Welcome to the Impregnable Demon King Castle

80 – Friend, Don’t Sulk, There Were Some Circumstances 1

Fenix and I said at the same time.

「Why are you here?」

No, the Dungeon in this city is not limited to Thor’s.

There’s also a Dungeon with a high degree of difficulty. Did he come here…to challenge that Dungeon?

But if he came here after the Demon King Castle, around this time he should’ve moved to another city. Did he come to this city after Clearing the Dungeon of other cities?

「Because of a Dungeon Clear. The editing is already finished, but Alba said he wants to watch the tournament. Since everyone didn’t object, so we decided to come.」

When Alba said something, he’d usually argue with Lark or Lily. That’s because his remarks are extreme or that his requests are contrary to the wishes of the two.

The fact that no one objected meant that everyone was interested in the tournament.

「Ohh. You’re not going to participate?」

「For now, I got the invitation but…」

After hearing Fenix’s words, Nicola shouted「Eh?!」.

I understand her feeling, if the 4th place in the world rank participates, it’s not just to the degree of a strong enemy.

I don’t want to use the word impossible to defeat, but if I say it’s possible, it’s an insult to Fenix. His strength is not that weak to the point that I can easily win against him.

As I said to Philip and Furcus, when it comes to fighting, I’m going with the intention of winning.

If it’s a battle with a one in ten thousand possibility of winning, then that would be a close fight.

「So, did you decline the invitation?」

「Ahh, there were some circumstances. I’ll talk about it later.」

Then Fenix saw Nicola.

「Sorry for the late introduction. I am the Hero Fenix.」

「R-right, I’m the Hero Nicola!」

She stuttered.

Fenix gently smiled at her.

「Don’t be nervous. We’re both Adventurers, I’m no different from everyone else.」

It’s the usual gentle Fenix.

「By the way, what are you doing with Lem in the training room?」

I was wrong. As expected, he’s curious about that.

「You’re, you’re misunderstanding! We didn’t do anything suspicious!」

Nicola, if you say it like that, it sounds like we were doing something wrong in the training room.

「Since it’s a training room, we were training. Anyway, I’m also an Adventurer.」

I said that, but my tone was weak.

I feel a little bit guilty about not talking to him about leaving the party or getting a job at the Demon King Castle.

I didn’t have a chance to explain that I’m participating in the Tag Tournament, but somehow I feel awkward.

「I know that. I was curious as to why you were with Miss Nicola. I was also surprised since I didn’t even know that you came to this city.」

I also didn’t know that they chose this city, but I wouldn’t say that.

He was curious as to why I, who should be in the Demon King Castle, would be here, but he can’t say that in front of Nicola, so he used that way of speaking.

「I’ll say this first, I’m not going to join Nicola’s party.」

Nicola nodded at a high speed.

「Is that so?」

Did he really understand that? Fenix’s reaction was quite weak. Well, he should’ve quickly figured out that the Demon King Army Chief of Staff and a Hero party wouldn’t be able to stand together.

「I’ve decided to participate in the tournament due to various circumstances.」

「I figured you’re going to do that.」

Fenix is ​​smart, so he should’ve figured out the answer a few seconds after we met.

However, what he predicted and how he feels are two different things.

The part of hearing it directly from the other party’s mouth is important to him. I can understand that.

Fenix’s gaze is piercing me, it told me that he wanted me to tell him about the said various circumstances.

「Nicola, I can deal with this. You should go home first.」

「Eh, but…」

「It’s okay.」

When I smiled, Nicola hesitated for a while, but eventually, she nodded.

「Well then, see you later…」

She looked at me, then bowed to Fenix. After that, she left.

「I’m looking forward to the tournament, Nicola.」

Ping! Her back quivered, then we could hear a voice saying「Bye!」.

「As expected of the Flame Hero. To think that you could make the 99th rank feel nervous.」

She admired me, but she seemed to have feelings of reverence towards Fenix as they are both a Hero.

「The 99th rank…Nicola…ahh, the Silver Hero. Her appearance is quite different from her Avatar.」

His tone changed from the Flame Hero to childhood friend.

「Ah, certainly, her appearance did change. As for us, we didn’t change our appearances so-.」

There are some people who want to avoid getting involved with fans and reporters on their day off.

Adventurers are also people, so it’s not weird that some Adventurers want to have a relaxed day.

Fenix’s party is pretty free about that, but everyone didn’t change.

Alba loves the attention, Lark doesn’t really care, and Lily said「I have no intentions to lie about myself.」

I simply imitated the Hero I admired in the past.

「Aah.」

Fenix’s reaction was weak.

「Ah, should we go eat?」

「Let’s do that.」

So, we headed to the cafeteria near the Union.

Naturally, I used Confusion. It would cause the people around us to be unable to recognize us. If I, the one who left his party, and Fenix went out together, rumors like「So disgraceful, did he come to beg his close friend to re-employ him again?」or something like that would spread.

That in itself is okay with me, but I don’t want to bother Fenix with that.

Along the way, I explained the whole story as to why I came to this city.

I told him that Nicola had found out about my identity and because of this and that I ended up participating in the Tag Tournament.

Of course, since it’s embarrassing, I glossed over the matter with Philip.

I will never tell Fenix that I got upset because he made fun of him.

「How should I put it, it sounds just like you to do that.」

That’s Fenix’s impression after he listened to the whole story.

We are sitting facing each other at the table.

「What do you mean by that?」

「Being unable to ignore a person who is in trouble.」

「Ugh.」

「I’m not criticizing you. Since I’m one of the people you helped.」

「But, do you think that I’m being too soft?」

「I wonder, but I’m curious though. When it comes to participating in a tournament, it’s not just about lending a hand on the spot, right? It actually takes a lot of time and preparation.」

「You’re right…」

「Isn’t there another reason? A reason more than just wanting to help a person in trouble? A reason that is concerned with Lem personally?」

「What are you saying? You’re not going to say something like I fell in love with her, right?」

「If that’s the case, I would have to inform Miss Milla.」

「Please don’t.」

Fenix finally burst into laughter.

「I don’t think that you’re going to do anything dishonorable.」

「But?」

「You once said that you became a regular at Miss Cashew’s shop because you got cheered up when you went there, right? I think that there might be a reason as to why you’re getting involved with her for more than a short moment.」

Just like how I often got into a fight with the bullies when my friend was being bullied.

If I do something that goes beyond plain kindness, there should be another reason behind that? Something around that idea?

Hmm.

Should I say that it’s as expected of my childhood friend?

「Did you know that I’m Lemegeton before I used magic?」

「No. I didn’t even suspect it.」

It’s rare for a normal Human to pretend that he’s a Monster.

「That’s right. You knew my magic, that’s why you knew immediately after feeling the effects.」

「Ahh. What’s wrong with that? -No, I see.」

He seemed to have noticed.

「Yeah. Even though Nicola never saw my magic personally, in the battle with Lemegeton, she said「I saw your eyes and realized that you were the same person.」. She said that so seriously.」

I couldn’t believe it at that time, but I knew from looking at her attitude that it was true.

However, I was wearing a mask. Moreover, there was a distance between us.

There wasn’t enough exposure for her to be able to see the shape of my eyes. Then, did she really judge that just by seeing something like the passion inside my pupils?

I don’t think so.

「Unconsciously…she felt the similarities between Lem’s abilities that she had seen from the videos and the ability of Lemegeton when she received Lemegeton’s Black Magic, then she perceived the subtle common features between Lem and Lemegeton’s actions?」

Fenix put his hand under his chin and had a worried look on his face while telling me his opinion.

The operation method of Black Magic is different for Lem and Lemegeton, but if a person knows the amount of Magical Energy you have, your technique of manipulating Magical Energy, your maximum deployment time, and the maximum number of targets you can have, they can predict what else you’re capable of doing.

In other words, if someone knows about what I can do, then when they’re at a stage of having a general understanding of what Lemegeton can do, they’re capable of judging that he is on the same level as Lem.

Fenix took a huge shortcut to most of the parts and when he first saw the Black Magic, he immediately judged that「Ahh, isn’t this Lem?」

「Maybe that’s also because she was aware of my movements in the Dungeon of Flame Prison.」

「Are you talking about when you avoided the pillar of fire? I also asked you to use that maneuver several more times.」

「I’m sure I’ve told you this, the way you normally remember all that is scary.」

Even though I imagined that the conversation could be something like this,「Dungeon of Flame Prison?」「You don’t remember it? The one where there’s a stratum with a pillar of fire in it.」「…Ahh, that one.」.

Well, I shouldn’t say that to him since I generally remember what Fenix and his allies did, and in which Dungeon.

「If she’s watching your videos to that level, then she should’ve seen the Dungeon of Moments-」

「How can you know that? That seemed to be the video where I was on screen the longest.」

I laughed bitterly. Fenix looked happy.

「She’s really an enthusiastic fan. You should appreciate her.」

「Thank you, really. But that’s not the reason why I’m helping her.」

「I see, I understand a bit. Only a bit, though. If what you’re saying is true, then she…has a talent. A talent too good to be left alone.」

So, what’s next? Fenix’s eyes were asking that.