The party continued late into the night.
　We had been threatened by the Stampede for a long time, but that was finally resolved.
　The joy was considerable, and it wasn't just the adults who were making a lot of noise, but the kids too.
　Of course, the kids weren't drinking alcohol, but juice.

　Such a party took place....
　And the next day.

　More than half of the adults in town had a spectacular hangover.

"Oh my God, I have a headache. I can't believe I'm going to get a hangover.......d*mn, that's awful.
I've had too much to drink as expected........oh no, I have a real headache. I've got a real headache.

　I visited Mr. Kys's mansion, and on the way there, Rezona and Al were lying on the floor, jerking and twitching.
　They looked like fish washed ashore.

　Apparently, they got carried away and drank too much.
　The strongest species is strong against alcohol, and usually they don't get a hangover.......
　There was a large number of liquor bottles lying around them, and I thought to myself that this was no wonder that even the strongest species had a hangover.

　By the way, everyone was still asleep.
　Although we didn't have a hangover like Rezona-san and Al-san, we stayed up late and must still be sleepy.

　I need to talk to Kais-san about the future, but we can tell everyone about what we're going to do later.
　So I went to Kais-san's place by myself.


'Oh, yes. Okay.

　We were not allowed to meet with Mr. Kaiz right away, but were shown to one of the guest rooms.
　I sat on the sofa and took a sip of the tea that was served to me.



　It's after an unprecedented series of stampede incidents.
　There is a lot of work to be done to rebuild the city and help the victims.
　There's a lot of work to be done, such as reviewing the defense system and future measures....

　I don't have any complaints about this situation, since it's not an unavoidable occurrence of unexpected work.
　It's not like I'm busy, so I'll just take it easy.

Besides, I guess it's just a good time to gather my thoughts.

　A lot of incidents happened in rapid succession and I couldn't slow down and expand my thoughts.
　This is a good time.
　Let's take a moment to collect our thoughts.

　Right now, the question we need to ask ourselves is, how do we move forward?　That's what I mean.

　I will continue to work as an adventurer, but it's probably best to set a policy that is rooted in the roots.
　I felt that it would be bad to be passive, like I was doing up to now, asking for help when I was asked to do so.

　Why was it bad?
　The situation around us is changing.

It's getting pretty messy...

　There are two things I'm concerned about.
　First, the movement of the demon tribe.

　Aiming at Krios, the demon tribe has created a stampede.
　Probably, the stampede that occurred in Horizon was also the work of that Vice guy.
　It's impossible for a demon tribe with that kind of power to exist in such a short period of time.......or rather, there was no way they could be there, so there was no doubt about it.

　The purpose of targeting Krios could be said to be related to the demon race, but.......
　If that's the case, it's a mystery why Horizon was targeted.
　It's not a special town where the strongest species live together.
　It's an ordinary city that can be found anywhere.

　........well, Kanade and the others, it may be unique in that there are multiple strongest species.

''Hm?　And if that's the case, the demons are after us?

　...or maybe not even that.
　If they're targeting us, there must be a different way to do it.

　It's a bit too sloppy to call it an individual crime.
　There are plenty of ways to escape.

That means that the target is the town itself... or the people who live there. Or was it the people who live there?

　Weiss didn't spit out his purpose until the end.
　Perhaps it was such an important strategy.

　What is the first thing a demon race thinks about?

...for the Demon King, right?

　Awaken the dormant demon king.
　The demon race should be working with that as their primary objective.

　If that's the case........

　Can't we think of the previous incident as something that was necessary to awaken the Demon King?
　For example, by causing the Stampede, it causes a lot of casualties.
　By offering those people's souls, you awaken the Demon King.........

''Well that's not quite right.''

　Not a bad line, I suppose, but the mystery still remains.
　Why did they go after Krios?
　If you're going to give up a lot of souls, it's obviously better to aim for a normal city where there are no demon tribe.

　Nope.
　Horizon was also targeted, so isn't it a mystery when you think about it?
　Rather, the mystery never comes up, and it's not particularly problematic behavior...

No, I'm getting confused.

　I'm thinking about this and that so much that my thought process seems to short-circuit.
　I abandon my thoughts for now.

'I'll have to gather some more information before I can say anything.

　Lately, the demon race has been moving more and more.
　I'm also worried about what Monica said...
　You'd better pay attention to what the demon race is up to in the future.

''Speaking of Monica, I'm wondering about Arios.

　Arios escaped from the prison with Monica's help.
　That has been firmly established.

　Hence, the two of them must still be working together.
　And it turns out that Monica is connected to the demon race.

　If that's the case, then Arios is also involved with the demon race.......

No, is that too soon?

　As expected, it's unlikely that Arios would cooperate with the demon race.
　Perhaps he doesn't know about the connection between Monica and the demon tribe and is being used for good.

　However, the recent Arios was somewhat in danger mentally, so it's not necessarily true that he has a change of heart and won't cooperate with the demon tribe.

''The demon race, Arios... it's a lot to think about,''

　Oh dear, he sighed.
　I want to discuss these and other things with Kaiz-san.

''Well come to think of it, Kais-san, you're late, aren't you?''

　It's been some time, but he hasn't shown up yet.
　What is the urgent matter prolonged?

Excuse me.

　There was a knock on the door with a bang, and a woman appeared.
　That woman........was wearing the 'Shield of Truth' that Arios must have had.