The Hero’s Mentor is a Demon (King) Witch

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At that moment.

“In the name of the Moon Goddess! Burn bright!”

Whoosh.

Bearnes’ Holy Sword sliced through the darkness.

The dimensional door opened in the middle of the lake ignited fiercely at the sword’s strike, and the monsters trying to emerge from the door were annihilated by the Holy Sword.

“Haah….”

“Thank you for your hard work, Mercenary King.”

“Hmm.”

Bearnes checked the status of the special forces that had rushed to block the dimensional door.

Most of them were seriously injured from fighting the enemy on the way here, but fortunately, no one had died or was left behind to the point of being gravely wounded.

All safe.

Nobody was hurt, and nobody died.

And the dimensional door was successfully closed.

Certainly, this must be a tremendous achievement for humanity.

“Would you like a potion?”

“No, I’m fine. You should drink it. Thanks to the Holy Sword, I don’t need to eat or drink.”

“But….”

“Drink it. I’m okay.”

The special forces member who was offering the potion smiled awkwardly, but Bearnes frowned as he looked at the remnants beneath the closed dimensional door.

“…How long will Asydia continue to torment humanity?”

There were countless monster corpses floating in the lake.

The crow behemoths had turned to char and floated on the water, and Bearnes again aimed his sword at the lake.

“Burn, purifying flame. As the flame that annihilates the dry—”

“Bearnes!! It’s bad news!”

“…What?”

Bearnes released the flames collected over his Holy Sword.

The frantic magician pulled out a crystal ball connected to Normans.

“Normans is under attack! It seems to be the main force of the crow legion!”

“Ugh…!”

As expected.

The witch’s prediction was correct.

I wanted to trust the witch’s words as strangely as that would be, and it wasn’t just because I had a good impression of her.

“But the Magic Great Cannon…!!”

“The sandworm has burrowed into the ground and infiltrated the city! The crows are pouring out from there!!”

“What?”

I never saw this coming.

“No way!! Even if Normans is a frontier, they should have been able to detect the sandworm’s movements!”

“Th-that’s….”

The young magician pointed to the crystal ball with a pale face.

“It seems all the magic stones that sense underground movements have been destroyed…!!”

“Traitors!!”

Bearnes turned pale.

“The spies of Asydia betraying humanity infiltrated Normans! Damn, was it them who plotted to get the people to evacuate to the south? Ah, no. We don’t have time to waste here! To Normans—”

“That won’t be allowed. Tsk.”

With the cold voice of an old man, the surroundings were shrouded in a chilling shadow.

“This is…!!”

“‘Cloak of Darkness.’ With this, the blessing of the Moon Goddess cannot reach you.”

“Tch… a barrier!!”

“Yes. This is the deadly darkness barrier in which you will die without a sound. And I am the executioner’s guillotine that will end you here.”

Clank.

The old man raised his scythe.

“I, Purcas, will kill you. Flame Hero.”

“…Do you think you can win just because you don’t have the Moon Goddess’s blessing?”

“If we utilize every means possible. For instance….”

Whoosh!!

A piercing sound.

The young magician in front of Bearnes had bloodshot eyes, and a dagger was lodged in his side.

“Ugh, hack…!”

“Hehehe!!”

Some of the special forces members stabbed their comrades.

These eyes gleamed with a purple madness as they wielded their swords against one another, going wild.

“This bastard…!!”

“If you had drunk the potion, you might have been fine; what a pity.”

“How far have you reached your hands…!!”

“How far? Hahaha.”

The old man shrugged while pointing at the approaching special forces members.

The special forces clutched their shoulders and flapped their arms dramatically, and in an instant, they shed their human skins.

They were.

Undead.

“You guys…!!”

“We had already deeply rooted ourselves in the human world. You have no idea how hard it was to conceal the energy of the undead beneath this skin.”

“You cowardly…!”

“Cowardly? Hahaha! What do you mean by cowardly! Whether it’s cowardly or not, in the end, the victor is the one who wins!”

Clank.

“I, Purcas! Will prove to the old, bone-ridden osteoporosis gramps that I am the new power to lead the reborn Demon King’s Army!”

“With that appearance, you dare to call yourself old…!”

“Hah, you said something you shouldn’t have…!”

Purcas swung his scythe, a blue light emanating from his eyes.

“I am forty years old!!”

Kaa—aaaang!!

“Those who are sane, gather around me! After subduing the insane allies, we will eliminate those undead!”

“Let the confused ones be! Remove the Hero of the Holy Sword first!”

Under the cloak of darkness.

The black scythe and the red Holy Sword began to cross.

*

“The tempo is faster than I expected.”

Maybe because they were black crows, the attacking speed was nothing to sneeze at.

Distracting the giant behemoth.

Letting the sandworm infiltrate underground to pour crows out.

If we think about what the hidden tactic could be….

Intentionally leaving the dimensional door open to attract the biggest variable, the Flame Hero.

Disguising as humans or using clones and spies to disable the Magic Great Cannon.

Or destroying the crystal balls that detect magical energy around the city.

Assassinating or kidnapping key figures like Francis, the division leader.

‘Impressive, huh?’

Such meticulous movement clearly indicates that this is someone who has been observing or has experienced the military movements of the Demon King’s Army several times.

‘Is he at least a regional base officer?’

While he may not be at the level of a Demon King’s castle officer, he has enough strength to be entrusted with the defense of a count’s base in the kingdom.

‘Despite being the enemy, he’s admirable.’

Due to the anxious factor known as Zephar, I wouldn’t mind taking him in as a subordinate if it weren’t for the danger.

Of course, for now, he’s the enemy.

“Hey. Get a grip.”

I slapped the dazed Francis across the cheek to snap him back to reality.

“What are you doing being dazed here as the head of the Adventurer Guild? What about the others?”

“T-that is….”

“How well did you know him?”

“……We even slept together.”

“Oh.”

As expected.

The Demon King’s army knows how to charm a bald man better than anyone.

“How many years have you known each other?”

“Almost over ten years.”

“Hmmm, that gives me a rough picture.”

I grabbed Francis by the collar.

“The reason they attacked Normans isn’t just for any random cause; it’s because you are the captain of this Adventurer Guild branch. If you are neutralized, the adventurers will each fend for themselves, and the collective strength will be dispersed.”

“They targeted me…?”

“Exactly. The demon race sees you as someone they can trust – an idiot easy to betray. You’ve practically done everything except marrying them, haven’t you? The Demon King’s army took advantage of that.”

“T-that can’t be….”

Francis fell into despair.

Considering if I were human and discovered that the woman I ‘loved’ had been plotting to kill me for the past ten years, I’d probably feel a moment of depression too.

But such lamenting can wait until after the situation is resolved.

“What you need to do now is rally the adventurers to fight together. In the absence of a hero, you need to step up.”

“A hero….”

“Hey.”

Wham.

I swung my fist at Francis’ cheek.

I considered slapping him, but this felt more effective.

“Don’t always expect the hero to step in when things get tough. Are you saying you can’t do anything without a hero? Do you think everything will be solved just by relying on the hero?”

“Well….”

“Heroes are people, too. Sometimes, they may be tired and want to rest; sometimes, there may be those who are difficult to save. Just relying on the hero isn’t enough; someone in your position should be there to back him up so that he can step forward with confidence. Got it?”

“……Thank you, Witch.”

Francis nodded while touching his cheek.

“I feel a bit clearer headed after your admonition, Witch.”

“Now that you’re awake, hurry back to the guild and fix this. I’ll take care of the sandworms, and you….”

Ah, in that moment, I grew irritated and I wasn’t acting like ‘Sorceress of Crimson Lotus’ but rather my true self.

“…You go and help the others quickly.”

I left Francis and dashed to the next location.

I stood my staff horizontally in the air and rode it with Levitation Magic.

Swish!!

Flying rapidly through the air, I headed to the destination where they awaited.

As expected, they were already fully prepared and waiting for me.

“Knock knock. Are you ready?”

I knocked on the window and was greeted by the two men and women who had just woken up, still keeping their wits about them.

“Lucius. Rosmas. You both slept well, didn’t you?”

“…If we hadn’t wasted time waking up and changing clothes, we’d have been able to respond immediately.”

Lucius fidgeted with the ring and bit his lower lip.

Not even five minutes had passed since the enemy appeared, but it seemed he felt it was a waste to spend that time on waking and changing instead of acting swiftly.

“Don’t worry. Thanks to our advance preparation, no one has died yet.”

“Really?”

“Just as I anticipated, the enemy will likely be surprised to find fewer crows appearing than they had planned.”

I would send troops into the mouth of the sandworm and drop them right in the enemy’s midst.

“The sandworm should be surfacing now, but on its way up, its head will burst first and it will wind up buried without being able to open its mouth.”

That was a tactic I had mainly utilized from a long time ago, so I had set up magic circles at the main points where the sandworms would break through.

“Master, while we were sleeping, did you perhaps…?”

“I just scattered mana in various places. A little.”

“……Understood.”

Why do I feel like I have to watch my words around Lucius regarding using mana?

“So what should we do now?”

“We need to save the people.”

I pointed to the outside for Lucius and Rosmas.

“For an hour. Spend an hour saving as many people as you can. Just the two of you.”

“Master, are you going to do something alone again….”

“Don’t worry. I’ll be hiding in the safest place.”

I pointed to the sandworm whose head had burst outside the window.

“I’ll get inside that thing and farm. When else will I have a chance to gather mana like this?”

This opportunity.

I can’t let it slip by.

“If it gets dangerous, Lucius, I’ll call you with all my might, so come running, alright?”

“Understood, Master.”

“Oh, and.”

I reached for Lucius’ ring.

“If things get bad, just use it.”

“…Are you serious?”

“Yes. Even though it’s unlikely we’ll end up in danger….”

Aaaaargh!!

A scream echoed from outside. I pointed to the window.

“People are in danger; if we need to use it, then we should!”

“Master.”

Lucius placed his ring down and stroked his Holy Sword before placing it against his chest.

“If there’s danger, be sure to call my name. I’ll come running anytime.”

“First, save the people in front of you.”

“Master, I—”

“I’m telling you one more time. Save the people you can protect first.”

I held onto the wrist of Lucius’ arm pressed against his chest and lightly tapped his chest.

“Don’t have regrets like me.”