chapter 45-46

The purple belial keeps screaming. Indeed, its body is small compared to the others. As Gon and Jeneha said, it seems to be still young.

Even though it is a monster, I not pleased from seeing it in agony. For now, I enclosed the belial in a barrier, taking away its ability to resist, before healing it. If it has ill intent against us, I will kill it right away.

「All right, let’s get to the healing. Ultimate Heal! 」

It was enveloped in the blueish light and its spirit was restored. When the light disappeared, the belial was motionless.

「Hey, are you all right?」

「…….」

The purple belial didn’t answer. I tried giving it some water, but it didn’t stretch its hand. Looking closely, it seems to cry. I appraised this belial with my appraisal skill.

Peris (Belial Princess, 11 years old) LV12

MP: 119

Water Magic LV1

Lightning Magic LV1

MP Recovery LV1

Mana Detection LV1

Spear Arts LV2

Etiquette LV1

Flight LV2

I unconsciously leaked a surprised voice. She is 11 years old and has Liberal Arts at LV3. She is quite smart. Her skills are rather high for her age. It seems that her standing amongst the monsters was quite high due to her being a princess.

「For now, I saved your life but left a barrier on you. Your actions would be severely restricted. If you attempt anything weird, you will lose your life in a moment. Still, what the hell was wrong with you guys? You suddenly came and attacked me」

「……」

Silent as always. I used the appraisal again and peeked into her past.

(TN: I guess I should apologize. In the previous chapter, it wrote that he “found out” the past of Jeneha and others. But upon the second look and considering the passage above, it was more like “vaguely came to understand”. Well, author didn’t really explain, so I just considered that he found out about their past during the conversation, it seems not)

「Oh, the daughter of the belial king? So you were said to defeat the Great Demon King to inherit the throne. Ho, those three……are unfortunate fellows…..Yeah, your attack was stupid, it really was~」

「H-how did you!? Do you understand it? Are you the Great Demon King…..?」

「Yeah, kind of. I was one for a moment. Although, I didn’t want to! 」

「Uuu……..」

The purple belial shrank its already small body and started crying. For now, it doesn’t seem to be the problem to undo the barrier.

「Well, if you don’t intend to harm us, I will just let you be. Return to your forest」

「……I don’t want to return」

「Un?」

「I do not want to return to the tribe……」

「Ha? You are the belial princess. You would become the Queen upon your return, right? 」

「….I don’t want to be a queen. And my father…..wanted me to run away when the three fail to eradicate the Great Demon King. They were my escorts」

「Then what are you going to do from now on?」

「I was to know a lot of things…..Why do the stars come out? Why do the plants grow? I want to know the unknown. The queen can’t leave the castle. I don’t want it」

……I see Liberal Arts LV3 aren’t just for show.

「If that’s the case then I don’t mind it. But with your appearance…..You absolutely look like a small dragon. If you are going to live by yourself, then it is fine, but……..」

「As expected it would be impossible for her to live in this world alone」 (TN: Gon, always appears suddenly and from nowhere)

「Master, if you aren’t against it, how about letting her stay in this mansion? If found, she would be immediately subjugated, even monsters would treat her as a primary target. This girl doesn’t have much stamina」

「Un, well, I don’t mind, but it’s up to this belial. What do you think? Will you stay in this mansion until you determine your future plans? 」

The purple belial thought for a while and gave a small nod.

「As for the name……are you fine with Peris? The belials won’t launch an offensive if you do not return, right? 」

「……Before his death, father picked a representative to act on his behalf, so it should be fine」

Like that, Peris became a freeloader in my mansion.

I thought she would remain unapproachable for quite a while, but my expectations were immediately overturned. After being impressed by my food, she approached me for its recipe with overwhelming vigor. After that, she gradually started cooking herself and absorbed my recipes one by one.

Originally curious, she started experimenting with various ingredients. In no time, she became much better and assumed a role of the chef in our house.

I could often see her debating with Gon about the intricacies of farming. Gon also considered Peris, who absorbed knowledge like a sponge, as an excellent student of his.

Recently, she created a flower garden with a lot of colorful flowers in the backyard. The appearance of the little dragon cheerfully tending to the flowers, gave me a contradicting feeling.

She also wanted to learn how to write and I could often see her staying late to study letters. As a result, one of the rooms on the second floor became hers as if it was a natural thing, before I noticed, she became a new member of our family.

While doing all of those, the winter came and the surroundings transformed into the world of silver. I turned 16 years old, and maybe because I was in my growing period, my height rose considerably. And along with that, I grew a beard. Before I went to sleep, one of the harpies even said that it might be about time to consider shaving.

「Master, we spotted 4 kids stranded in the forest. How should we act? 」

The forest located between me and the Niza Duchy is quite deep. I rarely even see the adventures going there during the winter. This time, they were discovered by a harpy, so I decided to help them if I can. However, 4 kids in the wood is a rare occasion.

「Understood. I will head there right away」

I mounted Irimo and entered the forest.

When I looked at the map, the children moved. Are they about 15 years old? Still young. Although it was a hard work for her, Irimo decided to use her wings and fly all the way there. (TN: You are 16 yourself)

When I reached the kind, I called out to them.

「Hey, are you all right?」

They were sitting under shoulder to shoulder under a large tree, but the moment they heard my voice, they slowly looked up.

「……A cat? 」

The cats wearing the armor and robes like the humans do. Unlike the beastmen, they looked like giant cats posing as humans. Who on earth are they? (TN: Khajiit?)

One cat discovered me and stood up. Apparently, it was a woman. She quickly approached me.

「Slow! To slow!! What were you even doing!? Why didn’t you came to pick me up sooner?!! Cold! It’s cold! 」

I unintentionally stumbled. Did her brain freeze in this cold?

While I was wondering about these speaking bipedal cats, an armored cat approached me from behind. Apparently, this one was a man.

「Just where were you all this time? Hurry up and bring us to a warm place. We are hungry. I will leave the meal preparations to you. Un? Did you come alone? What are you even doing? We won’t be able to ride on a single horse. Shouldn’t you bring more horses in such situations? You are useless. Whatever, I and Shera will ride on this horse. You will go walk together with Amalia. Yuriel has no choice but to walk. Don’t you lose the light of Yuriel」

I couldn’t make heads or tails out of this situation. What is going on? I? Came to help you? How did it come to that?

When I tried to assemble the puzzle in my mind, I hear the armored cat’s voice.

「Hurry up and dismount! We can’t get up with you being there! Do you understand!?」

「…….Thank you for your hard work」

「M? What? 」

「…You worked hard getting here. Well, good luck」

「Oi, what are you saying?」

「I’m not your servant and I’m not your slave. I coincidentally discovered you in the forest and thought of lending you a hand. But I’m not in the mood anymore, I don’t want to involve myself with you」

「What Are you saying?! Don’t you know about me? It’s me! Isn’t helping me a matter of course? 」

「Unfortunately, I don’t have any cats as my acquaintances. I don’t know who you are or where you came from, but where you receive a person’s good intentions, you should respond accordingly. I have no intention to help people, who aren’t aware of such a simple thing. Work hard and try to reach your destination. Best wishes」

I and Irimo turned around and headed back. The armored cat ran in desperation and stood in front of us.

「Please help me! I’m the hero! Hero Willis! 」

「Hero? What is that? 」

The cat named Willis introduced himself as a hero. It seems they aren’t a cosplay group.

「Yes, I am the hero who will save the world! The world is doomed without me! 」

「Ha? Save the world? 」

「The Great Demon King has revived! No one can defeat him but me! Isn’t it natural to help the hero, who will save the world? 」

The Great Demon King is me, or so I didn’t say. It seems I attracted the troublesome bunch again. However, those guys are the hero’s party. I wonder what skills they have.

Willis (Cat Tribe’s Royalty, 14 years old) LV6

MP: 14/14

Sword Arts LV1

Shera (Cat Tribe’s Royalty, 13 years old) LV5

MP: 10/16

Recovery Magic LV1

Amalia (Cat Tribe, 14 years old) LV6

MP: 4/17

Recovery Magic LV1

Yuriel (Cat Tribe, 15 years old) LV7

MP: 13/13

Liberal Arts LV1

……..Low! Far from being a threat, it is a miracle that they survived in the forest. Calling himself a hero with these skills……Are they naive or just idiots? Since they are the royalty, is it the former? Or neither?

「You managed to survive here. There are plenty of monsters in this forest」

「…..When I entered the teleportation magic circle, I ended up here」 (TN: Why do I think that someone just ditched them here as a nuisance)

The cat named Amalia answered me. Teleportation magic circle? Is there such a thing? Where?

「…….It transferred us here and immediately disappeared」

The hell is that?

「Where is your house? Please guide us there for now. If there are villages or towns nearby, you can lead us there. I won’t ask for anything extravagant at this point. I’m counting on you」

The male cat named Yuriel said while approaching me. You think that you aren’t asking for anything extravagant, but you do.

「My house? Denied. If we are to talk about the villages, there is one in a day of walking from here. Of course, on adult legs. Do your best walking」

The hero’s and the princess’ faces froze.

「The great Demon King has revived! Everything will be destroyed if he isn’t defeated! No one can defeat him without me! 」

「Shut up」

I held back and released a LV4 fire spell. The snow melted and a part of the forest turned into scorched earth.

「If you can’t do at least this much, forget about the Great Demon King, you won’t be able to even level this forest. Can you cast such spells? If you can’t you should have made a backup plan」

「Amazing! Rejoice, I will add you to my party! Come on! Protect our rear and let’s head for the Great Demon King! 」

…….As I thought, he is retarded. What kind of thinking pattern should one have to turn the conversation in this direction? Idiots are scary.

「I’m not interested in you, the Great Demon King or the destruction of the world. Even if the world is going to be destroyed, you won’t be able to protect it in any way. You guys, who requested you to slay the great Demon King? 」

Everyone became silent.

「You are just a self-proclaimed hero, right? The hero is something that should be recognized by others. Even 3-year-old kids can proclaim themselves as heroes. Picking a fight with the Great Demon King without being aware of your own ability, I’m getting exasperated just by listening to it. If you like playing hero so much, do it at home. Don’t involve the other people」

「Offender, I won’t forgive you!」

The self-proclaimed hero took out the sword.

「I told you that I will protect you! I told that I will save the world and this is your gratitude!?」

「I didn’t ask for your protection. All you do is just trying to 「forcing the good」. To be honest, it is a bother. Rather than that, you should thank me for accompanying you until now with this stupid conversation」

「You!」

The sword was swung towards me. I folded it. However, it didn’t break. Seems like it is a pretty durable sword.

「Fu, fufufufu. This is the orichalcum sword. A national treasure of our country. I won’t forgive a puny servant going against me, with this you will be split……gufuh! 」

Without listening until the end, I struck him in the stomach. Then, I punched that annoying face.

Willis flew away with blood streaming out of his nose, crashed into the tree and fell on the ground.

「Uh, uu」

「As I said, you are weak. You will die without a doubt in this forest」

「We apologize if we offended you. Please help us. At least, save Prince Willis and Princess Shera, please help them」

The cat girl named Amalia desperately begged for my help. Apparently, the conversation is possible with this girl.

After that, I asked Amalia about their circumstances. I could see a lot of things with my skills, but decided to ask myself before I came to know more than I should.

(TN: I finally get it. After coming back from the fox god, he could grasp the see the past of the target to a certain extent due to Liberal Arts LV5. Why? Who Knows)

It seems these cats came from the Piao Kingdom situated behind the sea, north of the Niza Duchy. Apparently, it is a country created by the evolved cats. It is not unusual for monsters to gather together and create a kingdom, but they adopted the human culture.

The self-proclaimed hero Willis is the fifth son of the King. Shera is his younger sister.

The evil aura that appeared several years ago reached all the way to the Piao Kingdom and they concluded that it was a sign of the resurrection of the Great Demon King. They decided to postpone any action until the Great Demon King revealed himself, but this idiot of a prince decided to subjugate him.

The prince, who didn’t pay any attention to his studies and martial arts, started to work hard towards his goal of subjugating the Great Demon King. Everyone was glad at first, but as this prince kept improving, he grew overconfident. Then, he stole the treasured sword and armor, took his sister and his subordinates and snuck out. Of course, the King wasn’t aware of this. He thought that as long as he slays the Great Demon King, everyone would forgive him. A nice picture that was drawn by an idiot.

「We have no food to return back and no place to stay. We will all die at this rate」

Desperately begged Amalia. I silently put the barriers on the four. It can retain the heat and protect them from danger.

「I cast the barriers on you. It should last until the night of the day after tomorrow. Do you best to reach the village until then. It is west from here. There is a river close by. Follow the river westwards and you will find the village. I bet you are hungry. I will leave some food for you. Bread and smoked meat. If you split it well, it should be enough to reach the village」

I took out the food from the infinite storage followed by a wooden water bottle. I poured the water produced by water magic inside and warmed it with a small fireball.

「Your body should be pretty cold. I will give you some hot water too」

Yuriel and Amalia stared wide-eyed at my actions. Amalia was afraid and timidly accepted the bottle with her head lowered.

I and Irimo took our distance from them.

「I’m tired. I’m really tired, Irimo~」

「It was such a surprise. I never expected them to behave like that. I became disgusted for first time in a long while」

「I can relate to that. Let’s go back and sleep」

Irimo spread her wings and flew away. The sky was full of stars. I hurried home while healing my heart by this scenery.