Chapter 13 - The Spy

『Join Hillen Cargill's hero's journey as a mercenary.』

『Do everything you can to help him and build your reputation.』

"Are you sure this order really came from the Demon King?"

『Lord Demon King. Mind your manners.』

"Lord or not, isn't this strange? What Demon King in the world tells someone to help a hero?"

『How could the likes of you understand his profound intentions?』

"And you understand them perfectly, do you?"

『Shut up and follow your orders.』

Granada gave a short laugh at the low growl.

"Well, what choice does a slave have? Fine. At this rate, I might end up cutting off His Lordship's head. All because I followed his orders too faithfully."

『You white-skinned lot really won't learn until you're dead.』

"And you black-skinned lot have no sense of humor."

The two elves locked eyes through the crystal ball. A strange tension hung between them. Gordon was the first to turn away.

『Why His Lordship would take in a scoundrel like that... Tsk.』

He snorted lightly and ended the call. Granada scratched the bridge of his nose.

"Seriously, what's he up to?"

Telling him to join the hero's journey meant to kill him?

Granada tried to gauge the gap between himself and the Demon King. When they had fought in the tower, his long years of slavery had left him far from healthy. His body was sick and his skills rusty. He had been little better than a cripple.

But what about now? He still wasn't fully recovered, but he could kill five versions of his former self even if they attacked him at once.

And yet...

"I can't get a feel for it."

The Demon King must have only just descended into this world. Granada couldn't understand how he could be so strong. Nor could he understand his peculiar ways.

"I suppose there's no need for me to worry about it."

Strong or weak, he had sworn to the World Tree. Unless the Demon King died, he would have to serve him for a hundred years. That wasn't a short time even for an elf, but he had no regrets. Better to become the Demon King's subordinate and kill humans than eke out a miserable existence as their slave.

'Especially that goddamn bastard.'

The hunter who had captured him and handed him over to a slave trader.

Granada bit down hard on his lip, then collected himself and left the private room. He smacked the backs of the heads of Bark and the other mercenaries, who were in the midst of a drunken binge.

"Ow! What are you doing, Captain?"

"Our lord has sent orders."

"Finally?"

"Yes. We're joining the hero's journey."

"Hillen Cargill's?"

"The Hero of Hilderan?"

"Aha, is that why you've been commissioning reports on heroes from the Information Guild all this time? So we could join them?"

"Well, you could say that."

It wasn't, but it was a decent way to fit the pieces together. Perhaps that really had been the Demon King's intention.

"But if it's Hillen Cargill's hero's journey, we'll have an awful lot of competition."

Not just anyone could earn the reputation of a hero who had already cut off a Demon King's head. With success guaranteed, all the more hyenas would come running to snatch up the scraps.

"That's why we need to hurry."

If they wanted to become the biggest of those hyenas.

The Red Hawk Mercenary Company headed south.

* * *

"... What is this?"

After delivering the assignment to Granada as the Demon King had ordered, Gordon came downstairs and stopped at the sight of the fourth floor.

"Oh, you're here!"

The princess welcomed him with a bright smile.

"I've decorated it with scenery the spirits would enjoy. What do you think?"

"Scenery they would enjoy... Indeed."

Yes, the spirits would certainly enjoy a sight like this.

"Is this a river?"

"I wanted to make it bigger, like a real river, but I'm not capable enough. A mountain stream is about my limit."

Water spirits frolicked in a winding stream that ran through part of the fourth floor.

"And this is a tree..."

An earth spirit lay sprawled on a branch, fast asleep. Fire spirits played in a campfire, while wind spirits stirred breezes inside the enclosed tower.

'They said she could handle all four elements. So it was true.'

"I've made a forest over here and a meadow over there. Isn't it refreshing?"

"It is."

Far too refreshing. A gentle breeze tickled Gordon's hair.

It was an ecosystem in its own right. She had created a natural ecosystem inside a Demon King's tower. Small as it was, the princess was certainly no ordinary person either.

"I felt as though I could decorate the entire fourth floor straight away, but I can't manage that yet. Is it because there's so little mana?"

"You've done an impressive job, considering."

Of course there was little mana. A Demon King's tower overflowed with demonic energy, leaving mana thin on the ground. Her ability to overcome that and exert this much power was worthy of praise. If only she weren't a kidnapped princess. And if only this weren't the tower of the Demon King he served.

'I want to smash it all.'

If not for His Lordship's orders, he would actually have done so. He would have forcibly dismissed the spirits, seized the princess, and thrown her into an underground dungeon.

'When heroes arrive, I must never let them reach the third floor or higher.'

Gordon was seized by a sense of duty. He could never let other humans discover this sight that undermined the tower's dignity.

'Why on earth is he treating a mere human princess so well?'

He understood that Arain was different from other dimensions. And that they therefore needed to make reasonable accommodations. But no matter how he looked at it, this went well beyond reasonable.

"Oh, by the way, has His Lordship said when we'll go looking for magical herbs again?"

"That is for His Lordship to decide."

"Oh, yes. I'm sorry."

The princess lowered her head. And so Gordon did not see her expression.

* * *

Things had gotten tangled up. There was no denying it anymore.

He had kidnapped a brilliant craftsman who was also a hero.

Staring at the dwarf's backside as he crawled ahead made murderous intent boil up inside Berge. Though this wasn't the bastard who had killed him, nor one of those who had climbed his tower together and mocked him, he was still a hero.

Tearing off all their limbs and crushing their throats wouldn't be enough.

He could find another craftsman. Word of the kidnapping would have spread among the dwarves by now, but if he put his mind to it, it wasn't impossible.

But Berge held back.

Because the bastard was a hero. Because Berge himself had died after being used by a hero.

'There's no reason I...'

Couldn't use a hero himself, was there? Wouldn't it be more enjoyable to work him like a dog and treat him like trash, repaying the humiliation Berge had suffered twice over—no, a thousand times over?

With that thought, he barely managed to suppress his anger.

He opened his eyes and saw that backside again. Irritation instantly surged through him. He had told the dwarf to lead him through a secret passage. Had the bastard deliberately brought him to this shitty place where he had to crawl along without a shred of dignity?

For a moment, he considered smashing the dwarf's ass. He abandoned the idea because it would probably kill him on the spot.

"Are we actually heading toward the exit?"

"Y-yes."

But the passage ended even farther underground. A small mine came into view. Without a word, Berge smacked the dwarf's head. He screamed.

"Over there! The exit is that way! It's a small mine that was abandoned long ago, but I've dug a new passage!"

One smack had made him more polite. Not bad.

"I'll believe you one more time. If it's another lie, you won't enjoy what happens."

"It wasn't a lie in the first place..."

"..."

"N-nothing! But may I ask you one question?"

Berge gave a small nod.

"Why did you kidnap me when I'm a hero?"

"You're the one who offered to be taken in the princess's place."

"But even so..."

Heroes and Demon Kings were incompatible, like oil and water. Logger had never heard of a Demon King sparing a hero or a hero sparing a Demon King.

'Well, there are cases...'

But those were different. Deliberately refraining from climbing to the top of a tower wasn't the same as sparing a Demon King's life.

"Stop standing there in a daze and get moving."

"Y-yes!"

Logger squeezed into a narrow gap.

"You expect me to go in there?"

"The entrance is narrow because I dug this passage in secret. It's wider inside, so if you'll just bear with it..."

CRUNCH!

Part of the entrance collapsed. The wall pressing against Logger disappeared.

"Indeed, the passage isn't all that narrow."

"... I-if you hit the wrong spot doing that, the mine tunnel will collapse."

"But it didn't."

"Well, luckily it didn't, but underground you must always..."

"I'm beginning to wonder whether you're deliberately stalling to keep me here."

"N-not at all. L-let's hurry!"

The passage took the form of a rather steep staircase. Logger struggled upward on his short legs.

'What happens now?'

He was helping the Demon King escape because he couldn't withstand his threats, but he had no way of predicting what would come afterward. Escape was impossible. Yet why would the Demon King spare him when he wasn't the princess?

"... What are you going to do with me?"

"Do you want to live?"

The question struck home, and Logger flinched.

He was a hero. An oddball who didn't go hunting and subjugating enemies like other heroes, but still...

A proud hero who wouldn't beg for his life before a Demon King...

"... I want to live."

Logger's voice quavered with tears. If he could throw his life away as though it were nothing, he would have roamed battlefields instead of a workshop. He had never wanted to become a hero in the first place.

"Well..."

Something cold brushed his neck. Logger sank to the ground.

"Why should I, a Demon King, spare you, a hero?"

"I-I'm useful in all sorts of ways. My fighting ability as a hero is lousy, but I'm good with my hands!"

"You're just one dwarf among countless others."

"No! It may sound like I'm boasting, but everyone in the dwarven kingdom knows Logger! When it comes to craftsmanship, I pride myself on being the best of all dwarves!"

"Fine. I'll be exceedingly generous and assume all of that is true."

At the Demon King's assent, Logger nodded furiously.

"But you're a hero, and you're saying you'll use those skills for me, a Demon King? Do you think that makes any sense?"

"Why shouldn't it?"

Logger racked his brains desperately.

"The hero Pallas paid an enormous sum in gold to buy back a princess kidnapped by the Demon King of Lies."

"The king of Horton made an agreement with the Demon King of Lies."

"The Adamant Demon King wiped out the monsters in Ians Forest at the request of the Kingdom of Iasin!"

"The Demon King of Bitter Cold sent twelve heroes who entered his tower back without harming any of them!"

He rattled off the rumors he had picked up through various acquaintances—rumors circulating only among the kingdom's leaders and the heroes.

"It's no secret that heroes and Demon Kings quietly cooperate! There's no reason I can't work for you, my lord!"

His desperate cry was answered with a chuckle. The Demon King stood behind him, out of sight, but Logger imagined the corners of his mouth had risen.

He couldn't tell whether that meant approval or derisive rejection. Cold sweat trickled down him as his tension mounted.

"I came to kidnap a princess, only to find myself courted by a stumpy little dwarf."

"At the very least, I'm sure I can be more useful than most! If you want me to become a spy, I will!"

"I'm the one who decides that, not you."

"Of course! Of course!"

"Hmm."

The Demon King stroked his chin for a moment.

"I don't know whether the likes of you will be any use..."

A brief silence followed. Logger's breathing grew ragged. His body trembled.

"But if you're going to cry and beg this much, I could certainly find it in me to show mercy. I am a generous Demon King, after all."

Logger turned around and pressed his forehead to the ground.

"Thank you! Thank you so much! Long live the great Demon King!"

"Stand up."

The Demon King's hand lifted him to his feet.

"Please..."

He smiled, patting Logger's shoulder.

"I hope you won't forget how you feel today, short little hero."

If he did that...

"The worst situation you can imagine will never come to pass."

"Of course! I'll engrave the kindness you've shown me today into my very bones! Thank you, thank you so much!"

'I-I'm saved. I'm alive...!'

Logger's legs gave out, and he sank down again. He sniffed back his mucus and wiped away his tears.

'I-I'll never get involved with the princess again.'

The Demon King might use him as a spy, but barring extraordinary circumstances, he would never get involved with her. Then, when the opportunity arose, he would slip beyond the Demon King's reach and disappear.

So that he would never again experience either a misfortune like today's or the good fortune of a Demon King letting a hero go.

He vowed it firmly. Very firmly.

Relief at having survived brought a faint smile to Logger's face.