Gluttony Demon King with the Swampman ~A Man with No Magic Power Who Dreamed of Magic, Wielding Knowledge from His Past Life Through Steady Research and Hard Work to Become the Most Vicious Final Boss~ - Chapter 64.1: The Medical Sect of the Black Rain

Chapter 64.1: The Medical Sect of the Black Rain

The hero vanished from the city of Teranon.

It happened the very night of the Demon King attack.

Just when it seemed like both the hero Sheera and Haro Swampman had taken down the Demon King, by the time the sun came up, Haro had completely disappeared.

The city took heavy damage, sure, but there was still energy in the air. Thanks to the huge news that two out of the seven Demon Kings had been defeated.

Even though their homes got wrecked, the people were able to look forward again. They faced the rebuilding with real strength, all pulling together as one.

But at the same time—

A certain kind of dissatisfaction had started spreading through the city.

“Hey, what the hell is this? How come there’s nothing in the news about the ‘Demon King of Ashes’? That was Haro-sama’s achievement!”

During a break from reconstruction work, one of the resting residents shouted it out.

“Hmm, in this paper it says the ‘Ash’ one retreated because of the aftermath from the fights with ‘Flower’ and ‘Thorns’…”

“No way that’s true! The hero herself said Haro-sama was the one who took down ‘Ash’!”

The source of the bad vibes was the newspapers clutched in their hands.

About a week had passed since the Demon King attack. The story was starting to spread across the kingdom, but almost none of the incoming news mentioned Haro’s name. Anything about the “Demon King of Ashes” got vaguely glossed over in every paper.

And yet, right here in Teranon, Haro had become a huge hero.

Pretty much everyone—including the lord—had turned into a devoted follower of Haro. At this point, there was no way they could accept this kind of information control from the kingdom.

“Tch, the royal family, huh. They’re really that desperate to protect the value of heroes?”

“It’s about Haro-sama’s honor—can’t we do something? He’s the one who saved my precious cows and sheep.”

“Yeah, but… the guy himself is gone now…”

“He disappeared for our sake, I bet. That’s just the kind of person Haro-sama is!”

They just couldn’t swallow it.

One resident glanced off toward the reconstruction site, far in the distance where countless thorns still writhed, and muttered in resignation, “And the hero herself is in that kinda state anyway…”

The Flower Hero, Sheera.

She was still here in the city, helping with the rebuilding. A big celebration for the Demon King defeats was supposed to happen in the capital soon, but she seemed determined to stay until the very last second. Right now, though—

“Ugh… uhh… uuu… Haro-sama, why did you leave me behind… Haro-samaaa…”

—she was sniffling and crying nonstop.

Even though a week had almost passed since Haro left, every so often Sheera would remember and start crying again. While tears streamed down, she kept calmly using her plant control to reinforce half-collapsed buildings.

The one who finally spoke up to her in exasperation was Mizaela, the big-sister figure of the hero party and a mage.

“Hey, Sheera, how long are you gonna keep crying? We’ve gotta leave this city by afternoon.”

“U-uu… Mizaela… but Haro-sama… he’s the one who beat the ‘Demon King of Ashes,’ and yet…”

“Can’t be helped. With Demon Kings showing up now, countries don’t have time to bicker. We need a strong nation that can keep everyone in line. That’s what the value of a hero is.”

“Muu, what’s that supposed to mean. You haven’t even thanked Haro-sama yourself, Mizaela…”

At Sheera’s words, Mizaela looked a little guilty.

“Well… yeah, true… We all owe that kid more than we can ever repay.”

Honestly, she hadn’t even been able to perceive the “Demon King of Ashes”—Mizaela just shook her head at her own uselessness.

If that boy Haro hadn’t been there, she definitely would’ve died. Burned alive without even understanding what was happening.

“…Mizaela.”

“Yeah? What’s up?”

“How many Demon Kings do I have to kill to shut the kingdom up?”

Sheera muttered it so quietly that Mizaela blinked in surprise. Those words didn’t sound like the usual Sheera at all.

“Sh-shut the kingdom up… you mean you want that much influence inside the country?”

“Yeah.”

“One kill is already a huge achievement, but hmm… if you want more, maybe two…?”

“Two? Just two is enough?”

“Uh, no—three, probably.”

The flat, almost eerie tone in Sheera’s usually bright voice made Mizaela shrink back a little.

When she hesitantly threw out a number, Sheera seemed to take it seriously and started quietly repeating the words to herself, weighing them.

“Three… three, huh… If I kill three, then no matter what the kingdom says, I’ll be able to protect Haro-sama, right…?”

“…!”

Mizaela almost stepped back on reflex.

Sheera wasn’t crying anymore. Instead she stared up at Mizaela with big, wide eyes that had lost all their light. Mizaela’s gut screamed—this is bad.

She would do anything.

For the sake of the one person she adored, she could destroy anything.

That was the look of a destroyer in Sheera’s eyes right then.

Meanwhile, that same unsettling mood was starting to spread up to the city’s higher circles too.

The lord’s family—the Viscount Chiltor house.

Ever since Haro healed their relatives with his medical treatment, they’d been openly favoring him, but this incident had finally pushed their feelings all the way to full-blown devotion.

The most serious case was the eldest daughter, Rami Chiltor. A beautiful young noblewoman with platinum-blonde hair.

During the Demon King attack, thorns had pierced straight through her head. She’d been healed by Haro right on the edge of death. Ever since then, Rami had been completely obsessed with him.

“Love your neighbors, care for your livestock, and provide free medical care. That’s the ideal Haro-sama showed us. I saw it with my own eyes. All of you did too, didn’t you?”

Inside the half-ruined fortress owned by the viscount family—nearly half the grounds still swallowed by thorns—several other figures stood alongside Rami.

They were all upper-class people from the city: executives from big trading companies, heads of money-changing houses—everyone whose life Haro had saved during this attack.

Every one of them nodded firmly at Rami’s words of praise for Haro.

“Exactly right. We were witnesses to that miracle.”

“Then it’s our job to spread the word. To tell the world about Haro-sama’s nobility that the kingdom is trying to hide.”

“Yes—and for that—”

Everyone’s eyes turned to one spot.

At the entrance to the room, more than a dozen mages knelt on the floor.

Their faces had all gone pale.

They were the medical practitioners of this city: pharmacists, doctors, and mages from the local medical guild.

“—we’ll have them work themselves to the bone.”

At that calm murmur, they shuddered violently.