When I suddenly wake up, I see an open black space no, a throne.

This is the Avalon royal castle of the Elroad Empire, isnt it...?

Precisely. Welcome, Kurono Maou. I have been growing tired of waiting for your second visit to this place.

On the black throne that looks like someone has compressed pure darkness to build it, there sits a lovely child who doesnt seem to belong in such a grand place.

The child is wearing military clothes that resemble a school uniform, and a large cape that reaches all the way to the floor. His appearance is exactly how it was the last time I was here.

Yes, the ancient Demon King, Mia Elroad, has appeared in order to bestow new divine protections upon me.

Im glad youve recognized my victory over the trials.

Of course; it was a splendid battle to behold!

Wearing a smile that covers his entire face, the Demon King claps his hands in applause. The sound of a single persons applause echoing in this incredibly spacious place only adds to its sense of emptiness. Could it be that he is being sarcastic with his praise?

Certainly not; your simultaneous victory over the second and third trials was beyond my expectations.

Never mind the sarcasm; I feel like hes lying straight to my face.

Id like you to stop looking at me with such distrustful eyes. The trials are generated just as I explained to you before.

Even as a god, he cannot interfere with fate; everything is the result of nature running its course. Thats what he told me.

But I suppose I cant blame you for doubting me. These trials placed your friends in great danger, after all.

Indeed; the things I feared when I was awarded the first divine protection came true straight away.

Im not reluctant to accept the trials. But I dont want anyone to get involved in my battles with such dangerous monsters, let alone my friends and acquaintances No, the Greed-Gores army killed a significant number of people at both the village and the fortress.

If those people died because they were caught up in my trials, then... No, lets stop thinking about this. Theres no end to my doubts, and theres no way to prove if Im right or not.

What I need to be doing right now is thanking Mia, not doubting him.

Thanks to the first divine protection, I was able to protect everyone. Thank you so much for giving this power to me.

Fufu, youre a kind person, arent you? Thats how you even deceived my descendant.

... Descendant?

Nell-chan.

I havent deceived her!

What a shrewd way of looking at it. I genuinely deepened my friendship with Nell; thats such an unfair way of saying it.

I dont think Mia will listen to anything I say, though. Hes smiling maliciously.

Actually, how do you even know about my relationship with Nell?

After flirting so much in front of everyone, I think its more unreasonable for you to expect me not to suspect these things.

No, I didnt flirt with her, did I?

Well, the two of you did arrive at Iskia Fortress on the same horse.

We had no other way of getting there.

You did embrace Nell-chan after she Dispelled the monster army.

Thats because she was about to collapse from using all of her magical power.

Ah, that reminds me, at the Grand Coliseum you left the arena holding Nell in a princess-carry, didnt you?

Im sorry, I got ahead of myself...

Back then, I acted with no hesitation, but now that its been pointed out to me, its incredibly embarrassing.

Its fine; as a god and as her ancestor, Im not so uncouth as to comment on the love affairs of others.

Call it friendship, please. Well, Nell is so kind and defenseless that even I might misunderstand it, though.

Mhmm, I wont say anything.

Mia decides not to comment. I wonder if theres any further meaning in my words that sound somewhat like excuses. Still, theres no need for him to avert his eyes so blatantly, is there?

Still, to think that you were even watching the tournament.

Im a god, after all. I see everything!

I see, he has been solemnly watching over me from this throne room, or maybe from some truly godlike position above the clouds.

Im sure he hasnt been acting like a spectator enjoying the show while munching on popcorn.

Well then, I suppose Ill have you show me the proof that you have overcome the trials.

Now its finally the real deal. It was explained to me before that certain parts of the monsters are needed as proof. This time, Ive prepared the proof properly on my own.

This place appears to be in my dreams, but it seems that my Shadow Gate is still connected to reality.

From my open shadow I summon the body pieces that I dissected from the corpses beforehand.

The Greed-Gores jaw and the Sloth-Gils spine, these are the correct parts, right?

What looks like a lump of red rock plunks down in front of me but this is actually the Greed-Gores jaw. To be more precise, its the lower jaw. The sharp, densely-packed, upwards-pointing fangs almost make me relive the fear of this mouth trying to devour me.

Though I say I dissected the jaw, its still covered in flesh and carapace; I simply separated it from the upper jaw.

The other piece of proof, the Sloth-Gils spine, is just clean bone, like a specimen.

Right after I shot the Sloth-Gil in the head, the purple lightning surrounding its body disappeared completely, leaving only the skeleton of a Lamia, a monster with a humans head, arms and torso for the top half and a snakes tail for the bottom half.

I just had to detach the lower part of its body from the bottom of its collapsed skull, a much easier task than cutting away the Greed-Gores enormous lower jaw. If Lily and Fiona hadnt helped me with that, it would definitely have taken me a lot of time.

I accept these two pieces of evidence, theJaw of GreedandSpine of Sloth.

Like the Wrath-PunsFist of Wrath, they shine brightly before crumbling away. TheJaw of Greedshines orange while theSpine of Slothglitters purple, and they both fade away as if being absorbed by Mia, who is sitting in the throne.

I have now offered these to him, which means my body should already contain the second and third divine protections. When I wake up from this dream, Im sure Ill discover some new abilities.

I can already imagine what they could be.

The Greed-Gore of Greed was a monster of the earth element, while the Sloth-Gil of Sloth was a monster of the lightning element. Im sure Ill be able to be able to artificially transform my black magical energy into these elements.

But the Demon Kings divine protections have other powers.

Fufu, it seems that you understand what powers the next divine protections will grant you.

Yeah. As well asForce Boost, I learned a little about modern magic* from Nell.

TLN*: I should probably have mentioned this earlier, but what Ive been translating as modern magic was previously translated as Model magic (Im going off the kanji translation because Model magic makes no sense)

Thats right, if I base my spells on modern magic spell formulas, Ill find the answers naturally.

Well then, putting all pretenses aside, I suppose I can at least tell you their names. UsingOverdriveis still dangerous for you; you need practice, dont you?

Thanks, Ill work hard Ah, that reminds me...

Hearing the word practice, I remember one more thing.

Hmm, what is it?

Mia tilts his head in an adorable way, just like how Lily does in her child form. I frankly express my concerns without hiding anything.

Actually, I heard from Will that theres going to be a victory parade when we return to Spada. I was wondering what I need to do.

I see, you did play a very important part in the victory, after all!

Rescuing the students and defeating the Greed-Gore werent things that I achieved on my own, but I do realize that Im the one who played the most outstanding role. And unlike with the Wrath-Pun, I did finish it off properly, too.

This incident was on such a scale that the king personally led the knights out to rescue the students. Since I was the one who led us to victory, I would be the main part of the parade. Will fiercely insisted that he would make me the main part of it, so I couldnt refuse.

Of course, its not like Im completely against it. I suppose if youre a man, you aspire to be a hero.

A victory parade, huh. That takes me back.

Mia-chan says this with a distant look in his eyes.

I wonder if hes reliving his old glory. To me, he just looks like a young child basking in the happy memory of going to an amusement park.

However, Mia is the legendary Demon King who, in the distant past, made many triumphant returns after victories in battle.

I thought that you would have plenty of experience when it comes to parades, Mia, so I was hoping to get a piece of advice.

Yes, that was a good decision, Kurono Maou. Even though its a victory parade, the festivity can be embarrassing. You cant let it get to your head and make a peace sign or anything like that, okay?

You made a peace sign?

The Demon King turns his head away and exercises his right to remain silent. Ah, he made a peace sign. Im sure he made double peace signs with a self-satisfied look on his face.

Anyway! If youre the main part of the parade, you have to act the part properly!

As Mia boldly stands up from his throne, suddenly full of enthusiasm, I cant help but to feel a little defeated.

He doesnt have to get so serious, I was just hoping that he could teach me a little trick or something to help me prepare, but...

Alright, well then, I will train you so that you wont feel embarrassed no matter what parade you take part in! I wont let you return until were finished!

A-are you serious...

Thus, I gratefully receive the personal instruction of the Demon King in order to learn how to act in a victory parade.

But, well, I suppose the real thing will go perfectly after this. Theres no doubt that the people of Spada welcoming us will be cheering and clapping loudly.

Now then, take one, here we go!