Volume 1 Chapter 19 [Kingdom SIDE] A Troublesome Report and a Letter from the Hero Arrived.
Diamante Kingdom.
In the Valzeil office of the royal castle.
A subordinate bursts through the door, holding an envelope, shouting.
"Your Majesty! The private soldiers of the Duke Lecoitenides' house surrounded the Luster Report base and were annihilated by the Hero's intimidation! A letter from the Hero has arrived!"
"I don't want to read it. I really don't want to."
"However, it says 'for your eyes only' and 'you must read this'..."
"Ugh..."
"Ugh is not enough! Here, take this!"
Taking the envelope, Valzeil opens it and reads with a disgusted look.
...After a few seconds, he sighs.
His face was pale at first, but gradually returned to normal, so it seems like, for Valzeil himself, it wasn't a fatal matter.
Though it didn't seem like reassuring news either.
"To be honest, before I read it, I thought I'd be blamed for Ashton's rampage."
"So it's not that?"
"No, the Hero seems to be able to see more clearly than I thought. Regarding Ashton's reckless actions, it seems they have no intention of blaming me for it."
"Then, what is the content of the letter?"
"To put it simply, it's telling me to hold an emergency 'world conference.' And, at that time, they're going to have a 'meeting' where they want everyone who has grievances against the Hero to come."
"Th-That..."
"Yeah, clearly, they're planning to take them all down at once."
Valzeil remembers.
At that ceremony to honor the Hero's achievements, when it was decided that they would be stationed in the Chaos Stone Dragonstone Kingdom, the kings couldn't blame the Hero, so they used Princess Lucia as the 'target' for their glare... That day, they were all intimidated.
The overwhelming, absolute strength that was projected, not from a man holding a sword, but from Rangella, standing in a dress, was enough to make even the 'kings' cower.
Just remembering that day, Valzeil felt no urge to oppose.
"...Your Majesty, I believe you were also intimidated on that day of the 'ceremony,' weren't you?"
"Ah, right. I still can't forget that. A mere 17-year-old girl shouldn't have been left alone. And I'm sure those who were there feel the same. They must have etched it into their hearts that we're not meant to be enemies."
"...But still, Your Majesty was all too eager to make the hero and his master your own after that."
"I never could figure out why the hero's master chose this country. And at first, the hero was all about having 'his master's harem.' She thought if she could control the master, it'd be as good as having it him... Bad, huh?"
"Yes."
"Yeah, I think so too."
Valzeil reads the letter.
"They're saying they want to hold a world conference, which means they want a lot of countries involved. They're probably the kind who like to cause trouble. There'll be plenty of them, for sure."
"'Upper-class folks who were expecting the Demon Lord's defeat' are actually quite numerous..."
"But the fact is, those people didn't get anything done. Hard work is important, but what's needed is the result of defeating the Demon Lord. Besides, I bet there were a lot who didn't even try, right?"
"...Sad to say, that's the case."
"...Yeah."
Valzeil sighs.
"According to the letter, the hero says she's 'not interested in the good or bad of principles.' In other words... she's not interested in what she should be ashamed of either."
"That's... quite the character."
"I don't want to think I'm losing to a mere 17-year-old girl in character. Of course, it makes sense that her 'human character' hasn't grown if she hasn't had the experience of 'forgiving'."
Valzeil puts the letter down on the desk and strokes his beard.
"The press conference is gonna be a mess."
"No doubt about it."
"The world conference was formed after learning from a 'major incident' that happened when religious organizations held overwhelming power, advocating that 'humans should stand on their own apart from gods.' We can't invite religious people..."
"The goal is to make the 'nobles' understand 'what kind of existence the hero is.'"
"Yeah. Even with that 'mansion', our Counts and Dukes are causing trouble. Among the 'Divine Blood Travels', are they trying to shake our very blood? As expected of someone called a 'Hero.'"
The 'Divine Blood Travels' refers to the terms 'Theocracy Nation', 'Bloodline Nation', and 'Adventurers'.
Adventurers nowadays are somewhat like jack-of-all-trades, but originally they were those who gathered to embark on journeys to uncover the 'unknown'.
There's a culture where an adventurer is simply called 'traveler' with just one character.
Some sociologists even claim that if a human belongs somewhere, they belong to one of the 'Divine Blood Travels'.
That's how powerful the gods, blood, and adventurer guilds are.
"...Do you think the Hero's master will come?"
Valzeil muttered softly.
The subordinate seemed to be thinking for a moment.
"At the very least, if I were the master, I would go."
"Why?"
"Because they're accusing my disciple's achievements. As a master, I can't just not show my face. But I don't know how the Hero's master truly thinks. That whole idea of 'not caring about the morality of ideologies', I'm sure they got that from their master."
"Hmm... I also think the master will come."
Valzeil said this without hesitation.
"The world... is a place where it's easy to decide if you've had enough of it."
"Well then..."
"If they really have had enough of the world, and something happens, at least the Chaos Stone Dragonstone Kingdom will be protected, but everything else? If it's not necessary, it will be left alone. Some people blindly believe in the idea of strong people protecting weak people, but since they 'don't care about the morality of ideologies', the master's power is not meant to protect anyone."
"That's..."
"You saw it too, didn't you? Those shameless peasants who made complaints in the open space I set up in the castle. Did you think, 'I want to protect these people, no matter what happens'? You've been given a lot of authority, and you have the power to protect someone, but..."
"...That's..."
The subordinate's voice trailed off.
"Should I say more? Even if you protect them, you won't get a 'thank you' or anything in return."
"Ah..."
Yes, the subordinate thought.
Valzeil thought that no one had ever said, "Thank you for saving the world," to the hero.
"Giving rewards for achievements is just... appreciation. But there isn't enough 'thanks' for the hero who defeated the Demon Lord. I'm not saying you have to worship the hero like crazy, but inside your heart, even without meaning to, you have to think, 'The world was saved thanks to the hero'..."
Valzeil looked up at the sky.
"If you don't, the world saved by the hero becomes cheap."
"..."
His subordinate had nothing to say.
"The upcoming 'press conference' will carry that much meaning."
"So..."
"The best thing is if the hero says, 'Call everyone who wants to complain,' and then... no one shows up."
"That... will never happen."
"...Cheap. This world too."
Saying that, Valzeil turned his back to his subordinate.
The subordinate bowed once and left the room.
Valzeil heard the door close and whispered to himself.
"Well then... as the head of the world's largest nation, I'll do something to 'raise the value of the world'."
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