“Leo.”
“Why did you call?”
“You know we stand out right now?”
“I don’t know. Why? Does it matter?”
“······.”
Sailor pulled her hood down tightly and sighed.
Leopard’s condition was unusual.
He had contacted her suddenly, so she responded that she couldn’t leave the Demon Realm because she was currently working.
Then, Leopard ran all the way to the Demon Realm in less than six hours.
It was quite bewildering.
“Can we please go somewhere without people?”
“I set up a barrier. You don’t have to worry about the conversation leaking. Your identity won’t be revealed.”
“That’s not what I meant······. Haa······.”
Sailor glanced around at the crowd gathering and lowered her head again.
Leopard had uncharacteristically mentioned the Hero’s name at the gateway without a disguise, causing rumors of the Hero’s return to the Demon Realm to spread almost instantly.
Although there was no justification to stop the Hero’s entry, he managed to pass through the gateway safely. However, the Hero who thwarted the Demon King’s army’s conquest of the human realm fifty years ago was receiving wary looks everywhere he went.
It was no surprise; everyone had known since fifty years ago that he was not normal.
Sailor quickly gave up and decided to ask about his business.
“Why did you rush to find me like this? I’m swamped with requests right now. No matter how much I want to help you, I can’t cut the waiting list for you.”
“I know. I just want to hear your opinion. It won’t take much time.”
“Opinion? What opinion?”
“If I were to attack Dragania, what do you think my chances of winning would be?”
“······.”
Stunned for a moment, Sailor then began to seriously calculate his chances of winning.
In this world, there are no eternal allies or enemies.
Even in the best of alliances, it’s common to devise scenarios of betrayal and the potential consequences.
Sailor began calculating Dragania’s military strength based on the data she had accumulated over the years.
Since the Duke’s own combat ability was not precisely known, she assumed an average dragon’s combat capacity and weighed Dragania’s forces and reconnaissance assets against whether the Hero Leopard’s magical deployment could go unnoticed, and so forth.
However, it was impossible to make a specific calculation due to the limited information available.
But the numbers that came out were extreme enough to not need further analysis.
“Less than 1%. It’s basically a 0% chance of winning.”
“That’s completely ridiculous. I made a wasted trip. I’m leaving.”
“Leo! Where are you going? Who do you think has more information than me? My chances of winning are the most accurate!”
“Tch······.”
Leo, who had jumped up to leave, sat back down.
In the world, barring dragons and popes, the one with the most information was surely Sailor.
Over the past fifty years, she had been a contractor handling many families’ and nations’ secrets, and she had an excellent memory that would never forget them.
The only problem was that she didn’t like the answer she had come up with.
“Probably, you won’t get the result you want from anyone.”
“I’m someone who’s caught dragons, you know. Aren’t you underestimating me?”
“When was that······. And at that time, I ambushed it while it was hibernating with weakening potions, poison gas, and all kinds of explosives. If I barely managed to win then, Dragania now has fortifications, an army, and barriers, and it isn’t hibernating anymore, so the dragon’s senses are always on alert. An ambush is impossible from the start.”
“Making the impossible possible is what a Hero does.”
“That’s a story from fifty years ago. You, who destroyed your heart with magic and ruined your liver with alcohol, won’t even be able to win against me, let alone a dragon.”
“Shut up······.”
As the truth, which she had momentarily forgotten, pushed its way to the front, the Hero clicked his tongue and slumped back as if to lay down.
People believe that the Hero does not age due to his immense power.
But the reality was different.
The Hero ages at the same rate as any other human.
However, it was not possible to age before the immortal Holy Maiden, who was left behind.
Until she opened her heart again, at least until then, he had overexerted himself to hold back aging, which resulted in serious strain on his heart.
But now that Holy Maiden was no longer alive.
In a moment of frustration over why he had to endure aging so ungracefully, Leopard’s mood soured.
“So, it can’t be that there’s absolutely no method. Right?”
“Haa······. Are you really asking me for help?”
“······.”
The Hero nodded silently.
Only then did Sailor realize that this was not just a hypothetical scenario.
Leopard really intended to attack Dragania.
But the opponent had the ability to see hundreds of kilometers away, while they had a washed-up Hero.
It was impossible alone.
So, the Hero was determined to somehow attack Dragania, even if it meant borrowing the power of demons.
“I’ll set the objective to the assassination of Schwarz Dragania. I don’t need anything else. If I can just kill that guy, that would be enough. No, if I can injure him to the point that he lives a lifetime in misery, that would be sufficient. I don’t mind if it costs me my life; I just ask for a plan that can smash that guy.”
“Why are you going to such lengths? If I get involved, I need to know what happened. What did the Duke do to make you this way?”
“Schwarz······ that guy······.”
His throat felt dry, and the words wouldn’t come out.
When he tried to say it, he felt a resistance.
But he had to say it.
Sailor had the right to know what had happened to the Holy Maiden as well.
“He violated······. Julia······.”
“······.”
Sailor’s expression changed in an instant.
In a moment when blood rushed to her head, she desperately tried to calm herself down.
Then she began to think clearly about the situation.
‘Why would the Duke have raped Julia? To keep her in check? But she isn’t pregnant, so that’s not it. It’s reasonable to assume it was from lust. ‘
‘Dragons rarely feel lust for a lifetime.’
‘If they ever do, it’s usually triggered by specific circumstances. And each dragon’s trigger is different, and many dragons die without ever knowing what their triggers are.’
‘Was this really the first time for him?’
‘Tia is the dragon’s daughter. And she is Julia’s biological daughter.’
‘The Duke struggles to remember human faces.’
The information about the Duke, Julia, and Tia surged chaotically in Sailor’s mind.
After combining all of it, she arrived at one conclusion.
A conclusion that could explain everything logically without leaving any gaps.
“I’m sorry. I can’t accept your request. Since you’re an old friend, and you came personally, I won’t charge you the initiation fee.”
“W-What did you say? Do you understand what I’m saying? Your benefactor, the Holy Maiden, was harmed and defiled by Schwarz Dragania! And yet, you’re not going to help me?”
“That’s correct.”
Sailor pushed Leopard’s hand away and stood up.
As he left, Leopard sat there momentarily, dazed, unable to recover from the shock.
‘Schwarz Dragania is Tia’s father. I cannot strike him down.’
Meanwhile, Sailor hurriedly made her way through the crowd, gritting her teeth.
Regardless of her anger, the Duke needed to remain alive.
There would come a time when she would need to use his power.
At least, he had to survive until then.
She could only be grateful to Leopard for providing her with invaluable information.
*
Two days after the Duke’s departure.
Leopard, who had pretended he would come every day, had fallen silent.
While that was undoubtedly a good thing, it felt a little empty.
“Tia.”
“Mmm.”
“Are you bored?”
“A little?”
Tia, who was lying on the sofa, glanced at me and muttered.
With neither the Duke nor Leopard around, and since I continued to work, it must be quite boring for her.
Yet, it was impressive how she pretended to be okay for my sake.
“Ha······.”
I wiped the sweat from my forehead and leaned the mop against the wall.
The cleaning seemed to be mostly finished.
Now, there were about thirty minutes left of break time.
Once that was over, I would have to start preparing dinner.
If it had just been the two of us, we could have had a simple meal, but since we didn’t know when Leopard would show up, I was preparing dinner just like when the Duke was here.
“Tia, do you want to go out and have some fun?”
“Mmm? Aren’t you supposed to work, Mom?”
“I’ll take a vacation.”
“Such a thing exists······?!”
Tia’s eyes widened in surprise.
It was indeed surprising.
During her time working as the Duke’s maid, taking a vacation was absolutely not allowed.
Looking back now, the working conditions were quite harsh.
I had to face the bastard who raped me every day without a day off······.
However, now that I’ve become an ordinary maid, I can take vacation days as long as they don’t coincide with another maid’s.
It seemed like no one was taking a vacation today, so I could go ahead and take the afternoon off.
“Where are we going? Where are we going?”
“Well, I need to buy some clothes and underwear.”
Tia had grown so much that her clothes and underwear no longer fit.
While her growth was not as rapid as when she was a baby, it was still burdensome.
There were plenty of clothes in the closet that she had outgrown in less than a year since she was born.
I had to buy her a bra now that her chest had developed enough for cups.
Since her horns made hats float, I also needed to find a slightly larger hat that fits on her ears.
Anyway, there were too many expenses.
“And should we stop by the Ryuba Tavern for the first time in a while?”
“Are we going to see Sasha and Irina Aunt?!”
“They’re both probably working today, so we should be able to see them.”
“Really?! Mmhihi!”
“Ugh!”
I barely managed to catch Tia, who was so excited that she was trying to jump off the sofa.
I couldn’t let her dirty the freshly cleaned floor with those filthy feet.
Seeing her so happy lifted my own spirits as well.
‘Sasha probably finished her work about a week ago, and Irina still has about two weeks left, so both should be there.’
Calculating based on their cycles, it wasn’t the right time for either of them to take a vacation.
I was likely to see both of their faces.
Come to think of it, I still hadn’t fulfilled my promise to take Irina with me to meet the children.
It seemed like it was about time to finally make good on that promise.
Thinking about meeting both of them and the innkeeper made me a little excited as well.
