Early in the morning before dawn.
　There is a man walking quickly down an alleyway in the deserted Imperial City.

　The man stops at the end of an alleyway and quietly opens the lid of a wooden box hidden in the corner of a trash heap.
　Inside was a pigeon.
　The man carefully catches the pigeon and puts a paw ring on one of its legs, which he takes from his pocket.
　He then released it into the air with both hands.
　The pigeon assesses the direction it should go and flaps its wings without hesitation, moving away from the imperial capital.

　Then the hawk suddenly swooped in and attacked him in mid-air.
　I'm not going to be able to get my hands on any of them.

　The man's eyes widened at the unexpected misfortune.

　It is not uncommon for a carrier pigeon to be attacked by a bird of prey.
　But of all things, in this scene........

''Tch..............d*mn.

　The man who swears.
　I say to him.

"I thought you'd be flying pigeons in the morning.

　The man looked back at me in surprise.
　A man of about twenty to thirty, who looked like he could be anywhere. A face without features is hard to impress.
　This is the kind of person I'm suited for, I suppose.

　I smiled and said, "I'm a spider on the demon side.

"A spider on the demon side, right?
"...what are you talking about all of a sudden? I don't know who you are, but you wanted to see me?
I've got a lot of questions. I want to ask you some questions about the secret note you gave to that pigeon.
A secret book...?　That's our voucher to the Rodnea chapter. I'll have to send it back thanks to that hawk, though. The Grandfather is about to leave for work. I'm sorry, excuse me, boy.

　The man said, annoyed, and averted his gaze.
　While walking towards this direction, with a casual gesture as if taking out a work tool - he pulled out a swinging knife from his waist.
　In the next moment, his steps turned into a sprint.
　The tip of the knife is now pointing at me.

"That's the attitude that helps.
The Art of Vine Binding.

　Several thick vines grew up, cracking the cobblestones.
　They wrapped around the man as soon as they touched him, turning him woody and tightening him up.
　With a cry of agony, the knife fell from his hand.

'Shit, na ... why, okay.'
I heard a little secret. You've been acting as my informant, right?
Oh, I don't think anyone was there...!
Humans, you know. It was hard work, gathering information from the ceremonies I unleashed all over the Imperial City. Thanks to this, I haven't been able to sleep well, and my headache is getting worse. But I was able to capture one person like this, so I guess it was worth it. Now I can finally catch my breath.

　The man looks at me as if he doesn't understand what he's seeing.

"Seika Lamprog I'll tell you what the hell you are...
'Oh, I knew you'd at least know the faces of the contestants in the tournament. And while you're at it, can you tell me what you were about to report?

　The man twists the edges of his mouth.

'Ha, who's going to throw up?'
Yes.
You want to torture me?　Doesn't mean I'm going to be honest with you, though.
No,

　I hold a banner in the air.

"Ask the other one's soul.
The call...

　What was pulled out of phase was an ape-like demon (ayakashi).
　Its face was strangely similar to a human being, and it wore a grinning, uncanny smile.

　The man looks at the sudden appearance of the demon in an uncanny way.

''What is this.........''
'What's this monster?　This guy was a summoner (summoner)?
d*mn....
"'Speak the language?　More importantly, did you just read my thoughts?' Gehhhh....

　The man's face pales at the words that Satoru speaks.

　Yes.
　Satoru is a demon who can read people's minds.

The first thing that comes to mind is the questioning. First of all, who's above you?
That's not what I'm talking about.
"Geehahahahaha it's Abraham Bolbofis.
Okay. And on top of that?
'It's probably the Grand Baron of El Edentrada, but I can't be sure.'
Hmmm. Just so you know, I'm pretty sure it's from the demon tribe.
'Yes,'

　From the unique title in his name, I thought it would be, but I guess I was right.
　Well, Cordell was an interloper of the demon race, too.

'Where was the courier pigeon supposed to be headed?
"'Lewick. Demon territory east-northeast of here, near the border.'

　You were planning to fly directly to the Demon Territory.
　It's a long way, but if it's right on the border, it's not impossible to get there.

''And as for the contents.......regarding the heroes born on the human side, there's no doubt about it.
' 'Yes. How do you know about the birth of a brave man?　Demon side, from the spies?　A limited knowing human being. To what extent?''
Don't worry about me. Tell me the name of that hero you've been working on.
"...Mabel Crain.
Why do you think he's a hero?
The year of birth matches the year of the oracle. His gender and hair color are just as the Oracle said. And he's strong. I'm from the magic academy, but the spies who reported that they had a child who looked like a brave man there a year ago have disappeared along with the assassins they sent in. Although there are inconsistencies in the time of admission, we can't deny the possibility of information manipulation.''
Hmm. And?
'There is a rumor secretly circulating among the informers that Mabel Crane is a brave man. I traced the source to a servant of Baron Crane's family. There is nothing unnatural about the source of the leak.''

　Okay.

What else did he say?
'It's more about Mabel Crain. Officially, she was adopted by the Baron Crane family six months ago. The head of the family touts that she is the granddaughter of her mentor when she was a student at the school, but it has not been corroborated. In the entrance exam....''

　The information on Mabel, which the man would have investigated, is being disclosed.
　
　Perhaps it's the ostensible information that was daringly passed on.
　Including the rumor that she's a brave person.

Finally, I'll ask you. What is the likelihood that Mabel is actually a hero?
'Probably 10 percent. Maybe 20 percent for winning a tournament.'
'Something like that. Do you see other candidates... or do you see the likelihood of the Empire keeping it a secret?
''That's partly true, but we're all wary of the possibility that humans have not yet come into the world, since they've already made the brave man a thing of the past.''

　It's true that, depending on your birth, you often grow up without ever touching a sword. If it's a woman, even more so.

　If the empire knows about the existence of a brave man, there's a good chance he's hiding it.
　If they don't know about it, then it's likely to be buried somewhere.
　It's unlikely that they would conveniently show up at a tournament like this, but the conditions are right and they're strong, so we can't ignore Mabel... or something like that.
　It's a reasonable place to look at it.

''Okay, that's about right. Thank you. Thanks for letting me know what I wanted to know.

　The vines that had been holding the man up rotted away.
　The man lost his support and fell to his knees on the cobblestones. He peels his eyes away with a pale face, and his hand reaches for the knife that had fallen.

　But he is on the verge of grabbing it.
　I'm not going to be able to see it clearly from here, but...

　You can't see it clearly from here, but I'm sure his face was twisted in anticipation.

"You did a good job, Satoru.

　I tell the demon.

"As a reward. You may eat it.

What...?
''What?　Eat!　You have got to be kidding me

　When the head of the sentient man swelled up several times.
　With its wide open jaws, it took a swallow of the man.

　The struggling human form passes down his throat and settles into his stomach.
　The man is still flailing around in it.

''Stop.'' 'Let me out.'' 'Geehahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!'

　Eventually, his movements became stubborn.
　Satoru's large, swollen belly has sunk in. The huge face has somehow become smaller, and it has returned to looking no different than a small monkey.
　It didn't look like it had just eaten a man anymore.

　The satoru turns around and looks at me with a creepy smile.

"'Pity.' 'I can't help it.' 'It was too dangerous to leave it behind.' 'Gehaha.'

　I stare at Satoru with dim eyes and tell him in a voice that is imbued with magical power.

"Don't read my mind, Satoru. I'll kill you.
Geh................................

　Satoru froze his smile.
　I open the door to phase in front of the cowering demon.

'Thank you for your efforts. You can go back now. Or do you still want to talk to me?

　Satoru jumped into phase at a glance.
　I close the door and let out a breath.

''Se........Seika, sir.......''
Hmm?　Yeah, I'm sorry. You scared me.

　I reach for my head and stroke Yuki, who's trembling in my hair, with my fingertips.
　But still. In my previous life, it was impossible for me to be licked by a low-grade youkai....

　A rustling sound of wings.
　The shikigami hawk had returned with the pigeon in his grasp.
　I take the pigeon in both hands, remove its anklets, and open the folded letter.
　I sigh.

I guess I should have asked her how to decipher the code.

　The secret book was burned with the air of fire.
　The pigeon didn't seem to be seriously injured, and when I released it on the ground, it took off on its own.

　I couldn't read the secret book, but oh well.
　Now we know.

　This tournament was held for Mabel to win.
　And the purpose of it was ------ to take the place of Amu, the true hero.

　I thought it was strange from the beginning.
　In the first place, there was no way that the Konoe Guard would become stronger if they included a magical swordsman.
　Strength is a number, but when it comes to an army, homogeneity is important. The same training, the same strategy, and the same actions must be able to demonstrate the same strength. There is no need for special skills. You can only have too many sorcerers.

　Perhaps the Empire has grasped the birth of a brave man.
　If they have spies in the Demon Tribe territory like Cordell said, even if they lose the art of prophecy, they can know about it through intelligence.

　When Cordell found Amu, the Imperial side must have also found out about the existence of the heroes through the school.
　That explains why they didn't close the academy after last year's commotion. Amu's birth family is not a nobleman. If they were able to leave the academy, they would be removed from the supervision of the Empire.

　That's how both sides had grasped the brave man for a while, but soon after that only the demon race side unexpectedly lost sight of Amu.
　This is because I took care of the assassin and the insider.
　I remember my conversation with Galeos, and Cordell didn't seem to have even told me Amu's name.
　Perhaps he wanted to take the credit for defeating the heroes in a hurry to himself, but... but thanks to that, the information that the demon side had receded to the extent of 'there may be a hero in the school'. Because other than Galeos and Cordell, there was no other demon race that knew about Amu.

　In.
　Perhaps also, the empire would learn of the fact through intelligence.
　Luckily, the human side had an informational advantage. However, if the academy was kept in the eye of the school, they might eventually find out about Amu's existence again.
　
　And let's get some of the Kingsguard to take them in and distract them from the Academy!

　....Yeah.
　I'm sure the intention behind it was something like this.
　The unnaturalness of Amu not being selected for the nomination slot is also no wonder, if this is the case.

''Ah, that's refreshing.''

　I was curious about Mabel's background of being made into a brave man, but as expected, it's impossible to find out that much.
　No matter how you think about it, it's a fake name, and he probably dyed that rust-colored hair too.

　There's no need to go any deeper.
　If you're going to protect Amu, it's wishful thinking on my part.
　I'm sure he's not the only spider, so Mabel's situation will be duly reported. I'm not sure if it's a good idea to have one person disappear, or if it's more true to life.

　Now, when should we return to the school....

''Wait. There's actually a possibility that Mabel is the true brave one... no?

　I can kind of understand it when I see it.

　That girl has no more talent than Amu.