From atop a small platform I had made with [Darkness-Attribute Magic: Form Darkness], I had a good view of the entirety of the Goblinoids’ village while at the same time hiding myself from their vision. Naturally, this was due to the fact that the platform, being made of darkness itself, blended in rather well with the night sky.

“I must say,” I mused half to myself, “the war effort is developing rather well, isn’t it? Moreso than expected.”

Generally speaking, the Goblinoids were holing up in various hiding places, only coming out once the Heroes neared—in other words, sneak attacks. To be honest, the degree by which they were picking up on the concept of ‘tactics’ was a pleasant surprise.

“Cert’nly, M’lord,” the little girl by my side—Charlotte, of course—responded. “If the matter doth be about abs’lute numbers, the Heroes are leading, but with the provision that one accounts f’r the initial numbers, we are winning.”

“Even so, there is a matter which troubles me.”

“What could be the cause of thy worries, M’lord?”

“The Saint, and that certain Hero. I am unable to find a pattern in their actions.”

“Indeed, they are a riddle in their own- They appear to have man’fested anew, M’lord.”

“Another of your Vampires has found them, then.”

“Yea. In r’lation to the previous occur’nce, they appear t’ be further north…”

The reason I had chosen, out of all my Demon Generals, specifically Charlotte to remain by my side was this ability of hers. Given she was a descendant of the Vampire King, the blood of the true Vampire Crown ran through her veins—in other words, she possessed the skill [Heiress of Midnight]. One of its effects was the ability to communicate with her Vampire subordinates and her familiars, as though using [Telepathy], but without consuming any mana.

“Further north, is it.” I marked a location on the map we had set up nearby and took a step back to observe the entire thing.

That led me to only one conclusion.

“Incomprehensible. Without a doubt, there is no reasoning or pattern to their actions.”

“M’lord, ‘twas not all,” Charlotte said after a short pause. Her tone was gentle, as if informing someone a relative had passed. “A part’cular Hero has appeared, and he seems t’ be wielding… Claiomh Solais. Fort’nately, he appears t’ be eas’ly agitated, but…”

I couldn’t prevent myself from bursting into a fit of laughter, and soon covered my mouth with one of my hands. “The… The god-sword, you said? Claiomh Solais, the weapon capable of killing even gods…”

From the subtle expression on Charlotte’s face, I could tell my own was one only a bad person could make.

“Isn’t that an interesting toy you’ve given your puppets, Lady Luciel? Very interesting, indeed…”

The cackles of the Demon Lord went unheard by all but his trusted Vampire Princess aide.

“Ah, why do I have to do this? It’d be fine to leave somethin’ like this to the Vampires, right?”

«Because you can fly, Lilith.»

“I mean, sure, I can fly, Master, but so can Charlotte, right? Don’t all o’ the Vampires have wings like hers?”

«Certainly, most higher-class Vampires have shadow wings, but that does not mean they can all fly. For most of them, the wings are only good for increasing their manoeuvrability.»

“Ghk… Even so, why’re ya makin’ a Demon General do scoutin’ work?!”

«It cannot be helped. Besides, you might get a chance for revenge on that Barrier Hero—we have already confirmed his presence, after all.»

“Well, I guess I’d be lyin’ if I said I didn’t want that.”

«See? It is not all bad. Now get back to it.»

“Alright, fine, leave it to me,” Lilith said, a large sigh escaping her mouth.

After her master one-sidedly cut the connection, Lilith had little choice but to fly around in silence, going around to the various locations where Charlotte’s servants said they had spotted the Saint and the Barrier Hero.

Every time, she was disappointed to find only nothing more than the corpses of Goblinoids and, occasionally, one or two Heroes.

“Still, though… What’s he even expect me to look for?” she asked herself in a voice that came out a little louder than she expected.

As a result, she attracted the attention of a nearby Hero she hadn’t noticed.

“Found you, you little- wh- a Devil?! Oi, oi, ain’t this supposed to be a Goblinoid extermination mission? Leave it to me to find the outlier…”

“Ah, I’m just passin’ through, don’t mind me,” Lilith lied. Due to her casual stance, the lie was certainly convincing, however.

“That’s irrelevant!” The Hero displayed the holy symbol on their armour to Lilith, who didn’t seem to care much for it. “You’re a monster, so it’s my divine mission to smite you!”

“Listen here, ya little ‘Hero’,” Lilith said, floating down to be at eye-level of the other party. “I’ve been told to leave you guys alone, yeah? ‘N yet you still want me dead. Tha’s not very fair, is it? What’m I supposed to do, then? Sit here ‘n take yer beating? Ya won’t find anyone who’ll—no, actually, I guess there’re people like that… anyway, I’m not one of ‘em! So, just leave me alone already, ‘kay?”

“You’ve been ordered?” the Hero said, apparently having lost interest in Lilith’s words halfway through. “Well, I suppose Succubi don’t really work alone…”

“I ain’t a Succubus.”

“Yes?”

“Like I said, not a Succubus.”

“No, with an outfit like that, surely…”

“Nope, and if you keep going, I’ll get mad, y’know. I’m the daughter of my tribe’s shaman, but right now, pop’s a bit… Anyway, I’ve never been a Succubus, ‘n I’ve never wanted to be one, either.”

“Oh, is that so… Wait, in the first place, this is irrelevant! Are you trying to distract me?!”

Lilith clicked her tongue—it seemed the Hero’s guess had been right on the mark.

“Devil, who is the person who ordered you to… to be here, then?!”

“Can’t say.”

“Huh? You mean you don’t know?”

“No, no, I know the guy, alright. I meant I’m not tellin’. You done interrogatin’ me yet, or what?”

“Ah, well, I suppose…”

“Good. Then I’m leavin’. Bye-bye~” Lilith said, waving weakly to the Hero and leaving the poor human bewildered as she flew off. Within seconds, she was out of the Hero’s attack range.

“Ah-! Wait, you!”

“Nah.”

Unable to do anything but watch as Lilith flew off, the Hero was forced to do exactly that. After several seconds of bewildered silence—several seconds too long, by any standard—the Hero finally regained a bit of composure and ran off, likely to tell a superior about what had happened.

“A Devil, you said?”

An interested smile played across the man’s face—this was the Barrier Hero, Yxon. His short golden hair seemed almost to get even wilder and more out of control than it already was as he leaned forward, no small amount of enthusiasm in his narrowed golden eyes, like those of a child receiving a new toy or a teenager making leaps and bounds of progress in his newest RPG. “By all means, tell me more—no, tell me everything.”

“As you wish, sir,” the Hero in front of Yxon said, nodding. This was the same Hero who had encountered a Succubus-like Devil not a dozen minutes ago. “She was wearing a pair of hotpants and a crop top, and a pair of long boots. Seemed modern-ish… Purple skin, bright pink, shoulder-length hair, two horns, a heart-tipped tail… Ah, there were some weird markings on her face, and as far as I could tell, she didn’t care about me at all. And specifically in that area, she was quite big. Due to her loose-fitting-”

“That’s enough out of you,” Yxon cut in, shaking his head. “I’m asking you to describe a boss, not a heroine. No matter how you look at it, this world is more like an RPG than a gal game.” Though his words were, in a certain manner, correct, they also rather clearly highlighted the faults with his personality. “You’re dismissed, you’re dismissed.” He waved his hand with clear disinterest and turned to a different Hero. “Four-eyes, you got anything?”

“I have a name, you know,” the Hero muttered to herself, shaking her head. Then she used her unique hero skill, [Record Access], which allowed one to reach into the vast archives of the Akashic Records for their own use. “There is a match. There is only one Devil in possession of modern-style human clothing, or so the angels have revealed.”

There was apparently a rather large misunderstanding about the skill [Record Access].

“Sadly, not much about her is known. Her name is Lilith Bral’goch, but her combat strength is unknown… She possesses common devil-type magic, such as [Devil Bindings], and elemental magic. The extent of her elemental magic is also unknown.”

“Lilith?” Yxon parrotted, a strange gleam in his eyes. “Lilith Bral’goch? Did you just say Bral’goch?”

The Hero nodded. “So I did,” she said, adjusting her glasses. “Why? Is her name relevant?”

“I see, I see,” Yxon muttered, more to himself than to the other Hero, “the last Bral’goch, that girl who escaped from me. So this is where that quest continues…” The crooked grin on his face widened in delight as he turned his attention back to the outside world. “But if she’s around, then won’t he be, too? You. You have any intel on a man… About two metres tall, black eyes, grey-silver hair, pointy ears? Ah, if it helps, he wore a black military-style suit.”

The Hero seemed unwilling to repeat her earlier mumble and simply used her skill once more. “Wh… What? I’ve… I’ve found a match—or, well, almost, one eye is off—but… Something like this has never happened before… It says “classified”. This is the first time the angels have denied a request for info… They’ll only tell me he’s been marked by Lady Luciel, praise be to her, as a ‘global enemy’.”

“Dammit. No info? Really? What kind of shitty game has you fight a double boss where you only know a little about one, and nothing about the other?”

There were plenty of games like that back on earth.

“Now, now, Yxon, please calm down,” a gentle voice said from the side, its owner placing her hand on Yxon’s shoulder. She could easily be described as a beauty—her gentle features and gentle curves, combined with her sisterly garb, gave her a mature, adult kind of charm, and her eyes, filled with kindness and as if they were always smiling, had, of course, the golden colour of the sun itself.

“Ah, Guriel,” Yxon said, nodding in acknowledgement. “Are you making sure you don’t run out of mana? Aspects use a lot of that, right?”

“I will be fine, my child, I am properly watching myself.” Guriel nodded as she removed her hand. “More importantly, it is finally time for the conclusion of one of your long-running quests, is it not? One of your longest, no less. You have my congratulations and my full support.”

“That’s reassuring to hear—I’ll be counting on you, Guriel. Against that kind of monster, even I don’t stand a chance on my own, I remember that much.”

“Feel free to rely on me as much as you need, my child.”

“Yeah… but it’d be reassuring to have Reynald, too. After all, in a proper party, you need some kind of main DPS… I feel like he could do as much damage as a raid group.”

His speech, littered with jargon, did not cause any of the Heroes around to look at him funny—a refreshing change from the way he was treated by the world’s natives.

“Did I hear my name?” Reynald cut in, arriving as though he had been summoned as he pounded the chest of his armour. His untamed hair and the energetic, youthful look in his eyes gave him a distinct “wild” appearance, and a rather large sword was sheathed on his back. Since it was sheathed, its golden-coloured blade was hidden from view, but one could still see its sun-shaped hilt, which, on its own, exposed the blade’s immense value. The way the dull, dim moonlight reflected off of the golden hilt made it clear that this was worthy of the title “god-sword”.

Reynald was swiftly pursued by another Hero, dressed in the robes of a White Mage. “Hello, lady Saint, lord Yxon,” she said, bowing and using a gentle hand to force Reynald to do the same. Even from a distance, one could see the wooden staff on her back, tipped with a golden ornament, was by no means a cheap weapon.

“Ah, Reynald, Ebstrea.” The grin on Yxon’s face widened in yet more delight. “Yeah, you heard your name, Reynald. You two up for a sidequest? A hidden boss has appeared, you know.” He gestured a symbol that implied ‘money’—and indeed, if the four of them succeeded at this task, they would likely be handsomely rewarded.

“Don’t hidden bosses usually come after the final boss, though?” Reynald said, a questioning expression on his face. It seemed Ebstrea had released his head.

“And if it’s after the final boss,” Ebstrea said, an expression of slight worry on her face, “isn’t it usually harder than the final boss?”

“What? You scared? It’ll be fine, it’ll be fine!” Yxon said, his volume several levels louder than necessary. “The party formation’s perfect, right? I’ll be the tank—I’m not the Barrier Hero for nothing, you know—Guriel can support us, Reynald’ll take on the role of main attacker and Ebstrea’ll be the mage. Isn’t the balance exactly as it should be?” His original nature as an avid player of party-based RPGs, single- or multiplayer, shone in situations like this, and as his words implied, he’d essentially mastered defensive magic, to the point where he could use the Magic Guard of every attribute except darkness.

“Well, as long as I have this sword, I can deal some serious damage, I guess,” Reynald said, tapping the sheath on his back. It appeared his training had greatly improved the flexibility of his body.

“Lady Luciel said it could even kill gods, didn’t she?” Yxon said, admiring the sword in a curious manner.

“Yeah. What was it again… ‘It breaks right through god-based defence, and if you hit a god’s avatar with it, you’ll damage the god’s divinity itself’, or something.” It was clear from his speech that he himself didn’t really understand the words he was copying.

And thus, a party intended to defeat the ‘hidden boss’ called Lilith Bral’goch and her mysterious benefactor, and founded on a fundamental misunderstanding, was formed.