◆Sword’s Maiden; Shirone

  The Bandol plains were the biggest plains in the eastern part of the central continent.

  Since they were open plains like the Minon plain, the number of goblins residing in this place was minimal.

  Nevertheless, there was no human country around Vandohl plain up until now.

  The reason for that was the huge demon beast called Peluda who lived in the centre of the Vandohl plains.

  Peluda was a creature with a snake-like head and tail, four limbs, emerald green skin covered by a turtle-like shell, a body covered with long lion-like mane, and extremely poisonous thorns growing along its spine all the way until the tip of its tail.

  This peluda could use fire breath and burn the growing corps, attack the livestock, and cause floods that would kill many people.

  But now, that peluda is history.

  The reason being Reiji-kun annihilated it on his own.

  The way Reiji-kun fought that time was simply too amazing.

  Though he lost to Kuroki, it didn’t mean that he was weak.

  I looked down at my feet, thinking that I wouldn’t lose.

  A giant wild boar was lying down beneath my feet.

  It was an eight-meter long wild boar that I’d killed just a few moments ago.

  「As expected, Sword Maiden; Shirone-sama. To be able to kill a Phaia by yourself.」


  I heard such praise from a warrior who’d come with me.

  This giant pig called Phaia was running amok, devastating the surrounding countries.

  Though finding it was hard due to its vast range of activity, it finally had been slain today.

  The warriors who accompanied me were also cheering.

  Even though they were nothing more than a hindrance, they still came with me. It seems I looked like a goddess in their eyes. For some reason, it was always these kinds of people who gathered around me.

  They were looking at me with sparkling eyes.

  「Shirone-sama, please allow us to carry that boar.」


  The warriors were swarming around the boar.

  Though it would be faster if I was the one who carried the boar, let’s just let them carry it.

  「Well, Shirone-sama, let’s return to the Eld kingdom.」


  I nodded to the warrior who said so.

  The Eld kingdom was the kingdom we’d built after we defeated peluda in this land.

  It’s been half-year since we parted ways with Kuroki in the Republic of Ariadya and during that time we’d built a new kingdom in the Vandohl plains.

  Honestly speaking, I wanted to go to save Kuroki even if I had to do so by myself but I was stopped by Chiyuki-san.

  I mean, it’s not like there was anything I had to worry about with my comrades.

  That’s why I took this demon beast’s subjugation mission to curb my restlessness.

  But, I’ve been wondering, is it okay for me to make my move now?

  Let’s try to ask Chiyuki after this.

  Thus, I returned to the Eld kingdom while pondering about such things.

  ◆Black Haired Sage; Chiyuki

  Not even one year has passed since the founding of the Eld kingdom.

  Originally, no humans lived on this land since it was the nest of a demon beast called Peluda.

  And now, humans had started living in this land after Reiji beat that demon beast.

  For that reason, we decided to build a country in this place.

  There were various reasons behind our decision, but the biggest reason was that we had no idea whether we could go back to our homeworld or not, thus we decided to make a base for our activities.

  We used the Holy Republic Lenaria as our base before, but that was Rena’s country. For that reason, we had to leave to keep some distance from Rena.

  Thus, we decided to create our own country.

  And the name of the country we created was Eld.

  It was still a small country right now. But, it would soon become the biggest country in this region since it was located right in the center of the Vandohl plains.

  Currently, we are having a meeting in the Eld kingdom’s royal palace.

  「Well then, Chiyuki-san. Everyone has been gathered here except for Sahoko-san.」


  Shirone sent an expectant look toward me as she said so.

  Sahoko wasn’t in this place since she couldn’t go to the conference room. That’s why everyone was gathering in this place except for Sahoko.

  「Yes. Shall we start the meeting then?」


  Everyone nodded at hearing my words.

  「Well then, Kaya-san. Please start from your side.」


  Kaya started reading the document in her hand after I said so.

  Though the item in the report covered various fields, Kaya could read it smoothly.

  It detailed things such as public order, financial affairs, and many other mundane problems.

  Though there were several small problems left, it wasn’t something that required us to make our move to handle. It was the kind of job that we could dump to our subordinates.

  Most of our subordinates were the maids trained by Kaya when we were still in the Holy Republic of Lenaria. They were quite excellent manpower who could do their job without having us to point things out one by one.

  「… Thus, there’s no problem with the management of the Eld kingdom.」


  I nodded along with Kaya’s remark.

  I recalled that creating a country was quite literally a back-breaking job.

  In the beginning, there were mountains of problems waiting for us.

  I mean, we were complete amateurs when it came to urban planning after all. In the beginning, things were really chaotic.

  And then came the biggest problem when building a country, the policy of religion.

  Different from Japan in which religion was separate from government, in this world, religion and government was inseparable.

  When it comes to government, it would be Oudith’s and Faeria’s faith. When it comes to commerce and industry, it was Heibos’ faith.

  When it comes to health management such as fresh water and the fishing industry, it was Trident faith, drainage and agriculture was Gena faith.

  These religious organizations were the ones that moved the economy.

  But if we are to make a country, we want to make a country without having to rely on those religious organizations.

  For that reason, we faced so many problems in the beginning since we were not relying on those religions.

  Nevertheless, after more than half-year, things are starting to settle down now.

  In addition, we also received much help from the people who adored us back when we were still in the Holy Republic of Lenaria.

  In addition, they revered us like the gods of this country.

  In a certain sense, it was as if they founded a new religion called Hero’s faith with the Eld kingdom as its holy land.

  「Well then, can we assume that we’ve been passed through the first stage of nation-building, Kaya-san?」


  Kaya nodded upon hearing my question.

  「Maybe. Let’s just say that we’re already used to securing funds and information.」


  Everyone raised a cheer upon hearing that conclusion.

  「WELL THEN!! LET’S GO TO NARGOL!!」


  Shirone spoke with the loudest voice as she tapped the desk.

  But then, everyone else fell into silence upon hearing that.

  It was only natural, I mean, after her childhood friend literally toyed around with Reiji, the strongest amongst us, and turned the latter into a literal living sandbag even with a handicap. Everyone now became really wary when it comes to coming to Nargol.

  Building this country was also one of the reasons for not going to Nargol.

  「But, Shirone-san, your childhood friend is really strong. Not even Reiji-san can beat him. Don’t you think that we should really be careful this time?」


  Rino asked with a worried look on her face.

  In addition, Reiji, who sat beside me, grabbed his ch*st as he muttered 「GUH!」 when he heard 「No match!!」.

  It seems those words became a trigger that made him recall his complete defeat against Shirone’s childhood friend.

  Though he looked as calm as usual, it seems he had yet to recover from the defeat at the hands of the Dark Knight a half-year ago.

  He who loved to take the initiative fell into silence this time.

  「RINO-CHAN!! KUROKI ISN’T OUR ENEMY!!! EVERYTHING IS THAT SILVER-HAIRED’S WITCH FAULT!!」


  Shirone slapped the table as she corrected Rino’s misunderstanding.

  「Indeed, Kuroki-san is a good person. He’s definitely not our enemy.」


  Kyouka was also supporting Shirone.

  I had no idea what “Good” she was referring to, but Kyouka seems like she had a high evaluation of Shirone’s childhood friend.

  「But, Shirone-san, that Silver Witch isn’t our only enemy, it’s literally the entire Nargol. We cannot just focus on just the Silver Witch alone.」


  I tried to persuade Shirone.

  「Chiyuki-san, your argument might be right, but that’s only if she is in Nargol. That Silver Witch doesn’t seem to be living in Nargol.」


  At that moment, everyone’s attention was focused on Nao.

  「What do you mean, Nao?」


  「Well, the truth is, Reiji-senpai. I tried to visit the area around the proximity of Nargol a while ago.」


  「Proximity of Nargol… Nao-san, that’s too dangerous…」


  Going alone herself was way too dangerous.

  And yet, the way she spoke as if she was only strolling around that place, seriously, just what do you think you’re doing, Nao?

  「I-IT’S OKAY CHIYUKI-SAN!!! IT’S NOT LIKE I ENTERED NARGOL!! AS I SAID, I JUST SEE THE SITUATION IN ITS PROXIMITY!! BUT, I’VE DISCOVERED A SWEET CASTLE WHICH WE HEARD ABOUT FROM SHIRONE-SAN, IT’S RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE OF THE BLUE FOREST DURING MY INVESTIGATION!!」


  Nao explained with a flustered look on her face upon hearing my scolding.

  The sweet castle she was talking about was the place of the Silver Witch which Shirone told us about before.

  It seems to be moving around by using Myulmidon.

  And the blue forest she was talking about was the forest that spread to the southern side of Akeron mountain, the boundary of the human realm with Nargol.

  In short, she was right about the sweet castle located outside of Nargol.

  「WHAT DO YOU MEAN, NAO-CHAN?!!」


  Shirone drew her face closer to Nao.

  「That’s all I know about it. I’m not brave enough to get close toward it since it’s simply too dangerous… But, I could see the silhouette that looked like the Silver Witch from afar.」


  Everyone’s eyes matched together the moment they heard those words.

  「Maybe we should try to go and visit that blue forest…」


  Everyone nodded in agreement with me.

  ◆Dark Knight; Kuroki

  The blue forest was the forest that spread across the southern side of the Akeron mountain range.

  The widespread forest was adjoined with several countries.

  In the north was Algore kingdom, in the east was Velos kingdom.

  Until just some time ago, the one who ruled that forest was an ogre tribe’s witch, Kujig.

  But, that Kujig was now gone and the forest had gained a new queen.

  After returning from Demon King castle, I walked a little bit deeper into the forest.

  「Uhm… doesn’t this forest feels rather familiar to Nargol’s forest of darkness?」


  After walking for a while, I saw the figure of a monster who normally lives in Nargol.

  I was tilting my head, pondering whether it was really okay to see the monsters in this way.

  I kept walking onward, passing by the monsters.

  And then, my nose was assailed by an extreme sweet aroma.

  In the center of the blue forest, the line of sight would be reduced due to the pink mist spreading in the forest.

  And the reason for that mist was right in front of me, the sweets’ castle.

  Kujig the ogre was luring her prey using the sweet aroma from this sweets’ castle and preyed upon any human who got lured in.

  Even after Kujig was gone, it was still working autonomously and numerous orcs were being lured in by this trap when this castle was in Nargol.

  Naturally, the orc lord sent a complaint to Kujig.

  For that reason, this sweets castle was then moved out of Nargol.

  There has yet to be any human victim since the human’s sense of smell was worse than that of an orc. But, it was only a matter of time before that happened.

  I pushed open the gate of the sweets castle, and entered inside.

  Thereupon, the Myulmidon(Antman) were raising their spear straight upward, giving their salute.

  I raised my hand to return their greeting as I passed them.

  Just like that, I stepped on to the stairs made from sweets and went toward the bedroom of the lord of this castle.

  I passed by several gold beetle fighters(golden rhinoceros beetle warriors) along the way toward the bedroom.

  Gold beetle fighters were one of the strongest Bugman warriors who lived in the dark forest. They were around two meters tall and looked like bipedal golden rhinoceros beetle.

  They who held one weapon in each of their four arms, and were donned with iron-like exoskeleton armor, were natural-born warriors.

  And Kuna, who gained bug user’s abilities, used them as her royal guard.

  「I’m ho~me, Kuna. Have you been a good girl during my absence?」


  Upon entering, I saw Kuna, the new queen of the blue forest, lying down on the sofa made from cotton candy.

  「Welcome back, Kuroki.」


  Kuna jumped to her feet the moment she saw me, and then rushed toward me at once.

  「Good girl. Was there anything unusual during my absence, Kuna?」


  I patted Kuna’s head.

  「Uuhm. There’s nothing unusual, but…」


  Kuna then looked in a certain direction of the room.

  Seeing that, I ended up following her line of sight too.

  At that moment, I felt my facial muscles stiffen.

  There was something that shouldn’t be in this place.

  「Long time no see, Your Excellency. Gufufufufu.」


  I felt a chill running down my spine the moment I heard that laugh.

  「Uuhm. Why are you in this place?」


  「Uhm. Kuna wants to entrust the castle to this fella while Kuroki and Kuna are away. So I asked her to come.」


  「Aah… I see now…」


  I somehow managed to force myself to smile.

  But, it was obviously a stiff smile no matter how the others saw it.

  「Yes. Please leave the castle to this Datie while Kuna-sama is away.」


  The goblin queen, Datie spoke while laughing creepily.