Dual Life～in day with the Hero party, in night with the Demon king Army～

Despite Mirage’s worries, they arrived at the Wolf Demon’s village peacefully, without being attacked by the Wolf Demons on the way.

Instead, they were attacked by several monsters on the way, but they were all repelled by Robert, and the other two wolf demons along with Mirage’s group, didn't even get a chance to make a move.

If there was any problem, then it was that Robert would let out a loud howl every time he repelled a monster and this left the silence loving Astarte in a bad mood on the whole trip.

「Here, this is our Wolf Demon Tribes Village. Oi You, has there been any changes? 」

「Welcome back, Robert-Sama. There haven’t been any changes in particular. 」

「It’s the same, nothing has changed. 」

There were two Wolf Demons standing guard in the front of the village, whom Robert questioned and they replied after saluting him.

And these two were also in their Wolfified form, they haven’t seen a single Wolf demon so far who was not using their Wolfification Magic, and the village seemed unusually quiet as far as Mirage’s group could see.

Mirage thought the situation of the village appeared to be strange, though the possibility of assassination became very low now, as it would have been best from their point of view to attack them inside the Forest.

「Then I'll lead you to the Chief’s house. It’s not a good thing, but naturally, there are people inside the Wolf Demons who don’t like you guys of the Demon King’s Army much. If you walk around the village alone, there might be unnecessary problems, so please refrain from acting willfully. 」

They started walking again and moved through the village.

Robert's statement was reasonable, and it was impossible to unify everyone's will, even if they decided upon the negotiations.

This experience is similar for all the demons in the Demon King’s Army and Mirage, Astarte, as well as Rafa, were all familiar with this.

As it is natural for the policies of a tribe as a whole and feelings of an individual to differ.

「..... but it’s too quiet, or rather we haven’t seen a single person, has everyone gone hunting? 」

「Yeah, we are going to hold a banquet tonight to welcome you guys. Not only men, but the women and children also have gone to the forest. 」

「Hun, I used to think that the Wolf Demon Tribe is uncivilized, but this is unexpectedly laudable. 」

Robert immediately answers Mirage’s question, while Rafa let out a voice of admiration.

It's natural to think so, considering their daily skirmish with the Demon King’s Army and their response at the entrance of the forest.

In fact, Mirage too thought that it was a little surprising while doubting whether it was really so.

If Rafa and others were to hear it they would dismiss him saying that he was focusing on the little details too much, but Mirage’s intuition was warning him.

They arrived at the village, without being attacked in the forest and the guide Robert was friendly, so he shouldn’t feel this alarm, but Mirage couldn’t help thinking that the village was dangerous.

Their response at the entrance of the village, the words and actions of Robert, the state of the village, the 2 wolf Demons accompanying them, the unusual Wolfification, all of which appeared to be more or less alright for the time being, but to Mirage this was nothing but pretense.

「Even though we have been in opposition until now, but you are without doubt an important negotiation partner. That’s the least we wolf demons can do to show our goodwill .......th, well that’s the head's ….... the house where my father lives. 」

When they were about to reach, perhaps around the center of the village, they found a wooden house, built two times larger than the houses in the village.

In the end, despite Mirage’s suspicion, they arrived at the Head’s house without any definite conclusion, and as they can’t turn back now, Mirage’s group entered the house and went through the corridor under the guidance of Robert.

The other two guides remained at the entrance of the house, so there is 4 of them now, including Robert, and the creaking and squeaking sound of the floor in the silence gave rise to an even more eerie atmosphere

Astarte and Raffa realized that, no matter how many villagers went out, but for there to be no family member or even a single servant in the Chief’s house was suspicious and they became vigilant.

「It's very quiet, I don't think there's anyone in the Chief's house. 」

「The negotiations are an important matter. We have cleared out the people in advance, me and my dad are the only ones in the house currently. 」

Robert’s words sound plausible, but it is impossible for a head of a tribe to negotiate without a guard.

It will be far more convincing to Mirage’s group if they were told that they would die in this house in some way.

Of course, Mirage is prepared to cast Transfer Magic at any sign of danger, but he does not feel any such thing.

「This is the room where my father lives. Father, I have brought the guests from the Demon King’s Army. We are coming in! 」

Without waiting for a response from the inside, Robert puts his hand on the door and enters.

The Wolf demons are said to be the demons who came from the east and settled here a long time ago, and so they have preserved their culture even today.

That's why Robert, a wolf demon who lives in the forest and doesn’t have contact with the outside world, knew about the proverb like 「every man to his taste」from the east.

「..... Excuse me」

「Excuse me for disturbing you. 」

「I’m sorry for bothering you」1.

Following Robert, Mirage and others entered the room and saw a set of Futon was laid on the Tatami mats, lying on which was an old person.

「Good news Father, they are 2 of the 4 Heavenly Kings and the other is one of their Adjutant. I've successfully managed to bring them here. 」

Robert called out to the old man in the futon, but there was no reply.

And Mirage perceiving everything, both the admired the other party and felt regretful for his carelessness.

「That’s enough, Robert-San. It's already too late, the Chief-San has already passed away. NO, he was tricking us to his last moment, right? 」

「What? What do you mean, Mirage? Explain it so that I can understand. 」

「 I can't understand the situation, either. Please explain 」

Not understanding Mirage’s words, Astarte and Rafa both asked for an explanation.

Towards Mirage who had grasped the situation quickly, Robert grinned broadly, showing his canine and then started praising while removing his wolfification at the same time.

「 Because you were on the alert from beginning to end, I didn't know when you would notice...I'm glad I could manage it. To be honest, I was at my limit of using the Wolfification magic. 」

There were many black bruises on the face and arms, and there were swellings all over the body of Robert who was smiling as he spoke to them.

His complexion was pale and he was sweating to an unusual degree, which suggests that he probably had a high fever.

Even an amateur can tell at a glance, that he was suffering from some kind of disease and by using wolfification he covered his whole with hair, to conceal it from them.

The two wolf demons who had accompanied them acted so strangely because they were suffering from the same disease, not because they were nervous.

「 I guess from what you've done so far, it's a very infectious disease. Were the first group of Wolf demons that attacked us aiming to pour their body fluids on us? However, I don’t understand why you stop them halfway through. I think it would have been more certain to turn the tables if you left the situation as it was......」

「Kee, ask me what I know. That geezer said something about those damn kids playing an essential role in the future of the Demon Wolf tribes. Something about the role of the elders to die. 」

Although there were various ways to infect them, the Wolf demons who initially attacked them aimed to infect them through blood and saliva.

They attacked him with intention of dying them in their blood and were prepared to die, but at the last moment Robert who was initially opposed to the idea stopped them and they, although bewildered, followed the instruction of their deputy chief.

「wai, wait wait wait, what to do you mean! I asked you to Explain in a way so that I can understand! 」

Perhaps at the end of her patience, Rafa interrupted the conversation between the two loudly.

Astarte, on the other hand, perhaps thinking about what they were talking about, didn't move a muscle.

「Calm down, Rafa. Currently, there is some kind of infectious disease that is prevalent among the Wolf Demons and there is no hope of curing it. So, they decided to negotiate with the Demon King’s Army and call for the upper echelons like us members of the 4 Heavenly Kings to infect us in the same way. And since, we are an important force of the Demon King’s Army, so they will put great effort into finding the cure. In other words, they couldn’t do anything about it so they got us involved in this. Am I right Robert-San? 」

「........right, right. Absolutely right. You really are a scary person. Conversely, you coming here is going to save us. If you are so clever, then the Demon King’s Army would not like to lose you. Try as hard as you can to find a cure, that’s the condition for the Wolf Demon tribe to join the Demon King’s Army. If you want you can, take my Father’s body to examine it. This is the will of my father, the Chief, so you don’t have to worry about it. 」

「Wha, wha , what, are you kidding me! Are you asking us to help you find the cure after you dragged us into this yourself? I don’t have obligation to do so, I will just burn this whole village down so that you guys don’t have to worry about the cure!」

When Rafa learns that she was deceived by the Wolf Demons, she becomes furious and transformed her body.

Her whole body became covered with green scales, her body grew up many times larger, and her beautiful face transformed to look like the reptiles.

She turned into a dragon itself, the legendary monster feared by all and she was so huge that she reached the ceiling of the room.

「Stop it, Rafa. We are not done talking yet. 」

「What are you saying, Mirage? Do you want to protect these guys wHo deceived us----」?

「---stop, Rafa. The negotiator is me not you, so don’t argue unnecessarily. Don’t make me say the same thing over and over again. 」

「I, I understand. You, you don’t have to be so angry about it. 」

After hearing the bone-chilling cold voice of Mirage, although bewildered Rafa decided to obediently follow his instruction.

Astarte too was surprised by seeing his different from his usual appearance, The Mirage in front of her was emitting a very terrible bloodlust, so much so that she had unconsciously stopped breathing and was almost going to faint because of that.

「Whaa, the Demon King’s army has some absurd monsters. How did your leader win over such a guy?......」

The sweat he is sweating now is not only from his physical condition but from his deep fear of the masked man in front of him.

He was the Deputy Chief of the Wolf demon tribe---- in fact, now he can be called the chief, as his father was dead now-----, and of course his strength was exceptional.

But even Rafa, who is one of the 4 Heavenly Kings, felt so chilly that she had goosebumps against the power of the masked man, let alone Robert.

[1. TL NOTE: - These are the different forms of greetings used in japan when you enter someone's house. You should be familiar with this if you read Japanese LN or WN often, this is just in case if you are new to this.]