It was around ten at night when I stood in the audience chamber.

Before me was the king of Syla, King Torez, the queen, Queen Ezabeth, along with Prilus and the kingdom’s advisor. Emori, meanwhile, chose to stand next to me.

“Emori, come here.”

Emori clenched his fist. “Fortis didn't do anything wrong!” She declared, her voice a bit shaky.

King Torez and Queen Ezabeth looked surprised at her sudden outburst.

“...” King Torez turned toward Prilus and gave him a nod.

“Emori, follow me,” Prilus said, walking past us. Emori panicked.

“N- no! I can't leave him.”

“Don't worry, Mother and Father won't do anything to him.”

“Don’t worry Emori, I'll be alright,” I said with a reassuring smile. Yes, I may have messed around with authority, but I am still a level 100 mage. I could escape if needed.

Emori looked back and forth between me and her parents.

“Don't worry about me. I'll get through this, somehow.”

Emori opened her mouth, but no words came out. She then turned toward the rear of the room, walking away behind her brother. The door closed with a heavy clack, leaving just the four of us here.

After the two left, King Torez got off his throne and walked over to me. He put his hands on my shoulders while staring at me. I gulped.

“Fortisbel.”

“Ye- yes, Your Majesty?”

“What did you do to her?”

“I took her to my home, and we had dinner together.”

“No, that's not what I meant.” King Torez shook his head. “She never spoke her mind before! Everytime we say something, she'll go along with it without comment! But now… but now she can defend the person she's close to! It's wonderful! Very wonderful!”

“I wasn't expecting to see her grow so much in such a short time.” Queen Ezabeth sobbed. “Please tell us your secrets! We'll reward you!”

Secrets?

“I think it's because I treated her like a normal person? Ah, please excuse my rudeness.”

“Normal person...”

The two fell into thought, while the kingdom’s advisor jotted down some notes.

“I see. I get it now.” King Torez nodded, albeit I doubt he actually understood.

Thinking about it, I guess that's why she got attached to me? I didn't treat her like a princess, I treated her like a regular high school girl. Maybe she felt more comfortable that way.

I didn't actually know. We never talked about it. All I knew was that she felt comfortable around me, occasionally following me around.

… Now that I think about it, she really did like following me around.

“Please, continue being her friend.”King Torez patted my shoulders with a serious look on his face. I nodded in response.

“Don't worry, I'll stay with her.”

“Sorry for inviting you out here so late. Don't worry, the knights will escort you back home. If you want to, we can write a letter to the school to excuse you from tomorrow’s lessons.”

“There is no need for that. However, can I talk about something?”

Since I was already standing in front of the king, this would be the perfect time to talk about it.

“What is it?”

“Do you know about the demon king?”

The king took a step back. Queen Ezabeth stood up, and the advisor stopped writing.

…

Did he really jotted down all my words?

“You mean the demon king? The demon king that was sealed nearly a century ago by the party of heroes?”

“Yes, that demon king. I received a prophecy stating that the seal will soon be broken.”

The three gasped.

“Who gave you the prophecy?” Asked Queen Ezabeth .

“I… I'm not sure if I can say. But, if I may, I suggest preparing the military for war, just in case.”

I wasn't sure just who knew about Asytelar's identity. If she wanted this to be known, she should have a way to tell King Torez directly.

“Very well. I shall investigate the matter further. If you have any more information, feel free to talk with my daughter.”

“Alright.”

After a bit more pleasantries, King Torez sent me along with Emori and Prilus back to the school.

* ••

“Are you alright? Did they do anything to you?” Emori asked as she examined my body. I wasn’t sure why she thought her own parents would be violent against me, but I let her check anyway.

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“Don’t worry. Your parents are nice.”

“Good to know.” She let out a breath of relief. After I finished talking with King Torez and Queen Ezabeth, they sent us back on a knight’s carriage. Prilus decided to head ahead of us for some reason, riding his own horse, leaving the two of us alone in the carriage.

“What did you talk about?”

“Well… mainly about the demon king.” I couldn’t tell her about how they were happy to see her change, though. She might become self-conscious because of that.

“I’m talking about how we should raise our strength before the fight with the demon king, that we should prepare an army to take him on.”

What made it tough was the fact that I heard everything from Asytelar and didn’t have any proof. I had my in-game knowledge, but I had yet to see a recurring character other than her.

Well, that game was based on this world, not the other way around. This meant I couldn’t walk up to someone powerful and start babbling about their darkest secret to convince them to listen to me. Asytelar probably wouldn’t know such stuff, thus the secrets nonexistent in the game.

For now, the royal family went along with my words, but it's hard to know whether they actually believed me or not. Asytelar didn’t say when the seal would break, either. It might break tomorrow, it might never break. I might look like the hero that rescued the kingdom, or I might look like an idiot.

“It seemed you began doubting me, Fortisbel.”

“Uhh- ahh…”

I looked around for the crow.

“I’m above you, riding on the carriage. Act normally. Emori is watching.”

“Is everything alright?”

“It’s fine.”

“I apologize for not being able to guide you directly, but I will try to help you to the best of my abilities. Get some rest tonight. We shall talk again tomorrow.”

And with that, Asytelar’s voice disappeared. Did she really come all this way just to say that?

“You look like you’re thinking about something. Is everything really alright?”

“Sorry to make you worry, but I’m fine.” I reassured her. I looked out the window. My days so far had been peaceful, but that didn’t seem like it would last.

* ••

The next day, I went to school like usual, while anticipating my meeting with Asytelar. She didn’t mention when we would be meeting, but I had a hunch based on the way she approached me before.

When the day ended, and I prepared to go to bed, her voice appeared.

“Hello there, Fortisbel. Have you been waiting?”

“I couldn't say I didn't.”

“Then let us get to business, shall we? We have some things to discuss.”

“Is something going to happen?” I asked, seating down.

“Demon troops had begun moving. The tiger you fought was proof of their work.”

Seeing the demons’ symbol, I had predicted as much. Normal monsters didn’t look like the tiger, either. There had to be some tempering.

“The fact that they could temper with magic irregularities is already a big threat in itself,” I thought. In the tiger’s case, I ended up taking it on with just Maya, but it wasn’t a walk in the park. It held its own against the two of us with our high levels. And that includes the fact that Maya was a dragon.

That said, I could argue that we were at a disadvantage. She didn’t carry a weapon, and my nature-based magic wand wasn’t ideal in a fight.

“There will be more of those kinds of monsters. That’s why you need to raise everyone’s levels as much as possible, especially your main group.”

“Main group?”

“You, Maya, Emori, Solicea, and Prilus.”

So she counted the prince as well?

“You five will form the backbone of the new party that will tackle the demon king.”

“A new party… huh?”

The original party was a party of five, with each around level ninety.

“We definitely need more than five people.”

Solicea, Prilus, and Emori were terribly underleveled. But, if Asytelar mentioned them specifically…

“Do they have some secret ability or something? Why not just get more high-level fighters?”

Fighters at level one hundred were ridiculously rare, but that didn’t mean they didn’t exist. Maya could, probably, reach level ninety in time. We just need three other level ninety party members to reach the same level as the original team.

Then we would have my ten level advantage. We should be able to seal him a second time.

“... If it’s just anyone, then I don’t doubt you can seal him again, but you won’t be able to kill him.”

“You have a point…”

The original battle sucked too much of the party member’s strength. They never reached the same levels of strength they displayed in the demon king battle.

“Your party, while not perfect, has more unity compared to ours. That is a huge factor. The second factor lies in Emori.”

“Emori? What about her?”

“About that, I can't tell.”

“So you're tasking me with uncovering her strengths on my own?”

“I’m sorry for asking something like that from you.”

Half of me was a bit frustrated with the lack of information. That said, reading guides wasn't really the kind of gamer I am. I prefer to discover things on my own.

“For now, I suggest focusing on those four. You can pick up more party members later. Also, invite them on a dungeon raid this weekend. I could use my magic to detect where the next dangerous monsters would come up. It could help.”

“I’ll do my best.”

“Thank you, Fortisbel.” With those parting words, Asyelar disappeared. I lay down on my bed, letting out a sigh.

Who would have known, huh? Me, out of all people.

Not sure if this is supposed to be fun.

I wasn’t great at leading a group. When it’s purely regarding strategy, I could hold myself somewhat. When it was with Maya, who I had fought countless times before, we could understand each other. We trusted each other. With people I’m not close with?

With the prince, no less?

I could only wish for the best.

* ••

Me, Emori, Maya, and Solicea were all in the same class. I told them about my plans, leaving out the part where Asytelar visited for now.

“This weekend… eh…”

“The fifth day, right? I don’t have anything.”

“I can come.”

“Alright, thank you. By the way, Emori, can you invite your brother?”

“My brother is coming?”

“Yeah.”

“Why?”

“Do you… not like it?”

I wasn’t sure about their relationship inside their home. They weren’t close outside, but not enemies either. I’m just an outsider, though. I couldn’t judge.

“I’m fine. I’m just surprised. I’ll speak to him.”

“Okay, that’s great. Thank you.”

With our party secured, I prepared myself for the fight, training more and more with my magic.