256-250 preservation

Mr. Melfina and Mr. Bazak, who was originally supposed to be a member of His Highness Alberto's entourage, but the names they called each other were not names we knew.

''May I ask you something?''

What is it?　You're begging for your life.

Mr. Bazak, with a sneaky smile on his face, already seems to feel like he's won.

Mr. Melfina doesn't seem to be paying much attention to us either.

But here we are interrupted.

'Melfina, I don't know what it is, but I need you to cut this rope quickly.

His Highness shouted loudly.

As expected, I wanted him to read the air, but Melfina-san smiled as she looked at His Highness.

''Are you still conscious?''　I thought that for a moment, but it wasn't.

''Hahaha. The obedient Melfina-chan you loved so much is gone. And I've always thought His Highness was creepy~. So will you please die?

She spoke as if her personality had changed a hundred and eighty degrees, and her dress had become a little more dreadful, and she felt like a completely different person, even though she was Melfina-san.

It was His Highness who was most affected by this, and it was easy to see that he was appalled by Melfina-san's words.

''Fool. You still have a use for it, so don't kill it.''

Mr. Bazak ordered Mr. Melfina not to take His Highness hostage, but just to attack us.

''Oh, it's fine. Besides, looking at that face makes me bothered.

No. Let them kill you.

Don't tell me what to do. Huh? Well, okay.

Melfina turned towards us and when she thought her magic power had increased all at once, she fired her magic at us.......and was caught in an explosion.

That's right. It's not us, but Melfina was caught up in the explosion.

''You managed to get there in time.

'Master Luciel, you've been warding them!

Lionel asked with a surprised look on his face.

''Ah. It's going to be a lot of trouble if we fight, and I've already put sanctuary wards on His Highness and Mr. Bazak. We managed to stay on the edge of it.

If His Highness Alberto hadn't shouted over there, it would have consumed less magic, but I was relieved that it somehow didn't turn into a battle.

''How! .... but Melfina didn't seem to notice the sanctuary wards?

Yeah. It's a new dark magic I'm learning, and I've coated the inside of the wards with a thin film. The other side doesn't seem to be familiar with my body, and I figured they wouldn't know if I was feeling a bit under the weather.

This was a gamble of sorts, but it was a magic that Estia and Lydia and I had developed after exploring various magical possibilities.

'So what about Bazak?'

Yeah. He's still a person. He's not a demon race.

Mr. Bazak's expression, which had been wearing a lowly smile just now, was frozen.

'Why--!　If it was Luciel-dono, he could have brought Melfina back to her senses. So why is it...

His Highness Alberto glares at me, but I don't think there's anything I can say here.

I call out to Mr. Bazak while activating my magic on Melfina-san who collapsed within the ward.

''Well, let's continue our conversation. Where is the real Mr. Bazak?　If you haven't turned into a demon, it's not like the demon race took over your body, is it?

Then there seemed to be a little room in his face, which had been so rigid a moment ago.

Then Mr. Bazak muttered to himself as if he were monologuing.

'He would have died. No, I would have killed him.'

As I looked at Mr. Bazak, who declared that he had indeed killed him, I understood that he was a forger of Mr. Bazak.

But since he was Mr. Bazak to me, I decided to ask my next question without getting too deeply involved in his emotions.

'I see. By the way, the reason why the group of five we met in the labyrinth also had a demon race and pterodactyl unit is because you passed on information about us, right?

''Oh yeah. I tried to get you guys out of Master Cloud's way, but they were useless, even though I tried to get you guys out of the dead.

He shook his head in a yarrow.

Looking at him like that, I couldn't help but notice something that was bothering me.

''By the way, I've always wondered, why haven't you become a demon race?''

'You've been undercover, so I don't blame you. And I'm not going to risk my life for an experiment that has a probability of 80% death.

Perhaps he had caught Mr. Bazak's fancy, he argued the disadvantages of turning into a demon race with a strong tone, but apparently he didn't seem to be attacking me.

'Well, I guess I got what I wanted to hear. Lionel, what about him?''

'Leaving him alone is likely to do him no more harm than to stun him, but it would be most effective to stun him.

Okay. Esther, please.

Yes, sir.

Esther closed a certain distance of a dozen meters from Mr. Bazak at once and touched his head, and Mr. Bazak fell intact without resistance.

I was impressed by the brilliant move, and decided to have the soldiers organized as I had discussed with Lionel beforehand.

Then I headed to Melfina-san's place.

First of all, Melfina-san wasn't dead.

She looks like she's fainted, but it's possible that this is a raccoon dog.

'I thought it would have been worse since she blew herself up, but do demons have a high life force?　More importantly....

Until now, the three combo of Dispel, Recover, and Purification had never been able to unravel the demonization.

However, Melfina-san's demonization hadn't been unraveled.

''Since you mentioned earlier that you had entered a different personality, it must have completely turned into the demon race.

The kefin that followed us here represented my feelings, but there's not much time left to save her.

To be honest, it's because it keeps consuming magic power to maintain the sanctuary wards.

''Well, I have a promise to Lionel, and if that Highness is released, he's going to rush in and make trouble, so I'll do what I can.

And that's when I was about to start chanting.

'Don't--'

I saw His Highness misunderstand and pounce on me.