< Evade the Hero and Flee! 199 #23. Policy Meant for My Dream! (6) >

#6 Their circumstance: Ria el Nermia’s circumstance

I was packing my bag. Although not that large, the bag still swallowed up a surprising amount of luggage once I pushed everything down with all my strength.

“Spare clothing and underwear, and then.. food and water..”

I checked and re-checked the luggage while consulting the list of things I wrote earlier. The trip was supposed to be a lengthy one. It wouldn’t hurt to be cautious, right?

Yes, preparing thoroughly is probably the wisest since no one knows what might happen. Riiiight. For instance..

“Ria!”

Bang!

My old classmate, currently the demon king’s lackey despite being a human hero, kicked open my door and invaded my room! Yes, things like this are a real possibility!

“Bind him.”

“Kuwaaahk?! H-hey, hold up!”

I used the preinstalled magic circle in front of my door to bind the hero. Metal chains shooting out from the floor wrapped around his body, causing my old classmate to cry out in despair.

“You’re running away alone?! Alone?!?!”

“Ng? But, don’t you have plenty of prior records of escaping by yourself? And now that I’ve looked at you, isn’t this eerily similar to how I was so viciously tied up by your blinded-by-food self all those years ago? Ah, ahhh~.. I was so sad back then. How could you tie up a weak young girl and even put cuffs on her.. This is your punishment for back then.”

“H-hey, wait a second! Didn’t that happen, like, a decade ago or something?! Just how long are you going to bite my head for that?!”

Of course I couldn’t forget it. He dared to put handcuffs on a woman, nay, a young and impressionable girl like me, after all! Having said that, I could have forgiven the hero since the circumstances back then were pretty extreme.

..If only he had cuffed me in a ‘normal’ manner, that is!

He slapped six cuffs on my slender wrists and seven of them on my ankles! That feeling of utter helplessness as my legs got tightly bound, and I couldn’t do anything other than count the rising number of cuffs! I’ll probably remember that feeling right up until my final breath!

“You have done something cruel to a frail young girl back then.”

“A frail.. girl?”

The hero muttered as if he was doubting his hearing. He wasn’t acting but being genuine just then. So, I..!

Grit!

..I gritted my teeth and hurled several choice magic spells in Swinn’s way.

Not stopping there..!

“C-r-u-s-h him!”

“Kkuweeek?!”

I threw a nearby book at him and activated another spell simultaneously. It was a spell to explosively increase the weight of an object. I even used a magic stone for it, so the book’s increased weight should be heavier than a massive boulder.

“S-save me..!”

“Aren’t you a hero? A symbol of invincibility? I know you won’t die from this, so behave yourself. And don’t make a ruckus, either.”

Snap!

I snapped my fingers and made his screams inaudible.

“I was right. My skills have gotten better lately.”

***

“..And that is the current situation of the demon continent, oh, the great king.”

Belegrea finished her report in an extremely business-like voice. The New Tribe Movement had been going on for only a few months now, yet she had almost become a living zombie.

“As expected of you, oh great king!”

The archbishop completely ignored Belegrea’s current status and simply expressed his awe at the contents of her report.

“Indeed, as expected of Demon God’s plan!”

“Let us exalt our great, noble Demon God!”

Priests began exalting and praying to the Demon God.

It had only been a few months since its implementation – but the New Tribe Movement’s results thus far have been more pronounced than expected.

I used a dignified voice to reassign this achievement to the other folks around me. “It’s all because you have been adhering to the Demon God’s will so well.”

If I’m being honest here, then sure, I might be the one who came up with this plan, but these folks were responsible for bringing it to life in the first place. If the results exceeded my expectations, then it simply meant that these guys worked their butts off to make it possible.

“No, sire! We are merely the Demon God’s servants! We simply followed her noble will as it’s only a matter of course! If it wasn’t for your strength, oh great king, we probably would have been still charmed and lost to the fake one’s lies! All this is thanks to your guidance, oh our great king!”

A demon passionately prostrated on the floor and began singing my praises. This particular dude showed up around two months ago proclaiming to be the real apostle of the demon god, and tried to take my head at the same time. Although, he’s now my most loyal subordinate these days!

#7 Their circumstance: Ria el Nermia’s circumstance

“Hah-ah..”

A relieved sigh jumped out of my mouth.

I leaned my back against the nearby wall to prop myself up instead of my shaking legs. Without this solid wall’s support, I’d have plopped down on my butt by now.

“No, not yet.. It’s not over yet.”

That’s right, it wasn’t over yet.

I bit down hard on my lip. While tasting the blood pooling inside my mouth, I clenched the magic stone inside my pocket.

I’ve managed to overcome the biggest obstacle. But the next hurdle happened to be the disciple our instructor had personally raised. One who happened to resemble the instructor the most!

“I will.. definitely.. escape from you, Mirua.”

While thinking about one more tall mountain I had to overcome for the sake of my perfect getaway, I stoked the burning flames of my will to escape.