Ch.12Chapter 12. The Hero Returns

# The Imperial Palace’s Conference Hall

The Emperor, Crown Princess, high nobles, and members of the Hero’s party were gathered in the conference hall.

“It seems the beacon was lit from Epfalterga,” said Linasien.

Normally, the Emperor would have spoken first, but now that she had formally begun her successor training, Linasien was tasked with leading the meeting.

Though her tone was composed, she couldn’t hide her anxiety, indicating she still had much to learn.

“Epfalterga is certainly a backwater where demons could easily hide.”

“The beacon was lit to signal the discovery of demons, and they’ve lit it twice more since then. This means it wasn’t lit by mistake.”

The nobles first tried to grasp the situation.

A beacon had been lit in Epfalterga to report demon sightings, and it wasn’t a mistake.

That was all they knew for certain.

“The Demon Lord is dead! The radiance of the sacred crown proves it!”

“But the beacon was lit. Three times. It’s certain that the Demon Lord is dead, but it’s also certain that demons still exist.”

“And they’re in various cities throughout our empire!”

“My goodness, what should we do about this?”

Repetition of already known facts.

A typical example of armchair discussion.

“Didn’t I clearly state that we should strengthen and establish a better surveillance system in remote villages like Epfalterga where demons could easily hide?”

Someone clinging to past events.

“If demons are still alive, doesn’t that mean the Demon Lord will return soon as well?”

Someone making everyone unnecessarily anxious with uncertain assumptions.

“Let’s dispatch an extermination force immediately! It is strange that demons didn’t disappear right after the Demon Lord died. Snow doesn’t melt in a day either. They must simply be remnants.”

“How do you propose we capture those brutal demons?”

Someone who wanted to solve everything with force first without proper consideration.

He had no basis for his assertions, only the right to speak gained through status and power.

Despite the gathering of central nobles and lords who governed territories, the discussion went in circles without progress.

‘So what’s the conclusion, you idiots!!’

Lucy would have shouted this if she were here.

For once, Naidryan wished Lucy were present.

As the Hero, she would have lost patience with this wasteful meeting, scolded everyone, exploded in anger, and ended it in an instant.

“Excuse me, everyone should calm down and discuss how to deal with the demons that appeared in Epfalterga and future measures.”

She tried to speak up, but due to her naturally quiet voice and introverted nature, no one heard her.

Attempting to organize the discussion but finding herself in an awkward situation, Naidryan lowered her head when she met the gazes of Linasien and Arsil.

Arsil’s expression showed both pity and boredom, while Linasien wore a faint smile filled with superiority.

“The discussion is going nowhere.”

It was Rainford who quieted the commotion.

As the handsome young man with blonde hair and blue eyes stood up, everyone fell silent and focused on him.

“No matter what opinions you all offer, they’re useless without the approval of His Majesty the Emperor and Her Highness the Crown Princess.”

Was he always this overbearing?

Though his manner was polite, the content of his words was incredibly arrogant.

Arsil, Naidryan, and all the nobles gathered in the conference hall questioned this.

They became uncomfortable when Rainford, who had been popular for his considerate and gentle speech, openly rebuked them.

“You’re going too far, Lord Rainford. The Imperial Family can only adopt and implement the most reasonable plan after hearing the opinions of all the talented people gathered here.”

“I apologize, Your Highness. I also extend my apologies to everyone present for my rudeness.”

What a well-rehearsed play.

Arsil inwardly clicked her tongue.

She had been a woman who frequently used such performances to make herself look good since childhood.

Now that she had become Crown Princess, her acting partner had simply changed from Issi to Rainford.

“First, let me state some simple facts.”

When Linasien gestured with her chin, Rainford received an object from an attendant waiting behind him and brought it forward.

“That’s…!”

Arsil’s eyes widened.

What Rainford was holding was the sacred crown that sealed the Demon Lord’s horn.

“How dare you bring a sacred artifact that’s under the Church’s supervision!”

“We received it temporarily for this meeting with the approval of His Holiness the Pope. Since we followed proper procedures, there’s no need to get excited, Saint.”

Arsil gritted her teeth at Rainford’s cold response.

It seemed the Pope had made another arbitrary deal with Linasien’s faction.

She didn’t care what the deal was, but she was displeased that it had been done without even reporting to her, the Saint.

Though startled by Arsil’s harsh reaction, Linasien quickly composed herself, took the sacred crown from Rainford, and held it up for everyone to see.

“As you can see, this crown emits light because it’s blocking the Demon Lord’s magical energy. Therefore, the Demon Lord has not been resurrected.”

What an unrefined way of speaking.

Naidryan, with her head lowered, found fault with the Crown Princess for no reason.

She didn’t have the courage to say it out loud.

“Lord Rainford, the sword as well, please.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

The next item presented was the sacred sword Hrunoni, which had lost its light.

“Your Highness, why the sacred sword…?”

“Lord Rainford and I have given much thought to the current situation. Despite all the time we’ve spent, we’ve only been able to come up with various hypotheses rather than clear causes.”

“What kind of hypotheses?”

With the sacred crown and the sacred sword Hrunoni prominently displayed, Linasien continued her speech.

Arsil was seething inside.

The sacred sword was also an item under the Church’s supervision.

They had brought not one, but two items without saying a word to her.

It was a signal that the Empire was increasingly crossing the line with her.

“One of the hypotheses, which has already been mentioned, is that the demons in Epfalterga might simply be remnants. If so, they should be exterminated. The Hero’s party will take action.”

This time, Naidryan was surprised.

Her sudden head lift showed she had received no prior notice of this.

Arsil was the same, though as part of the Hero’s party, she had expected this much.

Of course, the fact that no one had told her in advance was still irritating.

“Is the Demon Lord still alive or has he been resurrected? We can all definitively deny this since the sacred crown, the Church’s artifact and proof of the Demon Lord’s defeat, has not lost its light.”

Arsil and Naidryan glanced sideways at Tigria the mage, their last bastion.

However, the mage was observing with her usual expressionless face.

She seemed completely uninterested in whatever was being discussed in the conference hall.

“But this sacred sword has lost its light. Since Hero Lucy Estelle perished along with the Demon Lord.”

“Your Highness, forgive me, but we are discussing the existence of demons and the Demon Lord, and how to deal with them. What relevance does the sacred sword, which has fulfilled its role and is now merely a symbol, have to this?”

It was a sharp criticism, but that noble was already someone Linasien and Rainford had recruited.

During the heated armchair discussion, someone makes one sensible remark challenging the Crown Princess, and she gracefully crushes it to show off her resilience and intelligence.

It was a simple staging device.

“It’s embarrassing to say this myself, but demons are not born through reproduction, but are created when people are corrupted by impure emotions.”

The hall stirred.

Those quick to catch on were shocked as they realized what hypothesis the Crown Princess was about to present.

“It may be hard to believe, but we must consider all possibilities and prepare accordingly.”

“Your Highness, surely not…!”

“Yes, that’s right! I, Linasien Karlun, and Morgan Rainford propose the hypothesis that Hero Lucy Estelle has either fallen or is falling to become a new Demon Lord.”

BANG!

“What nonsense is that?!”

“Saint, such disrespect toward Her Highness…”

“It’s alright, Lord Rainford. Yes, Saint. I understand this hypothesis is difficult to accept.”

“Your Highness…! While I acknowledge it’s a shocking hypothesis, there’s no evidence for it, and it’s nothing more than a contrived setup.”

When it came to having a sharp tongue, Arsil was no less than Lucy—perhaps even more so.

The difference between her and Lucy, however, was that Arsil knew how to distinguish between appropriate times and places.

“Tigria! Say something!”

“No need to refute and block a statement already identified as a hypothesis.”

“Are you saying this hypothesis makes sense?”

“Can’t be helped. It’s just a hypothesis. Despite witnessing the Demon Lord’s death with certainty, demons still exist. Now we’re in the realm of assumptions and hypotheses.”

“The Hero died. We saw it with our own eyes! How could she fall to become a Demon Lord?”

“Questioning me will only yield answers based on piecing together theories.”

“Even that would be helpful.”

Tigria shrugged.

“The Demon Lord is both a power and a concept called demonic energy. Theoretically, if the Demon Lord dies, the power should disappear and demons should cease to exist. If demons haven’t vanished despite the horn being sealed in the sacred crown here, then an entity of comparable power must be maintaining the demonic energy.”

Is she also in on this?

Arsil began to doubt everything.

“The possibility of it being a demon god is extremely low. As with the Goddess, they agreed not to intervene except when punishing their subject races. Practically impossible. So what remains is that demonic energy has taken root in the Hero’s body. In her final moments, she was in a state of mental collapse, so it’s much more likely and logical that after defeating the Demon Lord, she was infected by demonic energy.”

“Why do you keep pushing it onto the Hero?”

“No mortal except the Hero could handle, maintain, and awaken to that demonic power itself.”

The taste in her mouth was bitter.

She had brought in Tigria to refute the Crown Princess, but instead ended up strengthening her hypothesis.

Yet even as she tried to find ways to refute it, she felt more like a politician than a saint.

The Arsil who had always pushed through with loyalty, faith, and stubbornness was nowhere to be found.

What would Issi say if she saw her like this?

‘This isn’t why I left you behind…’

Arsil fingered the cheap pin in her pocket.

Yes, let’s drop these mind games.

They never suited me anyway.

I’ll go back to being who I was—someone who only believed in her fists and moved forward.

“Anyway, we need to go check on the demons in Epfalterga first.”

“Oh, do you finally understand?”

“I’m not saying I understand the hypothesis, but that we need to verify it.”

“…Very well. I will organize an extermination force. It will be led by High Elf Naidryan and Saint Arsil from the Hero’s party.”

“Are you telling us to face demons without our shield knight and mage?!”

Naidryan raised her voice in objection for the first time.

It was almost a scream.

“It can’t be helped. If all members of the Hero’s party participate in the extermination, the islands will essentially be left unguarded. If demons attack the islands, we’ll have no way to defend them.”

“The same goes for the Elven Forest! Moreover, right now the Elven Forest is…!”

“Naidryan! Stop it!”

“Arsil!”

Arsil shook her head.

It meant it was useless.

Both of them felt dejected.

Despite committing wrongs for the greater good, they had achieved nothing and now risked being discarded after use.

So this is how we receive punishment from the Goddess.

It was quite a late self-reflection for a saint.

“You should ease up too,” the saint told the shield knight with a resigned expression.

“Excessive actions bring greater punishment.”

“What do you mean?”

But the shield knight feigned ignorance and raised her chin defiantly.

“Never mind. Let’s go. Since we’re no longer needed here, we’ll leave first, Your Highness.”

“Yes, rest well until the extermination force departs.”

She didn’t even have the energy to be angry at their contemptible smugness.

As Arsil and Naidryan turned to leave—

[I miss you.]

A voice that shouldn’t be heard,

That shouldn’t be audible,

Resonated throughout heaven and earth.

BOOM!

With a thunderous sound, the sacred sword Hrunoni emitted a reddish-gold light.

“Aaaahhh!!!”

The attendant holding the sacred sword threw it in panic, but Hrunoni floated in the air and shone even brighter.

[A peaceful day with this person… Please… Goddess… save this person.]

Somehow both desperate and sobbing, it contained sadness and earnestness.

The voice belonged to Lucy.

As everyone stood frozen, Hrunoni vibrated intensely before breaking through the ceiling of the imperial palace and soaring away.

For just a moment, a trail of reddish-gold light indicated the sword’s flight path before disappearing.

Arsil was the first to regain her composure.

Looking at the Crown Princess who was staring at the sky with an unseemly expression, she asked the mage:

“The Hero has fallen to become a Demon Lord?”

“Correction. The sacred sword reflects the light characteristic of the Hero of that cause. This generation’s Hero Lucy Estelle’s light was reddish-gold. The light from the sword just now was also reddish-gold. Therefore, the Crown Princess and shield knight’s hypothesis has been proven wrong.”

Tigria stated matter-of-factly with her expressionless face.

“In other words, the Hero has returned.”

Their initial plan had failed.