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In what kind of posture am I right now? In what state am I in? I don’t know anything at all.

I could only observe the scenery in front of my eyes.

What I can tell is that the threat is gone and that Ilias and Mix are looking at me with worried faces.

“————–Wolfe-chan—-no danger—–”

From what I could hear of Mix’s words and tell from her expression, there’s no danger to the life of Wolfe.

That’s a relief.

But there’s tears overflowing from the eyes of Ilias.

Speaking of which, I feel like this is the first time I see Ilias crying.

Anyways, I am glad those two are okay…

Speaking of which, what happened to Cara-jii? The person that fought against the Scarlet Demon Lord until Lord Ragudo and Gradona arrived.

“——, ————.”

No good. I can’t hear anything at all.

I can tell my consciousness is steadily getting more distant, most likely because of the relief.

I moved my gaze and tried to search for Cara-jii, but I couldn’t see him. No, that’s…I see knights carrying away the injured.

They put the people on the ground on what seemed like a stretcher and carried them away one after the other.

I directed my gaze at one of them.

There’s one stretcher the knights were carrying that had a blanket placed on. I can’t see the face of the person, but…I couldn’t help feeling familiarity from the arm hanging down.

My consciousness snapped away before I could understand what that meant.

“———–, ——!”

I hear voices again. But it is a voice I don’t remember hearing before. No, my body feels strange.

My eyes opened easily when I tried to.

The ones there were strangers.

They are all speaking to me with big smiles.

My body and mouth moved on their own, most likely reacting to those words.

Something is strange.

Aah, I see. This is a dream.

“Is Yugura shutting himself in again and researching magic? His appearance changed and the things he does have changed, too.”

“Don’t say that. He has outstanding talent despite appearances.”

Words came out from my mouth -the voice of a woman.

This…I can pretty much guess whose dream is this. But the dream I had before was all scenery, yet I am beginning to hear voices too, huh.

I really have to make countermeasures of some sort.

The owner of the body and the people in front of me are chatting as if having fun. It is not ‘as if’, but they most likely are actually having fun.

It seems like the emotions of this body’s owner are transmitted to me too.

“You picked up a weird man. Even —— has been completely poisoned by that Yugura.”

“My little brother prefers deepening his knowledge like Yugura rather than running around outside. But considering the eccentricities of Yugura, I should be calling him a bad friend. Even so, he has been a whole lot more cheerful lately. I do have to be grateful to him in that front.”

I honestly don’t think much at all of this scene. No, I do feel a sense of immorality from listening in.

Even if you show me the conversation of strangers…

I would like to wake up already.

Just when I thought this, the scenery in front of my eyes changed completely.

It should be the same as the place before, but there wasn’t a shred of the peaceful village scenery.

Buildings were burning and destroyed. The sky was dyed red with the light of the fire, and there’s burned grass everywhere.

The people the owner of the body was speaking to are not here.

No, they are.

I was made to understand that the big piles of charcoal lying in front of my eyes were them.

“Every…one…”

I feel as if muddy liquid was oozing from inside my body.

It is not like she is injured. These are…emotions. The emotions welling up from the heart of the body’s owner.

I can tell because I have had a similar experience. This is anger. Unrestrained anger was filling up the whole body and dyeing away the worth of the world.

“—Wail, lament, the despair etched in my soul, the anger created by our demise, must be made to resound in this deplorable world!”

The body’s owner spoke out loud to no one in particular.

She must be telling that to herself.

The things she has to do herself, the things she must do; she is voicing them out here so that those feelings don’t thin out.

She is etching them into her own soul with a lament.

◇◇

My friend can’t receive the effects of healing magic which spurs on the mana inside your body to heal because he has no mana.

We used ointments that adventurers utilize and also bandages to help out for the moment.

We finished the emergency treatment, but there’s no choice but to take time to recover from there on.

We had him lie down in a room of the manor close to the Gahne Castle that the knights of Taizu are using as a base.

I couldn’t do anything aside from watching over him regardless of day or night.

Recovering wounds naturally requires a lot of stamina. My friend hasn’t woken up for 3 days due to this.

The doctor bringing water and liquid food, and skillfully pouring it inside his mouth really hit me.

They told me he is getting better by the day, but I am worried that he might not wake up at this rate.

It is ironic that it is thanks to this worry that I couldn’t feel sleepy and am able to stay by the side of my friend like this.

“…The one there is…Marito, huh.”

The eyes of my friend were open when I raised my head.

He is looking at me with a weak expression.

Aah, that’s such a relief. You have finally woken up.

I unconsciously sighed heavily and strength left my whole body.

“Yeah, it is me. Sorry that it wasn’t a woman.” (Marito)

“No problem. Your worried face works just nice.”

“I have been watching over you for 3 days and 3 nights, I’ll have you know!” (Marito)

That said, being met with snark at my days of dedication feels good right now. I am satisfied with just the fact that he has woken up.

“I have been asleep for 3 days…? By the way, how did you guys look after me at that time?”

“There were a lot of volunteers, but considering your future anxiety, I decided to employ a doctor and men to assist. Also, well, I helped out a bit.” (Marito)

“I am glad I have an understanding friend.”

“Well, Lady Ratzel and Wolfe-chan have to prioritize their own treatment. As for the others…my honest feelings would be that I don’t know if it would be okay to leave the job to them.” (Marito)

I wouldn’t want to trust in the two Demon Lords to begin with. Even if they are fine when it comes to being considerate to his safety, who knows what they would pull off when they have too much free time in their hands.

I was thinking about leaving it to Mix, but…I have a bad feeling about it, so I had her endure.

“…What happened after that?”

“Of course I will talk about that. Where should I begin?” (Marito)

“I was conscious at the time when the Scarlet Demon Lord left. Please tell me about the developments afterwards.”

“Battles continued to a certain degree even after we fought off the Scarlet Demon Lord, but we have safely finished eradicating the monsters that attacked Gahne and Mejis.
We have made a number of soldiers keep an eye on the border of the Nether.
As for the movements inside the countries, we are trying to secure dwellings and food for the refugees, and doing the repairs of the destroyed facilities.
The Scarlet Demon Lord has lost most of his forces. I doubt he is going to be able to invade any further. You could call this the victory of the human side.” (Marito)

“Victory…huh.”

My friend raised his arm languidly and covered his eyes.

He was made to go through hell just before attaining complete victory. It is most likely hard to accept it as a victory.

“The Scarlet Demon Lord said he was going to show his own strength and make clear that it wasn’t a defeat. But our victory is not to defeat the Demon Lord; it’s to protect the country and the people. This is without a doubt a victory, and you are the one who made it possible to grab ahold of it.” (Marito)

“…Right. An ideal victory is not something that can be obtained easily after all.”

“Also, the information you may want to know. The treatment of Ekdoik and Rakura’s mother is being performed in Gahne. According to the Purple Demon Lord, they will be able to heal her without much issue.” (Marito)

“That’s great to hear.”

The person herself said she wanted to nurse my friend and was not listening at all, but due to the Gold Demon Lord persuading her with ‘Think carefully about what Ser would be more grateful for when he wakes up’, we managed to get her cooperation.

“I would like you to worry more about yourself than others though. Feel weird anywhere?” (Marito)

“My whole body hurts and feels sluggish on top of that. It won’t be possible for me to get up.”

“I would tie you down if you were to try and get up with those wounds.” (Marito)

“…Is Kutou okay?”

“It is there. It used almost all of its mana to protect you. It began moving soon after resupplying its mana.” (Marito)

“Yessu, Kutou reading mood and waiting! Lots people came, but I might been killed if I teased them!” (Kutou)

“Smart choice.”

There were a lot of people who came to check on the state of my friend.

All of them were worried about him from the bottom of their heart. If they were teased with the tone of this devil…well, I would have wrapped it up with just throwing it in fire.

That said, the life of my friend would have been in further danger if not for the devil. It might be fine to award it a medal of honor.

“Also, I am hungry.”

“Makes sense. Want it ready at once?” (Marito)

“No, it is okay. The outside being dark means it is night, and I seem to still be sleepy. Just ask them to make my share of breakfast.”

“Your body has been working the whole time in healing the wounds even when you were sleeping after all. Got it. Then, go ahead and sleep tight.” (Marito)

“—Marito, is there anything else to report?”

“…No, not as of present. I do have some details I would like to talk about with you, but let’s have that talk tomorrow. If I were to make you arrange that stuff inside your head, you wouldn’t be able to rest even if you wanted to, right?” (Marito)

“…Right.”

My friend said this and closed his eyes.

Seeing him like that hit me with drowsiness. It is not like I am moving my body, but I nursed him right after commanding whole armies for long periods of time.

I can’t deny that my stamina is somewhat lower compared to the knights that were continuously fighting in the frontlines.

I exit the room and request the preparation of breakfast, and then I myself went to sleep.

And so, the next morning, I thought I would wake up wasted, but I was more refreshed than I imagined. I must have had quite the deep sleep there, my body feels extremely light.

I was grateful for the sleep granted to me by relief as I headed to my friend’s place.

My friend most likely hasn’t woken up yet, but I would like to try waking up a sleeping friend once.

I walked the hallway and heard a strange ruckus from a room.

“Argh, how about being more gentle with a patient?!”

“Rich of you to say that. Even though you said there will be no stealing the march, you went and had invaluable experiences.”

When I peeked in, there was Lord Domitorkofucon tied up on the bed and a few knights of the Ragudo Division hanging around.

Lord Domitorkofucon was the most injured among the survivors, but we managed to save him by giving him concentrated treatment.

That said, we prioritized his life, so most of the wounds in his whole body were left for later. The medical treatments will most likely continue for a while as they wait for the mana of the person himself to recover.

“It is noisy so early in the morning. There should be people who are still sleeping.” (Marito)

“Y-Your Majesty?! M-My deepest apologies!” (Cara)

“Lord Domitorkofucon, think well once again about the reason why you are tied up on the bed.” (Marito)

“You have a point, Your Majesty, but these guys are jealous that I got to fight a Demon Lord and are harassing me like children! Even just now, they tried to scribble on my bandage—” (Cara)

“Cara has been terribly forgetful lately after all. We are simply writing down the messages of others like this.”

“…Keep it moderate.” (Marito)

This Lord Domitorkofucon said he would return to the frontlines the moment he regained consciousness. This obviously wouldn’t be allowed, so he was restrained by the people of the Ragudo Division.

That said, he is this lively, so it should be possible to bring peace of heart to my friend if I show this early to him.

“Good grief. Carrying me like I am a dead person. I saw a coffin by my side as soon as I woke up! Would you normally prepare a coffin?!” (Cara)

“What, your butt was kicked black and blue. Did you want to show everyone the white of your eyes and your tongue sticking out from your mouth?”

“Hngh…” (Cara)

These old soldiers…even though the young knights are all wasted after continuous days of battle… No, wait, what did he say just now?

“Lord Gaphgoveilz, what was that about carrying him like he was dead?” (Marito)

“Even if you ask me that… He was so terribly injured that we decided to put a blanket on top of him since it wasn’t a pretty sight for others to see—Your Majesty?!” (Boru)

I rushed out of the room and ran to the room where my friend was sleeping.

Why didn’t I notice?!

My friend covered his eyes with his arm the moment the talk about victory came.

Even though his whole body hurt and couldn’t move properly, he still went and did that!

If my friend has misunderstood that just now…in the case my friend has assumed that ‘that must have been the result’ because I decided it wasn’t something that required me to tell him immediately…just what kind of eyes would he have made?

It was because he knew I wouldn’t leave him alone if I saw him make those eyes!

I forget about etiquette and violently open the door, confirming the inside.

“—! Knew it!” (Marito)

There was already no one on the cold bed, and the cold air of the morning was coming in from the wide open window.

◇◇

The Scarlet Beast had the overwhelming advantage in the beginning of the battle between him and the Earthling, but everything was turned around by the strategy of the Earthling.

It would have been plain if the story ended there, but as expected of the Scarlet Beast, he went and soured the victory of the humans by brute force.

Well, such a violent play can only be allowed because he has the strongest body in the world though.

“More importantly, I should confirm the actions of the Earthling. It would be nice if he were to head to the place of the Scarlet Demon Lord though.”

I checked and saw that he had left Gahne, but it doesn’t seem like he is heading to the Gahne Nether.

I do have a rough guess of the objective in his actions, but I have no idea what he is trying to do.

“Though, I am impressed he can move when he is that tattered.”

He is moving his body by force by compensating with the devil in his wooden sword.

He looks so weak here it makes me worry just watching him despite not being a close friend of his.

Anyways, I am close to learning where he is heading to.

The time in which he left Gahne, and the route he took as he sneaked past the eyes of the knights was all weird, but right now he is flying practically straight forward.

If I match it with the map, his destination should be…hm?

“No, there’s no way. He is not heading there to kill himself, right?”

If his objective was to die, he could have just wrapped a curtain around his neck.

But maybe I should stop him from going any further?

Just when I thought this and stood up, we locked eyes. My eyes making contact with his through the broadcast means…  He is doing this with complete understanding that I am watching him and know where he is heading to.

<<Kutou, do it.>>

The footage was cut off the moment he pointed this way.

That bastard…he killed my familiar.

Don’t go killing my familiar that not only can’t be seen but can’t be perceived either.

What should I do? Should I send a new familiar?

I may not be able to trace the mana of the Earthling, but it should be possible to pinpoint the mana of the devil that has possessed the wooden sword.

I can resume my surveillance if I predict the place he is heading to and set it up again… Or at least that’s how it should be.

“No good. Those eyes are bad news.”

I have seen that man’s eyes grow muddy several times already. But the eyes he directed at me just now were incomparable from the ones of before.

Those are the same as the time with Black Sis. They are pretty dyed.

“I am half nostalgic and half sad. No, half of that sadness has unease mixed in it.”

Black Sis completely stopped being human after her homeland was burned.

She had already begun the lifestyle of a Demon Lord before even becoming one.

I have no means to stop a human that has become like that. Even Yugura couldn’t, so there’s no way I would be able to.

Aah, so unbelievable. I have lived for centuries, and yet, I have not grown at all. On the contrary, I am being reminded about how much of a bum I am.

Living for a long time ain’t good.

“Him getting rid of my surveillance must be his way of telling me to not move, but…”

He is not only avoiding my obstructions, he must have thought of the possibility that the king of Taizu would try to make contact with me in his search for that man.

I can move freely to a certain degree if he is neutral, and I can also spread information. That’s only if that action of mine and the information don’t turn me into the enemy of someone, that is.

Those eyes that were telling me ‘you are an enemy if you get in the way’. I have the restriction of not being able to take hostile actions, so I can’t do anything as of present.

That man has been open about being observed until now even if displeased about it, and yet, he took this action.

He is definitely scheming something pretty bad here…

“Aah, what to do, what to do. Even though I had enough with just once of not being able to do anything and just letting things play out.”

Black Sis, Yugura, and that man; there’s too many people who move as they please.

Even though you are not the only ones who will be suffering afterwards.

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