CH 51

“… Umm.”

Kanata was in a panic as he watched the two demons in front of him glaring at each other. 

The succubus, Lucia, and the man with impressive wings on his back exuded intimidating fighting auras as if they were imposing their presence on each other.

“… Shrouza, please come back…”

“Sorry to keep you waiting.”

“!?”

Kanata was surprised when he got tapped on the shoulder. It was definitely Shrouza standing behind him. 

She glared at the two who had caused Kanata to panic.

At that moment, something tremendous attacked them, avoiding Kanata.

“!?”

“… Tch.”

Lucia quickly knelt on the ground, but the man reluctantly knelt, making a tongue-clicking noise.

“Why did you guys bother Kanata?”

“This moron—”

“This b*tch—”

“An?”

“Oh?”

“…You two.”

Despite being afraid in her presence, the two started to provoke each other again, forgetting about Shrouza and got ready to fire at each other once more.

Shrouza put her hand on her forehead, sighed, and decided to pin them both to the ground while they stared at each other.

The ground caved in with a huge sound, but the two still kept their composure.

“Well, I’ll start by introducing myself. My name is Garula, and I’m one of the birdmen.”

“Birdman… like a bird-human?”

“Yeah, something like that.” 

“Nice to meet you,” replied Gurura with a fresh smile.

Even though he gave off a bad feeling, his smile had a sense of trustworthiness.

“Anyway, it’s unexpected that I can talk to Haishin like this… Oh, it’s not a stream. Maybe I should call you Kanata.”

It was not only trustworthiness but also a sense of familiarity.

“Garula and Lucia shall go no further. I will guide Kanata myself the rest of the way.”

“Ha? Does that mean you’re claiming Kanata-sama all for yourself?”

“Oi-oi, I’d like to talk to Kanata too, you know?”

Kanata couldn’t believe how popular he had become and chuckled.

In the end, since Shrouza allowed them to have dinner together, they spent a little more time together.

“I realized it at that time, and I told Your Majesty… But geez, even though it’s thanks to me, you left to see him alone.”

“I’m sorry. I just wanted to keep him to myself.”

“That’s even worse.”

“I think that’s unfair.”

“Grrr.”

It was really lively at dinner time at Shrouza’s castle.

Kanata would just answer when someone asked him something, and the rest of the time, they would chat and tease each other, making it enjoyable to watch.

“…”

Even so, the food in front of Kanata was strange but guaranteed to be delicious…

(Wow… I don’t know what kind of creature it is, but this giant eyeball is delicious.)

Despite the smooth taste spreading in his mouth, Kanata was given the precious experience of eating with an indescribable feeling.

“Okay, then, Kanata.”

“Yeah?”

“Let’s go take a bath.”

“… Eh?”

He thought he had misheard her, but apparently not.

However, Garula insisted that it was normal for humans to bathe separately for men and women, so he somehow managed to avoid the situation of being with them.

Although it was called a bath, it was truly a luxuriously large bath, and in the wide bath, Kanata had Garula wash his back.

“For a man, you have an unblemished body.”

“Most people don’t have that many scars.”

Gurula’s body was covered with scars as if he was a warrior with a long battle history.

Furthermore, his body was larger than Kanata’s, which made him look like a man you could count on.

“I never thought I’d be the one to wash a human’s back like this. It’s a rare experience, but it’s not bad.”

“It’s a valuable experience for me, too… Well, it looks like I won’t be able to live today.”

“Right. But I didn’t miss the Principality one.”

“Really? It’s a wonderful country.”

“I see. How about the Demon Kingdom?”

Kanata nodded at Garula’s words.

“I still don’t know much about it, but I think it’s a warm place. I guess it’s because we can meet and talk like this.”

“I see. That’s good to know.”

If there was no enmity between humans and the demon race, it wouldn’t be strange for them to come and go to each other’s places. 

Of course, not all humans and demons are like this, but as Kanata, he still hopes for such a fairy tale.

“Well, I’m off then.”

“… Eh?”

“Just when I thought they’d given up, they came along.”

“Excuse me?”

Garula said as he stood up and soaked in the water.

As he was relaxing at the edge of the hot water, the door suddenly opened, and two ladies appeared.

“Mm, does it feel good, Kanata?”

“… From what I can see from his expression, he’s enjoying it, Your Majesty.”

Shrouza and Lucia came to Kanata’s side with nothing on their bodies but their bare skin.

Naturally, the fact that they were not wearing any clothes meant that their b*****s and most importantly, their waist and below were all in full view. Kanata involuntarily looked away.

“H-how did you get in here?”

“Because I wanted to bathe with you!”

“That’s right!”

After that, Kanata soaked in the water with the two of them surrounding him. 

If he thinks about it, aside from his family, this was probably the first time he’s been in close proximity to females while naked. 

Both of them had exceptional figures and were beautiful to the point where it was not painful to look at them, and one of them was even a succubus.

(… This is bad. They didn’t notice, right?)

Kanata was trying to make himself as small as possible and not let anyone know about his body’s honest reaction, but… did Kanata not realize there was a professional here on this kind of thing?

“I never thought I’d get to soak in hot water with Kanata like this.”

“… That’s right.”

Shrouza didn’t seem to notice anything and just happily expressed her joy.

She scooped up some water with her hand, and the way she draped it over her shoulder was quite seductive. 

But Kanata still couldn’t focus on her because… he couldn’t stop feeling the sensation of Lucia’s fingers brushing against his shoulder.

“If her majesty wasn’t here, I would have been the one to do it, but of course, if I did that, I would get killed, so please forgive me.”

In that sense, Lucia-san was talking about life and death, and Kanata was crying in his mind.

Of course, nothing went beyond the line, and the bath time ended safely.

Apparently, Garula went up first and left a note on Kanata’s clothes.

“I’m going now. So long Kanata, let’s talk again.”

The characters were from the human world, perhaps freshly learned, and looked like worms crawling on the ground.

“… He’s a good guy, seriously.”

It was the moment when he felt the guy-to-guy friendship that he had felt with Cid, and it was indeed a moment of a budding friendship.

“All that’s left to do is sleep. Kanata, let’s sleep together.”

“… Really?”

“Umu”

Shrouza looked at Kanata curiously, wondering if she had said something strange.

Lucia, who was by her side, chuckled, mouthed the words, “I guess that’s it for today,” and left.

“Demons have a lot of freedom.”

“Freedom. There are no strict rules for us.”

The demon world seems to be free. That’s what Kanata wrote in his dictionary.

As Shrouza mentioned, all that was left to do was to go to bed, but Kanata, so tired, fell asleep immediately on the large bed that belonged to Shrouza.

It is not strange for Kanata to be so mentally exhausted after returning from the Principality and immediately embarking on a journey to the Demon Kingdom.

“…”

The Demon King Shrouza stared at Kanata’s face with a blush. 

“Should I kiss him now or do something more intense… No, but I can’t do that without his consent,” So she shook her head.

“…”

“It’ll be fine, so why not?” “No, don’t do it!” The white girl and the black girl were jostling in Shrouza’s brain.

[EDN: This is a reference to having a good and evil version in her mind, but not good vs evil, and demon vs angel would be odd for a demon.]

In the end, Shrouza didn’t touch Kanata and just watched him sleep beside her. 

She then closed her eyes and shouted…

“Who are you?”

She immediately created a barrier to protect Kanata and glared into the void.

She looked defenceless in her negligee, but she was not. She was an overwhelmingly strong woman.

“…”

“… Huh?”

It was the goddess Isla who appeared.

Shrouza, the Demon King, was on high alert as she got surrounded by light that defeated the darkness around her. 

“…”

“Huh?”

“It’s not fair, you Demon King! You Stupid! Big fool!”

With that, Isla disappeared.

Shrouza, who was left behind, blurted out a few words.

“… Who was that woman?”

That’s all she could say.