Ankoku Kishi Monogatari (WN)

◆ Death God, Zarxis

「What do you mean?! Say that again, Zarxis!!」

Suddenly, I was seized by the neck and lifted.

I struggled to move my body.

「Let go… Of… Me… Labrys… It… Hurts… I might… Die…」

「Hm!!」

「GUHA!!!」

Labrys didn't seem very interested in my suffering since he immediately released me once I complained.

I fell to the ground, writhing in pain.

「It's as… I said… Rena… She found a lover. The man… They call him ‘Hero of Light'…」

After hearing that, the man before me trembled in fury.

Appearance-wise, he looked like a normal human. A very big, muscular human. He had swelling muscle on both of his naked arms, around his thick neck and on his strong jaw.

But Labrys's human form was merely an illusion, a temporary shape held together by magic. His true form… It was far from anything that could be even remotely described as human. After all, this man wasn't human. He wasn't from one of the divine races from Elios either.

He was known to the people of Elios as an Evil God.

But why was I being choked? Well…

After I returned from the human kingdom named Rox, I came to visit Labrys. I told him about what had happened during my time there. At first, he wasn't all that interested in hearing my story but once I got to the part about the Hero of Light, he suddenly grabbed my neck.

Now… Now he was cursing non-stop while I nursed my bruised neck.

「Fu*k! Rena. Is. MINE! I'll kill anyone who dares to TAKE HER FROM ME!!!」

His shouts made me ponder about something…

… Since when did Rena belong to him?

Rena was one of the three most beautiful goddesses of Elios.

Labrys wasn't as ugly as Modes, but he wasn't that far behind from the Demon King in regards to ugliness. There was no reason for Rena to be interested in him.

And that unreasonably possessive feeling wasn't exclusive to Labrys. There were so many gods out there competing for her heart. Not that any of them managed to catch her attention…

But all of them secretly believed they were the ones who Rena loved.

[TL: Those poor Gods + Reiji]

Elios had been in turmoil ever since news about Rena's supposed lover spread. The name of the rumored male was Reiji, the human hailed as the ‘Hero of Light'. Nobody knew where he had come from. His power was terrifying, almost to the level of Oudith.

[TL: lololololo]

Not only powerful, but he was also rumored to be extremely handsome too. Supposedly he was so handsome that the rumors about him became staple gossip material in the goddesses' gatherings of this world.

It was the first time Labrys had heard of the human hero since he was always inside his labyrinth.

That was why he was so angry.

「Zarxis! Drag that Hero of Light into my labyrinth! That’s an order!」

How haughty of him.

Why did I have to obey his orders in the first place? I'm not even his subordinate.

Just thinking about it was already irritating.

Then again, Labrys was hostile toward both Modes and Elios, and we needed him as our ally.

Moreover, my body was inside his labyrinth. If I don't obey his commands, he could make things quite difficult for me.

We were on the deepest floor of the Underground Labyrinth of the Minon Plain.

In the middle of it was Labrys's throne, which was decorated quite magnificently. … Alright, I have to be honest. That throne was as distasteful as that God was crude.

The entire labyrinth was filled with terrifying power. It was originally made by dwarves, then given to Labrys. Created from special materials with the special dwarven crafting skills, the labyrinth was incredibly tough.

Even I couldn't use my domain magic in this labyrinth. It had been especially made for Labrys. Which is why that coward never left his labyrinth.

「Are you serious? You expect me to bring the Hero of Light into this labyrinth? I don't even know where he is right now!」

Such a coward. He didn't dare step out of his lair to vanquish the hero by himself. No, no. I had to bring the hero to his home turf, where he had the full advantage.

Could he be any more shameless?

「NATURALLY! Is that too difficult for you, Zarxis?! IN THIS PLACE, I'M INVINCIBLE!! But that Hero doesn't know that. ONCE HE GETS HERE, I'M GONNA KILL HIM WITH THIS AXE OF MINE!!!」

Saying so, he took his axe.

Labrys grabbed his ax, a huge magic weapon with a double edge. The edges were crafted in the form of his crest. He swung his ax toward the sky, the movement alone producing a shockwave inside the room.

That shockwave alone was enough to disintegrate my half-decayed body. Had I taken the full brunt of his attack, I probably wouldn't have managed to survive. I touched the damaged area and drained the life force of the people above ground to sustain me for a while.

My body had been obliterated by that traitor Modes.

Somehow, I survived. But I did not come out unscathed. My body was broken, heavily wounded. Over time the degradation worsened, bit by bit.

I wanted to resuscitate my body but to do that I needed a huge amount of life force. Although I was currently sucking the life force of humans, the vitality of those inferior life-forms was like a drop of water into a bucket. The efficiency was low.

I could gain a tremendous amounts of life force by sucking the vitality of an angel, but it was too risky. I couldn't afford to stand out at the moment since I wasn't on friendly terms with neither Modes nor the gods of Elios.

For the same reason, I couldn't target other divine beings. And so, I was left with no other choice but to suck vitality from inferior life-forms.

My primary target was the humankind.

Humans were the beloved race of my enemy, the God of Elios, thus I must destroy them for sure. I had already sucked several kingdoms' worth of life force until they died. Those humans had already been forgotten by the gods of Elios and turned into livestock by demons.

As for the case of the Kingdom of Rox, I wasn't the mastermind behind that incident. It had all been planned by those Striges. Thanks to that, I ended up meeting Modes' subordinate, the Dark Knight, while I was there. By now, I was sure Modes knew I had survived.

And since that female follower of the Hero of light saw my figure as well, I assume Elios is aware of my survival, too.

I couldn't stop wondering why all of them gathered in that kind of place. Whatever the reason, gathering life force will be much harder for me from now on. But… If I don't suck more life-force immediately, my body will crumble to nothing soon enough.

What should I do?

Sucking such small amounts of life-force was a bad move.

I had no other choice but to drain a large amount in one go to resuscitate my physical body. And I already had a good target.

The Hero.

He had a huge amount of life-force inside him.

It might just be enough to bring my body back to life.

And so, I agreed to fulfill Labrys's order.

「Fine, then. I'll do it. I'll be the bait and lure him here. Modes is probably the only one who can beat you while inside this labyrinth…」

「Do… Not… SPEAK THAT NAME IN FRONT OF ME!!!」

Labrys shouted at me, but I knew that he was just trying to mask his fear.

It seemed like he was still scared of Modes, huh. Upon taking a closer look, I discovered that he still trembled in fear. His figure that always seemed so big, so imposing to me…

… Now seemed so small.

「That's right! Let's capture that Hero guy and use him to lure Rena here! When she comes, Rena will be yours.」

I suggested a plan to lure Rena into his labyrinth to cheer him up.

It would be troublesome if Labrys didn't want to fight that betrayer again. Except for the gods of Elios, he was the only one who could stand up to Modes.

To do so, I had to make him leave the labyrinth.

「Nice plan you got there, Zarxis! Yes, this Labrys is the only one worthy of that goddess.」

Labrys stopped trembling in fear the moment the topic changes to Rena.

I looked at him and sighed.

Well, then. How should I lure that Hero into this labyrinth?

◆ Black Haired Sage, Chiyuki

We rode griffons at maximum speed toward the Ariadya Republic.

The weather was sunny and the breeze was comfortable, making the trip quite pleasant.

Riding the griffon alongside me was Sahoko, clinging to my back. On the griffon beside us rode Nao and Rino, while Reiji flew in front of us on his pegasus.

From the side, Nao smiled at us.

「Quite a comfortable riding experience, right, Chiyuki-san?」

「Yes. But I wonder why we aren't allowed to go faster…」

Thinking about it, we rode on the back of a demon beast in the fight against Nargol, when we defeated the dark knights. When I saw them fighting on those wyverns' backs, a thought kept circling my mind. "Why couldn't we do the same?"

But wyverns were only found in Nargol, so we chose griffons and hippogriffs in the demon beasts' place. It was troublesome to tame them, but in the end, we succeeded. Looking back, there were only good memories.

I smiled, remembering them.

「What are you smiling for, Chiyuki?」

Suddenly, Reiji was by my side.

He had been flying ahead of everyone but, at some point, he slowed down enough to be keeping pace with the griffons.

He was riding his pegasus by himself. Rino had wanted to ride with him, but it was unanimously decided that it would have been unfair. They had to take into consideration Nao's and Sahoko's feelings since both of them were more on the conservative side.

Moreover, Reiji's Pegasus wasn't a tamed beast. It was a gift from Rena.

The pegasus was an extremely precious creature that no one aside from the Holy Knights could ride. Reiji had been given a special exception.

I was told it was Rena's way of apologizing for leaving us behind in the Rox Kingdom.

The Hero riding the pegasus against the blue sky.

It looked like a scene coming out of a picture.

It vexed me to think so, but it suited him.

「I remember when we tamed the demon beasts.」

「Oh yeah, that happened. It was very troublesome.」

Reiji flashed them a refreshing smile, which prompted everyone to laugh loudly.

Capturing them wasn't that hard, but it took a lot of trial and error to turn the hippogriff and griffon into docile mounts.

The first idea we had was to turn the griffon into our familiar. The familiar would be able to use their master's power, to a certain extent, becoming more powerful.

The problem lay in the fact that to turn a magical creature into a familiar, the master's magic and life-force had to be more powerful than that of the creature they wanted to bond with.

Long story short, one couldn't turn a beast into a familiar if one wasn't more powerful than the beast. Also, human magicians couldn't turn something too big into a familiar. At most on the level of a cat or a dog.

In the elves' case, they seemed to be able to tame bigger creatures. But not even they could turn humans into familiars, despite the huge gap in their magic powers.

The only ones that could turn humans into familiars were those belonging to the Angel race or above, but those humans weren't referred to as familiars. They were called apostles. However, despite their great magical power, the angels found it difficult to turn a powerful magical beast like griffons into familiars.

It was possible for us, who were more powerful than even angels.

But we scrapped that idea because the creatures that were turned into familiars would love only their master. We had yet to find a way to turn them back into creatures with their own will again.

Once before, there had been a case where Rino turned a prince of a certain country into an apostle. It had caused a great uproar since the prince-turned-apostle couldn't love anyone other than Rino ever since then.

According to Rino, the prince had been turned into a familiar by his request.

In short, she had made him into an apostle just for fun.

Even if the prince himself was at fault for making such a request even though he had a fiancee, it was also Rino's fault. Since we couldn't find a way to undo what she did to the prince, we were postponing acquiring familiars for the time being.

Sooner or later we would have to do something about it. Honestly, it was a pain in the ass for me to clean up her mess. For that very reason, we banned her from creating any more familiars.

Instead, we tamed the griffon and hippogriff and turned them into our mounts by making full use of mine and Rino's magic. It was the best method since we didn't need to turn them into familiars this way.

And so we continued heading towards the Republic of Ariadya while engaging in friendly chats. According to Tarabos, something was happening in the Republic, so we were heading there to get more details.

「Come to think of it, I wonder how Shirone and co are doing…」

「I don't know. Aside from Kyouka-san, Kaya-san is also with them. I think she can restrain Shirone-san from going wild.」

I tried to soothe Sahoko's worries. I was the one who assigned Kaya-san and Kyouka-san to Shirone after all. I thought it would be too dangerous for Shirone to move around alone. Most importantly, I couldn't let her go to Nargol by herself.

Rino looked away in the general direction of Nargol.

「Did she manage to bring back her childhood friend?」

「I don't think it'll be that easy, Rino.」

「E~h, why? Why do you think so, Reiji-san?」

「Think about it, Rino. He was the subordinate of the Demon King. How long have the people of this world suffered under that monster? Even if, for example, that man didn't do it consciously, it's still unforgivable. Look at how he didn't even dare show his face to Shirone and just disappeared. I'd do the same if I was in his shoes.」

It was rare for Reiji to sound that serious.

Rino and Sahoko sounded very sad once he was done speaking.

「No way… Even though she finally met the one she had missed so much…」

「That's right, Rei-kun. Shirone finally caught up to her childhood friend.」

「My bad. But that guy needs to take responsibility, even though he might not have wanted to involve Shirone in his mess. She should have just watched from the sidelines.」

[TL: MESS? YOU'RE THE BIGGEST MESSED UP GUY HERE!!!]

Hearing him say so, I thought to myself how that was just his wishful thinking.

The only reason Shirone didn't want to return to our original world was that her childhood friend appeared in this world, right? Then again, I think I understand Reiji's words.

The humans in this world were tormented by the demons. That's why I can't forgive the Demon King, the ruler of all demons. Shirone swore that her childhood friend was a kindhearted boy, so maybe he felt guilty for becoming the Demon King's vanguard.

But I think he chose poorly when he left without speaking to Shirone. It might be the reason she felt so restless.

Reiji might hate this idea, but I think we should welcome him as our comrade. After all, the Demon King is the bad guy in the situation.

[TL: FOR GOD'S SAKE, HE ISN'T!!!!!!] [ED: For fuck’s sake!It’s always so frustrating editing about this morons]

Even now, there might be some demons living in a forest beneath us.

I've heard that if we defeat the Demon King all demons will disappear.

Maybe then the world will be a better place.

[TL: I'M REALLY DISAPPOINTED IN YOU, CHIYUKI]

Suddenly, Reijji stopped everyone mid-flight.

「Everyone, hold on a second!!」

「What happened, Reiji-kun?」

「I heard a woman screaming.」

Reiji then steered his pegasus toward a new direction.

I turned to Nao.

「What about you, Nao?」

「Reiji-senpai is just amazing… Even this Nao-san just noticed it…」

「Let's chase after him, everyone!!」

Everyone nodded in agreement with my words.

That was Reiji's only reliable trait. The woman in danger must surely be a babe.

And so we went after our hero.

◆ Freedom Fighter Girl, Shisufae

I could hear Big Sis Keyna calling my name.

「Shisufae!!」

「I know!!」

I stared at the thing in front of me.

An Orc.

A bipedal pig that was taller than me and had its eyes glued to my body.

「Underestimating me, huh?!」

I glared at the Orc as I readied my sword. I had no other choice but to defeat it since I had no comrade and no one to help me fight.

It also wasn't the first time I fought an Orc either. But back then I had a comrade and we were fighting only one Orc. At that moment, there were several Orcs and I was alone. I was already losing.   I glared at the Orc as I readied my sword. I had no other choice but to defeat it since I had no comrade and no one to help me fight.

It also wasn't the first time I fought an Orc either. But back then I had my comrades and we were fighting only one Orc. At that moment, there were several Orcs and I was alone. I was already losing.

We had received an escort mission on the way back to the Republic of Ariadya.

This was supposed to be a region without such high-ranking demons. However, the moment we passed along the highway we were ambushed and dragged into a battle with an unknown number of Orcs.

It was the first time I fought against several Orcs at once.

By nature, Orcs weren't the type to gather in packs. This was more like the behavior of Goblins.

And yet, we were fighting waves of Orcs. Something like this was unprecedented. Half of the freedom fighters who were escorting the coach had been felled by the ambush of the Orcs.

The only one left was the freedom fighter who I regarded as my big sister and comrade, Keyna.

Honestly, it wouldn't have been strange if I had already died. The only reason these Orcs were keeping me alive was my gender. They wanted me alive.

Those disgusting bastards.

At that moment, I saw my chance of survival.

I deliberately swung my sword much slower than usual.

「YAAHHH!!!」

The Orc laughed at me and flung my sword away with its club.

It wanted to disarm me.

   NOW!!

I swung my sword father and made the club miss its mark.

The Orc lost its balance. There was no way I could let such an obvious opening pass. My only strong point was my swordsmanship, after all.

I kicked the ground, closed in on my opponent and stabbed its heart with my sword.

「GUH?!」

The Orc stared at me as if it couldn't understand what was happening.

To be honest, I couldn't even hurt an Orc with my physical strength. An Orc's skin was so tough it could be processed into a shield or leather armor.

Only a tempered warrior could wound an Orc's body.

I was just a frail 17 years old who didn't have enough muscles in her arms.

But it was still possible for me to injure the Orc with my magic sword. It was a memento from my father, a freedom fighter who gave it to me after I decided to follow in his footsteps.

And so, I felled the Orc.

That's what you got for underestimating women.

[TL: No, I swear that I will never underestimate women in this WN, they're simply way too scary]

「… EH?!」

I tried to remove my sword from the Orc's body, but it was stuck.

F#ck, I put too much power behind that last stab.

Suddenly, my body was lifted. When I looked behind me, an Orc's face was right behind me.

I didn't even notice it approaching me.

「BUHAHAHAHA!!! ♪」

「NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!」

I shouted at the top of my lungs. The Orc's eerie laugh gave me goosebumps.

It was preparing to carry me back with it into the forest.

「HELP–! NOOO, SOMEONE HELP MEEEE!!」

I struggled violently, but the Orc's grip was too tight. I couldn't get away.

I don't want this.

I don't want my first time to be with an Orc.

Right then, the sky shone so brightly that I unintentionally closed my eyes.

And suddenly I was dropped onto the ground.

「Eh?! What just…」

I gathered my courage and opened my eyes.

When I turned around, the orc had already lost its head.

I turned back toward the light.

A horse was flying in the sky. It fired a light that pierced through the Orcs, one after another.

In the blink of an eye, all Orcs were defeated.

「So beautiful…」

The man riding the pegasus dismounted in front of us with his figure enveloped with divine might.

As he stood in front of us, I couldn't help but notice that our savior was the most handsome man I had ever seen. A tall and slender stature, a well-ordered face and golden hair that glittered under the sun.

His handsome face smiled at me, making me blush.

I couldn't say a word.

「Are you okay?」

I knew he was talking to me, but I stood there dumbfounded.

What in the world was I thinking about? I had just escaped a dangerous situation, and my head wasn't quite keeping up with the development of the situation.

But not saying anything would be rude to my benefactor.

「Y-Yes! Thank you for saving my life! Those Orcs almost kidnapped me…」

「I was flying over this area when I heard your scream for help. I'm glad I made it in time.」

Then, he stretched out his hand for me to grab and helped me to my feet.

When he pulled me up, our faces got even closer. I could smell his refreshing scent, in obvious contrast with the repulsing smell from those Orcs.

「I'm Reiji. Can you tell me your name, young lady?」

「It's Shizu-…- Faeria.」

Someone behind Reiji-sama chose that moment to forcefully cough.

I had failed to notice her since I was focused only on him.

I hurriedly let go of my benefactor's hand.

「What's the matter, Chiyuki?」

「My bad for disturbing you but come with me for a minute, Reiji-kun.」

Reiji-sama looked at her and I felt a pang of regret when he turned around.

I looked at the woman called Chiyuki and almost swallowed my tongue.

「… So beautiful…」

It was the second time on the same day that I unintentionally uttered those words.

The woman called Chiyuki was extremely beautiful.

Long slitted eyes, well-ordered face and porcelain white skin with long limbs and an hourglass figure. Her most striking feature was her beautiful black hair that grew to her waist. It sparkled like jewels in the sunlight.

I felt dejected. Not because I neglected my beauty as a woman, but because the other party was just too beautiful. My first love was very short-lived…

The Chiyuki woman looked at me then, and she seemed very displeased.

Her gaze was so cold, it intimidated me.

「May I speak with you for a moment?」

「Yes, I don't mind it at all!」

I let out a shrill voice as she stared at me with her beautiful eyes.

「There were twelve Orcs attacking you, am I right?」

「Eeh… I'm not so sure myself. I didn't have time to count them since they suddenly ambushed us in the middle of our escort job…」

The woman called Chiyuki sighed heavily.

「I see… Well, can't be helped then…」

Maybe because she wasn't interested in me anymore, she turned to Reiji-sama and spoke to him, completely ignoring my existence.

「What's that about the number of Orcs, Chiyuki?」

「There are twelve Orc corpses and they were all killed by you, Reiji-kun. But it's strange how there's no one from a superior species around.」

「Any other signs of living beings nearby?」

「I've asked Rino-san and Nao-san to search the vicinity, but they can only find signatures of other demons. If there's a superior demon that they can't find around here, it hid.」

「I see… This might be the event the vice-president of the magician association warned us about. Maybe once we arrive in Ariadya, we can get a detailed explanation.」

「He definitely owes us an explanation…」

The Chiyuki woman agreed with Reiji-sama again.

「Next is to count the number of wounded. Everyone should be okay, we have Sahoko's healing magic, after all.」

「By the way, is there a woman amongst the wounded?」

「Eh? Um… No., but…」

「I see. It's fine.」

Similar to Reiji-sama, I'm also relieved to hear that bit of news.

It seemed like my comrade was safe and sound.

「Geez, don't just worry about every woman in the world…」

「Hey, protecting fragile maidens is my job as a hero after all!」

「How amazing… If only that drive to save people worked regardless of gender…」

While those two bickered the leader of my escort team, Atlana, approached us. She was the merchant who had hired us to escort these goods to Ariadya.

She approached Reiji-sama and bowed. Atlana-san's figure as she expressed her gratitude was extremely refined.

「My deepest gratitude for saving our lives, Hero-sama.」

「And you are?」

「I am Atlana, the leader of this caravan. Had Hero-sama not come save us, we'd have been in the greatest danger of our lives.」

「It was no big deal, I'm glad I could protect a beauty like you.」

Reiji-sama's body language was very elegant, too.

「Ooh, I'm flattered.」

Atlanta-san and Reiji-sama were smiling at each other.

Unlike me, she was an expert. It's probably the difference in experiences between us.

The woman called Chiyuki seemed even more put out by their interaction than me.

I felt a little out of place standing there, so I left.

It sounded like the conversation would take a while.

After moving away from Reiji-sama Big Sis Keyna came to me.

Since she was also a woman, we were in the same situation.

Despite being ambushed by a pack of Orcs, we were saved. It was a miracle.

「Looks like we were lucky, Shisufae.」

「Yeah, Sis… Fortunately, I was spared.」

「Nevertheless… It was incredible how he felled all those Orcs in one fell swoop. Could that man be the Hero of Light?」

「Hero of Light?」

「What, have you never heard of him, Shisufae? I suppose that's normal. He isn't that famous in this region… I heard that he was the strongest person on the eastern side of the continent. Beyond the central mountain range, you know? Also, I've heard rumors that he's the beloved of Goddess Rena-sama.」

As she spoke, Big Sis Keyna stared at Reiji-sama.

I also stared at him. His strength truly befitted the one hailed as ‘Hero'.