Chapter 228

Questions and Answers

“The Demon Queen is…… me……?”

I was shaken up .

I couldn’t understand what was going on .

It was true that the Demon Queen and I looked identical in appearance, and that we shared the same magical abilities .

However, how was any of this even possible?

While I was still dumbfounded, Claire-sama continued .

“There are a lot of people in this world that look like Rei, but you’re different . You are Rei Taylor herself, aren’t you?”

There wasn’t any concrete evidence of it .

But Claire-sama seemed to be completely convinced that she was correct .

Silence hung in the air for a while .

“…… As expected of you, Claire-sama . ”

The Demon Queen said curtly .

Unlike how it was a moment ago, her voice was no longer that of an elderly person’s nor a child’s, but instead, of somebody very familiar―― in other words, it was my voice .

“What do you mean by that, Demon Queen?”

“I don’t have any intentions of explaining myself, since you’re going to be dying here either way . ”

The Demon Queen refused to answer my question .

“Would your reply be the same even if I’m the one asking you the question?”

“Yes, unfortunately . ”

“So you’re going to defy me, Rei?”

Claire-sama asked arrogantly .

As if she was looking at something dazzling, the Demon Queen answered with,

“You really don’t change, Claire-sama . You’re incredibly beautiful, just like always . ”

She spoke with a lonely smile on her face .

“But that’ll end here as well . Everything will end right here . ”

“You intend to have me killed? By your own hands, Rei?”

“I won’t kill you . I’ll leave that to Plato . ”

I could see Plato standing right behind the Demon Queen .

“Sure, sure,” Plato replied casually .

“Is there no other choice?”

“Yes . ”

“Are there any options besides fighting?”

“None . ”

“I see……”

Claire-sama’s expression looked somewhat angry, but also as if she was about to cry . She heaved a sigh .

“I won’t let you do that to me without putting up a fight, you know?”

“It’s better if you don’t struggle . That way, you can go without suffering . ”

“You’re quite insolent, aren’t you? Were you not disciplined properly, I wonder?”

“This is all of the time you’re going to be able to buy, Claire-sama . ”

“…… Hmph . ”

Claire-sama’s tone sounded quite aggressive, but that was just for show .

If you looked closely, you could see that her shoulders were trembling and that her lips were pale .

“Manaria-sama, could you use your Spell Breaker or Dominator on her? Since she’s supposed to be me . ”

I asked Manaria-sama in a whisper .

“It’s true that her magical composition is just like yours, but it’s actually different . I’m sorry, Rei, but it seems like she’s from a different dimension altogether . ”

Even someone like Manaria-sama was unable to fight back .

It seemed like we were gradually running out of options .

“Feel free to resist as much as you’d like . I will kill you when you eventually decide to give up . ”

The Demon Queen coldly sentenced us to our deaths .

“Hey, hey, hey, that’s enough quarreling between you love birds . ”

A cheerful voice that seemed incredibly out of place echoed in the air .

At the same time, a ray of intense light was fired directly at the Demon Queen .

“……!?”

The Demon Queen immediately took up a defensive stance, but she was still swallowed up by the light in an instant .

The light was pure white, a color unlike any of the other four elements, and gradually eroded the Demon Queen’s black magical barrier .

“……”

When the torrent of light subsided, the Demon Queen was kneeled over, her magical barrier nowhere to be seen .

If you took a closer look, you could see that there was a wound on the arm she used to form the barrier .

Meanwhile, not a single scratch was left on any of us .

“What do you think, Rei? Or should I say, Demon Queen? Well, whatever . This new invention of mine kinda hurts, doesn’t it?”

The owner of the voice belonged to a certain one-armed man .

He wasn’t wearing the Empire’s military uniform, but rather, Bauer’s .

“Rod-sama!”

“Hey there, Claire . Looks like something interesting happened here . I’ve come to help . ”

Rod Bauer, the former crown prince of Bauer, laughed like he was invincible .

“You, huh……”

The Demon Queen glared at Rod-sama irritatedly as she spoke .

“Yeah, it’s me . What’s up, Rei? You were always such an interesting girl, but seeing that you’ve become the Demon Queen now is way too amusing . ”

“…… You really can’t read the room, can you . Did you really think you could win against me just because you left a scratch on me?”

“That shot just now was rather weak . The maximum output isn’t anything like this, you know?”

Sparks were crackling between Rod-sama and the Demon Queen .

“Rod-sama, what was the magic you used just now?”

“Oh, it’s a new magical device that I created . I’m not the one actually using the magic, but I’ll explain more about that later . ”

Rod-sama turned to the Demon Queen again and continued .

“You call yourself the Demon Queen, right? Your sight and hearing must be better than the average person, so you must be aware of it by now . We’re sending in reinforcements from Bauer . ”

“……”

“No matter how strong of an entity you may be, you’ll be at a disadvantage if you have to fight that many magic users off at the same time, right?”

“……”

In contrast to Rod-sama, who sounded like he was running his mouth off, the Demon Queen remained silent .

“You punk…… Just what do you think you’re saying to the Demon Queen, huh? Your Highness, please let me do it . I can take every one of these guys on my own――”

“Please don’t, Plato . We’re retreating . ”

“Your Highness!”

“Do you have any objections?”

“…… Ugh . ”

After managing to silence Plato with a single question, the Demon Queen turned on her heels .

“Hey, hey, even though I came all this way for you, you’re going to end our date here? Come one, let’s play around a bit more . ”

“You’re the same as always, aren’t you, Rod-sama . Didn’t I tell you before that I don’t like persistent men?”

“Hmm, is that so? …… You really are Rei, huh . ”

“Yes . ”

Rod-sama’s tone sounded lonely for a moment, while the Demon Queen responded to his question curtly .

“Claire-sama, and the other me . There won’t be a next time . I will definitely kill you by then . ”

After leaving us with that, the Demon Queen and Plato took off and flew towards the east .

The Demon Queen didn’t have any wings, but she was still able to fly somehow .

There were a lot of things about her that were completely out of the ordinary .

“Rod-sama, you saved us . ”

“Please let me express my appreciation as well . Thank you very much, Rod-sama . ”

“Don’t worry about it . I’m glad I made it in time . ”

After laughing for a moment, Rod-sama continued .

“Anyway, what was with all of that? Rei’s the Demon Queen?”

“We’re not entirely sure of the situation either . But personally, I think she is without a doubt, Rei Taylor herself . ”

Claire-sama said firmly .

“If you’re the one saying that, then it must be true . The problem is how this all relates to the Rei that we know . ”

“That’s true…… Rei, do you have any guesses?”

Claire-sama asked .

“No, I really have no idea . ”

In the first place, I never even knew the Demon Queen existed at all .

And now that we find out I’m supposed to be her, everything has become way too confusing .

“Well, for the time being, let’s get going . We’ve got refugees from the Empire with us, right?”

“Oh, yes, that’s right . I completely forgot about that . ”

We were in the middle of evacuating the citizens of the Empire .

“We’ve got reinforcements from Bauer coming in as well . Even if the Demon Queen decides to show up again, we should be able to hold her off for a while . ”

“Thank you very much . ”

After that, we devoted our time to guiding the refugees .

Fortunately, there were no attacks called on by the Demon Queen throughout the whole process .

However, my mind was now full of doubts .

Why was the Demon Queen’s true identity me?

Why was she trying to kill off Claire-sama and myself?

And to begin with, what exactly am I, and what is the truth behind this world?