Side: Amahashi Kakeru

It took a full hour, the air primed to ignite, to reach the conclusion that we should at least try talking it out — though Princess Pricia still doubted the Demon Lord and wasn't the least bit convinced.

The wisdom of years, I suppose. Filia, an elf of indeterminate age, was the one keeping the peace between the Demon Lord and Princess Pricia.

That said, the Demon Lord and Princess Pricia were both restraining themselves enough not to attack each other, at least. Well — that was how long it had taken them to get their heads together.

"Demon Lord, why has Hero-sama grown younger?"

At Filia's words I looked at the mirror in the room and got a shock.

I was the only one back in the form I'd had the very day I was summoned to the other world. Everyone else was unchanged from how they'd been when we were fighting at the Demon Lord's castle, and yet… Why was I the only one returned to my first-year high-schooler self, clad in the holy armor I'd been lent as the Hero?

"That primordial magic, I wonder? Dragging a summoned Hero into it might have made the return magic cast on you misfire. Normally, the Hero who wished to go home would be sent back when the Demon Lord died. The moment I stopped being Demon Lord because of the primordial magic, the return magic must have read that as the Demon Lord vanishing and activated — and so here we all are."

The Demon Lord prefaced it all by saying it was just guesswork, but Filia seemed to accept it for now, and the questions stopped there.

It wasn't impossible she was lying, but if we started doubting that, we'd get nowhere. Filia was probably just gathering whatever information she could about our situation and thinking ahead.

"Are we… never going home?"

"I've never so much as heard of magic that crosses between worlds. There's no doubt the Demon Lord can't use it either. If she could possibly use magic to cross worlds… she'd have left that world long ago."

Sanctina looked anxious, like she wanted to go home, and Filia confirmed the Demon Lord's words with a face that seemed to say she was sorry.

Her anxiety was only natural. I'd wanted to come back to this world all along, too. If even the Demon Lord and Filia said it was impossible, then for now there was no way for them to go home. The Demon Lord, for her part, didn't even seem to want to.

…Hold on.

If they couldn't go home, did that mean I was the one who had to look after them?

The Demon Lord, and my companions — the elite of the elite? Truth be told, even on the journey before we fought the Demon Lord, they'd always had plenty of soldiers and servants traveling with them.

I'd never once seen them cook, and I didn't even know whether they had any sense of everyday living to begin with.

And besides… well, never mind. Right now I had to think about what came next.

Princess Pricia. A princess with loosely waving blonde hair. Nineteen years old.

For all that she had a slender body and a knockout figure, she had the strength to twist and crush hulking, muscle-proud men like she was plucking flowers. She'd mastered two of the highest-tier Skills a warrior could have: Matchless Valor and Adamantine Body.

Filia. An elf, marked by long silver hair and the long ears unique to the elf race. Age unknown.

She had a voluptuous build, and could use every kind of magic except darkness. She apparently had all sorts of Skills, but since she'd never told me about them, I didn't know what they were.

Sanctina. A petite Saint with bright-brown hair in a short bob. Twenty years old.

She was slim and always got taken for younger than she was. Her figure was, well, one step short of grown-up. She could use healing, defense, and support magic, and held Skills like Oracle.

The Demon Lord, by the name of Noctia. She wore her black hair down to her waist, with a demon-race crest on her face. I didn't know her age. Actually, the conversation just now was the first time I'd ever properly talked with her without a weapon raised between us.

Let me just say it plainly. Was I really going to look after these high-born people, the sort who'd only ever known the upper class, here in Japan, on Earth?

If time on this side was still the day I'd been summoned, then I was a high-schooler, for crying out loud.

"Hero, could I trouble you for something to drink?"

While I sat there lost in thought, the Demon Lord looked at me and smiled. I hadn't heard she could read minds, but she was the type who could see right through what a person was thinking. She'd probably sensed I was at a loss.

For now, I showed them to the living room on the first floor.

There was barley tea in the fridge. Figuring that would do for the moment, I poured it into glass cups and brought them over.

I'd thought my companions had gone quiet, and it turned out they were looking around the room that was so obviously different from the other world.

"Thank you very much!"

Had she been thirsty? Sanctina the Saint drank it down happily without a single complaint. She'd been born into the upper class, sure, but as a girl training to be a Saint, maybe she was the most resilient of them to a change in surroundings.

"Barley, roasted and steeped in water. There must have been peoples who drink this in regions where water is plentiful."

Filia, true to the wisdom of her years, kept an eye on the distance between the Demon Lord and the rest of the group while still showing me her consideration. She'd always stayed calm and watched the surroundings and the flow of battle, after all.

"I'd like to get a bit of fresh air…"

Princess Pricia had decided, for the time being, to hold off on fighting the Demon Lord here — but the drastic change in circumstances had left her looking a little worn out. She probably needed a little more time yet to accept the situation and process it.

The thing was, it'd be a problem if she went outside.

"You'd better not. The Hero seems to be a commoner. A commoner showing up with unfamiliar, high-born strangers — it'll only cause a stir."

Before I could answer, the one who stopped Princess Pricia as she rose to go outside was, surprisingly, the Demon Lord.

"We are doing what is right. Shouldn't we carry ourselves with dignity?"

"Still don't get it? Even our war had reasons each side could believe were right. And here, the only one who can vouch for your station is the Hero. Would your country take a commoner's word at face value? Foreign races from another world — handle it badly, and you'll get the same treatment the demon race got in your country."

The slightest thing, and the air was ready to ignite all over again. Filia wore a here-we-go-again look, and Sanctina was flustered.

Still, I could tell that even Princess Pricia was being considerate, in that she wasn't pointing a weapon. She understood, but her feelings just hadn't settled — something like that.

That said, leaving it to these two would only sour the mood further. I had no choice but to step in.

"Hime-sama, my apologies, but if you become an outsider here, it could get a little troublesome. For now, let's think of a plan."

It had turned out to be a pretty pathetic showing, but I'd worked as the Hero for several years even so. I'd like to think I'd earned a fair amount of trust.

At those words of mine, Princess Pricia made a face almost like resignation and sat down on the sofa she'd been sitting on a moment before.