My Status as an Assassin Obviously Exceeds the Hero's

After Hiraes and the others let us leave the Dragon's Nest without incident, maybe because there were far stronger beings nearby than us, or maybe because of those strange, musical words, everyone but Amelia and Yoru sat down on the ground the moment we got away from the nest. My throat was hoarse too, perhaps because I spoke in a voice I don’t normally use.

“Akira!”

Are you sane, master?

I pressed a hand to my throbbing head and answered with my hand.

What on earth were you saying?

I took the water Amelia handed me with thanks and gulped it down in one.

I pulled out a small Demon Stone, refilled it, and handed it back to Amelia while thinking how to explain.

“Hiraes is…”

Wait, wait — what is Hiraes?

Not being able to communicate easily is more annoying than I expected.

“Hiraes is the leader’s name. Hiraes asked us to go and destroy a certain crystal in the Human territory, in the Kingdom of Reytis.”

Come to think of it, I wondered whether that magic actually took effect. Even when I checked with the world eye there was nothing showing on my status, so maybe the effect only activates when that crystal is in front of me?

Also, among the three pieces of information the No.7 master offered us in exchange for the three humans’ defection, one was “information on a crystal the Demon Clan supplies to humans.” If it’s the same crystal, he might even know where it’s located. The scope had narrowed from the entire Human territory to the Kingdom of Reytis, but it’s still the biggest human nation, so it’s large. Even if it were limited to Reytis Castle, searching would be a pain. I hoped it was the same crystal.

“And, well… that the demon king and King Reytis seem to have an alliance,” I added.

Now that I thought about it, Lattice Nail being of the Demon Clan and knowing exactly about the hero summoning that the humans carried out — which sacrificed many Beastmen — probably meant the alliance was deeply involved with the hero summoning and the sacrifices.

Letting us, who trespassed into the Dragon’s Nest without knowing, go; the flute Nanase received that probably can summon a dragonkind; and this information — it all seemed to be the payment to us for destroying the crystal.

Was that all? Didn’t he say something about souls at the end?

Yoru gently swished her tail.

“Yeah, Hiraes asked me to pass a message to the demon king: ‘Those without souls won’t be revived.’ ”

I see. The dragon leader said that… There’s truly no turning back now.

“Yoru?”

I tilted my head at Yoru muttering something with her face lowered, but the oddness in her behavior lasted only that instant.

Well then, master. Can you stand? This place is too exposed — at least let’s get back to the ship. Hey, you lot, get up already!

“Yeah, yeah, it’s the difference between how you treat us and how you treat Shou…”

Yoru prodded the heroes, mouth wide open, looking the same as always.

Still, something about that display seemed deliberately put on — maybe I was overthinking.

“Akira, are you all right?”

“Yeah. Let’s head back to the ship.”

My head hurt a little, but not enough to be unable to move. I hauled myself up and brushed the sand off my clothes.

“By the way, weren’t we in the middle of a conversation?”

Back on the ship, during dinner after everyone had returned but before sunset, Noah suddenly looked at Lattice Nail and spoke.

Lattice Nail had leapt aboard the airship unexpectedly, but Hosoyama and the others had persuaded her to share their meal despite Lattice Nail’s initial hesitation that she had her own food. Fortunately we had more than enough provisions — Amelia didn’t have to eat more than anyone else. The wyvern that attacked the ship had been dismembered except for the parts that fell into the sea, and we’d used the remains for ship repairs and food, so in terms of resources this might be the most well-stocked we’d been on the whole journey.

Well, Hosoyama probably kept her around mostly for the seasonings in Lattice Nail’s luggage — mostly spicy stuff.