Ankoku Kishi Monogatari (WN)

Though the figure bore resemblance to a Satyr, its head looked more like a goat with black hair. Plus, its figure was taller and more muscular compared to the Satyr I’d seen before.

That black Satyr was looking at us.

「HYIIIII!?」

I kneeled on the floor, unable to bear the pressure from that gaze.

It seems that Tarabos was also quite surprised at seeing the Black Satyr.

The only ones that weren’t surprised by the Black Satyr’s appearance were the witches and that man that had come with me. I realized this fact after I looked at the man who didn’t even look perturbed by the Black Satyr’s appearance. He was as calm and composed as before.

「It's nice to meet you, Zeal. I've heard about you from Lord Ulbart.」

The man spoke to the Black Satyr with a composed tone.

Just who in the hell is this man? I mean, he didn’t even flinch at seeing the Black Satyr’s appearance.

Then, I noticed that the man wasn’t a normal human being.

「Y-YOU KNOW LORD ULBART!! W-WHO THE HELL ARE YOU!? YOU'RE DEFINITELY NOT A HUMAN!!」

The Black Satyr screamed.

「Well, I think you'll understand once you see this…」

As soon as he spoke, the man was wrapped in black flames. When the black flame had vanished, the man was seen wearing an ominous, jet-black armor.

「NO WAY! DARK KNIGHT!! DON'T TELL ME YOU— NO, YOUR HIGHNESS IS….」

The black Satyr fell to his knees as soon as he saw the figure of the man in the jet-black armor.

「THAT'S RIGHT, ZEAL!! NOW, ANSWER MY QUESTION!!」

The moment the Dark Knight spoke, I felt a powerful gale emanate from his entire being.

「GUH…」

I collapsed to the floor immediately at being struck by that wing and moaned in pain.

An indescribable fear sprung up from the bottom of my heart. I was trembling non-stop like a newborn calf. When I looked around, I saw that Tarabos and Alnoe were also kneeling on the ground while trembling just like me. Though the demon called Zeal was trembling too, he didn’t fall to his knees.

But, the masked men behind Tarabos were still standing like it was nothing.

「Aaah…」

That voice came from the entrance of this room.

When I turned around, I saw a figure that had already fallen to the floor. Just like me, that person was probably trembling in fear too.

And then, I took a closer look.

「Sienna…」

The lone figure at the entrance of the room was Sienna’s.

◆Dancer, Sienna

「Just where in the world is that guy loitering around this time?」

Marchas, who was about to drown, was healed by Saint Sahoko’s healing magic. He’d then left the lodging of our theatre troupe.

Well, it’s not like we had a curfew that banned us from leaving the lodging during nighttime. Leader Midas allowed the members of the troupe to act freely during their free time as long as it didn’t disturb their performance.

Our schedule for tomorrow was open. Our troupe had postponed the play for the Hero-sama who will come tomorrow. Thus, several members of our troupe had gone out to chill at the bar.

It seems that Ainoe-neesan had gone to enjoy her private time too. Maybe she went to go visit her lover.

I had ended up following after Marchas. The place he was heading for was the red light district outside of the ramparts.

I knew that he went to that place every once in a while. But then, I didn’t find him yesterday. I wonder which store he visited yesterday.

「But Marchas, don't think you can escape from this Sienna-sama.」

I erased my presence and the sound of my footsteps.

Erasing my footsteps was easy peasy for someone who was trained in martial arts like me.

A while later, Marchas’ destination turned out to be the biggest building in the outer city. Marchas wasn’t in that store when I looked for him last night.

「Eh? that man, could it be…」

Marchas was addressing the man who was standing alone in front of the store.

I recalled that man’s face. He was the one who was accompanying the woman who Brother Decius had dubbed as the ‘Moonlight Goddess.’

Why is he wandering around in this kind of place? Could it be that he’s Marchas’ acquaintance?

Unfortunately, they were simply too far for me to be able to listen in to their conversation.

Marchas then left the man into the store. I followed them from behind.

Though some guests looked at me as soon as I entered the store, they turned their faces away with disinterest immediately as if not caring about my presence in the least.

My current attire wasn’t the dancer’s attire. I was wearing a big robe and a hood to hide my body and face. This way, no one in this store would be able to recognize me. That’s why no one was interested in me as soon as they saw me entering this store with this kind of attire.

Hidden under this robe were several hidden weapons and a pair of my beloved curved swords.

Marchas shouldn’t have the power to manipulate those Karkinos. The true culprit was using Marchas.

In short, those people were the most dangerous ones. That’s why, I’d come fully prepared for combat.

After looking around, I saw Marchas and the other man were walking towards the inner part of the building. Though I’d already confirmed this fact yesterday, but that part should be limited to staff only. But why is Marchas, who’s unrelated to this store, able to enter?

But, this wasn’t the time to be worrying over this matter. The two had already gone inside. It won’t be that simple for me to enter that place since the eyes of the employees were all over the place.

What should I do now?

I fixed my posture in a way that prevented the others from seeing my throwing knife.

The throwing knife was a small blade that could fit into the palm of my hand.

I threw the blade with a flick of my wrist. It then hit the shoe of one of the guests. The guest, whose shoe was now sewed to the floor, fell forward.

The other guests would surely regard it as falling due to being too drunk. Unfortunately for him, he fell right on top of another guest’s table, toppling over the dishes and liquor to the floor.

The eyes of the employees and the other guests instantly focused on the fallen guest.

While they were distracted, I kicked the wall and leapt silently into their blindspot before following Marchas inside the building.