*

Demon King’s Meeting (2)

The atmosphere at the Demon King’s Meeting was already less than ideal.

But with Freira’s appearance, the already tense atmosphere turned downright murderous.

And most of that hostility was seeping out from beyond the crystal ball.

Facing such hostility head-on, Freira said playfully, “Levia? Is that expression of yours… a welcome gesture?”

Levia frowned. “You…”

But she quickly regained her composure and replied, “No, let’s say so. But you’re quite late.”

“Well, I hurried here from Hailen, but it seems I’ve missed the mark.”

Of course, that was not true.

She had arrived early and listened to the conversation outside before coming in.

“So, what brings you to the meeting?”

“Isn’t it a personal choice for a Demon King to participate in the Demon King’s Meeting? And if you’re asking why I’m here, it’s because I wanted to share some information.”

“I’ve already received quite a bit of information from other spies. I would consider it luck if you don’t leak our side’s intel to the other side.”

Under normal circumstances, she wouldn’t have been so openly suspicious.

But now, with the operation of the Central Sea System compromised, she didn’t want to let a potential suspect just waltz in.

Thus, Levia pressured Freira even more.

“You might brush off one or two slip-ups, but after the 71st Demon King, the Central Sea System too, as well as numerous petty intel leaks. Is there another Demon King who can contact the Church as frequently as you?”

At this point, Violet tried to intervene.

“Please stop, Levia. There’s no solid proof yet.”

However, Freira disregarded Violet’s defense and opened her mouth.

“Yeah, that’s me.”

Freira admitted her wrongdoing far too readily.

Violet was at a loss for words.

In the ensuing silence, Freira continued speaking.

“But it’s not like I just ‘leaked’ information. I merely exchanged information. There are bits of knowledge in the world that you can’t obtain just by eavesdropping; you must pay the price.”

Inspired by her blatant audacity, Levia calmly asked, “And what exactly is this ‘price’ for the information you mention?”

It’s true that many of the insights Freira had provided in the past had proven helpful.

So even though Freira was an eyesore, there was still a flicker of hope that perhaps the information could be worth it.

Then Freira offered possibly useful intel.

“Allen Pleuk is headed to the Leim Kingdom.”

That was precisely the information they needed.

But the problem was that her trustworthiness was at an all-time low.

Absent a fresh and conclusive inquiry, they had no intention of accepting intel that had just been debated moments earlier.

“And what’s the source of that information?”

“Allen Pleuk himself,” Freira replied.

Suddenly, Violet and the other Demon Kings’ eyes widened.

“You met him directly?”

Freira nodded.

“I met him directly and exchanged some info regarding the Central Sea System.”

That could indeed make sense.

Allen Pleuk knowing about the Central Sea System was plausible enough.

However, now that Freira disclosed that she met him in person, it couldn’t simply end there.

“So besides him heading to the Leim Kingdom, do you have any additional information?”

“Nope.”

Even this confirmation that she had no other information, Levia couldn’t bring herself to believe.

“Grab Freira immediately and torture her. Extract more information until she talks. And more importantly, until she reveals the truth.”

To be honest, it had been a while since Freira’s intel had been consistently useful.

Recently, at times, the information she provided contained inaccurate details.

This had started once she joined the Hero Academy as a professor and began training students.

“Do you really think just because you’ve played the role of a professor a bit that you actually became one?”

A couple of remaining Demon Kings loyal to Levia tied Freira up.

Freira, bound, spoke, “Well, I consider myself a professor in my own right.”

“Do your students think so too? No, can a Demon King even have Hero students?”

“The absurdity of that has become a reality thanks to me…”

At that moment, the bindings tightened, and Freira stifled a groan of pain.

“Freira, do you think that just because you’ve lived among humans for so long, you’ve become one?”

“What’s the difference between us and humans except for living long?”

“Freira…!”

Things were heating up in their dispute.

“Enough.”

It was Violet.

She stood up, exasperated.

“Demon Kings all have their freedoms and mustn’t harm one another. That’s the rule. No matter how important you think your work is, not everyone is obliged to follow you, Levia.”

“But that guy leaked the operations of the Central Sea System! He got in my way!”

“Decisions on punishment should be made through the meeting. You’re being too emotional right now. Did she perhaps touch a nerve, reminding you that you too were once human?”

“That’s…”

“At least release her bindings. She doesn’t seem to have the intention to resist.”

The two Demon Kings who were binding Freira released her.

“Ugh…”

Freira, now free, stretched a bit.

To her, Violet said coldly, “But Freira, to be honest, I can no longer trust your information blindly.”

“That might hurt a little?”

But Freira didn’t seem even remotely bothered.

Though Levia, watching her through the crystal ball, had to suppress her rising emotions and responded, “Then the judgment is easy. Allen Pleuk has gone to the Central Sea System.”

She had already turned against Freira and decided not to trust her intel.

“So the Demon King’s forces will assist the Central Sea System’s operation until the Leim Kingdom’s strategy is determined.”

Thus, their strategy was set.

Now the only thing left was to decide Freira’s fate.

However, regardless of what that fate would be, Freira was already smiling inwardly.

‘Now, things are starting to get interesting.’

*

“Here it is.”

At Hailen’s Church Headquarters.

I received a glass vial handed to me by the staff.

Inside that vial was a liquid shimmering with a strange light.

“What is that?”

I answered Elsie, who genuinely didn’t know what it was.

“A potion.”

Only produced at the Church, it was one of the privileges granted upon officially becoming a hero.

Technically, I bought it with my own money, but still, as a hero, one could regularly purchase potions to a personal limit.

“So what’s it for?”

Come to think of it, ‘potion’ isn’t a term everyone knows.

I was accustomed to it thanks to Sung Yoo-rang’s gaming knowledge.

“Simply put, it’s a healing drug. Just applying it will mend bones and sprout new flesh miraculously.”

“Ooh…”

Elsie’s eyes began to sparkle.

But she wasn’t ready yet.

“And it even erases scars when applied.”

I glanced at Elsie’s body.

Despite her efforts to hide it, she had many scars from her time escaping the Leim Kingdom and training with Gwen.

Those scars could be removed by the potion.

However, Elsie shook her head.

“No, I want to keep this scar until everything is finished.”

“In that case…”

If that’s her resolution, I had no intention of forcing her.

“But could I ask just one thing?”

“Huh?”

She silently raised a finger, pointing to the potion in my hand.

Then to my other hand, not holding the potion.

Finally, she pointed to herself.

‘This means…’

She wanted me to apply it on her.

Until now, I had pretended not to know during the process of deceiving myself; I was perceptive enough to catch on.

But Yusera didn’t seem to realize.

“What is it? What’s happening?”

“It seems like she’s asking for a potion for herself?”

I hurriedly handed Elsie a potion.

“Oooh, I want one too!”

I passed one to Yusera as well.

Seeing this, Elsie smiled satisfactorily at me.

‘This girl…’

Yusera communicated nonverbally, clearly missing an obvious signal.

Though I felt sorry for Yusera, having already decided to conceal my relationship with Elsie, I had to do this to prevent a party collapse.

“And Yusera, you…”

“Huh? I don’t need any more…”

Out of guilt, I handed another potion to Yusera.

“What about overload; could you use potions for that?”

This was just a suggestion.

Her past use of overload with potions might have left her with a sort of trauma.

Right now, Yusera’s expression tightened slightly.

The downfall of the Crow Association was, of course, due to the ambush from the Chaos Beasts.

But before that, the Crow Association was already on a decline. In fact, they had been unable to resist the attack precisely because they lacked the funds to hire skilled heroes.

And the root of that issue was the divine punishment directed at their clans.

“Yet overloading potions could lead to divine retribution…”

They had been buying potions for the heroes, cranking up performance with overload, and selling them at a high price.

As a result, heroes began purchasing potions in quantities capped by their limits, needing nothing but support mages.

However, there were limits to potion production, and in the end, heroes who genuinely required them couldn’t buy them.

And upon that realization, divine retribution struck them.

The trait of overload held by the clans had suddenly vanished.

Except for one person: Yusera.

Thus, Yusera feared using overload on potions.

Even though she relied heavily on the Divine Seat, concerning that matter, she was willing to disobey its commands.

So this was merely a suggestion.

“We can sell the overloaded potions again, but as long as we don’t sell them again, it should be fine.”

This was a ‘fact’ I knew through Sung Yoo-rang’s knowledge.

However, if she’s unable to do it, I had no intention of forcing her.

Even if the efficiency might drop a bit, I could use overload myself.

“…I’ll give it a try.”

I was just thankful she accepted the suggestion.

This meant that with Yusera’s overload, we could somewhat mitigate the absence of a support mage in our party.

“Thank you.”

“Oops? No, I mean… I can trust you.”

It seemed that Yusera’s trust in me had surpassed her faith in the Divine Seat.

I couldn’t say that every aspect of that was good, but it certainly wasn’t a bad feeling.

I too didn’t intend to deceive her any further.

“Oh.”

I flinched at Elsie’s exclamation, seemingly seeing through my expression.

Aside from my relationship with Elsie, maybe I had nothing else to hide.

Probably.

“Shall we get going?”

To leave the barrier of Hailen, we needed to secure a transit pass from the Church Headquarters just as we did with Sakh.

Of course, it wasn’t impossible to sneak away like Elsie did while escaping the Leim Kingdom, but that would be too risky.

To minimize such risks, we had also created a disguise.

‘I’ve been holding up for a few months to become a hero. I better make the most of it.’

With that mindset, I ensured I collected every benefit available to heroes, including potions.

Now all that remained was to secure the transit pass.

“My destination is the Leim Kingdom… right?”

However, the staff member issuing the transit pass didn’t seem happy at all.

“Is there something wrong?”

“Well…”

The staff seemed hurried as they dipped their pen in ink.

“Actually, it hasn’t been officially announced yet, but…”

At that moment, a voice magically amplified throughout the entire Church Headquarters.

­This is a directive from the High Priest. From now until the situation concludes, transit passes for all heroes will be restricted to the Central Sea System except for special circumstances.

Um, what on earth is going on now?

*