I had given Fitoria my word, too.

At the very least, we needed more solidarity among the four heroes.

“Considering what lies ahead, I think the heroes need to get together and have another discussion. The four heroes and the vassal weapon . . . err, the seven star heroes, I guess?”

I figured that the term “vassal weapon holders” probably corresponded to the seven star heroes in this world. I wanted to talk with them and learn about their power-up methods, if possible.

“. . .”

The queen covered her mouth with her folding fan upon hearing my words.

“I have taken your words into consideration, Mr. Iwatani. As for the meeting with the seven star heroes . . . I will contact Faubrey and the other countries and do my best to make it happen.”

The queen’s response confused me. Just the seven star heroes? What about those three idiots—the remainder of the four heroes?

“Wait a minute. The four heroes . . . what happened to the other three?”

The queen averted her eyes when I asked.

“Hey!”

“I . . . I’m very sorry, but . . . just several days ago . . .”

In addition to myself, the four heroes consisted of the Sword Hero, the Spear Hero, and the Bow Hero—Ren Amaki, Motoyasu Kitamura, and Itsuki Kawasumi, respectively.

The three of them were convinced that they had ended up in some kind of game world and ran wild, relying solely on their knowledge of games from their own worlds. They had confronted the Spirit Tortoise and been defeated, after which they were captured by Kyo and used as a power source to control the Spirit Tortoise. I remembered seeing Eclair and the old Hengen Muso lady carry them off just before we set out for the other world.

Anyway, this is what had happened according to the queen.

The heroes had yet to awaken and remained unconscious at the hospital until several days ago, when there were reports from the hospital that each of them had regained consciousness. According to the examining doctor, each of the heroes was told what had happened and finally came to the realization that they had confronted the Spirit Tortoise and been defeated.

“And then?”

“The same day that they woke up . . . I’ve been told that later that night, all of the heroes suddenly disappeared . . .”

I could feel my cheek twitching.

Those half-wit heroes! They must have run away using their teleport skills! I had no idea why they would run. It wasn’t like they had done anything bad . . . Although it was true they had made themselves look really bad.

“We have implemented an information blockade, but there are still rumors among the people that the defeat of the other three heroes is one of the reasons for the Spirit Tortoise’s increased violence. The heroes’ situation is concerning.”

“Ugh . . . I don’t know where they went, but please try to see to it that they are protected, if possible.”