Nicola Traveling Around the Demon’s World Chapter 8
Nikora no Oyururi Makai Kikou chapter 8
ニコラのおゆるり魔界紀行 8

Spoiler Summary/Synopsis

Simon and Nicola stop at the small village of Chicha so that Simon can set up shop. However, he’s denied permission due to a forthcoming festival. Nicola wants to stay for the festival, but Simon wants to move on. However, upon seeing a cute woman in the village, Milly, Simon changes his mind. He and Nicola watch her rehearse a flute performance that she flubs up. They pay her a visit, where Nicola produces a bouquet of flowers. She explains that she has stage fright, meaning she won’t be able to invite the Chichas.

Nicola and Simon help her with making chicha hats for the festival. Nicola notices a guy staring at Milly. After work, Milly makes food for them, all of which Nicola can eat. Nicola sees the same man observing them through the house window, so she goes off after him. She demands to know what he’s up to and defends Simon. The man gives her a package to give to Milly.

Nicola returns and recounts the tale. The package contains a flute. Simon and Nicola ponder a way to help Milly. Nicola laments not being able to cast a spell. Simon decides they will use the power of suggestion and pretend Nicola has cast a spell of confidence on the flute. She’s not happy that they’ve tricked Milly, but happy that the next day, Milly is confident. Her performance causes the chichas to emerge and dance.

Nicola wants to tell Milly the truth, but Simon prevents her. The man shows up, who turns out to be a friend of Milly’s named Lastoli. After hearing what Nicola did to the flute, Lastoli takes it and finds the courage to ask Milly to marry him. She says yes. Afterward, Nicola is finally able to say it wasn’t really magic. However, both are happy with the result of this con job. The villagers allow Simon to set up shop.

Later, Milly and Lastoli get married.

Thoughts/Review

Man, I just can’t help but to have enjoyed Nicola Traveling Around the Demon’s World chapter 8.

A Reason to Stay

When Simon was going to leave the village since he couldn’t perform his trade there, I couldn’t help but laugh that an attractive woman changed his mind. I actually expected him to use Nicola as a way to score brownie points with Milly. Instead, Simon found Nicola to be crimping his style, which was also amusing.

Of course Nicola wanted to stay because there’s a festival going on. And hey, a party’s a party, right?

Nicola the Brave

One thing I continue to love about Nicola Traveling Around the Demon’s World is how brave Nicola is. She’s a human witch in a demon world. If the demons learned of her presence, she’d be in a world of hurt for sure.

Yet despite this and other hardships, Nicola tends to be very observant. When she first spotted Lastoli observing them, something Milly and Simon didn’t notice, she was on her guard. When he showed up again, she went after him to confront him. And when she thought he was saying something bad about Simon, she bravely defended Simon without a second thought.

Its moments like this that make Nicola so lovable.

Was It Magic?

Miyanaga-sensei has been showing us that despite Nicola only being able to consciously perform one magic spell (producing a flower or flowers), she is quite capable of unconsciously casting spells.

For Nicola Traveling Around the Demon’s World chapter 8, Sensei doesn’t actually give us a confirmation on whether Nicola cast a spell or not on Lastoli’s flute. The power of belief can cause a placebo effect. So Simon isn’t wrong to suggest that Nicola didn’t actually cast a spell to cause Milly, and latter Lastoli, to become brave. It is very possible that the power of suggestion ’caused them both to be brave when they needed it.

However, I like to think Nicola did actually cast a spell. In order to perform the con job, Simon had created some special effects, but Nicola did cause a flower to appear on the flute. Nicola said that Milly would be brave until the flower disappeared. But the next day, the flower was gone. One would think that Milly would not see the flower and thus lose her courage if this were merely the placebo effect. But she didn’t. She was brave throughout.

Likewise, Lastoli her the tale and did seem to be affected by the flute when he touched it. And then at their wedding, when both held the flute, they became brave again.

So it might just be the placebo effect, but I hope it is Nicola’s magic.

Final Thoughts and Conclusion

In the end, Nicola Traveling Around the Demon’s World chapter 8 is another charming tale. I really do enjoy reading about Nicola’s and Simon’s travels.