Chapter 7: Interlude 1 – This News Is Brought To You By…

Due to the Priscian royalty diverting their resource focus of the on the accomodations of the summoned heroes and the strength of their armies, they had neglected the goverment affairs of the kingdom itself, focusing on the Great War, The royal palace of the Priscian Kingdom left itself wide open, making spies of other countries, and even local organizations set their roots deeply within the royal palace.

The sudden death of Ursus the 'Prodigy Piercer' struck the continent of Hyurusia, shocking everyone who heard about it.

Although the news had not been released to the public, a few select individuals had been sent the news of the events that conspired that night.

---

The current location is the slums of the Kingdom of Francais...

It’s a plot of land that is always wrapped up by thickly humid air due to a large river that runs through the entire capital, criss crossing the area. Because the area floods each time the river swells, it’s an area that’s long been avoided by people.
In such a region, lies that small slum.
Farmers who lost their land. Criminals who were banished from the city. Refugees who escaped their homes for various reasons. The types of people living in that area were manyfold.
Most of the lowlives staying at this place made a living on being exploited on a daily basis, and the select few who were not being exploited were the ones who made a living doing the exploiting.
There were no such things as 'peacekeepers' or 'heroes' in this place.
Only chaos existed as the people who could not escape this cursed lifestyle went on with their daily lives.
And, as if making the chaotic spread of its residents apparent, even the townscape is a disarrayed jumble.
The miserable shacks, which were built by patching together any building materials that could be found on hand, have various shapes, sizes and colors, without any sense of cohesion. Complex and complicated paths weave their way in-between the many houses, just as if it were a labyrinth.
If you were not experienced, you actually could get lost in such a place, actually even the natives themselves who lived in the place still get lost from time to time, as if the labyrinth of narrow-passages and poorly placed buildings seemed to always change places.
Laughter reverberated from within an old thatched hut-like building located around the centre of the slum.

“Aha ha ha ha! This is a surprise! Yeah, that got me really good!”

Contrary to its partially slanted exterior, the thatched hut’s interior had been constructed properly. The furnishings installed are simple, but by putting priority on practicality, there’s not too much nor too little furniture.
What stood out especially in the shack is a bookshelf installed by one of the walls. Letters, wooden slates, and scrolls in various languages have been lined up in an orderly manner on the shelves, making the place seem like the hideout of a hermit sage.
A single youth was filled with laughter inside that thatched hut.

"Ha ha ha! To think! That one of Lambert's precious magic knights actually died to one of the so-called heroes that he was trying to make them save his kingdom!"

The youth slapped his legs which no longer worked, and turned his wheelchair around to face a young woman about the same age as him.

"Helene! You think this is funny too right!? Come on laugh with me!"

The woman, named Helene when faced by the youth with such a carefree laughing expression, only narrowed her eyes in tiredness.

"This is entertaining and all but now that Ursus is gone and the remaining heroes are under strict surveillance, they'll probably put in more focus to the internal issues of Priscia."

"It's alright, it's alright Helene we'll figure something out."

"And by we you mean me?"

"Hahahaha! You're so smart Helene!"

"...enough with the flattery Lord Rudo, what kind of boss flatters his own secretary?" Helene responed, her eyes narrowing even more.

The woman called Helene sighs as if being utterly fed up due to her master’s disgraceful behavior.

“It’s wonderful that you are enjoying yourself so much, but how do you plan to proceed from now on?”
Upon Helene's question, Rudo abruptly stops laughing.
And then his thread-like thin eyes shone sharply like a bird of prey that found its target as he said,

"You said her name was Yuusha right?"

"No...well yes, that was the name she gave out when she introduced herself to King Lambert, however it had been revealed that her real name was Rei."

"Wow! To think that she even had guts to lie to the face of royalty like that! She sounds more and more like Ursus' killer by the second! However now that you mention it, what was her given occupation that let her kill a Level 9 Magic Knight?"

Occupations, each human being in the world was blessed by being born with the level and occupation given by the goddess. Occupations could be unique or non-unique and it came with inborn skills that no other class can get or skills that other occupations can get but would have difficulty doing so, for example the {Chef} occupation is born with the inborn skill [Cooking] and the {Tailor} occupation is born with the skill [Tailoring].

"That's the problem, we don't know." Helene said.

Rei never got the chance to have her statuses appraised, Ursus was sent to the royal library to fetch Rei so she could get an appraisal, however a deathmatch occurred instead so no chance for an occupation appraisal was given, However Ryuuji was appraised with the Epic-level occupation called {Hero} and rushed to the royal library under the pretext of wanting to tell Rei his good news.

"A mysterious occupation huh? I wonder what kind of occupation allows a person to murder a Level 13 {Magic Knight} head-on, and she even fought him head-on mind you!"

"Yes yes, I've already read the report...multiple times at that."

Helene adjusted her glasses, when she first saw the spy's report, she thought that her eyes had devolved further due to the severe and sheer absurdity of the contents of the report, and even though she already confirmed the contents of the report to be the same as what she read multiple times earlier, she still planned to make an appointment with a healing mage later to make sure.

"Okay, if we don't know her occupation then we can simply find it out for ourselves right? Find out everything we can about this rogue hero, her, name, face, height, physique, hobbies, preferences, birthplace, personal history as well." Rudo suggested with a carefree smile.

"But isn't that a little bit too..." Helene tried to interject but however was quickly cut off by Rudo.

"Reckless? I daresay not at all!"
"I was going to say impossible."

"What?"

'Impossible?' Rudo thought, although Helene was always a bit of a pessimist she would always come up with a solution with that big brain of hers, Rudo always thought that Helene could make anything that was impossible, possible, because most of the reason why Rudo held such a high position in the slums despite not being a noble...and even being paralyzed in the legs.

"Are you saying the we shouldn't disturb her because she's too dangerous? If so then--"

"It's impossible." Helene said again.

"Could you at least tell me why?"

"She disappeared that night, she just simply left the Priscian capital and nobody has ever seen her since."

"I...see..." Disappointment struck the facial expression of Rudo as his formerly joyous expression simply disappeared into thin air itself.

"But still, we need to get ready so that we can make a move at any time.” He followed up, determined not to give up.

After receiving various additional detailed orders, Helene bowed to Rudo and left the thatched hut to prepare for her mission.
Having been left behind by himself, Rudo bends himself over the report spread out on the floor and stares at its content with an intense concentration.

"Rei...very interesting indeed."

---

Also in the royal palace of another neighboring country...

Even though it’s winter, a carpet of flowers are blooming profusely in the royal palace’s garden.
Flowers bloom here throughout the year. Each season, new ones are transplanted for the sake of the princess loved by Ruvishia’s king.
A courtier arrived at the location of the elderly king, who is narrowing down his eyes and smiling as he watches the very young princess frolicking around among the flowers, showing an innocent smile.

“Your Majesty. There’s something urgent I need to inform you about…"

“What boorish fellow you are. Is it something so pressing that you would disturb mine and the princess’ relaxation time?”

The courtier brings his mouth close to the ear of the elderly king.

"One of the heroes brought about by the old Hero summoning ritual murdered one of the Priscian Kingdom's infamous Magic Knights within a day of being summoned...no more importantly why am I being told only now that Priscia resorted to such an old method like Hero summoning to strengthen their military?"

The Ruvishian Kingdom was a powerhouse kingdom which boasted a rich economy and a strong army, a result of focusing resources and attention into internal affairs and placing the right people in the right places no matter their place of origin.
Although it's effect on the country's riches were significant, it had neglected on the affairs of other countries, and only sent the bare minimum of spying on other countries. Because of this, the spies of Ruvishia had not set their roots as deep into the Priscian information as much as other countries or large organizations.

“I see. — Call everyone together at once.”

Seeing off her father who left the flower garden while saying so, the small princess muttered the words she had just heard by chance, as it seemed to weigh on her mind for some reason.

“… Hero Summoning?”

---

In another royal palace of another small country where all kinds of intrigues converged --

Even though the room was lighted by the ever so bright sunshine coming through a very large window, the current atmosphere could not be described as anything but dark.
A youth was staring at the wall with an oil painting hung over it, it's colour scheme in itself was dark and the subjects and ideals that it portrayed were still half-dried, signifying that it had only been painted recently. The youth, although it's main subject is dark, had painted a beautiful image with a vibrant paintbrush and even using his own fingertips.
"Your Majesty..."

Before the youth realized it, a figure had suddenly kneeled down behind him and called out to him without him noticing, But even then he was not surprised as this was not a rare occurence.

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"A report has arrived from the <Source> in Priscia."

"Speak."

The youth holding a paintbrush only said one word, not even sparing a glance as he moved his hand without rest further modifying the image before him, as he believed adding any more would be unneseccary.

"The heroes summoned from another world has been summoned today, 3 months ahead of our original prediction. And instead of 4 heroes, 5 were summoned, and on the first day the 5th hero..."

The youth dips his little finger into red colorant mixed with water and is about to paint that on top of the stucco.

"--after slaughtering the front gate guards of the palace, and has now fled Priscia."

Shaking his little finger, the colorant turned into drops and fell on the stucco.
For a short while the youth gazed at the red drops that fell upon the stucco, but after letting out a single click of the tongue, he tosses the painted board on the ground. The dried stucco was smashed to pieces and scattered on the floor after the board hit the ground with a loud bang.

"For that Ursus to have been defeated by a mere Level 1...wasn't he supposed to be a prodigy?"
The youth stands up from his chair, grabs a nearby towel and wipes his hand with it.

"And I suppose Lambert will now focus on repairing the damages...knowing that narrow-minded Lambert he probably set a bounty on her head?"

"It is as you concluded, Lambert had prepared a bounty of 30,000,000 Yuleas on the 5th hero's head."

“What a fool you are, Lambert. That 5th hero is a color that must be removed in the picture depicting Priscia. Isn’t it impossible to draw a beautiful painting if you don't remove the unnesecary color serving as an eyesore by your own hands?”

'To rely on bounty hunters, how far has he fallen?' The youth thought.

The youth quickly wrote several letters with his fast hands, it was skill that he learned that let his hands be faster and more accurate than a printer when writing letters called [Penmanship Mastery].

“Deliver these to the <Sources> in Priscia and Ruvishia.”

Once the youth threw the letters on the floor, a figure appeared from within the darkness of the room and squirmed on the ground like a bug. And then, when the figure picked up the letters from the floor, it once again disappears into the darkness of the room after reverently holding those letters with both hands.
Making certain of that with his own eyes, the youth muttered,

“The 5th hero?, huh? —Let’s see what kind of color it is…”

---

At the ocean--

A big island within the Beness Bay, located to the south of the Ocean Commercial State Nihesha.
That island, which was surrounded by a belt of reefs, is known as a perilous pass which can’t be approached easily by ship.
The figure of a single girl was visible on one of the reefs surrounding that island.
Even though it was still the cold season, where a chilly northern wind is blowing violently and where the water is piercingly freezing, the girl doesn’t wear a single piece of cloth to protect against the cold and only covers her breasts with a wide, leather belt that had shells sewn on it like the scales of a fish. Moreover, her hips, which she lowered on the wave-covered reef, are even now below sea level.
Ocean water trickles down from her silver hair that was tied up into a ponytail. She had an appearance making it obvious that she had just now emerged from the sea, but even so, without showing an inkling of being bothered by the cold, she directly gazed in the direction of the distant land.
Suddenly the girl puts her hands on the trident she had placed on the reef.

“… Elder sister. So you are over here. I was looking for you.”

The one who had her head peek out in-between the waves is a little girl that gives an impression of being slightly younger than the girl. The girl that she called elder sister separated her hand from the trident, and asked the little girl a question,

“Is something wrong?”
“His Majesty is calling. I hear the the Great Devourer had finally been summoned or something along those lines.”

The girl widened her eyes slightly, but as if comprehending right away, she heaved a little sigh.

“So it finally happened, huh…?”

Prediction of the future was not only something Listicia could do.
It’s something the girl had foreseen a while ago.

"It appears that she had also already devoured the heart of a Level 1 {Hero} and a Level 9 {Magic Knight}."

"No way, you're saying the Great Devourer who barely had any Nourishment to fuel her [Aether] had already slain two humans with such high-level occupations?"

Upon the girl slightly shaking her head sideways as if saying that she can’t believe that, her younger sister continues,

“Yes. Apparently she used an other worldly weapon and tactics that took advantage of the Magic Knight's code of chivalry, as well as her relationship with the Level 1 {Hero}."

"Took advantage you said?"

Her heart throbbed furiously in surprise.

The younger sister looked curiously at the girl who had suddenly sank into silence.

“… Sister? What’s wrong?”

“—! No, it’s nothing.”

“Anyway, let’s go to His Majesty the King.”
As she said so, the girl slid off the reef and dove into the sea. Her younger sister submerges her head into the sea in order to follow after her.
After the girl and her younger sister vanished into the sea, for a mere instant something like the tail fin of a huge fish became visible between the waves, but that also sunk below the sea level at once.

---

On the soil of the Russiva Empire, all the way to the north-eastern parts of the continent where the winters raged like gods--

"Hey, did you hear!? There was a Hero Summoning in the south-western regions of the continent!"

As the young knight, who entered the room without any greetings, rattled on in such a manner, a young man, seemingly of the same generation, dons an expression as if having swallowed a bitter pill.

“Don’t you know the word ‘manners’!? Just what the hell are you on about all of a sudden?”

However, without minding that, the young knight, who suddenly plunged into the room, sits down on a chair as he pleases. He pours out some alcohol from a jar placed on the table into a cup, without even asking for permission.
It’s an overbearing behavior, but the young man only sighed as if he was fed up with it.

“It’s just as I expected after all. I was convinced that it would happen in due time! In the first place, it’s a mistake to allow the priests of the Holy Faith to meddle with the country’s affairs!”
The young man looks at the young knight, who keeps talking one-sidedly, in resignation.

“So, just what are you telling me to do about this?”

The young knight, whose face brightened up as if having only waited for those words, drains down the alcohol and slams the cup on the table.

“Of course this is about reforming this rotten Empire with our own hands!”

Due to the young knight’s cheeks blushing in excitement and not drunkenness, The young man shrugged his shoulders as if saying “Good grief.”

“For heaven’s sake—if you speak of this to anyone else, you will be sacked due to treason.”

“Of course it’s something I would only tell you.”

The young man protests with “Just when did I became your friend?”, but in return it results in him being asked “We are friends, aren’t we?” by the young knight.
While it’s something that takes place each time they meet, the young man, who realized that it’s useless no matter what he says to this person, reluctantly decides to get on with the topic.

“Let’s set aside the matter of our Empire. Do you really believe that the presence of a rogue hero in the far, distant western region is going to reach this Empire as well?”

“Of course it will!” The young knight declares in response to the young man’s question. “The influence of the rogue hero who caused this rebellion will definitely spread to the centre of the continent! I have no doubt that a terrible chaos is upon us!”
After having finished saying what he wanted to say up until this point, the young knight suddenly began to tilt his head to the side in doubt.

“Huh? Umm, I wonder, what was it? The guy who caused this rebellion. What was she called…?”

While letting his look wander through the air for a while, the young knight probed his memories. Suddenly his face lightens up.

“Ah, yeah! Her name is Rei Yuusha!”

---

And finally, at one of the countries where one of the Demon Lord rules...

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