Ankoku Kishi Monogatari (WN)

◆ Sword Maiden Shirone

We continued our journey while sitting in the rocking carriage, a gift from Eclas. Our hippogriff was the one pulling the carriage.

We could arrive faster by flying in the sky, but we had to carry more people. Naturally, carrying this many people was impossible even for a hippogriff.

That's why we had no choice but to use the land route.

The carriage that we got from the Velos kingdom was splendid. The windows were big, and I could see the outside scenery with ease. The seat was also comfortable.

Sitting on those seats were me, Kyouka-san, Kaya-san, and Regena-san.

There were seven of us. Me, Kyouka-san, Kaya-san, Regena, and Omiros. And then, Echigos and Daigan were also present here.

Parish wasn't with us. He returned first since he had something to do.

That news lightened Kyouka-san's mood.

After the ball, the unpleasant feeling I felt from Parish became even stronger. His eyes shined with an unpleasant light whenever he saw the members of the women camp. It worsened by a notch whenever he saw Regena. Breathing roughly, he looked like a dog that was always in heat. I felt bad for Parish, but in this regard, I agreed with Kyouka-san.

When I told the others about Parish's condition, it seems that he became like that due to the magic of that Silver Witch who came with Kuroki. I don't know why she used that magic on Parish, but I might be able to understand the reason soon enough.

Well, that aside, Parish was now gone.

Though you couldn’t say they were a suitable replacement, we brought Echigos and Daigan along with us.

As for why the two of them were traveling with us, Echigos begged us to bring him with us fearing he might be attacked by the ogres for the second time.

As for how he returned from that forest to Velos, it's still a mystery to me. He just suddenly appeared in front of our carriage and prostrated right before we left Velos.

The ogre that was controlling Echigos previously seems to be called Kujig; that ogre is well known as the one governing the Blue Forest that's present in this area. It appears that Kujig was living inside a confectionary castle present within the Blue Forest.

I have to be vigilant since she might come to attack us again.

As for Daigan, we, unfortunately, had to take him along since we couldn't keep him, a dangerous living werewolf, in the Velos kingdom's prison.

Daigan was currently tied up with several chains and placed on the luggage compartment behind the carriage. By the way, Echigos was the driver.

We not only tied up Echigos, but we also tied up Regena.

We didn't want to be rough with her, but she was our precious source of information. So, releasing her as such never came into our mind as an option.

Fortunately, Regena also possessed a loose tongue. While she uttered that she will never divulge anything to us, she gradually spoke about Kuroki's life in Nargol. That was why she'll continue to be our hostage for a little longer.

It was as Kaya-san had predicted, the one who saved Regena was Kuroki. If Kuroki didn't come to help her, she might have been toyed by the goblins in their nest right now.

For this reason, she feels a deeply rooted sense of gratitude towards Kuroki.

But, because she was saved by Kuroki, there might be some beautification in her story.

The Kuroki in Regena's story is more powerful and kinder than anyone.

Her expression when she talks about Kuroki is the face of a girl that has completely fallen in love with him.

Especially her expression when Kuroki touched her hand while asking「Is your work too hard for you?」, even we, who were looking from the side, were dyed with embarrassment.

Just how much is she going to extol Kuroki?

I mean the real him is quite miserable, and to make matters worse, quite a pervert, too.

Poor Omiros.

She even glared at him with hostile intent just because he was traveling with us.

The fact that he was hated by someone he holds dear must be painful for him.

Part 2

There was also the fact that she was bragging about another man in front of him. It's too painful to look at his expression. [Ed: YOU DENSE MOTHERFU^%@$!#^]

Omiros wanted to bring Regena back to Algore. That was why, for Omiros, Kuroki was a hindrance.

But, the furious Regena reacted with「BECAUSE MY DEAR MASTER IS FAR MORE AWESOME THAN SOMEONE LIKE OMIROS!!!」

Omiros slumped when Regena told him so. He looked so pathetic.

He kept worrying about Regena. For that reason, she should at least have been kinder to him, shouldn't she?

Suddenly, I wonder why the figure of the current Omiros was overlapping with

Kuroki’s? [Ed:%^#@@%##%^[email protected]#W^!&#[email protected]]

The dejected Omiros was following alongside us on his horse.

Should I reconcile these two?

I was wondering about that.

The best choice might be to separate Regena from Kuroki, right?

Yosh, let's tell her about the real Kuroki. By doing so, Regena, feeling disgusted by Kuroki, might return to the side of Omiros.

When I made such plans, I could feel several signs of something approaching.

「Please stop the carriage!」

Maybe because she felt it too, Kaya-san told Echigos to stop the carriage.

「Is something up?」

Since he was told to stop the carriage, Echigos turned around and inquired about it.

「Is it true, Kaya? Something happened?」

Kyouka-san was also asking the same question.

Kyouka-san didn't know about this since she didn’t not possess a scouting ability.

「Something is approaching from the front, my princess.」

We directed our sights to the front.

There we saw the scene of a horse galloping towards us.

Omiros went forward to protect us from the horse coming toward us.

「OMIROOOOOOOOS!」

The one riding on the horse called Omiros.

「MacGius! Riettos!!」

The people on the horse were shouting at Omiros.

There were two individuals on the horse. A man around the same age as us along with a little girl behind him.

「Kaya-dono. They're my relatives.」

After turning around to say so, Omiros went ahead while waving his hands towards them.

「PLEASE, WAIT A MINUTE! THE ONE COMING TOWARDS US ISN'T JUST THEM!!」

After saying so, Kaya-san leaped from the carriage and ran towards them.

Her movement speed was faster than Omiros’s riding on a horse.

「EH?!」

It was at that moment, from the side opposite of where the horse was coming at us, a shadow suddenly leapt from the thicket right beside that horse. The little girl tagging along on the horse coming toward our coach unknowingly shouted.

That shadow looked like a bipedal ant almost as tall as a human. And it wasn’t just one of them. A Few of them leaped out from the thickets beside us as well.

「UWAAA!」

「KYAAA!」

The duo riding on the horse raised a scream in tandem.

The ants were approaching them.

But, Kaya-san was faster than the ants. Pale blue lightning appeared on the gloves that she was wearing on both of her hands.

They are a pair of gloves called ‘Tourmaline Gloves' made out of a blue lightning gem.

Part 3 

A lightning spirit resides in the Tourmaline magic on the top part of the gloves, thereby granting lightning damage along with impact damage.

Kaya-san's latest magic armament is far more powerful than the one she had used until now.

Kaya-san leapt towards the ant heading for those two and punched its head. Then, using the recoil of her punch to twist her body in mid-air, her kick landed on another ant on the opposite side.

Those ants were completely dead several seconds later.

「Wooow…」

The man riding on the horse gasped unintentionally. If I'm not wrong, Omiros called him MacGius.

「Rietto! MacGius!!」

Omiros rode his horse and went toward his acquaintance.

「Why are you here?」

Omiros asked.

「Well, Riettos couldn't be quiet about it … She was worried about you since you were running late, so she thought that something might have happened…」

Smiling wryly, MacGius said so while looking at the girl behind him.

It seems they had come looking for Omiros since they were worried about him. We might be the reason for his late return. If it were just Omiros and Parish, they would have returned to Algore a bit faster.

「Thanks, Riettos. I made you worry so much…」

Saying so, Omiros pat Riettos's head. This put Riettos in a slightly bad mood.

She then averted her face with puffed cheeks.

「Humph … It's not like I was worried about you. Moreover, stop treating me like a child.」

She couldn't be honest with herself. But that made her cuter.

「Ah, sorry Riettos … It's just a habit of mine … Come to think of it, I got some sweets with me. Is this present enough for you to forgive me?」

Saying so, Omiros took something out from his bosom pocket.

「SWEETS! REALLY?!」

Riettos's eyes were shining with bright lights as if her pouting a while ago was a lie.

「Cough.」

While Omiros and Riettos continued having such an exchange with smiles, Kaya interjected in their conversation with a cough from the side.

「Omiros-dono. It would be rude for you not to introduce them to us, wouldn’t it?」

Yeah, they were probably tired from riding the horse. Kaya-san interrupted their conversation.

「M-My apologies for such inconsideration, Kaya-dono.」

Saying so, Omiros bowed to Kaya-san. By his tone, he seemed to be scared of her.

He then clasped on MacGius's and Riettos's backs. He seemed anxious for some reason.

He might have been afraid of how easily she dispatched of those ants.

I was even more scared than him. Decreasing the number of men courting us was a good thing, but it made me feel a bit down when even a cute child like Riettos was getting scared of me.

Omiros brought the two of them to the front of the carriage.

「Kyouka-sama, the two of them are my cousin MacGius and his little sister, Riettos.」

Omiros introduced them to Kyouka-san sitting inside the carriage.

「Yes, It's nice to meet you.」

Kyouka-san came out from the carriage.

「Eh? So pretty! Who are you?」

Rietto unintentionally praised her beauty. It seemed that MacGius was also charmed by her.

「MacGius, Rietto. This personage is Kyouka-sama, the little sister of the hero. And I'm sure that you remember about Shirone-sama who came to Algore a while back.」

Omiros introduces me after Kyouka-san.

「You are … The wife of the hero.」

「Ah, it's true…」

It seems they remember about me. I should have never met them face to face, though.

Part 4

「Could it be that hero-sama is also…」

Rietto said with a slightly frightened voice.

「No, he's not with us right now. The one who came now is just his honored wife, Shirone-sama, followed by Kaya-dono, and then Kyouka-sama.」

She seemed at ease when Omiros said so. Just how afraid is she of Reiji-kun, I wonder.

「Guys, give your greeting to Kyouka-sama.」

Being urged by Omiros, they straightened themselves in a hurry and replied.

「Hello Kyouka-sama, I'm MacGius.」

「And I'm his little sister, Rietto … Eh?」

As she greeted Kyouka-san, Rietto's eyes opened wide as she saw a certain person sitting in the carriage.

Her eyes were locked on Regena.

「… WHY?」

The look on her face morphed 180 degrees.

「WHY IS REGENA SITTING THERE!」

Rietto screamed with an undisguised anger in her voice.

I could feel strong resentment residing in her voice. To be honest, it wasn’t a trivial matter.

MacGius also looked at Regena with a surprised look on his face.

「WHAT'S HAPPENING HERE, OMIROS? WHY IS REGENA SITTING THERE?」

In the end, MacGius shouted like his little sister, too.

From the sound of it, he seemed to be somewhat bewildered, instead. And though not as much as I can feel from Rietto, he seemed to not have a good impression of Regena, too.

「It's been a while, Rietto, MacGius … If possible, I don't want to meet you guys.」

Regena replied to them with a cold tone from inside the carriage. But I noticed a hint of sadness in her voice.

「HOW DARE YOU SHOW YOUR FACE IN FRONT OF ME, REGENA! IT'S BECAUSE OF YOUR FAMILY, MY DEAR MOTHER WAS…」

I noticed that droplets of tears were forming in her eyes as Rietto said those words.

「…You guys were the ones who murdered my relatives. Aren't we in a similar position here?」

「IT'S BECAUSE YOUR FAMILY WAS THE ONE WHO STARTED IT!」

「And how was I supposed to know about that?」

「DO NOT RETURN TO ALGORE! SEND HER BACK TO THE GOBLIN NEST!!」

Both of them started quarreling.

「Rietto! THAT'S ENOUGH! That goes for you too, Regena!!」

Omiros tried to pacify them.

「WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS BROTHER OMIROS! WHY ARE YOU PROTECTING THAT WOMAN!!」

Rietto looked at Omiros as if she wanted to cry.

「Rietto…」

Omiros was stupefied being glared at in such a way by his sister.

Silence descended upon this place for a while.

「You're misunderstanding, Rietto.」

A while later, Regena broke that silence.

「MISUNDERSTANDING WHAT!?」

Now, Rietto was glaring at Regena.

「Omiros isn't the one who protected me. Think about it, Rietto. Under whose protection do you think I am? If you try to hurt me, you guys will end up like those Myulmidons.」

Regena said while looking at the corpses of the antman.

Riettos's face turned pale after realizing that fact.

「Right. I'm not under the protection of Omiros, you guys are worried for nothing.」

Regena said while smiling at them. But, it was a dry smile.

「No way, Regena … I just…」

Part 5

Omiros seemingly wanted to say something to Regena.

But, Regena didn't seem to care about him and just looked at Kaya-san.

「It's as she says. Regena-san is currently under our protection. You must consider the act of harming her similar to making an enemy out of us.」

Kaya-san established her position to MacGius and Rietto.

MacGius and Riettos's expressions were dyed with fear.

The air turned dangerous for some reason. I had to do something about this situation.

「Now, now, hold on a second, everyone.」

I came down from the carriage.

Everyone's line of sight was focused on me.

「Hey, do tell me, this antman is kinda … You know. This kind of monster wasn't present when we came before, right? Why did it come out now?」

I asked while walking towards the corpses of the antmen for a change of topic.

「Antmen? Are you talking about the Myulmidons? Come to think of it, why did they appear here?」

The one who replied was Omiros.

「I see, this antmen are called Myulmidons, huh? Come to think of it, it did look like this Myulmidons were chasing after you right? Do you know why that happened?」

Kaya-san asked both of them.

「Uhm, I kno- No, I mean, I don't know why they're after us. This is also the first time I'm seeing a Myulmidon.」

Rietto replies so while shaking her head.

「I … No, I did see them once a long time ago, but … Nevertheless, it's just one or two of them. This is the first time I've seen so many at once.」

MacGius responded so. In front of MacGius were the corpses of seven Myulmidons.

「Then, why do you think these Myulmidons suddenly appeared here? Do you know where their natural habitat is?」

Omiros shaked his head in denial.

「I don't know … But according to legend, you can find a lot of them around the queen's castle deep inside the Blue Forest.」

「Queen of the Blue Forest? Does that mean that female ogre is somewhere around here?」

The queen of the Blue Forest that Omiros was talking about should be referring to the female ogre who led the raid in Velos.

Anyway, no one knew where that castle was located in this vast Blue Forest. It seems they ate every human who dared come near the castle. The queen should be the one called Kujig.

「Even so, do you know why they were coming after us?」

As if she finally remembered his existence, Kaya-san then turned to look at Echigos.

「WAH! It's not me!」

Echigos shaked his head in denial.

But, Kaya-san just continued walking in silence towards Echigos.

「HYIII!!」

Echigos got down from the driver’s seat and tried to escape.

But, Kaya-san is several times faster than him.

Kaya-san seized Echigos by his collar.

「Calm down. I won't kill you.」

Kaya-san checked Echigos's body.

「Uhm, what are…」

Echigos had a dirty look on his face.

Kaya-san is a top class beauty, after all. He might have felt elated when such a beauty was gently touching his body.

But, that didn't mean it was going to be that gentle forever.

Kaya-san's hand stopped around Echigos's abdomen.

「Huhm!」

Her hand suddenly pressed on Echigos's stomach.

「Fu-GAAA!!」

Part 6

Being pressed like that, Echigos started roaring in pain.

「AAARGH…」

Froth and drool incessantly came out from Echigos's mouth.

「KYAAAAAAAAAAA!!」

It was followed by the screaming Rietto.

Because a huge bug came out from Echigos's mouth along with the drool and froth.

The bug that came out from his mouth shuddered wildly and then stopped moving the next moment.

Echigos–with drool coming out from his mouth–was still twitching. It looked like he was alive somehow. Recovery, however, might be impossible for him.

「What in the world is that?」

Kyouka-san looked at the messy Echigos and the dead bug with a frown on her face.

「It maybe the deed of that ogre. It seemed like she had a complete grasp of our route.」

Kaya-san said so with an uninterested tone.

It seems that Echigos was under the control of the ogre. He sent the information about us via the bug living in his body.

「Uhm, Kaya-dono … That means…」

Omiros asked with an anxious voice.

「They might be coming after us again. We should strengthen our defenses once we arrive at Algore.」

「That … 」

Omiros's face turned pale.

Our situation was at a disadvantage.

「What shall we do, Shirone-sama? Shall we exterminate those ogres before Kuroki-san arrives?」

Kaya-san asked me.

「Uhm, I want to do that, but I don't know when Kuroki will come… I don't really want to risk it.」

To be honest, I didn't really want to fight those ogres when Kuroki alone was already far more powerful than any of us. But then, we couldn't just leave them alone.

I was pondering about that.

「Ha~h … Shirone-san, Kaya-san. Why don't we think about that after we reach the Algore kingdom? Or rather, after we can get down from this carriage.」

When I pondered about Kyouka-san’s words, I realized that she was tired after sitting for a long time in the carriage.

「You're right. Let's prioritize arriving in Algore first, Shirone-sama.」

Maybe because she had also guessed Kyouka-san's feeling, Kaya-san agreed immediately.

I agreed with Kaya-san.

We might not have found a solution even if we were to think about this matter at that time. Thus, we decided to go to Algore.

I wonder what those ogres and Kuroki are doing right now.

◆ Goblin Prince Goz

The Karon kingdom, a particular kingdom that can only be reached through a deeply bored hole in the north side of the Akeron mountain range.

Regarding its underground location, it's no different from the other goblin communities.

However, different from the other goblin communities, Karon was a place where there were flat walls with ornaments adoring them.

Part 7

Though you couldn't compare those crudely made ornaments with the ones made by human hands, it was considered good enough for a goblin.

Walking along the passage of this Karon kingdom, I kept descending further in. My destination was the innermost part of the Karon kingdom.

When I arrived there, a huge door stood before me.

Two goblins were standing guard in front of that door. They might have been the sentries placed here to protect the thing behind that large door.

「If it isn't prince Goz, gob. Why are you here, gob?」

One of the goblin sentries questioned me about my visit.

「 I'm going to trouble you guys. I'm here for a specific thing behind that door. Let me in.」

After saying so, those two goblins exchanged a couple of looks.

「You might be our prince, but you must have the queen's permission to pass through this door, gob.」

After a brief talk amongst themselves, those goblins responded with those words.

Hearing that, I smacked my lips.

「If it's about her permission, it's… RIGHT HERE!」

I unsheathe the sword that I carried under my overcoat and decapitated one of those goblins.

「Gooob!」

Subsequently, I pierce through the body of the other one before he got the chance to scream.

「What are you … Gob…」

The goblin whose chest was stabbed by my sword died before he could finish his words.

「Humph, fool. If you were obedient, you wouldn't have died.」

I kicked the corpses of those fools aside.

Nevertheless, my mother would have still killed them once she found out about this matter. Either way, they were going to die.

I burned the corpses of the sentries to erase the evidence. I could be at ease for a while with no one being able to find the bodies of those sentries.

I looked at the door.

The thing protected by the dead sentries was there, inside the warehouse of the Karon kingdom. Here sleeps the treasure of my mother.

She wouldn't forgive anyone whose hands reached her treasure, even if it were me. She might even kill me if she knew that I was the one entering inside.

But then, I might have to fight the Dark Knight after this. What should I do, I'm afraid of my mother.

The door was locked with magic, but it was not a problem. I had investigated the keywords to open this gate.

The door opened when I uttered the magic words.

When I entered, the various kinds of treasures lined up inside this vast room fell on my eyes.

Ornaments, gems, various dresses, and cosmetics. Every single one of them a top quality product.

I laughed upon witnessing that collection. None of them were suitable for THAT mother of mine. Even the most beautiful gem would be degraded to become a trash-like product if it was worn by that ugly woman.

I kept walking deeper into the treasure house.

Soon enough, my gait was stopped by another pair of doors. A treasure house inside the treasure house. The thing kept inside was an excellent article belonging to my mother.

I should enter first.

After entering, a certain item inside caught my eyes.

Though this treasure house was sealed with unusual methods, I had already investigated the means to unlock it.

The doors opened when I said the magic words.

「GEH!」

I unintentionally let out such a voice when I entered the room because the walls inside the second treasure house were filled with pictures of naked men.

The men in the pictures, all of them were handsome, even by my own judgment.

Though they were from various races, the ones from the human race were the most numerous amongst them.

It might be one of my mother's hobby. She has such a lousy taste despite her ugly appearance. [TL: …]

Just when I thought whether these men were my mother's victims, I changed my mind because I saw the picture of men of the demon race and the angel race amongst them.

Part 8

No matter how powerful my mother was, she was no match for both of those races.

That was why these pictures might have been pictures of men of this world which my mother had taken fancy to.

And then, I saw a certain picture. It seems there were three new additions to that picture collection.

And I knew that male.

There was no doubt, it was the picture of that hero.

The hero in the picture was naked while flashing a daring smile.

Nevertheless, what god-like precision drawing. Though it was drawn after seeing his figure from a far position back when he was in Algore, the details were exact. It was as if the picture would come alive at any moment.

「Eh?」

And then, I looked at the picture right beside the hero's picture.

「Isn't this … My picture?」

The picture of the male right beside the hero's picture was the picture of Parish. It's not the figure of Goz, the one drawn in the picture was my Parish figure.

「Why in the hell is my picture…」

Was it drawn by my mother without me noticing it?

It might have been my fake figure, but it still sent a chill down my spine just by thinking about myself becoming the sexual target of my mother.

And then, I saw a speck on the picture of Parish.

「How did she know about that…」

Parish is my fake figure. But, a certain part is terrifyingly accurate.

My line of sight unintentionally stopped in the nether region.

Comparing it to the one in the hero’s picture,

「Damn it … I lost…」

I felt slightly dejected.

And then, I saw the picture right beside Parish's picture. From the order of the pictures, this one was the latest addition.

It was the picture of a black-haired male. I had never seen his face. It was quite well-ordered, but it wasn’t too conspicuous.

And then, my gaze went down.

「WHAT THE HECK!」

I was speechless.

His thing was the most fiendish one amongst the pictures in this room.

「IMPOSSIBLE?! WHO IS HE?」

The human world was vast, but he should be someone who lived around these regions, right? Could it be that this male lived in a faraway place? When did my mother get acquainted with this male?

Looking at his size made me want to cry.

Geez, enough with this bullshit.

In addition, there was also a whip and a strange looking pedestal in this room, but I didn't really want to know about my mother's fetish.

I moved as fast as possible so that my eyes didn't end up glancing at something that I didn't wish to see.

A while later, I finally got out of that disgusting room. It looked like I arrived at the innermost part of the vault.

When I finally reached this part of the room, a pedestal and a jar on top of it were there.

This jar was the thing that I was looking for.

As the prince of this kingdom, when I examined the treasures of this kingdom, I found out about this jar.

The subordinate god of Nargol, the God of Destruction, should be sealed within this jar.

The Demon King betrayed the God of Destruction and fought her and her subordinates.

And yet, the Demon King couldn't bring himself to kill his own brethren after achieving victory so he sealed them off.

The god sealed inside was one of those gods. The other subordinates of the God of Destruction were put into a deep sleep, sealed in various places in Nargol.

One of those places was the kingdom of Karon since he judged that it was less dangerous than sealing all of them in one place.

Part 9

But, that worked in my favor. No matter how mighty that Dark Knight is, there's no way he can beat a real god.

I couldn't hold my laughter as I held on to the jar.

The subordinate god sealed within this jar will be my gift to that Dark Knight. I heard that the subordinate god sealed within this jar wasn't that powerful, but it was still a god. It could easily decimate a single Dark Knight.

There were the women of the hero too, but they're just mere human in the end . They might be more powerful than me, but they're no match for the thing sealed in this jar.

Well then, I should go back to Algore.

Along with this jar, of course.

「Kukuku … You're finally mine … Regena…」

◆ Ogre Witch Kujig

「Ceh, they noticed it, huh?」

They killed the bug I sent to give us information about the little sister of the hero.

「Geez, that man was a waste of space…」

If I'm not wrong, his name should be Echigos, is it?

I really couldn't expect anything from humans, after all.

「What shall we do, dear mother? Those guys aren't pushovers.」

My seventh son, Retsug, said while snacking on the deep-fried human children.

My other son, Ringu, agreed with him.

I was currently eating along with my children.

The dishes eaten by my sons were the human children captured by this Candy Castle.

This grand Kujig castle, the Candy Castle was the upgraded version of the one we inherited from the sky giant race, our master.

This castle, which had the self-repairing ability, was quite fragile, but it was the best when it came to luring prey into it.

This castle emits a sweet fragrance to lure the prey around us to enter it.

The creatures lured by it would then start eating the floor and the walls since they can't stand the sweet fragrance.

Since there was some sort of doping agent in this Candy Castle, that prey would lose their will to live without the castle.

Naturally, this castle’s effect is powerless against an existence with a powerful resistance. The highest being that could be captured by this castle was an elf, it was powerless against the demon and angel races.

It was still handy, nevertheless, since it could lure those humans in.

I was stuffing my mouth with the roasted meat.

So delicious.

The flavor of free-ranged humans was far more delicious than domesticated ones. [TL: I'll use free-range chicken and domestic chicken as a reference here, you just need to replace the "chicken" part with "human."]

Though I could lure in the entire human population in this region if I felt like it, I won't do such a stupid thing.

There's nothing better than free-ranged humans, after all.

They would have never expected that I deliberately let them do as they please just for the purpose of developing more delicious meat.

Moreover, this method was the safest method with the smallest possibilities of being discovered by troublesome guys, so I can feel at ease.

Zengu didn't understand that and was ruling over the humans, resulting in him getting killed by the little sister of the hero.

I had to settle this grudge.

But then, what should I do?

The barrier that locked those guys was a reasonably powerful one. So, fighting against those guys who could easily tear them apart was dangerous.

「Well, what shall we do then?」

I looked at my sons.

「No need to think about it, dear mother! Those puny humans can't beat us! They just got lucky for being able to beat Zengu! Let's charge towards them from the front, and deliver revenge to the enemy who destroyed the treasures!」

Part 10

The one who delivered such a bold statement was the third son of mine, Toug. Toug is the bravest one amongst my sons.

My eighth son, Kaig, and my fifth son, Zaig, also agreed with Toug's proclamation.

「Yes, revenge for our rare treasures!」

「 I'm with Toug big bro!! THIS IS THE REVENGE FOR OUR TREASURED BOOKS!」

Their heads were filled with the thoughts of killing their enemy.

「CUT IT OUT, GUYS!」

The one who interjected was my second son, Pyoug. The one with the sharpest and most composed mind amongst my sons.

「Those people are the ones who went as far as invading Nargol. Moreover, they quickly tore apart our dear mother's barrier. Half-hearted assault against them is simply suicide.」

「….But then, what should we do?」

Upon being asked so, Pyoug looked at his elder brother.

「My younger brothers, I think we should gather more information about them. Let's find their weakness. Right, dear mother?」

I agreed with the words of my eldest son, Ring. As expected of my eldest son, he knew what I was thinking. [TL: HE DOES NOT!]

「It's as he says. You lot, we have to gather more information about them first. If I'm not wrong, they say that they're headed to Algore, don't it? Let's take control of a few people in that country and use them to identify our opponent's weaknesses. After that, let's kill the little sister of the hero!」

The people in this region, all of them were but mere tools to me. Naturally, they had to be useful to me.

After I said so, my sons raised heated warcries.

「THAT'S RIGHT, REVENGE FOR OUR TREASURES!」

「YES, THAT'S ABSOLUTELY RIGHT!」

「KILL THEM ALL!」

「YES, THIS TIME FOR SURE!!」

Such a profound love for their deceased brother, I wanted to cry hearing their passionate shouts.

「OOH! Quite the passionate spirit here, Ogres!」

A voice suddenly resounded around.

「WHO ARE YOU!」

My fourth son, Shag shouted in the direction of the sound.

And before I knew, a female human was standing on top of the table. That's strange, she wasn't there a while ago.

Since when did she enter this room? Moreover, why didn't I notice her until I heard her voice?

Looking at this female human, I recalled about her hair.

「Silver hair … You're, the one from that time…」

My sixth son, Jing muttered something about his limbs being chopped by the scythe of this female.

Come to think of it, this Silver-haired Witch was there at the Velos’s ball, indeed. She was holding the same scythe from that time too.

「You ogres want to exact your revenge against that little sister of the hero, right? Then, allow this Kuna to help you guys.」

The Silver Witch was smiling sweetly. She didn't falter even when she stood before this Kujig, the one hailed as the queen of the Blue Forest.

Instead, it was more like she was looking down on us.

「HOW DID YOU GET INTO THIS PLACE?!」

I had erected a barrier to protect this place, and no one should be aware of this castle’s location.

Even my sons wouldn't be able to enter the castle without my invitation, so how in the world did she manage to find its location?

「What are you pondering about? I just left a little mark on you when I chopped at you. I came to this place by following that mark.」

「WHAT ABOUT THE DEFENSIVE MECHANISM OF THIS CASTLE? WHAT DID YOU DO ABOUT THOSE NUMEROUS MYULMIDONS!!」

I unintentionally shouted at her.

Myulmidon was a race whose members had become my servants in exchange for parasitising on this castle.

They had an extremely keen perception. Does that mean she entered all the way to this place without being discovered by them?

「Myulmidon? Ah, do you mean those ants? They just let me pass with this.」

The Silver Witch said while playing with her necklace.

Part 11

It might have been some sort of magic tool. Maybe she arrived in this place without being found out by the Myulmidons thanks to her necklace.

「Rather, I'm waiting for your answer whether you want to become Kuna's servants or not?」

Servants? She never said that, though.

「Who the hell wants t-…」

Just when I was about to finish my words, my body suddenly stopped in place.

When I glance around, the same thing seems to have happened to my sons. Their faces were stiffened.

「Well, it's not like I care whether you're willing or not anyway. Shall Kuna deprive you all of your life? Or shall I deprive you all of your death? Now choose.」

Saying so, the Silver Witch walked toward us.

Though her height was far shorter than the ogres, for some reason, it felt like she was taller than all of us.

The Silver Witch was standing right in front of me.

An indescribable fear welled up within my heart.

I wanted to let out a cry, and yet my voice was clogged in my throat.

「From today, you guys are Kuna's tools, so make yourselves more useful to Kuna.」

She maintains her smile while saying those words. [Ed: Yandere much?]

I could feel my mind being bound by something. I was powerless against such tremendous magic power.

「Well then, my ogres, onwards to Algore. Our goal is to eradicate Shirone's existence from this world!」