Ankoku Kishi Monogatari (WN)

Mona.

That is the name of the fake goddess made with my hair as the material. In short, my clone.

If you ask why I know about her existence, the very reason was the person herself. Though it's not like Modes was trying to hide her.

Though I don't know the reason, someday she just appeared in my dream with me seeing her point of view.

Maybe because she is my clone.

Moreover, though I can get any information from her, she can't do the same thing to me. Maybe that's the distinguishing attribute between the original and the copy. It seems Mona doesn't know that I can get information from her.

Thus, I know information about Nargol first hand while still remaining in Elios.

But then, I also come to know about information that I don't want to know.

To make things worse, I am forced to see Mona and Modes having a s#x EVERY NIGHT. For some reason, I have to see the naked body of that ugly Modes even inside my dream; to be honest, it's a nightmare to me. Why did it turn this way…

That's why I summoned Reiji to defeat Modes.

But, my plan derailed since Modes also summoned Diehart.

Though I have consulted Casa, the goddess with the power to see the future, as to whether I can do something about Diehart, the result was nil. Casa’s power only enabled her to see a certain future amongst countless futures, so strictly speaking, she could only see into the future instead of predicting the future.

She can't see the future that won't happen or a future that doesn't exist. Moreover, the ability itself is unstable and dangerous. That's why I couldn't rely on Casa beyond this.

I have no choice but to do this myself.

But, I only know the information about Nargol that Mona knows. It seems Modes doesn't talk about too many things to Mona. Sometimes, the information was also unreliable.

The matter about Diehart’s summoning is also something that’s unknown to Mona until the very last minute. This is not because Modes didn’t trust Mona, he only wanted to find peace and comfort from Mona and didn't intend to tell her about the problems in Nargol.

But, sometimes he informs her about some important information.

Thus, I knew the information about Diehart heading for the place of the silver holy dragon king to gain the ingredient to make my clone.

Thus, I decided to foil their plan.

But, Diehart is too powerful. It will be difficult to stop him with just me and my war maiden(Valkyrie) squad that’s composed of my subordinate female angels.

Their combat power is even weaker than the chivalric order of holy knights. Thus, I'm sure that they aren't a match for Diehart who annihilated those holy knights.

That's why I used Reiji.

That is the base of my plan.

I'm erecting a barrier at the entrance of the cave where the holy dragon king reside. This barrier will notify us when Diehart enters the cave.

And then, after Diehart trims the horn of the holy dragon king.

He'll be stopped by Reiji when he comes out from the cave.

And then, my war maidens will snatch the horn while he’s distracted by them.

The bell that I gave to Reiji is to let them move toward the cave as soon as the bell notifies them about Diehart.

And then, when I received contact from a scouting war maiden that Diehart had already arrived at Rox kingdom, we came in a hurry to this land via a flying ship.

But then, though I contacted them yesterday, they just came today. I wonder what they did during that time.

Knowing their power, they should be able to come way faster than this.

Reiji aside, the people who came with him from another world are also powerful. To be honest, their powers rival the divine beings of Elios.

They're treated as humans for the time being. But then, I'm pondering whether it's okay to treat them the same way as humans.

Currently, they're not treated as divine beings. Speaking of god, one isn't a god unless one is nominated by the divine beings of Elios. One also won't be treated as a divine being without the consent of the other gods of Elios.

And they won't be treated as a superior race such as angel race or elven race since they have no special characteristics of those two races. That's why, in the end, there's no choice but to treat them in the same way as humans, a lower race. They have god-like power and yet they are humans. There was a time when we were troubled about how to treat them.

Now, I'm pondering about the reason for their tardiness. It might be due to Chiyuki. She opposed the idea of having Reiji fight against Diehart. Thus, I'm sure that she deliberately delayed their arrival.

I'll be the one in trouble if they're not going to clash. Otherwise, for what reason did I summon them, then?

If she becomes a hindrance, I have no choice but to use this…. I take a small bottle from my bosom.

Love potion.

The person who drinks this potion will fall in love with anyone they saw first. The magic potion has been further strengthened to an absurd level with charm magic. I will make Chiyuki drink this.

This is an extremely dangerous potion which will turn anyone who drinks this potion into a slave.

Though ruling magic should be enough in the case of a slave, the ability of the other party who becomes the target of this ruling magic is lowered as compensation… Though I want to use this magic, I don't want to lower her ability.

But, this potion makes it possible for someone to rule over another without lowering the target’s ability.

And then, this potion was the potion that I was about to use on Reiji when I summoned him. It's because the summoned target doesn’t necessarily act according to the will of the summoner.

Therefore, I prepared this potion in case things didn't pan out as I wished.

But, I never had the chance to use this potion, since Reiji easily accepted my request. I guess I should have use this potion on Chiyuki from the very beginning.

But, there's a restriction in the effect of this potion.

First, in regard to the target who drinks this potion, the other party must have some sort of affection toward the other party who they saw first. The magic potion will lose its effect if the other party’s race traits are too far apart. For example, a monkey who drank this potion won't fall in love with a dog even if they saw a dog. Though it'll be a different story if that monkey has some sort of strange tendencies. And then, even if both are of the same race, the effect will be greatly weakened if the target seen was extremely far apart from the preferences of the target. However, they'll become good friends.

That should be enough in case I stealthily make Chiyuki to drink this. In short, it's fine as long as she isn't stopping Reiji from abiding my request.

Second, this potion will lose its effect in case the target is completely in love with another party. In short, this potion is ineffective after the the target drinks it once. At the same time, it will stop someone from loving a different person. It's ineffective to someone who exists to love something from the very beginning or a familiar who exists to love their master due to the similar nature of love.

And, the effect of this potion varies depending on the magic resistance of the target and the quantity of the potion drank by them. The potion will lose its effect if a target with powerful resistance only drinks a small dose of the potion.

I wonder how much I should feed this potion to Chiyuki. The potion in my hand right now is an especially powerful magic potion, after all. One drop should be enough to make a normal human to love someone forever.

Then what dose should I use against a target whose magic resistance rivals those of divine beings?

This is the first and the last magic potion I can get my hands on. This potion is banned goods in Elios due to its extremely dangerous effect, after all.

Since the effect of this potion can't be cancelled from outside once the target ingests it. One has to rely on their own magic resistance to cancel the effect of this potion.

Things won't just end with banishment if it's known that a divine being used this potion on their fellow divine beings of Elios. That’s just how dangerous this potion is.

It's unknown how effective this magic potion is to someone who has magic resistant as powerful as the general populace of divine beings of Elios, since it's never been used on any divine being.

The clash between Reiji and Diehart is a must.

I definitely mustn't let him to cut the horn of the holy dragon king.

But then, Diehart isn't making his move so soon. It seems he’s yet to cut the horn despite already having arrived in this kingdom. Though Reiji-tachi was late according to the schedule, they're still not late due to the current circumstances.

But then, I couldn't determine where Diehart is hiding right now.

My subordinate war maidens aren't too skilled in tracking. Thus, they're not a good choice for scouting.

Since they're standing by in a flying ship in stealth at a different place in order to be not noticed by Diehart, I don't know what should I do right now.

That's why I'm sneaking alone into the Rox kingdom to scout the situation and make Chiyuki drink this potion.

Though my war maidens wanted to go with me, it won't be covert if I were moving along with them. Thus, I came alone. This way is at least inconspicuous than moving with them.

Though I'm not that skilfull in covert action, at least I won't be found out by humans easily.

The problem is Diehart; I don't know how powerful his detection ability is. He might be able to discover me with ease if his detection ability is as powerful as Reiji’s comrade, Nao.

In fact, even if his detection ability isn't as powerful as Nao’s, he can still easily find my location with detection ability if it’s around Kaya’s or Shirone’s level. My invisibility magic isn't that powerful.

Thus, I embarked on my journey to Rox kingdom while filled with such anxiety.

I went toward the direction from which I could sense the bell I gave to Reiji.

But then, someone is standing on my way.

I was quite surprised when on seeing this person’s face.

Previously, I saw his face in the temple.

His two quartz-like pupils which adorned his well-ordered and slender face along with that black hair isn't something that I can forget.

「D-Diehart!?」

The person standing before me is Diehart.

No way, to think that he can so easily find my location.

「It's been a while, goddess Rena」

Diehart sent his greetings to me.

The hot spring of the mansion is wide and comfy.

Though Kaya only managed to gain a relatively small hot spring establishment, it's still on the scale where more than a few people can enter into the hot spring and there's just six of us. Even with that, it's wide enough for us to swim in it.

「What's the matter, Nao?」

Nao is glaring at me as the six of us immerse ourselves in the hot spring.

「I just think that your hair is so pretty, Chiyuki-san」

「I see, thank you」

This is not the first time someone praised me for my hair. But, it doesn't feel bad no matter how much someone praises my hair.

On the other hand, it then came to me that my hair is the only thing ever praised by someone.

「As expected of the only thing which made you famous as black-haired sage」

Black-haired sage is my nickname. And I'm not the only one who has such a nickname.

Shirone is ‘maiden of sword’ and Rino is ‘fairy dancer’.

Those two are also currently immersed within the hot spring. Those two give different kinds of aura when they let down their hair. There's tinge of pink in their white skin.

When I look at them, they come to my side, too.

「Hey, what are you guys talking about? 」

Rino is butting into our conversation.

「We were talking about Chiyuki-san’s beautiful hair」

「Yes, Chiyuki-san’s hair is really pretty. It makes me so jealous」

「Come to think of it, Shirone-san’s hair is pretty, too」

I shift my gaze toward Shirone’s hair. She has currently let her usual ponytail loose.

「Agreed. Her ponytail flutters around so beautifully, especially when she swings her sword. As expected from the sword maiden」

Shirone is blushing lightly after Nao praised about her hair.

「Sword maiden huh…. What a good name」

Rino is burning with envy.

「Ara, I think Rino's fairy dancer is nice, you see」

「YUP!! Shirone-san and Rino-cchi have cool nicknames. I want one too….」

As a matter of fact, Nao has no nickname. I definitely won't tell her the fact that she is nicknamed feral child back in our world.

「It's good, isn't it? At least it’s better than having a strange name attached to you」

Rino is looking at the two from a slightly distant place.

Then, there’s Kaya and Kyouka.

Kyouka’s nickname is exploding princess. It's a nickname she got after she used explosion magic in the middle of the city. The person herself hates this nickname.

「That's right….」

Nao agrees to her response.

「Speaking of nicknames, where is our white saint and hero of light right now? 」

Rino asks about the whereabouts of the two who aren't here right now.

「Our white saint is preparing for dinner」

The one called white saint is Sahoko. We decided to let Sahoko handle the meal since this mansion only has a few maids currently. Moreover, I heard that the royal chef of the Rox royal palace also came over to help her.

Sahoko and Kaya are the only ones who can cook amongst us.

Sahoko is master of home cooking while Kaya can make georgeous meals that you could set your gaze upon in parties.

Though I’m unable to match their skills, I can cook to a certain extent.

Rino, Nao, and Kyouka have zero disposition for cooking.

Shirone is somehow uninterested in cooking. Naturally, I won't tell them that.

I remember she distributed salty cookies some time ago.

Though she brought it for Reiji, even Reiji couldn't eat that. That's just natural since he normally eats Sahoko’s cooking.

It couldn't be helped, but I heard Shirone gave her cookies to her childhood friend, and I also heard that he ate her dishes with delight.

Was his stomach alright?

Though I’m yet to meet her childhood friend, I heard from Rino that he’s quite handsome himself.

Moreover, it seems that Shirone’s childhood friend had a crush on her. But then, I feel bad for him since the one that Shirone likes might be Reiji.

I wonder where Reiji is right now.

「As for our hero of light, I don't know what he’s doing right now」

Though a separate bathroom for Reiji was also prepared, it seems he isn't using it right now.

「Well, it seems he isn't peeping on us either」

I set a powerful barrier magic to prevent a peeping tom.

Even that Reiji won't be able to bypass that barrier without being noticed by us.

The problem is the fact that this barrier can't detect anything outside its range. So, I won't know anything even if some sort of problem happened. It's good as long as Reiji isn't doing anything abnormal.

Now that I think about it, I don't even know what Diehart or Rena is doing right now.

By the way, where the heck are those two people in question, right now?

I continue immersing myself in water till my shoulders while pondering about such things.

At noon, stalls are lined up next to each other in the main street and so many people are walking around.

Looking at these row of stalls made me reminisce about festivals in Japan.

Though I didn’t attend the festival in recent years, I was always going around with Shirone back in our childhood days.

It's meaningless to go to a festival without Shirone.

Yup, it's a man’s romance to go to a festival with a cute girl.

That's why this situation should be an extremely deightful situation.

There's a woman walking by my side. This woman can't be identified due to the deep hood she wearing.

But, I know that she’s beautiful even just with the lower half of her face.

Goddess Rena.

The one who summoned Shirone.

This is the second time I’m meeting her. I wonder why she’s in this place.

Moreover, is she trying to do something to Shirone?

I believe that she has nothing to do with Shirone anymore.

But, I've been asked to escort the hero. I’ve been also tasked to search for any person who might be hostile toward the hero.

To be honest, I wasn't that serious when I received this request. Reiji is powerful to the extent that nothing can threaten them.

On second thoughts, the task of escorting them should be left to the temple knights.

That's why I'm extremely surprised when I caught a sight of her from the top of the rampart. Though she wore her hood, I knew that she was Rena.

I can't just let her go after I caught a sight of her.

Because, she is the most dangerous existence for the hero and his party.

Thus, I appeared before her.

But now, I'm stuck and don’t know what should I do after this.

By the way, I want to find her intention for appearing in this kind of place. Naturally, I'll flee if she’s going to call Reiji.

「You're surprisingly a coercive person, aren't you?」

Rena is blaming me a while after we started walking together.

Her comment made me recall our exchange a while ago.

She said that she was sightseeing the festival when I asked her about the reason for her appearance. Naturally, it's a outright lie. Thus, I forced her to sightsee with me if she really came for sightseeing the festival.

I have no choice but to absolutely force her to go with me as long as she doesn't tell me about her real purpose. Aren't I just picking up a lady on the street?

「I'm not, it's because I can't just leave you alone….」

It's definitely not a lie.

「Hhm, I see」

Rena raises her hood a bit with her hand as if to appraise my intentions.

Her beautiful eyes are staring into mine.

My heart beat is rising just because of that.

「Fine then, I'll let you to become my escort」

Rena began to walk. I’m following by her side.

I'm sightseeing the festival along with a beautiful girl.

Isn't this what you call as a date?

「There are so many humans walking around」

Rena said after walking for a while.

「It's festival after all…. That's why there are so many people. Please bear with it since everyone has come to enjoy the festival….」

I reply as such to Rena.

「I see」

Rena is a goddess, so she might not have that much patience.

So, I ended up becoming a living shield to prevent others from bumping against Rena.

「Oops」

I pull Rena toward myself. Rena’s back hit my chest.

Though I tried to shield her as much as I could, it can't be helped since there's too many people walking so close to each other on the street.

「HEY! !」

Rena shouted angrily.

「Sorry, Rena」

I apologized to Rena.

「No man has ever touch me like that, though」

Rena is implying the gravity of the matter by saying those lines to me.

「Ah, my apologies, Rena. But, you shouldn't erase those people with your power」

Since there's so many people, we have no choice but to come to a mutual understanding.

「Well, it's okay, please release me for now」

Thus, I separate myself from Rena.

「Right. So, I can erase those who aren't a hindrance, right?」

Rena told me that while pointing at the street stalls.

「No, those things are necessary for a festival….」

In fact, I can't buy the goods of the street vendor, since it's expensive. But then, a festival without street vendors is just too lonely.

「Uhn」

Rena replied with a bored expression.

Thus, I continue walking together with this girl in a bad mood.

If this was a real date, I might get heartbroken by such a sight.

In the first place, street vendors exist just for the sake of the festival, right?

Though she said that she came for sightseeing the festival, now I know that it isn't the case. As I thought, sightseeing the festival is just a big fat lie.

Rena suddenly stopped walking.

「What is that?」

When I'm looking at the direction where she is looking at.

There was a flag with Sasaki Rino’s picture pasted on it.

I'm a little surprised by that. To be honest, it's not something that can be seen by a woman.

「That is… Rino」

I stopped walking a while after Rena.

There are less buyers compared to a while ago.

Rena is peeking at the street vendor beside the flag.

When I try to look at the vendor along with her, I see them selling pictures of Shirone.

It's the picture of Shirone in today’s costume. What an extremely dangerous picture.

Good job. Though I want to gaze at it for a while longer, I hold myself back in front of Rena.

「Diehart. Are they the worshippers of Rino?」

Rena’s tone is a bit too heavy.

「They're… In a certain way」

To be honest, even I'm confused how to describe them.

Should I call them chasers of idol?

「And yet, she's not even a divine being…」

Rena’s attitude was beyond my expectation. Maybe it's not a trivial matter for a goddess like Rena to see them worshipping someone who isn't a divine being.

「You also want those pictures right?」

Rena said while pointing to one of the pictures.

The one she pointed at was the picture of Shirone. And for some reason, her voice is filled with killing intent.

To be honest, I want to buy it.

But there's no way I'll say ‘I want it’ in front of another girl. So, I can only say that in my heart.

I steel my resolve and turn my eyes to not look at that picture. I face Rena who’s standing before me.

This is something that I don't want her to hear. Though it's just a false impression acting as her escort, doing something like talking about another woman is wrong.

「No, you're here with me after all」

I told her so while looking at Rena. Thus, I choose to act indifferent toward the other girls.

「Eh?!」

Rena let out a surprised voice on hearing my words.

Rena raised her hood a bit and took a closer look at my face.

My face is reflected in her eyes. Please don't look at me with those kind of eyes.

You're an extremely beautiful woman, after all. My head feels like it’s boiling when being stared at like that.

Rena pondered for a while. And then, she nodded as if she noticed something.

「That's right, that's only natural, after all. I'm more beautiful than them」

Rena is smiling.

「That's why, those are just fake goods」

Yeah, yeah, I can only nod at her words. I don't know what she meant, though.

「Let's go then, Diehart」

We start ambling again. Thank god.

Even though she seems to have been in a bad mood just sometime ago.

「Ah, come to think of it」

She suddenly stopped and turned around to face me.

「This should be the same posture as that picture, right? 」

「Na!?」

WHY ARE Y–! ! !

I'm screaming in my mind. It was the loudest scream in my entire life.

I mean, Rena is taking that posture. Rena breasts are so big to the point that I can see them despite her cloak.

When asked so, I wonder who would have the best posture.

Shirone? Or the royal sister of Reiji? Wrong!! It is the white bunny costume that was worn by Yoshino Saho-….

My thoughts were interrupted at that point.

I then came back to my senses and looked at Rena. She is looking at me with a scornful look.

「I'm joking you know…. Aren't you… surprisingly easy to understand」

Rena said so with a shocked voice.

「Uuuh….」

I want to cry right now. I was completely led by my nose and ended up exposing my real thoughts. Though I wanted to act cool and nice in front of a girl, it can't be helped since I'm severely lacking in experience.

After saying so, she keep walking while pretending to not see me.

I miserably chase after her.

We entered a less crowded street, then. And then, we keep advancing toward the small aley which is almost desolate.

When I'm about to turn to Rena since it seems we won't be able to advance beyond this point, she suddenly stopped.

When I look to the front, I saw people wearing knight uniforms.

The knights were wearing their knight uniforms with white flower and vines crest sewn on their uniform.

It's a crest I saw so many times in Holy Republic Lenaria, the holy crest of goddess Rena.

I was told that the flower holy crest, resembling Reeve’s spiraea (ED: It seems to be a flower, check the internet to know more about it), has the meaning of "pure heart" in flower language and is also called as Rena herb.

I realize from that crest that those knights were the very same ones who escorted Reiji and the rest here.

And now, five of them are blocking our way. What the hell are they trying to do?

「They're your knights, aren't they?」

I stop myself and ask that question to Rena while looking at those knights.

「They're not my knights, they're the ‘temple’s’ knight. They're not fit to become my knight」

Rena spat out those cruel words. Though it’s a known fact that the temple knights swear their love to Rena, that love, unfortunately, seems to be one-sided.

Poor people, so I thought.

「So Reiji is your only knight, isn’t it?」

I'm trying to ask a slightly meanie question.

Though asking about another man during my escort duty is a breach of conduct, this is a little revenge for a while ago.

But, it seems that Rena isn't perturbed by my question.

「Fufu. Reiji can't become a knight. Because a knight is someone who should respect oaths and manners. There's not an inch of resemblance of such conduct in the free, unrestrained, and arrogant Reiji」

Rena responds so with smile on her face.

Hee, so you understood that much, huh. Unexpectedly, she seems to be a keen person.

「But in your case, I think you're the appropriate person to become my knight, what do you think about it?」

Rena questions as such while looking at me.

I'm also looking at Rena.

My heart is jumping in excitement the moment I heard those words.

To be honest, I'm so~ delighted in hearing those words.

It's as if I removed the biggest thorn in my heart.

Maybe I'm just glad that I received a superior evaluation than Reiji. To think that there's such a foolish rivalry entrenched deep inside my heart. Just how long has it been in my heart?

To think I'm such a sore loser. That's why I keep polishing my swordsmanship since that day. I started to pay attention to my appearance to catch up to him even just a little.

But, no matter what I do, I don't have such confidence in myself.

That's why Rena words shook my heart.

But—-

I shake my head left and right to calm my mind.

I can't do that.

I couldn't bring myself to trust Rena.

No matter how beautiful she is, I can't let my guard down just because of a few sweet words.

That's why I shake my head in denial.

「I'm truly delighted to receive such a wonderful invitation, but unfortunately, I can't become your knight. Moreover, someone who easily betrays others isn't qualified as a knight, isn't it?」

I refused Rena’s request easily.

「Certainly, a betrayer isn't qualified as a knight」

It seems Rena approves my words.

I feel relieved upon seeing that. I thought she'll be pouting on hearing my reply, but it didn’t happen.

In the first place, I don't think I'm qualified to become a knight.

Even if, for example, I can trust Rena, I might have refused her invitation even without using Modes as my reason.

「Hey, what are you looking at!!」

Someone is calling us.

When I search for the source of the voice, a temple knight is approaching us.

Maybe they were the temple knights who I saw while I was on the rampart earlier.

They should be fighting for harlots.

But I couldn't see any woman nearby, did she just escape?

The approaching temple knight is looking at me and then took a glance at the person beside.

Oops?! It seems he noticed Rena on my side.

Though Rena is supposed to be using invisible magic, it seems that this man has a considerable amount of magical power.

「You’ve brought a woman with you, huh. Is she your lover?」

That knight asked that question to me.

It's annoying since he asked that question with such an interrogative tone. This isn't your home country. So, why are you asking about such a thing?

「No, she's not my lover….」

「Ho~, if she's not your lover, why did you bring a woman to this kind of place?」

When I take notice of my surroundings, it seems to be a normal alley, but the atmosphere is somehow different.

It seems that we somehow stepped into a slightly indecent place.

「Well, in fact….」

「Huhm, you are trying to tell a lie. Unfortunately, you were exposed」

The temple knight is trying to pick a fight.

Currently, he can't see Rena’s face, deeply covered by her hood.

Maybe she thought something along the line, ‘Now teach this fool a lesson for picking a fight with you’.

However, Rena is hiding her identity using invisibility magic. That's why she's not saying anything.

And that Rena is looking at the development without any response.

「We are currently in the middle of a patrol, looking for any suspicious person trying to harm hero-sama!! So, I assume that you're not one of those foolish people, aren't you?」

「No… I'm not」

I flatly deny his accussation.

「It seems that there's a pervert like you who tried to do suspicious things toward hero-sama. But, I'll overlook it on this occasion. Now, leave at once!!」

The man is waving his hand as if he is driving away a dog.

「This is a dangerous place for women」

This temple knight is trying to touch Rena.

That moment, I felt a bad premonition.

I caught the hand of the temple knight who's trying to touch Rena and tossed him.

The tossed temple knight fell on his back.

「YOU B*STARD, WHAT ARE YOU DOING! ! 」

That temple knight is drawing his sword while shouting such words.

I did that to protect your life, you know. I want to tell him that.

Just a while ago, I felt killing intent emanating from Rena when he was about to touch her.

I know that she won't hesitate to kill that temple knight on the spot.

If I let the temple knight to touch her, he might become cinders the very next moment.

The other knights are also zeroing in toward us after hearing such commotion.

They're drawing their swords, too.

I never thought that it'll turn into a dispute.

Normally, I'll just run away when I meet such a troublesome situation, but I couldn't do that as Rena’s by my side.

Or should I say that, at this rate, Rena is going to kill them. Thus, I should avoid that sort of situation at all costs.

「There's no need to dirty your hand against such opponents, so please wait behind my back, Rena」

I take a step ahead in front of Rena while saying those words in a low tone.

「I see」

Though she only replied with a short word, it must be my imagination that she's rather delighted when she said so.

「Fuhm, if you want to apologize, this is your last chance」

Could it be that they think I'm afraid when they point their swords toward me?

Though Rena's denying their existence, they're indeed her knights.

And despite me being the dark knight, aren’t I more like Rena’s knight in this situation?

Though they wear splendid dress, their actions aren't that much different from the orcs that I met yesterday.

I won't kill them since it'll only soil this wonderful festival with blood. Maybe I'll let them to taste a slightly painful experience.

Thinking so, I approach the temple knights.

I felt that killing emotion slowly disappearing from my heart.

「Y-YOU BASTARD! TRYING TO FIGHT US HUH!!」

It seems he's surprised when I fought back.

Though I haven't understood the international relationships of this world, there's no way that I can cause a problem in this country so easily.

It seems they drew their swords just to threaten me.

「Uhm… Can you just let go of this matter」

Thus, I propose such a plan considering both sides’ situation.

On the contrary, it seems like I just added fuel to the fire. The faces of those knights are dyed in red.

「ARE YOU KIDDING ME!!」

Maybe because he thought that I'm making fun of him, the knight in front of me brandishes his sword toward me.

Too slow.

I pinch the sword blade that swung downward with my thumb and index finger.

The knight let out an astonished voice in seeing that.

「No… Way」

「Im….possible」

The other knights mutter such words with pale faces. Their face turned from red to pale blue.

Geez, whatever. Let's end this quickly.

「Here I go….」

After saying so, I slip through the gap between those knights.

「GAHHA!!」

「GUH!!」

「GEH!!」

Those knights are tumbling around while raising such pained voices. They lay on the ground, writhing in pain.

They won't die since I went easy on them.

Rena approaches from the opened path.

「So, you're not killing them」

Rena said such terrifying words with calm expression.

「They're your temple knights, after all…. So, I'm going easy on them」

It's a lie.

「Is that so, I should say my gratitude then? 」

I never thought that Rena will say her gratitude in this way.

I can feel that she takes the life of hu- No, the life of her knights lightly.

But now, I can understand what she feels a little.

Because her knights are way too weak.

I had to be very careful in controlling my power a while ago in order to not accidentally kill them.

Killing them is as easy as stepping on a small insect.

In case of Rena, she might have mercilessly crushed them. Maybe that's the same case for the other gods.

Since humans might be nothing more than insects in the eyes of gods.

Well, what should I do then?

Aren't I the very same existence known as human in this world?

If I'm not, then what am I?

It’s at such times I feel this sense of isolation. I'm the very same existence as Reiji in this world. But, I'll never be able to become their comrade. In the first place, why do I have to become their comrade?

I wouldn’t have come this far to cut the horn of the holy dragon king if I could become their comrade, right?

But, no one can answer that question.

「No. Let's get going, Rena」

I left the alley along with Rena.