His fever had returned. It was a thought that crossed Deathbringer's mind while looking up at the sky.

"Are you alright?"

"W-Well, I'm alright."

If it was an obvious result, it was an obvious result. Even though his condition had improved a lot, his injuries weren't something that would heal in a single day.

On top of that, he had been wandering outside all day, getting hit by the wind. Even if he had been carried on someone's back, he was still active outside.

"Your complexion doesn't look alright. Your face is red."

"I guess it's because I'm a bit hot."

"Are you sure you don't have a fever?"

"Who knows?"

"... Let me feel your forehead."

"Ah, aaah."

So, what could he say even if his condition worsened?

"I think it would be better for you to go back."

"That's a bit... Where do we have the manpower to spare here?"

"So you're saying you'll endure it?"

"Just let me watch, at least."

However, he couldn't just back down like this.

Even if he were perfectly fine, his body wouldn't be of much help, but wasn't it too miserable if he couldn't even watch? The same was true even if the distance was too far to see anything.

"If you're really worried, just some ice..."

"... Such stubbornness."

Therefore, despite the Archmage's recommendation, he tenaciously held his ground. Of course, it couldn't be helped that he felt a little resentful toward the sky filled only with gray clouds.

"Uh, uhhh!"

But in the midst of that, the person with the best eyesight started to shout.

He stared hard in the direction that person was pointing, but whether his vision was blurry from the fever or his eyesight just wasn't good enough, he couldn't see anything in particular.

"A dot?"

"No, that's..."

"People are falling!"

However, that didn't last long either. The targets had gradually gotten close enough to come into his view.

And what was witnessed was surprisingly two people holding onto each other—and they were the figures of the Hero and the Berserker.

The Mages and Priests hurriedly chanted their spells. They created a soft halo of light and a layer of air to ensure their safe landing.

Thanks to that, the two landed on the ground without the slightest injury. Of course, the injuries they already bore were a different matter.

"Are you two alright?"

"Ah, Archmage."

"The Berserker is perfectly fine!"

He was dumbfounded before he could even ask anything.

What was that Berserker saying when she was covered in blood all over her body?

To say it was only demon's blood, injuries were visible all over. Her own blood had to be mixed in as well.

Furthermore, looking closely at that robust body, her veins were slightly bulging, and her eyes were even bloodshot.

It meant that demonic corruption had progressed even though the Inquisitor was beside her. In other words, it meant there had been so little leeway that there wasn't even enough time to drive out the demonic energy.

Moreover, the Softie looked even more exhausted than during the siege of Pa Enoch. He couldn't tell how much power she had used. She looked like she could faint at any moment.

"First off, Berserker, take this medicine immediately. And Inquisitor, as for the Inquisitor..."

Knowing this, the Archmage and the Priests immediately stuck to the Berserker and the Inquisitor.

The Berserker might have found it a bit annoying, but she didn't refuse. If nothing else, the danger of demonic corruption seemed to have stuck in that head of hers.

"Are you alright?"

"I-I am alright. I am alright, but... A-The Demon Knight..."

"Please do not overexert yourself."

On the other hand, the Inquisitor, while meekly accepting the treatment itself, couldn't calm down at all.

"H-Hey. What about the Boss, what about the Boss...?"

Deathbringer also asked after the person the Inquisitor mentioned, the last person who should have been here but wasn't.

He searched for the knight to whom he should have apologized for the wound on his cheek but couldn't, and whose trust he should have repaid but couldn't even speak a word to, let alone thank.

The Inquisitor pressed her lips tightly together.

"Hey, Softie. Why aren't you—"

"Our comrade will come down soon."

Fortunately, an answer came back, albeit from elsewhere. It was the Berserker.

"Huh?"

"I'm saying he's going to come down together with Goby Dock or Bubby Dock or whatever it is."

He wondered how the only letter she got right was 'by', but that wasn't important right now.

"Why by himself..."

"Ah, here he comes."

How could a person remain in the sky without the Inquisitor to provide footholds?

Before Deathbringer could even raise that question, he reflexively followed the Berserker's finger and looked up.

Then, he saw something absolutely massive falling toward their location, which he hadn't noticed while they were tending to the two.

At first, it wasn't very noticeable due to the perspective, but as he spent just a little time watching it, he began to realize its size to some extent.

"... We need to get out of here right now!"

"We have to evacuate!"

If that thing fell as it was, there was a high chance it would crush them flat. Thus, the people who witnessed it screamed one by one.

"Ah, no need to go anywhere. That thing will fall in the forest over there."

However, the Berserker was calm.

"The Demon Knight is not stupid."

Her words turned out to be true.

Eclipsing the people's fuss, that massive creature plummeted to a spot hundreds of meters away from their location.

Of course, because its size and weight were tremendous, the heavens and earth rang, and the ground violently pitched. However, the damage wasn't as great as expected.

Even though something that huge had fallen, the forest outside of the impact zone wasn't devastated, and the ground wasn't overturned, so that was surely the case.

"What in the world..."

But even if the damage was small, the shock the people received was by no means minor.

"Let us hurry and go."

"Truly, the demon...?"

"You're saying that thing is the demon?"

"That's right. Why do you keep asking? Are you idiots?"

"... You're not really in a position to say that, are you?"

Deathbringer slowly advanced toward the site where the creature had fallen, following the Archmage, the Priests, and the Berserker—the Inquisitor had fainted halfway through.

Neither the fever taking over his body nor his mind clouded by it could stop his single-minded resolve to confirm someone's survival.

"The Great Demon... is dead..."

"Truly, the Great Demon...?"

"My god..."

"The Berserker wanted to catch it..."

However, when he finally set foot at the crash site.

What Deathbringer could see was the corpse of a massive merman—a demon with the upper body of a human and the lower body of a fish.

A merman whose length from its crown to its tail was difficult to capture in a single glance, and whose height, even while lying face down, put any average mound to shame.

Furthermore, it was severed from its shoulder to its pelvis, dangling loosely.

"Is this the demon's true body...?"

"Was the Great Demon of Envy always this colossal...?"

"What terrible demonic energy. It will take a long time just to purify it."

"This thing... was truly defeated by just three people...?"

No, that wasn't it. This wasn't what he wanted to see.

"Boss, where is the Boss?"

Deathbringer barely held onto his mind, which was trying to drift into a daze. The fever had now encroached up to his neck, completely drying out the inside of his mouth and throat, but there was still something he needed to find.

"If it's our comrade, it looks like he's over there."

"Why are you only saying that now...!"

"Did you find the Demon Knight?"

Perhaps protecting him like that? Fortunately, the person he was looking for was quickly found.

"Boss...!"

He had stabbed his sword into the merman's brow and was sitting there leaning against the embedded blade, so it might have been funnier if they hadn't spotted him.

"Demon Knight!"

"W-What is it. Boss, why aren't you responding..."

"Huh, did he faint?"

Though the sight of him bearing sharp wounds all over his body, profusely bleeding from his mouth, nose, and even his ears, didn't exactly look like a pleasant state to be in.

"Boss!"

Deathbringer's steps quickened as he climbed the Great Demon's corpse.

He couldn't be dead. There was no way the Demon Knight was dead. His thoughts, melting limply in the heat, were spewing out nothing but the most simplistic obsession.

"Boss..."

And when he climbed the hill of that corpse and reached right in front of the Demon Knight.

He could see his chest rising and falling, albeit shallowly.

He was alive.

In that instant, his tension snapped, and the world went dark.

While the unprecedented event occurred in the forest around Ednium—where one of the Great Demons was subdued without a single fatality, but three out of four wounded individuals fell into a coma—

In Camberer, the Young Lord's aide, Johanna, was sinking into despair.

It was because there was absolutely no way to help the Young Lord, who was her close friend and liege.

"Please give me some drinks."

Thus, she stormed into the tavern she often visited after work. She felt like she would die of sorrow if she didn't pour alcohol into her stomach right this second.

"Oh, Johanna?"

The tavern, with gambling on one side, speeches on another, and musical performances elsewhere, was extremely noisy. It was practically a stroke of luck that there was a single empty seat left at the bar.

"Here, your usual drink."

"Thanks."

She received the glass from a familiar employee. She downed it in one shot right from the start.

"Another glass!"

"... Aren't you drinking a bit too fast today? Is something wrong?"

Even if she ordered her usual, if the speed at which she poured it into her mouth doubled, it was only natural to raise suspicions.

The employee carefully asked a question while replacing her glass. Johanna's sense of injustice was tugged at.

SLAM!

Johanna roughly slammed the glass down.

Her flushed face, reddened from the alcohol mixed with indignation, chewed on her lips.

"I can't say."

"Must be something regarding the Young Lord."

"Dammit!!"

Fortunately, the employee quickly understood.

This was likely influenced by Johanna's track record of getting even more upset than her master whenever the Young Lord was mistreated by the damn Lord and his wife.

"Our poor Young Lord..."

"Sigh... Did that damn second son cause trouble again?"

"He caused trouble ages ago..."

"Tsk tsk tsk. Who knows when that guy will ever grow up."

Of course, even without Johanna venting her frustrations, they would have easily guessed it.

Because every resident in the city knew that the Young Lord had fallen out of the Lord's favor.

After all, the Lord had never once accompanied the Young Lord to the market when she was young. Yet, he went sightseeing in the market with the second son every other day, shoving all sorts of things into his hands.

Even citizens who had no interest in the Lord's family couldn't help but notice that favoritism.

Was that all? The fact that he never once criticized the second son's atrocities, while raising a hand against the Young Lord for the slightest mistake, had long since spread through the mouths of the workers. Even the fact that the Young Lord had never once rebelled or complained about it.

As a result, there was no one living in this city who didn't pity the Young Lord. The Young Lord was the sore thumb of the city's residents.

"The Lord really needs to come to his senses. How can he love such an immature brat over the dignified Young Lord? Our poor Young Lord..."

"I don't know..."

"When is that old man going to retire anyway? The Young Lord does a better job, so he should just hand over the position quickly."

"I told you, I don't know..."

"What is it, was the Young Lord mistreated again? Honestly, this stupid Lord! He'll only come to his senses if someone takes up a sword like in the neighboring city!"

"Dad, why are you here again... Be careful. What if someone hears you talking about a rebellion?"

"I came out because you wouldn't come even when I called for you! And what does it matter if someone hears talk of a rebellion? Are they going to massacre us like in the neighboring town, perhaps?"

"... Never say that in front of the people from Ednium, Dad."

"Do I look like an idiot? To say something like this in front of those people."

Ednium. At that word, Johanna felt her sinking mood surge with emotion once again.

It was because the Young Lord of Ednium and Biryuho instantly came to mind.

"The Young Lord is something else too. How can someone who fights so well for our rights be so soft when it comes to her own matters... Does she really consider them as family?"

"Exactly. They're complete bastards."

She gnashed her teeth as she listened to the father and son. Our poor Young Lord. It was bad enough that she was born into a trashy family, but now even her lover was in some kind of mess. And what sin did the people who died caught in the middle commit?

"Anyway, we're heading out. Don't drink too much."

"Yeah. Who's going to look after our Young Lord if you take a day off?"

"None of you care about me, do you? Dammit. Just give me another drink."

"Of course. Coming right up with another drink!"

Overcome with rising sorrow and anger, Johanna eventually emptied her fourth glass and received her fifth drink. Today, she intended to just drink herself to death.

"You made a mess like this because you couldn't catch a single fucking beast!"

However, just as she was about to empty her sixth glass, a shout bordering on a scream erupted from a nearby table.

"Ah, that guy is starting again."

"... What's going on?"

"Huh? Oh, well, wild beasts have been increasing tremendously lately. A lot of adventurers were sent out, and soldiers were obviously dispatched too."

"... And?"

"But over there, that blond guy's daughter is an adventurer, you see. The other guy's son is a soldier. The problem is that both of them went out for this crisis and..."

The owner and the employee had left their seats. She heard the explanation of the situation from the customer sitting next to her.

However, rather than finishing his sentence, the customer changed direction with a hand gesture mid-way. The gesture of sliding his thumb across his neck. She understood without needing to hear more.

"What, you bastard!?"

"If you soldiers had done your jobs properly, adventurers wouldn't have needed to be mobilized!"

"Are you done talking?! The adventurers are the ones who volunteered and died due to their lack of skill!"

"Is that something you should say right now—!"

At the same time, she began to empathize with their argument.

Since the cause behind the swarming beasts was unknown, they were probably just unleashing their pent-up emotions on the people they could see. It was far too miserable not to have a place to vent their resentment.

"... The cause lies elsewhere, though."

The problem was that the true culprit of the crisis existed, and there was no proper way to punish that entity.

"Hm?"

"Damn it."

From the very beginning, this matter wasn't even meant to be brought to light.

This was due to the Young Lord and the Lord's judgment that if they couldn't punish it anyway, it would be better to just brush it off as an incident.

Johanna didn't think that was right, but she didn't oppose it either. If that was her liege's will, she had to follow it as a vassal's duty.

Even if it meant seeing the miserable sight of victims baring their claws at each other right in front of her, unaware of the perpetrator's existence.

"What's with all this noise?"

"Fuck."

"Hey, clear all this out. It's so dirty."

But why did that reckless idiot have to come here of all times?

Johanna instinctively almost spat out her drink, but barely held it in.

It wouldn't look good for someone who served the Young Lord to act disrespectfully toward the Young Lord's younger brother. Even if the relationship between the two was the worst.

"Let go of me!"

Those who had been fighting, drunk on alcohol or resentment, were subdued by the soldiers. Since it wasn't reported as a brawl, they were just being held tightly enough that they couldn't move.

Though she wasn't quite sure if that was really a good development.

"This is driving me crazy, all the way here..."

Aside from that, there had been a voice that seemed to represent her feelings for a while now.

Johanna turned her gaze to the seat next to her. The customer who had explained the situation to her earlier was heavily frowning. The customer's gaze was fixed on the second son, who had just entered the tavern.

"Ah, found you."

The bratty second son even beamed at the customer sitting next to her. She wondered if they knew each other. Even though she had never received a report on it.

"Hey, adventurer. Why did you refuse the escort request?"

"Didn't I tell you when we met during the day that I couldn't because of a scheduling issue? Even if you make a designated hire, what I can't do, I can't do."

Ah, she realized why she didn't know about it. He was just trying to hit on her anew today.

Johanna constantly swore inwardly as she watched the shameless scoundrel, who wasn't satisfied with the women in the castle and the city, extending his hands even to adventurers.

The surroundings, which had grown quiet at the appearance of the Lord's second son, were probably feeling something similar to her.

"I even made a designated hire, so why can't you!"

"Uhm, Young Master."

She didn't want to step in, and she didn't want to talk to him either, but she was still someone who worked in the castle. Even if he wasn't her direct superior, the second young master was still someone she served in the long run.

Thus, Johanna stepped forward to stop his absurdity. At her intervention, the second son's eyebrows shot up.

"Why are you—!"

"You son of a bitch!"

Suddenly, a pod of beans served as a snack violently struck the second son's head.

Everyone nearby widened their eyes. Did I unknowingly do that? She could see that everyone was thinking the exact same thing.

Just as Johanna subconsciously looked at her own hands.

"Young Master!"

"W-What! Which bastard—!"

"Good thing we met, you bastard! You're a problem too! If you guys hadn't wasted soldiers doing all sorts of bullshit just to keep the Young Lord in check, my daughter wouldn't have died!"

"What?!"

"You bastards killed my daughter!!"

Fortunately, it wasn't Johanna's hand that had unknowingly caused the incident. Not that the situation was turning out for the better, though.

"What the hell are you saying, you bastard!"

"Die, just die! You useless piece of shit!! Die!!"

"B-Block him!"

"You crazy bastard!"

It seemed his adventurer daughter wasn't mentioned for no reason.

The man who said he lost his adventurer daughter shook off the soldiers suppressing him and grabbed the second son by the collar.

The guys acting as escorts couldn't even react.

"N-No!"

Johanna let out a sigh, simultaneously vowing that she would fire all those escorts.

This could no longer be covered up. That idiot would only think of the damage he suffered and would undoubtedly punish this man.

"Y-You crazy, you crazy bastard—!"

"Let's die together, a scumbag like you needs to die!"

"It's always the Young Lord, the Young Lord! Do you think things would have worked out if that bitch stepped up!? Do you think that bitch would have achieved anything in a matter involving a tiger's cub!!"

He was going to punish him.

"What...!"

"You idiots! Even if the Young Lord's mother came back to life, she couldn't save your kids! Because that beast Biryuho you all revere is the one who killed them—!"

"Young Master!!"

How the hell did that crazy bastard know about that to run his mouth!

Johanna felt even the little remaining intoxication completely vanish.

"Biryuho...?"

"Why is that name coming up?"

This could no longer be covered up either. Because the Young Lord had constantly shouted for them to enjoy their rights, the residents who had learned to claim their own rights would absolutely not leave any doubts lingering behind them.