◆Valkyrie, Shizufae

  He was obviously by no means a human.

  「No way… Lesser Daemon.」


  Madi shook her head in fear.

  ‘Lesser Daemon’ meant a low-ranking Daemon. Despite their name, their power was far greater than humans.

  It seems he was waiting for us on the way back.

  「Surrender. By doing so, I’ll at least spare the women.」


  The Lesser Daemon spoke to us while pointing his wide-bladed sword toward us.

  「What shall we do, Shizufae?」


  Big sis Keyna asked with an anxious look on her face.

  「Fight, we’ve no choice but to fight him.」


  I unsheathed my sword since that’s the only choice we had. Even though I have no idea about what he meant by sparing the women’s life, surrender wasn’t an option.

  「Sure enough, there’s no way we will surrender to Demons.」


  Decius-sama also unsheathed his sword after he placed the middle aged man he carried on his back on the ground.

  All of my comrades decided to resist too.

  「WAIT RIGHT THERE, DAEMON!! IF YOU TAKE ANOTHER STEP, I WON’T GUARANTEE WHAT WILL HAPPEN TO THIS WOMAN NEXT!!」


  Big sis Keyna walked forward while pointing the tip of her spear toward Ainoe-san.

  It was a cowardly tactic but, seeing our current situation, I guess I had no say in it.

  「Zeal-sama, I knew that you would come to save me. HAAH!!」


  Suddenly, the rope that tied around Ainoe-san got loosened. And then, big sis Keyna got blown to the side.

  「Uuuh…」


  Big sis Keyna held her hand that was holding on her spear a few moments ago.

  「Sis!!」


  I ran toward big sis Keyna. And found out that the arm that held the spear got injured.

  Upon a closer look, I found Ainoe-san’s hand was holding a flexible sword.

  「I’ve been carrying this sword with me all this time you see. Look, I can hide it with no problem by wearing it like a belt. You should do more thorough job with body examination.」


  Ainoe-san spoke to us as she stood beside the Lesser Daemon while wearing a smile on her face.

  「Now you have no hostages anymore. What are you going to do now, human?」


  The Lesser Daemon asked with a smile on his face.

  「Shizufae! Behind us!!」


  When I turned around, I saw a lot of armed ratmen coming in our direction.

  We were trapped in a pincer attack.

  The reason they didn’t make their move right away might be only because they’re not in a hurry.

  Maybe their goal was to catch us alive.

  Upon a closer look, numerous ratmen came from behind the lesser daemon too.

  「Shizufae, I’ll lead the charge. Use that chance to escape from this place.」


  Novis spoke to me while readying his great sword.

  「Wait, Novis. Are you going to use that?」


  「Yeah. It’s not like I have another choice but to use beast’s inspiration to get out of this situation, right?」


  Novis spoke with a calm look on his face.

  Novis was a beast warrior who served under Thors-sama, god of battle and strength.

  「Thou, Shalt Become Beast」, was Thors-sama’s teaching.

  The warriors who served Thors-sama didn’t live inside the ramparts. They lived outside the ramparts, where the monsters were running rampant.

  Those warriors wore pelts made from the skin or fur of beasts or demon beasts instead of armor. Their attire was the origin of their name, the beast warrior.

  That’s why not every country has Thors-sama’s temple. Reason being none of their priests live inside the ramparts.

  Their faith usually gathered outside of the rampart centering around the beast priest. In addition, they lived nomadic lives, often visiting monster infested places.

  Beast warriors were regarded as saviors in a place infested with monsters.

  In any case, beast warriors weren’t too demanding about money. Thus, they were a great help for a country in a monster infested place and low income.

  Those beast warriors had secret art passed amongst them, its name was Beast’s Inspiration.

  They drew tattoos made from the blood of ferocious demon beasts on their body which enabled them to gain the power of that demon beast. That was the beast’s inspiration.

  It seems that gaining this tattoo was really difficult to the point that the warrior would die if they drew the tattoo in one go. That’s why the tattoo was drawn bit-by-bit while the beast warrior undergoes training to strengthen their body and adapt their body to the effects of the tattoo. That was the case for most beast warriors. Naturally, there was an extremely talented warrior who could get the complete tattoo in one go.

  There were few known beast’s inspiration such as bear, wolf, and lion.

  And then, the beast warrior who used beastification’s power along with beast’s inspiration was a top notch warrior.

  But, the fact that beastification often caused the warrior to go berserk, attacking everyone around them was regarded as a huge demerit.

  One wrong move and they might even annihilate their own allies. For that reason, beast warriors are often called berserkers.

  Long time ago, Novis entered the beast warrior corps to get their beast’s inspiration. Since Novis was already a mass of talent, he gained the full beast’s inspiration in mere two years for what normally took nine years for a normal human.

  Novis’ beast inspiration was boar. He gained a powerful charge by using beastification.

  Before he was hailed as hero of fire, he was known as the Red Boar.

  And now, Novis unleashed his beast’s inspiration.

  「GUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!!」


  The tattoos that were running along Novis skin were pulsing as if they’re beating.

  His muscles swelled up and he grew a pair of fangs from his mouth.

  「Please, don’t run wild…」


  Despite what I said, Novis didn’t seem to hear my prayer.

  「What are you doing? Be a good kids and surrender quietly!!」


  The lesser daemon got flustered when he saw Novis.

  「GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!」


  Novis raised his sword, and rushed toward the lesser daemon.

  「WHAT THE!!」


  The lesser daemon got blown back upon receiving Novis’ charge attack.

  「Zeal-sama!!」


  Ainoe-san was running toward the lesser daemon along with a few ratmen.

  「My apologies but your opponent is me.」


  But Decius-sama kept Ainoe-san at bay.

  「Sorry, but it seems we’re really cornered this time.」


  Big sis Keyna stood by my side while receiving the healing magic from Leylia-san.

  「EVERYONE, STAND BEHIND ME!! I’LL SUPPORT NOVIS!!」


  I mean, Novis was a daredevil musclehead with close to no defense. That’s why he might die immediately if I didn’t protect him.

  「Goddess Rena-sama. Please protect Novis.」


  I used the magic bestowed to me by Rena-sama. It was a goddess’ shield that would protect the target from all kinds of attack.

  Goddess Rena-sama was the same warrior deity as Thors-sama. But different from Thors-sama, her power was focused on defense. That’s why Rena-sama’s crest was engraved in the majority of this world’s ramparts.

  That’s why I used this power which I received from Rena-sama to protect Novis.

  Novis’ body was wrapped in a light membrane.

  The light membrane protected Novis’ body from the ratmen’s attacks. While at the same time, he swung his great sword, mowing down ratmen around him.

  The lessee daemon who just got blown away was also running toward Novis.

  The sound of fierce battle came from behind.

  It was an extremely fierce battle. But we won’t give up.

  「GODDESS-SAMA!! BLESS EVERYONE WITH COURAGE!!」


  I invoked courage magic. This magic should raise everyone’s spirit.

  We’ve goddess-sama’s divine protection here. As if we’re going to be defeated that easily.

  ***

  ◆Dark Knight; Kuroki

  「Kuroki, is this that witch’s house?」


  Kuna, who stood by my side, asked with an adorable voice.

  「It seems to be this one, Kuna. I think this one should be the house of the witch, Arima.」


  After hearing Ulim’s story, I waited until Kuna woke up before looking for Arima’s house.

  The house seems to be hidden with illusion magic, but we found it easily.

  After Glorious landed and we descended from their back, I walked toward the witch’s house along with Kuna.

  A single house with a straw roof stood before us. It might be the house with Arima.

  This house stood lonesome in the middle of the forest.

  Normally speaking, the inhabitants of this house are bound to get eaten by a beast or monster if they dared to live alone in this kind of place. But, the one who lived in this world was a witch who received daemon’s power.

  According to Ulim, witch Arima didn’t seem to be a bad person, but she had no choice but to live in seclusion due to her identity as a witch.

  However, it seems that her kindness was well known in this area since the people from nearby countries who visited her were hiding her existence from Oudith and Faeria’s faith believers.

  Ulim and Efa seem to be often helped by her too.

  Upon a closer look, I discovered a lot of talismans pasted up around her house.

  There was a mark of two squares overlapping. This was the crest of the demon king, Modes’ crest.

  In short, this witch was related to the Demon King, Modes himself.

  After confirming that fact, I wore my Dark Knight’s armor. Why do you ask? Because it seems to be easier to talk with that witch in this form.

  The door suddenly opened when we got closer.

  And then, an old woman appeared from inside the house.

  It seems she knew that there was a guest or two for her. Well, it’s not like we hid our presence either when we came.

  Her figure wrapped in black robe was the very definition of witch.

  Thereupon, I tilted my head.

  I mean, the old woman kneeled on the floor as soon as she saw my figure.

  「O messenger of Great Demon King-sama, May I ask the reason for Your Excellency to visit this old woman’s humble abode.」


  「Eh, please raise your head. I came here since I happened to hear about you when I was around this area. You’re the one they call Arima, right?」


  The old woman raised her face when I asked that question.

  「Yes. I’m the one they call Arima.」


  「My apologize for this unannounced visit but, I have something to ask you.」


  First I greeted her politely.

  「Yes, feel free to ask O Great Dark Knight of Nargol!!」


  Arima replied with a shocked look on her face.

  Maybe I need to suppress my presence a little bit to calm her down.

  「Witch Arima, I want to ask you the name of the Daemon who contracted with you.」


  Arima showed an indescribable look on her face when I asked politely.

  Did she hesitate since I asked in a polite tone?

  「Oi woman, where’s your answer? Do you want to die?」


  By the time she asked, Kuna’s scythe was already around Arima’s neck.

  「HYIIIII!」


  Arima’s face cramped due to fear.

  It seems we ended up making her more scared instead. I guess I have to stop Kuna from overdoing it.

  But, Kuna didn’t stop her intimidation.

  「Oi woman. Look into Kuna’s eyes.」


  Kuna used magic on Arima.

  Arima’s eyes lost their light of will.

  I heaved a sigh upon seeing that scene. This method might indeed be the fastest method to investigate the situation.

  「The one who I made a pact with is Manseid-sama…」


  Arima muttered in a small voice.

  Manseid.

  I knew that name. He was supposed to be Ulbard’s right hand man.

  Manseid was a sorcerer of the Daemon race. I heard that he sometimes gathered intel outside of Nargol under Ulbard’s order.

  Maybe he made a pact with Arima in one of those times.

  But, if she knew the current position of Ulbard’s right hand man, she should know the current position of Ulbard too due to Manseid’s position.

  Let’s try to ask her, shall we?

  「Uhm… Do you know Manseid’s current position?」


  「Yes, even though it’s been thirty years since the last time I saw Manseid-sama and our connection has weakened, I know his current position. Manseid-sama is in Ariadya.」


  Such a precise and accurate answer.

  「The Republic of Ariadya is way too big, can you tell us his exact location?」


  「Underground… He might be in the underground.」


  I couldn’t hide my shock upon hearing Arima’s remark.

  When she said underground, did that mean the underground waterway? What is he doing in such a place?

  I was really confused.

  What’s the meaning of this? Reiji and co should be in the underground waterway right now.

  「Oh my, so that means Ulbard is in the underground waterway too. The hero should be heading toward their place right now.」


  Kuna spoke with an impish smile on her lips.

  But, this wasn’t a laughing matter. I had no idea why he came to such a place, but I had to go to save him before it was too late.

  「Let’s go, Kuna!! We’re going back to Ariadya now!!」