29 Episode 13 "Malicious Claws".txt (1/2)

This was before Elfi and Ortegia became the Demon King.

At that time, the demon race was on the side of the demon king's army.

As the Demon King's subordinates, they fought against hostile races such as humans.

However, they had doubts about the Demon King's cruelty, so the demon tribe eventually broke away from the Demon King's army.

From then on, they didn't get involved in the war and always remained neutral.

As a result, they were stared at as a former enemy race by the humans and a traitor by the Demon King's army.

Time passed, and when Ortegia became the Demon King.

In order to change this situation, the demon king's army is committing all kinds of atrocities all over the world, the demon tribe has decided to break their position of neutrality and join the side of the humans.

In fact, they wanted to get rid of the situation where they were treated as enemies by both the humans and the demon king's army.

Dionis, who was the strongest of the demon tribe, will be joining our ranks as the representative of such demon tribe.

Bertoga is Dionis's subordinate.

Humans and demons worked together several times and ended up clashing with the demon king's army.

The demon tribe has high physical abilities and a high resistance to magic.

The success of the demon tribe was remarkable.

However, it was probably because they had a history of being attached to the Demon King's army in the past.

Even though they fought together, many humans disliked the demon tribe like a snake.

They discriminated against the demon tribe by blatantly changing their attitudes and treatment.

Even if you were with the demon king's army in the past, you are on the side of the humans now.

And yet, I don't like the current situation of being discriminated against.

When I saw them fighting back and trying to change their situation, I thought I wanted to do something about this discrimination.

So I didn't change my attitude like the rest of the human race, and I actively interacted with them.

That's where I was used by Bertoga.

◆

”Amatsu-san!

It was not long before we rode into the Demon King's Castle.

We were getting ready for the final battle when Beltranga came in.

''If you'd like, you can drink this!

He said, bringing a potion that was passed down to the demon race that was effective in recovering fatigue and the magic power consumed.

''Amatsu-dono. It's best not to drink such an ungodly thing.

''Would you like me to bring you a proper potion?''

Looking at Bertoga, the people around him blatantly frowned and said so.

''After all, you can't drink anything we've made, can you ......?

Bertoga says, his face falling and sounding depressed.

Now that I think about it, it was an understandable trifecta.

But I didn't see it coming.

No, I'll take it. Thank you.

Not wanting to discriminate, I took the potion from Beltranga and drank it down.

It's probably true that it restores fatigue and magic power.

It was just that there were demon claws in it, which were highly poisonous.

My body was hardly affected by the effects of the demon claws.

Every time I exercised my magic power, my body would get a little heavier and heavier.

That's the extent of the effect.

Bertoga and the others probably didn't think that they could kill me with poison.

In the moment of betrayal, in that moment, my reaction should be delayed even a little.

That's why he had me drink the poison.

In reality, I was not even thinking about being attacked by my friends, so even if I hadn't been poisoned, I would have been killed.

'That bastard Amatsu would drink the potion I gave him without examining it carefully.

You can't drink anything made by the demon tribe, if you say ...... or something like that.'

Since the incident where the demon race was mixed in with the humans, I had certainly been paying attention to what I was using.

I wasn't careful enough to let down that caution so easily just because they were my friends.

It was naive and stupid, that's absolutely true.

But even so, I can't forgive him for just scoffing at and taking advantage of our favor.

If you say it's the fools who are deceived that are to blame.

Yeah, I'll do the same thing.

I'm just going to do what was done to me and make up for it.

◆

The day after I applied.

As I had heard, the screening process for joining the defeating party was held at the guild.

Unlike the screening for joining an adventurer, this time they had to pass three items.

First, a physical examination was conducted to see if there was anything wrong with your body.

Elfi and I passed it without any problems.

After the physical examination, a magic power test and a combat ability assessment would be conducted.

The sum of these two evaluations will determine whether or not you can join the strike force.

First, the magic power test.

A stone called ”Demon Stone”, which measures the amount of magic power, is used for the test.

Line up in front of the stone and measure the amount of magic power one by one.

Touch the stone and release the magic power.

The amount of magic power flowing through the stone is checked, and the color of the stone changes based on the results.

''Iori-san is rated ......D.

My rating was one step short of the lowest rating of E.

A D rating.

In other words, the amount of magic power was less than humanly possible, barely enough to use magic power.

If he had gotten an E with this, it would have been impossible for him to join the defeating team.

''Ha, D? You have almost zero talent in magic. You'll only be able to use elementary magic like that!

If you don't get an A in the next battle, you won't be on the strike team!

The judging process was being watched by the adventurers who had been selected to participate in the strike team.

When I got a D, the adventurers' jeers flew at me.

As if to drown them out.

''Elfi-san, I give you an A rating!''

Elfie, who was standing in line behind me, easily hit the highest rating.

Even though the amount of magic power has been reduced due to the magic granting product that hides the race, it's still an A rating?

If I inspected it with its original amount of magic power, the stone would have been shattered.

''Awesome, Elfi-chan!''

The adventurers hissed and whistled.

Elfie ignores the adventurers and turns his smug face towards you.

It's a bit annoying.

Anyway, with this, Elfie's entry into the strike force is almost a done deal.

All I have to do now is to take care of the rest.

The next step is the measurement of my combat ability.

Just like before, I'm going to fight against adventurers, and I'll be evaluated based on the process and results.

My opponent was a big man with strong muscles.