“I met Laman fifty-six years ago…”
“My home village rests on the outskirts of demon territory. At the time, half-demon, half-humans and other hybrids were discriminated against, so we weren’t allowed in any kingdom I, a fourteen-year-old half-succubus, and Fiona, a twelve-year-old ogre hybrid, worked as vigilantes for the village, fighting off monsters. But the monster attacks were gettin’ stronger by the day, and the village was nearly overrun. That’s when Laman’s party came to help us.”
“Laman, a fire-spirit hybrid, was fourteen back then. He’d been declared the Hero by the king of that era and was on his journey to the Demon King’s castle. He traveled with a thief who’d tried to steal with him and an assassin who’d been tasked with killing him by another kingdom…”
“What is it, kid? You saw all this at the Shrine of the Hero, did you? Then you know who I’m talkin’ about. Eventually, Fiona and I joined the party, too. Together with Laman, we pledged to defeat the Demon King. And he swore to protect his comrades at all costs. The five of us destroyed the Demon King’s castle.”
“I’ll let you in on somethin’ you won’t learn from that shrine. There are three kinds of Holy Flame spells that Laman uses the most. Fireball, a technique that creates a flame sphere he can throw. Karmic Flare is an even bigger version that takes longer to cast. That’s what he tossed at the Demon King’s castle, by the way. Last is Flame Oblivion, a powerful technique that incinerates everything around him. Each one creates fires that burn at thousands of degrees, but none of them are very flexible, and it takes a long time to shoot the Karmic Flare over long distances. We all had our roles to help buy him time. Fiona specialized in close combat as our swordswoman, Keith handled covert ops and scoutin’, and Neidhardt did the surprise attacks. I gathered the intelligence behind the scenes.”
“After we defeated the Demon King… It was just one bad thing after another. We headed back to Laman’s, plannin’ to have a picnic together, but found it full of trash.”
“That Laman… He went straight to the king, screamin’ at him and throwin’ fireballs. He was indebted to the old king, but that man died in the middle of our adventure. The new ruler had been crowned at fifteen. The kid started blatherin’ on somethin’ about an island of dreams in Kotoku, but Laman wasn’t havin’ it. He was so pissed that he shouted, ‘Don’t come to my village until you apologize, you pink bastard!’ That’s when the Meadow of Beginnings became an autonomous zone with the Hero’s Village at its center.”
“All the homecomin’ ceremonies and feasts were canceled. The hero who’d saved the world shut himself away in his home. Everyone in the village and the members of the Hero’s Party thought the king would apologize before too long, but he never did.”
“The king successfully copy-pasted Japanese things over and over. He changed the kingdom’s name to Chiyodaku, and the nation prospered. And without the common enemy that was the Demon King, people all over the world grew interested in the Chiyodaku Kingdom’s new prosperity.”
“Eventually, even the people of the Hero’s Village began to change. From the piles of everyone’s trash, they dug out Japanese things that they thought were still usable. They called refrigerators and washin’ machines sacred treasures. It baffled me. A name like that had always been reserved for ancient weapons that helped us battle demons.”
“Everyday life in the village improved thanks to all the Japanese things, and everyone came to recognize their usefulness. However, Laman refused to admit that somethin’ from the trash had value. Admittin’ it would prove he’d been wrong not to accept it in the first place. He grew more insular, and stopped leavin’ the village. Fiona was the one who tried to comfort him.”
“Their relationship? They were married. Oh, you didn’t know that? Yeah, I guess it wasn’t official by Chiyodaku Kingdom standards. It’s not like they signed any papers. Kids? Didn’t have any. You know how Laman was found abandoned as a baby? They say it’s fire spirit tradition to burn the mother to death after she bears a child of their lineage. Knowin’ that, Laman didn’t wanna risk doin’ anything that might hurt Fiona.”
“And so, the Meadow of Beginnings, the Hero’s Village, and the Hero’s Party were all left behind by the changin’ times. Years passed. Keith and Neidhardt got tired of waitin’ around and started makin’ trips into the Chiyodaku Kingdom.”
“A thief and assassin couldn’t make a livin’ in a nation following Japanese law, so they took advantage of the old king’s promise to provide food and drink to the Hero’s party and did nothin’ but hang around and eat for free. When he got bored, Neidhardt used his disguise abilities to turn himself into Laman and mess around with people. They kept this up until they died last month.”
“I couldn’t stoop to such humiliation, though. I distanced myself from them and started workin’. As a half-succubus, I need to feed off men’s essence to sustain my power, so I got a job at a place that facilitated that sorta thing.”
“After a few years, Keith and Neidhardt got hungry for more money. Survivin’ off drinks and appetizers was no way to live.”
“Around the same time, Fiona got sick. She really needed to eat human flesh or else her body would start to fail, but she told me, ‘I survive without it. I love Laman, so please don’t tell him.’ Laman sought Japanese medicine to help her and needed money to get it.”
“The Chiyodaku Kingdom was growin’ fast. And the city was runnin’ out of places to dump its trash. Keith and Neidhardt latched on to that and brought the trash to the Hero’s Village in exchange for money. They figured Laman could burn it for them, so there’d be no problem.”
“Keith and Neidhardt used an old object transference spell scroll they’d stolen to create portals between Little Ginza’s trash dump and the hollow in the Hero’s Village, and they got paid based on the amount of trash they got rid of. Laman agreed to burn the trash so he could pay for Fiona’s medicine. Day after day, for decades. For that medicine that barely did anything. And Fiona kept lyin’ and told him it was helpin’.”
“He knew people might make fun of an old hero left behind by the changin’ culture and stuck burnin’ garbage. But he thought if he made up the story that he ruled over the village with terror that the villagers wouldn’t look as stupid. So Keith and Neidhardt spread the rumor claimin’ that’s what Laman was doin’.”
“Last year, the king died. And right after, Laman came into possession of a Shard of Judgment. Apparently, it fell out of the sky right into the Hero’s Village. He didn’t want to use it, though. To him, judgment was killin’ the Demon King. And there was no one else he wanted to kill. Exhausted from doin’ nothin’ but garbage cleanup, he decided to take Fiona, who was gettin’ worse, to meet Princess Ecstasia and mend his relationship with the royal family.”
“But before he could, some official who claimed he ‘came from Chiyodaku’ showed up with black balance scales and tried to take the Shard of Judgment. Laman fell ill after the fight and was laid up in bed for a while.”
“During that time, the trash started pilin’ up. Keith and Neidhardt decided to burn the trash without Laman’s powers, and Fiona helped. I had my work, so I wasn’t around to pitch in.”
“On the day of the incident, the three of them were lightin’ fire to the trash. I don’t know the details about how they were doin’ it, but I do know there was a strong wind blowin’ that day…and before they knew it, they were surrounded by flames. I got worried about them, so I flew over the area to see how everything was goin’, and I saw the three of ’em stranded in the middle of the crater. Maybe somethin’ bad caught fire. There was a big explosion and a huge burst of black flames. I hurried to Laman to tell ’em what happened.”
“Laman cut through the flames, and at the center of the hollow, he cast Flame Oblivion over the whole area. All of the burnin’ trash was wiped out by Laman’s spell, but it was already too late. Keith’s, Neidhardt’s, and Fiona’s skin had turned an uncanny shade of bright red, and they couldn’t move an inch. So Laman, screamin’ in grief, cast another small Flame Oblivion. He buried everything with his own hands.”
“After that, Laman went catatonic. His heart was broken. When the police and prosecutor came from Chiyodaku, he didn’t resist at all. In the beginnin’, he even sat there listenin’ obediently when Princess Ecstasia and the prosecutor started his trial.”
“That’s the whole story of the Hero’s Party. Kid…are you cryin’?”