Chapter 463
Chapter 463. Conditions of a Hero
“We lost to a six-year-old…?”
“That’s just too much…”
“This is no joke…”
—Honestly, it seemed like everyone was more shocked that I was six years old than my true identity. And thus, we smoothly transitioned into the Q&A session!!
– Isn’t it too big for a six-year-old?
“Demons mature early… It takes about 15 years for their bodies to fully develop. But in my case, it’s even more special; when I returned from the demon world, my growth accelerated due to my mental age. It seems that physical changes upon returning from the demon world are relatively common, and I’m seen as an extreme case, or so they think.”
– Even if your body is big, isn’t sending a six-year-old into battle or exiling him a bit much?
“That’s true. I can’t argue with that.”
– Doesn’t your behavior raise suspicion?
“It’s often said I don’t act like a six-year-old. The flow of time in the demon world is different, so having spent a long time there, I developed more mature behavior… so I somehow manage to cover it up.”
– Are demons surprisingly stupid?
“Surprisingly, yes, they’re stupid. Most of them are.”
And the reality is that we keep losing to such idiots. Damn it!!
“That’s just unreasonable…”
Once the questions wrapped up, everyone looked stunned and disheartened.
“…Well, even with a demon’s contract, I don’t think a normal demon could grow this strong. I have experience from my previous life, I was fortunate in my surroundings, and above all, being able to contract with a Demon God is huge…”
“A Demon God… huh.”
Bishop Lexar crossed his arms and groaned.
“An awful existence. Honestly, I envy you… No matter how much experience you have or how fortunate your environment is, there’s no other way to gain that kind of power.”
Envy, huh…
Well, I get it. Just looking at the conditions, I compare to the first Demon King. I contracted with the Demon God of Devouring and founded the Demon Kingdom…
“An infamous Demon God. I can’t even imagine what kind of contract you made with that one… it must be an incredibly wicked and disgusting existence.”
Bishop Lexar said with a stern face, mingled with both fear and hatred.
“……..”
In response, Ant came out silently from within me.
The bishop and the others gasped, ready to cast offensive magic. I mentioned that I contracted with a Demon God, but I hadn’t talked about him descending to the real world with me.
If a high-ranking demon appeared suddenly without prior warning, of course, they’d be on high alert. Thankfully, since Leila and I were acting casual, they hesitated to attack.
“Ah… I forgot to mention, the Demon God is here too.”
“Indeed, I am the Demon God Antendeixis.”
Ant puffed up arrogantly.
“Eh…? This is it?!”
“He doesn’t look like a god at all.”
“He’s smaller than I expected.”
The Vampire Hunters compared me and Ant. Smaller—meaning the status of the existence, I guess. Ant boasts sufficient magical power for a major demon, but somehow, I had become stronger than him.
At least, compared to the amount present here.
“This body is but a fraction that does not even amount to a tip of my true form.”
Ant said, raising an eyebrow in a mockingly astonished manner.
“When my true form descends into the real world, the laws of nature will distort. The fact that this is all I could contain within this soul vessel means it’s the maximum. I’m not even sure if I can pass through the Dark Portal in the first place.”
“…Were you inside Alex the whole time we were fighting?”
Arthur asked cautiously.
“Yeah. Essentially, he’s been lounging inside me the whole time.”
“Lounging is pushing it.”
“Oh! So that’s why whenever someone tried to attack from behind, you managed to block it easily!”
One of the younger Vampire Hunters exclaimed, as if everything made sense.
“That Demon Prince has eyes in the back of his head!” I thought. But it turned out that the Demon God had been keeping watch behind him. No wonder…
“No? Aside from preventing the Sword Saint’s surprise attack once, I haven’t really warned him of anything. He dealt with everything by himself. I occasionally used magic to assist, though.”
Ant pointed at me.
“Eh? So that means he did all that himself…? Scary…”
“Alex was part of the Demon Castle assault. If you don’t have exceptional talent as a hero, you wouldn’t even get called for such missions.”
Arthur kept praising me, but honestly, I was one of the weaker members of the assault team…
“I just happened to know Cardinal Miralda and got invited because I was isolated and alone…”
“Miralda? The ogress Miralda?”
“Oh, you know her?”
“Yeah! I was under her guidance in the academy. It was about five years ago!”
“Oh, I see! She was teaching again. Good to hear she’s doing well…”
“She was incredibly strict, back then.”
We all laughed weakly. A young Vampire Hunter who wasn’t even twenty yet. Two people who had learned from the same teacher were now trying to kill each other…
“Actually,”
Bishop Lexar spoke up again.
“How many people know about you? I heard you escaped the High Elf Saint…”
“Really only a few. Liliana knows my true identity, has overall knowledge about the Demon Kingdom, and I’ve deposited my necromancy research notes with her. It seems the Holy Great Tree Alliance has begun taking action against the Night Elf intelligence network, so likely, the information has been safely transmitted. The High Elf Queen and her aides should be aware of me.”
“Hmm… I see.”
“Apart from that, there are barely any… Oh, shall I introduce her again?”
I looked at Leila.
“This is Leila. Not Reilayne—Leila is her real name.”
“Hello, I’m Leila.”
“She’s the daughter of the White Dragon King Faravgi. Faravgi and I fought together in the Demon Castle assault mission, but… after the failure of that operation, I unfortunate ran into Faravgi, who was hiding within the Demon Kingdom, while I was off on a goblin hunt during military exercises…”
At that, the bishops seemed to catch on to something in my bitter expression.
“…In the end, I killed Faravgi. Even if he was a traitor, he was the White Dragon race and brought Leila—the one captured as a hostage to apologize for what his race did to me.”
“Oh, um…”
Everyone looked a bit uncomfortable.
“Then, the relationship is fake—”
“There’s no faking the fact that we’re lovers.”
Leila quickly interjected over a different Vampire Hunter’s remark.
“It is definitely not a disguise.”
“Oh, uh… Really?”
Leila turned to me with a look saying “See?” and I smiled and nodded back. The bishops were staring at us awkwardly…
“Um, next up… is Barbara.”
“Yes!”
Barbara popped up from the rapier. Unlike Lexar and the others, who glowed with holy silver magic, she was wrapped in dark magical energy, looking very much like a spectral being.
“This is Barbara the Sword Saint.”
“Nice to meet you. I’ve known Alex since my previous life, but due to some twist of fate, I ended up having to kill the Demon Prince Zilbagias during the defense of Evaroti…”
The results speak for themselves, Barbara shrugged.
“At Evaroti…”
“That’s quite…”
“How surprising…”
Everyone looked somber, unable to find more words.
“And… the ancient soldier.”
“Yawn… It’s been a while.”
The ancient soldier yawned as he flew out from the bones. He seemed a bit pressured faced with the elite from the Holy Church and took a small step back.
“Wow… there are so many of you, and they all seem strong.”
“He’s one of the human soldiers I killed during the ceremony of losing my virginity after being reborn as a Demon Prince.”
And thus, I learned the skill of 【Naming】…
“Nice to meet you. I was surrounded by dark beings in the Demon Castle and forced to fight this guy as a spectacle. Then this Prince declared, ‘If you defeat me, I’ll let you live,’ so I fought like crazy with my mates…”
He shrugged.
“But, in the end, I couldn’t lay a finger on him. He stabbed my heart with a knife, and as I was dying, he whispered in my ear, ‘Death to the dark beings.'”
He grinned ironically yet somewhat sadly.
“That’s been on my mind, making it impossible to sleep. After he learned necromancy, I was summoned, and when I heard the circumstances, I promised to keep an eye on him because he’d definitely defeat the Demon King.”
He concluded, saying it was also for the sake of the other comrades, and suddenly looked at me, whistling like he used to.
“Seems you’ve gotten significantly stronger since the last time.”
“Can you tell?”
“Sure. Back when I was alive, it’d have been so useful if I’d had this level of magic then.”
The ancient soldier’s words made everyone except Arthur nod in agreement, understanding his point.
“So I’ve introduced everyone who knows my true identity.”
“Are you not informing the Holy Church?”
“Honestly, I have no intention of revealing my identity as Demon Prince Zilbagias. If by any chance, a hero or priest who knows about me dies and the soul gets picked up by Enma, it would be irreversible.”
“…The puppet maker Enma, huh? I never imagined he was lurking in the Demon Kingdom… a hassle.”
Bishop Lexar clicked his tongue, but that’s the truth. Unlike a Demon Lord who could be “solved” by just increasing physical power, Enma isn’t so easily dealt with.
“So, just before I return to the Demon Kingdom at the end of the exile, I planned to send an anonymous letter detailing the demons to the Holy Kingdom…”
“Alex… Are you really not going to come clean and reveal your identity?”
Arthur asked with a somewhat pleading tone.
“Shouldn’t you instead fight alongside the alliance as the reborn hero, not just as the Demon Prince?”
…
“I’m sure the Holy Church would accept you. Not just in terms of strength but in spirit too. An hero who perished in the assault on the Demon Castle returned to fight for humanity… They can’t just ignore that.”
…As the reborn hero, not as the Demon Prince—
I found myself daydreaming of leading the charge for the allied army, wielding the holy silver spells without hiding, combating the Demon Lord’s army with all my might.
With the 【Naming】 technique doubled, accompanied by heroes, priests, Sword Saints, Fist Saints, Dwarf Blacksmith Warriors, and the leading Forest Elves—
With holy silver magic infused in the teleportation spell strike, one after another, I would vanquish the demon warriors.
How wonderful that would feel.
But…
“Arthur… that’s not like you. There’s no way that can happen, especially not for me right now.”
I forced a weak smile.
“If I reveal that Zilbagias is actually a hero, what happens to the Empire matter?”
…Arthur opened his mouth but couldn’t say anything.
—There’s no way it can be forgiven. The scale of my wrongdoing is too enormous to cover up with a mere hero’s impulsiveness and runaway act. At the very least, the Holy Church can’t publicly excuse me.
“That’s… true. Indeed…”
This wasn’t the smart Arthur I knew. Normally… no, back when I was alive, he wouldn’t have needed to be told that…
“But… if that’s the case, at least can’t we form a joint front without revealing our identities? Even if, worst case, my identity gets exposed to the Demon Kingdom through Enma, with the intelligence network collapsing now, I doubt the demons can use that information efficiently. We should be able to manage against the Empire too!”
“…I’m glad you’re thinking so hard for me, but, Arthur, don’t you think that’s just a bit unrealistic?”
“But… still…!!”
“Arthur.”
While I felt grateful, a sense of doubt stirred within me.
“Why… are you so desperate?”
—Arthur fell silent.
“Because… isn’t this too unfair…?!”
He squeezed out the words, his fists clenched tightly.
“If you keep pretending to be the Demon Prince! After returning to the Demon Kingdom, you’ll still be forced to go on fighting the alliance! About the Empire, it was indeed an unworthy deed for a hero. But I know you’re not just a thrill-seeking murderer!”
Frustrated, Arthur shook his head.
“You are a hero. A noble hero! I’ve seen you doing everything you can for innocent people at Lake Aulitos! You wielded the holy sword, not a spear, and truly looked proud. You were a genuine hero! Yet—”
…
“—Isn’t it too unfair?! You have to keep fighting your own kind to protect your own kind. If we could at least form a joint front with the Holy Church, then you wouldn’t have to suffer any longer…”
That’s what he thought…
Arthur’s voice trailed off, fading away.
“If… only if that were possible. What a blessing it would be.”
Each word I spoke felt heavy.
“But… I can’t do that.”
“Why not?”
“I can’t get stronger.”
The answer was cruelly simple.
“I told you. Even with ten people, I can’t defeat the Demon Lord right now. To annihilate the Demon Kingdom, I must defeat the Demon Lord. For that, I need to become much, much stronger—”
And then, I had to…
“I have to kill humans to get stronger.”
I can’t break the taboo as a hero.
I can’t become any stronger than this.
