Witch, Fireball and Steam Evil God

Chapter 396 Justifiable Defense
One by one, the limbs of monsters emerged from the six-pointed star magic circle, and Hetia's smile gradually turned manic and bloodthirsty, completely different from her usual public persona.

In fact, many of the summoning spells she possessed were never revealed in the long battle with the Demon King. As companions of the hero, they tacitly understood that she knew the rules of the game as early as when she embarked on the journey.

The secret to this adventure lies in balance. Quick victories or defeats are not the results they desire, because both the hero and the demon king have significance that transcends their individual identities. The people of the Silver Empire need the hero, but they need the demon king even more. They need a symbol of absolute evil to distract them and make them ignore many problems.

Ignore the existence of people like Baron Flint.

Ignore the ever-increasing taxes, ignore the oppression of the nobles, ignore their lives which are no different in essence from those of livestock.

All the effort and sweat are simply to give their owners more.

Good-performing livestock will be given some scraps so that they can feel that there is still hope for their lives.

When they were about to be crushed by life, the empire and the royal family gave them a concrete target to hate—the Demon King.

That is the source of all misfortune.

All injustices were brought about by the Demon King.

But let us not forget that there is a group of chosen heroes fighting alongside them. The hero and his companions have embarked on a great adventure to fight the Demon King. One day the Demon King will be defeated, and the hero, beloved by all, will bring justice to everyone. At that time, the empire will usher in unprecedented prosperity.

This was the last lesson Hetalia received before embarking on her journey.

Her father called her to the attic and talked with her all night, telling her about the long-standing rules of the empire's operation, how the dozen or so great adventures that had taken place in the past had all followed this rule, and how in the end, the heroes and demon kings of each era would die, while the empire would continue to prosper.

Now, Hetia has completed this great adventure.

Their names will be inscribed on monuments in the capital and remembered by the people. She has returned to her hometown and can now do some things she truly wants to do.

As she told the Gear City interviewers in the early morning, she wanted to bring light to the city.

How can a city with streets filled with rats from the sewers be considered bright?

Why must justice always prevail? Why should the empire care about your small town?

The monster from the other end of the six-pointed star magic circle revealed its hideous face. It was a monster with a human body, a goat's head, and dark skin. Its arms were bound to its chest with black straps, and its eyes were covered by the same black cloth. Dim black flames burned on the cloth that served as restraints.

Hetia stared intently at the other side.

She knew very well that if Solan hadn't been teleported away, he would be in the same place as the other side right now. These words were originally meant for Solan, but unfortunately, she had forever lost the chance to face the hero again.

Hetia genuinely wanted to see the expression on that simple-minded, righteous fool's face after learning the truth.

However, on the other hand, only those extremely simple-minded fools can become heroes and, without their own knowledge, become tools used by the empire to win people's hearts.

The figures of the other side and Solan overlapped, and Hetia hoped to get the answer from this female knight.

She couldn't understand these kinds of people. Why would someone be willing to sacrifice themselves to fight for strangers who had absolutely no connection to them?

Finally, the female knight, who had been silent all along, spoke, but the answer was not what she wanted.

"I don't understand. What are you mumbling about?"

Her voice instantly traveled more than ten meters, reaching right behind Heitia.

Heitia's gaze drifted, and she saw the once invincible imprisoning demon shattered, its heroic face disappearing from her sight.

Then came a sharp pain in my chest, and a chill that spread throughout my body.

When Hetia looked down, she was startled to see a piercing wound in her chest, blood soaking her gorgeous dress.

She was injured, seriously injured.

She could clearly feel her life slipping away, and she needed immediate treatment from the squad priest.

Hetia opened her mouth, but no sound came out.

This was not the outcome she had imagined, and even now she doesn't understand why the other side would actually use a sword to cut her.

If it's Solan...

Even if her summoning spell is broken by the other party, Solan will definitely not hurt her severely. At most, he will knock her to the ground, hold the blade to her neck, and then use his infectious voice to correct her thinking, telling her that the Silver Empire exists because of every ordinary person.

When that time comes, she will feign compliance, and if necessary, she can squeeze out a few tears from the corner of her eye, telling Solan in a tearful voice that she knows she was wrong, and then they will embrace...

This is also why Heitia dared to fight Solan regardless of the consequences.

Even when faced with someone like her, Solan would still believe that she could change her ways.

Now, tears were truly welling up in Hetia's eyes, not feigned, but because of the unbearable pain in her heart. At the same time, she knew clearly that the team's priest would not come to heal her this time.

Death was drawing ever closer to her.

She didn't want to die, especially not in this way, in front of a bunch of rats in the gutter.

Hetia's vision became increasingly blurry. She fell to the ground, turning her head to stare at the hazy figure on the other side, but the latter's gaze did not linger on her for even a second longer.

This time, she seemed to have seen things more clearly.

This female knight is not Solan; they are not similar.

"It's time to go, Lacey."

The girl, who was standing there stunned with the other residents of Riverside Town, was called out from the other side. The others snapped out of their daze, "You...you killed the Great Summoner!?"

All of this happened so fast that they didn't have time to react or even see the sword strike from the other side. When they came to their senses, Hetia was already lying in a pool of blood, her mouth opening and closing like a dead fish abandoned on the shore.

"justifiable defense."

The other side calmly recounted everything that had just happened.

If someone casts a spell with the intention of killing you, you have a legitimate reason to kill them back. However, it wasn't until Hetia fell to the ground and stopped moving that Bi'an finally realized that this great summoner had no backup plan. She was really foolish enough to dare to fight a knight at close range in such a confined space.

Even when the Sword of Oath and Victory pierced Hetia's chest, it did not touch any defensive spells.

The great summoner of the Silver Empire, a legendary hero who fought alongside the hero, only had decent magic reserves in the end. Bi'an couldn't help but think of Rowena. If it were the latter, daring to provoke her in a confined space, she must have kept a dozen or so backup plans.

The other side could only guess that Hetia was protected too well by her family and the other members of her team, which led to her extremely poor combat skills.

"Where are you going?"

The riverside town residents, still shaken by the ordeal, asked, the stench of blood gradually dissipating. The people of Gear City would eventually discover that the Great Summoner Hetia had died in her basement. "The Imperial Capital."

The other side beckoned Lacey to follow her. She no longer cared about the fate of the Riverside Town residents; they should have learned their lesson from this battle.

As for where to escape to after leaving Gear City, that was not something she needed to consider.

……

That night, Bi'an successfully boarded the airship bound for the capital.

During the three-day voyage, the deck was mostly filled with nobles or wealthy merchants, and only these people could afford the expensive tickets. She settled Lytian into her cabin, and a familiar dark figure finally couldn't hold back any longer and swayed as it appeared.

"Ha, Imperial Knight Commander, I admit it, you're a truly ruthless character."

Like a "demon king," he secretly observes the other side.

After killing the Grand Summoner Hetia, it noticed that the other side was not flustered at all. She went to the airship's tower as if nothing had happened, bought a ticket, and ignored the patrols coming and going.

More importantly, the Other Shore accomplished something even it had never done—she actually killed a member of the Hero's Squad!

It remembered Hetia; in the past, during battles, that summoner would always hide behind her teammates and shoot arrows at it from the shadows.

"You don't look like a beginner."

The shadowy figure sat down on the edge of the other shore's bed, its interest in the other shore's past growing intense. "Very well. I, Melia, solemnly invite you to join me in destroying this filthy world!"

“Destroying public property, disturbing public order, and committing crimes against humanity can be punishable by death.”

Bi'an raised an eyebrow, but her relationship with the Demon King had made some progress. "Your name is Melia?"

This doesn't sound like the name of a world-destroying demon king; it's not imposing or domineering at all. At first glance, it sounds more like the name of a girl from a small town.

"This is the name of the first human to call me."

The shadowy figure said, "She was suspended in the torture chamber of a nobleman's mansion because that nobleman enjoyed watching people being hanged, so I used her name."

This is not an isolated case.

Whenever it is summoned, it sees the most cruel sights. If it hadn't seen it with its own eyes, it would never have imagined that human cruelty could reach such an unbelievable level, especially since they would inflict such cruel tortures on their own kind with a playful attitude.

The Grand Summoner Hetia is merely a microcosm of the Empire. "Where you are going, there are many more beings just like her."

At this point, Melia suddenly gave up the idea of ​​continuing to persuade the other side.

Although this imperial knight commander appears to be law-abiding and dislikes harming others, the place she is going to is full of nobles like Hetia. As long as she stays in the capital, what happened today will happen again sooner or later, and when that time comes, they will naturally become comrades-in-arms.

Before that, it needs to recover its strength as soon as possible.

..............................

Meanwhile, in the capital city late at night, Ethan received a message from the Royal Hospital.

The hero has awakened.

However, his condition was worse than the doctors had imagined. In addition to the wounds on his body, the brave young man's spirit had also become listless. He seemed to have suffered a severe shock, which triggered new mental problems.

When Ethan arrived, the brave young man was sitting on the bed with his arms wrapped around his knees, burying his face in his knees in dejection.

"What happened?"

Hetia is dead.

"Heitia?"

"She's our summoner, the gentlest and kindest person I've ever met. She always takes good care of everyone in the team, and we always confide in her when we're having troubles..."

Solan looked up, his clenched fists trembling uncontrollably. "But someone killed her."

Ethan didn't doubt it. He believed that there might be some kind of spiritual connection between the hero and his teammates, which seemed to explain why the young hero was awakened in the middle of the night. It was probably because the death of his teammates had a severe impact on him, which made him wake up from his coma.

Who is the murderer?

Ethan thought this might not be a bad thing; perhaps they could use the young hero to pinpoint the plane in which the Silver Empire was located.

"I don't know, maybe he's a fan of the Demon King."

The young hero was extremely depressed.

"Perhaps this is not a coincidence."

"what do you mean?"

The brave young man raised his head and observed the young man, who looked not much older than him, for the first time. The young man seemed very kind, and it was easy to see from the way the doctors treated him that he was highly respected here.

Such people are mostly good people who actively do good deeds, as can be seen from the YMCA's concern for Hetia, whom he had never met.

"If this was done by the Demon King's followers, then they may also be targeting your other companions. Without your reminder and help, they might also be in danger."

Ethan's words reminded the boy, who immediately clenched his fists and tried to get out of bed.

Ethan stopped the boy and told him everything that had happened while he was unconscious, including how he had been transported to another world by a mysterious summons.

"I know her, the savior, our benefactor!"

After learning about Bi'an's identity and name, the boy's gloom lessened somewhat. In his eyes, Bi'an was a person greater than him, who directly repelled the Demon King.

"She is the Empire's Knight Commander. If she discovers that your companions are being attacked by the Demon King's followers, she will definitely come to your aid."

Ethan promised the boy, "So you can rest and recover in the hospital first, and then tell us as much as you can about the teleportation magic your friends used. Maybe we can use the same magic to return to your world."

"This……"

"Don't worry, I also know a very skilled magician who is proficient in all kinds of teleportation magic."

“It’s my problem, Mr. Ethan.”

The young hero looked troubled. "My class is warrior, and I know nothing about magic."

(End of this chapter)