Published: September 9, 2025
Satou here. Since becoming a working adult, I feel like I've been forced to fight around the clock more and more. When I’m sleep-deprived, I get short-tempered and prone to mistakes, so before I became a cheat-level body, I always made sure to get at least three hours of sleep a day.
◇
“Sorry, I have something I want to ask—”
I moved to the abandoned fortress in Muno City and called Hikaru at the summit via distant communication.
‘Hero? Isn’t that the hero summoned by the secret art of the god Parion? Or is it a locally born hero?’
Locally born... this isn’t about vegetables.
‘Back in my active days, there were a few. Like heroes from the lizardmen or dog people.’
Come to think of it, I feel like I also fall under the category of a locally born hero.
I earned the title of “hero” right after defeating Wagahai-kun—oh, right, I just remembered.
—The title of hero lies beyond the edge of death.
The “Undead King” Zen once said something like that.
He must have been trying to push me into a deadly situation to make me earn the hero title.
Maybe Boy Shin also became a hero after going through experiences that turned his hair white.
Perhaps that’s even the cause of his amnesia.
I continued to relay the story I heard from Boy Shin to Hikaru.
‘A sacrifice, huh… Maybe the demon race was planning to use that Boy Shin to make the Demon King a “True Demon King.”’
“What’s that about?”
‘Well, when a hero defeats a Demon King, the title changes to “True Hero.” When a Demon King defeats a hero, the title doesn’t change, but the Demon King becomes much stronger. That orc Demon King I mentioned before was like that. Each hero he defeated increased his power and the degree of demonification.’
Hmm, defeating just one opponent of the same level wouldn’t normally cause a level-up, so they must have some special growth factors.
Maybe the gods “set” it up that way.
‘Got it. Brother Ichiro seems busy, so when I return to the Royal Capital, I’ll discreetly provide guard duty for you.’
“Thanks, that helps.”
I appreciated Hikaru’s offer.
Even if the Demon King becomes a “True Demon King” and gets somewhat stronger, it’s no big deal, but I feel bad abandoning someone who might be sacrificed to the demon race.
However, Hikaru said returning to the Royal Capital would be a little later, so until then, I’ll dispatch personnel to watch over Boy Shin’s surroundings.
I thanked Hikaru and then relayed the story about the green demon race.
‘Ugh, that green bastard is still alive? Oh man, that troublesome guy survived.’
“Can he produce his avatar in any location?”
‘I thought it was only where the main body was. A strategist in my hero party said so.’
If so, regularly searching for “demon race and level” should let us detect it before it approaches.
“Do you know where his base is?”
‘He used to hide in the Biroho Kingdom, but it was wiped out along with the City Core by Ten-chan's breath, so now he must be somewhere else.’
“Current location?”
‘Uh, no idea, because I don’t have a current map. Somewhere northwest by west of the Labyrinth City.’
Around the west of the Marquisate of Ellet—probably on the edge of the desert.
After some checks, I ended the call with Hikaru.
Before returning to the Village of Boruenan, I decided to check the former base of the green demon race that Hikaru mentioned.
I moved with unit placement to a transfer base prepared in the vast desert and searched for demons by level.
Though I went all that way, no green demon race showed up in the search.
Since I was nearby, I stopped by the Labyrinth Villa, bought some tomatoes for breakfast, and returned to the Village of Boruenan.
◇
After breakfast, I planned to tell Arisa and Liza my real name and how things ended in Dragon Valley, but the morning’s arrest operation took longer than expected, so I postponed it until the evening.
Nothing urgent to rush through anyway.
I returned to the Royal Capital from the Village of Boruenan by unit placement and sent the kids off to school.