There is little connection between the Great Demon and the Young Lord of Ednium.

However, since the subjugation battle took place in the forest within Ednium's domain, he had no choice but to pay attention as the Young Lord.

The Lord sending as many as thirty soldiers as a sign of cooperation, and the Archmage continuously reporting the summary of the incident not only to the Temple but also to the castle, were all in the same vein.

"Please take care of us."

For that reason, when the news arrived that the Great Demon's corpse had been swallowed by grass roots, I—or more accurately, the Temple people who had decided to go there with me—was the first to request the Young Lord to accompany us.

Because no matter how I thought about it, the only entity capable of pulling off such a bizarre act was Biryuho.

Furthermore, the only person capable of figuring out Biryuho's intentions without a fight (as far as I knew) was the Young Lord.

If only to grasp the truth in more detail, he had no choice but to go with me and the Temple people.

"As you requested, I was planning to ask Biryuho about the demons... but to think things would turn out like this."

Ah, for reference, that talk is about this. The Archmage had asked him to ask on his behalf regarding Biryuho mentioning demon trust or whatever.

In the end, this mess happened before he could even ask.

"... Why would Biryuho take the demon's corpse..."

Well. I'm just used to clichés; I'm not a prophet.

Still, if I had to pick the most likely possibility, wouldn't it be that the two of them formed an alliance? Setting Biryuho's attitude aside, I wonder if there's even any benefit for each of them to gain by forming an agreement.

"... U-Um, Adventurer."

The Young Lord Leon, who had agonized over what to call me for a long while, somehow found a suitable word and called out to me.

My gaze flicked toward him. As always, I didn't answer.

Although Deathbringer, who would cover for my lack of social skills, and the Inquisitor, who would let things slide with his halo, were both passed out at the Temple, I now had the calling card of having caught a Great Demon.

Sure enough, no one took issue with my rudeness.

"Against the Great Demon... I heard that the Hero, you, Adventurer, and one other person—a total of three—fought and finally seized victory."

Putting that aside, the Young Lord asked carefully.

"... Was the Great Demon very strong?"

I didn't know what thought process led him to ask that, but it wasn't something I couldn't answer.

"The strength of something already dead is meaningless."

Because I'm the one who won!

"Is that so."

Of course, we also took some damage... but honestly, this needs to be understood.

Because the majority of the injuries weren't wounds inflicted by the demon, but rather injuries sustained due to the singularity of being thousands of meters in the air!

If we had fought on the ground, the Inquisitor wouldn't have collapsed either. I'm not bluffing; it's true.

"I heard that the Hero and you, Adventurer, also collapsed..."

Wait, are you crazy? You're actually pointing that out.

Look here, Lord! Why don't you try going up thousands of meters! Do you think it's easy to fight while making footholds with your own power without the system's help! Do you know what it feels like to succumb to the unavoidable human limit of altitude sickness!

This is seriously unfair! It wasn't that I or the Inquisitor were weak at all!

I turned to look at the Young Lord while huffing and puffing inwardly.

Did my personal feelings show in my eyes? The moment our gazes met, the Young Lord trembled.

"If that bastard had been on the ground, it wouldn't have taken even ten minutes for its head to fall."

This was a slightly exaggerated time, but twenty minutes or ten minutes was pretty much the same thing, so it should be fine, right? It wasn't like we'd be hunting a Great Demon again anyway.

With such a sly thought, I looked at the slowly approaching mound of grass.

It wasn't Jack and the Beanstalk, but I could see vines several meters in diameter tangled here and there, forming a giant hill. It was also different from the existing forest's vegetation, making it very easy to distinguish.

"Then, can you kill Biryuho too?"

Wait, what did he just say?

"Can you kill Biryuho too, without causing harm to other people?"

I went beyond just shifting my gaze and turned my head and pelvis toward him. The Young Lord met my gaze exactly.

"Of cou—."

"I apologize. Please pretend you didn't hear that."

And just as I was about to give an answer, the Young Lord struck first.

Ha, wow. It's not like he's joking. After saying everything he wanted to say, he's telling me to pretend I didn't hear it now? Excuse me, Young Lord? Can't you see the skull marks stamping down around me right now??

I'm letting it slide because I know people's lives are on the line.

"Young Lord!"

"You have arrived. You came as well."

After that, the Young Lord and I walked without conversation. Fortunately, the destination was close, so there was no need to steep in the awkwardness for too long.

"I am sorry. To have you come directly to such a dangerous place."

"No. It was something I naturally had to do."

"I am sorry to you as well. I wanted to let you rest a little more, but..."

Well, it wasn't like the Archmage intended for this to happen, so was there a need to apologize?

I let the Archmage's words go in one ear and out the other as I approached the vines.

The Berserker, holding a halberd, was possessed by the spirit of a lumberjack and was cutting down the vines.

How many vines had she cut down before I arrived? There were already three stumps at her feet.

"First of all, those vines are the exact reason I called the two of you. According to the people, they suddenly grew and wrapped around the corpse of the Great Demon without leaving even the slightest gap."

"That is..."

BANG, BANG, BANG!

CRUNCH, CRUNCH, CRUNCH.

No wonder the vines had grown into something close to an oval shape.

But where exactly was this gnawing sound coming from between the sounds of chopping wood?

"The Berserker has been continuously cutting the vines for now to check the inside, but..."

I felt a little sorry to the Archmage, but I listened more closely to the gnawing sound rather than his words.

If it wasn't just my imagination... this seemed to be coming from inside the vines.

"If I had known it would be like this, I would have brought more soldiers. It will be hard to cut those down with this number of people."

"W-Well, no. If it were that kind of situation, I would have told the messenger."

"Then?"

"Move it quickly before it falls over!"

However, I couldn't focus solely on that.

Not only did I have to absorb the information the Archmage was giving, but the shouting sounds of the priests and soldiers working together to move the vines were too loud.

They must have already moved everything that had been knocked down previously, as there were five vine stems piled up on one side.

"The vines grow so quickly that cutting them normally is useless."

... Wait a minute. Five stems?

But there are three stumps?

"It's growing again!"

My question was answered the very next moment. When the Berserker had knocked a vine halfway over, a new vine grew from the cut spot.

And it pushed the Berserker away, encroaching even upon the spot where the existing stump had been.

"Just like that."

The Archmage shrugged, and the sweat-drenched Berserker let out a loud "Uwaaagh!" CLANG. She was so pissed off she even threw her halberd.

"Ah, you came at the right time, comrade!!"

Just then, the Berserker, who had been wildly ruffling her hair, spotted me and shouted loudly.

"Try doing that thing where it swooshes and slices!"

"Swooshes and slices." A phenomenally cheap expression for a slash had just been updated.

"... Demon Knight, do not be too harsh on her. I, too, decided to call you because I thought your abilities would be a bit more helpful."

But I could understand how she felt. The Berserker might be stronger hit by hit, but didn't I have more AoE skills?

If she kept getting sent back to the starting village like that, it made sense that she'd rather want my ability to slice all the way to where the corpse was in one go.

"Is it impossible to burn them with magic? Ah, are you afraid the corpse might be damaged...?"

"No. I have already tried, but it was useless. A conventional scale of magic didn't even leave a scratch."

"Ah..."

I ignored the Berserker, who was waving her hand vigorously, and took up an appropriate position.

If I cut too low, I would end up slicing the Great Demon's corpse too, and if I cut too high, I would only see the cross-section of the vines, so I had to position myself carefully.

"Everyone, step back."

At the same time, I made the people step back, considering the possibility of the vines falling over. I didn't even worry about whether I could cut them or not.

My physical condition hadn't fully recovered, but it wasn't so bad that I couldn't fire off a single skill.

"You can cut around here."

... She's actually helping with this? I stopped estimating where to cut while the people retreated and checked the height the Berserker was pointing to.

Unlike me, who had passed out and couldn't see the corpse, she must have watched over it all night, so it seemed better to follow her opinion.

"Step back."

"Okay!"

Still, I couldn't leave her there. After shooing away even the Berserker, I tightly gripped my zweihänder. CRUNCH, CRUNCH, CRUNCH. Below the vines I had stepped on, something was constantly gnawing away.

"I don't know what kind of trick this is, but..."

It wasn't that I didn't know the identity of that sound at all. But I would find out exactly what it was once I saw it anyway.

"I'll expose you."

I suppressed my guesses for a moment and swung my sword. The pitch-black blade of magical energy stretched out from the zweihänder's blade, growing into a blade dozens of meters long.

SLICE! I felt the feedback accurately in my hands. I cut it.

"Is he... human...?"

"Incredible..."

"But why isn't it falling over?"

I cut it, so why isn't it actually falling over. I blinked once as I looked at the faintly remaining cut marks.

... It wasn't like it was cut so sharply that it didn't separate, like what commonly appears in manga, right?

"Acho!!"

Just then, a massive presence flew over me. THUD! The Berserker had landed a very powerful kick on the vines.

TILT.

And it actually worked. The vines, which hadn't even wavered, started to collapse like dominoes. Due to the sheer weight, it was incredibly slow, but it was falling over nonetheless.

"Let's go!"

"..."

Still, since it was falling slowly, there was plenty of time to dodge.

I opened up a safe distance along with the Berserker. I didn't open it up too much. I had to maintain my distance to observe the inside before Biryuho's new beanstalk could grow.

"Haha, this is fun!"

It wasn't a particularly difficult task. It was slower than the Sea Dragon.

CRASH, CRASH!

I hurriedly inspected the inside while the vines collapsed, kicking up a cloud of dust.

However, the inside revealed as the wall cleared was more serious than I thought.

"...!"

"Oh, the demon bastard's body is gone."

"... It was eaten."

I had doubted it, but the possibility I had anticipated was correct.

That crunching sound was the sound of something being gnawed on. And it was the corpse of the Great Demon being eaten by something else.

"Are the vines not growing anymore?"

Well, whether it was because they were caught or because they had finished their business, it meant there was no need to grow them anymore.

Personally, I thought it was the latter. Because the remaining traces of Moby Dick were now just the hair, scraps of silk, fins, and a bit of skin.

"...?"

But what is that?

I endured the rising fishy stench and jumped down there. The overflowing blood made my ankles sink stickily as if in a swamp, but it was bearable.

My legs headed toward the spot where a few bones, pieces of flesh, and fragments of internal organs remained. It was the spot where the demon bastard's upper body should have originally been.

"Did you find something?"

SWISH.

And at the center of it, I grabbed and lifted something.

"I didn't know tigers ate corpses too."

A white tiger's tail, presumably belonging to Biryuho, was caught in my hand and lifted up. As expected of a primeval beast, it was larger than a person's upper body.

"I am sorry, Young Lord."

Back to Camberer.

"It is my fault for failing to stop you, Young Master, even though I was right there."

The residents, having obtained fragments of the truth, naturally tried to uncover the full story.

The fact that it ended as a relatively moderate protest was likely out of consideration for none other than the Young Lord's face.

The face of the Young Lord, who had silently fought for the residents while covering up the bullshit of the Lord and his son even as they made a mess of things.

"I will gladly accept any punishment."

Even so, the fact that she failed to control the information and caused an unnecessary conflict didn't disappear.

Johanna asked her liege for forgiveness.

"There's no need to apologize, Johanna."

No. Although it wasn't her direct responsibility, she was also at fault for failing to stop it despite being there.

Rather than letting it slide because they were friends, it was only right to make an example of her.

"No. It is only proper that I be held responsible and..."

"Ah, I'm telling you not to apologize because it's genuinely not your fault."

"But..."

"In the first place, I was the one who personally told him about Biryuho."

"What?"

She was so flustered that familiar, informal speech popped out even in a formal setting. Johanna slapped her own cheek once and looked at the Young Lord again.

Was it just her imagination? Mia actually looked a little pleased.

"There's no special reason. I just, I just... got curious about how the people would react once they learned the truth of the situation."

No, after hammering freedom and rights into the people herself, she's now curious about how they'll react? Is she joking?

Johanna thought she might have smacked her if she hadn't been her liege, and suppressed her emotions once again. Then, instead of harboring ill feelings, she tried to imagine the future her liege had hoped for. So far, she couldn't quite grasp it.

"U-Um, so did you intend...?"

"Intend... is not quite the right word. It's not like I can control him. I just... left it to fate. Whether he would go around blabbing about this, or whether he'd have the brains to keep his mouth shut."

"... What would you have done if he hadn't spoken, Young Master?"

"I would have accepted it, thinking it was fate."

But the more she listened, the worse that tendency seemed.

Johanna placed a hand on her temple, feeling her pounding heart start to lurch for a completely different reason. She wanted to grab her forehead or the back of her neck, but she didn't have the guts to do that in front of her liege.

"Then what will you do now?"

"Well. First, I have to tell the people the truth they want to know. That Biryuho really is the culprit, and what his reason for causing this incident was."

"Are you going to... induce a subjugation?"

"No. I'm just going to leave that up to heaven too. The opponent is none other than Biryuho. Since we don't know what kind of damage will occur, if the people don't want it... I'll have to give up."

However, whatever the Young Lord desired, this one thing was certain. Mia would follow the people's opinion entirely.

Even if that meant breaking a part of herself.

"... Will the people take the risk?"

Therefore, Johanna asked as a friend. Recognizing that nuance, the Young Lord, Mia, smiled faintly.

"It doesn't really matter."

"Why?"

"Because I acted out of spite, actually, knowing they wouldn't step forward. You know we can't just kill him recklessly even if they wanted to, right? Because we don't know what kind of aftermath will follow."

"... You, you!"

"Very wicked of me, right? But let it slide. They say suffering and sorrow are halved when shared."

"... Coming from the person who normally shouts that it doubles."

Mia didn't answer Johanna's scolding. Johanna also didn't dwell on her words any further. Her tongue tasted too bitter to nitpick.

"... What if, what if, Mia."

"Hm?"

"What if the people agree to subjugate Biryuho, and there are no side effects when Biryuho is killed. What will you do then?"

However, the taste of lingering attachment was just as bitter. She asked as a final question.

At Johanna's question, Mia pulled out a liquor bottle and a dagger she had kept in the drawer.

"Why do you ask? Obviously, I have to kill him."

The dagger struck off the neck of the liquor bottle.