Welcome to the Impregnable Demon King Castle

186 – Our Adventure Will Not End (Part 2)

『My allies are nothing but outstanding people. In addition to them, there were other members in the Raid Battle and we couldn’t win. We have come to terms with it and we will devote ourselves to improving. Of course, we will challenge it again, but not so soon.』

Scathach said so with honest eyes.

『Aw shucks, thanks, leader. Calling me…the best swordsman in the world is…sniff so touching…』

『I said no such thing.』

『Uh, ahem We have a big announcement!』

Hamill really is a free spirit.

『One of the seven wonders of the Adventuring world is the true face of our very own Suuri.』

『First I’ve heard of that…』

Caleena was astounded.

While I’ve never heard the phrase Seven Wonders either, there certainly are many Adventurers with unknown mysteries to even the fans.

『Would you believe it, ladies and gentlemen? We shall be unveiling it right here, right now! Yaaay! Clap your hands! Add in the sound of a roaring crowd and clapping!』　

Caleena facepalmed, Theo laughed out loud, and Scathach gave a faint chuckle.

From their expressions, it appears that this wasn’t Hamill’s idea, but rather it was a decision made by the whole party. I wonder if their way of unveiling it was ad-libbed? Judging from how no one is surprised at the unveiling itself, it seems that way.

『Now then, without further ado, watch and be amazed by Suuri’s true face!』

Before anyone realized it, Hamill had a microphone in his hand.

Despite his excited announcement, Suuri remains cool and calm.

He gently pulls his hood down.

Blond, long hair, blue eyes, white skin, a beautiful face, and…pointy ears.

There was the face of an Elf.

Having removed both his hood and the cloth covering his mouth, he slowly opens his mouth.

『This is why I hid my face. I am prepared to accept any and all criticism. However, for my allies who accepted me, in order to take my Hero to the 1st rank, I will continue to be an Adventurer. No matter what happens, I will not simply give up. …That is all.』

『The true face hidden underneath that hood this whole time…was a stunningly handsome Elf~! Well, we all knew it, but I’m sure all of you are shocked and amazed. Please, continue supporting the four handsome men plus one beautiful woman Scathach party!』

『Stop it, your embarrassing us.』

Scathach took the mic away from Hamill.

『Suuri hid his face out of consideration of how Demi-Human Adventurers were treated at the time. We agreed to it. Looking back, however, that may have been a mistake. No one can say that Suuri isn’t an outstanding Hunter, and I am proud to count him as an ally. There is nothing for him to hide. This…is the Scathach party. Thank you for your support.』

Naturally, this interview became a huge topic of discussion. There were too many topics related to the Raid Battle, and they all caused a stir among the fans.

Not all the opinions were favorable, but I’m sure the Scathach party will be fine.

I later heard that after that interview, the number of female Suuri fans seemed to have surged rapidly.

…The handsome, taciturn, and excellent Hunter who would sacrifice himself for the sake of his allies.

No wonder so many people are gripped by this tale.

◇

The interview with the world’s 3rd ranked Hervor party was a refreshing one.

That is to say, the Fencer the Flashing Swordswoman Eloise, who fell in the second stratum said 「I really wish I could have done more!」.

Since the rest of them, including their leader, fell in the third stratum, there was much talk of regret and wishing they did things better.

The ones who were brought back to life with the revival rights were Herv and the Thousand Form Summoner Margret. Margret contributed greatly to the solving of the riddles in the seventh stratum, although the person in question is modest about it. She is probably more concerned about when she was immediately defeated by Agares in the ninth stratum.

Their leader, Herv, was in high spirits and kept encouraging her allies saying「As long as we win next time, it’s all good!」and then laughing heartily.

『Your efforts even after you were revived were wonderful as well.』

『I’m glad I was revived. Thanks to that, I was able to have some fun. I wanted to fight Haagenti and Carmilla again. I wanna challenge them again right away, but I can’t, right? The tenth stratum was all busted up by old man Aerial and Lemegeton so we can’t go.』

…That’s right.

Similar to Fenix, when Four Great Spirits contractors go full power, the Magical Energy space cannot be preserved.

Well…this time there was both Bennu and I as well so…anyway, it’s wrecked.

Since it needs to be repaired again, the tenth stratum is closed for now.

『Let’s go as soon as it’s fixed, Big Sis!』

『Shush, Ell. Big Sis, please give us time to train up. We won’t lose next time.』

『…I couldn’t fire my cannon at all either, I’ll do better next time.』

『How splendid of all of you. I have work to do, so it would be helpful if a timeslot were to open up in time for the rematch.』

Eloise, the Rock Crushing Martial Artist Amelia, the Roaring Gunner Emeline, and Margret all spoke in turn.

『Hey Ames, I told you not to call me that, right?』

『Even though Elloi was the first one to fall, she’s the loudest.』

『Hey, Em! Don’t shorten it like that! It sounds like something bad!』

『Please calm down, Ms. Elloie.』[1. TL Note: Ok, this joke kinda got lost in translation because of JPs ‘L’ and ‘R’ thing. In JP, Elloise’s name is ‘eroi-su’. Amelia shortened it to ‘ero’ which is also short for ‘Erotic’ in JP. Then Emeline calls her ‘eroi’, which means ‘sexy’ and so on.]

『Maggie? If you’re gonna go that far, you might as well say the S in my name…』

The Hervor party gets along together as well.

『The Demon King Castle was a ton of fun. We’ll be sure to Clear it next time.』

Hervor said, baring her fangs as she smiled.

◇

『Ah, it’s kinda lonely with just the two of us, huh? No wait, the Spirit counts as well, but people can’t see her.』

『…As long as Wraith is there, I’m not lonely.』

『No, that’s not what I meant…ah, whatever.』

『Even though you two have only just had your Jobs identified, you both played quite an active role.』

The Water Hero Wraith and the Destroyer Fran didn’t take part in the raid as a party.

Rather exceptionally, they entered as a duo.

『It’s because my fellow Adventurers were top-notch allies. If you were to ask them for a ten, they’ll come back to you with an eleven or more. When I support them, it goes well, when they support me, it’s super helpful. It’s because of party members like them that we were able to reach that far.』

『I see. By the way, prior to the battle in the tenth stratum, Mr. Wraith, you had been stating again and again that you would never use Spirit Magic, but…』

『Yeah, about that. I was wrong. It’s really embarrassing to admit, but I was mistaken about what a Hero is. A truly cool Hero is one that leads his allies to victory. What I did was childishly and stubbornly ignore the Spirit, who is an important ally. I’ve thought it over. But…』

『But?』

Wraith said the following with a dazzling smile.

『From now on, I will truly be joining forces with my allies. I’ll become the strongest Water Hero in history and even become 1st ranked.』

He laughed while smiling. Ah, I saw that smile recently.

『Oh, I have something I’d like to discuss now.』

『D-discuss, you say?』

『Yeah! We are recruiting people who want to become 1st rank with us! Specifically, two. The only condition is that they want to be 1st ranked. And of course, your race doesn’t matter!』

『I…er… I see…?』

『The reason there are only two slots is that the last member has already been decided. I’ll tell you all my e-mail address, so if you’re interested, please write it down and contact me. Let’s see, it’s-』

『Mr. Wraith?』

Such out-of-the-box thinking is truly just like him.

If you announce that you’re recruiting on a show being watched by a lot of people, you’ll deliver your message to a ton of people.

…That last member he mentioned is most likely me.

While feeling the intense gaze from Milla, who was watching TV beside me, I was looking forward to seeing just what kind of party he’ll create.