chapter 36

I’m currently standing in silence while looking at the battle between Lovis and company against a huge monster.

It was a monster that had the head of an eagle and body of a lion.

When I tried checking its level with 《Status Check》, I found out that it had a level of 200, its name was also similar to the Gryphon in Earth’s myth.

I think those shitty Gods deliberately created this creature based on myths on Earth.

Even though I could easily take care of it, Lovis led his two grumbling subordinates in attacking first.

『Please rest for a bit, Kanata-sama. Let us deal with this fu*cker.』

Lovis was still supposed to have the wound from his fight with me, was he really going to fight that Gryphon?

It seems that he still feels guilty about attacking me before.

… Even though it should be alright as long as he stopped assaulting people in surprise like that.

「GUAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!」

The Gryphon’s warcry resounded in the vicinity.

It flew around for a while before suddenly diving towards Lovis.

「Time-Space Magic, 4th Rank;《Short Gate》」

Lovis’s perfectly timed teleportation sent him right above the Gryphon, he ripped apart his opponent’s wing with his scythe.

Due to the Gryphon losing balance in the air, it fell to the ground.

However, the Gryphon immediately adjusted its posture and glared at Lovis.

「Earth Magic, 4th Rank; 《Clod Mine》」

Damia didn’t let go of this chance and attacked with his earth bullet.

Yes, this was the exact same earth bullet that he used against me before.

The earth bullet exploded right before it touched the Gryphon.

Since Lovis had a level which was close to the Gryphon, he stood as the vanguard in order to attract its attention, Damia’s role was being the middle guard, he was using the simple but effective 《Clod Mine》 to slowly whittle down the Gryphon’s endurance.

While the both of them were fighting the Gryphon, Yozakura closed her eyes, her hand gripped the scabbard of the katana-like sword.

「Spirit Magic, 4th Rank; 《Shinatsu Hiko*》 and Spirit Magic, 5th Rank; 《Iwasaku**》」 [TL* : Vanguard’s Divine Wind] [TL** : Daemon’s Strike]

Yozakura’s body was clad in particles of light.

Spirit magic was the type of magic that borrowed the power of Spirits who are said to live in the reverse plane of this world.

The 4th rank she used borrowed the wind spirit’s powers whereas the 5th rank borrowed the earth spirit’s powers.

I learned from Lunaire that despite enabling its user to use powerful attacks beyond their level with minimal consumption of the user’s mana, since they’re borrowing the power of the spirits, this magic often went out of control.

The reason why she taught me about this wasn’t for me to master it, but to plant the necessary knowledge so I could counter spirit users in case I fought them.

The one that Yozakura used right now was the kind of spirit magic that reinforced its user’s physical ability.

The so-called physical reinforcement magic wasn’t solely exclusive to spirit magic, Lunaire taught me that there were other similar magic that emulated the same effects.

Lovis, who was fighting in close combat against the Gryphon, then moved to Yozakura’s position, she was right behind him.

「I’ll leave the rest to you. 《Short Gate》」

Lovis held Yozakura’s hand.

Her body vanished along with the magic circle’s light that enveloped her, she then reappeared right behind the Gryphon.

The moment Yozakura opened her eyes, she drew her katana-like sword from its scabbard, it was an iai-strike that aimed at the Gryphon’s neck.

Her attack easily decapitated the Gryphon’s head, killing it in a flash.

「OOOH….」

Though I was worried for a moment since their levels were lower than the Gryphon, it seems that it was unnecessary.

Lovis, who acted as their vanguard, was distracting the Gryphon’s attention with his clever use of space-time magic, Damia was slowly whittling down the Gryphon’s endurance with simple but effective magic.

When the Gryphon was visibly weakened, they killed it at once with Yozakura’s sure-kill technique that was strengthened with spirit magic.

It was an excellent battle.

They might’ve planned how they would fight against the Gryphon this way from the very beginning.

I had to say that the way they cooperated together improved my impression about them.

「Thank you for waiting. Though, I can normally wipe the floor against that kind of opponent by myself… I still ended up asking help from my subordinates since my body… isn’t up to par yet. S-shall we continue on then?」

Lovis spoke as he rubbed his hands while wearing a smile ear to ear, as if he was trying to curry favor with me.

「Y-yeah, let’s go…」

…His act in trying to curry my favor was waaay too obvious.

「I-I can’t stand this anymore… The man who I admired, the man who I followed… isn’t this kind of Lovis-sama…」

Damia broke!

「I also have no idea why he’s acting so humble… The monster aside, does he really have to be so humble to the point of humiliating himself? I used to think that Lovis-sama was the ally of freedom.」

Yozakura was also glaring at Lovis with a disappointed look on her face.

「W-What in the hell are you talking about? I’m not a coward! But neither am I a frog in a well! I’ve told you this before, right? Only a fool would try to pick a fight with someone who has transcendent power! It’s the same as when you need to lower your head when you pray to god. If you still don’t understand what I mean, then that only shows that neither of you has learned about the world.」

Lovis was desperately trying to persuade them.

「Though I can’t do it right now due to my debt of gratitude… I think I’m going to leave the 《Black Reaper》 after we escort her to the closest city.」

「Hou… I have no intention to stop you from leaving if that’s what you want. You of all people should know best about the fate of those who leave the 《Black Reaper》, right Yozakura? Are you sure that you want to live the rest of your life haunted by our shadows?」

「To be honest, I don’t want to embarrass Lovis-sama right here, however, I have to make it it clear that both me and Damia feels emotionally drained after seeing Lovis-sama’s embarrassing attitude.」

「W-Wait a minute, stop right there! Calm yourself down!」

An internal conflict was currently happening between Lovis and Yozakura.

Damia was visibly worried upon seeing the two quarrel with each other.

「M-My apologies! Please grant me a little bit more time, Kanata-sama! It seems Yozakura has yet to be convinced!」

「…Go ahead.」

「Thank you very much for your kindness!」

After bowing to me, he faced Yozakura again.

「…Yozakura, I remember that it’s already been six years since I first met you. Yeah… What lead you to join us back then was that eve—」

「Trying to use my emotions like that won’t work, Lovis-sama.」