#465 Diet or Die

“Ahhhhhhhhhhh! Nooooooooooooooooo!”

The Demon King runs about, screaming.

I’m not surprised he’s reacting that way from being chased by a dragon and an angel.

“Hey! Stop running around! How about you try counterattacking for once?!”

“If the purpose is to reduce body weight by exerting physical strength, don’t I still meet the requirements?!”

They are conversing lightly, but the offensive isn’t slowing down their attacks.

Veil is firing her dragon breath, and Horkosfon is firing her mana cannon in rapid succession.

“Noooooooo! Stoooop!”

The Demon King still keeps running while letting out a pathetic scream.

I don’t think he would have screamed like that before, even if he was facing death.

Has he really lost all rationality to fat?

“All right! We’re taking five!” says Veil after nearly an hour.

The Demon King survived.

He must have used a lot of energy to run. His whole body is drenched in sweat, and even the tips of his hair are dripping wet.

“If this keeps up, he’ll drain his life to complete exhaustion. We need to replenish his body with nutrients!” says Veil in her human form.

She prepared a table and chair for the Demon King and sat him down.

“Eat up. It’s my special ramen.”

“Wait a minute.”

It’s kind to give him a snack, but why ramen, of all things?

That’s diet warriors’ sworn enemy!

The hot ramen will make you sweat a lot, so there is no significant loss or gain!

“It’s okay! I put my heart and soul into making this ramen, so it’s good for his diet! Trust me, Master!” she says.

Because the Demon King himself was at his physical limit, gasping for breath and about to die out, he didn’t have enough energy to even speak.

“Come on, eat up. Here, I’m giving you a special service. Say ahhh.”

“A-Ahhh...!”

And then she feeds him the ramen.

I thought all the effort he had put his life on the line for would come to nothing after that bite, but...

“Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh?!”

What?!

He looks psyched up, his whole body emitting a glowing aura!

“Hey, Veil, what did you do?!”

“I fed him the same soy sauce gonkotsu ramen I served to the adventurers. It’s made from Seidour’s extract but diluted five hundred times.”

“What?!”

Wouldn’t that make you immortal?!

Don’t carelessly feed such a dangerous thing to the Demon King!

But it was diluted 500 times... Maybe the effects have been neutralized?

“It’s already been proven that it won’t have any serious effects on the human body! Pulling up a stall in Brother Alexander’s dungeon was worth it!”

“Isn’t that human experimentation?!”

Anyway, even though the broth has become light, the ingredient of a superior species that far surpasses humanity is still there. Still, the Demon King is in good spirits.

It’s as if his pathetic self earlier was a different person.

“Ohhhhh! My body is full of power! I feel more elated than when we invaded the Human Kingdom!”

He looks full of energy.

“That’s the spirit. While you’re at it, please have some natto too.”

“Yeah!”

Horkosfon made the Demon King eat her natto in the heat of the moment.

“Ohhhhh! I’m filled with even more poweeeeeeeeer!”

Looks like there was an effect.

Maybe natto is as strong as it claims to be, after all?

“A natto diet seems highly plausible.”

Natto and its endless possibilities, I swear...

“All right! Now that you’ve reenergized, it’s back to dieting again! This time, we’re not giving you a break! Prepare yourself!”

“Yeah! I, Demon King Zedan, challenge the dragon and angel to battle! En gardeee!”

His yell has regained some of its heroic spirit, and progress can be seen.

The Demon King no longer made the pathetic screams he did earlier.

Thus, his diet picked up the pace.

***

The pattern of the diet goes like this:

・    Wear him down to the limit with Veil and Horkosfon.

・    Revive him instantly with ramen containing dragon extract.

・    Eat natto.

・    Repeat.

The exercise causes his body to burn fat, and eventually, his original physique shows itself.

The combo’s hellish training has retrained his muscles, so I have the impression that he is more muscular than when we first met him.

Maybe it’s the effect of the dragon extract in the ramen?

When all was said and done, the diet program barely lasted for more than a day, and the Demon King had regained his muscular body.

“I am... the Demon King... the strongest...!”

The glint in his glaring eyes looks as if it could kill a small animal.

“There is no enemy before me... no one can stand against me...! All life is under my dominion; all the world is my land...!”

...Huh?

Why is he saying some pretty scary things?

Was his diet so severe it warped his personality?!

“Maybe he had too much ramen,” casually says Veil. “Dragon extract doesn’t leave the body for a long time. That’s why adventurers are not allowed to eat it a second time. From the second bowl, they must eat tonkotsu ramen.”

“Why, you...!”

And you gave the Demon King one too many bowls of it!!!

The dragon extract, which in its undiluted form would cause a mental breakdown and make the Demon King go berserk, was diluted 500 times so that there would be no problem!

If you eat two bowls, that’s 250!

Another bowl only gets you 133 times of dilution!

“Is that why the Demon King suddenly started saying weird things? Answer me, Veil; why did you do that?”

“I wanted to believe he could withstand a concentration higher than an ordinary person!”

Do not trust humans lightly!

“Strife beckons me...! People coasting on peace aren’t worth living... I must start another war... Killing each other is the history of humanity...!”

If things continue as they are, another world war will erupt at the hands of the Demon King, who has turned into a berserker!

“Pull yourself together, Demon King! You were never meant to be that kind of character!”

Aren’t you supposed to be a true champion who combines generosity and kindness?!

“Remember your kids! If they saw you like that, they would cry!”

“Y-You’re right! I am Goetia and Marine’s father, as well as the nation’s. Most importantly, I must show that to my successor, Goetia...!”

He finally returned to his senses after a little shaking.

Phew. That was close.

“No more of this diet! It’s too dangerous! Physical conditioning must be risk-free!”

“But you don’t have to do that anymore, do you?”

As Veil pointed out, the Demon King had melted away his useless flab at the end of the hellish battles.

Now that he’s back to his normal physique, further dieting is not needed.

“Oh yeah! I never thought I could regain my original shape so quickly! As expected of Lord Saint’s diet, it’s very effective!”

I didn’t know about this diet either...

If you can lose weight instantly like this, I’m sure everyone would want to do it. Then again, I bet not even one in a thousand would succeed.

“Now I can gain Belphgamilia’s respect again! My father, too!”

“I’m happy for you.”

“I feel so fulfilled! I’m going to have my usual drink to celebrate today!”

“Huh?”

Saying that, the Demon King takes out a flask from somewhere...

It looks like it’s filled with liquid.

The Demon King chugs it down in one go.

“Ahh, that hits the spot! This is the source of my power!”

“I hope you don’t mind me asking... but what is that?”

I was curious and asked to see what he had drunk.

It looks familiar.

...Turns out it’s mayonnaise.

“So THAT’S why!”