Ankoku Kishi Monogatari (WN)

Guests are chatting inside the bar located in the outer city of Holy Republic Lenaria.

Judging by their appearances, they maybe people who belong to soldier battalion.

Or rather, they look like ruffians.

I'm listening attentively.

「Oi, did you hear, it seems the hero Reiji failed in demon king’s subjugation!」

「I heard about that, too. From what I know, isn't he currently on the verge of dying from several grievous wounds」

「That strength. I never imagined that hero-sama will be defeated.  As I thought, the extermination of the demon king is too much for a mere human, right？ 」

「See, even the strongest hero isn't a match against the demon king…」

「No, I heard that the one who beat the hero isn't the demon king」

「WHAT！ ！ REALLY！ ！ 」

「Yeah, I heard that he was defeated by the dark king, the demon king’s underling」

「He~, this is the first time I heard that the demon king has such a powerful underling」

「Yeah, but that has caused a problem」

「Problem？」

「The demon king, for some reason, has never come out from Nargol until now. However, this person seems to be different 」

「WHAT！ ！ Are you saying that the dark knight will come to attack us？ 」

「I'm not sure for the time being. But, it seems that the demons became even more active after the hero was injured. There are some rumors saying that the dark knight has attacked various place by leading flocks of demons」

「It's the dark knight after the hero… What an awful world…」

I'm not drinking liquor but just sitting on the nearby chair, listening to their conversation.

The rumor that have been mentioned are far from the truths.

I have no intention to attack at all. In the first place, Modes also has no intention of destroying the human race. Or so at least from what I heard from him.

I'm looking at the guests who are drinking their liquor.

The liquor present in their wooden mugs is liquor made from fermented wheat and is called ale.

It's something like the beer in my world.

Though I have never drank beer or ale, I feel that ale may not be as delicious as beer.

Anyway, that's because this world has no refrigerator.

For the ale to be not cold is just normal.

Nevertheless, I managed to hear a rumor about Reiji.

As expected, Reiji and co. have made their base in this city.

「Diehart-dono…」

I hear a voice from below the chair. There's a rat below my chair.

Nut was collecting information in the Rena temple located right in the middle of Holy Republic Lenaria.

「Welcome back, Nut. Shall we go back to our base then？ 」

I'm going back toward Dozumi’s hut along with Nut.

Dozumi isn't in this place anymore.

He already left this country.

No, it's not just Dozumi.

It seems that the members of the soldier troop to which he belonged to is gone too.

It might be because they are afraid of Reiji’s retaliation.

「Diehart-sama. That's the situation of the temple」

I'm hearing about the temple from Nut.

According to Nut, the temple jad been built by the dwarves.

It seems the dwarves are quite formidable in construction.

Naturally, the knights who monitor the temple are rigorously selected from the elites, so the security is also strict.

But, the problem is the magic alarms that are installed in various places in this temple which number more than the knight's headcount.

This alarm device, made by the dwarves, is capable of seeing through half-hearted invisibility magic or other such methods at once.

That's why I believe there's a high possibility that Reiji and the rest are in this temple.

It's hard to infiltrate into Rena temple due to how strengthened the line of defense is, so I was waiting for Nut to come back.

「I can easily enter the temple by myself, though…」

Nut is saying so with an apologetic tone.

Maybe the alarm won't resound for an animal below certain size whenever a small animal goes in there. That's why, Nut, who has a small body, can easily enter the temple without being spotted.

It'll be fine if I could use transformation magic, but unfortunately, I can't use it.

「It's nothing, thank you for telling me that. That really saved me from a lot of trouble, you know…」

Nut can't use magic, but his knowledge is amazing. I'm told that his direct supervisor was the former god of knowledge himself.

But, Nut’s unique selling point is his ability for gathering information and infiltration. I heard that he had even infiltrated Elios to send a message to friends of Modes.

Without Nut accompanying me along my journey, I might not have been able to go this far peacefully.

I must send my gratitude toward Modes for sending an amazing subordinate like Nut as my guide.

And he really brought back the information about the temple in this manner.

「Infiltration seems to be quite difficult, isn't it?」

I'm sighing.

「U~hm, Diehart-sama.  So it's not possible with the information that I heard during my infiltration？ 」

Nut is querying me.

「Certainly, I’ve figured out a lot from your information, but…」

But, it won't do since I've arrived at this point.

In the first place, the reason I came here isn't for gathering information as their enemy.

Nor to determine whether the gathered information will be of use to me.

I should be collecting other information such as the type of equipment used or their military force if I'm gathering information as their foe.

Maybe, Nut has mistaken that my goal for coming to this place is to deliver a finishing blow to the hero.

The information gathered by Nut is definitely vital for that kind of action.

Since Nut doesn't know my intentions, the information that he brought back isn't necessarily the information that I want.

「I'm sorry. I want to see them with my own eyes」

I turn down Nut’s offer.

「I see…」

Nut’s voice sounds gloomy, maybe he presumes that I'm not trusting him.

「More important stuff. Let's have a meal」

We leave the hut, Dozumi’s former house.

As we leave the hut, we placed our feet firmly on the barren earth.

It's different compared to inside the rampart. There are no stone pavements at the outer city.

It was the second day after I came to this Lenaria city.

Maybe because I'm walking out in the afternoon, the fragrance of dishes is drifting out from the stalls. Having some cereal porridge might be nice.

There are many people who are heading toward the stalls.

But, eating the food of outer city is dangerous due to sanitary problems.

Anyway, since there's no equality in law, even if it's not an instant death, there might be some poisonous plants added inside it.

That's why I didn't eat anything in the bar.

If you are to ask what I'm doing in the bar then, it's simply for gathering information.

Nut and I decided to have a meal inside the rampart.

We entered the city via the main gate while I’m wearing the shadow mantle.

I invoked invisibility magic which hides even my face. The invoked invisibility magic was one that distorted people’s consciousness. After invoking this magic, even the people beside the caster won't notice the presence of the caster.

But, it seems that the people with a certain level of detection ability can easily notice it.

The interior of the rampart is clean and pretty, completely different from the outer city where trash seems to be littered everywhere.

I'm heading toward the bakery which I discovered yesterday.

There are two kinds of bread: One made with inferior rye [black bread] and other with fine quality wheat[white bread].

The bread made with fine quality wheat didn't even lose to the ones made in Japan.

Though the city was different, there's this extremely delicious honey-filled bread.

Is the bread made in this city?

After walking for a while, our destination is a boisterous place.

When I'm trying to peek at the gap between the human fences, two pairs of full armored knights are walking, while keeping a close watch.

「That's the temple knight. What is that knight doing in there?」

In Holy republic Lenaria, the only one who can give orders to the knights is the head of the temple.

Thus, the knight’s job were maintaining the safety in the highway and protecting the temple in general.

Nut never said that they would be walking in the middle of the city in full armor like that.

Two girls are walking behind those knights.

Both of them were beauties.

The woman walking in the front is the very definition of a well-bred princess. Her bright colored hair is as impressive as her strong willed look.

The woman walking behind is a bit short with her hair tied like a bun on top of her head*. It's just that her face is as if she’s wearing a noh mask.  As the two of them are having conversation, the woman in the front displays a variety of emotions and yet, the one in the back doesn't even reply anything other than the bare minimum. [TL*: Her hairstyle should be similar to Saber from FSN]

Even from far away, I can figure out that the two of them are wearing first-class clothes. It seems they're quite rich.

And then, it seems that the knights walking in front and on their back are their bodyguards.

I wonder who they are？

「Diehart-sama. She's the exploding princess」

Nut is pointing at the woman walking in front.

「Exploding princess！？ 」

Exploding princess, what a strange nickname. Nut proceeds to give an explanation after thinking about that matter for a second.

「Once upon a time, that princess hit the man who tried to make a pass on her with magic. At that time, the power of her magic indiscriminately ripped apart innumerable buildings regardless of their value, and thus, she got the nickname "Exploding Princess".」

「Haaah…」

I let out a stupid looking voice upon hearing Nut’s explanation.

And now, these knights were given a duty by the temple to not let anyone approach that exploding princess.

‘You aren’t bodyguards?’ It makes me want to retort.

The four knights were like a chaperone who surrounded the two beauties from a slight distance.

「In addition, that exploding princess is the hero’s little sister」

I'm astonished by Nut words.

The hero’s little sister！？ To put it in another way, she's Reiji’s little sister.

I'm surprised by the fact that she was Reiji little sister, but I am also surprised that the number of summoned people is just one in demon king castle.

What the hell are they trying to do by summoning that many people？

When I inquired about that matter.

When I was summoned, I was alone.

Though I'm a bit dissatisfied by it, it's just a matter of chance.

Shall I go closer to hear their conversation？

I'm straining my ears to eavesdrop.

I can't hear anything.

I, who become a superman in this world, can’t hear their conversation. If I strain my ears, I can even hear the sound coming from far away.

But, I absolutely cannot hear their conversation.

Let's tail them then. So, I decided my next plan of action.

「Sorry Nut, will you wait for a while here?」

「Understood」

Nut drops down from my shoulder.

Though it should be okay even if I address them from the front, I want to avoid being discovered by Shirone due to their description as much as I can.

I invoke the invisibility magic present in the shadow mantle.

The two of them are walking toward the bakery where I'm going to go.

I'm tailing them at a reasonable distance.

When I'm a bit closer to them.

I noticed that I can hear their voice.

When I'm thinking of getting even closer to them.

I start hearing their voices normally after I got quite close to them.

「Hear me Kaya, the bread they sell in this bakery tastes so good, you know～」

It's the voice of Reiji’s little sister.

「Please wait a minute！！ Ojousama！ ！ 」

「What's the matter, Kaya？」

She rarely calls to stop her.

It was at that time.

I bend my body to the back at once.

At that time, something with extreme speed passed at the place where my head was, a moment ago.

It's a roundhouse kick.

The woman behind Reiji’s little sister jumped toward me and released a roundhouse kick.

Moreover, in spite of her back facing me, her kick aimed at my chin with terrifying precision.

I might be done for if I had reacted just a bit late.

And, I might have fainted if I got hit on my jaw.

Using the momentum of her roundhouse kick, she twisted her body and attacked me with a heel drop.

I can't see the inside of her skirt.

I avoid that heel drop by rolling to the side.

The stone pavement where her heel dropped on got smashed and created fissures with the dropping point as the center.

She's pursuing me right away.

The attacks are sharp, but maybe because she's in a hurry, her center of gravity’s a bit off.

I instantly catch her and fling her.

Crap. So I thought.

At this rate, she'll fall on the ground, head first.

So, I follow her momentum to make her fall on her bottom by circling my arms around her back.

「UH！！ 」

The woman is moaning.

It still hurts even if you fall on your bottom.

「I-I'm sorry！！ 」

I unintentionally apologize to her.

「KAYA！！ WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO KAYA！！ 」

Reiji’s little sister is facing me.

But, she slipped. And that brought her to her fall.

If she continues to fall in that manner, she might fall on the pavement, face first.

「WATCH OUT！！ 」

I spontaneously catch her body.

FUNYU.

There's a soft sensation transmitting on to my palm.

「WHAT ARE YOU DOING！！！ 」

It seems I accidentally grabbed her breast when on catching her.

「THIS PERVERT！！ 」

A powerful slap comes toward my face.

Since my hand didn't separate from her chest. I can only receive it head on.

At that time, my hood slipped.

「OH SHIT！！ 」

I leave that place immediately while trying to hide my face.

The knights who noticed what just happened are rushing at me immediately.

I entered the shadow of the road after taking down one of the knights.

I believe I have escaped far enough. On noticing my surroundings, I seem to be already in the hut of the outer city.

There, I'm catching my breath.

I'm recalling her movements. Those movements of her seem to belong to some sort of kenpo.

And then, it might be the kenpo that came from the earth.

She was a summoned person, too. Moreover, her movements are the movements of a trained person.

But, more than that.

「I failed….」

I'm muttering so.

It might become even more difficult to gather information anymore.

What should I do from now?

「Diehart-sama~. Are you alright～？ 」

Nut is running toward me.

Then, I remember preceding events upon seeing Nut.

Should I tell him the truth？

If it's Nut, he can easily gather the necessary information.

We more or less became the hero’s enemies.

How would his thoughts change if he knows that I don't want to be in dispute against the heroes?

But, at this rate, I'll be left with no other choice.

I'm considering about several matters.

And then, I'm looking at my left palm.

「It was soft…」