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"Dear citizen of Mensch! Three days ago, we had to experience the cold reality once again. It wasn't that long since I last stood here and we got to witness the emergence of a demon, and now, we are forced to feel the repercussions!"

Looking at the king's speech about the attacks on a big screen built into the wall in my private infirmary room, I didn't quite know what to think about the whole thing that had gone down.

"However, we cannot allow ourselves to cover in fear! Because that is what the demons want! They want us to bow, they want us to tremble! But we will never do so! Because we are strong!"

'He is announcing it as demons?'

It was a pretty weird situation, because not only was I sure that it hadn't been the work of the demons, but my nifty little demon detector had already confirmed my suspicions. Which lent itself to only one option.

This was the work of one of the hidden families with some very bizarre Manual, or a hidden family who had been doing human experiments. Yet, the king now made it clear that he wasn't fully prepared to go to war with them, or at least he did not want to do so openly.

There was the third option of it actually being the works of the demons, but with Kurat in a very peculiar spot, I didn't think Ezral would be so stupid to stick out a limb in these times.

And then, with the king continuing to spout pretty lines about unity and strength, he suddenly said something that contrasted what I thought he would say, "Also, there are rumors about this being an attack with Kurat as the origin, and I want you all to know, this is not the truth! Kurat is not our enemy! Even if our nations have some diplomatic troubles, they are not the ones responsible for the attacks!"

That's all I needed to understand that the king was scared right now. Most likely he was scared because of the repercussions of the war that he had started. A war that had probably been going on for a while already, but underground.

Now, however, the prey had been pressured enough to bite back, and was desperate enough to not care about hiding anymore. In other words, if Kurat for some reason went to war right now, he would be fighting on two fronts.

'But that thing... or man I guess...'

If it really was a Manual that had been used in the club, there was only one thing from the game that I could believe it was. The [Daemon] Manual, a Manual which mimicked the power of the demons and granted its user immense power and the ability to shapeshift into monsters.

So if the monster we fought was a human, that was likely the case. "Hey, Zero. What do you think?"

The doctor sitting beside the bed woke me up from my thoughts, once again asking me about my view on the subject as he so often did. "Hmm... I don't know. I don't know enough about the world to have an opinion, I think... Hehe!"

Then, he stood up and suddenly got ready to leave, "I see. Anyway, you will probably get some visitors today now that I have allowed them to meet you, so I will get out of your hair. Just hit the ping button if you feel anything weird with your body."

"Thank you."

Leaving me alone to my thoughts, I couldn't help but frown. The sorrow that a part of me felt was still very vivid and alive, and it was hard to keep control of our body.

Zero, the sensitive young boy that had gone completely mental due to the stress of seeing all those dead bodies, and the boy who had in turn obliterated our enemy in the worst way possible.

From that fight, I was sure that as a weapon of war, Zero had a much higher potential than James, although he couldn't be used nearly as dynamically. In terms of pure firepower, we had the potential to become pretty much a tactical nuke.

And that scared us. A lot. It scared us when thinking about the fact that just seeing Sarah crying had been enough for us to lose enough control to exude our pressure, and it scared us to think about what would have happened if we hadn't been able to hold back.

*Click.*

Hearing that our first visitor was incoming, I quickly turned my eyes from our hands and looked up with a smile. A very hesitant princess of Mensch walked into the room with a bouquet of flowers in her hands.

"Hey, Zero..."

'The princess is first? That's weird...'

Even at the club, I had thought it a bit weird for Sarah to care so much about Zero, trying her best to keep him from going with Arthur. Back there, I had just believed it to be a case of her feeling a sense of responsibility as a representative of the royal house, but now I wasn't so sure.

"Good evening, Sarah."

The room reeked of awkwardness as the girl slowly sat down beside the bed, unsure where to keep her eyes, and it wasn't hard to understand what she was feeling right now.

Knowing that it would be proper for Saint Zero to take the initiative, I opened my mouth, "Sarah, there's no need for you to feel guilty. I and Arthur decided on our own to go out there, so it's not your fault."

Turning her head up from the floor, she didn't appreciate my words, "But it was my fault! If I wasn't there... If I wasn't there, neither of you would have gotten hurt! Instead, I just hid in that stupid room while you were fighting for your lives!"

Tears started to appear in her eyes, and I couldn't help but think that everyone had really become a crybaby recently. 'Or maybe it's just reality that is starting to catch up...'

"I shouldn't have been there! I should have just stayed on my own! Sniff... Guh!"

It hurt a bit to see her cry like this, but at the same time, I still felt like it was quite suitable for her to do so. Because this was the type of person she actually was, and I didn't want that to change. Even if it pained me to think of some lucky guy who would get to stay at her side in the future.

"Haaa... Sarah, stop. First of all, if you say that, wasn't it my fault that invite you there?"

"No, it..."

It took her a second to realize what I just said, and just as she was about to rebut my words, I continued on.

"But I don't think it's any of our faults. The victims should never be blamed for the actions of the perpetrators, no matter how they might have contributed to creating a situation to make the crimes possible. In the end, we got attacked and I and Arthur recklessly decided to go out there. That's all there is to it."

"But... if it wasn't for..."

"I'm sorry, Sarah, but you need to stop thinking that you are allowed to control everyone just because you are the princess. We are all living our own life, therefore we all have our own freedoms and responsibilities. Even if the responsibilities you carry might be heavier than most, it doesn't mean that you have to carry others' responsibilities."

Finally, she started to understand what I was saying, as her tears slowed down. "Zero..."

Bringing my smile to another level of brightness, I was going to make sure to hit the final nail in the coffin of this conversation, as I was already pretty torn from enduring the pain inside my body.

"I'm just happy that you reconciled with your friends! Because that means you don't have to be alone anymore."

"Zero!"

"Gah?!"

Suddenly, she threw herself on top of my body, her arms around my neck.

"Sniff! Thank you, Zero! Thank you so much for bringing me there! Without you, I... I would have still been alone..."

No matter how nice it felt to be hugged by the very soft princess, a strange sort of sadness still planted its seed inside of us. And, unfortunately, more than that, a very intense pain.

"I-I'm sorry p-princess... But I'm in a b-bit of pain right n-now..."

"Oh, sorry!"

Quickly, she removed herself from me, allowing me to breathe normally once again. However, right as she did that, we also got to see the new visitors that were standing at the door.

"Zero... Sarah...?"

A very lost blue-haired girl had seen everything, her face now lost with confusion.

'Really? We are doing this cliché now? No shot!'

Smiling, I quickly got to work to make sure I wouldn't have to experience one of the worst clichés in all of 21st-century pop culture.

"It's okay, Stella. Come here."

Weakly she walked over to us, now standing on the opposite side from where Sarah was sitting. Opening my arms, I repeated my words, "Come here."

Finally, she understood what I was saying, and her face went bright red. Still, she didn't hesitate to hug me as well, despite her embarrassment.

The reason why this was my strategy? I already knew that Sarah had hugged me as someone she regarded as a friend, not someone she was looking at from a romantic perspective.

So, if I allowed Stella to do the same, there would be nothing to worry about.

'It's not weird for friends to hug! Damn you, stupid pop culture!'

With that being said, I had no idea how friends actually interacted.