When I stayed silent for a moment, Xenia quickly added, perhaps interpreting it in her own way.

“I’ll finish my business quickly and re-join you. Just let me know where you’re headed through the communication orb.”

I delayed my response briefly. In the meantime, Neril asked,

“Are you going to meet Dame?”

“Yes. No matter how I think about it, I need to settle this. Don’t worry. I don’t know what your weakness is, but you said Dame threatened to burn it if you ever mentioned the secret pact to me, right?”

“……”

“I’ll just say I found out about it on my own. If my father tries to touch on your weakness, I’ll stop him at all costs.”

Neril didn’t respond for a while. Judging by the shimmer in her eyes, she seemed deeply moved.

“……What exactly do you plan to do?”

“I’m not sure. To be honest, I won’t know until I meet him.”

A worried look spread across Neril’s face.

Xenia, with a slightly mischievous expression, teased her.

“Grandma. That expression really doesn’t suit you, you know?”

“Ha. You got a death wish?”

“Yeah, that expression is way better.”

“……”

“Mr. Mide. Can I go?”

Come on. We were heading to the capital anyway.

[What’s happening in the capital?]

‘Something incredibly massive.’

I let out a small laugh and spoke.

“Alright. But let’s go together.”

“Huh?”

“My next destination is the capital too. Looks like there’s a chance for me to gain some fame there.”

“Mr. Mide, you don’t have to lie for my sake.”

“No, it’s true.”

Neril and Xenia stared at me for a moment. Then, seeing that my expression didn’t waver at all, they nodded.

“So it’s true. What a coincidence.”

“It’s not a coincidence. It’s fortunate. A happy accident.”

I said,

“Of course, I need to focus on gaining fame there. You can move separately if needed.”

“Thank you. I’ll finish my task quickly and come help right away.”

“That’d be great.”

“No, I’m the one who should thank you. But, Mr. Mide…”

She quietly looked up at me.

“You said the capital was your next destination, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Wouldn’t it have been better not to tell me that?”

“Huh? What do you mean?”

“Instead of saying the capital was already your destination, wouldn’t it have been nicer if you just said, ‘I’ll give up my fame for you,’ and chose to accompany me like that?”

……?

Still not following.

[Come on. She’s got a point. Wouldn’t that have touched her deeply if you said it like that?]

‘Huh?’

[Say you’re going for her, and then later it “coincidentally” lines up with your own goal. That has way better dramatic flair.]

‘Oh… I guess that makes sense.’

Thinking back, it does. I hadn’t even considered it that way.

Seeing my blank expression, Neril and Xenia giggled.

“You could’ve fooled me. What a shame.”

“Seriously. He lies to everyone else but never bothers with us.”

“He can’t fool us. Because we’re comrades.”

“So oddly innocent in all the wrong places.”

“Right. But…”

Xenia turned to me with the warmest smile.

“I like you much better this way.”

The next day.

We set off on our journey to the capital.

The carriage was filled with energy.

It was hard to believe that yesterday’s heavy atmosphere had ever existed.

“By the way, what did you do with Gerd?”

“Didn’t kill him, at least.”

“That’s a scary answer.”

“Don’t worry. With Adwin around, I couldn’t exactly go rough on him.”

At my words, Xenia glanced at Adwin.

He was hugging his knees with his arms.

“Hoo… hoohoo. For someone who’s lived through eternity, this is barely anything.”

Xenia remarked,

“Pretty sure it was more than enough of a shock.”

“Half that shock came from your torture, to be honest.”

“Ugh.”

That’s when Offense spoke up.

“Anyway, what’s happening in the capital? I mean, aside from Xenia’s matter.”

“Hm.”

“I know you’re someone who never misses a chance to gain reputation, like Kaeld. Just tell us comfortably.”

[Yeah, I want to hear too.]

Sounded like I heard a hallucination somewhere.

Around this time before the regression, a strange phenomenon occurred in the capital.

Strange might be too mild a word.

‘It was earth-shattering—literally.’

[Oh? If it was that big, Kaeld must’ve gotten involved. What did he do to stop it?]

‘He didn’t.’

[What?]

‘At that time, Kaeld was in the Raynus territory, still deciding whether to recruit Adwin. This incident happened at the same time.’

I imagine Kaeld must’ve agonized a lot over his “path to becoming a hero.” Whether to recruit Adwin or handle the capital’s anomaly.

Which to prioritize.

[It was that big of a deal? As big as recruiting a party-level hero?]

Of course.

I finally opened my mouth to those waiting.

“Soon, a black sun will rise over the capital.”

It was the oracle that made the Demon King of Lies descent a confirmed reality across the continent.

But even before that, the people of the capital had already begun to sense it.

Thanks to the black sun that lit the skies around this time.

The Black Sun.

No one knows what it is.

Before my regression, it rose over the capital for a week, then vanished. It wasn’t resolved—it just disappeared. So its true nature was never discovered.

All that remained were countless rumors suggesting it was a harbinger of the Demon King’s return.

[So you don’t know how to resolve it either?]

‘Right. That’s why I’m heading to the capital a bit early. To gather information beforehand.’

[Seems like you still have time, then.]

I nodded and told everyone,

“Let’s see… If we ride Agril, we’ll reach the capital in two days.. Then, starting from the day we arrive, the black sun will rise two weeks later.”

“It’s a bit late to ask, but… Can you really see the future?”

“More or less.”

“‘More or less,’ he says. Pfft.”

Neril let out a light sigh and changed the subject.

“Well, with that ‘more or less’ ability, tell me this—what exactly is the black sun?”

“Exactly what it sounds like. Two suns in the sky. One is the usual sun, and the other… looks like it’s diseased, black and twisted.”

“That must be a sight.”

“The real sight happens on the ground.”

“Huh?”

“The black sun doesn’t just mess with the scenery.”

I unconsciously gulped at this point. Seeing my expression, the others straightened up as well.

“Those exposed to the black sun’s light will begin to change, little by little.”

“……”

“And in the end… they’ll transform into monsters.”

A silence fell over the carriage in an instant.

Yes.

The true wickedness of the Black Sun lies right here.

Its light turns ordinary, kind-hearted people into monsters.

Adwin, trembling, finally spoke.

“Um, hyung. I think I’ve seen a similar ability in a history book before.”

“You’re probably right.”

“……”

“The third Demon King—the Power of the Demon King of Corruption.”

Neril twitched her eyebrows and responded to my words.

“Indeed… The Demon King of Corruption turned humans into monsters and added them to his army. There were testimonies all over the continent of people having to strike down friends they had just been drinking and laughing with the day before.”

“Yeah. This is just a guess, but the Black Sun might actually be the core of the Demon King of Corruption.”

“Ah. That actually makes sense.”

Unlike the other Demon King cores, the core of the Demon King of Corruption supposedly had no fixed form.

It could transform into rocks, trees, paintings, buildings, and even humans or monsters.

Even the third-generation Hero Party had a hard time locating and destroying that core.

“The core of the third Demon King—in other words, the Gem of Corruption—is a material that can transform into anything. With a bit of imagination, you could even consider the possibility of it turning into a sun.”

A brief silence followed.

Then Xenia asked,

“Mr. Mide. The Demon King of Lies, Idria, definitely implanted the Gem of Desolation into the Martial King, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Then maybe…”

“Not maybe. Definitely. I’m convinced Idria had a hand in the incident that’s about to unfold in the capital.”

“……”

“And considering the cases of the Martial King and Ms. Mariana, Idria must have made contact with whoever is going to be the ‘vessel’ in the capital. Our job is to quickly find that person.”

Neril asked,

“And once we find them?”

“Play it by ear.”

“Haa. I’ve thought this for a while now, but I can’t tell if you’re meticulous or just reckless.”

“Meticulously reckless.”

“…Well, no need to rush things yet. The strategy will change completely depending on who the opponent is.”

Lately, Neril seems to be interpreting my words more favourably.

Well, the others are pretty much the same.

I turned to Xenia.

“As I said briefly earlier, the Black Sun will rise in two weeks.”

“You mean you want me to be done with my business within that time, right?”

“Yeah. There’s an order to how the Black Sun turns people into monsters. It’ll start with those who are mentally and physically weak. Our party won’t be affected, but…”

“The people will suffer the most, huh. Got it. No matter what happens, even if I’m not completely done with my tasks, I’ll re-join you before the two weeks are up.”

“Thanks.”

Xenia shook her head.

“No, I should be thanking you for giving me two whole weeks.”

“Alright. Let me know right away if anything comes up.”

“Will do.”

And so, we refined our general plan.

Then we rode Agril to the capital.

At the gates of the capital, Xenia dropped us off and flew straight to the headquarters of the Holy Knights of Light.

Neril watched the rapidly shrinking figure of Agril and murmured,

“Mide, what do you think will happen?”

“The Black Sun? Or Xenia?”

“Ah… I meant the Black Sun, of course.” Google seaʀᴄh novel⚑fire.net

“Don’t worry. Xenia will come back after wrapping things up neatly.”

“Are you even listening to me?”

Offense chuckled.

“Acting all childish at your age.”

“Right? Mide can be kind of immature.”

“I was talking about you, though.”

“Shut up. You plain-looking thing.”

“That’s not exactly an insult, is it?”

And just like that, we entered the capital.

This was my first time stepping foot in the capital since returning.

Since it’s located in the southern part of the continent, Kaeld’s fame probably still far outshines mine here.

‘Which also means—’

If I handle this case cleanly, it could deliver a critical blow to Kaeld’s reputation.

So critical that recovery would be impossible.

We passed through the main gate and drove the carriage for a while when the sound of a noisy crowd filtered in from outside.

It was loud enough to disturb our conversation, so I eventually opened the window.

“Is it today?”

“They say Sir Patrick Benjamin is really handsome.”

“My daughter totally fell for him. Not that someone like him would ever be involved with us.”

“Hey, hurry up. It’s almost time.”

That was the gist of the chatter.

Patrick Benjamin?

I feel like I’ve heard that name before my regression.

Just then, Offense spoke.

“Now that you mention it, it is about that time. He was preparing for it when Kaeld and I were staying in the capital.”

“Huh?”

“Patrick Benjamin is the current vice-commander of Alkahad.”

Ah, right.

That was the name.

I had dismissed it before since he had nothing to do with our demon-slaying quests prior to regression.

“I think he was around twenty-two years old.”

“Wow. A hero remembers even the name of Alkahad’s next commander?”

“I’m not Neril, you know.”

“Hmm. Fair point.”

Neril frowned.

“Are you saying I’m ignorant lately?”

“No. Not lately. But you were like that when we first met, though.”

“Can you not say that with such a serious face?”

“Then let me ask. Do you know who Patrick is?”

Surprisingly, Neril nodded.

“He’s the vice-captain of Alkahad.”

“Offense just explained that.”

“Fine, I don’t know who Patrick is. But I do know the surname Benjamin.”

Huh?

I was about to ask more when—

Whinny!

The coachman brought the carriage to a stop and said,

“Ladies and gents, I’m afraid we can’t go any further. The crowd’s too dense.”

“Is there no other route?”

“There’s only this path to the inn you are headed. But I know another inn that’s better. Would you like me to take you there instead?”

A well-practiced coachman, clearly.

He’ll probably get a nice commission from that other innkeeper.

I smirked and nodded.

“Sure. Consider our tip your referral bonus.”

“Oh my, you saw right through me. But honestly, the food and rooms are better over there. I’ll take you right away.”

I told him to go ahead and turned my head.

Then I spotted Adwin.

He was pressed so close to the window his face was practically imprinted on the glass.

“What are you doing?”

“Fufu. What is it that they seek to see? What do they yearn for? The collective yearning of these commoners is amusing enough to stir my heart.”

“You want to go check it out?”

“Ah, yes.”

He quickly returned to his normal self and mumbled,

“I usually don’t go out much. And it’s my first time in the capital. To see all these people gathering like this… it’s fascinating.”

“Hmm.”

I scratched my head.

There was something scheduled around this time… Ah!

“The inauguration ceremony.”

At my words, Offense nodded.

Neril asked,

“Inauguration?”

“The citizens mentioned Patrick Benjamin earlier, right? And with this kind of crowd, like a festival… connecting the two leads only to one answer: inauguration.”

“You mean he’s being promoted from vice-captain to captain?”

“Exactly.”

“I see. That kid’s descendant is already becoming a captain. Time really flies.”

Suddenly, my ears perked up.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep