Return of the Former Hero

Chapter 126. Former Hero – Consults about future plans

[Ju…Just hold on a minute.]

Once I understand what Leon is trying to say, I ask him to stop talking for the time being.

Actually, I don’t understand anything from what he has been saying even if I stop him.

A command from the demon lord to the Four Heavenly Kings not to intervene with either me or my companions?

Wait no, this is weird.

What has my name got to do with it?

This is making me look like the demon lord’s snitch or something.

Of course, Leon probably thought out about that as well.

That’s why he’s been observing my actions. I see, I get it now.

No, wait. That’s not what I should be thinking about right now.

What have I been doing the last two days?

I’ve finally broken Leon’s holy sword. Also, their party has decreased by one member.

What the hell.

That makes it completely look like a job of the demon lord’s underling.

Right now, there’s only Leon and Yunikram in here. That means Aura and Caroline don’t know about this, probably.

If they knew it, Aura would’ve probably said nothing about becoming my wife to begin with.

They would’ve definitely looked at me with suspicion.

No wait, I shouldn’t be thinking like that right now.

As a matter of fact, I have no deep connections with the demon lord at all.

There has to be a multitude of ways to clear these doubts.

What I should be thinking right now has to be… Why did the demon lord lay his

eyes on me?

[ Leon, Yunikram. I will tell you right now that I definitely have no connections to the Demon Lord.]

[…Okay]

Leon nods to my words.

Of course, I’m still not in the clear for now.

[ Also, I have to confirm something from you two. Andalugia… Agranix… Do these words ring a bell to you?]

[Andalugia? Agranix…? No… I don’t recognize those. What about you, Yunikram?]

[Nope, it doesn’t ring a bell.]

I knew it. These two don’t know about that.

[ Let’s analyze the situation first. Does Haruto-san remember anything concerning the earlier directive from the demon lord?]

Leon asks me.

I don’t recall anything. That’s why I want to find out…

What should I do?

I have no idea why the Demon Lord is giving me special treatment like this.

But still, I have to clear their doubts of me, which would make things better

Do I have to talk about myself huh…

I’ve already talked about this with the girls. Of course, there is no way those two right here will trust me that easily.

Ah, no, Rithina isn’t familiar with Leon.

However, I think I can trust Leon on this after all the events that happened so far.

At the very least, I want him to know that all these misconducts are not intentional.

Leon is… As a former hero, I could say that he’s actually a really good and honest person to the point that I could get jealous. I actually think he’s like an ideal hero, which are depicted in picture books.

[No, I don’t. Just one last thing, I want to confirm something. Are you sure it’s not just someone with the same name?]

For now, I’ll have to destroy the uncertainties in my mind.

[About that, I’ve done my search here. There is no one with the same name. In the first place, the fact itself that someone uses his surname first is unheard of.]

Yunikram answered me without hesitation.

Is it really that weird for family names to be first?

There’s like 8 people on the lower floor right now you know?

Of course, it’s not like that.

[I see.]

It’s not a case of mistaken identity, huh.

No, it hasn’t been settled but the chances are low.

Hmm…

[Haruto-san. You have given us questions to which we have replied. . So, please hear me. What you said earlier… “Andalugia” and “Agranix” just what are those? It doesn’t ring a bell to me but why did you ask us about those?]

Leon asked me straightforwardly, probably interested in the only thing I mentioned earlier. .

This can’t be helped. I’ll talk.

[Alright, Alright, I’ll explain it you but hold on a second.]

He’s close. Really close.

He got too giddy and came close to me step by step.

I stepped back to gain distance, then I explained it to them.

[Andalugia is… a different place from here that I’ve been to before, a parallel world.]

[?…a different place…. a parallel world?]

[That’s right, a parallel world. At first, due to the circumstantial evidence, I believed this world to be a different one. But since the demon lord recognized me, that made me suspicious of whether this was the case. ]

[ Uh-huh…?]

Leon and Yunikram’s faces look confused as I explained it.

Well of course, I will not get a “I see, is that so?” response from that explanation.

I’ll make a detailed explanation later.

[Next is Agranix. That one is…]

I got caught in my words for a moment.

I never thought I would be able to say this once again.

[That is… The name of the Demon Lord I slayed.]

[…What?]

After collecting my thoughts and saying it, Leon and Yunikram let out a truly high pitched voice, kinda like the same as I announced my proposal to get married with Aura.

[Haruto-san… Slayed the demon lord…? No, but… What… Do you even mean…?]

And now, the two are really confused.

The stoic Yunikram is making a rare reaction, it’s kinda funny.

Wait, let’s focus right now.

[Ah- Calm down you two. I’ll give more details, but I haven’t slayed the Demon lord yet.]

[Uhh… Yeah, O-okay…]

Based on Leon’s voice and reply, I wonder if he understands me?

[By the way, what’s the name of the Demon Lord here?]

[T-the Demon lord’s name? Uhh, I think it goes with the name… Ra…Ragia.]

Leon being confused looks really funny.

The Demon Lord’s name is well known in this world.

But Ragia huh.

Demon Lord Ragia. I can’t really recall anyone with that name.

It’s obvious that it’s not Andalugia… But still, how come my name was called out in the Demon Lord Ragia’s command?

I have no clue.

I’ll just have to focus on explaining it to Leon and Yunikram first.

[Let’s continue this downstairs. Aura and Caroline aren’t familiar with the Demon Lord’s orders , right? Let’s gather everyone, and then I’ll fully disclose everything.]

[A-Alright then…]

And then the three of us left the rooftop.

===========

[Well then, what’s the meaning of this?]

Evening.

As I gathered all the hero’s party, I explained my history.

While explaining about the Demon Lord’s command, Aura got mad at Leon and Yunikram for concealing it from her investigating me, but she was somewhat calmed down after that. Then the info sharing was over.

Anyways, Leon and Yunikram looked convinced after all of that maybe except for the Demon Lord’s command.

Caroline looked still confused, but I’ll leave that to Leon.

[ … ]

Everyone is deep in their thoughts and no one has a clear answer for that. Obviously.

[I believe that we should need to look for more info if that Andalugia that Haruto-san talked about is a world different from this one]

Leon suggested.

[Right. I also want more confirmation. But, if it’s actually just the same, where might we find the proof? Then again, if it’s different, then they won’t be any proof to begin with]

[Is that even true?]

Tanya nonchalantly asked me.

This girl, even if she listened to Leon, she probably didn’t pay attention to it.

[Yeah. What was it again? Something like a demon’s proof? Or maybe not.]

[What’s that?]

It’s too troublesome to explain it now.

[Well, something like that.]

I pat her head to avert her attention.

[～?]

Tanya looks so comfortable that she forgot what she asked and begins to purr. What a simple girl.

[So uhm… That golem, wasn’t it part of the Demon Lord’s army then?]

I almost forgot the problem at hand as I was touching Tanya’s squishy sides, Celes said something.

[Ah! That golem huh. I see. There was something like that.]

That reminds me, there was something like that.

It would be obvious if that golem was part of the Demon lord’s army, then it would probably recognize me.

It was story about a golem in an underground labyrinth leading the monsters to attack.

Hmm?

Assuming that the golem is part of the Demon Lord’s army, then wouldn’t that orb on the basement of capital church headquarters be part of it as well?

If that’s the case, the church and the Demon Lord’s army have connections, if we draw a line there….

[?]

As I watched over Leon, Leon made a look of “Is something wrong?”.

Wait, don’t tell me.

If that’s true, then Leon wouldn’t talk to me about the Demon Lord’s command.

But then…wait.

[Leon. Did you became a hero after being blessed by the church?]

[Eh? Ah, Yes. That’s right.]

Leon was a little surprised with my question.

[ Then, under what circumstances? Also, that holy sword, just where did you get that?]

As I asked Leon that question, Rithina glared a little at me, but let’s ignore it for now.

Well it’s too late now. I’ll just have to face all of their doubts at me.

And of course, I don’t want to talk about her request for me to investigate more about Leon.

[Uhh… Is your question relevant to the main subject right now?]

[It may be irrelevant, but since we’re at it, I still want to know about it.]

I was trying to ask for it modestly, but it somewhat raised suspicions.

But then, Leon was ready to answer.

[I don’t have any memories of it so I might not be able to make a clear picture for you but I was under the protection of the church headquarters. The priest who got their hands on the holy sword told me I have what it takes to wield it so it was handed over to me. If you’re asking about the origins of the sword…. I’m sorry. I don’t have any further details about that.]

After hearing that from Leon, he surely is quite of a character of a Hero.

It looks like he doesn’t really know more about the Holy sword.

[I see. By the way, have you been inside the basement of the church before?]

[The basement? If it’s about the mess hall in the basement, I’ve been there a lot.]

It doesn’t seems like he’s lying.

So that means, Leon hadn’t seen that orb.

[Hmm.]

[Is there something else at the basement?]

As I was thinking, Leon suddenly asked me.

I kinda feel bad that I’m hiding facts from them, I want to share it but… I’ll just keep it a secret that I’ve been in that basement before.

It’s good to think that Leon might believe me but I think it’s bad that I’ve done it before consulting with Rithina.

[Nope, I just felt that there might be something else in there.]

I made it ambiguous. But I’m not lying.

[Is that…so?]

Leon doesn’t look convinced but he didn’t want to ask any more. Sorry about that.

After that, we’ve ran through more conversations but, in the end, we didn’t reach a conclusion.

Of course it won’t end just like that.

But we’ve established future plans.

First of all, we have to prioritize knowing the Demon lord’s commandants. I don’t know the Demon Lord’s intentions so as long as I have those as leads. I don’t have anything else aside that.

Next, I’ll have to confirm if this world is Andalugia or not, I’ll have everyone search for it.

Also about Leon’s broken holy sword, he’ll have to return to the kingdom of Millis to report about it.

In addition to that, we’ll have to use the sword demonstrated by Kagura-san as a substitute to the holy sword.

With that, using my magic, it’s a fact that it’ll be superior to any other swords.

I’m not sure how that will turn out but this will just be a temporary substitute.

We have to do it ourselves as, after the tournament, next will be Rithina’s thieves subjugation request.

Our’s and hero’s party’s ways overlapped.

To sum it up: first we’ll have to go to Kagura-san and make our swords. After that, we’ll head to Odysseus then go back to the kingdom of Millis.

From that point onwards, we will decide whether we’ll continue to cooperate or go our separate ways.

If we’ll be working together with Leon, the Demon Lord’s army might interfere along the way.

[That sounds like a lot of work so I guess I’ll have to put aside the newlywed life with my husband for later!]

Aura proclaims it ecstatically after that meeting.

The tension from after all that talk was gone because of Aura’s sudden proclamation.

Being straightforward and not reading the atmosphere, is this an advantage or a disadvantage?

I guess I call it an advantage for now.

Even after saying all of that, Aura seems to wholeheartedly confident in me. I’m simply happy.

A sweet newlywed life. Sounds good.

I can already picture it; Aura in a naked apron.

My image of a newlywed life is a naked apron. I’m quite surprised at myself right now.

[That’s right! Haruto will win the tournament that will warm his chest, let’s make this big. Kagura. Take your time in making that sword.]

[Eeh? Doesn’t that make it unfair for me? How cruel! I’ll make it. Super fast. the sword. Right away!]

Riding with Aura’s shenanigans, Laurier said something unreasonable. And Kagura-san complained to it.

Big huh… Now I feel like retorting here, but let’s wait for now.

After that, I’ll be thrusting “that”. Just kidding. Hahaha.

Also, even if she doesn’t make it quick, I’ll be sure to pamper Kagura-san. Uhehe.

A lot of things happened, and I’m quite worn out after all of that.