Morning.
A ssage ca in from the Emperor through the communication orb.
“You coughed, Hero.”
“Ahem. Ah, yes.”
“My apologies for contacting you so early. It seed you were thinking of this matter with so urgency…”
“It’s fine. Please go on.”
“Yes. The site for the Demon King’s trial should be ready by tomorrow.”
He continued in a tone like a child asking to be praised for doing sothing good.
“The ti is tomorrow at 10 a.m. The location is the Dork Plains on the outskirts of the capital.”
“……”
“ssages have already been spread across the continent through the communication orbs. It seems the asures you took last ti, Lord Mide, are useful in tis like these.”
“That wasn’t , Your Majesty was the one who made those arrangents…”
“In any case, I hope this matter also ends with good results.”
He is not listening. This man.
I scratched my head.
“Understood. Thank you.”
“Regarding this, what form will the trial take?.”
“Mm. I will start by reciting Idria’s list of cris.”
I quickly explained.
“I don’t think a defense is necessary. This trial isn’t ant to honor fairness anyway.”
“Of course.”
“I will recite the charges, and Idria will acknowledge them. It will be a simple process.”
And then…
“For the cris she committed that can still be resolved, she will resolve them herself. I will be watching her to make sure she follows through properly.”
“Splendid.”
“And if they are cris that can’t be resolved like when the victims are already dead, she will apologize in person. I will be overseeing that as well.”
“Yes.”
“When all of that is finished…”
This is the important part.
I paused to gather my thoughts, then continued.
“We will hold a second trial and give her ti for a final plea.”
My party mbers, listening beside , wore puzzled expressions.
We have never ntioned any second trial or final plea.
This is the core of the plan that was refined yesterday with ‘Bion’ and ‘Trail.’
“Yes? But earlier you said there wouldn’t be any need for a defense…”
“Ah. To be precise, it’s not really a defense, just giving her a chance to say whatever she wants right before dying.”
“Hm. Is there truly any need to show such rcy to the Demon King? Not that I would question the Hero’s judgnt.”
Of course it’s necessary.
Not for Idria’s sake.
For humanity’s.
More precisely, for a world where “the Demon King never descends again.”
Naturally, I hid those thoughts and answered lightly.
“Leaving behind the sight of a Demon King begging for her life right before death has its own significance, doesn’t it?”
“Haha. Indeed. Understood.”
“Then we will head to the trial grounds by 10 a.m. tomorrow.”
“I leave it in your hands, Hero.”
Click.
The communication orb went silent.
As if waiting for that, Neril asked:
“A second trial? Final plea?”
“Ah. Before that, hold on.”
Instead of putting the communication orb away, I connected it to Idria.
Soon, her voice ca through.
“What is it?”
“It’s ti. Your trial will be held tomorrow.”
“Then it’s not ti. If you told tomorrow, I could have gone imdiately.”
“Stop pretending you’re busy and co to where I’m staying for a mont. You can figure out the location right away, can’t you?”
Her voice cut out for a mont.
She must be using spatial authority to locate .
“The inn in the capital, huh.”
“Yeah. I originally rented it for a day, but this morning I negotiated with the owner again. This place is ours for the entire duration of the matter.”
“……”
“I’m saying you can co comfortably since no one else is here… huh?”
Crackle.
A line split the air.
Space opened, and Idria stepped out.
Neril spoke dryly.
“Hello? Lovely morning, isn’t it.”
“For , it’s the morning before my execution.”
“The trial result hasn’t even been decided yet.”
“Don’t tell you’re going to spare my life out of rcy?”
“That’s not for us to decide.”
Idria let out a small sigh.
I said:
“Enough chatting. Let’s get to the main point. Ah, before that, there is sothing simple I need to tell you.”
“I’m listening.”
“Velosian is dead.”
“…?”
“I killed him yesterday.”
At first, Idria looked like she wanted to tell to stop joking.
But when she saw that everyone, including , was completely serious, her expression stiffened.
She asked:
“Bion. Is this true?”
[Yeah.]
She wasn’t asking you, screen window.
“You don’t look like you have been through a fierce battle. Even with your recent rise in fa…”
“Well, a lot happened. And battle? He couldn’t even lay a hand on us before dying.”
“…So you’re warning not to entertain any strange hopes?”
“You’re being sensitive. I’m just letting you know.”
Idria’s eyes trembled.
For her, it must sound like one of her two arch-enemies had crushed the other far too easily.
The fact that Velosian is gone is good for her, but the remaining enemy being too strong must be terrifying.
“Anyway, Velosian is dead. So you can focus only on what’s ahead.”
“…Fine.”
“Back to the main topic, we called you today because there’s sothing to discuss regarding the Demon King’s trial.”
“Didn’t we already decide everything? The structure and order of the trial were fixed from the start.”
She spoke with a sowhat cautious expression.
“You recite the charges, and I acknowledge them. Then I travel across the continent to repair or apologize for what I have done. That’s the end.”
“I’m adding one more thing.”
I leaned back in my chair.
“After that continental tour, we will hold a second trial.”
“…Why?”
“And that’s where you will deliver your final plea.”
“What are you talking about. Why would I defend myself to you?”
Her face grew sowhat cold.
“Begging for my life is sothing I do to you alone.”
“No need to rub your hands together in a pathetic display. Just do what I tell you to do.”
“Explain specifically.”
“So, basically…”
For the first ti, I revealed the plan that had been refined with Bion and Trail.
Not only Idria, my entire party watched in shock.
After a long while, Idria spoke.
“Let sort this out.”
“Yeah.”
“You said you had one law left that you could add, didn’t you?”
That’s right.
After the handover from Impelium, I gained the ability to add one law.
Impelium asked if I would use it to add a law allowing to kill Aktion.
But I intend to use it sowhere far more useful.
“You’re going to use that law to…”
She trailed off, unable to finish the sentence.
Xenia continued for her.
“Add a new law: from now on, all negative energy from humans will cling to Idria only.”
“……”
“Mr. Mide, I know you have been dealing with a lot lately and are tired, but…”
“I’m fine.”
“No, but how do you even co up with sothing like that! You’re saying you will concentrate power in Idria to prevent a new Demon King from being born?”
I scratched my head.
“I get what you’re worried about. You’re thinking, what if this gives Idria an endless path to becoming infinitely strong, right?”
“Yes. Exactly.”
“That’s a perfectly reasonable concern. That’s why at first, I thought about letting the negative energy gather in .”
The temperature in the room absolutely plunged.
My party’s faces hardened to the point that not even a needle could slip between their expressions.
Neril spoke in a voice that radiated cold air.
“Say that again?”
“C-Calm down. I said at first. I changed the plan.”
“Good. I almost reverted to my old personality.”
“….”
You seem like you still have a bit of that personality left.
I soothed everyone for the mont.
Then I explained why I wanted to get rid of the Hero and Demon King… or more precisely, why I wanted to dismantle the entire system.
After I explained the three problems with the system as I saw them, everyone seed at least sowhat convinced.
But judging by their faces, they still had a lot to say like fish opening and closing their mouths silently.
“You understand, right?”
“…I don’t know. I’m not sure if I understand or not.”
“The system makes people rely only on the Hero. Just like they once sought the Celestial God whenever sothing went wrong.”
“What’s so wrong with that?”
“I don’t think a world like that can fully stand on its own feet.”
My party mbers all had different personalities, but fundantally, they had similarities with .
Ever since we toppled the Celestial God, they must have felt the way people’s attitudes toward them changed.
None of them enjoyed those gazes of admiration.
More than once, they found it burdenso and uncomfortable.
Neril spoke.
“I think I get it. Your feelings, I an.”
“Co on, Neril. You would agree with Mide even if he said at and vegetables taste the sa.”
“That analogy is so you.”
“Well… it’s not like I don’t understand at all.”
Offense brought up a different concern.
“But think again. I’m glad you dropped that whole self-sacrifice plan, but your new plan still makes Idria stronger.”
“There needs to be soone who can manage and watch over her. So she can’t harbor any wrong intentions.”
“Who? Oh, wait. Don’t tell .”
Offense looked above my head.
The others followed his gaze.
They were all looking at Trail’s spirit.
“Trail…?”
“Mm. They were originally Hero and Demon King anyway. You can think of it as them doing their original jobs.”
“Did he agree to that?”
“Yeah. Last night.”
“Trail, co out for a second.”
Adwin forcibly summoned Trail.
And just like last night, he cast a spell that allowed Trail to speak directly.
I hadn’t seen his full form since the party with Impelium.
“Did you really agree?”
“Yes.”
“Why? Speak comfortably.”
“How should I put it? I didn’t think anything would really change.”
He cleared his throat lightly.
“You know well, even before eting Mide or you guys, I had been dealing with Idria nonstop.”
“……”
“It’s no different except the scale. Well, I used to kill Idria back then, but now I’m only monitoring her, that’s the only difference.”
Everyone’s face showed that they understood what he ant.
But they still didn’t seem fully convinced emotionally.
Lisel spoke urgently.
“But even if it’s Mr. Trail, is it really possible? If all human negative energy gathers into Idria alone, we can’t even imagine how strong she will beco!”
I answered that part myself.
“The screen window explained a bit more about Trail. Trail was a Hero who originally didn’t need fa, right?”
“Y-Yeah.”
“Impelium needed at least 4.8 million fa to kill Velosian. I had to reach 1 million fa to kill Idria.”
“……”
“But Trail never needed any conditions like that. Why is that?”
Everyone tilted their heads.
I grinned and revealed the answer.
“Because he doesn’t need it. As Idria grows stronger, Trail automatically grows stronger too.”
I continued explaining.
“Think about it. Idria wasn’t this strong when she first ca into existence. The screen window said early Idria could probably be defeated with around 200,000 fa.”
“……”
“But the world’s growing lies kept empowering her. Eventually, in this era, you need over a million fa just to kill her.”
Trail cut in.
“I was pretty surprised when I heard that. I never noticed Idria getting stronger.”
“Of course you didn’t. You grew stronger right alongside her.”
“Like I asked yesterday, how is that even possible? Why does that happen?”
“Give up. The screen window is annoyingly tight-lipped. It said it would explain once my fa reaches 20 million.”
“Twenty million… so it’s basically saying it will never tell .”
No.
I will reach 20 million fa.
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