Death March kara Hajimaru Isekai Kyusoukyoku (LN) - Volume 4 - Chapter 4

The Defense of Muno City 

Satou here. When I was a kid and everyone was into ESP, what I wanted most of all was teleportation. It’d be convenient if I could use it myself, but there’s nothing more annoying than an enemy who can use it. 

“Go ahead, please, dryad.” 

That morning, after I noticed the strange occurrences around Muno City, I had everyone change into new equipment and prepare for departure, bidding a hasty farewell to the forest giants and villagers. Now, we stood inside the dryad’s fairy ring. 

I didn’t want everyone to have to keep seeing me kiss a little girl, so I had taken care of the magic transfer beforehand. 

“All righty, here we gooo.” 

With a lazy reply, the dryad transported us from the fairy ring inside the Mountain-Tree to one in a forest not far from Muno City. 

A journey of ten days took a mere instant. This magic supposedly had its own constraints, but dryad teleportation was still way too convenient. 

Like a dangerous drug, it would be all too easy to become addicted to convenience. All it cost was the taboo act of kissing a little girl. 

The sudden transportation startled the horses, so I soothed them while reviewing the map. 

The walls of Muno City were only three miles from here in a straight line, with harvested fields in the middle. 

Muno City was almost twice the size of Seiryuu City, the first place I’d visited in this parallel world, yet its population was only half of the latter. 

There was a small hill on the southeast side of the city, and Muno Castle stood at its peak. Three layers of walls protected the castle, encircling nearly a third of the city. 

As I confirmed the city’s layout, I decided to check the position of the demon as well. 

The demon’s real body had gone all the way down to level 26. Since the new doppelgängers weren’t automatically marked or anything, I had to keep an eye on the demon’s level. 

There were eleven new doppelgängers in total, not including the magistrate or the ones possessing the knights. 

One of them was moving toward the southwest end of the territory. 

He appeared to be heading for the hydra herd, perhaps gunning for an MPK-style mass slaughter. 

Well, I’m always up for getting some more cooking ingredients. Hydra meat is delicious, after all. 

I wasn’t sure what the other ten doppelgängers were planning, but they were in position, surrounding the army from the outside. 

The battle between the army and the large band of thieves had started, too; their numbers were lower than they’d been this morning. 

I finished all this in a matter of seconds and closed the map. 

“Wh-where are we?” 

“In a forest near Muno City. Look, you can see the outer wall of the city on the other side of the bushes.” 

At my words, Miss Karina and the other kids turned on their horses to look where I was pointing. 

“I-it’s true… What exactly are you?” 

“I’m just a peddler. The kindly dryad simply brought us here.” 

I shrugged off Miss Karina’s surprise. 

“More importantly, since the dryad was nice enough to give us a shortcut, let’s head straight for Muno City.” 

“V-very well. It is just as you say. Come along, then, everyone.” 

Holding on to her horse’s neck, Miss Karina trotted enthusiastically out of the forest. 

“Karina, waaait?” 

“You mustn’t act on your own, ma’am!” 

Apparently tempted, Pochi and Tama looked back at me inquisitively. 

“Yes, let’s go, too.” 

On my signal, everyone galloped along after her. 

To be honest, I didn’t want to take my kids into an area where a hell demon was wreaking havoc, but since Mountain-Tree Village could easily be invaded by hydras or fallen upon by huge fruits, I didn’t feel safe leaving them there, either. And since the demon could be involved in the hydra invasions, I’d be particularly worried about letting them stay in the village. 

If they’d be in danger no matter where they were, I’d prefer to have them close by so that I could keep them safe. 

The Muno City guard must have noticed the goblin outbreak, or perhaps they were on the defensive because of the absence of their army, because Muno City’s gates were closed. 

“Open the gate! Baron Muno’s daughter, Lady Karina Muno, has arrived! Open the gate at once!” 

Instead of Miss Karina herself, Raka called for the soldiers on the ramparts to open the gates. 

Miss Karina could be quite shy, especially toward men, so she probably had a hard time calling out to the well-built soldiers. 

After about ten minutes, there was finally some movement. 

The steel side gate next to the main gate swung open, and a few soldiers emerged. I could see armed soldiers on the other side. They were on high alert. 

“The baron’s daughter, you say? Let’s see something to prove it, then.” 

The bearded, middle-aged soldier stared at Miss Karina with undisguised suspicion. 

“Proof, you say?” 

“That’s right. We underling soldiers don’t know the faces of the baron’s family. Show me a ring or dagger or something with the family crest on it.” 

“How rude,” Miss Karina huffed, retreating behind me to hide from the older soldier. 

“Lady Karina, do you have anything of the sort?” 

“Well, perhaps the clasp of my overcoat will do, then.” 

Miss Karina removed the fastener and handed it to me. Without it, her overcoat fell open, revealing a glimpse of her dress and the enchanting breasts underneath it. 

This caused a commotion among the soldiers. Naturally, their eyes were all focused on the same area. 

She truly had a magical pair of breasts. They carried incredible clout, it seemed. 

“Mr. Guard, will this do?” 

“…Th-this is…” 

The middle-aged soldier fell speechless as he saw the coat of arms on the clasp, then kneeled to beg for forgiveness. 

“P-please pardon my terrible rudeness…” 

“You are forgiven,” Miss Karina mumbled, taking the clasp back from me. 

The enthralling breasts were once again hidden in the shadows of the cloak, raising a sigh of disappointment from the soldiers. 

Following the middle-aged soldier, we led our horses through the side entrance. 

Muno City’s main gate plaza was very large. It was about as big as the yard of a normal school. In the center of the square was a dried-up fountain with a statue of an armored knight holding a staff and sword and riding a dragon. 

There was a group of impoverished-looking people gathered on the western edge of the square, listening to a speech. 

“…The revival of the demon lord is nigh! If you wish to survive the destruction and rejoice in the new world, join us in knocking on the door of freedom. This is the only way to survive the Season of the Demon Lord…” 

My “Keen Hearing” skill caught some disturbing claims. 

If this were my old world, I would’ve assumed it was a street performer or an actor practicing lines, but here it was undoubtedly a real speech that could easily be perceived as encouraging treason. 

When I noticed one of the soldiers glowering hatefully at the crowd, I asked about it. 

“That gathering there…” 

“Yeah, it’s that group of demon lord worshippers calling themselves the Wings of Freedom.” 

Yikes, people actually worship the demon lord? I did hear that belief in the impending apocalypse had been popular around the turn of the century back home, so I guess some things never changed no matter what world you were in. 

“Are they troublemakers, then?” 

“They don’t really do anything bad, so they’re harmless enough, but…” She hesitantly trailed off. 

Another soldier behind her explained tersely, “The magistrate has instructed us not to interfere if we see them.” 

“…The magistrate?” 

Well, if the magistrate was a demon, it would make sense that he’d be all right with demon worshipping. 

“Yeah, well, the ancestral king did establish freedom of religion when this kingdom was founded.” 

My suspicions that the ancestral king Yamato had been Japanese were only deepening. 

“Well, that’s the official stance, but the real reason’s probably that the guy giving these speeches is the good-for-nothing son of a leading merchant from the duchy.” 

This made sense, too. There were probably few merchants willing to travel to Muno City when the barony was in such a sorry state. 

I checked just to be sure, but the merchant’s son and his comrades didn’t have any abnormal status conditions. 

I felt like I should put a marker on him just in case but decided against it, since that might hinder my monitoring the demon. I added Wings of Freedom to my list of search keywords so that I’d be able to keep an eye on them at any time. 

We proceeded to the castle with a group of six soldiers guarding our front and rear. 

The city’s main street was an impressive thirty feet wide, but since many of the shop fronts on either side were closed or vacant, it felt more like a ghost town than a thriving metropolis. 

“Is everything on top of that hill part of the castle?” 

“That’s right, Arisa. In terms of size, our Muno Castle is second only to the royal palace and the castle of the old capital.” 

As Miss Karina and Arisa chatted, the great bastion loomed large atop the hill. I already knew all this from my map, but looking up at it from the bottom of the slope only emphasized its enormity. 

When we passed through the castle gates, we proceeded up a winding ramp. There were low walls around it with narrow openings, probably for archers to ward off invaders in case of emergency. 

When we came out past the second castle wall, we entered an area that was divided into several hundred-foot halls by ten-foot-tall walls. 

We couldn’t see where we were going, so the identically shaped halls felt like a maze. That would help rob invaders of their sense of direction. 

The castle itself wasn’t even visible, so soldiers working in the castle would probably feel lost, too, until they got used to it. 

When we made it out of the series of connected halls, we reached a wide area that could accommodate maybe even thousands of soldiers. There were several buildings nearby, probably soldiers’ barracks. 

Then, after crossing a dry moat and passing through the third wall, we were able to get a full view of the castle. 

The real thing was far more intimidating than numbers on a map and imparted a true sense of its enormity. 

However…it was also a little run-down. 

I think it must have been a beautiful white castle when it was first built, but the ivy-covered walls were crumbling in one place, and cracks ran all over it. On top of that, there were several places with what looked like scorch marks. 

This was probably the result of the battle with the Undead King Zen’s troops. 

“Master, take a look at this, if you would.” 

Liza was pointing at a Magic Cannon installed in one of the towers at the corners of the castle. 

The old folks at the river had said that Zen had destroyed the cannon, but the demon magistrate must have repaired it or something—as far as I could tell from below, it was in perfect working condition. 

It was identical to the Magic Cannon Liza and I had found in the underground treasury of the wraith’s fortress. 

“Ah, you’re familiar with Magic Cannons, Liza? My father had it removed when he became the lord of this territory, but the magistrate had a dummy reinstalled to maintain public order.” 

“A dummy…? Is it broken, then?” 

“Indeed. We did take a look at it to see if it could be used to defeat the demon, but the control device had been completely gouged out. It was probably destroyed by Dark Magic or Space Magic.” 

Raka answered my question in Miss Karina’s stead. 

If the Undead King Zen was the one who destroyed it, he’d probably used Shadow Magic. 

In that case, he must have actually been going easy on us when we fought in Seiryuu City. Although it had sure seemed like he was going all out with that shadow whip. 

“Perhaps you could fix it, though?” 

“I’m afraid that’s impossible.” 

Miss Karina glanced at me hopefully, but I was quick to say no. 

I did have the skills and materials to do so but not the machinery or equipment. Besides, if I chose to repair a weapon of mass destruction that could easily be turned on the people, and then it was actually used in battle, I wouldn’t be able to sleep at night. 

Arriving at the main gate of the building, we were greeted by a number of maids in simple navy-blue dresses. The soldier who’d gone ahead of us had probably let them know we were coming. 

“Lady Karina! Thank goodness you’re safe!” 

“Yes, I’m home, Pina.” 

One slender maid embraced Miss Karina, celebrating their reunion. 

Normally, I’d think it would be a problem for a servant to hug her master in front of guests, but nobody here seemed to mind. 

As I watched the scene unfold, Tama tugged on my coat, peering up at me with mild distress. 

“What is it?” 

“Mmm, the ground is weeeird,” Tama muttered at the floor beneath us. “Let’s leeeave?” 

“Tama, you mustn’t bother master so much.” Liza rebuked Tama, who responded by clinging to her leg and rubbing her face against it. 

My “Sense Danger” and “Trap Detection” skills weren’t pinging anything, so what could be scaring her? 

Checking the map, I saw that there was a prison underneath us, where the demon magistrate was currently located. 

Tama was probably upset because she was sensing his presence. I didn’t know if that was her “Enemy Detection” skill or just her wild instincts, but I was impressed. 

After a while, one of the lower-ranking maids prodded Pina to remind her of our presence. Pina apologized for her rudeness, then led us upstairs to the private room where Baron Muno was waiting. 

We were invited into a hall with such a high ceiling that it was practically a ballroom. 

However, it was quiet, and a partitioning screen and some furniture in one corner created a room within a room. Maybe this place was too large for someone to relax in. 

As we approached the screen in the corner, we could see the baron and his companions beyond it. There was a plump middle-aged man with black hair and a mustache, a beautiful raven-haired woman with blue eyes who resembled Miss Karina, and an unnecessarily handsome young man in his twenties, all sitting on a sofa. 

These were the baron, his eldest daughter, and the fake hero. I didn’t even need to confirm it with my AR display. 

“Father, sister, I’ve come home.” 

“K-Karina?!” 

The baron exclaimed with surprise and leaped up from the sofa. Apparently word that Miss Karina was back hadn’t reached them. 

He must have been greatly worried, as dark bags shadowed his kindly eyes. 

“Karinaaaa!!” 

The baron practically tripped over himself as he rushed up to Miss Karina. 

On the other hand, the eldest daughter simply remarked, “Oh my!” with bland surprise. She had the handsome fake hero help her up and walked toward us. 

As she was Karina’s sister, it was no surprise that her chest jiggled with each step. 

This woman, who had round, soft-looking eyes, was twenty-four years old and single. Since early marriage was the norm in this world, this struck me as unusual for a noble’s daughter. 

The men around here must have knotholes for eyes if they’d ignore a beauty with breasts comparable to Miss Karina’s. 

Heedless of my amoral, wandering eyes, Miss Karina and the baron rejoiced at their reunion. 

“Y-you’re all right… I’m so glad you’re all right…!” 

The baron wailed as he hugged Miss Karina. 

“Welcome back, Karina.” 

“Soluna, my dear sister.” 

Miss Soluna hugged the pair lightly, patted Miss Karina’s hair, and gently admonished her with affection. “Father hasn’t slept a wink with worry since you left, you know.” 

“…I’m sorry, Father.” 

Miss Karina looked to the baron apologetically. 

Behind them, the false hero crossed his arms lightly and nodded along. Noticing my gaze, he shot me a dashing wink. I guess that gesture was a thing here, too. 

Arisa shrieked something about her “Satou x Fake Hero OTP” behind me, so I had Lulu rebuke her. It was more effective than my telling her off myself. 

Watching us with a bemused smile, the handsome fake hero amicably addressed me. 

“Nice to meet you. I’m Hauto, a hero.” 

His name was just a slight misspelling of the actual hero’s name, Masaki Hayato. Of course, he didn’t have the Hero title, and while he did have skills like “Shield” and “One-Handed Sword,” he was only level 7. 

He didn’t have any status conditions or bounties, though. 

“Ah, so you’re a hero, sir? I am Satou, a peddler.” 

“No need for the ‘sir.’ Just call me Hauto. An apostle gave me this Holy Sword Gjallarhorn and appointed me a hero, but I was originally just a humble farmer.” 

Listening to Hauto’s self-introduction, Arisa muttered something quietly. 

“…Gjallarhorn? The lost Holy Sword of Shiga Kingdom? The real thing?” 

It was a fake, of course. I knew because I had the real thing. 

The AR display called the fake Demon Blade Gjallarhorn, so the demon probably gave it to him, disguised as an apostle of a god. 

As I chatted with the false hero until the baron settled down, I learned that he’d lived in a poor village inhabited only by the elderly until a man bathed in light appeared before him, told him that he was a hero, and bestowed upon him the Holy Sword. 

Then the magistrate came to get him the next day, and he’d been training with the soldiers at the castle ever since. 

In any case, it seemed like he was a good, ordinary man. Why would the demon go to the trouble of making him into a fake hero? 

If you wanted to sully the name of heroes, wouldn’t it be easier to use someone more corrupt as your imposter? 

Wait, the demon has the “Transformation” skill, too. 

Maybe it was planning to build trust in the fake hero and then disguise itself as him. 

Well, whatever. No matter what the demon was planning, it wouldn’t matter if I defeated him first. 

Okay, well, that was a worthless conjecture. Time to think of something else. 

My radar showed that the demon magistrate and one of the possessed knights would be arriving in this room any moment now. 

“Something’s comiiing?” 

“What is, sir?” 

Tama and Pochi, who were currently under Liza’s arms to prevent any funny business, looked at each other. 

Apparently, Tama had sensed the approach of the hell demon. 

“Lulu, take Mia and Arisa and move to the side of that wall. Nana, guard them, please. Liza, Pochi, Tama, you’ll be in front of Nana. Wait for my signal before you draw your weapons.” 

“What’s going on, Satou?” 

As I suddenly started giving instructions, the fake hero looked at me curiously. 

Without answering him, I shucked the bag containing everyone’s weapons off my shoulder and handed it to Liza. 

Just then, the demonic magistrate appeared from behind the door with the possessed knight in tow. 

“Lady Karina! That’s him.” 

“Father, please stay back. Mr. Raka, Strengthening, please.” 

“Karina? What was that voice just now…?” 

Not understanding the situation, the baron continued clinging to Miss Karina as she pulled out the demon-sealing bell from a cloth bag at her waist. 

“Lady Karina, it is good to see you safe. Who might these commoners be, incidentally?” 

The magistrate, a lean man with pale skin and black hair, twirled his handlebar mustache as he glanced over at us and questioned the fake hero. 

Behind me, a blue light shone from Miss Karina’s direction, and the baron and Miss Soluna shrieked. Most likely, she’d used her Strength Enhancement to forcibly peel the baron off her. 

“Magistrate—no, demon! Your evil scheme ends here.” 

“Lady Karina, whatever do you—?” 

“There’s no use in trying to deceive me!” 

Without allowing the magistrate to finish, Miss Karina raised the demon-sealing bell above her head. 

The foul knight escorting the magistrate quickly cut in front of him, perhaps expecting her to throw it. 

The demon-sealing bell rang out with a clear, cool sound. 

“MYUWEEEEEN!” His true form revealed, the demon magistrate let out a shrill screech. 

The knight, too, dropped to one knee as a semitransparent demon half rose out of his body. It quickly retreated back inside the knight, but the half that had shown itself was identical to the demon. Clearly, a doppelgänger was possessing the knight. 

“Lady Karina, now!” 

“Yes, I’m ready!” 

Raka gave the signal, and Miss Karina charged toward the demon. 

I had hoped the doppelgänger would be chased out of the knight’s body first, but he was only level 1. Miss Karina should be able to handle him without a problem. 

I slipped a bronze nail out of Storage into my hand. 

If anything unexpected happened, I planned to use Spellblade on the nail and throw it. If I stealthily recovered it and lied that the giants had given it to me as a one-time-use trump card, it shouldn’t be a problem. 

With Raka’s strength aiding her, Miss Karina shot toward the hellish magistrate like an arrow. 

“Miss Karina, have you gone mad?!” 

Alarmed by her speed and unaware that the magistrate had morphed into a demon behind him, the knight raised his kite shield to block her way. 

The demon was completely hidden by the large knight’s shadow. 

“You are in my way, good sir!” 

Miss Karina launched a flying kick at the knight’s shield. 

However, even if he was rotten, he was still a level-20 knight. He moved the kite shield skillfully to parry Miss Karina and launch her backward. 

She rolled across the floor. Then the hell demon howled again. 

I sidestepped the intrusive guard to take care of the demon magistrate in Miss Karina’s stead, but he wasn’t there. Instead, I saw his tail for just a moment, disappearing into the body of the knight. 

Don’t tell me. 

“Miss Karina, the bell!” 

“It’s no use, Sir Satou. Lady Karina has fainted.” 

Since Raka was protecting her, a tumble like that shouldn’t have affected her so much. The hell demon’s howl must have been Psychic Magic. 

Without hesitation, I ran over to Miss Karina. 

The bell was probably the only thing that could drive the demon out of the knight’s body. 

I picked it up and waved it at the same instant as he gained control over the knight. 

However, I was too late. The demon started flickering back out of the knight’s body like a double, but only for a moment, and the knight’s head transformed into a cluster of tentacles like a sea anemone. The knight’s race had changed from Human to Demon, too. Perhaps because there were two copies of the demon, he had two tentacle heads. 

Now that he had taken over the knight’s body, the demon’s level had changed to level 20 to match his host. 

“How dare you, a little girl, ruining our plans!” 

I had no idea what he was talking out of, but his anger was certainly clear. 

“Demon! I will be your opponent. Satou, you must take the baron and his family and flee from this place!” 

The fake hero drew his fake Holy Sword and strode toward the very real demon. His fear was obvious from his strange gait and trembling hands, though. 

Still, the fake hero—Hauto did his best to smile reassuringly at us. 

The demon had chosen the right man for the job. If he could just level up and get stronger, this guy had the makings of a real hero on the inside. 

Well, I had no desire to let Hauto die in vain. We’d just have to be his reinforcements. 

Since this thing could use only Psychic Magic, Arisa should be able to jam it. 

“Liza, Pochi, Tama, take this demon down. Nana, you and I will handle his attacks.” 

After finishing her Body Strengthening, Nana stood before the beastfolk girls. 

Even suited up in her new equipment, it wouldn’t be safe to let Nana serve as the only defense against a level-20 opponent, so I joined her on the front lines. 

The demon slashed with his sword, and Nana brought up her round shield to block it. 

To make it easier for her, I aimed for the moment the two collided and delivered a firm kick to the demon’s shield to throw off his balance. 

As soon as he was still, Liza moved to strike with her spear, but the tentacles on his head blocked her. 

Just then, Tama and Pochi came up behind the demon and stabbed at his feet with their short swords. 

The demon could feel pain, and he swept the sword behind him to drive the beastfolk girls away. 

The two of them avoided the attack, but unfortunately, it struck Hauto instead. 

He rolled across the floor a way and didn’t move for a moment. The wound didn’t seem to be serious, though, and he stood up unsteadily and returned to the front lines with his not–Holy Sword in hand. 

“Arisa, I’m counting on you to jam his magic.” 

“Okeydoke!” 

The instant the demon started howling the beginnings of a spell, Arisa interrupted him with a chantless Mind Blow. 

Nana used that opening to make a Shield with Foundation Magic, making it even easier for her to block the demon’s magic attacks safely. 

“Mia, please try to heal everyone. Lulu, you’ll be Mia’s guard. Don’t use the gun.” 

“Mm.” 

“R-right! I-I’ll do my best.” 

Mia held up a staff from the Garage Bag, and Lulu raised a frying pan in front of her chest with trembling hands. 

Part of the reason I warned her not to use the gun was that I didn’t want to show off a rare magic tool, but I also wanted to avoid friendly fire. 

Arisa interrupted the demon’s magic, Liza and Nana held him down at the front, and Tama and Pochi whittled away at the demon’s health. It was our usual pattern of cooperation. 

Hauto recklessly rushed in front of the demon and got his arm fractured by a tentacle attack, but Tama and Pochi rescued him before the demon could follow up, so his life wasn’t in serious danger. Mia immediately started giving him first-aid treatment with healing magic. 

I also made sure to ring the demon-sealing bell regularly to keep the demon weakened. 

As Tama and Pochi were using mithril alloy short swords this time, the enemy’s HP was disappearing more quickly than usual. 

I didn’t want to drag things out too long, so I occasionally helped with a few kicks on the front lines. 

“Take this, sir!” 

Pochi landed one last satisfying critical hit, and the demon became a cloud of black dust that sifted through the gaps in the full-plate mail. 

When the powder was gone, the armor and helmet dropped to the floor and scattered. 

“Gooone?” 

“There’s no more meat inside, sir.” 

“You mustn’t let your guards down, you two.” 

A fragment of the demon had transformed into a rat scuttling out of the armor. 

But Liza was still on high alert, and she immediately impaled the rodent with her Magic Cricket Spear and turned it to black dust. 

“Liza’s amaziiing!” 

“Indeed, sir!” 

Tama and Pochi praised Liza as they warily scanned their surroundings. 

Just in case, I checked the log to make sure we’d defeated the demon and did another search on the map to reassure myself there weren’t any more demons or doppelgängers in Muno City. 

“Good work, everyone. You can stop being in battle mode now.” 

At my words, the beastfolk girls relaxed and put away their weapons. 

“Cooore?” 

“There’s a core here, too, sir.” 

Tama had found a small stone inside the armor. Pochi picked up a tiny one near where Liza had defeated the demon rat. 

So were demons considered a kind of monster? 

The greater hell demon I’d defeated in Seiryuu City hadn’t left a core behind, as far as I knew. I didn’t remember any from the lesser one, either. 

What was the difference here? Was it because I’d used a Holy Sword? 

I put a lid on this unanswerable question, collected the dazed Miss Karina from the side of the wall, and brought her to the baron. 

Arisa had dispelled the effects of the demon’s Psychic Magic, but Miss Karina still showed no signs of opening her eyes. 

“So the magistrate and Sir Eral the knight became demons? Y-you… Do you know what’s going on here?” 

“Nice to meet you, Lord Baron. I am Satou, a traveling merchant.” 

I introduced myself to the alarmed, suspicious baron, then laid Miss Karina down on the sofa. 

The fact that I got to hold her princess-style certainly had its perks, but I wasn’t about to revel in those in front of her family. 

“All I know is what I heard from Raka and Lady Karina. Is that all right?” 

“…That will be fine. Who is this Raka anyway? Is it one of these young ladies…?” 

As soon as the exhausted baron shifted his attention to my kids, his gaze became a stare. 

He’s not a lolicon, right? What’s going on? 

“…Animal-eared folk? S-Sir Satou, don’t tell me you’re a hero, too?!” 

Startled by the baron’s passion, Pochi and Tama flattened their ears fearfully. 

Come to think of it, Miss Karina was surprised when we first met, too. 

“Just as I said, I am only a humble peddler. My comrades are not heroes, either.” 

I wasn’t lying. I was just a peddler who happened to have the Hero title. 

Not that anyone had a lie-detecting skill. Still, there could be trouble if a careless fib triggered Raka’s Perceive Malice function. 

“Lord Baron, I am the one known as Raka.” 

The baron blinked in surprise when Raka’s voice issued forth from Miss Karina’s pendant. 

So her father didn’t know about Raka. It wasn’t a family heirloom? 

Raka explained to the bewildered noble how he and Miss Karina had met. 

The short version was Miss Karina had been walking through the ruins of Marquis Muno’s villa and happened upon a hidden chamber under a floor where Raka was enshrined, thus becoming his new master. 

I waited for an appropriate lull in the conversation, then redirected the topic. 

“Lord Baron, may I continue?” 

“Yes, pardon me. Please go on.” 

“Very well. If I may…” 

I told the baron what I’d heard from Miss Karina. 

I explained how she discovered through Raka that the magistrate was a demon, visited the Mountain-Tree Village to request help in defeating him, met us on the way, and borrowed the artifact from the forest giants. 

While we were talking, some maids arrived and said a room had been prepared for us, so the baron and I sent the others ahead while we went to his office to finish our conversation. 

Considering the size of the castle, the number of servants struck me as very small. Maybe he had budgetary constraints. There wasn’t even a maid in the office, never mind a civil official. 

When I’d finished the tale, I took a deep drink of the weak herbal tea that a maid had brought earlier. 

“So that’s what happened…” 

“The story doesn’t end there, Lord Baron. A spirit in the giants’ village warned me that a great crisis is approaching Muno City.” 

Since I couldn’t just blurt out that I’d seen it on my map, I claimed to have heard it from a “spirit”—the dryad. Raka wasn’t around, so I could get away with taking a few creative liberties. 

“A crisis?!” 

“Yes. There has been an immense outbreak of goblins near the city. I was told that the number might well exceed ten thousand.” 

“Ten thousand…?!” 

The blood drained from the baron’s face. 

Far from coming up with a plan or calling on a subordinate to do so, the baron simply stared at his feet in shock. He didn’t appear terribly competent as a statesman. 

Taking this into account, I tried to give an innocuous proposal. 

“Forgive my arrogance, but perhaps it might be best to have the people in the nearby villages take refuge inside the city walls or evacuate them far away?” 

“Y-yes, of course! That’s perfect. I’ll call the magistrate right—” 

For a moment, the light returned to the baron’s eyes with my encouragement, but he faltered again when he remembered that the magistrate had been a demon. 

“Perhaps a civil official would be preferable?” I offered, and then he was able to dispatch soldiers to help evacuate the villagers safely. 

I also suggested that he send out a messenger to call back the army fighting the bandits. 

We would have only about half our troops to protect the city in the meantime, but there was no helping that. 

“Lord Baron, there is actually a bit more to the story.” 

“Th-there’s still more?!” 

Well, I had to let him know about the demon. We’d have trouble if he thought the copies we’d taken care of were the end of the matter. 

“Yes. The same spirit also told me that there are more demons than the ones we defeated earlier…” 

While I spoke, I checked the demon’s current position on the map. The doppelgänger heading toward the hydras’ habitat had reached his destination, but other than that, there were no further changes. 

However, the number of dots that indicated the soldiers and thieves was decreasing at an alarming rate. There were only four or five hundred people left—only a fifth of the initial number. 

Even soldiers with no opponents nearby were getting injured. 

There must be some kind of infighting. 

I understood why when I checked their status conditions. 

The soldiers had the Confusion condition. Those doppelgängers did have Psychic Magic, after all, and now they were surrounding the army. 

There was no reason for me to go rescue a bunch of bad guys, but it was still upsetting to witness all those casualties. 

I wanted to charge into battle and get rid of the demon once and for all, but even with my speed, it’d take at least an hour. Unfortunately, I probably wouldn’t make it there in time. 

I hid my frustration with the “Poker Face” skill and continued my discussion with the baron. 

“The spirit told me there were sightings of multiple demons in the hydra den and the thieves’ fortress in the forest.” 

“M-multiple demons?! …C-couldn’t this be an omen of a demon lord’s revival?!” 

A demon lord? I certainly hoped not. 

I checked the map just to be safe, but I didn’t see anyone in the territory with the title Demon Lord, “Unknown” skills like Arisa, or anything like that. But the blank area where the demons had been hanging about was right below the baron’s castle— 

“The ground is weeeird?” 

I remembered what Tama had said when we’d entered the castle. 

At the time, I’d assumed she meant the demon magistrate that was in the prison beneath us, but…he didn’t have a demon lord egg or something rolling around down there, right? 

“Lord Baron, I was also warned to ‘beware the basement.’ Would you happen to have any idea what that might mean?” 

I casually left out the part about who’d given me this advice. 

“When this was the marquis’s castle, the Undead King Zen laid a curse on the City Core in the basement… Perhaps it’s referring to that.” 

…Listen, old man. Don’t go blabbing about the City Core in front of a random outsider! That’s supposed to be a big secret known only to lords! 

I bit back an outburst with the help of my “Poker Face” skill and took a deep breath to calm myself. 

The baron seemed unaware of the faux pas, so I pretended not to have heard it and carried on. 

“So there is a curse?” 

“That’s right. If any nobles or other ambitious folks set foot in the basement, they’ll be afflicted by a curse that will gradually sap their strength and energy until they eventually die.” 

“Wouldn’t it be best to have a priest without ambitions remove the curse, then?” 

I assumed they’d tried that already, but I was pursuing the subject out of curiosity. 

“When I became the lord of this land, I asked the holy woman and head priestess of the Tenion Temple to do so, but even they could only make it halfway down the staircase before it became too much to bear.” 

I assumed the curse had dissipated once I set Zen’s soul to rest, and even if not, I would probably immediately get a “Curse Resistance” skill as soon as I set foot on the stairs and would make it down to the basement easily enough. 

I bet this “holy woman” was a pure and beautiful lady, though. Once I reached the old capital, I would have to get a look at her, even if it was from far away. 

“In that case, how about letting a civilian soldier or civil official go investigate?” 

“Impossible. I once had the bravest of all the commoners in the territory, Sir Zotol the knight, investigate, but…he only made it halfway down before he was overcome with panic and fled. An ordinary civil official couldn’t even approach the stairs.” 

I see. So nobles and priests were met with a Drain curse, while commoners would experience Fear. 

Hmm? Wait, so commoners can become knights? …Well, that doesn’t matter right now. 

“I set out toward the basement myself at the time of my inauguration, but I was overwhelmed with terror and fled back upstairs.” 

…What? So the baron didn’t have control of the City Core? 

I opened the map to look at his status, and I found that unlike Count Kuhanou, he didn’t have the Lord title. 

Maybe the reason the territory was suffering from a drought was that they couldn’t use the Ritual Magic provided by the City Core. 

I checked the path to the City Core on the map. It was unguarded. 

I still had Miss Karina’s demon-sealing bell, too. It wouldn’t hurt to check it out. I could even take a stab at lifting the curse while I was at it. 

Anyway, all that aside, there was still nobody here who could keep the people of the city from panicking when the demon led the goblins here to attack. 

Arisa could probably use her Psychic Magic and generally charismatic nature to calm the public, but that would be a last resort. 

Right, what happened to the original magistrate before the demon took his place? 

Did the demon possess and kill him, like that Sir Eral guy? 

I searched for magistrate on the map but didn’t find anything in the territory, so I asked the baron about it. 

“Lord Baron, do you have any idea of where the real magistrate might be?” 

“The magistrate… Right, that was that old fellow, I believe. No, wait, he passed away during the epidemic three years ago. So I asked the duke to dispatch a suitable replacement, I think…” 

The baron searched his memories. Apparently, he couldn’t remember the magistrate’s name, as if the information had been erased. 

I couldn’t say for sure, since the AR display didn’t show any abnormal status conditions, but my hypothesis was that the demon tampered with his memories using Psychic Magic. I’d have to ask Arisa about this later. 

They probably wouldn’t appoint a commoner as magistrate, so I searched for nobles on the map. 

Other than the baron’s family, there was only one noble in Muno City. 

“Are you familiar with someone by the name and title of Viscount Nina Lottel?” 

“Nina… Nina the Iron-Blooded? Yes, I know of her. Duke Ougoch sent her to our territory three years ago as a prospective replacement magistrate…” 

The baron answered my question smoothly. Then he blinked, and his expression stiffened. 

A viscount to be the baron’s magistrate? 

I thought viscount was a higher rank than baron… Well, whatever. 

“…That’s right. Where is Miss Nina? I do remember holding her hand and asking her to take the old man’s place… When was that…?” 

“Most likely, the demon has erased your memories. If Lady Nina is alive, perhaps she is imprisoned?” 

On my words, the baron leaped out of the room, hurrying downstairs to rescue Miss Nina. 

There were also priests and people with the “Analyze” skill among the prisoners, so if he freed them as well, that should improve our chances in battle. 

I took another glance at the battleground as the baron rushed out of the room, only to find that the army and the band of thieves had been annihilated completely, much earlier than I’d predicted. 

I was tempted to take off and eliminate the demons myself, but if one of the flying pests got past me and put my kids in danger, it’d be a serious problem. 

It was probably better to let the opponent get closer so I could easily return to the city if needed. 

It was a little frustrating to wait for the enemy to take the initiative, but I couldn’t fly through the sky or teleport around like some omnipotent hero of legends. I had to keep my priorities in order. 

I wasn’t sure whether to follow the baron, but it was possible I could help him take control of the City Core. I sallied forth to the basement stairs that would lead me underneath the castle. 

The ornate gate in front of the stairs wasn’t locked, so I opened the door normally and ventured inside. 

And as soon as I set foot on the first step… 

> Skill Acquired: “Curse Resistance” 

> Skill Acquired: “Drain Resistance” 

> Title Acquired: Saint 

The Saint title must be because I withstood the curse? 

Well, whatever. I maxed out the two resistance skills and descended. 

Each step sent a cold chill down my spine. If this was what it was like with my skills, no wonder ordinary people couldn’t handle it. 

My radar display changed when I was about halfway there, so I used “Search Entire Map” to investigate, but there was only one room at the bottom of the spiral staircase, not a single human or demon to be found. 

The solitary room was a dome with a radius of about one hundred and fifty feet, and over a short platform in the center hovered a twenty-sided, luminous blue crystal. 

The AR display designated it as City Core: Muno. 

The passage to the core was a wide, short set of stairs; except for this pathway, the rest of the area was threaded with waterways where clear water smoothly flowed over glowing blue stones. 

The gentle burble of cool water and the soft, steady beat of the City Core had a soothing effect as I traveled along the passage. 

When I’d gotten about halfway across, a semitransparent black shadow rose from the floor in the middle of the hallway. 

“Intruder. I am a shadow of he who is known as the Undead King Zen. If you be truly pure and noble of heart, show me that you are worthy of being a lord.” 

Uh, I’m not a lord, though. 

The AR display gave its name as cursed soul. This was probably the essence of the curse, then. 

I changed my title to Hero and took out the Holy Sword Gjallarhorn from Storage. This was the Holy Sword I’d inherited from the Undead King Zen and used to send him on to the afterlife. 

“Zen has passed on to the next world. That means your role here is done, too.” 

I raised the Holy Sword above my head as I spoke to the cursed remnant of its creator. 

The Holy Sword Gjallarhorn sliced through the shadow in a trail of blue. As soon as the sword touched it, the soul began to fade away. 

I never really found out whether I’d proven myself as a lord or not, but the soul’s expression during the exorcism was peaceful, just like Zen’s. 

With that, my work was done. Still, I was already here, so why not take a closer look at the City Core? 

“Welcome, O king, ruler over a superior territory. Do you wish to register this land as a satellite city?” 

As soon as I walked up to the floating core, a voice issued forth from it. The heavy echoes made it difficult to tell which gender it belonged to. 

> Title Acquired: King 

> Title Acquired: Nameless King 

> Title Acquired: Hero King 

> Title Acquired: Lord 

Who are you calling a “king”? 

I mentally snapped at whoever was responsible for the system messages appearing in my log. 

The titles Nameless King and Hero King probably came from my blank name and currently equipped Hero title respectively. 

This “superior territory” thing must have been about the Valley of Dragons mana source. The strongest dragon god once ruled it, after all. 

“No, I’m not registering anything. The lord of this city is Baron Muno.” 

“Search completed. There are three individuals in this land by the name of Muno. Please clarify.” 

With the help of the map, I found the baron’s name. 

“Mr. Leon Muno.” 

“Registration completed. Henceforth, I shall serve Lord Leon Muno.” 

“Great, thank you.” 

“Acknowledged, O unnamed king.” 

It was getting stuffy down there, so I waved good-bye to the core and returned to the surface. 

Of course, I changed my name and title back to normal when I returned to the Muno Barony territory. 

Once I was back upstairs, I continued monitoring the doppelgängers on the map. 

The demon had fused back with his doppelgängers to reach level 36 and was now at the battlefield of the soldiers and thieves with one possessed knight and fifteen wraiths. 

As I watched, zombies began appearing around the wraiths. 

This must be the effect of “Create Servant,” a race-specific ability of the wraiths. 

A bunch of monsters had entered the vast stretch of cultivated land in front of Muno City, so I decided I would cremate the lot of them with a barrage of Fire Shots. As long as I did it under cover of nightfall, nobody should find out my identity. 

The farthest doppelgänger was still prowling around the hydra den. 

Most likely, his goal was to possess a hydra. Well, a bigger target would just be that much easier for me to take down. 

The goblins had regrouped and were advancing toward Muno City in three large squadrons. 

Demi-goblin lords and demi-goblin tamers had started to appear among them; the goblins might have been raising their levels with cannibalism. 

Their names sounded impressive, but they were only level 10 at best, so I should be able to take them all out at once. If they kept this pace, they would arrive before sundown. 

“Are you Satou?” 

A maid had guided me to a room where a woman in her early thirties sitting up in bed greeted me. Her rugged appearance would be more accurately described as “cool” rather than “beautiful.” 

The baron was perched in a chair next to the bed. 

I was the only one who’d been summoned there, by the way. Since the goblins would be showing up soon, my kids were busy checking their weapons and armor. 

“Sorry you have to see me like this. I’m Nina, the magistrate.” 

“Nice to meet you. I’m Satou, a traveling merchant.” 

The baron had told me that she’d been imprisoned for almost two years, but her eyes were bright with resolve despite her sunken cheeks, and her husky voice sounded strong. Considering her nickname was “the Iron-Blooded,” she was obviously stout of heart. 

I wasn’t sure why the demon hadn’t killed her, but he probably had some evil purpose for it. 

“I heard you and your vassals defeated the demon that was nesting in our castle. Thank you.” Miss Nina ducked her head. “So, is it true there are still more demons about?” 

“Yes, that is what I was told.” 

“I see… Man, if we could use that thing, we could beat ’em without a problem, but…” 

At first, I thought she meant the City Core, but apparently, she was referring to the Magic Cannon on the turret. 

Just then, a messenger came rushing into the room. 

“I have a report, sir! A huge horde of goblins has just been sighted on the edge of the forest!” 

“Is it only goblins?” 

“They appear to be riding praying mantis monsters, and there was an unidentified quadruped with a cylindrical body among their number, sir.” 

I already knew that thanks to my map, of course, but I couldn’t reveal that here. 

The goblins were accompanied by a level-27 monster called a rock shooter, which had four legs and the girth of a four-ton truck, as well as some soldier mantises with levels in the upper teens. 

The rock shooter had merely been possessed earlier, but now it had been taken over entirely, as its race had changed to Demon. Its only skill was Psychic Magic, so it was probably merely hosting one of the doppelgängers. 

Just to be sure, I checked for any other monsters or creatures under the demon’s control in the area. 

The remaining possessed knight had lost his body completely and become a demon knight. He was leading a horde of zombies this way. They moved surprisingly quickly, but it would probably still take an hour or two for them to reach the edge of the forest. 

The farthest doppelgänger had finally succeeded in possessing a hydra and was flying toward Muno City with two more hydras in tow. They still had a long way to go, but at this rate they would arrive around the same time as the demon knight and the zombies. 

It would be wise to start with the rock shooter and the demon knight, then dispose of the hydra hosting the main demon. 

I had to be careful of the order of attack, or else the demon might switch out with a doppelgänger just as I was about to defeat him. 

Miss Nina sent a messenger to the garrison soldiers and asked the civil official, a young woman waiting anxiously in the next room, to speak to the bureaucracy of the territory. 

“I’m going to the observation room. You there, help me out.” 

I carried Miss Nina up to the top of the castle. 

The baron’s daughters, Hauto, and the kids had all finished checking their arms and assembled there. They were talking and pointing at something past the city gate. 

As if to reflect everyone’s anxiety, clouds had gathered to obscure the sun. 

“Satou.” 

“Masterrr?” 

Mia and Tama were the first to notice my arrival and turned toward me. 

“Black things are swarming out of the forest, sir!” 

Pochi, who’d climbed onto the fence around the observation room, pointed toward the forest as she made her report. 

“I’m impressed you could see them from so far away.” 

“Soluna let me borrow her longpoke, sir.” 

Apparently even Pochi couldn’t make out figures more than four miles away, so they’d used a telescope-like magic tool called a “longscope.” 

Miss Nina snatched the longscope from Miss Karina, observing for herself the horde of goblins emerging from the forest. 

“There’s so many…” 

Miss Nina passed the longscope to the baron, who looked through it and gulped. 

Coming to a decision, the baron handed me the longscope as he spoke. 

“Lady Nina. I am putting you in charge of this situation.” 

That sounded like passing the buck to me, but the baron’s expression was serious, so everyone waited in silence for him to continue. 

“I—I am going to claim control of the room in the basement. That is my duty as a l-lord.” 

The baron’s voice trembled as he finished speaking. 

Miss Nina seemed to be the only one who understood the situation, as his daughters just responded with confusion. 

“…If it isn’t possible, turn back right away,” said Miss Nina. 

Encouraged, the baron headed toward the basement, accompanied by a maid. 

Miss Soluna tried to follow him, but Miss Nina stopped her. 

As I saw the baron off, I noticed something strange on the map. 

Miss Nina asked a different maid on standby in the room to arrange a lifeline and bell to facilitate the baron’s safe return. If the sound of the bell stopped, a manservant would be waiting at the entrance to the basement to pull the lifeline. 

Once she’d finished giving these instructions, I approached her. 

“Lady Nina, pardon me, but I have a question…” 

“What is it?” 

“Did you order an evacuation out of the city?” 

“…What are you talking about?” 

Miss Nina accepted the longscope from me to survey the entrance to the city. 

“The main gate of the outer wall is open?” 

A few high-ranking government officials and military officers were gathered near the gate, along with their families. 

They were escaping from Muno City with an escort of soldiers along the main road toward the Ougoch Duchy. 

There were no soldiers at the open gate, leaving Muno City completely defenseless against the goblin horde rushing toward it. 

“This simply won’t do. We must go and close the gate!” Miss Karina cried. 

“Karinaaa?” 

“It’s dangerous to go alone, sir!” 

Miss Karina rushed out of the room, and Tama and Pochi looked to me pleadingly. 

“Let me go! I shall protect your sister, Lady Soluna.” 

“You mustn’t, Hauto. You’re injured, aren’t you?” 

Hauto brandished the fake Holy Sword in one hand. 

True, his injured arm would probably be a hindrance. I handed him a good-quality lesser recovery potion to fix the bone fracture and went to protect Miss Karina myself. 

“Sir Hauto, please protect Lady Soluna and Lady Nina. We’ll take care of the rest.” 

“…All right. Make sure Lady Karina is safe.” 

Hauto gripped my hands fervently. I nodded at him and the others, then left the room with my kids. 

Lulu came along, too, of course. She was bad at combat, but it’d probably be more dangerous to leave her at the castle. 

While we galloped on horseback down the main street, a stampede of townspeople came rushing toward us, meaning the goblins had invaded. 

If Mia used the Balloon spell to push them aside, someone would probably get hurt. 

“Arisa, I’m counting on you.” 

“Okeydoke! … Repellent Field Kihi Kuukan!” 

Once Arisa’s Psychic Magic had done its work, the fleeing citizens gave us a wide berth as if we were repugnant to them. 

With a clear line of sight, we could see Miss Karina fighting alone and a handful of citizens who’d been caught and pushed down by goblins. 

Countless monsters surrounded Miss Karina, but Raka’s powerful protection and Strength Enhancement kept her from being overwhelmed, so her tremendous bust was as peerless as ever. 

Up close, the goblins looked like the devils you might see in a painting of hell, with hairless black skin and green blood that made for a truly monstrous presence. 

Despite being humanoid, they didn’t seem to have language, since hearing their gurgling shrieks didn’t net me a new linguistic skill. 

Since they were monsters not demi-humans, there was no point in holding back. 

“Mia, Tama, take aim. These guys are monsters, not people. It’s okay to kill them.” 

“Mm.” 

“’kaaay.” 

I left the reins to Lulu, who was riding the horse with me, and started firing my short bow at the goblins. 

Since it was a very wide street and Arisa’s magic was funneling the civilians into certain escape routes, it was easy to take aim. 

“Everyone! Flee to the castle!” Arisa shouted as loudly as she could with her little lungs to direct the citizens. “The great hero is there! He’ll protect you!” 

The citizens seemed perplexed at first, but as soon as they heard about the hero, they started sprinting in small groups toward the hilltop. 

“Karinaaa!” 

“We’re here to help, ma’am!” 

“You came…” 

Miss Karina grew emotional at the sight of her reinforcements, but now wasn’t really the time for that. 

“Liza! Let’s trample these goblins and push them back toward the gate,” I called. 

“Understood! Pochi, Tama, Nana, let’s go.” 

“Aye-aye, siiir!” 

“Roger, sir!” 

“Orders registered, I report.” 

The vanguard team joined forces with Miss Karina and started to run the goblins down. 

I advanced with the rearguard team, shooting down any escapees from the first group. 

We did see a bloodied citizen or two, but they had family members lending a shoulder to help them escape. 

At the castle, there were priests who had been freed from the prison, plus the maids. Everyone should be able to get treatment there. 

We joined up with the soldiers in front of the main gate, working together to take down the rest of the invaders. 

The goblins were pretty weak, so we were able to claim the gate within about a half hour without any major incidents. 

“Mia, now!” 

“… ? Balloon Kyuubouchou!” 

A new squadron tried to charge the gate, but Mia’s magic created green steam that pushed them back. 

The vapor was the blood of the previous goblin invaders. 

“Close the gates!” I called. 

“Understood!” 

“Aye-ayeee!” 

“Raah, sir!” 

I joined Miss Karina and the vanguard team in helping to lock the main gate. 

It creaked shut with a heavy thud, and the nearby soldiers operated the crank to lock the gate. 

These troops had seen the goblins invading and rushed over from other lookout towers. 

“All right, the crank is turned. No need to push anymore, lads!” 

We caught our breath, surveying the corpses of a hundred or more goblins in front of the main gate. 

Some of my kids had light injuries, so I put Lulu and Mia in charge of treating them, then ascended the main gate tower with Miss Karina and Arisa. 

The five soldiers at the top were shooting arrows at their enemies with a look of desperation. 

“There are quite a lot of them, aren’t there?” 

“I’d say so.” 

“Geh, I feel like I’ll be seeing this in my nightmares.” 

Beyond the great gate was a clamoring black throng so thick that the ground couldn’t be seen under them. It was like something out of a horror movie. 

“Given how crowded together they are, couldn’t that catapult take out tons of them at once?” 

“Afraid not.” 

I pointed at the catapult and spoke to a soldier, but he answered brusquely. 

“We don’t have any stones for it.” 

“You didn’t replenish the stores?” Miss Karina asked. “Whyever not?” 

“The magistrate said there wasn’t a budget for it… We ran out of heavy quarrels for the ballista during that swarm of spiderbears not long ago, too.” 

The soldier responded to Miss Karina’s interrogation with barely suppressed anger. 

Apparently, the demon magistrate had been busy preparing for the attack on Muno City. 

Well, no point in shaking a fist at it now. I used my item search on the map to find large quarrels and stones in Muno City. 

All right, this should work. 

My kids had finished their medical treatment and were coming up the stairs, so I gave them their next instructions. 

“Nana, I need you to run an errand for me, please. Behind that building with the red roof is a company that deals in weapons. They should have a lot of ammo for the ballista. Make sure they have normal arrows, too.” 

I took out a bag stuffed with gold coins from under my coat and handed it to Nana as I spoke. 

“Master, I do not have a telescopic sight unit equipped, so I cannot acquire a visual lock on the red roof, I report.” 

“I can see it, sir!” 

“All right, then please go with Nana, Pochi.” 

“Yes, sir.” 

Pochi and Nana ran off to buy the arrows. 

“Liza and Tama, head to the stone wholesaler near the outer wall. You should be able to get plenty of good rocks for the catapult there.” 

“Understood. Let’s go, Tama.” 

“Aye-aye, siiir!” 

I gave Liza and Tama another bag of money, and they rushed down the stairs. 

“Lulu and Arisa, can you find out if we can use the nearest inn as a hospital in case anyone is seriously injured?” 

“Okeydoke!” 

“Certainly, sir.” 

Arisa and Lulu pattered off after the other kids. 

“Mia, I’ll have you stay here and help me make sure the goblins don’t get any closer.” 

“Mm.” 

Mia and I set out to shoot down the goblins attempting to climb the outer wall. 

“Whoa, you guys are good. You never miss the mark…” 

One of the soldiers whistled in admiration. 

Whoops, did I go overboard? I should try and miss once every five shots or so. 

“E-excuse me. What, erm… What might I do to be of use?” 

Miss Karina looked at me a bit timidly. It was hard to believe that the brave heroine who’d charged in to rescue the townspeople was the same girl gazing at me like a lost child now. 

“Oh right. Lady Karina, you should go back to the castle—” 

“N-no, I shan’t! I shall fight here as well!” Miss Karina immediately cut me off. 

“…Please let me finish. I’d like you to go back to the castle and gather Sir Hauto and any others who might be able to fight and bring them here.” 

“…Me?” 

“That’s right. This is something only you can do, Lady Karina.” 

“I—I know that. I’ll be off, then!” 

With that, Miss Karina jumped down from the building and broke into a run with a blue glow in her wake. 

This girl is way too reckless. I get that she can run quickly with Raka’s Strength Enhancement, but wouldn’t it be faster to go by horse? 

An hour had passed since we closed the gates, and our defensive capabilities had considerably improved. 

The kids brought back plenty of heavy quarrels, and Hauto arrived with a recruited civilian militia of about two hundred. Maids equipped with the possessions of former soldiers accompanied Miss Karina. 

In addition, Arisa used her Psychic Magic to buff everyone with Brave Heart Field, so morale would stay high even in the face of overwhelming odds. 

Of course, Hauto, who was at the forefront encouraging the troops despite his own trembling, played a big part in this as well. 

Outside, the goblins tried again and again to climb over the wall by using one another, but each time we successfully repelled them, often by using boiling oil. 

On top of that, we snuck in Arisa’s Fear spell whenever possible to scare them back and caused them to attack one another with Confusion. 

Nobody else could tell, but Arisa was a remarkable help in this defensive battle. I’d have to cook her favorite food or something later as thanks. 

As for me, I wanted to slip away and disguise myself as the silver-masked hero to go defeat the demons as soon as possible, but I couldn’t seem to find a good opportunity. 

The demons and their reinforcements would arrive within a half hour, so I would have to make a chance for myself soon… 

“What’s thaaat?” 

“A tube, sir?” 

Tama and Pochi were pointing to a cylindrical four-legged monster that had appeared about half a mile away—the rock shooter that the demon had taken over. 

My “Sense Danger” skill started tingling faintly. 

…A white light shone on the horizon. 

Just as the howling wind reached my ear, an intense vibration shook the castle. 

“Satou.” 

“Geh!” 

I supported Mia and Arisa as they lost their balance, then tried to figure out what had happened. 

Looking down from the observation room, I saw a rock about the size of a basketball sticking out of the wall. The projectile must have come from the rock shooter. 

It wasn’t strong enough to bring down the ramparts in a single blow. 

In the distance, I could see goblins reloading the rock shooter. 

You think I’m gonna let you do that? 

I loaded a heavy quarrel into the ballista and aimed it upward. 

“It’s no use. That’s never going to reach that far!” 

As the soldier shouted at me, my “Shooting” skill also informed me that it would never reach its target at this rate. 

My longbow was a normal weapon, so it would shoot only up to about a thousand feet away, maybe fifteen hundred feet if precision didn’t matter. 

So there’s no way it will hit an enemy almost half a mile away… 

Another attack from the rock shooter hit the main gate, shaking the building above it where we stood. 

“Satou?” 

Mia looked up at me nervously, so I smiled back. 

…but that’s only if I’m shooting normally. 

I invoked the spell Blow from my magic menu, creating a strong tailwind around the building above the gate. 

Then, I fired seven arrows into the wind in rapid succession. 

With help from the strong air currents and my “Shooting,” “Sniping,” and “Aim” skills, the arrows hit their marks on the rock shooter’s three eyes and front legs, one after another. 

Since the sudden gale had knocked the soldiers on top of our tower off balance, they probably hadn’t seen anything. 

Angered by the pain, the rock shooter readied to fire its next shot, but with its front legs buckling, it couldn’t get a high-enough angle. 

Instead, the missile just scattered a bunch of goblin archers and rolled to a stop on the ground. 

Perfect. We shouldn’t have to worry about the rock shooter for a while now. 

Meanwhile, the goblins on my radar had started crossing beyond the gate. The second shot had blown a hole big enough for goblins to come through. 

Nana and the beastfolk girls had already run down from the tower to easily defeat the goblins pouring in through the gap. 

Since the defense tower’s stockpile of magic recovery potions had run out, I sent Arisa to Lulu, who was on standby at the inn, to replenish our stores. 

“Mia, go down there, too, and cover them, please.” 

“Mm.” 

Mia nodded and headed down the stairs. 

On the other side of the catapult, Miss Karina was using Raka’s Strength Enhancement to hurl boulders at the goblins, but when she saw us, she paused to give orders to the maids guarding her. 

“You all ought to go and help Liza and the others, too.” 

“But Lady Karina!” 

“That is an order.” 

The armed maids left Miss Karina’s side to help get rid of the goblins. 

“I shan’t let you set one foot inside this tower!” 

More goblins clambered over one another in an attempt to enter our base, but Miss Karina warded them off using more stones. 

With all the goblins she was defeating, Miss Karina’s level had risen from 5 to 7, and judging by her EXP bar in the AR display, she’d be hitting 8 before long. 

“Miss Karina, please stop and take a break soon.” 

“I assure you, I am perfectly fine. If anything, you’re the one who ought to take a—” 

Miss Karina suddenly dropped to one knee. As I’d expected, this was a symptom of level-up sickness. It wasn’t a disease or anything, and she would be back to normal after a few hours of rest. 

As I looked after Miss Karina, who seemed distressed by the sudden drop in her physical capabilities, a group of militiamen arrived with more ammunition. 

“We’ve brought stones for the catapult, sir.” 

“Pile them up over there, please.” 

I sat Miss Karina against the wall to take a breather, then turned toward the militia. 

The guy in the very back of the group of three men looked familiar… 

The corner of his mouth curled up in a sneer under the shadow of his helmet as he withdrew a dagger from beneath his clothes. 

The demon lord worshipper who was giving a speech in the plaza! 

I could’ve easily knocked the man out before he drew his dagger, but for now, I pretended not to see anything. 

“Death to all who bear the blood of Muno!” 

The demon lord devotee readied his poisoned dagger before his chest, then charged toward Miss Karina. 

I quickly stepped in front of him and took the blow from the assassin’s dagger in her stead—or made it look like I had, anyway—then tossed the man to the ground and relieved him of his weapon. 

The bright-red liquid that sprayed into the air was animal blood that I’d had in Storage for use in magic potions. 

The other two militiamen who’d come up with the would-be assassin quickly pinned him down. 

“Satou! Hold still, I shall suck the poison out at once.” 

Miss Karina dragged her weakened body toward me. I pretended to stagger away, leaning against the wall on the city side. 

“Bwa-ha-ha, you’d do well to suck it up! That dagger was coated in deadly hydra poison. It’s toxic enough to kill people on contact! Suck the poison out and you can die along with him!” 

…Is hydra poison the latest fad right now or what? 

Oblivious to my bemused reaction, the man cackled maniacally to accompany his unnecessary exposition. 

Well, the other two militiamen could probably take it from here. 

I fell over the wall from the tower, busting through the ceiling of the barn below and landing in a pile of hay, scattering it everywhere. 

“Master!” 

Liza burst through the wall of the stable at tremendous speed. 

Startled by her unexpected behavior, I nonetheless gave her an order. 

“Liza, carry me to the inn where Lulu’s on standby, please.” 

“Of course, sir.” 

Carrying me bridal-style, Liza brought me to a room at the inn at the speed of a gale-force wind. 

“M-master, are you all right?!” 

“Oh… Oh no…” 

There were other people in the room besides Lulu and Arisa, so I whispered in Liza’s ear and had her clear the room. 

Once everyone else was gone, I confessed to the three girls that it was only an act. 

“Sorry if I alarmed you. I’m perfectly fine.” 

“D-don’t ever scare us like that again!” 

“Th-thank goodness…” 

I assumed Liza’s silence was because she was angry, so I turned toward her, only to find that huge tears were pouring down her cheeks. 

Hugging her gently, I murmured an apology in her ear. 

“I’m sorry, Liza. I didn’t mean to worry you.” 

I explained the reason behind my act to the three of them and asked them to back up my alibi. 

“Lulu, take this.” 

“Is this…a monster-repellent Holy Stone?” 

“Yeah, I want you to activate it here. That way, even if the worst happens and the enemy breaks through, the effect will make the goblins reluctant to come into the city.” 

I handed the Holy Stone and the Garage Bag to Lulu as I explained. It wasn’t glamorous, but it was still important work. 

“I’m counting on you, Lulu.” 

“Right! I’ll do my best!” 

Lulu nodded intently, so I patted her black hair and stood up from the bed. 

“B-but fighting a demon on your own? That’s insanity!” cried Arisa. 

“Not for our master,” Liza said. “I may have become distraught earlier, but I trust that he can handle it.” 

“Wh-what makes you so sure?” 

Liza looked to me uncertainly, so I nodded my permission. 

“Because I saw him defeat a giant hydra, which had destroyed a fortress, in a single attack. Truly, the only enemy that might pose a threat to master might be a dragon or a demon lord.” 

“…A-are you really that strong?” 

“Yeah. So don’t worry. Just wait here for the good news.” 

“A-all right, then. But don’t get hurt, okay? I don’t want to see a single scratch on that pure young skin of y—” 

A little too reassured, Arisa started to say something stupid, so I bonked her on the head. 

“Good luck, sir.” 

“Please be safe, master.” 

I nodded to the other two, put on the silver mask, and headed into a back alley. 

As I left the room behind, I heard Tama and Pochi enter. Nana and Mia had come along behind them, too. 

Mentally apologizing to everyone for worrying them, I set about changing my title, name, and equipment. 

Now, time to be a hero. 

I sprang over the outer wall on the southwest side, cutting through the left flank of the five-thousand-goblin army. 

Running up a hill, I jumped into the air. 

Using the Blow spell, I created a gust that sent me several thousand feet higher. 

> Title Acquired: Free Floater 

“Time to burn.” 

I created a barrage of Fire Shots from the magic menu, surrounding the goblins and torching them with each blast. 

After six rounds, I’d burned up about 20 percent of the left flank and created a wall of fire that prevented the rest of them from escaping. 

The demon wasn’t anywhere in this group. 

I didn’t need to annihilate them, but it would be good to reduce their numbers as much as possible. 

As I dashed between the outer wall of Muno City and the left section of the troops, I tossed more Fire Shots into the ring of flames. 

A demi-goblin mounted on a soldier mantis came leaping toward me over the wall of flame. 

I used Short Stun to smash through the mantis’s wings, knocking the pair into the fire. 

Sorry, but I don’t have time to mess around with small-fry. 

I crossed two miles of the battlefield at a speed of two hundred miles per hour, setting my sights on the demon that was fused with the rock shooter. 

The creature was still about half a mile away, but my Magic Arrow spell should still reach at this distance. 

A full-powered salvo of one hundred twenty enchanted bolts pummeled into the demon rock shooter. 

The monster filled with holes even faster than the hydra I’d killed at the fortress had. 

But though it was now falling apart, the thing still wasn’t dead. 

This must be the effect of its “Lesser Magic Resistance” skill. 

Well, in that case… 

I took a steel short spear out of Storage and flung it. 

The spear bored a huge hole right through the thing’s flank, but it still wouldn’t die. 

Right… Zena had said in Seiryuu City that only magic or magic weapons could hurt demons. 

Thinking back, when we beat the demon magistrate before, we hadn’t been using ordinary weapons. 

Rushing up to the demon rock shooter, I cut it down with the Holy Sword Excalibur. 

Despite how stubborn it’d been before, a single touch from Excalibur was enough for it to crumble to black dust in no time flat. Leave it to a Holy Sword. 

Seeing that I’d defeated the demon, the nearby goblins began to flee into the woods. 

All the unharmed goblins from the left flank saw this and started running away, too. 

At the same time, the undead monsters under the demon knight’s command emerged from the forest right where the fleeing goblins had been. 

The demon knight swung his sword, and immediately the horde of undead began rushing this way. 

Personally, I refused to accept zombies that can run, but it wasn’t surprising given how quickly they’d marched here. 

Before they got any closer, I decided to reduce with magic the number of the bolting monsters. 

Just as I opened my magic menu, I felt a series of vibrations from inside the large forest. 

I could see the foliage shaking. Closing the magic menu for a moment, I opened my map, and… 

…knocking the trees about like twigs, an enormous human figure emerged onto the battlefield. 

“TALLY-HO!” 

…Huh? 

The ground shook as the forest giant jumped into the fray, cutting swathes in the horde of goblins with his giant battle-ax. 

A group of demi-goblin knights mounted on soldier mantises boldly rushed toward him, but a single swing of his battle-ax lopped off the head of one of the mounts and sliced its rider in two. 

The one charging into battle with an enormous, Spellblade-lit ax was none other than Braidbeard the forest giant. 

He must have run here all the way from the Mountain-Tree Village to back us up. 

“THANK YOU FOR COMING, LORD BRAIDBEARD.” 

“IF ONE IS TO BE THANKED, IT IS SATOU THE HUMAN.” 

Three more forest giants lined up next to Braidbeard and began exterminating the imps. 

“I’LL LEAVE THE GOBLINS TO YOU, THEN. I’M GOING TO TAKE ON THE UNDEAD MONSTERS.” 

Without waiting for Braidbeard’s reply, I began roasting the undead with Fire Shots. 

Armed with a lance, the demon knight charged straight at me. He had somehow taken over the horse as well as the knight he was possessing. 

I attacked the demon with Magic Arrow. I’d expected the assault to tear him apart, but that didn’t happen. 

The demon knight had blocked my attack with his shield. According to the AR display, the buckler was called a Screaming Shield; a relief of a human face was embossed into the surface. 

I tried coming at it with Fire Shot instead, but the shield deflected that, too. 

Well, if magic wouldn’t work, I’d have to get physical. 

I triggered Spellblade on a bronze nail from Storage and hurled it at the demon knight as he charged toward me. 

The demon knight raised his shield to block my attack. 

With a sharp clang, the Spellblade nail penetrated the shield and knocked both knight and horse to the ground, but the demon still wasn’t defeated. This shield could hold its own even against physical attacks. 

I charged at the demon knight with the Holy Sword Excalibur in hand. 

I tried activating Spellblade on Excalibur, but I stopped when I felt a strange resistance. 

Maybe it doesn’t work well with Holy Swords? 

Taking advantage of my momentary pause, the demon knight let loose a triple attack with his lance, which pulsed as though alive. 

I intercepted the attack at once with the Holy Sword. Each time it touched my blade, the lance sparked red and took another dent. 

As I’d hoped, Holy Swords were effective against both demons and their weapons. 

I kicked the Screaming Shield out of the demon knight’s hands, and he stumbled. 

Then, while the demon was vulnerable, I lopped off the tentacle-like head with the Holy Sword to defeat him. 

From afar, the roar of a giant monster echoed across the battlefield. 

Clearly, the real demon host was coming this way. 

Three hydras appeared on the battlefield, tangled together as if they were fighting one another. 

…No, wait, they really were feuding. 

The tentacle-headed demon hydra was battling the two normal hydras in midair. The monsters snapped at one another’s heads, and the tangled mass looked ready to crash at any moment. 

Well, that works for me. Might as well finish them off now. 

I took a Holy Arrow out of Storage. 

This unique bolt was made of wood from the Mountain-Tree, with an obsidian arrowhead that would easily facilitate magic, and I’d carved the blue magic circuit for a Holy Sword into both parts. 

It wasn’t very durable, but since I needed it to hit only once, that shouldn’t be a problem. 

I took out the Magic Bow I’d gotten from the giants, nocking the Holy Arrow. I’d made only three prototypes, so I’d have to aim carefully. 

I poured as much magical power into the projectile as it would hold and it glowed blue. 

Noticing the light, the demon hydra chewed off his own captured head to get away from the others. 

After they were shaken off, the two hydras crashed into the ground near me. 

The demon hydra was frantically racing away, but no matter how quickly he moved, he wouldn’t reach a speed of two hundred miles per hour. 

During my test fire, this bow and arrow had a range of two miles. When I let go, the arrow would be faster than the speed of sound. 

Eat this! 

I fired the arrow with all my might. 

Flying from the Magic Bow, the Holy Arrow soared through the sky in a streak of blue. 

It broke through the sound barrier and caught up to the demon hydra from behind in the blink of an eye, turning him into an explosion of black dust. 

The black dust formed several black rings in the air, perhaps due to the blue glow, then scattered on the wind. 

After instantaneously destroying the demon, the arrow zipped onward through the clouds and vanished into the blue sky. 

Surprised by the unexpected power of my Holy Arrow, I checked the log. 

The line hydra demon defeated had appeared there. 

Great, looks like I finished it— Wait, no, not quite. The red dot that indicated the demon was still on my radar. 

The double-headed hydra that had crashed near me now had tentacles for heads. 

He had used his own devoured head to take over another body. 

The other hydra, a three-headed one, had been killed in the crash. 

“I never expect a real hero to appear…” 

Whoa, it’s talking. 

While the thing spoke, I scanned the map for any remaining doppelgängers or possessed creatures. 

“But it seem you be too late.” 

No, this guy was the only demon left. He didn’t have any other hosts, either. 

“I have plunge this land into despair, and the malice and resentment of the people be collected in my chaos jar and transformed to miasma.” 

Oh, so that’s what he’s doing? 

I examined the hydra corpse, but there were no signs the demon had invaded its body. 

“What now, hero? Do you not wish to know where the chaos jar be?” 

Now that he mentioned it, I tried searching for this chaos jar on the map. 

It was in the luggage of one of the high-ranking government officials who’d fled earlier. 

“You never catch up with it now! The chaos jar on its way to sacred shrine in the very hands of you humans.” 

“Oh, I don’t know about that. Actually, though, would you mind explaining the shrine you mentioned?” 

The demon hydra seemed pleased that I had responded and cackled uproariously from both heads. 

“I tell you no more. Go ahead and struggle, hero. The golden sovereign will resurrected, and then you will regret your foolishness.” 

Okay, so the chaos jar is necessary for the resurrection of some “golden sovereign” guy or whatever, then? 

It was probably used for a kind of ritual to revive a demon lord, then. 

But, as they say, too much scheming will be the schemer’s downfall. 

“Nah, I don’t think I’ll be regretting anything. The chaos jar isn’t going to reach its destination.” 

I blandly shrugged at the demon hydra. 

After all, the officials carrying the chaos jar were currently under attack from a group of thieves near the territory border. 

His plan was going to be ruined by robbers who were around only because of the unrest he himself had spread throughout the barony; it seemed like excellent karmic retribution to me. 

“How you be so sure?” 

“…I will tell you no more.” 

I repeated the demon’s words back at him, ending the conversation. 

One of the heads howled with anger, firing the Psychic Magic spell Mind Blow at me from point-blank range. 

My “Psychic Resistance” skill let me withstand the spell with only slight discomfort, and I poured some magic into the Holy Sword Excalibur to strengthen it. 

Unlike the Holy Arrow, the sword didn’t have a limit on how much magic it could hold. 

Since its capacity was apparently endless, I stopped at about one thousand points of magic and swung the blade toward the demon hydra as he started to leap into the air. 

Just then, the supposedly dead three-headed hydra got in the way. 

Behind it was a wraith the demon had created. The specter had probably used one of its race-specific abilities to make the three-headed creature into an undead monster. 

I cut through the zombie hydra standing before me to turn it back into a corpse, then popped the body into Storage so that it couldn’t be used again. 

After that, I selected Fire Shot from my magic menu and reduced the wraith to ashes. 

Finally, I took aim at the demon hydra as he spread his wings to take off into the sky and fired a hundred and twenty Magic Arrows. 

Just like the four-headed hydra I’d encountered at the border, the demon’s heads were quickly pulverized into chunks of meat by the magic. 

The demon began breaking away from the corpse as it crashed to the earth, so I cut through him with the Holy Sword, turning him to black dust. 

…It’s not over yet. 

“Come out. It’s no use playing dead against me.” 

“I impressed that you notice.” 

Tearing through the belly of the grounded carcass, the demon appeared before me. 

The AR display said his level was 36—in other words, this time really would be the last. 

Ready to defeat him in one blow, I leaped into the air and swung the Holy Sword Excalibur in one motion. 

Blue light arced through the sky. 

Where did it go? 

“Very scary. What a hero you be.” 

The demon was now standing where I’d defeated the demon knight before. 

His upper body was sprouting from the lower half of a gjallarhorn. Most likely, it had only seemed dead in the stomach of the demon hydra. 

His disappearance a moment ago must have been the gjallarhorn’s inherent skill “Short-Range Teleportation.” 

First, I’d better take down that annoying gjallarhorn body. I opened the magic column of the menu and fired Magic Arrow. 

However, the Screaming Shield from before got in the way. 

He must have teleported in order to recover the shield. 

The demon used two more “Short-Range Teleportations” to put some distance between us, then took to the sky toward Muno Castle. 

Quickly, I grabbed a Holy Arrow and nocked it on my Magic Bow. 

However, just as I infused it with magic, the demon used another “Short-Range Teleportation” and escaped into Muno City. 

I put the fully charged arrow into Storage for now and raced back to Muno City at top speed. 

My enemy was out of the range of my radar now, so I gave chase with the map open. 

I couldn’t be sure that he wouldn’t make more doppelgängers while he was out of sight, too, so I made sure to search the map repeatedly as I ran. 

When I had Muno Castle in sight again, the demon was at the top of the tower housing the defunct Magic Cannon. 

But the supposedly broken weapon was moving on its own. 

According to my AR display, it was now a poltergeist. 

He can even turn objects into undead monsters? Seriously?! 

“Now watch as I burning Muno City to the ground.” 

My “Keen Hearing” skill picked up on the faraway demon’s voice. 

The demon had flung off the body of the gjallarhorn and merged with the Magic Cannon poltergeist. 

Shit. I’m not in a good position. 

The Screaming Shield could ward off my precise Magic Arrows, and the Holy Arrow I’d used earlier would be way too powerful. 

If I used it from here, it might blow away the nearby castle. 

“Recall the power of Magic Cannon, which once douse the cities of Muno in flame.” 

As the demon cackled loudly, the Magic Cannon began transforming into a futuristic long barrel. 

The fear that my kids might be harmed clouded my mind with panic, making it difficult to devise another solution. 

What do I do? 

Would I have to risk the people in the castle to destroy it, for the safety of my kids…? 

Running through an alley, I tried to calm my frantic mind as it jumped from conclusion to conclusion. 

Nine more seconds until he’s in range of my Holy Sword. 

“With the magic power of the source, there be no limit to Magic Cannon’s ammunition.” 

The glowing particles in the barrel of his weapon began whirling about. 

So on top of being crazy powerful, it has unlimited ammo? 

I jumped over the first of the walls. 

“Now, let me hearing your screams as the beauty of flames arise! They shall be the beacon that herald the resurrection of our king!” 

Looking down at me, the demon aimed the cannon toward the main gate, right where my kids were engaged in battle. 

I can’t stop him. 

I landed on the tower of the second wall, whipping out the Magic Bow. 

“You too late!” 

But then, suddenly, the light in the barrel of the cannon disappeared. 

“What? My connection to the source be broken?” 

On my open map, I saw the baron’s dot of light at the location of the City Core. 

Deep in my heart, I applauded the brave baron for overcoming his fear of the curse. 

Then, in that moment of reflection, I realized something. 

If I only need to destroy the Magic Cannon, can’t I just use an ordinary weapon? 

I took out a short spear from Storage and hurled it. 

In the blink of an eye, the poltergeist floated out of the wreckage of the fearsome weapon. 

At that moment, a loud noise shook the air, and a barrier of white light surrounded the main building of the castle. 

“I-impossible!” 

The barrier repelled the demon and launched him into the air, and the poltergeist, unable to withstand the force, was destroyed. 

“They say the barrier made by a City Core can even defend against attacks from intermediate and greater hell demons.” 

I recalled what Arisa had said to me some time ago. 

The demon tried to escape, and I drew the string of the Magic Bow without an arrow. 

Quickly, the demon raised the Screaming Shield toward me. 

Well, no need to worry about damaging the castle, then. 

I took the Holy Arrow brimming with power out of Storage and once again nocked it to the Magic Bow. 

Checkmate. 

A streak of blue light soared through the sky over Muno City, and the demon that had staged his evil schemes in this city was annihilated once and for all.