Sariel: 「So, you guys wanna take refuge in my forest?」
「Yes, Sariel-sama. We would want nothing more.」
If you're wondering what's going on, try figuring that out yourselves.
Sariel: 「Well, sure thing. As long as you don't cause trouble and make yourselves useful, I have no problem with your presence.」
A group of three were actually migrating to the forest for protection and shelter.
Well, I would certainly deny the humans, but luckily, they weren't what I expected.
They were actually faries who actually worked for Ramires.
Apparently, Ramires had reached the end of her lifespan, and she was yet to reincarnate.
They actually thought that the next spirit queen would be a whole new individual succeeding Ramires.
I would like to convince them, but there is no use for that.
I was also unsure of that outcome, so the only thing I needed to do was to cooperate.
They parted ways and wanted to seek shelter in the forest, so I am now giving them permission.
Well, I did give my condition in an obscure manner, so if she fell for it, I'm not to blame.
After the whole introduction and formalities, we got down to business.
She would take Tina's position, managing the forest, whilst Tina would be responsible for assisting Yuuka in defending the hell gate.
Recently, the number of aggressors has increased, and as a result, the rate of ambush has also skyrocketed.
Yuuka did request more demons to assist in the defense, so adding Tina to the team wouldn't be a bad idea.
I'd have to watch out for Feldway in case he has me mixed up in his plans.
In retrospect, there was this new nation that rose up some years ago as a result of the destruction of the Super-Sorcery Kingdom.
There were two separate Super-Magic Empires at the time of Guy's summoning.
How it occurred was that the Magic Continent declared independence from Jahil and a huge civil war ensued.
Soma was built on the ruins of the rebel capital while Guy's palace was built on Jahil's castle.
The Civil War was the entire reason why Jahil summoned Guy to begin with.
He had wanted to deal with the rebelling side, so he summoned Guy to do just that, and well…
As you can imagine, it didn't go very well.
Guy destroyed the two sides but decided to settle at Jahil's former residence.
The rebel's residence was the land that birthed the former prosperous nation at the time known as the Super-Sorcery Kingdom.
The elven king of that kingdom made use of the technological secrets that laid within to create that nation, but unfortunately for him, Jahil's tyrannous reign was far from over.
From what I understand, Jahil made the king's body his own and proceeded to use the once peaceful Kingdom as both a launchpad for the rebirth of the Super-Magic Empire and a testing ground for his magical experiments.
After witnessing Guy's use of the Birthday Magic spell, he recreated its abilities, massacring people in order to use their corpses for his experiments.
What a truly disgusting creature.
But after Milim's rampage, the kingdom was once again destroyed.
He perished along with the capital of the elven empire, reduced to nothing by a bright beam of pure destruction.
This was how the kingdom perished, giving rise to a new nation now known as the Sorcerer's Dynasty Sarion.
This nation would later grow to be one of the most influential kingdoms to ever exist.
I can definitely see it rising in power.
Another interesting fact is that its ruler is an offshoot of the great Sylvia El-Ru.
Her name is Elmesia El-Ru, the empress of the Sorcerer's Dynasty.
Sylvia seemed to have left the ruling job to Elmesia whilst she continued her research.
Not that I can blame her; it's definitely something I can see myself doing in that case.
The thing is that it is a nation founded by elves and is composed of 13 kingdoms that all swear absolute fealty to Emperor Elmesia.
Its capital, Elmine Sarion, is built directly into the gigantic divine tree.
The history of Sarion goes back some years to when Milim destroyed the Super-Sorcery Kingdom that housed the elves of that era.
The elves that chose to forsake the Princess followed what remained of the elven nobility and formed thirteen kingdoms that were in a constant contest for superiority.
Eventually, Elmesia, the direct descendant of the ancestor of the elves, came forward to consolidate the various kingdoms into an empire with Elmesia as its Emperor.
This mysterious ancestor is Sylvia.
In actuality, Sylvia is a high elf incarnated with the help of Twilight Valentine.
She is the True Ancestor of the elves and the mother of Elmesia El Ru Sarion.
While she spends most of her days in seclusion doing scientific experiments, she occasionally fills in as emperor in place of Elmesia.
Sylvia used to be a spirit, originally a disembodied one.
She was seemingly summoned by Twilight, who proceeded to incarnate her into a physical body using his own flesh as a base.
He is a weird and crazy scientist.
He actually sacrificed his flesh due to unsated curiosity.
That's something I'll only see him doing. He was always so serious in his experiments.
Hell, I was almost killed because I "unintentionally" destroyed some of his test tools and test subjects.
Back to my story, it must have been a wind spirit considering that most elves have special affinities for the wind element.
She, along with others such as Jahil, Luminous, and Guran Dwargo, was taken in as one of Twilight's disciples.
Her existence served as the basis of the rest of the elven race, which, along with many other races created by Twilight, began to populate the world in accordance with Veldanava's wishes.
For me, they seemed to be the most secured nation. I mean, they are literally living in one of the holy relics of Veldanava.
Destroying that tree would require someone on par with or above Milim to do the deed.
That is just how sturdy that old wood is.
At a point in time, Veldanava created some things he called sacred relics to prevent the world from being destroyed.
Well, after so many years of battling and war, the others were destroyed.
One of them should probably be the barrier he placed over the world.
That one was destroyed by Iverage during their rampage.
The only two remaining are the heavens tower and the divine tree.
At some point in time, she fell in love with and married an elven hero named Sarion Grimwald and eventually bore a child.
With that, it is easy to identify Elmesia as the mysterious offspring.
Mere months after this occurrence, the super-magic kingdom that the elves called home was destroyed by Milim Nava due to the foolish actions of Jahil, who had possessed the high-elven king in secret.
This resulted in Milim awakening as a True demon lord, causing her pet Elemental Dragon, who was killed by Jahil, to transform into the ruinous chaos dragon.
Her husband, named Sarion at the time, went to the battlefield to fulfill his duty as a Chosen hero and subdue the rampaging Chaos Dragon but never returned and was eventually declared missing.
In the aftermath of the super-magic kingdoms' destruction, various noble elven houses spread out across the world to form their own kingdoms, while the elves that stayed loyal to the royalty stayed behind and became dark elves.
Anyway, that's besides the point. What impressed me the most was the fact that they survived a big recent war that occurred.
This war was surprisingly hosted by the angels.
They had declared war against the world and made it clear that they would strike again.
Most of the prominent nations were wiped out of the cardinal world's map.
They were also caught up in this invasion, along with another nation called Dwargon, the Dwarven Kingdom.
Their king is currently Guran Dwargo, a great king, in my opinion.
He, too, is considered a disciple of Twilight.
They were also dragged into that silly angel's scheme.
I do have a drawing concern.
From the data the old man gave off, there should be a certain ultimate skill capable of summoning two million angels to do their bidding or something.
The number of angels that came to battle was certainly around the two million mark.
Should I be concerned?
The answer is a fat no.
Why should I concern myself with the matters of a God-forsaken angel when I could just throw that aside because it's "definitely" not a problem to worry over, right?
Pfft-How laughable. This should be one of the biggest pains in the ass stuff to ever deal with.
If someone had this much power, how should I not be concerned?
I mean, that person might not even be the strongest there is, and yet, they wielded this much authority.
How tiring.
Aside from that, all I've said is the latest trend around.
How do I always gain first-class information about the events of the world, you ask?
Well, as the world's protector, I've got to know literally everything that goes on around the world.
I didn't notice it until now, but I had the innate ability to receive various important information concerning the world.
This was an ability granted to me as I achieved the title "Divine Protector" by the World's Voice.
Surprisingly, I had no idea about it because someone was busily enjoying the ability.
「....」
For what seemed to be millions of years, I have finally caught Raziel-san doing naughty stuff.
This time, she had no excuse for not informing me about such a thing–
Kalisha: 「She actually had a sound reason.」
...Right.
What a lame ass self-justifying excuse for an excuse!!
Blasphemy!!
You should have told me!
Kalisha: 「I can definitely see you doing weird stuff with this ability now in your possession.」
How impudent!
This was like a gift granted to me by the old man.
But the Sage-san of then was quick to hide this from me.
She used it to assist me in a way, which is how she usually had so much detailed information about skills and many more things alike.
With this, I could access the world's record, retrieving various information needed.
It did come with its limit, though.
It was as if I interacted with the Voice of The World, though such a thing seemed stupid to think of.
The information received was limited, and the ability to comprehend the full thing depended on the individual.
What I would interpret from the information received might be different from another person's interpretation, but it possessed the same basic information.
If a major event took place, I would be the first to know, excluding the individuals directly involved.
That was its basic ability. It was something similar to the administrative authority the primordial angels possessed.
This was indeed very useful, but for as to why I was kept in the dark about it, I don't know.
I trust Raziel-san wholeheartedly, but I sometimes worry about her antics.
Kalisha: 「It is undeniable that you would have thought of using this ability to play a prank on various leaders of the world, causing worldwide disturbances, all to satiate your boredom.」
...No comment.
Kalisha: 「Ha!」
Tch. Whatever...
I have no actual way to handle this phenomenon as it occurs naturally, as if it were an extra heart.
Not that I mind, but it seems all the information goes to Raziel-san, who would decide to keep unimportant information away from me.
She took my preferences to heart as I would hate to randomly receive information whilst doing something way more important.
I'll praise her for that job done well.
After sorting things out with the fairy named Treyni, I decided to meet up with Milim.
She has started building up her own nation, and I intend to supervise this project.
Not that I would object to any opinion, but I just needed an excuse to hang out with Milim.
◇◇◇
After arriving at my destination, I let out a bit of my haki, you know, the regular stuff.
And the result?
Milim: 「Sariel!!」
I was tackled by a living meteor. It was a pretty normal thing in my life.
Milim: 「You finally came to visit me!! I've been so bored!」
Hm. I guess it's not only me. Well, I just came to look at her progress, and I'm done.
Sariel: 「Well, too bad. I didn't come to play. But perhaps we can have a little fun before I leave.」
Milim: 「Wahahaha! Now you're talking. Let's go! I have a lot to show you!」
So I was dragged by Milim to several parts of her kingdom.
She ended up getting the land north-east to the Jura Forest, so it wasn't all that difficult to get to her.
Milim doesn't really have anyone to hang out with.
Not that her followers are not around, but there are just these types of people you really like to hang out with.
That is what I mean. Due to that, I'm kinda like her father and brother figure.
A "pibling," to put it simply.
She, for a time, lived a happy and peaceful life with her father, Veldanava, mother Lucia, and pet, Gaia.
However, tragedy struck when her father and mother unexpectedly passed away.
She was well taken care of by servants, but her uncle; that is, Rudra, the king who refused to see her.
I still see him as an asshole up to this day.
With Gaia the only family member she had left, she grew up unable to remember the faces of her parents and was unaware of her relation to the king.
Only having each other, Gaia and Milim's bond grew more than ever, with the two never leaving each other's side, even sleeping in the same bed huddled together.
How cute.
These peaceful times, too, were not fated to last. A group from the Super-Magic Kingdom of the elves had infiltrated the Kingdom of Nasca and intended to take Milim and use her power as their own.
Gaia stood in the way of their assailants, doing its best to protect Milim, but it was eventually cut down and killed.
Milim, having lost everything and everyone close to her, began to lose her sanity.
Her mind went blank with rage as the massive power she inherited from her father came bubbling to the surface, and she set out to take revenge.
She made her way to the capital of the Super-Magic Kingdom and began to destroy everything and everyone in sight, starting by wiping out the castle and the king that was inside of it with a massive flash of light.
In her rampage, having killed hundreds and thousands of people, she became a true demon lord, and the resulting harvest festival brought her beloved Gaia back to life.
Gaia, being corrupted by Milim's anger, took on the form of a mindless Chaos Dragon and, following Milim's command, began terrorizing the elves of the Empire.
The death and destruction in Milim's wake were so destructive that I had to step in to prevent the damage from spreading to the whole world.
Milim and I fought each other for five days and four nights with no clear winner arising between us.
On the final night, I was finally able to pacify her.
I went out of my way to handle the chaos dragon and managed to return its sanity.
Guy and Ramiris did their best to console the grieving Milim, with the three coming together to form the Demon Lord council with the trio as its founding members.
Milim, for her part, began to help as many people as she could, perhaps in recompense for her past actions.
She slew powerful monsters and magical beasts that were attacking towns and cities and became an arbitrator for international disputes.
This culminated in her discovery of the dragonewts, a race of demi-humans born from the union of humans and the dragons that had spawned from Gaia's factor.
As one of the closest thing she had to a family, she took in the dragonewts and protected them, with the City of the Forgotten Dragon eventually being built by them in her honor.
That is the history of it all. This city was built by her followers, so I came to inspect how it was—alright, enough with that silly excuse.
I'll just have my look around and find something more interesting to do.
Sticking to my words, I went around, making a quick inspection without even keeping note of anything.
After that was done, I went to meet Milim.
Milim: 「Eh? Are you done already?」
Sariel: 「Yep. I'm done. I never said I would take long, did I?」
Hearing me, she smiled and nodded happily.
Sariel: 「Well, now that it's all over with, let's get going. I'm gonna show you how stressful my job is.」
She did say that I was simply slacking off and having fun around the world.
It did have a few fun times, but it wasn't always all fun and games.
Milim: 「Yeah, right. It's like having a vacation on a daily basis! Who won't want that!?」
Sariel: 「Having a vacation on a daily basis would just spoil the meaning of a vacation, you idiot!」
Milim: 「A-Ah, right...」
I had to quickly dismiss that idea off her mind.
She was one of those people who would fit perfectly into the category of "easily influenced potatoes."
Sariel: 「So, we doin' this or what?」
She seemed to shudder upon my questioning.
Milim: 「Yes!」
Weird. Am I missing something? Nah.
Taking the lead, I unfurled my golden-black wings, ready to take off.
In retrospect, upon my debut, I had no demonic feature.
Heck, I looked completely human. This might be because of my mental image.
There was just no way I would imagine myself bearing fangs or having claws or even horns.
I could materialize them using 『Material Creation』, which is what I always did with my wings, but I never had them naturally.
Most high-ranking demons hid their demonic features using magic, but I had no such need for that.
I had a completely humane form, appearing rather beautiful than handsome... Fucking world.
Instead of doing anything grand, she preferred to elevate herself, using magic to defy the laws of physics by simply floating in the air without any sort of support.
Ah, magic. Truly fascinating. Come to think of it, I do need to make out time for my regular magic practice sessions.
That's a new mental note created. Now, it's time to head off.
My first destination would be the Great Silverion Empire, of course.
I had to pick up the otherworlders for my next adventure.
◇◇◇
We arrived sooner than we expected. It only took a few minutes to get there with our super-enhanced flight.
As we landed on the outskirts of the empire, we quickly made our way to the main royal capital.
I did make sure to conceal our presence. I was only going to look for those naughty brats before heading towards Ramires' domain.
As we steadily made our way towards the capital, I made sure to inspect the state of things.
There haven't been any major changes due to the recent war that broke out.
Well, not like much is needed. The town was already fairly well developed.
A little touch of improvement, and it would look like a futuristic city.
For the otherworlders, a luxurious yet small mansion was set up.
They were well known as local heroes and were gaining popularity slowly but steadily.
They did prevent the invasion of the insects and, in a way, protected the kingdom once again.
With that, Alya gave them that building as a sort of reward for their good deed.
Now, they have a house of their own. Unlike a certain hobo demon.
I'm kinda envious, but it ain't a big deal.
I could set up a small building in the forest, but with how things are, it'd always get destroyed by stupid monsters.
Kalisha: 「You know, you could use strong materials for the construction.
Besides, Treyni and Yuuka would never allow any monster to thrash around your settlement.
In fact, I would rather choose to pity the poor fool that would decide to do such a thing.」
Eh? What does she mean? Surely it's not what I'm thinking about.
「It most definitely is.」
Eh? You decide to speak now?
「....」
*Sigh*
Meh. Whatever.
Milim: 「Ney, Sariel-nii. Is this not the kingdom you always bragged about?」
Oh? What's with the -nii thing now? Randomly?
Sariel: 「Hm, yeah, it is. Any problem?」
Milim: 「Nothing. I just sensed some particularly strong individuals, with the other far stronger than the rest.」
Hmm, that must be Kenneth and the rest. Well, she does have keen senses. 『Milim Eye』, as she called it. How childish…
We arrived at the targeted mansion. Surprisingly, it was pretty close to the royal castle.
I guess it is the best option. It does have its flaw, but that doesn't overshadow the merits.
Surely, there would be no time wastage in the presence of an emergency.
Though a huge attack aimed at the royal castle would also affect them, that would later be accounted for with the new project we're cooking up.
Since the distance between the royal castle and the mansion wasn't vast, they were also under the protection of some imperial guards.
To me, they are in a pretty safe environment. Considering their strength, they will rarely be in harm's way.
As we reached the entrance to the building, we were stopped by the guards.
「Excuse me, good sir. Do you have a business with the heroes.」
Sariel: 「Uhh, actually, we were told to come here for something important.」
「I see. Do you have a way to prove that?」
Seriously?
Sariel: 「Well, I do remember them telling me to give the guards a discrete message for identification.」
「What would that be?」
Sariel: 「Hm–Hm. The message in particular is, "No room for homies."」
As I said this, he looked confused. Well, even I was dumbfounded by the ridiculous request.
He proceeded to ignore his internal confusion and continued his work.
「Alright then, I'll pass your message on. Please refrain from doing anything suspicious.」
Another guard was sent to stay in his stead whilst the other went to pass my message.
A moment later, I spotted Akihiko running to me with the guard chasing after him.
Akihiko: 「Hey, Sariel-sama! You finally used the passcode I told you to use!」
This idiot! What was the point of all this if he decided to blow my identity!?!
As expected, the guards were in a state of utter confusion.
Sariel: 「You asshole!!」
Akihiko: 「Huh?」
The nerve of the bastard to remain unaware…
He didn't seem to realize it until now.
Akihiko: 「Oops, Sorry...」
*Sigh*
After that incident, a lot of explanations were made to the unaware guards.
In the end, I brought Milim with me to the mansion.
Milim: 「Wow! This place looks so cool! I want my place to look like this! Please!?」
Sariel: 「No-can-do, Milim. If this were to happen all the time, everyone would have the same things, making this world boring.
If we all had the same things all the time, there would be no improvement. That is the main reason for diversity. Get it?」
Milim: 「Ooh, I see. Well, I'll just make my place look way better than this.」
Sariel: 「That's the spirit!」
I ended up ruffling her smooth platinum hair. She was quite sharp when needed.
Unlike a certain cyan dragon...
Ignoring my humorous thought–
Kalisha: 「Once again, that is not funny!」
——I moved on to the grand hall of the mansion.
Sariel: 「Wow, everything looks so damn luxurious.」
Akihiko: 「Right? Well, I'm gonna give the girls a good scare. I never really told them about your arrival and stuff.」
Oh? How sly. I would like to see how they behave when I'm not around.
He left to do as he said, and with mere seconds, I could already hear several footsteps approach us.
Milim: 「Hmm, they are among the strong people I sensed. Not as strong as me, though! Wahaha!!」
Sariel: 「Milim, not everyone is a brute like you, okay?」
Milim: 「I'm not a brute! Besides, doesn't that make me better?」
That's debatable. Not like it's any serious matter worth disapproving.
As the footsteps got louder, some figures could be seen appearing from the stairs leading to the upper area of the building.
Nagisa: 「Damn it, Akihiko. I was getting to the good part. Which stupid person did you even call us to see? I swear, I'll kill you if this is all a joke.」
Ouch. It surprisingly hurts.
Akihiko: 「Haha. I swear, you're gonna regret it. Yes, you're in deep shit now. Hm-Hm」
Nagisa: 「Yeah, right. I'll kick the ass of whoever disturbs my sleep. Hell, even God would run from that sight!」
She's seems to behave like a fan of nonsense.
Akane: 「Hm? Sariel-sama?」
Aika: 「Huh?」
And the confusion came naturally.
Sariel: 「Hi! What's up?」
It seems like they meed some time to figure it out. That, I gave them.
Nagisa: 「Uuuuh, Sariel-sama? Did you–」
Sariel: 「———Yes, I heard all your trash talk, honey.. Honestly, I feel so proud.」
Then it happened.
Nagisa: 「Akihiko, you ass!! Why didn't you tell me?!?!」
Akihiko: 「Oh? You didn't ask–」
Nagisa: 「Don't give me that crap! You knew what you were doing!!」
Damn, she's really showing her true color. How shameless…
Sariel: 「You know, I'm looking forward to having my ass handed to me.」
Nagisa: 「Ah! That was not true. I was just being tough. Please, I beg you!」
Her constant plea was ignored, and the purpose for my visit was brought up.
Sariel: 「I need you guys to be ready for our next travel. We are heading to the spirit realm.」
As I said this, they all looked at me with shock and curiosity.
Aika: 「Wait, you can do that?」
Sariel: 「Of course I can. We're not actually going to the spirit realm, but just a place where an old friend of mine dwells at.」
Akihiko: 「Ah, I see. Well, we're ready when you are. In all honesty, we've all just been taking life easy. I've been in need of a little vacation.」
Milim: 「Heh.」
Sariel: 「*Sigh* Once again, Milim, this is not a vacation.」
Milim: 「Yes, sir!」
Nagisa: 「Huh?」
Oh, right. We've totally been ignoring Milim. I haven't introduced them yet, but it seems like they already know of her.
Well, she did become pretty popular considering her deeds.
Aika: 「Wait, as in demon lord Milim!?!」
Sariel: 「Uhh, yeah. So, let me tell you a little story.」
From there, a while was taken to actually settle down with them.
I had to explain not exactly everything, but a little story of how I got to know Milim.
Obviously, I did not include the old man and the rest concerning him; that is, his subordinates.
Akane: 「That's cool. I never knew you had a thing with Milim-sama's family.」
Aika: 「Hey now, you mentioned that we would be going somewhere, right? Let's get it over with!」
Sariel: 「Hm. If you say so.」
We were six in total. It would be annoying to teleport all of us at once, but it was possible.
They made sure to inform the guards of their departure before anything else.
Sariel: 「Alright, brace yourselves!」
Saying that, I teleported us directly to the land containing the dwelling of spirits.
I do remember leaving a magic circle behind during one of my random visits.
This served as a base for direct teleportation.
It would have been much easier to make the magic circle within the labyrinth, but even I would object to that.
I mean, imagine doing something as embarrassing as reading a hentai manga only for some weirdo to pop up unassumingly.
That would irk me. Well, her reasoning was sound, so I followed with her demand to make such a thing outside the labyrinth.
The change in atmosphere was almost instantaneous, and a wave of peace and tranquility washed over me.
It was always so peaceful over here, unlike the Jura Forest, where you can be attacked anytime by low-ranking monsters.
In retrospect, I have been assaulted by a few monsters in the forest, with the only difference being their immediate change in strategy upon witnessing overwhelming strength.
At this point, almost all the monsters recognize me as the true lord of the forest alongside Veldora.
That's progress, in my opinion.
It wouldn't be nice to be constantly assaulted by random monsters just because of some stupid excuse.
As we arrived, the first to speak was the ever curious one among the group.
Nagisa: 「Hm? Is this the place? Kinda looks exactly like the ones we hear of in fairytales.」
She's not exactly wrong. It did look unreal. That's just the world Veldanava created to satiate his boredom.
The level of diversity present on this realm is exquisite, displaying the true nature of creation.
Sariel: 「Well, let's get going.」
Perhaps Ramires might have completed her reincarnation.
If she has not returned, I will just stay there until she completes her reincarnation.
We made our way to the entrance of the labyrinth, and all eyes turned on me to see what I would do.
I stood I front of the entrance, touching the surface of the gate.
After a few seconds, I channeled some magicules into the door, and in a grand fashion, it opened up.
Milim: 「That was surprisingly cool. I didn't expect this from Ramires.」
Honestly, I just decided to make that dramatic effect. I could have simply forced it open, but what's life without a little drama?
Sariel: 「Right? Well, what are we waiting for? Let's get going.」
Saying that, we began to make our way inside the labyrinth.
I've been here on a number of occasions, but it still feels good to be here.
The atmosphere is welcoming, and the scene is alluring as always.
As we reached a certain part of the labyrinth, I decided to call out to her.
Sariel: 「Hey Ramires! Are you here!?」
Well, it's not as flashy as I thought it would look, but it's still not so weird.
Kalisha: 「You honestly thought that screaming to the heavens would look flashy?
I'm actually beginning to lose hope with you.」
Oi! That's rude!
Kalisha: 「Thank you.」
It wasn't the intention idiot!
I seriously need to learn how to ignore these stupid spirit's taunts.
Immediately following after my question, a bright light appeared before us, enveloping the environment in a pure golden light.
Milim: 「Hey, look! It's a light!」
Sariel: 「No, Milim. It's just a rock. See?」
Milim: 「Huh?」
I decided to play the ironic card.
I don't even know why I did that. Perhaps to yell at her to not be so obvious?
「Greetings, Sariel-sama.」
Sariel: 「Ah. It's you. What's up? Has Ramires finished her reincarnation?」
This was a greater spirit of the light element. One of Ramires' subordinates.
He was usually the one to lead me to Ramires when the way got too complicated to follow.
「Unfortunately, Ramires-sama has not yet returned.
But for assurance, I do have this feeling that the next spirit queen would return very soon.」
I see. She has not yet reincarnated. It seems he also thinks that the next spirit queen would be different.
I can't blame them, though. She never gave them a heads up before going to rest. How tactless.
Kailsha: 「You're no better.」
Right?
Sariel: 「I see. I'll just wait it out. Besides, I could use some alone time with these brats.」
「Understood. You can call out to me whenever you need. Excuse me.」
Saying that, he disappeared, leaving a flash of light in his stead.
Sariel: 「Well, you heard him. There will be no progress for now, so how about we spend some quality time together?」
I asked with a bright smile. One too bright, much to their dismay.
Nagisa: 「When you say "spend some quality time together," do you mean kicking our asses with the excuse of training?」
Sariel: 「Huh? Were you thinking of something else?」
I asked with the most innocent expression I could put up.
Aika: 「Ah, it is finished...」
Aika sulked. Why, though?
Akihiko: 「Do you know where I could get a casket?」
Akane: 「I do. Just make sure that you get one for me too. That would make it two.」
Aika: 「Make that three.」
Milim: 「Huh?」
Milim didn't even seem to understand what they were doing.
Nagisa: 「What are you even talking about?
Did you really have the silly idea that your ashes would be left behind? How naive… I feel envious of your ignorance.」
Aika: 「Ooh! I see.」
Sariel: 「Oi! I'm not so evil! What do you guys think of me as!?」
All: 「A demon!!」
O-Ouch. How could they be so true?
I guess the truth really always hurt.
Our lighthearted chat went on like that as time passed by.
We eventually got to the training part. They all had the motivation of a wet sock when we got to it.
Even though they complained about my harsh methods, the improvement was always visible.
◇◇◇
Without even knowing when, time passed.
We continued with our training for a while before resting.
It's not like we needed it or anything, but it was just part of us.
We would chat, play around, and reminisce about the past.
We also strolled around the hidden parts of the labyrinth, as if uncovering all the secrets it held.
This went on for another while until another flash of light interrupted us.
Sariel: 「Oh? Is it time already?」
「Yes.」
It seems like our purpose would be achieved sooner than expected.
Sariel: 「I see. Lead the way, then.」
Following my words, he began to lead us to where she would be.
Let's see what she has in store for us.
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Word Count:「5710」