Ch.19Hero Esmeralda (8)

# Hero Esmeralda (8)

As always, Lilith, who was formulating various operations for the Demon King’s army, bowed her head respectfully to the elderly man who returned with dignified steps.

“Ah, Lieutenant General Eleven, you’ve returned. How was it? Lieutenant Lug.”

“As you said, he’s certainly a special young man.”

“Hoho, that’s good to hear.”

Lilith nodded her head.

A satisfactory result. Though she still didn’t know what made Lug special, Eleven, who was in a similar position as her, had confirmed it personally.

The doubt lurking within her that Lug might not be special vanished cleanly in this moment.

With that, the probability of the Demon King’s army’s future vanishing cleanly had increased.

“Lieutenant Lug must have had a hard time. Where is he now?”

She could have asked Eleven what made Lug special, but Lilith decided not to make such a mistake and spoke indirectly instead.

It would be ridiculous if she claimed he was special but didn’t know why herself.

She could find out the truth by meeting Lug directly.

“Ah, about that. The mission itself failed.”

“…Eh?”

Lilith was so taken aback that she momentarily forgot to act.

Her cold, intellectual expression was suddenly tinged with stupidity.

“Failed? Even accounting for the difference in power with the hero… no, even considering a battle with the entire hero party, it shouldn’t have been a plan that could fail?”

Lilith hadn’t sent Eleven without thinking.

Despite appearances, she had done well as part of the Demon King’s army’s Operations Staff.

Though somewhat naive and strangely sloppy in places, all the operations she had planned so far had reasonable and efficient aspects.

That was undeniable talent.

That’s why this mistake she faced again cut her to the bone.

“The problem was that I didn’t trust your word and tried to test Lug. I’m sorry. Things turned out this way.”

“It’s… not your fault.”

Lilith flinched for a moment.

She had thought that given Eleven’s nature, he might check Lug’s abilities. Tacit approval, essentially.

She couldn’t open her mouth.

“At first, I swung my sword intending to kill him. Instead, I got badly hurt. It wouldn’t be strange if he became the Demon King later, though not now.”

“What? You swung your sword without warning? You tried to kill him? Wait, did you even try talking to him?”

“That’s how it turned out.”

What turned out how?

No, more importantly, was he that powerful?

Is he saying he provoked such a being, got beaten, and returned? And he’s saying this as if he’s proud of it?

Lilith felt a headache and dizziness as if she’d been hit hard on the head. Today, her desire to quit her job was several times stronger than usual.

Of course, she had implicitly permitted such behavior. But she hadn’t expected him to fight to the death. Even a grown adult wouldn’t bully a young man in his prime.

But seeing him laugh after not only bullying but even attacking with a sword made her feel like she was looking at a madman.

‘I’ve heard that age makes people more shameless…’

Who would have thought he could act so dignified after committing such a crazy act?

Lilith finally realized that Eleven hadn’t become a corps commander solely because of his power and loyalty.

It was because of his shamelessness and madness.

“Still, this was all my arbitrary decision, so you won’t suffer any consequences.”

“Did you explain it to him?”

“Pardon?”

No, this crazy bastard?

Eleven’s arbitrary decision? Right. There’s no need to make excuses; it was arbitrary.

‘But would Lieutenant Lug accept such an explanation at face value?’

Wouldn’t it be natural to think he’s just making excuses?

A situation where Corps Commander Eleven swung his sword at a talent who could potentially become the next Demon King.

Anyone would see this as nothing but a plan for usurping the throne.

Lilith’s knees weakened. Fear slowly consumed her.

And Lilith glared at the culprit who was the root of this terror.

“So in the end, you provoked him and became his enemy.”

“That’s how it turned out. I made a big mistake. Punish me according to military law.”

“Haah…”

But because Eleven readily admitted his fault, Lilith couldn’t say anything.

Even if she wanted to get angry, she couldn’t, and even if she wanted to reproach him, she could only administer military law coldly and fairly.

That’s how she had been able to excel in the staff department.

She knew it would be a waste to discard Eleven’s military power like this.

Therefore, Lilith gave her answer as an executive, as always.

“Please go to the border and take time for self-reflection, Lieutenant General Eleven. I won’t delve too deeply into your crime.”

“Is that enough?”

“Didn’t you say to punish you according to military law? How should I punish a lieutenant general who merely failed to gain the favor of a lieutenant?”

“I see… Thank you.”

Eleven was surprised by Lilith’s remarkably calm and cool response, his eyes widening.

He had been subtly dismissive of her, thinking the Demon King had given his niece a cushy job. But seeing her make such a cool-headed judgment, he realized his eyes had been wrong.

Thus, one operation failed.

Lilith lost Lug’s goodwill but gained Eleven’s favor instead.

‘Ah! Damn, what the hell is this because of that crazy old man!’

Of course, she was too sloppy to calculate that far.

After Eleven left.

Lilith immediately considered contacting Lug to apologize but soon shook her head.

She wasn’t mentally prepared yet. Let’s do it a little later.

With that thought, Lilith sighed deeply and said.

“…At least nothing worse will happen.”

But her prediction was wrong.

And exactly three days later.

During a meeting with all corps commanders except Eleven and the Demon King.

“By the way, what happened to that Eleven? I haven’t seen him lately.”

“Your Majesty, didn’t you tell us not to bring him last time?”

“Ah, did I? So what’s he doing these days? Lieutenant Colonel Lilith.”

“Eh.”

Lilith’s mind went blank again. Come to think of it, she had moved a corps commander-level personnel without the Demon King’s approval.

Even though she had been delegated full authority, she should have at least reported it.

But not only had she arbitrarily deployed personnel, but the operation had failed, and she had sent him to the border for self-reflection as punishment.

Lilith’s pupils shook uncontrollably.

“W-well, I suppose he’s recuperating somewhere with clean water and good air by now?”

A somewhat twisted smile that emerged as she tried to maintain her composure.

And words that contained only facts without a hint of excuse.

This changed how the corps commanders looked at Lilith.

From subtly dismissive attitudes to expressions as if they had seen something terrifying.

‘…Lieutenant General Eleven.’

‘She purged him?!’

‘She’s out of her mind!’

At this moment.

Lilith was reborn as the most dangerous figure in the power struggles within the Demon King’s army.

‘Ah, I’m jealous. I want to take a break too, but he gets to make mistakes and then rest? What a sneaky bastard!’

And Belphegor, who took Lilith’s words at face value, was actually thinking about purging.

***

“Um, Mr. Lug?”

“Yes?”

“Ah… never mind.”

Recently, Esmeralda had been continuing her journey with Lug feeling like she was going to die. After the previous incident, she couldn’t raise her head due to Lug’s surface thoughts that she saw every time she had to change his bandages.

At least his attitude was respectful. He didn’t sexually harass her while wrapping the bandages.

‘I can’t really blame him for what comes to mind…’

But his thoughts were specific.

What if I did this? Every time she read such surface thoughts, she couldn’t help but flinch.

She was essentially suffering from Lug’s one-sided sexual harassment.

Esmeralda flinched at this situation she had never experienced before.

“Ugh.”

Lug’s serious face respectfully wrapping the bandages and his contradictory thoughts.

Esmeralda felt like she was being touched because of those thoughts, even though she knew he was just wrapping bandages.

“Haah… I-I’ll take care of it from here.”

[Note: He’s thinking something lewd.]

‘Kuk! This damn…’

Esmeralda gritted her teeth.

She had occasionally seen Lug having such thoughts about other companions before.

After all, he had been forcibly dragged along in the same party for 3 years and monitored daily, so he must have had no opportunity to satisfy his desires.

Of course, Esmeralda usually just looked at Lug with eyes mixed with disgust, thinking it couldn’t be helped that his thoughts remained just thoughts, but she never imagined she would become the target.

‘I let my guard down. The problem was getting too close.’

Lug normally thought Esmeralda was stupid, so he didn’t see her as a target for sexual harassment.

But on the day they encountered Eleven.

The problem was that Esmeralda, exhausted in body and mind, asked him to wrap her bandages.

Of course, it’s also a problem that Lug had changed strangely since that day.

‘No, thinking about it that way makes me angry. Is this bastard saying he didn’t even see me as a woman until now?’

Esmeralda felt uncomfortable but couldn’t help but struggle with how to handle the current situation.

It would be fine for other people.

They might be able to guess what Lug was thinking, but they wouldn’t know exactly.

But Esmeralda had no choice but to see Lug’s unfiltered inner thoughts in real-time, which was troublesome.

She couldn’t get angry about this and had to ignore it, but she herself had no resistance to this kind of thing.

So she had no choice but to just endure it.

“We’d better finish quickly and find Eirene Saintess first.”

Esmeralda had never missed the existence of a priest who could heal wounds instantly so much.

To the extent that she desperately longed for Eirene, whom she had been most wary of.

***

So they arrived at Lug’s hometown.

Of course, it’s not his real hometown. Should we call it a stage he had set up to infiltrate the hero party?

Honestly, he didn’t feel much.

He thought there wouldn’t be a more dangerous enemy than the one they had already passed.

Yes, Esmeralda let her guard down.

Although she hadn’t completely relaxed her vigilance, she was only worried about possible demon forces, which was the problem.

“Lug? Is that you, Lug?”

The village, which had clearly been in ruins, had a slightly lived-in atmosphere, and an unfamiliar middle-aged woman approached with wide eyes.

“Huh? Who…”

“Oh my! My son! You’re alive! I thought everyone was dead!”

“…”

Esmeralda was shocked.

Incredible acting skills. She’s an actress!

She realized that the reason for bringing Lug back to the village wasn’t simply to isolate the hero.

Yes, Lilith might have sloppy aspects, but she was definitely competent.

The moment she realized Eleven’s failure, she formulated a new plan.

That was a justification that even the hero couldn’t easily ignore.

[Note: She agreed to cooperate with the acting for a large sum of money.]

“Let’s live together now. Let’s go down to a safer city and live together! I won’t neglect my family anymore!”

She destroyed the very reason Lug had initially tried to join the hero party.