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Of course, I do.

That guy is…

"My dad…"

He was my adoptive father's name. Chapter 6: The Arrival of the Demon Lord

An unexpected situation occurred.

Well, my life is nothing but unexpected situations.

The time limit mentioned by Maris was one month.

Despite being a demon lord, the last days I could spend as a human passed without incident.

I didn't become a demon lord, and Maris didn't appear.

Nothing happened.

Moreover, even though a month had passed and now three days had gone by.

Confused and jittery within the royal castle, I was astounded in many ways.

At the very least, I couldn't give up or feel relieved until Maris appeared and said something like,

"Okay, now you're going to become a demon lord!" or,

"Ah, sorry. You weren't actually a demon lord."

"?!"

Sitting on the bed, arms crossed, I inadvertently fell into thought.

Not that thinking it through would make sense of anything,

"...Am I not really a demon lord?"

That was the only conclushion I could come to.

After all, I had only spoken with Maris for one day.

That must have been a nightmare borne from the exhaustion and near-death experience during the intense battle with Zeranium.

That explanation made more sense.

It's absurd, anyway.

A demon lord born from a human.

And that being me.

"...haha."

Wow, I've been quite pitiful lately, huh?

Thinking of myself as a demon lord.

Embarrassingly enough.

"I am the demon lord."

How embarrassing a misunderstanding.

Well, more than a misunderstanding, that's what Maris told me.

But it's embarrassing to take it at face value.

Somewhere in my heart, I thought I wasn't just an ordinary person.

"Sigh."

What an ironic story.

Me, who wanted to be a hero, feeling relieved to confirm I'm just an ordinary person.

I guess roles like "villager" or "soldier," just one of the many, suit me best.

What's wrong with being ordinary?

As I was lost in thought, a gentle knock came, followed by,

"Lord Crow... I have something to report..."

When I heard Platanus's voice from outside the room, I couldn't shake the bad feeling.

I knew from his tone that it wouldn't be good news.

"The Time Sword has...?"

"Yes. It has suddenly disappeared from its storage location."

Platanus entered the room to report that the Time Sword, the only saintly sword among those we owned that did not have an owner, had mysteriously vanished from its storage spot.

Platanus and I were sitting across from each other at the table we usually use for playing chess with Holly.

Involuntarily, I began to fiddle with a chess king piece on the table.

"I was preoccupied with menial tasks and didn't notice its disappearance until it was too late. We don't even know when it went missing. I apologize... This might be an irredeemable mistake."

"It's not your fault, Platanus. We were just too busy..."

Despite saying this, the situation might be quite serious.

We now possess all the saintly swords except for the Time Sword.

The strength and number of saintly sword wielders we have are impeccable.

As Holly mentioned, even considering the forces for the demon lord's subjugation, our capabilities are not just sufficient; they are excessively so.

In other words, the disappearance of one of the saintly swords at this point shouldn't be a big issue.

Especially since the Time Sword, after Zeranium's death, did not choose a new owner, our combat strength hasn't diminished at all.

Yet, the problem is that it was the Time Sword that went missing.

The same saintly sword that Zeranium used, albeit at half strength due to Holly's presence, to incapacitate Shion, the hero, and overwhelm Amaranth on his own.

Its disappearance is ominous.

"...What do you think caused the Time Sword to disappear?"

"There are several possibilities. Firstly, it could simply have been stolen by thieves. It was stored in the treasury, but compared to the other saintly swords, which their owners always kept close, it was somewhat negligently stored."

"That sounds plausible. We've started to dominate this world with Shion at our center, and it's begun to become apparent to those around us. To disrupt or even to negotiate with us, having even one saintly sword would be advantageous."

"Yes. However, in that case, there's no need for concern. The Time Sword's ability to manipulate time and its close combat capabilities are formidable, but likely..."

"It's more about Zeranium's skill than the sword's performance. No one else wielding the Time Sword could unleash such power."

"Exactly. Another possibility is that the sword teleported to its next owner. After Zeranium's death left the Time Sword without an owner, it might have found a new suitable wielder and teleported to them."

"Even if that's the case, it's not a problem. Either way, it's not a wielder stronger than Zeranium."

My persistent caution towards Zeranium prompted Platanus to silently nod in agreement.

Our concerns were the same, it seemed.

Indeed, no matter whose hands the Time Sword falls into, it couldn't pose the same threat as when Zeranium wielded it.

Certainly, Zeranium was a genius, but in terms of talent, the other saintly sword wielders were not inferior.

Especially Platanus and Amaranth, who can handle multiple saintly swords simultaneously, have the potential to surpass Zeranium in the future.

However, Zeranium's overwhelming strength was more a product of years of accumulated experience than mere talent.

Maintaining his physique for over five hundred years through time manipulation with the Time Sword and never neglecting his training, catching up to Zeranium in terms of skill or level is near physically impossible.

That's a realm unreachable unless someone with equal or greater talent uses the same method to train for hundreds of years.

"...The other possibility is..."

Platanus hesitated for a while before speaking, clearly finding it difficult to say.

"That Zeranium isn't dead."

"...That would be the worst-case scenario..."

"Yes... And it's also the most likely one."

"Really... Just when one problem goes away, another appears..."

"One problem?"

"Nevermind."

Just as I was feeling a bit relieved from the anxiety of potentially being the demon lord, this happened.

My life really could take any turn.

"Well, even if Zeranium is alive, the situation isn't as bad as before, right?"

With Shion and Holly always together, their combined power is always at its peak.

Their strength is so formidable that even Zeranium's time manipulation wouldn't stand a chance against it.

Plus, now we have Amaranth, Cineraria, and Jasmine, enhancing our forces even further.

Considering the situation when Shion was rendered incapable of fighting due to time stop, and we were nearly wiped out, the current scenario doesn't seem as dire.

"Indeed, you're correct. However, that's if we assume those three are on our side."

"What? You mean Amaranth and the others? You still can't trust them?"

"Lord Crow. I pride myself on being a strategist, so I always prepare for the worst-case scenario. The near wipeout we experienced was due to our lack of preparation..."

"Ah..."

"I can't fully trust anyone."

"...So, what's your worst-case scenario, Platanus?"

"Zeranium's cause of death was being restrained by zombies controlled by Cineraria and then directly hit by the demonic sword magic used by Amaranth."

"We all saw Zeranium obliterated right before our eyes."

"However, what if that entire battle was an act? To make us believe and accept Amaranth and the others as allies, they pretended to kill Zeranium. We might have let three extremely dangerous beings into our midst. Especially allowing Amaranth, who can fight on par with the hero Shion, to stay close to her is extremely reckless."

That was my suggestion, so it basically negates my idea, but frankly, it was a solid point.

If those three were still Zeranium's close aides, pretending to be our allies, we would be doomed from the inside.

However,

"It's not possible."

I stated it definitively, without any basis.