Ankoku Kishi Monogatari (WN)

◆Black Haired Sage; Chiyuki

「I see… he's being manipulated by that Silver Witch.」

I listened to Shirone’s story about the incident in Algore kingdom and Veros kingdom.

「Yes, Chiyuki-san. That Silver Witch is the reason why Kuroki's strange behaviour… Kuroki definitely took the Demon King's side due to that woman influence.」

Shirone spoke with a depressed look on her face.

I never knew that such a powerful witch existed in this world.

It seems that she’s the daughter of that ugly demon king. She definitely did not look like her father, though.

We received acknowledgement from General Clasus after we returned to the Republic of Ariadya.

After saving the people who had been kidnapped and held captive in the labyrinth, Reiji had become the Republic of Ariadya’s hero. Reiji aside, all of our group also received citizenship in Ariadya.

In addition to that, Reiji also received a former title of ‘Hero.’

After receiving the Republic of Ariadya’s recognition, Reiji’s fame as the Hero of Light spread throughout the entire western part of the continent.

This will make it easier for us to operate in the western part of the continent.

But there’s something that I’m worried about– namely, the vice chairman of the Magician Association, Tarabos.

He’s currently missing.

It seems that he was related to Atlan, and, knowing that his life might be in danger, is now on the run.

Unfortunately, that was the reason we ended up not receiving anything from the Magician Association. He was the one who’d commissioned us, after all.

Besides that, Reiji was asked by Euria, who ascended to the throne and became Pashipea kingdom’s queen, to become her husband. Naturally, her request was rejected by Reiji. There were numerous countries that wanted Reiji to become their king, but he wouldn’t be able to move during an emergency situation if he were to take up that mantle. That’s why we would be troubled if Reiji ever chose to become a king.

After refusing Euria’s offer, we left the general office along with Reiji and headed towards Rena’s temple in the Republic of Ariadya to discuss our future plans.

Naturally, the topic this time was about Shirone’s childhood friend, Kuroki.

「But Shirone-san, that Kuroki-san saved Regena and co's life right? Doesn’t that mean he isn't being completely manipulated by that Silver Witch?」

It was just as Rino had said. It seems that he wasn’t being completely manipulated. Especially since there’s no way he would save me if he was being completely manipulated by that witch. Moreover, considering Regena’s case, I could see that he might be a really kind person. It doesn’t seem like his memory is being manipulated either.

If that’s the case, there might be a way to save him.

「Then, there's nothing to worry about but…」

「Don't worry, Shirone-san. He's the kind of character who appears as an enemy in the beginning, helping us for some mysterious reason in the middle, and becomes our ally before the last dungeon. That's why don't worry, Kuroki-san will become our comrade in the end.」

Nao was trying to reassure Shirone with her usual baseless theories.

「I hate him… he almost killed Rei-kun after all.」

Sahoko spoke with a slightly displeased tone.

Sure enough, he’d almost killed Reiji back then. It seems that Sahoko still couldn’t bring herself to forgive him.

「SAHOKO-SAN!!! THAT'S BECAUSE HE'S BEING MANIPULATED BY THAT SILVER WITCH!!! KUROKI ISN’T THE KIND OF A PERSON WHO WILL DO THAT!!」

Shirone spoke with an increasingly loud voice as she struck the table.

Despite her words, it didn’t change the fact that Kuroki was the one who’d almost killed Reiji.

Yup, we’re basically stuck because of this problem.

I wonder what Reiji thinks about this matter? Will Reiji accept Kuroki as his comrade? If not, then we can’t accept him as our comrade even if he did save our lives.

「Calm down, Shirone-san… that goes for you too, Sahoko-san, I understand your feelings for Reiji-kun but, I have to say that you're exaggerating too much regarding this matter. I mean, as we suspected, he was being manipulated.」

「You're right… sorry, Shirone-san.」

「It's okay. Kuroki did hurt Reiji-kun after all.」

Both of them apologized to each other.

The normally gentle Sahoko would suddenly flip personalities when it comes to anything regarding Reiji. It seems that the same goes for Shirone. She also had a flip of personality when it came to her childhood friend.

「But still, I never expected for the Demon King to have a daughter. It seems we need to know more about the Demon King.」

Anyhow, the Silver Witch seems to be the Demon King’s daughter. There’s no information about the Demon King having a daughter. In the first place, we didn’t even know that he had a queen.

「Demon King's daughter huh… I really don't want to imagine her face.」

Reiji made a face of disgust.

We had a chance to see the Demon King’s picture once before. It was no exaggeration to say that he was extremely ugly. Could it be that the Demon King’s daughter was as ugly as her father?

At least, Reiji thought that she was ugly.

Surely, I couldn’t get myself to think that a beauty would be born from such an ugly father either.

According to Shirone, it seems that she was extremely unpleasant as well. That’s why she must be an ugly one.

「Come to think of it, I just noticed this, SHirone-san. Can I ask you a question?」

「What's the matter, Nao-chan?」

「The matter about that Silver Witch aside, who're those people that rode the giant bird to save that Ox Evil God? One of them is the one who I saw back then in the basement of Rox kingdom.」

Nao spoke with a rare grim face.

Both Nao and I had suffered quite an ordeal at the hands of that man with the spider mask.

「I'm curious about that matter too… Just who in the world are they? I mean, that Evil God Labrys doesn't seem to be the ally of the Demon King either?」

I asked Shirone.

The monsters in this world should be ruled by the Demon King. If that was the case, that Evil God should be the Demon King’s subordinate.

「Uhm… I'm lacking understanding in this regard but… that Evil God Labrys isn't Demon King's comrade. According to Rena, Evil God Labrys fought the Demon King in the past, he lost miserably and hid himself inside of the labyrinth.」

We were really surprised at hearing that.

「Is that true, Shirone-san!?」

I tried to confirm this fact with Shirone.

「Indeed but… is something the matter with that, Chiyuki-san?」

It seems that Shirone had yet to realize the important information that was hidden in her remarks.

「I mean, this is big news you know! This is the first time I’ve heard any information mentioning that the monster Evil God isn’t the Demon King's comrade after all!!」

Shirone showed a surprised look on her face upon hearing my explanation. It seems that she’d finally noticed.

According to the history I’d read in the past, the one who’d created this world was the Holy Mother Goddess, Mina and the ancestor God, Orgis. The Ancestor God, Orgis and the Holy Mother Goddess, Mina had worked together to create a bright and peaceful world.

But then, the Demon King Modes appeared out of nowhere and tried to rule the world. Both Orgis and Mina had been killed in the battle against the Demon King.

The Demon King enveloped the world in darkness and released his kin, the monsters, into the world.

Orgis and Mina’s children had gathered together under the leadership of Oudith and fought against the Demon King. After a long battle, Oudith and co managed to win against the Demon King and regained half of the world. Because they’d only regained half of the world, the sun could only shine for half the day.

In this way, the world was split between day and night.

The Demon King was ultimately defeated but he was still alive, waiting in Nargol for a chance to get his revenge.

Though they’d come out as the victors, Oudith and co had lost too many comrades in the battle against the Demon King, thus preventing them from chasing after the Demon King to kill him once and for all.

In this manner, the deadlock situation between the two sides had already gone on for thousands of years.

This should be the lore of this world.

The reason we were being summoned as heroes was to return the perfect light to this world.

The fact that the Evil Gods didn’t abide to the Demon King nor their names weren’t even mentioned in this lore. Contrary to our expectations, they were even hostile towards the Demon King.

In short, they’re the third powerhouse aside from Elios’ Gods led by Oudith and the Demon King’s army.

「Things getting more troublesome huh…」

Reiji made a face of disgust.

Surely, things were becoming more and more complicated.

I mean, it was already troublesome enough with Elios’ Gods and Nargol’s Demon King.

「Yup. It seems there's so many things to investigate. There's also various things we've to ask to Rena…」

We’ve got no choice but to ask Rena about these various things.

It seems that Rena hadn’t told us about the true lore of this world.

I’ve got to investigate the truth.

This thirst for knowledge will only serve as driving force to get the truth from Rena.

「Yeah, we've so many things to ask to Rena.」

Reiji grinned ear to ear when I spoke Rena’s name.

A pang of pain attacked my chest upon seeing that grin.

I never expected that even Rena, a Goddess, would fall in love with Reiji.

Reiji was handsome, but that was the only good thing about him. His features were closer to that of a handsome blonde Hollyw**d actor. He also has a tall and lean figure. He even had both brains and brawn.

I’ve got nothing to say in regards to appearance. Yes, only in appearance.

Because there’s so many flaws aside from his appearance.

For example, he’s always surrounded by women due to his neat appearance. For this reason, I couldn’t tell him to look only at me. I expected this kind of situation, and yet, here I am, staying by his side regardless.

I really only had a faint, small expectation.

But then, Rena appeared in front of Reiji.

Rena’s appearance had completely destroyed even that faint bit of expectation towards Reiji.

I mean, there’s no way I could become Reiji’s no. 1 if such a beauty was right by his side.

Why did such a beautiful Goddess exist in this world?

Even though I’m quite confident in my own appearance, it’s a far cry from Rena’s.

Naturally, Reiji was truly elated upon hearing that Rena loved him. My thought at the time was, “Go explode already!”

Yup, it was really irritating.

Reiji simply went on, completely ignoring my piercing glare.

What an insensitive man.

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