An abruptly unsettled morning.
From downstairs came the clatter of pots and pans crashing together, followed by a soprano shriek from Aura.
"Nanoda, I'm going to go hide first!!!"
Aura, who hadn't even enjoyed more than a few comfortable days since coming back, slammed the door and fled, leaving behind a kitchen in utter disarray.
Jane, who had just come down to see what was for breakfast, cocked her head, seemingly unable to fathom why the head chef had vanished.
Linie seized the opportunity and dashed into the kitchen.
Upstairs, Yuna's hands paused, her voice tinged with worry. "Lady Nanoda, that Mana is…"
"It's no wonder Aura ran off. Hurry and finish combing my hair, and then we'll go."
Calm and composed, Nanoda slowly opened her drowsy eyes. She had long foreseen this day.
Every so often Himmel would make his northern patrol, his route differing somewhat each time, but sooner or later he was bound to return to Gaderia once again.
Within the Demon Special Zone—
The members of the Demon Race who had taken no rest through the night and were still toiling away all halted their movements; instinctively, they feared something.
"There's no need to worry, we have the 'King' with us."
On the surface Lugner spoke calmly, soothing the assembled demons, but in truth his own heart was somewhat in a panic.
While helping Aaron handle affairs, he had come to deeply understand just how terrifying the Hero's strength was.
Never mind the Southern Lands—of all the demon incidents great and small across the Northern Plateau, more than half had been resolved by Himmel stepping in during his northern patrols. Among them were no shortage of the finest survivors left from the war, and they too had all been swept aside outright by the Hero Himmel.
This was the first time he had encountered that legendary human. Even without meeting him face to face, the Mana radiating from far away alone was enough to set his heart pounding.
Within the laboratory—
Qual, who had been buried in his research, suddenly lifted his head and broke into a grin. "Hehehe, that human who was still wet behind the ears back then has reached such strength by now?"
He recalled that back then, those four fellows who called themselves the Hero's Party had been beaten into scattering in all directions by his 'Killing Magic.' It was only by relying on the sacrifices of hundreds, even thousands, that they had managed to seal him away with their despicable sealing magic.
"Shall this old one go and run a little experiment?" Qual gazed at the new invention in his hands, then in the end shook his head. "Better to watch how the 'King' deals with it."
Among the morning-drilling "Knights"—
"What are you doing?" Zari asked, baffled.
Before him, Hend was sniffing hard, like a dog in heat, glancing all about.
"Uncle, you're not sick, are you?"
The little girl in charge of pouring the wine also leaned in to take a look.
"I think I smell it—the aura of an absolute powerhouse!"
"You must've caught some serious illness."
Zari paid no more heed to this aged madman and went on practicing that powerful sword strike of his.
"..." Vincent kept his silence. He himself wasn't quite certain either—a new anomaly that had appeared within his Mana Perception.
Up on the city gate and walls—
The former demon general, Lightning Schlacht, flung out the grappling hook that was always coiled at his waist as he ran. His muscular arms hauled on the rope hooked to the wall, and he swiftly scaled the rampart. "Oi, everyone move aside!"
"General Schlacht! That over there…"
The horned demon shoved past the guards in front and looked downward.
Schlacht had never encountered the Hero Himmel—perhaps that was precisely why someone as stubborn in battle and as hopeless with directions as he was had managed to muddle his way through the war alive.
It was a great mountain, one that could not be crossed no matter what, towering into the clouds, its peak too deep to see. Though he was the one looking down, he felt the pressure of one gazing up.
After that instant of illusion, before his eyes—
It was clearly just an aged human.
"Oh my, humans and the Demon Race together—she really did make it happen, it seems. Looks like I didn't come here in vain this time."
"What is your purpose?"
Coming back to his senses, Schlacht asked, his expression blank.
"I've come to find that strange demon, Nanoda."
The person below the wall showed a gentle, wrinkle-creased smile.
"You know her?"
"She and I once made a promise. To be honest, at first I didn't think there was much hope, but now it seems that promise really is slowly coming true."
"I'm asking you your purpose."
"Could you let me in to see her? I have some things I'd like to say to her. Don't worry—I bear no ill will whatsoever toward all of you who are on good terms with humans."
She looks to be a very stubborn demon. To get such a stubborn, set-in-her-ways demon to coexist with humans—what method on earth did he use?
"Will you let me in?"
Faced with the question from the other side, Schlacht fell silent, and after mulling it over for a while, he finally made his decision.
"Very well. That one should be waiting for you at the lord's manor as well."
This wasn't a matter that someone of his level could handle. As for so-called goodwill and ill will, Schlacht didn't really understand them either, so he simply treated the other as a guest who had come to find Nanoda and let him through.
Walking along the streets, there was now no one who could recognize the Hero.
After all, though the Hero's name was renowned far and wide, his face and figure were known to all only within the kingdoms of the Southern Lands.
Setting aside those bronze statues vainly erected along the road to subjugate the Demon King, there were many places the Hero had yet to set foot.
In the twenty years since the Demon King's death, those places the Hero had never passed through knew only that there was once a hero who had slain the Demon King long ago.
This was also why the statues built for the Hero Himmel in many places each looked different.
His sparse, pale blue hair was now streaked with a few strands of mottled white, and a beard he'd grown at some unknown point was now flourishing with a vigor utterly opposite to his hair. The one thing unchanged—that beauty mark at the corner of his eye—was now surrounded by the wrinkles and creases that only the elderly bear.
The ever-unchanging white cape, paired with a slightly loose blue coat, while his frame seemed to have shrunk a size, making the Hero's sword hanging at his waist look a touch larger than before.
Familiar and yet unfamiliar.
Hands clasped behind his back, Himmel walked along the broad street, passing through the flow of people, strolling unobtrusively toward the lord's manor. At this moment he seemed nothing more than an ordinary, middle-aged-leaning-old traveler.
His lower back had been aching lately. He knew he was no longer in the prime of his youth, yet even so he could still go and do whatever lay within his power to help others.
Seeing once more that bronze statue built for the demons,
he suddenly felt a flicker of anticipation. Over all these years, how would that demon—the one who back then had shouted about "turning the impossible into the possible"—have changed?
He hoped that this time, he would not have to draw his sword against her again.
The gates of the lord's manor had long stood open.
There were no guards out front—only a pair of middle-aged men, one tall and lean, the other short and stout, waiting there.
"Lord Hero Himmel, we've come to escort you to the audience hall to meet the lord."
Abel and Arue spoke together. The two, who almost never made an appearance ordinarily, had shown themselves as well. This was a meeting that concerned the fate of Gaderia, and they too wished to do their part for their elder brother.
"Haha, then I'll be in your care."
____
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🔥 New history: Zenless Zone Zero: Rewriting Fate in New Eridu — read it on The_Mikudayo
📚 Forty chapters of advanced reading at Walnut-chan, and it goes straight into keeping the translations on schedule
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