How amusing.

No, was this really amusing? Wasn't it infuriating?

As if losing Lavinia Akan, a princess of the kingdom, weren't enough, now Roselle Charnt, the hero who represented the kingdom, had disappeared too.

'And both of them were heading to Erjest.'

Cain, Akan's Fifth Prince, smiled bitterly. Was Erjest cursed?

'Pale is there?'

Even so, this was ridiculous. She had appeared out of nowhere, announced that she was leaving for Erjest to find Pale, and vanished again.

If she was going to make an announcement like that, she should have formally reported it to the mage tower or the king.

Fortunately, more than a few nobles had witnessed her eccentric behavior and heard her purpose. Of course they had. This was a social gathering.

'But where could my sister be?'

She had disappeared in Erjest, but he doubted whether she was still there. Even the coalition army that had scoured the mountains looking for the Tower of Hellfire hadn't found her, though admittedly they hadn't searched every mountain.

'Surely...'

She couldn't be dead.

Cain struggled to suppress the unease creeping over him, reassuring himself that it was impossible. Of course it was. This was Lavinia Akan. Would someone like her die a pointless death in some mountain range?

'Sister, please be safe.'

Otherwise, how would she see her younger brother, who benefited so much from her help, become king?

The reason he could confidently enter the struggle for succession despite being only the Fifth Prince was his close relationship with Lavinia, who enjoyed the mage tower's support. She almost never refused a request from Cain.

"Sir Klein."

"Yes, Your Highness."

"Send messengers to the mage tower and His Majesty to inform them of Lady Roselle's movements."

"As you command."

The knight departed. Cain clapped his hands to settle the commotion.

"We had a brief, unexpected interruption. Everything has been resolved, so let us resume the banquet."

The musicians began playing again.

The Fifth Prince's struggle to build a friendly faction that would support him had only just begun.

* * *

"Desertion?"

"Rather than desertion, she reportedly left for Erjest to find someone named Pale."

"Why?"

"Presumably for his blood. This Pale's blood is said to be as pure as a spirit's, and many mages covet it."

"Why hadn't I heard of him?"

"That's how mages are. They keep anything good to themselves, quietly monopolizing it among their own circles."

"That isn't particular to mages. That's how the human race behaves."

"Ahem."

The chief elder swallowed a groan. The Guildmaster rested his chin on his hand, lost in thought.

"Then we should assume Roselle Charnt cannot participate for now."

"Judging by her past behavior, I believe that would be wise."

"She met Hillen Cargill and then headed to Erjest. Am I imagining things, or might Hillen have deliberately removed Roselle from the picture?"

"But Roselle Charnt was reportedly the one who sought Hillen out first. And it is true that Pale and Hillen Cargill are acquainted."

"That's what I find strange."

Pale, was it?

"He's merely a human. Yet his mana is as pure as a spirit's? Can such a human even exist?"

"Perhaps he consumed magical herbs or elixirs."

"Plenty of humans have consumed those. As I told you, Hillen has ties to a Demon King. Perhaps this is..."

"You mean it could be a Demon King's scheme?"

"Yes."

"But as I said..."

"Yes, Roselle Charnt went to him first."

To suggest that he had engineered even that would be too much of a stretch. Roselle Charnt had shut herself away in the mage tower after the failed hero's journey, while Hillen Cargill had been busy preparing for a new one.

Nor could they simply go and seize this Pale, so no clear answer emerged.

After considering it briefly, the Guildmaster made his decision.

"Leave it alone, but send a few men after Roselle Charnt just in case. If anything happens, they must keep her alive."

"Yes."

"How many Stars have agreed to take part in the real hero's journey?"

"Six."

Balaf Dislord, Roselle Charnt, Ralph Schmitz, Aina Diaphrin, Watton Collo, and even Pablo Barkat.

With Yesica Horton refusing to leave her kingdom, Hillen Cargill deliberately excluded, Hollen Kalaif missing without a trace since disappearing more than a decade ago like the Guildmaster, and Gillian Aint's seat still vacant, it was fair to say that every Star had agreed to participate.

It was only natural.

Heroes were humanity's hope, and the Stars were the pride of heroes. The Stars had been brimming with confidence that they could slay not only demonic creatures and demons, but Demon Kings as well.

That confidence had been utterly shattered, deeply wounding their pride. Their prestige had fallen, and doubts about the Heroes' Guild and the Stars were beginning to surface.

They were sharpening their blades to silence those doubts and restore their broken pride.

"Still, Pablo Barkat is a surprise."

The man was holed up in the peripheral southern alliance, concerned solely with strengthening his own country. Yet he had told the secret envoy, sent without any great expectations, that he would participate.

"The southern alliance has reportedly become fairly stable. Perhaps he wants to make his name known in the central regions now."

"Well, more fighting strength is always welcome."

The Guildmaster shrugged indifferently.

"So five, if Roselle Charnt doesn't return in time."

"The levitation ship we borrow from the dwarves will be filled entirely with heroes. In addition, the navies of Akan, Hessen, and Dormund will be joined aboard their ships by elite troops from the Empire and the other nations."

"Without Hillen Cargill knowing?"

"Yes. Hilderan will be kept unaware as well."

"Amusing."

The Guildmaster smiled.

This time, at last.

'You won't escape.'

Even if he fled, it wouldn't matter. This time, he wouldn't get away.

At the thick killing intent, the chief elder bowed even lower.

* * *

SKREEEE!

The pitch-black lump of charcoal that had once been a monster gave a grotesque shriek as the last of its life burned away.

"Pathetic thing."

FWOOSH!

When she extinguished the fire, the fierce blizzard swept away the heat. Roselle stamped irritably through the white snow.

"What the hell is there in this damned place that makes him want to hole up here?"

There was nothing but snow, blizzards, and monsters. Now that it had turned out there wasn't even a Demon King here, the place had even less value.

Besides, unless her senses had deceived her, Pale was a fire mage. He would be better off immersing himself in a volcano than living in an environment so opposed to his nature.

Ironically, she was right. Having absorbed the Phoenix's power, Berge grew stronger inside a volcano.

Fortunately, there were fewer monsters than she had expected. She suspected their numbers had fallen considerably when the vast coalition army swept through the mountain range on its ascent.

Whatever the reason, it worked in her favor. Even she could be overwhelmed by sheer numbers.

"Let's see."

They had said it was around here.

She spread her mana, extending her senses. Anyone living in a place teeming with monsters would naturally conceal their presence, but she was confident she could find him.

For a long while, she repeated the process of killing monsters, advancing, and spreading her mana.

Then she sensed the faintest anomaly: a warmth perceptible even amid the cold frost.

Roselle glided through the air. When she finally reached her destination, there was nothing but white snow.

'Is this the wrong place?'

No, this was it. That strange incongruity, that warmth amid the cold, kept nudging at her senses.

FWOOSH!

She conjured a flame and hurled it. The snow melted. Nothing else changed.

But she was certain. She wrapped her eyes in mana to see what was otherwise invisible, then hurled another flame.

—!

A small fissure in space.

She forced mana into the gap, prying her way in and tearing it open.

———!

Enormous sparks engulfed the surroundings. The blizzard was gone, and a door appeared amid the half-melted snow.

CREEEAK!

She opened it to reveal a staircase leading down.

She descended slowly. The door closed on its own, but mana lamps around her shone, keeping the darkness at bay.

'I can feel the heat.'

There was warmth here.

Thirty meters? Fifty? She wasn't sure how far she had descended. But just as she began to think she had gone down an enormous number of steps, the bottom came into view.

A laboratory lay before her, filled with all manner of beakers and magical materials. In its center stood a fiercely bubbling furnace and a familiar figure, his back turned as he worked on something.

"Roselle Charnt."

He recognized his visitor without even turning around. His low voice matched her memory exactly.

Roselle exulted silently.

She had found him.

"Why have you come looking for me?"

"You're less surprised than I expected. You knew I was coming?"

"Hillen told me."

"Oh, right."

"Must I ask twice?"

"I've come to give you money."

"Money?"

"Yes. You like money, don't you?"

"You want my blood?"

"The Kingdom of Akan made an agreement with you. I think we have at least some right to claim your blood if we pay a fair price."

"An interesting notion."

Pale turned halfway around. His hair and eyes were still red, but something was different. It was as though a hint of black had mingled with them.

"... Something happened to you, I take it?"

Yet the mana she sensed was even purer, the heat even hotter. Mere changes in his appearance could not curb her greed.

"Yes. A great deal."

"It seems to have been for the better."

"You could say that."

Pale turned to face her fully.

"But none of that gives me a reason to give you my blood."

"What?"

"I did agree to trade. But that's all it was: a trade. If I refuse, that's the end of it."

"Why?"

"Because I have no particular need to do it."

"... No. I need your blood."

"You seem desperate. Why?"

"... I can't tell you that."

"Even if I give you my blood in exchange?"

"..."

Roselle bit her lip.

"I can't."

"Did you swear a mana oath?"

An oath mages took with their engravings at stake. Breaking it meant losing their mana, so they valued it more than their lives.

"Even if I didn't, trust matters."

"Then I cannot give you my blood."

"... I can pay any other price."

"Are you certain you possess anything else I want?"

"I'm Roselle Charnt. I can do anything I set my mind to."

"Are you planning to defeat me and take it by force?"

"... No."

It wasn't as though the thought hadn't crossed her mind. But the moment their conversation began, that intention vanished.

The effortless aura dominating the room and pressing down on her had seen to that.

He was strong. Pale was incredibly strong. Even she, an archmage confident she would soon inscribe her eighth engraving, could not glimpse the limits of his power.

'How on earth?'

The deeper her doubts grew, the broader Pale's smile became.

"Well, I could give you blood if you want it."

"Really?"

"Depending on what you can give me."

"What do you want?"

"Let's see. What would be good?"

Pale scratched his chin as though considering it.

"Loyalty."

"What?"

"I want your loyalty."

"Are you insane?"

Roselle gave a disbelieving laugh.

"I've humored you enough. Ask for something reasonable."

"No, I'm quite serious. It wouldn't be a bad bargain for you, either. I can give you more than enough of the things you don't merely want, but dream of."

"Stop spouting bullshit. However valuable your blood is, it isn't worth surrendering my freedom."

Roselle quietly recited magical formulas. Her instincts sounded an alarm at the profound sense of foreboding.

"What if I gave you all the blood you wanted?"

"Is that all?"

"What about dragon blood?"

"... You have a dragon's blood? Don't be ridiculous!"

"You can see for yourself whether I'm being ridiculous."

"What?"

"Balaf Dislord claimed to have slain a dragon, yet all he brought back was its tail and one wing. Where do you suppose the rest is?"

"... That's..."

In truth, most people had wondered about that. But the issue had been buried to serve the needs of those in power.

"... You're saying you have it?"

"I've lived here for quite some time."

"I find that hard to believe."

"Not just its blood. What if I gave you its scales, bones, muscles, tendons, and even its eyes?"

GULP!

Roselle swallowed. It was instinctive, not deliberate.

'No. Don't be fooled.'

It made no sense. Dragon remains? Those weren't something anyone could easily acquire.

"Why leave out the heart? If you're promising me a dragon, shouldn't you start with its most important part?"

"That would be wasted on you."

"You're oddly realistic about that part of a corpse you don't even have."

"I have the corpse. As I said, everything Balaf Dislord failed to take."

"... Really?"

"Yes."

"You expect me to believe that?"

"And if you don't?"

Pale took a step toward her. Roselle unconsciously took a step back.

"Who the hell are you? Are you really the Pale I knew?"

"I am. Oh, and what if you could have a Demon King's horn or tail as well? Or an essence of demonic energy?"

"What?"

This was even more absurd than the dragon.

"Fine. Let's stretch credulity to its limits and say you acquired a dragon's corpse."

The heroes all agreed that there had been a battle and that Balaf had cut off the dragon's tail and wing.

If the dragon had been wounded and fled, and Pale had finished it off and snatched up the spoils, it wasn't entirely incomprehensible.

Difficult to comprehend, certainly, but possible if she really tried.

A Demon King, however, was another matter.

"How could you possibly acquire pieces of a Demon King?"

"What if I could? A succubus queen's wings or tail, for instance, or the Demon King of Bitter Cold's ice essence."

"And not just one, but two different Demon Kings? Why stop there? Why not offer me pieces of the Demon King of Hellfire, the Demon King of Lies, and the Adamant Demon King too?"

Roselle shrugged, willing to hear just how far he would take this.

"Lies is out of the question, as is Adamant, who's already dead. But I could give you some of Hellfire's scales if you want."

"You're quite something."

Fine.

"If you're telling the truth, I'll become your subordinate. But if you aren't, you must keep drawing as much of your blood as I want, whenever I want it."

"Can you swear to that as a hero?"

"Gladly. I swear on my power as a hero that if you're telling the truth, I'll become your subordinate."

"Don't forget that promise."

At that moment—

"...!"

The broad smile spreading across Pale's lips sent chills down Roselle's spine.

"Wh—!"

FWOOSH!

The spell she had been preparing bit by bit activated. Blazing flames capable of melting everything spewed forth in a straight line.

Pale did not block them.

But Roselle was horrified.

The flames hadn't harmed so much as a hair on his head.

"... What is this?"

"When you think about it, your present situation is truly unfortunate."

Pale smiled.

"Your power is strong enough to contend with even a dragon for a very brief moment, but against me, you have the worst possible matchup."

He had always been a demonic dragon of Hellfire, one who forged black flames.

He had eaten the corpse of the Phoenix, a mythical beast that cast itself into fire to be reborn.

And he had eaten the heart of a Red Dragon that held dominion over flame.

"Fire..."

Never.

"...cannot touch me."

"... Uh..."

Deprived of her most powerful weapon, the mage panicked.

CRUNCH!

A brutal hand shot across the intervening space.

Crimson flames resisted it, but the hand descended on her without the slightest hesitation.

And that...

THUD!

...was her last memory.