HB Translations

  While two demons were deciding to use their fellow generals to carry out a scheme that would benefit only themselves, their target—the young man known as the Hero—was facing a problem so trivial that the earnest would never dream of it. “Hey, Arist. How long are we going to keep doing this?” After teleporting from Samakai back to a cheap inn in Myuronba, the young man quickly tore off the adorable armor he’d been wearing—pink, decorated with sunflowers and cosmos. Scowling at it like it was filth, he spat out those words with contempt. The other two men, clad in similarly patterned armor now stained with blood, also stripped it off and echoed his complaint. “Seriously. People will think we’re some noble’s idiotic sons.” “No kidding. Even those peacocks obsessed with appearances wouldn’t be caught dead in this ridiculous armor—it’s the kind of costume a clown wears during a village festival.” As the youngest of them finished speaking, he kicked the armor he’d just t...

  The war council held before the demon king the day after the nightmare at Myuronba—an utter disaster for the demon army—was cloaked in an atmosphere heavier than usual. At the center of it stood General Butare. He was the one tasked with reporting the appalling results of the previous night. Of course, this daring operation to strike old human territories with small elite units—pioneered by Guarani—had in the past led to devastating losses, such as the near-annihilation of Jajou’s subordinates on that very same day. However, those were cases where the enemy held overwhelming advantages at the outset. This time, the conditions were not particularly unfavorable, and yet, against a team of merely five adventurers, over fifty warriors were annihilated in an instant—without even managing to injure a single foe. Such a complete defeat was unprecedented. Naturally, Butare had wanted to bury this disgrace in the shadows, keeping it hidden from the king and his fellow genera...

  The conversation of the Guarani that day, which had colored the path they were to follow with vivid hues, ended there. But if we were to append an answer-like explanation to the earlier part of their exchange, it would be that half their guesses were correct—and the other half, not. In short, the incident at Myuronba did indeed involve the Hero. However, the encounter with the demons was not a mere coincidence, as they had convincingly assumed. Though the expression might not be entirely accurate, the truth was that it had been deliberately orchestrated as a demon-hunting operation. This took place on a certain night in Myuronba, shortly before the event. "Faub, I understand how you feel, but surely you know that some things must be restrained," said a man about ten years older than the young man he was addressing. The young man—barely twenty, if that—was called Faub. But Faub’s face made it abundantly clear he wasn’t the least convinced by the older man's lectu...

  —“Those who follow after me will fail.” Such was Gwaranie’s prediction. And sure enough, it proved true. Shocked by the scale of Gwaranie’s military success, the other generals, eager to replicate his achievements, hastily assembled their own units and sent them into the towns of the former Demonkin Territories. But their results were far from what they’d hoped for. Yes—though Gwaranie’s strategy appeared simple on the surface, in truth it required meticulous planning and delicate execution. It began with selecting the right target based on strategic value and the number of enemy troops stationed there. Then came the timing, and the planting of false evidence to incite distrust between allied factions. But the most critical point: to withdraw from the occupied territory before reinforcements could arrive, thereby preventing their limited forces from being overwhelmed. Gwaranie’s success came from executing every part of this plan perfectly. The others, having only imitated the ou...