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“Hello, Ed-kun. Glad you could make it.”
“Hahaha, Thanks. ……”
A room in a station office that I have visited before. I managed to smile at His Excellency Brown, who had a smile but wasn’t really smiling.
In addition, Argo-shi, standing by His Excellency’s side, stood a little closer to me than before……I guess he’s more interested in finishing me off than in protecting His Excellency in case of an emergency……. Meanwhile, Amelia is blocking the door behind me with an unwavering determination that says, “I won’t let you get away”.
By the way, Tia was not here. After that, I ended up carrying Tia, who was walking unsteadily with sleepwalking eyes, and she fell asleep again. I didn’t want to keep dragging Tia around while she was so exhausted, so I had her rest at the clinic. The diagnosis was that she was simply tired, so there seemed to be nothing to worry about.
As I was thinking about this, I saw His Excellency’s mouth move. He was probably smiling, but it didn’t look like he was smiling at all.
“Well, you needn’t be so nervous. Let me make this clear first so you don’t get the wrong idea. We are truly grateful for your work, Ed-kun. Without your information, we would have been late in gathering a defensive force in this town, and it might have been breached by now. If this Drasdon were to fall, not only the 10,000 people who live here, but also the people of our country who lie in wait behind it, and perhaps even the entire world could have been swarmed by a swarm of demonic beasts using this place as an entrance. It is solely because of your efforts that we were able to prevent this from happening. As the person entrusted with the defense of this town, I would like to thank you again. Thank you, you are a Hero.”
“Thank you very much. ……”
I could not accept the words of praise from His Excellency, even though they were priceless. After such compliments, there was always a terrible story waiting for me. …. And unfortunately, that expectation was not betrayed.
“But. That’s that. We are certainly interested in how you survived for two months in the belly of a demonic beast, but we are most concerned about your fighting ability, which you demonstrated in the last battle. According to reports, with a single swing of your sword, you managed to slaughter thousands of demonic beasts and slay the Giant that we could not even scratch with our full strength. What in the world was that? How much power are you hiding? If you have such power, why haven’t you used it until now?”
“Well, it’s just that …… I’ve had my share of circumstances, too ……:
His Excellency gave me a sharp look, but I was not able to speak clearly..
I have no particular reason to hide anything, so it’s fine to be honest. But the reason why I don’t is that what I will say is incredibly suspicious.. I am the Demon King, and somehow the power of a Hero has welled up inside of me and using both of them made that fight a breeze! Such an explanation can only be allowed up until the age of five at most.
Even if I could reproduce it, it wouldn’t change the fact that I can’t use that power anymore. The banishing skill will probably return after a night’s sleep, but I don’t think the Demon King’s power, which has been compressed to such an excessive degree, will ever return. Maybe I could do it if I consciously try, but just imagining it makes me break out in a cold sweat all over my body, and my instincts warn me that it’s dangerous, so I have no intention of trying it at all.
As for the power of the hero, I used it all up, so it’s over. I’m not a hero, so there’s no way to rest and recover from it. Besides, I don’t even know why I had the power of the hero inside me, so there’s really nothing I can do about it.
In other words, I used an unverifiable and suspicious ability…and that’s the only explanation I can give. It’s probably best to not say anything about it honestly. If I were to explain the real reason, I would likely be ridiculed.
And to my complicated expression, His Excellency Brown gave a small sigh.
“I see. You can’t say it. Well, that’s fine. It’s within my expectations that it would be impossible for a mercenary like you to reveal everything. But if that’s the case… you will need to leave this town.”
“That’s!?”
His Excellency’s words elicited a cry of surprise from behind me. I turned my head lightly and turned around to see Amelia’s figure there with her eyes wide open.
“What do you mean, Your Excellency? You’re kicking out the town… no, kicking out the national Hero!?”
“Hmm, calm down Carlton. Actually, I have been investigating Ed-kun’s background up to this point. And I found that there was no record of his whereabouts before coming here. Also, no one seemed to know him in the place he claimed to be his hometown. Isn’t that quite strange?”
“!? Is that so ……?”
I gently averted my eyes from Amelia, who was looking at me with a raised eyebrow. While I had briefly mentioned a fake cover story during conversations with my mercenary comrades, it was nowhere near the quality that would withstand serious investigation by the military. Without pretending to be someone else and without leaving any traces, there shouldn’t be any signs of my past, making it easy to figure out.
“An unknown person from nowhere. In and of itself, that’s fine, it’s to be expected of a mercenary. However, if such a person has the combat strength to single-handedly destroy a fortress city, that’s a different story. Dealing with such a dangerous person, one could either put a collar on them and tame them, or…”
“This is unacceptable! Do you have any pride in that?”
“No. There is no such thing as pride. But I am an aristocrat and a soldier of this country. My priority is the national interest, not my personal feelings, and when it comes to a mad dog that I can’t find a collar to put on and that I can’t even kill, then I can only think of driving them out.”
Amelia’s appeal was quickly cut off by His Excellency Brown. Amelia’s face contorted in bitterness as she said this,…., and I turned to him.
“I understand. But Tia… I’m worried about my partner’s condition. Could you allow me to stay for at least three days?”
“That’s all right. Then, on the morning of the fourth day, you two shall be expelled from the fortress city of Drasdon. That is all.”
“Thank you. Now, if you’ll excuse me.”
I left the room, not really trying to resist. Amelia, who had followed me from behind, grabbed me by the shoulders and held me back.
“Wait a minute! That’s not it, that’s not it! I didn’t mean to be so ungrateful to you guys—“
“Haha, please calm down, Amelia-san. We don’t really mind, you know. In fact, you’ve been quite considerate to us,”
“……? What do you mean?”
Amelia tilted her head, not understanding what I meant, and I added, “I’m just guessing,” and explained the current exchange as we walked along.
“If we hadn’t had this exchange, I think Tia and I would have been summoned to a bigger city … like the Royal Capital. And if we were forced to choose between the two options, we would have no choice. If we refused, we would be killed.”
A technique to ride alone into enemy territory and kill thousands of enemies in an instant within sight. Or a powerful blow that could easily shatter even a castle wall. There is no way that a country would overlook an individual who can use such a technique. If used by an enemy nation, he would immediately become a threat, so he would either be used with extremely restricted freedom, or he would be killed to cut off any lingering worries. …. Whether or not they could actually do so was another matter.
“So they ended that inevitable exchange right here and left us with the option of choosing neither. If they expel us here, at least we wouldn’t be forced into conscription or anything. Well, if I were to become an officer in another country as a result, I think His Excellency’s position would go from bad to worse. ….But despite that, he respected our will. I think that was His Excellency’s way of saying thank you. In fact, he was very helpful.”
“I-I didn’t know, …….. what can I say, Ed-kun, are you used to this kind of interaction?’
“I’ve been through a lot in my own way.”
Amelia finally broke her hardened expression to me laughing.
“To have someone younger than me talk about life experiences… it’s a bit disheartening. But even so, I can’t just leave it at that. Is there anything personal I can do to show my gratitude?”
“Oh, is that so? Then please treat us to a meal with Tia again. Something that will make us feel better after we eat… wait, huh? I suddenly feel really hungry?”
Once again, I became aware of a ravenous hunger, as though my stomach was howling. Oh, come to think of it, objectively I haven’t eaten anything in two months? Ugh, this is no good. I want to eat whatever I want right now.
“Hahaha! All right. In that case, I’ll treat you to a wonderful meal in the name of the Carlton family! Now, shall I wake up Tia-kun?”
“No, let’s save that for when Tia wakes up. Right now–“
“Oi, Ed!”
Before I knew it, I was out of the room and I heard someone calling me from across the street.
“Hey, if you’re done talking with the bigwigs, get your ass over here!”
“Yeah, Ed! We won’t let you hog all the girls!”
“Thomason…uh, Captain, if it’s not too much trouble, could we borrow Ed…?”
“…So that’s how it is.”
“Yeah, you go ahead.”
Amelia smiled at me, and I walked toward Gastor and the others. The drinks I shared with my companions that day kept pouring into my empty stomach.