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Chapter 306 – Welcome to the Impregnable Demon King Castle (Part 2)

306 – Welcome to the Impregnable Demon King Castle (Part 2)

「~~Daah! So annoying!」

We managed to break through the troublesome reporters and gathered in one of the hotel’s rooms.

Alba sits down on the sofa while scratching his head with a disgusted look on his face.

「So rude…」

The elf Lily has the same attitude as usual, but her eyes are showing signs of fatigue.

「This time, I can understand even how you feel, Alba. Even though they say they’re gathering material about the Festival Contest, what those reporters want to know about is Lem.」, says Lark as he pours water into the cup from the room’s pitcher and drinks it slowly.

Regarding Lem’s true identity, it seems that Mr. Fellow has pulled some strings and made it so that everyone now agrees that he’s a distant relative of Lucifer, but that is not what all these reporters have flooded in here for.

「Such poor taste… All they want to ask is 『how do you feel now that the Black Sorcerer you kicked out of your party has now defeated the strongest Demon King in the world?』」

Bella sums it up neatly.

That battle had been very shocking and inspiring for many people, but the way people are isn’t changed so easily.

There were those who made a fuss thinking that if Lem was so strong after all, the fact that the Fenix Party kicked him out was proof of their incompetence. This thought became quite popular.

Alba in particular is getting a particularly cruel treatment, as he’s being heavily slandered on the internet based on a video of him saying that he was the one who urged Lem to leave the party.

I have no intention of defending the stance Alba had at that time, but back in those days, most of the audience and reporters supported his judgment.

However, after this battle, Alba did an about-face, so the audience and reporters are now targeting him.

They once praised his judgment as a righteous decision, pretending our opinion didn’t even exist..

How convenient for them, isn’t it?

「Oh, don’t get angry, Fenix. That’s just the way the world is.」

Alba laughed as if he had guessed what I was thinking by looking at my face.

「Well, even if you take away the fact that your personality is easy to be disliked, Alba, it’s still a bit cruel.」

「Right? They’re so noisy, but I don’t care if the world wants to flame me.」

Our eyes widen at Alba’s response to Lark’s remark.

「Yeah, that’s right. Of course. I called him incompetent. And the reality was different. I can’t help being called out for saying something wrong. The world isn’t so generous to let you yell whatever you want without having to own up to it. Anyway, let’s consider ourselves lucky that the flame is focused only on me.」

Alba may speak rudely, but he is by no means a bad person.

He was the first to speak to me when I was still unfamiliar with the school.

He’s someone I can call my friend, right next to Lem.

The fact that his attitude towards Lem became quite radical as their relationship deteriorated, but apart from that, he’s a man who puts the party first.

「Sure enough, thanks to all the criticism getting focused on Alba, there’s nothing on the rest of us.」

Before I knew it, Bella had already activated the room’s terminal, and was browsing the net.

As a matter of fact, if Alba hadn’t made such a particularly conspicuous remark, and then expelled Lem from the party, the whole party would be getting all of the criticism instead.

As a result, we can say that thanks to Alba becoming the single “bad guy” the rest of us have completely avoided any and all kinds of slander.

「Well, back then, I didn’t think I was making a mistake. Lem really couldn’t go all out as a member of our party, right? If you look at the results, it’s because he left us that he was able to make such great progress. 」

「And precisely because he left the party, you two got to join forces twice during the Festival Contest, huh?」

Alba clicks his tongue at Lark’s teasing remark.

「Shaddup. You got yourself done in protecting that guy.」

「…Well. Seeing someone is so brilliant and still being so stubborn not to acknowledge that person is kind of stupid if you ask me.」

「Apart from that — Oi Bella, open our channel.」

「Sure, I don’t mind…」

As Alba stands up and approaches the terminal, everyone’s eyes naturally turn to it.

「Look, our videos are getting more views overall, aren’t they? Especially those where Lem appears as well.」

It’s exactly as Alba says.

We are the fourth best party in the world, so the number of views on our videos has always been high, but they have been increasing to a surprising degree on top of that.

「Come to think of it, there was talk of rebroadcasting the capture of the “Impregnable Demon King Castle”.」

Just as Lark said, now that it turned out that the battle at the 10th Floor had been against monsters actually led by Lem, it was attracting attention again.

「If they wanna flame me on the net, let ‘em. It’s not like I’m trying to fight back like I’ve committed some kind of crime. It’ll end someday. So let’s focus on the good side of all this.」

「That’s right, if the fact that Alba is getting some hate alone is making our view count skyrocket, no one here’s going to complain.」

「Oi oi, newbie. You’re getting more and more cheeky day by day, aren’t you?」

Even though Alba’s eyebrows are twitching, Bella’s face remains cool.

「She’s just learned how to deal with you, that’s all.」, says Lily in a whisper.

「Anyway, I get what you’re saying. In a way, we’re getting attention. So you’re saying we should take this chance to put that attention to good use from now on.」

「That’s right. So, let’s go to a dungeon.」

If we capture a dungeon now, it will attract more attention than ever before.

Of course, some people will watch our capture just to look for ways to criticize us, but that won’t change what we do.

「That sounds fine, but where?」

Everyone looks at each other after Lark’s question.

And then, all eyes are on me. On the party leader, the “Flame Hero”.

「From the beginning, we’ve been training for a rematch against the “Impregnable Demon King Castle”. So let’s resume that training. Now, if we want to get a lot of attention, we should go to dungeons with a high degree of difficulty. In other words, the Northern, Southern, Eastern and Western Demon King Castles.」

「Ha, nice! Then, after we’ve captured all of them, we’re gonna get our revenge at Lem’s place!」

Alba slams his fist onto his other palm, making a loud sound.

「Yeah. No matter how they’re looking at us, this is a great opportunity for us. Let’s capture lots of dungeons from now on and charm even those who criticize us. And then –」

I look around at my comrades.

“Warrior” Alba, “Paladin” Lark, “Hunter” Lily, and “Frost Hero” Bella.

Together with these friends —

「We’ll become number one.」

Even if Lem and I have taken different paths, our dream will not disappear.

It lives on from here on out.

◇

「Umm… As for that matter, we have a waiting time of several months to make a reservation, so at the earliest… Ah, we just got another interview request… things are so busy now…」

「I wonder if the Dungeon Boss would panic like that?」

As I find myself at wits’ end at the office in the “Elementary Level・Beginner’s Dungeon”, my centaur maid and childhood friend Kei is looking down at me in disgust.

「Kei! I’m so glad you’re here, could you help me with some stuff…?」

「Yeah, sure. I can’t bear to see our Lord Pig getting tricked again. Give me all the contracts and written requests.」

I was once tricked by Fellow into signing a contract where he would lend me money to save the dungeon from financial difficulties, but the dungeon was almost taken away by him.

Since then, Kei has been teasing me about it whenever she’s had the chance.

She seems to be having a lot of fun with that.

「Uh… I-I’d rather you stopped calling me “Lord Pig”!」

「『While I say that, I’ve also been very excited about verbally abusing my childhood friend』.」

「Please don’t speak as if you were the voice of my inner feelings or something.」

「By the way, Lord Pig.」

That “Lord Pig” thing is really sticking around, huh…

「W-what?」

「Things are hectic around here, but it’s only temporary. Don’t ever fool yourself into thinking that this is thanks to our own effort.」

Only then did Kei’s gaze become sharper and more serious than usual.

「Yeah, don’t worry about that.」

Right now, the “Elementary Level・Beginner’s Dungeon” that I manage is very busy.

Day after day, adventurers are making capture reservations, and there is a flood of requests for TV interviews.

However, this should not be mistaken for our own effort.

This was undoubtedly thanks to Mr. Lem’s influence.

This was thanks to him summoning both Kei and me during the final round of the All-Heaven Festival Contest.

「That’s right, you weren’t able to destroy most of the stars.」

「Ugh. Well, I certainly didn’t have the ability to stand out among all those members!」

Even though it was thanks to Mr. Lem backing us up with his Black Sorcery, I managed to crush some of the stars.

But even then, everyone else, including Kei — that is, Orobas, destroyed more.

「I’m just kidding. Anyway, it’s fine if you can correctly recognize that this current restlessness is temporary」

Thanks to some celebrities’ referrals, we’re having a temporary increase in notoriety.

However, the reputation we’ve gained through that isn’t due to our own ability.

While rejoicing in our good fortune, it is important to make an effort to turn this into an opportunity to win customers through our own ability.

「I know that. Besides, even if the number of customers recedes from now on, we won’t look down anymore. We are strong. We’ve been toughened. As long as we don’t forget that, we can overcome any hardship.」

By making steady efforts, we can put managing this dungeon right back on track.

It will solidify its position as a dungeon for beginners as well as “for all levels”.

Kei has a very unusual smile on her face as a result of my remarks.

「…Oh, you’ve started to say cool things, haven’t you — Master?」

「K-Kei…! J-just now…」

「I didn’t say anything, you stupid pig.」

「At the very least put the “Lord” in front of it!」

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