Chapter 222: Hero (3)
Someone inside the room shouted.
“H-How dare a devil bastard! Blaspheme against our gods!”
Turning my head, I saw a person dressed in a way that anyone could tell was a clergyman shouting.
“T-That is right!”
Perhaps gaining courage from that shout, another person immediately chimed in from the side.
“Does everyone believe such words!? We must cut off that person's head right now!”
“We must kill him here to prevent future trouble!”
There was no reason to say try it if you can.
In the first place.
“What are you doing right now!”
Because there was someone who raised their voice before me.
Bang!
The one who slammed the table roughly and shouted was a figure who had never shown such behavior in front of others until now.
“Is it good manners to treat a leader who came to propose peace directly out of trust in us like that!”
Johannes Irons.
At the fierce scolding of the respected knight called the hero of all halflings and humanity, I saw those who openly revealed hostility toward me flinch and tremble, overwhelmed by his spirit.
“T-That is a story that applies only among humans like us!”
“That person is one who claims to be the King of Devils! He is the greatest threat to our humanity!”
Even so, seeing them raise their voices again like that as if not to lose, one could well understand what the perception of ‘devils’ was among humans.
“M-Must be the devil playing a trick! Since our resistance is so strong, isn't the intention to make us open the gates of the barrier ourselves while pretending to propose peace like this!”
“I will not sell my soul to the devil!”
“Fortunately, since that person set foot in this place where heroes are gathered while trying to play a petty trick, we must absolutely not miss this golden opportunity!”
“T-That is correct!”
“Is this the time to be nitpicking about things like honor!”
Perhaps it would have been better to endure, but I inadvertently couldn't hold back and let out a sneer.
That wasn't because I was a ‘devil’, but simply because my personality was like that.
“T-That guy is a devil! How can we believe a devil!”
“Then would you believe evil humans just because they are fellow humans?”
“What…?!”
“Whether you can trust others or not is determined by that person's actions. Not by what race that person was born as.”
“S-Sophistry…!”
“While treating all demons beyond the barrier like bloodthirsty beasts, I don't know which side is actually acting like beasts after throwing away all honor and manners.”
If you were to call this personality that likes sarcasm ‘devil-like’, then I was a devil from the start when I was human.
“──However, remember this.”
“…!”
“This body is the King of all Demons. Just because I respected you, lowered myself, and came as an envoy, do you think I would allow you to dare insult the kin of this body?”
“……!”
To shut the mouths of those guys saying they should cut off my head right now or whatever, there was no need to even cast 「Word of Power」.
Taking advantage of the moment to silence such unnecessary noises, I returned to Yubin's usual tone and continued speaking.
“Actually, if it is simply a matter of race, devil's blood certainly flows in me, but as you can see, I am a being closer to a human. I also don't have the horns and tail that you consider symbols of a ‘devil’.”
“D-Do not be deceived everyone! Perfect disguise techniques are one of the devils' specialties!”
“──No!”
At that time, a familiar voice cut in just in time.
“Everyone, please look at this.”
“C-Councilman Khamsin?!”
Khamsin immediately activated the ‘ring’ on his hand and created a ‘projection’ in front of everyone.
Before, that is, of me before taking the form of the ‘Primordial’ like now.
Although things like hair color were different, and I was wearing a mask, it was unmistakably the appearance of the same person.
After all, it is actually me.
“This is a projection I recorded myself of Yubin’s appearance when he stayed in Daian.”
Many people showed the appearance of looking back and forth between the projection and me, comparing, and soon seemed to reach the same conclusion.
“It, it could be that he was disguising himself from the beginning!”
“Even if that were the case, so what?”
“W-What did you say?”
“Yubin and his companions, no matter what anyone says, are our Daian's benefactors and allies!”
Khamsin declared in a firm tone where no hesitation was felt, as if making a speech.
“In our Daian, we even praised Yubin’s as an angel sent by Dairus to save the city, so how could we treat such a person as a ‘devil’!”
“W-What…!”
…Actually, the fact that I came to be treated as an angel there is probably mostly due to your influence, as you were the first to call me that.
“Even if the devil's blood flows, or he becomes the Demon King! The fact that our Daian citizens received great grace from Yubin will absolutely never change! ──Therefore, our Daian supports Yubin!”
“D-Does that mean Daian has been colluding with the devil, with the Demon King!?”
“If you call receiving grace from that person collusion, then our Staut would also be colluders.”
“──!”
Following Daian's Councilman Khamsin, the one who raised her voice this time was Sapphire, the Commander of the Staut Knights.
“The adventurers who recovered this Trident of Stareon here, which was lost a long time ago, were none other than Yubin’s and his companions over there.”
Sapphire grasped the 「Trident of Stareon」 and held it out as if for everyone to see.
“If Yubin was the ‘devil’ you think of, would the God of Water have allowed him to find his holy relic? And even if the God was deceived, would he have returned this spear directly to us?”
Just like with Khamsin, but a slightly different stir arose.
“I speak on the honor of the Staut Knights, Yubin is a proud ally of our Staut. I will take your hostility toward such Yubin as meaning you will be hostile to us as well.”
“…!”
“E-Even Staut…?!”
Although Khamsin was a Councilman representing Daian, he was still young and inexperienced, so he wasn't in a position ‘respected by everyone’.
However, Sapphire is a figure who has been praised as a hero for a long time.
And that was.
“Our Irons family also absolutely supports Yubin.”
The same for Johannes Irons.
“Above all, I owe my life to Yubin and his companions. How could our family forsake the grace of rescuing me, who had become a prisoner of Corps Commander Etian, along with my three sons.”
“E-Even Sir Johannes…!”
“T-Then the adventurers who helped rescue Sir Johannes back then, were that Demon King's gang…?!”
As those who could be called the core members among the key figures of the Allied Forces guarding the barrier expressed their support for me all at once, agitation arose.
“No, but……”
Because the people they trusted more than anyone were saying words that were too hard to believe as they were so different from the ‘devils’ they knew and the Demon King, the king of those devils.
“He is the Demon King, isn't he…?”
Thwack!
“──!?”
As if to drive a wedge into such an atmosphere, suddenly two daggers were stuck onto the table.
Black and white ones.
“T-Those swords are…!”
Rather than the act of daggers suddenly being stuck in the table itself, for those who recognized their identity, it made their eyes open even wider.
“Don't tell me, Midrashi's…?!”
“Yeah. This is the sword of Crom's Great Admiral Baron Midrashi.”
“──!”
“The devil you guys are frantically looking for would be the word referring to exactly that kind of bastard.”
Evie, who stuck those two daggers, let out a smirk and said.
“Otherwise, would he have tried to sacrifice thousands of people kidnapped to Krom using the Tiaria Cartel as his limbs, or planned something like wiping you all out with the monster summoned like that?”
“……!?”
“The one who saved you guys from that crazy son of a bitch is that guy you are treating as a devil right now. You ungrateful beast bastards.”
“What kind of, nonsensical──”
“It is not nonsense.”
Toric said, cutting off someone's doubt just like his usual merciless axe work.
“I, Toric Silverhand, dare to speak on the honor of all Kapers, everything she just said is true. If you are still suspicious, the Kapers Tiaria Branch will confirm all facts.”
Although nearly 20 years had passed since he put down the axe, there were quite a few who recognized Toric.
“I-If it is Toric Silverhand…!”
For example, a mercenary captain who seemed to have admired him, who was a legendary warrior, or.
“Isn't he the hero who saved our Mordan from the demonic beast of Strass…!”
The representatives from the City of Earth, Mordan, whom he had saved before, were like that.
“Yubin is also an ally of our Kapers. Therefore, if you do harm to that friend, we Kapers will not stay still.”
“This can't be, even the Kapers…!”
As expected, reactions of disbelief returned.
“But that person, is the King of Devils…”
Since it meant their ‘common sense’ accumulated over more than a thousand years was being denied, it was understandable.
“I told you. New Demon King.”
“But how can a human become a Demon King…?”
“Respecting the demons' way, I proved my qualification as a king in front of the warriors. That was enough for them, and they recognized me, who is also a human even if demon blood flows, as the new king.”
I added, isn't that attitude of theirs exactly the proof that we can understand each other and coexist?
“They do it, so can you not do it?”
“…! W-Wait. Don't tell me, the fact that Johannes and Sapphire sent troops beyond the barrier last time was…!”
“Yes. What is the use of hiding it now. It was to lure out the forces of the Demon King's Castle and create an opportunity for Yubin to defeat the Demon King.”
“Y-You took the risk for such a reason…!?”
“Isn't he actually showing us right in front of our eyes that it was a risk worth taking?”
“Because that was the most effective way to stop this war as well as unnecessary wars that will continue in the future.”
My goal was always one, before crossing the barrier and after crossing it.
“Even if we just kill one Demon King right now, another Demon King will eventually appear and threaten us. If we have repeated such things for over a thousand years, isn't it enough now?”
Breaking down the true barrier blocking each other and finding the path to coexistence.
“That is why I became the Demon King. To open the path to coexistence and eliminate that threat itself.”
“Coexistence, with devils…”
“Such a thing, cannot be possible…!”
“It is possible. If you break down the barrier called prejudice that is trapping you and take one step further.”
I continued speaking immediately.
“However, because we stopped those countless wars that would have happened in the future as well as this one, the ‘God of Death’ intends to directly take the souls that should have been sacrificed through those wars now.”
‘Death’ said the superficial reason was that we prevented the birth of ‘Demon God Luce’ and prevented the calamity that the guy would have caused after being released from the seal in the future, but in the end, what is that calamity?
It is war.
“──In other words, isn't that exactly the proof that our demons and humans can coexist peacefully without antagonizing each other?”
“──!”
“To regain the peaceful future that will come someday like that, we must face ‘Death’ together now.”
Even without checking the ‘Result Window’, just by looking around everyone's expressions, I could know enough.
That even those who revealed hostility toward me just a moment ago were eventually [Persuaded].
Was that why?
“…Really, did you open the gates of the barrier without shedding a drop of blood?”
Suddenly a voice came from somewhere.
“──!?”
Soon a single ‘shadow’ suddenly rose in front of everyone.
“I admit it, Yubin.”
‘God of Death’,
“You are, a being who always exceeds expectations.”
Revealed his appearance before us once again.