Satou here. Don"t you think situations where allies are made to fight against each others due to false information a relatively common trope in manga and drama? In fictions, it usually gets resolved before it progressed to the worst-case scenario, but I feel like oftentimes, it would just run off toward eventual failures in real world.

“I am Brum Julberg, attendant of past generation hero. I challenge Hero Nanas.h.i.+ to a duel.”

Lady Brum made the declaration with her sword pointed at me.

We encountered heroes" troupe as they were just done dealing with monster stampede in front of the world"s largest purple tower located near Saga Empire"s old capital.
Apparently they received an oracle from G.o.d Parion, with the content, ” “Kill the treasonous one who threatens world peace. That is hero Nanas.h.i.+, avatar of Demon G.o.d.”

I tried asking Hikaru and she apparently didn"t get the oracle.

We don"t have time now, perhaps I should put them to sleep and leave clearing the misunderstandings for later?

While I was pondering that, several figures of people stood between me and lady Brum like they were protecting me.

“–Oy, lil" girls. What do you think you"re doing?”
“My wild instinct is telling me this Nanas.h.i.+ is the real deal.”
“Besides, we"ve been saved so many times by Nanas.h.i.+ and the glittering bunch.”

They were the hero Hayato"s attendants, tiger-earkin Rusus and wolf-earkin Fifi.

“There is no justice in quarreling between comrades in the face of world crisis.”
“…Loreiya. Even you who should serve G.o.d Parion.”
“I may not posses Oracle skill, but I want to believe in my own eyes for discerning whether a being is evil or not.”

Priestess Loreiya joined Rusus and Fifi to form a line.

“H-hey wait!”
“Rusus and Fifi aside, why you too Loreiyane!”

Hero Seigi and Hero Yuuki went into panic when they saw that.

“What do you mean by us aside huh?”
“Is that how you"re gonna repay us, after all the drilling we put you two through before coming for the tower?”

Rusus and Fifi glared hard at the two heroes.

“B-but you know! It"s not just about the oracle!”

Hero Seigi took one step forward.

“The [Truth Mind"s Eye (There"s only one truth)] and [Wicked Search (Where bad people at)] I received from Parion-sama tell me… Hero Nanas.h.i.+ is evil, he"s definitely and undeniably evil.”

Hero Seigi appealed with a half-crying face.
The three attendants slightly faltered at his teary appeal.

–Apparently, I"m evil.

My unintentional thought seemed to have leaked through Familiar Link, as Arisa clapped my shoulder.

『–Of course not.』

Felt like I could hear Arisa"s voice.

“Hero Seigi, what"s the basis for that [Evil] condemnation of yours?”
“Eh? Basis?”

Hero Seigi seemed to find Arisa"s question out of left field.

“My Unique Skill tells me. That he"s [Evil].”
“So you"re saying [Evil] from G.o.d Parion"s perspective?”

Arisa who had antic.i.p.ated hero Seigi"s answer nodded once before pointing out that the judgment doesn"t come from impartiality but G.o.d Parion"s subjective opinion.

“I see, so that"s how it is.”
“You understand, Rusus?”
“Naturally of course! It"s like [evil coz the G.o.d said so]!”
“I see now!”

Rusus and Fifi had that conversation, but everybody else politely chose to ignore them.
No wait, Pochi, Tama and Lady Karina are earnestly nodding at them.

『Alrighty, Master, time to tell them how G.o.d Parion might have a hand in the theft of Divinity Crystal by Demon G.o.d.』
『No no, that"s still a hypothesis at this point.』

It"s almost undoubtedly black, but it"s still gray at this point.
Circ.u.mstantial evidence doesn"t work in the court after all.

“Thanks for waiting! Ookay, looks like we"ve got a situation here.”
“Loreiya, could you tell us what"s going on.”

Two attendants of hero Hayato, lady Ringrande and princess Maryest showed up riding a Flying Wooden Horse.

“We received an oracle from G.o.d Parion telling us that hero Nanas.h.i.+ is a minion of Demon G.o.d.”
“”–I see.””

The two nodded at Loreiya"s concise explanation.

“Brum-basan, sorry but could you sheathe your sword please?”
“Ringrande, missy, you"re going to take his side too?”
“Yup. That"s what Hayato asked me to, and besides, fighting him is a pointless endeavor.”
“–Pointless?”

Lady Brum"s wrinkled face frowned when she heard Lady Ringrande.

“You heard me, there would be three fresh corpses right about now had hero Nanas.h.i.+ willed it.”
“Even if that is the truth, I"ll be sure to pay back in kind.”
“Nope, never gonna work. Even if there"s 100 Brum-basan, it"s just impossible. Of course that applies to like 1000 of us too.”
“Doesn"t matter if it"s impossible or pointless, there are things you have to do no matter what in this world.”

Looks like lady Brum has no intention to withdraw here.
Her brawn over brain side really reminds me of her son, Zeff Julberg, the leader of s.h.i.+ga Eight Swords.

“I understand. Let"s do this.”

–We don"t have time.

“Hang on, Nanas.h.i.+!”
『Don"t worry, I won"t kill her.』

I replied back to the panicking Lady Ringrande through s.p.a.ce Magic [Telephone].

“So I"ll be up against Brum-san, and two heroes then?”
“Yeah, that"s right.”

I fetch a self-made holy sword from Storage and take a stance.

“H-hold on! I can"t fight at this range, I"m telling you!”
“Hear hear! And I just used my [Sword of Condemnation (Justice always win)] on some big ones earlier, gotta wait for the cooldown!”

Lady Brum glanced at the two panicking heroes and clicked her tongue.

“Very well, I"ll go at it by myself! –Magic Slash.”

Lady Brum unleashed a blade-drawing killing stroke from Ground Shrink, but after all the countless high speed mock battle against beastkin girls I had, I could probably dodge her attack with my eyes closed now.

I took the sword with my Mana Clad hand and crushed it in my hand.

“–Wha.”

Lady Brum immediately discarded her sword and attempted to take a spare magic sword from her Item Box while stepping back using Flickering Motion, but I"m not obliged to let it slide.
I closed in on her using Ground Shrink and lightly jabbed her chin to knock her out.

I also made her fall asleep using Sleep magic and stopped her from moving with Paralyzing magic.

I held the unconscious lady Brum with psychokinetic-like [Magic Hand] and delivered her to the two heroes.

“Hero Nanas.h.i.+, are you going to destroy this tower too?”

I give my affirmation to princess Maryest.

“Oh right, you two helped getting the emperor"s approval, didn"t you? Thanksies.”

I used ventriloquism to make my voice only be heard by Princess Maryest and her companions so the girls on my camp wouldn"t hear my Nanas.h.i.+ speech pattern.

> t.i.tle [Magician of Sound] Acquired.

Whoa, been so long since my last t.i.tle.

The two girls were chuckling for some reason.

–Oh right, these two have already figure out the real ident.i.ty of Hero Nanas.h.i.+ (me) and the girls.

◇

“UWAAAAAAAAAAAA!”
“OUUUUUUUUUUUCH!”

While I was feeling awkward, the two heroes screamed out while jerking weirdly.
Blue lights flashed out of the two heroes" bodies, red flames are dancing around hero Yuuki"s arms.

Hero Yuuki unleashed warhead missile-like rains of flame b.a.l.l.s, but all of it landed far from us, spreading explosions around.
Hero Seigi came slas.h.i.+ng at me with his sword clad in blue light–most likely his Unique Skill [Sword of Condemnation], however, on top of bending back, he was obviously trying to keep the sword away from hitting me.

“N-not good. Dodge it!”

Hero Seigi"s holy sword suddenly changed its trajectory, heading toward me, but since it was even slower than lady Brum"s attack, dodging it was a simple matter.

“Are you being controlled!?”
“Most likely!”
“My body is moving on its own!”

After I listened to the two"s answers, I knocked them out, put them in Sleep and Paralyze magic combo and laid them next to lady Brum.

『Hikaru, how are you faring?』
『Un, doesn"t feel like I"m being controlled or anything. I think it"s thanks to the functions built into this armor.』

I was worried it for a second there since Hikaru is [Parion"s Hero] like the two, it was thankfully unfounded.

Just in case, I put the two heroes in newly developed golden armors installed with anti mind control circuits.
I could have just left them here, but it would be bad if they got eaten by vanguard monsters coming out of the tower, so I forcefully sent them to the old capital"s gate using s.p.a.ce magic teleport.

“I wonder just what is Parion-sama trying to accomplish…”

Priestess Loreiya murmured in melancholy.

“Let"s go ask the her personally then. Besides, there"s no guarantee this was all Parion-sama"s doing.”

Lady Ringrande clasped priestess Loreiya"s shoulder before walking toward me.

“Are you going straight to destroying the tower now?”
“No, I"ve got to close the gate to the Netherworld at the top of the tower before that.”

Or more correctly, I"m gonna seal the path that connects to the Netherworld–and if possible, the entire Netherworld.
I"m sure not even Demon G.o.d could so easily dispatch his armies once he lost access to the low cost route.

“We"re going with you too.”
“That"s unnecessary.”
“Please don"t say that. Let us help you thin out the mob up to upper floors as an apology for causing you problems.”

Well, I guess I don"t mind.
Most of these girls work well as advance and rear attackers, so they"re just right to complement the silver members.

Once we decided on the formation, we set foot in the tower.

I put a seal on the entrance just like with all other towers.

“Is that a seal? Won"t we get in big trouble if we found ourselves unable to escape out in a pickle?”
“It"ll be fine. The seal has been made to allow people escape outside from the inside.”

Although there should be none now, this seal can deal with any old capital"s adventurer who"s still inside.

“Here we go, Right Wing.”
“I got it, Left Wing.”

s.h.i.+ro (Right Wing) and Crow (Left Wing) flew up while leaving trails of glittering lights from their silver armor as they rushed toward a swarm of vanguard monsters.

They"ve been boosted with Zensan"s Unique Skill and wind magic fusion [Saint Army] and an advanced level force magic I and Hikaru created, [Hero Play].

“”–Wings Dance >””

The innumerable little specks surrounding them leave any monsters in their wake full of wounds.
It"s a new technique developed thanks to the feedback I got from the development of Zensan"s stiletto.

“d.a.m.n, those wingkin kids are awesome.”
“We ain"t gonna lose to them.”
“Let"s go, Fifi!”
“Ou!”

Rusus and Fifi took care of monsters that had managed to escape s.h.i.+ro and Crow without any waste in movement.

“s.h.i.+eld Golem Unit, maintain the path those four have opened!”

Princess Sistina followed after the four together with her Golem army.

『Hey, hey, Master. Won"t it be faster if Master uses your Unique Skill to get us straight to the top floor?』
『This tower"s structure has changed somehow, the floor information I got from my last investigation has been reset, you see.』

To be precise, the Map has been replaced with a new one.
It"d be faster if I went ahead using Flash Drive and then summon everyone once I got to the top floor, but I"d feel bad if I took all the stage for myself.
Hence, we"re conquering the tower the old way while also using this opportunity to level up silver members.

We should reach the topmost floor by the end of the day at this pace anyway.

“Phiw~?”
“Can"t move anymore.”
“Good job nanodesu. You two were great nodesuyo.”

Pochi brought with her fruit juice and deep fried donut as a reward for s.h.i.+ro and Crow who went limp right after they broke through the lower floors.
Our advance guard right now is consisted of Rusus and Fifi guarded by golem army, and also Lady Karina.

“KUNGFU RANBUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU”

a.s.sisted by Raka, Lady Karina are overwhelming the monsters prowling these mid floors.

“Well dang, that"s some wicked moves on top of those huge t.i.ts.”
“–More like, I"m surprised those things don"t get sore with how intense she moves around.”

Rusus aside, Fifi"s point of shock is a bit off target.
Lady Karina"s silver armor is an ambitious work of mine, a successful marriage between defensive power of armor and the flexibility of breast holders. You could even say it"s the best possible equipment for her.

“You missed a few of them. ■■ Quick Burst.”

Lady Ringrande used a quick-to-execute spell to halt a big vanguard monster"s march before cutting up its s.h.i.+n with her magic edge-clad magic sword.

“Mary!”
“■■■■■ >!”

Princess Maryest let loose an advanced level lightning magic with an unbelievably short cast time.
Her penetrating lightning pierced through the big vanguard monster"s barrier and shot through its eyeball.

The monster fell down the ground.
Cloud of dust rose from gaps between stone paving along with a tremor.

“Both Mary person and Rin person, you two are amazing nodesu!”

At Pochi"s frank compliment, lady Ringrande brushed her hair backward, looking not at all dissatisfied with it.
Behind her, the big vanguard monster"s fist was swinging at her back.

“> Sacred Attendants! ■■■ >”

[Sacred Attendants] deployed by Sera resonated with her mid-level magic, pulverizing the giant fist that was coming for lady Ringrande.

“You"re your own worst enemy. Ane-sama.”
“Impressive, Sera. Mine Bomber.”

The delayed activation spell recited by lady Ringrande finished the big vanguard monster off.
Sera actually introduced herself as Silver Knight Holy, but that probably held no meaning considering they had realized our ident.i.ty.

“I suppose that was meddlesome of me?”
“Not at all, I"m happy I could bear witness to my little sister"s love.”
“It"s nothing like love. I only helped because it would trouble us if you get hurt.”
“Oh? Okay then, let"s leave it at that.”

Lady Ringrande grinned from ear to ear under her helmet when she saw Sera turning her face away to hide her embarra.s.sment.

“Well now that I"ve been charged full of love, anything unfortunate enough to stand before me?”

While cheerily skipping ahead, Lady Ringrande went on to slaughter vanguard monsters that had escaped the frontline with a combination of explosion magic and sword techniques.

“Uwaa, I feel sorry for these monsters.”
“Geez, that girl is just…”
“Oh she"ll run out of steam and fall back before long.”

Following Arisa, princess Maryest and Loreiya murmured words that sounded like they"re astonished and have already gotten used to this.

“Zentan, Mary-tan, swarms of monsters incoming from both sides.”

Arisa warned the rear guard.

“Thanks for the a.s.sist, Red. –Tempest.”
“…■■■■ Thunder h.e.l.l (Keraunos).”

Zensan with her delayed activation magic and Princess Maryest that was done reciting her spell cast magic that decimated the monster swarm in one go.

“…■■ Burst Brave.”

With Loreiya"s magic, attendants and those who bear the t.i.tle of Hero get a power up.
It"s apparently a sacred magic only handed down at Hero Faction of the Old Capital Parion Temple.

The magic had absolutely no effect on me, but it strengthened princess Maryest and lady Ringrande in addition to rapidly recovering their used up mana. Quite a convenient magic.
It consumes a lot of miss Loreiya"s mana though, so she can"t use it too often.

『Found the path above~?』
『Good going, Tama.』
『Nihehe~?』

After getting a report from Tama who was in charge of surveying routes, I called back the golden members led by Liza who were in charge of demolis.h.i.+ng the floor monsters.
The returning Tama and the house-sitting Pochi exchanged a high five.

We left middle floors, reaching upper floors.

“Looks like Evil Dragons gonna start sp.a.w.ning from this point on.”

At the end of Arisa"s line of sight, a fierce fight is unfolding between an > and the combined team of silver members and attendants.

“Keep at it~”
“There! Over there nanodesu!”
“Aa, watch out!”

The girls are on the edge of their seats as they watch over the fight against Evil Dragon.

“Master, requesting permission to help.”
“No can do.”

Besides support magic, we will only help them when it"s looking bad or if they call for help.
Lady Karina has just got blown away, but I believe she would get back to the frontline unharmed.

“One more pus.h.!.+”
“Over there desu!”
“Keepie.”

At the end of almost an hour fight, the Evil Vanguard Dragon finally breathed its last.

“That was a close one, wasn"t it.”

The advance and center guard members have their equipment in tatter, nearly half of the s.h.i.+eld golems are lost.
The rear guard members are unharmed but they"ve completely run out of mana.

“These Demidragon Vanguards are really on a whole other level.”

Lady Ringrande took off her helmet and wiped her sweat.

“Feel like I can even beat a true dragon now.”
“Ahaha, why don"t we give it a try later.”

Rusus and Fifi b.u.mped their fists while smiling even while laying helplessly on the floor.
That was quite an enhancing combat.

“The next ones are coming~?”
“Next ones?”
“Is it a manticore this time?”

At Tama"s warning, Rusus and Fifi asked back listlessly.

“Nuh uh nodesuyo. It"s a swarm of evil dragons nanodesu.”
“Swarm?”
“of evil dragons?”
“Yes nanodesu. You can tell from the vibrations on the ground nodesuyo.”

As told by Pochi, Rusus and Fifi put their ears on the ground.

“Geh, for real.”
“This ain"t gonna work. Let"s run away.”

Before the pale faced two, Pochi and Tama shook their fingers in front of their faces while saying, "Chicchicchi."

Looks like they learned that from Arisa when she did it last time.
Please stop adapting these weird gestures from her.

“You can let Pochi (Yellow) and friends take care of the rest nodesuyo.”
“It"s Tama (Pink)"s turn~?”

Now then, time for Golden members to s.h.i.+ne.