The Demons Laugh in the Night (悪魔達は夜更けに嗤う, Akumatachi wa Yofuke ni Warau) is the seventy-eighth chapter of the KonoSuba manga series, and covers Chapter 5 to the Interlude in Volume 7 of the light novels.
Cover[]
A fearful Dust sneaks away as the noble who had heard about him appearing at the church comes looking,
Summary[]
Back at the Dustiness family residence, Darkness leads her party past the surprised house guards straight towards Ignis' side, where she tells her dying father how she wrecked the wedding and fled, though Ignis instead rejoices this development. Muttering about Darkness looking as beautiful as her mother, Ignis next beckons Kazuma to his bedside, at which Megumin having her magical power recharged considerately leaves the room, though Aqua stays behind.
Subsequent to thanking Kazuma for all he had done for them, Ignis offers him Darkness' hand in marriage, and Kazuma who refuses due to seeing it as a punishment gets strangled by a furious Darkness. As Ignis signs in relief, Kazuma realises his intention of having him look after Darkness rather than let her be taken away by some other weird guy. Upon Darkness expressing how happy she is with her current lifestyle alongside her friends even if it means throwing everything away, Ignis sensing his time has come encourages her to walk her own path while he takes care of the rest. He and the weeping Darkness proceed to have their last conversation about how one day, they will talk about Darkness' late mother again, while Kazuma at the side struggles to hold back his tears.
Aqua suddenly casts Sacred Dispel on Ignis, following which his health rapidly improves now that the powerful curse laid onto him by a Devil was broken. The goddess goes on to cheerfully boast how her stupendous powers saved Ignis from death in the nick of time, and rejoices at him being able to tell Darkness more stories about her mother, totally oblivious to the awkward embarrassment of the others who had just been in the depths of sorrow.
Back in the basement of his mansion, the utterly incensed Alderp repeatedly stomps Max, who he calls a worthless Demon unable to even bring him Lalatina, despite having the powers of adjustment. When Alderp thinks of Max as a useless Lesser Devil he had summoned with the Divine Item, Max explains how his demonic powers will weaken in a church, in addition to somebody breaking the curse he had laid on Ignis, though this earns him another round of stomping. Considering abandoning this Devil, who despite always forgetting to claim the rewards for his assistance couldn't even kill a person, Alderp orders Max to adjust the memories of those attendees who had heard his abusive words in the church so they will instead justify them, only to be told that the light which had broken the curse is blocking the Devil's powers.
Crazed by frustration, Alderp plans to end their contract so that he can summon a more powerful Devil, though not before ordering Max to forcibly bring Lalatina to him in exchange for the price the incompetent Demon is owed. As Max is reminded of him being owed a price, Alderp proceeds to lie of having paid him many times before, when a Lalatina in a sexy nightgown suddenly appears asking to apologise for what happened earlier. Dismissing the question concerning her knowing about this basement in his exhilarated lust, Alderp delightedly promises to pay Max his price and declares him free of their contract, even though Max mutters about him having done nothing. The governor then ravenously rushes towards Lalatina as she offers up her body in exchange for her party members' lives, only to be shocked when her body turns into that of a laughing Vanir.
While Vanir enjoys the bitter disappointment from Alderp who got tricked by his shapeshifting, the governor upon realising Vanir to be a Devil too orders Max to kill him, only for Max to refuse killing his kin. Vanir next reintroduces himself for the umpteenth time to Maxwell, the adjuster who can bend the truth, and declares his intent of taking the forgetful Demon from another world back to their homeland in Hell. When Alderp protests having his servant taken away, Vanir reveals Maxwell's identity as a Duke of Hell just like him. The Masked Devil goes on to comment about Alderp being extremely lucky for summoning the mentally childlike Maxwell who allowed the governor to rise as high as he did, since other Devils would have ripped him apart upon discovering that the puny but arrogant man didn't prepare a suitable price.
Vanir accordingly reminds Alderp of him hastily promising to pay Maxwell his price and end their contract so he will be free, which exactly is the result the All-Seeing Devil had aimed for when he helped Kazuma pay off the debt and revealed the governor's misdeeds. In response to the infuriated Alderp's question over why he didn't just reveal his identity and demand Maxwell back in the first place, Vanir explains to the shamed governor that the negative emotions like those he is currently emitting as a result of having his bride-to-be taken away at the last moment was especially delicious, in addition to manipulating people of the town including the punk goddess being amusing.
Just when Vanir declares heading back to work for the ridiculous shopkeeper later, and Alderp mulls over how to cover up his misdeeds without the unexpectedly powerful Maxwell, the Adjuster Devil remembers to claim the price Alderp had unwittingly promised to pay, which starts with him breaking Alderp's arm to taste the screaming governor's appetising negative emotions of despair. Quipping at the side about Alderp's natural lifespan being insufficient for repaying the enormous price in the form of continuously releasing negative emotions for a set period of time, since he had been making Maxwell slave for him time and again, Vanir advises his kin to continue the torture back in Hell. Upon Alderp offering to pay the price with his massive wealth as his other arm gets broken, the All-Seeing Devil prophesises how without Maxwell, Alderp's misdeeds will all come to light and result in his wealth being confiscated to leave him penniless, before further stating that only Alderp himself and not somebody in his household will be obliged to pay the price.
The despairing Alderp proceeds to beg Maxwell for mercy, at which the Adjuster Devil expresses his fondness of the governor, then promises to stay by his side at Hell in order to keep him alive and feast on his despair 24 hours nonstop, contrary to how Alderp had quickly abandoned the abducted girls he had toyed with after losing interest. As Vanir wearing a sneer walks off, Alderp during his final moments in the mortal world finally realises that his inherent dislike of Maxwell had originated from his deep down fear of the Devil's true nature, and inwardly prays for the broken Devil to quickly get tired of him so he can die a swift death.
Characters[]
- The Noble (cover)
- Dust (cover)
- Darkness
- Kazuma Satou
- Aqua
- Megumin
- Ignis Ford Dustiness
- Alderp Barnes Alexei
- Maxwell
- Vanir
Differences to other versions[]
- Ignis was moved to a different bedroom in the light novel because Kazuma had broken the window of his previous one.
- The manga skips the point about Alderp contemplating using the fact that Kazuma had committed a capital offense by crashing a nobles' wedding to blackmail Darkness into offering herself up.
- Vanir in the light novel had been requested to take care of Emperor Zel's egg while Aqua was off crashing the wedding, and also predicts how the money that Kazuma had paid to Alderp will be returned to him, on top of commenting about Maxwell's taste for emotions of despair.
External Links[]
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