Apparently the calm before the storm has ended.

Because one of the humans was a person I’d already seen two times before; Hero of the Holy Sword, Arc, I felt it odd that his party members had changed and inspected their statuses. What I found were shocking names.
Hero of the Holy Spear, Lionel, and Hero of the Holy Bow, Orlaine.

…To think it would be an all-Hero party.
Incidentally, Lionel was a frivolous looking young man with long blue hair, braided only on the left, whilst Orlaine was a girl with light purple hair that came down to her shoulders.

Starting to get a bad feeling, I checked the demon side, and as expected, the names on this side were all big-shots as well.

Living up to the name ‘knight’, Renarve was a calm young man with short silver hair, whilst Vikuto was a long-haired intellectual-looking man with monocle, and an air of hidden cunning to him.
And the man whose ident.i.ty was obvious from a glance at his t.i.tle… A rough looking older gentlemen, the Ojisama who was both Leonora’s father, and His Majesty the Demon King. In regards to the fact that he was a short-haired man with a good build, he was the same as the regrettable Ijido from the other day, but the difference in presence was obvious.

An impossible party with three Heroes, the Demon King, and his two close a.s.sociates; there’s basically one thing I want to say about this.

“So immature.”

“It ain’t against the rules.”

“We just used revelations to gather them, after all.”

I know. I don’t think it’s breaking the rules or anything. That’s exactly why I called it “immature”.

“It isn’t against the rules, but the winner is the one who gets their hands on the 『Proof of Capture』. Even if it’s a mixed party, only one of them can be the winner.”

“We understand this. However, nothing will begin unless the dungeon is conquered first.”

“Once they get to the 30th floor, they can just decide the winner among themselves.”

I see. So since they thought that at this rate n.o.body would be able to conquer the dungeon, until the party pa.s.ses a certain number of obstacles, they’ll be temporarily working together? In the end they’ll need to battle it out to decide on the 『Proof of Capture』, but until then, it makes sense that they would join the strongest of each faction together.

“But the atmosphere kind of dangerous, you know.”

I called it a 6-man party, but they were separated into the Hero side and Demon King side, and were currently glaring at each other. Rather than calling that a party, I can’t see it as anything but enemies.

“Ahhh… Well, cause they’re Heroes and the Demon King, yanno. Something of that level can’t be helped. I did give them the order not to quarrel until they captured the dungeon though.”

“They are mortal enemies after all. As you would expect, it cannot be hoped that they would get along.”

Well yeah, that’s true. You can’t expect the Heroes and the Demon King to get along. If it was a Summoned Hero with no ties to this world then the story might be different, but they were all Orthodox Heroes. The situation was that they were just barely working together, if unwillingly, because of the orders from the two G.o.ds.
In terms of ability, they’re at the top of the humans and demons in this world, but I think they’ll need teamwork to conquer the dungeon.

Finishing my conversation with Sophia and Anbaal, I looked towards the one other person here.

“Is that your dad, Leonora?”

“Yeah, that’s right. My father, as well as His Majesty the Demon King. I heard that the main force would be coming to conquer the dungeon, but to think that Esteemed Father himself would be…”

Apparently Leonora hadn’t heard either that the Demon King himself would be coming here.

“And the other two are the Heavenly Kings I heard about earlier?”

“Yeah, 『Wind’s』 Fierce Gale Knight Renarve, and 『Water’s』 Bloodfrost General Vikuto. Renarve is a knight serving as Esteemed Father’s Royal Guard Captain, while Vikuto is the Prime Minister in charge of government affairs.”

“So they have jobs outside of being the Four Heavenly Kings I see. What about you, Leonora?”

“Me? I am away from the country at the moment, but I serve as Esteemed Father’s a.s.sistant. However, in my case, rather than doing my job, the meaning is closer to learning the things required for when I succeed the throne myself.”

Speaking of which, she was the next Demon King, wasn’t she. In that case it isn’t strange that she was learning about that sort of stuff while she was young.
While thinking about that, I suddenly remembered the last Heavenly King who hadn’t been mentioned yet.

“What about Ijido from last time?”

“Farming and civil construction.”

It’s amazing how different the level of intensity is. No, I mean, I get that it’s important too, but the feeling of misplacement amongst “Royal Guard Captain” or “Prime Minister” or “Demon King’s Aide” is no joke. Well, he’s apparently bad at everything except earth magic, so I suppose it can’t be helped though.

“Speaking of which, all these important people just left the country, but is it okay?”

“…I’m sure that Esteemed Father has taken that into account… probably.”

Will things really be okay?

Being the Dream Team if nothing else, the progression down the floors was faster than any other party so far. The divine protection of the three Heroes blocked the miasma, and the demons had high resistant to it to begin with, and so it presented them no problem either.
Additionally, although the Hero side and Demon King side were conquering the floors together, they never spoke once. The tension in the party was high, and I could tell that sparks were flying within the party even from beyond the screen. However, Lionel alone paid no heed to the atmosphere, and continued to make moves on Orlaine.

『The room up ahead has a dragon. Be careful.』

They reached the 10th floor in no time, and since Arc already knew the trick to the stone slabs as well, they managed to open the door without hesitation.

But as usual, the Hero side and Demon King side were not really cooperating, and each side took up positions one side of the Black Dragon. Rather than a party of 6, they were closer to two parties of 3, each attacking from either side.

『Let’s go, Lionel! Orlaine!』

『Yeah, leave it to me.』

『Please leave the support to me.』

The Hero side had Arc on the frontlines, Lionel as the middle, and Orlaine in the backlines as support.

『Do not fall behind, you two.』

『Understood, Your Majesty.』

『Please leave it to me.』

On the other hand, Ojisama was on the frontlines, Renarve was playing the hit and run, whilst Vikuto was playing backline support.
Up until now, Ojisama had been mowing down enemies barehanded, but now he had summoned a black greatsword in one hand, and had the other hand wreathed in flames. Just like how Leonora was a magic boxer specialised in fire magic, her father was probably a magic swordsman with fire magic.

『Shall we test the waters? Take my strike!』

He lightly held the greatsword clad in flames with one hand, and running up to the dragon he struck it. The force of his attack was incredible, and the Black Dragon that should have had the overwhelming size advantage was sent flying back a few metres.

『Falling behind him would be a shame to we Heroes!』

『How very… true!』

With Ojisama’s one mighty blow, the battle began. The backline support Orlaine and Vikuto fire a light and ice arrow respectively, and through the gaps created by the middleline Lionel, Arc and Ojisama attacked. The Black Dragon tried to put up a fight with its claws and fangs, but Renarve played his role in attacking it when it did, and cut down its attacks. Renarve was said to govern over wind, but rather than using his wind to attack, he instead seemed to primarily use it to support his movement and bring the speed of his sword to the extreme.

『As long as I am here, I shall not allow you to point your fangs at His Majesty!』

『Not bad, Renarve. I cannot lose to you.』

*imouto*

Although the Hero and Demon King sides weren’t cooperating with each other, it seems that splitting into two groups and attacking from both sides was effective because the Black Dragon was confused with how to cope, and was helplessly toyed with.

『The roar is coming, fall back!』

『Got it!』

『Kuh-!』

『Too weak!』

The Black Dragon seemed to fire a roar in panic, but seeing through the preparation of the roar, Arc, Lionel and Renarve retreated and took almost no damage. Far from being hurt, they immediately closed the gap and took advantage of its opening to attack. As for Ojisama, he never even flinched and swung his greatsword face on.

『Now!』

『There are openings everywhere!』

On top of that, the mouth that the Black Dragon had opened to roar had light and ice arrows fly around into it from the back.

『GUGYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!?』

Receiving the painful attack, it screamed. It swung its limbs and tail around in rampage, but there was n.o.body here weak enough to be struck by its attacks of desperation, and the result was that it was attacked even more.

*imouto*

The Black Dragon gradually weakened, with b.l.o.o.d.y wounds everywhere. Because of the earlier arrow attack, the insides of its mouth was wounded, and now that it could not even use its trump card, the dragon breath, it already had no chance at victory.

That he wasn’t able to make use of his strong point because of the dungeon was my failure.

*imouto*

*imouto*

*imouto*

『…Enough. You can stop now, Vnee.』

I couldn’t bear to watch the wounded Vnee anymore, so I told him to stop. The thundering room immediately became quiet.
Arc and the others stopped their attacks as well, and looked around the room.

『Let them through.』

After saying that, Vnee stood still for a while, but he eventually moved into the corner of the room and stared at them in silence.

『That voice, could it be the Evil G.o.d?』

Ojisama asked that question, but I didn’t reply, and just remotely opened the doors that were supposed to open once the boss was defeated.

『Go ahead.』

Hearing my words, they looked at Vnee for a while, but perhaps giving up, they eventually began heading to the stairs.

『Let us go. The road ahead is long.』

『Understood.』

『It feels somewhat uncomfortable stopping halfway but… I suppose it can’t be helped.』

*imouto*

『Time for us to go too.』

『Yeah.』

『That dragon won’t attack us from the back or anything, right?』

“With this, the first barrier has been broken, hasn’t it.”

“Finally a third done, ey? Looong way to go.”

“Hmmmn, am I supposed to be happy here or sad…”

Seeing the mixed party head to the 11th floor, Sophia and Anbaal let out sighs of relief. In contrast, Leonora seemed to have some complicated feelings towards it.

“Sophia, if possible I’d like you to heal Vnee.”

“The Black Dragon? Well, I do not particularly mind.”

Hearing Sophia give the OK, I felt relieved inside.

I forced him to do something unreasonable, so I want to heal him quickly.

“Well then, I shall heal him.”

“Please.”

When I left it to her, her figure disappeared and then appeared onscreen. Seeing Sophia suddenly appear, Vnee growled in vigilance, but Sophia paid no heed, and used magic after raising her hand towards him.

While Vnee was bewildered at having his wounds healed, Sophia turned her back to him and teleported back to the office.

“It is done.”

“Thank you.”

I gave my thanks to Sophia who had spoken casually. In fact, she helped me out quite a bit. Had she not helped me, I wouldn’t have had any other method except using a lot of medicinal herbs to make medicinal soup, and then force-feed the stuff to Vnee.
When I told her this, both Sophia and Anbaal’s faces cramped.

“Please desist in your pet abuse.”

“That’s seriously harsh, yanno.”

“Anri, how about being a little kinder to him.”

I’m offended. I was just worried about Vnee.

Adamantine Earth Fiend Ijido looked this way. It seems he wants to become friends…

tl: the above is a line from DQ when a monster wants to join the party