I Favor the Villainess Chapter 41Demon of the bell

That demon seemed to be a work of an avant-garde artist with a bad taste.

Lion’s head, goat’s body, poisonous snake’s tail, and bat’s wings were all joined giving it a mismatched appearance, it’s even bigger than the water slime we encountered previously.

“A chimera!?”

Claire-sama, who instantly realized the demon’s identity, shrieked.

That demon, commonly known as a chimera, is a monster that originally appeared in the Greek mythology.

It has a strong body and can breathe fire from its mouth.

It’s said its flames can set a mountain ablaze.

Chimeras are also extremely dangerous demons in this world.

Demons of this world are said to be born from animals ingesting magical gems, but chimeras are a little different.

They’re artificial familiars created for military use.

“Claire-sama, let’s retreat for now. We should leave it to the army”

I may have transmigrated as the game’s heroine, but I have no intention of following in the game’s heroine’s footsteps.

It’s foolish to fight against such a dangerous monster with just two people.

Now that the army is heading here, it should be dealt with using numbers.

There’s no need to take the risk.

However――.

“No, we will stop it here”

“Claire-sama!?”

Claire-sama stubbornly refused to move.

“If we wait for the army, the damage will spread. If that happens, Lene’s punishment will invariably become heavy”

“Claire-sama…”

At Claire-sama’s statement, Lene was lost for words.

Right.

Even though Claire-sama was betrayed, she’s still worried about Lene.

Claire-sama may be domineering, haughty, and selfish, but that’s not all that’s to her.

“Haa… A disadvantageous disposition. Claire-sama?”

“What is it”

“This late you still worry about those who betrayed you”

“You, you are wrong”

Claire-sama denied, flustered.

“Lene is my property. That is why, the responsibility to supervise her――”

“Ah, yes yes. A typical tsundere’s line. Since it’s a state of emergency now, enough with that for now”

“… I will get angry. Well, whatever. Go call the military”

It seems like I’m being driven away by her spiteful gaze.

“What are you saying. I will assist too”

“It is none of your business… is what I would like to say, but I will be saved this time”

“At any rate, I’m also Claire-sama’s property?”

“I still have not recognized you though?”

“There you go again”

“Enough with your jokes, missies”

The man interrupted my and Claire-sama’s married couple comedic routine that we were using to buy time.

“Lambert. You too don’t get confused, move the chimera quickly”

“… Got it”

He must have been hesitant to set the demon on his brethren.

Even so, Lambert rang the bell.

“Go. Exterminate nobles”

Receiving an order from its master, the chimera raised a roar beyond description.

It’s the stun attack the water slime used, Hate Cry.

“… !” Claire-sama, can you move?”

“Who are you talking to? I will never repeat the same mistake”

Hate Cry is extremely hard to resist when it takes you by surprise, but you can resist it if your heart is ready.

Of course, without a high magic aptitude, it’d still be difficult.

“Do you know the distribution of attributes on a chimera?”

“Naturally”

A chimera possesses three attributes, fire, earth, water.

Its lion’s head has fire, goat’s torso has earth, and snake’s tail has water.

“With my support, Claire-sama can attack to your heart’s content”

“Very well”

As soon as she finished speaking, Claire-sama created a fire attribute lance.

“Become charcoal!”

When Claire-sama swung her magical wand, the lance flew straight at the chimera.

However, with a nimble swing of its tail in a manner unbecoming to its large build, the chimera knocked down Claire-sama’s fire lance.

“As expected, it is tough to attack it from the front. It does not seem to be dimwitted either”

“Then, how about this”

I created a stone arrow and fired it behind the chimera.

The target is Lambert-sama’s who’s holding the demon bell.

“Elder brother!”

“I won’t let ya?”

The stone arrow that almost reached Lambert-sama was stopped by a wind barrier the black-masked man made.

Somehow, he seems to be a wind attribute magic user.

“Aiming at the user is the right idea, but just now you didn’t even hesitate to aim at the guy who was your comrade? You’re quite a merciless miss”

The black-masked man made a snide comment.

I put the highest priority on protecting Claire-sama and ending the battle.

Certainly, I like Lene and I’m sympathetic to Lambert-sama.

But, when compared to Claire-sama’s safety, it’s obvious I’ll choose it.

For it, I’ll use whatever dirty means it takes.

Claire-sama is already in enough danger just from what happens in the game.

But, as long as the black-masked man is here, targeting Lambert-sama seems difficult.

After all we have no choice but to defeat the chimera.

And, at that moment the chimera opened its mouth.

“Claire-sama!”

Anticipating what happens next, I embraced Claire-sama right away.

Claire-sama raised her voice in protest, but the next moment a scorching hellfire covered us.

“It was dangerous…”

“What was that just now?”

“The chimera’s fire breath. It’s more powerful than I imagined”

We survived thanks to the water barrier that I put up right away with all of my power, but the analysis room is in a terrible state.

The magical tools used for analyzing are all burned up, some parts of the brick walls also melted.

In this room filled with smoke there’s a danger of carbon monoxide poisoning, like this the building might even collapse.

We won’t survive that.

“Let’s go outside”

I suggested to Claire-sama in a quiet voice that Lambert-sama would be unable to overhear.

“! However, the damage will spread――”

“We’ll guide it to the backyard. The crowd should still be at the vast foremost sports grounds. The academy students and the staff are in the dormitories”

“… I understand”

After Claire-sama nodded, she drove a flame bullet into the weakened wall, melting it.

She made a hole roughly the size of a person.

“We are escaping!”

This time, Claire-sama shouted on purpose to let Lambert-sama and others hear.

At the same time, us two broke into a run.

“Go after them. She’s the daughter of the Minister of Finance. You can’t let her get away?”

“…”

Lambert-sama rang the demon bell commanding the chimera to pursue.

The moment we left the building, it crumbled down.

Cold sweat ran down my back.

“All the enemies got buried under the building――”

“It does not seem like it”

With a tremor, a loud noise reverberated, and the chimera jumped out of the rubble.

“Kh! Flames!”

Claire-sama hurled flame arrows at the approaching chimera.

While tiny compared to the flame lance, they’re numerous and maneuverable.

The flame arrows hit, wrapping around the chimera.

However――.

“Even though it was a direct hit!?”

The chimera rushed at us without minding it.

It’s not that it hasn’t suffered damage, but that it wasn’t enough to make it stop moving.

The chimera, drawing right in front of us, raised its sinister, sharp claws.

“Freeze”

I encased the whole chimera’s body in a huge block of ice.

The ice made a heavy thud and finally stopped the chimera.

“… What an absurd magic”

“If Claire-sama is in a pinch, I can do this much”

I spoke lightheartedly to the stunned Claire-sama.

But, I didn’t lower my guard.

With a lion’s roar, the chimera let loose its breath once again, and completely melted the ice.

“Couldn’t you freeze its body to the core?”

“It’s not a particularly good idea. It’s impossible to do in an instant, and I believe even if I take my time with it, the water attribute tail won’t be affected”

“… I wonder what we can do”

While we were thinking, the chimera made an assault.

With an overwhelming physical strength, we started falling behind and were gradually being cornered.

“Claire-sama, let’s go with the first cooperation in our lives”

“What should I do?”

Claire-sama seemed to have no leeway to retort, she obediently urged me to go on.

“Before, Sein-sama used attribute bestowal. I’ll bestow the water attribute, so please aim at the head”

“But, will the tail not knock it down again?’

“Could Claire-sama use the trump card that you showed during the Order of the Academy entrance exam?”

“… I see. But, some time is necessary to prepare it”

“I’ll buy you time. In the meanwhile”

At my words, Claire-sama showed a dauntless smile.

“Should I trust you?”

“If possible”

“… Hmph, very well”

It’s decided we’ll do it.

Now all that’s left is to support Claire-sama with all my power.

“Fire!”

Claire-sama made innumerable fire bullets and shot them at the chimera.

They hit its goat’s body one by one.

But, as expected the chimera ignored them and charged at us.

When I thought there was still some distance, the chimera opened its huge mouth to spit out the breath.

“Freeze”

My magic made it just in time and the whole chimera became encased in ice and stopped.

“Now, Claire-sama!”

Claire-sama lightly stretched her arms to her sides.

The four crests of François house were born and floated around Claire-sama, at the same time the ice was broken.

“Shine!”

Four rays surged forth and overcame the chimera’s breath.

Claire-sama’s Magical Ray pierced through the huge mouth opened to spit out the breath and skewered the chimera’s whole body.

With a scream the chimera’s large body collapsed, and this time it didn’t move.

“We did it”

“Thanks for your hard work. As expected of Claire-sama”

For a moment both I and Claire-sama released our tension.

We were careless.

“You’re a big deal, but in the end you’re just missies”

The black-masked man, who approached us unnoticed, swung a knife at Claire-sama.

“Claire-sama!”