Inside the tent of the Sun Knights’ base.

I was participating in the regular meetings that use transmission magic.

I have been participating in them by myself lately, but Sa-san and Lucy are together with me today.

“Ortho, can you say that one more time?” 

General Yuwein was knitting his temples as if he had a headache from the other side of the screen.

“Yes sir! We have subjugated one of the Ten Claws of the Beast King, Hayate!” (Ortho)

“…Looks like I didn’t hear wrong.” (Yuwein)

The grimace of General Yuwein was being reflected in the transmission magic.

I look at the expressions of the other people. 

((((…This guy again.))))

I felt like they were saying that in their hearts.

It was not me this time around though.

One of the Ten Claws of the Beast King Zagan, Hayate.

He is apparently a high rank demon that is famous for his surprise attacks.

And in reality, he slipped past my Detection and the Clairvoyance of Furiae-san.

If Furiae-san hadn’t saved me there, I think it would have been dangerous.

His target was the Rozes Hero.

He was expressly aiming for me.

For someone like me who doesn’t have any battle power in close combat, an enemy entering that close of a range would spell death for me.

We managed to avoid the first attack, but there’s the fear the next attack would be fatal.

Their biggest misfortune was the existence of the Fire Country’s Designated Hero sleeping in the tent.

Because we caused so much of a ruckus close to the tent, Sa-san had woken up.

Sa-san was in a bad mood because she had been woken up, and she used [Invincible Time] and countered him while saying ‘So noisy!’.

The pitiful demon ended up having his head sunk into the ground.

But, as expected from a chief officer of the demon lord army, he was still alive from that. However, due to the follow-up attack of Lucy, Meteor, he fell completely silent. 

We left the cleaning up to the Sun Knights.

(It seems like strong demons can come back to life even when you think they are dead.) (Makoto)

That’s the kind of explanation Captain Ortho was giving to the people at the other side of the projections.

“Fumu, our country’s Designated Hero, Aya-dono. Well done defeating him. This demon specialized in assassinations, and we were brooding about how to make countermeasures for him.” (Tariska)

“Y-Yes…you’re welcome.” (aya)

Sa-san scratched her head in embarrassment at the words of General Tariska.

Olga-san at his side was not making an amused face.

“Lucy, you did it! But don’t push yourself too hard, okay? You must not rush into the demon lord army alone like Rosalie-sama, okay?” (Flona)

“I wouldn’t do that, Flona-oneechan.

“I am worried. Lucy’s personality is similar to that of Rosalie-sama after all.” (Flona)

“I am not that much of a battle junkie.” (Lucy)

The Wood Oracle, Flona-san, and Lucy were having a conversation that was already that of sisters.

This is a war council, you know…

“Oi, how long are we supposed to be on standby?! We are letting these guys do as they please too much!” (Geralt)

The one shouting on the verge of snapping is Geralt-san.

Yeah, he has been on standby for so many days, he must be stressed out.

“Being on standby for so long is going to dull my body.” (Olga) 

The one who said this was Olga-san who seemed to be docile but must have stress piled up too. 

Looks like she has been influenced by Sa-san who defeated a demon lord chief officer.

It must have infected the other people, the meeting began to get noisy.

At that moment…

“Tomorrow is the decisive battle.” (Esther)

The Destiny Oracle Esther made everyone fall silent. 

“Zagan will be invading the West Continent tomorrow. Isn’t that right, Esther-sama?” (Yuwein)

The words of General Yuwein were not a question, but to confirm.

Oracle Esther nods silently.

Looks like a Demon Lord is finally attacking.

“Well then, let me tell you the plan. So I say, but this time’s plan revolves around the clairvoyance of Oracle Esther-sama. Can you please explain it, Esther-sama?” (Yuwein)

“Alright.” (Esther)

Oracle Esther -the Destiny Goddess, Ira-sama- speaks.

“Tomorrow morning, the army of the Beast King Zagan will be arriving at the coast of Camelon. The demon lord army will try to destroy the cities of Camelon. If the distribution channels of the Commercial Country were to stop, it will affect the Six Nation Alliance greatly. That’s why we need to fight them back. However, their real objective is to strike down the Light Hero.” (Esther)

Oracle Esther’s voice resonates from the transmission magic.

Everyone is listening silently. 

“The advance of the demon lord army is slow. That’s because their plan is to exhaust us and buy time. They will make it look like their decisive move, and they will by no means use their full power in the day. The demon lord army will extend the war as much as possible, and will continue their small attacks until the sun sinks. And then, once sunset comes, they will do an all-out attack with Forneus’s army. At that time, we won’t be able to fight them back from the exhaustion, and lose. That’s the destiny I see.” (Esther)

““““…””””

Oi oi, we are losing then.

Of course, Ira-sama is here so that it doesn’t happen.

They are all waiting for her next words.

“That’s why we will do the opposite. If they are going to prolong the battle till sunset, we will be going for the short term battle. Light Hero, Sakurai Ryosuke.” (Esther)

“Y-Yes!” (Sakurai)

Being called by Oracle Esther, Sakurai-kun responds.

“You will be commanding a small group of elites, and will directly slay the Demon Lord that is deep in the enemy lines.” (Esther)

“P-Please wait! Isn’t that way too dangerous?!” (Noel)

The one who spoke was Princess Noel.

It is true that it is way too rash to be called a plan. 

“It is okay. The timing to face the Demon Lord is at noon. At the time when the sun is at its highest, there’s nothing that can injure the Light Hero. Also, there’s a user of Teleport in the Sun Country. There’s no worry about fatigue before the battle against the Demon Lord.” (Esther)

“I will tag along with the Light Hero-kun.” 

The Great Sage-sama answers. 

Her usual calm tone. 

How reliable.

(But is it okay for the vampire Great Sage-sama to come out in broad daylight?) (Makoto)

I am a bit worried.

She must have felt my gaze, the Great Sage-sama smiled at me as if saying ‘don’t worry’.

Unnecessary worry, huh.

She is one of the legendary heroes that saved the world 1,000 years ago anyways.

“We will assign a number of captain class knights and Country Designated Heroes. However, it will be in the middle of the chaos of war. Will we be able to locate the important location of the Demon Lord?” (Yuwein)

General Yuwein asked.

The enemy’s army is over 20,000 in numbers.

It shouldn’t be easy to find.

But Oracle Esther showed a face filled with confidence.

“There’s no problem. They fear having their leader defeated, so they have changed their formation, but I will be relaying the location of the Demon Lord at all times. I have a lock on its location.” (Esther)

“Understood, Esther-sama. However, we will be judging when’s the appropriate time to fight the Demon Lord. Depending on their forces, it may end up with the Light Hero being left in the center of enemy territory. We will aim for the head of the Demon Lord after we have secured an escape route.” (Yuwein)

General Yuwein responds with carefulness at the confident words of Oracle Esther.

“Yeah, I don’t mind that. There’s no assurance that things will go as planned on the day it happens. I will leave the decision of when to take action in your hands, General Yuwein.” (Esther)

“Understood. Then, I will trust in the clairvoyance of Esther-sama in regards to the location of the Demon Lord.” (Yuwein)

Looks like the talk is going to be wrapped up.

Tomorrow is finally the decisive battle against a Demon Lord.

It is a bit disheartening that I can’t be witness to that though…

“You seem bored, Rozes Hero.” (Esther)

“?!” 

Oracle Esther suddenly turned this way and said that.

“N-No, I was properly listening, you know?” (Makoto)

“Obviously.” (Esther)

Esther-san let out a long sigh.

“Rozes Hero and the 1st Division of the Sun Knights; there won’t be any of the demon lord army showing up there from tomorrow on.” (Esther)

““Eh?””

My voice and Captain Ortho’s overlapped.

“It is nothing to be surprised about, right? You defeated 10,000 of Forneus’s men; defeated 5,000 of the flying units of Zagan; on top of that, defeated one of the Ten Claws of the Beast King. No casualties, to top it off. They must have noticed that it wasn’t worth the trouble.” (Esther)

“Huuh… I see.” (Makoto)

Esther-sama (Ira-sama) is kind today?

Is it because Eir-sama had a talk with her?

“But…” (Esther)

Oracle Esther looks at the participants of the war council with serious eyes.

“The demon lord army’s attacks will intensify in all parts of the continent aside from the Moon Country in tomorrow’s battle.” (Esther)

““““!””””

Tension runs through the participants.

“That’s in order to stop us from joining up the main army, right?” 

“That’s right. The demon lord army doesn’t want forces to gather in the vicinity of the Light Hero. Their objective is to take the life of the Light Hero that might bring the demise of the Great Demon Lord Iblis after all.” (Esther)

“…”

When I glanced at Sakurai-kun, I could see his nervous expression.

Could you please not scare my friend too much?

But if their objective is Sakurai-kun, it is important to warn him, huh.

Do your best, Sakurai-kun.

“In that case, the demon lord army is going to be attacking here as well, right?” (Geralt) 

“Hmph, finally, huh.” (Olga)

“I won’t let them put a single finger on the people.” (Max)

““…””

I can understand why Geralt Valentine, Olga Sol Tariska, and Maximilian Lagvurin-san were pumped up.

There’s also the spaced out face of Highland’s Country Designated Hero Alec who I don’t know what he is thinking, but is he not together with Sakurai-kun?

There’s also Prince Leonard with a nervous expression which worries me, but he is together with Maximilian-san, so I should trust that he will be okay.

After that, we were told a number of confirmation points, and the meeting before the decisive battle finished.

I glanced at the face of my childhood friend, the Light Hero.

He was talking with General Yuwein about something with a nervous look.

Sakurai-kun didn’t notice my gaze.

(Take care, and don’t get injured, okay?) (Makoto)

I cheered for him in my heart, and continued watching the projection till it was turned off.

I returned to the tent we were staying at, and told Furiae-san the details of the meeting.

Furiae-san just went ‘I see…’ as she listened silently.

Sakurai-kun will be fighting the demon lord army tomorrow. Wonder how she is feeling?

In the middle of that, she instead asked me: “My Knight, are you worried?”

Was I making that kind of uneasy expression?

“Kinda”, is the vague answer I gave.

“I can’t calm down, so I will go train.” (Makoto)

Saying this, I left the tent.

“You are going to be targeted by demons again, Takatsuki-kun.” (Aya)

“That’s right, Makoto. Stay put.” (Lucy)

Lucy and Sa-san stopped me, but…

“It is okay, it is okay. Esther-san said that the demon lord army won’t be coming anymore.” (Makoto)

This is basically the seal of approval from the Destiny Goddess herself.

I am sure they won’t be coming here anymore.

And then, I trained till dawn.

The next day was a peaceful day just as Oracle Esther had said.

I passed my day without being able to calm down.

And then, night came.

◇◇

Things got noisy before the meeting that day began.

The projections of the transmission magic showed up one after the other.

However, a part of the participants of today seem to know ‘something’. They seemed to be restless. 

(…Did something happen?) (Makoto)

If it did, it must be about the battle of the Six Nation Alliance against the Demon Lord Army. 

I use Eavesdrop to listen to the conversation of the people.

…Is that true?

…Isn’t it way too soon?

…Unbelievable. To think it would go this well.

That’s the kind of conversation they were having.

And then, the words of someone reached my ears.

…The Light Hero apparently defeated the Demon Lord Zagan.

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