I had to do some demon stuff.
　Arios and his group returned to the inn.

'Oh, I'm so tired I feel like taking a quick bath.
Well I'm in a relaxing mood today, as expected.

　Lean blurted out in disgust, and Mina followed suit.

　She comforted the villagers of Pagos and then came up with a plan to counter the demon.
　He also went around and talked to the villagers who were scared of the demon...
　Lean was fed up with those 'sober' 'tasks'.

'Hey, hey, Arios. Do you really have to do this kind of thing?　I don't like it because it's too plain.
'Lean. You shouldn't talk like that. It's our mission to lead the powerless.
But you know what... you've never done that before.

　Lean had a valid point.
　Arios put the defeat of the demon king as his top priority, and he didn't care about any trivial matters that could go off the rails.

　As expected, if someone was being attacked by a demon in front of him, he would have no choice but to help them...
　When you hear of a village being attacked in the distance, you don't visit it.

　And yet, this time was different.
　He traveled all the way to Pagos to fight the demons and save the villagers.
　Leanne had her doubts about Arios' unusual behavior.

'We've talked about that before, haven't we?

　Aggus opened his mouth to explain.

'The Horizon incident has tarnished our reputation. If we don't, it could hinder our journey.
So we should do some good deeds for a change.

　Arios said, taking over Aggus' words.

''Well, I heard about that. I'm sure it's a hassle to actually do it, but it's not something we should be doing. It's not something we should be doing, you know?
It's good. It's all over so easily.
Well, yeah.

　As they exchanged chit-chat, Arios and the others moved to their rooms.
　It was the largest inn in the village of Zith, and the most expensive room in the village.
　It was prepared by the villagers to welcome the brave men.

　Arios sat on the soft bed and laughed.

'It's tedious but it's an easy job, isn't it?　After all, the devil is connected to us.

　The outrageous fact was plainly stated by Arios.

　The girl Arios met when he got the Heavenly Ring........
　She was the 'demon'.

　To be more specific, she was a girl from the Heavenly Clan who was thought to be extinct.
　She seemed to have a strong grudge against people, and if left unattended, she would cause great harm.

　However, Arios did not do anything to stop her.
　Rather, she decided to take advantage of it.

　She declared that she would attack Pagos first.
　When Arios heard about it he let her have her way.
　It was obvious that if left unchecked, it would cause great harm, but even so, she did not stop.
　He let her do as she pleased.

　And then I offered her a deal.

'I'll help you with your cause. In return, would you be willing to be our go-to guy?

　........I offered such a deal.

　There's no doubt that the girl is a harm to people...
　He had never dreamed of being offered such a deal.
　The girl took a liking to Arios and the others and decided to lay down a partnership.

　First, the girls attacked Pagos as they had declared.
　When they were satisfied to some extent, Arios and the others broke in.
　They play a stand-off with the girl...
　The girl retreats at the right time.

　Thus, the birth of Arios, the hero who saved Pagos, so to speak.

　This was all possible because of his connection to the girl.
　Thanks to this, Arios's reputation was restored.
　He was called a hero for saving the lives of so many people.

It's a piece of cake. It's such an easy job, they just say we're awesome for that!

　Leanne laughs happily.

'I do feel a little guilty, but ... well, I guess I can't help it.

　Mina also did not blame Arios, the initiator of the plan.
　Rather, she divided it into two parts: it was inevitable.

　The reputation of the brave party had fallen in the wake of Horizon's incident.
　It had to recover from that.
　For that reason, we can't choose our means.

　That was the conclusion Mina came to.

'I was able to meet her at the right time. You're lucky.''
Do you want me to get tougher?　But we'll come in at the right place and help you. And they will thank you so much for it.
'Spreading our name would be helpful later on. We might consider doing it again ... if necessary.

　Arios too.
　And Lean.
　Or Mina.

　There is no shame in your actions.
　We can do what we want.
　That's what we are privileged to do.

　And that's what we thought.

　Except for one person.

"...Arios. I knew it was a bad idea, didn't I?

　Aggus says in a heavy tone.
　To such an Aggus, Arios gave him a disgusted look, as if to say, ''Again?

''Don't rehash the story, okay? We've all agreed on this, haven't we?''
'It's because Arios went ahead on his own, to the point where there was no turning back, isn't it?
Still, we all agreed in the end. Including you.
'That's true, but...'
'Hey, hey, what's the matter with you?　It's a great deal to get our name out there.

　At Lean's words, Aggus makes a silence.
　He makes a reluctant face, but he wasn't repulsed by Leen's words.

　Aggus also thinks that if he can make it easier, it would be better.
　He had decided that the plan Arios had come up with wasn't a bad one either.
　He even thought that this was just fine, since he had to restore the reputation that had been tarnished by the Horizon incident.

　But.

　Inevitably, Aggus was curious about the girl called Iris.
　Wasn't that really a demon?
　Is it safe to join forces with such an entity?

　That was what was bothering him.

'What's the matter with you, Aggus?　Isn't it wrong that you did something to deceive the villagers?
'No, I don't care much about that,'

　Aggus was not opposed to Arios' plan itself.
　If he was against it, he would have stopped it when he released Iris.
　As far as he didn't, Aggus's guts were quite rotten as well, as far as he was concerned.

'Then what's tripping you up?'
It's that girl, Iris.

　Aggus rubbed his arm.
　Goosebumps rose on his arm.

'What is Arios going to do with Iris after this?
Yeah?　What does that mean?
'We're just going to let it go?　Or are we going to take them down in the right place?
'Well...'

　After a moment's thought, Arios says with a smile.

'She's still got a lot of use to her. Why don't we get her to help us out a bit more?
Don't you think we should stop?
What?
'That thing is dangerous. From the moment I met him until now, the chills have never left me. After all this time I probably shouldn't have joined forces with that thing.
'Oh dear, I don't know what you're talking about but that's exactly what you're talking about now, isn't it?'
'That's true, but...'

　Aggus couldn't get his stiffened face back to normal.

　In the midst of all this, he thought back to Iris's smile.
　She's a dainty girl on the outside.......but on the inside she's something else.

　I knew from being there that Iris thinks of people as insects.
　There is absolutely no way that she sees them as equals.
　That's exactly what Iris will do, if something happens to her, she'll kill people with her laughter.

　That is what Iris is.
　As the villagers of Pagos have said, it could be a real demon.
　Aggus sensed that much threat and viciousness.

　He had teamed up with such an opponent.
　I've lent him my power.
　I let him go.

　After all this time, hadn't he done a terrible thing?　And my body starts to tremble.

'Well, I'll take Aggus' advice but still, she's worth using. Let her be a convenient pawn for us for a while. Is that all right?
'....Okay. If Arios says so, then I have no complaints.
I'll be fine. Aggus is a worrier. It's never going to be known that we're in league with Iris and if you're still worried, you just need to control her properly. Right?
Well yes.

　Nodding his head, Aggus couldn't turn off the fuss in his chest.

　Was that a being that could be controlled by a human being?
　Isn't he the kind of person who would abruptly return your palm and bite our throat off with a smile?

　........Such a premonition of Aggus could not have been more accurate.