69. Quest Complete

※Below was translated by Sephallia. Thank you very much.

“Please everyone, raise your heads.”

Philine-sama spoke as she sat on her throne, and we raised our heads in response. The three of us, Lily-sama, Simone, and I had returned to the Audience Hall in Naa’s palace.

“I am very pleased to see you all return safely.”

“Our apologies that we kept you waiting, Philine-sama.”

“I’ve already been informed you successfully retrieved the dungeon core. According to Lambert, his repairs to the gate will be completed in a day or two.”

“We’ll finally be able to return to Bauer, then.”

Lambert-san was not here with us for the audience. After we’d cleared the dungeon, he’d set off toward the gate to begin the repairs himself. He’d gotten no time to rest and would have to start up right away on another job, but with the situation as it was, our only choice was to rely on him.

“While you all were exploring the dungeon, we received word from other countries giving us a little more information about the demons’ movements.”

As she spoke, Philine-sama’s expression seemed to stiffen.

“It is believed that the mastermind behind this multi-pronged attack is a high ranking demon named Yunu.”

“Does that mean there’s a new Demon Queen?”

“According to Rei-san, who was the one to encounter Yunu first, the demons seem to be treating Yunu as a special existence very much like the Demon Queen. She however, does not seem intent on claiming that title for herself.”

While we explored the dungeon, Philine-sama commanded her mages capable of casting Teleport to visit other countries. As a result we were able to share a bare minimum of information.

“We still don’t know Yunu’s exact goals, but she too is a demon. In all likelihood her final objective is―”

“… The destruction of everything.”

“Yes, that’s likely it.”

Demonkind was an existence that all worked toward the same ultimate goal. To destroy and return everything to nothing. That philosophy left them entirely incompatible with humankind, and though there had been attempts, establishing any sort of dialogue seemed impossible.

“From Rei-san’s observations about the demons, it seems their strategy relies heavily on overwhelming us with sheer numbers.”

“Their numbers?”

“Correct. Rather than a singular powerful entity breaking through a single point of defense, they hope to overrun us simultaneously in multiple locations.”

“In some ways, this sounds like it’ll be harder to deal with than the previous Demon Queen.”

There was some truth to what Simone had just said. In the previous Great Demon War, there existed enemies that individually possessed power orders of magnitudes higher than most humans. However, there were really only a few of them. In response, humanity carefully selected an elite squad to face the Three Demon Dukes and the Demon Queen. The same strategy would not work for us this time.

“That said, prioritizing the enemy commander is a common strategy that I believe would still be effective for us. We’ll continue to gather information and prepare for their next attack.”

“We’ll entrust that to your capable hands.”

With that, we bowed before Philine-sama.

“You must be tired from your foray into the dungeon. We still need Lambert-san’s efforts, but I hope that you all will be able to rest comfortably. The moment repairs are complete, I will send word.”

　◆◇◆◇◆

“…”

Returning to our room, we began to arrange our things. As we did so, I noticed Simone wore a difficult expression.

“Simone? Is something the matter?”

“Hm? Ah, nah, it’s nothing, really.”

Simone superficially laughed it off and continued organizing her things. That continued for a while, but as I’d expected, her hands soon came to a stop and she looked deep in thought.

“If you’re okay with me, I don’t mind listening?”

“Ah, sorry, I’m worrying you, aren’t I…”

“N-No need to be so distant, Simone-chan.”

“… Thanks.”

It seemed Lily-sama had picked up on Simone’s odd behavior too. Despite noticing, likely before I had, I suppose the fact that she hesitated to reach out first was very much like her.

“Are you worried about Lambert-san? He hasn’t gotten a chance to rest ever since we went to the dungeon after all…”

“Nah, I’m not too worried about dad. Despite what my dad looks like, he’s got the stamina. He’s still young too, I mean he wouldn’t normally have a daughter my age.”

Giving a firm response, Simone paused before continuing.

“It’s just, ya know, I can’t help but think that it’s always the demons.”

“Ah…”

I finally understood just what was gnawing at her. I never put much emphasis on it, so I tended to forget but she carried mixed blood between a demon and a human. When demons caused trouble or harm to humans, she couldn’t help but feel a certain way about that. Even though things had just started settling after the incident with Garlemald-sama, the demons had caused yet another incident… Once again fanning the hate toward people who just happened to possess demon blood. People may, once again, call for the total expulsion or even eradication of demonkind.

“Hey, do you think it’s impossible for humans and demons to just get along?”

“L-Lily thinks that would be difficult.”

“Why?”

“O-Our value systems just fundamentally differ… Lily thinks that difference might be too large to bridge…”

I made eye contact with Lily-sama urging her to elaborate further.

“T-To humanity, the basic instinct to exist and survive is fundamental. A-At least for most people.”

“I would agree with that. Of course I’m sure there are some who’ve become pessimistic about life too, but even among them in most cases that would be a temporary result of unfortunate circumstances. I doubt there are many that wish simply and solely to die.”

“R-Right. On the other hand, the demons want to return everything to nothing and see that as their supreme calling. It’s not possible to compromise with a group that wants your complete and total non-existence.”

“…”

Wearing a gloomy expression, Simone was again deep in thought.

“T-The Spirit Church too, at first tried to find a way to appease the demons but were forced to give up. That’s just how deep and wide the ravine between our values are.”

“Lily, so you really think it’d be that difficult for us to come to an understanding with them?”

“T-To be honest, Lily thinks it may be impossible.”

“…”

After a short silence where Simone again seemed to be deep in thought, she opened her mouth as if to break the silence before closing it again. This repeated a few times, but then,

“Then, uhm, ya know? Why did those demons decide to give birth to halves like me?”

“―!”

She’d found the resolve to ask her question. It was a very pointed, difficult question.

“Didn’t you just say the demons all want everything to return to nothing? Then the fact they even participated in the process of childbirth would be contradictory, ya know? Just why were we even born? No, I mean―”

Simone corrected herself, putting the full weight of her anguish into her next words.

“Why were we… even allowed to be born?”

“Simone…”

“Simone-chan…”

As Lily-sama and I both struggled to find any semblance of an answer, Simone’s expression shifted to one of shock as she realized what she just asked us.

“Ah, just kidding! I know there’s no point trying to think too deeply what’s going on in those weird demons’ heads. It’s all simple, in short before they do any more bad stuff, we just gotta take care of them all. Simple right? Simple.”

“Simone, that’s―”

“I’m done packing my stuff, so I’m gonna go and check on dad. Later y’all.”

With that, Simone rushed out of the room.

“… Simone-chan, she’s taking it pretty rough, isn’t she…”

“The recent policies proposed to ostracize demonkind had just been rejected, but demon activity is on the rise again. I don’t know if I can even fathom how anxious she must be.”

Again I was forced to remember what she’d once said. That for those who’ve continually suffered misfortune, they can try and put in as much effort as they can muster, but it still won’t amount to anything. The circumstances of Simone’s birth were not her fault, and no matter how hard she tried, there wasn’t anything she could do to change them either

“Is there… Anything we can do for her?”

“… It’s hard to say, but to the very least, we can remain by her side and share her worries with her. So we can help her bear half, or even just a quarter of the burden she feels.”

I couldn’t help but feel that Lily-sama’s words just now were also partially meant to comfort me.