Chapter Twenty: Susumu, Audience, Realise

Gervais was sat down on his throne, waiting for everyone to get into the throne room before he began the meeting. He had already addressed the nobles earlier in the day, informing them of a temporary lull in the war, although he was unsure of how long it would last.

They had accepted it, with only a few complaining about how their trade routes to the Empire that occupied the northern part of the continent had been cut off because of the war. Gervais had forbidden trade with them since the start of the war, knowing that his kingdom needed the supplies that his kingdom had, and there was no real benefit to trading with them during the war, only the nobles got benefits, that being more gold in their already ginormous vaults.

Of course that didn't stop them from trying to trade, but most of their carriages and items for trade had either been destroyed by the demons, or had been taken by the demons who were greedy. And Gervais tried not to think of the fate of the people transporting the goods for the nobles, the men would be dead almost immediatly, with the possibility of an unlucky few being tortured. And the women… Well, it was best not to think about that if you wanted a restful sleep.

Gervais was also suspicious of a few nobles, although he didn't know who, he knew that some noble families had made deals with demons. He didn't know what the trade involved, but he imagined the demons asked for information about the kingdom, just like he had Zalga reporting information to him from the Demon Lord Zerads castle before he was exposed he knew that Zerad was getting his information from the noble houses. He had some of his most trusted people investigating a few families that had changed recently, whether that be a new family head, increased trade to an unknown party or an increased strength be that military strength or personal strength.

The door at the side of the room, that the king and other royal members used to enter the throne room, opened and in popped a cheerful Susumu. She had been there at his side during the earlier meeting,but left due to boredom.

She might be the leader of the Cat Demi-Humans but she wasn't a king like him. Cat Demi-Humans lived as a tribe, with a few main tribes but no direct royal line as each Cat Demi-Human leader came to the end of their life they got a vision of possible future leaders and what they would do and they could choose from what the vision had shown them. Of course that didnt mean they had to choose from one of the people in the vision, but it was usually what happened.

The Cat Demi-Humans didn't have that big of a territory, with only a big city sized territory inside his kingdom, which he had gifted to them as a sign of peace. With his grandefather enfocring slavery, his father abloshing it, and him being the one to gift all the races his kingdom had once inslaved as an apology gift and as a sign of them being equal with him.

Susumu walked over beside Gervais with a playful smile on her face and a pep in her step. "You look tired, nya~. You should go to one of them hot springs, they're really popular recently, maybe that will help you, nya~." she said teasingly, trying not to laugh at the look on Gervais's face.

He had gone to a hotspring once, with his whole family. But the heat of the water along with his much needed sleep, he had almost passed out in the water, with his son noticing at the last minute before he submerged. Safe to say that he didn't have any plans of going to a hotspring anytime soon. And during one of the times Susumu, Faustina, his daughter and Yukiko, his wife, had got together for a night between them, Yukiko had told Susumu what had happened at the hotspring, she was worried at first since she was the one that had recommended it to him, but after reassurance he was fine Susumu took it and would mention it sporadically to tease him.

Gervais had taken it in stride, it was embarrassing and wasn't his finest moment, but he had got over it and laughed thinking back on it.

"Ha, ha, ha." Gervais said sarcastically, showing how funny he thought her joke was by 'laughing' at it.

Susumu seemed to find that hilarious, doubling over with laughter as she grabbed her stomach in pain from laughing so much. Her brown tail wagging behind as she continued to laugh.

Gervais just snorted with suppressed laughter as he looked at her as she was about to fall over. He didn't know why she found it funny, she seemed to see the good in everything and laughed at everything she could, and her laughter was contagious like a disease and everyone who heard it would have the urge to laugh alongside her.

She eventually regained her composure, almost breaking out in laughter again as she looked at the few guards that were in the room, almost laughing as well. She could never get them to laugh, they were stoic and cold like a statue, but judging by the fact that one of their spears that they held was shaking with a strong grip on it, she liked to feel that she was close to making them laugh.

"What are you still doing here, nya~?" Susumu asked curiously. "I thought you only had to deal with the nobles and then you would be done for the day, nya~." Susumu said, her verbal tick still there. She had tried to stop it when she was younger, as only kittens have the 'nya tick' as it's called, but she couldn't so she decided to embrace it, and now it was just something she did all the time.

Gervais just sighed, his exhaustion getting to him. "Gazef wanted an audience, something about how the Hero was in battle." Seeing the worried look on Susumu's face, Gervais reassured her. "Don't worry, the Hero is still alive and in good health, it's just about her actions, at least that's what Gazef said."

Susumu just let out a hum of interest and curiosity as she leaned against Gervais's throne. "Then I'll stay as well and see what happens then, okay? Nya~."

Gervais nodded his head in agreement, not seeing a problem with that, and even if he did say 'no', she would just spy on them. She would get caught, of course, but she would hear all of it anyway. She was good at being stealthy, but when it came out getting away… not so much.

A few more minutes of waiting for Gazef and Nariko to arrive, and Gervais almost falling asleep as Susumu tried to get comfortable on the arm of the throne, which had put a few guards on edge only because of their training but they knew she was safe.

Thye did eventually arrive, Nariko and Gazef, along with the Hero's party, Subaru the human Ice Battle Mage, Rina Yelran the elven archer, Momoe the Cat Demi-Human Rogue and Riger the Tiger Demi-Human Bersker.

And when they finally did arrive, it obviously looked like something had happened between them. Nariko seemed to refuse to look in Gazef's direction, although that may be because Gazef had a scowl on his face, it was apparent no matter how much he tried to conceal it to look professional in front of the king.

Gervais sighed in his head, this just wasn't his day, was it?

Both of them were out of their armour, which was rare for Gazef as he was almost always wearing armour, even if it was just light armour to spar against trainees or if he was going on a simple mission where there would be no strong demons or enemies.

"Welcome back, Hero Nariko and Captain Gazef. I trust that the mission went well?" Gervais said to them, subtly asking them how the mission went. It was just a mode he slipped into whenever there was an audience. So even if he knew them personally outside of here and was friendly with them, he would just slip into his 'king' persona.

Nariko didn't speak, knowing that Gazef was better at giving reports than her. And even if she did give the report and she lied about what had happened between her and the Demons Hero, Gazef would call her out on her lie. And then some Truth Tellers would get involved. And Nariko didn't want to think about it anymore, as her imagination might make the issue a bigger deal then it was.

"Yes, King Gervais. The mission went smoothly, with only one major bump to slow our progress." Gazef said, and by the tone of his voice, he was wanting Gervais to ask about it. While Nariko gulped from the nervousness she was feeling.

Before Gervais could say anything, Susumu cut in. "Oh! What happened, nya~? It better be interesting, nya~."

"The Demon Hero made an appearance at the battle, this was the first battle against us that I'm aware of." Gazef informed them, his voice steady and not hesitating.

Susumu let out a surprised 'Nyan~!' and Gervais' eyes widened in shock, although he didn't let out any noises of surprise.

"I see." Gervais said, taking over from Susumu who was still reeling in shock. "And what was the result of the battle against them? How strong was this Hero? What happened to the Demon Hero after that?"

"This Hero was stronger than Nariko, and had an appearance that could only resemble a demon. I had to step in to save Nariko, although Nariko didn't seriously get hurt, I wasn't willing to risk the chance of her getting hurt if I didn't step in. As for what happened to the Hero after that…" Gazef looked at Nariko from the corner of his eye, and she was looking at him as well. He let out a sigh. "She managed to get away, the Sage teleported her somewhere. But I do believe it was the right decision, as it seemed like the Hero was building up to an explosion of mana."

Gervais let out a sigh of relief. It was disappointing that they couldn't capture or incapacitate that Hero. But he was glad that the Sage knew when to step in to avoid more damage than necessary.

"Why didn't you step in earlier, Gazef, Nyan~?" Susumu said suspiciously, her eyes narrowed as she stared at Gazef. "Did you want to risk Nariko getting hurt, Nyan~? Even though she's the only one here with the potential to kill Zerad, Nyan~?"

Gazef shook his head in denial at the accusation, but didn't call out that it was an accusation, knowing that it would get him in trouble. And besides, if it wasn't him being accused, he would be in support of Susumu. She didn't know him well enough, but she knew so little of him that it was her right to suspect him as a traitor. "Of course not. I didn't interfere because I wanted to see how Nariko compared to the other Hero, it was a good way to see in what direction I needed to take Nariko's training next."

Nariko looked at Gazef with a bit of surprise. Although I did make sense, he was teaching her or more like giving her advice during the fight, well his fight.

Susumu only hummed but her eyes were still narrowed as she looked at him.

Gervais ignored the interaction between the two, for now at least. "Well, what direction do you want to take Nariko's training in the future? She needs to get stronger if she wants to beat Zerad, and if she can't beat the Hero he has created…" Gervais trailed off, but the point stood. What would Gazef be training Nariko in next?

Gazef let out a breath as he spoke, his arms waving to the side in a 'what can you do' motion. "I've already taught her everything she needs to know. And more sparring or training won't do her any good, in fact it might make her problem bigger." Nariko had an idea of what that problem was, the fact that she had never fought against someone stronger than her, although after today she had. But Nariko assumed that Gazef didn't want her to fight against someone overwhelmingly stronger than her, but only by a marginal amount so that she could learn.

"But I have a solution to that." Gazef declared. "Let her join the Adventurers Guilds, but don't recommend her or anything, nobody knows what the Hero really looks like, so she can start from the bottom and work her way up, she'll rise in the ranks fast, and when she slows down but keeps on progressing, well know she's growing stronger and learning how to fight against a myriad of different opponents." Gazef proposed the idea to them.

To Nariko it seemed like a good idea. She knew that the guild had rankings for how strong someone was, and she knew that Gazef was somewhere at the top, so if she joined she could get an idea of what level of strength she was at, and how much more work she had to go, to get to a level above Gazef.

Gervais hummed in thought. "It's not a bad idea. Especially not telling the guild about it, they would put Nariko at the highest rank straight away and could possibly take missions about her strength and get hurt. And besides, I'm sure you don't want to deal with people stopping you every minute just to say a 'hi' and 'thank you', right?"

Nariko… if she was being honest, kind of did want that. Even if it was just for a day. It's not like she needed any thanks for what she was doing, she was doing it out of her own violation, but it would be nice one once in a while for someone to say, 'thank you for helping us'. But she didn't want to be stopped every minute, something she knew would happen if everyone knew who she was, so she was inclined to agree with the King. "I suppose you're right."

Gervais nodded his head before turning to look at Susumu. "What do you think of the idea?" Susumu had a more analytical mind than him, and he usually got a second opinion before doing something anyways.

"Yes, it is a good idea, Nyan~." Susumu agreed, although reluctantly. She didn't know Gazef well enough to know if he was scheming something and needed Nariko out of the castle for it. But if he wasn't, and he was truly loyal, then yes, it was a good idea.

The King nodded his head, before turning to look at Nariko. "Well, it's your life, and if you don't want to join the adventurers guild, you don't have to. So, will you join? Or no?" He asked.

Nariko knew her answer, but also knew that if she agreed then her party wouldn't be able to come along with her. They were recognisable as they didn't hide what they looked like. So if she agreed, they were being left behind.

They just nodded at her, not bothered at all by the idea that they wouldn't be able to see her openly for what could be months or maybe a year, possibly years. Nariko hoped it wouldn't be years.

But seeing that, Nariko was reminded of something. They weren't her friends, they might act like it, and maybe they considered her a friend. But the only reason they traveled with her into battle and followed her was because she was the Hero who would kill the Demon Lord and free their world. Not because she was Nariko Kamata, the school girl who wanted an ordinary life and wanted to go home as soon as possible.

She nodded her head back to them, before turning around to the King. "Yes, I will go and join the adventurers guild." She declared.

Gervais nodded his head happily. One step closer to freeing his world from the would-be tyrant Demon Lord of Magic, Zerad.