Volume 3 - CH 18.2

Act 3-18.2: The Velos Ball 3

（Why is she here by herself?）

In addition, he also knew the man by her side.

He was Datie’s son, Goz.

Kuroki was really surprised when Kuna informed him about this matter. He would never have expected that the one masquerading as Parsish was none other than the Goblin Queen’s son himself.

（What is he doing in Algore? And why is he with Midou Kyouka?）

Kuroki kept thinking of those two. He knew that Goz was going to attend the ball but he had no idea why Kyouka was coming with him.

「Kuroki, I’m rather curious about what he wants to do. Can I have a chat with him for a while?」

Kuna spoke while pointing at Goz.

Kuroki was also curious about what Goz wanted to do and also the reason for Reiji’s little sister to attend the ball.

「Okay, ask him in the separate room.」

Kuna went to approach Goz the moment she gained Kuroki’s approval. Kuna should be able to easily pull all the information she wanted to know from Goz with her magic.

「I want to speak alone with you. Come with me.」

Kuroki knew that Kuna used her ruling magic to force Goz to follow her.

The light in Goz’s eyes vanished, he became like a puppet under the effects of Kuna’s ruling magic.

Thus, they went into a separate room.

After that, the men who surrounded Kuroki and Kyouka dispersed as if they were snapping out from a stupor.

Midou Kyouka, on the other hand, was staring intently at Kuroki.

「You, have we meet somewhere before?」

Kyouka asked Kuroki.

Naturally, the answer was “Yes”, they had met before.

They met back when Kuroki infiltrated the Holy Republic of Lenaria. She should’ve managed to take a glimpse of his face back then. But, seeing the way she spoke and her conduct, Kuroki concluded that Kyouka had no idea who he was.

（Come to think of it, she was the only one who didn’t come to the Holy Dragon’s Mountain back then…）

Kuroki heaved a sigh of relief upon realizing that the other party had yet to realize his identity.

""

「No, this is our first meeting, Milady Kyouka.」

Kuroki bowed as he lied to her.

「Oh my… I guess you know of me.」

「Yes. Hero-sama’s little sister is a pretty famous figure after all…」

Kyouka pondered for a moment upon hearing Kuroki beating around the bush to dodge the topic.

「Something doesn’t feel quite right here… but well, will you dance for a tune with me?」

Kyouka spoke as she presented her hand.

Kuroki was really troubled when the other party invited him for a dance. He didn’t want to dance with anyone but Kuna after all. On the other hand, he also needed to know the reason why Kyouka was in Velos Kingdom.

Thus, Kuroki decided to accept her dance invitation.

「Y-Yes, with pleasure! Milady!」

Kuroki accepted Kyouka’s hand despite holding back his frustation.

（She’s so beautiful. This would’ve turned really bad if I wasn’t used to Kuna’s beauty.）

Kuroki couldn’t help but feel slightly excited upon touching Kyouka’s hand.

Kyouka was an extremely beautiful girl. Thus, having a chance to dance with such a beauty was the biggest honor he could hope for.

Naturally, such a chance wouldn’t come if he was still in his home world.

The music then began.

It was the second tune.

Kuroki and Kyouka danced along with the music.

「U-Uhm. Did you by chance come here alone?」

Kuroki asked as they danced.

He had to know the reason for her to be in this place.

「Nope, I came along with Kaya and Shirone. The two of them left for some reason a while ago though…」

Kuroki was really surprised when he heard that piece of information.

（Shirone is here too?!）

He couldn’t even hide his shock from appearing on his face.

Though he had been observing Reiji’s movements, he had neglected to observe the girls around him too.

（It seems Nut was only ordered to observe Reiji’s movements.）

As he wondered what he should do now, he was completely taken aback when he saw Kyouka’s face. She kept staring at his face. And just as expected of Reiji’s little sister, she was a top notch beauty. Kuroki’s heart beat increased a lot when she stared at him.

「How strange… You seem to know a lot about us.」

Her eyes were locked onto Kuroki.

「Haha, is that so…」

Kuroki could only reply ambiguously since he felt that he would blow his cover if he lied to her.

（She might start to get suspicious of me if I ask too many questions. Let’s stop for now…）

Though he was completely focused on Kuna a while ago, now that he knew that Shirone was in Velos too, Kuroki felt that he had to raise his vigilance toward his surroundings.

When he was looking around, Kuroki realized that the men in the venue were sending him piercing glares.

They were completely hostile toward him.

Now that Kuna had left the venue, one could say that Kyouka was the current flower of the venue.

Thus, it was only natural for those men to direct their hostility toward Kuroki who danced with such women.

But, the current Kuroki had no leeway to soak in the feeling of superiority due to Shirone’s presence in Velos.

She was a literal ticking time bomb who would definitely reveal his identity.

For now, Kyouka had yet to doubt his identity.

Kuroki danced while looking at Kyouka. Though the music played was graceful, Kyouka’s br*asts, which kept swaying right and left as they moved, kept distracting him.

（Uuh, the opening on her ch*st area is too big… I’m really troubled about where to look now.）

Kuroki ended up looking at Kyouka’s br*asts.

Though he didn’t  wish to look at a woman with such a perverted gaze, turning his face away from a woman was considered a breach of manners. Thus, he had to raise his face so that he wouldn’t look at Kyouka’s ch*st.

Kuroki was desperately fighting against his worldly desires. But then, his eyes always ended up back at those bountiful twin hills since they kept shaking vigorously as they danced.

On the other hand, Kyouka was looking at Kuroki’s state with an extremely curious look on her face.

Kuroki couldn’t calm himself since Kyouka kept looking at him with such a look in her eyes.

「Uhm… is something the matter?」

「Well, you passed, I guess. You’ll come with me after this song ends.」

Kyouka suddenly invited Kuroki while flashing a charming smile at him.

Kuroki was a little troubled upon hearing that because, if not for his urgency to escape as far away as possible from this place, he would feel honored to receive such an invitation from a beauty like Kyouka.

「I’m honored, but allow me to turn down your invitation, Milady. I-I feel that I’m going to be cursed by the other men if they see me monopolizing someone as beautiful as you.」

Kuroki grit his teeth and lied to Kyouka. He already had Kuna after all. Moreover, the longer he stayed in this place, the more likely he would encounter Shirone.

（I feel bad for Kuna, but we have to return to Nargol immediately.）

Kuroki was completely driven by the urge to escape from Velos as soon as possible.

「What a gentlemanly way to refuse my invitation. But still, I have to force you to accompany me.」

Kyouka smiled as she said so.

Naturally, Kuroki had no intention to do as she said.

In the first place, he felt that they were ill-suited for each other.

（I also think that it would be much better for her to dance with a prince from a kingdom rather than someone like me.）

Kuroki had no idea why she had chosen to dance with him out of all the men in this venue.

「KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!」

Suddenly, a loud scream broke the serene atmosphere in the venue.

「What is it?」

「What is it?」

Kuroki and Kyouka looked at the direction where the screams came from.

「OGRE!!」

「WHY IS THERE AN OGRE IN THIS KIND OF PLACE?!!」

「KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!」

Other screams resounded from various places in the venue.

Kuroki looked around.

There were eight giant shadows surrounding the venue.

Once before, Kuroki had seen a similar tribe surrounding a venue back in Nargol. They were giant demi-humans who were over two meters tall, with tusks jutting out from their mouths—they were the Ogre tribe.

And those very ogres were raiding the venue.