The Hero Awakens

In the garden on academy grounds where they'd agreed to regroup after the operation, Lola watched the clock on her Mana Phone strike midnight — and her temper finally gave out.

"When is he getting here?! It's been over four hours! And he's not even answering!"

She exploded, taking it out on a hapless pebble with a sharp kick. A hooded figure standing beside her chided her for it.

"A young lady shouldn't behave like that. You need to conduct yourself more like a proper noble daughter."

"I-I understand, sis."

For some reason, Lola went meek the moment the hooded woman spoke. The anxiety, though, kept creeping up all the same, and she fidgeted in place.

"I'm here..."

A familiar voice carried over from a distance. X's voice. Color flooded Lola's face for an instant — and then the anger rushed right back in.

"What were you doing until now... What the hell happened to you?!"

X looked wretched. His clothes had been reduced to tattered rags, and the hair that had once been black had turned completely white.

"Did you get ambushed or something? And what's with your hair? You can drop the disguise now."

"Well, about that..."

X laid out everything that had happened. Lola listened, and still couldn't quite believe it.

"So a demon who was furious you'd wrecked the plan cut you in half, except you turned out to be alive, and when you opened your eyes your hair had gone white?"

"That's correct."

"And you got hit during spatial teleportation, dumped somewhere bizarre, and you were late because you were hunting for a nearby gate?"

"That's correct."

The whole story left her speechless — but underneath it, a thread of relief. At least he wasn't dead.

"Well, as long as you didn't die..."

"You could stand to worry a little more, you know... By the way, is this the friend you mentioned earlier?"

X nodded toward the hooded figure beside Lola. He couldn't help wondering who she'd gotten close enough to that she'd call them a friend so readily — especially someone built like they were two meters tall.

Wait. This physique...?

"Well now. I'm a little hurt you don't recognize me."

The hood fell back, and a face X knew all too well looked out at him. His thoughts stalled for a beat. Then he slapped on the thickest face he could muster.

"A pleasure to meet you, miss. I don't suppose we've met somewh— Gah!"

"Don't you dare try to pull one over on me at this point. I heard everything. I'll let the earlier deception slide."

It was Marlene.

X rubbed the spot where her knuckle had rapped his skull and turned to Lola for an explanation.

"Young lady. What is going on here?"

"What's going on is..."

At the banquet hall, Marlene had seen through Lola's disguise. She'd used the impersonation of a high noble as leverage and pressed until Lola had no choice but to ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠tell her the whole story. And then, to Lola's astonishment, Marlene had offered to help — because of who Marlene herself turned out to be.

"I'm with the Imperial Guard. I've been tracking the distribution channels of illegal potions. The Mana Awakening Agent, specifically. That's how I happened to run into the two of you."

There's a coincidence like that?

Marlene went on.

"After hearing Lola's story, I realized this was a far bigger incident than I could handle on my own. The place some unidentified host had invited people to was a den of demons... If I'd known that, I would have called for backup immediately."

So she wasn't tracking this with any real precision. Then... could it be?

A hypothesis clicked into place, and he put the question to her.

"When did you start tracking this case?"

"Intelligence came in two weeks ago. That's when."

Two weeks ago. The exact point the plot had changed — the same window in which Andras had received support.

I'll need to look into this more carefully.

"Anyway!"

Marlene tossed the hood she'd been wearing to X — a small courtesy, so he could cover himself. Then she bent down, pinning both of them with her eyes, and spoke in a low voice.

"It's also an adult's job to scold students who jumped into something this dangerous without a shred of fear. Impersonating high nobles is a serious crime, you know."

"Ugh..."

"Ah..."

Neither of them had a rebuttal. Marlene was Imperial Guard. By every regulation that existed, she ought to have arrested the two of them for impersonating high nobility. But she wasn't finished.

"But my job is uncovering the distribution channels of illegal potions — not hauling in innocent, brave kids. I'll leave you with this."

She reached out and gently patted both of their heads.

"...I'll keep that in mind."

It was a mercy. If Marlene had taken X in here, he might well have died for certain.

Because I'm a demon now...

Just as X was finally letting himself relax, Marlene drew out a notebook and pen.

"Lastly — would you help me wrap up the case? I was told to get the details from you."

The information X passed to Marlene was this: the host of the gathering had been a high-ranking demon, and the entire affair had been orchestrated to turn nobles into demons. There had been two demons in total. The Demonification Accelerators had all been discarded. What the nobles had been given was a hallucinogen. In the Manor Basement, there had been an unidentified cage — its nature unknown.

"Two high-ranking demons, infiltrating the Empire..."

When the debrief was over, Marlene's expression had gone dark. X had not given her the demons' true names, nor their identities. Those still had to stay hidden for the scenarios yet to come. He kept silent about the Soul Trap Ring as well.

If the Guard finds out the academy is going to be attacked, they'll logically order an evacuation — and if the demons catch wind of that, they'll scatter in every direction.

X's goal was not merely to weather the immediate crisis. The ultimate objective was Hero Leon's awakening.

Marlene turned the matter over with a troubled frown, then let out a long, heavy sigh. This was simply beyond what she could handle.

"Still, it's a relief we found out this much. Things are going to get busy for a while."

The one comfort was that the worst-case scenario had not exploded in their faces. Having eased her worries a fraction, Marlene seemed to remember something and looked at the two of them.

"Oh, right. Once this case is resolved, I can recommend you as key contributors. What do you say?"

An unexpected offer. Then again — they had resolved something that could have put the entire Empire in danger. It would have been unfair to walk away with nothing to show for it. X thought it over, then answered.

"I..."

Dawn passed, and day broke. Yesterday's commotion might as well have never happened — the academy gates opened exactly as they always did.

Today was the day of the Hero Memorial Ceremony.

Every student headed not to a classroom but to the grand auditorium. Under their teachers' guidance they filed into their seats and waited for the ceremony to begin. Students chatted at their leisure with whoever sat beside them. Only a handful of teachers were running themselves ragged, soles sweating against the floor.

"Leon! Where's Leon Brave! Where is that kid?!"

"He said he went to the restroom!"

"Tell him to get here this instant! And whose empty seats are those?"

"Lady Frey's, and Circe's..."

X sat watching the chaos, bouncing his leg in a tight, restless rhythm. Lola, seated beside him, scowled and smacked it.

"That's driving me crazy!"

"Ah — sorry."

"Is it because of yesterday?"

"Something like that. That, and a few other things."

The bundled, evasive answer earned her a snort.

"Why did you refuse the contributor recommendation?"

The night before, X had asked Marlene to leave him off the list of key contributors. The reason was obvious.

If I get exposed now, I'm finished.

X was currently a demon. Even if he'd wanted to take proper stock of his situation, his status window was in this state:

Every last function was dead. X sighed at the suffocating deadlock of it.

"I have my reasons."

"Reasons you can't even tell me?"

"Everyone has their secrets, don't they?"

"Wow. Boring..."

Lola sulked and slumped into her chair. The sight needled his conscience for no good reason. He could have told her most things — but becoming a demon overnight was the exception of exceptions.

Once the status window comes back, I should check whether I can become human again. That aside...

X glanced at the Soul Trap Ring still sitting on his finger.

It definitely absorbed holy power.

In the small hours before dawn, he had tested the changes in himself. If he had become a demon, the first thing to confirm was what happened when he was exposed to holy power.

Hey, Deusrute!

The result had been something that should have been impossible. The Soul Trap Ring had absorbed the holy power — even though there was no sealed soul inside it.

What's going on?

When he took the ring off and tried again, his whole body had hurt as if it had been branded with fire. That, at least, made the conclusion certain: he was a demon. And he hadn't even had his soul stolen.

Ah, whatever. I'll think about it later.

Right ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠now he needed to confirm whether the little stunt he'd pulled before dawn had actually worked. It hadn't even been much of a stunt, really. He'd just thrown a letter at each of them — with contents they were guaranteed to take the bait on.

To Maria: something along the lines of I know you're actually a dragon.

To Rung: I challenge you to a duel to the death, with the title of Greatest Swordsman of All Time on the line.

To the reincarnated Hero party: I know about your identities. If you don't want the secret of your reincarnation revealed...

If I get caught I won't die easy — but if I don't get caught, that's that!

The Hero Memorial Ceremony — which had never even existed in the original setting — began. And then the incident that had been scheduled to happen, happened.

"A demon! A demon has appeared!!"

The auditorium doors burst open, and the people waiting outside raised a commotion. The professors who heard the news froze for a beat, then moved fast. The students, for their part, couldn't quite believe it.

"What, is this a prank?"

"Was the memorial ceremony supposed to be like this?"

"Ah, I was just trying to sleep..."

You could tell, from that, just how far removed their lives had been from anything resembling a demon. X simply watched it unfold.

Preparations are all in place. There shouldn't be a problem.

"C-commoner! Did the demons come for revenge?!"

Having to soothe Lola for a while was a bonus.

Some thirty minutes later, it was over.

A major incident had occurred, which meant the academy could not possibly operate as normal. Classes were cancelled on the spot. A major incident — and yet the casualty count was zero.

The moment the hidden demons came swarming in, students and teachers who happened to be in exactly the right place drove them back. The teachers were Rung, Maria, and Roxwell. The students were Leon and four others: the reincarnated Hero party.

Did Roxwell just get unlucky?

They put on a dazzling display and wiped the demons out. The creatures had been low-grade things, closer to monsters than true demons — but putting down a hundred of them was no small feat. They had done it anyway.

As expected of the protagonist. He's strong.

And then came news worth celebrating for everyone.

"It's the Hero! Leon has awakened the Hero's power!"

Only after seeing that did X finally let himself breathe.

Finally. We're back on the original scenario.

Just as in the original, Leon had awakened the Hero's power. And the reincarnated members of the Hero party would have learned one another's identities in the middle of fighting the demons.

Please. Just let nothing else happen now.

There was no telling what scheme Elysia might pull next. If there had been no Author Points in play he could at least have felt some relief — but he'd been hit with a penalty of unknown cause. Points would definitely have been generated then, which meant anything happening from here wouldn't be strange at all.

Wait. Why was I found out?

Then something caught his eye. The Soul Trap Ring. The moment he saw it, he understood.

Ah... don't tell me...

There had been another presence there. Besides X and the two demons — another being entirely.

X. Just what are you?

Princess Beatrice, trapped inside the Soul Trap Ring, was sinking into worry.

How did he know the demons' true names?

X had spoken the true names of high-ranking demons that even ordinary demons wouldn't know. He had even called himself Berith, and put on a performance so thoroughly demonic it had been almost convincing. If he wasn't a demon, none of it made sense.

Are you truly a demon? Is the human appearance a lie, and your true form Berith?

But that didn't sit right either. X had interfered with Andras's plan that day — and not merely interfered. He had thoroughly smashed it to pieces. The fact that today's demon attack on the academy had been stopped couldn't be explained unless X had prepared for ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠it in advance.

"I'm going to kill that bastard Berith. I swear I will!!"

Which was precisely why Andras was this furious.

"How could this happen...! How!!"

Ever since the day the plan had fallen apart, Andras had come back to the room and gone around smashing everything in it. Then she would ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠suddenly collapse, trembling with anxiety — and then get up and start smashing things again. It was as if she had come unhinged. The only one who could stop her was Beatrice.

"Shut up. Shut up!! Our century-long plan...! Because of one lousy con artist...!"

Watching Andras's manic spiral, Beatrice found herself wondering.

Does she not know that X is Berith?

Thinking about it, that made a certain sense. X's face was completely different from when Beatrice had first seen him. The first time, he had been almost too ugly to look at with open eyes. As Berith, he had been a dignified, striking figure.

Just what is his identity?

Unfortunately, the question remained unanswered.

While Andras was still lost in her rage, someone called her true name. She knew that voice. Andras dropped to her knees at once, facing the place from which it had come.

"Lord Paimon...!"

A dark crimson form hung in the air — closer to raw energy than any familiar. Through it, Paimon spoke with cold, bloodless precision.

"That is..."

"Kh..."

The situation Andras had wanted to avoid most in the world had arrived. She now had to tell her superior that she had been played by a con artist she couldn't even confirm was a demon, and that the entire operation had been ruined.

Beatrice found the sight more entertaining than she had expected.

X is on the good side, then?

She decided to think of it that way.

Come to think of it...

A question surfaced in X's mind out of nowhere.

What happened to Fallon?

His existence had vanished overnight. Whether he had simply been erased, or forgotten by everyone — pondering it wouldn't yield an answer.

Hmm... it'll have worked out somehow.

The system functions came back just in time. Now he needed to check what had changed. X opened the status window.

"...What the hell is this!! You piece of shit status window!!"