“But we’re both going to prevent the war, right?” Hiro was more persistent than I expected regarding this.

Eventually he’ll have to head there as the protagonist of this world, but it mustn’t be with me. How can the hero and the big bad evil guy just form a merry party and skippity hop into the town like that?

“How are you going to do it?” I asked. “I believe you’re aware of the difference between us. No matter how strong you are right now, you’re still a human. Unless you’re saying that you can wipe them out without hesitation.” 

Well, it’s not like I can do it without hesitation either… But right now, I must think and speak like a demon!

Hiro fell silent, seemingly digesting what I’ve said. 

“... Back then, it was humans who were threatening the village.” Hiro started, then took a step towards me as he looked me in the eyes. “I’ve said this before. But when the corrupted humans were threatening other humans, you, the demon king, was the one who protected us.” 

“Which is why, it doesn’t matter if my opponent is going to be human or demon. If they’re a threat to those around me, I will do anything to defeat them.” He declared. 

A rather fitting speech from the hero. I was almost touched and tempted to give in to him. After all, the plot had changed way too much from the one I’ve played through. 

“... Go pack your stuff.” I let out a huff. 

His eyes lit up at those words, then nodded like a chick pecking for grains. Though right after he turned to run back to the village, he looked back at me.

“... You’ll wait for me, right?”

With you staring so expectantly at me with those shiny puppy eyes of yours, what the hell else could I do?

“Just go.” 

Watching as his back view slowly disappeared into the distance, I scratched the back of my head in frustration. How did things become like this? There were too many uncertainties in this new game+. Perhaps it’s the kind of DLC that featured an alternate plot, but I haven’t seen any spoilers speaking of it so far–

Oh, right, I was probably the first one to play it. I grinded nonstop through the main game, after all. 

An alternate plot which featured the nobles and royalties as the villains… And the demon king was missing for almost an entire decade…

Who knows what will happen? 

It had been barely five minutes, and rushed footsteps were approaching me once again. 

“You… You really waited.” Hiro was panting as he tried to speak.

Like I’ve said, what else can I do against that look of yours?

His charisma stat must be way higher than mine.

“It’s not as if I can walk too far before you catch up anyway.” Besides, I still haven’t grasped the use of the teleportation spell I saw in a book before. Imagine only teleporting a part of your body while the other got stuck at the original spot. Yikes. 

Hiro showed a grin at that. He’s way too kind, even though the demon king was supposed to be his enemy. 

We continued to make our way towards the main town in the middle of the night, following the long path outside of the forest. And I’ve put on the disguise spell once again just in case anyone else saw me. 

“Can demons see well in the dark?” Hiro asked suddenly. 

It was only then I realized that we weren’t carrying any light source. Turns out demons can indeed see well in the dark— or rather, it’s to be expected, given how dark the interior of the demon castle was. 

“I can see just fine.” I paused, then extended an arm towards him. “If you’re worried about not being able to see in the dark, you can hold onto my sleeve.”

Almost immediately, I felt a tug on my arm instead of my sleeve. 

… Maybe I should teach him the night vision spell sometimes. 

It took a couple of hours on foot, but we’ve finally arrived at the entrance to the town. It looked just like the one in the game— nothing overwhelming, just a rather generic medieval inspired RPG town. Still, seeing it in person made it look way cooler than it was on a small screen. 

“There’s still some time until sunrise, let’s see if we can find a room to rest in the inn first.” I suggested. Sleepiness wasn’t the biggest issue, since I could go without sleep for a couple of days in this body. But we’ll look suspicious if we were to loiter around town in the middle of the night. 

“O-oh. Are we going to share a room?” Hiro asked, his hand holding a tad bit tighter on my arm. “I mean, um, to save on the travel expenses…?”

…?

Do I look poor to him?

“Let’s decide after looking at the price.” After all, I have a bad feeling about rejecting him flat out. It felt like he’s going to mope like a sad little puppy dog if I did. 

Entering an inn, the middle aged man at the counter was in the midst of yawning. 

“Huh, travelers so late at night…” He scanned the both of us. “What can I do for you? We don’t have many rooms left since the festival is around the corner. The cheapest would be 70 coins a night, room’s big enough for the both of you.”

“Hmm…”

“We’ll take that!” Hiro’s voice cut in. He then turned to look at me with a somewhat apologetic look. “Um… It’ll be safer to stay close together, right? It’s easier to communicate this way too.”

“… Yeah, right.” 

In the end, we’re sharing a room in the inn as if this is a fanfiction with the tag #theresonlyoneroomleft.