Dear friend

What does Zen want with me at this time? Ah, well it must be something related to the plan because he called me so formally in the throne room.

But still, can't I even get a good sleep? It's been two days since I'm lacking in proper sleep.

I was thinking all that while I walked towards the throne room.

Huh?

The door of the throne room was closed; it's usually open when Zen is in there?

Reaching the door, I pushed it open and went in. As I entered, I saw that the room was quite full. Zen, all the ministers, Mary, Alicia, Ard, and some unknown people in old clothing were there.

Everyone's eyes fixated on me as I entered and walked to the middle of the room. I stopped right a few meters away from Zen's throne.

"You called me?" I asked.

"Yes," said Zen as he nodded.

I kept looking at him, waiting for him to give me a reason for why he called me here.

"As you know, tomorrow you and Ard will be going on the mission to assassinate the demon lord," he said.

Yes, I know that, and we will be going on the day after tomorrow as now it's not the middle of the night and the current day is still in progress.

"Before you go I wanted to give you a gift, a weapon," he said as he gave a signal to a young man dressed in white clothing. The man removed the cloth from something he was holding in his hand and that thing came into sight.

It was a sword, no, a long silver coloured sword. So that's why he called me, huh.

"I'm assuming you know the dangers of going into the demon kingdom, it's not like I doubt your strength but even so I don't want to lose a dear friend due to my carelessness like I lost my father," he finished and the man holding the sword moved forward, towards me.

Ah so is blaming himself for his father's death!

And it's not like I'll die if I go barehanded there but...since he is giving me this with his feelings attached to it, I think I should take it. Refusing in front of all these people will not be a good idea.

I was also close to getting killed by Alicia because I didn't have a real solid sword so this will come in handy.

"Okay, I'll accept it," I said as I sat on my knees and raised both of my hands up.

I guess I'm doing it right. This is the way you do these sorts of things right?

The man with the sword came and stood just a step away from me.

I noticed Mary was staring at me so hard. Why?

Oh shit!

I broke her sword back then even when I said I'll give it back! I didn't even apologize after that! Okay, A quick change in plan, after coming back from the mission I'll give this sword to her.

They are giving me this in such a formal way so this must be a quite rare sword. Maybe I'll enchant it also.

The man in front of me bent a little and placed the sword in my hands.

"Ahhhhhh!" a slight scream escaped my mouth as I dropped the sword to the floor.

I stood up and looked at my hands.

They were burned! Like I washed them with acid!

I felt a huge amount of pain like someone inserted a thousand needles in my hand. Though the pain started fading away as my hand healed automatically.

"The hell is this sword! Zen, did by mistake you gave me a cursed sword?" I said.

"No Haruto, that sword is not cursed instead it's a holy sword which the previous hero used as a spare," he said.

Holy sword?

Then I noticed it, the smiles on the faces of those men dressed in white as well as on the faces of some of the ministers.

So that's how it is, huh.

I finally understood this setting.

Why everyone was here, who were these people in white clothing, why Mary was looking at me so hard, I understood it all.

"You are a demon, aren't you Haruto?" said Zen, instead of a question it sounded more like a statement.

All the guards raised their swords toward me, as well as Alicia and Ard also.

"You set me up didn't you Haruto? So we can't wage a war on the demon kingdom and you can destroy us from inside!"

"I always had my doubts, but even I never thought that you would be a demon!" said Alicia.

Those people in white clothes, they were the people from church…probably, no they are, what else they can be.

'Ah, how did I fail to notice that all this was going behind me?' I sighed inwardly.

No, I did notice.

Noticed how all the ministers agreed with my plan without any objection. Noticed how no one tried to object to a magic academy student taking the throne. Noticed now things were going too smoothly!

I just ignored it!

But aside from this, I always wanted to know how Hanako came to the conclusion that the hero is hiding in this specific country, not in the much bigger empire which would be a more suitable place for hiding.

The church or some people from the church feed her false information.

'My my, are we in the betrayal arc already?' I mocked myself.

<Notice: Your emotional pressure is increasing>

<Skill [Stabilized memory] switching from passive skill to active skill>

'I don't want to lose a dear friend' these words replayed in my mind.

'Lose a dear friend'

'Dear friend'

'Dear friend'

'Dear friend'

'Dear friend'

'Dear friend'

'Dear friend'

'Dear friend'

'Dear friend'

'Dear friend'

'Dear friend'

Again and again and again, those words Zen said replayed in my mind.

<Notice: Emotional pressure increasing rapidly>

<Force evolving skill [Stabilized memory]>

<Skill [Stabilized memory] evolved into Unique skill [Placid mind]>

How can you Zen! How can you easily believe in those people!

Does this mean you never trusted me in the first place?

That look in your eyes! You look like you're looking at a stranger instead of me!

Mary?

You also? Why are looking so scared? It's not like I'm a beast or something!

You people!

So it all comes down to begin a demon right!

Then

Would Carol have also looked at me like that if she knew I'm a demon?

Carol?

<Emotional instability reaching dangerous levels>

Since they all know now that I'm a demon…. Should I kill them?

It will be over in a few minutes! Yeah, I should do that! I should let them see what a real demon is!

<Switching skill [Placid mind] from passive skill to active skill>

I gritted my teeth and clenched my fist.

Calm down! Calm down!

I can't let anger take over at a time like this; it will only confirm their suspicion.

I bit my tongue to come back to my senses.

I took a long breath and calmed myself.

I need to take action carefully, but from the way this situation is, I don't think anything I say will affect them.

By the way, the skill Aki gave me evolved into a unique skill. Skills are something I didn't add to the game so I don't know much about them. Well, at least something good came out of this.

"You won't say anything in your defense?" asked Zen.

"Like you're gonna believe anything even if I do say," I replied.

"So you admit that you are a demon?"

"Yes I am a demon, so what? You have any problem with that?"

"That alone is a very big problem," said Zen as he leaned back on his throne.

The most efficient way will be to get out from here. Even if I somehow clean up this mess, my plan won't work the way I wanted it to.

"Alicia, this is an order, arrest him," Zen ordered Alicia.

Holding onto her sword tightly, she dashed towards me.

She swung her sword horizontally at utmost speed.

—Plank

Her sword crashed into something before reaching me and broke into two pieces.

It clashed with my barrier. Last time I was fighting her with a sword, fair and square because she uses a sword but right now I don't have time for that.

"Sorry but I don't have time for this," I said and landed a chop on Alicia's neck with my hand.

I had put some of my mana behind that strike so I knocked her unconscious and she fell to the floor.

I turned around to leave.

"Zen…that part about 'dear friend'…was that true or an act?" I asked coldly.

He didn't reply.

"[Dimensional Step]" I said and vanished from my spot, reappearing at the entrance of the throne room.

I didn't want to go with plan B but guess I can't avoid violence completely after all.

Blasting a hole in the ceiling, I jumped and went to the roof.

After that, I escaped the castle by spamming [Dimensional Step].