I saw the two of them dance until just a while ago.

  If possible, I wanted to dance with my dear master, too.

  My chest became painful when I thought about my dear master.

  I was really surprised when I saw my dear master for the first time.

  Why did a human like him become the dark knight? And ……

  But upon careful consideration, there should be no human being that can become a dark knight.

  My dear master just looks like a human, and yet he isn’t a human.

  Well, it was definitely not strange at all, I mean, the deity-sama, the guardian deity of Algore did not resemble a human at all.

  That’s just how powerful he is.

  Even those fiendish looking demons from the powerful demon race are bowing down before my dear master.

  According to what I heard, it seems that my dear master is strong to the point of him being able to defeat that hero with ease. The hero was the one who caused the fall of our clan.

  That’s why my dear master is equivalent to our benefactor.

  I’m prepared to give my everything to my dear master. I’ll even give him my body if he wishes for it.

  But, that seems too harsh for me, the reason being that Kuna-sama will be angry whenever I try to tempt my dear master.

  What is the true identity of Kuna-sama, I wonder? I never asked about that matter before.

  There was a rumor that she’s the daughter of his highness, the Demon King.

  Kuna-sama is devoting her love solely to my dear master. It seems that she won’t even let a mere human girl approach him.

  Chills ran down in my spine whenever she glared at me with her beautiful face.

  She should be dancing with my dear master around this time.

  I heaved a sigh whenever I recalled the moment I saw the figure of Kuna-sama in her ball dress.

  She was breathtakingly beautiful. Her beauty might rival even those goddesses of the legends.

  My dear master, who was dancing with such a beautiful Kuna-sama, might be really delighted right now.

  Even though I was also dressed up for the sake of this ball, the gap between me and Kuna-sama was like the gap between heaven and earth.

  There’s no way he would dance with me after dancing with someone as beautiful as Kuna-sama.

  I shook my head to interrupt such a train of thought. Let’s not think about it as much as possible. It would only make me drown in deeper sorrow.

  I should just be satisfied with being able to dance with my dear master during our training sessions.

  Rather than thinking about such sad things, let’s just change my pace by eating these delicious looking dishes.

  I came to another room where they prepared the food for the guest.

  Spreading before my eyes were the food products which I had never eaten until now.

  I keep stuffing those foods in the tupperware.

  This container called tupperware is a magic tool made by the dwarf artisans for my dear master.

  This tupperware was really an excellent container with heat insulation property.

  「Everyone will be delighted」


  I recalled my family which I left in Nargol.

  There were only a few things that humans can eat in Nargol.

  The food of the orc race, the race with the most numbers in Nargol, is not something that can be eaten by humans as the humans would die if they eat that.

  We were currently surviving somehow since, for some reason, we can eat the food of the demon race.

  My dear master also gave us his share of food, but doing so gained him more animosity from the demon race. That is why, no matter how much protection my dear master gave us, I had no choice but to refuse my dear master’s offer since I couldn’t let him garner higher animosity from the demon race, because of us humans living in Nargol.

  That’s why I was stuffing as much food as possible in this tupperware for everyone.

  My hands were moving from one food to another.

  Suddenly, I noticed that there was another person by my side.

  That person noticed my bad manners. He might have been a citizen of Velos.

  “Oh, this is bad.” is what I felt. I mean, I was not a proper guest in this ball and that might cause unnecessary trouble.

  I gripped my skirt. Hidden under my skirt was the short sword I got from my dear master.

  This short sword was a present from my dear master.

  I heard that this sword was made by my dear master himself.

  He gave me this sword in case I needed it for my own self-protection.

  Though it somewhat disturbed my movement, I still brought it with me to Velos.

  I might not be that skillful in using this sword so maybe it would be better for me to leave this place without seeing the face of the person next to me.

  「REGENA!」


  The person next to me called my name.

  For some reason, he knew my name.

  When I looked at his face.

  It was a face that I knew.

  「Omi …… ros」


  Standing there was my childhood friend who left on a journey one year ago.

  He might have come back some time ago.

  I noticed that Omiros had become more masculine than what he was before his journey.

  「Regena …… It’s really you, why are you in this place……? What are……」


  He was making a face as if he couldn’t believe what he saw.

  His eyes were scanning my body and then stopped at my hand that was already gripping something.

  In there was the tupperware with lots of food inside it.

  Feeling embarrassed, I desperately tried to hide the tupperware.

  「Y-You’ve misunderstood …… It’s just that ……」


  What might he misunderstand, I wonder? I wonder what I am blabbering about right now.

  For some reason, I didn’t want my childhood friend to see this embarrassing side of mine.

  「Sorry, Omiros!」


  Saying so, I turned away from Omiros.

  「WAIT, REGENA!」


  Omiros was trying to chase after me.

  I don’t know why I was trying to get away from Omiros.

  My legs were just naturally heading towards my dear master.

  But then, I collided against something big in the corridor when heading towards the venue and fell on my butt.

  That’s strange, there shouldn’t be something this big at the entrance.

  I then looked up at the big thing that I collided with.

  「.…… EH?」


  There, I saw something with height and width at least twice that of mine.

  Though its figure resembled that of a human’s, there was still a great difference.

  On that thing’s face, a pair of tusks was growing from its mouth. And then, its eyes met with mine.

  「KYAAA!」


  Suddenly, loud screams reverberated throughout the entire venue.

  「IT’S THE OGRES!」


  「WHY ARE THEY IN THIS PLACE?」


  「KYAAA!」


  I could hear such screams across the venue.

  Hearing them screaming “Ogres”, I finally realized the identity of the thing before me.

  It was the first time I met one, but it was definitely an ogre.

  They’re renowned as ferocious man-eating monsters. I had to run, but my body wouldn’t move from my sitting position.

  「What a delicious looking girl……」


  The ogre said while stretching his hand toward me.

  「GET YOUR HANDS OFF REGENA!」


  Omiros was rushing to save me. But he couldn’t win against an ogre even with his weapon, much less now without one.

  「What do you think you’re doing?」


  The ogre swept his hand. The rushing Omiros was easily caught by him.

  The ogre’s eyes were glaring at Omiros.

  At this rate, Omiros will die.

  As soon as the thought crossed my mind, my body moved on its own. I stood up and unsheathed the short sword which I had tucked inside my skirt.

  A black flame was coiling on the blade as soon as the short sword left its sheath.

  「GET YOUR HANDS OFF OMIROS!」


  I slashed my sword at the leg of the ogre.

  「GUGYAAA!」


  The careless ogre ended up losing one of his feet and was now writhing in pain.

  「OMIROS!」


  I helped Omiros stand up.

  「Regena……」


  Omiros was looking at me dumbfoundedly.

  「Run, Omiros!」


  I grabbed Omiros’s hand and then started running.

  「WAIT! YOU BASTARD!」


  I could hear that ogre’s scream behind me.

  But, ignoring that scream, we ran away.

  ◆Dark Knight, Kuroki

  The matter of the ogres trespassing into this ball really surprised me.

  「This is bad …… Let’s go to the king’s place. Right, please come with me too!!」


  Midou Kyouka said so to me so I followed her.

  「Eh …… Why should I……」


  Maybe because she couldn’t hear my perplexed voice, Midou Kyouka kept walking without a care.

  But for some reason, I was unable to defy her and, instead, kept following her from behind.

  The place I ended up in was the worst place for me.

  We found the king of Velos immediately. Well, it was easy to know his position since there were a lot of palace guards around him.

  The king was sitting down on the floor.

  「I’m okay. The rest of you guys protect the guests in this place.」


  「But, your majesty……」


  I could hear such exchanges.

  The king also noticed us when we got close to him.

  「Kyouka-dono …… My deepest apologies. For something like this to happen……」


  The king was apologizing while still sitting on the floor.

  「It doesn’t matter. I’ll do something about this place, so please leave immediately」


  「Hahaha, there’s no way I can run while leaving my guests behind. Moreover …… My hip is hurt and won’t move at all …… Hahaha, I am quite pitiful. Come to think of it, will you take Corfyna along with you to a safer place?」


  「Dear, you can’t be……」


  The queen was making a face as if she was going to cry.

  What a beautiful scene this married couple is sharing at such time.

  I know he is a kind person from the way he worried about the other people before himself.

  The king was telling his soldiers to save the guests and his queen first.

  It seems that he’s going to stay behind alone.

  I don’t know whether that was a correct decision as a king.

  In fact, the soldiers were disobeying their king’s order and trying to carry the king instead. Their actions were the right choice when considering the fate of the kingdom.

  But, it was too late.

  This place was already located by the ogres.

  Three ogres were coming towards us.

  Well, it was not that hard to find this place with so many palace guards gathering here. It was as clear as day for everyone else that the ones gathered in this place were VIPs.

  The ogres then stopped right in front of us.

  「Are you the king of this kingdom?」


  The ogre standing in the middle asked while looking at the king of Velos. Her dreadful voice was reverberating in the venue.

  She might be the leader of these ogres.

  「OH! PROTECT THE KING!」


  Those soldiers stood in front of the ogres.

  「SMALL FRY SHOULD JUST BACK OFF!」


  The ogres on her either side swatted the soldiers like flies, easily sending them away.

  「HYIII!」


  The king raised a scream.

  「DEAR!」


  The queen was the only one left standing before him.

  「N-NO CORFYNA! EVEN IF IT’S JUST YOU, YOU MUST SAVE YOURSELF!」


  Despite the king’s plea, the queen wouldn’t budge from her place.

  「O-Ogres, W-What, do you want?」


  The king was asking the ogres with a trembling voice.

  「My name is Kujig. The little sister of the hero should be in this kingdom! Bring her to me!」


  Now I knew that the one they were aiming for was Midou Kyouka. Why was she aiming for Kyouka?

  Though vaguely, I somehow noticed this fact before – that’s not just Reiji, the girls around him were also the kind of people who easily made enemies left and right. That was why I didn’t really find it strange that one of them incurred the wrath of the ogres.

  「Your target is me, right? I will neither run nor hide. That’s why, please stop targeting other people!」


  Midou Kyouka stepped forward.

  「Some nerve you got there, don’t cha? You will pay for your sin of killing our younger brother!」


  The ogre to the left was saying so in a terrifying voice.

  「I won’t be a good girl if you target the other guests」


  Midou Kyouka said with a threatening tone.

  But the ogres just laughed it off.

  「My bad, your comrades won’t come to save you.」


  Laughing with a sneer, the ogre woman in the middle told Kyouka.

  「Your two comrades were trapped inside the cage made by me. Even a god would have a hard time breaking out from it, not to mention a human. They’re absolutely unable to break out from it.」


  The female ogre was laughing loudly.

  「WHAT?! Kaya and Shirone!」


  Midou Kyouka responded with a flustered voice.