Hello, Goodbye
In a noisy corner of the inn, a woman whose attire clashed with the filthy establishment trembled, her face set in a grim mask.
The empty beer mugs already numbered sixty-one. For an ordinary human that quantity would have been enough to die of acute alcohol poisoning without anyone batting an eye, yet for a noble whose veins ran with blue blood, even the body's capacity to purge toxins stood on an entirely different plane from that of commoners.
Damn it all.
Baron Arin's third daughter, Lady Ourisael of Dust—who felt that truth more keenly than anyone—stroked the bandages wrapped around her nose.
Even the adventurers roaming this city dared not meet her gaze. Status was one thing, but armed in expensive magical tools and armor she was effectively invincible against any ordinary spearman.
I'm the strongest person in this city, aren't I...? Inheriting the territory might be out of reach, but I always planned to make a name for myself as a renowned knight someday.
A hero? And one who carves through Demon Kings in a single stroke....
That dream could never come true now. She had dared to stand against none other than the hero of humanity herself.
That day Ourisael had seen it with her own eyes: Sloan hunting the Demon King that made one's legs go weak merely by looking at it, slaughtering it like livestock.
How that vast greenskin legion had been annihilated in an instant....
That was no longer human. In a word, it was the realm of the divine. Thinking so, the fact that she had been beaten like a dog felt almost inevitable, and her gloomy mood lightened a fraction—yet still....
I'll be written into the scriptures now. Not as a righteous knight, but as the foolish guard captain who failed to recognize a hero. Hahaha....
The future that awaited her was so terrifying that the depression refused to lift completely.
"Um.... Guard Captain. You've had far too much. It's about time—"
"I know. I know already!"
"Yes, of course. Please don't take it so hard. Won't your mother lift the disciplinary measures soon? After all, you are her own child...."
I can't stand this girl or that one.... She swept her gaze across the eyes fixed on her.
Mockery she could have handled. Instead those damn women were pitying her—offering warm compassion to the idiot who, not knowing her place, had charged the hero....
I... want to kill them all.... Should I just snatch up a sword and charge? How dare they look at me with those eyes! Lowly commoners with red blood in their veins!
She was about to spew the usual stream of curses, then decided against it. She no longer even had the strength to swear.
Staggering, she moved her body unsteadily and climbed the stairs one careful step at a time, heading for the flea-ridden lodging she had occupied for days already.
If only I were that strong....
Suddenly she found herself wishing she had been born with a body as blessed as Sloan's.
If she possessed arm strength enough to hurl a person one-handed.... If she could have slain Demon Kings with it. Would she have suffered this humiliation?
At least I would have been memorable to the hero, wouldn't I? They say even notoriety is a kind of fame.... Maybe spreading a dark reputation is better than being remembered fondly....
She decided that being recorded as "the hero's adversity" would be far more splendid than going down in the scriptures as a "petty guard captain."
With that thought she pushed open the shabby door—
[I shall grant that wish of yours.]
A filthy existence stood waiting. A monstrous creature that reeked of foulness, filth sloshing and dripping from its body even while it remained still.
"...."
[Oh? So you know who I am. Different from your mother.]
"You are—"
[Yes. Exactly as you guessed. I am Lichtes the Third, holder of the thirty-fourth seat among the Seventy-Two Evils. And also....]
She barely managed to swallow her scream. Thanks to her mother she knew of the Demon Kings' existence. Had she displeased him, that monster would have butchered her without hesitation.
[I have a hobby of granting the wishes of those who carry burdens.]
"Um.... Burdens, you say?"
[Hmm? You've been thinking it this whole time, have you not? That you want great power.... I descended in person precisely to grant it.]
His manner of speech was lighter than she had expected. Even so, she did not relax her guard.
If that monster chose to, turning her into a lump of meat would take no effort at all....
[Looking into your soul.... You harbor a peculiar desire. Even if the world points and calls you a demon, you wish your name to stand high.]
"I-I...."
[No need to speak. I can fully accommodate that desire of yours. Truly a pitiful creature. Born of a chosen bloodline, yet never given the chance to display it. Ah— I shall grant it for you.]
Lichtes, clumped together like a mass of filth, spread both arms. With a wet crackling sound, black tentacles unfurled.
"Ugh...."
The black tentacles burrowed into her mouth and nose before she could even register them. Her airway and esophagus were sealed completely, yet she felt none of the agony of suffocation.
Mucus spread into every crevice, advancing through the mucous membranes into organ after organ.... After rewriting every element a human needed to live, it restructured her muscles and bones.
The very skeleton built of protein, fat, and calcium transformed into an entirely different architecture—because precious materials had been poured into her.
[This should suffice. You can topple a city that dared betray me, can you not?]
"I-It is enough. My— Lord."
[Good. Go. I permit everything.]
Lichtes the Third burned with fury toward this city. Completing an undead legion required vast resources, so he had first sought to seize the granary lands....
But the lord had thrown in with Sloan, and the plan had collapsed from its earliest stage.
Now this city would fall.
The hero Sloan had been born a country girl.
Her well-tanned skin and healthy limbs told the story: a young woman who once gripped a pitchfork instead of a sword and worked the fields....
One day while digging, she had accidentally unearthed a holy sword, and her entire life had changed.
Sometimes I miss the days I lived as an innocent country maiden.
Of course, if the chance to return to those days ever appeared and she were free to choose, she would refuse. Her brain, addicted to dopamine, had been reshaped until it could no longer endure a monotonous life.
Still, Sloan sometimes found herself recalling those peaceful times—when her body had been weary but her heart had been light....
"Hm?"
While lost in that thought, Sloan's superior eyesight caught something in the darkness.
A colossal tower that looked to exceed seven meters.... As if declaring it was no mere construction of lime or timber, the thing swayed and lurched this way and that.
"Camilla! Elisaaa!"
At Sloan's shout the mage—who had been screaming in pure rage—teleported to the hero's side.
Moments later Elisa arrived as well, Vallitics tucked under her arm.
"What... is that?"
"A Demon King, most likely. Leave it alone and this city is finished."
In that instant Vallitics received a mental transmission.
[Vallitics? I never expected to find you here. I'll support you at once. From this moment, join my plan!]
That giant abomination was no Demon King. Traces of kin lingered, yet it was not one of the Seventy-Two Evils.
But a true kin stood here. The sixty-seventh rank: Gulumbers. Why was this one...?
[Rather, I should be the one asking. Why are you here?]
[I joined after receiving word from Heizen Urk. Already late, but.... First we must take this city.]
A late-arriving kin, then. Vallitics steeled himself.
This idiot. He means to ruin my plan.
Even if he joined now, he was only a force that would ultimately fall to Sloan—nothing more than free experience to strengthen the hero.
Vallitics slipped free of Elisa and quietly activated his innate ability. Having absorbed the power of other kin, he could now maintain stealth for far longer.
I have to kill him.
His resolve was startlingly cold. Vallitics had decided to eliminate one of his own kind.
"First we wipe out that lump of flesh. Keep up! Lylie, go treat the wounded."
"Okay...!"
Lylie, who had joined them at some point, muttered something and moved forward. The Saintess who shared in the hero's power could recreate the architecture of the Celestial Realm within her own body.
Spreading vast white wings, Lylie rose as if she were a bird and shot toward the skies above the city. Not to be outdone, Camilla chanted and vanished in a teleport.
Elisa called up memories of her forest days, racing across rooftops and taking the swiftest path available.
Only Sloan and Vallitics remained.... The hero smirked at the spot where Vallitics had vanished.
"He does fine without even being told."
She bent both legs. Muscles like a horse's swelled in an instant. Then she exploded upward, soaring into the air.
She leapt so high she rose far above Lylie, who actually possessed wings.
[Die—! Wait—!]
Whiiiip— a black whip cracked through empty air. Sloan's body twisted on pure instinct mid-flight, and thanks to that she avoided a direct hit from the gravel flying at supersonic speed.
In raw power alone, stronger than that orc from before?
Sloan wiped the droplet of blood running down her cheek and thought.
Beating monsters like this really was far more entertaining than living as a country girl. She still wasn't sure how things had ended up this way, but—
"How much fun are you going to be?"
She raised the holy sword high above her head and brought it down.
It was, quite literally, annihilation.