Reality is not a fairy tale.
It is not the kind of story where everything always ends with a happy ending, with heroes celebrated and villains defeated in a clean and satisfying way.
The real world is chaotic.
Unpredictable.
And often cruel.
But what happened in New Uruk was completely beyond Yuuki Kagurazaka's imagination.
Everything should have worked perfectly.
The army of the Kingdom of Falmuth, combined with the elite forces of the Holy Empire, the Ten Great Saints, and Luminous Valentine herself, should have been more than enough to deal with that nation.
Even if they couldn't defeat that man directly…
They should at least have been able to pressure him.
Force him to reveal more of his cards.
Make him bleed a little, at the very least.
The situation should have been perfect.
A complex and nearly unsolvable trap.
But what Yuuki had never expected was that Arthur would resolve everything with such ease.
There was no desperation.
No prolonged struggle.
Not even the sensation of real danger.
Arthur simply stepped into the situation… and dismantled it piece by piece.
As if he were solving a trivial problem.
Yuuki slowly crossed his arms, leaning his weight against the chair while staring at the ceiling.
He had already recalculated everything in his mind several times.
But the result was always the same.
He couldn't win.
No matter how many strategies he imagined.
No matter how many scenarios he analyzed.
He simply had no chance of defeating that man.
That was when he remembered something important.
Something he might have ignored out of convenience.
He was not dealing with an ordinary person.
He was dealing with the King of Heroes.
A man who, even in his own world, had already been absurdly powerful.
And who, after being transported to this world…
Had certainly gained even more abilities.
"Damn… you're really incredible… I feel like an idiot…" Yuuki sighed, rubbing his face.
For a moment, he looked genuinely exhausted.
As for the idea of using Shizue Izawa's students as bargaining chips…
That idea simply vanished from his mind.
Completely.
He knew it would be useless against Arthur.
Worse still—
It could easily provoke that man's anger.
And provoking Arthur was probably one of the most foolish decisions anyone could make.
Not that Yuuki was foolish enough to ignore that his actions might anger him.
Yuuki rested his chin on his hand.
"What would you do if you were in my place…?"
---
—xXx—
New Uruk
After the battle, what followed was not another war.
Nor pursuits.
Much less revenge.
Instead, there was an extremely serious discussion about the future of all the parties involved.
Representatives of the Western Holy Church, the Holy Empire, and New Uruk gathered to discuss the consequences of the conflict.
As compensation for the attack and the damages caused…
Everything Arthur requested was surprisingly simple.
He wanted the Holy Empire, the Western Holy Church, and Luminous herself to maintain friendly relations with New Uruk.
No absurd tributes.
No political humiliation.
No impossible demands.
After all, technically…
No one had truly lost anything.
Well.
With the obvious exception of Falmuth.
Arthur was fully aware that he would not remain there forever, and he also knew that—even if it was not strictly necessary—it was always better to maintain friendly relations with other nations whenever possible.
Shortly afterward, Shizue Izawa finally arrived in New Uruk.
She had rushed there at full speed, hoping she might still encounter Hinata Sakaguchi along the way.
But when she arrived…
She was completely stunned to discover that the war had already ended.
However, the real shock came moments later.
She saw two Hinata Sakaguchis.
One with black hair.
Another with white hair and red eyes.
Both of them were calmly drinking while chatting with Arthur.
As if it were the most normal thing in the world.
And to make the situation even more absurd…
An adult Chloe Aubert was sitting on Arthur's lap.
Receiving gentle head pats.
Shizu's sense of reality slowly began to collapse.
But the final blow came when she noticed something even more surreal.
The Ten Great Saints were drinking and chatting with the monsters of New Uruk.
The only exceptions were Saare, Grigori, and Bacchus—who had been traumatized after being beaten by Angélica—so they decided to keep their distance from the group.
They were probably still trying to process the chaos.
But the strangest case of all was Litus.
For some inexplicable reason…
She had somehow become friends with Angélica.
How had that happened?
No one knew.
No one would ever know the answer to that question.
It was simply one of the great mysteries of the universe.
Perhaps they had discovered some shared interest.
Meanwhile, Milim Nava finally returned.
And she was immediately dissatisfied when she realized that Chloe had taken her place.
While Milim argued with Chloe about who had the right to receive head pats, Shizu heard the entire explanation from Luminous and Hinata about what had happened.
Meanwhile…
Arthur was desperately trying to deal with all the attention he was receiving.
Future Hinata and Chloe also explained their situation to Shizu.
Including the small detail that they were, technically, master and student to each other.
Watching Shizu's reactions was extremely entertaining.
Especially when she discovered that the heroine she had always wanted to meet again…
Was actually Hinata inside Chloe's body from the future.
Arthur also took the opportunity to correct the strange misunderstanding many people had about him.
Yes.
He could be arrogant.
He could be egocentric.
Perhaps even slightly sadistic depending on the situation.
But he was definitely not a cruel tyrant.
Two weeks passed after that.
News of what had happened in New Uruk began spreading throughout the world.
It even reached the ears of a certain Demon Lord.
But aside from that…
Nothing particularly extraordinary happened in the city.
With the exception of one detail.
Benimaru had become absurdly stronger.
Meanwhile, Luminous began appearing in New Uruk with suspicious frequency.
Almost always accompanied by the future Hinata, who had decided to change her name to simply Hina.
Or accompanied by the present Hinata.
Officially, they claimed they were visiting to appreciate the art and culture of New Uruk.
But Arthur knew perfectly well what the real reason was.
He simply chose not to comment.
After all…
He didn't want to embarrass that extremely proud Demon Lord.
Future Chloe eventually decided to live permanently in New Uruk.
She also insisted on becoming Arthur's secretary.
Unfortunately for her…
Arthur refused.
After all, he already had two secretaries.
And he also didn't want to transfer the responsibility of supervising Edmaris Falmuth and his people to his main subordinates.
They already had their own responsibilities.
So Arthur made a simple decision.
He decided to summon a Daemon.
And delegate that task to it.
However…
On his first attempt, something completely unexpected happened.
Instead of summoning a normal daemon…
He ended up summoning a succubus.
And her sister.
Something completely outside his expectations.
The first was a woman of overwhelming beauty, with long emerald-green hair, seductive eyes, and extremely provocative clothing that seemed to defy any concept of modesty.
Small demonic wings adorned her head and back, along with other smaller wings that formed part of her distinctive outfit.
Her personality was equally intense.
She was confident, teasing, lazy, and extremely playful.
She loved provoking others.
The second was her younger sister.
Physically, she resembled the first, but with some clear differences.
Especially in the size of their busts.
Her hair was a vibrant shade of pink, and her behavior conveyed a far more innocent and curious energy.
She had a mischievous smile, bright eyes, and an extremely expressive personality.
She was curious, emotional, and often unpredictable.
While the older sister radiated a seductive and mature aura, the younger one felt like a chaotic mixture of innocence and mischief.
Despite the initial surprise…
Arthur decided to accept them, since he truly needed capable people.
And he gave them formal names.
Morrigan and Lilith.
[A/N: I really like Darkstalkers and, although I can't give them an important role, it's something I have wanted to do for a long time.]
After all, just like Felicia, they strongly reminded him of the characters from a certain fighting game.
Let's just say that after that…
Arthur had even fewer reasons to sleep at night.
Fortunately, on the second attempt, he finally managed to summon the daemon he actually wanted.
Although he was an extremely eccentric individual…
Arthur decided to accept him as a servant.
After all, he quickly proved to be quite reliable.
Arthur also gave him a name.
Diablo.
And delegated to him the responsibility of supervising Edmaris's work.
(End of Chapter)