The beast tamer exiled from the hero’s party and the cat eared girl from the strongest race meet
"Alright then... I'm not letting you go any further. It's a roadblock, that's what it is. If you absolutely insist on passing, you'll have to do something about us. But... there's no human who could ever stand up to Cassion, Zillor-sama's royal guard!"
Cassion said that with complete confidence.
Seeing him like that, I carelessly let slip a thoughtless question.
"Cassion... you—why are you here...?"
"Huh? What's with that tone? As if you actually know me... no, wait a minute."
Cassion stared at us intently...
After a short while, he made a stunned expression.
"You... could it be Ray? And that's Yuu, and Sora and Luna?"
We'd been found out.
Although our appearances and voices were different from when we'd met face-to-face... Cassion is part of the Four Kings' royal guard, so his intuition is sharp and his powers of observation must be excellent.
We couldn't fool his eyes—our identities were discovered.
Well, it was my fault for calling his name without thinking.
"Man, seriously... I came because I was ordered to help catch a rat that had snuck in, and when I show up it's the rats and it's Ray and the others... Give me a break. So they're humans, not demons. Damn... I actually kind of liked you guys, you know? I was thinking of recommending you to the royal guard."
"You held us in that high regard?"
"Of course. You're strong, and more than that, you fought for us. I fell for that spirit of yours."
There was no sense of trickery or flattery to lull us—those were Cassion's honest words.
Altera had taken Ruie’s life and then desecrated her soul.
That could never be forgiven.
Still, Cassion's personality was so straightforward and full of loyalty and human feeling that it didn't seem possible he was the same kind of demon as the rest.
To be honest, I thought he might make a good friend.
And Zillor, who stands above him—though I'd only spoken briefly with her—didn't strike me as a bad person either. She didn't seem like Altera at all; she felt like someone you could reason with.
Why were there such differences among demons who shared the same species?
I was very curious, but now wasn't the time to dwell on such questions.
"Why is Cassion here?"
"That's my line... well, whatever. I'll answer first."
Cassion gave a weary sigh.
Even while he made that gesture, he showed no openings. He was always focused, ready to shift into combat at any moment.
"We're the moderation faction... ah—Ray, you, do you even know what 'moderates' and 'hardliners' are?"
"I don't. Also... sorry, my real name is Rain."
For some reason I wanted Cassion to call me by my real name.
"Is that so, Rain?"
Cassion nodded, somehow pleased.
"To put it simply, hardliners take it upon themselves to speak for the Demon Lord and act on their own. They don't cross certain lines, but they do a lot of selfish stuff. The moderates are people tired of fighting who are gathered together. They're thinking of advising, 'When the Demon Lord wakes, why don't we stop the war?' That's the faction they belong to."
I couldn't believe such factions actually existed.
It was so unexpected that I widened my eyes.
I wasn't the only one surprised—everyone else was too, especially Iris. She must have known the previous Demon Lord... there was no way she'd believe something like that so easily.
"The Demon Lord's orders are absolute, so we're heretics among the heretics. It's natural we'd be ostracized; we're few and weak. If Zillor hadn't become the leader of the moderates, we'd have been crushed long ago."
"...Then why would a moderate like Cassion cooperate with someone like Altera?"
"I don't want to cooperate with that spiteful brat either. She keeps harassing us and sometimes genuinely tries to crush us. But once a request comes, we can't refuse. If we did, we'd be crushed with everything thrown at us."
"I see."
Altera and Zillor are both Four Kings, yet they're at odds.
Still, Zillor was the weaker of the two.
Cassion, her subordinate, couldn't refuse Altera's requests... so that's why he was here.
From Altera's point of view, she'd rather not expend a valuable subordinate. She'd prefer to crush the annoying moderates.
"So yeah, that's the explanation. Got the gist of it?"
"Yeah."
Out of loyalty and duty, the matter had been explained so we could accept it. That was done.
Now it was time to perform our actual role.
Cassion readied himself.
I also took up Kusanagi.
I wanted to know more about demons... and I liked Cassion.
But if he stood in our way... I'd cut him down!
"Can I say something?"
Just as the battle was about to start, Yuki spoke up in his usual calm way.
"There's something I want to ask—oh, I'm not Yuu, I'm Yuki. Sorry for the lame fake name."
"That was a lame choice."
Cassion smiled wryly and encouraged Yuki to continue.
"I have a small proposal... could you let us go?"
"Huh?"
Cassion sounded puzzled—and then he flared up his fighting aura fiercely.
"You taking me lightly? Sure, I like you guys, but I'm a demon. I'm proud to be part of Zillor-sama's royal guard, and I'll never betray my lord."
"That's right."
"I don't like Altera, but that doesn't mean I'll let you go. Doing that would put Zillor-sama at a disadvantage. Also, humans are enemies to us demons."
So even the moderates held that humans were the enemy... another mystery.
"But don't they say the enemy of my enemy is my friend?"
"Huh?"
"We'll defeat Altera."
Yuki said it with certainty.
His face was calm, but fierce anger burned in his eyes.
"For now, escape comes first... but afterward, we'll defeat Altera."
"Well, talk is cheap. Altera is stronger than Zillor-sama. She's second strongest among the Four Kings."
Even with that much presence, she's only second. I shuddered thinking how strong the top of the Four Kings must be.
"If you let us go here, we can take out Altera. If that happens, Cassion and the moderates would be in a better position, right?"
"So you're asking me to let you go? How can I trust you'd actually be able to beat her... or even that you'd fight at all?"
"Would you trust us?"
"...Rain..."
I cut in from the side.
I didn't intend to dump such an impossible task on Yuki alone. I wanted to support him and share the hardship.
"You want me to trust humans... you who I've only talked to briefly?"
"But we've run the same battlefield. We've fought for the same cause."
"That is..."
"From Cassion's point of view, he might be able to trust people like us... what do you think?"
"..."
A short silence.
After a moment...
"Don't hate me for saying it... but do as you like. Just this once. If I see you again, I won't show mercy."
"...Thank you."
Maybe it would be possible to come to an understanding with demons after all.
Looking at Cassion, I had that thought.
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