Family heirloom, then turned into a demon girl

Chapter 302 Mission: 02-3 Possibility

"The omen of 'the demon king's attack' appeared at the Fire Dragon Birth Festival."

Looking at the short sentence written on the paper, Izayoi frowned.

After finally ending the reminiscing and arguing and returning to the main topic, Shiroyasha handed over this note, saying, "This is why I asked you to participate." Izayoi didn't react much after reading it, but fear and astonishment appeared on the faces of Kuro Usagi and Jin.

"Demon King?!" Both of them let out screams.

"I have to remind you, I was originally going to explain, but you guys interrupted me. So I won't apologize, okay?"

Hearing Shiroyasha's words, Izayoi shrugged nonchalantly. For him, facing the Demon King wasn't a particularly daunting prospect. However, accepting the commission wasn't really his decision; the only one who could make the final decision on such matters was the leader, Ren Russell.

So, it was Ren who accepted the commission without asking about the content in advance. He wasn't usually so impulsive, but he probably heard that the person who initiated the commission was his old friend Sandra, so he subconsciously didn't think that the other party would ask for something troublesome, so he made a mistake.

This was undoubtedly a mistake. Even though [Nameless] had already decided on the course of action of "accepting commissions related to the Demon King," neither Jin nor [Nameless] had yet made the necessary preparations. Kuro Usagi's role as referee prevented her from participating in most games, and Asuka and Yō were both relatively weak. Therefore, the only one among them who could truly confront the Demon King was Izayoi Sakamaki.

It can be said that it is totally insufficient.

"It's said to be an omen—but that alone doesn't tell us anything. Don't you have any more information?"

"Let's go through this piece by piece. First, let's talk about this letter. It was obtained by a Thousand Eyes cadre through foresight."

Shiroyasha said so. She told the others that the one who issued the warning in the form of a prophecy was a being that could almost be called "omniscient." Therefore, theoretically, not only was there a demon king coming, but also the demon king's name, identity, summoning method, and reason for his appearance were all known.

"Are you kidding me?" Mandela blushed. "You have so much intelligence, yet they only say there's a demon king attacking. Could this be a scam from your East District..."

It's no wonder he was so excited. The one who summoned the Demon King was none other than the festival's organizer, [Salamanda] himself. This kind of news must not be spread. However, Sandra, who had already learned some information from Shiroyasha and knew very little about the matter, quickly tried to stop him from getting angry.

"...You know who it is, but you can't tell me?"

Izayoi keenly grasped Shiroyasha's hidden line and received a vague affirmation. In fact, Shiroyasha didn't know that it was Salamander himself who summoned the Demon King, but the fact that "the identity of the criminal cannot be disclosed" alone allowed him to guess a lot.

Furthermore, the other rulers of the North District refused to hold a festival together with [Salamanda], so it was Shiroyasha of the East District who had to fill in. Shiroyasha ultimately came to the following conclusion:

"A certain class ruler who should be the enemy of the Demon King has instead joined the Demon King's side... That's the only way to think about it."

However, it wasn't Shiroyasha who said this, but Jin, who was clearly upset. Shiroyasha sighed in response, affirming that this matter had become so dire that if word got out, it would cause the current hierarchy to lose trust even among the lower classes, so it had to be handled in secret.

"Understood. [Wuming] will provide assistance."

According to Ren, this was actually a training exercise for the Nameless. Since the strongest class ruler, Shiroyasha, was present, and the rules had already sealed the other organizers' privileges, even if the Demon King truly appeared, he wouldn't cause any significant trouble. Shiroyasha shared this sentiment, and her gathering of the Nameless people for this festival was also part of her training. A month ago, she had said that, leaving aside Izayoi, even if Asuka and Yō were merely drawn into the Demon King's game, they wouldn't survive without directly confronting him. Now that both had grown considerably, it was time to see what a true confrontation with the Demon King would be like, under their protection.

As for Izayoi, his eagerness to try proved he wasn't afraid at all. He even joked, "It wouldn't be a problem if someone else accidentally killed the Demon King." Shiroyasha could only smile wryly and offer his approval: "As long as you're willing to follow orders, there's no harm in targeting the Demon King if the opportunity arises."

"By the way, where are Asuka and Yao?"

At the festival venue, after Kuon Asuka and the little elf left the cave where the handicrafts were exhibited, Weser, with a frown on his face, returned to his "underground workshop" - the place where he made the bagpipe doll "Shutterome".

"What's wrong?" Nero raised his eyebrows, a little surprised that he had also taken action outside.

Pest sat on top of a Shustrom, seeming a little silent, but also raised his head and paid attention to the conversation here.

"I see a bunch of unlucky guys." Weser seemed a little annoyed and pushed his hair back angrily. "And there's also a weird thing."

"Strange thing?" Nero's eyes flickered, and a red light flashed in his eyes as he stared at Weser.

Then she confirmed her suspicions: "You're jealous. Right?"

"envy?"

This made Weser startled, but after thinking carefully for a moment, he sighed helplessly and said, "Maybe it's true."

Nero's reasoning was simple: Weser possessed an aura of original sin she was unfamiliar with. She hadn't yet obtained the three original sin stones, and gluttony and greed didn't seem to align with Weser's current behavior, so it could only be jealousy.

"Why?" Pest asked briefly.

After Nero pointed out his feelings, Weser did not hesitate to answer, but said directly: "I met a 'fake'."

He described the reason for his bad mood this way: "It's clear that we [Hamel] are the authentic descendants of the fairy tale 'The Pied Piper', but I saw a group of imposters calling themselves 'Rat Catchers'."

The Pied Piper in the fairy tale "The Pied Piper" has two nicknames: "The Mouse Catcher" and "The Pied Piper of Hamel." Both names refer to the same fairy tale.

But the same story can have completely different interpretations, just like Weser represents natural disasters, Peste represents plague, and the spirits obtained by Nero represent man-made disasters.

The community of [Rat Catchers] also represents a possible story.

A small possibility that made Weser jealous.

(End of this chapter)