Volume 3 - CH 33.2

Act 3-33.2: Wacky Battle in the Sweet Castle 4

When Kuroki protested, Shirone finally stopped beating him.

「JUST HOW MUCH DO YOU THINK I WORRIED ABOUT YOU!!!」[TL : Karma]

Shirone glared at me with anger.

「Eh… You were worried about me?」

「OF COURSE I WAS!!」

「Well, the one who usually worries is me after all…」

Kuroki replied while massaging the bridge of his nose.

Indeed, Kuroki used to be the one who was constantly worrying about Shirone. Back in Japan, Shirone had never shown him any concern. In fact, she was the troublesome one. She was a girl with a uselessly strong sense of justice and would often use her skills in brawls against people with a bigger build than her.

Thus, Kuroki couldn’t help but constantly worry about her.

「WHY SHOULD YOU BE WORRYING ABOUT ME?!!」

Shirone replied with an enraged look on her face.

「Well… You’re constantly meddling in other people’s affairs without giving it a second thought after all… It might be for the sake of saving others but, it DOESN’T change the fact that YOU THOUGHTLESSLY CHARGE INTO DANGER…」

Shirone was dumbfounded upon hearing that.

「Eh? Is that so? So you’ve been worrying about me all along?」[TL: Oh god, just kill this girl already.]

Kuroki nodded to Shirone.

「I’ve always told you to stop doing such dangerous things and yet…」

Kuroki muttered. He would always tell her to be careful, yet it always went through one ear to another; she would always ignore his warnings.

「Come to think of it, you did say that. But, it’s okay. Reiji-kun will save me when I’m in danger after all. You don’t have to worry about me.」

Shirone replied as if what she said was completely normal while placing her hand on her hip.

“WTF!?” Was Kuroki’s reaction upon hearing that.

Surely, Reiji was powerful and, for some reason, always happens to save damsels in distress. Shirone was a beauty thus, Reiji would definitely go save her when she’s in danger.

Upon thinking back, Kuroki realized that Reiji might have been able to do something to save Shirone back then in the Holy Republic of Lenaria, even if the assailant wasn’t Kuroki. That’s why Kuroki’s worry was unnecessary. But, something about that didn’t sit well with him.

「Then you don’t have to worry about me too… I’m safe and sound after all.」

Not that Kuroki was in danger in the first place. Modes was a nice guy, and he gained a comrade called Kuna. With Kuna by his side, Shirone and co’s worries were unnecessary.

「THE HELL WITH THAT! AS IF YOU’RE GOING TO BE SAFE AND SOUND BY THE DEMON KING’S SIDE!!!」

Shirone blew up upon hearing Kuroki’s dismissal.

（Come to think of it, it’s normal for them, who have no idea about the real situation in this world, to think that way, but… The real problem is how should I explain this to her in the simplest way.）

Kuroki ended up troubling himself. It’s natural for them to think of the atrocious looking Demon King Modes as the big bad guy. But, the reality was completely different from what could be seen as logical. Kuroki, who was originally a poor talker, was having a hard time explaining the situation properly.

「NOW THEN, LET’S GO BACK TO REIJI-KUN, KUROKI!! YOU ABSOLUTELY MUSTN’T GO BACK TO A PLACE LIKE NARGOL!!」

Shirone presented her hand to Kuroki, but he shook his head, denying her offer.

「Nope… I’ll go back to Nargol.」

It was a clear, undeniable refusal.

He promised Kuna that he would definitely come back to her. Thus, he had to go back at all costs.

In the first place, he knew that even if he took that offer, he wouldn’t be able to get along with Reiji due to the hero’s personality issues. If one looked closely, they would notice that Reiji never had a man in his group, he only accepted women. Shirone failed to notice such a simple problem since she was a woman, and a simple one on top of that.

Kuroki also didn’t find that offer to be interesting. Thus, he was unwilling to go to Reiji’s side.

""

「THE HECK! IS IT BECAUSE OF THAT GIRL CALLED KUNA?!!」

「Correct…」

Shirone trembled upon hearing Kuroki’s reply.

「JUST AS EXPECTED! CHIYUKI-SAN WAS RIGHT ALL ALONG! KUROKI, YOU’RE A BIT PERVY, BUT YOU WOULD NEVER HURT A WOMAN! IF YOU WERE IN YOUR RIGHT MIND, YOU DEFINITELY WOULDN’T HAVE BECOME THE DEMON KING AND THE SILVER WITCH’S ALLY, MONSTERS WHO MADE MANY PEOPLE SUFFER!!」

Shirone became hysterical.

「Modes isn’t a bad guy though…」

「LIKE HELL I’M GOING TO BELIEVE THAT! KUROKI’S CONDITION IS ABNORMAL AFTER ALL!!」

Kuroki tried to resolve the misunderstanding and yet, it got rejected immediately. He had thought that she would at least listen to his explanation. Yet, Shirone just flat out denied his claim. For some reason, she refused to believe him.

（It seems she can’t trust me… Someone might have told her to not trust me, but the main reason behind it is my lack of confidence. In the end, I’m still at fault.）

Kuroki thought that he had to fix himself, but he had no idea what he was lacking so he could fix it. Thus, it always ended up with him feeling that it was his fault.

「Draw your sword, Kuroki! I’ll wake you up!」

Shirone said so as she drew her sword.

Kuroki could only heave a sigh upon seeing that it was an inevitable situation.

「Sorry but… I won’t be defeated by Shirone anymore.」

Kuroki wore his helmet again, and unsheathed his sword.

（It seems that it had come to this again.）

Kuroki, who lacked self-confidence from the very beginning, had already expected this outcome.

Since he was also worried about Goz’s trump card, he had to go back in a hurry.

「Here I go, Kuroki! Aerial combat is my forte! Even if you win, you’ll pay one arm for that!」

Shirone flew to the air at high speed, and then moved around Kuroki at a high speed to the point of leaving an after image. Kuroki readied his sword as Shirone stormed from behind, swinging her sword. Kuroki, however, easily parried the blow.

Shirone retreated as soon as her blow got parried and rushed toward Kuroki again. Kuroki dodged the incoming strike by moving his body to the side at a paper thin margin. Those kinds of high speed attacks repeated many times, and Kuroki dodged every single one of them.

（Shirone is strong when fighting in open air without obstacles. But victory is mine…）

Kuroki had seen through every single bit of Shirone’s movements. She was powerful but her movements were too simple. Thus, Kuroki could dodge all of her attacks with no problem. He could set up black flame in the air to hinder Shirone’s extremely monotonous movements.

「O Black Flame!!」

Kuroki invoked his magic and set up several lumps of black flame in the air.

The black flames didn’t vanish and kept burning in the air.

「WHA?!!!!」

Thus, Shirone was forced to change her course in the air to avoid collision with the black flames. Kuroki had narrowed Shirone’s range of movement, and forced her to move as he wanted to. He then spun his body, and swung his sword.

CLANK!!

A dull metallic sound resounded in the air as Shirone and Kuroki’s swords clashed.

「Eh?!」

Shirone dropped her sword. Kuroki hadn’t just disarmed her, but he had also sent shockwaves into Shirone’s body through her sword. Thus, Shirone, who got immobilized by Kuroki, fell down.

「GLORIOUS!!」

Kuroki called Glorious. Thereupon, a giant dragon flew up from the forest and caught the falling Shirone. The dragon who had caught Shirone then landed on the ground.

Kuroki also descended beside Glorious.

「Are you okay, Shirone?」

Kuroki lowered Shirone to the ground. Shirone massaged her temple, maybe because the effect of Kuroki’s shockwave still hurt her.

And that pain was all that Kuroki needed to escape from her.

「Why did you save me?」

「We’re not enemies.」

「Then why did you choose Nargol?」

「I have no intention to fight you guys as long as you don’t invade Nargol.」

「Are you protecting the Demon King?」

Kuroki nodded as he opened his mouth.

「Yes, yes, if the Hero comes to Nargol to defeat the Demon King, then I shall act as the Dark Knight and protect my liege.」

And declared so without averting his gaze from Shirone.

「Why… are you choosing to do that…?」

Shirone asked with tears flowing down her face. But, Kuroki had nothing left to say to Shirone.

「That’s all I have to say… Regena is still waiting for my arrival after all.」

Kuroki pulled his mantle, preparing to ride on Glorious again. But then, when he turned to the front as he rode on Glorious, he saw Shirone glaring angrily at him.

「WHY! YOU ALWAYS HEARD ME OUT WHEN I CRIED BEFORE!」

「EH?! YOU WERE FAKING YOUR CRIES?!」

Kuroki recalled his childhood memories with Shirone. The Shirone at that time always burst into tears whenever she wanted something of Kuroki’s. He who had zero resistance to Shirone’s tears had no choice but to abide by her even if he knew that she was faking her cries.

Thanks to that Kuroki’s afternoon snacks had always been stolen by Shirone during their childhood.

「That kind of method is for a child.」

「NO, YOU CAN’T GO BACK TO NARGOL! YOU SHOULD GO BACK WITH ME TO REIJI-KUN’S PLACE!!」

Shirone didn’t let go of Kuroki’ mantle.

「Nope, I refuse to go to that place.」

Kuroki tried to force Shirone to let go of his mantle. But, Shirone gripped his mantle so tightly, refusing to let it go.

「BUUH! KUROKI IS SO MEA~N!」

Shirone ended up sulking upon seeing Kuroki’s attempt. Thus, it became a tug of war between Kuroki and Shirone. And then, when they were in the middle of that.

「GUOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH!!!」

Suddenly, a loud warcry reverberated in the air, shaking the atmosphere. Both Kuroki and Shirone then looked at Algore, the place where that warcry came from.

「What’s that…」

Shirone leaked out a shocked voice.

Reason being, she saw a lump of giant arms.

The lump of giant arms was even taller than the height of Algore’s rampart, the reason they knew that was simply because they had already flown quite far from Algore.

The lump of giant arms was attacking Algore.