The Devil Does Not Need to Be Defeated

Just as Diere said, since Leisha did mention that she came to Lamdrion while was "running away" back when they had just met, a matter to consider was just what she was running from.

If she needed to run, that meant that there was someone chasing her.

With that in mind, and with the fact that the Old Demon Faction person came to him with Leisha's portrait and interrogated him with questions like if he had seen her, or where she was, then it was rather blatantly obvious that the one chasing after Leisha was the Old Demon Faction.

The problem is though, just why is the Old Demon Faction after Leisha?

"It can't be that they're after you because you've stolen the mansion left behind by the Demon King, could it?"

Shien had that suspicion.

"How could that be possible?" Leisha laughed with derision, "Those guys might claim up and down that they're trying to correct the demon race back to their original form, thus following the Demon King's will, and that they shouldn't have sold off their pride and coexisted peacefully with the gods and mortals. However, when it comes down to it, they're just a bunch of ambitious and evil guys who wanted to use that as an excuse to indulge and satisfy their own wants. There's no way that they'd go that far for mere useless residence."

"That's assuming that said residence really is useless though, right?" Shien stabbed right into the heart of the matter, "What if this residence really did have some kind of effect that the Old Demon Faction couldn't ignore though?"

In that case, they'd have enough reason to move for the sake of this residence.

Leisha would naturally understand that reasoning.

However…

"Don't worry, just like I already said, I only grabbed it because it was conveniently there along the way. Although there are some interesting effects, it's nowhere near enough for anyone ambitious to actually try to fight over." Leisha unhurriedly took a sip of her red tea and continued, "What they had their eyes on was something else. That's what I really stole. It's nowhere near the same level as this mansion."

"That is to say, that you do in fact have something on you that the Old Demon Faction wants, right?" Shien gazed straight at Leisha, "So, what is that something then?"

"What? Are you concerned?" Leisha immediately responded with an interested grin, "As expected, as a Hero, there's no way you can just ignore something that the Old Demon Faction terrorists have their eyes on, right?"

That declaration only got a completely unconcerned expression from Shien though.

Leisha raised her eyebrows.

"It looks like that's not it." Leisha muttered, "Your interest in this matter was way lower than I thought."

It was indeed so.

Truth be told, be it that Old Demon Faction or the plot surrounding Leisha, Shien had no interest in any of that.

Originally, all Shien knew was that Leisha was "running", so he tried to avoid her. With that given, there's no way he'd care about what kind of dangerous thing that Leisha had on her or what the Old Demon Faction's goals were.

None of that had anything to do with him, so why would Shien care?

Therefore, so long as it doesn't directly harm him, Shien doesn't want to get too involved in something so troublesome at all.

However…

"This is what it means to be involved in the world." Shien spoke as if he was reluctant, "Since Vivian and them cared so much about this matter, I couldn't really act as just a bystander either."

Vivian's party was obviously acting for the sake of this town and even the kingdom.

Shien received a lot of care from them, so returning the favor was quite necessary.

Anyways, to put it simply, that would be…

"Be it you or the Old Demon Faction, since you've already dragged this town into this matter, then unless I run away from here, then I'd end up dragged into this matter in the end anyways, right?" Shien's smile didn't reach his eyes, "In that case, don't you think I should at least do something?"

"Oh?" Leisha was immediately interested and asked curiously, "Then what are you planing on doing?"

"Very simple." Shien spoke bluntly, "For example, eliminating you here and now, and then bury both the thing you stole and your ashes in the mountains. Let the Old Demon Faction wander about looking for you grave."

"No! This should be where we work together to chase away the Old Demon Faction! That's what the normal development should be right!?" Leisha's face froze and she couldn't help but loudly counter, "Even though they're the bad guys here! Just what is with the thought process that led to that resolution method? You're the Hero here, not the Demon King!"

It was apparent that even Leisha was almost terrified by Shien's abnormal methods.

Only Shien himself didn't feel like there was any problem with what he had said.

"Who says the Hero has to act like a good guy?" Shien replied so, "In the end, Heroes are tools that the gods summoned from other worlds to deal with the Demon King. Put nicely, they're heroes here to save the world, but if you put it not so nicely, they're weapons of war. The only real difference is which side you're on. If the one who summoned the Hero was the demons and not the gods, Heroes would probably be considered the same kind of existences as the Demon Lords, right?"

"That… That isn't wrong>' Leisha was truly stunned at that and spoke as if she was completely exhausted, "Are your mental processes always this strange? Just what were the gods thinking when they summoned someone like you to this world?"

"If not for the fact that you don't know, I'd be the one asking you here." Shien stated, "I managed to escape death and live a new life, so that was a good thing for me. That said though, recently I'm starting to suspect whether or not this really is such a good thing anymore."

"… Fine." Leisha no longer had any comebacks to speak of. She had nothing to say for a while until she finally spoke up again, "I'll remind you first, putting aside the matter of power, if I really wanted to run, no one could kill me, you know?"

As a space magic user, if all Leisha wanted was to escape, then it probably was quite difficult for anyone to actually catch her.

Otherwise, given that the Old Demon Faction was after her, she might not be able to still be acting so carefree and whimsical as she liked.

However, that was also a question that Shien wanted to ask himself.

"If you wanted to run, you could have done so anytime, and yet you're purposefully staying here in Lamdrion. Plus, you're choosing to stay even when you know that the Old Demon Faction is looking for you here, so just what is your goal here?"

Shien finally asked the question that he wanted to the most.

Instincts told Shien that this matter may had something to do with himself.

And Leisha's answer a second later confirmed that guess.

"My goal here is you."

Leisha schooled her features and gazed intently at Shien.

"It was because I knew that you're the new Hero that I decided to stay. Even when I learned that people from the Old Demon Faction had infiltrated Lamdrion, I still didn't leave for that reason."

Hearing that, Shien had only one thought.

And that was, something troublesome was coming.

And as expected…

"Let's work together."

Leisha gazed at Shien and made such a statement.