The NTR Hero Knelt Before the Demon King – Chapter 10

With the condition of handing over Terra, Torare and the female members of the Hero Party managed to escape the crisis for now.

In this moment, they felt a tinge of discomfort at the fact that they had sold out a friend who had shared life and death with them, but among them, not a single person regretted their actions just moments ago.

A shared thought occupied their minds…

“It was unavoidable,” was the idea taking root.

Torare argued that sacrificing one person, Terra, would eliminate the imminent, unpayable debt that would soon come to haunt them.

The other three, while troubled, ultimately had no choice but to accept this option.

From the start, there existed an invisible wall of racial differences between the Beastwoman Terra and the humans and elves among them, creating a relative distance.

Moreover, considering Terra’s high value as a top-tier Beastman warrior, her sacrifice would significantly reduce their remaining debt…

They could potentially clear nearly half of the debt that a mercenary adventurer would’ve needed ten years of grueling work to pay off.

Choosing to sacrifice a colleague they weren’t particularly close to could cut their suffering time almost in half.

They could not resist such an unbearable temptation.

“I’m sorry, Terra. But there was no other way. We need to survive too, right? I’ll pray for you over the next month. And don’t worry, we’ll make sure that man you loved is happy.”

“I’m sorry. We had no choice to survive. Please forgive us…”

“Isn’t that how things work in the world? Don’t blame us too much. After all, you and we were competitors. I was planning to get rid of you someday anyway. And thank you. This reduces the frequency of our resting spots from once every four days to three.”

And thus, the women of the Hero Party expressed their sincere regret and gratitude to the colleague they had sacrificed for their own sake.

Relieved by the fact that they would not be bothered by debt collection for a while, they began discussing their future plans, sticking close to Torare, who had once again saved them from crisis.

“Well then, my lord, where are we going now?”

“For now, we should head back to the Empire’s capital and make our report. If we keep silent and get caught, it’ll be even worse for us.”

“But wouldn’t that put us in danger? Once they find out we failed the mission to defeat the Demon King, they’ll definitely hold us accountable…”

Eileen and Amelda expressed concerns over Torare’s suggestion to report the situation honestly.

In response, Torare slowly shook his head and said to them.

“In a situation like this, it’s better to go in person and speak for ourselves. That way, we can minimize our faults and shift the entire blame onto the Hero.”

“What do you mean?”

“Wait, what!? Are you saying we’ll blame the Hero?”

The women of the Hero Party began to show interest in Torare’s seemingly significant words, and he cautiously shared the thoughts he had been struggling with over the past few days without sleep.

“There’s an old saying, right? The dead don’t speak… The Hero is already dead, having been defeated by the Demon King, and amidst all this, we need to find a way to survive. So, how about we report that we couldn’t defeat the Demon King because of that guy and Terra?”

“B-but still, sullying the honor of a dead person…”

“I agree.”

“Huh!?”

In a moment of hesitation driven by conscience, Amelda faltered.

However, Eileen firmly interrupted her and expressed support.

“The dead are dead, and the living must live, right? Besides, our original plan was to stab Ellen in the back and steal his achievements. Why hesitate to sell him out now?”

“That… that’s true but…”

“You make a good point. And, strictly speaking, what we’re in this situation for is all because he failed to defeat the Demon King. We’re only stretching the truth a bit; there’s no reason to hesitate.”

“…”

Eileen and Shude agreed firmly with Torare, and with that, Amelda could no longer object.

To her, as an elf, the honor of the dead held greater importance than that of the living, but as she was already in this together with them, she had no choice but to go along with her companions’ opinions.

“Okay, then let’s report it that way, and let’s align our stories. It’d be troublesome if our lies were exposed because we accidentally stated something different.”

“Yes, my lord.”

“Umm… okay…”

“Understood.”

After deciding their future course of action, they immediately began moving toward the capital.

Offering slight gratitude to the ‘Hero,’ a steadfast shield for them even after his death…

*

Clad in extravagant black armor, with a black great sword in hand, I gazed at the town before me.

“Is this the place… the one in question…?”

Following the Demon King’s orders, I had arrived at a location filled with numerous ships moored, and at that moment, countless goods were being transported in and out, all surrounded by tight security.

Port Town Rob.

One of the towns the Hero Party had passed through in the original story,

It served as a major base for the forces attacking the Demon Races and functioned as a supply depot.

“In the original, it was just a passing town caught up in a misfortunate event, but seeing it in person, it’s not ordinary at all. Though it’s called a town, its scale is almost that of a city.”

Port Town Rob, with its considerable size and the warehouses busy loading and unloading massive amounts of goods, loomed in my vision as I checked with the small-framed Demon beside me.

“So what we need to do is destroy the military supplies departing from that city, right?”

“Correct, Hero. Once again, I’ll say this: don’t even think about pulling any funny business. Should you show any signs of betrayal here, the Demon King’s order is to execute on the spot.”

A small figure, barely reaching my waist, with black horns protruding from their helmet and entirely clad in purple armor.

Despite their appearance not being particularly threatening, I remembered that they were one of the Demon King’s aides I had seen back at the castle, responding with a chilly voice to my question.

‘They’ve been wary throughout our journey here. But by the way, I wonder if this one is male or female?’

It was difficult to discern the gender of the Demon due to the magic surrounding the helmet.

In fact, until the Demon King had removed their helmet and shown their face, I had assumed she was a male.

There seemed to be some unknown backstory I was missing, but in the original, a male voice was used, so this wasn’t too surprising.

Nevertheless, one could not tell the true gender of this aide, as they continued to regard me with suspicion without ever removing their helmet.

‘Well, anyway, that’s not the important issue right now. The real matters lie elsewhere.’

Shifting my thoughts away from the Demon aide, I refocused on Port Town Rob, starting to contemplate what I should do next.

A mission given by the Demon King as a test for me.

In itself, it was a rather simple task: just stand by here and ambush the military supply wagons leaving the town, which shouldn’t be too difficult for me now as the Hero.

But… that was only the bare minimum requirement for the mission.

At this moment, my true goal was something far more complicated than that.

‘Since I’ve chosen to betray humanity anyway… if I’m going to betray, I might as well do it completely.’

What I needed right now was not just the Demon King’s approval, but also to clarify the suspicions looming from the aide beside me.

And to achieve this,

I resolved to give it my all and produce the best results in this mission.

To firmly lay the groundwork for revenge against the Hero Party, wherever they may be.

And to have my retribution on that damnable “guy” I wished to crush for real in this NTR game…