/
Boris’ explanation made a little sense to me. But then I thought about the situation and asked,
“So why did you attack us?”
“We couldn’t believe that a single person could fight off an army of humans, so we thought there was something more to it and decided to test your skills on our own…”
“…”
Boris’s voice faded away as if he was choked by my gaze as I stared at them silently, narrowing my eyes.
As I continued to stare, greasy sweat began to run down Boris’s forehead, and they pressed their foreheads to the floor once again.
“I got carried away! I’m sorry!”
“”We’re sorry!””
“Nn.”
If he wanted to apologize, he should have done it the first time I had intimidated them, but he decided to give it a shot after the intimidation was gone, perhaps because it was in the Daemon’s nature.
I couldn’t say anything that great about the humans, though, because it was largely Pochi’s work that made them withdraw, not mine alone.
“But I didn’t call myself a Demon Lord, you know? And isn’t ‘Demon Lord’ the king of Daemons?”
“No, the king of Daemon is not a “Demon Lord” because he is simply a king of Daemon Kingdom, while a Demon Lord is a symbol against the tyranny of the humans, which is different from a king. Also, this time, our purpose is to bring those who defeated the humans.”
“Hmmm.”
Boris was a knight in the king’s personal guard, and from what I could see of him, his actions were not suspicious, since he was only here to arrange an invitation, though I still didn’t know what the invitation was for.
I would like to think that I won’t suddenly be caught in a trap when I go out there, but this makes me a little uneasy.
To be honest, it was very troublesome for me to travel far away after I had finally settled down.
“Also, His Majesty said that if you want to defend this city, we can provide you with magical tools.”
“…”
Here in the town, the defensive magic tools left behind by Daemon’s army during the Great War several decades ago had been repaired and were in use. The Mage Guild was trying to analyze them and make duplicates, but there were some parts that could not be analyzed, so they were never put into practical use.
Nonetheless, the repaired ones were a sufficient number, but because this town had grown so large, it could no longer cover the entire area, which is why the Caenista Kingdom had discovered it.
“…Okay. I’ll go.”
“Oh, Carol-dono, thank you very much!”
“””Thank you very much!”””
It couldn’t be helped. I want to have the defensive equipment in place before the next hired adventurer could come over to scout. It may seem useless since they found us once, but since our exact location was not known by satellite like on modern Earth, they would hesitate to march towards this place next time if they could not pinpoint our location.
If we could then catch the scouts who were trapped by the defense equipment, the kingdom would probably not know our exact location anymore, though I doubt that there would be many scouts or parties that could come this far deep inside the Demon Forest.
It was troublesome, but for the time being, I prepared to leave once more.
“Miss, why am I staying here! Take me with you!”
“No.”
“Your answer is too fast!”
Bert-san wanted to go because he was probably interested to know about Daemon’s stronghold, but I would need Bert-san to guard this place while I was gone.
“In exchange, I’ll give you this.”
“Oh, what’s this? eh?”
I handed the note to Bert-san and a strange voice replied.
Bert-san successfully broke through the level limit, but just because he broke through did not mean he became stronger. If he raised his level to just below the limit without training his skills, it would not go up. A level 1 skill would go up immediately, but I needed him to raise it to at least 10, which is the next limit.
For the time being, I’ve chosen some enemies nearby that will most likely increase his skills, so let him try being on the verge of death again.
“Rather than just letting them beat you, try to take a moderate beating.”
“…Oh.”
It was just me and Pochi who were heading to the Daemon Country. They said it would take about 3 days to get there by riding a trained demon wolf, so it would be about 10 days by carriage in terms of distance.
“…Young Lady.”
Maia, whom I would be leaving behind this time, looked at me with an anxious face. Was she worried about being left behind, or was she worried about letting me go by myself?
“Even if I am not around, don’t be picky with your food, okay?”
“…Nn”
I couldn’t eat meat, so it couldn’t be helped, you know.
“Then Carol-dono, let me guide you.”
“Nn.”
Many Daemons saw me off as Boris and the others led the way. While riding on Pochi, we matched our pace with Boris and the others.
Pochi, the indoor dragon, was not pleased that we were leaving again so soon, but when Pochi saw the terrified expression on the Demon Wolves that Boris and the others were riding, Pochi felt better.