"Grand Wizard Magnus, please enter the room for an audience~~~~~

　An honor guard raises his trained throat.
　Another group of honor guards push open the double-opened, heavy, massive doors of the audience room to let me through.
　I leisurely enter the hall and come face to face with King Rakstad as he takes his place on the throne.

'Oh, Lord Magnus!　You are a saving hero!

　That's what the old king called me, after I took out Tensen-Delvembro, who broke into the dinner party yesterday, and prevented a coup attempt by the guy who sold his soul to the demons as a result.
　And then he did the unusual thing.
　The king himself got up from his throne and came all the way up to me and shook my hand.
　The king - and by extension, the great nation of Rakstad - expressed how much respect he was willing to show me in the future, even at the risk of diminishing the authority of the royal family.
　The king would not normally step forward during an audience, even if the world were turned upside down.
　All the chief ministers present were in a daze.

''It hurts, Your Majesty,''

　I left the wand I was allowed to carry with me to one of the king's attendants and shook his hand.
　I will not bow or bend my knees, as I have no intention of becoming a vassal. He would shake hands with them as equals. However, by the performance of entrusting my precious staff to him, I also expressed my trust in Rakstad and returned the respect with respect.
　The chief ministers said, "What an imposing and magnificent gesture! I just sighed in admiration.

　Actually, though, I've had Aria as a practice runner beforehand, and I've done a lot of rehearsals for you!
　Of course, court liturgy and non-tacky behavior is in this head as knowledge, but whether it can be executed is another story, as usual.
　Thank you, Aria!

　The king returned to his throne and the king's attendants, in an overly reverent manner, returned the "Great Magic Staff" to me.
　Then the king got down to business and said to everyone, including me, "For the heroic Magnus, the man who saved my country, I would like to thank you.

I intend to prepare any kind of reward for the heroic Magnus, who saved my country. You will be able to get the title of duke or even grand duke if Magnus wishes. I'm not going to be able to get it for you. He told me that you are only on your way to defeat the Demon King, Morl-Fi, he said. Therefore, I have prepared a reward that will allow you to meet the ambition of Lord Magnus.

　At that point, the king cut off his words, cleared his throat, and announced cheerfully, "Magnus-dono!

"Magnus-dono, I hereby proclaim you the official title of 'Avenger of the Demon King' of the Kingdom of Luxta!　From now on, we are willing to do whatever is necessary for Lord Magnus to defeat the Demon King!

　The spirit of Tigon chose Eugene to be the brave and made him the one to take down the Demon King.
　On the other hand, the King of Rakusta, through the will of man, recognized me as having authority and power comparable to that of a brave man.

''Ohhhhhh!''
"'The great wizard!　"Magnus, the destroyer of demons!"
""Bless your path!"

　Everyone erupts in excitement, cheering my name and wishing me luck in battle.

''Please avenge the Demon King!
"Bring peace to the whole world, not just this country!
"Save us from ourselves!

　I could hear such pleas coming from everywhere.
　I didn't say a word, just raised my as if to make a solemn vow.

"'Ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!

　Instantly, the audience room erupted in cheers.

　--I was presented with a certificate to prove that I am the official avenger of the Demon King. It's a fine official document, signed by the king and sealed with his jade seal.
　I'll be able to present this certificate, which gives me access to all the conveniences of the Kingdom of Luxta.
　If I wanted to, I could do the same thing as Eugene, the brave man with the name of valor and the full extent of his arrogance.
　I'm sure the king believes that I'm not a small person who would do such a foolish thing, so he issued this certificate.

　And the one who reverently handed me the certificate was a sharp-looking old man.
He is called the "King's Staff," the first court wizard.
　I hadn't attended the dinner party yesterday, so this is the first time I've made an acquaintance with him. I heard that he was too old to attend any banquets.
　However, he was not exactly a stiff-necked person.

If I were 30 years younger, I would surely have come to you and begged you to teach me the depths of the magical arts as a disciple.

　The old man grinned and whispered and made a snappy joke.

'Ha!　Humility.

　I laughed and didn't deal with it.
　I'm sure I'm far ahead of him when it comes to witchcraft - a wizard's way of life that I aspire to be.
　I'm sure you'll be able to find out more about this in the future.
　I'm not so shallow as to think that I'm a mere eighteen years old and a mere youthful monk in the world of politics that I'm a match for this man of the millennium.
　The fact that Rakstad has been able to maintain political stability even in times like these, even in the presence of a demon king, and even in the presence of a lioness like Tenzen, is due in large part to the decades of good governance by wise leaders like the king and the old man.

　The bottom line is that a society can never be made up of one person, it's a given.
　In these times when the world is dominated by a demon king, a powerful wizard like me is necessary, but even if a politician like this old man is missing, the country will still be in disarray.
　Let's each of us do our best, respecting each other.
　The old man and I both understand that.

If I could defeat the Demon King, I would love to have a slow, knee-jerk reaction with someone like you.
Oh, that's a wonderful story. I'll be waiting for that day to come, Mr. Magnus.

　We parted with a firm handshake.

　　　　◇◆◆◆◆.

　What happened to Eugene, who was supposed to be the hero, while I became the official "Slayer of the Demon King" by Luxta?
　I'm going to have to tell you about it.

　Yes, Eugene wasn't dead.
　He could have been beaten to a pulp by the undead Delvembro to the point where he could not be recreated, and yet he persevered.
As detailed in the Strategy Book, the ultra-privileged position of the chosen hero possesses a number of foul unique skills.
　There is a hidden skill among them that even Eugene himself is probably unaware of its existence.
　It's called "Heavenly Fate" and as long as the Demon King is around, the Brave Man will never die.
　Even if they turn you into minced meat and make you suffer insane amounts of pain, you will still have 1 HP left.
　And if you're still alive, a monk like Hilde will use her recovery magic to make you well.

　The king had a hard time dealing with the survivors, too.
　I'm not going to be able to say that I'm not going to be able to get away with it.
　He deserved to be made an example of, and stripped of all honor, by the most brutal method of execution possible.
If he doesn't die because of the "Heavenly Fate", he should be locked up in a dungeon forever.

　However, there were people who insisted on Eugene's pardon.
　That's right, the brain-dead priests of the church.
''Lord Eugene is a brave man chosen by the Divine Spirit Tygon, if we imprison that brave man, who in the world will defeat the Demon King?'' Do you think the rest of the world will allow it? "Does the king take responsibility? He spat at them and packed them in.

　The church, which is the old evil itself, is still feeding its influence to the old institutions.
　And in this country, the oldest organization is none other than the royal family.
　Even the wise king could not ignore these ties that have been passed down from generation to generation.
　I'm sure you'll be pleased to know that I'm not the only one.

　I'm not going to be able to get rid of them.

　--I'm not going to be able to get rid of them.
　I won't have him sentenced to death, but I won't let him step on Rakstad's soil again.
　You're free to go on living your life away from here.
　You can change your mind and work for the extermination of the demon king, or you can repeat your misdeeds without having a clue as to what you're doing in other countries.
　That's what I call a mature decision.

　The king also announced all of Eugene's misdeeds throughout the country and sent messengers to other countries.
　The effect of this was first seen in Rakstad, his knee-jerk reaction, and rather than stripping him of his honor, the name of the brave man fell completely to the ground.
　I heard that Eugene and Hilde were chased by the people with a stone.
　So that's how it happened.

　A word of pity.

　The story of Eugene and Hilde's crimes will probably be told all over the world.
　They will be stoned everywhere they go.
　Of course, Eugene is a brave man. If he changes his mind, does a lot of good deeds worthy of the title, and spends his time slaying demons, he may be able to regain his reputation, little by little.

　Well, I don't think he'll ever change his mind, though.
　I can't imagine him putting up with it, putting up with it, putting up with it, and serving others while being ridiculed by the people around him.
　If he could do such an admirable thing, he wouldn't have been a fool in the first place.

　That's why those guys will be persecuted by those around them for the rest of their lives.
　They will have to suffer the sight that it would have been better to die there.
　Eugene would be miserable for not being able to die properly.
　He would realize that being chosen by Tygon was actually a curse, not a blessing.
　But it can't be helped.
　All you have to do is pay for the sins and stupidity you've committed.

　I hope you will do your best and give up.

　　　　◇◆◇◇◇◇◇.

　Narsai told me what happened to the current member of the brave party, a female martial artist (apparently called Nyako) of the cat people (Ketsey).
　The moment she returned from the demon castle, she announced that she had run out of love with Usha-sama and left the party, she was accused again by the victims of rampage and disorderly conduct and other charges and now lives in prison.

　And the last of the brave party.
　Misha and I are going to say goodbye to each other here in Laxtia.

Are you going back to Halicon?
Yeah. I thought I would snowball my dad's name by killing the Demon King with Eugene, but I was wrong. From now on, I'm going to stand my ground and continue to defeat demons for the sake of everyone back home and get them to acknowledge me, little by little. I realize after all this time that there was no shortcut.

　Misha said with a refreshed look on her face, as if a possession had fallen on her.
　She said, "I didn't have the strength to take the shortcut," without saying it.
　That's why he didn't say to me, "Take me on a journey to defeat the Demon King.
　Without anyone telling her, she understood that she wasn't a force to be reckoned with and backed off.

'Where are we going next, Magnus?'
Aravana.

　I said, checking my pocket.
　A rare gemstone, half ruby, half sapphire, was in it.
　Tenzen-Delvembro had dropped the Jewel of the Heavens: Red-Blue.
　This is useful for Alavana.

Aravana. Aravana. It's a desert country. Watch out for sunstroke.
You don't go around slaying demons, do you?
Yeah. Thank you.

　That's where we both stopped talking about it.
　The rest was just awkward now.

'Good luck to Magnus in the war.'
"Good luck to Misha.

　Me and Misha turned our backs on each other, wishing each other good luck.
　Then we went our separate ways.

　At first, we were invited by the Brave Men, and given the mission to kill the Demon King by others.
　As a result, we had no choice but to be pushed around by them.
　Even so, we were able to make our own decisions in the end.
　Misha abandoned the 'mission to kill the Demon King'.
　And I set myself the 'mission to kill the Demon King' of my own volition.