Chapter 38 - Assassination Attempt and Retribution That Would Settle Everything
～On the satellite orbit of a planet of the Orze Kingdom～
Sangou was searching while sorting out so-called Large Species monsters by using two methods in combination: optical observation from satellite orbit and sensing the magnitude of life reactions.
Because Shin had recovered all of the Origin of Dragon Vein that served as the source of magic power generation, new monsters would no longer be born from now on.
However, that did not mean the monsters already existing in this world would immediately vanish.
Therefore, what Sangou and the others were doing was something akin to after-service.
But even so, under the current circumstances, the natural supply of magic power from outside would be cut off for these existing monsters as well, so once they used up the magic power within their bodies, some of their abilities would become limited, and growth or evolution would become difficult.
Even so, monsters are monsters, and from a human perspective, their threat level is high.
Large species in particular are extremely dangerous, and in a state where the Origin of Dragon Vein has been completely lost from the world, the question becomes whether humans can defeat them without magic.
By the way, why is growth and evolution expressed as difficult rather than impossible?
That is because the method of attacking and eating magic-wielding beings remains.
Incidentally, how did we arrive at this situation from the kukkoro scene of the previous chapter?
Let's try to trace the flow in order, looking back at the past.
First, from Sangou's perspective, when the Captain blew away the floating island where the Demon Lord had been, the sky was covered in a thick miasma layer, making it impossible to visually confirm the target. This directly caused the destruction of the moon, and for a truly brief instant, it was considered a problem.
Because the large satellite like the moon that Sangou knew of accompanying a planet should have a tremendous impact on the planet's rotation speed and axial tilt.
However, in reality, even though the effect on that part from the moon's disappearance was observed for only a time on the order of quectoseconds, the axial tilt and rotation speed ultimately remained as they were.
Incidentally, this is a digression, but a quectosecond, a unit most people are probably unfamiliar with, is one followed by thirty decimal places. In other words, it's a unit where twenty-nine zeros appear after the decimal point before a 1 finally appears.
If you're Japanese, you might very rarely hear time units like milli, micro, nano seconds, and below them, there are also second unit names in order: pico, femto, atto, zepto, yocto, ronto, quecto.
To add, each name change makes it one-thousandth, but such knowledge is rarely useful in daily life, so the second unit part might be a trivial matter.
Now, digressions aside.
The phenomenon observed by Sangou was clearly abnormal from a scientific perspective.
However, Sangou accepted the current situation as it was, reasoning that since this was a world where magic normally existed, some force that science cannot explain must be at work.
As far as Sangou was concerned, even if the moon disappeared, as long as no disadvantage befell the Captain, it was no problem at all.
That aside, why did the phenomenon considered abnormal occur?
To state the conclusion first, this part was simply a matter of a so-called Successor god-like being getting heavily involved.
"What do you think you're doing, destroying the moon! If you leave it like that, the planet's rotation speed will at least triple from its original! The loss of the axial tilt is not something to take lightly either. The complete collapse of the current civilization due to the Demon Lord's influence might be excused with a reduction in points. But if it's caused by an otherworlder involved in the summoning, the responsibility is enormous. If it ends with demotion, that's still lucky. At worst, it's a direct path to existence erasure punishment. In fact, that's probably the most likely penalty. How can I ignore this!"
The existence of such thoughts was unknown not only to Shin and the others but also to any being other than the Successor.
To be sure, if rotation speed tripling or changes in axial tilt were to actually happen, the natural environment on the planet would deteriorate to a level where almost all existing organisms could not survive.
If such a change occurred, it would be certain that the civilization built by humans on the planet where the Orze Kingdom and Louvre Empire exist would be wiped out.
Or rather, at the very least, the human species would die off.
Thus, the Successor god-like being ended up pouring almost all of its power into maintaining the rotation speed and axial tilt and finding and bringing a new moon.
However, because this was done through sheer force using divine power, some aspects like the ocean tides went uncared for.
As a result, the Successor's surveillance of Shin and the others completely ceased, and that Successor would face a different situation entirely, but that is a story for a slightly later future.
Well, let's leave the moon-disappearance affair right after the Demon Lord's subjugation here. We must also address the matter of Shin being attacked by the maid.
Therefore, let's shift the scene to that.
Because Shin had already experienced the Louvre Empire's methods after the Demon Lord's subjugation, he was not off guard in the guest room for state guests of the Orze Kingdom where he was led.
Was it for protection?
Or maybe for surveillance?
Shin, who could not possibly fail to detect a person lurking in what seemed to be the ceiling of the room, also considered the possibility that this individual might turn into an attacker.
First of all, a young woman claiming to be a maid for nightly service and care had come to the room late at night and was quietly waiting.
Rolling onto the luxurious canopy bed, Shin entered a mode of contemplation regarding the return method, as there was nothing urgent to do.
To an onlooker, that state of the Hero might have appeared as if he were sleeping.
If that state continued for an hour, it was probably inevitable that the maid under the Prime Minister's secret orders would judge the timing and move.
Of course, the result was that Shin, who had not let his guard down, immediately subdued the maid.
"Is this this country's answer"
Shin, while making up his mind, began interrogating the kukkoro maid.
"Hey. Who ordered you to come here? You're carrying a soundproofing magic tool and an invisible magic knife, so it must be from someone fairly high up, right? Was it the king?"
As Shin asked that, a figure who looked like a true secret agent, a professional, silently descended from the ceiling.
Then, that figure, who appeared to be female from her appearance, immediately performed a dogeza, surprising Shin.
"I am terribly sorry. I was late in responding. I had heard about the 'maid for nightly service and care,' so I was off my guard. I truly apologize."
"No no, I'm in the form of a ten-year-old child. There shouldn't be any nightly service in the first place. Isn't being off guard about that a problem?"
Shin retorted in his heart in an instant, but the magnificent dogeza in progress somehow disarmed him.
Faced with a situation where all he could do was be dumbfounded, Shin was starting to feel like nothing really mattered anymore.
"Hmm. This act means it's 'not the action of the country,' right? Well, even if it was someone's rampage, it's already a failure at the point where you couldn't stop it."
Saying that, Shin tied up the maid in a mat roll, gagged her, and claimed ownership of her as a captured criminal.
Of course, the matter didn't end there.
The Chief Court Mage, woken up by the incident, rushed into Shin's room.
It was probably a minor matter that this Marcalin also executed a graceful sliding dogeza following the secret agent woman.
"Sorry. The maid's attack on you while you were sleeping is not the will of the Orze Kingdom. Please believe me. I recognize that maid. She's a maid under the Prime Minister's influence, isn't she? Shin-dono, I truly apologize. I will advise His Majesty to have the Prime Minister take proper responsibility."
Marcalin made his minimum necessary claims in one breath.
Shin cast a cold, sharp glance at that man and asked frankly.
"Hey. If you were in my position, do you think that sounds credible?"
"When you put it that way, I'm in a very difficult position. Originally, His Majesty was supposed to speak to you about this tomorrow, but I will now reveal to you, Shin-dono, the decisions that have been made regarding the country's response. After revealing all of that, I wish to earn Shin-dono's trust with my life."
Upon hearing the Chief Court Mage's determination to stake his own life, Shin decided to lend an ear.
Then, after hearing the explanation, Shin understood that the country's response had already been decided, and that the current situation was the Prime Minister's rampage.
However, even though he understood, the fact that his life had been targeted remained unchanged.
But still.
Even if Marcalin, who was somewhat reasonable to talk to, were to die to atone here, Shin would gain nothing from it.
No, not only would he gain nothing, he would actually lose by losing someone easy to talk to.
Therefore, regarding Marcalin, Shin decided it was enough just to hear his determination and let him go back as he was.
However.
After such an incident, despite it being late at night, an emergency audience was decided and preparations were made.
Then, Shin heard from the king once again the same things he had been told by the Chief Court Mage earlier.
Incidentally, the Prime Minister was absent from the audience chamber, reportedly already imprisoned.
"I understand the situation. So what will you do? Even if I were to take the whole Orze Kingdom, it wouldn't be a fair reward for saving the world, right? Moreover, I was abducted and forced into this. And how many times will this world rely on Hero summoning? Every time you abduct someone, use them up, and then kill them once they're no longer needed. Regarding the responsibility for killing the past Heroes, you might want to say 'That was the Louvre Empire's doing, we bear no responsibility.' But you were providing financial and food aid to the Louvre Empire, who was doing that, weren't you? That means you were complicit. You also received the subsequent benefit of 'peace'."
The king, having no words to reply, could only silently listen to Shin speak.
The Chief Court Mage was the same.
Well, there were those present who couldn't stay silent.
"Then what should we have done? Should we have just accepted the death brought by the Demon Lord without doing anything?"
The young prince said that.
Was this what they called a 'mistake of youth'?
From his apparent age, he was definitely a child.
"Handle your own world's affairs yourselves. The Demon Lord has appeared many times in the past. Why couldn't you prepare for the next time and choose a method that doesn't rely on Hero summoning? Don't tell me you naively thought every time, 'This Demon Lord is the last one. It will never appear again'?"
Shin's argument itself was correct.
However, reality wasn't like that.
In truth, the people of this world, even when the Demon Lord appeared, had only a light feeling like, 'When the world is in crisis, a Hero comes out of 'goodwill,' defeats the Demon Lord, and leaves. We properly pay money.'
It was a very nasty situation.
"Hey. Try to imagine being on the side that gets abducted. If the same thing is going to be repeated, wouldn't it be better for this world to just be destroyed?"
What Shin said was very reasonable and correct.
It was, but since it amounted to 'you all should perish,' it was almost like something the Demon Lord would say.
To add, from the perspective of the god-like high being involved in the Hero summoning, Shin's 'you all should perish' was also very inconvenient.
Everyone gathered in the audience chamber was in a situation where they could say nothing to Shin.
Therefore, Shin's sermon-like remarks were not over yet.
Next, he declared the implementation of a countermeasure he had come up with while lying on the bed in the guest room.
"I think the Demon Lord arises from 'congealed magic power and a mass of human malice.' That's why he appears periodically. So, as my reward, I'll take all the 'magic power' of this world. I won't allow any right of refusal. I'm not telling everyone to 'die,' but from now on, you won't be able to use magic. Well, do your best from here. It's going to be quite harsh."
Shin's guess about the mechanism of the Demon Lord's emergence was a shot in the dark based on light novel knowledge, but as it turned out, it was correct.
Well, even if it had been wrong.
Shin had not the slightest intention of taking responsibility.
Abducted twice, saved the world twice, and as a result, nearly killed twice.
Even the method of return was 'being deceived.'
These facts were heavy beyond words.
If magic power disappeared from the world, the Demon Lord and monsters would no longer be born anew. Though no one could know that fact at present, it was a future that would be realized.
Shin, while his anger reached a considerable level, still had a calm part of him somewhere.
The Hero had Sangou identify the sources of magic power within the planet, intending to pluck them out by the roots and put them into Storage Space.
He threw the maid, who had been brought along tied up in a mat, at his feet and left the dismissive remark, 'Do whatever you want with the Prime Minister's punishment.'
Without obtaining anyone's permission, Shin unilaterally left the silent audience chamber.
Next, Shin headed to the treasure vault he remembered, and pushed through by showing the guard a letter with the king's own signature.
After throwing everything in the treasure vault into Storage Space, Shin quickly left the palace and even left the capital.
Then, returning to Sangou via teleportation, Shin ordered from satellite orbit the identification of the positions of the 'Origin of Dragon Vein' that were sources of magic power.
Sangou easily identified the positions, and Shin flew to each location to diligently collect them. This might have been a transformation of this world, a so-called 'turning point.'
"Captain. The source of the mysterious energy is no longer on this planet. But are you sure? Sangou considers it 'a level that would collapse the foundation of civilization.'"
"Earth, the side being abducted, manages without magic. The people of this world should suffer, even as 'compensation to the past Heroes.'"
Due to this action of Shin's, food production across the world would plummet, and except for some exceptions, the sustainable population would become very limited. Of course, Shin did not know that at the time.
Well, even if he had known, given the premise of his handling of past actions, he would probably accept it as 'the responsibility the people of this world must bear.'
And so, the post-processing in the Orze Kingdom ended.
However, a return method was still not found.
Until that was found, perhaps spending time idly wouldn't be bad.
But then, the Hero had a thought.
"The Louvre Empire and the Orze Kingdom have such terrible methods, so perish together. Or suffer."
Was it right to demand that of everyone in this world?
They might not be completely uninvolved, but demanding that of the people called 'demi-humans,' starting with the elf woman, would certainly be harsh.
Therefore, he decided to provide a small service to the areas that would be the main living spaces for the demi-humans.
This led to the earlier situation with Sangou.
"Kichou. Since it's monsters, you can basically go wild. But since there's no natural recovery of magic power, come back for proper refueling. Also, be careful not to get attacked by approaching human settlements. Don't cause unnecessary alarm to the local residents. Please be considerate about that. Other than that, feel free to eliminate monsters."
"Okay! I'm going!"
"Sangou, continue sorting out the large species. And when you find them, send me the info quickly. Well, I'm off too."
"Yes. Leave it to me. And, have a safe trip."
To the seas, to the mountains, or to the forests.
Shin and Kichou flew around the planet, taking down monsters one after another.
As for Shin, he even scattered the seeds of plants from the Gialpha Galaxy that he had kept in Storage Space as food, and also performed watering with water magic and growth promotion magic as a service.
Of course, since they were far from human settlements, it would probably be a little while before these were utilized by the inhabitants of this planet.
However, Shin completely ignored the usual fuss about 'introducing foreign species.'
"Since these are all varieties genetically modified so they can't interfere with the mutation or evolution of native species, there should be no problem, right? Right?"
Thus, by the time Shin and the others finished eliminating all large species, only the weak ones remained.
The threat level of the remaining monsters was at the 'dangerous wild animal' level, so the inhabitants of this world should be able to handle the rest.
"Master. I evolved!"
Kichou's appearance didn't change much in terms of 'shape,' but her eye color had become a light blue.
Also, something like a faint golden aura was emitting from her body, enveloping her entirely.
"Oh, just like the vegetable person's thing. Did you evolve because of anger or something?"
"Master. What is that? I evolved naturally. I don't have any reason to be angry anyway. My species is the Super Divine Dragon."
"No, isn't that definitely the same thing?"
Shin thought that, but refrained from pursuing it further.
"Surely 'II' and 'III' will come too!"
But this kind of excitement never stops!
"Captain. What do we do from here? In about thirty-six hours, the interval for contacting Laura-san will be exceeded."
"Hmm. The way home, right? Sangou, can you think of any good method?"
"If it's a gamble-like method, there is one means. However, I do not recommend it."
"If Sangou calls it 'gamble-like,' it's got to be really dangerous, right?"
That thought naturally crossed Shin's mind first.
"Still, I should at least confirm it."
Should he do it?
Or should he not?
He could just decide after knowing the method, so Shin's thinking wasn't wrong.
"The 'gamble-like' part is scary, but let's hear it. What kind of method?"
"After you protect me with shield magic, I will fire the Hyperspace Cannon at maximum output at point-blank range. We will be thrown somewhere."
"Wait! Where did the 'like' part go? That's nothing but a gamble!"
Shin ended up having to retort immediately.
"Yes. That's why I don't recommend it. However, if repeated many times, I think the possibility of reaching the intended universe is not zero."
"Eh, what's this gacha theory? Is it like 'Probability doesn't matter. Pile in money and keep pulling until you get it; the acquisition rate is one hundred percent!'?"
Involuntarily, Shin recalled the smartphone social games from Japan.
The gacha implemented in PC MMOs might be similar.
Being no stranger to those experiences, Shin might have felt something strongly about Sangou's proposal.
"Sangou does not know what 'gacha' is, but if it means 'continue drawing lots until you win,' then that is correct."
Indeed, the probability was not zero.
The possibility existed, that was a fact.
And with the combination of Shin and Sangou, who had access to unlimited energy, there was no upper limit to the number of times they could try, so they might eventually succeed.
However, the Hyperspace Cannon had a major flaw: it took time to charge.
Therefore, if one ignored the fact that 'depending on the number of trials, an enormous amount of time would be required,' the method wasn't completely out of the question.
"Let's think of other means. We'll keep that method as a last resort for now."
"Master. If we tinker with the Hero summoning circle, maybe we can fix it."
"Oh, really? But I have almost no knowledge about magic circles."
"Where can we get that 'Hero summoning magic circle'? First of all, is it something obtainable just by wishing for it?"
Sangou raised a very valid question.
Since it was clear from Kichou's initial statement that she probably didn't know the magic circle in its unmodified state, this was a natural progression.
Of course, Shin himself didn't have any memory of that magic circle.
"We'll have to get it from someone who knows, either in the Louvre Empire or the Orze Kingdom. Well, the possibility of getting it from the Empire is probably close to zero."
"I suppose. Captain, you are wanted on a wide-area warrant as a serious criminal in that country. If it were revealed that you are 'Jin,' it would be troublesome. The warrant has probably been sent to the Orze Kingdom as well, but I wonder how things stand there?"
"Ah. The Empire has severe discrimination, so they have bad relations with the Orze Kingdom, which has different values. So they might not be dealing with it properly. Even if my identity as 'Jin' were exposed in the Orze Kingdom, it's even possible they might hide me saying 'Good, keep it up!' and provide support."
In response to Sangou's remark, Shin thought for a bit and then gave a plausible prediction.
Well, since there was no precedent for the same person being summoned twice, and Shin's current apparent age was younger than when he was Jin, in reality, it would probably just be mistaken as 'Jin's younger brother or a younger relative.'
First of all, despite having issued a warrant for Jin out of a desperate desire to recover the 'Origin of Dragon Vein,' the Louvre Empire had concluded that 'Jin is already dead and there is no possibility of its return.'
Leaving the affairs of the Louvre Empire aside for now.
At this stage, Shin and the others' options for their next move were narrowed down.
The scene shifts to the Orze Kingdom's palace.
After the discussion stemming from Kichou's proposal, they ultimately decided 'for now, let's try to get information on the Hero summoning magic circle.'
Therefore, Shin visited Marcalin and came to the palace with Kichou.
Incidentally, Shin's appearance was disguised as that of an elderly man using the Ring of Transformation.
There was, of course, a good reason for this trick.
In his child form, the hurdles to even getting an audience would be quite high, and if recognized as the Hero Shin, he might be banned from entering.
"Excuse me. My name is Shin, and I wish to meet with the Chief Court Mage, Marcalin-sama. Ah, I understand you might say 'to someone whose identity is unknown.' Therefore, please just inform him that 'Shin has an urgent and private matter to discuss.' It's fine if the result is no good. Please take this as a small token."
It was the moment the deadly bribery tactic against the gate guards was executed.
And for a simple request like 'just inform,' the ethical sense of the people of this world easily yielded.
After various things, Shin succeeded in meeting Marcalin and obtained the magic circle documents.
What he offered as compensation was three types of seed potatoes, twenty each, of 'Gialpha Galaxy-grown potatoes' that grew easily even in wasteland and could be harvested three times a year.
Marcalin, with his high comprehension, could realize 'how valuable those seed potatoes were for the current Orze Kingdom' without needing Shin to explain the details.
On the other hand, all Shin demanded as compensation was information on a now-useless magic circle.
In a situation where magic couldn't be used, if one were to forcibly activate that magic circle, they would need to prepare either a large number of human lives or magic stones.
Those were not realistic, and what value would a magic circle have for a Hero who couldn't use magic?
There was no longer a Demon Lord to be defeated.
Therefore, an immediate agreement was reached.
With that flow, Shin and Kichou, having achieved their goal, returned to Sangou.
Incidentally, at the parting with Marcalin, a thought about his name crossed Shin's mind, but such things were only trivial.
"If he's a mage, isn't the 'ka' in Marcalin superfluous? In fact, if it's comedy, it should be with a voiced consonant 'ga' to be perfect."
He was thinking quite seriously about something utterly pointless, but that was Shin's secret that no one else knew.
"Hmm. Skills I didn't have as a Hero are effective against magic circles. I'm simply surprised."
That was the truth.
The skill of Foreign Language Comprehension also worked on the magical language of magic circles.
Being summoned as a Hero only grants the common language of this world in the process.
Therefore, as Jin during his Hero era, he hadn't had the time to study magic circles.
In the first place, magic circles were a developing technology, and the Hero summoning circle could only be created with a fairly high level of knowledge.
That 'fairly high' was the problem; by the standards of this world, it was close to 'the realm of the gods.'
In short, it was impossible for current humanity to create something equivalent to the 'Hero summoning magic circle.'
That aside.
Reading and understanding the magical language of a magic circle was a completely different matter from 'rewriting it into a different magic circle with the desired effect.'
To do that, deep understanding and application skills regarding magic circles were necessary.
Shin's intelligence was enhanced by the Hero's power in aspects like 'information processing speed and parallel thinking.'
However, when it came to pure 'comprehension,' 'application,' or 'creativity,' he had no outstanding ability.
Shin himself understood that well.
Therefore, other than acting as an interpreter for deciphering the content, he left everything to Sangou and Kichou.
Having someone properly in charge of brains might have been a blessing of the Hero's fate power.
"Captain. Sangou and Kichou are cooperating to construct a new magic circle, so it seems it will take shape somehow. However, I think the difficulty is too high. I cannot imagine it being possible with human ability. If it is assumed that the summoned Hero returns to his original world, and 'this method is it!' then isn't it essentially the same as having no return method?"
It was the moment an utterly despicable fact was revealed.
Thus, the situation developed into one where the Hero Shin, citing the incident starting with the appearance of the kukkoro maid, ended up scolding the members of the Orze Kingdom.
Ignoring the kingdom's upper echelons who were hanging their heads after the scolding, he chose to strip the planet itself of magic power, and immediately executed it, with the goals of emptying the treasure vault, preventing any future Hero summoning itself, and preventing the Demon Lord's appearance.
After searching for a sure means to return to the world where Rouj and the others were, Kichou's suggestion led them to obtain the Hero summoning circle and begin modifying it.
By accidentally blowing up the moon, they indirectly removed surveillance from the high being, and if they returned to their original world like this, they succeeded in plundering all the Origins of Dragon Vein, leading to a path where the 'Successor,' like the 'Predecessor,' would face punishment.
Can Shin and the others safely return to their original world?
Or rather, is there truly no legitimate method for a summoned Hero to return to their original world?
No one knows the future.
The Hero-sama, having thoroughly obtained what he considered fair compensation for the subjugation of the Demon Lord and various other events, without worrying too much about the people who would continue to live in this world from now on.
Hearing 'Sangou's opinion' that emerged from the magic circle modification by Sangou and Kichou, Shin felt even more malice in the Hero summoning and deepened his disgust.