"About two months ago, a group of seven calling themselves ‘heroes’ showed up at the adventurer’s guild in the town of Grim."

"Grim?"

"It’s about five days northwest of here. It serves as a base for delving into the dungeon nearest the royal capital."

Oh, so there’s a dungeon up there, too. But a group of seven calling themselves heroes? Could they be...

"Did one of them have the ‘Hero’ class?"

"No, nothing like that was mentioned. They’re simply calling themselves heroes. But with how quickly they’ve been advancing in dungeon exploration, most people don’t doubt their claims."

"Huh..."

"But there’s no talk of those heroes being connected to the royal family."

So the summoning hasn’t been made public. Even though my classmates call themselves heroes, they’ve avoided revealing the summoning itself. Perhaps it’s because summoning is essentially kidnapping, and it wouldn’t reflect well on the kingdom.

"Do you know their names?"

"Yeah. Masayoshi Shimizu, Hitoshi Manaka, Takuto Neguro, Kuya Oda for the men, and Mei Nagai, Kyouka Hino, and Honoka Ootori for the women."

At the mention of their names, Rio’s expression hardened. These were the same people who had constantly mocked her as ‘useless.’ While I hadn’t interacted much with them due to being isolated, seeing them treat Rio that way left me with nothing but disdain.

Oh, and now I remember the two names I had forgotten: Kuya Oda, the otaku, and Takuto Neguro, the gloomy introvert.

"Judging by your expression, you know these seven."

"Yeah, you could say that."

"So, if you’re associated with those heroes, your ability to take down a Murder Raptor makes sense."

At Buildine’s comment, I felt my eyebrow twitch in annoyance.

"Don’t lump us in with them."

"Exactly. We’re not their allies."

"I see... Sorry about that. The word is they’ll be back soon. I take it you won’t be joining them. But... if the third princess summoned you, then the heroes must be tied to the royal family. What exactly is the royal family planning?"

Buildine muttered to himself, seemingly lost in thought. Rio and I exchanged glances. The guild being a neutral, cross-national organization seemed to be more than just a rumor.

"Beats me. They claimed they summoned us to repel a demon king’s invasion."

"What? ...There have been reports of unusual movements by demons near the northern border, but..."

He trailed off, mumbling again.

What’s going on? The information we heard from Master doesn’t fully align with this. Could fifty years of isolation in the Forest of Demons have left him out of the loop? Still, her said she occasionally ventured into towns after masking his horns with magic.

"So, the demon king really exists?"

"Of course. What are you talking about? The demon king of the demon nation of Bergstein is well-known."

"Do they have some sort of extraordinary power?"

"…What kind of question is that? Demons are naturally adept at magic, but I’ve never heard of the demon king possessing any unique abilities."

So Master wasn’t wrong. This makes the third princess even more of a liar.

"Well, the demon king’s personal strength must be considerable, at least."

"Is it a meritocracy over there?"

"To some extent, yes."

If that’s the case, I can’t help but wonder about Master’s background. With his strength, it’s hard to believe he was just an ordinary citizen. Maybe he was once the leader of some magical task force or something.

"Anything else you’d like to ask?"

I decided to wrap things up since Buildine was now deep in thought.

"No, I think we’re good," I replied as I stood up.

"That was a lot of interesting information," I said as Rio and I left the guild.

"Yeah. I didn’t expect classmates to be so close by."

"So we were probably summoned at the royal castle after all."

"Seems likely."

"They’re supposed to return soon. Let’s make sure we don’t run into them."

"Absolutely. I don’t want to see them..."

The way she said it made me feel like we were tempting fate, but I decided not to mention it. No need to jinx things.

After leaving the guild, we resumed our shopping spree. With such a windfall, it felt good to shop without worrying about the price. And since my storage still held more valuable monster parts, we could make even more money if needed.

"Shu, don’t you think you’re buying a bit too much?"

"Ahaha, you think so?"

Apparently, I’d gone a little overboard and earned a scolding from Rio. Okay, I admit it. Knowing the monsters roaming the Forest of Demons are worth such ridiculous sums made it hard to hold back.

"Shu?"

Her stern look intensified.

"Ah, yeah. Sorry about that."

If I’ve already spent half the Murder Raptor earnings, no wonder she’s upset. Looks like I’ll have to rein myself in—or start hunting even more lucrative prey.