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Act 3-21.1: Attack of The Giant
The venue echoed with screams of terror as every corner got filled by giant ogres, running rampant in raiding. Kuroki was bewildered by the scene he was witnessing.
「Things look really bad… Let’s go see the king. Don’t worry, just walk behind me!!」
Kyouka said as she dragged Kuroki.
「Eh… why thake me though…」
Kyouka ignored Kuroki’s mutters and kept dragging him. Kuroki couldn’t fathom why she had to take him with her since in the first place this wasn’t his initial plan. Before coming here, he had discussed with Kuna that if anything should happen, they should secretly leave the place. At this moment, all he wanted was to find Kuna and leave.
Yet, right now he was being forcibly led to the last place he wanted to go to. Kyouka easily found the king as he and the queen were surrounded by many guards. They found him sitting on the floor and talking to the soldiers in front of him.
「I’m okay, go protect the invitees instead.」
「But, Your Majesty…」
This was the exchange they came across. Once they were close enough, the king finally noticed them and started apologizing right away in his same sitting position.
「I deeply apologize for making you experience such a disaster… Kyouka-dono.」
「Don’t worry about it. I’ll do something about this situation so please leave the venue.」
「Hahaha, I can never run away and leave my guests behind, it would be such a disgrace to myself. Moreover… my waist feels weak… Hahaha, I’m such a miserable king. Can you take Corfyna to safety instead of me?」
「Dear, no…」
The queen was already on the verge of crying.
The king was asking his queen to escape first and ordering his soldiers to protect the guests, wanting to leave himself vulnerable in the dangerous venue. Kuroki felt like this wouldn’t be the wisest decision.
The soldiers must’ve thought the same as they ignored their king’s orders and tried to make him flee to safety first. The soldiers were making the correct judgment considering the kingdom’s current situation. The kingdom would fall into chaos if the king suddenly died during this incident.
However, they were still too late as ogres had already spotted them. That was only natural, anyone was bound to notice that the one surrounded by the most soldiers was definitely the most important personage in the venue.
Three ogres came to surround Kuroki and the others.
「Are you the king of this kingdom?」
The female ogre who stood in the middle asked as she looked at Eclas, her voice eerily echoing in the venue.
「P-PROTECT OUR KING!!!」
The soldiers stood in front of the ogres to protect their king.
「F*ck off you small fries!!」
The two ogres on the sides brushed the soldiers aside, their light pat strong enough to send the soldiers flying across the venue.
「HIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!!」
Eclas raised a scream.
「DEAR!!!」
And finally, the queen stood in front of her husband.
「N-NO, CORFYNA! PLEASE ESCAPE FROM THIS PLACE!!」
Despite what Eclas said to her, Corfyna didn’t seem to have any intention of following her husband’s plea.
「O-Ogre, w-… what do you want?!」
Eclas asked with a trembling voice.
「My name is Kujig. I hear that the hero’s little sister is staying in this kingdom! Tell that girl to come out now!!」
The ogres were obviously here for Kyouka.
（Why are they targeting her?）
Kuroki tilted his head in confusion upon hearing that remark.
Naturally, no one would answer his question.
「Your target is me, right? I won’t run or hide. So let go of the others, they’re innocent!!」
Kyouka stepped forward.
「Quite a gutsy one ain’t ya. Now you have to pay for the sin of killing our little brother with your life!!」
The ogre on the left spoke with an extremely terrifying voice.
「My attendant won’t stay quiet if you try to hurt me you know.」
Kyouka tried to threaten the ogres. However, the ogres laughed at her words instead.
「Too bad, your comrade won’t make it here in time.」
The female ogre in the middle cackled as she replied to Kyouka.
「Your two female companions are trapped inside the magic cage I made. Not even a God can easily escape from it. So it’s pretty much impossible for mere humans to escape from there.」
The female ogre looked really delighted as she spoke.
「WHAT! YOU TRAPPED KAYA AND SHIRONE-SAN!!」
Kyouka spoke with a flustered voice.
「Yeah, mama’s magic is the strongest. They might be the hero’s comrades but they’re just puny humans. They ain’t a match for me!!!」
The ogres by her side started laughing, initiating a wave of laughter from the other ogres in the venue.
「I see… So you guys are the reason behind their early disappearance. But still, I feel like you’re looking down on us a little bit too much. Even if I look like this, I’m still my dear brother’s little sister. I alone am enough to beat you all.」
Kyouka’s hands released a brilliant light along with an extremely powerful mana wave, unimaginable from someone of her frame.
「Is that so? You seem to be unable to control your magical power properly though. Are you going to kill the other people in this place too?」
The female ogre looked really delighted as she spoke.
「How did you know that?!!」
「Since you know that resistance is futile, be a good child.」
The female ogre spoke triumphantly as she approached Kyouka.
Kyouka in turn retreated.
Of course, since Kyouka stepped back, Kuroki who was at first behind her, became the one closest to the ogres.
「What is the meaning of this?」
The ogres asked as they saw him unflinching.
「Ah… well, it’s nothing…」
Kuroki had lost the chance to escape. Moreover, before he realized it, Eclas and the other humans had retreated a distance from the ogres. As such, it seemed as if he was trying to protect the others when he stood unmoving.
「What are you doing?! There’s nothing you can do even if you act brave right now! Please step back, things are going to get really dangerous soon!!!」
Kyouka told Kuroki with an angry tone. He was told to retreat yet refused to do so as he was lost in his own world.
「Hah! Trying to act like a knight in shining armor and protecting the princess… is that your aim? Well, since that’s the case, then DIEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!」
The ogre on the right extended his arm trying to grab Kuroki’s collar. In the next second, Kuroki’s eagle grip caught his hand, turned around, and smashed the poor ogre to the floor
「「「Eh?!」」」
The people around couldn’t believe what they saw. That was only natural‚—ogres were much more powerful than humans, especially when it came to brute strength. They could easily fling around a normal human with one hand. Yet, that ogre was smashed to the ground by a seemingly ordinary man.
However, even if it was unbelievable, what happened in front of them was real.
「W-What happened just now…」
「Flinging that giant ogre…」
The people around seemed to be confused.
「R-Ringu!!」
The female ogre called the name of the ogre who was just slammed to the floor.
「H-How can you…」
Eclas, who was sitting limply behind Kuroki and Kyouka. muttered.
「This move… I get the feeling that I’ve seen it somewhere before…」
Kyouka, who stood behind Kuroki, mumbled.
（Oh crap, I ended up using the technique I had used on her maid before…）
Kuroki was starting to sweat. Honestly speaking, Kuroki had thought that Kyouka would be able to do something about this situation. Thus, he didn’t do anything unnecessary. And yet, Kyouka turned out to be unable to control her own mana. Kuroki was then reminded about a certain piece of information, namely Kyouka’s nickname: the exploding princess.
「WHO THE HE*LL ARE YOU?! WHY ARE YOU DISTURBING THIS KUJIG’S PLAN?!!」
The female ogre called Kujig asked with a furious look on her face. Kuroki got the feeling that something similar had happened before. If he didn’t do anything, he felt that Kyouka might get killed by the ogres.
「I’m not trying to disturb your plan but… Uhm… can you leave this place for now? I’ll overlook this matter just this one time.」
Kuroki replied as he bowed to the ogres.
Kujig was extremely bewildered upon seeing Kuroki bow to her. She then looked at her sons and found that they were just as bewildered as her.
「Haah… what are you talking about? As if we’re going to retreat after coming this far!」
But, Kujig turned down Kuroki’s offer.
（Yeah, as if they’d back down that easily.）
Even though today was supposed to be an enjoyable day with Kuna. Everything went to sh*t due to the ogres’ raid. Kuroki was really pissed off right now.
「Uhm, leave them to me. You may retreat for now.」
Kuroki spoke to Kyouka as he stepped forward.
「Just… who in the world are you?」
Naturally, Kuroki had no intention of revealing his identity to Kyouka.