Hikigaya's God Slayer Story

Chapter 2: Cooking Based on Face Value

Karen was a very good driver, and of course, the car itself was excellent too—so naturally, Hikigaya fell asleep.

By the time she woke him up, he found himself in front of a hotel.

It was a building with a quaint, antique style.

When it comes to preserving historical architecture, Europeans are renowned, and this hotel was likely converted from some old manor.

"Hachiman-sama, Miss Liliana and the other esteemed guests are inside," Karen said, standing by the car door and introducing the place to Hikigaya.

"Hmm, looks fancy. Must be a renovation?"

"You have a sharp eye. This hotel was indeed converted from a former residence of a princess from the House of Savoy."

The two of them chatted idly as they walked inside. As soon as they entered, several people approached them.

They were wearing suits, even black gloves—like some group of mafia members.

Flashy and intense. If you're going to be stupid, might as well do it all the way.

"Miss Karen," the man in the lead eyed Hikigaya warily, while the others subtly spread out, surrounding the two. "Who is this young man?"

"Please don't be disrespectful, Mr. Rossi. The young man before you is the great king we magi revere," Karen said solemnly—an expression Hikigaya had never seen on her before.

Though he hadn't met her many times, she had always given him a sly, scheming impression.

He had to admit, her serious face took some getting used to.

But while he might not be used to it, as long as someone was, it was fine.

"A king!? Please forgive our rudeness! We had no idea you would come in person..."

Just moments ago, the black-clad men had been exuding "I'm the boss" energy.

Now, they were all pale with shock.

One guy who had been about to circle behind Hikigaya almost tripped over himself.

Their speed in turning into total cowards was eye-opening for Hikigaya. Compared to them, Japanese onmyōji were paragons of backbone.

The group of Italian magi quickly and uniformly straightened up, then dropped to one knee and bowed to Hikigaya in perfect synchrony—like a group of well-trained schoolboys...

Fortunately, the hotel had apparently been completely taken over by the Seven Sisters' magi, even the staff replaced.

There were no ordinary civilians present. Otherwise, they'd be getting a lot of "crazy people" looks.

"No need to be so formal, old man." Hikigaya reached out to help up the top coward—who was not only shrinking away but trembling as well.

Hikigaya seriously wondered if the guy would turn into Whitebeard on the spot and shout, "I am the Pirate King!"

Old man Voban really did a number on European magi. What a mess he left behind.

"I came at Lily's invitation. You guys don't need to bother with me. Just do your own thing." Hikigaya offered a casual reassurance and then shot a glare at Karen.

As expected, she was thoroughly enjoying the spectacle.

That confirmed these men definitely weren't Liliana's direct subordinates.

"Right this way, Lord Hachiman." The sly Slavic girl stuck out her tongue, then stepped forward and gently nudged aside the hunched-over magi, creating a path.

The men silently and obediently parted without a word of complaint.

Hikigaya had no interest in the internal politics of the Italian magi, so he followed the cheerfully skipping Karen without saying more.

After a while, they ascended the stairs, walked down a hallway, and midway through, Karen opened a door to the side.

It led into a spacious room.

The curtains were drawn shut, blocking both prying eyes and sunlight from outside. But even in the dim light, it posed no problem for magi—or for Hikigaya, for that matter.

Despite the room's size, it had very little furniture and felt quite empty.

At the center stood an oversized conference table with seven chairs, but only five were occupied.

Two were elderly men, one was a young man, and the last two were girls—both of whom Hikigaya knew.

The first was Liliana Kranjčar, with her beautiful silver hair, clad in a black combat outfit accented with a blue-striped cape, and white socks under a short skirt.

Her fairy-like face remained adorable even when trying to look imposing.

The other girl was equally stunning, wearing the same crimson dress from their first meeting. Her golden hair sparkled as always, adorned with a black rose hair ornament. Her confident expression radiated both pride and vitality.

It was, of course, Erica Blandelli—the one Hikigaya mentally categorized as a teasing troublemaker.

He hadn't expected her to be here.

Which meant Liliana and Erica were representing Bronze Black Cross and Copper Black Cross respectively, while the other seats were held by delegates from different associations.

Wait—weren't there supposed to be seven sisters? Where were the other two? Probably off drinking Gatorade or something.

As Hikigaya was musing nonsense, the five people in the room all got a good look at him.

"Hachiman?"

"My King?"

The two girls spoke first, voices full of surprise.

Their reactions spread instantly to the other three.

"King?" the two old men echoed, exchanging shocked looks.

"The Eastern Sun King who split the land and turned Cagliari into an island?"

Compared to them, the young man was slightly better. Though visibly shocked and rising to his feet, he said nothing and merely wore a stiff expression.

It was obvious: the older they were, the bigger the psychological scar they carried about godslayers.

All thanks to that geezer Voban.

However...

"Hey old man, I didn't shatter Cagliari, okay?" Hikigaya retorted.

Honestly, that was Poisedon's fault—what did it have to do with him?

Still, at least no one called him the "Ten-Sun King." That name was just way too lame to accept.

"I misspoke. Please forgive me," the old man promptly apologized. "In truth, all of Italy is deeply grateful for how you saved Cagliari that day. But your divine powers are so overwhelming that even the world's strongest knights and most elite magi find it difficult to distinguish between you and the gods. I hope you can understand our limitations."

The old guy had some lungs—he said all that in one breath without even gasping.

Just goes to show how important it is to take care of your body when you're young.

To Hikigaya, the man looked built like an ox. Probably could run a half-marathon at a discount.

"No worries. You guys call us Demon Kings anyway. I get it." Hikigaya walked into the room and gave a cheerful wave to Liliana, whose mouth had formed a perfect "O." "Lily, long time no see. Missed me?"

Her face instantly flushed red, and she began to stammer, unable to form a coherent response. It was hilarious.

"Okay, I'll stop teasing. I'm here to help," Hikigaya said as he pulled out the chair to Liliana's left and sat down. Seeing that everyone else was still standing, he added, "Come on, sit down. You're making this awkward."

"Please be seated, all of you. Hachiman is not like the Marquis," Liliana chimed in. Her cheeks were still red, but her voice had steadied.

"Thank you, my King."

The two old men and the young one exchanged glances, then adjusted their seats and sat across from Hikigaya.

Liliana had already sat down earlier.

Erica looked around at everyone's positions, then came over and sat to Hikigaya's right, so the two girls flanked him on either side.

And just like that, Hikigaya—who had originally been sitting off to the side—found himself dead center.

This little scene alone was enough to show how differently European magi treated godslayers compared to Japanese onmyōji.

As far as Hikigaya was concerned, this was the third time Voban was taking the blame...

Even though they were in Italy and technically this should've been the idiot swordsman's job, Hikigaya just couldn't bring himself to pin the blame on that guy.

Because even when assigning blame, looks still mattered.

And with that sword guy's derp-faced, divine-tier stupidity, no lid would stay on his pot. It just kept slipping off!

Chapter 3: A Request for Help in Progress

The dimly lit room, with six people sitting around a table, had been in this scene for quite a while now.

Hikigaya wasn't surprised by this. He knew very well that European magicians were extremely cautious when it came to godslayers.

But what bothered him was that despite having sat here for so long, no one had spoken yet—especially the three people across from him, whose faces were full of apprehension.

He was so close to crossing his legs and starting to shake them from sheer boredom.

Come on, say something! This awkward silence was making it worse.

Surprisingly, the first person to notice his impatience wasn't Liliana.

"Everyone, it's about time we reached a conclusion, don't you think?" The one to speak up was Erica Blandelli.

She stood up. "Didn't you all gather here to ask for the King's help? Yet now you fall into silence—isn't that far too disrespectful?"

Hikigaya turned around, slightly surprised, only to see Erica giving him a soft smile that said, "I get what you're thinking. Leave it to me."

What the hell? When did he ever say anything about disrespect?

Besides, wasn't this girl the one who tried to kill him when they first met?

Compared to her, these people were model citizens—they'd totally earn gold stars in school!

Still, even though he was thinking this, Hikigaya didn't interject.

The truth was, he really was getting impatient.

"Blandelli girl, there's no need to be so aggressive." One of the elders finally spoke. It was an old woman who trembled slightly as she first bowed respectfully toward Hikigaya, then turned her sharp eyes to Erica. "If we act recklessly and cause a war between Kings, we would be guilty beyond redemption."

As she said this, she repeatedly glanced toward Hikigaya.

He started getting a headache.

Could you not talk in such a roundabout way, grandma?

"Could you please just tell me what this is about?" he said. "It's exhausting listening to you all talk in half-sentences."

"Your Majesty, please allow me to explain…" The old woman stood up and was about to speak when a voice to Hikigaya's right interrupted her.

"It's the genuine Gorgon Stone!" The speaker was Liliana, who had been silent until now. With a serious expression, she explained earnestly, "And what the esteemed elders are worried about is that, even if one of the Kings agrees to help us, it may incur the wrath of the other Kings."

Hikigaya understood instantly.

Man, Europe really had it rough.

While it was true that there were many godslayers in the current era, they were far from evenly distributed.

Putting aside that one elusive figure who was practically a legend, among the six godslayers who actually had fixed residences, three were based in Europe.

Everyone knew that godslayers didn't really care about national borders—at best, they might divide things by continents. But the fact remained that Europe had one godslayer in the east, one in the center, and one in the west. This was basically a death sentence. That Pandora chick definitely had a grudge against Europeans.

Still, even though Hikigaya understood right away, he asked anyway—because it was important to be clear.

"So what exactly is it that concerns you? Why do you think this would cause conflict among the godslayers?"

The two elders and the young man exchanged glances again. This time, the young man was the one to speak.

"To be honest, our first choice was to ask our own lord for help," he said. "But he is not currently in the country, which means we can't rely on him for now. That's why we thought of turning to you or another King. However, doing so might incur our lord's wrath.

After all, it would be a grave act of disrespect in his eyes."

"Really? I don't know the guy that well, but it doesn't seem like he'd get mad over something like this." Hikigaya let out a dry laugh and waved his hand. "Anyway, go on. I'm guessing that's not your only concern."

"Yes, as you say," the young man nodded. "After our discussions, we came to the conclusion that Lord Salvatore likely wouldn't take offense. To him, we're little more than bees buzzing around a hive. However, the same can't be said for Marquis Voban."

The young man wore a bitter smile now.

"The Gorgon Stone is a symbol of the ancient Mother Earth. For Marquis Voban, it would represent a chance to confront one of the oldest goddesses.

And he definitely knows about this. Even if we survive the wrath of the unruly deity we're trying to escape, we may then have to face the fury of the King of the Balkans. That's something we simply can't handle."

"Oh…" Hikigaya got it immediately.

So in other words, this guy was saying that Doni didn't understand how to protect his own turf…

Which was actually true. No one could honestly say otherwise.

As for the old man Voban, from what Hikigaya knew of him, it really was quite possible that he'd get angry.

He might even take it out on the Italian magicians.

Destroying a city or two wouldn't even be the worst-case scenario.

Voban's powers were all about breaking, tearing, and annihilating.

Even if he wanted to go easy, he probably couldn't. Their duel had proven as much.

To be fair, Hikigaya himself wasn't much better. In terms of sheer destructive effect, his own powers weren't exactly gentle.

The only real difference was that he could at least try to compensate afterward.

And he wouldn't willingly start a battle in a heavily populated area.

"Then why did you think of asking me for help?" Hikigaya continued. "If it's about character, I thought the godslayer in America was pretty compassionate about protecting the people."

Hikigaya didn't know every godslayer personally, but he was familiar with their titles.

As for photos—forget about it. Apparently, images of godslayers were strictly forbidden from being circulated. He hadn't found a single one, other than his own.

"Because your relationship with Marquis Voban appears to be quite close.

So we thought… perhaps if it's you, the Marquis wouldn't mind so much. Even if we can't be sure." The young man was clearly nervous now. "May I ask… are you truly on close terms with the Marquis?"

Hikigaya looked at the young man's hopeful eyes and said nothing for a long moment. He waited until the guy was visibly sweating from anxiety before flashing a toothy grin.

"'Close' might be a stretch, but we're definitely on better terms than you are with your own lord."

As soon as he said it, the young man and the two elders lit up with joy. The young man's voice was trembling with excitement.

"If that's the case… then we can only turn to you. Will you help us?"

"Don't rush it," Hikigaya said, waving a hand.

He gave a not-quite-smiling look to the three people, who had all gone tense again, and drawled:

"Let's start by talking about this Gorgon Stone of yours."