A NEW JOURNEY BEGINS

In the distance, the town is blazing brightly. Two pairs of eyes gaze at the flames. They belong to Mera and the baby bloodsucker in his arms. The baby watches the town where she was born and raised burning to the ground. Mera, too, swore his loyalty to the baby bloodsucker's parents. I have no way of knowing what the two of them are thinking as they watch the town burn. But I figure I'll let them keep looking for as long as they need. The Demon Lord is standing around nearby. My longtime enemy, with whom I've chosen to join forces.

"So? Gonna answer me or what?"

The Demon Lord smiled cheerfully. But her eyes weren't mirthful in the least. I didn't know what would happen to me if I said no. The Demon Lord thinks of me as some deathless monstrosity, but it's not like I can really keep resurrecting myself indefinitely. Not that she needs to know this, but I'm not actually sure if my egg revival technique would work right now. My eggs have all hatched, so all those little babies are wandering around with their own free will now. Can I basically hijack one of those babies back to revive myself in its body? I'm not sure. If anything, I feel like I probably can't. It's likely it worked originally only because the baby hadn't been hatched yet, so it didn't have a mind or self of its own established at all. Which meant if the Demon Lord killed me, I might not have been able to come back. What if I had to fight her, then? I'd lose, that's what. Meaning that route was a dead end. Ah-ha-ha…ha…ha. I literally couldn't say no! But if you really thought about it, it wasn't actually such a bad idea, right? The Demon Lord can keep an eye on me, her mysteriously unkillable enemy. And I can use the Demon Lord as a bodyguard. We each think of the other as a serious threat, so it's more beneficial to both of us if we join forces instead of fighting each other. On top of that, the Demon Lord thinks I'm completely immortal. Hopefully, that means she wouldn't risk breaking our truce by trying to attack me again. In other words, the Demon Lord isn't going to betray me. Even though I could very well betray her! Is it just me, or does this treaty work out in my favor? Especially considering the way she phrased it.

"Join forces."

I don't like the idea of working under someone else, but if we're joining forces, that means we're on equal footing. I won't have to worry about the Demon Lord being my worst enemy anymore. She won't have to keep trying to fight an inscrutable opponent. And we'll each gain the other as a powerful, dependable ally. Is this a win-win situation or what? In the worst-case scenario, if it doesn't work out, I can always just use the Demon Lord until I figure out a way to beat her, at which point I can betray her.

On the other hand, she's not likely to betray me, since she thinks I'm immortal, so I don't have to worry about that. It's certainly more logical than refusing her offer, going back to being enemies, and living my life on the run. After making all these calculations in a matter of seconds, I silently took the Demon Lord's hand. After that, Mera went to confirm the fate of his master and mistress. The lord and his wife had already been killed by the time I came charging onto the scene.

Potimas murdered them. Mera probably suspected that, but I think he wanted to confirm it with his own eyes. Otherwise, he might not have been able to or wanted to believe it. He hugged the baby bloodsucker to his chest but shielded her gaze as he looked at the bodies of his master and mistress.

Of course, Mera doesn't know that the baby bloodsucker is a reincarnation and already has a fully developed consciousness. But the fact that he would make sure to keep a child from seeing the remains of her brutally murdered parents still speaks volumes for his character. As does the way that his normally serious face crumpled as he openly wept. Unfortunately, we couldn't dwell on this spot for too long.

Because the Ohts army was closing in on the mansion from all sides. The Demon Lord and I could easily wipe out one measly army of humans without breaking a sweat. But we weren't going to do that. There wouldn't be any point. The lord and lady of the house were dead, and the town was virtually destroyed. Even if we slaughtered their army now, it would be too late. Lashing out at them anyway would only be pointless violence. Since the Demon Lord and I don't have deep connections to this town, it wouldn't even be revenge. The people of the town might want to get revenge on Ohts, but to me, it seemed somehow wrong for us to do that for them. Instead, we decided to withdraw. Finally, Mera pulls his eyes away from the burning town.

"You finished?"

"Yes." There's a tremble in his voice as he answers the Demon Lord. But behind it, I think I sense a will that can't be broken.

"Please accept my gratitude for your assistance, belated though it may be." Mera bows his head politely to the Demon Lord and me. But when he looks up again, there's a bit of suspicion in his eyes.

"I apologize for asking such a rude question after you've just saved our lives, but might I inquire as to who you are?"

Well, yeah. We might've saved his life, but I'm still a half-human, half-spider Arachne. And based on her entrance, the Demon Lord might be even weirder. Magical Demon Lord? Come on…

Talk about sketchy. You can't blame the guy for having his doubts.

"I am the one and only Demon Lord, Ariel, in the flesh. And this is the spider monster you guys were praising as the Divine Beast until recently—or her evolved form anyway." "The Divine Beast?!" Mera looks at me in surprise. Uh, so you're just gonna ignore the part about her being a demon lord? "Hmph. Come on, I'm the Demon Lord here. Can't I get a little respect?" The Demon Lord puffs her cheeks irritably. Weirdly childish but also pretty cute. "Maybe I should make myself a little clearer, then." The Demon Lord's frightening aura suddenly intensifies. She must have turned an Intimidation-like skill from off to on. It doesn't really work on me much, but the overall effect is definitely dramatic. Mera's entire body breaks into a sweat. His expression is frozen with fear. As a little bonus, I can sense all the living creatures around us simultaneously running away. "I am a genuine, bona fide demon lord. Demon Lord Ariel is my name. Nice to meet you." Geez. When she stops acting like such a weirdo, she really is a terrifying demon lord. I'm sure Mera is crystal clear on this fact now, as well. I doubt there are many others out there who can produce such an intimidating aura. "Demon Lord… But…why?" He probably wants to run away screaming right now, but instead Mera stays rooted to the spot, holding the baby bloodsucker protectively. On top of that, he even asks a question, though his voice cracked while he did. This guy's got guts. "Well, it's a long story, but basically…" Then the Demon Lord explains our history. She tells Mera how she and I were enemies until recently, and that while she was chasing me down, she saw that her longtime enemy Potimas was here and decided to intervene. "He's the biggest piece of shit in the entire world, see. If I find him, I gotta crush him. But the thing earlier was basically a puppet that he was controlling from afar, so those'll probably keep coming back no matter how many times I break 'em." An awful thing like that will keep coming back? Scary. "So really, it was just a coincidence that I ended up helping you. I didn't set out to save your butts or anything. This one probably did, though," she adds, looking at me pointedly. Noticing this, Mera looks in my direction, too. Ugggh. Do I really have to talk now? I don't think I'd do a very good job explaining things… "Right. So basically, I'm guessing she helped you because she comes from the same place as that baby you've got there. Right?" As I remain silent, the Demon Lord decides to speak for me. I guess that's nice, although I'm not sure I appreciate her talking about my business like that. "The same place?" "Yep, that's right. Okay, question time. What's your name, little missy?"

The Demon Lord grins broadly as she peers at the baby bloodsucker's face.

"Lady Ariel, the young miss cannot speak yet."

"Ohhh, gotcha, gotcha. Can't move your little mouth properly yet, huh? How about I hook you up with some Telepathy, then?"

"I do not believe that is the problem…" "

Sure it is. 'Cause this kid is a reincarnation from another world, just like our spider friend here." The demon casually reveals the baby bloodsucker's and my big secret. "Reincarnation?" Mera furrows his brow. He's probably not too familiar with the concept. "See, a certain dumbass from this world did some stupid crap and ended up causing trouble for another world." "Pardon?" "Just listen. Basically, a bunch of kids from that world ended up dying because of this world's problems. And the god felt bad about that, so he grabbed the souls of those kids who died and popped them into this world to be reborn as babies. In other words, reincarnations." "Uh-huh…" Mera's expression says clearly that he has no idea what the Demon Lord is talking about. Well, yeah. You can't just drop a crazy story on someone like that. "These reincarnations are born with their memories from their previous lives. And they got a nice little bonus from that god, too. I'm not sure if that's why, but I'm pretty sure the guys who attacked you lot are after the reincarnations, by the way." Hmm? Wait, really? Does that mean that Potimas elf guy is targeting reincarnations? "Forgive me, but what does this story have to do with…?"

"Hrmm? Wow, you're slow on the uptake. I'm saying that baby there is one of these reincarnations."

"Eh?!"

"Isn't that right, Sophia? So? What was your name in the other world, huh?" The baby bloodsucker looks visibly shaken by the Demon Lord's questions.

"Shouko Negishi."

Then, after a moment, she reveals her name through telepathy.

"Sweet, we got a name! So she really is a reincarnation, and a vampire, too! Yeesh, talk about having problems. Anyway, Miss Spider over there is a reincarnation, too, just like the baby. So I'm guessing she was keeping an eye on her out of a sense of kinship, trying to protect her from all those problems. Am I right?" She looks at me again.

Um.

Hmm.

I guess I was kinda looking out for her, so she's not wrong, per se?

Denying it would be a pain, so I just nod an affirmation.

"Well, now you're all caught up on our whole situation. My turn to ask questions. What are you guys gonna do now?"

Both Mera and the baby bloodsucker seem flummoxed by the Demon Lord's question. Mera is probably still in shock over the revelation that his young vampiric ward is actually a reincarnation, and I doubt he has any idea what to do next.

"If you ask me, you've got a couple of options here. First, you could just go to another town in Sariella. Second, flee to a different country. Third, show up in Ohts. Okay, that third one's not a great option, but I honestly wouldn't recommend the first two, either." The Demon Lord carries on disinterestedly.

"You two are vampires now, not humans. Can you imagine how hard it's gonna be to get by in human society when most people think you're some creepy legend come to life?" Instead of Mera, it's the baby bloodsucker who turns pale at that.

"Merazophis, I'm sorry. I turned you into a vampire. It was the only thing I could think to do at the time." The baby seems to feel guilty for turning Mera into a vampire, altering his life forever. But I don't think she had much of a choice. Turning him into a vampire to fight for both of them was the only way they could've gotten out of that mess. If I were in her place, I'm sure I would've sucked Mera's blood to make him into a vampire without a second thought.

"Please do not apologize. If anything, it is I who should do so."

"What? Why?" "Because I could not protect you. I am terribly sorry." Mera bows his head to the baby bloodsucker in his arms.

"Besides, if you had not done what you did, I would have died. I cannot be anything but grateful for that."

"But you're a vampire now. You can't live as a human anymore…"

"That is all right. In fact, it may be for the best so that I might better protect you."

"Merazophis…you still want to protect me?"

"My master and mistress entrusted you to me, young miss. Thus, I shall protect you for as long as I might live. Whether you are a vampire, a reincarnation, or anything else, it makes no difference to me."

"Merazophis…!"

At Mera's bold declaration, the baby bloodsucker repeats his name as if overwhelmed with emotion. Mm-hmm. This is moving stuff. Although I'm not sure if the Demon Lord needs to be bawling about it next to me? I mean, I know it was touching and all, but to the point of crying about it? I don't know. Maybe I'm just insensitive.

"Oh, this is too much! Just come with me, you two. I'll take you under my wing!" Hoo, boy. Looks like they set her off somehow. Well, I guess it's fine. I would've felt a little weird about rescuing them and then ditching 'em to fend for themselves anyway.

"Pretty good deal, right? I mean, I'm the Demon Lord. Just so ya know, there's pretty much no one in this whole world who can beat me. You'd be pretty lucky to have my protection, no? I mean, you probably realize this, but those guys who attacked you were no ordinary thugs. But I can fend 'em off easily.

And in the demon territory, I rule over, nobody's gonna give you a hard time for being a vampire. So you'll be safe from the elves, and you can live freely as vampires. It's two birds with one stone! So whaddaya say? Want to come to the demon territory with me?"

Mera and the baby bloodsucker exchange looks. "I shall abide by whatever you choose, young miss."

"All right. Just let me think about it a little, please."

"Sure, no prob! Take your time; think it over. How 'bout you travel with me for a little trial period, though? You don't wanna get attacked again right away, I'm sure. Let's head for the capital of Sariella, shall we? Once we get there, you can make up your mind." With that declaration, the Demon Lord determines our next course of action.

We're traveling to the capital of Sariella. There, the baby bloodsucker and Mera will decide whether they want to stick with the Demon Lord. And, uh, it kinda seems like I'm coming along, too? I feel like I've just been going with the flow lately, but I guess that's fine. Whatever the baby vampire decides, I might as well see it through to the end, considering that I've already come this far and all. With the threat of the Demon Lord squared away, it's not like I had any immediate plans anyway. Oh, but I would like to lay some eggs somewhere.

I Gotta keep those backups around in case I need to use egg revival. Come to think of it, what should I do about the Parallel Minds and all the other babies I left in the Great Elroe Labyrinth? Guess I'll just leave them to it. I'm sure they're getting by just fine on their own.

I would live to regret making that choice. I sorely underestimated just how estranged from me my Parallel Minds had become. And in the future, I would end up paying for it dearly.

"All right, you guys, let's start our preparations. We've got lots of work to do if we want to wipe out all of human- and demonkind!"

""""""""Yeah!""""""""

AFTERWORD Hello there. I'm Okina Baba. We've finally reached Volume 5 of this series. Five seems like a pretty good place to leave off, don't you think? Is it just me, or does it feel like a sort of special, exciting number? Oh, it's just me? All right, then. Old man: "Ahem." What is it, Mr. Ronandt? I feel like you're going to confuse people, showing up in the afterword like this. Old man: "In the web version, I seem to recall that I played a large role in both the spider and S sides of the story right around now. And yet it seems that I am not in this volume at all, no?" Nope, you sure aren't. Not a single trace. Your name's not even mentioned once. Old man: "Why, then?!" I couldn't help it. Your part got sacrificed to a terrible phenomenon in the world of adults known only as a "page-count limit"! Old man: "O-of all the—" But fear not, friend! For you are going to play a seriously major role in Volume 6! If all goes according to plan, at least. So please look forward to the exciting antics of Elder Ronandt, who you could even call the real hero of this series if you really wanted to, in the next volume! Old man: "It sounds to me like you're making things up." It'll be fine! Probably. As of now, I really do plan to write Mr. Ronandt's role in a very different way from how it played out in the web version. In fact, the entirety of Volume 6 is going to differ quite drastically from the original web version of the story. Perhaps the fate I've managed to avoid in Volumes 4 and 5 will finally catch up to me, and I'll write a volume that's 100 percent new content? How very frightening. Incidentally, while the advertisement for Volume 4 said that it contained sixty thousand characters of new text, that was actually just the count as of the writing of that ad copy. By the time I finished, it was apparently even more than that. And Volume 5 has gone just about the same way. Ha-ha-ha. I'm such a hard worker. Now on to the thank-yous. As always, I want to thank Kiryuu-sensei for drawing such charming and beautiful illustrations. And also as always, I want to thank Asahiro Kakashi for drawing such charming and hilarious poses. Let me also thank my editor K and everyone else who was involved in bringing this book into the world. And all of you who have picked up this book.

Thank you very much.