This Hero is Sleeping!

A white light flashed around the fountain at the center of Soleda, and in the blink of an eye, four people splashed over the bricks like a dropped fish-cake.

"Woah?"

"Hah!"

The passerby gasped and shuddered, but no one approached them. The crowd had waned thanks to the night and the lights had been dialed down a good notch, leaving them with a much smaller audience than their stunt would have attracted.

Groaning, Elric hopped off from above the group and stepped to the side. He stretched his back and then his hands above his head as the others winced from the sudden teleport.

"Haah, I\'ll kill for a bed right now."

Claude was the second to recover. His body was riddled with cuts, shallow and deep, in his attempt to protect the other three. He had been largely successful, but it came at a cost.

Nonetheless, the young man, already used to such pain, stood up and stretched as well.

"I am hungry…" he muttered.

"WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT!?"

Coming in with a curveball was Puzo! Still covered in his cloak, the man had just a few scratches on him. He immediately got to his feet, did a panicked little dance in all three-sixty degrees, and then lent his hand to the lady on the ground.

"My lady, are you alright?! J-just what is going?"

Wiping her forehead, Erika took Puzo\'s hand and stood up.

"That thing… we almost died."

Perhaps, it weren\'t these two that threw the curveballs but Elric and Claude that weren\'t throwing straights.

Being scared for your life was normal!

"That thing…" Elric, taking the opportunity, wore a melancholy smile and flicked his hair for suspense when Erika interrupted them.

"Wait. Let\'s talk elsewhere."

And with that command, off they set toward the hotel that Puzo had booked. It wasn\'t ways off from their spot and was quite lavish, enough to house the archmage hero and Puzo\'s liege.

Puzo walked up to the counter and asked for another room, the hoteliers gladly indulged for a hefty sum and booked they had their fourth room.

From their way up the lift to their journey toward the rooms, Elric kept up his melancholy look to not fall out of character and miss his chance.

"I am too bloodied, let\'s meet up in five. Elric, come on."

He kept up the pose up yet.

While waiting for Claude and even bathing on his own, his pose didn\'t fall. They changed, had some tea, and then went over to Puzo\'s room along with Erika, all the time his pose still up.

"Then…" Circled around the table, all of them sat together.

At last.

At long last.

He could drop the pose.

"Humph." Elric scoffed. His face muscles were about to start twitching. "That thing… wash chocolate drive— AK!"

He flubbed it nonetheless!

Elric grasped his chest and fell on the table.

Man down, man down.

Well this one, they were just going to let be.

Claude faked a cough and the other two promptly ignored their last companion.

"Erika," Claude said. "You know that thing was, right? Bats, mist, and blood, there\'s only one thing that comes to mind."

Erika nodded.

"Vampire."

"V-vampire? You mean those creatures?" Puzo asked. "W-why would those beings be here! Aren\'t they immortal?"

Elric\'s ears twitched.

Immortal? Vampire? Cool as all hell! Reinvigorated, Elric sat up at once and crossed his legs.

"So it was a vampire. How did the chocolate attack not work?"

"You fucker! You wanted me to die didn\'t you?" Erika snapped. He was the one who told her to throw a chocolate at the vampire.

"No, it\'s probably because you didn\'t use a good brand."

"Excuse me? There\'s barely chocolate in this world, I used the best!"

"Ahem," Puzo coughed this time and brought them back. "W-well, my lady, shouldn\'t we run away and tell the knights of this city? A vampire before the Maris festival… it\'s going to be inane."

Erika shook her head.

"We can\'t. It is a shame, but the princess of Zarak needs this deal to go through."

Politics Claude wasn\'t aware of seemed to be in play here. But he didn\'t truly care. Whether these other heroes died or were killed by him, it was all the same. Erika was included in that.

That the vampire running about had already killed three, he was also certain that whatever Erika had in hand was related to many lives as well.

It was.

Suffocating.

It was all because of those damned gods. If they could bring them here, why were they turning a blind eye to such problems?

Claude covered his face with hands.

There were not only negatives to this. He could probably get a read on the movements of his enemies and plan his revenge out well. Even if not on the heroes.

On those damn gods of this world.

He wanted to get revenge.

But before that. Before it all.

What mattered was himself and Elric. As long as they\'re good, as long as they\'re alive, as long as they\'re alright.

He would take any steps to ensure that it won\'t change.

As long as they won\'t be hurt, he was willing to stay.

"Claude?" Erika called. "Are you alright?"

"That deal," Claude said. "What is it about. Tell me now, and then I\'ll consider accompanying you. Or both us and Kone are going away. Adventurers are allowed to abandon missions if the contractor is hell bent on dying."

"We can\'t tell you that—" Puzo tried to speak up, but stopped when Erika raised her hand.

She took in a deep sigh, and tapped the top of Elric\'s head too to bring him back to attention.

"Since both of you are heroes, you should hear me out."

"Huh? Me?" Elric muttered, he was annoyed and being distracted. "Yap to yourself, why would you disturb me?"

"Excuse me?" Erika asked.

"This woman has some serious problems."

Erika looked around in exasperation before shaking her head and turning back to Claude.

"Fine, I\'ll tell you as much as I can. You must already know, but just like there are humans, elves, dwarves and whatnot with their gods… there are also, demonic races and their own demonic gods…"

Claude nodded. He had heard as much in the church of Ephis when he was still a hero.

Just like gods flourished on the prayers and hopes of humans… demonic gods cherished desire and pain.

"A great evil lurks in the horizon… The demonic races far in the northern continent are selecting a new demon king…"

They were here to battle the evil that lurks in the horizon.

"So this demon king—"

"—If you said you\'re going to tell us the truth," Elric intervened. "Then do that. Don\'t hide stuff thinking we won\'t notice."

Claude was stunned by Elric\'s sudden sharp remark.

That boy was always much smarter than him.

Erika seemed to have flinched too at Elric\'s remark. It was clear that something was being hidden.

"What do you mean, Elric?" Claude asked, perhaps, hoping to understand what nudged him onward.

"Demons and humans, gods and demonic gods, they are in equilibrium and that\'s why this civilization has flourished as much as it has. It\'s an assumption, but if beings like gods were so bothered by a demon king then there is no way that this world would have come even halfway to where it is."

"You mean?"

"There\'s something else, isn\'t it?"

Erika sighed.

And then, she nodded.

"You\'re right. There\'s something deeper, a much worse problem."

"My lady—"

"Puzo, I am telling it to them."

"You can\'t—"

Puzo was shut down sternly by Erika, and forced to quieten down. After all, she was the one in power.

"You guessed right. This trade is about the thing that prompted us to be brought here… the \'danger\' at the horizon… The gods call it…"

A gulp sounded in the room.

"Demonic Dark Desire."