Frozen Heart?
"Hero... you say?"
Aishi asked in a trembling voice upon hearing my words.
"Yes, playing the hero."
When I answered her once more, she began to wear a confused expression.
"By the way, a cabinet? What do you...?"
"I already know there's an escape spell prepared there for evacuating the royals."
As she tried to change the subject, I flaunted my knowledge again, and Aishi's face grew pale.
"W-What are you? How do you know all this...?"
"Is my identity important, or is your family?"
"...Ugh."
But she couldn't refute my words.
As expected of someone who had tried to reveal her despised demon form to protect her family.
"...How can I trust you?"
After hemming and hawing for a while, Aishi timidly posed the question.
"You have no choice but to trust me. After buying all those useless demons just now, don't you believe me?"
"B-But..."
"If you're that worried, we can make a magical contract, no problem."
As I reassured her like that, I pulled out the scroll I'd prepared in advance from my pocket.
"Take a look."
"...Huh?"
She accepted it with wary eyes and examined it from all angles, then started making an absurd face.
"This... isn't tampered with, is it?"
"Why do you say that?"
"Why? The contract's way too favorable to me and disadvantageous to you!"
After advising me like that, Aishi quietly cast a detection spell on the scroll in her hand.
"I-It... it's real?"
She easily confirmed it was genuine and muttered in bewilderment.
"What...?"
Aishi, hemming and hawing across from me with an expression that said she couldn't comprehend the situation, looked quite pitiful today.
Well, all the contracts she'd seen or made so far were probably just unequal treaties with other nations.
Someone in a position of power offering terms disadvantageous to themselves must have been a fresh shock to her.
"So, really, you'll just evacuate the royals if I lend you the cabinet?"
"That's right."
"What's in it for you?"
"...You're not the sharp type, are you?"
Aishi stared at me blankly after hearing that, then cautiously asked,
"Wh-What are you planning to do with the cabinet? Do you have someone to evacuate too?"
"I'll free all the slaves."
"...What!?"
At the bombshell from my mouth, she unwittingly raised her voice.
"What do you...?"
"For that, I need the spell you've prepared."
"Wait, hold on!"
As I spoke to her in a low voice, Aishi urgently began her explanation.
"That spell isn't complete yet. Even if you use it, it won't work..."
"No problem. I can fix it."
"...!?"
But when I calmly replied, Aishi once again wore a stunned expression.
In truth, it's not me fixing it...
In the previous loop, her royal rescue operation had failed.
Because she never managed to complete the spatial transfer spell on the cabinet.
Instead of using the cabinet, she ended up raiding the slave market in her demon form, and the events that followed led to her corruption.
...Irina will handle it.
But things are different now.
With Irina's genius talent for magic operation and analysis, she'll surely complete the instant transfer magic out through the cabinet.
Of course, Drimirkan, the Demon King's second-in-command and authority on spatial magic, can use teleportation too...
But he has a different role in this operation.
So, we'll adapt the spell prepared by Aishi, who can clumsily implement spatial magic, though not as well as Drimirkan.
"What... what is all this...?"
As I was thinking that, Aishi muttered in a dazed expression and began signing the contract.
"Good. Thank you."
I watched her, and as soon as the signing was done, snatched the contract and stood up.
"Then I'll be going. I have mountains of work..."
"Wait! I still have questions!"
As I turned to leave the room, leaving Aishi behind, I glanced back at her urgent cry.
"What's the reason for all this?"
"That question again?"
"I need to know. So I can help you without worries."
To Aishi, who still eyed me suspiciously, I smiled faintly and began pulling out the excuse I'd prepared.
"First reason: I want to trade with your kingdom."
"Trade?"
Aishi tilted her head in confusion at my words.
"I hear the Cloud Kingdom royals all have equal authority, except the king, to prevent power struggles."
"Yes, you know well."
"Then... you must have certain authorities too. I suspect 'exclusive trade relay rights' are included."
As I spoke matter-of-factly, Aishi nodded quietly, then said with a dark expression,
"If that's what you want... I can throw in the cabinet rights. But our kingdom is very poor, so trade would actually be a loss for us..."
"Can you add that to the contract right now? With your hand, Princess."
Cutting her off directly like that, as she tilted her head, Aishi sighed and placed her hand on the contract.
"I warned you. Exclusive trade rights might not be the best reward..."
"No need."
As I watched her add the clause herself, I replied and quietly smiled to myself.
...Now I won't have to worry about money anymore.
Soon, a massive magic stone mine will be discovered underground in the Cloud Kingdom.
Not just any mine, but a large-scale one rich in rare magic stones.
Because of that, the poorest nation in the western continent, the Cloud Kingdom, will rise to a powerhouse dominating it overnight.
So, if I use the 'exclusive trade rights' then to develop the magic stone mine business...
I won't face money shortages until the final battle.
Of course, with my intervention, I can fend off the vagrants eyeing the mine...
Win-win for the kingdom.
"...Well, if you insist. Is that all the reasons?"
"Didn't I say it was the first? Of course there's more."
So I replied, quietly picking up the coffee from the table and inhaling its aroma before continuing.
"Second reason: I have a personal grudge against the Empire and Frey."
Aishi's eyes lit up at that.
"If I ruin this slave market, clearly involving the imperial family and church, it'll be a huge blow to both power groups. Satisfying, right?"
"Yes, it is."
"And Frey must have taken some hit too, since I bought out all the slaves in bulk."
After gleefully badmouthing the Empire and myself to her, I continued with a slightly odd feeling.
"As a result, my funds will position me to sway the Empire."
"...You're scarier than I thought."
As I finished, Aishi looked at me with less suspicion than before, then asked with a curious expression.
"By the way, if I may ask, what exactly is the grudge...?"
"Seems like we'll be important allies going forward. We can talk then."
"...Got it."
Time was short, so I brushed off the question, and she nodded quietly, then opened her mouth with a meaningful expression.
"Anyway, no doubt you hold a grudge against Frey?"
"Yes."
"Want me to help?"
"Pardon?"
At the unexpected offer, I faltered, and she said coldly,
"Right now, I've temporarily transferred my 'Frozen Heart' curse to him."
"......Ah."
As I frowned at her briefly, I finally understood what she meant.
"The Frozen Heart slowly freezes the heart. The only way to lift it is transferring it to someone else."
"...Gruesome."
"I've had that curse since I was young. I know its terror well."
Aishi smiled coldly as she said that.
"Not something a pathetic guy like Frey can endure."
"...I see."
"Probably, symptoms will appear soon. Or maybe already have."
Quietly stroking her chest with her hand, Aishi whispered softly.
"If you really do as the contract says, I'll throw in the curse to blackmail Frey later."
"Is that so?"
"Yes. You repay those who help in tough times."
With that, Aishi picked up the coffee cup from the desk.
"Of course, if you let go of the hand you're holding... the curse might head your way."
"...Scary."
"Just kidding, kidding."
She burst into laughter at my reaction and waved it off.
"But don't betray me. I don't know who you are, but we've shared secrets... and we're in the same boat now."
She said sharply.
"Oh, and there's a third and final reason."
"...Yes?"
As I stared at her quietly.
"...You were pitiful."
"Pardon?"
"And tragic."
I said softly, lost in thought.
...I'm sick of tragedies.
The 'Frozen Heart Curse' she has can't be reclaimed once transferred to another.
In the original story, unaware of that, she got critically wounded at the slave market while fleeing with the royals and, with their consent, distributed the rampaging curse among them temporarily.
Only then realizing she couldn't retrieve it.
As a result, the sole heir to the Cloud Kingdom throne drowned in despair, self-loathing, and guilt.
How pitiful and unfair.
"So I decided to save you."
"...?"
Thus, I decided.
To have her transfer the curse to me, no one else.
...Just because.
Well, my heart might get a bit chilly soon.
But since it'll vanish after dying and reviving, no issue.
"Then..."
But if I can't revive?
"...Farewell."
Such thoughts... I should avoid from now on.
"Hmm..."
Meanwhile, at that moment.
"...For a slave, you're way too pristine."
Ruby was heading inside, looking around the human slave market with curiosity.
Fake Hero's Descent
This main quest is about proclaiming to the entire world that you are the hero.
🎁 Reward: Increase in main body awakening level.
⚠️ Failure Penalty: Decrease in vitality and lifespan.
"...It's time to become the hero."
She said while looking at the system window floating in the air before her.
"You're the hero, huh?"
For some reason, Ruby.
"Lies."
Was unaware of Glare, who was still following behind her, cloaked in faint light.