether there was ill intent or not, the two of them were incompatible.

At that point, Lize-san started jogging in our direction.

Since the girl she had guided here had disappeared, she was probably free.

Lize-san was generally a straight-laced person, and while she was occasionally out of it, she was a woman of valor. Ah, also, her breasts were quite considerable.

She directed a single look at the several inspectors behind us, before turning to the one much greater than her, and in the worst of moods, Heard-san.

“Heard Lauder, what do you plan on doing?”

“Hm… a foolish question.”

Using those words as a trigger, the vague mana emitted from his well trained body suddenly converged onto himself.

With just that action, I saw an illusion of the air around him warping.

Explosive magic.

Imnse physical ability.

An unshakable will.

Having obtained all of those, his bearing was undoubtedly a Lord’s.

Heard-san had no losses, and no retreats.

Without ever fading, his assurance in his ‘self,’ high as the skies, was always there.

And as I thought, as if it were a trifling matter, he offered a short sentence of answer.

“… I’ll just destroy the Devourer.”

The aning behind those words was likely sothing Lize-san couldn’t comprehend.

But as another Pride, I could feel them.

Even if it went against his nature…

“Why, at this point…”

“Hm…”

… It was rely his Pride.

That was the only basis for Heard-san’s actions.

That was the reason for his strength. The aning of his strength.

His longings wouldn’t allow it. Even if it no longer held any relevance to him, Heard-san would wash away the stains on Leigie-sama’s record.

It was a pain-in-the-ass way of life. But also a way all the sa.

Lize-san hesitated for a mont, before posing a question.

“… Then what about the Valkyrie?”

“… The Devourer cos first. The Crimson Prison is close… and I doubt it will take much ti at all.”

“No ti…? The enemy is the forr Rank Five, Zebul Glaucus, correct?”

“Yes, what of it?”

There was never a waver in his way of life.

It was likely that Heard would never hold doubt in his own victory up to the mont before his death.

Kusu kusu kusu, he really has no flexibility….

“I’ll head to the Crimson Prison.”

“Eh? Wai… that land is under Vanity’s domain. Are you sane?”

Heard-san didn’t even nod at Lize-san’s voice.

It was his resolution. Without listening to anyone else’s words, he would push through his path on nothing but his own willpower.

How useless. When he’s like this, he can’t be stopped by anyone. In that sense, he was still quieter back when he was Leigie-sama’s supre commander.

Well, it doesn’t really matter to .

I don’t need strength. I don’t need training.

The ‘supre’ that Heard-san wishes for holds absolutely no aning to Leigie-sama.

To as well.

If Heard-san is to die, then all that will happen is that I’ll go back to serve under Leigie-sama. I still have sothing I have to accomplish there.

And wait, you don’t have to die, just hurry up and release already…

I seriously don’t need this training. The land isn’t splitting anyti soon. It’s impossible. It’s not splitting, and there’s absolutely no one out there that wants it to split.

“Lize, you can just go scout out the Valkyrie’s station. After destroying the Devouring Lord, I’ll head there.”

“Wai… it couldn’t be that you’re going alone, right? At the very least, your army…”

“Unnecessary… Hm, damn Vanity. I’ll definitely make you pay for this one.”

Oy, that one’s a false claim. All Vanity did here was report the truth.

But he couldn’t co out and say that due to his nature.

At the very least, I couldn’t see that Vanity had that sort of disposition.

When I recall his boorish silver eyes looking our way, even I had shivers run down my spine.

His moniker… the Egoist ans he himself acknowledged his own fault.

Vanity Seidthroan was apparently a Demon Lord who gave up on the King’s throne. His disposition was far removed from prim and proper Superbia.

It’s not my problem who dies where, and while Heard-san is ssed up in the head, he’s no idiot. He likely has several tens of tis more experience than , and he should have noticed it.

“It’s quite definitely a trap, right…”

“Hm… trap… is it? Then I’ll rely crush it head on.”

As I thought, this is impossible.

I was sure he would say that…

This is why muscle heads are…

Heard-san has a large quantity of power, so perhaps it’ll work out one way or another, but I’m considerably lower in that departnt. The Overrule Skill is powerful, but it doesn’t have the ability to overturn a power gap too great.

But I’ve already given up on stopping this man long ago.

I stood a while staring at the inept inspectors standing about like scarecrows, before I made a smile and turned to Heard-san.

Smiles didn’t work on him in a different way than Leigie-sama. However, it’s more decent to make one than not… I think.

“Will you be heading straight for the Crimson Prison after this? In that case, I’ll go return the flying dragon…”

The Crimson Prison was far. From the Palace of Rending Flas, it was a few hours, even with a dragon.

And in Heard-san’s case, unbelievably, his own running pace was far faster than such a beast.

Then the dragon would just be in the way. Even so, the flying dragon was also his property, so we couldn’t just leave it here, so it was inevitable that soone was needed to return it to Heard-san’s base of operations, the『Castle of Shimring Souls』.

But on my polite proposal, Heard-san directed enough anger at to make my body shrink back.

“Hm… Hiero. This is why I said you were beyond help.

“Hii… n-no… I was…”

It was rely a locking of eyes, but the weight I felt was physical enough, and I unintentionally retreated.

Wrong. That’s wrong.

I-it’s not like I didn’t want to accompany you or anything…

No, you see, well, if you drag along, there’s the possibility I might kinda die, you know…

Those observers, who were really just there for show, looked at with eyes of pity.

I don’t need your sympathy.

dea’s unsightly exit floated vividly in the forefront of my mind.

But only her face had been altered.

What was there wasn’t dea-san’s but…

A dull heat started welling up from the depths of my brain, joining up with my bloodstream.

And once more, Heard-san let out the words he had spoken just a year before when he abducted .

“You are unworthy…of your Superbia.”

His words were concise, but their aning vanished as they were absorbed into .

Lize-san let out so lines that were quite sensible in all regards.

She was a surprisingly hopeless person as she was, but she may have been the only sliver of conscience that existed around .

“Heard, Hiero is a non-combatant, is she not…”

“Combatant or not isn’t the problem. Hiero is much too lacking in Pride. This one is different from… Lorna.”

I don’t get just what exactly he’s looking for.

But when a Demon Lord of Pride says such things, they hold quite a bit of weight.

Perhaps the reason I am unable to Overrule oneechan lies sowhere there. No, there’s no doubt that it does.

It was rely a coincidence that Heard-san took to .

But earning his sympathy must be my failure.

What he felt towards was likely an illusion, but anyways, Heard-san’s Pride was much too severe for .

I have… no, we don’t even have a way of life.

In the first place power… isn’t even sothing I’m searching for.

But such excuses are rendered moot before this man.

No, just by stating my reason and will, I was unable to get him to recognize . His annoyingly stern criterion had yet to be fulfilled.

“Lize, you are to take care of the flying dragon. Hiero… co with . We’re going to destroy the Devourer.”

“… Kusu kusu kusu, there’s no helping it… I’ll follow you… yes, I’ll follow.”

I used all my effort to smooth the matter over, but the fatigue in my voice was so clear I could feel it the mont it escaped my mouth.

I don’t know if there’s anything for , who can’t split the ground with my bare hands, to do, but from Heard-san… I cannot escape.

While feeling that I was gradually heading in a completely different direction from my will, the image of dea-san’s departure grew stronger, and I prayed to the God of the Demon World, who all could say did not exist.