Chapter 98: Night Invasion (5)

When Sion regained consciousness, familiar faces were gathered around her in a flurry.

“Ah! Finally, she’s awake!!”

“Hero!? Are you okay!? Are you coming to your senses!?”

“Sister!!!”

Prince Martin, Princess Isabella, Princess Lancia, and even the Sanchina twins.

These were the faces she had gotten to know before and after entering school, and as soon as she opened her eyes, they all rushed to her bedside. T

he priest in charge of the infirmary, who had been standing nearby, was horrified and quickly intervened to stop them.

“Wait, everyone! I understand your concern, but calm down! Though the external injuries have been treated, we don’t know what kind of aftereffects might remain inside!

Right now, the Hero must be resting! So, please don’t crowd around!”

“……”

Hearing that, the friends exchanged glances and slowly backed off.

Sion took a moment to glance around the room before speaking.

“Where am I? How much time has passed since I collapsed?”

“This is the school’s emergency infirmary. It’s currently 8 AM, and you’ve been unconscious for about six hours. You just woke up.”

Prince Martin, the oldest among them, answered the question on behalf of the group.

“I’ve heard the story. You fought against the mysterious intruders who broke into the school… and ended up like this.

It’s truly heartbreaking to think that while such a serious battle was happening, we were all unaware and just sleeping peacefully.”

With those words, Martin lowered his head in shame.

From what Sion gathered, it seemed like it was believed that the Hero had collapsed while fighting the intruders.

The ruse of putting her life on the line had worked well.

Of course, if no one had confessed, there would have been no way of uncovering the truth.

Sion glanced around the room again before sending a telepathic message to Exia, who was still uncomfortably stuck behind her (since no one else was able to move).

— “Are you awake? I hope you didn’t say anything unnecessary while I was out.”

— “No, I didn’t… I asked a lot of questions, but I just pretended I hadn’t seen anything and said I was still asleep when you woke up.”

-“Good. Well done.”

Sion nodded with satisfaction.

Exia was known for her heavy sleep.

Since she couldn’t move, it seemed like it was boring for her to stay awake for 24 hours, so she often entered a dormant state, lying down with her self-awareness deactivated.

And Sion had trained her to use this as an advantage—if any uncomfortable questions came up while Sion was unconscious, Exia could always claim that she hadn’t seen anything and was asleep.

It would be troublesome if things went wrong by speaking out, especially after the incident with the twins.

-“But why do you look so down? You sound like you don’t have any energy at all.”

— “I don’t know… It’s all your fault…”

-“?”

Sion raised an eyebrow, confused, but Exia didn’t respond and remained silent.

She seemed quite sulky, as though she was upset about something.

Had something uncomfortable happened while she was asleep?

Well, it wasn’t really Sion’s concern.

“Sister, why are you so quiet… Did you lose your voice from the aftereffects or something? Hmm?”

Princess Isabella asked anxiously. Sion smiled reassuringly to put her at ease.

“Don’t worry. My condition is perfectly fine. There’s absolutely no issue like losing my voice.”

“Ah, that’s a relief…”

Isabella sighed in relief and wiped away the tears that had formed in her eyes.

Therese, who was standing next to her, folded her arms behind her back.

“Well, since you seem to have fully recovered, I’ll ask…”

She glanced briefly at Sion’s uniform, which was stained with blood.

“Who did you fight? Is there really someone who could make the Hero end up like this?”

That was indeed the biggest question for the Sanchina twins.

Except for Martin, the other four had experienced Sion’s strength firsthand.

While they were unconscious, Sion had single-handedly defeated a Demon Lord army general without a scratch.

She had even protected them from a wide-area destruction spell.

Her strength was so far beyond ordinary people’s that no one could come close to matching it.

Yet, someone was able to wound her badly and escape unharmed?

And all of this happened in the middle of Anatolia Academy, which was filled with protective barriers?

What kind of being could do that?

“Could it be…?” Marianne, who had been quietly observing, stammered, looking around nervously.

Sion had defeated the army general. And someone had defeated Sion.

By the process of elimination, there could only be one answer.

“It must have been the Demon King… The Demon King must have been resurrected…! I don’t know how, but there’s no other explanation!”

“!”

Everyone in the room gasped in shock.

Yes, if it was the Demon King, that was possible.

The world’s greatest sorcerer could easily manipulate barriers, and the Hero who carried the hopes of humanity could be defeated so effortlessly.

Only the Demon King could have done that.

In particular, the four of them—except for Martin—had witnessed the Demon Lord army in action, so they were more convinced of this theory.

It was certain. The Demon King Astaroth, that horrific being, had once again descended upon Elpidion.

After more than 500 years, at last.

“…..”

Meanwhile, when Sion heard their guess, she closed her mouth with an ambiguous expression, one that was hard to describe.

In a sense, it wasn’t an incorrect assumption.

There was no doubt that the one who had wounded her was the Demon King himself.

‘The Demon King sneaked into the teacher’s office at night and inflicted serious injuries on the Hero.’

That was a 100% correct statement with no mistakes.

The problem was that the truth behind it was completely different from what they imagined.

“Hey, Hero! What did the Demon King look like? Did you see them with your own eyes?!”

“Eh?”

Therese asked eagerly, her eyes sparkling with curiosity.

Sion was momentarily caught off guard by her high level of enthusiasm.

Of course, she had expected this question.

“…I’m sorry, but I don’t know for sure. The intruder was wearing a mask and a black robe. I don’t even know for sure if it was the Demon King…”

“Hmm… really? What a shame. We had a chance to find out the Demon King’s identity.”

Therese clicked her tongue in disappointment.

Even though the Demon Lord army had turned Elpidion upside down 500 years ago, information about their leader, the Demon King, remained shrouded in mystery.

That was inevitable, though.

The Hero party members and the Demon King’s subordinates (like Nelia) had all kept quiet about the Demon King’s true identity.

No matter how many times they asked, they would never get an answer.

The lower-ranking demons, who were not even of the rank of a legion commander, had no chance to even see the face of the Lord, so the information known to the general public was virtually non-existent.

Naturally, this secrecy led to countless speculations about the Demon King’s true identity.

In reality, she was an incredibly beautiful, slender woman.

No, she appeared to be a young girl who couldn’t even lift a chopstick.

In truth, everything was a ruse orchestrated by the goddess Laphrey. The one who sacrificed herself in the Eisenberg Gorge was actually Sion herself…

Numerous hypotheses were proposed, and among them, some guessed correctly by sheer accident.

But none of these speculations gained much traction and were soon buried.

None of them had sufficient evidence to be considered the truth.

In this state, Sion faced the resurrected Demon King.

To be precise, it wasn’t certain that this person was the Demon King, but it was presumed that they were.

In any case, it was a chance to finally solve a riddle that had remained unsolved for 500 years.

But as expected, things didn’t go as smoothly as hoped.

Sion could understand, but it was still disappointing.

“By the way, what exactly happened? How did you end up facing this person, the so-called ‘Demon King’?”

“Ah, well…”

In response to Isabella’s question, Sion fabricated an explanation to cover up the true events.

She had been sleeping soundly at night when suddenly a terribly ominous feeling woke her up in a cold sweat.

Trying to calm herself, she went for a walk around the school, and while walking, she happened to spot an unidentified figure tearing through space near the school’s main building.

Naturally, she rushed after the figure and swung her sword, but she was instead countered and nearly killed.

At that moment, Teacher Sally appeared and saved her just in time.

After hearing this, Isabella tilted her head.

“So, did the opponent run away? Someone with enough strength to defeat you, just ran off after being scared by Teacher Sally?”

“I’m not sure, but… what’s certain is that they didn’t attack further and retreated.

I think they were worried that if the scale of the incident grew any larger, the entire school, including the headmaster, would get involved. That’s my guess.”

“Hmm…”

Isabella murmured thoughtfully, sounding unconvinced.

It wasn’t impossible, but something about it didn’t sit right.

“Maybe the person’s ability has a time limit? Something like post-resurrection side effects?”

“That’s possible.”

What was certain, however, was that there was a reason for them to retreat.

If they had the strength to break through the barrier, they could have just done so, so it was clear that there was some kind of restriction.

What that restriction was, they didn’t know yet, but it was obvious that it would be a key factor in defeating the Demon King.

Meanwhile, Martin raised a different question.

“By the way, if that person is the Demon King, why did they come to the school?

If they came to eliminate someone, it seems unlikely since you two met by chance… So, what could be the reason?”

“That’s a good point…”

Why would the Demon King be interested in the school’s administrative office, of all places? There was nothing here that would catch their attention.

“…Ah.”

At that moment, Lancia suddenly had a realization.

The terrible staff they retrieved from Tartarus, the one that could manipulate human souls at will…

Wasn’t that the one the hero entrusted to the headmaster…?

“Could it be that they came to retrieve that?”

“Retrieve that? What are you talking about?”

“You know, the [Eye of the Ruler]…”

At that moment, Lancia froze and immediately regretted mentioning it.

There was one person here who shouldn’t know about Tartarus.

“Eye of the Ruler? What’s that? Do you know something, Lancia?”

“Oh, no! It’s nothing!”

Lancia hastily shook her head at Martin’s questioning gaze.

She had made a mistake.

They had agreed to keep the Tartarus story secret (mainly for the princess’s safety), but she had blurted it out in front of the one person who shouldn’t know.

Sweating profusely from her blunder, Lancia tried to backpedal, but Isabella quickly intervened.

“That’s not important, right?! The school will figure out the reason on their own!”

“Isabella… could it be that you-“

Martin squinted his eyes suspiciously, about to press further when…

“Excuse me, everyone?”

The priest, who had been outside while the group was talking, poked his head through the door.

“Sorry to interrupt, but it’s almost time for the first period. Would you all like to return to the classroom now, except for the hero?”

“!”

Perfect timing. Isabella seized the opportunity and pushed her brother’s back.

“Alright! Did you hear that? Let’s go! We need to be on time for class! If we stay here too long, it’ll be distracting for sister! Let her rest!”

“Isabella…”

Martin narrowed his eyes at his sister but sighed in resignation. He then turned to Sion and bowed politely.

“Then, we’ll take our leave. Please rest well. I’m sorry we couldn’t be of more help.”

“It’s alright. Your concern is the greatest help to me. Now, quickly return before you’re late for class.”

“Yes.”

With those words, Martin quickly gathered the first-year girls and exited the room.

The hospital room fell silent once again.

-“You’re lucky. In the end, your reputation will improve.

‘The hero who risked their life to single-handedly repel the mysterious intruder, presumed to be the Demon King,’ it’s truly an honor beyond what you deserve.”

-“That’s true, I suppose. But… why have you been so grumpy since earlier? Is there something bothering you?”

-“Not really. You’ve been handling things well, Sion. What more could I say?”

Exia blatantly complained, clearly showing her displeasure. It was unusual for her to act like this today.

-“By the way, Sion, you should be getting nervous. That person will be coming soon.”

-“That person? Who do you mean?”

-“You know who I mean. Mana.”

-“Ah.”

Sion suddenly realized. The final, most formidable obstacle.

Thinking of the only person who wouldn’t be swayed by any excuses about the Demon King, Sion’s vision began to fade.

Ten minutes later.

“Sorry, priest. Could you give me a moment?”

“But if something goes wrong with the hero’s condition while I’m gone…”

“It’s fine. If anything happens, I’ll handle it. Please, just go.”

“…..”

Mana’s words made the priest scratch his head, looking a bit troubled.

But after a moment, he nodded in agreement.

“Alright. If the Sage has thought it through, then I trust your judgment. I’ll return in about an hour. Feel free to talk in the meantime.”

“Thanks.”

Mana slowly nodded. With that, the priest turned and walked down the hallway.

Watching him leave, Mana stayed in place until the priest was completely out of sight.

Only then did she turn to open the door.

Click, creak…

The door to the infirmary opened, and then—

“I’m so sorryyyyyyyyyyyyyy!!!!!!”

On the other side was Sion, kneeling on the floor, bowing deeply with all her might.

It was a flawless, perfect pose.