Volume 4 - CH 4.1

Part 1

His body being shaken, Diablo was dragged out from his slumber.

「Nmu……?」

「Diablo, someone has come, you know? Hey, wake up～」

However, his brain was still muddled.

「…………Nn……I, already said that I wouldn’t go……It kinda, feels like my stomach might be hurting, or something.」

「EH, it hurts!? Diablo, are you alright!?」

A young girl’s high-pitched voice entered his consciousness as if it were penetrating sand.

His hazy feeling head cleared up as he awoke.

──What did I say just now!?

「Uoh!?」

Diablo raised his body up.

Shera’s eyes went round.

「Wawah……!?」

「Wh, what, it is just you.」

「Your stomach, it hurts?」

「Uh……Ah……No……Th, that just now was…………A phrase of another world! In this world’s words, I don’t really know, how it would be heard! I suppose it reflexively came out!」

Shera smiled looking relieved.

「I seeー. Thank goodnessー」

An oil lamp swung at the edge of the room.

The window was closed, but there wasn’t any light even from the gaps.

「Isn’t it still night?」

「Un, it is but……It feels like someone has come.」

「What?」

Shera pointed at the roof.

At the top of the beam, there was a small figure of a person.

──They’re inside of the room!? I was about to reflexively become flustered, but let’s play it cool. Demon Kings do not panic.

「The Head of the Holy Knights Baduta, I saw him carrying your companions in a sand sleigh -su, Danna.」

*Dokun* Diablo’s heart skipped a beat.

「…………What, was that?」

「He’s talking about Rem and Lumachina!?」

Shera also opened her eyes wide.

Going *Fufun*, Horun puffed his chest out.

「Since a female Priest and a flat-chested, black Pantherian are rare, there’s not mistaking them -ssu yo. Nn Fu Fu～, as I thought, you didn’t know -su ne! What cha think, I’m surprisingly helpfu──」

Guys of the Holy Knight Unit created a wall in the middle of the hallway.

「The High Chief Priest’s room is beyond here! No matter who you are, we cannot allow you to pass!」

「I am only confirming her well-being!」

「Unless you have Baduta-sama’s permission, you cannot pass! Since we are properly protecting this place, you can leave her to us!」

「If you get in my way, things will not end safely for you, got it!?」

Horun shouted.

「Danna! Above!」

There was a hole in the ceiling of the hallway, and someone that seemed to be of the Holy Knight Unit was hidden there. He prepared his sword and came down.

「Hoaaaaa──────ッ!!」

──Damned fools!

Diablo fired his magic.

「《Air Block》!!」

It made the air hard like concrete. An invisible obstacle was generated.

The guy that came down crashed into it and with a *Kiin!*, his sword broke. Banging his face hard on it, his teeth flew.

「Ngafuh!?」

The other Holy Knight Unit member drew his sword.

「Alright, he shouldn’t be able to use his next magic immediately! Kill him!!」

「You all, who do you think you are making an enemy of──《Freezia》!!」

Unlike the other Chemical Elemental Magicians around, Diablo was able to rapidly fire with a considerable speed if it was with intermediate level magic that could be learned up until level 99.

Invoking 《Freezia》, a cold air and a shock wave spread out.

He kicked down the locked door.

The beds were empty, and a crystal had fallen on the floor.

One of the chairs had fallen over, and the oil lamp that was on top of the table was still lit. There was the smell of flowers.

Diablo clenched his fist.

To be able to go against a Summoner as skilled as Rem without causing an uproar……

「So he was much better than I thought……That damned Baduta……」

Shera’s shoulders trembled.

「Wh, what do we do! Both Rem and Lumachina, were, were they……killed……!?」

「If he planned to simply kill them, he wouldn’t have kidnapped them.」

Moreover, he probably would have done it much sooner.

From Diablo’s conjectures, Baduta shouldn’t be connected to the Cardinal Institute.

Whether it was when they rode on the sand sleigh, when they were eating their meals, or when they were changing their clothes, there should have been opportunities.

Naturally, he was vigilant but……

「Even if that guy were going to take action, I thought that he would do it a bit later though? Even I didn’t want to get into trouble immediately.」

「What do you mean, Diablo?」

「First, I needed to recover. Also, there is the Marked Death Disease.」

「What?」

「That, it isn’t something like an illness. It’s sorcery.」

「Ehhh～～～!?」

In a limited time event in the MMORPG Cross Reverie, Diablo had seen sorcery that made people take that same state.

× marks would surface on NPCs.

If the enemy base wasn’t annihilated in nine days time, a great number of people would die──It was that sort of serious scenario, and he remembered that the BBS got pretty roused up by it.

By going into the dungeon that had become the target and defeating the event boss, the 《Event Gauge》 would rise. Depending on the level of the gauge, the unfolding of the scenario would change.

Naturally, Diablo completely cleared the event, and obtained a “charm that heals the Marked Death Disease”.

──It didn’t give an effect in battle, but was an item where you were shown gratitude by NPCs in movie form only though.

According to the game’s scenario, the sorcery was a deed of a Demonic Being. And the dungeon was in the basement of the chapel.

However, the chapel of this world was shut down by the local knights. There shouldn’t be a Demonic Being in the basement of it. Also, the Feudal Lord of the game’s Zircon Tower wasn’t a woman with such a strong personality.

Various things were different.

At any rate, they couldn’t allow the Marked Death Disease to be released.

Baduta didn’t have any signs of being hostile.

Because of that, he had intended on ascertaining if it would be alright to entrust Lumachina to Baduta while they were settling the Marked Death Disease.

──I wonder why that guy suddenly took action?

It was impossible for even Diablo to guess that Baduta revealed his true nature from Lumachina’s questioning.

「In any case, right now, taking Rem and Lumachina back is top priority.」

He put off the matter of the Marked Death Disease.

According to Horun’s story, it seemed that the girls were placed on a sand sleigh. If that is the case, they should be distant from this estate.

Sand ships won’t set sail during the night.

There were large monsters in the desert, and they were more active at night in general.

In order to escape from those, the sand ship would need to raise its speed, but there weren’t any powerful lighting devices in this world.

That meant that it would be sailing the pitch dark desert at great speed. The punch line would be that it would crash into a dune or a crag.

In other words, the place that Rem and Lumachina were taken to was somewhere in the town.

「There isn’t any time to just stand around……I guess I’ll have them spit it out.」

Diablo returned to the hallway.

The effects of 《Freezia》 had faded, and the guys of the Holy Knight Unit were crouching there after having received damage from the temperature lowering.

Chosing one that looked like they would talk, he pointed the 《Staff of Tenma》 at him.

「Choose……Will you tell me Baduta’s destination, or will you die here?」