I pushed deeper into the forest, cutting down the magic beasts that lunged at me one after another.
Eventually, I started to notice something.
Wasn't the monster count a bit too high?
Even though they were mostly small fry, they swarmed out from every corner the moment I moved a few steps forward. Since the Academy had specifically designated this as a "test," it made sense for there to be a fair number of magic beasts, but this density was impossible. If this were a game, it would have been a glaring mistake in the encounter rate adjustment.
...I didn't remember a bug like this in the original game, did I?
Was I overthinking it? Regardless, the feeling in my gut was sickening.
At that moment—
A sound like a scream drifted from the depths of the forest. It was definitely a human voice. To be precise, it was a mangled, crushed sound—less a cry for help and more of a death rattle.
Had someone been taken down by a magic beast?
I took off. My legs, accelerated by Frenzy, kicked off the dirt as I vaulted over tangled roots. I charged toward the source of the scream—
And from the shadows of the trees, I quietly took in the scene.
Knight Klaus was—
No, that wasn't right. Verdict was standing there.
At his feet, someone lay in a pool of blood.
For a heartbeat, my pulse spiked. Had Verdict finally made his move on a student!?
...But on closer inspection, the person on the ground wasn't wearing an Academy uniform. They weren't even human. Their eyes were wide open—and the whites were a void of pitch black.
A member of the Demon Race.
What was a demon doing here? And more importantly, why was the former Demon King, Verdict, killing one of his own kind?
...Though, given the current state of things, these demons were Aristia’s subordinates, so perhaps it didn't matter to him.
Either way, it was better to be cautious. I decided to observe from the shadows for a while.
"I know you're there, lowlife."
...Tch. He'd spotted me.
As I stepped out from the cover of the trees, Verdict greeted me with a sneer.
"Eavesdropping is quite the hobby, isn't it, lowlife?"
"You've been watching me plenty, haven't you?"
"It cannot be helped. Watching you scramble in a panic is a delightful comedy."
"Why did you kill that demon?"
"Because it attacked me. I see no reason to complain about killing something that came at me with murderous intent."
"...Are the demons targeting you?"
"Unfortunately, I have been retired for a long time. It is hardly surprising if the demons of this era do not recognize me. Hmph. The youth of today's Demon Race are soft—they have no spine."
"Why are there demons here in the first place?"
"I was curious myself, so I asked this one."
Verdict kicked the silent corpse.
"They intend to assassinate the Hero and the princess."
"—!?"
Leon and Eliana!?
I wasn't particularly worried about Leon, given he’d become a literal killing machine, but Eliana was another story.
"...!? Don't tell me the demons brought this surge of magic beasts into the forest!?"
"No. That is likely a reaction to the mana emanating from myself and Aristia. When two Demon King-class beings are present, it is only natural for the local magic beasts to go into a frenzy."
So that was why!
Verdict’s mouth twisted into a cruel line.
"It is a stroke of luck for those demons, I suppose. The Demon Race can command magic beasts, and they have found an endless supply of them right here. Right about now, Princess Eliana might be facing a demon legion and their tamed beasts."
His eyes bored into mine, testing me.
"Now, what will you do, Hero?"
Hero.
The mockery in his voice was thick enough to choke on.
"...What's the catch? Why go out of your way to be so helpful?"
"I believe I told you. A lowlife’s job is to entertain the King by struggling in agony."
A sadistic smile played across Verdict’s lips.
This bastard.
"Don't expect things to go exactly as you want."
I spat the words at him and turned on my heel. I knew exactly where the main camp was located. If I headed back now, it was a straight shot.
...I couldn't just leave her to die.
I pushed the output of Frenzy to its limit and tore through the forest at full speed.
Princess Eliana viewed herself as the "protagonist of this world."
The grand endeavor of the Demon King Subjugation was no different. How to manipulate the Hero, how to deliver the finishing blow to the Demon King—the free will of others didn't factor into it. Eliana was the great hand that would write the script.
This monster hunting competition was simply another board she had laid out.
Matching Albert against Hero Leon to settle their score, and then establishing Albert as the Key to the subjugation just as she intended—it was all part of her scenario.
The number of magic beasts in the forest had been surveyed, and she had prepared an appropriate guard. The unexpected simply didn't happen in her world. From the safety of the main camp, she would tally the results and select the optimal pawns for the hunt.
—That was how it was supposed to be.
Then, a massive number of magic beasts suddenly surged out of the forest.
(…Why are there so many…?)
It was Eliana's first miscalculation of the battle.
"Princess Eliana, please step back!"
the waiting knights and Academy instructors moved to the front.
Even so, the error felt like it was "within expectations." It was a margin of error rather than a total failure. The preparations she had made were more than enough to handle this.
But then—
"Gwaaaaaaaaaaa!"
The scream of a guarding knight echoed through the clearing.
That scream was not in the script. Eliana's guards were elites; there was no way they could be bested by the level of magic beasts found in this forest.
There, standing over a stalwart knight who was already sinking into a pool of blood, was that thing.
He looked like a man in his thirties, but his limbs were unnaturally long and his stature was looming. An old, prominent scar ran across his left cheek.
And his eyes—where the whites should have been, there was only black.
"The Demon Race!?"
Beings of immense mana and resilient flesh—the natural enemies of mankind. They were the Demon King’s subordinates, the very targets they were meant to defeat.
"Kuhahaha! Princess Eliana. I've come for your life!"
It wasn't just the man. Two other shadows, clearly demons, appeared behind him.
However, Eliana’s logic still held. Demons were formidable, but they weren't invincible. The history of human conflict wasn't a record of constant defeat. Even with a horde of magic beasts and three demons, her board would hold.
If her plans were so fragile as to crumble under this much pressure, she would have been stripped of her role as the world's lead long ago. Her pride was built on the fact that she could render even a desperate, unforeseen situation into something insignificant.
Eliana thrust out her right hand and shouted.
"Spell: Magic Spear!"
A powerful mage in her own right, Eliana unleashed a torrent of mana at the scarred demon. Caught off guard, or perhaps simply refusing to move, the demon took the white spear directly. It impacted and exploded.
"Attack!"
At Eliana’s command, three knights charged the scarred demon with courage. Just as their three blades were about to strike—
The knights were sent flying in an instant.
"What—!?"
The scarred demon stood there, completely unharmed. He let his long tongue loll out and gave a smile of absolute confidence.
"Did you do something?"
Eliana couldn't suppress the shock. Her attack magic had scored a direct hit, yet it hadn't dealt a single scratch. Against an average demon, she wouldn't have lost even one-on-one.
But the demon standing before her was different.
"Kuhahaha! I am Zalgan, confidant to the Demon King! Take that name with you to the grave!"
"Zal...gan...!?"
Even Eliana knew that name. He was one of the Two Great Demons who supported the Demon King. For such a high-ranking demon to appear here—!
"It's the end, Princess."
"Lady Eliana, please escape!"
The knights charged again without a hint of fear, only for Zalgan to swat them away with a careless hand. The blow shattered their armor and shields like sandcastles, tearing through flesh with ease.
The knights fell, their death rattles filling the air.
Surrounded by magic beasts and besieged by three demons—one of whom was a High Executive of the Demon King's Army with terrifying power.
Finally, Eliana's calculations suffered a fatal, irreparable flaw.
(…I can't win…)
Worse than that, she couldn't even run.
"Lady Eliana, we will carve a path! Please, escape while you can!"
"As if I'd let you!"
Zalgan approached—death itself moving with terrifying speed as he mowed down the knights.
A crack finally split Eliana's ironclad confidence.