◆Dancer, Sienna

  I walked in the underground waterway while shouldering Novis.

  「WAIT, NOVIS!! DON’T STICK TOO CLOSE TO SIENNA LIKE THAT!! MIND YOUR DISTANCE A LITTLE BIT!!」


  Shizufae was scolding Novis when we started walking again.

  Since Novis was completely exhausted, he couldn’t even walk properly.

  Though not as much as Novis, Shizufae and the others were also quite exhausted. My brother was carrying an unknown man on his back despite his exhaustion.

  That’s why, I, who had much more stamina left than anyone else, decided to carry him over my shoulder.

  Certainly, Novis slipped a little bit and touched my ch*st. But, it was thanks to his perseverance with keeping Zeal busy that I arrived on time to save my brother.

  That’s why I shall forgive him for that accident.

  「Don’t worry Shizufae-san. He’s the one who worked the hardest after all. He’s completely exhausted too. That’s why it must be a pure coincidence.」


  I’ll at least protect Novis from his comrade’s wrath.

  「As expected of Sienna-san, so ki~nd. Rather, Shizufae, are you by chance jealous of her?」


  Novis leaned closer to me as if embracing me, flashing his smile toward Shizufae.

  「Haah? What in the world are you talking about!?」


  They were smiling as they had such an exchange.

  And then, being touchy with each other.

  Shizufae was a war maiden who was chosen personally by the Goddess Rena-sama. Since she was an extremely beautiful girl, I would introduce her to director Midas if she was interested in playing in theatre.

  In addition, seeing his attitude, Novis seems to have a crush on Shizufae. That’s why he must be really happy seeing Shizufae acting jealous like that.

  But, from my perspective, that didn’t seem to be the case. I mean, if she really was jealous, Shizufae would try to separate us when Novis was acting all clingy toward me.

  In short, Shizufae didn’t seem to have any special feelings for Novis.

  From her tone, it seems she was purely worrying about me.

  「Sienna, how about we exchange the person we’re carrying? This man is lighter than Novis after all.」


  My brother then offered to exchange the man he carried with Novis.

  I had no idea about the identity of the man who my brother was carrying along.

  Even though he woke up, his eyes were lifeless. He couldn’t even walk by himself.

  His heart might have broken. I had no idea what’s the reason behind his condition but we might have to bring him to the temple of Fanacea-sama, the Goddess of Medicinal Herb and Healing.

  「Don’t worry about me, niisan. I mean, you’re just barely managed to carry him too. Moreover, he’s the famous hero of fire. It’s my honor to be able to get to know him.」


  I looked at Novis, smiling at him with the business smile that I used when greeting my fans.

  Compared to the muscular Novis, the man who was being carried by my brother was thin. That’s why he was right about that man being easier to carry than Novis. But, I couldn’t accept his offer since my brother was also exhausted from the prolonged battle.

  「OOh, Sienna-san! I want to get to know you better too.」


  Novis’ face broke into a smile upon hearing my remark. That’s too easy, hero of fire.

  Shizufae behind us might be making a dumbfounded face right now.

  Well, let’s stop that impossible conclusion.

  「Finally, we’ve returne~d.」


  The female magician called Madi spoke. We’re finally back to the entrance of the underground waterway.

  「Uhm? What’s happening? Something feels amiss.」


  The female warrior called Keyna suddenly spoke up.

  We also noticed what she meant a moment later.

  「What’s the meaning of this? The weather was just fine when we entered!!」


  Laylia, the female priest, spoke while looking at the sky.

  Yes, the weather was clear when we’d just entered the underground waterway. And yet, the sky was covered by dark clouds, stormy wind, and lightning right now.

  This sudden change of weather was clearly abnormal.

  Moreover, the people were starting to make a ruckus.

  「EVERYONE!! LOOK!!」


  We were looking in the direction where the elf Nora was pointing at.

  「No way… what’s that?」


  Though the distance was really far away from us, we could see it clearly.

  There were numerous monsters flying in the northern sky. That scene was as if it was the herald of the end of the world.

  That might be the reason why everyone was making so much ruckus.

  Some people were starting to run with a flustered look on their face.

  Some were simply crying.

  Some were praying to their god.

  Some were heading towards ramparts with a sword in hand.

  In short, everyone reacted in various ways.

  But, I knew that there was nothing we could do in this situation.

  「Did those monsters come to attack this city?」


  Leylia was looking up at the sky with an angry look on her face. And yet, her face was as pale as a sheet of paper.

  「Ain’t things looking pretty bad if we don’t escape as fast as possible…」


  Keyna spoke with a trembling voice.

  I understand her feeling of wanting to escape from this city. I mean, she is just being realistic.

  「AAAH!! LOOK OVER THERE!! IT’S REIJI-SAMA!!」


  Shizufae pointed at the shining figure in the sky.

  Indeed, that shining figure was confronting the monster as if he was trying to protect the city.

  「Yeah, it’s definitely hero of light-dono.」


  My brother was right. It was the figure of the hero of light. I met him once before.

  Though his figure was supposed to be really far away from this place, I could see him very clearly for some reason.

  「I don’t know what happen but, let’s see it!!」


  Everyone nodded together upon hearing Shizufae’s remark.

  ===

  ◆Black Haired Sage; Chiyuki

  「As expected of Chiyuki-san. That monster is no match for you.」


  Sahoko spoke as she flew to my side.

  Down below was the figure of Badon who stopped moving due to my curse magic.

  It was a giant, long and thin bug. That was the true figure of Badon.

  Long time ago, this Badon was the evil god who attacked Ariady, and was finally killed by Alphos, god of music. But, Badon was revived by using magician Tarabos’ body as its vessel, and moved to destroy the city again.

  Even though he should have been destroyed when Alphos defeated it before, I couldn’t deny that he was still here. But now, I’ll erase that guy for sure.

  The awakened Badon was starting to rampage again. That’s why I decided that it would be too dangerous to let him without restraints.

  The people who saw Badon were starting to run in panic.

  So I used invisibility magic to make Badon’s body invisible.

  With this, Badon’s existence couldn’t be seen by those with weak magical power. The people around will calm down too.

  「Sealing its movement is but a temporary measure, what should we do to it later? I want to erase its existence for sure this time. But at the same time, I can’t use such powerful magic when we’re right below the city…」


  Badon was really big. Using powerful magic to eliminate it might affect my surroundings.

  「How about moving it to wider location outside?」


  「You’re right, Shirone-san. Rino-san, can you move this guy to the sea?」


  I asked for Rino-san’s assistance.

  「Uhm, let me try.」


  After Rino summoned the wind spirit, Badon started to float in the air. Naturally, it tried to rampage but it couldn’t move since I’d sealed its movements with my magic.

  Alphos might not be able to use powerful magic to kill Badon back then due to the situation but it should be possible for Rino and I. All we had to do was bring it to the sea and turn it into cinders.

  「CHIYUKI-SAN!! THIS IS BAD!! LOOK OVER THERE!!」


  Nao called out to me while pointing to the north.

  There were a lot of monsters in the direction where Nao was pointing at.

  And standing in the center of them was the figure of a Dark Knight.

  「Is Kuroki coming too?」


  Shirone said so while glaring at the crowd of the monsters.

  「No, it doesn’t seems to be him, Shirone-san.」


  「It’s not him but still…」


  Shirone heaved a sigh of relief upon hearing Nao’s confirmation.

  「Come to think of it, where’s that Moonlight Goddess? She doesn’t seems to be amongst the people who we met in the altar.」


  Sahoko was right. Now that she mentioned it, Moonlight Goddess’ figure really wasn’t amongst the people we met in the altar.

  「But since Kuroki isn’t here, I’m not interested in this anymore. If it’s only that, Reiji-kun alone is enough.」


  Shirone said so while looking at the crowd of monsters.

  「Yeah, you’re right. I do think that Reiji-kun alone is enough to beat them but… some citizens might become victims. I’ll go just in case. Can I leave the rest to you?」


  The monsters that appeared in the air had already caused unrest in Ariadya. Even if they didn’t come to attack, some people might get injured due to the chaotic situation.

  「I understand, leave this place to us, Chiyuki-san. I’ll leave the matter of the citizens to you.」


  Shirone replied to me while nodding along with Rino.

  Thus, both of them carried the floating Badon toward the Ariad inlet.

  Using my most powerful magic above the sea might minimize the environmental damage.

  「Sahoko-san, can you go to Fanacea’s temple? Just in case.」


  When I asked, Sahoko nodded immediately.

  Fanacea’s temple was something akin to a hospital of this world. Thus, I sent Sahoko, who excels in healing magic, there.

  「Nao-san, can you come with me?」


  「Roger that!」


  Thus, Nao and I went toward Reiji’s direction.

  「Reiji-kun. What’s the situation?」


  I asked Reiji as soon as we arrived by his side.

  「Chiyuki, and Nao too huh? Well, the thing is, someone, interrupted me when I was chasing after Ulbard. And the situation has been turned into this stalemate since then.」


  Reiji spoke to us with his sword still pointing toward his opponent.

  His sword was pointing at the Dark Knight.

  That Dark Knight wasn’t Shirone’s childhood friend.