My Status as an Assassin Obviously Exceeds the Hero's

"It seems he’s made some kind of deal with the Demon Clan."

I lifted my face.

The only ones I knew from the Demon Clan were Aurum and Mahiro, though I’d heard them called inferior species and lowlifes and the like.

So I assumed he treated all other races the same, but maybe that wasn’t the case.

"And when I asked an acquaintance who works for Uru's Guild, they said Gram had gone down into this labyrinth a few days ago."

I see. That’s suspicious.

I nodded in understanding.

If he’s hiring strong mercenaries, there’s no need for him to get stronger himself.

Besides, from what I’d heard he sounded like the kind of villain who’d sit still and get fat. People like that tend to have a predictable body type.

…Come to think of it, Reytis’s king was thin. Maybe final bosses tend to be thin?

"The guild staff said Gram was wrapped up in a big cloak. You have to show a dog tag at the guild before entering the labyrinth, so they recognized him as Gram, but without it he would have been dressed so no one would have known who he was."

That was plainly suspicious.

I couldn’t help but give a wry smile.

'Maybe it’s a cloak to repel demonic beasts.'

Yoru said that with a shrug.

The stares that had been on Crow shifted to Yoru.

"What’s that supposed to mean?"

'Some weaker demonic beasts can’t even be detected by magical power, and occasionally they attack the wrong target and go after Humans instead of Demons. Demons wouldn’t fall behind such weak things, but Mahiro was annoyed at always getting attacked, so he made a cloak. A magic circle is woven into the lining, and weak demonic beasts down on the labyrinth’s lowest floor will avoid it.'

Yoru answered Crow’s question without hesitation.

If Mahiro made the cloak, it would work excellently.

Also, even the demonic beasts at the very bottom of the labyrinth are still considered weak?

Then the beasts in the Demon Clan territory must be even stronger.

"It’s definitely Gram."

Crow stood up.

He acted as if the conversation was over.

Seeing Crow hurry off, I turned my attention to the hero.

"So, what are you guys going to do from here?"

The hero blinked in surprise, clearly not expecting me to address him.

A boy who had been talking to me earlier offered a helping hand.

"Our ultimate goal is to defeat the demon king."

Yoru snorted at that answer.

'You lot think you can take down the demon lord? Ridiculous!'

The boy with a monkey on his head and a cat on his shoulder flushed with anger, a vein throbbing on his forehead.

"Huh? What’s with this cat since earlier? Whose side are you on?"

"Yeah-yeah! You were being rude to Asahina-kun too, what’s your deal?"

The Kansai dialect girl jumped in.

Until a moment ago the room had been quiet because Crow—who looked terrifying—was there. Now familiar faces had gathered and the tension seemed to ease.

'I’m on the master’s and Miss Amelia’s side! The master couldn’t beat the Demon Clan’s second-in-command—there’s no way you can defeat the demon lord!'

"That’s not certain!"

"We’ve gotten stronger too!"

I wanted to see how much stronger they'd gotten, but the boy who looked like a knight but seemed pretty feminine looked like he might start crying, so I held back.

Seeing his teary eyes made me think even more of the term “trap” (a feminine-looking boy).

"Do you guys want to sleep outside?"

Kyousuke asked that simple question and the two fell silent.

"Even if we say we want to defeat the demon lord, we have to build up power first. We know we can’t beat them as we are now. That’s why we came to this town—there’s a labyrinth, and we heard there are skilled blacksmiths here."

Because of what happened in the labyrinth, it would probably be sealed off for a while. So our trip was pointless.

Crow, at that attitude, probably wouldn’t take any requests either.

"But with the labyrinth unusable now, the requests at the Adventurer Guild will be skewed, and we’re not hurting for money."

The hero chose his words carefully as he spoke.

I listened, keeping Yoru from jumping in with comments.