Evade The Hero and Flee!

< Evade the Hero and Flee! 207 #24. Why Does it Have To Be Me? (4) >

#3 Their circumstance: A certain hero’s circumstance

“You all have done well.”

That was my honest feeling. The 100 demon kings before my eyes really had done an excellent job.

“Very, very well, all of you.”

However, they didn’t say anything and simply stared at me in a daze.

“From this moment on, you are excellent demon kings that no one, and I do mean absolutely no one, on the demon continent will make fun of!”

Even after I said something inspirational, they still didn’t say anything and looked up at me on the platform.

“Sob…”

Several awkward moments ticked by, then one of the demons began tearing up all of a sudden. Tears didn’t really suit that demon’s outward appearance, though.

One hundred demons had been brought here regardless of their gender or tribe. Even their race-specific traits had been disregarded.

And the one tearing up was…!

The dragon-demon race, categorised as the strongest demons there was! And let me tell you, they do deserve that moniker, that’s for sure!

They believed in the legend of how their race had inherited the blood of true dragons, the destroyer of worlds! Yes, the dragon-demon race member, infamous for their excessive pride for being the descendants of dragons, began crying before everyone else!

“Sniffle… Sob..”

“It’s… over…?”

“It’s over? Really?”

“Did we… Did we really survive?”

One demon tearing up had opened the floodgates, and more demon kings began breaking down in emotions.

In a way, you could say this was a heartwrenching, emotional moment for these demons. Honestly speaking, though? I was unhappy. If a third party who didn’t know anything about what happened looked at this scene, they would misunderstand me for being a bloodthirsty monster that tried to kill these candidates!

Do you have any idea how hard it was for me to control my strength and not kill them?! Every time I landed a hit, I was so worried that my attack had been too strong for them. I even had to worry myself nearly to death while thinking about how to adjust my strength to match the growth of the candidates.

If the candidates were really weak, it’d be easy enough for me to watch my strength. However, if they were only moderately weak, then controlling my strength would become that much trickier.

If my attacks are too weak, they wouldn’t serve as proper training, and if I get a bit too serious, the candidates might die. What kind of a harsh condition was this! Even I had to admit that it was one heck of a fine tightrope walking.

I even ended up understanding how my instructor must’ve felt – just a little – as the training drew to a close.

“Silence.”

One word from me, and all the sobbing instantly ceased. Only still silence existed in this field.

I was deeply satisfied by the knowledge that one hundred demon kings did exactly as I said. Maybe instructors trained their disciples just to taste this satisfaction?

“Has it been difficult, my disciples?”

“Yes!”

“It was really difficult, sir!”

“I thought I was going to die!”

#4 Their circumstance: A certain god’s circumstance

‘Glory to our great Demon God!’

‘Everything is for the glory of the Demon God!’

‘Oh, the one upholding the Demon God’s will, become the next demon king!’

“Wowsers…”

Have I ever received such powerful and overwhelming faith from my flock like this before?

No, I don’t think so.

That’s what the Demon God told herself while holding her aching head.

“Why… Why are things working out so well after that guy started calling himself my apostle…?”

If only… If only that guy wasn’t related to that ‘dang thing’, the Demon God would’ve taken him in as her apostle, even though he wasn’t even a demon.

The Demon God could only groan while observing the demon continent’s state of affairs that had so easily surpassed the demon race’s previous golden era.

“This is insane.”

In less than two years, the demon continent had changed so much.

The tribal society transformed into a Communist one. Roads and buildings were constructed in many places, and the number of demon kings continued to increase. Even though there should’ve been only one demon king.

Apparently, those upholding the Demon God’s will were all demon kings! The crazy thing was, these demon kings mass-produced under that nonsensical ‘logic’ all possessed combat abilities rivalling that of a real demon king.

Sure, the power of the individual demon king was below Aggreahrt’s, but two or three of them working together could easily subdue him. And there were already over a thousand of such individuals now. If they were around during the last war, the unification of the continent would’ve been a distinct possibility!

“Yes. Let’s just leave him alone.”

After watching the demon continent grow stronger, more prosperous and advanced than before, the Demon God sensed her will had been truly broken now.

“T-that’s right. No matter how long he lives, it’ll be less than a century, anyway. Let’s just turn a blind eye until then…”

The Demon God managed to achieve a moral victory like that and decided to leisurely watch over her children in the mortal realm, but then…

“Why are you here?”

She couldn’t help but frown deeply at a sudden visitor interrupting her me-time.

“I’m sorry.” The unwelcome visitor, the Good God, apologised as their expression crumpled.

“Eh? What’s gotten into you? Apologising for something this minor and all?”

The Demon God was taken aback at the attitude of her bitter rival. However, her expression soon became the same as the Good God’s

at the latter’s subsequent words. “Well, I need to apologise to you about ‘this’, after all.”

“That’s right. I always thought how great it’d feel when you apologise to me, but… When I think about it, you aren’t the type to say sorry, now are you?”

The unusually-succinct apology only made the Demon God nervous. And when she recalled the recent conversation she had with the Good God… her nervousness became an ominous foreboding.

“No way… It can’t be…”

As if to say her guesses were correct, the Good God nodded gravely. “Yeah, you’re right. We failed to stop that thing. From now on… The season of evil will begin.”

This was the moment that every temple in the human and demon continents received oracles from their respective deities.