Chapter 67: The Hero’s Miscalculation (1)

Per Seiya’s request, I opened the portal in the hut and directed it onto an abandoned house near Bunogeos’ mansion. Seiya, transformed into Bunogeos, opened the door of the portal. I thought he was going inside the door, but instead, he took a slender thing from his chest. That thing left Seiya’s hand, crawled in the ground and went beyond the portal.

「Was that an Earth Snake? 」

「Yeah. It’s an Automatic Naga specialized in reconnaissance. The Earth Snake’s eyes are connected with my eyes.」

Seiya closed his eyes and kept silent for a while…

「Okay. I confirmed that there weren’t any beast men in the vicinity. Let’s go. 」

After securing our safety, we finally went through the portal.

—

After the portal disappeared, Seiya looked out through the window of a dimly lit room. He kept reminding me of the rules.

「Lista. Don’t speak the human language from now on. Do you understand? 」

I nodded as I said 「glu. 」.

Seiya has been extra cautious lately. Seiya opened the door immediately and began to roam freely on the town of Galvano. He walked quietly just like Bunogeos. I also did my best to walk like a fish-man and followed Seiya closely behind.

Eventually, two dog-faced beast men noticed Seiya and I, and came running on our direction.

「Lo…Lord Bunogeos! Where have you been all this time! 」

…It was going to be okay, right? I hoped they never find out about us…!

My heartbeat was going maddeningly fast. Yet, I didn’t see any signs of nervousness on Seiya.

「Yeah. I killed the hero, but I was injured. I’ve been taking care of it up until now. 」

He spoke with a deep and extended voice. It sounded quite rough. When I looked closely at him, I noticed that Seiya-Bunogeos had bruises all over his body. Blood was overflowing from his left eye, the place where the Cursed Sphere was hiding. It was strange. It really looked like he fought with the hero for real. But, in reality, it was just Seiya.

The beast men continued to talk with Seiya without any suspicions.

「So, His Majesty the Grand Lion hasn’t arrived in town yet? 」

「Yes. He’s not here yet. 」

「I see. Then, I shall make the proper preparations for the arrival of His Majesty the Grand Lion. Hey, you two. Tell him to come to my mansion once you see him.」

The beast men lowered their heads and said, 「Understood. 」 in unison. Seiya started walking away. I pretended to be Bunogeos’ attendee, and followed him quickly.

…Oh. They didn’t find out about our true nature. The art of change was really an amazing skill!

—

We met some beast men along the way. Still, none of them was aware of our disguise. Before long, we arrived at Bunogeos’ mansion. After examining the entire mansion, Seiya closed his eyes in the center of the main room. Perhaps, he was using one of his Earth Snakes to explore the area.

Soon, Seiya approached me and whispered on my ear.

「Okay. It’s all right to speak only if we whisper. 」

I shrugged my shoulders.

The situation was great, we were alone and whispering to each other. Nevertheless, it was a conversation exchange between a pig-faced orc and a fish head monster. There wasn’t anything romantic about this…

「It seems that we have time until the Grand Lion comes to town. I will place the Earth Snakes around the mansion. They will attack at any time…Lista. You should clean up this room to some extent. But, don’t clean excessively. There should be signs of previous fighting.」

I rearranged the room while Seiya went outside. Shortly afterwards, Seiya brought a young man and a young woman held in chains. Seiya-Bunogeos tied the frightened man and woman to the edge of the room as if they were pets.

He…He even brought human slaves! It wasn’t necessary to prepare this much…!

「Lista. These slaves are…No, wait a moment… 」

Seiya’s movements stopped unexpectedly. He glanced at me and nodded in silence.

…It…It can’t be…! He…He finally arrived…! The Grand Lion…!

It has been proven that the beast men didn’t notice our true identities. But, for some reason, my fast heartbeat didn’t slow down. My instinct as a goddess was ringing like a warning bell.

Soon, I heard a high sound. The vibration shook my earlobes. It seemed like a strong galloping horse. Beyond the broken window, I saw a large beast riding a carriage pushed by two dragons.

The goat-shaped beast man steered the cart. The grand enemy was sitting in a place with a proper back seat to rest his shoulders. The beast had a lion’s head with a long golden mane that swung in the wind. The body looked thick and rough, and was covered by a black armor. I didn’t see a sword, but he was well-equipped with black claws on his hands. They looked like sharp knives. It looked like he had a burnt human arm on one of his hands. He carried it to his mouth.

…Who…Whoa…he was chewing a human arm…! That’s the Beast Emperor the Grand Lion…!

Even if he was far away, I could feel a full sense of intimidation. He was emitting a powerful black aura much stronger than any other enemy I’ve seen in Exfolia so far.

Seiya-Bunogeos, who watched the same scene next to me, became…

「Ugh…! 」

Suddenly, I heard a quivering voice.

「What…is that ability value…! 」

Apparently, Seiya was looking at the status of the Grand Lion. Even so, was Grand Lion’s status so amazing that even Seiya got that surprised?

I also activated my clairvoyance ability. When I saw the Grand Lion’s ability value…

Beast Emperor the Grand Lion

Level – 99 (MAX)

HP – 1200044

MP – 0

Attack – 856121

Defense – 819637

Agility – 807711

Magic – 58754

Potential – 999 (MAX)

Resistance – Fire, Water, Wind, Lightening, Ice, Earth, Light, Darkness, Poison, Paralysis, Curse, Instant Death, Sleep, Abnormal Condition

Special skills – Evil God Protection (Lv MAX)

Skills – Jet Black Nail

Personality – Villainous

The Attack power…was above 850,000…!? What on earth was this thing…!!

I shook Seiya-Bunogeos’ shoulder with my trembling hands.

「This can’t be true!! It’s impossible!! Camouflage!! It’s a fake, isn’t it!? He’s showing a fake status by using the camouflage skill, right!?」

「Don’t speak with a loud voice. What you saw was, without a doubt, the enemy’s true status.」

「But!! Why are the attack and defense powers higher than the powers of the Demon King Artemaeus!?」

「Calm down. As originally planned, we’ll try to succeed in passing the Grand Lion’s inspection. Just that and nothing else.」

Then, he turned at me with icy eyes.

「I have no time to explain all the details. Anyway, just keep silent no matter what happens from now on. Did you hear me? No matter what happens. We’ll die if you don’t stay silent.」

「I…I…I understand… 」

I knew that, but my mind was in a panicking state!! A subordinate that exceeded the ability value of the Demon King…Wasn’t this an unusual occurrence!?

I couldn’t stop shaking. I heard footsteps approaching from outside the door.

I wasn’t able to control my terrified demeanor and, then, the door slowly opened…the Beast Emperor the Grand Lion revealed its majesty.

「…Your place is a bit tattered. Hey you, was it because the hero showed up at your house?」

He muttered after looking at the room. It was a low and impassioned voice that echoed through my internal organs.

After looking at Seiya-Bunogeos, the Grand Lion threw a glance at me. He stared at my eyes for a short moment, but his eyes turned back to Seiya-Bunogeos once again. It wasn’t uncommon for Bunogeos, the ruler of this town, to have his own underling beast.

「Bunogeos. It looks like you’re wounded. Are you okay? 」

「Yes. Some…Somehow, I beat that annoying he…hero…but, that bastard was tough… 」

「You defeated him huh. Well, you’re not supposed to lose against a mere human, are you?」

On that moment, Seiya-Bunogeos touched the wall abruptly. He made a painful sound.

「Hey, hey. Are you all right? 」

「Ugh. Oink. Yeah, somehow. 」

「It seems that the fight was rough. I know that your injuries are not light, but I need to continue with the inspection. Well, don’t worry. I’ll do it quickly.」

…I was impressed by Seiya’s acting ability.

Great! It will be harder to notice some differences if he acted as if he was seriously injured! If the enemy noticed some behavioral irregularity, it could still be fooled because he was hurt!

「So, the purpose of this inspection is… 」

The Grand Lion decided to visit Galvano two days ago. It was during that time that Seiya was killing the beast men with the Burst Air. In other words, it was decided that, based on their conversation, that the Grand Lion would come here to help Bunogeos. The plan was to defeat the hero together. However, Bunogeos apparently defeated the hero. So, what was the purpose of this inspection…?

My spine froze when I heard the Grand Lion’s following words.

「I’ll say this clearly. The focus of this inspection is you, Bunogeos. I’m here to confirm that you are yourself.」

…Wha…Wha…What did he just say…!?

「The evil god with mottled hair told me this, “there is a possibility that the hero defeated him and transformed into him”.」

The…The “evil god with mottled hair” again!! And…this was bad!! This was tremendously bad!! Our actions were foreseen by the enemy!!

We’re going to die…!!

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Lista… Just do your job.

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