*** PoV: Lux ***

The Hero’s Eyes. I have only seen two who possessed them, and I wished that number would not increase any further. Technically, my wish got granted, as the one currently in front of me was the same person who I first saw those things on, Colette. Back in the day, she was a calamity threatening to wipe Lursail’s population out. She was nothing like her seemingly peaceful undead version I just met the previous day.

The second one was a girl I took care of for over a decade before she would become the legend known as Siegel’s founder, and a bit later my wife too. Even though Clara was the last survivor of her race and missing one of her legs, she was an energetic and cheerful creature. It was difficult to believe it was that gloomy duo of Hanna and I who took care of her since before she could remember. Then she received those god-forsaken eyes.

It happened when we defeated Colette. Hanna managed to lock her in a seal, and a lucky shot from Clara killed her. Sure, she managed to bring herself back as an undead, but that did not matter to us. Lucia was dead. Hanna disappeared. Clara collapsed at the edge of the crater left behind by Colette’s fireball. She regained consciousness the day after, and when she opened her eyes Gabriel and I were shocked to see her left one became yellow.

After that, she changed. We assumed the pain of losing both Hanna and Lucia broke her as she refused to leave the vicinity of the crater, but as time passed, it became more and more obvious that wasn’t the case. She was wary of everything and everyone. The only one she seemed to tolerate was me, but over time she stopped talking even to me. All I could do was feed and protect her.

Over a year had passed by the time I managed to get her to eat without help and speak again. I thought she would be back to her old self, but instead, she pushed a letter addressed to Gabriel into my hands and kicked me out. I haven’t seen her for over 40 years after that. By that time, she founded Siegel and became its Queen.

These experiences perfectly justified my actions after seeing Colette’s eyes.

*** PoV: Hanna ***

Lux rushed out of the cathedral screaming like he saw the dead rise. What prevented me from shrugging it off with a “Typical Lux” was that I was actually considering following suit. Both of us were sure that we just saw the birth of a Demon Lord.

“I’m glad everyone is this energetic, but would anyone be kind enough to heal me too?” Colette finally got on her feet. “We have an emergency that you’ll need me for, and it would be problematic if I wasn’t in perfect condition for it.”

“Are you telling us you’ll fight and defeat the Demon Lord to protect the people of Lursail?” I highly doubted that, but it felt like the best way to land some verbal hits on her. “If so, she’s right in front of me. Need some time to prepare?”

“Very funny. Yes, fighting the Demon Lord is exactly what you’ll need me for, assuming they ARE the Demon Lord, not the Hero. Father Thomas, we’ll need to inform the Pope about the presence of two people with the Hero’s eyes. Can you handle that for me?” The way she instantly tried involving the church made it unlikely that she was just pulling our legs. How many bombshells could be dropped on us in a single day? How many of them could be related to my sister?

“Why do you assume there is someone else with those eyes?” Even when I was sure she wasn’t joking, I couldn’t just accept there being a Demon Lord or Hero without some proof of their existence.

“Comes with the territory. We can tell whether there are others who possess these things, and we can also tell their approximate direction from us.”

“Correct me if I’m wrong, but doesn’t that mean that whoever the supposed other person is, they can also tell that you exist, and also pinpoint your location?”

“That’s exactly the case, but I can’t really do anything about that. In the first place, the one with the Hero’s Eyes should be Clara, not me.”

“But Clara never had the Hero’s Eyes.”

“Sure she did,” came Lux’s voice from near the entrance. “She got them after you sealed Colette.”

“To be exact, she got them by killing me. That’s how the Hero’s Eyes are passed from one person to another. Point is, I should not have them, but I do. As for the other person with them, normally I would say it has to be Clara, but this time it’s different. After having lost these in the past already I’m not that confident, but I’m pretty sure that whoever is here is another person I know. Unfortunately, I’ll have to rely on Gabriel’s help to confirm this.”

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“Why Gabriel?” asked Lux.

“If I’m right, the person I’m assuming to be the Demon Lord is one of our mutual acquaintances,” shrugged Colette.

“You seem to know Gabriel pretty well. Not like that should surprise me at this point. Hey, Hanna, what should we do about her eyes?”

“She should be able to change her appearance. She’s surprisingly good at it, being someone who couldn’t cast anything other than a fireball in the old days.”

“Right, let me just turn myself back into a lich right after being resurrected just to be able to use undead camouflage on myself.”

“Shit. I thought that was a good idea.”

“Can’t she just keep going like this?” asked Maya who was being supported by Keith.

“Sure she could, but that wouldn’t be wise. While a Hero showing up could be considered a fortunate event, people will also start fearing attacks from the Demon Lord.” Eva had a good point there.

“Why is it us who has to come up with an idea for this?” The moment Sylvie started speaking I was ready to silence her, but surprisingly she failed to give me a reason to do so. “Isn’t it a better idea to leave it to Colette herself?”

“Why is Sylvie the only one who believes I can handle this much?”

““Because we know you!”" shouted Lux completely in sync with me.

“Ah, well… Brad, do you have an eyepatch at hand?”

“Give me five, the girls should have some.” He didn’t even bother to show himself, all we could hear was his voice.

“I can see why the Director was that difficult to catch before she got sealed. People who freeze up from hearing an idea this simple probably make terrible hunters.”

“Oh shut up. Try using your brain while being ready to cast an anti-fireball barrier any moment.”

“Did your barriers ever work against my fireballs?”

“Director versus Hanna, one to nil.” Keith sounded like he needed some talking to. Boys who play around with girls instead of down with one deserve worse treatment, but I was gracious and let him get away with some verbal poking around.

“Look who's talking. It’s our dear prince who still doesn’t have a bride after all the urging from the royal family. He is popular with the girls, and even fools around with an undead, so why does settling with someone scare him so much? Or did he pick yours truly just to hide the fact that his balls can’t do their job of producing heirs for the family?”

“He did what now? Anyways, Hanna versus Keith, one to nil.” Eva was quick to side with me on this one even in her momentary surprise, but neither of us expected Keith to have reinforcements at the ready.

“Make that a draw,” came Brad’s voice from next to Colette, who was already tying her newly acquired eyepatch behind her head. “I can’t say anything about him being afraid of the girls, but he did take care of the heir problem.”

“Nice joke and I would be the happiest about it, but even Keith is not tha–” Eva ended that sequence short when she saw Keith’s panicked face. Yeah, that pretty much confirmed it. Keith was a dead man. “You seem to be well informed, as usual, Brad. Mind enlightening us about this matter?”

“I need details on this too, but this is the single possible occasion when it’s not the time for this,” muttered Keith.

“Unfortunately, you made me curious too. Which of the sisters was it? Also, congratulations on becoming a grandfather, Brad.” Colette’s remarks made me think I was the only one in the dark, but Eva quickly destroyed my misunderstandings.

“Seriously, Keith? Don’t tell me it’s one of Brad’s daughters you knocked up.”

“You know my daughters. I’m not confident they gave him a choice,” Brad said, attempting to absolve the offender.

“Should I have restrained myself from introducing Bridget to the brat and Keith?”

“Was this actually your doing, great-grandfather?” Eva looked at the demon.

“Please don’t call me that.”

“Don’t worry, Luc– Lux. It’s actually Suzan, not Bridget,” clarified the Spy, in an attempt to calm the situation.

“Having multiple candidates actually makes it worse, doesn’t it? Lux, Keith, I hope both of you are prepared for what’s waiting for you when we get back to the castle,” I said, swiftly undoing his efforts.

“Hey, Colette, can you bring the boy back afterwards?” Eva concerned herself way too much with the well-being of this unfaithful idiot. She should have used that extra energy for more profitable matters.

“Do you actually want me to?”

“Please do, boss. I would prefer for my grandchild to have a father,” Brad pleaded.

“Can you bring your daughter over tomorrow? I want to talk to her a bit,” I said in the least threatening tone possible.

“Spare her, would you?” Okay, maybe that wasn’t the least threatening tone I was capable of. Whatever.

“Don’t worry, I think of her as a victim and witness, not as a perpetrator.”

“Consider it done then. Just make sure both her and the boy come back alive,” he said, finally deciding to listen to me.

***

For some inexplicable reason Colette had to be on healing duty the day after too, and Lux was just as worn down from being near her as he was from the initial beating he received.