The Price of Pride

The heroes made it to the first town by the end of the day. Garia was a well-off medium-sized town that was not too far away from the royal capital; three days on foot or one day and a half by carriage. Being so close to the capital has its perks, such as direct trade with the capital and being the first town to hear of the going-ons behind the capital walls. As such, the town was aware of the hero’s arrival and had made preparations prior to receive him properly.

The town’s mayor met with Kazuya right near the entrance gate. After an exchange of pleasantries, the party was shown to the town’s most luxurious inn and treated to a magnificent feast at the town’s most renowned restaurant. That night, the entire party did not turn in until late. Although most of the members had wanted to turn in earlier, Kazuya, who had by then descended even deeper into the bottomless abyss that was his own foolish pride, convinced them otherwise.

“Hero Kazuya, is it true that you possess the mark of an unknown deity?” asked the mayor at one point during the feast.

“Yup, I do!” admitted Kazuya. Relishing in the excitement that was held in his honor made him careless and he was inebriated like a fool. In his intoxicated ecstasy, he unveiled his hand and showed off the mark to everyone present.

“Wonderful! Wonderful!” praised the mayor as the townspeople cheered.

“Urgh, I need to use the bathroom,” Kazuya drunkenly announced with a frown. He left the table and made his way to the bathroom. Meanwhile, everyone else was caught up in drunken merriment.

After using the toilet, Kazuya sobered up a bit. He came out of the bathroom and took a small respite outside. He basked in the healing glow of the moonlight and took a deep breathe. From the corner of his eye, he noticed the outline of someone hiding alongside the wall of the building. The person seemed to have noticed that they were seen and fully retreated back into the darkness.

“Wait a minute!” called out Kazuya, stopping the person in their tracks.

After some hesitation, the person slowly walked into the moonlight. They were clad in a dark cloak that covered them from head to toe.

“Ah! You were there in the bank with me!” remembered Kazuya. He knew that he had seen the cloaked figure somewhere before. “What are you doing here?” he asked the figure.

“You…you remember me?” spoke the figure, surprising Kazuya. Their voice was one that Kazuya had not expected at all. It was the soft, melodious voice of a young woman. Suddenly, the figure got more bold. “You remember me, don’t you? I was so worried that you didn’t. But you do, right?” she asked frenetically.

“Of…course?” replied Kazuya, not exactly sure what the correct answer to her inquiry was.

“I’m beyond happy that we can meet each other again in this world!” she cried in an almost hysterical voice. Her excitement was present in the way she did a little jump as she spoke that last sentence. She was now completely bathed in the moonlight. And although most of her face was still obscured, her lips, pulled into a wide smile, were revealed to Kazuya. “And the fact that you remember me even in this world…. Say, you remember me, right? Tell me, do you remember me? You didn’t forget me, did you?”

“Um….” Though the alcohol had by now exited his system, Kazuya was starting to feel a little sick once again from the mysterious girl’s demanding words. She was putting him on the spot and he was having difficulty with choosing the best response to her ramblings.

“Y-Y-You remember, right?” she asked pleadingly. Her lips quivered and her voice became filled with doubt and dread. “You have to remember me!” she demanded. “Tell me that you remember me! You have to remember me! You do, don’t you? Please tell me that you do! Please, remember me! Remember that I love you! Remember me!” Her words and actions were becoming more and more erratic.

Kazuya let his heroic pride and otaku brain take over and took pity on the mysterious girl. He desperately wanted to help her. “I do! I remember you!” he told her with heroic confidence.

Those words made her look up at him with a relieved smile. But when she saw the look of his eyes, she curled her lips into a snarl. “Liar! You don’t remember me at all!” she screamed at him with a pointed finger. “You lie! You don’t remember me at all!” She broke down into tears.

“I-I’m sorry! I really am! I didn’t mean to make you upset! I apologize for lying to you!” quickly apologized Kazuya. “Um, what is your name?” he then asked her politely.

His words stopped her tears. “…am I?” muttered the mysterious girl.

“Sorry?”

“Who am I?” repeated the mysterious girl in a louder voice. It was obvious by the way she spoke that she didn’t mean those words in a rhetorical way and was genuinely asking the question to herself. “What is my name? Who am I? What is my name? Who am I? Who am I?” she asked herself, her voice getting louder and more confused with each word. “Who am I? What is my name? Who am I? WHO AM I?!” She howled the very last part before suddenly disappearing in a flash of purple light.

Kazuya returned back to the feast with his appetite dead. He didn’t know what he had just witnessed, but it left such a heavy impact on him that he couldn’t sleep well at all that night.

The next day, Kazuya woke up feeling a little exhausted. The exhaustion disappeared when he joined up with the rest of his party for breakfast. After breakfast, they packed up and got ready to continue on their journey. Despite the mayor’s attempts to persuade them to stay for another day, Kazuya stood firm as a hero and chose to focus on the mission at hand. The mayor provided the party intel about the next village on their journey, including news about one of the Demon Lord’s generals being spotted somewhere close by. Kazuya thanked the mayor for the information and the party was seen off by the townspeople.

“Hero Kazuya, are you feeling alright?” asked Luxias concerningly. “When you joined us for breakfast, you had the look of someone who had just seen a ghost. Did you not sleep well last night?”

“Yeah, and when you were talking to the mayor, you looked like your head was somewhere else,” added Timothy.

“Oh, did I?” uttered Kazuya.

“Absolutely. What is troubling you?” asked Yves with a raised eyebrow.

“Oh, it’s, umm….” Kazuya wasn’t sure if he should share with the others what happened last night after he used the bathroom. Thinking about it brought back some of the exhaustion from this morning.

“It’s obvious, isn’t it?” came Artemis with a flick of her hand.

‘Obvious? What does she mean by that? Does she know?’ worried Kazuya.

“Hero Kazuya must be having a hangover from last night’s drinking party,” finished Artemis.

“Hero Kazuya, you got too caught up in partying,” admonished Timothy. “They say that men who do not know their limits are the first to succumb to pain.”

“I’ve never heard of a saying like that before,” flatly commented Kazuya.

“Ah, that’s a quote from ‘The Man of Sin’,” explained Luxias with a smile. “It’s a folktale of this world.”

“I very much prefer ‘Wise Gods and Men’,” said Yves.

“Ah, what an epic piece of literature!” agreed Luxias. “Although, ‘Tale of the Tamer of Primordial Beasts’ is a good one, too. Hearing about the Four Primordial Beasts always send chills down my spine!”

“Those are some heavy hitters,” said Artemis with a raised eyebrow. “Personally, I like the ‘The Goddess and the Hero’.”

“Ah, what a bold choice!” praised Luxias.

“Oi, get your act together,” hissed Yves with a jab to Luxias’ side. “You know that that story doesn’t fly.”

“I heard that story before,” came Timothy. “It’s a really epic story.”

“Timothy!” admonished Yves.

Kazuya did not understand any part of their conversation at all. He was the outsider. The only thing he could do was listen with a blank stare.

“Ah, Hero Kazuya, I do apologize for our rudeness. You are not familiar with the stories of our world due to your circumstances, right?” said Luxias. Kazuya answered with a nod of his head. “Well then, how about I tell you that story now?”

“You mean the one you guys were just discussing?” asked Kazuya.

“Of course,” confirmed Luxias with a nod and a smile.

“Now, listen here, you,” interjected Yves.

“Is there something wrong with the story?” asked Kazuya.

Luxias glanced over at Yves, who suddenly looked the other way with an unpleasant expression. The White Mage took this action as permission to go forward with the story. “Now then, the story begins with the rampage of the previous Demon Lord. The land became a sea of chaos. Kingdoms were decimated, souls were harvested, and day disappeared, leaving only night. Terror-stricken and in desperate need for help, the people of the land prayed to the Goddess in heaven. The Goddess took pity on the people and summoned a hero from another world to become the people’s champion. The Hero was said to be powerful, gracious, and possessed a big heart. The Goddess fell in love with him and granted him a powerful blessing. The Hero, along with his party, who are all now legends, directly challenged the Demon Lord and his army. They engaged in a terrible battle that shook the land. While the Hero faced the Demon Lord, his party took down the Demon Lord’s Five Plagues, demon generals of great power who directly serve under the Demon Lord. The Five Plagues were defeated and the Hero’s battle with the Demon Lord was drawing to a close. The Hero was quite the match for the Demon Lord. However, the Demon Lord still had the upper-hand. Just when the Demon Lord was about to kill the Hero, the Goddess’ blessing prevented him from dying. The Hero then finished the battle by plunging his sword into the Demon Lord’s heart, killing him. With the Demon Lord gone, all was right again through the land.”

The heroic story touched Kazuya’s heart—it fueled his otaku-brain with more delusions of heroics that he could apply to his own story. “That was a great story!” he cried.

“Isn’t it?” quickly agreed Artemis.

“As if,” disparaged Yves with a scowl. “That entire story is nothing but a bunch of crap! Also—,” she snapped, quickly turning to Luxias, “you’re a priest of the Aldoran Church, aren’t you? That story is blasphemy!”

“It’s just a story,” Luxias told her calmly.

“Say, Yves, why don’t you like the story?” asked Kazuya. “Is there something about it you don’t like?”

Yves’ face soured from being put on the spot. “That goddess is not a goddess at all,” she finally said. “She is a demoness who destroyed the land.”

“Demoness?” Kazuya.

“You may not know of the one we call the Demoness, Hero Kazuya, but she is a taboo figure whose mention will only bring you misfortune,” explained Yves. “I seriously don’t know why that story still survives to this day,” she grumbled.

“Is that true?” Kazuya asked the other three. They all silently confirmed with a reluctant nod of their head.

The party walked in silence. They exited the forest and came to a clearing. In the distance, they could see a hill. Crossing over that hill will lead them to their next destination. Suddenly, a strange fog began to gather, thickening the air and obscuring their vision.

“Is everyone okay?” called out Kazuya.

“We’re here!” confirmed Luxias. “But where could this fog come from?”

“I don’t have a good feeling about this,” muttered Yves.

“We can’t see anything at all!” whined Timothy.

“There must be a monster close by,” suggested Artemis.

“But a monster with the power to create fog? I’ve never heard of one before,” replied Yves.

“Is it a ghost?” asked Timothy.

“I don’t think so,” reassured Luxias.

“I sense a lot of mana in the air,” informed Yves. “The amount of mana present is too great for it to be a typical monster,” she told the party. She then jolted and said in a terrified voice, “The mana just keeps on accumulating more and more. The level is increasing indefinitely!”

“Then whatever we’re facing can’t be human,” concluded Luxias grimly. “I just hope that we’re not facing against a Primordial Beast.”

“That would be bad luck for sure,” agreed Artemis.

‘Judging by what they’re saying, we must be facing against someone or something very powerful,’ concluded Kazuya with gritted teeth. ‘Just what are we facing?’ His right hand fell on the sword to his side and he regained his confidence once more. “Don’t worry guys! I’ll protect you all! I’m the hero, after all! You guys can depend on me!” he reassured the others.

“Hero Kazuya is right!” agreed Luxias.

“We should focus on the matter at hand! This is no time to get scared!” declared Yves confidently.

“We’ll beat up whatever is causing this fog and continue on with our quest!” cheered Timothy.

“It’ll take more than this to take out the Hero and his party,” beamed Artemis.

A low and subtle sound pierced through the thick fog. It sounded strangely familiar, but what could it be? The sound rumbled like thunder before becoming a very nasally high-pitched chime that dissipated into the air. It got closer and closer as the fog grew thicker and thicker.

“Hero Kazuya, we should stay together,” Luxias told him.

“Alright. Luxias, I’ll leave the planning to you,” delegated Kazuya.

“My pleasure. I suggest we should—.” Silence.

“Luxias? Luxias, are you there?” Kazuya turned around and saw that there was no one there. Luxias was gone. “Luxias! Luxias, where are you?!” he desperately called out. The others became aware of the situation and joined the hero in calling for their lost comrade.

Yves, in the midst of her frantic search, saw a familiar silhouette in the fog and called to the others, “There he is!” She then called out to the silhouette: “Luxias!”

The figure took a step forward before falling on the ground. Something from its direction entered the party’s area. Without the fog, it was clear to make out what it was. Yves and Artemis let out a bloodcurdling scream. Timothy’s body trembled in shock. Kazuya felt queasy and covered his mouth with his hand. Right there on the ground, staring up at them with lifeless eyes, was Luxias’ decapitated head. The cut on his neck was so clean that it looked like it was done by a very fine blade. Furthermore, there was no blood left at all; it was almost as if it was sucked dry.

“Luxias…. Then that means…,” trembled Yves, pointing in the direction that the head came from. Her eyes were now wide with fear and she fell to her knees.

“Yves,” said Artemis, coming to the Blue Mage’s aid to comfort her.

“G-Get a hold of yourself!” attempted Kazuya. “We knew what we were getting ourselves into when we accepted this quest!”

“Luxias,” whispered Yves.

‘Isn’t this hurdle a little too high to climb for a beginner?! Why is it on hard mode already when I just started?! This doesn’t make any sense,’ thought Kazuya. ‘I didn’t think that the bar would be set high right from the get-go!’ He closed his eyes and gathered his thoughts. ‘It’s okay, there’ve been situations like this before! I just gotta remember what those isekai heroes did! I can still turn this into a victory and become a legend!’

Suddenly, a yelp shook Kazuya out of his delusion. He saw Timothy being dragged into the fog by something. Running after him, he came to a stop once he saw Timothy being lifted up by whatever it was that attached to him from the back. Timothy wore the most distressing face Kazuya had ever seen on the normally cheerful beast-kin—it was the face of a scared child. Timothy’s eyes were pleading for Kazuya to help him.

“Timothy, I’m coming to save you!” Kazuya reassured him.

“Hero Kazuya,” came Timothy with tears welling up in the corner of his eyes. He smiled and said, “I knew you were a real hero. I made the right choice to be in your party.”

“Of course!” said Kazuya with a confident smile, drawing his sword.

But before Kazuya could finish drawing it out, four strange and obscured things suddenly attached themselves to each of Timothy’s limbs. They pulled on the beast-kin’s limbs, forcing out a very painful scream from him.

“Timothy!” shouted Kazuya, stopping in his tracks.

“Hero Kazuya,” struggled Timothy. “It hurts. Please, save me.”

“Timothy, I’m coming to save you!” Kazuya told him. When he said that, the mysterious things pulled on Timothy’s limbs again, forcing out another ear-piercing scream. Kazuya’s body trembled with fear. He wanted to do what he said he would do, but he was afraid of what his action will cause. In fact, it looked as if the mysterious things were responding accordingly to his actions, as if they were playing with him. He was being taunted by some strange things he didn’t even know the identity of. It was a cruel joke! But his friend was in danger, their life being treated like a game! But what could he do?…

‘No, I’m a hero! I have to do what hero’s do!’ he told himself. With renewed confidence, he drew his sword and announced loudly and clearly, “I won’t let this stop me! Timothy, I’m going to save you no matter what! Because I’m the hero!”

“Hero Kazuya—!”

Then, as if it was waiting exactly for those words to be spoken, with one movement, the mysterious attachments pulled on Timothy’s limbs and tore them from his body. The horrific scene stopped Kazuya in his tracks and he could only watch with eyes wide with horror. The only sound he heard besides the dead silence around him was the terrible scream from Timothy that became very last thing he ever heard from the beast-kin. His heart was now pounding a million miles a second and his body was drowned in perspiration. But the psychological torture was not done yet. Timothy’s body, with the the strange thing still attached to his back, suddenly became more and more paler and wrinkled, as if it was having its lifeforce sucked away! Once his body became nothing but a lifeless sack of flesh, it was dropped onto the ground like a piece of garbage.

Kazuya didn’t know what to do. What should he do in this situation?! What was the right answer?! He returned back to where Yves and Artemis was. The girls noticed the traumatic expression that was plastered on his face. “W-Where’s Timothy?” asked Yves. Not thinking at all, Kazuya told them everything that had happened—his voice was monotone like a robot’s. When Yves heard all of this, she screamed. Artemis covered her own mouth with pure terror in her eyes. “How? How could this be?” sobbed Yves.

“I…I’m sorry,” said Kazuya.

“You! It’s your fault!” cried Yves, pointing accusingly at Kazuya. “It’s your fault for wanting to listen to that cursed story! This misfortune is because you wanted to know about the Demoness! This is all her doing! It’s the Demoness’ curse!” She was becoming more and more hysterical with each passing second.

“Yves, we shouldn’t place the blame on Hero Kazuya,” said Artemis softly.

“Hero?! He cursed us all! What hero does that?!” snapped back Yves.

“Hero Kazuya—,” attempted Artemis.

“It’s alright,” Kazuya reassured her. ‘I need to do something to turn this back around,’ he told himself.

“We’re done for. We’re all going to die!” cried Yves.

“We won’t,” reassured Artemis. “Hero Kazuya will protect us!”

“Luxias and Timothy are dead!”

“Hero Kazuya will not abandon us! He’ll protect us! I trust him!” Artemis glanced over at Kazuya and, in a more doubtful voice, asked, “I can trust you, right?”

“Of course you can!” quickly reassured Kazuya. “I am really not lying when I say that I will protect you!”

“That’s right. Hero Kazuya won’t lie to us,” agreed Artemis more confidently.

“Luxias…. Timothy…,” lamented Yves.

“Hero Kazuya, about the enemy—.”

Two mysterious things shot out from the fog and wrapped themselves around the girls’ bodies, lifting them into the air. Now that they were in plain view and not obscured by the fog, Kazuya noticed that they were pink-like appendages of some kind.

“No! No! No! I don’t want to die!” screamed Yves.

“Hero Kazuya!” called Artemis.

“I’ll save you!” Kazuya told the girls.

“Please, don’t let me die!” pleaded Yves.

“This is…not very…good,” struggled Artemis, her body getting hugged tighter and tighter.

Kazuya, with his sword drawn, prepared to cut down those appendages. With a yell, he ran forward and got ready to jump when the appendages suddenly covered the girls’ bodies completely. A loud *CRUNCH* was heard, forcing Kazuya to stop in his tracks once again, and the appendages retreated. Yves’ and Artemis’ bodies fell to the ground.

“Yves! Emi!” cried Kazuya, running up to them.

Both of their bodies were crushed, their bones pulverized like powder, and blood flowed out of every crevice of their body. Yves was instantly dead. Artemis, on the other hand, was still inches away from death. Kazuya held her body and could feel her deadly shallow breaths. She looked at him with blood-stained eyes. And with her last breath, she laid a curse on Kazuya with one word that will haunt him for the rest of his days: “Liar.”

Afraid and guilt-ridden, he dropped Artemis’ lifeless body and shuffled away. ‘No, no, no, no, no! This wasn’t supposed to happen!’ he protested from the deepest depths of his heart. He couldn’t save them at all. His party was defeated like it was nothing. They were all high-ranking adventurers with a lot going for them. On the other hand, he was a Level 1 summoned hero…. That must be it. That must be why he couldn’t do anything at all. He didn’t have the necessary skills, the talent, nor experience….

But did he really need them? He had experience, didn’t he? He had examples that he could use to live a successful life in this kind of world! He acted the part, didn’t he? So, why did things turn out like this? It couldn’t be because of his level. He just hadn’t yet applied himself! Who knows, he could possess a strong power, right? It must have not activated yet! And his entire party was made of high-level adventurers to begin with, and they lost! This means that level didn’t actually play a role in this, right? Otherwise, they wouldn’t have lost!

Also, he couldn’t waste his time leveling up! The Demon Lord would win by the time he reached a decent level to actually take him on! The people were desperate! He needed to be the hero they needed! Wasting time is something that a hero does not do! They should put the people first!

‘But is this really putting the people first?’ asked a far-off voice in his head.

“Oh? There’s still one left,” came an unfamiliar voice. It was full with a glass-like texture and carried an intoxicating sweetness that acted like a cover for something more terrible underneath.

‘That must be the person responsible for this,’ realized Kazuya. He slowly turned his head to see who it was. Suddenly, his entire vision became black….

Kazuya blinked his eyes open. The world before him was oriented strangely. He realized that he was on the ground and slowly picked himself up. A sharp pain circulated through his neck; it felt like it had been caught in between a door and a wall. He rubbed his neck and rolled his head to stretch it out. The pain eased.

The fog had disappeared and Kazuya found himself back in the clearing. ‘Was it all a dream?’ he wondered, hoping it was true. It wasn’t. Lying in front of him were the very last things he wanted to see: the dead bodies of his party members.

Reality finally caught up to him. And reality was cruel. Kazuya dropped to his knees and unleashed a roar filled with his anger and anguish into the heavens. He roared at the top of his lungs and didn’t stop until his voice became hoarse. ‘My party died. And it’s all because of me,’ he lamented. That’s when the very last word he heard from a member of his party replayed in his mind: “Liar.”

Angry tears welled up and pounded his fists into the ground. “I’m such an idiot!” he cried. He had seen his entire party die before his eyes and denied that it was his fault. But now, he can’t run away from the truth anymore. “I don’t have any skills! I don’t have any abilities! I don’t know magic! I’m not talented! I’m not brave! I’m a dumbass! I’m a fool! I’m a stupid otaku who thought that things would work out like they do in anime and manga! I was only kidding myself! Of course that wouldn’t work! I’m just a worthless low-level fake hero who couldn’t even do anything when his own party members were being offed! If anything, I’m even worse than the Demon Lord!”

‘If I knew magic, I could saved them. If I knew how to use a sword, I could’ve saved them. If I was of a higher level and had good skills, I could’ve saved them!’ he reprimanded himself harshly. ‘I treated this like a damn game and look where it got me!’ Seeing his comrades die before his very eyes woke him up for good; they were beings of flesh-and-blood—living beings—whose lives shouldn’t have been taken for granted! But he threw them away without a thought! Reason was finally sinking in. What he did was unforgivable.

As penance, for whatever it was worth, Kazuya stayed very still in the same position until it came time for the sun to set. The only voices he heard during his self-imposed punishment, other than the echoing voice of self-loathing in his head, were the calls of birds and scuttling of forest critters. Once evening came, he picked himself up and trudged back to Garia.

Appearing before the mayor as an empty shell, he asked to stay for the night. When the mayor asked about his party members, Kazuya tensed up but said nothing. He told the mayor that he would be returning back to the capital in the morning and said nothing further before turning in for the night.

He got up and left right at the crack of dawn. He approached the capital gates and was stopped. When he gave his name, one of the guards relayed the information to those inside the walls. After a moment, the gates opened and Kazuya was allowed entry. A team of knights came to collect Kazuya and took him to the castle.

The king, who was sitting peacefully in his throne, was surprised to see Kazuya’s sudden return. “Hero Kazuya, why are you back?” asked the king after sending the knights away.

“Your Highness, I have committed a sin,” said Kazuya, dropping to his knees and bowing until his forehead touched the ground. “I am not worthy of being a hero.”

“Hero Kazuya, what are you saying?” asked the king, confounded by Kazuya’s actions and words. “And where are your party members?”

Kazuya said nothing. The mention of his comrades caused his body to stiffen like a corpse. His face was pulled into a grim scowl, and he was lucky that the king, nor anyone else in the room for that matter, wasn’t able to see it.

“Where’s Emi?” pressed Apolia from her seat.

Kazuya clenched his fists. “…ad,” he muttered softly.

“What was that?”

“She’s dead! They’re all dead! And it’s all because of me!” Kazuya roared with a pained voice. “It’s my fault that they died!”

The news came as a shock to everyone in the room, eliciting gasps and looks of disbelief and horror. “What happened?” demanded the king.

Kazuya’s lips trembled; he really didn’t want to relive that horrendous moment. But he knew that it was useless to evade it. He inhaled to calm his nerves and explained everything to the king. As he did, he felt a lump form at the back of his throat and his stomach felt queasy. His words brought forth only looks of disgust and horror from everyone present. Once he was finished, the entire room was filled with silence.

“I knew it!” suddenly declared one of the people present. It was the same priest that Kazuya had met when he was first summoned to this world. Great Father Alzir was his name and he was the Archbishop of the Aldoran Church—effectively, the religious leader of all of Melia. His influence was as vast as the entire kingdom. He walked up before the king and gestured condemningly at Kazuya. “This heretic is not a hero! He is a false idol that was sent here by the Demoness! His role is to curse our kingdom!” furiously accused the Archbishop. “The Demon Lord is getting closer to us with each passing day and he—,” jabbing his finger at Kazuya, “—gets our chosen warriors killed! He was acting on behalf of the Demoness!”

The Archbishop’s words caused a stir within the throne room. But everyone appeared to readily accept his words. Even Kazuya, who was at his most vulnerable right now with nothing to protect himself, started to believe the Archbishop’s words.

“Great Father Alzir, this unfortunate incident is not enough to accuse him of heresy,” bellowed the king.

“Of course,” relented Great Father Alzir. “However, I have proof that he is indeed a servant of the Demoness!”

“Proof?”

Great Father Alzir forcefully grabbed Kazuya’s right hand and raised it up for everyone to see. Kazuya’s mark appeared for all to see. “This mark right here does not belong to any of our gods! But I remembered seeing it somewhere once. After consulting the ancient scriptures, I finally knew why it looked familiar. It is the very symbol of the Demoness! This is her mark!”

“I remember seeing something like that on the door of the Saires Cult!” spoke up one of the nobles.

“As you can see, Your Highness, this heretic is a minion of the evil Demoness,” the Archbishop declared.

“He’s not just a heretic, he’s also a murderer!” added another noble.

“He killed the Second Princess of the Kingdom of Melia! He’s a traitor to the kingdom! Especially after everything we did for him!” joined a third.

‘Heretic…. Murderer…. Traitor….’ Kazuya let those words echo in his head. He couldn’t fight back against them at all. Why?—They were all true.

“Your Highness, the criminal has turned himself in. I motion that we incarcerate him!” quickly declared a high-ranking noble.

“Incarcerate him? After everything he’s done?” protested another.

“You’re mad!” heckled a third.

“Kill him! Get revenge for the princess!” goaded a fourth.

“Silence!” ordered the king. He deliberated on the matter for a moment before handing his verdict. “Hero Kazuya, no, Demoness Servant Kazuya, after hearing your confession of your crimes, I have reached my verdict. I, King Jupiter Le Melia, hereby order you to be executed at dawn!” The entire throne room burst into cheers. Kazuya silently accepted his fate.

“Father!” protested Apolia. The king turned to his daughter with a shake of his head.

Guards marched in to take Kazuya away. But before they could even approach the criminal, a loud and clear voice like a beautiful trumpet call rang throughout the entire throne room. “Your Highness, please wait a minute.” A high-ranking noble stepped forward. He was a handsome middle-aged man with short fiery-amber hair and twinkling purple eyes. His left ear was full of piercings. His eyelids were constantly resting low to give him a fox-like expression and he donned purple lipstick. In the corner of his eyes were purple eyeliner, which only added to his fox-like appearance. His clothes consisted of a long dark-purple robe with a collar, a pair of black golves, and a pair of a expensive fur boots.

“Royal Duke Del Cento, what do you think you’re doing?” demanded the Archbishop.

“I shall watch over him,” offered the Royal Duke.

“Watch over him? How absurd!”

“First of all, the laws of the Kingdom of Melia forbids the execution of summoned heroes,” informed the Royal Duke. “For any serious crime, the summoned hero can only be incarcerated or exiled. This law was put into place following the Incident of Hero Sakuta. His execution for the crime of treason drew the ire of his patron god, whose rage almost destroyed Melia. To prevent any more of these incidents from happening, that very law was put in place.”

“But he’s not the servant of a god—!” protested the Archbishop.

“Then you’re fine with drawing the ire of the Demoness?” pressed the Royal Duke cleverly. He caught Apolia flashing him a smile of gratitude and responded with a wink. “Lastly, I have personal reason for wanting to host him,” he revealed.

“Personal reason?” questioned the king.

“He’s a very amusing fellow,” answered the Royal Duke honestly.

“Amusing—?!” protested the Archbishop.

“Fine,” relented the king.

“Your Highness—!” appealed the Archbishop.

“The Del Cento family is one of the most ardent supporters of the Melia Kingdom. The ties between our families are as old as the kingdom itself. I shall overlook this one incident and hand over Kazuya to you,” announced the king.

“Thank you, Your Highness,” thanked the Royal Duke. He approached Kazuya and took him by the hand. “Hero Kazuya, I am Royal Duke Drake Del Cento. Starting today, I will be your host. A pleasure to meet you.”