The Devil Does Not Need to Be Defeated
chapter-97

Truth be told, if it was just the merit of subjugating Jillian alone, then it wouldn't be enough for Shien to catch the attention of the Kingdom, and receive the rewards directly from the Kingdom itself.

At the very least, the whole matter with Shien, in the eyes of most people, was merely a level 10 new adventurer who got Leili's attention by luck. From there, he got a powerful magic item, and only by taking advantage of Jillian's inattention did he succeed in the subjugation.

The feeling that others get from that is "I could do it too", it's not much different from the prior example of a commoner finding a ruin. It was already very lucky for them to have gotten rewards from the territory nobility, but there's no way that just being "lucky" would let them be considered important by the Kingdom and thus be summoned and rewarded.

It was for that reason that Balon and group planned out this secret quest to transport Jillian to the capital and receive the direct rewards from the Kingdom.

Otherwise, Balon would have full well handed the matter over to his family to take care of. With the power of the Murrow Marquis family, dealing with a level 77 demon was still within their means, and things wouldn't have ended up like a live grenade in their hands.

Plus, if Balon didn't have any intention to hog the credit, then he could have also asked for aid from the nearby towns as well.

Should that have happened, then as fellow towns within the same territory, the nobles of the other towns would also take this matter quite seriously and send along reinforcement. Enough at least to allow Lamdrion to no longer need to worry about the threat of an Old Demon Faction rescue attempt.

However, Balon was worried that it would mean that his own merits would end up getting split away by others. Since he wanted to monopolize the bulk of the credit, he wanted to take care of the matter using just Lamdrion itself.

Leili had objected to this, but since Balon refused to budge from his path, she had no real other choice. For the sake of Lamdrion, she came up with plans to deal with the matter proactively and minimize the chances problems and casualties.

However, now, the situation had changed. A great many people will have suddenly lost all chances for merit, and all the credit will end up becoming Shien's alone.

So long as Shien really did contact Leisha and used a great number of magic items as the method to completely wipe out all of the people from the Old Demon Faction, then, this time, there's no way that Shien could avoid the attention of the Kingdom itself.

If he was able to contact Leisha. If he helped her complete the mass production of so many powerful magic items. If they then dealt with so many criminals of the Old Demon Faction, of which includes Baydr, who was even more important that Jillian. If all that happened, then there was no way that the Kingdom could ignore Shien, right?

At that point, Shien would definitely be summoned by the Kingdom and receive all the credit. The matter with subjugating Jillian, too, will end up credited to him.

If things really did end up that way, then even if Balon and group succeeded in transporting Jillian to the capital, they would only be considered an escort.

Even more, since the Old Demon Faction's attack and pressure was completely taken by Lamdrion and they never even noticed Balon and group's transport quest, then Balon and group's secret quest will end up completely safe and easily done.

If things really did end up that way, this time, they'd be the one who would give others the impressions of "I could do it too". If that happened, it would be unknown if they could get any reward for it at all.

Thus, Markray was the first to panic.

"You're not allowed to do that!"

That young master of a noble family just yelled out without thinking at all.

"Eh?" Shien blinked and asked in confusin, "Why?"

"B-Because-" Markray couldn't think of any excuse at all, so he just panicked even harder. Finally, he just demanded unreasonably, "Anyways, you're not allowed to to that, so you're not allowed!"

He basically stopped even trying to act reasonable.

Rather, it was Leon who calmed down, thought it through, and found an excuse.

"Just as Alrith and Vivian just said, it's still too dangerous." Leon acted as if he was being considerate of Shien and spoke meaningfully, "No one can truly guarantee that these magic items can deal with Barydr and the rest of the Old Demon Faction. What if it fails?"

"T-that's right!" Eudrice immediately also backed Leon up, "Leon's reasoning is very right!"

Rather than agreement, it's probably more accurate to say that she was mindlessly agreeing. So long it came from Leon's mouth, that foolish young lady in love would agree without even thinking about it.

"I also think that it's too dangerous." Balon was silent for a while before he returned his attention to Shien, "It's one thing if it was just us, but we cannot allow all the citizens of Lamdrion accompany us in taking such risks. If a problem really did occur, then we'd be the ones who have committed the greatest sins. Thus, I cannot agree to this either."

It looked like this knight captain was planning to use whatever he could to prevent that from happening.

"Ah! What should we do then?" Shien acted like he was super disappointed, "Doesn't that mean that all my magic items will basically be completely pointless now?"

"How could that be possible?" Balon had an inspiration and immediately followed up, "Actually, you can give your magic items to us. We'll continue with our original plan of the secret quest, only we'll have guildmaster Leili leak the information about the prisoner transport early. That way, the Old Demon Faction will come for us immediately, all we can take them all down at once, right?"

From Balon's words, everyone also instantly understood what Balon was planning.

"That..."

Vivian, Diere, Lumia, and Melika all bunched up their brows.

They also realized. Balon and group were planning on stealing the credit again. Once more, they're going to turn what should have been all Shien's chance to shine into everyone's.

Although they would still have gotten a share of the credit if they stayed in Lamdrion and waited for the Old Demon Faction to fall into their trap, if it did turn out that way, the matter will end up as "Shien and Leisha worked together to mass produce powerful magic items. They then handed them out to everyone in Lamdrion, and with the power of the entire town, defeated the attacking Old Demon Faction".

If they continued their original plan, it would instead end up as "Balon Murrow led the secret quest team to draw away the Old Demon Faction. Then, with the combined power of the entire team, they defeated the Old Demon Faction".

Comparing the two, it's obvious that the latter was more eye-catching and is more likely to get them the attention of the Kingdom. It also allowed them to minimize Shien's own involvement in the matter and instead raise up everyone else instead.

Just by slightly changing the conditions and circumstances, the result will end up completely different.

That was Balon's plan.

Of course, Leon, Eudrice, and Markray spoke up in support.

"I think that's a very good idea."

"This way, we can also guarantee the safety of the town, right?"

"Now hand over those magic items!"

Of the three of them, one smiled without showing any evil intent, one continuously nodded, and one was completely lacking in any sense of politeness. None of them noticed the hidden and condescending smirk in Shien's eyes.

Of course, on the surface, Shien still showed a great deal of reluctance.

"I'm fine with that myself, but these magic items are just prototypes after all. It requires quite the strict conditions to properly use, so I wonder if everyone could-"

Before he could even finish that sentence, Balon interrupted with a confident expression.

"Worry not. We are all knights and adventurers. No matter how difficult to use these magic items are, we will definitely succeed in using them."

As he said that, what Balon was actually thinking was completely different.

(Even a level 10 newbie could succeed in using them, so how could we possibly fail?"

That's how it was.

The rest of them were also thinking the same thing. Each and every one of them also made similar guarantees.

"Well, alright then."

Shien was still showing an expression of reluctance, but in the end, he finally nodded "resigned", and everyone else smiled in response.

Only Vivian and Diere gave each other a look.

(Just what is he planning?)

(I feel like those guys are going to end up in a seriously bad state)

That's what those two were thinking.

Thus, the matter was settled.

Not long after, everyone gathered and got ready again. They escorted Jillian and finally left Lamdrion.

Leili also learned of the matter. Then, after going silent for a while, she agreed to the matter.

Shien who had been following behind the carriages coincidentally remembered that back before they left, Leili really did end up resignedly leaving him one last sentence.

"Don't go overboard."

As he remembered those word, Shien started muttering in his mind.