"Nah! What? Who are you?!".
"Are you the Demon Lord Griselda?"
The girl had silver hair, and her wary eyes glared at me.
I had punched out my younger brother, Ares, and he was leaning against the wall, twitching and jerking. He appeared to have passed out.
I slammed into him with my dark magic enhanced fist. Even an expert in martial arts would look weak in the face of its power.
"I am Griselda as you say, but the Demon Lord?"
The girl sounds perplexed.
She resembled Griselda, the demon lord, exactly, but her eyes were a different shade. The girl had blue eyes like the sea as opposed to the demon king, who had red eyes.
But I knew it was her because her name and physical characteristics were so similar. The Demon Lord would soon be born of this girl.
Therefore, that woman must be her closest friend, Sasha.
I see... That Ares is revolting.
The demon tribe member pinned to the wall was writhing in pain and gasping for air.
However, it appears that I arrived on time. What a relief.
While I was aware that Griselda was somewhere within the compound, I didn't know her exact location. That's why it took me so long to arrive.
They were imprisoned by Ares inside a warehouse that was normally empty. I was finally able to find it after speaking with several servants.
"Who are you, and how did you come to know our names?"
"I am Kai Austin. Treating your wounds now is more important than responding to your queries."
Sasha's murder caused Griselda to awaken as a demon lord.
It was crucial to stop that from happening first.
I applied the dark healing magic (Dark Heal) while placing my hand on Sasha's cheek. Demons and other beings with the dark attribute can use this magic to recover very effectively.
Sasha's injuries were instantly healed, and her skin returned to being healthy and white.
"Oh, this is!"
Sasha trembled with shock.
It was difficult to look at her because of her tattered and torn clothing. I quickly turned away.
"Kai Austin? What is this powerful dark magic?"
"Ah, right. I'll treat your wounds as well, Griselda. you've been enchanted with a slavery contract, haven't you? I'll break that too."
The decision to help my former foe was a sketchy one.
My fear of the Demon Lord resurfaced, and I braced myself for the possibility that she might attack me at any moment.
But now, instead of the Demon Lord who has massacred countless people, I am confronted by a defenseless young woman. She is merely a helpless victim held captive.
"(Dark Heal). (Bind Breaker)!"
I immediately used the bind destruction magic (Bind Break) and recovery magic.
*Bakki-ki-ki-kin!*
The chains that held the girls captive were broken with a deafening noise. The slave contract magic was also extinguished at the same time.
"What? They vanished in an instant — My injuries, and my abhorrent slave contract!"
"I've been released from my slave contract, too, Griselda!"
"We made it, Sasha, oh my God, we are free!"
The girls rejoiced in each other's safety as they hugged one another.
"When Elsa, the demon hunter, claimed our territory, I assumed our life was done for, but now I couldn't be happier for you, Griselda-sama!"
"I'm sorry to my father, but the truth is, I was terrified. ogguuuuuuuu!"
They started crying because they were both moved to tears.
The dignity of a demon lord was absent from Griselda, whose face was scrunched up.
The words Sasha said shocked me.
"Could it be Elsa, a red-haired girl of the Magical Swordsman class?"
"Yes, but how do you know.?"
"She is someone I am familiar with. Once, she and I attended a party together."
Elsa's name was brought up, and I felt a surge of rage and hatred.
I see. Was the capture and enslavement of Griselda, a member of the highest ranking demon tribe, the work of that woman, Elsa, who would later join the Hero's Party?
"Wait, you're telling me that Kai-dono belonged to Elsa's party?"
"It's not like that." If she believed that I belonged to her party, I would be abhorred.
The demon tribe controlled the southern third of the continent.
Elsa was in the business of invading the demon territory, robbing people's property, and turning the demon tribe into slaves.
Money is the Almighty God, according to Elsa. To amass a vast fortune, Elsa formed a party with thousands of intrepid individuals. The group then raided the demon realm.
In the first round of the war, the group of demon hunters led by Elsa was well-known. She joined the heroic party with a full endorsement due to their notoriety and talent.
Elsa is currently 17 years old, but she had already began her rampage.
"No, more importantly, I haven't expressed my gratitude to you. Kai Austin, I owe you my life!"
Shaking her long silver hair, Griselda knelt down and took a deep breath.
Being thanked by the Demon Lord was an odd feeling. She was surprisingly courteous.
"What on earth do you think you are doing helping us, though, being the son of the Holy Knight Commander Gijs Austin and the first nominee in line to be a Hero?"
The head-tilting Griselda smiled.
I show her my right hand, which I have raised to reveal a dark sigil.
My dark sigil basically makes me more akin to the demon tribe than the human tribe. I am destined to be an outcast in every human society I enter. I decided to assist the demon tribe because I believed that joining them would allow me to live a happier life.
"I see. .. I'm not sure what point you're trying to make by showing me you're a [black magician], but it's impressive that you've grown to that level of dark magic at your age?"
It seems that prejudice around the black magician class is non-existent to demons, so it didn't communicate my intention.
Sasha cast a suspicious look in my direction. As she hides behind Griselda, she begins to speak.
"I'll be honest with you", she says, "Kai-san, isn't today your class ceremony? So why do you have an emblem? In fact, your brother, Lord Ares, gave us the order to kill you prior to the ceremony."
"We obviously declined. A proud demon will never submit to a lowly human being!"
Griselda proudly puffed out her tiny chest.
It's totally like him to try and assassinate me.
The circumstances surrounding the Demon King's birth surprised me.
"How many innocent people were made to endure the agony of the war? Not to mention the tens of thousands of people who were killed? And all of it, just to kill me!"
I became increasingly enraged and hateful.
I briefly considered killing Ares out of anger.
But if Colette learned that I had murdered my brother in cold blood, she would be devastated.
It wouldn't let a guy like him cause her smile to lose its luster.
I vowed to make Colette happy
I made up my mind at that point.
I would carry out my original plan and send Ares through hell.
Ares had previously taken Colette and, in the end, my life.
Then I'll deprive Ares of his most valuable possession—his status as a hero.
I approached the slumbering Ares and leaned down.
After that, I cursed Ares. "If you harm another person, the [sigil of light] that proves you are a hero will appear to be a [sigil of darkness] for 24 hours.
Ares, who became a hero, abused his privilege to do whatever he wanted to do.
He was not afraid to commit evil deeds, such as when he broke into the mansion of a noble's daughter and defiled her.
The parents of the girl were afraid of incurring the wrath of the hero, so all they could do was pout, saying, 'You had a good time last night, didn't you?'
He also once killed an adventurer who was boasting of his magic sword and robbed him of it.
No matter what the crime, no one could complain.
This was because Ares was a hero who was the hope of mankind.
But from now on, things will be different.
Ares' emblem of light, a symbol of a valiant hero, will change into the emblem of darkness the moment he hurts someone else.
What will Ares have to face then?
He will be forced to pay for his sins.
Moreover, if Ares is revealed to be a fake who pretended to be a hero, the honor of his family, the Marquess of Austin, will be disgraced. Father will eventually be dismissed as the head of the Order of the Holy Knights.
This would be an unbearable pain for my father, who values honor and appearance above all else.
My revenge is to take away the most precious thing from him.
It's also revenge against my father, so I'll kill two birds with one stone.
I snorted as I finished casting the curse.
