Ankoku Kishi Monogatari (WN)

◆Goblin Prince, Goz

「I see, so Omiros is looking for Regena. Well, maybe Omiros looking for her is better than you being the one that is doing」

When the silver witch in front of my eyes said so, my body regained its freedom.

I told everything I knew to this witch.

Nevertheless, for some reason, she asked me about Regena, too.

Thus, a question suddenly appeared in my mind.

Could it be that this silver witch was the one who kidnapped Regena?

「That's all, do as you wish after this. Kuna is leaving」

When the silver witch was about to leave after saying those words,

「Please wait a minute, Kuna-sama!」

I tried to stop her. Even if her business was done, mine was not.

「What do you want, Goz? Do you have something else to tell me?」

The silver witch asked that question with an irritated tone. Her irritated expression was lovely, too.

「Could it be that you … are the one who captured Regena?」

「I have no reason to tell you that」

I only received a bone-chilling answer from the silver witch.

「Is that all? In that case, Kuna is leaving」

When she was about to leave again, I realized that I had to stop her at all costs! I hurriedly ran in front of the Silver Witch.

「P-Please wait a minute, Kuna-sama! T-That's right! It seems that this fruit wine is the special product of this kingdom! H-How about trying to taste it? Just one cup! Your Excellency might be pleased if you bring back one as a present」

I replied in panic while slipping my hand into my chest pocket where I kept the aphrodisiac.

As long as I make the silver witch before my eyes drink this aphrodisiac, no matter how powerful she is, she’ll be no different from a bitch in heat.

I'll make her tell me about Regena on top of the bed.

But, the eyes of the silver witch became colder after seeing my actions.

「Is the thing what you want me to drink just fruit wine?」

Chills ran down in my spine as soon as I heard those words.

「W-What do you mean, GOB!?」

My tone became slightly strange again.

「… Fool! Truly an ugly and idiotic goblin. Neither your charm nor your intelligence is even a millionth of Kuroki's. Do you think that I'm just going to watch you in silence? Know your place!」

Could it be that she noticed my attempt?

「Uhm … Just one glass of fruit wine…」

「You liar! You can't lie to Kuna with your level of magic power. There's an aphrodisiac that you got from that goblin queen in your pocket, right?」

My eyes opened wide in surprise as soon as I heard those words.

The silver witch knew about the aphrodisiac!

「Look into Kuna's eyes!」

The eyes of the silver witch shone brightly, and suddenly, I couldn't move my body.

「Drink the aphrodisiac in your pocket!」

When I heard those words, my hands began moving on their own, taking the small bottle from my breast pocket and then pouring the content down my throat.

I must not drink this!

The aphrodisiac is vigorous even with a mere drop or two. I might lose my sanity if I drink the whole bottle.

Despite my resistance, my hand was moving on its own.

The sweet flavor of the aphrodisiac made with the honey of the demon bees living in the dark forest of Nargol started spreading within my mouth.

When I drank almost half of the aphrodisiac, my lower body couldn’t help but tremble non-stop.

「Huff, huff …」

A strange voice kept leaking out from my mouth.

My nether region was going to go out of control soon.

I could smell the sweet fragrance wafting from the silver witch’s body.

I CAN'T HOLD BACK ANYMORE!

As I was about to pounce on the silver witch,

「EH … HUH!」

When my feet were about to take a step, it felt like they were glued to the ground.

「I felt sick as soon as that ugly face of yours became uglier by two-fold … To be honest, your existence itself is a nuisance」

She was looking down on me with her piercing cold silvery pupils.

The moment I saw those eyes, it felt as if an electric current passed through my body.

I was desperately pinning my nether region with both of my hands.

「Ahe~…」

It leaked out.

A certain liquid was gushing out from my groin and spilling on the floor.

「Now, enjoy your pain till the end of this ball」

The silver witch then went somewhere after saying those words.

「Wait … Kuna-sama … Ahe~ … Ahe~ …」

But I couldn't do anything, save for standing still in place with drool spilling from my mouth.

◆Prince of Algore, Omiros

Without Shirone-sama, I, left without a dancing partner, was looking for a place to enjoy my solitude. The fact that I was unable to dance had been intimated to Shirone-sama. King Eclas also had no problem with that.

Looking at his attitude towards us, it seemed that a diplomatic relationship with Velos was still feasible. Thus, there was no need to force me to dance.

After walking in the royal palace, I felt a little bit hungry.

Come to think of it, I ate nothing during lunch. So, I went to the room where they arranged the meals.

Various kinds of food were served in that room.

Lamb meat sandwiched between two bread slices, grilled eel with thick fish sauce; a whole roasted goose stuffed with herbs and garlic, onion soup with carrots and turnip.

Delicious aromas were wafting out from every dish.

「As expected of the Velos kingdom, they're really rich.」

This abundance of food didn’t exist in Algore.

I ate nothing but bean soup ever since I was a kid, and I eat that even now.

「I'll bring back some for Rillete」

This was definitely not a thing to do on this occasion, but there was a lot of food here that wasn't available in Algore, so bringing some might not be a problem.

Though Rillete wanted to come along when our decision to go to Velos was made, in the end, she was not allowed since we were not coming here to play around, and she was still too young.

I took out a cloth from my pocket to wrap them. It was still clean and pretty since it was unused, so I decided to take the baked cake.

Then, I looked for the place where they would place that kind of pastries.

I found that place immediately and stretched my hand to reach the baked sweets.

I heard that these baked goods were made from thinly sliced and sweet fruits of Velos wrapped in wheat dough and then baked as is. I took a few of them and wrapped them with the cloth in my hand.

「This much should be enough」

I wanted to bring more, but I had no choice but to abandon the idea since I didn’t bring any food containers with me.

At that time, I noticed a woman next to me.

This woman was taking several of those foods into the container that she brought with her.

What she was doing was extremely obvious.

「She’s piling it up one after another…」

While I was trying to bring back a small amount of food with me to Algore, she seemed like she wanted to bring back everything.

Maybe she also came from a poor country like me.

But then, the container she held in her hand piqued my curiosity.

The container was something that I had never seen until now.

It seems that the container was made from a soft yet colorless material. This is the first time I have seen such a container.

Did a poor country have that kind of container?

I wonder what material it was made from.

When I looked at that woman, I could hardly see her face due to her forelocks and the cloth that was covering her face.

「EH!?」

I instantly recognized her as soon as she moved her face to the side.

It was the face of the one I wanted to see the most in this world.

I rushed to that girl’s side.

「REGENA!」

When I called her name, the woman looked at me.

Her mouth and eyes opened wide to their limit due to the surprise.

「Omi … ros」

The girl muttered my name.

There, I met Regena who was supposed to be in the goblin’s den.

◆Former Princess of Algore, Regena

I never expected to come to Velos in this manner.

The Velos kingdom was the birthplace of my mother.

I heard from my wet nurse that my mother was the most beautiful woman in Velos. She was even called the jewel of Velos and the noble princess of that kingdom.

The dancing figure of my mother was really beautiful.

I used to think about coming to Velos to dance in their venue when I was still a child. That was why the young me was taught how to dance by my mother.

But now, I realize that’s impossible.

My mother used to be the fiance of the prince of this kingdom, but then she eloped with my father, the previous king of Algore.

That's why, I, who was born from the two of them, couldn't get to dance in the venue of the Velos kingdom.

And despite being expelled from Algore, my appearance closely resembled my mother’s. That was why, even though I never danced, standing out in this ball was dangerous. And yet, I wanted to see this ball at least once.

That was why I appealed to kuna-sama to bring me along when I heard that she wanted to come.

「Kuna-sama is really beautiful…」

I saw the two of them dance until just a while ago.

If possible, I wanted to dance with my dear master, too.

My chest became painful when I thought about my dear master.

I was really surprised when I saw my dear master for the first time.

Why did a human like him become the dark knight? And …

But upon careful consideration, there should be no human being that can become a dark knight.

My dear master just looks like a human, and yet he isn't a human.

Well, it was definitely not strange at all, I mean, the deity-sama, the guardian deity of Algore did not resemble a human at all.

That’s just how powerful he is.

Even those fiendish looking demons from the powerful demon race are bowing down before my dear master.

According to what I heard, it seems that my dear master is strong to the point of him being able to defeat that hero with ease. The hero was the one who caused the fall of our clan.

That's why my dear master is equivalent to our benefactor.

I'm prepared to give my everything to my dear master. I'll even give him my body if he wishes for it.

But, that seems too harsh for me, the reason being that Kuna-sama will be angry whenever I try to tempt my dear master.

What is the true identity of Kuna-sama, I wonder? I never asked about that matter before.

There was a rumor that she's the daughter of his highness, the Demon King.

Kuna-sama is devoting her love solely to my dear master. It seems that she won't even let a mere human girl approach him.

Chills ran down in my spine whenever she glared at me with her beautiful face.

She should be dancing with my dear master around this time.

I heaved a sigh whenever I recalled the moment I saw the figure of Kuna-sama in her ball dress.

She was breathtakingly beautiful. Her beauty might rival even those goddesses of the legends.

My dear master, who was dancing with such a beautiful Kuna-sama, might be really delighted right now.

Even though I was also dressed up for the sake of this ball, the gap between me and Kuna-sama was like the gap between heaven and earth.

There's no way he would dance with me after dancing with someone as beautiful as Kuna-sama.

I shook my head to interrupt such a train of thought. Let's not think about it as much as possible. It would only make me drown in deeper sorrow.

I should just be satisfied with being able to dance with my dear master during our training sessions.

Rather than thinking about such sad things, let's just change my pace by eating these delicious looking dishes.

I came to another room where they prepared the food for the guest.

Spreading before my eyes were the food products which I had never eaten until now.

I keep stuffing those foods in the tupperware.

This container called tupperware is a magic tool made by the dwarf artisans for my dear master.

This tupperware was really an excellent container with heat insulation property.

「Everyone will be delighted」

I recalled my family which I left in Nargol.

There were only a few things that humans can eat in Nargol.

The food of the orc race, the race with the most numbers in Nargol, is not something that can be eaten by humans as the humans would die if they eat that.

We were currently surviving somehow since, for some reason, we can eat the food of the demon race.

My dear master also gave us his share of food, but doing so gained him more animosity from the demon race. That is why, no matter how much protection my dear master gave us, I had no choice but to refuse my dear master’s offer since I couldn't let him garner higher animosity from the demon race, because of us humans living in Nargol.

That's why I was stuffing as much food as possible in this tupperware for everyone.

My hands were moving from one food to another.

Suddenly, I noticed that there was another person by my side.

That person noticed my bad manners. He might have been a citizen of Velos.

"Oh, this is bad." is what I felt. I mean, I was not a proper guest in this ball and that might cause unnecessary trouble.

I gripped my skirt. Hidden under my skirt was the short sword I got from my dear master.

This short sword was a present from my dear master.

I heard that this sword was made by my dear master himself.

He gave me this sword in case I needed it for my own self-protection.

Though it somewhat disturbed my movement, I still brought it with me to Velos.

I might not be that skillful in using this sword so maybe it would be better for me to leave this place without seeing the face of the person next to me.

「REGENA!」

The person next to me called my name.

For some reason, he knew my name.

When I looked at his face.

It was a face that I knew.

「Omi … ros」

Standing there was my childhood friend who left on a journey one year ago.

He might have come back some time ago.

I noticed that Omiros had become more masculine than what he was before his journey.

「Regena … It's really you, why are you in this place…? What are…」

He was making a face as if he couldn't believe what he saw.

His eyes were scanning my body and then stopped at my hand that was already gripping something.

In there was the tupperware with lots of food inside it.

Feeling embarrassed, I desperately tried to hide the tupperware.

「Y-You've misunderstood … It's just that …」

What might he misunderstand, I wonder? I wonder what I am blabbering about right now.

For some reason, I didn't want my childhood friend to see this embarrassing side of mine.

「Sorry, Omiros!」

Saying so, I turned away from Omiros.

「WAIT, REGENA!」

Omiros was trying to chase after me.

I don't know why I was trying to get away from Omiros.

My legs were just naturally heading towards my dear master.

But then, I collided against something big in the corridor when heading towards the venue and fell on my butt.

That's strange, there shouldn't be something this big at the entrance.

I then looked up at the big thing that I collided with.

「… EH?」

There, I saw something with height and width at least twice that of mine.

Though its figure resembled that of a human’s, there was still a great difference.

On that thing’s face, a pair of tusks was growing from its mouth. And then, its eyes met with mine.

「KYAAA!」

Suddenly, loud screams reverberated throughout the entire venue.

「IT'S THE OGRES!」

「WHY ARE THEY IN THIS PLACE?」

「KYAAA!」

I could hear such screams across the venue.

Hearing them screaming "Ogres", I finally realized the identity of the thing before me.

It was the first time I met one, but it was definitely an ogre.

They're renowned as ferocious man-eating monsters. I had to run, but my body wouldn't move from my sitting position.

「What a delicious looking girl…」

The ogre said while stretching his hand toward me.

「GET YOUR HANDS OFF REGENA!」

Omiros was rushing to save me. But he couldn't win against an ogre even with his weapon, much less now without one.

「What do you think you’re doing?」

The ogre swept his hand. The rushing Omiros was easily caught by him.

The ogre’s eyes were glaring at Omiros.

At this rate, Omiros will die.

As soon as the thought crossed my mind, my body moved on its own. I stood up and unsheathed the short sword which I had tucked inside my skirt.

A black flame was coiling on the blade as soon as the short sword left its sheath.

「GET YOUR HANDS OFF OMIROS!」

I slashed my sword at the leg of the ogre.

「GUGYAAA!」

The careless ogre ended up losing one of his feet and was now writhing in pain.

「OMIROS!」

I helped Omiros stand up.

「Regena…」

Omiros was looking at me dumbfoundedly.

「Run, Omiros!」

I grabbed Omiros’s hand and then started running.

「WAIT! YOU BASTARD!」

I could hear that ogre’s scream behind me.

But, ignoring that scream, we ran away.

◆Dark Knight, Kuroki

The matter of the ogres trespassing into this ball really surprised me.

「This is bad … Let's go to the king’s place. Right, please come with me too!!」

Midou Kyouka said so to me so I followed her.

「Eh … Why should I…」

Maybe because she couldn't hear my perplexed voice, Midou Kyouka kept walking without a care.

But for some reason, I was unable to defy her and, instead, kept following her from behind.

The place I ended up in was the worst place for me.

We found the king of Velos immediately. Well, it was easy to know his position since there were a lot of palace guards around him.

The king was sitting down on the floor.

「I'm okay. The rest of you guys protect the guests in this place.」

「But, your majesty…」

I could hear such exchanges.

The king also noticed us when we got close to him.

「Kyouka-dono … My deepest apologies. For something like this to happen…」

The king was apologizing while still sitting on the floor.

「It doesn't matter. I'll do something about this place, so please leave immediately」

「Hahaha, there's no way I can run while leaving my guests behind. Moreover … My hip is hurt and won't move at all … Hahaha, I am quite pitiful. Come to think of it, will you take Corfyna along with you to a safer place?」

「Dear, you can't be…」

The queen was making a face as if she was going to cry.

What a beautiful scene this married couple is sharing at such time.

I know he is a kind person from the way he worried about the other people before himself.

The king was telling his soldiers to save the guests and his queen first.

It seems that he’s going to stay behind alone.

I don't know whether that was a correct decision as a king.

In fact, the soldiers were disobeying their king’s order and trying to carry the king instead. Their actions were the right choice when considering the fate of the kingdom.

But, it was too late.

This place was already located by the ogres.

Three ogres were coming towards us.

Well, it was not that hard to find this place with so many palace guards gathering here. It was as clear as day for everyone else that the ones gathered in this place were VIPs.

The ogres then stopped right in front of us.

「Are you the king of this kingdom?」

The ogre standing in the middle asked while looking at the king of Velos. Her dreadful voice was reverberating in the venue.

She might be the leader of these ogres.

「OH! PROTECT THE KING!」

Those soldiers stood in front of the ogres.

「SMALL FRY SHOULD JUST BACK OFF!」

The ogres on her either side swatted the soldiers like flies, easily sending them away.

「HYIII!」

The king raised a scream.

「DEAR!」

The queen was the only one left standing before him.

「N-NO CORFYNA! EVEN IF IT'S JUST YOU, YOU MUST SAVE YOURSELF!」

Despite the king’s plea, the queen wouldn't budge from her place.

「O-Ogres, W-What, do you want?」

The king was asking the ogres with a trembling voice.

「My name is Kujig. The little sister of the hero should be in this kingdom! Bring her to me!」

Now I knew that the one they were aiming for was Midou Kyouka. Why was she aiming for Kyouka?

Though vaguely, I somehow noticed this fact before – that’s not just Reiji, the girls around him were also the kind of people who easily made enemies left and right. That was why I didn’t really find it strange that one of them incurred the wrath of the ogres.

「Your target is me, right? I will neither run nor hide. That's why, please stop targeting other people!」

Midou Kyouka stepped forward.

「Some nerve you got there, don't cha? You will pay for your sin of killing our younger brother!」

The ogre to the left was saying so in a terrifying voice.

「I won't be a good girl if you target the other guests」

Midou Kyouka said with a threatening tone.

But the ogres just laughed it off.

「My bad, your comrades won't come to save you.」

Laughing with a sneer, the ogre woman in the middle told Kyouka.

「Your two comrades were trapped inside the cage made by me. Even a god would have a hard time breaking out from it, not to mention a human. They're absolutely unable to break out from it.」

The female ogre was laughing loudly.

「WHAT?! Kaya and Shirone!」

Midou Kyouka responded with a flustered voice.

「Yes, our dear mother’s magic is the best. Even if they're the comrades of the hero, they're mere humans. Ye can't defeat us!」

The ogre on the side laughed. The other ogres were laughing along with him.

「I see … You guys are the culprits behind their disappearance. But, you better not make light of us. Even if it looks like this, I'm the little sister of my brother. I alone am enough to take on you guys.」

Midou Kyouka hands started to shine. I could feel devastating power from her slender body.

「Do you dare? The control of your own magic power doesn't seem to be that good. You might kill the people here too, you know?」

The female ogre laughed.

「How do you know that?!」

「If you understand your position, then be a good child」

The female ogre said with an elated feeling.

The ogres on the sides were coming toward Midou Kyouka who was shrinking back.

I instinctively stood in front of her.

「What do you think you’re doing!」

The ogres were aiming for me.

「Eh … Ah, it's nothing…」

Now, I missed the timing to leave this place. Before I noticed, the king and the other people already took some distance away from the ogres.

「You, what are you doing? What do you think you can do by stepping out like that! Step back, it's dangerous!」

Midou Kyouka was ordering me so with an angry tone. I don't think I'm going to do what she said.

「HAH! Acting like a knight protecting your princess, huh? Then, we're going to eat you first!」

The ogre on the left outstretched his hand to catch me.

When his hand was about to catch me, I threw him flat on the ground in one revolution.

「「「EEEEH?!」」」

I could understand why the people around me were raising voices of amazement and surprise.

「W-What happened just now…」

「He tossed that giant ogre…」

The people around us were clamoring.

「R-Ringu!」

The female ogre screamed. It seems the ogre that was flung is called Ringu.

「W-What are you…」

The king in the back also made a surprised voice.

「That technique just now … I wonder where I saw it before…」

Midou Kyouka muttered to herself.

To be honest, I didn’t want to do anything since I thought she could do something about this situation.

But then, I never expected her to be unable to control her magic. Come to think of it, she was called "Exploding Princess".

「WHAT ARE YOU! WHY ARE YOU HINDERING THIS KUJIG! ANSWER ME!!」

The screaming female ogre is called Kujig, huh? I got the feeling that things would turn out like this.

In that case, I might be killed by Midou Kyouka later.

「No, I have no intention of becoming a hindrance to your actions, but … Uhm … Could you guys back off for now? I'll overlook this matter」

I bowed my head toward the ogres as I said so.

「Ha~h … What are you talking about?」

It seems Kujig was bewildered by my bow toward her.

But, I was just as confused as her.

Why did things turn out this way! I just came here today because I wanted to enjoy this ball with Kuna, and even that simple wish of mine was completely crushed now.

「You … Who are you? 」

Even if Midou Kyouka were to repeat that question again and again, I had no intention to reveal my identity.

「Just someone who happened to be in this place」

Looking over my shoulder, I replied to Midou Kyouka.

I didn't want to do this, but it seems I have no other choice.

I looked at the ogres.

「If you guys don’t want to back off now … I guess I have no other choice but to use a slightly forceful method」

As I said, black flames erupted from my body.

「HYIII!」

Seeing my black flames, the ogres let out panicked screams.

It's time to beat these naughty little ogres.

The ogres started retreating. It seems they are frightened.

「Hyiii…」

But, it looks like it was not just the ogres who were affected.

The same thing happened to the people around me.

Come to think of it, even the prideful demon race got scared of me.

They became scared just like the ogres in front of me.

I walked toward the ogres.

「W-What are you talking about?! If you become a hindrance, I'm going to start the massacre from you!」

The ogre called Kujig said so while wearing a frightened expression on her face.

I had no intention to make you that frightened, though.

A thunder snake appeared on Kujig’s arm while making a crackling sound.

「O Thunder Snake, Strangle My Enemy To Death!」

The thunder snake raised its head high from Kujig’s arm, but that level of spell can't even be considered a threat to me.

Because the power of the Thunder Dragon resides within me, this kind of attack won't be able to hurt me at all.

Naturally, this was the countermeasure to Sasaki Rino’s power. This was just one of the preventive measures for our probable second clash.

There's a thunder cloud that’s always swirling near the island located to the southeast of Nargol.

The Thunder Dragon lives in that thundercloud that’s always swirling atop that island. Kuna and I went there to ask for the Thunder Dragon’s assistance while riding on Glorious.

At first, I thought that it'll turn into an epic battle, but the Thunder Dragon turned out to be a nice guy and easily gave its power to me.

That's why this level of thunder snake can't even tickle me.

The Thunder Snake fired from Kujig’s arm coiled its body around mine.

「This isn't even enough to tickle, let alone hurt me」

I burned the Thunder Snake with the black flames that emanated from my body.

「CEH! Then, how about this!」

A bright red ball formed on Kujig’s hand.

I knew she was going to use magic, so I couldn’t let her release that magic.

「EXPLOSION!」

「MAGIC ERASER!」

I erased the magic that was about to be used by Kujig. I would have been fine even If I let her use explosion in this kind of place, but a lot of people would have died from it. That was why I erased that magic.

「Kuh, my greatest magic … YOU LOT! WHAT ARE YOU STANDING DUMBFOUNDED IN THAT PLACE FOR?! TAKE THE PEOPLE AROUND YOU AS HOSTAGES!」

Kujig screamed at the other ogres.

The ogres surrounding the venue then sprang into action.

Oh crap!

I have no magic that can pinpoint the targets for a swift attack. My high firepower kind of magic would inevitably involve the others. Even if I took them out with my sword, there was bound to be a victim before I took down all the ogres.

Just when I was worried about what to do in that kind of situation, some sort of light shot into the venue.

「DAMN IT!」

「GAOOO!」

The ogres suddenly screamed in pain.

When I turned around, the limbs of those ogres were chopped to pieces. Though not fatal, it would hinder their movements.

「O foolish Ogres. Can't you guys not mess up my long-awaited ball?」

It was an indifferent voice.

When I looked at the origin of that voice, Kuna, already equipped with her scythe, was there.

The one who attacked those ogres was naturally Kuna. The scythe can fire magic blades that can hit multiple targets within a fixed range.

It seems that she was using her scythe to wound those ogres.

「Now, let's torment you lot to death」

I could feel the powerful wave of magic power coming from Kuna.

Maybe because even the normal people in the venue could feel her magic power, they were screaming in panic.

「Stop, Kuna! Your magic will kill the people in this venue!」

When I screamed like that, the wave of magic power vanished without a trace.

「W-W-W-What, you are…」

The female ogre was sitting on the floor.

「Don't tell me … Crap, these guys are…」

The other ogres were surrounding Kujig.

「F*CK! You guys, leave this place immediately!」

The ogres left the venue.

Since I had no intention to kill them, I'm going to spare them this time.

After making sure that they left, Kuna walked in my direction.

「You saved me there, Kuna」

「Kuroki, our long-awaited ball is…」

Kuna seemed a bit sad when she said those words.

「You're right … Well, there'll be another chance for us to dance」

I said so while patting Kuna’s head.

Kuna’s mood became slightly better afterward.

「It seems we have to leave for now, Kuna」

To be honest, I was already itching to return to Nargol immediately. Even without those ogres, I should have left this place immediately so as to not accidentally meet Shirone.

「Understood, Kuroki」

Kuna was about to use transfer magic when…

「PLEASE, WAIT A MINUTE!」

Midou Kyouka called us.

「I remember it now. YOU'RE THE ONE WHO GROPED MY CHEST IN THE HOLY REPUBLIC LENARIA!」

Midou Kyouka said so while pointing her finger at me.

「Kuroki … Who is this woman? And what did she mean just now, Kuroki? 」

Kuna stopped her preparation to activate the transfer magic to ask that question. She seemed to be angry for some reason.

「Moreover, I remember hearing the name "Kuroki" before. I definitely won't let you get away!」

Midou Kyouka was coming towards our position.

「WHO ARE YOU? WHAT IS YOUR RELATIONSHIP WITH KUROKI?!」

Kuna was standing in front of Midou Kyouka, ready to brandish her scythe at any given moment.

I embraced Kuna from behind to stop her.

「Stop it, Kuna … The ogres have left. Let's leave this place, now!」

「MY LADY――!」

When I said so to Kuna, something fell to the venue along with that loud voice.

「Shirone!」

The one who descended was Shirone. The one who fell was a woman in maid clothes. She most likely came by being pulled by Shirone.

I ended up thinking so. We have been staying for too long. It'll be too late if we didn’t go back right now.

「My lady!」

The maid rushed in as soon as she found her master.

「Kaya!」

The duo embraced each other.

「Everyone is safe!」

Shirone said so while looking at the surroundings.

And then, her eyes stopped in our direction.

「Eh … Kuroki」

And thus, she saw us.

「Why is Kuroki …?」

Shirone walked toward us while muttering those words.

And then, her face suddenly stiffened.

I was still embracing Kuna right now. Consequently, Shirone’s line of sight obviously stopped at her.

「Kuroki … Who is that girl?」[Ed: Unleash the kraken]

Shirone had a smiling face, but her eyes weren't smiling at all.

Oh crap, she's definitely pissed off right now.

「WHO ARE YOU?! WHY ARE YOU LOOKING AT "MY KUROKI" WITH THAT KIND OF EYES?」

And now it’s Kuna’s turn to point her scythe at Shirone.

「My … Kuroki? You … What are you to Kuroki? CoULdItBETHaTYoUArE …? 」[Ed: OH BOY!]

Shirone also set her sword to face Kuna’s scythe.

「Stop it, Kuna! Let's go back to Nargol」

I embraced Kuna to stop her.

「I understand, Kuroki…」

Maybe because she could feel my desperate tone, Kuna agreed to my request and invoked her magic.

「WAIT RIGHT THERE, KUROKI!」

Shirone ran toward us but she was too late.

「O Black Flame!」

I tossed my black flame to disturb Shirone’s pace.

「WAIT FOR ME, KUROKI!」

Unfortunately, I couldn't.

The transfer magic had already been invoked.

We were sent back to Nargol.