This second side story is a continue of the first one. Please enjoy the conversation between Sylvia and Kaitou.

『Side Story』Un-reaching Reason

「To Her Highness?……」

「Y, yes. ……That is, things such as my thanks, I haven"t said them after all, ah, have not.」[1]

At the words of the one who was the current Hero, Leo glanced at me asking for instruction.
Nodding to that, I stood up.

「I"m sorry. This isn"t a situation where we can have a conversation about each detail.」

「Ah……………」

Leo stepped aside, and when I stood in front of him, the young boy looked at me with his mouth open.

「Is there, something on me?」

「N, no! …Th, that is……s, since you"re so pretty, I was a bit charmed.」

When I asked that, he answered as such while his face turned red. ……His face is awfully red. His physical condition is poor, is not how I saw it but―――、

「! …Thank you. Even if it is flattery, I"m happy.」

I see, so he is nervous. Certainly, a magic cavern such as this is probably a first for him.
From how we see it, these parties that involve politics while being called celebration meetings are normal, however they are a cla.s.s of ordinary people. Yuu also, didn"t like these kinds of places.

「っ,……It, it wasn"t flattery…」

Understanding his nervousness, when I winked then thanked him, his face got even more red and he mumbled.

Haha, how innocent. His gentlemanly consideration for women does have its likeable moments.
Yuu, on the other hand, would ignore us and always have his eyes facing the cooking placed on the table.
Seriously, for someone who is a young man to just run away with his appet.i.te without even escorting the woman……Mumu, just remembering that makes me angry for some reason?

「So, by thanks, are you talking about Leonhart?」

「……Yes. If he hadn"t been there, it would have been dangerous. Thank you very much.」

Nodding at my words, he faced and thanked me.

「Fufu, no problem. It"s great that Leonhart was of use.」

At the Glard Wastelands, just to be sure, I sent my knight Leonhart to cover the current Heroes.
Thanks to that, a nail stabbed me from the 「Next time, I definitely won"t go, you know?」 and the smile from Leo.

「……Um, Sylvia-san, I have a request for you.」

The present Hero looked at me with serious eyes.

―――A request, huh.

「……So you have a "request" for me, the one who is Leezelion"s Empress, Sylvia Loto Sheriotto Leezelion?」

Ringing a sound with my finger, I invoked magic.

「!……This is, Silent!」

「Correct.」

His and my voices, resounded in the "soundless" hall.

「Moreover, just now was aria-less…」

「For a human in a position like mine, magic such as Silent and Search are indispensable. My master also taught me with it being the highest priority.
……Let me apologize for doing it so suddenly. But, it appears that your so called request would be an unpleasant subject if it were overheard.」

As I looked with a sidelong glance, there seem to have been several people who noticed.
They haven"t interfered but, starting with Leonhart, the current Heroes and Valanshel"s Iibsal have probably also noticed my invocation of Silent. Actually, the current Heroes are walking this way with a strong pace.
As I thought, we can"t have a long talk, can we.

「The Preceding Hero"s whereabouts. ……You also wish to know that, don"t you?」

Appearing that my reading was correct, I caught a glimpse of surprise on his facial expression.

「Yes. ……I, want to become even stronger. At this rate, I won"t be able to defeat the Demon Lord and lose to him. In order to become stronger, please let me meet the Preceding Hero!」

The Present Hero greatly lowered his head.
His spirit is good. ……That is, if it were something pure.

「……Very well. It"s not that I know it directly, but I"ll introduce you to someone who can probably obtain his whereabouts.」

「Really!?」

「However, allow me to give you a single warning. ……As I said before, you won"t be able to win.」

「Eh?」

In the eyes of he who said that he wanted to become stronger, I saw fire of hatred in regards to the Demon Lord, to those Mazoku that are his subordinates.

「It would seem that there was a faulty expression in those words. ……No matter how strong you become, "we" can"t win against the Demon Lord.
We who hate the Mazoku and turn our anger towards them can"t win. ……The reason why is, because our negative emotions are what produced the Demon Lord.」

An ordinary wouldn"t even be suited to defeat the Demon Lord.

Fear, anger, hatred……For an ordinary person that "feels" any kind of negative emotion towards the Mazoku, they couldn"t even be his opponent.

「I"m sure that I appear like I"m messing with you, but……the Preceding Hero, he had enjoyed the conflicts together with the Mazoku.」

「He had even fought for the sake of Mazoku that sought help.」

「Grieving over his own raison d"etre, he felt sympathy for the Demon Lord"s existence that was hated by G.o.d.」

「Therefore……for you who feels hatred for the Mazoku, even if you arrive there, you "can"t reach" him. This is something that you absolutely must not forget.」

In the eyes of he who returned from the soundless world, I saw confusion.

Translator’s Notes:
[1] He"s correcting himself to be more polite. I couldn’t properly translate it.