The Aseroa Region

The Dragon Fang Continent's southernmost area, the Aseroa region.

This place, where a human supremacist nation had existed over 1,000 years ago, was now the site of the decisive battle between the Golden Dragon Irina and the God of Greed.

The God of Greed was greedy just as his name implied, having built a glittering castle. Now, however, it served as the Demon King Army's command post.

Demon General Rei. The dark elf warrior woman was having the resistance forces—remnants of the God of Greed's legacy scattered across the region—suppressed, but problems had arisen.

With the God of Greed and his followers gone, mercenaries had lost their jobs, and public order was deteriorating.

She was officially hiring mercenaries and having them work to restore public order, but even so, conflicts arose between hired mercenaries and those who weren't hired. Sometimes the hired mercenaries turned out to be the more wicked ones.

And what troubled the leadership most of all was the existence of the heroes and their entourage.

Against the God of Greed's forces, the Demon King Army had been waging war relatively smoothly.

Of course, the situation would have been overturned if the god himself had moved, but even so, they had been gradually cornering the enemy.

Then, several months ago, someone calling themselves a hero—no, a genuine hero—had joined the front lines and begun making remarkable achievements.

The heroes were a party of seven, each utilizing their strengths to occasionally overwhelm enemies numbering in the thousands.

And several mercenary bands had skillfully made contact with these young and powerful individuals.

Now they had become an army exceeding ten thousand, forming a single faction.

"Normally, I wouldn't mind making them nobility or something…"

Rei murmured. The Demon King territory of Augustria, which held the entirety of the vast Dragon Fang Continent, had a governmental structure with a king, nobility, and autonomous domain lords of various races. And most of the vast territory was directly under the Demon King's control.

Though even now, the Demon King was still only the second generation. Three thousand years, and still only the second.

If they had land and people, there was also the option of making them ceremonial nobles at court.

"Split Aseroa into seven parts and enfeoff them each. Count-level peerage?"

The Demon King Asuka suggested through the communication device.

"Yeah, something like that would probably be appropriate, but… those guys' hot-headedness isn't going to settle down that easily. Even if the person Ria mentioned who can transfer them shows up, will they obediently go back to their world?"

Of course, Rei knew of Sei's existence.

As someone who had experienced the Great Collapse 3,000 years ago, she naturally considered returning the heroes to their original world.

However, would the seven who had clearly distinguished themselves in war and adapted to this world obediently go back…?

Rei thought that was an overly optimistic outlook.

"Well, even so, if you and the Divine Dragon's Knight's party join forces, subduing the heroes shouldn't be difficult. I can even coordinate the timing and join in myself if needed."

"I'd like to think that's how it would go, but… the heroes' Gifts are beyond standard."

One-on-one, Rei would definitely win. However, the coordination of the seven had reached a considerable level through repeated battles.

Worst case, they might have to assassinate them one by one. But they would need to eliminate the hero with Absolute Detection first, or their hostile intent might be sensed.

"Well, keep the last resort in mind as an option."

"… The last resort… even if we use it, it should only be against the evil gods on the Dragon Claw Continent."

Yes, they did have a trump card.

But it was one that neither of them ever wanted to use.

"For now, Rui is still accompanying them, so explain the heroes' situation and, well, start with persuasion?"

"Yeah, got it… We still have plenty of other troublesome matters on this end though."

"The mercenaries turning to banditry? Can't you just assign them to infrastructure repairs? The battle between a divine dragon and a god must have left pretty massive destruction, right?"

"… The ones becoming bandits are the types who hate that kind of mundane work."

When Rei sighed, Asuka offered words of sympathy.

"What about dumping them as explorers in Nihon Empire? Their Majesty there should understand that much."

"We're already negotiating that, but it takes time regardless."

There was no way to immediately reduce the surplus fighting force that had turned to banditry.

If they were just freeloaders eating free meals, that would still be better, but the heroes who had been elevated to leadership were truly troublesome.

After ending communication with Asuka, Rei murmured while gazing at the ceiling.

"Please come quickly, Divine Dragon's Knight…"

 

*

 

Meanwhile, Sei and the others had reached the northernmost part of the Aseroa region.

Since it was daytime, Rui explained things from inside his coffin. It was a bit surreal.

"In the past, there was a human supremacist kingdom called the Kingdom of Aseroa in this land."

This was something Sei had learned from Carla as well. Ria had also mentioned it.

A nation by humans, for humans, of only humans.

Having traveled this world, Sei and the others understood how twisted that was.

"Strong demon races like dark elves, three-eyes, and ogres were one thing, but races with weaknesses like us vampires, or goblins and orcs whose appearances didn't meet human aesthetic standards, weren't even allowed to exist."

What Sei and Mako associated with this was discrimination against people of color by white people, and the persecution of heretics by medieval Christianity.

"The Demon King-sama finally made his decision, and the Demon King Army came to destroy the human supremacist nation in the south. Humans couldn't resist the Demon King Army and were driven to the brink of destruction, but…"

The Kingdom of Aseroa summoned heroes, they said.

Of course, just like this recent hero summoning, although the numbers were many, their power as heroes wasn't that great, with only two who stood out.

And the crucial Aseroa incurred a dragon's wrath and was destroyed.

Even though the nation was gone, not all humans died. All the humans of Aseroa were, by the Demon King's order, scattered to live throughout various parts of the Demon King's territory.

Aseroa became a land inhabited entirely by demi-humans and demon races, but this had now backfired.

No matter how civilized they'd become, many of the demon race species were hot-blooded by nature. They were dominated by the God of Greed.

It was the Demon King Army that confronted the God of Greed head-on, but there were also many human volunteer soldiers and mercenary bands.

"The human descendants wanted to reclaim Aseroa, even though it had been taken from them 1,800 years ago."

"1,800 years… it's like Jerusalem. And seriously, why would they cling to that land for 1,800 years?"

Sei shook his head in disbelief, but Rui explained that too.

"Three thousand years ago, the humans who came from Earth to this world established bases in various places, but the largest one on this continent was in the land of Aseroa."

It was truly like a holy land.

Aseroa was a region where the rise and fall of nations had repeated many times, but whoever controlled it was apparently looked upon with respect among the human nations of Nears.

"Well, 1,800 years or so is reasonable, I suppose."

Laila, whose sense of time was different from humans, said so, but it was hard for Sei and Mako to comprehend.

Having been hit with two atomic bombs and having 100,000 people killed in air raids, yet forming friendly relations with that country in less than half a century—it would be hard for Japanese people to understand. Though looking at it on a global scale, the Japanese were the minority.

"Still, even though the God of Greed was just sealed away, reconstruction is progressing quite well."

Sei said this because he had seen the villages and towns along the way.

Demi-humans and demon races, starting with powerful ogres and giants, were carrying stones, while races with dexterous hands were plastering walls.

It seemed the railways hadn't been restored yet, but as they had been able to come this far by carriage, the minimum transportation routes were secured.

"The God of Greed had apparently only been controlling the very southern tip of Aseroa recently. The commander is using the castle that the God of Greed built in Aseroa as a base while hunting down the remnants."

"Remnants, huh…"

He recalled the kobold family. In the first place, wasn't the very term "demon race" itself problematic? Those kobolds had just looked like dog beastkin to him.

"First, it would be best to meet with Commander Rei-sama and negotiate with the heroes and their entourage."

"Negotiate…"

Noticing Sei's gaze, Mako recalled the four heroes she knew about.

"Hmm, I wasn't that close to anyone except Chi-chan, but I don't think there was anyone that extreme. It probably depends on the other three."

Gathering information would be crucial.

 

*

 

They gathered information in the towns and villages along the way, and it seemed that bandit attacks had been rapidly increasing.

"Why would that happen when there's hardly any enemies left?"

Mako asked puzzled, but Sei sort of understood.

"The evil god was revived for nearly half a century, and people have been fighting against it all that time, right? That means there was employment. Now that's suddenly gone, so surplus fighting forces are becoming bandits or claiming land on their own, don't you think?"

At the end of Japan's Warring States period, Toyotomi Hideyoshi launched an invasion of Korea to gain new territory.

It was partly to give territories to his subordinates, but also meant to provide employment to people who had no skills other than warfare, or so they said.

"Why can't they just take up farming or commerce normally?"

Mako, still young with her whole life ahead of her, couldn't understand.

"No, for people who've only ever lived doing that, switching to another profession would be difficult, I think."

"What about becoming adventurers or explorers?"

"Being an adventurer or explorer is harder than just following orders in war, I think. Though… the fundamental problem is probably that the divine dragon defeated the god so quickly that there wasn't time to prepare jobs for them."

"Humans are so inflexible."

When Laila said something befitting a long-lived elf, Kukuri and Gantz nodded in agreement.

Arriving at the city of Aseroa at dusk was, in a way, convenient.

Rui took the lead and headed toward the commander's castle. As expected of someone close to the Demon King, he was let through without question.

The party was shown to an unnecessarily luxurious reception room, where they waited for a while. The sofas were plush.

"Demon General Rei-sama is a childhood friend of the Demon King-sama, and her power is said to be nearly on par with the Demon King-sama's."

Given that she commanded most of the Demon King Army, she was like the Vice-Shogun of the realm.

Without being kept waiting long, a dark elf accompanied by subordinates appeared.

Come to think of it, this is my first time seeing a dark elf, Sei thought, and what caught his attention was her chest.

Elves were all slender, and this dark elf onee-san also had a slender standing figure, but her body had curves.

In other words, she was a sexy onee-san.

"I'm Demon General Rei Bradford. Well, have a seat."

They had stood up once, but gave a light bow and sat back down.

"Now then, about the heroes—they're in a city to the south of here called Oslo. They have their entourage with them and… there's talk of them trying to found a nation."

"Huh? They're founding a nation?"

Rei nodded with a tired expression and took a sip of the tea that had been brought out.

"If it were a normal war, they certainly did make contributions, so I wouldn't mind them founding a nation or two, but it would be bad to let heroes stay in this land, right?"

Rei seemed to know that heroes posed a threat between worlds.

"Also, I don't know if you're aware, but Aseroa is a region designated for non-human settlement. Whether they found a nation or become nobility, they need to be removed from this land."

"As a premise, the heroes need to be returned to Earth, so the remaining issue is how to handle the soldiers other than the heroes."

"I'll try persuading the heroes first."

Mako raised her hand with a bounce, but there was concern that it might turn into physical persuasion again.

And once the heroes were dealt with, Rei would handle the rest somehow, apparently.

 

*

 

The next day, the party set off for the city of Oslo.

There were seven members of Sei's party plus Rui, and Rei, who had stayed up all night organizing paperwork, riding in the carriage.

The military road was well-maintained, and the carriage moved quickly on it. The railways still weren't restored though.

Although Rei would be away from her base for several days, she was receiving reports from subordinates via communication device.

Incidentally, this Demon General was a formidable warrior with a level over 200.

Though looking at her skills, she seemed better suited to cunning stratagems than frontal combat.

"Oh… I can see it…"

At Kukuri's words, Sei activated his Map. In the city of Oslo, there were seven hero signatures.

Now then, let's prepare for the worst case scenario and be ready to fight.