The next day, the heroic party rode into the Demon King's Castle, where the Dark Elf Demon King dwells, through the back roads taught to them by the dwarven elders.

''It's still quiet right now, but after a bit more progress, we'll be in a battle. Keep your heads up.

　After skipping the leader-like instructions, Falcon blurted out some nonsense in a whisper.

''Once we defeat the Demon King, the money and the woman are at our mercy. I can't stand it.''

　...... competence is good enough to be a brave man, but there are tremendous character issues.
　That was many people's opinion of Falcon.

'Alright, let's go!'

　At Falcon's signal, a battle with the Demon King's soldiers ensued.

　The soldiers were all dark elves, and in addition to that, they also engaged a golem similar to the one in the labyrinth.

　At first the battle was one-sided, but halfway through, soldiers dressed in powerful armor and golems coated in strange metal appeared, and the battle became more and more intense.

''d*mn you, you old dwarf!　I thought the soldiers were gathered in the mines, so there were hardly any in the castle!

　Despite encountering unexpected resistance, the brave man's march did not stop.

　The brave swords forged by the master craftsman also spilled their blades many times, and each time they continued to be repaired by the brave's [Repair] skill.

　-- A sliver of anxiety passed through Noir's mind.

　Luke of the White Wolf Forest always spliced in more materials when doing 【Restoration】.
　He should have said that if he didn't do this, the strength of the weapon would decrease.

　The brave man doesn't do that and repeats 【Restoration】, but does it not cause any problems?

''That's the throne room, isn't it!　Prepare yourself, demon king!

　A single brave dark elf and several warriors were waiting for the brave party as they charged through the door.

''How. I am Gandalf the Demon King. We never thought we'd be able to break through that number. We'll have to change our minds.
"Shut up!　Die quickly!
Tactless. You're going to have to make do with this.

　The rushing Falcon.
　The Demon King Gandalf's fireball that is released as an interception.
　Noir's offensive magic shoots them down.

　The dark elf warrior and the Falcon clash swords with each other as they break in--

Nah. ......!

　--The brave man's sword was snapped in half.

　It wasn't just the brave party that was surprised by this.
　The dark elves also had their eyes peeled away from the unexpected accident.

''d*mn it!''

　Falcon quickly pulled out his spare shortsword and continued the battle, but the disadvantage of losing his main armament was great.

　From that point onward, the battle situation deteriorated as if rolling down a slope, and a one-sided overrun unfolded.

　Bran and Noir used up their magic power in the blink of an eye, and Falcon and Julia, who have the ability to fight in white armor, were slashed and beaten until the moment they passed out--!










　--The fight to the death was over, and Noir was lying on the floor, pretending to be unconscious.

　Bran was prematurely stunned by the excessive release of magical power, and Julia collapsed to the ground in a bloody heap.

　The brave man, too, had been driven to full wounds and was struggling to be lifted high, caught by the Demon King Gandalf by the neck.

''Gefu...... gahaha......!　...... d*mn it. ......!　It was a trap from the beginning: ...... You dwarven bastards, you set us up. ......!
Let's just say it wasn't 'at first' a trap. I was merely reminding them that they were loyal subjects and showing their loyalty.

　It's a far-fetched expression, but Noir could understand what was being said.

　In short, the request for help itself was genuine, but the Demon King had detected it before they arrived.

　The dwarves had been acting to lure the brave party to the Demon King's castle in exchange for immunity from sin.

　After all, the Falcon should not have been greedy.

　If he had stuck to 'reconnaissance' as he was originally instructed to do, this must not have happened.

　The misjudgment of priorities at a critical juncture led to this catastrophic outcome.

"But I don't understand.
Guffaw. ......!

　Demon King Gandalf carelessly slammed the hero to the floor and picked up the hero's sword that had been cut in half.

'This sword should have easily sliced through even the most advanced golem. Why did it break as soon as it clashed with Austri?''
Your Majesty, let me see if I can parse this out for you.
I'll take care of it, Norzli.

　When the dark elf warrior grabbed his sword and activated his skill, he quickly found out why his sword had broken.

''I understand. This sword, it seems that it had been damaged many times during the battle with the soldiers. It seems that each time it was mended with a low-level [Repair] skill, but it must have reached its limit when it struck with Austri.

　The moment Falcon heard that, he looked up at the bloodied face.

''Don't be silly!　I lost because of my low level?　No, I don't know that!　If he was here, you wouldn't have lost!　No!　I can't admit it!
Bullshit. Get him out of here.

　Inexorably, the brave man was dragged like a thing and taken out of the throne room.

　The 'that guy' that the brave man was shouting about would be Luke of the White Wolf Forest.

　He was a third-rate E rank adventurer who could only use one skill, but as far as his skills were concerned, he surpassed the brave man.

　If he hadn't been left behind, would he have been able to keep his weapons in perfect condition and defeat the Demon King?

　Or would they have been defeated and left sooner because of the great disadvantage of carrying a non-combatant around with them?

　Noir didn't know.
　He didn't even have time to think calmly any longer.

'Well, I'll have to give these guys a warning. It's been a while since I've used that one.'

　As the Demon King Gandalf whispered a spell, a kind of brown mist enveloped the surroundings, and an intense pain shot through Noir's back.

''Ah, goooooooo!
What?　You're still conscious. If you don't want to be in pain, you can be quiet. That curse is not something that a human being can counteract.










　Afterwards, the three of them, except for the brave ones, were imprisoned in a large underground prison.

　They were given no more than confinement and were given food and freedom to move their bodies, but that was enough to make them feel pain.

　Perhaps because of the curse mark etched on his back, his magic power was only recovering to at most a hundredth of what it was at its maximum, and there was no hope of escape at all.

　--Noir at this time thought that the only effect of the curse seal was to inhibit the recovery of magic power.
　It was not until much later that he realized that he had been silenced --




　A short time later, Julia was taken out of her prison.
　Julia made noises to tell them where the brave man was, but they were not listened to.

　And Julia never came back.




　Just as the two sisters were getting used to their imprisonment, this time Bran was taken out of his prison.
　Bran cried and resisted, but there was nothing Noir could do about it.

　And Bran never came back either.




　Eventually, when the loneliness seemed to break his heart, Noir was finally taken out of his prison.
　Noir was taken out to the ground floor without resistance--and




　-- then a tremendous shock shook the Demon King's Castle.

　The castle was thrown into chaos, and the soldiers who were taking Noir away also left their posts in a panic.

　Reflexively, Noir had taken advantage of the gap and tried to escape.

　Taking advantage of the chaos, he escaped the castle and hid in the dwarven town, but soon soldiers were deployed throughout the city, so he had no choice but to whip his weakened legs and flee into the wilderness of underground space.

　For some reason, no pursuers came after him after that.

　Noir was not pursued by anyone, and while desperately hiding from the dragon, Noir aimed for the door that led to the labyrinth one level up.

'...... lies ......'

　When he saw the door in the distance, Noir understood why his pursuers had not come, and then he despaired.

　A simple stronghold had been built around the door, with soldiers stationed around it.

　There was no shadow or shape of that thing when they came here.

　--Ah, simple logic.

　Once the only door leading to the ground was sealed off, there was no need to release the pursuers to search for them.

　They could wander the wilderness and die in the wilderness, or they could fall prey to the dragons, or they could try to force their way through and be captured.

　Either way, Noir's end was seemingly set in stone.

'Help me ...... help me ...... someone, someone, someone ......'

　Repeatedly groaning, Noir turned back to the wilderness, where dragons were flying around.

　With the magic that was as good as a squeeze, there was a limit to how much magic he could maintain to hide his appearance.

　Even the wind of the dragon's flapping wings would blow the flimsy magic away with the magic contained in it.

'...... that, is ......'

　Just as he was about to lose his mind, Noir noticed something strange that was happening in a corner of the underground space.

　A huge door that he had seen on his way there.

　For some reason it had been opened and a huge hole had opened its mouth.

　I don't know why the door was open. I don't even know where the hole leads to.
　But I had a gut feeling that there was no other way than to hang on to it.

　Noir summoned all the strength he had left in his thin body and desperately climbed the steep slope that lay beyond the door.

　He continued to climb and climb and climb, selflessly.

　Eventually, the slope ended and he came to a flat spot and saw a light at the end of the cave.

　It was on the ground--!　Noir rushed towards the light, believing that without any evidence.




　--without even thinking about the fact that the destination is a precipice.








　.............

　His body ached all over.

　.............

　I immediately understood that I had fallen off the cliff.

　.............

　My broken leg hurt so badly I felt like I was going to throw up.

　.............

　I understood that I was going to die here.

　.............








'Are you okay!　Sorry, Garnett!　Wait here!
'Oh!　Go!

　Just when I was about to give up everything, I felt someone rushing up to me.

　When I looked up with all the strength left in my body, I saw that the person there was that--that person I thought I would never see again.