The loose clothes over her upper body were stretched tight by her overly developed figure. The full curves looked as though they were pushing the fabric to its limit, making one worry that the clothes might burst open if one wasn't careful.
Her smooth, fair thighs had not a trace of excess fat, yet were firm and soft with flesh. Her delicate skin carried a gentle sheen under the sunlight, as warm and smooth as white jade. Yet her waist was slender enough to fit in one hand, creating a striking contrast with her full chest and rounded thighs. She perfectly combined the mature charm of an older beauty with the innocence and sweetness of a young girl, embodying the phrase "pure and alluring."
The perfect combination of an angelically pure face and a devilishly sexy figure made up her almost unreal beauty, making people wonder whether she had stepped out of a fairy tale, possessing a charm that could stir one's heart with a single glance.
As a result, passersby couldn't help following the two of them with their eyes, and many even became jealous of Ash, who was clearly the one Sophia was clinging to.
The overly piercing stares made him glance at the girl pressed so closely against him.
"I really shouldn't have brought you. By the way, you really did keep your vampire charm skill turned off, right?"
"What do you mean! I've listened to you ever since I was little. I've never used that ability and have always lived honestly and behaved properly, haven't I? That's just other people being dirty-minded!"
"I suppose so?"
Sophia had worked hard as she grew up. Although she often acted without thinking, she was generally obedient. Looking at the girl beside him, he couldn't help feeling a little sentimental.
Strange as she was, this girl did have her good points.
Thinking that, he unconsciously reached out and patted her head again, smiling with satisfaction.
"Now that I think about it, you're actually pretty great~"
"As a woman?", Sophia blinked, her eyes full of expectation.
"Of course not. I mean as a girl."
"Ehh~ But I'm already this mature?", Sophia deliberately puffed out her impressive chest and flashed a mischievous smile.
Ash found it difficult to keep talking about this overdeveloped girl, so he quietly looked away.
"More importantly, weren't we supposed to be sneaking in? If you keep doing this, won't people discover us right away?"
"I haven't done anything at all. How could that possibly be my fault?" Sophia protested with a sulky expression.
"Yeah, yeah. Let's go with that," Ash didn't want to argue with her over this. Arguing with Sophia sometimes felt like getting tangled in a ball of yarn, the more you pulled, the worse it became.
Although having Sophia interlock their fingers and cling to his arm made walking somewhat inconvenient, he immediately used Spatial Transfer to leave the street with her, disappearing from everyone's sight to avoid drawing even more attention.
———
Before Ash returned to the demon territory to rest briefly, or rather, to pet Ariel for a while, before coming back to the royal capital, the death of humanity's strongest Hero caused panic to spread wildly. The entire kingdom seemed covered by a dark cloud, and every street was filled with unease.
At this time, when hearts were filled with fear and the situation was unstable, the kingdom and the Word of God Religion had no choice but to announce the appearance of the new Hero, hoping this would stabilize the crumbling situation, as though grasping at the last straw in the darkness.
At that very moment...
[Royal Palace's Reception Hall]
The leaders of the elves and the royal family sat properly as they held an extremely important meeting.
The atmosphere, however, was as heavy as the sky before a storm. It weighed on everyone's heart, and worry was plainly written across every face.
"I believe the two representatives of the elves have already heard. Recently, the demons have begun making moves, and according to the intelligence Hyrince sent back, a monster known as the Primordial Demon seems to have reached some secret agreement with the Demon Lord. Their goal is to completely wipe out humanity and the elves."
The first to break the silence was the white-haired king.
He looked to be in his twilight years, probably sixty or seventy years old. Deep wrinkles carved by time covered his face. Frowning deeply, his eyes filled with worry, he continued slowly,
"That demon has become utterly arrogant. He openly broke into the royal capital and slaughtered the Hero's party in broad daylight. Our morale has suffered a tremendous blow. I'm afraid it won't be long before the demons seize this perfect opportunity to formally declare war."
The king's hoarse voice echoed clearly through the reception hall, which was so quiet that a pin could have been heard dropping. Every word struck everyone's heart like a heavy hammer.
"In order to avoid war, we tried our best to reconcile with the demons and open negotiations, hoping to find a path to peace. Unfortunately, our abilities were limited, and in the end we couldn't stop this from happening..."
Beside the elven chief Potimas sat a small girl.
She was the chief's only daughter, the young elf Filimos, with her cute twin tails.
She lightly bit her lip. Speaking in a heavy tone, she paused before lowering her eyes and continuing with guilt, "If only I had done better... perhaps Julius wouldn't have..."
"Please don't say that. Everyone knows this was unavoidable," The king gently shook his head and sighed again.
"Since it's already happened, what we should be thinking about now is how to respond. Fortunately, the new Hero has already appeared."
As he spoke, the king patted the somewhat shy blue-haired boy beside him.
The boy, Shun.
As Julius's younger brother, he resembled Julius somewhat, but lacked the remarkable presence Julius had possessed. He gave an ordinary impression, like a lesser version of Julius, though he seemed quite gentle.
At that moment, he scratched his cheek awkwardly before straightening his back, trying to appear more dependable.
"I can't become a great Hero like my brother, but I want to inherit his ideals. I absolutely won't compromise with evil! I'll do everything I can to protect our country and our people!"
"As long as you keep working hard, you'll surely catch up to Julius someday," Potimas nodded calmly.
His eyes, however, remained cold.
It was obvious he was only saying it out of courtesy and no longer held much hope.
Just as he finished those polite words and was about to say something else...
Bang!
With a loud crash, the tightly shut doors were suddenly kicked open.
The deafening noise exploded through the reception hall like thunder, instantly shattering the heavy atmosphere inside and replacing it with confusion.
"I think that might be difficult."
"Who are you?"
In an instant, the room erupted into chaos.
Like startled birds, everyone sprang to their feet, hurriedly drawing their weapons while turning toward the man who had barged in. Their eyes were filled with fear and anger.
The Third Prince, who hadn't yet had a chance to speak, quickly drew his sword, shielding the king behind him as he shouted toward the outside.
"Guards! Where are the guards? Hurry and seize this gu—"
Before he could finish, rows of guards poured in through the doorway.
But to everyone's despair, the guards' eyes were dull and vacant. They had clearly fallen under mental magic.
Holding their weapons, they pointed their gleaming blades at the very members of the royal family they were supposed to protect.
The king's eyes widened in disbelief.
His lips trembled, and so did his voice.
"Th-What's going on? You... Have you betrayed me?"
He searched those familiar faces for even a trace of reason.
Only chilling silence answered him.
The guards showed no reaction to the king's cries. Like puppets under someone's control, they simply advanced toward them step by step, the cold gleam of their blades reflecting the light.
Standing in the doorway, Ash wore a cold smile as he slowly walked into the reception hall.
Every step carried an invisible pressure.
Elven Chief Potimas frowned.
Knowing exactly how terrifying the man before him was, he lowered his voice and quietly warned everyone, "Be careful. This man is the Primordial Demon."
Though his voice was quiet, in the nearly frozen silence, everyone heard him clearly.
It struck their hearts like a bolt of thunder.
"What? Th-This guy is the demon who killed Brother Julius?"
Looking at the demon before him, Shun was instantly filled with rage.
Suppressing the fear that almost swallowed him, he stepped forward without hesitation and stood before everyone.
Grinding his teeth, he glared at Ash with hatred burning in his eyes and shouted word by word, "You demon! I won't let you hurt everyone! And I absolutely... won't let you go!"
"Boring."
Ash shrugged, dismissing the hatred, and immediately used Appraisal.
In his eyes, the boy's stats were completely ordinary.
What caught his attention instead were the note after his name and his unique title.
"Shunsuke Yamada... Hero. So you're the target after all. And you've got a Heavenly Protection I've never seen before? Hmm... Protected by Heavenly Protection, making it easier to obtain the results you want under various circumstances? What's this, protagonist plot armor? Must be nice, Yamada."
Ash quietly read the information aloud, a trace of teasing in his voice.
The moment he spoke Shun's original name, however, the royal court erupted in an uproar.
Shun, or rather, Yamada himself, had sweats running down his forehead. Even the sword in his hand trembled.
The king couldn't help asking in shock, "Shunsuke Yamada? What are you talking about?"
"Your son's original name. He's a reincarnator."
Ash answered carelessly, as though stating something completely trivial.
"Y-You... Just who are you?", Yamada glared at Ash, who had so casually exposed his secret.
"Don't be so nervous. I'm not a bad man. As long as you all obediently listen to me, I can guarantee everyone's safety," Ash smiled.
But to everyone present, that smile looked like a demon's temptation.
"As if we'd ever listen to you!"
"Don't get excited yet. Let me at least try persuading you to surrender."
Ash cleared his throat, ignored the boy's anger, and sincerely said, "If you quietly stay here as prisoners, I won't hurt you. After all, you all know the gap in strength between us, don't you? And... Yamada, even with the Hero title boosting you, you're nowhere near your brother's strength. So I hope you'll behave. Otherwise, I can't guarantee the safety of everyone here."
"..."
The aura radiating from Ash was simply too ominous.
The overwhelming pressure left Yamada unable to act, and he could only glare at him in hatred.
"Don't just stay silent. At least give me an answer."
"Even if I'm only an imperfect Hero imitating Brother Julius, that doesn't matter! This is my resolve as the Hero! As the Hero, I'll never compromise with you!"
As he shouted his refusal to surrender, Yamada directly summoned a large dog-like Earth Dragon through the master-servant contract.
"W-What's going on? All of a sudden..."
The Earth Dragon looked around in confusion, unable to understand the situation.
Yamada immediately looked at her apologetically.
"Sorry, Fei. Right now, I can only rely on you, the strongest among us."
"Huh?"
The reincarnated Earth Dragon named Fei tilted her head, completely confused.
"Wait! Rather than fighting, we should escape first..."
The elf girl, Filimos, hurriedly stood up and bravely stepped in front of the two of them.
She stared at Ash with vigilance and urgently warned them without turning back, "He's very strong! We can't beat him."
"Hmm~ So you're the famous teacher, Kanami Okazaki?"
Using Appraisal on the elf girl, Ash unexpectedly let out a sigh of relief.
He even smiled happily.
Seeing this, Sophia, who had remained hidden behind him until now, immediately became jealous.
She stormed out angrily.
"Mr. Ash, even though you always deny it... don't tell me you really like flat girls? Why are you so happy just because you saw Sensei?"
"This is a serious moment. Don't say weird things and slander me," Ash couldn't help scolding her.
His tone was more righteous than ever, because... the reason he was happy wasn't because he had seen a girl.
On the contrary, the first impression was that she was pretty cute, but that was all. He had absolutely no desire to pet her or get close to her.
Thinking about it carefully now, flats really weren't his type.
Which meant he really wasn't a l0licon.
He was simply an ordinary person who just happened to like someone who was flat.
[T/N: If it sounds weird while reading just know that I censored many words.]
But why was he thinking about something so pointless after saying this was supposed to be serious?
Well, because...
The seriousness was only something he said.
In his eyes, everyone before him was just a bunch of small fry. They posed far less of a threat than Julius had.
There was no need to treat them seriously at all.
———
Inside the royal reception hall, the atmosphere was as tense as a bowstring about to snap.
Everyone's nerves were stretched to the limit. The air was filled with the sense that life and death hung in the balance, so heavy it was hard to breathe...
At that moment, Sophia suddenly walked in.
Her completely carefree words instantly shattered the suffocating atmosphere like a stone thrown into a still lake.
Everyone couldn't help turning to look at her.
Those with the Appraisal skill instinctively used it.
However... their Appraisal failed.
That only made everyone even more tense.
Especially the elf girl called Sensei, the girl known in her previous life as Oka.
Pain filled her eyes.
She seemed to have already recognized Sophia.
Her voice trembled with grief and anger.
"Why... So you really were deceived by the Administrator?"
"What nonsense are you talking about? I'm standing here because I made my own decision."
Sophia replied with complete disdain, her expression not wavering in the slightest.
"You're standing beside a demon! How can you still say something like that with a straight face?"
Oka widened her eyes in anger and confusion.
According to everything she knew, the Administrators and the Demon Lord's side were the masterminds manipulating the world and bringing about its destruction, the source of every disaster.
"And you? The elves are the scourge of the world, yet you're standing with them. That's just—"
"You've been deceived! I don't know what the Administrators are planning! Or what the Demon Lord and the demons are planning! But it definitely can't be anything good! I mean, just listening to their names tells you they're the bad guys!"
Oka angrily cut her off, her voice turning hoarse from emotion.
"Hah? Mr. Ash isn't—"
Sophia instinctively tried to defend Ash, but Ash raised a hand to stop her, wearing a troubled expression.
"We're just having a conversation. Why are you suddenly making personal attacks? Is this discrimination against demons?"
"What would it take for you to let my students, and the rest of us, go?"
Suppressing her unease, Oka's lips trembled slightly, a trace of pleading in her eyes.
"It's simple. As long as you all obediently stay here as hostages, I'll let you live."
"So... you're asking us to surrender without resisting?"
Oka bit her lip and asked quietly.
"You could put it that way. So? What do you think?", Ash smiled.
That smile, however, carried no warmth, as though he were watching prey struggle in a trap.
"We acce—"
"Absolutely not!"
Before Oka could finish, Yamada suddenly interrupted her.
Drawing his sword, he apologized, "I'm sorry, Sensei. Fei too... sorry for dragging you into this battle. But... I still don't want to lose!"
"Why?"
Fei's voice was full of confusion.
She couldn't understand such a decision.
"Because..."
Yamada's eyes gradually became resolute.
From the very beginning, he had understood the enormous gap in strength between himself and the enemy before him.
Just one look was enough to know he couldn't possibly win.
Even so, one belief kept echoing in his mind.
He had to surpass the nightmare standing before him.
Even though he couldn't see even the slightest chance of victory, like searching endlessly through darkness without finding a single ray of light... he still felt he had to stand up.
Staring at Ash, he said without hiding anything,
"If it were Brother Julius, he would never shamelessly run away at a time like this! Since that's the case, I can't surrender either! This is my duty as the Hero!"
"No, no... Honestly, at the very end, Julius wanted his companions to run away. This... I really don't understand."
"Even without any chance of winning, there are battles that must be fought! And this is one of those battles!"
Yamada's voice was as firm as a rock.
Not a trace of hesitation could be heard.
"Not bad last words... although they're a little too foolish."
Blessed with countless advantages, blessed by fortune yet lacking experience, naïve and reckless.
To Ash, it sounded like an immature child provoking a giant.
He couldn't help laughing.
His calm, almost cold tone, along with the overwhelming pressure he radiated just by standing there, made fear rise uncontrollably from the depths of Fei's body.
She wanted to flee this place immediately.
But her legs felt nailed to the ground, unable to move even an inch.
In the end, she could only grit her teeth and step forward with a look of determination.
"I really can't do anything with you..."
"Although I don't know how his words convinced you, since one of your students has already made his decision..."
Ash was a little surprised by the unreasonable turn of events, but he wasn't in the least bit anxious.
He slowly turned his head and looked toward Oka, "So, as their teacher... what do you think?"
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