Chapter 03
The Minotaur glared at the demon general, who was around in his late teen with a black hair. He wore a brown coat over his shirt and donned a black pants for his lower part. Appearance wise, he was a human noble, but for the Hero, he was not. She could not forget the instant defeat she suffered, and the one who caused it.
"Hero Ingrid," The Demon General Krima started and pointed a finger at the minotaur. "I will help you defeat him."
"…I know you're lying, monster." That was what she really thought as the demon could not gain anything by helping her. And she knew that they were their enemies who had killed many humans. She could not trust him.
"I'm not," he denied casually.
"Is your plan to defeat me kill me once I let my guard down? I won't fall for that."
"If that is the truth, I would have beheaded you instantly, or just let my kin, Throgdim here to finish you off."
"…Kuh." Ingrid could not deny those facts, and the underlying logic behind them. She was hesitating on answering when the other monster, the minotaur whose name was Throgdim spoke.
"Yes, General. I could not understand why you are helping a human, moreover, she's the Hero," Throgdim interjected as it prepared itself for a battle. "You aren't betraying us, are you?"
In response, Krima stayed silent for a while as it seemed he took a deep breathe. "…I am not sure but perhaps, I will be left no choice but to do so in the process."
His answer was not grand and but it didn't sound forced as well. But Ingrid could not really comprehend the words that Krima had said. "Hero, if you won't help, then I will defeat him by myself."
She just stayed silent.
The Minotaur Catastrophe then grinned widely, and then channeled more power to his body. The color of his black skin turned rusty red. "Isn't this a perfect opportunity, Hahaha! I've been wanting on fighting one of the generals to show my strength. I will kill you here and now, traitor!" It dashed forward and aimed at its country's general.
Krima had no weapons so he then planted his feet on the ground, and launched at the minotaur driving his kick into its abdomen. He followed up with a punch at its face, and then jumped to knee its chin with fast movements.
However, Throgdim seemed to be unhurt. The change of its skin had probably made it even tougher. It probably just shrugged every attack that Krima threw at him.
'It seemed that it didn't took me seriously earlier…' Deep inside as Ingrid thought, she was frustrated. She lost because of being careless many times already, this time wasn't any different. And there was also one time where she was defeated instantly.
She had recovered enough so she stood and stared at Krima. He wasn't serious yet as well.
It was a battle between an endurance, strength type monster and a speed, precision type fighters. Ingrid just watched it unfold before her, debating on herself if she would help him or not.
Blackish mana focused on Krima's hands and covered it like gloves. He used it to punch Throgdim and it grunted in pain as it took a step back. Ingrid was not really sure in what she saw but it seemed that his gloves' knuckles sharpened into a cylindrical cone.
Ingrid realized that his mana-made gloves could change its shape, explaining the damage he dealt to Throgdim, and how he was able to behead her when he didn't have any blade. Recalling it now made her feel the coldness of her neck being severed.
"Hrm! I guess you wouldn't be able to become the youngest general if you are weak after all," Throgdim begrudgingly said. But looking at it, Ingrid could tell it still had the confidence to defeat the young demon before him. "Now let's see how you deal with this!"
—The minotaur suddenly vanished from thin air and appeared behind Krima.
"Look out!" she involuntarily shouted. But then she had been left speechless after seeing the result. "…..."
"H-how did you…know?" It was no wonder that Throgdim asked him. Currently, the minotaur was skewered by Krima's right gloves—which turned into a complete spear—right into the stomach.
"Well, I know about you power and that you suddenly appear behind Hero earlier. All I had to do was wait for you to appear and stab you."
Throgdim, fell down on the spot and then the young general stabbed it once again, its skin returning to its normal black color. He looked satisfied when it could no longer move and then started to walk towards her.
Ingrid prepared her holy sword and any sudden attack that he might do. She would not let herself to be killed this time. However…
He gently bowed—
"Greetings Hero, I am here to offer a contract that will both benefit the humans and the demons."
And suddenly spoke of some incomprehensible thing.
"...…W-what do you mean by that?"
"Forgive me for getting right into the point but I want your cooperation for the Human-Demon Alliance."
Human-Demon Alliance… An alliance that nobody would ever think of. It was the demons who first declared war on the humans, and yet it now it was a demon who would offer an alliance?
"…Wait, so you demons are doesn't want to invade us anymore?"
"Unfortunately, I am acting on my own accord."
"Then I cannot trust you," she declared. Helping her aside, it would be far too risky to take just one demon's word as truth and believe that they would not betray the humans. "Besides, I highly doubt that your king would let you establish some alliance. Therefore this is just a sha—"
"We will kill the Demon King. And other Generals."
"Huh?" His words caught her off guard.
"If there were no stronger demon around, I would rise as the King and then we could make the alliance."
"…Can you kill your king?"
"If you're talking resolve, I can. He is a tyrant and scum and honestly, I want him dead. But with my powers, I cannot. I am not strong enough. That's why I need you to kill him."
"But then, your people won't acknowledge you as their new king—"
"All I need to do is show them the head of Demon King Gerbeis and claim that I am the one who slayed him. And if other demons would challenge me, without the generals, I could defeat them all."
"..." That left her speechless as well. Certainly, using this way, he could become the king and make his people obey him since he would be the strongest demon and their rule didn't include humans. The plan was simple and understandable. But she was still not fully convinced. "Why…are you doing this? So that you can become the king?"
"That is just my means. I want to stop this war. And if our king dies by your hand, the generals will fight for the throne. And then a civil war will occur and we probably lose many lives. However by that time, the demons would have probably destroyed many cities and villages. And countless of your people would die."
"…That…is just a speculation, isn't it?"
"I'm certain it will happen." His eyes were full of conviction. "You wouldn't want your fellow humans suffer, right?"
"I can understand it now. All that's left is whether I can trust you at all." She could not believe the words of the person before her. But she could at least give him a chance for saving her life earlier to prove himself on whether he was trustworthy or not. "You need to prove it to me! P-prove it to me that you can be trusted. If you can then I will cooperate with you."
Krima's eyes became grim as he heard what Ingrid had said and he muttered barely enough for her to hear it. "I knew it will happen along the process."
He turned back and started walking.
"H-hey wait! Where are you going? Don't tell me it was all a lie…"
She saw him approaching the minotaur. He manifested a glove in his right hand, this time turning it into a sword—and then he swung it down and cut off the minotaur's head.
She could not believe what she'd seen. "Why…did you kill….your fellow demon?" He didn't answer as he picked up the head and turned around again.
—Ingrid felt guilty, and pity the instant he saw his expression grieving for his killing his own kin.
"….I'm sorry."
He then approached her again as he stated with a voice full of self-derision. "With this…will you trust me?"
She could not bear seeing him as she had somehow forced him into doing that. He had resolved himself to do that so that he could gain her trust. His conviction had certainly reached her.
"Yes… I'll trust you then."
"Thank you." He gave a weak smile. "And don't worry, I fully resolved myself to do this. I will probably kill more of my own people in the future as well after all."
His heavy words, the unbearable atmosphere within their surroundings, and the sound of the head falling from his hand marked the cooperation of the Ingrid, the Hero Ingrid and the Demon General Krima.