◆Dark Knight; Kuroki

  I returned to my mansion after today’s training with Polen had ended.

  My mansion was located at the outskirts of the demon king castle.

  Calling it a mansion was an understatement at this point- it was literally a small castle.

  Upon entering the mansion, Guno and her subordinates came out to greet me.

  「Welcome back, Your Excellency.」


  「I’m back, Lord Guno. Did anything happen when I was away?」


  「No, there was nothi— ah, come to think of it, the Archwitch of wetlands-sama visited the mansion a little while ago.」


  The one she was referring to as the arch witch of the wetlands was Heqet.

  Come to think of it, she did say that she was going to visit Kuna after lunch.

  「It’s just that, her visit seems to have affected Kuna-sama’s mood.」


  「Ah… I see…」


  I felt cold sweat running down my back upon hearing that.

  Kuna didn’t seem to like Heqet.

  But still, the one who applied for an apprenticeship at Heqet’s place to become even stronger was none other than Kuna. And since Heqet was Kuna’s benefactor, I couldn’t just turn her away.

  But, I guess I should pacify Kuna for now.

  「Well, I’ll go check on Kuna then.」


  I spoke as I looked at Guno and co.

  「Is something the matter, Your Excellency?」


  「No. I’ve been wondering about this for a while, but… what’s with that attire?」


  For some reason, Guno and co haven’t been wearing their dark knight’s attire the entire time I’ve been in this mansion. They were wearing a black bandage-like uniform instead.

  Looking from behind, their well-shaped butt was completely laid bare for me to enjoy.

  And just like the angel tribe, the daemon tribe was composed of handsome and beautiful people.

  As a man, I always had a hard time deciding which place I should be looking at whenever they appeared in front of me donned in such bold attire.

  「Eh? You love this kind of attire right, Your Excellency?」


  Guno asked with a puzzled look on her face.

  Eh? Wait a minute.

  How did they know that I like it when I see them in that kind of attire?

  I mean, yes, I f*cking love it!!

  But, I should never show that on the outside.

  「Yeah, I love it, but… it’s honestly really bad for me, especially for my lower half…」


  「Your Excellency. That’s exactly the goal of this kind of attire right, to invoke the other party’s excitement? Rather than that, allow us to help you with taking off your armour.」


  Guno and co approached me, emphasizing their delicious looking cleav*ge.

  「Yeah, it looks really good on you girls…」


  Guno and co then started to take off my armour.

  And then, they dressed me in clothes made from the highest quality black silk.

  「Thanks a lot, lord Guno…」


  「Please don’t mind it, we’re just doing our job properly.」


  Guno let out an enchanting smile as she spoke.

  They were actually senior knights so they didn’t actually have to do this for me. In fact, this should be the job of the dark elf and the werebear maid who was working in this mansion.

  But, they’d taken it upon themselves to look out for me.

  Their movements were flowing naturally. There was no awkward movement at all.

  I went toward Kuna’s place as soon as they were done.

  The princess of this mansion was sulking in her bedroom after all.

  「Welcome back, Kuroki.」


  Maybe because she felt my presence, she welcomed me from the bed without even looking at me.

  The fact that she didn’t come to hug me was proof that she was definitely sulking right now.

  「I’m home, Kuna.」


  I approached the bed and touched Kuna’s cheek.

  Kuna embraced me immediately in response.

  She always embraced me immediately when I approached her no matter how much she was sulking.

  Her adorable reaction healed me.

  「Bu~h.」


  「I’m really sorry. Cheer up, Kuna.」


  I pacified her while patting on her head.

  「Okay… but I won’t forgive you unless you give a lot of love to Kuna.」


  Kuna spoke while behaving like a spoiled girl.

  ***

  ◆Daemon Tribe’s Female Knight; Guno

  「I’ll leave His Excellency’s armour in your care.」


  After helping Kuroki-sama put on his clothes, I entrusted his armour to the werebear girl to be taken care of.

  「Leave it to me, Guno-sama.」


  His Excellency’s armour looks like it would crush that girl whose height is only half of ours.

  Nevertheless, one shouldn’t be tricked by their appearance which might look like a normal human girl in her early teens- their real form was that of a giant bear.

  Their strength was literally a cheat amongst the demons since even their young children had enough physical strength to single-handedly win against a few adult goblins or orcs.

  Nevertheless, they were still far too weak compared to high noble daemons like us.

  「Lucor, prepare a meal for His Excellency immediately. His Excellency might have yet to eat lunch at demon king castle’s dinner.」


  I ordered Lucor, the dark elf maid, to prepare a lunch for Kuroki-sama.

  Kuroki-sama’s palate couldn’t accept the orc tribe’s meal. So I’m guessing he didn’t ate anything during lunch time.

  If I had to say, he preferred the elves tribe’s meals. Thus, elven maids were stationed in this place to cook for him.

  But, it was only limited to meals…


  Taking care of Nargol’s strongest knight was our duty as the daemon tribe. We absolutely wouldn’t relegate this duty to any other.

  「Understood, Guno-sama. Shall I add some “invigorating” seasoning as usual?」


  Lucor asked for a confirmation.

  I turned away and replied as usual.

  「Of course, that’s the most important “seasoning.”?」


  ***

  ◆Black Haired Sage; Chiyuki

  I rode on Gryphon, heading toward northern direction.

  We were headed towards the northern capital, Velos.

  Though there were a lot of clouds in the sky, this kind of situation wasn’t a big deal for Gryphon.

  「In the end, our departure got delayed huh, Reiji-kun.」


  「Yeah, Chiyuki.」


  Reiji was flying by my side, riding on a pegasus.

  In fact, there was no particular reason for the delay in our departure.

  Though there were various miscellaneous matters we needed to attend to, they could have been delayed for after we’d returned from the north.

  I looked at Reiji who was flying by my side.

  He didn’t have his usual assertive attitude.

  And if my guess was correct, Reiji is actually pretty reluctant to visit the north too.

  He might be afraid of Shirone’s childhood friend.

  Thus, he played a part in delaying our departure.

  Honestly, I was really surprised seeing the usually fearless Reiji fallen into this kind of state.

  Nevertheless, the person himself might’ve not realized that yet.

  「Hey, Chiyuki-san. Isn’t it about time for us to take a rest?」


  Rino, who was riding on a hippogriff, suggested that we should take a rest.

  Sure enough, we’ve been flying non-stop since our departure this morning.

  「E~h, it’s still a long way to go, Rino-chan. Why are we taking a rest so soon?」


  Shirone, who flew with her own wings in the front, asked with a dissatisfied look on her face.

  In regards to pure flying speed, Shirone was the fastest amongst us. She might also be the one who wanted to arrive as fast as possible amongst us.

  「I know that you’re in hurry, Shirone-san. But let’s take a break for now. It’s true that we can still go a bit more, but you also want to stay in a proper inn right?」


  Though I tried to persuade her, Shirone seemed to be reluctant.

  Well though the sun has yet to set, it was about the time for dusk to fall soon. Plus a country with a proper inn was quite rare.

  We might have no choice but to sleep outdoors if we plan poorly.

  Fortunately, I remember that there should be a fairly large country around this area. Let’s stay at night in that country.

  「Shirone, Kaya and Sahoko aren’t with us right now. Camping outdoors when none of us can cook is a bad idea. That’s why we’ve to stay in the inn.」


  Reiji was trying to pacify the sullen Shirone.

  Sahoko was house-sitting along with Kaya and Kyouka so she wasn’t with us right now.

  And the only ones who could cook amongst us were Sahoko and Kaya.

  Even if, for example, we could forage our food from around our area, it was meaningless when there was no one who could cook it.

  Though we brought portable rations which were easy to eat, we had to save them for when we really needed them. For that reason, we should find a good inn as soon as possible for today.