CH 241

“Well, passing through the selection committee and becoming an official idol in this region, our lives have become even busier. Johnny’s training hours have increased instead of decreasing, it’s natural given that we’re now performing on stage.

But even that, we got used to after a month or two. Three months after becoming an idol… in other words, six months after I started to act together with Rain, I had completely adapted to the life of an idol.

“Good work~”

“Good job”

“Good work today!”

Today as well, after finishing our stage performance, we returned backstage. There were bouquets and letters from fans, not only for Tia and Rain, but for some reason there were even some addressed to me.

“Ugh, that person again…”

“Oh, Eda, you’re so popular.”

‘Give me a break…’

I might have a woman’s body now, but I don’t have the slightest interest in being told by an unfamiliar man to ‘look down at me as if I’m garbage and step on me’. I can’t fathom what kind of mentality it takes to write such a thing and then send it to someone. I seriously don’t get it.

“By the way, Tia, aren’t you quite popular too? I mean, visibly so. You’re the most popular among us.”

“Ahaha… Rain-chan, you aren’t so much popular as you’re becoming something of a worshiped figure, huh.”

“Uuh, I want to be a normal idol too…”

Rain’s singing is so wonderful that people from the headquarters of the ‘Idol Church’ have been coming to listen. People have started calling it the ‘Miraculous Song’ since everyone who hears it cries tears of emotion. She’s more like an idol in the literal sense rather than a pop idol.

In that sense, Tia was the most popular in a general sense. Even Johnny had to admit that he didn’t see that coming.

“But I think that will be fixed once Johnny-san’s production is completed, right? It seems to significantly change the impression.”

We, ‘Rainbow Tia’, as the name suggests, have seven colored sides. To prevent boredom from performing the same type of stage and to hide my lack of ability, we aim to have seven different kinds of performances. 

However, with the current situation of only half a year, we are far from achieving that level. Right now, I can only perform Scarlet, Purple, and Cobalt, Tia can perform Green and Yellow, and Rain can only perform Blue. It will be years before all of us master all seven colors of performances.

Though neither Tia nor I will stick around for that long, that too is part of Johnny’s plan. He wants to frequently change the performances so even if someone new comes in, it won’t feel out of place. I leave that part to Johnny, who’s a professional, and I just diligently practice as told.

“Ah, excuse me. I’ll go to the restroom for a bit.”

With that, Rain abruptly stood up from her seat in the midst of our casual chat, leaving only Tia and me in the backstage room. Tia muttered something beside me, my mind becoming lax due to the exhaustion from the performance.

“Sigh… Can’t believe it’s been half a year already…”

“Yeah… It’s been quite busy, time flew by.”

“We can go home now, right?”

“…Yeah, we can.”

When Tia asked, I was reminded of the fact. Rain has already started running as an idol and even if we leave, it won’t easily collapse. I think with Johnny’s connections and our achievements over these months, he can manage the required personnel recruitment.

“But we can’t just quit abruptly without any handover–”

“Hey, Ed… I’ve been wondering about this for a while.”

Being called Ed instead of Eda, I switched my attention to Tia. If she’s specifically calling me that, it must be about that matter.

“What is it?”

“Where is the Demon King in this world? I haven’t heard anything about the Demon King in the last six months.”

“Ah, that…”

It was an obvious and belated question, and I held my head slightly. It was a concern for me as well… and unusually, a problem I did not have a solution to.

“To put it bluntly, the existence of the Demon King has not been confirmed in this world.”

“Eh? Does that mean there’s no Demon King?”

“No, that’s not it. If there’s a Hero, there’s definitely a Demon King. I mean, there’s no reason for us to come here if there’s no Demon King. So, there must be a Demon King.”

“? It definitely exists, but it’s not confirmed?”

“Yes. The most likely possibility is that, like Rebecca’s world’s “Fog Demon King”, the forest that covers this world is formed by the Demon King’s power and the Demon King is somewhere in the world… Or like John, the Demon King might be living quietly blending into this world.”

“Uwaa, that sounds…tough.”

“Yeah, it’s difficult.”

If the Demon King of this world were the “Forest Demon King”, and if the source of its manifestation, the Demon King itself, has not been confirmed, it probably does not exist within the human living area. It would take a considerable amount of time if we were to set out to the ends of the world from now on.

On the other hand, if it’s living among people, it would externally appear as if I were killing innocent civilians. Naturally, this would cause trouble for Rain and Johnny who would be involved with me, which is difficult in its own way.

“But if it’s that tough, why didn’t you start trying to defeat the Demon King from the beginning?”

“It’s not that I didn’t move, the truth is I couldn’t move.”

The actions of a hero are always connected to the path of defeating the Demon King. But the way in which they’re connected varies each time; there are heroes like Alexis, Waffle, and Gou who directly defeat the Demon King, and heroes like Rebecca and Master Dorton who indirectly create opportunities to defeat the Demon King.

“I absolutely wanted to avoid Rain from not becoming an idol. So, I prioritized that. Besides, it’s not guaranteed that the Demon King of this world is in a place that can be defeated easily.”

Like in the world where Miguel was, if it completely occupied a distant continent, even if I went in alone with my banishment skills on full power, it would be a massive job that would take decades. If I had to leave Rain alone for that long, becoming an idol afterwards… no matter how I think about it, it would be impossible.

So for now, I put off dealing with the unseen Demon King. I don’t think that decision was wrong. I don’t think so, but…

“But, the fate of the Hero Rain is tied. It might be time to start moving soon.”

“So, you mean…?”

“Yeah. I’m thinking of talking to her in the not too distant future.”

Even though I was repeating daily life of singing and dancing in a woman’s body, my essence is Ed, the mercenary, and the Demon King Of End who brings about the end. All I can do is clean up the trouble that I and God brought to this world, so everyone can live as they are.

“I see. It will be lonely.”

“Hahaha, what are you saying? Did you enjoy the idol life?”

“Well, in its own way. But I knew it would come to an end. But, what exactly are you going to do? If you quit being an idol, wouldn’t you just go back to the original world?”

“Umm, that’s the thing…”

That’s the biggest problem I’m facing now. There’s no way I can take Rain on a journey to find and defeat the Demon King whose whereabouts I don’t know… No, wait a minute?

“If I asked Johnny-san to arrange for me to go around the world and sing on stages, wouldn’t it somehow work out? I remember he had a plan to make everyone in the world know about Rain over ten years.”

“Oh, he did say something like that. Wait, does that mean if we continued to be an idol as it is, we would eventually meet the Demon King?”

“No, no, it won’t be that convenient… But, yeah. I see some hope. I’ll consult about it next time.”

The roundabout way that I’ve been taking could surprisingly be the correct path. I decided to try talking about it soon, and kept putting my energy into idol activities… 

“Alright, everyone, thanks for coming together! Let’s enjoy my song today… Huh?”

A few days later on stage. As I was trying to rouse the audience as usual, I saw an entity wearing an unnaturally black hood. Although not so conspicuous among my fans who are quite unique in various ways… No way, is that…?

“What the!?”

“Eda? What’s wrong?”

“………………No, it’s nothing.”

I hurriedly tried to control the situation and worked hard to get back to my usual pace. But…

(The Demon King is just casually among the audience!?)

The scream inside my heart was something I couldn’t silence no matter what.