[Did you find it?]
At the Duke’s cold voice, Jake swallowed his dry saliva.
Was he nervous? Klad glanced toward Jake.
Perhaps he wasn’t nervous about the existence of a father trying to kill him, but rather nervous from the sense of duty that he had to hear every single word of this conversation without missing anything.
[Yes. I found Jake West.]
[What about ‘that’?]
[I found it. And…]
The knight’s figure hesitated in answering for a moment. Considering his unhesitant actions up until now, it was unexpected.
[It seems the orb has been imbued with the Hero’s power.]
[What!]
At those words, the Duke shouted, seemingly greatly shocked.
Jake was even more shocked. Not shocked that the Duke had shouted, but shocked by the fact that the knight knew in detail about the orb and the Hero’s power.
No one except the Demon King could distinguish between God’s power and the Hero’s power bestowed by God. Even the demon tribe felt that power was no different from divine power. Yet how could a human who wasn’t even a demon tribe member, moreover just an ordinary knight of the ducal house, realize that the Hero’s power had been imbued in the orb just by holding it once?
‘Did the orb’s appearance change when it was imbued with the Hero’s aura?’
Perhaps the orb wasn’t black at first. Perhaps it wasn’t even in the form of an orb. However, what was certain was that the knight was so deeply involved in this matter that he noticed there was a change just from checking the black orb once.
‘For Father to share so much information with a knight.’
It wasn’t like Father. It was behavior that couldn’t quite be understood even with the phrase ‘a quite cherished subordinate.’ Among the ducal house’s many knights, he knew this one received the most orders and stayed by Father’s side the longest, but to think he received this much trust. Jake, who had been constantly paying attention only to the crystal orb and black orb, turned his head for the first time to look at the knight’s face.
[Jake shouldn’t know how to handle the Hero’s power! How on earth did he do it?]
[I couldn’t confirm that far.]
[I must go right away and see and confirm with these two eyes of mine. It was good that I kept him alive until the end, hahaha.]
At the Duke’s words, Jake wore a rather dissatisfied expression.
“That’s a lie. Father had no intention of keeping me alive. I survived. Whether you gave up on the fact that no matter how hard I tried I couldn’t handle the Hero’s power, or found a way to activate the orb without my power, you certainly tried to kill me.”
“I know, so calm down.”
“I am very calm right now.”
“Calm, my ass.”
[I’ll arrive soon, so prepare and wait.]
[Yes. I understand.]
The short conversation seemed to end here.
In the end, all they learned was that the knight received trust beyond expectations. Jake was noticeably disappointed at not learning any greatly helpful facts.
[Ah.]
However, just before the communication was cut off, the Duke stopped the knight.
[I just received contact from the temple. They said the Demon King will be stripped of his qualifications today.]
“The Demon King?”
[Jake will lose the Hero’s power, and the demon tribe will calm down. Everything seems to be flowing in a good direction for us, but it’s not entirely so.]
“That’s a relief.”
“What now?”
“I thought the black orb’s purpose might be to take away the Hero’s power since Father foresaw that my power would disappear and even pinpointed the exact time. I’m truly relieved it was just knowing the contents of the divine oracle in advance.”
[The world still needs a Demon King.]
“It seems you plan not to announce the divine oracle that the Demon King has disappeared and peace has arrived. The temple must have agreed to this as well.”
“Isn’t that dereliction of duty?”
“The Grand Temple in the capital has been playing in Father’s… no, our ducal house’s palm for a long time. It’s not particularly surprising.”
[Right. It would be good to announce that Jake died, and because of that, the demon tribe is rampaging even more.]
The Duke’s voice was extremely agitated. Was it because of the fact that the Hero’s power was imbued in the mysterious orb, or because he could now comfortably kill Jake who had become truly unnecessary? The overly excited Duke casually uttered words he would normally be cautious even to think.
[Due to God’s misjudgment, the wrong Hero was chosen, and Hero Jake led a city to ruin with arrogance excessive for his abilities. Jake died during that rampage, and even greater chaos came to the world.]
The Duke smoothly spouted the fabricated story as if making a speech before all the Empire’s citizens. Along with the sound of sleeves fluttering as if both arms were stretched straight forward, the Duke added one last line to the false story.
[And the one who will save that world full of chaos will be me, Eric West.]
Hahahaha. Loud laughter came through the crystal orb and rang throughout the room.
Hahaha, hahahaha.
The laughter that had been ringing for a while suddenly stopped in an instant, and soon a low voice followed.
[Prepare the demon tribe. Jake will meet his end in Baron Nolson’s territory.]
[Yes, I understand.]
Thus the communication ended. However, perhaps because traces of magic remained even after showing all this, the knight’s figure didn’t disappear immediately.
The knight put away the crystal orb, carried Jake on his back, and left the room. Thud, clank. Thud, clank. With each step he took, the sound of the broken armor shaking could be heard. The knight’s figure, which had been growing fainter as time passed, completely disappeared just before he left the room.
“……”
Klad couldn’t easily open his mouth. Though Jake had been composed even about the fact that the Duke was trying to kill him, merely knowing about it and directly hearing such garbage words were on different dimensions. Worry came first about whether Jake could truly handle even this.
“Jake.”
“Father’s plan is to become the Hero after all.”
Contrary to Klad’s concerns, Jake’s voice was calm. Rather, his attitude was as if what was coming had come.
Unable to hold back any longer, Klad shouted first.
“How can you be more unconcerned about the one who gave birth to you rejoicing that he can kill you than showing your bare body?”
“Oh.”
Not expecting Klad to get so excited and raise his voice like this, Jake, unlike usual, couldn’t answer right away. Flustered, Jake blinked several times while looking at Klad, then barely opened his mouth.
“It’s something that happens to me often. If I become dejected and distressed by such things every time, I won’t be able to protect what I must protect. If I crumble, who will save the Empire’s citizens who need my help?”
“Then who saves you?”
“…That’s a question I’ve never thought about.”
After pondering for a moment, Jake raised his head to look at the sky as if seeking God. All he could see was the inn room ceiling, not God.
“I’ve always had good luck compared to my abilities. Perhaps God has been watching over me.”
Of course He would be watching, since he was the Hero who had to save the world in the name of the Lord God. However, God probably hadn’t favored and protected Jake.
Klad opened his mouth to add a word, but Jake spoke first.
“But the Demon King has disappeared and I’m no longer the Hero, so I can’t rely on God from now on. In the end, the one who saves me must be myself.”
Jake came to that conclusion and clenched his fist tightly. Watching that, Klad’s thoughts became complicated and he couldn’t easily speak.
“Now, we obtained more information than expected from the crystal orb’s vision. We still don’t know how Father commands the demon tribe, but it was a great help in establishing our future plans.”
While Klad hesitated, Jake moved on to the main point.
“Father was planning to unleash the demon tribe to drive the city to ruin. And He would claim that this happened because of the Hero, that God’s choice was wrong, and that he himself was the real Hero.”
“If he stepped forward then to drive out the demon tribe and put on a show that he was actually the real Hero, that would be quite a sight to see.”
“Hmm. Hope appearing when everyone is plunged into despair and suffering. It’s a good situation to be revered as a Hero.”
“A Hero who destroys things then acts generous for saving them—it’s not even funny.”
“I agree. Father doesn’t deserve to become the Hero. How can someone who doesn’t truly wish for the Empire citizens’ safety and world peace become a Hero?”
The Duke’s plan to unleash the demon tribe on the city wasn’t much different from before. However, if previously he was planning to destroy part of the city and make Jake a fugitive, now he was planning in earnest to bring down Jake’s reputation and climb up to that position himself.
To do that, he would try to drive this city to ruin.
“There are more things to worry about. Protecting this city is important, but finding the Hero’s sword has also become urgent. If Father dreams of becoming the Hero, he will covet the sword. We must find it first before the Hero’s sword falls into Father’s hands. After that, the descendants…”
“Forget the descendants.”
“Hm?”
“If the reason you were trying to put descendants forward as the next generation’s Duke was in preparation for you being dead and gone, just don’t die and become the Duke yourself.”
Jake nodded as if in agreement. No matter how much he prioritized other things over his own life, who would want to die? Jake wanted to live too. He just always lived with the fact that the possibility was extremely low in one corner of his heart.
“But it’s better to find descendants of the ducal house in preparation for when I die. Since neither Father nor I have other siblings, if we both die, the line will be cut off…”
“That’s why I’m saying you won’t die.”
“……?”
Jake looked at Klad with the dazed expression he often wore.
Klad faced such a Jake and spoke calmly.
“Because I won’t let that happen.”
