"Good news! The mana blanketing the Kinton territory has vanished! The Hero Himmel and a—" the voice on the other end paused for an instant, "—a demon affiliated with the Free City of Gaderia successfully drove off the demon that had entrenched itself there."
"So then, where did the demon that had entrenched itself there go?"
Sitting cross-legged upon her throne, Serie paid no mind to the fact that Himmel had brought a demon along; she was far more concerned with that scourge of a demon lord.
The reporting mage lowered his head with some awkwardness. "That demon's whereabouts are, at present, unknown."
"Very well. You may withdraw."
The elf's pointed ears twitched once as she waved her hand.
"Yes." "So I still can't see it after all."
This was Serie's murmur as the great doors closed.
She had witnessed everything that happened in Kinton long ago, yet at the most crucial moment—the very instant that demon called Nanoda unleashed her mana—her mirror magic could see nothing at all.
"Quite a fine adventure, don't you think?"
Aboard the lightly jolting carriage, the Hero asked Nanoda.
"Why did you tag along with us?"
Nanoda refused to answer, sourly.
On the road back, once the mission was complete, the members of the Church of the New God had chosen to disperse and return on their own, or else to go elsewhere to preach.
Himmel followed along with Nanoda's group, renting a carriage to head back.
Right now Yuna was driving.
Linie, her horns concealed, assisted at her side.
The newly joined Nofi was sprawled in a corner of the carriage, sound asleep.
"Do you know of the devil?"
Nanoda tossed the question that had troubled her so long over to Himmel.
Ever since that war, Nanoda had been chasing down the "devil" old Wilhelm had spoken of. In the end, not even Aaron's well-developed intelligence network had turned up a single piece of information about this "devil."
"The devil? Of course I know."
"You know? Who exactly is this devil?"
A smile began to spread across Himmel's wrinkled face. He pointed in turn at Linie, Nofi, and Nanoda before he said,
"Aren't you them? In the Southern Lands, every last member of the Demon Race is what we call a devil—and right now the devils are right here beside me."
With that, the Hero let out a hearty laugh.
"You bastard, are you toying with me? What kind of Hero goes around lying?"
Nanoda, who had been full of anticipation, deflated in an instant. Just now, when Himmel answered the question, he'd looked awfully offhand about it.
"Have you got a more specific description?"
Setting aside the honest joke, Himmel asked back. It was his first time hearing such a designation as "the devil" too, and inwardly he felt a bit curious.
"That devil orchestrated the war ten years ago—perhaps its scheming began even earlier than that."
In the midst of Nanoda and Himmel's conversation, Nofi woke of her own accord and chimed in: "That's when I lost my collection."
"So did Anhadī III act as he did because of a devil's backing behind him, or its bewitching?"
Himmel held a deep impression of this King of War of Ohaly.
"No. The mastermind behind the scenes was an old man named Wilhelm—the highest-ranking court mage of the Empire of Ohaly. Anhadī III merely followed his own convictions."
"Ah, that human who ran away."
Nofi recalled the time when she and Böse's remnant had double-teamed that arrogant old man and beaten him into a rout.
As for the matter of the collection, Yuna had already apologized to Nofi—at the time it had been an act of desperation to save her own life, with no other choice.
In the end, seeing that she was Nanoda's disciple, Nofi merely made a pact with Nanoda that any corpses she came across in the future would be sent her way for research and collection, and thus the matter was let go.
With that knot in her heart undone, Nofi—seeking a good place to sleep and gather corpses—chose to follow Nanoda back to Gaderia to live in seclusion.
"Still, identity aside—what was that devil scheming all of this for, in the end? Was it truly just to drag you into this war?"
In truth, Himmel had faintly guessed long ago that the war's abrupt end might be connected to the vanished Nanoda. It had all been his intuition, and now it was borne out.
"The devil is right beside me."
Nanoda spoke aloud the last words old Wilhelm had left her.
The ever-disobedient Aura? The low-key Qual? The studious Lugner? The re-submitted Macht? The seemingly steady Schlacht? The haughty Draht? The most obedient Linie? Or Nofi, who had just joined the group?
Or perhaps the "devil" was not of the Demon Race at all, but a human at her side.
Nanoda could not tell. That "devil" was perhaps hidden all too well.
For an instant, an intuition that seemed to be everywhere came over her—like that night beyond the window, where she could not know whether countless pairs of eyes in the darkness were fixed upon her.
"Alright, no use overthinking it. When I return to the Southern Lands, I'll ask around for you too. A title this eye-catching is easily spread and discovered."
Himmel patted Nanoda on the back by way of comfort.
"Since when did we get on such good terms?"
Nanoda found it strange—Himmel was being unusually kind now.
"Most likely, this will be the last time we ever meet. What comes after, you'll have to handle on your own. I'll give half the glory of liberating Kinton to Gaderia, so you'd best seize the chance well and change how humans see the Demon Race."
Perhaps out of fear that a Hero's involvement might implicate Gaderia's development, distancing himself of his own accord would instead guarantee the authenticity of Gaderia's claim to this achievement.
Nanoda suddenly noticed that Himmel looked a bit more aged. That willpower beyond any ordinary person, that ever-optimistic attitude, had given her the illusion that Himmel had scarcely changed.
But in reality, this time he had once again given so much of that aging body of his in battle.
"You really ought to take better care of your body. You're getting on in years—stop running off to the Northern Lands with too much time on your hands to drive out the Demon Race. Those demons are all going to be my subordinates."
Nanoda could tell that such high-intensity combat no longer suited the Hero now.
"Sorry. I gratefully accept your kindness, but I can't do that. There are still so many people who need my help—I want to do everything I can..."
Himmel rubbed at the hilt of his sword, and within those wrinkle-framed eyes shone a light bright and resolute.
"Stop, stop, stop—do as you please. But I warn you, don't fight me over the demons. My association still needs them for experiments and development."
Cutting off the other's inspirational speech, Nanoda fell silent once she'd said her piece.
Himmel gave no reply either, and so the one human and one demon both stayed quiet for a while.
Beside them, Nofi had quietly drifted off to sleep again.
Yuna had been eavesdropping on the conversation the whole time, while Linie merely gazed at the road ahead, lost in thought.
"As I thought—this really was a fine adventure."
This time Himmel's smile carried a touch of gentleness and contentment. That mark beneath the sunlight, though plainly a jet-black beauty mole, seemed dazzling beyond compare, and even his aged appearance looked a few years younger.
"Hey, Himmel, your hair's falling out again."
"Please, don't mind such details."
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