◆Shizufae

  「The devil’s army comes with a storm.

  They’re led by the evil Dark Knight

  The Hero of Light fights back alas

  He loses against the Dark Knight

  And then, the goddess of light descended

  the Dark Knight escaped in front of the goddess of light’s power

  Thus, the human’s capital is saved.」


  A minstrel was singing in front of the temple of Goddess of Wisdom and Victory; Rena-sama.

  The visitors of the temple stopped to hear the song.

  Three days after the day of black storm, there were so many people visiting the temple to pay homage to Rena-sama.

  I also came every day after that event.

  I mean, I just finished praying at the temple a while ago.

  Nevertheless, the waiting time was long for sure.

  「Shizufae~」


  「Sis!!」


  Big sis Keyna came over from the other side.

  「Have you come again to pray?」


  Big sis Keyna asked with a dumbfounded look on her face.

  「Of course, just coming once is far from enough to express my gratitude towards Rena-sama.」


  Big sis Kayna came with me once the day after the black storm incident and then stopped coming altogether. She should come more often to express her gratitude.

  I recalled the events that transpired during the black storm.

  The devil’s army that came along with the black storm.

  And the one leading them was the Evil Dark Knight riding on top of a giant dragon.

  That Dark Knight was extremely powerful.

  He beat the Hero of Light; Reiji-sama, who beat the strongest Daemon Lord in the previous battle with ease.

  The scene in which he beat Reiji-sama was seen by so many people from the magic projection above the Republic of Ariadya.

  I also saw that scene from the ramparts.

  There was a huge hole in the ramparts.

  The Dark Knight could easily break through the solid ramparts made by the dwarves. That scenery reminded me again about the terrifying strength of the Dark Knight.

  That Dark Knight blew Reiji-sama’s body away till the latter pierced through the solid rampart.

  Even now, the stone paving in front of the temple has yet to be fixed.

  And then, the Dark Knight approached to deliver the finishing blow to Reiji-sama and the devils flying in the air above Ariadya were raising cheerful cries.

  The citizens of the Republic of Ariadya despaired upon seeing the cheerful cries of the devils.

  I also cried, falling to my knees, thinking that we were doomed.

  The moment everyone thought so, Goddess Rena-sama, leading her army of angels, descended upon the Republic of Ariadya.

  We were so captivated by the halo of the beautiful goddess as she descended upon this land.

  And then, the Dark Knight was wailing in agony as he slouched forward because of the power of the Goddess Rena-sama.

  Though I only saw that from a magic projection, I was so deeply moved by that spectacle.

  The Dark Knight kept suffering in a slouching position and we were saved from peril.

  The other people who were also deeply moved by that scene decided to make a mural depicting that scene.

  Drawn on the mural was the figure of the Dark Knight, slouching forward in front of Rena-sama, this legend would be handed down forever in the Republic of Ariadya. [Note: Poor Kuroki, Dark-slouching-Knight.]

  And then, the people who saw the mural would once again realize the greatness of Rena-sama.

  「Well, you’re right about that… but still, coming here so many times is just impossible.」


  Big sis Keyna spoke with a weary voice as she looked at the long line of people who came to offer their prayers.

  There were so many people as if there was some sort of festival.

  Rena-sama’s temple was a huge one and yet, it wasn’t big enough to accomodate this many people, that’s why the rest of the people were crowding outside of the temple.

  It was why it took a really long time for me to even pay a homage in Rena-sama’s temple.

  Even Leylia-san, the priestess of Rena-sama, was really busy dealing with the visitors.

  「Then, you can at least start praying from now, big sis Keyna.」


  To be honest, I thought that big sis Keyna should’ve gone inside to give her prayers to Rena-sama’s statue inside the temple too. But, lining up for hours just to pray seemed to be ill-suited for big sis Keyna.

  「Well, if it’s just that…」


  Big sis Keyna then gave a simple prayer as she said so.

  I also followed after her.

  Rena-sama, thank you very much for saving our lives.

  ***

  ◆Chiyuki

  A lot of people gathered in the temporary theater made outside of the rampart. The play was a special play dedicated to Goddess Rena.

  There was a loud voice giving a praise to Goddess Rena who they believed had driven away the devil army which had been dubbed as 「Black Storm」.

  Sienna, who put on her make-up, was performing on the stage.

  It seems that the Donkey’s Ear trope decided to perform as soon as their star actress returned.

  The play was the same as they’d initially planned,「Arfelia」.

  By the way, they modified the script and made it so that Goddess Rena would appear in the play.

  Rena would appear in the last part of the play when Princess Arfelia is about to be defeated by the witch.

  In fact, many other plays aside from 「Arfelia」 were also modified to make Rena appear in the last stage of the play.

  Naturally, she acted like a Deus Ex Machina and brought a conclusion to chaotic situations in the story.

  I mean, even the 「Black Storm」 incident that almost destroyed the Republic of Ariadya was also settled down by Rena.

  Yeah, she settled it down so easily just like in these plays.

  「She’s so beautiful, right, Chiyuki-san?」


  Nao, who sat beside me, spoke as she looked at Sienna who was performing on the stage.

  Sienna, who moved like a dancer on the stage, was truly beautiful.

  I heard later from her that she was staying in Regena’s mansion along with Shirone’s childhood friend during her disappearance.

  It seems she wasn’t treated badly during her stay. Rather, she told us that she was treated like a guest during her stay.

  I guess that was to be expected since he saved my life twice, spared Reiji’s life too, so he shouldn’t be a bad person.

  But then, why did he choose to serve the Demon King?

  The reason for that was most likely that Silver Witch; Kuna.

  It seems she was the daughter of the Demon King.

  I was really surprised when I heard that ugly Demon King had such a beautiful daughter.

  According to Regena, she came to Ariadya for sightseeing along with the Dark Knight. But, I couldn’t bring myself to trust that.

  I mean, she definitely had something to do with the monsters in the underground waterway and the ghouls.

  I mean, she was the one who told us to come to the underground waterway after all.

  Though she was always in Nargol this entire time, it didn’t restrict her from using her subordinates.

  But then, I heard from Sienna that the Silver Witch also gave a hint to save her big brother, Decius.

  Her two-faced actions gave me a headache in trying to figure out which one was the true her.

  But, seeing that we met the Daemon Lord Ulbard in the underground waterway, I was sure that she was planning to bring some sort of calamity to Ariadya .

  「Yeah. Look, Shirone-san. Sienna-san is really beautiful.」


  「Yeah… Chiyuki-san.」


  Hearing her lifeless reply, I realized that her body might be in this place but her mind was wandering elsewhere.

  It seems she had yet to recover from the shock of seeing her childhood friend protecting the Silver Witch.

  「Geez, Shirone-san. It really can’t be helped that he acted in that way since he was being controlled by that Silver Witch. Right, Rino-san?」


  I asked for Rino’s cooperation who came along with us to see the theatrical play.

  「Yeah, maybe. It seems Rena’s mind magic was also working on him. He might be affected by an extremely power charm magic.」


  According to Rino, Rena had used magic to cancel the effects of mind magic.

  By the way, though there were several mind magics such as charm magic or forgetfulness magic, Rino didn’t seem to be able to see what kind of magic was used to control him.

  But normally speaking, it should be charm magic.

  Depending on the user and their target, the effect of charm magic might become stronger.

  And Silver Witch was definitely a beauty rivaling that of Rena.

  Any men would easily succumb under the charm of such beauty,

  「That’s right, Shirone-san. We can still save him. It seems the charm can’t be perfectly canceled, but Rena’s magic showed us that the mind magic used by the Silver Witch isn’t perfect. We can still take him back.」


  I tried to cheer on Shirone.

  「Yeah, I understand, Chiyuki-san.」


  Shirone replied with a feeble voice.

  「By the way, there’s something that I’ve been wondering about, supposed that he’s not being controlled with magic, could it be that he is actually given into temptation due to the Silver Witch’s beauty?」


  Nao was right, there was also that possibility.

  In the first place, the one who told us about this possibility was Kaya.

  Kaya had returned to the Holy Republic of Lenaria along with Kyouka.

  It seems she had neglected her job during the mission to save us from the labyrinth until now.

  「U~hn. Sure enough, since Kuroki isn’t that popular with girls, I’m sure that he easily succumbed to such temptation. If Kuroki really isn’t under the control of magic, then I have no choice but to wake him up with my fist of fury.」


  Shirone clenched her fist as she declared so.

  「Well… Please hold back a little, okay.」


  I stopped Shirone before she went too far.

  Honestly, the expression on her face right now was downright scary.

  「That’s strange, Shirone-san. I mean, Your childhood friend is actually quite good looking, and he seems to be a kind and gentle person too, so why is he unpopular with girls?」


  Rino asked with a curious look on her face.

  Sure enough, that’s also something that I’ve been wondering about. Normally speaking, it shouldn’t be that difficult for him to get a girlfriend with his appearance and personality.

  「Aah, Kuroki has this habit of looking at cute girls with an extremely lewd look on his face. Maybe he looks at every girl with that kind of look on his face.」


  「I see…」


  Rino’s face slightly stiffened upon hearing that.

  「I’ve told him so many times to stop looking at every girl with that kind of face, but it seems to be some sort of habit for him. It seems he tried to fix that habit by trying to make to look like that he doesn’t see them but… it backfired and made the other party feel that he’s up to no good and stop approaching him.」


  Shirone told us so while massaging her temple.