Young Lord Leon suddenly realized that the meeting was about to begin.

But he didn't pay attention to it for too long. There was no reason for him, a Young Lord, to give any heed to a meeting of Lords.

Of course, someone might have mobilized a Young Lord or an aide... but in his case, going would only be a loss. It was obvious since most would implicitly urge him to sacrifice himself.

Rather than stressing over that, it would be more productive to handle the work that had been delayed by the meeting preparations.

Under that judgment, he simply worked. He happened to have a matter that needed to be handled most urgently.

Even if a report came in that Camberer's wild beast crisis had stopped, there was no telling how long that peace would last.

Even with various matters piling up and causing delays, it was foolish to believe that Biryuho would keep turning a blind eye. He hurriedly drafted a document to announce the breaking of his engagement.

"Young Lord, are those vines truly unrelated to Biryuho's anger?"

"Absolutely not. The Hero and his companions merely exerted their power to protect us from the Great Demon's remnants."

"The anxiety of the city's residents is growing. There are widespread rumors that Biryuho is furious, and that if Biryuho leaves, the city will fall to ruin."

"Those are baseless rumors. Furthermore, how could this land fall to ruin just because Biryuho leaves? Even looking at the entire western region, the Sea Dragon disappeared and there has been no issue."

But what in the world were these new stones being thrown into his already complicated mind?

He chewed on his lip as he looked at the newly circulating rumors and the people being swayed by them.

It was a relief that the messy love affair between him, the Young Lord of Camberer, and Biryuho hadn't been revealed, but that didn't mean things were fine on this end.

Biryuho was the root of all evil, but these rumors had ended up defending Biryuho, hadn't they?

He hated that fact alone, so he was somehow trying to shift the credit to others and continuously leaking words about the Great Demon subjugation to draw everyone's attention... but this flow itself was bad from the start.

The people grew terrified over the vines that grew in a single day, and sought out their dust-covered faith for the first time in a long while.

At this rate, even if Biryuho, who ate the demon's corpse, became a demon itself, it would be quite difficult to subjugate it. At least until all of them suffered damage, just like over in the west.

"This is driving me crazy..."

He finished writing the main text, vowing to thoroughly hide Biryuho's existence. An article that didn't even mention the letter 'B' of Biryuho was slowly completed.

["Are you ashamed of me? Why is there no mention of me? I clearly told you to declare that you are mine."]

A black breath, a somewhat chilly warmth covered his back. The stench that normally came from rotting meat brushed the tip of his nose.

["Or perhaps..."]

Beads of cold sweat formed from the heavy weight pressing down on his shoulder. At the same time, he slowly turned his head to fulfill the responsibility of the task he had taken on.

He had a duty to figure out Biryuho's condition.

["Do you intend to beg the humans who killed the Great Demon to kill me?"]

But where had those pink eyes, as pretty as cherry blossoms, gone, leaving only a murky red watching him?

["Give it up, they cannot kill me. For that very reason, I even devoured this fishy thing."]

A large hand covered his mouth and lifted his body.

["There is no longer any need to care about others. Let us go to my nest."]

DeB ultimately followed me and the party. It was a decision made after he appealed his usefulness—that he could testify—and expressed his opinion that he didn't want to stay in the Temple because it made him uncomfortable.

"I feel like I can live a little now."

"Is the Temple really that uncomfortable?"

"It kind of is. I don't know how to explain it, but..."

After some thought, DeB brought up words like a maggot pit or a corpse pit. I didn't completely agree, but I understood what he meant by it.

He probably meant he felt a level of discomfort similar to the disgust a normal person would feel when seeing something like that.

"Is it because of demonic energy...?"

"You're saying the demon worshipers caught up until now didn't feel things like this?"

"They get thrown into the torture room the moment they're caught, so do you think any of them would give such a review?"

"... I'm glad I didn't go into the torture room."

"Don't worry. As long as you don't actually betray us, you will have no reason to go in there."

At the Inquisitor's response, DeB shook his head side to side with a sickened expression.

It was right around then that the Archmage turned her gaze toward me.

"What about you? Are you alright?"

'Me? Well... it's not like the space known as the Temple is comfortable for me, right?'

'Because from a certain point on, it started feeling like a thousand needles were pricking my body and floating eyeballs were watching me from all directions. It also felt like a swarm of tiny bugs were crawling all over my body.'

'But my concept wouldn't avoid it. Therefore, I decided not to avoid it either.'

'Even if it wasn't strictly because of the concept, I wouldn't have tried to evade it anyway.'

Either way, instead of voicing those feelings, I sped up my pace and preemptively blocked any follow-up questions. Because of that, I failed to see the Archmage falling into deep thought behind me.

As soon as we reached the castle, a guide came out and led me and the party inside.

Perhaps judging that a reception room was too small, a place that looked like a banquet hall became our final destination.

"It's spacious."

"Because there are many participants, you see."

I hesitated for a moment at the entrance while listening to their conversation.

I was hoping that my concept wouldn't end up getting me targeted by the Lords, and that an all-out war wouldn't break out inside.

"Demon Knight, are you not coming in?"

"..."

Regardless, I couldn't back out after coming all this way. I hid my praying inner thoughts and stepped inside.

"But how exactly is a meeting held here?"

"It works by scanning the other party's appearance with magic, and then projecting that scanned information as an illusion over here. Likewise, the appearance of this place will be transmitted in the same way."

Right at the front of the entrance, the Archmage was giving DeB a lecture on something. Her finger pointed to the floor.

"The surrounding scenery will be transmitted starting from inside this line. So if you have anything to say, stand inside here. The same goes for you, Inquisitor."

"Understood."

"Then will I also... later?"

"Why would I push a different rule onto you? However, I think... it would be better for you to step forward a bit later."

"Then I will step forward when you give me the signal."

"Thank you."

'It made me realize once again that science and magic aren't all that different. It reminds me of a hologram video conference.'

"Has everyone gathered?"

Just then, someone walked in. Since the Young Lord had been handling all the affairs on this end, it was the Lord, whom we hadn't seen until now.

"Lord Munmunt has declared his absence. He sent word that a horde of demons has invaded right at this moment of all times, and that he will follow whatever result the meeting yields. All the others have expressed their intent to attend."

"I see. Understood."

It seemed he hadn't left everything to the Young Lord for nothing, as the Lord gave the distinct impression of being gravely ill. Not only could he not walk on his own, but his body was completely emaciated despite being of the Shaggy tribe.

He didn't look like someone who had only been sick for a day or two.

"Ah, Hero. The Sage and your companions have come as well. I apologize for the late greeting."

However, even if he was sickly, his spirit didn't seem weak.

His shirt was baggy enough for there to be excess room due to how thin he was, but his back was straight, and though his fur had lost its shine and become sparse, his two eyes were full of clarity just looking at him.

"Not at all. Rather, it seems things are about to begin, so let us put off the formalities for later."

"Thank you for your consideration."

And while the Archmage and the Lord exchanged light greetings, people's figures began to project around the massive table set up in the banquet hall.

"Well then, since everyone seems to have gathered, we will begin the meeting. Lord Munmunt is inevitably absent."

Standing at the seat of honor as the host, the Lord of Ednium began to lead the meeting.

"I declare this beforehand: Ednium is fully prepared to not shy away from any sacrifice regarding this crisis."

"By any sacrifice, do you mean...?"

"I mean it literally."

"Does that mean you will fight Biryuho?"

"If everyone's opinion is such, then that is how it will be. If not, then it will not be so."

"So you're saying..."

"If you insist on making a father explicitly speak of his son's sacrifice, then just say so. Do not waste time beating around the bush."

"Ahem."

However, the flow of the meeting itself went exactly as expected.

"But is this conversation even necessary? It is unfortunate for the Lord of Ednium, but if we simply send the Young Lord, it doesn't seem Biryuho will make much of an issue out of this."

"As for it eating the demon... isn't it simply because it didn't want to leave a demon on this land? Given who Biryuho is, would eating a mere demon even cause a problem?"

"Therefore, I think we can just wrap this up here. There's no guarantee there will be side effects, and we don't know what risks there might be if we turn Biryuho into an enemy, so is there a need to deliberately cause trouble?"

"Right. There is no reason to stir up trouble."

Most of the Lords wanted to gloss over this crisis.

"You all seem to be taking the Young Lord of Ednium's sacrifice for granted. Is this right?"

"We are sorry to the Lord of Ednium, but... we cannot have all the other cities suffer damage just because of the single Young Lord of Ednium."

"If the Lord of Ednium steps forward to save his son, that choice is understandable. However, even if we understand it, Bemurhen will not agree to that opinion."

"The Bemurhen Magic Tower Branch shares the same opinion. Even at this moment, the sea is full of demons, so we do not wish to make an enemy of the master of this region as well."

Young Lord Leon's sacrifice? That didn't even become a topic of debate.

If Biryuho could be appeased with the sacrifice of one person, then wasn't that enough? That was the atmosphere.

I knew that sacrificing the few for the many was frequent in this world, but the way they acted like it was something owed made me feel quite sick.

It felt even more so because the father who was about to sacrifice his son, and the Young Lord of Camberer, who was having her lover completely stolen away, were both present in this place.

"The damage to Camberer... honestly, isn't it on the smaller side? It's not like the city was on the brink of ruin."

"Are you quite finished? The damage wasn't large? Would you like to say that to the faces of our citizens who are currently protesting?"

"Ahem... Young Lord of Camberer, your words are a bit..."

"You have to speak like a human being first for me to respond to you like a human being."

Of course, neither of the two let their circumstances show. In fact, they were so resolute that those who knew the situation became more self-conscious.

One Lord muttered with moving lips as he watched the Young Lord of Camberer mercilessly tear into people, "As expected of a knight's daughter..."

"Um..."

CLUNK.

But just as the Archmage was raising her hand, seemingly getting ready to participate.

The door to the banquet hall opened. The sound wasn't loud, so it seemed the Lords hadn't noticed. In the first place, that area wasn't transmitted by magic, so it wouldn't be visible to them anyway.

"My Lord."

In that brief moment, someone who looked like a knight approached the Lord with a stiff face.

"The Young Lord..."

He seemed to have lowered his voice to whisper, but... unfortunately, I heard everything. Biryuho must have already caused trouble.

"The Young Lord was kidnapped...!"

"Archmage!"

The Inquisitor, who had been restlessly wanting to interject for a while, quickly looked back at the Archmage. The Archmage also seemed to not have anticipated this development, her face stiffening slightly.

"What is the matter, Lord of Ednium?"

"Is it something you can share with us?"

Meanwhile, the Lord of Ednium, who had just heard the news that his son had disappeared, blinked slowly.

"I'm told Biryuho has taken my son."

Perhaps it was just my imagination, but the middle-aged man's voice seemed more subdued than before.

"Is that a problem? He was going to be offered up anyway..."

"If the knowledge inside your head is light, shouldn't your mouth at least be heavy, Lord of Dorpumain?"

"Young Lord of Camberer! Such rude words!"

"Your intelligence is likely an insult to the Lord of Ednium as well."

The Young Lord of Camberer also showed signs of being slightly agitated. Though for someone agitated, she was running her mouth quite well.

"This is bad... To think Biryuho would act like this."

In the meantime, the Archmage quietly muttered. It was likely because she was worried about the Young Lord's safety, as well as thinking of the many things that would become complicated with his disappearance.

It would be nice if she only had to worry about the person, but someone of the Archmage's standing had to think about the aftermath as well.

"This is an outrage!"

"Should I go catch a tiger? Berserker catches tigers well."

"Not yet, so please don't get excited..."

And I was just as worried.

Since he was a human it somewhat loved, it didn't seem like it had taken him just to kill him, but just having your life intact didn't mean everything was fine.

On top of that... this might be a cold thing to say, but without the Young Lord, there was no peaceful way to ascertain Biryuho's condition.

If other humans asked Biryuho questions, they would have to risk their lives, but it wasn't like that for the Young Lord.

In the first place, the Young Lord also knew this, so he had just promised that if he ended up calling Biryuho, he would subtly look into its condition.

Not just the side effects it might have gained from eating the demon, but even the source of Biryuho's remark—something about demons.

"If it comes to this, hmm... things will take a difficult turn. It will be hard to persuade them with the cards we have."

However, if things turned out this way, there was a high chance we would end up standing on the sidelines without knowing Biryuho's situation.

I glanced at the muttering Archmage. Just in time, as if she had come to the same conclusion as me, she stepped forward with a dark complexion.

"Who are you...?"

"I am but an old woman accompanying the Hero, lacking as I may be."

"Ah, you were the Great Sage. We have heard much about you."

The Lords had narrowed their eyes in displeasure at the suddenly intruding presence, but as soon as the Archmage revealed her identity, they hastily corrected their attitudes.

"It is nothing much, but I have heard a story that you might find worth referencing. Rather than making a hasty decision, how about listening to this story first?"

Setting that aside, she reeled off the information DeB had provided. The fact that the Great Demon might be alive, and the fact that it seemed the Great Demon and Biryuho had formed an agreement.

It was those two things.

"I clearly heard that the Great Demon was killed?"

"Was there some sort of mistake?"

"Well. We plummeted to this land with a sword thrust into the demon's brow from thousands of meters in the air, so how could we imagine it surviving that? However, it is true that Great Demons are beings that have lived on this land since ancient times. It wouldn't be strange for them to wield mysteries unknown to humans."

"That is true, but is it certain that the Great Demon is alive?"

"We have captured someone who made a contract with Envy. This is testimony obtained from him, so I do not believe it can be ignored."

"How do we know he isn't digging a trap to destroy our eastern region?"

"That's right! We cannot trust the words of such wicked beings!"

However, the Archmage hadn't kept her mouth shut until now for no reason. People didn't want to get into a fight with Biryuho, so they were finding fault over nothing.

I could understand them, but honestly, it was a bit...

'It would be refreshing to just kill them all.'

Right. It was quite frustrating.

Because ending up paying the price for acting like that is a very typical cliché, after all.

"...? That's..."

"What is it, young Hunter?"

"Did some problem occur, slacker?"

"... It's nothing. And please stop calling me a slacker."

At that moment, DeB twitched his ears. Then, he approached the doorway with a somewhat complicated gaze before changing direction and coming toward me.

After mumbling for a long while, his lips managed to speak in a truly awkward manner.

"When did you make a request to the Information Guild?"

His soft whisper felt rather out of nowhere. But before I could fully think, 'What is he talking about?', something suddenly flashed in my mind.

DeB was also a member of the Information Guild.

"... Um, since I'm also a person of the Information Guild, I can be used as a means of delivery. That's how I found out, so... please don't suspect me."

But seeing how he was telling me now, it seemed he had just received it.

How did he receive it in this closed room? While wondering about that point, I gave DeB a quick glance. Perhaps still uncomfortable dealing with me, DeB trembled.

"I didn't even look at the contents."

Even so, he ultimately handed something over. It was a scroll that felt rather uncultured. The fact that its material was a leaf said it all.

"... Um."

However, this might just be the key point.

I hurriedly unrolled the scroll. Unrecognizable letters and their translation were included.

"What on earth are you two talking about?"

"Is there a problem?"

And when the Berserker and the Inquisitor, feeling perplexed, approached me.

I rolled the scroll and the translation back up after finishing reading them.

'This will do. I mean, probably.'

"Demon Knight?"

"B-Boss..."

I strode forward. Then, I stood beside the Archmage, who had been about to say something more.

The thought briefly crossed my mind that this might be an interruption or that I might end up targeted by the Lords, but the judgment that it probably wouldn't be won out.

I decided to trust myself and go for it.

"Biryuho must die."

After all, washing down a stifling bite of frustration with a refreshing sip of resolution is the golden rule.

"You...?"

"Oh."

"And who are you to suddenly..."

"If you do not want your lands to dry up every year, that is what you will have to do."

So, if only to end this suffocating meeting, let's throw these people a reason why Biryuho had to be killed.

Because in the end, the conclusion this meeting reached was closer to an excuse thrown out simply because they didn't want to suffer damages without gaining any benefits.