The Hero Reborn as a Demon King Loli

And then they suddenly surrounded us. What's going on?

Chloe looked at the group of paladins around her, and her mentality was completely shattered.

However, Chloe's mental breakdown wasn't due to worrying about her identity being exposed, since the system's cards were incredibly reliable.

The real reason she lost her composure was...

What's it like to be surrounded by a bunch of burly men radiating dazzling light as soon as you enter the city gate?

Anyway, Chloe had never encountered this situation before, back when she was a hero, because...

Who the hell assembled this group of paladins? No… who the hell would send a bunch of paladins in a raid?!

And you paladins in groups, could you please turn off your "high beams"?

They're all so bright, do they all think they're "Sun Knights"? Don't they know this is light pollution?

Or is this some genius's idea—a tactic where blinding the enemy is considered victory? I think that person is somewhat involved...

Chloe, whose mindset and eyes were both blown away by these paladins, complained inwardly.

She immediately hid behind Ilya, using Ilya as cover to block the blinding holy light.

Although the stinging sensation in my eyes has been relieved, it's still uncomfortable.

However, Chloe didn't say anything, because she knew that someone else had similar thoughts to hers... Ilya was stronger than her, so let Ilya speak.

In theory, Ilya's mentality is even more explosive than Chloe's.

Unlike Chloe, Ilya doesn't have any "cover," so she has no choice but to face the Holy Light directly...

Under normal circumstances, if anyone dared to "besiege" Ilya like this, she would definitely give them a "bombing performance." However, the paladins she surrounded were all "her own people," so she couldn't directly solve the problem with violence.

So, Ilya, who was also driven to the brink of madness by those paladins, stomped her foot in exasperation and shouted, "Shut it down! Shut it down! Turn off your holy light now! If you don't, I'll blow you all to smithereens!"

"No! Ilya/Lady Ilya, calm down!"

Chloe, standing behind Ilya, and the paladins surrounding her, all shouted in unison, their voices filled with fear.

……

Under the threat of Ilya's "nuclear explosion," the paladins who had formed teams immediately dispersed, leaving only the strongest paladin, who seemed to be at the captain level, behind.

Of course, in order not to further provoke Ilya, he also turned off the holy light on his body.

He then explained the situation to Ilya, hoping to calm her down.

The reason these paladins ran to the city gate was to maintain order. After all, there were an unusually large number of out-of-towners who wanted to enter the city today to participate in the "Hero Selection," and the city guards were already struggling to keep up. That's when the paladins were needed to maintain order.

Moreover, these paladins, in addition to their role of "keeping order," are also responsible for conducting preliminary selections for those who want to participate in the "Hero Selection."

At the very least, one must be able to defeat these high-ranking paladins to be eligible to participate in the selection.

We can't let people who aren't even at the advanced level crowd the venue when it comes to the "Hero Selection", can we?

How will the selection ceremony be conducted then?

If they were working properly, then why did they gather together and surround Ilya and the others in the first place?

To put it simply, they detected Ilya's aura, or rather, the aura of a "human saint," and thus came specifically to surround... no, to welcome the "saint"...

As for why we should welcome the "saint"?

This all started with the truth being told when this hero selection was just about to begin...

"Stop talking nonsense! Get to the point. I don't have much time to chat with you for that long!"

Ilya looked at the paladin in front of her, who seemed about to launch into a long speech, so she immediately interrupted him.

That's why she dislikes church people; they're always nagging and chattering.

The paladin, whose speech had been interrupted, paused for a moment, but being a professional "commentator," he quickly reorganized his thoughts and addressed Ilya:

"Simply put, the host of the originally planned 'Hero Selection,' namely the 'Sage,' has suddenly disappeared. The people from the Empire and the Church have been searching for him all day... Just now, we sensed the aura of a Saint-level mage and thought it was the 'Sage' returning, which is why..."

At this point, both Ilya and Chloe understood what was going on, and they both thought to themselves:

"I see. I think I understand now, but... you're crazy. Does being a Saint-level mage make you a 'sage'? I'm an assassin, and Ilya is a berserker."

However, they also knew where the "sage" had gone.

According to the message Ilya sent to Alesia yesterday, Sage Melly set off for the Elven race yesterday and has probably arrived by now.

I just didn't expect that she would actually skip work and go there... No wonder that lazy dog ​​would be so eager to sweep the tomb.

Chloe thought to herself.

……

After learning the truth about being surrounded by paladins, Chloe successfully entered the city.

This is why she can always trust the system items; even when she, a demon, is face to face with a group of paladins, no one notices her identity.

Of course, half the credit goes to the ring that could shield her from her presence.

Chloe successfully entered the city, but things didn't go so smoothly for Ilya. So after sending Chloe into the city, she went straight to the Elven territory.

She originally planned to hand Chloe over to the "contact person" before leaving... but as soon as she entered the city, she was surrounded by "fans" again.

Today happens to be the so-called "Hero Selection," and almost everyone who comes to participate in this "Hero Selection" can recognize Ilya's identity, so there are extra "fans" here.

Whether it's fans of the novel or those who admire her talent, the number is ridiculously large.

Of course, if she were just a fan of the novel, Ilya wouldn't be so annoyed that she would just run away. What's annoying are those who admire her strength.

After all, Ilya holds the record for "the youngest Saint-level human." Many people not only admire her strength but also want to ask her for advice on cultivation.

So, Ilya, who disliked trouble, simply ignored the overwhelming number of "fans" and chose to run away.

Anyway, Chloe is in the capital, and unless her identity is exposed, Ilya is not worried about her safety.

Why wasn't Chloe, who was previously with Ilya, surrounded and instead managed to enter the city? The answer is quite simple: it was due to her size advantage.

Just as Ilya greeted her and said she was about to leave, Chloe, taking advantage of her petite size, secretly slipped into the crowd.

She's wandering around the city now.

Of course, Chloe wasn't just wandering aimlessly around the city.

Chloe had already contacted Lulum before she even set off for the capital.

Lulum helped her make the contact and told her when and where to meet the Dragon King.

That's what they say, but... after wandering around for a long time and eating countless snacks, Chloe was still aimlessly wandering around.

Judging by the time, it was about time for Lulum to "meet" her, so why was Chloe still wandering around the city?

Okay, Chloe admits, she got lost.

From the moment she entered the city, she was actually looking for a "meeting place": a tavern called "Moonlight".

But after wandering around for a long time, she still couldn't find the tavern.

Chloe had asked passersby and snack vendors for directions to the "Moonlight" tavern, but even when someone gave her directions, she couldn't figure out why she kept getting lost.

It can only be said that he is hopelessly directionally challenged.

Finally, seeing that time was running out, Chloe had no choice but to use her "money power" to hire someone to guide her.

After taking the money, the man led Chloe to a place that turned out to be nearby. Chloe exclaimed that she had been tricked.

Moreover, this place is actually very, very close to the city gate.

So she was just wasting her time before, and now she's wasting her money too?

Thinking of this, Chloe felt another wave of phantom limb pain.

……

This tavern called "Moonlight" is more like an ordinary restaurant than a tavern.

At least Chloe, who is clearly underage, can go in openly... although as soon as she sat down at the bar, the waiter poured her a glass of milk, seemingly reminding her that "minors are prohibited from drinking alcohol."

Although Chloe wanted to say that she was an adult (mentally), she was not actually an adult (physically), so she humiliatingly drank the milk.

Hmm, it's strawberry flavored, and a bit sweet.

Moreover, after drinking the milk, Chloe actually felt her magic power increasing, albeit only a little bit, but...

"Continued Cup!"

She's got so much money! She can drink as much as she wants!

As for where she got all this money? Of course, she stole some of Ilya's money... although it was only a thousand or eight hundred gold coins, it was enough for her.

Chloe drank her milk cup after cup, but the person she was waiting for... or rather, the dragon, never came.

The time has clearly passed... Have I been stood up?

Looking around the shop, Chloe thought that besides her, there were only two burly men drinking and a silver-haired loli wearing a light purple dress.

First, let's rule out the silver-haired loli. She's seen the Church's "Holy Dragon," or rather, the Demon Clan's "Dragon King," before. She even chatted and laughed with the "Holy Dragon's" human form back then.

How could "Holy Dragon" be a 1.98-meter-tall, heavily armored giant, possibly a little girl who is less than 1.4 meters tall?

And those two burly men drinking... obviously couldn't be them either.

However, Chloe forgot that Lulum also has similar "height-enhancing" equipment...

Looking at the mountain of milk cups piled up in front of her, and then at the gradually darkening sky, Chloe felt she couldn't wait any longer.

She arrived here with Ilya in the afternoon, and now it's getting dark... which means she's been waiting for more than four hours.

Her [Disguise Card] only lasts for twelve hours, and almost half of the available time has already been used up.

We need to find a place to contact Lulum and ask what's going on.

Otherwise, if my [Disguise Card] fails in the capital...

Chloe immediately thought of the church, then of the group of paladins from before, and then of the famous scene with five black and one white...

She couldn't help but shudder.

So she immediately paid the bill and left.

On the other side, that silver-haired loli was indeed the "Dragon King" Lulu Xin.

She wore casual clothes simply to avoid drawing attention during the "meeting".

Moreover, to be honest, the people who know her appearance beneath this heavy armor are all extinct among humans, which can be said to be the best disguise for her identity as a "Holy Dragon".

She had actually been waiting for Chloe in the tavern for a while... although she did arrive a little later than Chloe... probably around the time Chloe had drunk her 128th glass of milk.

But you can't blame her; she arrived on time. Chloe actually arrived early... she miscalculated the time.

While waiting in the tavern, Lulu Xin also suspected that the white-haired little girl who was frantically feeding milk might be Lulu's daughter, but the eye color was wrong and she had the scent of an elf, so it probably wasn't.

Lulu Xin, who has face blindness, couldn't tell that Chloe's appearance was exactly the same as the person in the "photo" in her hand.

According to Lulu Xin, it means: Can you tell the difference in appearance between two magical beasts of the same species?

If we really have to assign blame, it's partly Chloe's fault for confidently telling Lulum that she knew what the Dragon King looked like when she contacted Lulum... Plus, Lulum underestimated Lulushin's face blindness.

……

After paying the bill and leaving the tavern, Chloe immediately found a secluded alley and slipped inside. She wanted to find a quiet corner to secretly contact Lulum... no, she wanted to contact Lulum through Stella, using a communication scroll and projection, which would make her a rather obvious target.

However, just as Chloe found a suitable corner, she discovered that the corner was already full.

Two suspiciously dressed people are talking about something...

Perhaps because Chloe was already acting suspiciously, and because the ring on her hand had the function of shielding her presence, the two sneaky people didn't seem to notice Chloe.

Chloe initially thought the two men might be having some dirty dealings and that it would be better to ignore them and move on to another place. However, after overhearing their conversation, she immediately decided to continue eavesdropping…

"The Order has already reached an agreement with the Church. You will definitely be elected as the Hero this year. As for the real Hero... should we get rid of him?"

Chapter 129 Another religious order! Damn, so annoying!

"The order has already..."

The cult? Chloe, who had only stumbled into the "transaction scene" and didn't want to cause trouble, was successfully drawn to this keyword after overhearing it.

Unexpectedly, she heard the word "cult" in such a remote corner... Chloe, whose attention was drawn, immediately hid in a corner of the alley and began to eavesdrop.

She admitted that she had become a little sensitive to the word lately... It was all because of the people in that "cult". Everything that had happened to her recently was caused by the people in the "cult". So what if she was a little sensitive?