[The Corruption Trappycche Battle] had ended. The two-horned demon Setian must have sensed something ominous.
Whether he could trust me (Abraxas) or not.
Whether I could really tell him the Demon King’s location.
‘Would I tell him?’
Of course not. Even if I knew, I’d never hand that over—and truthfully, I didn’t know. The Demon King’s location was a puzzle I’d have to start solving from now.
‘First things first—I have to drive Setian out of the royal court.’
Time remaining: one month.
But the only person who could expel Setian was none other than King Hiaka III. So I needed to meet that senile old man as often as possible, build rapport, and drive a wedge between him and Setian.
‘Which means, like it or not, I’ll have to stay closer to Rebecca.’
Because what King Hiaka III expected from me was my relationship with Rebecca.
Meanwhile, Setian wasn’t idle either.
The very next morning, the household staff at Rebecca’s manor in the capital Hiakium were reshuffled. And what showed up was nothing pleasant.
“Demons.”
“Demons?”
Rebecca and I were eating in the garden, pretending things were peaceful, when that word slipped out—and instantly, both of us sharpened.
At my glance toward the maid, Rebecca also turned her eyes there.
“They’re demons? Doesn’t feel that strong, though.”
And then, rummaging somewhere, she pulled out the “Pink Drug.”
“That won’t work. Seems they’ve found a minor countermeasure to the Pink Drug.”
Apparently demons weren’t just sitting still to be toyed with.
The problem was, their so-called countermeasure was crude.
Lowering the quality of their demonic nature, down to something near human level—clumsily sidestepping the gaze of the Pink Drug.
It was like bees without stingers. Not much of a threat.
‘...But how the hell did they do it?’
[Minion] was a technique: infusing humans with demonic blood to enslave them.
But hornless demons who were also minions? How did that work?
This wasn’t in the original game. While I puzzled over it, Rebecca realized something.
“...They injected the demons with a massive amount of human blood.”
“Blood transfusion?”
“More than that. They replaced every obvious organ that would expose them as demons. Organs, eyeballs, everything.”
I considered a few possibilities, then nodded.
Sounded right.
“Surprising. Just one glance, and you could see that far. Your eyes are sharper than I thought.”
Pure admiration.
Rebecca gave no reaction, simply continued eating. Then, without shifting her eyes from the dish, she let the words flow.
“They say you’re a genius...”
Her voice sounded strange—soft in a way that felt wrong coming from this monster.
Come to think of it, Rebecca hadn’t clashed with me recently. She hadn’t killed anyone, either.
Odd, but I let it slide.
“Don’t eat that.”
“Why not?”
Just as I was about to take another spoonful of soup, Rebecca overturned the bowl.
Crash!!
The dish shattered into shards on the ground.
“Who made this?”
She immediately summoned the chef.
“You?”
And began berating the hornless demon-minion.
“You think you can serve this filth to humans?”
“I—I’m sorry...”
Later, I learned there had been “a trace of poison.” But with her temper, who knew.
Hero Party members and demons didn’t trigger [Scripts], so it was impossible to know their true feelings.
Maybe she just wanted to bully someone.
“Didn’t even get a proper meal... want to go get that soft-whatever bread? The shop opens soon.”
“Ah, good idea.”
Still, that soft-fluffy cream bread was delicious.
“It’s good.”
“Indeed.”
...Wait. Had I ever told Rebecca about this before?
───
Scene #1 – Once Again, Hunting the Assassin ◀
Scene #2 – At the Shrine of Life♥
Scene #3 – Wolfgang Yussef’s Melancholy
Scene #4 – Professor Dante Hiakapo, Ranking Registration
Scene #5 – The Curse of Pettiness
Scene #6 – By Chance, Fanaticism狂信
───
Downstairs on the first floor of the manor, a rare spectacle was unfolding.
Glory and Eve were in a shouting match—squabbling, with Ran caught in the middle.
“On second thought, I can’t acknowledge this. You’re the fake hero. I’m the real one.”
Another episode of insanity—Glory trembling with rage as he said it.
Ran translated into sign, and Eve leapt up, gesturing furiously.
“That nonsense? I am the real Hero. You are murderer. Bad person.”
Hearing Eve denounce him in Ran’s voice, now Glory jumped up.
“No, you’re wrong. I’m the real hero. I just can’t hold the Holy ❀ Nоvеlігht ❀ (Don’t copy, read here) Sword, that’s all! Think about it—who was it that brought Adele Mouin, the cleric? Who offered Princess Rebecca the proposal to join the Hero Party as its mage? It was me! Not you—me!”
“If I speak? Already last year I gathered them all.”
“And what did you gather, exactly? What have you done? All you did was grab the Holy Sword for free thanks to Professor Dante Hiakapo!”
“Mm. Murderer. Demon. Devil. Human trash.”
“No! And you’re the one who’s a demon! You’ve literally got horns, a real demon!”
It was absurd.
The level of this “heroes’ quarrel” was pathetic.
“Fine then. Holy Sword. Want me to give it to you? Here.”
Infuriated at being called fake over and over, Eve pulled out 「Peacemaker†」 and held it out.
Naturally, Glory couldn’t even touch it.
“Grahhh...!!”
That was his trigger.
Just seeing the Holy Sword set him off screaming.
Their pissing contest wasn’t my business, so I ignored it—until a sudden thought hit me.
“Which one of you was born first?”
I’d always assumed Glory was the older brother. But thinking carefully, that was just my bias.
No cutscene had ever stated which was older.
“......?”
“......?”
At that moment, I felt it clearly: they shared the same genes. Their expressions mirrored each other perfectly in seriousness.
“I’m the older brother.”
‘The elephant’s the older sister.’
Well, not exactly important.
“...Anyway, I won’t accept it! Never!”
Glory leapt and proposed to Eve:
“I can’t go on like this. Let’s settle it with an assassin. I heard you went to recruit the assassin who hasn’t yet joined the Hero Party. But that person was different from mine, wasn’t he?”
Right.
Both of them had gone to different parts of the Empire to fetch an assassin.
Both had been in the middle of that mission when they were suddenly dragged into the [Corruption Zone].
“We’ll decide who the real Hero is by who recruits the true Hero Party assassin!”
I didn’t bother saying, even if you win, without the Holy Sword you’re half a hero anyway.
Adele Mouin only listened to Glory’s words.
Last time I asked, Rebecca said she’d follow Glory’s word as well. But regarding Eve, she only answered: “...Not sure.”
The Hero Party was nearly as important as the Holy Sword itself, so Glory’s point wasn’t wrong.
“So—did either of you make progress?”
“Yes.”
“Me too.”
Ran spoke for Eve, and I demanded results from them both.
Glory produced a pink bracelet.
Eve handed me a blackened bullet casing.
“This belongs to the Hero Party assassin.”
“Mm-hmm...”
I was speechless.
Wait, could it be...?
───
Scene #1 – Once Again, Hunting the Assassin.
Scene #2 – Professor Dante Hiakapo, Ranking Registration ◀
Scene #3 – At the Shrine of Life♥
Scene #4 – Wolfgang Yussef’s Melancholy
Scene #5 – The Curse of Pettiness
Scene #6 – By Chance, Fanaticism狂信
───
Apart from Setian the two-horned demon, Main Story 5 was approaching.
Probably [Ranking Match].
Or else...
‘Or else.’
Given the items Glory and Eve had brought, it might be Hero Party related.
‘I can’t believe it...’
I remembered recently, the Shadowless Star○ and Black Star⚉ had been bickering over reward allocations.
< ○ reporting in. [10] >
< ⚉ reporting in. [11] >
< ○ : ? >
These two stars represented Hiaka.
Respectively—
The Xikos family○, and the Nibelung family⚉.
And the name of this game was [Hiaka Academy: Department of Assassination].
‘.......’
Rolling up my sleeve, I saw the bracelet woven from my student’s pink hair tied on my wrist. It was identical to the “Hero Party assassin’s” item Glory had presented.
Meanwhile, Eve’s bullet casing was pitch black, saturated with Black Star⚉ energy.
Normally, once spent, a casing should lose its [Stigma]. But even after being fired, this one still carried it. Which meant the [Stigma] concentration had been extremely dense.
Finally—
Checking directly, it became obvious.
Elize and Balmung.
‘One of them is destined to become the Hero Party’s assassin...’
At the same time, my thoughts turned to the Nibelung Matriarch’s twisted ways, and the vanished Xikos family’s Shadowless Star○.
‘The Nibelung Matriarch—wasn’t she practically abusive to her children?’
And then, Agion’s words from his 【Script】 resurfaced.
【 Radiant Constellation⁺₊⋆ Agion: “Disgusting. To think she survived even after being stabbed by her own father...” 】
Those words had been aimed at Elize.
Elize—stabbed by her missing father.
Survived it.
That was what Agion believed.
“......”
I thought quietly.
‘What is a Constellation?’
The most successful lunatics, obsessed with ranks and positions to the point of vulgarity. Agion wasn’t some noble powerhouse moved by ideals. He was just a guy willing to grind up the Holy Sword to climb the ladder.
Constellations are, by and large, exactly that.
‘And what is the Hero Party?’
Normally, people say they’re the ones who slay the Demon King. That isn’t wrong.
But deeper—
The Hero Party is something humanity has never once created in history. The most glorious, the most supreme assembly of warriors.
A vanguard carrying all of humankind on their backs.
The only group capable of saving the world.
‘And how does that tie into the strangeness of those two families?’
A sharp instinct pierced me.
There will be upheaval.
Upheaval concerning the Xikos family○ and the Nibelung family⚉.
That likely will be the next main story.
Meanwhile—
‘...Then the [Ranking Match] itself probably won’t give much in the way of Star Fragments.’
Since main stories are tied to Star Fragments, I’d been putting off registering in the rankings.
But if that was the case, there was no reason to keep delaying.
< Total Combat Power: 401,227 >
Through steady training, I’d recently passed 400,000.
Normally, you register at the bottom, climb gradually, inflate your market value, and enjoy the perks offered by all sides.
‘But I’ve never registered once.’
Which made me wonder.
If I registered now, what rank would I land?
Within the top 9,999 for sure—likely quite high.
But the exact number? No idea.
“This is a good time to find out.”