The true Helheim. The imposters.
The Guardian Dragon’s betrayal.
The Corpse King.
Drowning in this flood of revelations, the explorers stand frozen—
all but Artel, who moves first.
“We return to the Empire. The emperor must hear this.”
“M-my lady! But what of Griffil Sea of Trees?!”
Artel prods the damp ground with her boot. Detecting faint traces of mana, she narrows her eyes.
A flame sword. A suspiciously moist space.
Signs of something once frozen, now thawed, scatter the area.
From these clues, she deduces who froze Griffil Sea of Trees.
“The Corpse King… I’ll remember you.”
Whether his claims are true or false.
It is a trivial matters.
To the world—which is more dangerous? The fake Helheim he denounced, or the Corpse King himself? Artel couldn’t say.
■
“Hey.”
Back in Eljudnir’s conference room—
unchanged from the past—I voice the question gnawing at me.
“Isn’t ‘Helheim’ way too famous now?”
There it is.
In this world, this name has now spread due to some group calling themselves Helheim.
But, but…
what I created with my full chuunibyou spirit was a secret society known only to a select few. Not one that would make its name echo throughout the world, but one that demons would speak of with fear and awe.
That’s all the name was meant to be. It wasn’t supposed to be this famous.
“This has spread way too far.”
At those words, the three executives looked at me, waiting for what I’d say next.
In other words.
Whoever is impersonating Helheim in this world must have known about us from long ago.
That’s what it comes down to.
So who spread our name throughout the world?
There are several suspects.
Remnants of the demon race, the few humans who were involved with Helheim 180 years ago in this world, and… one of Helheim’s executives.
First, the possibility of demon remnants seems low.
They lurk in dungeons, almost completely cutting off interaction with the outside world. There might be irregulars like Ose this time, but even so, they wouldn’t spread it this widely.
Next, the few humans who were previously involved with Helheim.
All of them made contracts strictly forbidding disclosure while assisting in the Demon King’s subjugation.
Physically speaking, disclosure is impossible.
Then…
I don’t want to consider it. But among these, the most likely possibility is…
“There might be… a traitor among us in Helheim.”
Resting both elbows on the desk, I hide my expression with my clasped hands in front of my face as I make this declaration.
Silence falls over the meeting room.
Of course it does. A comrade might have leaked our secret to the entire world. This is no small matter.
Nifl, Garm, Nidhogg.
Looking into each of their eyes, I ask with trust:
“Do any of you recall how Helheim’s name spread?”
They wouldn’t lie to me. This is just formality.
The answer’s obvious.
Obvious…
“……………”
“……………”
“……………”
…Huh? Why are they all avoiding eye contact?
Wait. No. No way—
“Nid?”
“…U-uh.”
Her voice is tiny.
“G-Garm?”
“……………G-guh.”
Cute. But she know something.
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“Nifl.”
I ignore the other two and focus on her.
[The Unwavering] Nifl.
When I gave her that name, our covenant forbade her from lying to the Corpse King.
Trembling, she answers:
“It’s… all of us…”
“……What?”
“After you vanished… the Eight Precepts panicked. We… spread the name to find you…”
“……………You WHAT?!”
“B-but! The ones causing chaos now aren’t us! The name’s origin… might’ve been us, though…”
Nifl stammered out the last important word, her mouth agape like a child on the verge of tears.
“…Why?”
“B-Because! You suddenly disappeared! So, I thought… if we spread the name of Helheim, maybe the Corpse King would show up to scold us…”
“But King! We never leaked the name of the ‘Corpse King’! Never!”
“Same here! Never!”
“You literally announced it earlier.”
“Guh—!” I grab Nid’s horn and shake her head.
Seriously…?
Even the rule-obsessed Eight Precepts…?
When I disappeared, Helheim stopped functioning.
But the reason—
“…What does ‘Helheim’ mean to you?”
“A place to exist alongside the Corpse King.”
“The name of our King’s justice!”
“The symbol of our King’s power!”
Exactly.
To them, “Helheim” was never the point.
What they cherished wasn’t the organization—but the Corpse King. Me.
Anger doesn’t rise. Neither does shame. Only guilt.
The Eight Precepts were monsters with no home—and their new anchor wasn’t Helheim, but me.
I had found light in strong ones capable of defeating my monstrous self, and made that a place to belong.
Deep down, I was thinking naively. When they learned that I had disappeared, they must have been sad.
But I thought it would be just like losing one comrade.
I was wrong.
What happens when a parent suddenly vanishes?
To them, I was that kind of existence.
For me it might have been just playing pretend, but for them it was different.
That’s all there is to it.
When I found out someone was impersonating Helheim, it made me sick.
It was different from embarrassment—it was disgust.
Of course, thinking about it now, it’s an embarrassing name to give an organization I created, and I don’t have much pride in it.
But Helheim is a name that belongs to me and the Eight Precepts.
The priority is the Eight Precepts themselves, not the name Helheim.
The name doesn’t matter.
For the Eight Precepts too, the name Helheim probably doesn’t hold much value. Just enough that they would spread it throughout the world only to find me.
“…I’m sorry. For disappearing suddenly.”
“…Just knowing that you are safe is more than enough. I will accept any punishment for spreading the name of Helheim.”
“G-Garm, I’m sorry too…”
“If this is called betrayal against the King, I shall accept it willingly!”
“Speaking of betrayal, revealing the Corpse King name was the biggest betrayal, really…”
“Ah! Ah! Don’t shake me!”
When Nid’s voice echoed in the solemn atmosphere, the mood rapidly relaxed.
There’s no need for punishment or anything; there’s no disadvantage to having the name revealed. It’s just super embarrassing for me. …Well, that’s quite a disadvantage, actually.
Anyway, more importantly,
I won’t punish you. I’m not even angry. The name ‘Helheim’ never really meant anything to begin with… As long as I have YOU —Eight Percepts—that’s all that matters.
The moment I said this, watching the three who had frozen like stone statues, I pulled materials from my pocket.
These were dropped by the Greater Demon Ose.
“For now, our immediate goal is to find clues about the fake Helheim. It seems the Demon King is involved somehow… I’m concerned about how much time we have to be cautious. So, while we search, I plan to regroup with the other Eight Precepts.”
There aren’t many humans who can craft weapons using Greater Demon materials. Just a handful in this world.
But I know such a person.
One of the Eight Precepts and the world’s greatest blacksmith:
Gurba the “Non-drinker.”
“Let’s have Gurba process this material while we gather information. We’re heading to the steel city of Gagiur.”
I decided with a smirk.
But there was no reaction.
“Huh?”
Looking at them, the three were fidgeting restlessly with vacant expressions.
“…’As long as you are here’… is Nifl like a first wife?”
“Don’t twist my words. I didn’t say that.”
“Does the King want to mate with Garm?”
“I don’t want to hear such words from your mouth.”
“O-Oh King!”
“This isn’t going anywhere good.”
“I haven’t even said anything yet!”
Looking at the fluttery, distracted women, I made a vow in my heart:
First, let’s gather the male members of the Eight Precepts.
The fake Helheim remains unclear.
I don’t feel the slightest fear toward those whose purpose and identity we don’t know.
Well, with these companions, we’ll manage somehow. Just like when we defeated the Demon King in the past.
“Let’s take it easy,”
I murmured, a smile naturally appearing on my face.
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