CH 34

Today is the day we return to Warren from Marsfield.

Breakfast is some soft bread that was bought before dinner a few nights ago. Ellis and her friends left their lodging early, and they used Magical horses to drive their carriage to the meeting spot Maria set up. Once they arrived, Maria, Nicole, and the Muscle Brothers were already there waiting for them.

The caravan had the same number of carts as when they first arrived with Maria’s special cart in the lead. The carriages in the middle had changed somewhat as Maria had successfully sold the shower/toilets to the Marsfield Merchant Guild. The carts now had an oil-dampened cloth placed on top of it. Maria told them that she had bought some product from Marsfield, and she was shipping it back to Warren. The final cart meanwhile was reloaded with horse feed and supplies for the return trip.

While smiling, Maria walked up to Frau.

“I’d like to have a meal together with everyone on the way home.”

Apparently Maria heard about Frau’s cooking from the muscles. Nicole, who was in charge of making Maria’s meals until now, seems to not really enjoying cooking, no matter how good he was at it. After confirming the situation, Frau smiled.

“If you tell me what you want to eat, I can prepare the ingredients before we depart.”

Then Goro raised his hand.

“I would definitely like to try some of that fried rice and tsukemono soup you made on the way here.” Goro’s four brothers all simultaneously crossed their arms and nodded in agreement.

“I want to eat some of that pasta with oil-pickled fish that Frau ordered when we visited that cafe.”

This was Katie’s request. The cold fish dish eaten at Marsfield’s cafe had quickly become her new favorite meal. Ellis, Reeve, and Claire all nodded to her request.

After the return menu was finished like this, and when all the shopping was completed at the market, the return trip home began in earnest. Unlike the three days there, the three days back were a jolly journey starting from the very first day.

Maria spent the whole day sticking to Ellis’s group as she was constantly trying to get Reeve to come with her to her carriage alone.

Frau was talking about the different seasonings and ingredients she experienced on her journey with Goro who was driving Ellis’s carriage.

Claire confirmed the installation situation and issues for all the luxury toilets sold and installed in Marsfield with Ichiro.

“What!? You’re the Claire from the Claire-Flint brand toilets?”

Ichiro was surprised to say the least. He obediently expressed his respect for the craftsman who managed to pull off the splendor  of the luxury shower and toilet.

Other members all struck up conversation with each other, and it turned out that nobody ended up going out and acting like an escort. If you think about it, they were two groups of super gays and super lezs, so in a way, there were no safer traveling companions. The only problem was Maria who kept reaching for Reeve’s thighs, but Reeve learned several defensive strategies from Ellis bypassing Maria’s attacks.

The party finished their three day journey to Warren without anything exciting happening. It was truly a leisurely journey.

“That’s why, everyone, we had a lot of fun.”

And the caravan was dissolved by Maria’s order.

“Let’s have dinner together again.”

On behalf of the Muscle Brothers, Ichiro said his farewells.

“Lovely Muscular Dharmas, please take our best regards!”

And Claire in turn said farewell on behalf of their group.

After nine days, Ellis had finally returned home.

“Let’s take care of the carriage tomorrow. Let’s take a bath and then head to bed early tonight.”

After a long absence, the party was finally able to relax in the large bathhouse once again after stripping off all their equipment in their own rooms.

“Oh, after all the big bath is so comfortable.”

Reeve stretched out her whole body, and she immersed herself in the hot water.

“Traveling is tiring.”

Frau soaked her skin carefully in the half bath.

“Ah, all my strength is leaving me.”

Claire was sinking down in the bathtub until only her face was above water. Her black hair spread out across the water surface, and she started blowing some bubbles.

“Funya.”

Katie was enjoying the hot water of the bath while adjusting the temperature by having the upper half of her body rest on the cold surface of the bathtub.

“It’s heaven.”

Ellis enjoyed the half bath with her arm next to Frau as if to mimic the muscle brothers. The appearance of Ellis made the other four laugh as they relaxed.

That night the five girls were tired, so Ellis made them all go take a sleep without any fun nighttime activities for the first time in a long time.

However, except for Ellis, everyone woke up the next morning and greeted each other with a feeling that their fatigue had not been whittled down. Ellis was the only one who woke up energetic. Apparently the other four have been conditioned to the point that they cannot wake up peacefully without a little extra exertion the night before.

While Frau prepared breakfast a little later than usual, Reeve started doing some laundry, and the other three tidied up the carriage, the bright blue sky suddenly began to darken.

“Is it a total solar eclipse?”

While Ellis was calm, Katie and Claire started to work themselves up into a small panic. Reeve, Frau, and the other guests at Lily Garden all began to exit from the various facilities and looked up to the sky with uncertain expressions. Then suddenly, a golden presence was reflected in the dark heavens.

Everyone was caught by the large existence drawn there. Subsequently, the voice emitted from that figure sounded directly into everyone’s heads.

“To all humans on the Almerian Continent, this is an announcement from the Demon Lord. I have been dispatched from God himself to rule over you. Soon I will make my move to conquer all. I will kill all who resist. If you value your lives, then kneel before me. Your only choice is slavery or death. You are free to choose whatever you like from now on.”

People’s hearts froze from the heaven’s solemn vow.

“The Demon Lord is coming.”

An absolute evil existence had appeared before them. Terror itself that you would only hear about in fairy tails.

But only Ellis’s five noticed.

Mr. Demon Lord, we can see your arm.

Yes, although the whole body of this devil was wrapped in golden armor, only on his right arm could you see pale white flesh from his elbow down to his fingertips.

It was Katie who first noticed the inconsistency.

Katie nudged Ellis’s shoulder and pointed to the being’s arm. Ellis spontaneously blew out some laughter when she saw it.

The other three in turn started laughing as well when Ellis pointed it out to them. Katie then pointed to the arm, pointed to the golden gauntlet she was currently wearing, and then started waving to the Demon Lord in the sky with the gauntlet.

“Pffft.”

“Then, feel free to cower in fear until my subordinates visit you.”

As the shining golden entity gradually faded away, the sky returned from darkness to the normal blue sky.

◊

Afterwards, at the Demon Lord’s castle.

“Ah, I am so embarrassed. Someone absolutely noticed … …”

A demon responded to his Maou’s complaint.

“Don’t worry. There is nobody who would notice such a small detail before the terror of the Demon Lord.”

But the Demon Lord felt dissatisfied.

“Why is it just here? I was so embarrassed.”

“It couldn’t be helped. Nobody could find it.”

“Then it would’ve been fine to wait until we had found it.”

“That won’t do. We have a deadline to meet.”

What’s with that?

Once the Demon Lord sighed one more time, his adjutant decided to proceed with talks about the future.

“Oh well. Until someone finds this last gauntlet, I’m not leaving this castle.”

Before the adjutant could say anything, the Demon Lord himself announced his decision to become a hikikomori.

However, this experienced office worker would not be beaten.

“We will search for it with all our resources. By the way, what will you do if the Hero attacks first?”

He was a superb subordinate.

However, the Demon Lord paid it all little mind.

{Meteor}

While casting his spell, the Demon Lord swung his arm down towards the ground. At the same time, a comet struck the earth. The area where the comet hit was evaporated along with any living things that may have existed there.

In succession, Demon Lord made a serious expression, and he turned to his assistant. “Dispatch our forces to wherever the Hero is likely to appear and obstruct him at every turn.”

◊

The Warren Council had an emergency meeting after the announcement of the Demon Lord that morning. As an associate member, Ellis was also meant to attend, but as an associate member, she had the right to speak but no voting privileges.

The trade city Warren is located on the inland western side of the Almerian continent. Since there are cities to the north, west, east, and south with a highway to Warren with troops that could protect them, it was highly unlikely that they would be the first one of the first cities to be attacked by the Demon Lord’s army. Also, once the Demon Lord’s army does make its move, instructions would come from the capital Sky Castle.

First of all, they would wait for the appearance of the Devil’s army.

In the meantime, they would confirm the formation of the Warren militia and secure weapons. The Adventure Guild would take care of gathering troops while the Merchant Guild would handle the weapons.

The basic policy was to survive.

Thus the council meeting came to a close.

Following the closing of the Council, Ellis asked Frau to invite her father to secretly visit their mansion. Theseus would then in turn invite the other three members.

“For the time being bring out the food.”

According to Baltis’s usual tone, Frau brought out the prepared dishes.

Today’s main dish is rice croquette along with Katie’s favorite oil pickled fish. The cold meat had a few raw vegetables added in as a garnish. Once Frau finished preparing the table, Claire turned the handle of her favorite ice cream maker that she bought in Marsfield.

“So why did you bother to summon us like this?

Theseus got directly to the point.

“Everyone, did you not feel an inconsistency with the Demon Lord’s form?”

The four looked at each other a little puzzled at Ellis’s question.

“That reminds me, for some reason one of his arms wasn’t covered in armor.”

“As expected of Maria.”

When Ellis confirmed Maria’s observation, the other three also started to vaguely recall the sight.

The Ellis pointed to Katie.

Katie was wearing the golden claw gauntlet at the table, and when Ellis pointed to her, she drew out the claws.

“The appraised name of this is Hero Ripper.”

On Ellis’s words, Maria recalled the incident in Marsfield. The two demons were aiming for that gauntlet.

On the other hand, Flint moved forward towards Katie with excitement that could not be suppressed.

“Lady, could you possibly show that to me for a moment?”

Katie nodded with a carefree smile, and she removed the Hero Ripper from her arm giving it to Flint.

“Mu.” Flint was breathing rather heavily in his excited state, and he could barely form any words as his whole body trembled slightly. “Guys, this is dark mithril!”

The other masters were surprised by Flint’s words, and the three of them started getting excited in turn while the five girls had no idea what was going on.

Flint continued after regaining a portion of his calmness.

“Dark mithril, aka the devil’s metal, is a metal that cannot be processed by anyone.”

Flint goes on to say that dark mithril is only rarely found as an item drop from killing bosses of ultimate rank dungeons. It seems that there is only one dark mithril dagger that is secretly kept inside the Warren Workshop Guild.

“Why was such a thing a prize in Marsfield?”

Baltis asked the obvious question, and Theseus tried to come up with an explanation.

“There are very few people who could appreciate dark mithril. Besides Flint, you would have to go to Sky Castle, and claw gauntlets are such a rarely used weapon that very few people would bother. Most likely it was picked up and used as a trophy simply because of how beautiful it looked.”

During this conversation, Flint continued to examine the claws. He examined every inch of that gauntlet until he came to the inside portion, and he saw Katie’s name etched in their. All of the sudden Flint’s serious expression relaxed and he lightly chuckled.

“OK, so this belongs to Katie.”

After Katie gave a satisfying smile to him, Flint turned back around, and his serious expression from before returned.

“As long as he doesn’t have this, the Demon Lord probably won’t move. There are most likely some special abilities that the Demon Lord can only display once he has finished collecting all of his equipment.”

So what should be done with the gauntlet?

Even if we put it somewhere, it will most likely end up stolen by some demon.

While the masters were discussing this, Ellis made a declaration while pounding her small breasts.

“Because that is Katie’s, we will protect it.”

At Ellis’s words, Theseus suddenly remembered.

“You girls have the Demon Lord’s Mark.”

The five girls nodded in unison. Ellis took out the Demon Lord’s Mark from her shoulder bag, and she showed it to Baltis, Maria, and Flint.

So with this, these girls had successfully delayed the Hero and the Demon Lord.

“Well, whether it is a Hero or a Demon Lord, they are both enemies of Warren.”

Baltis’s words followed Theseus’s.

“Do you want to show off the power of the common people?”

“Just being hostile is not the answer. We need to make sure that we can come out ahead in the end.”

Flint nodded.

“We will have to make proper preparations.”

The master’s once again confirm the final policy.

They will not bask in their victories.

They will not attack from the front.

“We will show those who are aligned with either the Demon Lord or the Hero proper Warren hospitality.”

This will be the policy of Warren from now on.

Then Claire made a declaration during this heavy mood.

“The ice cream is done!”

The air was significantly lightened after having enjoyed Claire’s homemade ice cream.