It was true that the Demon Queen and I looked identical in appearance, and that we shared the same magical abilities .
However, how was any of this even possible?
While I was still dumbfounded, Claire-sama continued .
“There are a lot of people in this world that look like Rei, but you’re different . You are Rei Taylor herself, aren’t you?”
There wasn’t any concrete evidence of it .
But Claire-sama seemed to be completely convinced that she was correct .
Silence hung in the air for a while .
“…… As expected of you, Claire-sama . ”
The Demon Queen said curtly .
Unlike how it was a moment ago, her voice was no longer that of an elderly person’s nor a child’s, but instead, of somebody very familiar―― in other words, it was my voice .
“What do you mean by that, Demon Queen?”
“I don’t have any intentions of explaining myself, since you’re going to be dying here either way . ”
The Demon Queen refused to answer my question .
“Would your reply be the same even if I’m the one asking you the question?”
“Yes, unfortunately . ”
“So you’re going to defy me, Rei?”
Claire-sama asked arrogantly .
As if she was looking at something dazzling, the Demon Queen answered with,
“You really don’t change, Claire-sama . You’re incredibly beautiful, just like always . ”
She spoke with a lonely smile on her face .
“But that’ll end here as well . Everything will end right here . ”
“You intend to have me killed? By your own hands, Rei?”
“I won’t kill you . I’ll leave that to Plato . ”
I could see Plato standing right behind the Demon Queen .
“Sure, sure,” Plato replied casually .
“Is there no other choice?”
“Yes . ”
“Are there any options besides fighting?”
“None . ”
“I see……”
Claire-sama’s expression looked somewhat angry, but also as if she was about to cry . She heaved a sigh .
“I won’t let you do that to me without putting up a fight, you know?”
“It’s better if you don’t struggle . That way, you can go without suffering . ”
“You’re quite insolent, aren’t you? Were you not disciplined properly, I wonder?”
“This is all of the time you’re going to be able to buy, Claire-sama . ”
“…… Hmph . ”
Claire-sama’s tone sounded quite aggressive, but that was just for show .
If you looked closely, you could see that her shoulders were trembling and that her lips were pale .
“Manaria-sama, could you use your Spell Breaker or Dominator on her? Since she’s supposed to be me . ”
I asked Manaria-sama in a whisper .
“It’s true that her magical composition is just like yours, but it’s actually different . I’m sorry, Rei, but it seems like she’s from a different dimension altogether . ”
Even someone like Manaria-sama was unable to fight back .
It seemed like we were gradually running out of options .
“Feel free to resist as much as you’d like . I will kill you when you eventually decide to give up . ”
The Demon Queen coldly sentenced us to our deaths .
“Hey, hey, hey, that’s enough quarreling between you love birds . ”
A cheerful voice that seemed incredibly out of place echoed in the air .
At the same time, a ray of intense light was fired directly at the Demon Queen .
“……!?”
The Demon Queen immediately took up a defensive stance, but she was still swallowed up by the light in an instant .
The light was pure white, a color unlike any of the other four elements, and gradually eroded the Demon Queen’s black magical barrier .
“……”
When the torrent of light subsided, the Demon Queen was kneeled over, her magical barrier nowhere to be seen .
If you took a closer look, you could see that there was a wound on the arm she used to form the barrier .
Meanwhile, not a single scratch was left on any of us .
“What do you think, Rei? Or should I say, Demon Queen? Well, whatever . This new invention of mine kinda hurts, doesn’t it?”
The owner of the voice belonged to a certain one-armed man .
He wasn’t wearing the Empire’s military uniform, but rather, Bauer’s .
“Rod-sama!”
“Hey there, Claire . Looks like something interesting happened here . I’ve come to help . ”
Rod Bauer, the former crown prince of Bauer, laughed like he was invincible .
“You, huh……”
The Demon Queen glared at Rod-sama irritatedly as she spoke .
“Yeah, it’s me . What’s up, Rei? You were always such an interesting girl, but seeing that you’ve become the Demon Queen now is way too amusing . ”
“…… You really can’t read the room, can you . Did you really think you could win against me just because you left a scratch on me?”
“That shot just now was rather weak . The maximum output isn’t anything like this, you know?”
Sparks were crackling between Rod-sama and the Demon Queen .
“Rod-sama, what was the magic you used just now?”
“Oh, it’s a new magical device that I created . I’m not the one actually using the magic, but I’ll explain more about that later . ”
Rod-sama turned to the Demon Queen again and continued .
“You call yourself the Demon Queen, right? Your sight and hearing must be better than the average person, so you must be aware of it by now . We’re sending in reinforcements from Bauer . ”
“……”
“No matter how strong of an entity you may be, you’ll be at a disadvantage if you have to fight that many magic users off at the same time, right?”
“……”
In contrast to Rod-sama, who sounded like he was running his mouth off, the Demon Queen remained silent .
“You punk…… Just what do you think you’re saying to the Demon Queen, huh? Your Highness, please let me do it . I can take every one of these guys on my own――”
“Please don’t, Plato . We’re retreating . ”
“Your Highness!”
“Do you have any objections?”
“…… Ugh . ”
After managing to silence Plato with a single question, the Demon Queen turned on her heels .
“Hey, hey, even though I came all this way for you, you’re going to end our date here? Come one, let’s play around a bit more . ”
“You’re the same as always, aren’t you, Rod-sama . Didn’t I tell you before that I don’t like persistent men?”
“Hmm, is that so? …… You really are Rei, huh . ”
“Yes . ”
Rod-sama’s tone sounded lonely for a moment, while the Demon Queen responded to his question curtly .
“Claire-sama, and the other me . There won’t be a next time . I will definitely kill you by then . ”
After leaving us with that, the Demon Queen and Plato took off and flew towards the east .
The Demon Queen didn’t have any wings, but she was still able to fly somehow .
There were a lot of things about her that were completely out of the ordinary .
“Rod-sama, you saved us . ”
“Please let me express my appreciation as well . Thank you very much, Rod-sama . ”
“Don’t worry about it . I’m glad I made it in time . ”
After laughing for a moment, Rod-sama continued .
“Anyway, what was with all of that? Rei’s the Demon Queen?”
“We’re not entirely sure of the situation either . But personally, I think she is without a doubt, Rei Taylor herself . ”
Claire-sama said firmly .
“If you’re the one saying that, then it must be true . The problem is how this all relates to the Rei that we know . ”
“That’s true…… Rei, do you have any guesses?”
Claire-sama asked .
“No, I really have no idea . ”
In the first place, I never even knew the Demon Queen existed at all .
And now that we find out I’m supposed to be her, everything has become way too confusing .
“Well, for the time being, let’s get going . We’ve got refugees from the Empire with us, right?”
“Oh, yes, that’s right . I completely forgot about that . ”
We were in the middle of evacuating the citizens of the Empire .
“We’ve got reinforcements from Bauer coming in as well . Even if the Demon Queen decides to show up again, we should be able to hold her off for a while . ”
“Thank you very much . ”
After that, we devoted our time to guiding the refugees .
Fortunately, there were no attacks called on by the Demon Queen throughout the whole process .
However, my mind was now full of doubts .
Why was the Demon Queen’s true identity me?
Why was she trying to kill off Claire-sama and myself?
And to begin with, what exactly am I, and what is the truth behind this world?