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“Thank you for all your assistance, Lua Cheia. Your assistance was greatly helpful to exterminate the undead that attempted to attack Floria.”

When everything settled down, Crim and the rest were summoned to the palace again, as the queen wanted to thank them personally.

But they had their own reasons to be there, and they were more than happy to help, so they did not feel there was a reason to be thanked like that.

And more importantly…they mainly went to the palace hoping they would find the answer to something that had been bothering them.

“Moving on, did the devil we mentioned before, Bifrons, show up anywhere…?”
“Sadly no… I wasn’t able to find anyone like that anywhere in the forest. He’s probably long gone by now.”

The queen seemed disappointed that she could not be of more help.

She was able to know anything that happened in the forest, so she was probably right, and the devil was no longer there.

He was probably going to show up and cause trouble somewhere else in the future…but the good news was that no other enemies would get in their way again, and they could focus their full attention on the main issues plaguing this land.

“Moving on…now we can…ah.”
“…Sister!”

The queen tried to push the meeting forward…but her voluptuous body seemed to bend down suddenly, which her brother Sven and everyone else instantly noticed.

Sven rushed to her side to support her, forcing her to sit down despite her claims that she was alright.

“Your Majesty…please, try to rest properly!”
“I think you should rest too, sister. You’ll only make our people worry if you push yourself too much and collapse now.”

With both Lycoris and Sven telling her that, the queen blinked a few times surprised…and then her face softened.

“…You’re right. I’ll do as you suggest and take a break. Thank you, Sven, and the cute mechanical girl too.”

Saying that, she reclined on her throne and closed her eyes. She had fallen asleep almost as soon as she allowed herself to relax, showing just how far she had pushed herself.

Once they saw that…everyone except for Sven took their leave, marking the end of their meeting.

◇◇◇

“…The queen really was tired, huh.”
“Well, she did have a lot to do recently. Let’s do our best so that we don’t cause any more work for her.”

Frey and Freya were discussing how they saw the queen earlier, and everyone agreed with that.

All their urgent work had been taken care of as well, so Lua Cheia suddenly found themselves with free time and nothing specific to do.

“She said her name was Selena, right? I wonder how she’s doing now. Though Setsuna is still tracking her so I’m sure she’s fine.”
“She was put in house arrest with a guard to watch her I think? Should we go see her?”
“Well… I have the feeling that her brother’s sickness might be related to some quest, so it should be worth taking a look.”

Freya and Crim were on board with Frey’s suggestion, so they all decided to go visit Selena’s home, in a corner of the village.

“Still, I have to say… This is looking a bit too gloomy for a place called the Flowery City…”
“The whole village is on edge…”
“Everyone looks distraught too.”

First they saw the skies darken with bugs, and then their village was attacked by undead, so it was no surprise that no one was in a particularly good mood.

The group walked on, noticing the change in the village.

“…Hm?”
“Is that…a song..?”
“That voice…it sounds familiar, doesn’t it?”

First Crim, then Frey and Kasumi raised their heads.
A clear singing voice, like a refreshing spring breeze, reached them. That part of the village also looked far more cheerful than the rest.

As they got closer to it…they found a flowerbed next to the riverside where travelers from outside of the village had gathered, and many children formed a circle to watch them.

Crim and the rest also joined the children, almost like the song was luring them in…and then one of the travelers who was a distance away noticed Crim and the rest.

“…Ugh.”
“Is that… Suzaku!”

The swordsman scowled the instant he recognized Crim…and it turned out he was their fellow school club member, the Dragonblood Hero Suzaku.

“Then, the one singing over there is…”

They turned around to the crowd of children again, and the lone girl sitting in the middle happily singing for them. The adults passing by also stopped to listen to her song.

The singer…a pink haired girl, was playing a celtic harp that fit within her arms, her voice seemingly dispelling the gloomy atmosphere that had taken over the village.

“Phew… Oh? Crim, you also came here?”

Once the song was over, her audience showered her with applause as she finally noticed Crim and the rest standing there.
She beckoned them to come closer, and Crim spoke for everyone as she asked something.

“Kirisu Sakura…but not quite, right?”
“Mhm, you got it! I asked the devs for this avatar so I could play like a regular player. Eheh.”
“…So that wasn’t just a joke…”

She seemed rather proud of that fact, and Crim sighed in disbelief.

…While her hair was still the same color as Kirisu Sakura’s, her avatar’s appearance was not quite the same.

Put in simple terms, it was like taking the perfectly designed virtual idol, and making her appear more realistic. And her hair was tied into a ponytail.

Her clothes were also a rather plain traveler set… Which looked like the Troubadour Set, which was one of the outfit sets officially sold by the devs.

“Just remember that I’m Haru when playing incognito like this. Got it?”
“Yes, I understand.”

She introduced herself with a bright smile, and everyone nodded firmly.

After their meeting, they all sat down on the grass together to catch up a little.

“I see. So you’re sticking your noses in another mess, huh.”
“Shut up. It’s not like we enjoy having to deal with stuff like this all the time!”

Once they explained the situation the village was in, Suzaku did not seem too surprised about it, and Crim was not too pleased by that reaction.

“Well, I think that’s your good side though.”

Haru commented, looking away from the children for a moment, as they had gathered around her wanting to learn to play the harp as well.

“Well, at this point, that might just be the fate we’re subject to… But that aside, there’s something else that’s been bothering me…”

Suzaku and Haru were not just a two player party. They were usually accompanied by the NPC girl Da’at Criferd too…who was keeping her distance from them.

“Suzaku, tell me, why is it that Da’at is glaring at me like that?”
“Hmm…I wonder why?”

Crim did not remember doing anything specific for that girl to hate her.

And yet…that usually friendly and innocent NPC girl seemed to grow increasingly displeased with Crim the longer the conversation went on, and now seemed to outright be antagonizing Crim.

Crim did not understand what had caused that change, and when asked, Da’at replied while pouting constantly.

“I mean… You’re supposed to be a Demon Lordddd! So why are you always doing hero stuff? Suzaku is the hero! And Suzaku is at fault too! How are you not embarrassed when you keep losing like this?!”
“ “Ah, my bad.” ”

After hearing her like she was throwing a temper tantrum, Crim and Suzaku replied, their voices overlapping perfectly.

***

#Afterword:#

-Paid equipment

Items granted permanently to a player after purchase. Considered well worth the money and balanced in DUO.

They’re nowhere near the same level as the specialized equipment used by top players like Crim, but they’re really good starter items, and their appearance is quite elaborate too, so some players wear them purely as fashion sets.

Since they cost real money to obtain, there’s a certain stigma against them from some players too.

…But since Haru’s character is still largely underleveled when traveling around with Suzaku, she chose to buy them to lessen the burden on him.

And as an aside. She doesn’t get any allowance money from her parents at all, so she had to use her own hard earned money to buy them.