Ankoku Kishi Monogatari (WN)

TN : HAZARD WARNING IN THE SECOND HALF, BRACE FOR THE IMPACT!!!

===

I’d heard that there were only an extremely small number of necromancy users amongst the humans. Reason being that magic power alone wasn’t the only requirement to use it. One had to be born with a natural talent for that particular magic to be able to use it.

For example, a male born from Striges whose speciality was necromancy had a high chance of being able to use necromancy.

Nevertheless, it didn’t mean that someone was willing to become an undead. The Draugrs behind Tarabos… I doubt that they became Draugr because they wanted to.

This man would definitely kill this girl and turn her into a Draugr.

This guy felt like a devil in human skin.

But, I also couldn’t blame Tarabos for his greed. This girl called Sienna was indeed an extremely skilled sword fighter. She was able to actually fight on par with those Draugr who were theoretically far more powerful than her. But, in the end, they had been simply a bad match for a mere human like her.

As far as I could see from the way she fought, her swordcraft was created to fight living humans, not dead ones. In other words, it was a swordcraft meant to kill humans. She was at a disadvantage when it came to facing against undead.

At this rate, she won’t be able to get away. She might’ve really been killed if I hadn’t claimed her first.

「My bad, I can't give this girl to you. She's my prisoner.」

I spoke in a cold tone to Tarabos.

「IT'S JUST AS YOUR EXCELLENCY SAID, FOOLISH HUMAN!!! NO NORMAL MAN CAN RESIST THE TEMPTATION OF THOSE BEAUTIFUL LONG LEGS! WHAT'S THE FUN OF LICKING A CORPSE'S LEG! LIVING HUMAN LEGS ARE THE BEST! RIGHT, YOUR EXCELLENCY!?」

Zeal, who was listening to my conversation with Tarabos, suddenly exclaimed with a loud voice.

「Y-Yeah, indeed…」

The sheer passion in his voice made me unintentionally agree with him.

I never expected that the time would come where I’d be agreeing with a daemon’s opinion rather than a human’s.

For some reason, this guy felt like a perverted old man in devil’s skin; the exact opposite of Tarabos.

「Is that so, Your Excellency? My deepest apologies then.」

Tarabos reluctantly withdrew his request.

It felt like I’d just created some sort of misunderstanding.

Naturally, I have no intentions of doing those kind of perverted acts to this girl, but somehow things have gotten rather complicated in a good way for this girl.

But Zeal was right: this girl was a rare beauty. Letting her go to Tarabos just to be turned into an undead would be a huge loss to this world. I guess I’ll play along with Zeal for this matter.

「It's just as Zeal had said, Tarabos… I've taken a liking to this girl. I'll bring her back to enjoy her thoroughly.」

I carried Sienna on my shoulder and left that place.

I received a message from Regena. She told me that Shirone had just woken up.

Currently, Shirone was resting at the residence that we’re using right now for our stay in the Republic Ariadya. Shirone might create a ruckus with Kuna once she wakes up.

「AS EXPECTED OF YOUR EXCELLENCY, AS A FELLOW MAN, I CAN UNDERSTAND YOUR FEELINGS!!! PLEASE TAKE THIS OFFERING FROM ME!!」

Zeal handed me a box containing some items in it.

「This is?」

I peeked into the contents of the box. There were some sort of tools… and clothes…

「It's a tool to give pleasure to women and clothes to double their charm and add spice to the deed. Actually I wanted to use this with my mistress but, I'll offer these to you, Your Excellency.」

Zeal presented the box to me.

Somehow it felt like he was trying to curry my favor in order for me to save his life. But, as I’d told him before, I couldn’t do anything in that regard.

And then, I heaved a sigh as I looked into the box.

The clothes inside were clothes that were made from see-through materials. Clothes that could only be described as armor that resembled a bikini.

I was attacked by a sudden headache.

What in the hell are you doing here? You’re supposed to be a Daemon, right? Why are you more human than Tarabos who’s supposed to be human?

I guess he was like the other Dark Satyr. He was meeting with his witches here today in this basement for a sabbath(tryst) with them. I guess I’ll have to scold him for still thinking of having fun despite practically being wanted by Nargol.

So I responded.

「Thanks, I'll enjoy your gift♪」

I returned in a hurry as soon as I received the box.

===

◆Sword's Maiden; Shirone

I dreamt of the old times.

It was when my family and Kuroki’s went on a field trip together. Out destination was a place abundant with nature.

I brought Kuroki along with me, running around the mountain until we finally strayed away from our family too much and got lost in the middle of the mountain.

I’d ignored Kuroki’s warnings and climbed on top of a high tree. But then, the branch I stepped on had broken and I fell from the tree.

I sprained my ankle due to the shock of my fall. Thus we couldn’t go back to where our parents were.

Kuroki was about to go call our parents but I’d held him back since I was too scared to be left alone.

Since there was no other way, Kuroki had ended up carrying me on his back as we returned to our parents’ place.

I’m sure that carrying me was actually heavy, but Kuroki had just carried me on his back in silence, not complaining even once.

「U~hn.」

I opened my eyes.

I wonder why I dreamt of such old memories.

In that dream, I was sure that I was being carried on Kuroki’s back.

I had a dream of being princess carried by someone. This dream was so embarrassing to the point that I couldn’t tell anyone about this.

The Kuroki in my dream was so kind towards me. Yes, he was always kind towards me since a long time ago. And yet, I never acted kindly towards Kuroki.

I always treated him like my servant and regarded the timid Kuroki as someone who always followed me.

And once I met Reiji-kun and co, I started to avoid Kuroki.

I think I basically treated him very coldly.

I was sure that at some point, our relationship had become strained. I’d noticed the fact after I came to this world. That’s why I wanted to go back to Japan to mend our relationship.

And then, I was reunited with Kuroki in this world.

But, I’d soon learned that Kuroki had already become the Demon King’s underling.

That’s strange; Kuroki was supposed to be a king boy. He definitely wasn’t the kind of person who would become the Demon King’s underling.

I mean, he was still really kind towards me when we were diving together into the labyrinth. And yet, for some reason he didn’t come join us.

The reason behind his weird actions was that girl for sure.

Silver Witch Kuna.

She must be the one who manipulated Kuroki to be her servant with her magic. That must be why Kuroki didn’t want to leave Nargol.

I can’t forgive her. The only one allowed to treat Kuroki like a servant is me. That’s why, I’ll take him back from her.

I rose up.

My head was attacked by an intense headache. It seemed to be the aftereffects of the liquor I drank last night.

I wonder how long I slept? It seems that the sun has set.

I looked around.

Though the room was a little dark due to the absence of lighting, I could still see around me thanks to the moonlight entering the room through the windows.

「Where… is this?」

It was an unknown room.

It seems that I’d slept on the bed in the middle of this room with my dress on.

The bedding was really comfortable and big enough for four or five people to sleep together on top of. Just like the room used by Reiji-kun.

「Have you woken up, Shirone-sama?」

Someone entered the room at that moment.

「Regena-… san. Thank you very much, you're the one who carried me to this bed, right?」

But, Regena shook her head in response.

「Nope, it's not me.」

「… Eh, then who?」

Could it have been Reiji-kun? If that’s the case, I have to thank him later.

「So where is Reiji-kun and co right now?」

「I think they're still enjoying the banquet.」

「I see…」

Then I noticed something when I tried to leave the bed. The dress I was currently wearing was worn out since I’d fallen asleep while still wearing it. Maybe it’s better if I change my clothes.

「Do you have spare clothes, Regena-san? I want to borrow them temporarily if possible.」

Regena nodded at hearing my question.

「Yes, I do have clothes that would suit you the best, Shirone-sama.」

After she said so, Regena left the room for a bit and presented something after she returned.

The thing she presented was underwear-like armor. In short, it was a bikini armor.

「Eh… why this?」

I couldn’t help but mutter those words.

I unintentionally facepalmed upon seeing this clothing. I desperately held myself back from yelling out “WHAT THE HECK!!” with a Kansai dialect.

This underwear-like armor was the normal battle gear for the female warriors of Amazona, the goddess of hunting and battle. She was the daughter of Thors, the battle god.

According to the legend of this world, Thors couldn’t get armor from Heibos due to their bad relationship. But, Thors had just said 「I don't need your armor」 before beginning to undress himself and went buck naked till her was forced to wear beast pelt.

After that, since Thors didn’t wear armor, the warriors who became his followers also followed after him to wear beast pelt just like their god.

And then, following in her father’s footsteps, Thors’ daughter, Amazona, chose to fight buck naked as well.

Their recklessness was only stopped after Faeria gave them a severe scolding and forced them to either wear underwear or at least a beast pelt.

As a result, to prevent her breasts from swaying around in the middle of battle, Amazona requested strong underwear which gave birth to the bikini armor.

Thus, this bikini armor was also passed down to the human realm and the female warriors of Amazona’s faith, otherwise known as the Amazoness, wore the bikini armor as a symbol of their faith.

And now, this bikini armor was the very thing that Regena was giving me with a wide smile on her face.

I didn’t feel any malice at all from her smile. When she said that it suited me, she really meant it.

That’s why I facepalmed.

I might dismiss this as a joke if it came from Reiji-kun or Nao-chan, but it was from none other than Regena.

These clothes might not be a joking matter for her, a native resident of this world. In fact, I’ve met a few women who walked around in broad daylight right in the middle of main street with this kind of armor.

Nevertheless, I wonder for what reason was this bikini armor in this room?

「Sorry but… please spare me of those clothes for now.」