Chapter 1251: You Have To Betray The Hero

(MC POV)

I met up with the rest except Eris inside the room given to me for the night after having called them there.

Eris was still busy with greeting the other nobles of the kingdom so she was not aware of this secret meetup between the four of us.

I smiled at them, "I take it each of you has received your own proposals from different nobles?"

Bait threw her arms in the air angrily, "Yeah!! What's with all dis' stupid nobles?! Do they really tink' aye'll just sell out myself just for some stupid gold?!"

"This one humbly believes that these people are not aware that we are all the same person but rather, simply quadruplets," Denna commented.

Laverna nodded her head, "Concept... Alien..."

I chuckled, "Well, you can't expect these people to take the time to understand such a thing. The fact that they pinned their entire kingdom's survival on five people says as much, doesn't it?"

"Yeah! Dere's no way sister Guiying woulda' jus' taken it lyin' down too! Dese' peeps are pathetic! She woulda' went all out on a war!!"

"Well, you girls might like to know that I was offered a large sum of money, a promise to elevate my noble status and my own harem just to break up with Eris so that the prince can marry her instead."

Bait scoffed, "Hmph! Dey' said aye'll get sum' money and a husband if aye' were ta' help break Master and her up. Like as if aye woulda' agree ta' dat'!"

Laverna sighed, "Gold... Men... Status... Kill Master..."

Bait immediately turned to her, "What?! Why do ya get more stuff than aye' do?! An' dey' even asked you to do worse stuff?!!"

Laverna shrugged, "Archer... Assassination... Easy..."

Denna furrowed her brows, "This one was asked if this one would like to be married as a housewife to some noble..."

Bait raised an eyebrow, "Ha? That's sounds normal compared to ours?"

She shook her head, "This one thought so too... Until this one went to investigate a little and the noble that proposed to this one was planning to stage a coup to gain the throne using this one's magic..."

Bait exhaled deeply and leaned back, "This sucks! Don't da' heroes always live happily eva' after when dey' kill the demon lord?! Why do we hafta' deal wif' dis'?!"

I chuckled, "Well, that's because those are just fairytales while this is reality. I believe you already know that people are selfish, right? Despite doing so much for the people while asking nothing in return, you might find that not only are you not appreciated for your sacrifices, you might even be shunned for it. In fact, things might even get worse since we turned down all of their invitations."

They looked at me like they were about to ask what I meant when a knock came from my door.

I placed a finger on my lips to shush them before getting up to open it, revealing the people behind to be a group of nobles as well as the prime minister himself.

"Oh my, what a group this is! Even you, prime minister?" I gasped, acting surprised. "How may I assist you gentlemen?"

The prime minister peeked over my shoulder to see the others behind me before nodding, "It seems all of you are here, that's good. May I come in, please?"

I stepped aside and allowed him to lead the group of nobles into my room before shutting the door behind me. He waited for me to rejoin them before he started speaking to us.

"This may come out of nowhere but I would like to ask all of you as the hero's companions... Is any of you able to beat the hero in a fight?"

Bait and the others looked at each other before shaking their heads at him. Despite what they say about the four of them being the same person, Eris was undoubtedly more skilled in the sword than they are and she was also the main personality who has greater control over her divinity.

Should it come down to it, she would definitely be the winner in a fight amongst the four of them in a head on fight.

Naturally, the thought that the prime minister had included me in the question never crossed their minds which was why they could answer the question with such confidence.

The prime minister then nodded as though he had expected such an answer, "I will be frank with all of you and realise that all of you might possess biassed opinions because you were her companions. But we all believe that the hero is a threat to all of us and the continued peace of our kingdom."

Bait furrowed her brows at him, "Whaaaa? Are ya' out of ya mind? Why da' hell would she be a threat? She literally save yo' asses from dat' demon lord!"

The prime minister sighed, "Yes, but now that the demon lord has been defeated, there is no one else that would be able to keep her in check if she were to turn her sword against us, right?"

"Impossible..." Laverna muttered, though loud enough to still be heard.

"We would rather not take the risk, that is why we are asking all of you to help us kill her."

Denna stood up, "You would ask this of us... Knowing that we were her companions and fought alongside her?"

"Of course, this is for your own good as well, you see. Being the companions of the hero, your own achievements have been overshadowed, have they not? No matter what kind of feat you do, it will always be attributed to the hero. All of you will forever be in her shadow for as long as she still lives. That's why we have to eliminate the threat before it gets too serious."

Mmm... Well, that's to be expected. Humans fear the unknown and Eris is a hero that has surpassed human limits and thus is an unknown to them as well. To preserve their own idea of safety, they are willing to sacrifice what they deem necessary to achieve it.

No doubt these three would reject him and they would also tag us as threats as well, which means we would--

"Alright then, we're in! Tell us wat' we gotta do to take down da' hero!!"

--have to start planning our escape...

...

Wait, what?!