‘You say we’re taking the test.’
But why in the courtroom?
If they are competent, innocent, and if they are incompetent, guilty? Is that how it works?
Sitting with the twins on the jury seat set up in a circle, I raised my head slightly to look at the center of the courtroom.
There seemed to be a place that was presumed as the defendant’s seat, and it appeared that one by one they would go there for the test.
I’m glad I don’t have stage fright. With nearly fifty jury seats filled to the brim, that was my thought.
“Those guys are all demons.”
As I scanned them one by one, some of the faces were familiar. Faces that were quite famous in my previous life.
“They weren’t known for anything good.”
These were the ones known for their dirty nature, tagged with descriptions like brutal and cruel.
“At that time, I insulted them as not even human, but it turns out they really aren’t human.”
Right. Probably because they’re demons…
Anyway, it seemed better for them not to stand out in the eyes of these demons. It shouldn’t be revealed that they are human.
The twins, being young, could be fooled for now, but the mature demons would be hard to deceive. They had to avoid drawing attention as much as possible until they were firmly established.
“Shekina, are you nervous?”
It was then that Pardes spoke. But why would he ask if he wasn’t trembling? Puzzled, I looked at him, and indeed, he was trembling. Trembling so much he might fall over.
“Everyone’s going to tremble. It’s inevitable. If you don’t tremble here, that would be even stranger.”
“Whew!”
Looking around, not only Pardes but also Mardes was trembling. The other kids around were the same.
Well, it was only natural to tremble. If you made a single mistake here, you would die on the spot.
“If I hadn’t received the quest, I’d probably be trembling like this too.”
But there was no need for that assumption. I had the strongest skill!
“Meow! (We’re all doomed, guys!)”
It was while he was whining like that.
Thump! Woosh!
The place where they were sitting began to shake.
What? Did a monster appear or something? In a place where all the demons had gathered?
I glanced around with my eyes wide open, but no one showed any signs of surprise, except for Pardes, who was standing up and clapping with excitement.
“Mister Lyat!”
Pardes ran towards the open door with a bounce. Thanks to that, I also turned my head towards the door without thinking.
There was a huge guy there. A man so massive and intimidating that you couldn’t tell if he was a monster or a demon.
“I’d probably die if I took a punch from that guy.”
I thought, feeling uneasy, squinting my eyes. Because something was resting on the man’s shoulder.
Then, something that had been on the man’s shoulder jumped down lightly.
A man with long white hair tied up high, wearing foreign glasses and dressed in a ceremonial robe. He had a cold expression but was small enough not to be very intimidating.
“Lyat, when did you arrive? I would have come to greet you!”
Pardes reached out his hands toward the small guy and shouted.
Based on what Pardes had said last night, this small demon must be “Lyat.”
—With the incredible magic of His Majesty the Demon Lord, and Lyat, the genius I respect the most in the world, who demonstrated an astounding knowledge, we were created!
They were the demons who created the homunculus (artificial humans).
I needed to be cautious of him. After all, he’s the one who created the homunculus, so there’s a high chance he’d recognize that I’m a real human.
“And…”
That big guy.
I felt like I had seen him somewhere before.
I tried to remember, but I couldn’t. That’s because Lyat, who was holding Pardes’ hand, came up to me.
“Pardes, is this the curious ‘flawed product’ you were talking about?”
“Yup! (Damn, that was a surprise.)”
Lyat blinked his gray eyes and looked down at me.
“Flawed product? Curious? I don’t know if it’s a flawed product. Doesn’t seem like it. He didn’t receive the input, but he’s already manipulating mana. He even made our pups faint.”
For some reason, Pardes was slightly praising me while looking excited at the same time. I don’t understand why he’s proud after hitting their pups.
“To maintain oneself properly in a situation without any input… Interesting.”
Lyat’s mouth curled into a sly grin.
“It should be fun.”
He put away the foreign glasses and diverted the gaze he had been giving me.
“I look forward to what you will show us at the judgment stage.”
The moment of reckoning is here. If I don’t do well here, I’ll be treated as a ‘flawed product without input,’ discarded, but if I succeed, I will become a ‘curious research subject’ and have a future tied to him.
“Hmm…”
There’s no way my plan will fail, so it’s probably the latter.
I turned my head slightly and looked at the massive man sitting at the door. As soon as I did, I had a brilliant idea.
“A big shot from the demons with a lackey on top.”
I praised myself.
I checked each step of my plan while patting myself on the back.
“Big brother, is doing well with Lyat… I can’t even say a word.”
“Because Lyat is the person I respect the most in the world! When I grow up, I’ll be an intimidating demon alongside Lyat!”
The twins squabbled and soon raised their thumbs at me.
“Shekina, do your best.”
“Okay! Shekina, do your best!”
Yeah. There’s no need to say it. I’ll do well.
…
“Dispose of them.”
“Discard them.”
“Dispose… just throw them all away. They’re useless, utterly useless.”
Seated on the judgment bench, Lyat scowled as if he were annoyed. Up to now, there had been eight homunculus standing in the defendant’s seat. None of them had passed the test. They had all been discarded.
“Darn it. What on earth is the problem?”
From the moment they were created, they had shown exceptional abilities: Julian, who had been excellent from the start, and Nisha, who had shown remarkable growth as time went on. Besides the twin Pardes and Merdes, there was no one particularly outstanding among them. A few others were still alive, but they didn’t merit attention.
“They had proper ‘input,’ they were created properly, but still…”
“To solve the problem, we need to know the cause, but we can’t determine the cause…”
The reason why Lyat created the homunculi was simple.
With the power of the Demon Lord sealed in the human realm, fifty elite demon warriors had descended. However, demons naturally needed to absorb the energy of the demon realm to survive. They couldn’t stay in the human realm for long.
They needed a human capable of ruling the human realm. But great demons couldn’t coexist with insignificant humans. It was instinctual disgust that arose. So, Lyat boldly sought the power of the Demon Lord and created artificial humans.
Beings with human-like structures, capable of withstanding the human realm while possessing the power of demons. Of course, to guard against rebellion, he input basic loyalty and knowledge to the Demon Lord.
So, the homunculus behaved more intelligently from the moment they first opened their eyes than ordinary human babies.
“So I thought they would be quite powerful.”
But failures continuously emerged, ones with weak magic, low intelligence, or those who couldn’t replicate a human body at all.
“Tsuh.”
Lyat clicked his tongue and massaged the back of his neck. Nevertheless, fortunately, the second person he was looking forward to, Nisha, came forward.
“Oh, oh!”
“Intermediate spirit!”
As soon as Nisha stood in the defendant’s seat, he used his blood to create a spirit formation, summoning an intermediate spirit salamander.
“To think a demon could control an extreme spirit. Isn’t that something remarkable?”
“Since they’re not entirely demons, it seems possible. If they continue to grow like this, they could turn the human realm upside down.”
Lyat agreed with the evaluations of other demons. Nisha, who was only six years old, already possessed much greater skills than human spirit mages in their prime.
“Passed. Well done.”
“Thank you.”
After a brief nod to Lyat, Nisha left the courtroom.
Next were the twins, Pardes displayed alchemy skills, and Merdes demonstrated swordsmanship.
The alchemy was decent, and the sword bore a faint presence of mana, so there was no reason to fail them.
“Thank you, mister Lyat! I’ll work even harder so I can assist mister Lyat!”
“Thank you.”
They bowed repeatedly, stooping at the waist in greeting.
It was a rather smug spectacle, but Lyat averted his gaze with a disgusted expression.
“They’re only disposable once we find the Demon Lord’s power anyway.”
How could he bring half-demon beings into the demon realm? Lyat only acknowledged the utility of the homunculus and did not recognize their existence.
“Well, while they’re alive, I treat them like the Great Demon Lord’s children.”
Being called the offspring of the Great Demon Lord was reason enough to exist.
“They were created for that purpose.”
Lyat suppressed a strange emotion that was beginning to rise and gazed at the last remaining spot. The newborn baby he saw earlier. The peculiar homunculus who might be a defective product that defeated Cerberus.
It was Shekina Daimon.
“Yaaah!”
Shekina crawled over to the defendant’s seat clumsily.
“Even though the proper input wasn’t done, it seems to have some basic judgment.”
But that was it. Even if someone was unique, if they couldn’t demonstrate their abilities, they would be discarded.
“Show me.”
Lyat put on the external glasses he had kept in his pocket and examined Shekina.
As Shekina reached the defendant’s seat, she lifted her bottom a few times and sat down properly. Then, from his pocket, she pulled out something.
“Look! Look, guys!”
“Oh, no! Why that?”
“What are you going to do?”
Held in the small hand was…!
Lyat’s eyes widened as if they were about to pop out.
