Side: Sho Amakasu
The Demon Lord began working on creating magic items in an empty room.
Currently, there was only one item available, and it would take about three days to complete enough for everyone. Since today is Saturday, they should be ready by Monday.
With this, we could avoid a commotion about the appearance of otherworlders for the time being.
“Are you okay, Princess?”
On the other hand, Princess Pritia, who was somewhat bewildered by the situation…
“Don’t worry about me. I was a soldier, so I’m used to harsh circumstances.”
The fact that she mentioned “harsh” indicated that she wasn’t entirely calm yet. It seemed there was some frustration about the current situation, as in her mind, the war with the demon race was still ongoing.
However, it was none other than Princess Pritia who had been pushing for a ceasefire agreement with the demons. In that sense, her relationship with the Demon Lord was complex; she didn’t harbor hatred against the Demon Lord personally.
She was someone who could differentiate between race versus race, nation versus nation, and individual versus individual.
“I’m just worried about what will happen after we disappear.”
That was a valid concern. With both Princess Pritia and the Demon Lord gone, there was a significant risk that the brakes on the situation could be released. Extremist factions on both sides could start acting recklessly.
Just then, the conversation paused as Filia and Sanctina returned to the living room.
Filia went to the room where the Demon Lord was making magic items, wanting to speak with her, while Sanctina had stepped out to look around the house.
“Hero, don’t you have any family?”
Filia seemed to notice the unusual atmosphere in the house. Well, apart from the living room, kitchen, and my own room, the rest were empty rooms with no belongings.
“My parents are overseas… working in a distant country. This house was supposed to be where I lived with my grandmother. She passed away a little while ago.”
This was the house my grandmother chose because she wanted to live together. She had been in and out of the hospital since the summer of my third year in middle school.
We chose a spacious house so that whenever my parents returned, there would be room for everyone.
In this suburban area of a regional city, it’s common to find relatively spacious houses just outside the city. Apart from this place, my grandfather and grandmother’s home in the rural countryside still remains.
I rented this place because commuting to high school would be tough otherwise.
“Enjoy your student years,” my grandmother always told me. So I was allowed to go to the high school I wanted and had planned to live nearby with her.
“Then what’s on that altar…”
“The altar? Oh, that’s a Buddhist altar. It’s for my grandfather and grandmother.”
“I’ll go offer my prayers then.”
Sanctina went straight to the small Buddhist altar in the living room and began to pray.
In their world, saints pray regardless of denomination, so that’s considered normal. There might be different gods to pray to, but generally, they pray to all gods, except for the demon gods.
“Since there’s no one to worry about, feel free to use the house until you return.”
Now, I needed to think about dinner.
I should check if rice and miso soup would suit their tastes. It was only around two o’clock, but I could start cooking the rice and let them taste it.
Side: Princess Pritia
I agreed to participate in the Demon Lord’s subjugation to send the Hero back to his original world.
It was clear from the historical documents of previous heroes in the royal castle that defeating the Demon Lord was key to returning the Hero.
I held no personal grudge against the demon race or the Demon Lord. The more I found myself on the battlefield, the more I was crushed by the meaning and reality of conflict.
The world was not kind at all.
I could hear the clamor outside, and I could tell it was different from my original world. The world I had imagined, based on the Hero’s personality after spending years together with him.
I never expected I would end up living here for a while.
“Here, you can watch this for a bit.”
I waited for time to pass without doing much. That was something I rarely experienced. Perhaps concerned about me, the Hero started something.
“Sound…”
Sanctina looked surprised. Sound flowed from a black device in the room, displaying a scene I had never seen before.
It seemed like a type of foresight magic used by demons and elves?
“Hero, I don’t understand the words of this magical tool.”
The Hero looked surprised at my words. He was always wearing a ring-type magical tool for translation since he was summoned from another world.
While we could understand each other, we wouldn’t be able to communicate in this world.
“Oh, that’s fine. I’ve talked to the Demon Lord about this, and she has made arrangements for the translation with that magic tool.”
Filia must have noticed and clapped her hands in realization. Impressive.
She was sent as an advisor by the elf race. It seemed she had been keeping an eye on humans who escalated the war against the demons.
“This is called television. Well, technically, it’s video streaming. I’ll play a stream of someone traveling through this country.”
From watching the footage, I could tell it was a large town. Numerous horse-drawn carriages were bustling around with people riding in them.
From their clothing, no one appeared to be destitute so far.
Glancing at the Hero, I saw him doing something in the next room. It looked like a kitchen.
Seeing the Hero, who looked as he did when he was summoned, made my heart ache.
We had dragged an innocent young man from another world into a war and stained his hands with blood. Though the king promised to give rewards for wishes, regardless of whether he returned to his homeland, some were given in advance.
However, it was kept hidden that if he wished to return, there wouldn’t be time to receive the rewards.
Yet, I couldn’t wallow in regret forever.
It was fine that the Demon Lord didn’t intend to return, but I needed to ensure Filia and Sanctina could go back.
For that, I required the Demon Lord’s cooperation. It was a bitter reality.
Still… ever since coming here, my sense of foreboding about understanding the Demon Lord’s true feelings has only grown stronger.
After all, summoning someone from another world is a forbidden art left by the gods. Following divine instructions, they summon heroes to save the world from another realm.
However, being involved in this as a participant has made me question the concept of a hero and war. Those doubts have only intensified since coming to the Hero’s world.
Why did the gods decree that the Demon Lord must be destroyed? Unlike previous Demon Lords’ records, this one had avoided conflict and seemed peaceful.
With this, I began to doubt the accuracy of those historical documents on previous Demon Lords.
Even when I asked the king or the archbishop, all they said was that one should not doubt the will of the gods, and it was pointless.
I suspected that there was something they were hiding, but what kind of arrangements existed between the gods and the royalty or the church of the human race?
I had resigned myself to the fact that it was something I could never know.
Well, for now, I must find a way to return the two of them to their original world without causing trouble for the Hero…
In this other world, where the gods likely do not watch.
