Sealed Cave.
This village, once the place where Veldora had been sealed, had been expanded together with the cave beside it until the entire settlement had effectively become part of the cavern.
It was the result of humanity's efforts over the last five years. They had artificially enlarged the original cave and transformed it into one created solely for the purpose of maintaining the seal.
By grinding through countless mages, they had somehow managed to form an enormous cavern in only a few years.
Of course, thanks to Veldora's magicules, the interior had become like a real cave... no, more natural than a real cave, almost like a [dungeon].
Watching humans, who were always bickering about their own nations and everyone else's, suddenly cooperate only at times like this, I understood at once why Demon Lords were necessary.
Humanity's nature was to think of cooperation only when faced with a single overwhelming common enemy...
[—Kwahahaha!!! And so, at the very moment that Demon Lord pointed his sword at me—!!!!!]
While Adelio was lost in thought, Veldora's boastful roar suddenly rang out.
His unnecessarily loud voice thundered through the entire Sealed Cave.
"...Yeah, yeah, I got it. So can you keep it down now?"
His train of thought completely shattered, Adelio looked up with an annoyed expression.
[—What are you talking about! It's been a long time since you came, so naturally you should hear more!!]
"What do you mean, a long time? I was here last week..."
After Walpurgis ended last time, Guy had let me go out into the world as planned, and several months had flown by in the blink of an eye.
And during that time, I had also made trips to the Sealed Cave for the sake of that "dragon turned shut-in"—Veldora.
To begin with, even during those five years of training with Guy, I had come here from time to time for Veldora's sake.
If I stayed away too long, he'd obviously get sulky or turn into a hopeless unemployed shut-in again.
Honestly, it wouldn't really matter if I just left him to become the same useless shut-in he had originally been, but I felt a strange sense of kinship with him, and after talking with him for over five years, I'd started thinking of him as something like a [friend], so I couldn't quite bring myself to just abandon him.
"...Anyway, I'm heading out now. [Chronoa] should be almost here too."
I lowered my gaze, picked up the [Sword of the Conqueror]—no, [Overlord Black Star]—that I had set down on the ground for a moment, fastened it back at my waist, rose from the rock I had been sitting on, and walked out of the cave while ignoring Veldora shouting after me from behind.
'More herbs have grown again.'
Along the way, I stored several fully grown Hipokte herbs into the [subspace] I had created with [Spatial Movement].
Since it wasn't an ability granted by a skill but a spell I had created myself, there was a clear limit to how much it could store, but my magicule reserves were high enough that it didn't really matter.
As I kept walking toward the cave entrance—
"You're late."
The moment I saw a figure, the words slipped right out of my mouth.
"I came exactly on time."
And just as expected, that figure was—
Chronoa, the [Hero] said to be the strongest.
"You weren't trying to use Veldora to make my life miserable, were you?"
"...Hmph. I was only teaching you what it's like to wait for once."
"...And why is that supposed to be a lesson?"
During those five years, Chronoa had also run into me a few times in the Jura Great Forest, though nowhere near as often as Veldora.
Every time, she would press me about when exactly Guy was going to give permission for me to travel with her.
I felt wronged.
This wasn't just any demon I had to win approval from—it was Guy Crimson. How could earning his acknowledgment in terms of strength possibly be easy?
The only reason I had managed it in just five years was because I had a [Hero's Egg].
Besides, five years was only a long time for ordinary humans. For a [Half-God] like Chronoa, or a long-lived being like me, it wasn't all that long.
It was just that my sense of time got fuzzy now and then because of memories from my previous life and because I had awakened as a [Hero].
Anyway, getting back to the point—
Once Walpurgis ended, I finally told Chronoa that I was now allowed to accompany her, and that was why she was acting prickly like this.
Something about making up for all the resentment she'd built up from waiting so long...
"Haaah... whatever. Let's get going."
With a short sigh, I raised my magicules to activate the Extra Skill [Spatial Movement].
We were heading to—
[Sorcerous Dynasty Sarion].
"...Right—this time we're going to [Sorcerous Dynasty Sarion], aren't we?"
Maybe she was at least aware she'd been acting unreasonable, because Chronoa asked that with her face slightly flushed.
"Yeah. I need to meet the Heavenly Emperor—[Ermesia]—and ask her for a favor."
Ermesia.
The queen of the elves, a name any human noble or royal had heard at least once.
She was the very reason we were going to [Sorcerous Dynasty Sarion].
"...The Heavenly Emperor of the Sorcerous Dynasty... just how did you become close with that elf?"
Not "you," but "you" in that formal way.
Chronoa's tone had suddenly changed.
If she addressed me like that, it meant the one speaking now was [Hinata Sakaguchi].
As a major figure in the [Western Holy Church], Hinata knew Ermesia well enough, so apparently the fact that I knew her too was hard to believe.
"...Who knows? I have no idea either..."
My conversation partner had abruptly switched from Chronoa to Hinata, but by now I was already used to the two of them trading places freely, so I merely shrugged and answered awkwardly.
Even when I thought about it myself, our connection had started as pure chance.
The reason I had come to know Ermesia this quickly was honestly just because I got lucky.
'...It really was just one coincidence piled on top of another.'
Then again, you could also say we met because of a connection that might have been inevitable.
Yes, if I were to look back on it once more—
My meeting with the Heavenly Emperor, Ermesia, happened several months ago—
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