The Devil Does Not Need to Be Defeated

"Are, are you really saying the truth?"

At that moment, even putting aside Balon, Leon, and the rest, Markray already couldn't hold himself back from asking.

"Why not?" Shien acted as if he didn't notice the thoughts of Markray and group at all, and he blathering on as if he lacked any sense of caution, "Although Jillian was one of the main culprits behind the mass assassination incident from 10 years ago, he was only one of them. I heard that there was another guy called something-dr that's the main culprit behind it all, and he was the highest leveled out of all of them. Back then, he also killed even more people than Jillian, plus the whole thing seemed to be his plot in the first place. If he ends up showing up to rescue Jillian, and he were to bring with him the rest of the Old Demon Faction with him, and we then take them all down, wouldn't the merit-"

As for the rest of it, everyone understood full well even if Shien didn't finish those words.

It must be said, if things really did end up that way, the merits from that would unquestionably be far greater than merely capturing Jillian.

And given that even Jillian was enough to get people salivating in greed, then what kind of reaction would an even greater merit than that cause?

(Could I be promoted raised to nobility?)

A flame burned in Leon's heart.

(Could I gain the eyes of the royal family, and my whole family be promoted in noble rank?)

Markray couldn't hold back his excitement.

(Will it get father's business even more profit, or maybe have the royalty act as matchmakers to let Leon and I become husband and wife?)

Eudrice also fell into her own daydreams.

As for Balon, he too couldn't resist.

(Originally, there were a great deal of dissatisfaction from my family's advisers and vassals regarding the fact that I became the captain of one of the knight brigades when I haven't even reached level 70 yet. This sticking point had caused me no end of troubles, and it was the main reason why I haven't been recognized by the masses outside of Lamdrion all this time. If I could succeed in grabbing a merit as great as that, then they won't have any way of gainsaying me anymore. In fact, I may even have a chance to overtake my eldest brother, become the one to inherit the Murrow family, and become the next Marquis Murrow.)

As he thought that, Balon couldn't resist the temptation.

Only Alrith at this point ended up raising an objection.

"Did guildmaster Leili agree to this matter?" Alrith wrinkled his brow and spoke bluntly to Shien, "Are you guys sure that this will be successful? Don't let this end up harming Lamdrion in the end!"

Alrith's words had brought everyone back to reality.

It wasn't just Alrith. Even Vivian couldn't hold herself back from interjecting.

"Baydr is an every stronger demon than Jillian and the one in Lamdrion. Even if it could subjugate Jillian, it may not be enough to take down Baydr. If it ends up failing when the time comes, Lamdrion would be the one to pay the price for it. That's far too dangerous."

Since Vivian didn't know just what Shien was planning, she decided to remind him using that method just in case that Shien really was planning such a thing.

"Don't worry, don't worry." Shien wasn't concerned at all though, "There's nothing that a magic item can't solve. If there are, then just use two!"

That statement was extremely arrogant, bu no one really could make any objections to it either.

Things really were that way after all.

It's different from back with Jillian. This time, there wasn't even just 2 usable magic item. It had already been mass produced after all.

Therefore, if they just threw out magic items of that level en mass without holding back, then never mind a demon even stronger than level 77, even a superpower of level 90+ would probably end up getting done in, right?

Basically, it means that it was fully doable!

No one could sit still at that anymore.

"Your name is Shien right?" Balon finally spoke up and addressed Shien, "I thank you for your hard word. In that case, as for this matter-"

This matter, allow me to support you in this.

That was what Balon was planning to say.

From Balon's point of view, if they can guarantee that the people sent by the Old Demon Faction will end up flinging themselves into a trap and get completely taken out, then there would no more need for him or his people to undertake some secret quest. Just wait and prepare right here and take care of everything at once. They'd even end up getting more out of it, with even more merits earned.

However, at that moment, Shien once again change the topic and interrupted Balon's words.

"Speaking of, I haven't even thanked everyone yet." Shien addressed everyone there with obvious gratitude, "For everyone to have put in so much effort into ‘helping me' transport Jillian to the capital like this. Why I really am a little embarrassed at that."

When those words were uttered, everyone, including Balon, stopped for a moment.

"Helping you?"

Balon, Leon, Markray, Eudrice, and Alrith were all confused.

What's the logic behind that?

Everyone was quite puzzled.

However, a second later, everyone's expressions had changed due to Shien's words.

It was something that had never happened before.

Because-

"Although it was only thanks to borrowing the power of a magic item that ‘I successfully subjugate Jillian', however, since I did end up subjugating such a major criminal and transported him to the capital, I think the Kingdom wouldn't be stingy in its reward for me, right? Why, I'm looking forward to it just thinking about it!"

Shien's joyful words, this time, had made everyone's heart let out a "crack" sound. They finally realized what the issue was.

That's right!

The one who subjugated Jillian was Shien, not them!

In other words, Shien was the one who truly deserved the credit. They were only peripherally involved!

It's not that everyone forgot about that point. Rather, normally speaking, there's a way that things were done when someone makes a major contribution within a particular territory. Unless it was a matter capable of shaking the entire kingdom, unless it brought an enormous advantage for the entire country to the point where the person who made the contribution had to be acknowledged by the nation itself, rewards will normally be something that are realized in tiers.

For example, if a commoner accidentally found a ruin, and that ruin had enormous value to the point where even the Kingdom had to be involved, then said commoner wouldn't be directly rewarded by the Kingdom itself. Instead, he'd be rewarded by the noble of the territory who received the news.

Then this territory's lord would report it to the Kingdom, and the Kingdom will consider the matter as the lord's merit, and reward the lord.

That's what the tiered reward system meant.

After all, there's no way that a commoner could directly make contact with the royalty and report the matter, right?

Thus, this was true even in Shien's previous world. Rewards will drip down step by step. By the time it finally reached the actual person, it would have already gone through who knows how many steps, and it would be unknown just how much of the original reward's value ended up reaching the person in question.

Shien's one matter here ended up this way too. The merit that a level 10 new adventurer earned could just be rewarded by the administrator of Lamdrion. Shien himself had neither the right nor method to contact the royalty and get the reward directly from them.

Given all that, from Balon's point of view, he just needed to hand Shien a reward. Then, he could fully claim the Kingdom's full reward without any issues.

However, now the situation had changed.

Shien watched the expressions on everyone's faces, and his smile became more and more pronounced.