Volume 1 - CH 7
Act 1 – 7 : Setting Off, A Long Long Journey
The next day after the battle against the hero. Currently, Loughas was teaching Kuroki in one of the rooms of the Demon King’s Palace.
After he realized that there was no method that would let him go back to his own world, Kuroki had no choice but to depend on the Demon King. Since he bested Reiji in a battle, Kuroki became the recipient of gratitude from the Demon King himself. Now, his status in Nargol was second only to Modes.
Although he was fine with the Demon King expressing his gratitude, he did not want to be pulled into bear hugs by Modes as sweetly referred to him as 「My Buddy～」.
Also, it seemed as if Kuroki’s reward couldn’t be prepared at such a short notice. Thus, he had no choice but to wait for that as well.
With regards to the matter of him returning to his original world, Modes explained how Summoning and Returning were two distinct concepts, so even if this world could manage to summon a being from the spirit world, it didn’t necessarily mean that they could send the summoned being back to their world as well. If they tried to force themselves to do it, there were chances of the summoned person being sent back to a different world, or worse, getting stranded in a dimension rift. This is why they needed a type of magic called Repatriation Arts, something that was entirely different from the kind of magic used to summon him to this world.
Unfortunately, when Modes had summoned Kuroki, he had only informed him of the Summoning Arts. Kuroki had a feeling that he shouldn’t just blindly trust Modes’ words, however, his instincts told him that Modes wasn’t lying to him. Well, even if it was one, the way he spewed them was too roundabout for someone whose goal was to just defeat the hero.
For some reason, Kuroki felt that Modes wasn’t the kind of person who could lie. He reached this conclusion after witnessing Modes’ lovestruck expression while talking to Mona. Since Mona responded to him in a similar manner, the two of them seemed like a stupid lovesick couple which almost made Kuroki scream “STUPID RIAJUU, JUST EXPLODE!” in front of them.
In the afternoon, Modes informed Kuroki that Reiji was still alive. And despite Modes’ vexation, Kuroki felt strangely relieved. Probably due to the fact that he got extremely close to killing Reiji despite not having any intention to do so. Most of all, he just couldn’t bring himself to kill Shirone’s beloved person. Feeling as if a burden was lifted off of his chest, Kuroki decided to learn more about magic and the world he was in.
Kuroki once again recalled the fact that he came to another world in hearing those fantasyesque race.
Most of the inhabitants living in the northern part of the central continent were demi-humans, like goblins, orcs, etc. However, there was also a race which resembles humans called Yav. Though, it seems as if none of their members reside in Nargol. There was another race called Fantasyesque, which consisted of elves and dwarves. Upon hearing of the Fantasyesque race, Kuroki abruptly realized that he really was in another world.
It seemed as if Kuroki belonged to the Divine Race of this world. Well, at least that’s what Modes told him after witnessing his prowess. Apparently, he went under some sort of transformation after he was summoned to this world. Now, his physical abilities were increased by god knows how many times, being able to cover several kilometres in a split second or being able to hold a lump of heavy steel in just one hand. Kuroki’s strength in this world was equivalent to that of Superman, unmatched by any mere mortal.
There was one more thing. He could now use magic. Naturally, he wasn’t able to do it in his original world but it seems that after being summoned here, the power inside him was unleashed. Not to mention, his magic power was equivalent to that of a powerful divine being. And that’s exactly why Modes judged him as a person belonging to the Divine race.
Divine race was a special one. After all, they were the strongest in the entire world, especially if they belong to the bloodline of the God of Darkness. Usually, members of the same race would have a similar appearance. All the gods belonging to the Light looked similar to a human. However, the gods belonging to Darkness, including Modes, looked almost as if they belonged a separate race. Kuroki kept pondering over this matter during his study time but couldn’t reach to any conclusion.
「Kuroki-sama, that is floating magic.」
Said Loughas to Kuroki, who was currently floating in the middle of the room.
The old man with pointy hair and a pair of horns sprouting from his head was one of the wisest and also was the prime minister of Nargol. Although he should have been governing Nargol right now, he still left his post to teach Kuroki.
「It looks like you can use floating magic without any problem. However, please be careful while using any other spell while maintaining the floating magic. It’s an extremely difficult task. You should be very ca-」
Before Lougas could even to finish his sentence, Kuroki suddenly conjured a small black flame while managing to float in the air at the same time.
「..-reful, is what I wanted to say but, it seems like I was worrying needlessly.」
Loughas uttered in admiration.
「The people of spirit world and the hero are truly a mystery. Normally, one needs to undergo long, arduous training before they can even use magic but… it seems like Kuroki-dono is similar to the hero and his companions in your ability to master top tier magic so easily.」
Judging by Loughas’ words, it looked like even Reiji and his companions could use top tier magic with ease as soon as they were summoned and could do so without any kind of training. Their power was on the same level as a divine being as well, just like Kuroki. However, Kuroki had no idea how he could wield the magic with such ease. It was like asking a sprinter who was born to run a question like 「How can you run so fast？」.
Kuroki annulled the floating magic and descended to the ground.
「And about that dark flame. Up until now, only Lord Runfeld and His Majesty could wield it.But, Kuroki-dono is a wielder as well. Yourcase is extremely interesting, you can use the black flame but… are unable to use normal fire magic. It’s usually the opposite though.」
Loughas shook his head, unable to understand the reason.
「But, it’ll be inconvenient for you if you can’t use normal fire magic. Let’s try to use the power of fire spirit to invoke a similar kind of magic.」
As soon as Loughas spoke, a book materialized in his hand.
「Please be careful, spirit magic is volatile unlike normal magic.」
Kuroki recalled what Loughas had said before their lesson began.
Magic was split into two types: The first type is when one uses their own mana and the second type is when one borrows the power from another. The latter one was called Spirit magic and was invoked by borrowing the power of invisible spirits via communication. However, just being able to converse with a spirit didn’t mean one could use spirit magic. One cannot master spirit magic unless they are able to reach a mutual understanding with the spirit, which is somewhat akin to telepathy using an entirely different language.
The reason Kuroki could understand Modes’ words when he was summoned was because they had unconsciously reached a mutual understanding through magic. Since both parties couldn’t understand each other’s native language, the mutual understanding made it so that they could. And although a mutual understanding can be easily achieved when it comes to beings with linguistic abilities, one needs to be at a high level to do the same with spirits and demon beasts who lack the linguistic ability.
「O spirit of fire in the air, hear my words!」
Loughas opened his book and started to chant an aria.
Thus, a small flame appeared on Loughas’s fingertip.
The flame then started floating away from Loughas fingertip and stayed still in mid-air.
After floating around for ten seconds, the flame vanished after Loughas muttered something.
「Now it’s your turn, please do it like I did.」
Kuroki then muttered the same aria as Loughas with his finger pointing up.
「Let see… O spirit of fire in the air, hear my words!」
A similar sized flame materialized at his fingertip as well, but it slipped away from his finger and tried to zip out of the room just as suddenly as it appeared.
「UWAAA!」
Kuroki screamed loudly. The poor flame vanished after its attempt to escape the room failed after it crashed into a wall.
「Sorry, Loughas-dono!」
Kuroki bowed to Loughas.
「Dear me, it would have been a disaster were it not for the defense mechanism I set up in this room. It looks like spirit magic isn’t suitable for you either.」
Loughas spoke with a pondering look on his face.
Since his attempt to use the spirit of fire went in vain, he then tried to use other spirits, since according to Loughas, he could simply have a greater affinity with other kinds of spirits. However, his attempt at using the spirit of water and wind resulted in a mess of paper around the room and half of the room getting submerged in water respectively. The spirit of light didn’t even bother to answer his call.
Kuroki ended up learning a bit more about the spirit of water since it seemed to be useful. However, he was exhausted just by summoning the low rank spirit, Undine, so he would probably die if he tried summoning a high ranking spirit.
Turns out, his highest affinity was with the spirit of darkness, which heeded his call as soon as he tried summoning it. However, he didn’t dare call himself a spirit user, since even the weakest of spirit users could use at least two kinds of spirits.
It seems as if Kuroki didn’t have the ability to communicate with any kind of spirit other than the spirit of darkness.
Kuroki also heard from Loughas that Sasaki Rino, Reiji’s comrade, could use several spirits. This made her the user of high ranking mutual understanding by magic.
「I guess that’s all for today’s lesson.」
The book in Loughas’s hand vanished when he closed it.
「Loughas-dono… Can I ask a question?」
The book appeared again in Loughas’s hand.
「Kuroki-dono… To be honest, I’m actually incapable of using spirit magic.」
「?」
Kuroki tilted his head to the side.
「But… You just showed me how to use spirit magic a while ago.」
Kuroki was wondering why Loughas was telling him he couldn’t use spirit magic when he clearly used it just a while ago.
「I can use spirit magic because of the power of this grimoire. I was able to use fire spirit magic a while ago because I opened the entry page about fire spirit in this book. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have been able to use it.」
Loughas explained so as he made the same book re-appear in his hand.
The God of Knowledge Loughas was the creator of books. His creation included the grimoire in his hand. Loughas used the fire spirit’s power by using that grimoire as the bridge.
「Eh? Does that mean I can do the same if I use this book?」
Kuroki wished that Loughas had told him from the very beginning if he had such a convenient tool.
「Do you want to try?」
「Eh? Seriously?」
Loughas nodded as he handed the grimoire to Kuroki.
Kuroki opened the book and tried to use spirit magic immediately, but there was no reaction at all.
「… It seemed to shine a pale light when Loughas-dono used the spirit magic before.」
「Ohohoho! This grimoire is a specially made book! No one but me, its owner, can use it.」
Loughas said in a cheerful tone.
「Is that so… That’s a little regrettable.」
Kuroki sounded slightly disappointed.
According to Loughas, he had all kinds of similar books which allowed him to use spirit magic or healing magic. Magics that, in a normal situation, he wouldn’t be able to use. Loughas seemed to have surpassed Modes in the number of magics he could use.
Loughas didn’t participate in the battle against the Hero because it took more time for him to use magic with the grimoire. He had to switch between grimoires to change from one type of magic to another. Not to mention, the mana consumption when using a grimoire almost doubled compared to normal magic. Those two factors made him ill-suited for combat.
「In my case, I really envy Kuroki-dono for being able to use the black flame. I can’t use that black flame even with the help of my grimoire.」
This time, it was Loughas’s turn to sound slightly disappointed.
And then, Loughas muttered a spell to make the grimoire disappear again.
「That power is also useful. Is that some sort of magic to call and return a certain object to a certain location?」
「Yes, the magic to move an object is surprisingly easy to use, as long as that object is enchanted beforehand. The easiest example would be your sword, Kuroki-dono.」
「Eh? Is that so?」
Kuroki then recalled the demon sword given to him by Modes, the sword that nearly killed Reiji.
「Let’s do a test. Please try to call that sword by strongly wishing for it in your mind.」
""
Kuroki then imagined his demon sword appearing in his hand.
（Come!）
With that command, a sword appeared in his hand. The Demon Sword of Venomous Blood.
It crossed over space and time to answer Kuroki’s wish.
「It seems that it has acknowledged you as its owner. This kind of weapon or armor is enchanted with special mana and it’s always by their owner’s side, ready to be called out anytime. That demon sword’s effect is to inject a curse into its victim’s mana and slowly ruin their life force from inside. And I’m sure that the Hero who received a fatal wound from your demon sword is currently in his deathbed.」
Kuroki’s heart stirred when he heard those words.
「Uhm… I heard the Hero is still alive, but…」
（I was glad when I heard that Reiji was still alive before, but… What should I do now…）
Kuroki was worried about Reiji.
「He barely survived the crisis, and that was due to the Saint’s power. But we’ve yet to receive further information.」
Loughas cheerfully commented.
Reiji was Nargol’s enemy, so it was natural for Loughas to be happy with his death.
But Kuroki didn’t feel the same way as Loughas.
（Should I go to confirm the situation myself?）
Kuroki opened his mouth after pondering for a while.
「Uhm… Loughas-dono. There’s something I have to tell you.」
「What could it be, Kuroki-dono?」
「The truth is… I’ve been bothered about the situation on the Hero’s side and… I want to take a look at the scene with my own eyes, but…」
Loughas tilted his head, puzzled by Kuroki’s remark. Suddenly, he nodded at Kuroki.
「I see… It’s definitely going to be troublesome if the Hero heals back to full power. So you want to make sure to end his life for sure this time.」
「… EH? I think you mis-…」
Kuroki stopped right before he finished his sentence.
（I guess it’s better if I didn’t fix his misunderstanding.）
Kuroki then nodded at Loughas.
「But, let’s ask for His Majesty’s permission to leave the palace first. Since it’s already too late for today, shall we meet His Majesty tomorrow?」
◆
The next day, Kuroki made a request to investigate the Hero’s condition during the audience in the Demon King’s palace.
「I see… You’re worried about the Hero’s condition. I understand. Let’s prepare everything that you’ll need for traveling.」
Modes agreed to Kuroki’s request.
Kuroki was relieved that Modes easily agreed to his request. He thought the Demon King would reject it.
Anyhow, since Kuroki knew nothing about this world, he was also granted a guide.
「Loughas, prepare everything Kuroki-dono will need in his journey.」
Loughas came out to the front when Modes called out his name.
「Yes! I completed the preparation yesterday when Kuroki-dono discussed this matter with me. Let me appoint a guide for Kuroki-dono, who knows next to nothing about this world. Nut, come out.」
After he said so, something suddenly appeared in the room.
Its figure resembled a small squirrel or a rat with beautiful red fur. That small animal stopped before Kuroki’s feet.
「Nice to meet you, Kuroki-sama. My name is Nut.」
The rat called Nut gave his greeting to me as he nodded lightly.
「Nut is a fire rat. He has an excellent sense of direction and is extremely suitable for gathering information. Please take him to accompany you on your journey.」
Loughas introduced Nut to Kuroki.
「Nice to meet you, Nut. My name is Kuroki.」
Kuroki returned Nut’s greeting with a huge smile on his face. Nut made a face as if he was surprised by something.
「… I guess you really can’t trust that rumor. I heard that Kuroki-sama was an extremely terrifying person.」
Nut shook his head as he raised both of his hands while saying those words. Kuroki smiled wryly when he heard the bloated story about him.
Apparently, he was feared by Modes’s subordinates.
Save for the Daemon race, whose appearance closely resembled that of a human, the appearance of the rest of Modes’s subordinates were of monsters.
Kuroki felt it was strange that they were the ones afraid of him instead of the other way around. Nevertheless, since he had to stay in this world for quite a while, he thought he shouldn’t let this situation continue for a long term.
Kuroki remembered how, back in his original world, he had grown his forelocks to cover the scary look in his eyes. Thanks to that, his outward appearance softened a little bit.
But, it seemed that he had to prepare a different countermeasure this time, since the look in his eyes wasn’t the only scary thing about him in this world.
（What should I do?）
Kuroki’s brain was desperately looking for an answer.
（Should I dance while saying “I’m not sca~ry”?）
Modes and the others had curious looks on their faces while Kuroki was in the middle of thinking about such a foolish idea.
「Uhm… Kuroki-dono?」
「No, it’s nothing. Thank you very much for giving me a guide.」
「Please check the other necessities that I prepared for you.」
Loughas’s subordinate explained the function of the tools given to Kuroki for his journey.
The world map. An enchanted gem with teleport magic sealed inside. Precious metals to trade with the currency of the human world.
「Anything you want to add? If there is, I’ll prepare it for you.」
「No, I think this much is enough for the whole journey. Thank you for preparing this for me.」
Kuroki expressed his gratitude to Loughas.
But he only said so because he had yet to understand the common sense of this world.
「Kuroki-dono, the moment you step out of Nargol’s boundaries, you’re not under my protection anymore. So please use your teleport stone as soon as you meet a dangerous situation.」
Modes explained.
The teleport magic would teleport him to an assigned place. Teleportation gems were disposable magic tools which allowed anyone to use a teleport spell once.
「Thank you very much.」
Kuroki thanked Modes.
Modes was worried about Kuroki’s safety. Therefore, it was natural for Kuroki to show his courtesy to the one who was worrying about him. It was a universal common sense.
And then, Kuroki left the audience room.
◆
「This place is?」
Kuroki was surveying his surroundings. The place he had teleported to was a desolate and dark place.
He was inside a small stone structure. There were magic circles carved on the floor, still faintly glowing because of the previous teleportation magic.
「This place is one of the lines of defense of Akeron Mountain. To be honest, many of the knights who were permanently stationed in this place were killed in the conflict against the Hero. At the moment we’re severely lacking in manpower, so… We have no leeway to send reinforcements to this place.」
Riding on Kuroki’s shoulder, Nut then explained the situation.
The Akeron Mountain Range was located southwest of the Demon King’s palace. It was a place that separated Nargol from the other regions. The Dark Knights who rode wyverns were the ones responsible for protecting this place from the air.
Kuroki’s current location was one of the defensive bases. After he completed all preparations, he had traveled from the Demon King’s palace to this place by using teleport magic.
He should be able to encounter a human settlement as long as he went down the mountain.
「That’s strange… Our wyverns should be standing by close to this place.」
Nut was also puzzled by this situation.
Although it would be faster if he descended from the mountain with flying magic, Kuroki was interested in the experience of riding a wyvern.
There was something waiting for us outside of the demon base.
The first thing I saw after leaving the structure was a lizard-like animal, with a giant pair of wings growing from its back. It was a demon beast called Wyvern. There was a Dark Knight riding on the back of that wyvern.
That Dark Knight descended from the wyvern’s back after landing close to the structure.
「It’s a pleasure to meet you, Your Excellency! My name is Gned!」
The Dark Knight took off his helmet and then greeted Kuroki.
He was a youth of the Daemon race. Compared to a human, his appearance resembled a man in his early twenties.
Kuroki recalled the knowledge about Demons taught to him by Loughas.
Demon was the general term of the Demon King’s dependents. They were more widely known as Demon Races. And the one who stood at the pinnacle of the Demons was the Daemon race.
Despite having the appearance that closely resembled a dark indigo skinned human, the Daemon race’s most notable traits were the two horns that grew from both sides of their heads. They were far superior than humans in all aspects, save for fertility.
Their sole weakness was their extremely low numbers, which were shockingly even less than a twentieth of the Orc race, the race with the highest numbers in Nargol.
But even with their extremely low numbers, the Order of Dark Knights, composed of only those from the Daemon Race, was the strongest force in Nargol.
Kuroki wondered what made the Dark Knight called Gned so nervous.
「It’s nice to meet you too, Lord Gned. Please don’t be so formal.」
Kuroki showed his gentlest smile to Gned.
（Honestly, being called “Your Excellency” like that made my back itchy… Even though our ages don’t seem to be that far apart, I hope he can speak to me with a more easygoing tone.）
But Kuroki soon noticed that Gned’s body was trembling.
（Is he scared of me for the same reason as Nut?）
Kuroki once again felt depressed when he pondered about that matter.
「N-No! Your Excellency’s status is just below His Majesty after all!」
Kuroki had no idea whether Gned expressed his honest opinion due to fear or his own nervousness. But he knew that asking for him to speak to him in informal speech was impossible.
「F-From here on! M-My duty is to escort Y-Your Excellency until the foot of the mountain!」
After saying so, Gned climbed back on the wyvern and then signaled to Kuroki to sit behind him.
「Best regards then, Lord Gned…」
「R-Ryoger!」
After Kuroki sat, Gned ordered his wyvern to take off. Kuroki could feel the wind turbulence when the wyvern flapped its wings.
「OOOH!」
Kuroki exclaimed, surprised. He enjoyed the sensation when his body soared in the sky.
The wyvern soared high in the sky, turning the defensive point small in an instant. Kuroki made a mental note to look for his own wyvern later.
But after they reached a certain altitude, the wyvern suddenly lowered its altitude.
「What’s the matter, Lord Gned?」
The sudden change of altitude ruined the atmosphere of their air travel.
「D-Due to the strict inspection beyond this point, we’re going to fly in lower altitude from now on!」
「Inspection? What do you mean?」
「Kuroki-sama, we’re about to enter the observation area of the Holy Knights. We risk being discovered by them if we fly at a high altitude.」
Nut explained instead of Gned.
Holy Knights were the elite force whose members were handpicked from the Angel race and the Braves of the Human race. They swore their loyalty to Oudith.
After Reiji and co almost destroyed the Order of the Dark Knights, the members of the Holy Knights became bolder. They harassed the survivors of the Order of Dark Knights by repeatedly violating the Order of Dark Knights’ airspace territory.
This was why they couldn’t fly at high altitudes. They didn’t want to get caught by those Holy Knights.
Gned controlled his wyvern awkwardly. Even Kuroki felt insecure about Gned’s mastery in controlling the wyvern.
「It seems that it hasn’t been long time since Lord Gned started to ride your own wyvern…」
Nut explained that The Order of Dark Knights was currently short on manpower. Their situation was so grave that even a beginner like Gned was allowed to fly with his Wyvern.
「But, at this rate, we might be targeted by the goblins who live around this area…」
「Say what? Goblins?」
Loughas taught Kuroki about a Demon’s common sense between their magic lessons. Goblins were an ugly green colored Demon whose height was just around 120 cm on the average. Loughas also told him that a Goblin’s head was tougher than iron and they were weak against music.
He heard that Goblins were Modes’s subordinates. So why did they attack them, their allies?
「The Goblins around this area aren’t under His Majesty’s jurisdiction.」
「Seriously?! And you only tell me this now?!」
Nut’s words made Kuroki recall his learning session with Loughas again.
Goblins were created by a God of darkness. But it didn’t mean they were referring to Modes since there were numerous Gods of darkness. Or rather, almost all Demons who deferred to Modes were in Nargol. Modes basically had little to no influence over the Demons outside Nargol.
In short, even a Demon under Modes’s rule would have to wipe their own butts if they created a problem outside of Nargol. Thus, both Goblins and Orcs were attacking us.
The first time Kuroki learnt that fact, he realized that he was deceived by the Demon King’s label on Modes.
But the humans in this world still believed that those Goblins and Orcs that attacked them were Modes’s subordinates. If someone asked why, it was simply because Modes was the first on the list of Gods of Darkness.
However, Modes was in fact the most powerful God of Darkness. Although Kuroki only learned that fact much, much later.
But being the strongest didn’t automatically make him the king of the Gods of Darkness.
In fact, there was only a small fraction of Gods of Darkness who chose to follow Modes. Some of them didn’t follow him and the rest were hostile toward him.
Kuroki felt anxiety for his future when he learned about that.
Gned’s rough handling of his wyvern made their air travel become more dangerous. To make the matter worse, they were flying at a low-altitude and had left Nargol a while ago.
「AAAH! THEY FOUND US!!」
When Kuroki turned his attention toward the direction Gned pointed at, he saw several winged human-like forms approaching them.
Those golden armored, winged human-like forms aimed at Kuroki and co with their bows.
「IT’S THE ANGEL’S HOLY FUCKING KNIGHTS!!! LORD GNED, RUUUUUN!」
Nut screamed in a flustered voice.
The Angels were a race created by the Light God. Their outer appearance resembled a winged human. As a winged race, Angels had no need to use floating magic. They could use both sword and magic while flying in the air.
The other races were no match for those Angels. Since they couldn’t fight while using floating magic, they rode wyverns for air combat against Angels.
Compared to those masters of air combat, Gned was still an amateur. Having just received permission to ride his wyvern, he might be knocked out of his own mount if he fought those Angels by himself.
As soon as he heard Nut’s warning, Gned clumsily tried to make his wyvern turn. Since the situation called for it, Kuroki felt he had no choice but to recite the spell for flight magic.
Kuroki’s flight magic allowed him to fly even faster in the sky since it was a higher tier version of floating magic. He thought that this magic should be enough to shake off the pursuit of those Angels.
「Your excellency?!」
「Lord Gned, focus on controlling your wyvern and leave the rest to me. Hold tight Nut, things are going to be dangerous after this.」
After he said so, Kuroki turned around toward the incoming Angels. They fired their arrows toward Kuroki. For Kuroki, it was like those arrows were moving in slow motion.
「HA!」
Kuroki took out his Demon sword and knocked down every single one of those arrows.
「HOLY MOSES!」
The Angels were left agape by that surreal scene. Kuroki then made a giant black flame appear in the sky.
「O Black Flame!」
When he fired the mass of black flame, the angels scattered around, trying to save their lives.
That black flame was a warning shot since he had no intention to fight them to begin with. But he realized soon enough that it was an extremely effective tactic to scare those Angels.
「It’s Runfeld, RUUUN!」
The angels escaped, mistaking Kuroki for Runfeld. Kuroki then went back to Gned’s wyvern.
「Amazing…」
He could hear Nut muttering.
「Lord Gned, I drove away those Angels. Let’s continue our flight.」
Kuroki smiled toward Gned.
「R-ROGER THAT!」
Gned replied so while chewing his lips. His wyvern then flew at a high altitude.
（Wonderful.）
Thought Kuroki as they continued their flight under the blue sky. After they repelled the angels, the wyvern they rode cut through the cloud in front of them.
Kuroki had to concentrate a bit to use his flight magic to fly in the sky, so he couldn’t enjoy the scenery to the fullest. Then he wondered if flying on the back of something might be a good idea.
（I’ll ask for a wyvern for me when I’m back from my journey.）
They soon arrived at the end of the Akeron Mountain Range and dismounted.
「Thank you very much, Lord Gned.」
「It’s me who should say that!」
Gned had been on a nervous state from the beginning to the end of their flight. But Kuroki felt that Gned’s attitude had softened a little compared to when they first met.
「Though I can only accompany you up to this place, allow me to pray for your safe journey!」
「Thank you, Lord Gned.」
""
Gned bid his farewell and flew back to Nargol after unloading Kuroki’s luggage.
Kuroki had to walk by foot from this point on.
（If I’m not wrong, Reiji and co’s base is somewhere in the south, a place called Holy Republic Lenaria.）
Kuroki looked toward the southern direction with his back to Nargol. Although it would save a lot of time if he used teleportation magic, unfortunately the gate had to be set beforehand.
Naturally, there was no transfer gate outside of Nargol since Nargol citizens didn’t even need one to begin with. Thus, his only choice was traveling by foot.
He was still far away from Holy Republic Lenaria, but Kuroki could move thousands of times faster than a normal human of this world. It should take him one or two months to arrive if he followed the road.
「Let’s get going, Nut.」
In this way, Kuroki took the first step toward the human’s world.
The next day after the battle against the hero. Currently, Loughas was teaching Kuroki in one of the rooms of the Demon King’s Palace.
After he realized that there was no method that would let him go back to his own world, Kuroki had no choice but to depend on the Demon King. Since he bested Reiji in a battle, Kuroki became the recipient of gratitude from the Demon King himself. Now, his status in Nargol was second only to Modes.
Although he was fine with the Demon King expressing his gratitude, he did not want to be pulled into bear hugs by Modes as sweetly referred to him as 「My Buddy～」.
Also, it seemed as if Kuroki’s reward couldn’t be prepared at such a short notice. Thus, he had no choice but to wait for that as well.
With regards to the matter of him returning to his original world, Modes explained how Summoning and Returning were two distinct concepts, so even if this world could manage to summon a being from the spirit world, it didn’t necessarily mean that they could send the summoned being back to their world as well. If they tried to force themselves to do it, there were chances of the summoned person being sent back to a different world, or worse, getting stranded in a dimension rift. This is why they needed a type of magic called Repatriation Arts, something that was entirely different from the kind of magic used to summon him to this world.
Unfortunately, when Modes had summoned Kuroki, he had only informed him of the Summoning Arts. Kuroki had a feeling that he shouldn’t just blindly trust Modes’ words, however, his instincts told him that Modes wasn’t lying to him. Well, even if it was one, the way he spewed them was too roundabout for someone whose goal was to just defeat the hero.
For some reason, Kuroki felt that Modes wasn’t the kind of person who could lie. He reached this conclusion after witnessing Modes’ lovestruck expression while talking to Mona. Since Mona responded to him in a similar manner, the two of them seemed like a stupid lovesick couple which almost made Kuroki scream “STUPID RIAJUU, JUST EXPLODE!” in front of them.
In the afternoon, Modes informed Kuroki that Reiji was still alive. And despite Modes’ vexation, Kuroki felt strangely relieved. Probably due to the fact that he got extremely close to killing Reiji despite not having any intention to do so. Most of all, he just couldn’t bring himself to kill Shirone’s beloved person. Feeling as if a burden was lifted off of his chest, Kuroki decided to learn more about magic and the world he was in.
Kuroki once again recalled the fact that he came to another world in hearing those fantasyesque race.
Most of the inhabitants living in the northern part of the central continent were demi-humans, like goblins, orcs, etc. However, there was also a race which resembles humans called Yav. Though, it seems as if none of their members reside in Nargol. There was another race called Fantasyesque, which consisted of elves and dwarves. Upon hearing of the Fantasyesque race, Kuroki abruptly realized that he really was in another world.
It seemed as if Kuroki belonged to the Divine Race of this world. Well, at least that’s what Modes told him after witnessing his prowess. Apparently, he went under some sort of transformation after he was summoned to this world. Now, his physical abilities were increased by god knows how many times, being able to cover several kilometres in a split second or being able to hold a lump of heavy steel in just one hand. Kuroki’s strength in this world was equivalent to that of Superman, unmatched by any mere mortal.
There was one more thing. He could now use magic. Naturally, he wasn’t able to do it in his original world but it seems that after being summoned here, the power inside him was unleashed. Not to mention, his magic power was equivalent to that of a powerful divine being. And that’s exactly why Modes judged him as a person belonging to the Divine race.
Divine race was a special one. After all, they were the strongest in the entire world, especially if they belong to the bloodline of the God of Darkness. Usually, members of the same race would have a similar appearance. All the gods belonging to the Light looked similar to a human. However, the gods belonging to Darkness, including Modes, looked almost as if they belonged a separate race. Kuroki kept pondering over this matter during his study time but couldn’t reach to any conclusion.
「Kuroki-sama, that is floating magic.」
Said Loughas to Kuroki, who was currently floating in the middle of the room.
The old man with pointy hair and a pair of horns sprouting from his head was one of the wisest and also was the prime minister of Nargol. Although he should have been governing Nargol right now, he still left his post to teach Kuroki.
「It looks like you can use floating magic without any problem. However, please be careful while using any other spell while maintaining the floating magic. It’s an extremely difficult task. You should be very ca-」
Before Lougas could even to finish his sentence, Kuroki suddenly conjured a small black flame while managing to float in the air at the same time.
「..-reful, is what I wanted to say but, it seems like I was worrying needlessly.」
Loughas uttered in admiration.
「The people of spirit world and the hero are truly a mystery. Normally, one needs to undergo long, arduous training before they can even use magic but… it seems like Kuroki-dono is similar to the hero and his companions in your ability to master top tier magic so easily.」
Judging by Loughas’ words, it looked like even Reiji and his companions could use top tier magic with ease as soon as they were summoned and could do so without any kind of training. Their power was on the same level as a divine being as well, just like Kuroki. However, Kuroki had no idea how he could wield the magic with such ease. It was like asking a sprinter who was born to run a question like 「How can you run so fast？」.
Kuroki annulled the floating magic and descended to the ground.
「And about that dark flame. Up until now, only Lord Runfeld and His Majesty could wield it.But, Kuroki-dono is a wielder as well. Yourcase is extremely interesting, you can use the black flame but… are unable to use normal fire magic. It’s usually the opposite though.」
Loughas shook his head, unable to understand the reason.
「But, it’ll be inconvenient for you if you can’t use normal fire magic. Let’s try to use the power of fire spirit to invoke a similar kind of magic.」
As soon as Loughas spoke, a book materialized in his hand.
「Please be careful, spirit magic is volatile unlike normal magic.」
Kuroki recalled what Loughas had said before their lesson began.
Magic was split into two types: The first type is when one uses their own mana and the second type is when one borrows the power from another. The latter one was called Spirit magic and was invoked by borrowing the power of invisible spirits via communication. However, just being able to converse with a spirit didn’t mean one could use spirit magic. One cannot master spirit magic unless they are able to reach a mutual understanding with the spirit, which is somewhat akin to telepathy using an entirely different language.
The reason Kuroki could understand Modes’ words when he was summoned was because they had unconsciously reached a mutual understanding through magic. Since both parties couldn’t understand each other’s native language, the mutual understanding made it so that they could. And although a mutual understanding can be easily achieved when it comes to beings with linguistic abilities, one needs to be at a high level to do the same with spirits and demon beasts who lack the linguistic ability.
「O spirit of fire in the air, hear my words!」
Loughas opened his book and started to chant an aria.
Thus, a small flame appeared on Loughas’s fingertip.
The flame then started floating away from Loughas fingertip and stayed still in mid-air.
After floating around for ten seconds, the flame vanished after Loughas muttered something.
「Now it’s your turn, please do it like I did.」
Kuroki then muttered the same aria as Loughas with his finger pointing up.
「Let see… O spirit of fire in the air, hear my words!」
A similar sized flame materialized at his fingertip as well, but it slipped away from his finger and tried to zip out of the room just as suddenly as it appeared.
「UWAAA!」
Kuroki screamed loudly. The poor flame vanished after its attempt to escape the room failed after it crashed into a wall.
「Sorry, Loughas-dono!」
Kuroki bowed to Loughas.
「Dear me, it would have been a disaster were it not for the defense mechanism I set up in this room. It looks like spirit magic isn’t suitable for you either.」
Loughas spoke with a pondering look on his face.
Since his attempt to use the spirit of fire went in vain, he then tried to use other spirits, since according to Loughas, he could simply have a greater affinity with other kinds of spirits. However, his attempt at using the spirit of water and wind resulted in a mess of paper around the room and half of the room getting submerged in water respectively. The spirit of light didn’t even bother to answer his call.
Kuroki ended up learning a bit more about the spirit of water since it seemed to be useful. However, he was exhausted just by summoning the low rank spirit, Undine, so he would probably die if he tried summoning a high ranking spirit.
Turns out, his highest affinity was with the spirit of darkness, which heeded his call as soon as he tried summoning it. However, he didn’t dare call himself a spirit user, since even the weakest of spirit users could use at least two kinds of spirits.
It seems as if Kuroki didn’t have the ability to communicate with any kind of spirit other than the spirit of darkness.
Kuroki also heard from Loughas that Sasaki Rino, Reiji’s comrade, could use several spirits. This made her the user of high ranking mutual understanding by magic.
「I guess that’s all for today’s lesson.」
The book in Loughas’s hand vanished when he closed it.
「Loughas-dono… Can I ask a question?」
The book appeared again in Loughas’s hand.
「Kuroki-dono… To be honest, I’m actually incapable of using spirit magic.」
「?」
Kuroki tilted his head to the side.
「But… You just showed me how to use spirit magic a while ago.」
Kuroki was wondering why Loughas was telling him he couldn’t use spirit magic when he clearly used it just a while ago.
「I can use spirit magic because of the power of this grimoire. I was able to use fire spirit magic a while ago because I opened the entry page about fire spirit in this book. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have been able to use it.」
Loughas explained so as he made the same book re-appear in his hand.
The God of Knowledge Loughas was the creator of books. His creation included the grimoire in his hand. Loughas used the fire spirit’s power by using that grimoire as the bridge.
「Eh? Does that mean I can do the same if I use this book?」
Kuroki wished that Loughas had told him from the very beginning if he had such a convenient tool.
「Do you want to try?」
「Eh? Seriously?」
Loughas nodded as he handed the grimoire to Kuroki.
Kuroki opened the book and tried to use spirit magic immediately, but there was no reaction at all.
「… It seemed to shine a pale light when Loughas-dono used the spirit magic before.」
「Ohohoho! This grimoire is a specially made book! No one but me, its owner, can use it.」
Loughas said in a cheerful tone.
「Is that so… That’s a little regrettable.」
Kuroki sounded slightly disappointed.
According to Loughas, he had all kinds of similar books which allowed him to use spirit magic or healing magic. Magics that, in a normal situation, he wouldn’t be able to use. Loughas seemed to have surpassed Modes in the number of magics he could use.
Loughas didn’t participate in the battle against the Hero because it took more time for him to use magic with the grimoire. He had to switch between grimoires to change from one type of magic to another. Not to mention, the mana consumption when using a grimoire almost doubled compared to normal magic. Those two factors made him ill-suited for combat.
「In my case, I really envy Kuroki-dono for being able to use the black flame. I can’t use that black flame even with the help of my grimoire.」
This time, it was Loughas’s turn to sound slightly disappointed.
And then, Loughas muttered a spell to make the grimoire disappear again.
「That power is also useful. Is that some sort of magic to call and return a certain object to a certain location?」
「Yes, the magic to move an object is surprisingly easy to use, as long as that object is enchanted beforehand. The easiest example would be your sword, Kuroki-dono.」
「Eh? Is that so?」
Kuroki then recalled the demon sword given to him by Modes, the sword that nearly killed Reiji.
「Let’s do a test. Please try to call that sword by strongly wishing for it in your mind.」
""
Kuroki then imagined his demon sword appearing in his hand.
（Come!）
With that command, a sword appeared in his hand. The Demon Sword of Venomous Blood.
It crossed over space and time to answer Kuroki’s wish.
「It seems that it has acknowledged you as its owner. This kind of weapon or armor is enchanted with special mana and it’s always by their owner’s side, ready to be called out anytime. That demon sword’s effect is to inject a curse into its victim’s mana and slowly ruin their life force from inside. And I’m sure that the Hero who received a fatal wound from your demon sword is currently in his deathbed.」
Kuroki’s heart stirred when he heard those words.
「Uhm… I heard the Hero is still alive, but…」
（I was glad when I heard that Reiji was still alive before, but… What should I do now…）
Kuroki was worried about Reiji.
「He barely survived the crisis, and that was due to the Saint’s power. But we’ve yet to receive further information.」
Loughas cheerfully commented.
Reiji was Nargol’s enemy, so it was natural for Loughas to be happy with his death.
But Kuroki didn’t feel the same way as Loughas.
（Should I go to confirm the situation myself?）
Kuroki opened his mouth after pondering for a while.
「Uhm… Loughas-dono. There’s something I have to tell you.」
「What could it be, Kuroki-dono?」
「The truth is… I’ve been bothered about the situation on the Hero’s side and… I want to take a look at the scene with my own eyes, but…」
Loughas tilted his head, puzzled by Kuroki’s remark. Suddenly, he nodded at Kuroki.
「I see… It’s definitely going to be troublesome if the Hero heals back to full power. So you want to make sure to end his life for sure this time.」
「… EH? I think you mis-…」
Kuroki stopped right before he finished his sentence.
（I guess it’s better if I didn’t fix his misunderstanding.）
Kuroki then nodded at Loughas.
「But, let’s ask for His Majesty’s permission to leave the palace first. Since it’s already too late for today, shall we meet His Majesty tomorrow?」
◆
The next day, Kuroki made a request to investigate the Hero’s condition during the audience in the Demon King’s palace.
「I see… You’re worried about the Hero’s condition. I understand. Let’s prepare everything that you’ll need for traveling.」
Modes agreed to Kuroki’s request.
Kuroki was relieved that Modes easily agreed to his request. He thought the Demon King would reject it.
Anyhow, since Kuroki knew nothing about this world, he was also granted a guide.
「Loughas, prepare everything Kuroki-dono will need in his journey.」
Loughas came out to the front when Modes called out his name.
「Yes! I completed the preparation yesterday when Kuroki-dono discussed this matter with me. Let me appoint a guide for Kuroki-dono, who knows next to nothing about this world. Nut, come out.」
After he said so, something suddenly appeared in the room.
Its figure resembled a small squirrel or a rat with beautiful red fur. That small animal stopped before Kuroki’s feet.
「Nice to meet you, Kuroki-sama. My name is Nut.」
The rat called Nut gave his greeting to me as he nodded lightly.
「Nut is a fire rat. He has an excellent sense of direction and is extremely suitable for gathering information. Please take him to accompany you on your journey.」
Loughas introduced Nut to Kuroki.
「Nice to meet you, Nut. My name is Kuroki.」
Kuroki returned Nut’s greeting with a huge smile on his face. Nut made a face as if he was surprised by something.
「… I guess you really can’t trust that rumor. I heard that Kuroki-sama was an extremely terrifying person.」
Nut shook his head as he raised both of his hands while saying those words. Kuroki smiled wryly when he heard the bloated story about him.
Apparently, he was feared by Modes’s subordinates.
Save for the Daemon race, whose appearance closely resembled that of a human, the appearance of the rest of Modes’s subordinates were of monsters.
Kuroki felt it was strange that they were the ones afraid of him instead of the other way around. Nevertheless, since he had to stay in this world for quite a while, he thought he shouldn’t let this situation continue for a long term.
Kuroki remembered how, back in his original world, he had grown his forelocks to cover the scary look in his eyes. Thanks to that, his outward appearance softened a little bit.
But, it seemed that he had to prepare a different countermeasure this time, since the look in his eyes wasn’t the only scary thing about him in this world.
（What should I do?）
Kuroki’s brain was desperately looking for an answer.
（Should I dance while saying “I’m not sca~ry”?）
Modes and the others had curious looks on their faces while Kuroki was in the middle of thinking about such a foolish idea.
「Uhm… Kuroki-dono?」
「No, it’s nothing. Thank you very much for giving me a guide.」
「Please check the other necessities that I prepared for you.」
Loughas’s subordinate explained the function of the tools given to Kuroki for his journey.
The world map. An enchanted gem with teleport magic sealed inside. Precious metals to trade with the currency of the human world.
「Anything you want to add? If there is, I’ll prepare it for you.」
「No, I think this much is enough for the whole journey. Thank you for preparing this for me.」
Kuroki expressed his gratitude to Loughas.
But he only said so because he had yet to understand the common sense of this world.
「Kuroki-dono, the moment you step out of Nargol’s boundaries, you’re not under my protection anymore. So please use your teleport stone as soon as you meet a dangerous situation.」
Modes explained.
The teleport magic would teleport him to an assigned place. Teleportation gems were disposable magic tools which allowed anyone to use a teleport spell once.
「Thank you very much.」
Kuroki thanked Modes.
Modes was worried about Kuroki’s safety. Therefore, it was natural for Kuroki to show his courtesy to the one who was worrying about him. It was a universal common sense.
And then, Kuroki left the audience room.
◆
「This place is?」
Kuroki was surveying his surroundings. The place he had teleported to was a desolate and dark place.
He was inside a small stone structure. There were magic circles carved on the floor, still faintly glowing because of the previous teleportation magic.
「This place is one of the lines of defense of Akeron Mountain. To be honest, many of the knights who were permanently stationed in this place were killed in the conflict against the Hero. At the moment we’re severely lacking in manpower, so… We have no leeway to send reinforcements to this place.」
Riding on Kuroki’s shoulder, Nut then explained the situation.
The Akeron Mountain Range was located southwest of the Demon King’s palace. It was a place that separated Nargol from the other regions. The Dark Knights who rode wyverns were the ones responsible for protecting this place from the air.
Kuroki’s current location was one of the defensive bases. After he completed all preparations, he had traveled from the Demon King’s palace to this place by using teleport magic.
He should be able to encounter a human settlement as long as he went down the mountain.
「That’s strange… Our wyverns should be standing by close to this place.」
Nut was also puzzled by this situation.
Although it would be faster if he descended from the mountain with flying magic, Kuroki was interested in the experience of riding a wyvern.
There was something waiting for us outside of the demon base.
The first thing I saw after leaving the structure was a lizard-like animal, with a giant pair of wings growing from its back. It was a demon beast called Wyvern. There was a Dark Knight riding on the back of that wyvern.
That Dark Knight descended from the wyvern’s back after landing close to the structure.
「It’s a pleasure to meet you, Your Excellency! My name is Gned!」
The Dark Knight took off his helmet and then greeted Kuroki.
He was a youth of the Daemon race. Compared to a human, his appearance resembled a man in his early twenties.
Kuroki recalled the knowledge about Demons taught to him by Loughas.
Demon was the general term of the Demon King’s dependents. They were more widely known as Demon Races. And the one who stood at the pinnacle of the Demons was the Daemon race.
Despite having the appearance that closely resembled a dark indigo skinned human, the Daemon race’s most notable traits were the two horns that grew from both sides of their heads. They were far superior than humans in all aspects, save for fertility.
Their sole weakness was their extremely low numbers, which were shockingly even less than a twentieth of the Orc race, the race with the highest numbers in Nargol.
But even with their extremely low numbers, the Order of Dark Knights, composed of only those from the Daemon Race, was the strongest force in Nargol.
Kuroki wondered what made the Dark Knight called Gned so nervous.
「It’s nice to meet you too, Lord Gned. Please don’t be so formal.」
Kuroki showed his gentlest smile to Gned.
（Honestly, being called “Your Excellency” like that made my back itchy… Even though our ages don’t seem to be that far apart, I hope he can speak to me with a more easygoing tone.）
But Kuroki soon noticed that Gned’s body was trembling.
（Is he scared of me for the same reason as Nut?）
Kuroki once again felt depressed when he pondered about that matter.
「N-No! Your Excellency’s status is just below His Majesty after all!」
Kuroki had no idea whether Gned expressed his honest opinion due to fear or his own nervousness. But he knew that asking for him to speak to him in informal speech was impossible.
「F-From here on! M-My duty is to escort Y-Your Excellency until the foot of the mountain!」
After saying so, Gned climbed back on the wyvern and then signaled to Kuroki to sit behind him.
「Best regards then, Lord Gned…」
「R-Ryoger!」
After Kuroki sat, Gned ordered his wyvern to take off. Kuroki could feel the wind turbulence when the wyvern flapped its wings.
「OOOH!」
Kuroki exclaimed, surprised. He enjoyed the sensation when his body soared in the sky.
The wyvern soared high in the sky, turning the defensive point small in an instant. Kuroki made a mental note to look for his own wyvern later.
But after they reached a certain altitude, the wyvern suddenly lowered its altitude.
「What’s the matter, Lord Gned?」
The sudden change of altitude ruined the atmosphere of their air travel.
「D-Due to the strict inspection beyond this point, we’re going to fly in lower altitude from now on!」
「Inspection? What do you mean?」
「Kuroki-sama, we’re about to enter the observation area of the Holy Knights. We risk being discovered by them if we fly at a high altitude.」
Nut explained instead of Gned.
Holy Knights were the elite force whose members were handpicked from the Angel race and the Braves of the Human race. They swore their loyalty to Oudith.
After Reiji and co almost destroyed the Order of the Dark Knights, the members of the Holy Knights became bolder. They harassed the survivors of the Order of Dark Knights by repeatedly violating the Order of Dark Knights’ airspace territory.
This was why they couldn’t fly at high altitudes. They didn’t want to get caught by those Holy Knights.
Gned controlled his wyvern awkwardly. Even Kuroki felt insecure about Gned’s mastery in controlling the wyvern.
「It seems that it hasn’t been long time since Lord Gned started to ride your own wyvern…」
Nut explained that The Order of Dark Knights was currently short on manpower. Their situation was so grave that even a beginner like Gned was allowed to fly with his Wyvern.
「But, at this rate, we might be targeted by the goblins who live around this area…」
「Say what? Goblins?」
Loughas taught Kuroki about a Demon’s common sense between their magic lessons. Goblins were an ugly green colored Demon whose height was just around 120 cm on the average. Loughas also told him that a Goblin’s head was tougher than iron and they were weak against music.
He heard that Goblins were Modes’s subordinates. So why did they attack them, their allies?
「The Goblins around this area aren’t under His Majesty’s jurisdiction.」
「Seriously?! And you only tell me this now?!」
Nut’s words made Kuroki recall his learning session with Loughas again.
Goblins were created by a God of darkness. But it didn’t mean they were referring to Modes since there were numerous Gods of darkness. Or rather, almost all Demons who deferred to Modes were in Nargol. Modes basically had little to no influence over the Demons outside Nargol.
In short, even a Demon under Modes’s rule would have to wipe their own butts if they created a problem outside of Nargol. Thus, both Goblins and Orcs were attacking us.
The first time Kuroki learnt that fact, he realized that he was deceived by the Demon King’s label on Modes.
But the humans in this world still believed that those Goblins and Orcs that attacked them were Modes’s subordinates. If someone asked why, it was simply because Modes was the first on the list of Gods of Darkness.
However, Modes was in fact the most powerful God of Darkness. Although Kuroki only learned that fact much, much later.
But being the strongest didn’t automatically make him the king of the Gods of Darkness.
In fact, there was only a small fraction of Gods of Darkness who chose to follow Modes. Some of them didn’t follow him and the rest were hostile toward him.
Kuroki felt anxiety for his future when he learned about that.
Gned’s rough handling of his wyvern made their air travel become more dangerous. To make the matter worse, they were flying at a low-altitude and had left Nargol a while ago.
「AAAH! THEY FOUND US!!」
When Kuroki turned his attention toward the direction Gned pointed at, he saw several winged human-like forms approaching them.
Those golden armored, winged human-like forms aimed at Kuroki and co with their bows.
「IT’S THE ANGEL’S HOLY FUCKING KNIGHTS!!! LORD GNED, RUUUUUN!」
Nut screamed in a flustered voice.
The Angels were a race created by the Light God. Their outer appearance resembled a winged human. As a winged race, Angels had no need to use floating magic. They could use both sword and magic while flying in the air.
The other races were no match for those Angels. Since they couldn’t fight while using floating magic, they rode wyverns for air combat against Angels.
Compared to those masters of air combat, Gned was still an amateur. Having just received permission to ride his wyvern, he might be knocked out of his own mount if he fought those Angels by himself.
As soon as he heard Nut’s warning, Gned clumsily tried to make his wyvern turn. Since the situation called for it, Kuroki felt he had no choice but to recite the spell for flight magic.
Kuroki’s flight magic allowed him to fly even faster in the sky since it was a higher tier version of floating magic. He thought that this magic should be enough to shake off the pursuit of those Angels.
「Your excellency?!」
「Lord Gned, focus on controlling your wyvern and leave the rest to me. Hold tight Nut, things are going to be dangerous after this.」
After he said so, Kuroki turned around toward the incoming Angels. They fired their arrows toward Kuroki. For Kuroki, it was like those arrows were moving in slow motion.
「HA!」
Kuroki took out his Demon sword and knocked down every single one of those arrows.
「HOLY MOSES!」
The Angels were left agape by that surreal scene. Kuroki then made a giant black flame appear in the sky.
「O Black Flame!」
When he fired the mass of black flame, the angels scattered around, trying to save their lives.
That black flame was a warning shot since he had no intention to fight them to begin with. But he realized soon enough that it was an extremely effective tactic to scare those Angels.
「It’s Runfeld, RUUUN!」
The angels escaped, mistaking Kuroki for Runfeld. Kuroki then went back to Gned’s wyvern.
「Amazing…」
He could hear Nut muttering.
「Lord Gned, I drove away those Angels. Let’s continue our flight.」
Kuroki smiled toward Gned.
「R-ROGER THAT!」
Gned replied so while chewing his lips. His wyvern then flew at a high altitude.
（Wonderful.）
Thought Kuroki as they continued their flight under the blue sky. After they repelled the angels, the wyvern they rode cut through the cloud in front of them.
Kuroki had to concentrate a bit to use his flight magic to fly in the sky, so he couldn’t enjoy the scenery to the fullest. Then he wondered if flying on the back of something might be a good idea.
（I’ll ask for a wyvern for me when I’m back from my journey.）
They soon arrived at the end of the Akeron Mountain Range and dismounted.
「Thank you very much, Lord Gned.」
「It’s me who should say that!」
Gned had been on a nervous state from the beginning to the end of their flight. But Kuroki felt that Gned’s attitude had softened a little compared to when they first met.
「Though I can only accompany you up to this place, allow me to pray for your safe journey!」
「Thank you, Lord Gned.」
""
Gned bid his farewell and flew back to Nargol after unloading Kuroki’s luggage.
Kuroki had to walk by foot from this point on.
（If I’m not wrong, Reiji and co’s base is somewhere in the south, a place called Holy Republic Lenaria.）
Kuroki looked toward the southern direction with his back to Nargol. Although it would save a lot of time if he used teleportation magic, unfortunately the gate had to be set beforehand.
Naturally, there was no transfer gate outside of Nargol since Nargol citizens didn’t even need one to begin with. Thus, his only choice was traveling by foot.
He was still far away from Holy Republic Lenaria, but Kuroki could move thousands of times faster than a normal human of this world. It should take him one or two months to arrive if he followed the road.
「Let’s get going, Nut.」
In this way, Kuroki took the first step toward the human’s world.
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