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Maou no Hajimekata Volume 3 Chapter 2 Part 3

Translator: DarkHeartedAlchemist

Chapter 2: Let’s Get Back What Was Stolen From Us, Part 3

「Hey, isn’t that the violation of our agreement?」

「Violation? What are you talking about? I gave you the eyes in exchange for your ability, just like we promised.」

Kicking Aur’s severed arm to the side, Sarnak picked Froro’s eyes from the ground.

「There is no rule that prevents me from taking the thing I have traded back afterwards. That’s all there is to it… Nagia!」

Sarnak raised his voice, and Nagia, who was waiting outside of the room up to this point, came in with a puzzled expression.

「Lord Sarnak… what… is going on…?」
「I know that you’ve been in league with this guy… na-ah-ah-ah, don’t you dare saying anything stupid unless you want to regret it.」

Putting his sword against Aur, who was holding his arm to stop the bleeding, Sarnak gnawed at Nagia.

「Go and take this guy’s Skill of using that stone wall… or no, that would be too much of a hassle. Take all the Skills he has away from him. How’s that business transaction for you, huh? Isn’t exchanging your life for all of your Skills a generous offer?」
「…. I see. The eye.」

As soon as Aur muttered that, his left leg has been torn off.

「What have I told you about saying anything stupid? But, since you’ve been so perceptive to notice that, I will graciously enlighten you: that’s right. I have seen and heard all of your interactions with Nagia.」

Sarnak laughs, flickering Froro’s eye between his fingers.

「Oh, what a silly demon you are. You offered it to me without even knowing it’s real value.」

The one who laughed now was not Sarnak, but Nagia. When she appraised Froro, she learned of the Skills name, but not it’s effect. Even if Froro knew that her eye was special, apparently she had no idea of it’s true worth. Otherwise, she would have never parted with it under any circumstances.

「This is the Eye of the Ruler. The eye of the one who rules the entirety of the demonic race, the eye of the Demon Lord!」
「The Demon Lord…?!」

Aur’s eyes opened widely with surprise, before the tip of Sarnak’s sword pierced his right foot.

「Ghuuu…!」
「Careful here, you’re going to die for sure if you keep this up. Well, technically speaking I could kill you and then take everything away from you… so at the very least I will make sure to leave your tongue intact. Nagia, get on with it.」

Sarnak lowered his sword and commanded her in an extremely bored tone.

「Wait!」

Suddenly, Froro appeared before Aur, stopping Nagia from coming any closer to him.

「Oh look, it’s the Demon Queen herself!  Or perhaps I should say Her Majesty the Ex-Demon Queen? Anyway, good day to you!」

Sarnak welcomed Froro in a mocking manner, putting a strong emphasis on the [Ex] part of her title.

「H-Her Majesty!?」

Nagia eyes almost shot out of their sockets. Did she really didn’t know about that? What a surprise.

「Aur! Swear to me, here and now, that you will become my servant. If you do that, we might just get out of it..!」
「Did you really think I will allow that?! Get her, everyone!」

Sarnak gave the order to all his slaves, but they just looked at him with confused expressions.

「DO IT!」

He screamed at them again, and this time they all attacked Froro all at once.

「Aur! Please, I beg you, become my servant or…!」

Froro begged as she was being pressed against the floor by Sarnak’s slaves.

「SHUT UP!!!」

Sarnak raised his sword high into the air, aiming at Froro…

「I refuse. (TL Note: DAGA KOTOWARU!)」

Aur declared, making Sarnak stop dead in his tracks.

「What did you say?」
「Are you deaf? I said I refuse. I you really listened to all of my conversations with Nagia then you should know this: I don’t bow down to anyone. I am the only one who will decide my way of life.」

Everyone, including Sarnak, Nagia and the slaves stared at our, dumbfounded.

Froro wanted Aur to become her servant because she genuinely wanted to help him, but he turned her plea down, so what was going to happen to him now was a complete mystery.

「……………..ha.」

Sarnak was the first one to return to his senses.

「Hahahahahahahaha! What a splendidly poetic nonsense! Don’t you think you’re better suited to be the Demon Lord than her?」

He laughed and laughed, and just couldn’t stop laughing.

「So before you really decide to become one… Nagia. Take all of his Skills.」

He once again ordered Nagia to do so.

「…….Yes.」

She puts her hand into Aur’s chest and then slowly pulls it out.

「Ohhhhh….!」

Sarnak couldn’t hold his excitement when he saw a huge crystal of pure light that emerged from inside Aur and screamed in unrestrained joy. An absurdly large amount of Skills, each one shining with such brilliance, was something that he had never seen before.

「Today is just the best day ever! I got the Eye of the Ruler, the Demon Queen herself, and a whole bunch of new Skills I have never seen before! With them, I will be able to go back to being a member of the Wall Clan for sure, and finally say goodbye to this shithole of a Bottom layer! No… with this, becoming a member of the top brass, or even royalty, will no longer be an unachievable dream!」

Laughing like a child that just got its hand on a new toy, Sarnak reached towards the the crystal with Aur’s Skills with his hands, but all his fingers managed to grab was the empty void.

「What is the meaning of this?!」

Sarnak directs his gaze towards Nagia, who took the crystal before him and was now raising her own sword.

「T-This is not what you think, Lord Sarnak! My body is…! On its own…!」

Nagia’s sword swings sideways, Striking Sarnak’s neck. It was a clean hit that he had no chance of avoiding.

「Aur, was that your doing?」

But Aur didn’t say anything to Nagia and didn’t seem to have ordered her anything in advance. So the most obvious conclusion would be that he can control her without saying a single word.

「Admirable effort, but it’s useless. Did you really thought my {Steel Shield} would crumble from something as mediocre as that?」

Indeed, no matter how many times Nagia shook her blade at him, he didn’t have to worry about a thing. Thanks to his protective Skill, even his clothes didn’t receive any damage at all.

When she saw that normal attacks were ineffective, she tried to constrict around him with her snake lower half. Even if she cannot hurt him by doing so, then how about binding his movements?!

「I told you it was useless.」

However, Sarnak simply pried Nagia’s snake part open and broke himself free from her grasp. That means that not only is his {Steel Shield} negating physical attacks, but is also seems to be blocking any physical phenomenon that tries to interfere with him.

「Stopping, huh?」
「Hou?」

Sarnak raised an eyebrow in response to Aur’s grunt.

「You’re stopping whatever comes into contact with you… or rather, you make it lose its power.」

That’s why even if he were to be cut with a sword it wouldn’t even leave a scratch on him and he could get out of being crushed by a giant snake without breaking a sweat. Going by that logic, he could probably deal with flames and poisons in the same way, since they are, at the end of the day, a physical phenomenon, meaning that despite its misleading name, {Steel Shield} could, in fact, deal with almost any kind of attack. That is why he showed no interest with Aur’s Dungeon Cube even after hearing that it could stop non-physical attacks.

「You are the first person ever to figure out how my Skill actually works. Well, whatever…」

He evaded and deflected another flurry of Nagia’s sword slashes.

「Your attacks are meaningless as long as I can see them.」

And he reached towards the crystal with Aur’s Skills which fell out of her hands…

「Ha…」

… but it has already rolled in front of Froro.

「Let go of me, YOU IMPUDENT MONGRELS!!!!」

Froro’s angry voice surprised the rest of the slaves so much that they have loosened their grip on her enough so that she could reach out and grab the crystal, swallowing it all at once.

「Wha…. YOU BITCH!!!!!」

Sarnak swung his sword in a blind rage, but it has been blocked by a solid stone wall.

「Hou…」

Aur exclaims, amused by the sight before him.

「This… is…?」

Froro was no less surprised than Sarnak,  because the stone wall that protected Froro from Sarnak’s attack did not come from the Dungeon Cube.

It appeared from the floor of this Dungeon itself.

「Eh?! Kyaaaah!」

The wall expanded further, pushing the surrounding slaves away.

「Impossible…! Is this a Skill that creates new walls?!」

Paying no mind to the confused Sarnak, Froro looked at Aur as if she was asking for his permission.

「You can have them for a while. Make sure to try them out to your heart’s content.」
「Thank you. I owe you one, Aur.」

Froro bowed her head to Aur in a gesture of thankfulness, and then turned towards Sarnak, who glared at her in return.

「Now, I believe it is time for me to get my eye back from you… SARNAK!!!!!!」