Chapter 16 The Paladin, Panicked
#KyoudoushaThe Paladin, Panicked
“What! So the Demon Lord Goblin King was such a formidable foe!”
In the audience chamber, the lord shouts insincerely.
He must have already received the information from the troops accompanying him.
“Yes! Our clan fought bravely, but we were outnumbered and outgunned! I am truly sorry!”
Kneeling down, I squeeze my voice to sound as tragic as possible.
In the end, more than half of the Fairtrak Clan members who participated in the battle against the Demon Lord became useless.
Those who were injured would eventually be able to return once they healed, but there were a few who were so badly injured that they could not return.
The members close to me are all seriously injured.
…Jean, Gisself, I will definitely avenge you.
I will destroy them and send them to the underworld!
For the next Demon Lord Battle, I have no choice but to bring the members close to Sensei that I did not send this time.
I was supposed to gradually lose their influence, but it turned out to be a huge miscalculation!
Besides, Monica, Chitose, and several others are missing.
I didn’t think they would die so easily, but… damn!
They are the invincible warriors Sensei trained. If even one of them disappears, it will affect the future.
My plans are completely messed up!
Even if I recruit new members now, it will take time for them to become useful.
If Sensei were here, he would have trained them to be better than himself in less than a year.
For the first time, I tremble at Sensei’s abnormality.
He is a real monster.
What kind of training could he have given a new adventurer to challenge a demon king in less than two years?
He may be naive and full of gaps, but he is good at everything he does!
Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!
I can’t beat him!
Sure, I’m superior in martial arts, but I can’t win in anything else!
I was the one who staged the scene that caused Sensei himself to leave.
I successfully unsettled him with the Monica incident and isolated him from his close associates by sending them elsewhere.
Sensei was also human.
It should have gone well up to that point!
Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!
…Calm down, Sieg!
There is still a chance to turn things around!
“They say a crisis is an opportunity. Well, if you don’t handle it well, it will remain a crisis, hahaha.”
Thanks for the useless advice, Sensei.
“Therefore, I propose that we launch a joint operation with the Lord’s Army to wipe them out at once!”
To make it seem even more desperate, I will bow my head even lower before I speak.
“You b🬀🬀tard! You dare to suggest something to the Lord!”
One of the lord’s vassals raised an angry voice.
“No. That’s right… I can’t ignore the suffering of the people… can I?”
The old Lord says solemnly.
Hypocritical!
You don’t care, do you?
“Yes! We can no longer tolerate the further suffering of the people!”
Ah, I’ve become good at acting too….
It’s scary. This is supposed to be a discussion about protecting the people….
No one thinks that the people don’t matter!
Including me, I want to throw up!
But no!
I will swallow it and rise to the top!
I will never be treated like garbage again!
Born in garbage! Treated like a sewer rat!
I won’t become some kind of existence where they think it would be better if I disappeared!
One day, one day, I will make that old Lord kneel before me!
Therefore, I cannot and will not stop here!
For the sake of my clan members who follow me!
So I will endure any humiliation now.
“Good! I will lend you my 3,000 soldiers. But the main force for defeating the demon king will be my army… My son, Gideon (ギデオン), the general, will kill the demon king. Is that good?”
The old Lord chuckles maliciously.
“Yes, of course, I’ll make it happen!”
I bow respectfully.
The opportunity to defeat the Demon Lord will come again. For now, I must endure….
“So, my son will also get the hero skill! Hohohoho!”
He is in a good mood, thinking that he has already won.
Old man, you don’t know what can happen on the battlefield….
Even if your son gets the hero skill, he might not come back in one piece, you know?
But I’m not unfamiliar with his son, Gideon.
If possible, I don’t want to use violent means.
After all, he’s going to be my stepbrother.
After discussing the joint operation with the lord, I returned to the clan house.
“Are Monica, Marita, and Chitose back?”
I ask, handing the coat I was wearing to Koron, the new attendant.
“No one is back… Are they dead?”
Koron says with a grin.
Don’t be ridiculous!
This guy, he thinks he can move up if people die!
My head is full of blood.
“You b🬀🬀tard! Don’t say such ominous things!”
I punch him.
“I’m sorry! I’m sorry! I’m sorry!”
Koron apologizes, crying.
“Get out! If you can’t value your comrades, get out!”
I kicked him in the butt.
He runs away, clutching his coat.
Damn it! I’m so irritated!
I kick a wooden box in the corner of the room with all my might.
Bang!
The contents scatter.
Sigh… I have to clean this up.
I return to my office alone and sit down heavily on a chair.
I open my desk and pull out some medicine that helps with fatigue, take a handful, and swallow it.
I feel my fatigue ease a little.
…It’s becoming less and less effective….
I quietly light a cigarette, smoke it, and remember what happened earlier.
If you can’t value your comrades, huh.
Ah…
Ahhhhhhhh…
I let out a soundless scream.
I groan and clutch my face.
Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!
Pull yourself together!
I am!
I am!
I am Sieg, master of the Fairtrak Clan!
It is my duty to pull those guys up!
I told myself that.
Over and over again.
I groaned for a while, drank some a🬀cohol, and thought.
What I remember is the content of the meeting with the Lord just now.
His army seemed prepared and ready to go.
That fox knew all along, didn’t he?
But in this situation, it’s a blessing.
Considering the possibility that the missing people are still alive, I should go right now.
I’ll just suppress the tiredness with medicine.
I can take a long rest after it’s all over.
I stood up and looked in the mirror.
A fairly well-proportioned face, dark circles under his eyes… and wrinkles hidden by makeup.
Even his proud, fiery red hair has some white mixed in on closer inspection.
Damn it… I wonder how many years I’ve lost because of that last incident….
I’m actually a young man, not even 20 yet.
But the man in the mirror looks like a tired 30-year-old.
I don’t have much time left….
The more I use the Hero Skill, the weaker I become.
It feels like with my current senses, I can use Demon Lord Slayer quite a few times without any problems.
That’s because it has an excellent cost-benefit ratio.
But I don’t want to use [May God Punish You]… If I do, I won’t be able to hide it anymore.
I still have a long way to go to reach the pinnacle.
I need to hunt down a few more demon kings.
After I defeated the Demon Lord Iron Rat, a man in a hood, a very suspicious person, told me in a tavern about the price of the Hero Skills.
He knew things no one else knew.
He said that if I killed many demon kings, I could rise to the pinnacle and become a true hero.
He also said that a true hero could wield great power without any price.
At first, I didn’t believe it, but when I used the [Demon Lord Slayer] skill, I realized that my aging was accelerating.
I panicked.
I wanted to rise to the top with this power, but at this rate, I would become an old man first!
Even after defeating the Demon Lord Goblin King, it might not be enough.
Will I reach the pinnacle first, or will I die of old age?
I don’t have much time left.
I have to both raise my clan members and take care of my own body.
Next time, next time….
I clenched my fist and looked at my reflection in the mirror.