ăTo think that Death God Zarxis is still alive âŚă
I heard about Zarxis after Lord Diehart returned to Nargol.
Zarxis was the subordinate of my dear mother, Nargol.
My mother tried to destroy this world and is dubbed with the name of âDemon King of Destructionâ or âGod of Destructionâ.
I couldnât bring myself to destroy this world, so I betrayed her along with my subordinates, and working alongside with Oudith, the opposition leader.
Mother was defeated in this land by my own hands and Oudithâs. Ever since then, this land is cursed by eternal night, and thus this cursed land came to be called by the name Nargol.
Moreover, Zarxis was supposed to have died by my own hands. I never thought that he had actually survived.
ăWhat the hell is he trying to do âŚă
Zarxis was the loyal subordinate of my mother. He might be trying to bring a calamity upon this world.
ăBut then, Your Highness, the power of Zarxis is immaterial before yours. Heâs not worthy of your attentionă
I nodded in response to those words from Ruugas.
Zarxis usually created his own domain and snatched away the power of the people who walked into that domain.
Itâs the same even for gods since many gods have become the prey of Zarxis.
The only exception of that power are the people who have the power of my mother, Nargol, or someone recognized by Zarxis. That power wonât work against my mother. Thus, it also didnât work on me who has the same power as my mother.
Even though thereâs a slight remnant of my mother that survived, it isnât a threat to me.
ăCome to think of it, Zarxisâ power also didnât work on Lord Diehart, what does that mean?ă
Ruugasâ question made me curious about the same thing. It seems Lord Diehart can move just fine within Zarxisâ domain.
I can think of several reasons. For example, the demon sword in Lord Diehart possession is something made by my mother. Maybe that demon sword protected him. But, thatâs nothing more than a guess.
ăI donât know. What is he doing right now?ă
He was on the verge of dying when he arrived at the Demon Lord castle. Iâm told that he seems to have been ambushed by the hero party after trimming the horn.
I donât know why the hero party was there, though. It turned into a fierce fight after he encountered the hero party, and then he lost. As expected, the full hero party is too much for Lord Diehart to handle all by himself.
That was a problem. I need to think about some kind of measures. If he is defeated, we lose completely.
Maybe Lord Diehart needs a comrade by his side. But, the one who possesses power rivaling that of heroâs comrades in Nargol is just Lord Runfeld. But, I feel uneasy if itâs just Lord Runfeld. Maybe I need to strengthen the entire troops of Nargol.
ăCurrently, Lord Diehart is preparing for the goddess creation ceremonyă
ăHumph!ă
Itâs only one day since he returned, is his body capable of moving around already?
ăYes. He says that he wants to perform the ceremony right awayâŚă
ăI seeă
I have nothing to say if the person himself says so. At least the number of persons who can match the women of the hero would increase by one with this.
Thinking about the rarity of the material, the user of that secret ceremonial arts wonât be successful as long as he doesnât possess high enough magical power. But, itâll be okay if itâs Lord Diehart.
ăAt least we can feel at ease for nowă
I muttered to myself.
â Black Haired Sage, Chiyuki
ăHey, Chiyuki-san. What should I do?ă
Shirone is pacing around restlessly inside the room.
ăCalm down, Shirone-san. Walking around restlessly like that wonât solve our problemă
Shirone became restless like this after we returned to our room in the Rox Kingdom. Please stop pacing back and forth restlessly in my room. I have a hard time calming myself.
ăBut then, why is Kuroki in this world, too ⌠Geez, this is too confusingă
Shirone is at her wits end.
Iâm also in similar situation. To be honest, I donât know why is this happening.
Iâm racking my own brains here, you know. The identity of Diehart was that of Shironeâs childhood friend.
We almost killed him in that fight.
At that time, save for Reiji, the rest of us were in a chaotic state.
Shirone, who should be able to overtake that dragon, couldnât move due to the chaotic situation and desperately stopped Reiji who was about to use his Light Cannon of Heavenly Might.
I even think why did we have to mercilessly attack the childhood friend of Shirone.
Reiji said that itâs just a shapeshifter who took the form of Shironeâs childhood friend.
But, since Rino, who possessed the mystic eyes of truth which can rip apart any kind of illusion, affirmed that he really was the childhood friend of Shirone, he must be the real one.
In the first place, how did our enemies gain the information about the appearance of the childhood friend of Shirone.
Beside, speaking of disguise, they should just turn him into a beauty instead. Since it definitely would stop Reiji.
Thatâs why I concluded that he is the real childhood friend of Shirone.
I think the possibility of him being a shapeshifting demon was really low. Or rather, Reiji is more suspicious whether he is a fake or a real one. Could it be that he wasnât attacking us since he was the real one? I canât help but think so since the real person himself might be playing dumb.
And then, if heâs really the real childhood friend of Shirone, why is he in this world?
ăThereâs someone who should have performed the summon in demon kingâs sideâŚă
I muttered my hypothesis.
Thatâs the only conclusion.
ăAnd that guy is the one who summoned Kurokiă
I nodded upon hearing Shironeâs words.
ăAnd then, naturally they did some kind of mind control on him after summoning him, right?ă
Thus, I can understand the reason for him to willingly become the dark knight.
ăThat âŚă
Shironeâs face paled.
Iâm surprised at her expression. From her story, I got the feeling that heâs not someone special to her, just her acquaintance who she knows ever since their childhood. But, her attitude when she knew Diehartâs identity is abnormal.
She should be calmer than this.
ăGet a grip already, Shirone-san. Thereâs nothing we can do even if you fuss over that matter in this kind of place. You should calm yourself and think about a way to get him backă
I says so while tapping Shironeâs shoulder.
ăYeah âŚă
Though Shirone is nodding to my words, I know that sheâs yet to calm herself.
This is something that we have to think about after this.
He is a hostage in a certain meaning. Now, we cannot afford to recklessly attack Nargol.
Moreover, the nature of the man canât be applied to Reiji. If we invade Nargol, it might turn into battle to death against him whoâs protecting Nargol. We canât do that, too.
Thereâs still another problem. And that was when he came to attack us. At that time, I have no idea of what we should do.
The childhood friend of Shirone was extremely powerful. Far more powerful than Reiji. He isnât the kind of opponent against whom we can go easy.
My former impression of him according Shirone story is just an extremely weak guy. But, he is ,in fact, anything but weak.
A monster in certain meaning who can take on all of us together. I think that he might be strengthened with some kind of magic. The matter of regaining him back might prove to be far more difficult.
I should consider some sort of measures.
Nevertheless, I wonder how many people were summoned to this world aside from us.
Iâm thinking about the event in that basement. We might be able to settle this if we have that manâs cooperation. But then, that man always hid his face and never showed it. Is there some sort of reason for him to do so?
Some kind of secret thatâs unknown to us. Thatâs also unknown to me.
ăIt seems thereâs so many things I need to think about âŚă
Since I donât know, and Iâm too lazy to think about the things that even Shirone donât know about.
And Shirone has yet to cool her head.
I heaved a sigh upon watching her.
â Goddess of Wisdom and Victory, Rena
ăRena-sama. The horn was successfully stolen by the dark knightă
Nier reported to me.
ăSo the horn was still stolen, huh âŚă
Iâm heaving a sigh.
I, who was shocked by what happened in that night, returned to my own house in Elios.
Since I canât negate the effect of that magic potion from the outside, I have no other way but to negate the effect from the inside.
Thanks to my tremendous magic resistance, I can negate the effect in just one night.
Thatâs why I donât really want to think about Kuroki again. I never want to think about something like sleeping together with him, or have a meal together, or even think about strolling around with him, while heâs wearing a collar on his neck in all these instances. I definitely do not want to think about such things. No, and by that I mean, absolutely NOT.
But, itâs true that I want him. At that time, letâs give him a collar with a beautiful gem. It would definitely be a perfect match with him. [TL: ⌠] [ED: Women are creatures that could not be understood, after all.]
But, the matter of him taking the horn was a failure on my side.
Because I headed back to Elios, those girls who felt that thereâs something strange with my action followed me all the way back to Elios, too. As a result, the horn was taken away.
Heâs going to use that horn to make a fake goddess with my hair.
I canât let him to do that. Why do you want to make a fake goddess, Kuroki? Even though you have the real one here!
ăYOU HAVE NO NEED FOR A FAKE GODDESS, JUST TAKE ME AWAY WITH YOU!ă
I unintentionally shouted out what I thought.
Nier is showing a puzzled face.
ăUhm ⌠Rena-sama âŚă
ăNo, itâs nothing. Thanks for the report. You may go back to your duty, Nieră
Nier leaves my room in heed of my order.
Leaving me alone in this room.
I canât calm myself. My heart is in turmoil. This side of mine is something that I never show to my subordinates, the war maidens.
And I know the cause for all of this. I recall the origin of all of this.
ăAs if Iâm going to let things end in this way. Prepare yourself, KUROKI!ă
I made such a declaration while looking toward Nargolâs direction.
â Dark Knight, Kuroki
A girl is standing before me.
A girl with silvery white hair.
She is the new goddess that I created right after I returned with the horn of the holy dragon king, the last ingredient.
With the combination of the hair of the beautiful Rena and the horn of the Holy Dragon King as ingredients, she was born as an extremely beautiful girl.
She is shorter than Mona or Rena in terms of height, but her breast size is around the same.
ăYEAH!ă
I unintentionally made a guts pose. Thereupon, my wounded body starts screaming in pain.
ăOuch âŚă
I should restrain myself from making excessive movements. Though my wounds have recovered to some extent with healing magic, I canât overexert my body yet.
Nevertheless, I wanted to perform the secret ceremony as soon as possible.
I recall the scenery on that mountain.
They seem to be really enjoying themselves.
Reiji, who is surrounded by Shirone and the others, seems to be really happy. That was such a dazzling scene.
I, who couldnât move any longer due to the wounds that covered my body, couldnât do anything but look at that spectacle.
The spectacle of Reiji and those goddesses. I was jealous of them.
Really, really jealous of them. Iâm fine with just one goddess. But, the goddess that I wanted was none of them.
The goddess that I actually want is the one in front of me right now.
This small goddess is looking at me with a curious expression.
ăSince you were born from my magical power and Renaâs hair, your name is Kunaă [TL : Kuroki + Rena = Kuna]
I slowly brush Kunaâs hair.
ăKuna?ă
Kuna is tilting her head.
ăItâs your name, Kuna. My name is Kuroki. Please take care of me after this, Kunaă
Kuna is staring at me.
ăKurokiă
Kuna calls my name with her cute voice.
All the thorns that were binding my heart disappeared when I heard her voice. With her by my side, I wonât fear anything.