Chapter 97

The monsters that swarmed Ria were nearly tidied up .

Only Aulum remained, as well as that monster that he was riding on .

「…I’ll tell you something good . 」

The situation had reversed, and even though it was obvious that we had the upper hand, Aulum’s attitude had not changed at all .

No, he seems to be even more composed than before .

The『Threat Detection』that did not have any reaction up until now was loudly sounding the alarm .

「The flute from just now, even without it, I can still manipulate the monsters . Perhaps that right-hand man-sama did not know about it either, but that flute has two functions . One of them is passing down simple commands to the monsters . 」

Aulum laughed ominously, and glanced behind us .

「…the second one is to report the current situation even when at a far distance away . 」

A voice that I did not recognize sounded from behind us .

When we turned around, the owner of the voice had already used some method to destroy Ria’s barrier .

There was the sound of glass breaking and the light that enveloped our bodies disappeared .

「I thought that it was unusual for you to ask for help, but how did you get that injury?」

He was a baby-faced young man who had black hair, dark eyes and wore glasses .

His ahoge was swaying, and the hand that he used to push up his glasses was pale .

TN: those who frequently watch anime or read manga should know this, but an ahoge is a lock of hair that is sticking out of your hair

He was smiling, but his eyes were not .

As usual, the demon’s needlessly large amount of magic power was overflowing from his body, so much so that I had even broken into a cold sweat .

Ria had already fainted .

「Ah, Mahiro, you’re slow–! This time, it was dangerous even for me, so I called you– . 」

Even though he was so heavily injured, he was still as energetic as when I met him .

Even though it was so severe that even an elf would have collapsed if they had the same injuries, the look on his face remained unchanged .

It seems that the demons’ vitality was abnormal as well .

「If you think that I’m slow, then you were stuck in this kind of place, huh . Come on, we’re going back . 」

Before we realized it, he had appeared behind us .

「Wha!?」

I was worried, but even though I was closely watching his every move, I couldn’t react to that, much less see it .

Even though there was no indication of magic .

Without a doubt, he was stronger than Aulum .

「Mahiro…he had said that he was the second-ranked demon . 」

Amelia said this and looked at the young man who suddenly appeared .

The second-ranked meant that he was one rank higher than Aulum .

The young man who Aulum had called Mahiro, looked at Aulum’s injuries, shook his head, and looked at me .

「Our affinity with you might not be good . Right, Oda Akira?」

My full name was called . I frowned .

My name being called, and that appearance, I realized something .

「You, could you be a Japanese person?」

This world was similar to overseas where one’s name was in front while the family name came after .

The language was different so It couldn’t be helped, but the intonation of the name was somewhat different from Japanese .

However, this guy pronounced it perfectly as if it were Japanese .

And above all else, the name Mahiro .

It was a Japanese-y name .

「Aah, maa, am I? I’m a bit different from you guys, but I am a Japanese person . My name is Abe Mashiro . I’m reluctant, but please take care of me— . 」

What did he mean by “a bit different”?

And why was he a demon .

「Oops, there’s no time for this . We will be taking that princess with us . 」

When he said those words, I stood in front of Amelia as if to protect her .

Yoru got ready to fight as well .

Sorry, but I’ll take care of the collapsed Ria later .

Since their target was Amelia .

「Well, I didn’t think we would even require the third-rank just to secure a single princess . And now, it’s gotten to a point where the task requires my involvement . 」

You never know what will happen in life, Mahiro muttered to no one in particular, and clapped his hands .

Pann

The sound reverberated clearly .

And from in between his hands, some kind of characters came flying out .

A large number of characters formed a circle, becoming a magic circle .

The characters were something I have never seen before and didn’t look like characters . The various symbols fell into place in no time at all .

The characters were shining brightly, and were extremely beautiful .

In merely a few seconds, the tremendously small magic circles were completed, and Mahiro immediately activated them .

「『Living Doll』」

He poured magic power in the magic circles that were shining bright red and then they flew towards us .

「Dodge them! Amelia!!!」

「Kyaa!!」

I prepared myself, thinking that they were aiming for me, but the magic circles headed towards Amelia .

It was too late when I realized it and yelled out .

Amelia, who came into contact with the magic circles, was blown away and crashed into the wall .

And then, she did not move .

「Sh*t! Amelia!!!」

I ran over to Amelia and pulled her into my arms .

She was bleeding from her head . She was not dead, just unconscious .

However, if she was human, she would’ve been instantly killed .

She had also hit the back of her head, so it would be better to get her looked at by a doctor .

「You bastard!!」

「Ah—, ah—, are you aware of the unpleasant look in your eyes? Even now, you look like you’re about to kill me . 」

Hearing those mocking words, I knew that I was losing my cool .

『Master-dono, don’t let him provoke you . 』

Yoru who had recovered Ria before I knew it, pacified me .

I clenched my fist .

I wanted to punch him, but I understood that I couldn’t win against this guy .

We needed to escape somehow .

To begin with, Aulum also planned to immediately escape after recovering Amelia .

Though I didn’t let them do so .

「Can we count that Black Cat over there as being on your side now? If not, I’ll be angry . 」

Yoru returned to his usual black cat form .

That pair of golden eyes glared at Mahiro .

『I will not return to demon king-sama’s side anymore . Because I am no longer Black Cat, but Yoru . 』

「I see . Then, you can not be angry if I add your fur to my wardrobe . 」

Yoru bared his teeth, at the grinning Mahiro .

『Try it . 』