Chapter 194
Chapter 194
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: penny
Chapter: 194
Chapter Title: 20. This World Won't Leave Me Alone. (6)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
# 194
#3 Their Circumstances: Some Hero's Circumstances
I fiddle with my head.
Hahaha. What is this?
Two horns with a dark red sheen.
The headband I put on as soon as we arrived on the Demon Continent.
Do they really think this will fool the demonkin?
No matter how well-made it is, this just won't cut it.
"Anyway..."
Is this the demonkin land I've only heard about in stories, the Demon Continent?
It's far more ordinary than I imagined.
Familiar trees. Familiar snow blanketing them white. Even the faint brown dirt visible in the wheel tracks left by the carriage.
Unlike all the wild rumors about the Demon Continent, it wasn't all that different from the continent we lived on.
Hmm... Is it because we haven't gone far past Babelion yet?
We rode the carriage for quite a while, but if we really wanted to, we could head back to Babelion in no time.
But then,
"Hmm? Something you need?"
"N-No, nothing!"
I turn my head slightly, and shimmering silver hair comes into view.
Over there, playing with a cat and a dragon, is a little girl who looks about the same age. But I can't judge by appearances.
A legendary ego weapon. One even I, a hero, never got to see!
But I don't want to see this weapon.
No, before that—even if I've heard ego weapons can talk, I've never heard of one moving around in human form! Or hitting people directly!
Why did I have to learn this secret no one else knows?
Is it because of my brothers who sent me to the organization?
Maybe instead of becoming a hero, I should've stayed with the family and purged them all in a bloodbath.
If that were the case, I wouldn't be here right now.
Alright. When I get back, it's rebellion time!
How many existing heroes—or even heroes throughout history—have come to the Demon Continent?
Probably none among the current ones. And not many even among all the heroes from every church in history!
Compared to that, rebellion is nothing.
Yeah. That's right.
I was staring out from inside the carriage, thinking about my future plans, when it happened.
"Huh?"
In an instant, beyond the pristine snowfield, a flash of light appeared, and something began materializing in the distance.
A demonkin with black bobbed hair and horns.
"What is that?"
Have we already been spotted?
Well, it was suspicious.
Unlike Babelion, called the Last City, we hadn't seen a single building since entering demonkin territory.
You'd expect at least a watchtower at the border, right? But to come charging through a portal like this!
Is this the Demon Realm!
"It's an injured one."
"Looks like it."
But the demonkin who fully appeared didn't look to be in good shape.
Her face was a complicated mix of emotions, and her body was covered in wounds big and small.
"If it's the Instructor, then..."
"We'll leave them be... Huh?"
As No. 17—no, Lia—and I exchanged words, the carriage suddenly came to a halt.
"No way..."
"It can't be?!"
It was a situation that looked suspicious to anyone.
If they'd appeared in the carriage's path, the Instructor would've just run them over.
"Come out."
As I dazedly stared outside from the stopped carriage, the Instructor summoned the iron bat.
'This might be...'
'A chance to run?'
Lia and I locked eyes for a moment, sharing an unspoken understanding and faint hope without a word.
"What're ya doin'? Get up already!"
Of course, that hope vanished the second we saw the iron bat demanding we get up.
"Let's go."
"Right."
Feeling the iron bat poking our backs, we jumped down from the carriage.
Too bad. If it had been a bit farther from the iron bat, we could've run.
"Instructor, what do you plan to do?"
The other side noticed us too.
Eyes darting up and down.
She took a solid defensive stance the moment she spotted us, suggesting she's highly skilled, but she didn't seem intent on attacking first.
However.
"We beat 'em."
The wicked Instructor looked ready to pummel that demonkin girl.
"Pardon?"
"Why?"
We're still at the entrance, but this is demonkin continent.
Not a single good thing could come from humans like us being spotted.
The Instructor, who knew that better than anyone, acting like this?
None of the moves he'd taught us so far involved something like this.
"A regular demonkin, maybe not. But that's a demonkin princess."
His response plunged Lia and me into shock.
"A demonkin princess?"
"You know about demonkin too?"
Did the organization collude with demonkin? But I never heard anything like that.
That means the Instructor's intel reaches into demonkin territory.
I'd heard he had ties to elves, dwarves, and various other races, but demonkin too?!
"How did you know?"
Lia asked the Instructor in a slightly trembling voice.
She seemed pretty shocked too.
Well, of course. It's only natural.
Knowing about an unknown realm you'd only read about in ancient books!
"By instinct."
"Pardon?"
But his answer plunged us into another shock.
"It's the standard trope in these kinds of stories."
"You're saying the standard development when a demonkin suddenly appears is that it's the Demon King's daughter?!"
A demonkin princess means the daughter of the Demon King, ruler of the Demon Realm.
What's the odds of one of those suddenly appearing right in front of us?
Right in front of a hero, no less!
"Exactly."
But the Instructor stated it like it was 100% certain.
"Even if so, isn't the Demon King's daughter dangerous?"
Even injured and female, she's a continent's king.
In a way, the only nation with military might surpassing the Karan Empire!
Unlike humans, demonkin unite various tribes under their banner, making them something even the entire human continent has to band together to hold back.
"It's fine."
But the Instructor was utterly nonchalant.
"She might have holy relics like a holy sword. Or magic tools."
Demonkin have gods too.
Like the holy sword Exleon I got from the Church of Nature, they'd have holy relics, and as descendants of the Demon King's proxy, they'd carry a few.
No, as royalty, she'd at least have emergency magic tools! That's how she teleported here alone!
"Don't need any of that."
"You're not thinking she's too weak, are you?"
It was unlike the Instructor, who always handled things cautiously, and it made me uneasy.
But he was the Instructor, through and through.
"What do you think is most important in war? Powerful military might? Or brilliant strategy?"
Whatever came out of the Instructor's mouth, those two weren't the answer.
For one-on-one fights, personal strength or wits decide the winner.
But for battles of hundreds, thousands, or tens of thousands...
"The difference in commanders, and..."
"Information, right."
The Kingdom of Merdea, once a kingdom with national power rivaling the Empire's military, was tricked by the Empire into appointing the wrong commander as supreme leader. In one battle, they exhausted their entire strength.
A wrong commander and bad intel nearly destroyed a nation.
"Right. There are other factors, but one of those two is the answer here."
And the demonkin in front of us is alone.
That means an information gap.
In other words!
"We know the enemy, but the enemy doesn't know us."
"Ha..."
"Ugh..."
The moment I grasped the meaning, I sighed, and Lia groaned.
"Sis, what happened?"
The iron bat had already scampered over, tilting its head as it approached the demonkin.
And then
"Where's this? Beastkin territory? No way it's Agre..."
"Dragon Ascension Fist!"
"Kyaaaaaaa!"
As the demonkin opened her mouth, the iron bat soared into the air and clocked her on the jaw.
Lia and I couldn't bear to watch and turned away, silently praying for the demonkin's soul.
#4 Their Circumstances: Belegrea's Circumstances
In an instant, the space changed.
From a place filled with blood and screams to one with cold wind and pure white snow.
"Mekel..."
But the image of one lizardman still lingered before my eyes.
Mekel. Father's loyal retainer, and mine.
The one who always protected me after Father's dying words.
The name I might never see again... I whispered it softly.
"I have to survive."
I must survive.
I want to go right back there, but there's no way.
As Mekel said, I have to survive and stop Agreat.
The moment I thought that, I became aware of my surroundings.
The sound of tree branches rustling in the wind. Four footsteps crunching through the snow, approaching.
I turn toward the sound, and four beastkin are walking toward me.
"Beastkin territory?"
Most beastkin follow me. But the rebel Agreat is beastkin too.
I can't be sure none follow him.
I stand quickly, raising my sword.
They could be ordinary civilians, so I'm not pointing it outright, but ready to draw at any moment.
If they show hostility and attack, I can unleash the iaijutsu Father taught me.
The fastest strike, taught by Father, a master swordsman!
Even Agreat wouldn't dare underestimate its speed.
"Sis, what happened?"
But the first to rush over was a silver-haired child, and I let my guard down for a moment.
No matter that demonkin ages are hard to judge by looks, the opponent was beastkin—no, scampering with that innocent expression was definitely a child's behavior.
Probably the man and woman behind are the parents, and the middle-aged man between them is the grandfather.
So, maybe Mekel sent me to an ordinary beastkin village?
"Where's this? Beastkin land? No way it's Agre..."
I'd just reached that conclusion and relaxed...
"Dragon Ascension Fist!"
...when the silver girl didn't miss it, launching into the air and striking my jaw.
"Kyaaaaaaa!"
The world turned white in an instant.
What? What's this? What is it?
"Uhehehe!"
Thwack!
"Gaaahhh!"
Suddenly, screams that didn't sound like my voice started coming from my mouth.
My mind and body were out of sync.
In that state, only my clear mind could grasp the situation.
The source of this body's pain was the silver girl in front of me, smiling innocently!
"Shh. Shh. That's not a sound from your mouth."
"No, it only comes from the mo—Gaaah!"
Thwack!
A fist slammed into my face again.
"Thud thud. That's not a sound from your mouth."
No, that's a sound that could only come from the mouth.
But I didn't have the courage to say it.
"Gonna... hit me?"
The pain eroding my soul made me forget I was the previous Demon King's princess. I could only gaze pleadingly at the silver girl astride me.
And maybe that worked.
The silver girl smiled sweetly, just as I'd hoped, and nodded.
"Yeah!"
Thwack!
With that, her fists began pummeling my face.
Endlessly... without end...