Demon King and Hero

Demon King & Hero Chapter 1-1 - Are you the demon king? No, I quit that?

So the rumours go:

It is said that within the Artian Empire, the strongest nation on the continent, there are five 'blades.'

Possessing sword skills so advanced that even veteran swordsmasters would be unable to keep track of the sword, combined with a blade said to be able to destroy anything and everything in a single hit, along with an impregnable defence, the perfect combination of magic and sword arts, was dubbed as the 'Magic Blade.'

And the one who was said to be equal to the sum of the other four, near impossible to track with the eye, yet despite this being able to slice mountains with the sword without showing weaknesses, and being able to fight against any type of magic without any disadvantage.

The people praised that 'blade', Ashrien House, as the greatest swordsmen clan in the empire.

Praised, as in, past tense.

The sword arts of the Ashrien House, the 'Azure Flames' Style.

Because it was too brilliant of a style, commoners couldn't understand it even if they saw it, and those who called themselves geniuses failed to comprehend it.

As such, once the founder of the Ashrien house passed away, the Ashrien house began to shake, and only to decline drastically two generations ago, the then-head of the house fell in battle against evil organisations.

However, had the gods not yet abandoned this Ashrien house just yet?

In that Ashrien house, a genius was born.

Leaving a ruined family, while travelling the world, she understood and mastered 'Azure Flames,' a feat that none had managed since the founder, all by the tender age of 21.

On her adventures, she saved many people, destroyed countless evil organisations, and, amdist the calamities that occurred as a result of dimensions colliding, she slew the demons that took the opportunity to invade through the gap between dimensions.

To the people whose eyes could not track her movements, when they saw her sword, akin to blue flames, she was called thereafter 'Guardian of Azure Flames,' or 'Azure Flame Yuria.'

***

"Is, is this the right place?"

With red hair that fell to her waist, a girl looked at the cabin, tilting her head.

Her name was Yuria Ashrien.

At the request of the Emperor and the Pope, she had left on a journey to subdue the Demon. The magic tool that detected signs of magical power had ultimately led her here, a for all intents and purposes a perfectly normal farmer's cabin, making her tilt her head in confusion.

"It doesn't seem like the tool's malfunctioning... There's probably some secret room in the basement."

The sacred compass that operated on the premise of opposing demonic magic power to locate the demons had been worked on for countless generations as a defence against the demon king, and as it was such a priceless treasure, there was simply no way it could be wrong.

Added to that, from experience, she knew of basements with secret bases, and thus, her hand tightly gripped the hilt of her sword.

The Emperor had promised.

Should she succeed in this, the territories of the Ashrien house that had been sold to the empire would all be returned to them.

That territory could not simply be called land.

It was land that her family had cultivated from the wild, each and every part embedded with the spirits of the Ashrien family.

Closing her eyes briefly, she calmed herself.

Her opponent was a demon king. A Lord of demons, with a million demons under his command.

Even low-tier demons could easily turn that small house into a cesspit of evil.

The demon king might have already noticed her approach and prepared traps, or summoning magic with tens of high-class demons on standby.

But she had to go.

If for nothing else, her own family, the greater good, and all the civilians who would suffer under the demon king's revival!

Standing in front of the cabin, Yuria ran countless blue streaks of light across the door, and quickly leaped back.

There could have been any number of traps there, after all.

As Yuria landed, the door split into nine segments, dropping onto the ground.

Through the doorway, she saw a young man with black hair.

With looks that any woman would fall for, and hidden under black clothes a body figure with muscles that was not hideously bulky yet seemed more attractive even so. Yuria had fought many demons who used their beauty to seduce people to do hideous things, yet even she blushed faintly in the face of this man's attractiveness.

'Calm down! The enemy is a demon king!'

But as expected of a warrior cultivated through many hardships, Yuria calmed herself down in an instant and took a stance in which she could draw her sword at any time, she fixed her glare on the man and shouted,

"Are you the demon king?!"

At those words laced with killing intent, the man opened his mouth.

"No, I quit that?"