The NTR Hero Knelt Before The Demon King – Chapter 10

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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: selkie
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Torare and the hero’s party’s women temporarily escaped from their crisis by sacrificing Terra.

At that moment, they felt a sense of discomfort knowing they had betrayed a friend they had shared life and death with, but among them, there was not a single person who regretted their actions.

In their minds, a common thought was taking root…

The thought that it was ‘an unavoidable situation.’

Torare’s assertion that sacrificing one person, Terra, could eliminate the overwhelming debt that would soon come due was what led the other three to choose this course despite their hesitation.

From the start, there was a relative distance between Terra, a beast warrior, and the women, who were human and elf, due to the invisible wall of racial differences.

Moreover, considering her high value as a top-tier beast warrior, a significant portion of the remaining debt could be cleared.

Even if they had to work as mercenaries or adventurers for at least ten years, they could handle almost half of their debt in one go.

Choosing to sacrifice a not-so-close comrade to reduce their suffering time by nearly half was a tempting option they ultimately could not refuse.

“I’m sorry, Terra. But there was no other choice. We need to survive too, right? For the next month, I’ll pray for you. And don’t worry, the man you loved, we’ll make sure he’s happy.”

“I’m sorry. We had no choice but to do this to survive. Please forgive us…”

“Isn’t that how the world works? Don’t hold too much resentment against us. After all, you and we were competitors. I planned to get rid of you someday anyway. And thank you. This reduces our lodging from every four days to every three days.”

The women of the hero’s party expressed their sincere regret and gratitude to the comrade who had been sacrificed for them.

They felt relieved knowing that, for a while, they would not receive any debt collections, and they began discussing their future while staying close to Torare, who had saved them from danger once again.

“So, master, where do we go from here?”

“First, we need to return to the imperial capital and report. We shouldn’t stay silent and get caught; that would make things worse.”

“But won’t that put us in danger? If they find out we failed the Demon King subjugation mission, they’ll hold us responsible in some way…”

Aileen and Amelda expressed concern over Torare’s suggestion to report the situation honestly.

In response, Torare shook his head slowly and spoke to them.

“In a situation like this, it’s better to go and tell them ourselves. That way, we can minimize our faults and shift all the responsibility onto the hero.”

“N… No?”

“What do you mean? To shift responsibility onto the hero…”

The hero’s party women began to show interest in Torare’s seemingly thoughtful words, and Torare cautiously shared what he had been contemplating over the past few sleepless nights.

“There’s an old saying: ‘The dead don’t speak.’ The hero is already dead, having fallen to the Demon King, and we must survive by any means necessary. Wouldn’t it be better to report that we couldn’t defeat the Demon King because of him and Terra?”

“But… even so, tarnishing the honor of the dead…”

“I agree.”

“!?”

In a moment of hesitation due to her conscience, Amelda wavered.

However, Aileen firmly interrupted her and expressed her support.

“The dead are dead, and the living must live, right? More importantly, what we originally intended to do was to stab Elron in the back and steal his accomplishments. Why hesitate now to betray him?”

“Th-that’s… but…”

“That’s a valid point. And strictly speaking, we’re in this situation because he couldn’t defeat the Demon King. It’s just embellishing the story; there’s no need to overthink it.”

“…”

Aileen and Shude voiced their agreement with Torare’s strong opinion.

Having received agreement from the majority, Amelda could no longer argue further.

For her as an elf, the honor of the dead was regarded as more important than that of the living, but as she was already on this journey with them, she had no choice but to follow her comrades’ opinions.

“Alright, then we’ll report it this way, and from now on, let’s make sure our stories match. It would be troublesome if we ended up telling different stories and got caught in a lie.”

“Yes, master.”

“Umm… ah… understood…”

“Got it.”

Having decided on their course of action, they immediately began moving toward the capital.

Offering a slight gratitude to the reliable ‘hero,’ who continued to serve as a shield for them even after death…

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Clad in ornate black armor that enveloped my entire body, holding a black greatsword, I gazed at the village before me.

“Is this the place… the one in question…”

The location where I had arrived under the Demon King’s orders,
was bustling with numerous ships docked, and even at this moment, many goods were being transported. It was evident that tight security was in place.

Port village Rob.

One of the villages the hero’s party passed through in the original story,
it served as a major stronghold for the troops attacking the demon race’s territory, as well as a supply base.

“In the original story, it was just an unfortunate event, a passing village, but seeing it in person, it’s not ordinary. Although it’s called a village, its scale is almost at the level of a city.”

Rob village was vast, with warehouses everywhere, still loading and unloading massive amounts of goods.

Taking in the view from the mountain peak, I once again turned to the small-framed demon beside me to confirm the situation.

“Our task is to destroy the military supplies departing from that city, right?”

“Yes, hero. I’ll say it again, do not attempt any funny business. If you show any signs of betrayal here, you have the Demon King’s orders for immediate execution.”

With a small stature that barely reached my waist, sporting black horns protruding from the helmet, and clad in purple armor, the demon seemed not particularly threatening at first glance.

However, I remembered that this one was one of the Demon King’s officers I had seen in the Demon King’s castle before, and he answered my question with a cold voice that carried a hint of frost.

‘Even though a considerable amount of time has passed since we came this far, they still seem on guard. By the way, I wonder if this one is a man or a woman…’

Due to the magic on the helmet, it was hard to distinguish their gender just from the voice.

In fact, I had thought the Demon King was definitely male until she revealed her true face without the helmet.

It seemed there was some background setting I was unaware of, but since a male voice was used in the original, this was to be expected.

Anyway, this officer had been watching me closely and hadn’t even taken off their helmet the whole way here, so it was impossible for me to discern their exact gender at this moment.

‘Well, anyway, that’s not the important issue. For now, the problem I need to focus on lies over there, not here.’

Setting aside my thoughts about this demon officer, I turned my gaze back to the village Rob and began to seriously contemplate how I should proceed.

The mission given by the Demon King to test me.

In itself, it was a relatively simple task of waiting here and then ambushing the military supply vehicles coming from the village.

For me, who possessed the power of the hero, this wasn’t a difficult task.

However… this was merely a factor for the bare minimum task completion.

At this moment, my goals were far from simple.

‘Since I’ve already decided to discard my humanity… if I’m going to betray, I should do it thoroughly.’

What I needed now was to solidify the mind of the Demon King… no, at this very moment, the mind of this officer beside me who was casting suspicious glances.

And to achieve that,

I was determined to put forth my utmost effort and deliver the best results in this mission.

To lay a solid foundation for my revenge against the hero’s party, who might be somewhere out there.

And to finally take my revenge on the ‘bastard’ I genuinely wanted to kill from the original…