■ Avengers □
We went straight to the audience chamber where His Demon King was waiting.
Perhaps because Gav’s appearance is so conspicuous, it seems that everything was already prepared even before we arrived.
The familiar blonde butler, Seneca, greeted us, and soon after, the doors to the audience chamber where the Demon King’s throne was placed opened to the left and right.
“Welcome. Partarth.”
Unlike his usual appearance as a kind neighbor uncle, today the Demon King sat on his throne with an extra flair.
When I looked around wondering why, all four of the Four Heavenly Kings were lined up to the Demon King’s left and right.
All the leaders of the Demon King’s Army had gathered in one place.
‘They’re all people I know.’
Death General Mephisto.
Beast General Walter Leonhart.
Mecha General Nick Iron.
Mage General Dorothy Gale.
Looking at them like this, it’s quite an impressive sight.
Ordinarily, the Four Heavenly Kings are busy working in their respective areas, so it’s extremely rare for them all to gather in one place.
Nick Iron should have been in the Dragon Tribe village originally, but it seems he was summoned just like us.
It was nice to see Dorothy again after a long time. When our eyes met, she moved her lips slightly, but perhaps because she was in front of the Demon King, she remained calm.
Anyway, after the preliminary reconnaissance was over, I entered and knelt down on one knee, bowing my head.
“Your servant Partarth has returned safely after completing the guard duty for Lady Ozma.”
Then a solemn voice came from above me.
“Raise your head.”
Following the command, I raised my head, and the gazes of the Four Heavenly Kings lined up on both sides fell upon me.
But if I felt uncomfortable under their scrutiny, I’d be third-rate.
I decided to act like a top-notch mage by putting on a poker face.
When the Demon King met my gaze, he got straight to the point without any preamble.
“The reason I urgently called you, Partarth, is because the hero imprisoned in the Demon King’s Castle dungeon was killed. Because of this, the situation ahead has become unclear, so I’ve called you here to discuss how we should respond.”
While calmly listening to his story, I asked the most pressing question first.
“Who killed the hero?”
On the surface, it seemed like the most important part.
The fact that the hero, who was captured due to my betrayal, was still alive and hadn’t been executed was information known only to a very small number of people within the Demon King’s Army. If this information somehow leaked out, it would mean there’s a traitor within the Demon King’s Army, which would be worrying.
Fortunately, those concerns turned out to be unfounded.
“The first guard who discovered the scene said that a fellow prisoner on the same floor broke free from the iron bars, killed the hero, and then committed suicide. It sounded too absurd at first, but when I went to the scene, it turned out to be true.”
“…A prisoner killed the hero?”
As far as I remember, apart from the Hero Party, there weren’t many prisoners locked up on the third floor of the underground dungeon.
And I heard that magic couldn’t be used inside the iron bars, so this meant that someone bent the iron bars purely with brute strength.
Even a gorilla wouldn’t be able to do that, right?
“I think I should check the scene myself once.”
At that, the Demon King nodded seriously.
“I’ll inform Barnett. Go take a look after the meeting ends.”
“Thank you for your consideration.”
Once the conversation between me and the Demon King had come to a temporary conclusion, Walter, who had been watching from the side, spoke up.
“So, what do you think we should do next?”
I shifted my gaze to Walter.
“What exactly do you mean by ‘next’?”
“According to what the Demon King told me, the hypothesis that no new hero will appear unless the current hero dies was proposed by you, wasn’t it? So naturally, you must have thought about what to do when the hero dies, right?”
“Hmm…”
I hesitated to speak.
It wasn’t that I was deliberately trying to keep them waiting; rather, I hadn’t actually thought of any backup plan.
However, it wasn’t easy to admit that in front of the entire leadership of the Demon King’s Army, so I quickly started thinking.
The death of the hero, the birth of a new hero.
The current situation.
The fall of Hamburg Fortress, the uprising of the Demon King’s Army.
Various keywords flashed through my mind.
What the Demon King and the Four Heavenly Kings are worried about is the emergence of a new hero.
And the hero that will appear this time will undoubtedly be much stronger than the previous one.
This is because the previous hero failed to defeat the Demon King.
King Oscar of the Kingdom will soon summon a new hero and form a Hero Party to assassinate the Demon King.
If we can conquer the human kingdom before that happens, it would be the best option, but it’s winter now.
Because of this cold weather, it won’t be possible to move the army until at least spring.
The perfect situation for a new hero to arise.
After simulating countless possibilities using parallel thinking, which I only use when reaching the sixth rank, I came up with a brilliant idea.
“Why don’t we send an assassin?”
Upon hearing my words, Walter’s expression turned disappointed.
“Killing the hero before they grow strong is a method that many Demon Kings of the past have tried. But such actions only accelerated the growth of surviving heroes. It’s more like self-defeating.”
It’s a common cliché for the hero of the era to decide to slay the Demon King after the villagers are massacred or someone precious to them dies.
But my suggestion wasn’t along those lines.
“No, what I’m suggesting is not to assassinate the hero.”
“Hmm? Then what?”
“Who chooses the hero?”
“Are you playing twenty questions with me? Isn’t it the Goddess of Courage?”
“And who supports it, recruits the party, and sends them?”
“That would be… Oh.”
Only then did Walter seem to realize what I was getting at.
“You mean to assassinate the king instead of the hero?”
“Exactly.”
I nodded and began explaining the outline of the operation I had in mind.
“How long do we intend to sit idly by and just get assassinated? Let’s send a proper assassin ourselves.”
“…Us?”
Dorothy muttered incredulously, but I ignored her and continued my explanation.
“So far, humans have probably thought only they could send heroes. We’re exploiting that ‘common sense.'”
Then Walter, who still looked skeptical, shook his head and rejected my idea.
“But this isn’t the first time someone has thought of sending an assassin to the human royal castle. And throughout history, it has failed frequently.”
Hearing that, I argued passionately.
“What was the cause of those failures? Ultimately, wasn’t it because weaklings were sent? So we should learn from those past failures and think: ‘Ah, we failed because we only sent weak ones before.'”
Then Nick Iron, who had been quietly listening, interjected.
“So, you’re saying we should send elite assassins?”
“Exactly.”
As I slapped my knee, he murmured, seemingly unable to understand.
“If that’s the case, how is it different from the Hero Party?”
“Does it need to be different? As long as we kill them effectively, that’s all that matters.”
Two out of the Four Heavenly Kings, Walter and Nick, seemed negative, but surprisingly, the Demon King appeared to find my idea appealing.
He stroked his long beard and asked.
“But if the human king dies, the next king will immediately ascend the throne. Can we really cause significant chaos with just that?”
“To demons, a king is merely a manager chosen by the Goddess of Strength. But to humans, the relationship is more complex. Moreover, the current King Oscar of Oz Kingdom has reigned for over 30 years. He’s an old fox sitting atop the nobility, manipulating the kingdom. If he suddenly dies, even with a successor, the kingdom will undoubtedly fall into great turmoil.”
I knew well that the unity formed by power is fragile, having acted as the face of the Magic Tower in place of my Master.
And the thoroughly corrupt current nobility of Oz Kingdom will surely move in the direction I desire.
A strong monarchy inevitably suppresses the resistance of the people.
“If the king dies, there will definitely be great chaos. We can take advantage of that gap and swallow up the Oz Kingdom.”
“What about the new hero?”
“How should I know? The country will collapse before the hero even fully grows.”
It’s not about trampling the sprout before it grows; it’s about completely overturning the soil where the sprout would grow.
Apparently, my proposal pleased the Demon King, as he nodded and asked the Four Heavenly Kings standing on either side.
“I think this plan is quite good. What do you think?”
Then the Four Heavenly Kings simultaneously knelt on one knee and replied to the Demon King.
“As you wish, Your Majesty.”
“So be it.”
With that, the Demon King looked at me with deep, ominous black eyes.
“I’ll support this mission. See what you can do as you wish.”
“I won’t disappoint you.”
With that, I deeply bowed my head.
