Friends (3)

Meanwhile, deep within the imperial palace. In the Prime Minister's office, Altlich sat with a grin stretching from ear to ear despite the sudden overtime. It was all thanks to the unbelievable victory report that had arrived from the hero's party—the very group he'd written off as disposable pawns.

He looked so genuinely delighted that anyone who didn't know him might have mistaken the middle-aged man for a kindly soul. Stroking his neatly trimmed beard, Altlich mulled over his thoughts about the hero's party.

'When I first heard that the Succubus Queen had fallen, I was only half convinced.'

The Succubus Queen was a cunning monster, after all. She could easily have faked her death. 'But the Archdemon is different.'

This time, the feat of defeating the second of the Four Heavenly Kings—Archdemon of Screams—left no room for doubt. That monster, who normally chained himself up to suppress his madness, would never stoop to cheap tricks. Defeating both of them meant the hero's party had achieved the greatest accomplishment in nearly thirty years.

And then, the fear set in.

They had dressed it up nicely as forming a party of promising talents who would grow together, but in truth, the hero's party had been nothing more than disposable pawns sacrificed for political damage control. If they held a grudge, he would have no defense. So Altlich had immediately ordered a grand welcome banquet and ball to be held, just in case their feelings had been hurt. He was even writing the invitation to the hero's party himself, under his own name as Prime Minister.

As he continued scribbling away, Altlich suddenly looked up as if a thought had just occurred to him and asked the adjutant seated before him.

"By the way, how on earth did they become this strong?"

"Pardon?"

"When they first set out, they were so weak we said they had no hope at all. I was planning to have them take the head of some bottom-rung 72nd successor or a high-ranking demon and use it for propaganda before discarding them..."

"Ah, we've roughly identified the cause. It's this man. His joining the party was the decisive factor, apparently."

The adjutant rummaged through some papers and pulled one out. A large photograph of Jain was plastered across it. Most of the fields remained blank, likely because it had been hastily prepared. Altlich muttered in astonishment.

"The Crimson Mage?"

"Yes. They say this man supported the party with overwhelming skill, causing their overall combat strength to skyrocket."

"Hmm..."

Altlich read through the document with a skeptical eye. There wasn't much to see yet. He quickly scanned to the end, then frowned at one particular line.

"Adjutant, was it really necessary to include matters below the belt like this?"

"M-my apologies! I'll speak to the person in charge! They insisted it was his only known weakness ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠and that it absolutely had to be noted..."

"Well, even heroes have their vices. It's fine."

After a moment's thought, Altlich asked another question.

"When we summon the hero's party, this man will attend the ball as well, correct?"

"Yes, most likely."

"He suddenly joined them from the Demon Continent, claiming he wanted to defeat the Demon King. He could be some recluse who was hiding away there."

"Ah!"

"The people of the imperial capital have a bad habit. They tend to look down on those from the countryside without realizing it. Make sure that doesn't happen. Issue the order."

"What manner of decree, sir?"

"For this man alone, extend treatment equal to that of the imperial family. The courtesy of the Golden Eagle."

There was an unwritten rule that members of the imperial family must not carry money, as it was considered impure. So when they entered shops, they simply made requests and the goods were provided, with payment later settled by the imperial treasury. That was the courtesy Altlich was now insisting be extended to Jain. It was an extraordinary privilege.

"To that extent, sir?"

"Do you remember how much blood was spilled just to take down one Baal? Two heads of the Four Heavenly Kings ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠is practically the same as Baal's head. This much is only natural."

"But..."

"I'll take responsibility. Proceed."

"Understood!"

The adjutant bowed deeply. It ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠was the day after Altlich had wrapped up preparations for the ball in honor of the hero's party.

The adjutant burst through the office door again, his face deathly pale.

"Your Excellency! These bizarre letters have flooded the palace!"

"Let me see."

Adjusting his monocle, Altlich opened one of the letters the ashen-faced adjutant had brought. Upon reading its contents, his expression filled with bewilderment.

"An assassination threat?"

*

"Wow, it's really, really pretty!"

Meanwhile, the hero's party had returned through the portal and unpacked their belongings in the detached palace. They were now in the middle of preparing for the ball, trying on the formal attire they would wear and giving each other critiques.

Karin kept marveling at Naelle, who wore a pure white dress that perfectly complemented her green hair.

"No way, Karin is clearly the prettier one!"

Naelle beamed brightly as she returned the compliment. Karin blushed and fidgeted. She was wearing a daring see-through evening dress that revealed her upper chest.

"R-really?"

"Yeah! The prettiest in the whole world!"

"T-talking like this with a girl friend... it's like a dream come true..."

Karin giggled shyly and sneaked a glance toward Jain. Unlike the others, he was still in his Crimson Mage robe, furiously scribbling something in a notebook. It looked like he was doing calculations.

'That jerk, not even sparing me a glance. And I worked up the courage to wear this...'

Someone grabbed Karin's hand. It was Ren. Wearing a droplet-shaped dress adorned with blue jewels and her hair elegantly pinned up, she smiled radiantly as she praised Karin.

"Yeah, you really are beautiful! It's similar to what Elaine would wear, but you pull it off even better!"

"Ahaha, you think so?"

"Definitely! If Elaine wore that, her chest would be spilling out everywhere and it'd be a disaster! It looks perfect on you, Karin!"

Karin, who had been laughing and scratching her head, felt a slight sense of unease. Is this really a compliment? Something felt off, so she let her smile fade, but Ren continued beaming innocently. Seeing that pure smile, Karin's suspicions vanished and she ended up grinning like an idiot again.

"Hero, you look so cool!"

"Hah, if you want an autograph, get in line. I'm pretty confident in my fan service."

The hero was excited too. Having changed into a formal suit borrowed from the imperial family, he was flaunting his unnecessarily handsome face as usual. The maids, unaware of his true nature, flocked around him, showering him with flattery. Karin watched with a look of utter disdain.

"That guy is seriously..."

"Leave him be. Better to let him enjoy this fleeting moment of happiness."

Just as Karin was about to say more, Leticia grabbed her arm. She wore a dress resembling a knight's uniform and was quietly reading a martial arts manual.

"Everyone, shut up. It's distracting."

The one who poured cold water on the noisy atmosphere was Jain. The maids clinging to the hero flinched and looked at him nervously.

"Hmm, the autograph line is getting long. It'd be better to handle this outside!"

The hero twitched awkwardly and ushered the swarm of maids out of the room. Jain continued scratching his head, still deep in calculations.

What Jain was so absorbed in calculating was causality.

After scribbling on the paper for a long while, he finally closed the notebook with a refreshed expression.

'Good. No matter how I look at it, my actions haven't caused any significant causality interference that would alter the main scenario.'

It was a satisfying conclusion. It seemed the history of this world was still flowing according to the original story's progression.

The world Jain had possessed was similar to the game but not identical. Most events followed the original plot, but if causality was damaged, the story would suddenly twist in bizarre ways and trigger completely unheard-of events.

There were various actions that damaged causality: mentally interfering with key characters using spells like Geass, altering history with Terminus, abusing the game system, or even mentioning anything related to the game system.

Since Jain hadn't learned Terminus yet, the check was relatively simple. He only needed to verify Geass and game system-related matters.

'It feels like playing the game with unauthorized bugs, then having errors explode and dump dummy data events everywhere.'

Back in the early days of his possession, when he had captured the fallen Spirit King, he had broken every bit of causality he could and used every dirty trick in the book. The entire early scenario had gotten twisted, and he'd suffered terribly for it. Ever since, Jain had become extremely wary of interfering with causality.

That was also why he chose to adventure alongside the hero's party without resorting to extreme measures. The main scenario had to proceed according to the original story.

So after that early nightmare, it had become a habit for Jain to check for causality damage right before every major event. And the results of this latest inspection were excellent.

As far as he knew, there was nothing that could derail the upcoming assassination event.

'The assassination notice should have reached Altlich's office by now.'