'Was there really a need to save that two-horned Majin? He wasn't even that powerful', Regal wondered.
He and Kendrick were resting in his lounge, the heroes and adventurers were in another room having their wounds attended.
"Are you going to report it to the king?", Kendrick asked.
Regal looked at him as if it was a strange question.
"Of course I will. If I didn't, it's the same as saying that the responsibility is mine and that I'd handle the consequences of a general rank demon appearing.
That thing could tear down a city easily."
He reached for a tea in front of him and started drinking.
"That being said, send a letter to the King about the events that occurred, Pamel", Regal ordered.
Pamel nodded and walked away, leaving the room with hardly any sound to follow.
A silence fell upon the room. There was plenty to talk about regarding this matter, but in the end, there was only one thing that needed to be done. Regal and the other inhabitants of the city were going to be prepared for the invasion.
They've been through the process of a potential invasion more than once, so they will be ready to leave at a moment's notice by the time the invasion occurs.
They now needed to ensure some particular individuals were ready.
Kendrick broke the silence with a suggestion.
"Perhaps we should increase the intensity of the training with the heroes"
Regal looked at him and his face brightened.
"That's a great idea! I'll do it!"
Kendrick replied with a confused face.
"You're pretty enthusiastic about it... but what do you mean, you'll do it?"
"What else? I'll be in charge of their training! I'll make it super hard, as similar to my training days as possible!"
Kendrick flinched at the last remark.
"Uh... perhaps you shouldn't expose them to your unnecessarily disturbing training"
Regal frowned and took another sip of his tea.
"You found it plenty fun when I told you about my method back in the day"
Kendrick looked away slightly.
"I said it sounded fun... I never actually did it, you were definitely crazy for doing that kind of stuff. Besides, didn't you say that you had something planned the other day?"
Regal raised a brow and pondered for a few moments, did he ever say such a thing?
And then, the sudden realisation hit him.
"Ah! The assassins!"
Kendrick suddenly started looking around with lightning-fast speed.
"The what!?"
Regal watched him and laughed, Kendrick stopped searching and looked at Regal with confusion.
"No no, I met some assassins the other day, I have them ready to perform some tasks for me..."
At that moment, Ellis walked into the room and noticed the two of them sitting down. She smiled at Regal and walked forward to one of the seats.
"You are back already?"
Kendrick wanted to continue questioning about the assassins, but if he was correct in his assumptions, it's probably better that this matter isn't known to Ellis and Ruk. They could be considered far more rational than Regal and Kendrick, and to them, that's a problem.
Regal seemed unbothered by the matter of the assassins and Ellis walking in, as if the two things together were irrelevant.
"Indeed, and I think this was a great experience for the heroes", Regal stated.
Ellis' smile widened, and she pressed her hands together next to her head to exclaim joy.
"That's great! I guess you managed to help the heroes fight one or two monsters then?"
Regal tilted his head.
"I suppose so...? But they didn't need our help, they took down the monsters themselves, rather well too."
Ellis seemed surprised.
"The heroes are more impressive than I had imagined... I suppose D-rank monsters are too easy for them", she said.
"Yes, D-ranks are far too weak for that lot now", Regal agreed with a pleased expression.
Kendrick listened to this and held a worried expression. It was evident that Ellis was misunderstanding the situation...
But if she believed that they would have needed help against D-ranks, then how would she react if they said that they had them fight C-ranks... alone...
"A-Ahem... Regal had the idea to increase the intensity of the heroes' training", Kendrick blurted in an attempt to change the topic.
"Oh...? Is there a need for such a rush?", Ellis questioned.
"Well, they need to be prepared for when the demons invade. They got a few Majin's on their side, and I have reason to believe a demonic general will make an appearance too", Regal casually mentioned.
The room fell silent and Regal continued to take another few sips of his tea.
'Ugh... this is so bitter! But that's fine! I refuse to add honey, or anything sweet for that matter!', Regal winced mentally.
Eventually, the stunned Ellis spoke with broken questions.
"Uh... Majin's... plural? No, wait... demonic general...?", Ellis began mumbling with a very puzzled face, her mind and body seemed to stop functioning for a moment.
Kendrick remained with his arms crossed as he watched Ellis' mentality begin to fade away.
"It may be abrupt, but it's true. We met a two-horned Majin at an outpost in the Lucus forest, and even more unbelievable was that a demonic general appeared soon after. Unfortunately, it managed to escape", Kendrick explained.
Colour escaped Ellis' face.
"W-what about the heroes? Were they hurt?", she asked with urgency.
"Of course not, do you believe we would let that happen?", Regal interjected.
"Ah...! No... I suppose you wouldn't", Ellis responded.
Little did she know, it was close to happening. Very close in fact.
Of the four teachers for the heroes, Ellis was the only individual who didn't know anyone previously. Regal knew both Kendrick and Ruk, though he had a very conflicting relationship with one of them. But Ellis was a Bishop sent from the temple... she wasn't well known or very powerful, but still suitable enough to teach a hero.
"Um..."
A voice came from the doorway to the lounge where Himari was seen standing.
Regal gave a confused look at the young lady standing at the door, she looked unsure of what to do. But what was there not to understand... Pamel usually led them around and should've told them everything they should do...
'Ah...'
Regal then waved his hand and pointed to a nearby sofa.
"Come sit"
Himari awkwardly walked by in silence and sat down.
The silence continued for a little longer, Regal reached for his tea but realised it was empty.
'...I won't get another', he thought, thinking that he had proved enough to others that he would rather drink tea, without anything sweet for that matter, instead of a children's drink.
"Ahem... how are the other heroes?", Regal asked, also drawing the attention of Ellis who seemed most curious.
Himari dropped her head.
"They're fine... I just finished healing what wounds they have... they just need some rest after all of that"
Regal raised a brow at her and her depressing atmosphere. Something seemed to be bothering her... but Regal didn't care for it.
"Shouldn't you rest too then? I'm sure it was exhausting going on a trip through the Lucus forest", Ellis suggested with a smile.
Himari raised her head, indeed looking quite tired, but instead denied as much.
"That's alright... I feel like training a little more after that actually..."
Regal then looked at her once again but this time with a smile.
"Oh? In that case, you'll be happy to know that we will be training you more intensely from tomorrow!", Regal exclaimed.
All of them looked at Regal strangely from his enthusiasm.
"...Well, if you want to train now, why not? I'm rather bored right now, so I wouldn't mind giving some advice."
***
A few moments later, two individuals were outside in the training area. An orange light enveloped them as dusk approached. The sun was hanging over the horizon, only slightly more than half of it in view.
"This dark already...? I suppose we didn't leave particularly early...", Regal said.
In front of him was Himari, she was holding her hands out in front of her in preparation.
"Sir Regal..."
"Just call me Regal"
"Right... Regal. Why is it that those who use holy power can't use magic?", Himari questioned, a dark look in her eyes.
Regal grimaced. Hearing those words seemed to annoy him.
"Who told you such a thing?"
Himari flinched.
"Uh... Rosel...? The lady we saw you with at the palace. Her and a man from the temple", she answered.
"Of course they would...", Regal rolled his eyes.
Himari seemed confused... was this not the truth?
"No, I guess they aren't completely wrong. But that aside for a moment, you can use magic if you want to"
Suddenly the gloomy atmosphere around Himari seemed to change slightly.
"I-I can? I can use magic?"
Regal nodded accompanied by a frown.
"Indeed... it just wouldn't be very powerful, or more accurately it wouldn't be able to become any more powerful than it currently is"
Right now, the downsides didn't matter to Himari, she didn't fully understand what it meant anyway.
"Then I want to learn magic! I want to control the elements! I want to be powerful, and fight alongside the others just like Anne!", she said in excitement... and perhaps a hint of desperation.
"Well, you can... I suppose. I don't see why you would though, from the power I sense from you, you would be far more powerful as a user of holy power", Regal testified.
Himari shook her head.
"No... holy power just doesn't feel like... me. You might not understand what I'm about to say... but it has to do with my world."
Regal had to admit, he felt some curiosity when hearing about their world. But it worried him that details might even convince him to attempt to go there... and he shouldn't do such a thing, at least not yet.
But it wouldn't hurt to hear some details... no?
Just a few.
"Back in my world, we had stories about worlds like this. There were various kinds, all of them were amazing and interesting. Swordsman and mages existed, fighting against creatures that seemed almost impossible to exist, using powers that seemed almost ridiculous, completely unrealistic... there were even different races who were similar to humans."
Regal listened intently.
"Honestly, after coming to this world, I'm convinced that those stories must have somehow literally come from another world. This world seems far too similar to those stories, it couldn't be a mere coincidence.
But that is the least of my worries... What I cared most about once coming to this world and learning about it was the powers, the magical abilities that entranced me within those stories."
Her expression fell to a contorted mix of anger and annoyance.
"But then I learned that the power I saw from you... while you didn't use anything flashy at the time, it was a power that left an impact. Magic circles... looked amazing. I wanted to use them.
But then I was told that I couldn't"
Her expression kept growing more negative, it made Regal feel uncomfortable. He felt like he was dealing with the emotions of a teenager... and honestly, that stage was far beyond him.
But he certainly had times when he had obsessions... the only difference from others was that he kept his obsessions even at his age.
He sighed and decided to speak instead of letting her continue.
"I think I see where you are going with this. You simply believe that you resonate more with magic... like you have a connection with it. Holy power just didn't have the same effect on you as magic did."
She brightened as she felt like Regal truly did understand.
He scratched the back of his head with an awkward expression.
"Hah... Look, I'm going to need to explain something to you, but I doubt you'll like it."
But, it seemed like she already knew what he was going to say, or at least the nature of what it was. Her face dimmed once again.
"Mages use mana through something called mana pathways... but that just happens to be what mages call it. All powers that we use flow through these same pathways. That naturally includes holy power and aura.
So what happens when one of those powers fills these pathways? It becomes difficult for other energies to flow."
This meant, in other words, that Himari couldn't use magic... at least not very well. If she still planned to use it, then she would have no choice but to live with a below-average performance, no matter what.
Her anger was plain as day, nothing was hidden on her face. She knew what these implications meant for her.
She squeezed her hands into fists.
"Can't I just... get rid of my holy power...?"
She looked as though she was on the verge of tears.
'Does it matter that much...? I would rather have magic too I suppose, but it isn't the concern of someone so inexperienced and naïve in the energies of this world'
For a moment, Regal was tapping his finger against his folded arm while thinking.
"There is a way..."
Her head immediately shot up and stared at him.
'The temple really won't like me for this... a hero that uses holy power would've been great for their reputation'
He sighed before continuing.
"But I'll only tell you if you still want to... after a month time"