「No way… are you telling me that this is, Marchas?」


  Sienna asked me with a dumbfounded look on her face as she saw the headless Marchas.

  Her reaction was natural. It was natural for her to be this shocked upon seeing her acquaintance having ended up like that.

  She insisted on following along when I said that I was about to visit Marchas.

  But, she might never have expected, not even in her wildest imagination, that Marchas would end up like this.

  Color drained from her face and she trembled non-stop.

  Even I feel sorry for him.

  Marchas, who turned into 《Dullahan》, couldn’t move because of the black briar.

  Originally, I gave him a little bit of my blessing as gratitude for showing the way to Zeal’s place.

  My blessing raised his resistance.

  The effect of my blessing would disappear after two years, but it should have been enough to protect him from weak magic.

  In addition, just by granting my blessing to him, I formed a small connection with him.

  That’s why I knew immediately when something happened to Marchas.

  But, I never expected that he would end up like this.

  Half of Marchas was still alive. He had become a being that wandered between life and death, like a vampire. He could still make a child too.

  I heard from Kuna who interrogated Katia that Marchas, who already became something different from human, couldn’t return back to being a human anymore.

  Moreover, with his head gone, it was basically impossible to revive him.

  In addition, when Marchas, who lost his head, was separated from his master, Katia, he would go out of control, and go around hunting for human heads.

  I could only grind my teeth in frustration.

  Marchas turned out like this because I blessed him.

  It’s vexing but I have no idea what to do anymore.

  「Sorry, Marchas…」


  I unleashed my black flame, and burned Marchas’ body with it.

  This was the last thing I could do for Marchas.

  「What are you going to do after this, Kuroki?」


  Kuna called my name with a worried look on her face upon seeing my vexed face.

  「Sorry to make you worry so much, Kuna.」


  I patted Kuna’s head.

  Well, let’s see. What shall we do then?

  Zand should’ve noticed us when Kuna killed Katia.

  Zand.

  It was the name of the person that Katia mentioned. There was a high possibility that this Zand person wasn’t a human.

  Anyhow, they were the one who gave that much power to Katia who was a normal woman. They’re definitely a God.

  In addition, though I never met them before, I feel nothing but disgust toward them.

  They would definitely take me as their enemy when they realize that I was the one who broke one of their collections.

  「Sorry for this unexpected disturbance during our vacation, Kuna. We couldn’t even enjoy it to the fullest despite being on vacation. Can you take Sienna and go back first?」


  I asked while pointing at Sienna who was trembling non-stop.

  I have to check more information on Zand. Maybe it’s better to ask Zeal and Ainoe about Zand.

  「Understood. Be careful, Kuroki.」


  Kuna replied with an extremely charming smile on her face.

  For some reason, she seems to be enjoying this.

  「Thanks, Kuna. I’ll be back. Please wait for me.」


  I used flight after I brushed Kuna’s cheeks.

  ***

  ◆Moonlight Goddess, Kuna

  The night wind is blowing around me as Kuroki flies in the night sky.

  「Sorry Kuroki. I’ve no intention of waiting obediently.」


  I muttered while looking at the direction Kuroki was flying in.

  I was dissatisfied ever since I came to this human country.

  I mean, even though I’m enjoying my stroll with Kuroki, why should I regard those humans who are blocking our way?

  There was no need to act reserved toward those weakling.

  The same goes for Kuroki. He’s always enduring something, always being reserved and looking from the side.

  He even acted reserved when he was with Kuna.

  Kuna felt dissatisfied with that.

  Kuroki is strong. That’s why he should act more freely.

  I really want to see Kuroki wielding his power without holding back, showing his absolute might as a warrior.

  The problem was, how to realize that goal?

  I looked at the woman’s head and that headless man at their vanished place.

  And then, I pondered over Zand, their master.

  He was an amusing person. The fact that he was toying with the annoying humans of this country was particularly noteworthy.

  He might be useful for my plan?

  Yosh, it’s decided then. Be proud Zand, for you will become a useful tool for this Kuna.

  I couldn’t help but smile upon thinking about that.

  Kuna’s current smile definitely looks ominous.

  There was no way Kuna could show this kind of face in front of my beloved Kuroki.

  「O bushkey of shining white butterflies who live in the flower garden of Aedin deep in the darkness of Nargol, heed Kuna’s call. 」


  I focused my mind to call those insects.

  The insect user ability was originally that of ogre Kujig’s ability.

  But Kuna plundered that ability from Kujig.

  This insect user ability allowed its user to freely manipulate the power of insects. In short, even if the user has powerful magical power, they’re still considered weak unless they could control powerful insects.

  The insects used by Kujig weren’t that powerful.

  That’s why Kuna decided to look for stronger insects.

  And she finally found one strong insect.

  Shining white butterflies suddenly appeared out of nowhere around Kuna.

  This butterfly was a unique monster(a bewitching insect) which lived in the dark forest of Nargol.

  This butterfly’s magical power is comparable to those of divine beings. They have outstanding perception on top of being able to use illusions.

  In addition, since their speciality was moving between space, otherwise known as teleportation, barriers were rendered useless against them.

  Though they have no offensive ability, depending on how you use them, they could become the strongest weapon.

  Using these butterflies required an extreme amount of effort.

  But, that was only for that ogre. The same didn’t apply to Kuna. So Kuna persevered and ultimately succeeded.

  「Go!! My butterflies!! Find the one who hides in the darkness with this light!!」


  The butterflies then vanished into the darkness of the night with a flap of their shining wings.

  「Well then, just how long are you going to tremble in fear like newborn foal, Sienna?」


  Kuna then turned around, looking at Sienna.

  「G-Goddess-sama!?」


  But, Sienna’s trembling didn’t stop.

  She might be affected by fear after she saw that dullahan. Such weak power didn’t work on Kuna and Kuroki since our power was comparable to divine beings, but it was apparently quite powerful for Sienna.

  It seems Sienna has yet to be able to break free from her fear.

  「What a helpless girl. Hey, look into Kuna’s eyes.」


  This woman had taught Kuna how to dance. So Kuna will at least take care of her safety.

  When I used my magic, color returned to Sienna’s face.

  「Thank you very much… Goddess-sama…」


  Sienna expressed her gratitude with teary eyes.

  「Well, it’s time to go back, Sienna. Things will only get more hectic after this.」


  Sienna tilted her head, looking at Kuna who laughed as she told her so.

  ***

  ◆Black Haired Sage; Chiyuki

  「Are you alright, Chiyuki-san?」


  Nao asked with a worried voice as she lent her shoulder to me.

  「It’s okay, Nao-san. I just felt a bit unwell.」


  「Are you really sure that you’re okay, Sage-dono? Again, just what in the world you see back then?」


  Decius, who walked by my side, asked with a worried look on his face.

  But, there was no way I could tell him about what I saw there.

  Currently, we’re standing in the bar room of an inn.

  I used clairvoyance magic to peek into the room of the inn trying to find Marchas.

  But, using clairvoyance was my blunder.

  –Every single one of the guests in the room, even this one was in the middle of “having fun”.

  I unintentionally let out such mumbling.

  Yes, when I peeked into the 2nd floor of this inn, the guests were in the middle of having se*x with the prostitutes.

  I even spotted g*y and lesb*ian couples amongst them. Well, I knew that it wasn’t my place to complain since there were various forms of love.

  Rather, I would cheer for them if it was between good-looking men.

  BUT… BUUUUUUT, like hell I wouldn’t feel sick when I saw five, yes, FIVE WHOLE furry middle aged men piling on top of each other.