Three days have passed since Helmios arrived in the city of Tiamo in Rosenheim.
My friends and I were on the ground a short distance away from the buildings.
One large boy was lying slumped in the middle of the ground, breathing heavily.
"I think you'd better stay here, Dogora."
"... Ugh, shut up. I'll be there."
(Three days have already passed. It's time to make a decision whether Dogora's Extra Skill is too tough for him to handle.)
I had hoped that Dogora would awaken to his Extra Skill like Kurena did when she learned to use them through her training with Doberg, but it seemed that 3 weren't enough.
"Helmios, I've heard that even in the Academy, some people take years to learn to use Extra Skill, is there any reason why there is a difference in the way they learn?"
I had heard at the Academy that some people could use their Extra Skill before others.
I asked Helmios, who taught practical skills at the Academy, if he had any hints about the problem Dogora was facing.
People said that Talents with high [Intelligence] and [Mana] were better at learning. It was generally believed that it was so because their Extra Skill was similar to the way they used magic. So to begin with, Swordsman and Axe Knights weren't good at learning.
(That's right, as a teacher, he has been to a lot of Academies. He is a Hero in both name and reality.)
I thought about the life of a person who was raised and had lived as a Hero from his birth.
And I was convinced that I could apply my own experience to Helmios' analysis.
Not only Cecile, who had been educated by a Mage since she was a child, but also Kiel, a Priest, said that he had learned to use his skills by attending Church for a couple of months.
However, I remembered that Kurena and Dogora couldn't use their skills when we joined the Academy, and they had a hard time learning it as well.
"I see, I think I can understand it. But with Doberg's training, Kurena was able to use it in a day."
"..."
Kurena quickly remembered and asked if there was a reason why Dogora's memory was so poor.
Dogora breathed deeply as he listened to the conversation between Helmios and me.
"Well, it's a well-known fact in the Empire that people who are stupid or don't think can easily use their Extra Skill better."
""Idiot!?""
"Huh!?"
My friends uniformly picked up on the word "idiot".
Only Kurena listened to Helmios with admiration.
When I saw Kurena listening to the conversation between Helmios and me while taking a bite of Mormo Nut, we were convinced.
"So to say, Dogora, you are hard-headed or stuck in common sense..."
Despite being in my party, Dogora seemed to have been certified as a sensible person.
"Are you saying I'm overthinking this?"
(There are two extremes. Those with high [Intelligence] followed by those with low [Intelligence] can easily learn to use their Extra Skill. Someone in the middle has a difficult time learning it.)
"That's what I'm talking about. What are you going to do, keep going? I have only been loaned for 10 days."
I dared him to use the word '10 days' inwardly. Helmios seems to be rooted in the fact that he was loaned out.
"I've already decided on our battle plan, and I don't think we should stay here for too long. Let's leave for Fortenia tomorrow."
I wasn't waiting just to train Dogora.
I had been thinking about and discussing our battle plans with Helmios.
All of my friends, including Dogora, wanted to participate in the fight against the Demon General Razel.
I had planned to go with everyone who wanted to participate in the first place, so I made a plan to go with all of them and shared the plan with Helmios. When I shared the plan with Helmios, he just said "Well, then." I guessed he wouldn't object too strongly to Dogora's participation with that reaction.
I had also been examining whether Kurena could use her other skills while her Extra Skill was activated.
Helmios was assured that he could not use his skills while his Extra Skill was active.
"All right. We'll leave tomorrow."
That was how we finished everything we could in Tiamo.
The next morning, we greeted the Queen and the Generals for our departure.
"Do I have to go?"
Gatoruga, the strongest man in Rosenheim and a Spirit Mage, asked me once again if I didn't want him to participate in the battle against the Demon General Razel.
"Yes, we'll go alone. Gatoruga, please take care of Rosenheim while we are away."
"Okay, okay."
Gatoruga was not participating in the fight.
Gatoruga wanted to participate for the sake of Rosenheim and the Queen, but I disagreed.
If something were to happen to us, we needed someone who could fight in Rosenheim.
(The Spirit King still hasn't woken up, huh? Well...)
I shifted my gaze from the navel-sleeping Spirit King on the Queen's lap to the Queen.
"Your Majesty the Queen."
"Yes."
"As I told you yesterday, our goal is to defeat Demon General Razel. Since he is a powerful enemy, we may lose Fortenia, is that okay?"
"Of course, as long as the plague is shaken out of Rosenheim."
"Thank you very much. Now we can fight with all our might."
Our objective was to defeat the Demon General Razel. It didn't include the recapture of Fortenia.
I checked to see if there would be a problem if Fortenia were to turn to the ashes, but was told that there would be no problem.
Regardless of which part of Fortenia we ended up fighting in, it wouldn't be left unscathed.
"May the blessings of the Spirit King remain with our Heroes of Salvation."
Finally, the Queen folded her hands in front of her chest and prayed for our safety.
We left the building and rode B-rank Birds to Fortenia.
There are seven of us: me, Kurena, Cecile, Dogora, Kiel, Sophie, and Formar.
Helmios had already left the day before for his mission.
In the evening of the second day, we arrived at Fortress LaPolca.
Since many days had already passed since the end of the siege at the fortress, the magical beasts around the fortress had been cleaned up considerably. My summons also took the lead in helping to dismantle and incinerate the magical beasts.
We collected my share of the magic stones and spent the night at the Fortress LaPolca that day.
The next day we left in the morning and in the evening we could see Fortenia.
I could already see it from a short distance away, but up close I was overwhelmed by the size of the World Tree.
The World Tree lit up by the setting sun is very fantastic. The Capital of Rosenheim, Fortenia, could be seen at the edge of the Tree.
"Formar, you are on your own from here."
I started the plan.
"Yeah, take care of Lady Sofiarone."
Formar asked me to make sure that Sophie, the Princess, would remain safe.
I summoned another B-rank Bird for Formar to ride on.
While Formar waited in the sky, we flew over the high walls of Fortenia, riding on B-rank Birds, and flew through the city.
There were six of us entering the city, not including Formar.
What we were aiming for was the temple in the middle of the city where Ellie previously confronted the Demon General Razel.
Demon General Razel was sitting on the Queen's throne in the temple.
"There's no one here."
Cecile spoke up when she saw the cityscape.
Fortenia, the Capital of Rosenheim, with an area that could have held a million people, was enveloped in silence.
It must have been a beautiful city with wooden buildings full of history and emotion befitting the title 'Land of the Elves'.
It had fallen over two months ago and parts of the city seemed to have been set on fire and were now charred to a crisp. There was not a soul to be seen anywhere.
"I don't see any magical beasts either. Are they hiding in the buildings?"
It was a very quiet city.
I had thought that magical beasts would be roaming around and intercept us, but that was not the case at all.
(Are they hiding and trying to catch us off guard? There's not a single magical beast here.)
We continued through the empty, empty city and entered the temple.
We dismounted from B-rank Birds and entered the temple.
There was no second floor in the temple, just a high ceiling supported by evenly spaced columns of straight, undistorted wood that looked to be hundreds of years old.
At the back, there was an altar dedicated to the Spirit King, with a throne in the middle.
We continued straight until we reached the throne in the center of the temple.
On the throne in the center, an odd-looking elf with bright red eyes was looking at us.
Next to him, Nephtila, the Demon who had escaped before, stood glaring at us.
"So you've come at last. I see, you didn't send an army, you came alone. Are you Allen?"
"Yes, I'm here to defeat you, Demon General Razel."
"Defeat me? Do you have no fear at all, knowing that you are going to fight against a Demon General?"
He looked at me as if he were inspecting me.
"What? Didn't Ellie tell you? How could I, the Liberator, be defeated by a mere Demon General?"
I showed my arrogant side to the Demon General.
My words matched the attitude that Ellie had previously shown to the Demon General Razel.
"Oh, so you are ignorant and fearless. You are indeed the Liberator. But you misunderstand yourself when you are in the company of humans."
Raising the corner of his mouth in a grin at Allen's words, the Demon General Razel slowly stood up.
