Book 2: Chapter 36

The Jiol Forest Kingdom was a country where most of the domain was covered in a grand forest, and where the people lived together with the forest, the wind, and the water.

The citizens had Sylphid as the core.

It respected order more than any other country, but there wasn’t a single outrageous person among them since they personally disciplined themselves so that they would be noble and righteous.

And then, with their feeling of fellowship being extraordinarily strong, they thought of personal troubles as the country’s troubles, and also thought of the country’s troubles as personal troubles.

That Jiol Forest Kingdom was currently enveloped in a disquieting atmosphere.

The cause was the St. Altlis Kingdom.

The voices of the Humans that advocated that they themselves were the sole existence loved by the Gods became louder, and the St. Altlis Kingdom became strange……That was the Jiol Forest Kingdom’s analysis.

However, it was also a fact that groundwork for the Human supremacism to spread in the St. Altlis Kingdom was there.

If they felt that it wasn’t righteous, the people with wisdom should have been able to eliminate it.

However, the fact that that didn’t happen meant that both the central figures of the St. Altlis Kingdom and a majority of its citizens had accepted Human supremacism.

As a matter of fact, the St. Altlis Kingdom didn’t respond to the repeated demands for improvement.

Then again, the St. Altlis Kingdom side had a stubbornness where they wouldn’t allow their domestic affairs to be interfered with by other countries……but as a result, the gap had deepened to the current situation where they were only one step away from war.

「Like I said, we should be the ones to attack right away!」

A Sylphid shogun with a splendid physique hit the desk.

No matter who looked at him, it was clear he was irritated. A Wolf Beastman shogun pressed down on that shogun’s shoulder.

「Just calm down. It’s enough for only the guys at Altlis to be the ones to lose their intelligence, right?」

「Bastard, are you treating me the same as them!」

「I’m saying that how I treat you all depends on you.」

「……Give it a rest.」

The two shoguns sank into silence due to that low voice that resounded.

The owner of that voice was a Sylphid that was both young-looking and majestic.

Overturning his appearance, he was the oldest one here……and at the same time, he was also the king of this country.

The King of the Jiol Forest Kingdom, Sarigan displayed a disgusted expression.

The recent signs of the St. Altlis Kingdom should be at the level of being able to be resolved if they took appropriate measures.

But some sort of balance for that had crumbled somewhere.

The situation deteriorating this far was something that Sarigan was unable to overlook any longer.

Even the two generals that were fighting just now, they had a difference of being in the radical faction and the moderate faction, but there was no difference in that they approved of the outbreak of war.

Now that the tendency towards war has been promoted in the entire country, it was right to have called Luuty, the hero of the Jiol Forest Kingdom, back home..

「……In any case, there is no justifiable reason for us to be the ones attacking. Express your opinion while understanding that.」

Hearing Sarigan’s words, the lined up generals lowered their heads.

They had preparations to fight if they were attacked, but they had no reason for them to start the war.

That should have been the same for the St. Altlis Kingdom, and Sarigan thought that that would become an opening for negotiations.

Meanwhile, at the time where arguments were being exchanged at the royal palace, the former board chairman of the Edius Adventurer School and one of the party members of the Hero party, Luuty had breathed a sigh in a room on the second floor of the house she was given.

The house she was given……although it could be described like that, in a nutshell, it was a royal villa. With the reason being that they couldn’t the hero of the country crudely, she was allocated that place.

In reality, there was also the fear that if she were to live in the town area, Luuty’s admirers would barge in on her everyday. However, after having stayed here, Zekwell, a familiar face who was also the captain of the First Protection Chivalric Order, had barged in on her almost everyday.

It was hard to decide on which one was better but……When she consolidated the papers about if she should settle down with Zekwell, or what kind of advantages there would be if she had to choose herself at that time, she ended up seriously thinking that she should migrate to either the Cylus Empire or the Canal Kingdom.

Since he would end up prostrate himself and cling onto her if she were to actually mention her consideration of migrating, she found it pitiful and decided not to.

「Luuty! Ohh, you’re also beautiful when you’re by the window!」

As she was kneeling near the window and spacing out, she was called out to from outside.

It was the Zekwell that was just talked about.

Clad in the green and silver steel armor that was the official armor of the Protection Chivalric Order, Zekwell looked up at Luuty with a whole faced smile.

「……Zekwell. Could it be that you’re skipping out on work?」

「There’s no way I would do that. Checking up on how you are doing is simply an official job.」

「……You said something unreasonable to His Majesty again, didn’t you?」

「I swear that I didn’t. His Majesty simply understood the contents of my passionate chest.」

「Is that so. In that case, you can go on back.」

「Yeah, I shall go back to being inside of your chest.」

Doing as he said, Zekwell entered the royal villa and started climbing up to the second floor.

Seeing him like that, Luuty made a wry smile.

「He really hasn’t changed at all.」

The Sylphid live long lives, and once they reach a certain age, the aging of their bodies would stop.

Both Luuty and Zekwell……their outward appearances hadn’t changed at all from the time that the Hero Ryuuya was around.

Even how Zekwell would court her was the same as that time.

That was why Luuty would end up having visual hallucinations.

About the days that she spent with the Hero Ryuuya and the others.

However, Ryuuya who would have fist fights with Zekwell, as well as the other companions from the journey of those days, none of them were around anymore.

Everytime she realized that fact, she would get depressed.

Having noticed that kind of Luuty, Zekwell would come to meet her like this almost everyday.

Of course, he also had ulterior motives though.

「……」

Luuty expressed a thin smile, and was about to go and open the door to the room to welcome Zekwell. At that time.

「Hmph……To think I would see you with that kind of expression. Honestly, it’s disgusting.」

「!?」

Luuty turned around to the voice that suddenly called out to her.

At that place……at the center of the room, there were two figures.

One of them was a person with long golden hair and blue slit eyes.

Their white skin was smooth, they had a body line that clearly indicated that they were a woman, and on top of her clothes that had white as the basic tone, she wore a pendant with a yellow magic stone fitted into it.

That figure didn’t hold anything that seemed like a weapon, but it was also a figure that Luuty knew of very well.

「Fainell……!?」

「It’s been a while, Luuty.」

That’s right, that was the Majin Fainell.

Possessing the second name of 「Thunder Blade」, she was the battle crazed Majin that had fought against the Hero Ryuuya several times in the Dark Continent. Even now, she remembered how she had responded to Ryuuya’s signature move, the 「proposal the moment they meet」 with an electric shock smack done at the speed of sound.

「……What did you come here to do?」

「Don’t be so on guard. We’re both fellows who were proposed to by Ryuuya, aren’t we?」

「Unfortunately, to me, you’re nothing more than an opponent where we’ve tried to kill each other several times.」

Taking the slender sword she had set beside her into her hand, Luuty cautiously measured the distance between her and Fainell.

「What, do you still hold a grudge for how I kicked Ryuuya’s crotch? Could it be that he became unable to have kids from that?」

「Wha……! Come to think of it, it was after that! That idiot awakened to a strange preference and things were terrible! Do you know how much trouble we went to to get him back to normal!」

「I don’t care about the fetishes of your guys’ boss.」

Seeing Fainell’s face that said that she didn’t care from the bottom of her heart, Luuty’s mouth repeatedly opened and closed……And it was there that she went *Ha* and sank into silence from noticing it.

This arguing back and forth was fun.

She realized that fact.

「……The flow of time is cruel, isn’t it. Amongst mankind, you Sylphid are the only ones within a different flow of time.」

「……Did you come here to say something like that.」

「If you have the time, it’d be nice to reminisce with you.」

Saying that, Fainell shrugged her shoulders.

「But, this time, the situation is a bit different.」

Being told that, Luuty turned her eyes to the person that was next to Fainell for the first time.

Fainell’s sudden appearance was too much of a shock that they didn’t enter her eyes but……the person that was there was also a person that Luuty knew of very well.

「You are……Shion-dono!? Why are you together with Fainell……Plus, how did you get into this room!?」

「……It’s been a while. Today I have something to discuss with you for a bit.」

「Discuss? No, more importantly……」

As if cutting off Luuty’s words, the door to the room opened.

「Luuty! ……Wait, oya?」

The one that entered the room was Zekwell.

Finding Fainell and Vermudol’s figures, Zekwell made a curious looking face.

「……So you’re guests. Pardon me for the intrusion. I am the captain of the Jiol Forest Kingdom’s First Protection Chivalric Order, Zekwell.」

「How polite of you.」

In response to Zekwell’s elegant greeting, the person who was called Shion……the Demon King Vermudol also answered him.

「I am the King of the Zadark Kingdom, Vermudol. The one over here is the Eastern General Fainell. She is my trusted general.」

「I am the Eastern General Fainell. Pleasure to meet you.」

Visibly becoming good humored from hearing him say “my trusted”, Fainell politely returned a greeting to Zekwell.

「Zadark Kingdom……Ah, no, I am terribly sorry. I am embarrassed to expose my ignorance, but I was perplexed by the country name that I hadn’t heard of.」

Excluding the four great nations, there were also several small countries that existed in the Shutaia Continent.

Zekwell judged that it was surely one among those. In contrast, Vermudol replied with a gentle smile.

「I suppose you would be……If you’d like, I will show you around there next time.」

「I would be grateful for that. Still, Luuty, you’re pretty mean as well. You should have told me if you were going to have guests.」

「Eh, no……」

Seeing this abnormal situation, Luuty felt that she was sweating an unpleasant sweat.

The man in front of her should have been the Adventurer Shion.

But he said that he was the king of the Zadark Kingdom which had placed the Majin Fainell as general, Vermudol.

……Luuty was organizing the situation inside of her head.

If she thought of things like this, it would be coherent.

Shion’s real name is Vermudol.

He was royalty of a small country somewhere called the Zadark Kingdom, and introduced himself as the Adventurer Shion in order to broaden his horizons.

Even how he completed difficult tasks, he had done them as a duty of royalty……she could consent to it if she put it that way.

However, she couldn’t reach an explanation for why he was together with Fainell.

Could it be, was she hiding the fact that she was a Mazoku?

Thinking that, Luuty regained her composure.

「However, I didn’t hear that such an important person had come here.」

「We are travelling incognito, see. We just arrived in this country today.」

「Hou, is that so. If you don’t mind my asking, may I inquire about your business here?」

With it roughly being a part of his professional duties, Zekwell asked that.

If they had merely come to greet Luuty, then that would be fine. If they had come to provide information regarding the recent state of affairs, or to use Luuty as an intermediary for some sort of negotiations, he would need to introduce them to the proper department.

Nodding to that, Vermudol answered him.

「I see, you were a captain of a chivalric order, weren’t you.」

「Yes.」

「In that case, this is perfect. As a matter of fact, I came here to negotiate as a country representative.」

Hearing those words, Zekwell nodded.

He thought that if that was the case, then he himself would be much more useful than Luuty.

「Please tell this to the king. The Demon King Vermudol has come to negotiate with the Jiol Forest Kingdom as a representative of the Zadark Kingdom.」