Ankoku Kishi Monogatari (WN)

「INTRUDER!! EVERYONE, WE HAVE AN INTRUDER!!」

I called my comrades with urgency.

「What's happening!!」

My comrades gathered at once.

「Hum!! That's none of your businesses. Kuna will take her leave.」

The shining butterflies then gathered around the girl. And then, after the butterflies covered her entire body, the girl vanished from my sight.

It was as if that girl was an illusion all along.

But if she wasn't, it would be a great deal of trouble.

「EMERGENCY!! WE GOT AN INTRUDER!!」

◆God of Sleep and Dream, Zand

The dark underground altar was a place dedicated to deifying my father, the god who governs over death.

The flesh of my father that I saw for the first time in a long time was decayed, as if it would fall off anytime now.

When I turned around, I saw someone prostrating in front of me.

It was an ugly person, but he might be useful.

If my memories serve me right, his name should be Cornes.

Cornes seems to be a big shot amongst the humans. Well, such a matter was trivial for a divine being like me anyway.

Not even Atlankua realized his true identity as my father's follower.

Well it was mainly because I didn't get along with Atlankua. That's why I’d never told her about Cornes' identity.

「Such a splendid altar. Quite a rich one, aren't you?」

「Yes, it's thanks to Zarxis-sama's power. He's the one who guided us, the desert people, to this place after all.」

Cornes bowed his head again.

「By the way, Zand-sama. Do you have some sort of business for visiting me today?」

「Yeah, there's a girl that I want to get no matter what that’s living around this area. I'm going to see her situation.」

「I see. That girl is lucky to receive the god of sleep's dream. She should be able to see a nice dream.」

It's just as he said. One is considered lucky to be loved by me.

For I am the god of sleep, I was the one who guided this country's dreams. Showing a good dream was my forte.

Even a goddess would surely be delighted by it.

My goddess was currently residing in the Dark Knight's stronghold. So my only problem was how to get my hands on that Goddess.

Though not as powerful as the Dark Knight, the Silver Haired Goddess was quite powerful herself. A weak god like me has no chance in winning against her in a full frontal fight.

I had no choice but to lay a trap. Now, what should I do then?

Up until now, I only got my hands on weak guys. I should place my body in the safest place.

But, I really want that Silver Haired Goddess' head.

I want to behead that Silver Haired Goddess' head.

This might be the first time I felt like this, it must be love.

And now was the best chance for me when that goddess was in my territory.

The moment I thought so, Cornes' subordinate entered the altar room. That subordinate came closer and whispered something to Cornes' ears.

「IMPOSSIBLE!!? ARE YOU SURE THAT YOU'RE NOT MISTAKING SOMETHING!!?」

Cornes asked with a loud voice.

「Is something the matter?」

「Zand-sama. My subordinate has told me that there's an intruder. Though it should be impossible, let me go check it for the time being.」

Cornes bowed his head and left the room.

Something came into my mind after Cornes left the room.

Intruder? How could it be?

I've erected a barrier to cover the entire mansion. No one should be able to enter the mansion unnoticed.

Meaning that the intruder could bypass the entrance.

What's the meaning of this?

When I was pondering about that, shining butterflies passed by in front of me again.

Again, this was the second time I was seeing this butterfly.

Not even a bug should be able to enter this room. What's the meaning of this?

Upon a closer look, I noticed that the room was filled with these shining butterflies.

「WHAT THE!!? WHAT THE HELL WITH THIS BUTTERFLY?!!」

I was looking around in a hurry.

And then, when I turned around, I saw a goddess standing right behind me with a giant scythe in her hand.

===

◆Black Haired Sage; Chiyuki

The shape of the Republic of  Ariadya resembled that of an opened folding fan with the estuary of Quiche river flowing in the middle.

The number of its ramparts was three. They were separated from each other due to the expansion of the city's size and Kapiri district in particular located in the western side of the second rampart.

And this Kapiri district is located on top of a small hill.

For that reason, the mansion of big shots and large merchants were gathered in this location.

Nao, Rino, Reiji, Decius and I were right in that Kapiri district right now.

By the way, Shirone and Sahoko didn't come with us. They're on standby at the theatre, watching over Ainoe.

「That's Cornes mansion huh? It's a big mansion.」

I spoke while looking at Cornes' mansion which was just a little bit away from our position. Even though the majority of buildings in this district were quite tall, Cornes' mansion was truly standing out in terms of height and size, maybe because he was the member of senate.

Many people in Cornes' mansion were equipped with weapons.

Though it might be just his private army working for him to protect his safety as a senate member, aren't their numbers a little bit too much?

Since the security was this tight, maybe entering this mansion wasn't a simple matter.

In the other countries, members of the senate were equal to the nobility. And a noble's house should've been open for the citizens. They had the responsibility of hearing the petitions of the citizens which reflected the situation of the country.

But, the gate of Cornes' mansion was shut tight.

That might reflect on his reputation as a bad example for the senate.

But, there's something more worrying about Cornes' mansion.

His mansion was protected by a powerful barrier. Was that due to his guilty conscience?  Perhaps he was aware that he had many enemies.

「That's right Chiyuki-dono. This is what make Cornes-dono's mansion so mysterious.」

That was Decius' reply when I tried to ask him about the situation in Cornes' mansion.

「Mysterious? Can you be more elaborate?」

Nao asked Decius.

「Cornes family is a distinguished family in Ariadya, but that's the old story. Cornes-dono's family was on the verge of collapse due to debt until three years ago. Suddenly, they bounced back and become prosperous again.」

「Suddenly bounced back and became prosperous again? That's strange indeed.」

Reiji spoke with a gloomy face.

「Yes. I heard that they made a profit by selling『Sand』.」

「Sand? What's that~」

Just as Rino had said, I had no idea how he made a profit by selling sand.

「It's actually a powdered drug called 『Sand』. It's called sand because its powdered form resembles sand.」

Decius explained to us.

「『Sand』, huh. Just what kind of medicine is it, Decius-dono?」

「It's a sleeping drug, Chiyuki-dono. People can have nice dreams with this medicine.」

We knitted our eyebrows upon hearing Decius-dono's explanation.

「That sounds suspicious…」

「Yeah, Nao-chan.」

Just as Nao and Rino just said, it was an extremely suspicious drug. Could it be that 『Sand』 was actually a narcotic drug?

「Decius-dono, does that 『Sand』 harm the body of its user?」

「About that. I tried asking Fanacea's priest to check the 『Sand』 since I also worried about its effects, but all they said is the fact that it's a powerful magic drug. Some of the users of 『Sand』 have been said to never open their eyes again.」

「That's clearly dangerous, right! Why aren't you moving to regulate it!?」

I unintentionally shouted at Decius.

「『Sand』 is sold mainly in the outer city. Majority of its users are unregistered citizens. Though some citizens use it, there's no damage reports from them so far. Since there's no damage reports, the senate can't make their decision.. 」

I unintentionally palmed myself.

So that means the leaders of this country don’t care about what happens as long as it didn't happen to their citizens?

「Does that mean the man called Cornes is the one who supplying this 『Sand』?」

「Yes, Hero-dono. That seems to be the case. There's witness of the 『Sandman』, the one who sells 『Sand』, going in and out Cornes-dono's mansion.」

Decius explained to us about 『Sandman』.

The man who carrying bag containing 『Sand』 over their shoulder. Moreover, there's a rumor going around about the 『Sandman』 kidnapping children.

Lately, there was even a rumor that the 『Sandman』 will come to anyone who can't sleep at night.

And those 『Sandman』  were coming from Cornes' mansion.

Even though the evidence kept popping out left and right, Decius and co couldn't make their move since there's no damage to the citizens, and due the fact that the culprit was the member of senate himself.

Maybe Decius was also vexed by this case.

Nevertheless, maybe it's better if we confirm it with our own eyes about the 『Sandman』 and 『Sand』.

「Chiyuki-san. It seems something has happened in Cornes' mansion.」

It is just as Nao had said.

We heard screams coming from Cornes' mansion.

「Let's go and take a look.」

Reiji started walking first.

「You're right, Reiji-kun. Lord Decius, we should be able to do the investigation as long as the other party allows us, right? That’s including the fact if he's willing confess to us, right?」

I asked Decius as I walked behind Reiji.

「Yes, Sage-dono. There's no problem in investigating as long as we don't coerce the other party.」

I nodded upon hearing that.

Thus, we headed toward Cornes' mansion.

===

◆Silver Witch; Kuna

「Ouch… It hurts… Please stop already, Kuna-sama…」

I was trampling down upon an ugly six-eyed rat under my foot.

But, this definitely is not animal abuse and this guy isn't a rat, but a bug. Anyhow, I could end this guy’s pathetic life with just a small push of my foot.

Though this bug seems to be trying to say something, I didn't stop trampling on him underfoot.

This guy seems to be the bottom of the barrel of the divine beings, that's why I could easily beat him with a surprise attack.

Since Kuroki isn't here with me, I could use sneak attacks to beat this bug.

「Stop that annoying yammering already.」

I put even more strength into my leg.

The crying sound of this bug was truly pollution for my ears.

It wasn't just this guy, my anger wouldn't be appeased if that Ulbard fella didn't experience the same pain.

「I'VE ALREADY TOLD EVERYTHING!! PLEASE FORGIVE ME ALREADY!!」

The bug kept going on and on with his annoying yammering.

But he got the point, trampling him down like this made me tired, let's stop for now.

「Fine then. I'll stop for now.」

The bug showed a servile smile upon hearing Kuna's remark.

「It's time to cut off your head after all.」

Kuna raised her scythe.

「WHAT THE!!? YOU SAY THAT YOU WERE GOING TO FORGIVE ME!!」

「Hah, when did I say that I forgive you? You should be happy since from this point on, you'll become my loyal pawn.」

After saying that, I took out a dried head from an empty space.

It was the dried head of an ogre. This ogre taught various things to Kuna when they were still alive, yes, when they're still alive with their head on their shoulder.

This was the secret art taught to Kuna by the arc witch of the wetlands who lived in the west of the demon king castle.

And now, let's turn this bug into this.

Kuna really enjoyed this moment since this was the first time she got her hands on the head of a divine being.

「HIIIII!! OGRE HEAD!! WHY SHOULD I FEEL DELIGHTED BY BECOMING SOMETHING LIKE THAT!!! HOW CAN YOU DO SOMETHING SO CRUEL TO ME!!」

I turned a deaf ear to this bug's wailing.

This bug should feel grateful to be able to become Kuna's loyal servant.

Well, that's enough.

Kuna brandished her scythe, beheading the bug's head.

「Well then, I guess I'll take care of the hero while I'm at it.」

I looked up at the ceiling of the room while stepping on the bug that had already died.

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