Two days later I was walking to the library when I noticed the tired expression of the Knight Captain. Curious, I decided to investigate.
"Good afternoon Captain Rafhound," I greeted cheerily.
"Davios, indeed good afternoon," he fixed his posture but visible bags could be seen beneath his eyes. "It is rare to see you without the other Heroes, where are they?"
"They're just resting in our chambers. I'm returning some books to the Library."
"I'm surprised you didn't bring them with you."
"I couldn't do that." I laughed, "The reason I've been sticking so close to them lately was to keep them safe. Since the assassination incident they were pretty spooked but now they're all quite strong. They can fend for themselves now."
"Then I must apologize. We have caused you concern due to our negligence."
"No problems here. They're interesting people. Sometimes I don't understand half of what they say, but it's fun nonetheless." I switched to a serious tone. "Speaking of assassins, you told us they were hired by the Demon Lord but they were from the Klerical Kingdom weren't they?"
The Knight Captain froze. "You have the right to know as a Hero but we cannot jump to conclusions. The Klerical Kingdom may be antagonist towards Elsbeth but even they should know their limits."
"Regardless someone or some group are still out for our blood right?"
"What makes you say that?" the Captain shuffled slightly.
"The other Heroes are nearing the limit of what they can do inside the palace. Magic lessons have increased while combat has decreased. You bring monsters for them to train but it's a strain on your resources. At the rate which the Heroes are going through them you can't keep up. It would make more sense that you let us outside the palace to train but so far no mention of it has come up. Why?"
The Captain sighed heavily, "Sharp aren't you Davios. You are right. All we can see is that someone is moving in the shadows waiting for us to drop our guard. You are strong and the others have surely grown but they're still wet behind the ears."
"With all the work, no wonder you look so worn out."
"So you could tell. Regardless, until we quell whatever is targeting you, here you all will remain. The other Kingdoms are already asking for you to grace them with your presence. We need to fix this problem soon."
"Hmmm." I scratched my chin. This was a bigger problem than I had expected. Staying here so long was getting a bit boring and I wanted the Heroes to experience more than just palace life. They were becoming too reliant. At this rate they really would land in the King's pocket. It was time to do something directly.
"Do not concern yourself Davios. It is our responsibility as your summoners to keep you safe."
"Don't worry I won't do anything extreme and I'll keep this a secret from the others."
"You have my thanks."
I smiled and walked away. Tonight would be interesting.
"Earth Lance times five!" Gary yelled.
"Earth Lance," I replied.
There was still sometime before the sunset so we were practising magic outside. Gary's five lances shot towards me but the force of my single lance scattered them before they could reach. My lance punctured into the ground a foot away from where Gary was standing.
"You're focusing too much on quantity. Don't spread your mana excessively, try solidify it before you release the spell," I advised.
"Thanks…." Gary replied disheartened.
Carl laughed, "And you said you'd catch up to Dave by the end of the month."
"As if you can talk! My magic is way better than yours."
"Yeah, but I'm not focusing on magic am I?"
"Carl you still need to improve even if it's not your focus," I reprimanded. "Alicia and Sayuri you too."
"Argh I hate using magic," Alicia groaned. "Don't you find it embarrassing to call out the spells' name each time?"
"Not really," Sayuri said.
"It helps focus your mana so it's fine right?" Carl said.
"It's cooler that way," Gary replied with a thumbs up.
"Really just me…?" Alicia moped.
"If you work on it hard enough you can do it without speaking," I said.
"But then I'll learn stronger magic and need to say that out loud, it's like a vicious loop of embarrassment."
"You people have the weirdest concerns," I shrugged.
"It's not weird!"
"Sis, don't get so worked up. Just work with it. I thought it was pretty cool the other day when you yelled 'breaker'," Gary laughed.
Alicia's face reddened, "I'll break you in a minute."
"Sis, it was a joke okay. Hey don't put your gauntlets on. Okay haha I get it, I'm sorry for teasing. Sis? Sis!? No wait!" Gary ran away as Alicia chased after him. The rest of us just laughed. "Oi, don't laugh! Help me!"
"Breaker!"
Gary's body went flying across the yard…. He'd be fine.
"Refreshments for the Heroes," a servant came with a trolley filled with tea and snacks.
"Thank you," Sayuri smiled and picked up a cup.
"Thanks," I took a biscuit and put it to my mouth. Before I could open it however a terribly familiar smell wafted into my nose. Poison. I slapped the cup from Sayuri's hand and blasted away the cart which Carl was about to eat from.
"What was that for!?" Sayuri shouted with more emotion than I expected.
"Sorry it was just reflex," I replied coldly as I stared at the servant who was shaking in fear. "Don't eat from the scraps. I need to have a word with this young lady." I grabbed her arm and pulled her around the corner while the Heroes just stood confused.
"No please, it wasn't me," she squealed.
"Odd of you to say considering I haven't asked anything yet."
Her expression turned deathly pale. "I- I just did- please have mercy!" she shouted. I was glad that I had prevented sound from escaping. The Heroes were already suspicious.
"Calm down. Why did you try to poison us?"
"Please, they have my sister."
"Who are 'they'?"
"I can't sa-," her mouth began to spasm as if she was trying to suppress something. Tears rolled down her face and she tried cover her mouth but a sound still leaked out, "Defile thy-,"
"Not again!" I grabbed her head and scanned her body. There was a dark clump of mana in the pit of her stomach. I didn't have time for anything fancy so I shoved my hand into her stomach and injected my own mana to remove it. The girl collapsed to the ground. It was close and I couldn't hide my distaste. Using people like this was beyond redemption.
"Dave what did you do!?" Carl yelled. Damn I had focused too much and didn't realise he had followed me.
"Don't worry I didn't really stab her. I was just stopping her."
"Why? And what was with the cart?"
"She was sick. If you ate that food you would have become sick as well. I just cured her, she fainted though."
"Is that right…." From the way he looked at me I could tell he didn't fully believe me. Probably because of my angry expression.
I took a breath and relaxed, "It's alright and it would be better to not tell anyone about this." Luckily there was no one else who was watching. "If they learnt that she was sick, she might get fired."
After some pressure he eventually nodded, "Umm, sure."
"Good, it's getting dark. We should head back to our rooms."
"But what about her?" he pointed at the unconscious girl.
"I'll handle it."
To be frank I was pissed off. Using that girl as a tool reminded me of an all too familiar situation. For all their grumbling about demon and human superiority, in the end we really were the same. I could tell the King and let him deal with it but now it was night, I wanted to let loose.
Thanks to the servant girl I was able to get her side of the story and obtain a rough layout to where they were hiding. The palace was located in Elsbeth's capital, a city aptly named Elsbeth State. The city was huge and the biggest in human kingdoms. The only larger one I had seen was my own capital. From what I had gathered the miscreants from the Klerical Kingdom were set up in multiple locations along the west outskirts. It was time to lay out some demonic justice.
I quickly made my way to the western district and began walking along the streets. First I needed to lay out bait. I entered a dingy looking tavern filled with humans drunk from alcohol. It was definitely not refined and there were some sights I'd rather leave out but it was certainly a place where darker dealings were carried out.
"Bar keep, I'm here to celebrate!" I cheered.
"Oh, celebrate what?" he gave me a toothy grin, hoping I'd spend a lot.
"I'm finally leaving this place. Just got a job at the palace!" I grabbed someone's drink from the bar and slammed it down my throat. He stood up angrily. "No need to be angry my dear sir, I'll buy you more, in fact everyone can drink more! Tonight's on me." I flipped a bag of coins onto the bar and the entire tavern cheered. And thus I proceeded to get everyone drunk, including myself.
After a few rounds I pretended to pass out and not soon after, some 'good natured gentlemen' said that they would take me to an inn to rest. They carried me quite far as I slurred and spurted nonsense until finally I was tied to a chair in some dark dank cellar. Of course I knew exactly where I was and to my surprise I was closer to the palace than I thought I would be.
Water was splashed across my face,
"Hey wake up," a refined looking gentleman said as some lackey gave me a shake.
"Whaaa?" I gasped.
"My men here say that you just received a job in the palace."
"Sure did! Working as cook I am," I happily said pretending to be drunk. "Why am I tied up?"
"No need to be concerned. We just want your assistance with a certain problem."
"Problem? I can do problems," I grinned stupidly.
"Of course you can," the gentleman smiled falsely as if he was looking down at a simpleton. "Money." He clicked his fingers and a sack full of gold coins landed at my feet. "All this is yours if you agree to help."
"Anything! I'll do anything," I yelped.
"Good. Now have you heard of the Heroes?"
"Certainly have sir, something about new ones."
"Yes, indeed. Now the simple task we need you for may sound difficult but trust me it'll be fine."
I stared at the gold and then back up at the man, "What do ya need?"
"We want you to kill them. Any method is fine, we have poisons, explosives and some special magic as well."
"Ah… I'm not so sure. Heroes are the good guys."
He looked at me with sympathy, "No no no! You've been misinformed, you see those are fake Heroes. The real Heroes are yet to be summoned but for that to occur the fakes must be removed first!"
"Who's going to summon them?"
"You don't need to be concerned about that. Just know if you succeed we can give you a hundred times more money."
"Will I get any help?" I asked unsure.
"We will help as much as we can."
"Anyone else in the palace that can help me?"
"Unfortunately you're all we have. The other ones had some accidents."
"Accidents?" I asked frightened.
"Don't worry, we have a certain spell we can use so that those accidents become something else entirely."
I could garner a guess as to which spell he was talking about. "Is this everyone here?"
"Everyone you see here are all we need to accomplish this task."
He was lying. I could detect at least a dozen others within this building. "Okay put the spell on me."
"Certainly," he reached out and placed his hand on my chest. The magic began to cast and with that I fully understood what it was. It was a masterpiece of a spell. Full of restrictions and jinxes to eliminate loose ends. Better still I could also feel everyone else who had the spell cast on them. Everyone here aside from the caster had it plaguing their system and further away I could sense some others.
"Why won't it work," the man's face became strained.
"That's because I'm done here," I said reverting to my normal tone. The man jumped back and his lackeys drew their swords. The rope tying me down fell apart and I floated to a standing position. "Well this has been an enlightening experience."
"Who are you!?" the man yelled.
"Just a wondering adventurer."
"Guards get in here!"
"No need to call them. We'll all be moving location soon."
"What are y-,"
The scenery shifted from the dark cellar to the calmness of an open field not far from the capital. With a click of my fingers everyone who had the spell placed on them appeared in front of me. There were less than I expected. It seems the Knight Captain had done rather well to weed them out. In fact the only reason they had gone so far as to fall for my bait may have been due to the desperation he had caused.
"Impossible for everyone to be gathered here. What kind of monster are you?" the gentleman screamed.
"As I said, I'm just a wondering adventurer." I targeted those who didn't seem to belong to the perpetrators. Among them was the servant girl's sister as well as a lady from the library I recognised. I moved them safely to the side. "Stay there, I'll return you soon. As for the rest of you." I floated into the air where they could all see me. "Two options, admit your crimes and face your punishment or," I let out a dark smile, "fight me and see how well that goes."
"Kill him!" the man who I now assumed was their leader yelled. The sky lit up with magic as they bombarded me with an assortment of spells. None of them reached me of course. They were pitiful in my eyes. "Damn it! Summon the warbeast!"
Warbeast? I was surprised they had enough mana and talent to summon one. Instead of interrupting I let them finish as they tried to quickly get into formation. Dark red sparks shot from the ground as a circuit drew itself. I grimaced angrily, no wonder they could summon one. They were sacrificing themselves. With no hesitation three of them dissolved into mana as the warbeast began to take form. It was a giant dog like creature covered in scales. It stood powerfully on its front legs sporting a large thick tail behind its smaller rear legs.
It let out an immense roar and immediately saw me as its target. Letting this thing escape would be no joke. By the time a group of knights came it would have reeked irreparable havoc on the populace. It was time to stop playing around.
My hand raised towards the sky, "Earth Lance times one thousand." If Gary saw this he would probably cry. It rained earth down upon the warbeast. Its thick scales were useless against the torrent of lances and the strength it should have had quickly collapsed as the ground was beaten into powder. When it ended all that remained was the leftover mana floating away from its vanishing body. Ah, how refreshing.
"Impossible," the gentleman stared at me with wide eyes.
"I assure you that this is all definitely real. Besides that power should be well within a Hero's capability," I smiled down on them like a God.
"Initiate act thirteen!"
"Yes sir," the men behind him yelled. They began to all speak as one, "Defile thy servant!"
Nothing happened, leaving them all beyond confusion.
I landed beside their leader, "Like I'd let you get off that easily. You're lucky though, I've had enough fun for now. I'll let the kingdom deal with what's left." With a click of my fingers a dark rope looped around the group of men and tied them in a single bundle. "Now wait here till the knights come. I'm sure it won't be long."
I left them screaming in anger and fury as they tried futilely to escape and instead approached the ones who had been captured by them.
"Who are you?" the librarian girl asked. She didn't recognise me. Of course she wouldn't, to each of them I looked different.
"Just a wandering adventurer," I smiled. "Now I'll take you back to the city but just in case," I tapped them each on the head, "I'd rather not attract too much attention. Now let's hop to it." A click of my fingers and we were all back where we needed to be. With this the Heroes and I could leave the capital.