A small carriage was running along a road lit up by the sun.
There were three people, one man and 2 women who were crammed up in the coach driver's seat, which could be said to be anything but spacious.
Seated in the middle is the Shadow Mirage, one of the 4 Heavenly King of the Demon King's army, a black-haired man wearing a strange mask.
He was pressed from both sides, his arm which held the reins was tight, and even though his expression behind the mask could not be seen, it certainly would be a fed-up expression, as it can be felt in the atmosphere emitted around him from his whole body.
「Hey Tart, you opening the documents here is a total pain in the butt, why don't you move back into the carriage? It should be hard to shuffle, with this little space. 」
「I'm small, so it's fine. I think that Raffa's self-assertive wings are in the way, so please step back into the carriage quietly or do you want to sit next to Mirage-Sama so much? 」
A winged red-haired little girl, Rafa, sitting on the left side of Mirage, demanded the little girl with silver-horns, Astarte sitting on the other side to move back into the carriage with her thump pointing towards it.
However, Astarte replies coldly to Rafa, while checking the paper on her lap.
Mirage group of three, appeared in the place where they reached last time, using the transfer magic, and then proceed further North-East in a horse-drawn carriage, but one problem had arisen.
Originally Mirage and Astarte were the only ones supposed to travel and the necessary goods could be brought using Transfer magic, so they only had minimum baggage to put on the carriage.
As a result of which they decided to bring the smallest carriage in the Shadow castle.
On the first day the carriage had been transferred together with them to the magic mark placed by Mirage near the Wolf demon's territory, but to conserve---- Mirage's known---- magic power, Mirage and Astarte had left the carriage in the open and returned to the Shadow castle.
Since there was just an addition of one companion, Mirage decided not to change the carriage, but Astarte and Rafa began to argue about who will sit in the coach driver's seat.
On the pretext of being able to do her work on the road, Astarte insisted on sitting next to Mirage with efficiency in mind, while Rafa insisted that she was the one who will be useful in case of an attack and so neither of them conceded.
Considering Astarte's actual personality, it is natural for her to avoid such useless fights, but as the opponent was her childhood friend, Rafa, the children's quarrel broke out here again.
Eventually, they did not decide which one of them will pull back, seeing the endless struggle of the two, Mirage half-heartedly suggested both of them to sit in the front, which resulted in the current situation.
By the way, Mirage made this proposal with the intention of pulling himself back into the carriage, but it seems that Astarte and Mirage had interpreted it as all of them sitting in the driver seat.
「N, it is nothing like me wanting to sit next to him! Don't link me with such strange vulgar conceptions of yours! The Wolf demons are Fast and strong, I am sitting here to protect this black bean sprout against a sudden danger. 」1
「It doesn't matter to me what Rafa believes. I wonder which of the 4 Heavenly kings was the one who challenged such Black bean sprout-Sama and was defeated after that...... If I remember correctly, it was the Dragon Demons unusually muscle-headed Miss....., the one with the exaggerated alias of Swift wind. 」
「I've been training myself since then, so I will not lose now! But Mao-Sama has banned any sort of duel so I can just reluctantly endure or else I would have a good rematch immediately. Even then, Tart, I can still beat you to a pulp for your impudent talking. 」
Mirage can't help but giggle when he hears Rafa's comment.
Aside from his real ability, Mirage, who had a thin body frame and preferred a magic-based fight, was considered to be a very weak person in close combat inside the Demon King's army.
「 I haven't finished talking...... hey. 」
In front of the carriage was a great forest, with several Wolf Demons waiting at the entrance.
From the outside, the road extending into the forest is narrow, and it seems difficult to travel in a carriage.
Mirage pulled the reins, moved the carriage to the side and stopped there.
Astarte and Rafa both descended first, followed by Mirage, who while facing the Wolf Demons before him, was vigilant of his surroundings.
Similarly, like Mirage's group, three demons came forward from the Wolf Demons side and were equally vigilant of Mirage's group, they stopped before the carriage and checked their surroundings vigilantly.
「Are you the messenger of the Demon King? You came earlier than we thought. I am Robert of the Wolf-Demon tribe. Just in case, I am the representative of the head of the tribe, well, I hope to get along with you. 」
「I am Mirage of the 4 Heavenly Kings of the Demon King's Army. Similarly, hope to get along with you. 」
The Wolf Demon, called Robert and Mirage step forward to greet each other.
Robert was taller than the relatively taller Mirage, perhaps nearly two meters high, his arms and legs were covered with brown and black hair, and his features very much resembled that of an animal wolf.
He held out his right hand with a broad grin, showing his canines, Mirage similarly held out his right hand for a handshake as a reply. And as they shook hands a dull groan was heard in their surroundings.
「Ho, you are one of the 4 Heavenly Kings, as expected of the so-called strongest in the Demon Army. I was going to crush that hand thinking that you were fooling us wearing that mask, but it seems you are the real deal. 」
「 I'm used to this kind of response. . . By the way, have you prepared those people hiding in the forest to test us out? To be honest, I don't want to spend too much time, so I'd appreciate it if you could refrain from such unnecessary action. 」
Hearing Mirage's blunt reply, Robert whose smile was getting wider and wider, changed to that of surprise and then he began smiling again.
「Kukukuk,ahahaha! It seems you are the real deal to have noticed the wolf demons, who are hunting for wild monsters and animals like usual. Oi, you guys, you seem to have been discovered, so come out here! 」
When Robert shouted towards the forest, Wolf demons came out of the forest in succession and stood behind him.
They were about thirty, all armed with weapons, and still ready for battle.
And perhaps because their presence was easily noticed, they looked at Mirage's group sharply as if glaring at them, they had an atmosphere as if they would immediately jump out to fight on any cue.
「Hunn, I don't care what you are so displeased about, but if those small-fries hiding around here are your companions then you are still underestimating us too much. I can tell you that it is useless to have a lot of people. 」
「We came here to negotiate but........ now if you act like that, we are not afraid to deal with you. If you want to be beheaded, then please help yourself. 」
On Mirage's side, Rafa bumped her fists once, before taking his stance and Astarte slowly swings her big sickle, to provoke her opponent.
Perhaps the two people's provocation had crossed the limit of their endurance, as some of the Wolf demons rushed forward and began attacking Mirage's group.