True Consciousness (2)

Balkan and Ellie rode in a carriage with Serif, heading somewhere.

Rubia and Nuer were sent to the Explorer’s Federation to handle the Black Dragon’s byproducts.

Denji and Jubel were tasked with escorting the citizens who had stayed late, ensuring their safe return.

Ellie, as a royal mage, was to report on the progress of the injured transport operation.

Balkan accompanied her as the leader of the party escorting Ellie.

After several hours of riding in the carriage, they arrived at the most crowded place in the Explorer’s Zone.

It was late, so there were few people, but the security there was still thoroughly maintained.

“Labyrinth Entrance… It’s been a while.”

Not Portal Magic, but the Labyrinth Entrance where the Portal to the Labyrinth originally opened.

Ellie looked around at the place, which had a colder and more chilling atmosphere than usual, and rubbed her arms.

Balkan also scanned the eerily changed Labyrinth Entrance and adjusted his axe.

‘It’s late, but there are many guards, and the weapons have increased.’

Even at this hour, with the moonlight high in the sky, guards watched the place where the Labyrinth entry Portal opened.

Firearms, explosives, and sniper artifacts were installed as if preparing for something to emerge from there.

“It’s gotten a little chilly, hasn’t it?”

Serif smiled awkwardly at the sight that naturally made them wary.

“Yes. This is probably…”

“Balkan is right. Both the Order and the royal family think this Omen Phenomenon of the Labyrinth is quite dangerous.”

Idelbert had said this before.

—During the Omen, Monsters often flow backward through the Portal, so it’s to prepare for that. There’s no certainty that it won’t happen this time either—

The Omen Phenomenon, in which the Labyrinth changes periodically, is sometimes accompanied by a backflow of Monsters.

Perhaps, according to the predictions of those in high places, that backflow seemed to be half-confirmed in this Omen Phenomenon.

‘Otherwise, there’s no reason why the security would be much stricter than usual, and equipment would be installed as if to intercept Monsters pouring out.’

“So, even more so, as a Saintess of The Great Mother Goddess Order, I cannot neglect to repay you all.”

The reason for this injured transport operation.

It was to allow the temple forces to have the capacity to prepare for the Labyrinth’s Omen Phenomenon and the backflow of Monsters.

They were a group with valuable healing abilities in this Labyrinth city, capable of scattering miracles.

“Ehem. I just did what I was supposed to do, ehehet…”

Ellie blushed and touched her elf ears at Serif’s voice, filled with gratitude.

“We did suffer a bit.”

On the other hand, Balkan nodded at the Saintess’s words.

Humility should be used depending on the situation.

Escorting Ellie, fighting the Black Dragon on the 32nd floor, capturing and subduing the Demon Worshiper of Arrogance.

They did all of that. Anyone would be allowed to be a little proud.

“Hehe. We will definitely reward you generously. Valuable deeds that save countless lives must be followed by appropriate compensation.”

Serif chuckled and smiled at his confident attitude.

“That way, it will be a model for everyone, and the good deeds of those who see it will continue. So…”

Sway. Sway.

Serif’s pure white cat tail swayed as if seducing someone.

“I’d like to give Balkan a slightly more special reward…”

“……”

Balkan stared blankly at Serif.

‘…Is she pent up?’

He couldn’t help but think that.

Her eyes were too alluring and suggestive to be called a Saintess.

‘She feels subtly more lewd than before…’

From the day she was brainwashed by the Worshiper of Jealousy, wandered through her mindscape, was rescued, and mingled bodies with Idelbert in the mindscape.

He felt that Serif’s atmosphere had become more proactive than before.

But that feeling didn’t last long.

“Ah. We’ve arrived.”

Before he knew it, they had arrived at their destination.

A conference room inside the Labyrinth Entrance.

As Serif opened the door, a black cat beastman sitting in a chair at a round table came into view.

“Master. And…”

Next to Idelbert.

Even the person at the head of the round table.

“Greetings, Your Majesty.”

“Hehe… There’s no need to bow so deeply. My grandson-in-law… no, Sir Balkan Auster.”

“…….”

The old woman who had called Balkan her granddaughter’s husband and then corrected herself to the title she had bestowed upon him.

Teles de Arlonia, the Queen of the Arlonia Kingdom, was there.

‘Interesting. It’s interesting.’

Teles chuckled, feeling the atmosphere instantly tense.

“…Ha.”

Clap! Whack!

As soon as he heard the words “grandson-in-law,” Idelbert, the head of the Explorer’s Federation, let out a hollow laugh as if he was dumbfounded, and whipped the air with his black cat tail with a dissatisfied expression.

“……”

The Saintess of The Great Mother Goddess Order, who had volunteered to bring Balkan himself, was also looking at Teles with an expression that was difficult to read.

Was that all?

Among the royal mages, the most talented and currently the only one who could use Portal Magic, the elf girl who had followed Balkan in was silently clutching at Balkan’s pants leg.

The granddaughter, who was covering her face in a corner of the round table as if she couldn’t stand it, was quite cute to look at.

‘How many women are after one man?’

She felt like laughing at the situation she had never experienced while running the country for years.

But when she saw the achievements he had made and his confident attitude that could not be compared to other men, she was somewhat convinced.

Teles made him stand up, who had greeted her with appropriate etiquette even in this situation, and asked.

“Do you know why I called you here?”

“I don’t know exactly, but I have an idea.”

“Tell me.”

Balkan, who was given a simple judgment test, looked around.

Serif had called him, saying that Idelbert had something important to say, but it wasn’t just Idelbert who was here.

Queen Teles and Princess Celsia, the center of the royal family.

And Idelbert, the head of the Explorer’s Federation, and Serif, the Saintess of the Order.

The forces that could be said to divide the Labyrinth city into three were gathered in the conference room of the Labyrinth Entrance, which was not a perfect secret room.

If it was simply to receive a report on the completion of Ellie’s escort request, it could have been conveyed through someone else as before.

The fact that even the Queen had come directly meant that something unusual was happening here.

And the security at the Labyrinth Entrance was more strict than he had ever seen before.

“The Black Dragon that appeared on the 9th floor from the 32nd floor, the countermeasures for the Labyrinth’s Omen Phenomenon, and…”

Thump!

Balkan placed the Sealed Trash Can Artifact he had been carrying on his back in the center of the round table.

“I think it’s because of the Demon Worshiper of Arrogance.”

Twitch, twitch…!

Ignorion’s legs, twitching from the slow and continuous tentacle torture, were peeking out of the trash can.

Smirk.

The corners of Teles’s mouth turned up in satisfaction as she saw that.

“I can’t help but tremble when I think that you caught the heinous fellow who ruined my granddaughter’s birthday party and attacked the royal family before.”

Having heard that, Balkan asked the Queen, who had rushed over at the news that the man who had saved her granddaughter had caught one of the duo who had repeatedly appeared and traumatized her granddaughter every birthday.

“But, I have a question.”

“What is it?”

“I haven’t reported to anyone yet, but how did you hear that I caught the Demon Worshiper of Arrogance?”

“…The royal family has various means of gathering information. Hehe…”

The Queen, who chuckled at the confident question, asked with a serious attitude this time.

“Balkan. Do you believe in fate?”

“…Fate?”

Balkan tilted his head at the sudden words.

Fate?

“This old woman is the Queen of a country. I believe in my judgment, the judgment of my vassals, the judgment of my trustworthy comrades, and… I also believe in the story written in blood from my predecessors.”

The eyes of the Queen, who bore the weight of the crown, turned somewhere.

“There are those who have strangely mysterious fates in the world. Like the late king and the demons during the Great War, or the summoned heroes… or.”

Her blurry eyes contained a man wearing dark Armor.

“Like that hero reincarnated, or some man who is strangely and fatefully intertwined with demons.”

“……”

Balkan listened to the Queen’s words and recalled what he had heard from Idelbert someday.

—Hmph. Ordinary explorers don’t have much to do with demon worshipers. It’s just that your fate is special.

He never thought he would hear something similar from someone he didn’t expect.

“It’s embarrassing for an old woman to say it, but I still have a good sense. I feel like the wheel of fate, which has been sluggish since before I was born, is finally turning as I approach retirement…”

He enslaved the Demon Worshiper of Gluttony, made a Familiar contract with the Demon Worshiper of Lust, and brainwashed the Demon Worshiper of Arrogance into a cripple.

He killed the Demon Worshiper of Jealousy.

The remaining demon worshipers were Wrath and Sloth.

The Demon of Gluttony was persuaded, even though he grumbled, and the Demon of Greed was subdued.

The Demon of Sloth was in a semi-cooperative relationship, and he didn’t know about the Demon of Lust, but the important thing was.

“The balance has been broken.”

The balance of fate that the Queen believed in was broken.

“The movements of the Wrath and Sloth worshipers are unusual. One is doing crazy things to break the seal of the demon on the 30th floor, and the other is trying to burn the ground using this Omen Phenomenon.”

More than half of the demon worshipers had been persuaded or killed.

The guys who would do anything to revive the demons were feeling a sense of crisis, and they might do something really crazy, thinking that this was their last chance.

No, they would. Definitely.

“I’m sorry to ask you for another request right after you finished your request and came back…”

He had dazzling Divinity that beings with Demonic energy avoided.

“I need your help.”

It was clear that they needed the help of a man who had brought many of those related to demons to their knees and turned them into his own.

Sigh.

Balkan took a breath and thought.

‘If the Queen says this much, refusal is out of the question.’

But he had no intention of refusing in the first place.

Demon worshipers should be eradicated.

They were vile bastards who would undo the demon’s seal that his younger sister had risked her life to create, and who were trying to cause world-scale chaos to achieve their desires.

Balkan recalled the girl who had handed him a small flower headband when he returned from this Labyrinth trip, and the feeling of goodwill.

And he thought of Diana and Ellie, who stroked his lower abdomen where his seed had been planted with loving eyes.

And his precious people too.

‘I can’t stand to see such a danger lurking in this world where my sons and daughters might be born someday.’

Hoo.

Balkan took a small breath and then looked straight at the Queen and said.

“How much is the reward?”

The Queen chuckled at that answer.

“My granddaughter and the kingdom. Choose what you like.”