"Zavilia, about the request you made to Green, do you think it was a good idea?" (Fia)
After breakfast, while sitting on the grass with Zavilia, I asked my friend in my arms.
Recently, Green, Blue, and Curtis went out to explore Blackpeak Mountain, so I was at home, holding Zavilia, and thinking back on my interaction with Green...
In the end, I ended up asking Green to check the Demon King's Box as he had suggested.
He had assured me that there would be no problems, but I was now worried about whether it was really possible.
"Green showed his manliness..." (Fia)
I whispered in a small voice.
He must have seen me rejected by Curtis and thought he had to do something about it, so he came forward.
However, Green's family was probably a fishmonger or a butcher, or at best a merchant.
How on earth could Green, who is not even a nobleman, be invited to the deepest room of the cathedral, where even Curtis, the Knight Commander of the Nav Kingdom, cannot enter?
I hope you don't push yourself too hard just because you made a promise.
Zavilia glanced at me, who was worried and thinking, and replied with little interest.
"I’m sure there will be someone who can help Fia that she hasn’t thought of, and something will work out." (Zavilia)
"Well, what about Zavilia? How dare you think it’s someone else’s problem!" (Fia)
I thought of Green and thought about Zavilia's statement again, but I concluded that it didn't seem to be of much help.
Those "some great acquaintances" that Green was talking about might actually be really great people...but it didn't seem like Green had any great acquaintances.
"Green seems to be the type of person who has overcome everything on his own without relying on others, so I think he can only do as much as he can on his own." (Fia)
When I said that, Zavilia nodded in agreement.
"Yeah, Fia has a good eye for things. I think so too. So, I guess she'll do something on her own, right?" (Zavilia)
Seeing Zavilia, who had easily reversed his previous statement that Green might have someone to help him with, grimaced, I was thinking that he really didn't seem interested.
"But the opponent is the cathedral. At the level that an individual can do nothing about..." (Fia)
However, I stopped mid-sentence.
Since Zavilia lived in a place that had nothing to do with the human world, I thought a story like this would be boring.
Besides, I had already asked Green, so it was too late to think about it now.
I changed my mind and gently stroked Zavilia in my arms.
In the first place, the opponents were demons who had not appeared at all for 300 years.
The chances of it suddenly appearing today or tomorrow were extremely low.
Therefore, there should be no need to do anything hastily.
That was what I told myself, in order to shake off the fear of demons within me.
However...
Before I knew it, I realized that my thoughts had returned to the conversation from earlier, and I let out a sigh.
But...I had no idea.
I never thought that the "Demon King's Right Hand" was just one crest.
If I recalled, there was indeed only one crest engraved on that demon.
The number of crests was proportional to the demon's strength, so if you thought about it calmly, the right-hand man was not a very strong opponent.
But why was I so afraid of my right-hand man?
Was my fear multiplied many times over because of the person he had killed?
"...That may be so. I just remembered that the Demon King's Right Hand has only one crest in the first place." (Fia)
Memories from my previous live were strange things, and it seemed that I didn't remember everything at once.
Most of the memories came to mind within the first few days, but some memories seemed to come back later.
So, this time, I remembered that the "Demon King's Right Hand" was a demon with one crest, but...strangely, my fear of his Right Hand did not diminish.
It was true that he was cunning and shrewd, since he appeared after the Demon King was sealed away and was in tatters, but his strength itself shouldn't be that big of a deal.
――Even if I thought so, somewhere in my head denied it.
"No, that demon is frighteningly strong." (Fia)
...But I didn't understand why I felt that way.
Is there something I still can't remember?
Even though I was worried, now that I knew the enemy, I seemed to be able to see the shape of the enemy, which made me felt a little relieved.
"All that remains are demons with a total of 6 crests. ...All the crestless were unknown.
One of the crests is 'Dmon King's Right Hand,' or 'One Crested Right Hand.'
Perhaps in addition to the 6 crests, the Demon King of Thirteen Crests has also been released.
—That's everything"
I let out a breath of relief and hugged Zavilia tightly in my lap, telling myself that it's okay, it's okay.
It was unclear why Green was so knowledgeable about information on demons, but it might be that a "small acquaintance" had an incredible network of information, but Curtis's attitude That made me think Green's words were true.
This was because Curtis was my escort knight in a previous life, so he shared all the information the Great Saint had, and he had seen and heard a lot about the demon.
In addition, he has obtained a lot of information from Sirius, who was located at the center of the kingdom, and he must have been watching the movements of the demons even after my death, so there should be a considerable amount of information about the demons.
The fact that Curtis didn't deny it meant there was nothing wrong with Green's statement.
...Actually, it would have been easier to ask Curtis about various things, but when I told him about my last moments in my previous life, he started crying.
At that time, in order to ease Curtis's heart, I lied and said that I had dealt with the demon lord and that he had died painlessly, but he still cried a lot.
So, when I told Curtis about the demon, he thought I remembered my last moments and he grieved again, so I hesitated to talk to him.
"In any case, even if we don’t ask Curtis this time, we’ve found out a lot of things, so it won’t be a problem."
It was unexpected that some demons remained in this world, but the situation shouldn't be hopeless.
In any case, thinking about it any further would only lead to more fear and wouldn't solve anything.
So, for now, I changed my mind and looked at Zavilia.
"Zavilia, uh..." (Fia)
However, when I opened my mouth, I didn't know how to proceed.
"What's the matter, Fia?" (Zavilia)
"Well, this is just a question, but how long will Zavilia be on this mountain?" (Fia)
The moment I saw Zavilia's shocked expression, I realized that I was being too direct, and that it wasn't the same as saying, "Please come back."
Zavilia wanted to become king, so I had told myself that I shouldn't get in his way, but my true feelings were starting to spill out.
In a panic, I repeated words to confuse him.
"Well, I mean, I think Zavilia has a strong presence. As soon as he come back to this mountain, all the frightened monsters will come flooding back from the mountain." (Fia)
However, even after saying that, I remembered that I was doing something that my sister asked me to do.
"...That's why the knights here seem to be very busy dealing with the monsters who escaped from Blackpeak. Because of that, the knights asked me if you could reduce the number of monsters who escaped a little more." (Fia)
Zavilia twitched his ears as if he had heard something interesting.
"I see. If Fia's sister asked me to do something, I guess I can't help it." (Zavilia)
"Huh, I never said anything about it being a request from my sister, right?" (Fia)
Zavilia was as sharp as ever, and when I looked at his in admiration, wondering if this meant he was connected to me, he gave me a deliberate side-eye.
"Well, I'm the king of this mountain. I know everything about this mountain." (Zavilia)
"Well, the king is back! In that case, please listen to my pitiful request." (Fia)
"Fia isn't pathetic at all, but I'll listen to your request." (Zavilia)
Then Zavilia said something completely unexpected.
"Then, let's get rid of the root cause of the monster outflow. Okay, I'll go down the mountain with Fia." (Zavilia)
"……huh?" (Fia)
Zavilia was staring at me with his mouth open in a strange way, but suddenly his body stiffened.
Next, he stretched his neck as if searching for something, and then his whole body stopped moving.
As I watched in amazement, Zavilia's whole body visibly stiffened, as if concentrating on something.
Therefore, he waited in silence, thinking that an emergency might have occurred.
However, even after a while, Zavilia remained still, so I timidly called out to her.
"…Zavilia?" (Fia)
Then, after a moment, Zavilia shook his head as if he was upset.
"It's true that rumors will cast a shadow on you." (Zavilia)
"Huh? Shadow?" (Fia)
When I asked again without understanding what was said, Zavilia looked at me with a troubled expression.
"Looks like Curtis and the three of us encountered a demon." (Zavilia)
"……What!?" (Fia)
I listened reflexively and repeated the words I heard.
"De...mon?" (Fia)
I asked in disbelief, and Zavilia clearly nodded.
Author's Note
Thank you for always reading!
...
* Special page for the Earth Star novel "Great Saint"
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