The Hero Party Couldn’t Kill Me

Chapter 2: The Mistakes of the Hero Party (3)

“I understand your intentions. But is there any reason for the Empire to attack Speth now? If there is, isn’t it actually because of you?”

“Surely, if the Empire finds out that I am here, they will attack here. But even if I’m not here, it’s the same for the Empire to invade this place.”

“… Please explain.”

“Currently, there are only Sordon and Grenouville in the Empire that are close to Speth. And do you know what these two regions have in common?”

“… ….”

“I support the prince. To be precise, I support Calia, the hero who supports the prince.”

The lord of Grenouville was the Marquis of Grenouille, and was Calia’s right-hand man, and the lord of Sordon, Count Calen, was also a person who sat on the throne thanks to Calia.

“And Calia, whom they support, is an extreme figure who insists that anyone suspected of having any connection with the demons should be killed. Before the capture of Sordon, when she learned of the existence of this city, she said that this city must have been allied with the Asmodians. She said she couldn’t make it this far without it.”

I said almost exactly what Calia said at the time. Swann’s eyebrows twitched.

“Then why didn’t you attack this place then?”

“At that time, the war against the demons was more urgent. But now that the demon king has been defeated and the power of the demon tribe has collapsed, there is time to turn our attention.”

“… I believe that a person named Calia had such thoughts. But, what are they trying to gain by invading this place?”

Actually, Speth is not worth occupying. The land is not fertile, and its commercial value is low.

On the other hand, Speth’s power is at a level that even the Empire cannot ignore.

In other words, the risk-to-return ratio is very low.

If you look at it objectively.

“The purpose is to increase your reputation.”

“Fame?”

“Hasn’t Speth been famous for a long time? A city-state that endured at the forefront of the demonic realm. Here, despite being isolated from the empire hundreds of years ago, it still survives, so it can be said that the name value is quite high.”

“But didn’t Calia already have a great reputation for defeating the Demon Lord? Why is she there and she wants to build more fame?”

“Even though she has defeated the demon king, it is unclear whether the prince she supports will still be the next emperor.”

This part is somewhat unknown. Now I don’t know what happened to the emperor succession race.

But even if Calia had a clear edge over her emperor rival, Speth wasn’t safe either.

“If not, there are plenty of other reasons. To further expand the empire’s territory. To advance beyond the White Forest. Or you can put forward the eradication of the ‘collaborators of the demons’, or you can use the justification for expelling the delegation last time.”

“No matter how it is, our space is not so easy. They, too, will have to endure enormous damage.”

I managed to hold back my laughter when I heard Swann’s words.

“Yes, any sane commander would. But Calia is someone who doesn’t consider such a risk factor at all.”

I know this well because I have fought by Calia’s side for the past three years. How recklessly she plots.

The reason I’ve been arguing with Calia countless times is because I had to stop her.

Where would her habit go? Rather, since she defeated the demon king, she must be even more proud.

“If you don’t believe me, check it out.”

Even so, when Swann didn’t seem to be completely persuaded, I raised the odds.

“Rafaela. Do you know Calia’s face?”

“Yes, I will show it to Swann.”

Swann received his memories of Calia’s face from Rafaela. And she did another divination with the cards.

After confirming the results, her expression hardened.

“… Then I will ask If you win the battle and kill Calia, will anything change? Rather, wouldn’t the empire use that as an excuse to attack on a large scale?”

“I don’t think so. The mere defeat of Calia, who defeated the demon king, will come as a great shock to the empire. Rather, they will not take the space lightly.”

“… ….”

“Above all, when Calia’s power disintegrates, it will be replaced by the princess’s power. Unlike Calia, the princess is a rational person. You will quickly discover that the cost of capturing Speth far outweighs the expected value of capturing it.”

“… But since we killed the warriors of the empire, won’t they come out emotionally?”

“On the contrary. Right now, the princess is virtually competing with Calia for her position as emperor. For her sake, she will be glad that her competitor is gone.”

“You are an enemy of an enemy, so they will be friendly to us.”

Swan thought for a moment. Then she looked at my left arm.

The left arm is still paralyzed from the poison.

“Lastly, just one question. Can you beat Calia? She is a warrior She was told that unless she was a hero, she would not be harmed.”

“It is true. But that’s all. Her objective fighting power is that I overpower her. She can’t do her damage to her, but she can subdue her.”

In the first place, I endured for two hours without a demonic sword against the demon lord who defeated Calia in one blow. As long as my condition returns, it’s not even a job to catch Calia.

“By the way, aren’t you injured now?”

As expected, Swann had doubts about my physical condition.

“I will take responsibility for Edmund’s injuries and treat them.”

But this time it was Rafaela. After hearing Raphaella’s confirmation, Swann finally made up his mind.

“Good. I will accept your offer. Please protect the space.”

“Thank you. I will do my best to protect the space.”

I smiled and shook Swann’s hand.

With this, we are one step closer to our first revenge.

***

‘There must be something hidden.’

Meanwhile, the princess sat down at the table in her own room, immersed in her thoughts, resting her chin on her chin.

It’s not uncommon for the goddess to tell you who will do great harm to the empire. She even tried to assassinate him at the church level.

However, the original Etoiles were quite careful when faced with such a situation. Even if he was truly a traitor who would devour the empire, he did not openly announce it until he revealed his true colors.

Because one of the main tenets of the original Etoile religion is forgiveness and repentance.

But this time, it felt like the work was handled too hastily. The whole party of warriors tried to kill Edmund, and the church too quickly excommunicated Edmund.

And as expected today, the saintess was unable to provide proper evidence.

‘Damn b*tches.’

The princess internally cursed at the warrior party.

Actually, the princess didn’t like the composition of this warrior’s party.

The warrior, Calia, had already suffered a crushing defeat against the demon king once, and she was openly engaged to the prince and was full of ambition, aiming for the position of the next empress.

Iris Rossier came in through a typical connection, which came in through the intervention of Duke Rossier, who was a former hero.

Saint Lucy did not have the lofty purpose of defeating the demon king, but instead received her funds to rebuild the Great Sanctuary of Etoile as her reward.

And Pesima… Together with her master, she committed a major accident that summoned the demon king this time. Although it is an accident because the stranger they summoned was suddenly chosen by the demonic sword, it is an accident, but they are responsible for preparing the opportunity for the demon king to rampage this time.

As such, they were all people the princess didn’t like, but at the time, the princess, who had been in charge of acting emperor, couldn’t leave out one person at will.

In that sense, Edmund was a ray of light for this warrior party.

In retrospect, Edmund could be seen as the person who had the least reason to fight the demon king among the warriors’ party. Because he is a person who has nothing to do with this world.

But he fought more seriously than anyone else to defeat the demon king, and made the most contributions.

Of course, I later found out that Edmund also had an inside story that he couldn’t return to his own world, but that didn’t make Edmund’s feelings disappear.

He was rather happy because he knew that even after defeating the demon king, he would remain in the empire.

It was for this reason that he proposed to him first.

‘Such Edmund is a great threat to the empire? Nonsense.’

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The princess trembled with anger and took out her crystal ball.

-Edmund, if he is alive please reply to me.

– Be at ease. I do not believe in the goddess’ revelation that you are a great threat to the Empire. I want to relieve Edmund’s resentment.

I sent a message to Edmund last night, but there was no reply.

Did he really die? Or maybe he doesn’t answer because he can’t trust her.

I hope it’s the latter. So please, I hope Edmund trusts her again.

The princess sent her message to Edmund again, and then she called someone with the crystal ball.

Smart smart.

“Your Highness, may I go in?”

“Come in.”

The man called by the princess soon entered.

It was Count Raoul Perry, an escort knight who had guarded the princess since she was young.

“What are you doing?”

“Raoul, what do you think of the revelation of the Goddess?”

“A revelation about Edmund? I don’t understand something, but isn’t it a revelation from the Goddess?”

“… Is that so.”

“By any chance, did you have any doubts when you talked with the warrior party earlier?”

“… There are two possibilities.”

After thinking for a while, the princess carefully brought her words out.

“The first is that the hero bribed a saint or the head priest of the Etoile Church to publish her false revelations.”

“That makes no sense. If you do, no matter how saintly or chief priest you are, you will be punished by the Goddess. Isn’t there a precedent already?”

“Looking at the current situation of the Etoile Church, I don’t think it will be impossible.”

“Even so, the prince’s camp would have to pay a really heavy price to do something of that magnitude. It has to be a huge amount that even we can notice.”

… Was it too crowded? The princess also accepted it meekly.

“Second, the revelation the saintess saw was actually that Edmund was a great threat to the Etoile Church, but the Etoile Church exaggerated this as a great threat to the empire.”

“… That seems quite possible. They would think that a threat to the Etoiles was a threat to the Empire. I can understand why they quickly excommunicated Edmund.”

“Fortunately, this agrees with me.”

The princess nodded her head. She wasn’t the only one thinking this.

But even so, this is still just heartbreaking. There was no clear way to reveal this truth.

Etoile is a fairly closed organization. In particular, only the saintess and her chief priest can know the exact contents of the revelation of the goddess.

And if she recklessly touched the church, she wouldn’t be safe no matter how much she was a princess.

‘But Edmund will definitely touch it.’

That’s why Edmund must be alive all the more. This is something only Edmund can uncover.

“Thank you, Raoul. It’s good to go back.”

After sending Raul back, the princess headed out of her window.

In the distance, I could see the Etoile Cathedral.

The Grand Sanctuary boasts a grand momentum as much as the Imperial Palace.

After staring at the daunting scenery for a while, the princess summoned her crystal ball.

‘First of all, Edmund said it was likely that he was in Blanc’s tower.’

And then she sent a message to Marion in the Tower of Blanc Magic with a crystal ball.

– Come to the imperial palace tomorrow. This is the princess’ order.