Ten days after Burn was officially acknowledged… or rather, recognized as a hero, we were once again called to the castle by the king of this country, just like before. Led by our soldier guide, Tia and I walked composed through the corridor leading to the audience chamber, while Burn was absolutely tense.
“Hey, Burn, you’re way too nervous.”
“Sh-sh-shut up! I’m not! Super! Not! Nervous at all!”
“No, you’re definitely nervous. That’s something only a nervous person would say.”
“What can I do about it!? Besides, why are you and Tia so calm!?”
“Well, we’re used to this, aren’t we?”
“Right. You’ll get used to it eventually, Burn. After all, as a hero, you’ll probably be called upon by many countries.”
“Used to it, who the hell are you guys, really…”
“Hahaha, details are super, don’t worry about them”
“What!? Don’t you dare mimic my catchphrase, Ed!”
“Hey, hey, don’t cause such a scene.”
As we continued our silly conversation in the background, the guiding soldier gave us a wry smile and cautioned us. We arrived at the audience chamber without further incident, and as we knelt, the king, seated high up, spoke to us.
“Welcome, Hero Burn and his comrades. I am Sergei Azif Ponpassa, the king of the Ponpassa Kingdom.”
In response to the greeting from above, we casually bowed our heads on one knee. Normally, we, who are not nobility nor knights, would be required to prostrate, but as the Hero and his companions, it seems we were an exception. Well, it would look bad to make a hero prostrate.
“There have been three great tragedies in this world. The Demon King of the Dark Clouds, who shook the heavens and earth and spewed fire from the mountains. The Demon King of the Turbulent Sea, who split the world with a great tsunami. And the Demon King of Beasts, who reigned at the end of the north and invaded the human world with an army of grotesque creatures. However, each of them was defeated by a hero who appeared at that time. And now, as the Demon King of the Eastern Heaven appears for the fourth time, you have revealed yourself! This must be the guidance of heaven! I am—”
[Hey, Ed. Can I talk to you for a sec?]
While the king’s speech continued, Tia quietly waved her finger at me and initiated a [Missing Talk] just between the two of us. Ideally, I should be paying full attention to the king’s speech, but since this is my second time hearing it, I turned my attention to Tia.
[Sure, what’s up?]
[There were three other Demon Kings in this world besides the one we’re dealing with now? Are they all… part of yours, Ed?]
[Hmm. I wonder? It’s not like things other than my fragments can’t become Demon Kings.]
The term ‘Demon King’ refers to entities with the power to significantly disrupt the balance of their world, and naturally, that doesn’t necessarily have to be my… fragments from the Demon King Of The End. Broadly, there are probably many more Demon Kings completely unrelated to my hundred fragments.
[So the previous Demon King… was it unrelated?]
[Well, I can’t really say that for sure…]
[You’re not being clear, you know?]
""
[There are plenty of things I don’t know, especially if I wasn’t directly involved.]
For instance, Tia and Alexis cooperated to defeat the Demon King of their world, but I don’t know what happened to their defeated Demon King. It’s obvious that they don’t just vanish after death, but whether they lose their power and slumber, or revive after some time, or hide among the local life forms… I don’t have a clue, and I can’t even make a guess.
[But for now, let’s deal with the current Demon King, who we know for sure is one of my fragments.]
If I can reclaim my power, I’ll know whether there was any connection with the previous Demon King. Although knowing would probably only satisfy my curiosity… Huh?
“—With that said, we will give Hero Burn 500 gold coins as financial aid. Now, with that—”
“Please wait, Your Majesty!”
Just as the king was about to finish speaking, a voice suddenly interjected. Everyone in the room turned their attention to the person who spoke, a man… wearing a heavy-looking blue robe, who continued to speak.
“Why!? Why won’t you allow my ministry’s mage to accompany the Hero!?”
“Barlock… We already discussed this, no? The Hero already has a mage companion, there’s no need for a second one.”
“But—”
(Ah, right, that happened before.)
As the noble in the robe, Barlock, persisted, I was reminded of our previous party arrangement. Indeed, at this stage in the first round, a female mage slightly older than us had joined our Hero Party.
The arrangement had a whiff of politics about it, but we couldn’t reject it, and the pretext that she was to teach the Hero, who was unfamiliar with magic, the proper use of his powers was perfectly valid. Therefore, in the first round, we had become a party of three here.
But this time, we have Tia. Tia can adequately instruct in the use of magic, which I cannot, so it must have been decided to decline the addition. In reality, adding a pure mage to our current party would not only make our firepower excessive but also make it difficult to protect, providing no benefits.
“That girl, I heard she just registered as an adventurer! There’s no way she could possibly guide and instruct the Hero! You should definitely allow my Ministry Of Magic’s mage to accompany him and guide our inexperienced Hero!”
“What are you saying? To go against the decision of His Majesty…”
“Moreover, isn’t the person you’re pushing for also a young girl, Lord Barlock?”
“Besides, isn’t one of the Hero’s companions an elf? In that case, isn’t she older than any of us?”
“Quiet, quiet! Just because you’re not involved with the Hero, you’re spouting off petty jealous nonsense!”
The surrounding nobles murmured, and Barlock denied them loudly. His words completely backfire on him, but what will happen now?
“Silence! Your Majesty, what should we do?”
“Hmm, indeed, if we are to guide a young, new Hero, it would not be wrong to have a skilled person do it. It would be generous to send personnel from the knights in addition to the mage… Hero Burn, let’s hear your opinion.”
“Me?! I…?”
Suddenly involved in the conversation, Burn was obviously flustered. However, the king continued to question him mercilessly.
“That’s right. If you wish, we will give these two a suitable reward and instead have someone suitable to accompany the Hero from the castle. What will you do?”
“Me, I…”
At the king’s words, Burn turned his quivering gaze towards us. His expression seemed like he didn’t know what to do.
Well, that makes sense. We’ve only known Burn for half a month. We’ve been getting along as companions, but he probably isn’t sure if we even want to fight with him, even with a large reward.
So what should we do? The answer was simple. I returned Burn’s anxious face with a smile and turned my face to the king.
“Don’t worry, Burn… With your permission, Your Majesty, I would like to express my opinion.”
“I permit it, let’s hear it.”
“Then… I understand the opinions and concerns of Your Majesty and the noble attendees here. But the point is, should someone with power walk alongside the Hero? If so, the solution is simple.”
I paused for a moment, looked at my noisy comrades, shifted my gaze to Barlock, and finally stared straight at the king.
“I would like to request a one-on-one match with the mage and knight Your Majesty supports. And with that victory, I will prove that we are suitable companions for Hero Burn.”
“What?!”
At my words, Burn let out a surprised voice, and the audience room was filled with murmurs. Some looked at us with blatant unpleasantness, others made a fuss about “disrespect!”, while others looked somewhat interested, but…
“What do you think, Your Majesty?”
“Very well. If you make such a statement, prove your strength before me.”
With the words of the king silencing everyone, it was decided that we would face a match before him.
(T/N: I’ll be taking a short break from 1st august to 7th)