Yuusha Party no Kawaii Ko ga ita no de, Kokuhaku Shite Mita - Volume 1 Chapter 1 告白してみた
I tried to confess.
Translation by Solistia, Proofed by Hobo, MuscleSpark, and Flyingjam
"Now I've gone and done it..."
I muttered in a large featureless room.
I had been reincarnated as a demon.
I was originally a human named Segawa Youki.
I was given a cheat-like power upon my reincarnation.
However I was not reborn a hero, instead I am a demon.
At some point during the fight, I got too into my role as a mini-boss and went into full blown Chuuni-byou* mode, overacting with passionate haughty pride as an evil villain the likes of which you'd find in cartoon shows and games.
Now before me laid the defeated Hero Party.
The Hero was taken out with my Chuuni-magic, the mage ruthlessly knocked about, the swordsman squashed with spells, and the uninjured but unconscious cleric all laid there.
"And they only made it halfway through the Demon Castle."
This room was the midpoint of the castle, after this there were still rooms with the higher ranked officers and then the Demon Lord himself.
I scratched my head as I thought about what I should do.
If the Hero doesn't defeat the Demon Lord the world will never be at peace.
If the Hero Party is wiped out in the middle of the castle, surely the world would fall into chaos.
"I suppose for now I should dump them in the nearby village to recover."
As a former human I knew it would be bad if the world couldn't achieve peace.
But I didn't really have a good reason for abandoning my post.
I seized this opportunity to heal up the Hero Party.
Guess I'll start with the Hero. "Take this, Holy Sword Excalibur!"
He yelled that Chuuni-like phrase as he swung his shining sword at me, and I responded in kind with my own Chuuni spell.
I got overexcited.
After finishing with the Hero, it was the mage girl's turn.
Even before the battle she was batting eyelashes at the Hero. I felt she was kind of a bitch so I relentlessly attacked her.
I don’t discriminate between genders.
Third up is the swordsman. He came off as the cool silent type and didn't lose to the Hero in terms of awesomeness.
It kinda pissed me off so as soon as the battle started I made him disappear with 《Dark Magic: Vanish Wave》.
When I say 'disappear', I meant he literally became invisible. While the Hero and Mage were stunned by finding themselves alone I took that opening to take them out.
"Now last one up...is..."
The cleric girl.
When the swordsman disappeared she wasn't fazed and kept her eyes on me from a distance.
She used good judgement and didn't let her guard down, so after I took out the swordsman I got her from behind with a sleeper hold until she lost consciousness.
"She doesn't have any physical wounds, so I guess she doesn't need any healing...wait..."
Still, just in case, since she's lying face down, I should roll her over and just make sure...
"...This is bad, she’s right in my strike zone."
There lay a beautiful girl who was perfectly my type.
(Full-view)
"Hmm, should I take her as a prisoner of war? ...But if I do that she'll probably be upset. And as a former Japanese citizen, prisoners and slaves are a little out of my comfort zone."
I was just a mini-boss and still had to answer to the Demon Lord and other superior officers too.
Well, if it came down to a fight I would win, but...
"Aaaa...farewell my angel..."
I ordered my underlings to take the Hero Party to the nearest village.
I watched with regret as they carried her away.
Three days later...
"Come at me! ...You...umm..."
Looks like they didn't bother to remember the name of a mini-boss.
If you want a rematch at least gather some intelligence on your enemy.
"Mwahahahaha! You came even though it's hopeless, Heroes. An officer in the Demon Lord's army, under Zekiel-sama's command, I am the Dark Knight Corps 5th Squad Executive Officer Youki, and I will send you back to hell!"
I was in full blown Chuuni-mode putting together all my low-ranked positions for my self-introduction.
"Aah, I see...so that was your name. Prepare yourself, Youki!"
The Hero Party readied for battle.
In the midst of the fighting off the heroes I kept glancing over to the cleric girl. We finally made eye contact and she glared at me.
"Stop taking me lightly, Youki!"
The Hero caught me looking away and wanted me to focus on the fight instead.
"Ah, sorry sorry. You have my full attention now."
As I thought, it was a bad idea to use the Max Level Dark Magic: Endless Dark.
The result, obliteration.
Total party wipeout.
"...And, I've done it again..."
I looked over at the cleric girl.
Should I have put up a magic barrier around her?
Looks like she was knocked out with just a couple light wounds.
"Thank goodness."
After being relieved I set to work healing her with magic.
Feeling charitable I healed the rest of the party too. Soon after I order my underlings to take them back to the nearby village again.
For a month after that, the Hero Party kept returning and the battle endlessly repeated itself.
On top of that, the Demon Lord and other higher-ups started thinking the Hero Party must be weak.
The Hero Party was by no means weak.
I just exceeded the norm by a huge margin.
Likely if I wasn't here the Hero Party would wipe the floor with the Superior Officers and the Demon Lord.
That's just how powerful they were.
These days I was starting to think it was my fault the world would never be at peace.
I was thinking about that as I laid sprawled out on the floor of my room.
The Hero Party would be here soon, should I just let them through?
"But man that girl is so fine — When I watch her during the fights she's pretty attentive to her teammates. And it feels like she has such a pleasant disposition. ...Maybe I'll give the next battle a try after all."
I made up my mind.
A few days later...
"Today is the day we'll bring you to your knees, Youki!"
The Hero Party finally made it here.
And Hero-kun finally remembered my name.
For about a month if I didn't give a self-introduction he would yell everything but my name.
"Yuuga, let's hurry and defeat this boring looking demon."
So the Hero's name is Yuuga, is it?
The ones being defeated in a hurry is you lot.
And that boring comment was going too far, you Mage bitch.
“...”
The swordsman drew his blade in silence and pointed it in my direction. Forget about playing the cool, silent type, just say something will you?
"Let's give it all we've got everyone!"
...I gotta make sure I look my best. I can't let her see me looking shabby. After double checking myself I say the lines I've been using for the last month.
"Mwahahahaha! You came again even though it's hopeless, Heroes. An officer in the Demon Lord's army, under Zekiel-sama's command, I am the Dark Knight Corps 5th Squad Executive Officer Youki, and I will send you back to hell!"
...Lately I've been so embarrassed I could die.
Though the Hero Party hasn't realized it yet.
They readied themselves for another battle.
Well, since I have my cheat there's no way I could lose, and little by little the Hero Party weakens.
After letting the battle go on just long enough I seize the perfect moment and propose a deal to them.
"Heroes! Surely you've realized it by now? You can never win against me."
For the past month they've been coming to the Demon Castle and been repeatedly defeated.
Ever so slightly they're coming to realize.
By themselves, they cannot win against this demon.
"...So what?! For the suffering masses, and for my friends who believe in me, I cannot lose to the likes of you!"
Even though he knows, he can't afford to back down.
That's why he had to say that.
Still, the Hero Party is looking worse for the wear.
If we were to continue, the fight would end up as it always has with a total party wipeout.
"All the more reason to strike a deal. If you agree to my terms, I shall let you pass."
The Hero Party stopped in their tracks and looked at me.
I was embarrassed because she was looking at me too, but made sure not to show it on my face.
"...What do you want?"
And I answer,
"Leave that girl here. If you do that, the rest of you may continue on."
I pointed towards the cleric girl.
After I finished, the party's reactions were mixed.
The Hero was angry and yelling, the swordsman was weighing the options, the mage was probably thinking she'd have one less rival, and couldn't quite contain her laughter.
And, the girl in question was looking resigned.
"Don't screw with me! There's no way we could do that! Cecilia is one of our precious comrades."
"You really wanna do that? Then the deal is off. Once again you'll start over in the nearby village. In that time how many more humans will be attacked by demons? Who knows just what I'll do..."
No really, what would I do? After all I haven't been given a mission to attack that village even once.
"Yuuga, let's take the deal."
As expected of the Mage bitch. Can't pass up a chance to get rid of your rival.
"Mikana?! What are you saying..."
"That demon, he may have a plain face, but his power is monstrous. It's vexing, but we can't win against him no matter how many times we try. And now that very opponent is gonna let us by with such a sweet deal. And Cecilia is strong, she won't be taken down so easily. We'll go defeat the other demons and the Demon Lord and come right back here, so there's nothing to worry about."
That bitch of a Mage was spouting shit like 'Let's believe in our friends’ to make the hero take the bait.
You know if the tables were turned and she was the one being sacrificed she'd kick up a huge fuss.
The swordsman watched the proceedings silently, waiting for the outcome.
Even in this situation he wouldn't break character.
The Mage bitch continued to persuade her team for the next few minutes, and the result was...
"...Fine.
We'll....leave Cecilia here."
Looks like the deal is sealed.
It was a bitter decision.
He was so frustrated with himself his nails drew blood in his clenched hands.
"Heeeh, then you may pass."
I opened the door for the party that had dwindled down to three members. The hero kept glancing back at the cleric, wordlessly promising to return for her. Once they were through I shut the door.
Now it was just us. I started to get butterflies in my stomach.
"...Even though I know there's no chance of winning, I'll never give up. My power may not be able to even scratch you, but I will struggle ‘til my last breath!"
She readied her staff and let loose the intermediate-level Light spell 'Holy Laser'.
"..Hey, hold up a minute! Time out, time out!"
I didn't really want to start a fight with her.
I cancelled out her magic and tried to appeal to her while holding up my hands.
"...What are you plotting? A trick to get me to lower my guard? Even without such a cheap trick you could easily kill me."
"No, you're mistaken. I swear!"
I only-
"Then what do you want? Making them leave the Healer behind, surely you plan to trap them ahead and whittle them down to nothing!"
I wouldn't do something dumb like that.
"If I was gonna kill you I would have done it already!
I have business with you."
I just-
"Then you plan to kill only me?"
"I fell in love with you at first sight. Please go out with me!"
-wanted to confess.
"What?!"
I felt relieved to finally say it.
On the other hand, she was left dumbfounded by this turn of events.
*Chuunibyou - You’ll find many times in this novel that Youki goes into his “Chuunibyou” mode (sometimes shortened to Chuuni or Chuu2). For those of you unfamiliar with this term, here is a short explanation (as it pertains to this novel).
Chuunibyou literally translates to 8th grader syndrome (or 2nd year of middle school syndrome), and indicates children around age 12-13 that act out crazy delusional fantasies as though they were real. It’s like playing make believe to make yourself seem strange, special, mysterious, and the like. While it’s mildly expected of middle schoolers, as you get older you’re supposed to grow out of it, so those that continue to ‘suffer’ from it are often looked down upon and found embarrassing (even Youki gets embarrassed of his own Chuuni actions). Being in a fantasy world where demons, heroes, and magic are real, Youki sometimes can’t help but act the part of the nefarious evil villain, or the love-struck romanticist, saying and doing things to fulfill his preconceived notions of how these roles should be played out. When he does return to reality soon after he realizes just how silly he was being, but still can’t help it.
Some anime that deal with Chuunibyou are "Chuunibyou demo Koi ga Shitai!" (Love, Chunibyo & Other Delusions), and Inou-Battle wa Nichijou-kei no Naka de (When Supernatural Battles Became Commonplace) if you want to see it acted out.
For a more in depth explanation of Chuunibyou, check out this article. (Youki is the “Evil Eye”-type Chuuni mentioned here)