Overlord

Chapter 6 | Gunner and Archer

1

Neia left Caspond’s room and headed straight for the archery range. The unit members who had been waiting for her return promptly gathered around.

Surrounded by her comrades asking questions like, “Miss Baraja, how did the meeting turn out?” and saying, “We’re ready to go anytime,” she told them about the meeting.

She told them everything: what had happened, what they had spoken about, and what conclusion they reached.

Many of them made their livings as hunters, so they had advanced survival capabilities. But though frustrated, even they had to agree with Caspond’s decision. Apparently, it really would be a challenge to mount a search and rescue operation in the hills.

If that was the case, then sending a rescue party right away would be impossible. But they would at least search the Sacred Kingdom’s territory in the east, up to the fortress line. They didn’t know where the king had landed; it was possible he was inside their borders.

A few with ranger skills came forward.

Neia wanted to participate, but she had next to no ranger skills. If she went along, she would only be a burden.

Not being able to assist in the rescue of the just king, who had offered
aid to a foreign country, made Neia, as his attendant, feel so disloyal that it was as if her heart were being gouged out.

She wanted to scream like Remedios had that one time. But even if she did, it would change nothing.

She told everyone that she had gotten permission to search their country’s territory, but she wouldn’t be accompanying them.

“You can count on us, Miss Baraja.”

“Yeah, we owe His Majesty a huge debt, so we’ll keep our eyes peeled and be sure not to miss a thing.”

“Thank you, everyone. Once we get the okay from Master Caspond, I’ll be entrusting everything to you.” Neia bobbed her head.

“So, Miss Baraja, what should the rest of us do? How can we be of use to His Majesty?”

Seeing their passionate gazes, Neia felt happy.

Even after witnessing what they had, not a single one of them believed the King of Darkness was dead.

That’s right! There’s no way His Majesty would die! He must be waiting for us to rescue him…right?

She couldn’t imagine such an absolute power waiting for their rescue. It seemed more likely that when they found him, he would be sipping a glass of wine in front of a giant heap of subhuman and demon corpses.

“Okay! Then, the rest of you, let’s get training! Weakness is wickedness, you know!”

Yes. That was all Neia was capable of at the moment. She had to get stronger so that she would be able to help more next time. If they had been strong to begin with, the embodiment of justice never would have been put in such a situation.

“Yeah!” came the spirited cheer in reply. They all understood Neia’s words:
His Majesty the King of Darkness is justice, and weakness is wickedness.
More than a few had been on board from the beginning, but others had grown to understand as they heard it repeated over and over.

“All right, then I’m going to go meet with Master Caspond!”

When she went to discuss directly with Caspond, she immediately received permission to dispatch a search party. The group left that day, and it had been three days since then.

She had been worried that if people with differing opinions were in charge of selecting the search party members, it would be a big mess. But luckily, she was allowed to select the members, and they were able to make a speedy departure.

As for those three days, despite the rumor of retaking Karinsha going around, the liberation army wasn’t moving, and—though Neia’s unit continued their diligent training, and the number of people who accepted the King of Darkness as justice was growing—time passed meaninglessly.

Neia scowled in irritation as she loosed an arrow into her target.

Perhaps her impatience and anger had caused her hand to slip. The arrow struck slightly off-center.

Usually, someone would crack a joke, but now no one dared comment.

It was because of her face.

Her vexation at not being able to do anything for the King of Darkness, combined with the lack of information coming in, kept her from sleeping, so huge dark circles had formed under her drooping eyelids; that plus the creases in her brow made her face a sorry sight. She was always hiding her expression with her Mirror Shade, so it was quite a shock to see her whenever she took it off.

Neia’s subordinates understood plenty well what she was thinking. But they still couldn’t approach her.

—ty the King of Darkness, His Majesty the King of Darkness, His Majesty the King of Darkness, His Majesty the King of Darkness, His Majesty the King of Darkness, His Majesty the King of Darkness, His Majesty the King of Darkness, His Majesty the King of Darkness, His Majesty the King of Darkness, His Majesty the King of Darkness, His Majesty the King of Darkness, His Majesty the King of Darkness, His Majesty the King of Darkness, His Majesty the King of Darkness, His Majesty the King of Darkness, His Majesty the King of Darkness, His Majesty the King of Darkness, His Majesty the King of Darkness, His Majesty the King of Darkness, His Majesty the King of Darkness, His Majesty the King of Darkness, His Majesty the King of Darkness, His Majesty the King of Darkness, His Ma—

The words swirled around and around in Neia’s head.

“Agh, I just—”

She knew the shoulders of the people drawing their bows nearby flinched whenever she grumbled.

—Darkness. This is no good. I have to calm down. Calm down. It’s only been three days! Even just the Sacred Kingdom’s territory east of here is huge! You don’t want to frighten everyone, do you?

Neia removed her Mirror Shade—she heard someone who happened to be looking her way emit a tiny shriek—and massaged her temples, trying to loosen up her rigid face.

Just then, she picked up the sound of two sets of feet rushing across the training range toward her. From the jangle of mail shirts, she gathered it wasn’t militiamen who had come to practice. Paladins wore plate armor, so it wasn’t them, either. It was probably either high-ranking servicemen or their adjutants.

“Squire Neia Baraja!”

When she looked in the direction of the interruption, the two men backpedaled and screamed.

“Wh-what?! Do you need something?!”

You’re the ones who came to talk to me
, thought Neia as she replied. “Ah, haven’t seen you guys in a while. Thanks for the usual reacti— Or I guess it was a bit more dramatic than usual?”

They were two squires Neia had studied with. That said, she had never really talked with them, so she didn’t know what their personalities were like. Still, she remembered their names and faces.

If she knew them, that meant they knew her. They should have been used to her serial killer eyes. So was her face really that horrifying right now?

Oh, right
, she recalled. They had been liberated from one of the prison camps.

“O-oh. You’re not usually so— Your eyes don’t always make you seem to hate the whole world…quite so much. Or maybe they do?”

Neia rubbed her face. Maybe it was better not to take the Mirror Shade off.

“……Uhhh, sorry. So could you tell me why you’re here?”

“Oh, er, Master Caspond is summoning you. He wants you to come right away.”

“Master Caspond?”

She had some ideas why he might summon her, but she couldn’t think of any reason that made sense. She hoped it was good news.

“Got it. Please tell him I’m on my way.”

Even after she replied, they didn’t seem to be going anywhere. Neia found that puzzling.

“What? Is there something else?”

“No, just— Not your expression but something about you overall—the vibes you give off have changed a bit. I can’t really describe it, but…”

“If you mean that in a good way, I’m glad, but…people change. We’ve all been through so much.”

“Yeah, hmm. You’re right. That makes sense, Baraja.”

The two smiled weakly and must have been satisfied, because they said, “Let’s talk more later,” and left.

Neia addressed the subordinates looking her way and told them she was going to see Caspond, then left immediately.

The house Caspond was living in was the same, but she was shown into a different chamber because of the huge hole Jaldabaoth had opened in the wall of the room he had been using up until last time.

Even with her Mirror Shade on, she could pass freely through to his chamber.

Was the reason she didn’t have to check her bow with a guard because they trusted her? Or was it because the item had been borrowed from the King of Darkness?

“Squire Neia Baraja reporting in, Master Caspond.”

In the room were Caspond, seated, and two standing paladins: Remedios and Gustav. Neia immediately took a knee.

“Thank you for coming. We were waiting for you. Oh, don’t worry about kneeling on ceremony. Stand up.”

Rising as instructed, Neia replied, “My apologies for keeping you waiting. What may I do for you?”

“First, Squire Neia Baraja, remove that item covering your face.”

Gustav said something utterly obvious. From a commonsense standpoint, he was entirely correct.

“Yes, sir! Please excuse the oversight!”

When Neia removed the Mirror Shade, Gustav’s eyes bulged slightly.

“…Oh, are you not feeling well? Maybe you should have a priest take a look?”

“No, I’m doing all right.” It would have been a pain to explain, so she moved the conversation along. “So could you tell me what this is about?”

“About that… There’s one more person I want to join our discussion. I’m going to invite them in now, so please don’t be alarmed.”

Out of the corner of her eye, Neia saw Remedios make a sour face. If her commander was grumpy about the person, they probably had something to do with Jaldabaoth. The words
demon maids
came to mind again.

Gustav opened the door to the next room as instructed by Caspond and called inside.

The one who came out was a grotesque. Neia knew what race, too.

A zerun.

It was a race with glistening skin, but contrary to what one might expect given their appearance, there was no foul smell—only a bloody scent so faint as to go practically unnoticed.

What’s a subhuman doing here?
Perhaps sensing Neia’s question, Caspond spoke.

“We’ve received a messenger.”

Does that mean this is a messenger from Jaldabaoth?
The zerun braced themself as Neia unconsciously projected hostility.

“Wait, Squire Neia. You seem to be misunderstanding. This isn’t Jaldabaoth’s messenger. Just the opposite. This zerun is one of the ones trying to rise up against him.”

“Huh?”

Neia’s murmur seemed to be just what Caspond was waiting for, and he grinned. “You seem surprised. Well of course you are. You probably didn’t imagine anyone was rebelling against the ruler of the subhumans, did you? But there is resistance. According to what the messenger has told us, not all the subhumans are faithful followers of Jaldabaoth. There are other races like the zerun, whose ruling class—equivalent to our royal family—was taken hostage, so they’re forced to obey. And they want us to rescue those hostages, right?”

“That’s right.”

Neia was surprised to hear a new woman’s voice and glanced around the room. Her gaze landed, as unlikely as it seemed to be, on the zerun. She wouldn’t have been surprised to be told it was the voice of a human.

From where in this repulsive body did a human voice come from?

Was it one of the zerun’s racial abilities? Or was it a magical power?

“Our cherished leader is being held captive in the city five days southwest from here that you humans call Karinsha. We’re requesting a rescue operation.”

Neia pictured the map of the Sacred Kingdom in her mind.

It seemed that the zerun was indeed speaking of Karinsha. She wondered if it wasn’t more southwest by west or if it would really take five days to get there, but that all felt within the margin of error.

But there was one thing she didn’t understand:
Why are they coming to me with this topic?

Before she could think more about it, Caspond said something that startled her. “So, Miss Baraja. We’ve decided to join forces to resist Jaldabaoth.”

Huh?
Neia doubted her ears.
Can we really trust this monsterlike race? We can’t even tell what expressions they’re making!

“We bowed before Jaldabaoth’s immense power and invaded this land as one wing of his grand army, but we received word that our king, who was left behind in the hills as a hostage, has been killed by demons. So if you will save the other symbol of our subordination, our imprisoned prince—well, he’s already the king now that our previous king has been killed—we’ll cooperate with you.”

Had they killed him because they decided they didn’t need two hostages? Or was there a more demonic reason? Neia wasn’t sure, but the important thing was surely that their king had been killed.

“That said, we intend to have the new king flee to somewhere Jaldabaoth won’t be able to reach him, so his elite guards won’t be able to participate. But the other three thousand soldiers brought here by Jaldabaoth will probably fight on your side. With at least the king and one female, our race can survive, so you can grind the army into nothing if necessary.”

“So that’s the deal. You know the conditions I believe in for victory against Jaldabaoth, but turning subhumans against him will result in fewer losses than reducing their numbers in battle. Additionally, they’ve volunteered some valuable intelligence, which we’ve just finished verifying and following up on.” Caspond grinned as he continued. “We’ve confirmed that this leak isn’t a trap from Jaldabaoth’s side, so it becomes something to hold over the zerun. If Jaldabaoth finds out, they’ll be purged, and their prince—their new king—might even be killed.” Caspond threateningly suggested what might happen if the zerun betrayed them.

Maybe it was a normal precaution for a leader to take, but Neia was a bit frightened to see Caspond calmly exhibiting such heartlessness.

But as she regained her composure, a question bubbled up.
Why is he giving me all this background?

If he wanted her to carry out the rescue, he could simply order her to do it. Sure, she led the archer unit, but at the end of the day, she was merely a squire who was handy with a bow. She didn’t need to know all the details about the operation. Yet, here they were…

…Oh, is he still treating me as His Majesty’s attendant? Since I have one foot in the Nation of Darkness?

Maybe the idea was to be able to say that he had intended to have her listen along with the King of Darkness. Or maybe he wanted her to explain the situation to him the next time she saw him.

Yes. Neia was still the king’s attendant.

When Neia stood up straighter, she noticed Caspond look puzzled at the change in her.

“Any…how. We’ve decided that it would be nearly impossible to get the prince out during the chaos of our raid on Karinsha.”

“That’s right,” said the zerun, taking over from Caspond. “First, let us explain where the prince is being held. Deputy Commander, please fill in details as necessary.”

The zerun explained their reasoning with some extra commentary about Karinsha Castle from Gustav.

First, the major city of Karinsha was a city governed directly by the royal family and located in an area covered with low hills, surrounded by a thick defensive wall. Its large castle stood on the highest spot, in the west.

Since it was situated in such a way as to block a subhuman invasion that had broken through the country’s fortress wall, and the trade junction with a route to the south was also nearby, it was the most fortified city in the entire Sacred Kingdom.

And Karinsha Castle—which was almost never used and only built for siege battles—was just as tough.

The problem was the prince was being held in one of the spires of that castle. It was the spire farthest back, meant to be the site of final resistance, and was thus the most impenetrable place in the entire Sacred Kingdom.

In order to avoid invasions by flight, the spire had no windows; it was only accessible via an aerial walkway that stretched out from the main castle.

The spire currently had a powerful guard—of a race thought to be a close relative to ogres, the va-um, who could use water powers—and zerun weren’t allowed to go anywhere near it, so there was no telling what would happen to the prince if they did.

But if the betrayal happened in a way that kept the true actors secret, if they saw a human with no connection to the zerun, there was no way they would hurt the prince; on the contrary, might they not protect him? That was the zerun way of thinking on the matter and the reason they wanted help from the humans.

“Naturally, if a major battle began while the prince was still imprisoned, we would have to fight you to the death, just like all the others who were brought to these lands for that purpose. And then…”

The zerun faded out, but Neia knew the rest without it being said.

It would be too late.

It was only because the zerun had the humans as an enemy that flipping sides and saving the prince had value. If the zerun were wiped out, there would no longer be any reason to save the prince.

“Once fighting breaks out, it will be too late to send a rescue party. So sending in an elite group to work in secret now would be the safest way to save the prince and have the highest chance of success. Squire Neia Baraja, I want you to lead the operation.”

“I can’t. There’s no way.” Her response to Caspond’s order was instantaneous.

Objecting to her commander’s order was both against military regulation and generally unacceptable socially, but the appeal was to common sense because the order went against it in the first place. It was too great a challenge.

“I thought you might say that. But, Miss Baraja, this is a very good deal for you.” Caspond smiled. “They’ll tell us everything they know about the hills and introduce us to a reliable guide.”

Neia’s breath caught slightly.

She wanted to bite her lip, but she restrained herself, choosing to keep her emotions hidden.

“…How far can we trust what they say?”

“If we save the prince, the zerun will coordinate with our attack and revolt internally. That should make it much easier to take back Karinsha. We should be able to capture many more prisoners than we would in an ordinary siege. The zerun have also said they’ll tell us which of the prisoners have information that you’re looking for.”

“We don’t know the details,” the zerun chimed in, “but we heard you want to go to the Abellion Hills. If you save the prince, our entire race will be indebted to you. We wouldn’t hesitate to share our knowledge with such a person. It’s not as if it’s particular, special knowledge that we need to keep secret.”

It was an argument that made complete and utter sense.

Refusing this would be disloyal to His Majesty. I can’t just hang around twiddling my thumbs because I don’t want to die when I have a chance to be of use to the king.

Thinking more calmly, Neia felt like this was the best chance she would get. Still, she didn’t feel like committing suicide.

“Who would join me on the team to rescue the prince?”

Neia glanced at Remedios, who had remained silent the whole time.

“I’m not going. Stealth isn’t my forte.”

That goes for me, too, though
, thought Neia, but she said nothing and turned to Caspond.

“…I’ve been telling her she has to go with you, but she won’t have it. So we’re sending you with a prisoner…no, a cooperator.”

“Hmph. You can just call her a prisoner.”

“…Commander.”

“It’s fine, Deputy Commander Montagnés. Will you bring her in?”

Gustav left with a “yes, sir.” The zerun messenger left at the same time. Neia figured they wanted the identity of their cooperator to be on a need-to-know basis only.

Gustav returned right away, but he wasn’t alone. He was leading a girl in chains whom Neia had never seen before. She was smaller and more delicate, and judging by her face, she seemed younger than Neia, too.

She wore a scarf with a complex, distinctive pattern of dark green and ocher paired with an unusual maid uniform. Looks-wise she had the complete package; even with one eye covered, her beauty was unmistakable.

Recalling what Evileye of the Blue Roses had said, Neia could make a confident guess as to who this was, but she asked just to make sure.

“Master Caspond, who is this?”

“…Haven’t you guessed? She’s one of Jaldabaoth’s maids who appeared in the city.”

Neia froze. Even though she had imagined that to be the case, it was a surprise. Difficulty level 150. In other words, a monster among monsters. A being a human couldn’t hope to defeat was standing before her eyes.

But there was still something else surprising her—that she could still harbor such intense hatred in the face of an unbeatable enemy.

They were creatures on completely different levels, so if Neia could feel that way, was it because the maid wasn’t scattering fear? Or did it stem from her devotion to the King of Darkness?

Regardless, Neia banished the hatred to the depths of her heart so it wouldn’t be visible.

If she wasn’t careful, she would openly curse this maid for being one of the reasons the King of Darkness had been defeated by Jaldabaoth. But neither Gustav nor Caspond seemed to be worried about Remedios putting her hand to her Holy Sword.

They must have decided there was no immediate danger. Otherwise, they would never let her appear somewhere with the Holy Lady’s brother.

“……I’m a killer. You don’t need to be afraid. I’m loyal to Lord Ainz now, not Jaldabaoth. I won’t attack you.”

“I can’t believe that,” Neia spat, irritated at the way she called him “Lord Ainz.” But the maid replied in a steady tone.

“……You don’t have to believe me. I merely stated the truth.”

“Miss Baraja, it appears that during that battle, His Majesty the King of Darkness somehow managed to steal control of her from Jaldabaoth.”

Neia’s eyes widened slightly.

So even though he was surrounded and outnumbered, he was fighting with the goal of flipping the maids, not killing them?

Neia didn’t know much about magic, so she wasn’t sure how much of a challenge that would be. Would it be similar to stealing a powerful opponent’s equipment mid-duel? If so, it was a feat only the King of Darkness was capable of.

Neia fiercely admired him.

But two questions came to mind.

She had no problem believing that the King of Darkness was capable of such a thing, but was this maid really under his control? Could she simply be pretending to side with the king on orders from Jaldabaoth?

And the other question was…

“…I understand that you’ll be faithful to the King of Darkness. But why are you here? Because you’re in chains?”

“……No.”

The maid flexed, and the thick chains began to make awful creaking noises.

“Don’t!” Remedios boomed murderously, and the noise stopped.

“……Even I can break normal, unenchanted chains.”

“Then why? Why don’t you leave here and join the King of Darkness?”

Neia wondered if maybe the maid had some sort of demonic intuition or an ability as a demon under the king’s control that would allow her to find him. When she asked in a roundabout way, the maid gave her a matter-of-fact reply.

“……Because I have orders. The last order he gave me was to cooperate with you. So I’ll do everything I can without dying.”

“What?!”

Neia was shocked.

…His Majesty came here in order to take control of the demon maids, to gain their powers and strengthen the Nation of Darkness. So he should have ordered her to go to the Nation of Darkness. Yet, he… How kind of him… Could there possibly be another king so generous and compassionate toward people from another country? No, it’s impossible. The King of Darkness is special. He truly is justice! Amazing! Nothing I’ve been thinking is wrong!

Neia felt like something hot was starting to pool in her eyes, but she pushed through the feeling.

“…Uh, without dying?”

“……I’m not going to fight Jaldabaoth. If you face him, it will be difficult to escape.”

Ah.
Neia understood. Caspond must have looked into the truth of her story. He wouldn’t have brought her here otherwise.

“So you want me to take this demon with me.”

“That’s right. The other option would be to send her to the Nation of Darkness as a messenger, but instead, uh, after the other thing, once we get some help and acquire some information, uh, we’ll send a rescue party over there, and it would be better to have her be part of that—because it’s a dangerous mission… Since the people you sent out to search our lands haven’t found anything, he must have fallen on the other side.”

For some reason, Caspond was being awfully vague.

Neia glanced over and saw that the maid’s expression wasn’t so much as twitching. She didn’t even seem worried.

Of course, it was possible this maid didn’t know what had happened to the King of Darkness; maybe she hadn’t imagined that he could be in danger. But her expressionless face offended Neia.

And was she even allowed to be so casual with him—“Lord Ainz”?

No, there’s no way she has permission to do that!
decided Neia.
Even I’m not that friendly with him!

“—Miss Baraja?”

“Er, yes?”

Crap.
She blushed slightly. She had gotten too absorbed in her annoyance at the maid.

“What is it? Is something bothering you?”

“Oh, it’s nothing! Only three days have passed since the search set out. I think it might be a little soon to conclude that he didn’t fall in our territory…”

“I see. That’s true. But we should probably be prepared just in case.”

“Yes, of course.”

“Good. Then Miss Demon Maid. This is our third time speaking. We talked the day we found you, yesterday, and today, right?”

The maid said nothing and just stared at Caspond.

“If I told you I wanted you to infiltrate a major city and rescue a prisoner being held there, would you agree to cooperate?”

“……As I said yesterday, I will cooperate.”

“Oh, I see. Got it. Then sorry, but would you mind going back into the other room? Deputy Commander Montagnés, please see her out.”

After taking the maid out, Gustav returned alone, and the conversation started back up.

“Miss Baraja, I don’t know if it’s necessary to tell you this much or not, but if we send you into Karinsha, it’s possible the success of the operation will depend on what you know or don’t. For that purpose, let me explain a few things. First, about Jaldabaoth.”

Caspond relayed what they had heard from the demon maid.

There hadn’t been much about Jaldabaoth. Or more like, next to nothing. She didn’t even know what sort of abilities he had or what attacks he was vulnerable to. She didn’t know what he was currently doing or what his aims were, either.

The only thing she said was that if he was seriously injured, it would take a while for him to recover. Apparently, it was similar to how the bigger a vessel was, the longer it would take to refill if drained of its contents.

After being told things about Jaldabaoth, the subhumans, and other demons in this way, Neia’s first question to Caspond was, “How far can we trust her?”

“We can’t. Killing her would be safer.” That was Remedios.

Neia wanted to ask,
Can you defeat a difficulty level–150 demon?
But she held it back and waited for Caspond’s response.

“It’s tricky. It could be part of Jaldabaoth’s plot. She might be a spy on the lookout for Momon or someone else who could resist against him.”

That was why he had the zerun leave before bringing the maid in and also the reason he was putting things in such vague terms.

“I told you. We should kill her. Then we don’t have to worry about any of that.”

“I see, Commander Custodio. That would be one way of doing things. But there’s a good chance it’s true that she’s under the King of Darkness’s control. She’s not just spewing lies about Jaldabaoth but instead telling us she doesn’t know. However, the fact that she hasn’t heard anything about the King of Darkness is… Hmm. And you made a pact with the King of Darkness that we would turn over the demon maids, right? So if we killed her, we would be known as a country that doesn’t follow through on its promises. If that happens, there might not be any countries who would help us if we need it.”

“But Jaldabaoth killed that guy.”

At Remedios’s remark, Neia lowered her gaze and focused on containing her rage. Thanks to this woman, she actually felt like she had gotten better at controlling her emotions.

“We haven’t confirmed that. That’s why I’d like to test her by using her
in the rescue of the prince. If she betrays us by leaking intelligence, all that will happen is the zerun will be purged, which means fewer subhumans to deal with. And we can get rid of the rat trying to smuggle itself in here, so there are two benefits. Or if it works out instead, we can just be happy.”

I hope you don’t forget the life of the person you’re sending on this stealth mission…
, grumbled Neia in her head.

“You don’t know what the maid’s weakness is? If I’m supposed to travel with her, it’d be nice to have a way to handle her if she betrays me.”

“No, I couldn’t very well ask that.”

He smiled awkwardly, and Neia wore the same expression.

Even if she answered, how could they verify it? They wouldn’t be able to tell by looking, and it would be impossible to test.

“Well, it’s not as if we have control of her. She’s just cooperating with us because the King of Darkness ordered her to.” Gustav stated the obvious; both Caspond and Neia were aware of that. There was only one who didn’t get it.

“So the infiltration team will be the maid and me. Who else?”

“About that. If you have no one else to recommend, I’d like it to be just the two of you.”

For a moment, she was sure he was joking, but when she looked at him, his expression was serious.

“To add to what Master Caspond has said, it’s better for an infiltration mission to have fewer people, right? You can’t have anyone getting in your way. So we don’t recommend anyone else.”

Gustav offered a sensible reason, but Neia knew it wasn’t the only one.

That was simply the position Neia Baraja was in.

If the rescue operation went well, it would be great for everyone. If it failed, it would just mean the deaths of a troublesome squire who was close to the King of Darkness and the King of Darkness’s subordinate. And if the maid betrayed them, they would sacrifice next to nothing. It could be called a perfect plan.

So then was the story about telling Remedios to go with her a lie? Or was it possible they really did just decide that this way would risk fewer losses?

Neia exhaled with a “phew.” Either way, there was only one thing
to do. This was a good chance to demonstrate her loyalty to the King of Darkness.

“Understood. She”—
That’s a she, right?
she thought—“and I will go on our own.”

“Ohhh, fantastic. We’re counting on you.”

“Yes, sir.”

“We’re having Deputy Commander Montagnés draw up a plan of the castle. It should be ready by the time you depart. And if one of Jaldabaoth’s aides is there, avoid combat.”

According to what they’d heard from the maid and the zerun, Jaldabaoth was served by three great demon aides.

One ruled the Abellion Hills where the subhumans lived.

One commanded the army invading the southern Sacred Kingdom.

And one managed three major cities, moving among Karinsha, Limun, and Prato.

That was the story anyhow.

So if they were unlucky, they might run into the one managing the cities.

Apparently, this manager demon was headless and had a body like a dead tree. No wings or tail and a height of around six and a half feet. It had claws, and its slim body was far stronger than it looked. Despite not having a head, it was fully aware of its surroundings and could even read.

Well, expect the demonic when you’re dealing with demons.

Incidentally, the capital, Jobans, was under Jaldabaoth’s direct control, which is why there was no aide managing it.

“Who is stronger, the maid or that aide?”

“She told us she isn’t sure.”

Neia wanted that maid to show her what she could do. Not knowing what sort of weapons she specialized in or what kind of special abilities she had could result in unexpected failures.

“The three great demons are all generals and landlords. But perhaps because they don’t consider subhumans capable of using their heads, they are building dictatorships. That means the great demons do much of the
administration themselves without appointing successors or deputies. By defeating them, we could ruin the better part of the subhuman alliance army’s coordination and supply chain.”

“Which would satisfy your conditions for victory, Master Caspond.”

“Yes. Well, if Jaldabaoth’s wounds heal, he may step in and take command…but I doubt he would push his luck by showing up now. If we rip off his arms and legs, we may not even need to crush the head to win. That said, our priority right now is the rescue.”

“Understood.”

“So…when will we initiate the rescue mission?”

“I’d like to set off as soon as we’re ready, but may I first please talk to the demon maid some more?”

“Very well. Then how about you leave in two days?”

Neia agreed and left the room after getting permission to speak to the maid again.

The responsibility weighed heavy on her shoulders, but her steps were firm and her expression brimmed with determination. The wild flame that seemed to have lost its purpose of late gained new direction and provided a faint light illuminating her path forward.

There was something for her to do, and what lay ahead was that Supreme Being. With that in mind, what did it matter if she had to travel with a dangerous demon?

The demon maid was in a mansion with a garden—well, it wasn’t really big enough to call a mansion, but neither was it small. It seemed like one of the wealthier residents of the city must have lived there at one time. Some of the lavish ornamentation it had before the tyrannical occupation by the subhumans was broken, and what must have been a statue had been smashed. Still, the bones of the house had remained intact, and it didn’t seem likely to let in the cold winter air.

But it might as well have been a poorly built shack. Every last window
had been boarded up as if someone was so paranoid, they didn’t want to let even a tiny bit of air in—or out.

In essence, it was a cage, or perhaps it would be better to call it an isolation cell. Accommodating this monster lackey of either an undead or a demon, who was also the subordinate of the hero king ostensibly visiting from his country to rescue the Sacred Kingdom, the place was an interweaving of various speculations: the sense of crisis, the urge to steer clear, and more.

It was unclear what exactly the purpose of wrapping her in chains was at that point, but perhaps it was difficult to show the demon maid proper hospitality when she hadn’t received an official introduction from the King of Darkness.

The wall around the mansion had been repaired in a hurry, but the all-important portcullis was missing. It must have been requisitioned during an iron shortage.

Meant perhaps as a replacement, there was a hastily built hovel of a guardhouse out front. Sturdy men equipped with armor occupied it, as well as one paladin who was there as a commanding officer. Neia handed him the parchment Caspond had prepared for her.

After looking it over, the paladin handed it back and gave her a candlestick; the candle was lit.

She was visiting during daylight hours, but since there was no way for the sun to reach inside through the boards and the demon maid didn’t require light, the interior was pitch-dark.

Neia passed through the gate and crossed the overgrown garden. The brick path leading to the entrance was crumbling in places; when she reached the door, she took a deep breath.

She used the knocker. There was no answer. After hesitating a moment, she turned the knob. The door wasn’t locked. Darkness peeked out from the narrow opening. She couldn’t hear the slightest sound. It was as quiet as a mausoleum.

Neia braced herself and went inside. There were no lights and no
servants. The only people in the house at this moment were Neia and a difficulty level–150 demon.

Cold sweat dripped down her back. The candle in her hand flickered feebly. Beyond the glow of the flame existed the darkness as it had been, ready to swallow everything up.

“It’s Neia Baraja! I’ve come to visit! Where are you?” she called into the dark, but there was no answer.

Was she sleeping?

She tried calling again, more loudly this time, but as expected, nothing.

Neia walked forward, determined.

This was a two-story house. It probably had a fair number of rooms, but it wouldn’t take very long to check them all. And maybe with her keen sense of hearing, she would pick up a sound before that even became necessary.

The search began with the first floor.

Just as she was about to proceed—

“—Boo!”

Someone shouted from right next to her, and a face appeared in the light.

“Eeegh!”

Her shoulders jerked, and she instinctively recoiled from the face.

Bam
—her back hit a wall.

She couldn’t have overlooked it. If she didn’t know better, she would’ve sworn the face had come through the wall.

“……Nice reaction.”

When Neia looked with her tear-filled eyes, it was the demon maid who was looking back at Neia’s panic with no expression.

“Stupid demon…,” Neia grumbled resentfully without thinking.

It seemed her Crown of Psychic Defense wouldn’t protect her from surprise; her heart was beating an alarm bell and felt like it was about to burst. Maybe that had been the demon’s aim in the first place…?

Nah, that couldn’t be, could it…?

“……So why are you here?”

“I wanted to talk to you. In two days, we’ll be…” She didn’t know how far she could trust this maid. Maybe it was dangerous to discuss the details of the plan. “…going on a mission together.”

“……Okay.”

“So I thought it would be good to exchange info and find out what each other can do.”

“……It’s important to exchange info. Understood.”

Whether Neia would really share anything depended on how their talk went.

“……Then come this way.”

The demon maid walked off at a brisk pace. It didn’t seem to matter if there was light where she was going or not. So the paladin had been telling the truth.

Following after her, Neia observed the maid from behind.

Delicate limbs, regular features—she was a pretty little girl who would stimulate anyone’s desire to protect.

But to Neia, who knew her true identity, it all seemed like a ruse.

Here, the maid wasn’t bound by the chains she had been wrapped in when she visited Caspond’s chamber. Well, the chains served no purpose in the first place. This demon only took the form of a little girl; she was actually a monster stronger than a dragon.

Thinking about how even being lightly patted might kill her gave Neia stomach pains.

“I’m squishy, so please be gentle with me…”

In reaction to that murmur, the demon maid stopped, turned only her head, and said, “I know.” Even with her exceptional eyesight, Neia couldn’t detect any change in the maid’s expression. Not knowing what she was thinking made her a little anxious.

She was led into a sitting room.

The only light was a single candle.

“……Sit.” Neia sat in the opposite chair as the maid’s gesture indicated. “……A drink.”

A bottle filled with a tea-colored liquid appeared. She had produced
it in the same way the King of Darkness sometimes took things out of nowhere.

While she was still marveling, the maid took the lid off and put a straw inside. It was made out of a material that seemed somehow both hard and soft.

The liquid was syrupy, but Neia wanted to believe it wasn’t poison. There would be serious issues if the demon suffered some lapse and forgot which drinks were harmful to humans.

But when she thought that this maid might actually be in the service of His Majesty, she couldn’t refuse, so she made up her mind to take a sip.

Putting some in her mouth, she rolled it around on her tongue. There was no shocking bitterness, no sharp stimulation…

It’s sweet?! What is this?

Neia had another sip and then another. It took a little doing to suck up the thick liquid, but it was freezing cold and delicious.

“……It’s chocolate flavored. A bit high calorie…about two thousand. But don’t worry about that. One of the great ones once said that growing fat on delicious food is every woman’s true wish.”

She was talking a bit differently, so Neia looked at her face, but her expression hadn’t changed a bit.

“Great one” made Neia think of the king, but she seemed to be talking about someone else.

“……Would you like to have another?”

“May I?”

She had drunk it so fast, she was sad it was gone, and the maid must have noticed. She produced another one.

Neia was like many other women—despite the orcs’ uncertainty—in that she didn’t want to partake if it meant gaining weight, but the drink’s container wasn’t very big, so the portion wasn’t very large. It only made sense that if you ate a lot you would get fat, so she figured she could cancel it out later with a light dinner.

I don’t know what “high calorie” means or if two thousand is a lot, but she said “a bit” so it’s probably fine.

This time she decided to savor the sweetness that was distinct from the taste of fruit or honey.

She took a sip…

“Oh! Wait. This is getting me all mixed up. I came here to talk.”

“……Mm-hmm.” With the straw in her mouth, sipping in the same way Neia was, the demon maid signaled with her eyes that she should continue.

“Um, first, if you have a name, could you tell me what it is? My name is Neia Baraja. Please call me whatever you like.”

She had heard from Evileye of the Blue Roses that the maids all had different appearances and equipment. And in reality, the two maids who had appeared in Caspond’s room had been completely different from this one. Maybe they were like goblins and hobgoblins in that different types of demon maids had different names.

There wasn’t really any need to know her individual or group name, but if this was really a subordinate of the King of Darkness, then it was natural for Neia, as his attendant, to treat her with that much courtesy.

“……Pwahhh. You can call me Shizu. I’ll call you Neia.”

“Shizu?”

Neia had expected to be called “human,” so she was somewhat surprised.

So this demon maid’s name is Shizu? Or is that her type? Well, it doesn’t really matter, but…

“Is that your individual name?”

“……Individual name? What a wild question. Yes. It’s my name.”

“Oh, I beg your pardon. I don’t know much about demons…”

“……Nrgh. Demon…? That’s…nrgh…”

Shizu was grumbling under her breath. Of course, with Neia’s hearing, she could make out what was being said, but it sounded like Shizu was talking to herself, so she didn’t press her on it.

“So, Shizu. What can you do? And it seems like there were a few demon maids, so why did His Majesty the King of Darkness choose you?”

“……I’m good at attacking from a distance. And I was the best.”

“The best? Oh, I see. Because you were the hardest to handle during the fight?”

Shizu chuckled triumphantly, “Eh-heh.” And it probably looked like her expression didn’t change at all. But Neia, with her excellent eyesight, could tell.

It was an extremely small change, but the maid’s face looked slightly proud.

At the same time, Neia was relieved. This maid hadn’t been chosen because she was the weakest.

“I can use projectiles a bit. But I’m not as good at close-quarters combat… We don’t have anyone to be our front line, huh?”

Shizu said nothing and just sipped her drink.

“Do you have any good ideas?”

“……What is the mission?”

“We need to sneak into a city and rescue a VIP.” Neia refrained from saying the word
zerun
.

“……Then what we need are stealth abilities. It’s better not to have a noisy vanguard.”

“Yeah. Hmm. You’re right.”

“……Can you operate quietly, Neia?”

“I’ve trained a bit, so I think I’ve improved. But if you asked whether I feel perfectly confident, I’d be hard-pressed to say yes.”

“……You don’t have any spells like Invisibility? No enchanted items?”

Neia shook her head.

“……Oh. Then do your best.”

“Yes. I will. So…”

Can I really trust her—and believe that she works for the King of Darkness?

If she was only feigning loyalty to the King of Darkness in order to spy for Jaldabaoth, it would be bad to tell her about His Majesty’s situation. But Neia felt there was a good chance the King of Darkness really could have stolen the maid away from Jaldabaoth. In that case, if she didn’t trust her, it would be like throwing away a secret weapon.

So she hesitantly began to explain.

“In our lands, I was the attendant to His Majesty.”

Shizu’s almost artificially beautiful face didn’t move.

“……I’ve heard. About your nasty eyes. And that he lent you a bow. A rune bow. Let me see it.”

Jaldabaoth was interested in it, too
, Neia thought in a corner of her mind, but if this maid was serving the King of Darkness, she couldn’t say no.

Neia handed over the bow, and Shizu examined it. After a quick look, she gave it right back.

“This is splendid. You should show it off to more people.”

The maid spoke so calmly, Neia couldn’t help but feel she was reading prepared lines. Or maybe it was only her imagination—because she didn’t get the feeling the maid had been looking at the bow with real interest. Or maybe she talked like that because this was their first time meeting.

“Thank you… Oh, right. And when we’re done with the mission…”

Shizu put a hand up to interrupt. “You should show it off to more people.”

Why is she repeating that?
Perhaps the question showed on her face, because Shizu continued.

“You should let everyone know that Lord Ainz is the kind of great being who can lend out a splendid rune bow like that.”

Hearing “Ainz” made Neia flinch. This was something she had to address urgently. “His Majesty the King of Darkness.”

From Shizu’s lack of expression, she gathered that she hadn’t explained well enough, so she continued.

“It’s ‘His Majesty the King of Darkness.’ Isn’t calling him ‘Lord Ainz’ a bit overly familiar?”

This time Shizu’s face flinched. No, at a glance, she was expressionless. But Neia was sure she had seen some movement.

“It’s not overly familiar at all.”

“No, it is. Normally, you call someone like that by their exalted title, not their name. You’ve only just started working for him and haven’t even been of any use yet… What’s that look for?”

“Nothing. But I’m calling him Lord Ainz, not His Majesty the King of Darkness.”

Was the faint emotion on her face pity? Or was she gloating? Neia
wasn’t sure, but it irritated her. It was incredibly offensive that this newcomer could appear out of nowhere and speak the name of the one she worshipped like they were close.

It was time to take the mask off. As the king’s attendant and a representative of the Sacred Kingdom, she had intended to treat her with respect, but she was over it now. It didn’t matter that this maid was a matchless terror. She had to be made to understand.

“Listen, you—”

“I was told to call Lord Ainz Ooal Gown ‘Lord Ainz.’”

“Huh?”

“So I can call him Lord Ainz.
I’m
allowed to.”

The shock of the implication—
but you aren’t
—made Neia light-headed.

Then again, this was a demon magically controlled by the King of Darkness. Maybe this attitude was to be expected.

“N-no, that can’t be. Y-you’re lying. How natural for a demon to lie. He wouldn’t have had time to specify little things like that…”

Shizu sighed and shook her head in an
oh, brother
way. “Unfortunately, for you, it’s the truth. Well, I understand what a shock it must be. I really do. But that’s simply your status right now. If you work hard for him, though, someday you’ll be able to call him Lord Ainz, too. It requires devotion.”

“—Shizu.”

“……Neia. Those who come before are tasked with leading those who come after.”

That was a grand statement to make for someone who had come after. Although if she was allowed to call him Lord Ainz, then maybe she was in the superior position here. There was still something that didn’t sit right with Neia, but for the moment…

“For now, I’ll go ahead and say thanks.”

“……It’s nothing. We should be compassionate toward anyone who comprehends Lord Ainz’s greatness.”

Neia’s eyes bulged in surprise. How had he gained her respect so fully in such a short time? No, it didn’t need further explanation. The King of Darkness was simply that amazing.

“Yeah. Of course I know how great His Majesty is.”

After Neia answered, they stared at each other for a little while.

Shizu was the first to move.

She extended her right hand. Neia responded without hesitation.

It did bother her that Shizu kept her gloves on, but they shook hands across the table.

If she reveres His Majesty that much, she must be under his control. If she wasn’t, she wouldn’t call him Lord Ainz—that would be suspect. She would call him His Majesty the King of Darkness like me.

Was she being naive? Neia was firmly convinced that Shizu’s allegiance was real. Something seemed to click into place; they were able to understand each other like two worshippers of the same god.

“……We get along surprisingly well. You have some admirable qualities for a human.”

“I admit I have complex feelings about getting along with a demon. We only get along because what you’re saying is correct. It’s just because you think the King of Darkness is wonderful—that’s all.”

Shizu nodded, thinking over Neia’s argument.

“……Before, I didn’t care what would happen to you, but I’ll get you back here safely. I promise.”

“Thanks.”

Her gratitude was genuine. Difficulty level 150. She would be protected by a demon even the Blue Roses were forced to admit they had little chance of defeating. That deserved a thank-you. Doubly so when said by a subordinate of the King of Darkness. But she wanted to confirm one thing.

“…Do you swear on His Majesty’s name?”

Shizu raised a hand, like a student getting called on by a teacher.

“I swear on the name of the ever sacred Supreme One, Ainz Ooal Gown… But if you die and I revive you, that counts, right?”

“As safe…? Er, not quite…”

They exchanged looks.

Neia felt that dying and being resurrected were far from safe, but she
stated the compromise she was willing to make. “Maybe if I’m revived as a human and not an undead or a demon…it can count…”

“……Then there’s no issue…… Good.”

Shizu had been speaking in a monotone this whole time, but her tone changed slightly. It was like she had added some emphasis.

“……You’re not cute, but you can have this.”

She took something out and came next to Neia. Then she stuck the thing to Neia’s forehead.

“Huh?! What?! What is this thing?!”

Startled by the weirdness of the act, Neia tried to pull the thing off, but it was stuck. It was stuck fast. Neia was terrified.

“What the heck! Huh? Wait! This is so freaky!”

“……You’re fine. It doesn’t hurt, and it’s not scary. Here.”

Shizu showed her an item that had the number one and some other symbol—maybe a letter—written on it. It was extremely glossy paper, and the thing on her forehead felt slick to the touch as well. Neia had heard of talismans before, so was this a contact art using one of those? Whatever it was, surely she wouldn’t give it to her for no reason, so was it enchanted? That’s what gave Neia the creeps.
Is this going to be stuck to my head my whole life?

“Why did you stick it to my forehead?! Couldn’t you have put it somewhere else?”

“……Ngh, you’re like my little sister.”

“Huh?!” She felt like she had heard something unexpected, but there were higher-priority matters at hand. “More importantly, get it off! At least stick it somewhere else, like on my clothes!”

“……What a hassle.”

Shizu took out a little bottle and dripped something on Neia’s head. The thing peeled off so simply, it was as if it had never been firmly stuck in place. She looked at it and saw it was indeed the same thing Shizu had showed her.

“……It’s a sticker. You’re supposed to put it somewhere you can see it.”

Apparently, she had to put it somewhere. Making Shizu mad wouldn’t help Neia. Her only choice was to do as the maid said.

“Okay…”

“……Are we done talking?”

“Huh? Oh, no, I also…wanted to talk about, uh, searching for the King of Darkness—that is, going to get him…”

“……I’ll go, too…… There is lots of prep to do, but once it’s done…”

“Really?”

“……I promise. But I want you to take time to help finish the subhuman map of the hills.”

“Right. Huh? Subhuman?”

For a moment after agreeing, she felt strange. She hadn’t said anything yet. So why did the maid mention subhumans?

Maybe…she heard from Master Caspond that the king might have fallen in the hills?

“……What’s wrong?”

“Um… Okay. I’ll talk to my superiors.”

“……Thanks, Neia.”

“Thank
you
, Shizu.”

The sticker was still on her mind, but she held out her hand, and Shizu took it. They shook again.

“You don’t believe His Majesty is dead, either, right?”

Shizu’s eyes went round. “……What are you talking about?”

“He fell in the east, and we haven’t heard from him since then… Considering he still hasn’t come back even though he can use teleportation magic, some kind of accident might have happened… So…maybe he’s…”

It hurt too much to say the rest. She hesitated, because it felt like if she put it into words, it would be true.

Shizu responded with what was probably annoyance.

“……He’s fine. He’s not dead. The fact that I’m under his control is proof of that. Huh? ……What are you crying about?”

The tears fell on their own.

The King of Darkness was really alive.

She had believed that he wasn’t dead. But there were nights she couldn’t sleep when worry would consume her mind. All sorts of people had told her
he was fine. But their comments all sounded like consolations only said to assuage everyone’s fears, not something they actually believed.

Just now, however, Shizu’s confident words, brimming with conviction, and her presence as proof of the King of Darkness’s survival, gave Neia peace of mind.

As relieved as a lost child who had finally found her parent again, she couldn’t stop crying.

Shizu pressed some cloth—the same fabric as her scarf, probably a handkerchief—against Neia’s cheeks. Then she rubbed. It was more unpracticed than violent, but for the one getting her tears wiped away, it hurt nonetheless.

When the handkerchief moved, a string of mucus went with it, forming a bridge.

“……There’s snot on it… That’s quite a shock.”

Hearing Shizu’s clearly scandalized voice, Neia wasn’t sure what expression to make.

So she dug in her pocket and broke the slimy bridge with her own handkerchief.

“I’ll wash it.”

“……Mm.”

2

Getting into Karinsha Castle was simple.

All they had to do was hide in barrels and get transported in as cargo. Of course, there would be an inspection, but there were other barrels—eight in all—so one of those could be opened. The reason such lax security went unchecked stemmed from the fact that the subhuman alliance was such a diverse gathering of races.

It was a group of people with different common sense due to their varying cultures. If they had a common value, it was that combat strength was
absolute. So if someone strong pushed for something, it would be granted even if it required bending the rules. For subhumans, strength was like a peerage based on violence. Lower-ranked beings had no choice but to submit.

In other words, if a strong zerun gave a hard stare, the inspection would be abbreviated to the greatest extent possible.

Eventually the barrels were placed on the floor with a
thunk
.

Then there was a knock on the top—
bam
.

That was the sign that they had reached the designated location. Neia followed their plan and counted out three minutes. During that time, through the barrel staves, she heard the zerun who had brought them there open the door and go somewhere.

After the three minutes were up, Neia pressed up on the inner lid. It slanted, and though the big slab of raw meat stuck to it didn’t fall on her, smaller chunks rained down. This barrel had two bottoms: Neia was in the lower compartment, and the raw meat was above her.

The reason they had used raw meat instead of wheat or vegetables was to mask the body odors of Neia and Shizu in case of a subhuman guard with a keen sense of smell.

She was probably lucky that their preparations had been unnecessary. Except the part where she was covered in blood and other raw juices.

Slowly removing the barrel’s lid, she looked outside.

Having scanned the room—it was dark, but there was a small magic-seeming light—and confirmed that no one else was around, she stepped out of the barrel. The room was a pantry. The shelves were lined with various foodstuffs and jars, and there were other barrels besides those just brought in.

It took some doing, but once she was out, she stood the inner lid up inside the barrel to make it easy to get back in when she returned.

Depending on how things went with the prince’s rescue, she would be traveling out again in this same barrel.

Neia wondered about her co-infiltrator and saw that Shizu was coming out of her barrel, too. She was shorter than Neia, so she had a bit of trouble exiting the large barrel, but the maid had more physical strength than Neia or even Remedios. Before Neia could offer assistance, she was out.

“Miss Shizu.”

“……Hmm?”

“You have some meat in your hair.”

Shizu was miffed. Her expression may not have changed, but that didn’t mean she lacked emotions. Whether it was thanks to her efforts to see Shizu frequently before they left or that she had trained her powers of perception on the King of Darkness’s skull expressions, Neia had come to have at least a vague grasp of what sort of mood the maid was in.

Shizu tried to pluck the bit of meat from the back of her head, but it was really stuck.

I was always taught that short hair was better in combat because your enemy might pull longer hair, but now I see there are other advantages to keeping it short…

Neia went over to Shizu, took all the meat out of her hair, and tossed it into the barrel.

“……Thank you…… I’m never infiltrating anywhere like this ever again.”

“We still have to escape.”

“……”

Shizu shot a glance of disgust at her and then took a towel out of nowhere to wipe her hands. Then she gave one to Neia.

The moist towel was softer than any Neia had ever touched and so silky. It had to have been awfully valuable. How did she get ahold of an item like that? Were there lots of similar things in the demon world?

Her questions were endless, but she wiped the meaty stickiness from her hands and then used the clean part of the towel to wipe off Shizu’s hair. It wasn’t much more than a symbolic gesture, but it still probably felt better than nothing.

“……Thanks.”

“You’re welcome.”

While Neia was doing that, Shizu took out her weapon.

It was an unusually shaped projectile weapon called a Mana Gun. It used magic power to shoot bullet-like arrows, so it was sort of similar to a crossbow. Shizu also explained that there was no combustion reaction like
with something called gunpowder, but Neia didn’t understand what she was talking about, so she let it go in one ear and out the other.

She had wanted to see how it worked, but Shizu hadn’t been authorized to go outside, so her combat ability was a mystery. Still, if she was difficulty level 150, then Neia probably didn’t need to worry.

“……Nn.”

In the same way, she took Ultimate Shooting Star: Super and Neia’s quiver out of space and handed them over. And Neia returned the dirty towel.

At first, they had debated how to sneak Neia’s bow in. Between its length and all the ornamentation that would get caught on things, they also wouldn’t be able to get the inner lid on if they put it in a barrel. So if the barrel was opened, that would have been the end of it.

Another idea had been to have the transporting zerun equip it, but it was such a splendid piece of gear that it was likely to stick in people’s minds. If the rescue failed, the bow would then link the zerun to the attempt, so they rejected the plan.

Finally, it was starting to look like she might just leave it behind, when Shizu had said she could carry it for her by storing it in the mysterious space where she kept her own weapon.

She was both anxious to be carrying the precious item she borrowed from the King of Darkness into a dangerous situation and relieved to not have to part with it. Amid those swirling emotions, Neia expressed her deepest gratitude to Shizu for her kindness. Apparently, that was the moment she really became the junior of the duo, and after that, Shizu often emphasized her seniority.

The “Miss” Neia had to add before her name was part of that. If she left it off, Shizu’s mood noticeably soured. Pretty Shizu’s annoyed face—which looked no different compared to her usual expression at a glance, but Neia could tell—was actually more adorable than anything else, but Neia refrained from telling her that.

After readying their weapons, they set off with Shizu in the lead.

At the door, they listened for any sounds outside, but there didn’t seem to be anyone.

“……Okay, let’s go.”

They didn’t have much time, so Neia nodded.

Rather, the liberation army was approaching Karinsha in coordination with their infiltration and rescue operation. The capture of Karinsha would begin soon.

The plan was for Neia and Shizu to sneak into Karinsha Castle and rescue the zerun prince.

Then the liberation army would approach Karinsha and attack when the moment was right.

If the rescue was a success, the zerun would cooperate from the inside.

If the rescue failed, the guidance and gate opening the zerun would have helped with fell to Neia and Shizu. But there were a lot of things, so whatever they could manage would be good enough.

That was the rough outline of the operation.

The fact that once they rescued the prince, even if they were forced to hole up somewhere, they could count on help from the liberation army and the zerun was major. It benefited the zerun, too. If things went well, they would be able to get the prince out of the city to keep him even safer.

In other words, a smooth retaking of Karinsha depended entirely on the prince’s rescue succeeding.

With the sudden weight on her shoulders, her stomach pained her; the whole thing made Neia groan.

But that was why they didn’t have time. Once the battle started or the liberation army was spotted, security would tighten up.

As they had planned, Shizu took something like a perfume bottle out of space and spritzed herself and Neia. It was a consumable with the same effect as the tier-one spell Odorless. Apparently, it needed to be conserved because she didn’t have many.

She cracked the door open, peeked out, and then slipped through.

They had referred to the castle plans to decide a route and discussed
ahead of time how to handle various scenarios and how they would divide up the tasks involved.

When Neia went out, she closed the door behind her, taking care not to make any noise. Then she ran after Shizu.

I’m not going to be any help at all.

To be frank, Neia could only think of herself as a burden in her current circumstances. One glance at Shizu’s gait was enough to convince her. Her steps were as soft, or even softer, than those of Neia’s father moving through the forest. She had skills.

She has humanlike skills even though she’s a demon… I guess it’s just scary that you can’t tell what she is from looking…

Really, everything could have been left to Shizu, but in addition to having Neia there to supervise, the Sacred Kingdom probably also felt it looked good to have one representative from their country along with the representative from the Nation of Darkness (assuming Shizu was really under the king’s control).

The corridor was dark. It was nighttime. Moonlight filtered through the windows. Or perhaps, “There was only moonlight” was more accurate. In other words, there were no torches or magic lights in the corridor.

Most subhumans weren’t bothered by the dark. But apparently, some had better night vision than others. Some could see perfectly, but others could just make things out decently enough. So Neia and Shizu avoided the moonlight and raced along from shadow to shadow.

As a human, Neia really had to keep her wits about her. Not only was it so dark that she couldn’t see, but the guards on patrol didn’t carry lights, either, so it was impossible to spot them from a distance.

The reason for the light in the pantry wasn’t clear, but it might have been for one of the races that couldn’t see in the dark.

The pair ran as fast as they could, keeping their footsteps noiseless.

The pace got Neia breathing hard, but for Shizu, who had physical strength far surpassing that of Remedios, it probably didn’t even count as a jog.

Sometimes they came upon a guard and had to wait with bated breath until the subhuman had passed. They couldn’t kill anyone. It would have
taken too much effort to deal with the body and erase any traces. They were in the middle of enemy territory, so the best-case scenario would be if no one noticed they were there until after the rescue was complete.

Thankfully, they were able to proceed without anyone discovering them.

The reason the castle was so sparsely protected was that guards were also needed for the wall, the lookout towers, and the prison camp inside the city. The zerun had explained that since the King of Darkness had killed so many subhumans, they weren’t able to properly staff the perimeter, and security at the castle wasn’t very tight.

Thanks to that research performed ahead of time by the zerun and the perfect arrangements they had made, things were going smoothly, but Neia was anxious.

There were two hurdles in the operation.

One was the long corridor on the way to the spire.

The other was the walkway leading to the spire—the skybridge.

There wouldn’t be anywhere to hide in either place, and the areas would most certainly be guarded. And it wasn’t just one guard but multiple; apparently, they had one standing away from any lines of fire in case of ranged attacks.

They had discussed as a group Gustav’s sketch of the castle plans, but these two critical junctures simply had to be overcome.

Using Invisibility to take care of sight and the Silence spell priests can use to take care of sound would allow us to infiltrate perfectly… I see why adventurers who can form versatile teams are so valuable…

Eventually the pair reached their destination.

Their first hurdle was the long corridor, and if they simply walked straight down it, the guards would spot them before they managed to get very far. They needed to move into a position from which they could line up their shots before being discovered.

To do that, they had come to the room directly above the guards’ position in the corridor. From there, they would rappel down the outer wall using a rope, creating a bypass.

“……Here?”

Neia compared their position to the map in her head and nodded that it was the right spot.

“……Mm-hmm. Nice work.”

Momentarily praising her junior as the senior member of the duo, Shizu put her ear to the door, then swiftly opened it without a sound.

The room was filled with miscellaneous items, and it seemed like it hadn’t been used in a long time; there was a thick layer of dust on the floor, only disturbed by the zerun who had come to investigate. The tracks moved between the window and the huge shelving unit.

Shizu reached into her mystery pocket and took out a rope the same color as the outer wall.

Then she attached it to the shelving unit. In order to test if it would support their body weight, she yanked on the rope with all her might, and there was no sign of the shelves moving or breaking.

It was less thanks to the size—which came with the weight of the shelving unit itself—and more the spider nest–like object plastered to it. The zerun who visited the room had glued it in place using some sticky thread from a spidan.

The window opened easily. Shizu stared down at the wall and made sure there were no guards patrolling in view, then slung her weapon over her shoulder and said, “I’ll go first.”

She went out the opening and slid down the rope to the window below. Supporting her weight with one hand, she pushed at the window with the other, and it swung open with no trouble. That had also been prepared in advance by the zerun.

Shizu slipped inside. The whole feat took only a few seconds.

After confirming the safety of the room below, she poked her head out and waved to Neia.

Neia grabbed the rope and leaned out the window.

The window was only a little over ten feet below, but her current position was a few hundred feet above the ground. If she fell, she would definitely die. No, it would be worse if she somehow survived. She would be
tortured for sure, and after they extracted what intelligence they could from her, her tormentors would kill her. It would be better to die on impact.

The rope had knots every so often for handholds, and in the practice runs she had done, there hadn’t been any problems. But the real thing was completely different from training.

Ahhh, I don’t wanna go…

Nevertheless, she had to use the rope to get to the floor below. If there had been a balcony, she could have just jumped, but alas…

Gripping the rope tightly, she pulled her entire body outside. She didn’t forget to cross her legs around the rope.

All she had to do now was inch her way down.

The surface is just below me. The surface is just below me.

Putting that idea in her head, she descended without looking down.

Her weight shifted from her right hand to her left, just as she had practiced. But her body swayed in the wind. It was blowing much harder than it had during her training.

C’mon, you can do it! Go, me! I’m sure Shizu was even more frightened!

The room’s window had been unlocked thanks to the zerun.

But if someone had gone in afterward and locked it again, Shizu would have been forced to climb back up the rope. Compared to that, knowing she had to only make a one-way trip made it easier on Neia.

Eventually she reached the window. Shizu reached out to grab her and used her incredible strength to pull her inside.

“Th-thanks.”

“……Mm. But you took too long…… I’m going to clean up. One sec.”

Shizu leaned out the window and aimed her Mana Gun. When Neia held the rope as instructed, there was a sound like escaping air—
psht
—and some tension on the line. Shizu had cut the rope with her weapon.

They recovered the severed rope and tossed it into a corner. They had taken it down because they wouldn’t be using this route to return, but there were pros and cons to that plan.

The pro was that they would avoid being detected by the subhumans patrolling outside. The con was that if for some reason their retreat plan
had to be changed, returning here to climb up a floor was no longer an option.

In the end, they had decided that con outweighed the pro.

“All done, Miss Shizu. So now we’re about to clear our first hurdle…”

“……Mm. We go…… And kill for sure. Can you do it?”

“Yes, I think so.”

When they exited this room, they would be perfectly positioned with a direct line of sight to the guard.

Unless they could kill him in a single blow before he could cause a disturbance, the whole plan would fall apart. Neia took her bow, nocked an arrow, and drew the string back. Shizu held her Mana Gun up, too.

“I’ll go left. You go right, Miss Shizu.”

Shizu made an okay sign with her fingers.

Then they looked each other in the eye, and…Shizu pushed open the door.

Their eyes met those of a subhuman right nearby, not even five yards away. He had no idea what was going on or who they were. He wasn’t even surprised, just uncomprehending. Neia loosed her arrow.

Schpuck.
The arrow pierced his forehead easily.

Got him!

Neia had skills, but she owed much of the success to Ultimate Shooting Star: Super.

Thank you, Your Majesty!

While Neia was skewering one subhuman’s head, Shizu was blowing half of another’s away with her Mana Gun.

The guards collapsed, causing a louder clamor than expected. Dismayed, Neia listened hard for any subsequent sounds. Fortunately, she didn’t hear anyone rushing their way. It seemed like no one had noticed what had happened yet.

“……Hurry.”

They had divided up the work ahead of time. While Shizu was shutting the bodies up in the room where they had left the rope, Neia used an Odorless item she had borrowed from Shizu. Then she splashed the strong alcohol
she had put in her water pouch and washed away the blood, flesh, and brains. By the time the corridor reeked of alcohol, Shizu had come out of the room. She reached into thin air for an empty wineskin, poured some of the liquid from Neia’s water pouch inside, quietly broke it, and then left it on the floor.

“……Let’s go.”

“Okay.”

They had set up their little strategy, but when it came time for the guard to change, the new arrivals were likely to be suspicious. If they could have stuffed the corpses into Shizu’s mystery space, that would have made things easier, but Shizu refused to do that, so they had to leave them in that room. Of course, that room had been set up in another way, but it didn’t guarantee that the bodies wouldn’t be found.

It was best to assume they were on borrowed time.

Eventually they reached the second hurdle. The mission was going as well as they could have hoped. They still had time, and they hadn’t been discovered.

“……Now it’s a fight against time.”

“I know. If I slip or something, you can ignore me.”

The walkway stretching from the castle to the spire was only the width of about two humans. There were no walls—it was completely exposed. Apparently, a handful of people had fallen, and looking at it now, Neia could see why.

This skybridge was the final choke point for enemy invaders in a siege.

A large army couldn’t pass, so it neutralized any invading force’s numerical superiority, and it introduced the danger of falling to one’s death. With sentries wielding shields and spears holding the other end, the exposed walkway was a truly loathsome obstacle for the attacking side. It was probably only possible to brute force one’s way through with a caster who could use Fireball or some similar attack spell.

Chipping away at the enemies with projectiles was a disadvantage due to their limited time and the fact that they would have to be stealthy about it. That was why they needed to charge, even though the enemy would probably respond with ranged attacks, and do away with the sentries at close quarters where they wouldn’t have the benefit of cover.

For that reason, they needed to close the distance as much as they could before being spotted by the guards in the lookout post. But when they took a closer look at the path, they found that the surface had been made uneven to slow people down, and in some places, it seemed like it was purposely built to cause invaders to trip and fall.

Wow, this isn’t safe at all… And if the enemies knock us back or cling onto us…we’ll fall to our deaths… I have to be careful!

Having steeled her resolve, Neia realized Shizu was watching her. Being stared at by Shizu with her pretty, doll-like features made her feel bashful even though they were both girls.

“Wh-what?”

“……I’ll use it…… Neia, you wait here.”

“Huh?”

“……I’ll take care of the guards at the entrance. Don’t come out no matter what happens.”

“Wait, what?!”

Before she could even respond, Shizu was gone.

She had disappeared. It didn’t seem as if she had sped off somewhere. It was more like the Shizu who had been standing there dissolved into the air like a mirage.

Neia was terribly confused. But Shizu had told her to stay put, so all she could really do was wait.

Hiding near the entrance of the walkway, Neia focused her hearing to see if she could pick up any disturbances either toward the spire or behind her—back the way they came.

After a few seconds, it seemed like something had happened at the lookout post. She could hear screams and the thuds of guards collapsing.

When she looked over to see what was going on, she saw Shizu’s face poke out of the lookout post. Shizu waved her over.

Seeming annoyed at Neia standing there, still overwhelmed by wondering what had just happened, Shizu’s waving grew more exaggerated until she was flailing her whole body around.

At that point, she realized she had better go over there.

It was pretty terrifying to cross the windy walkway, but Neia kept her body low and her eyes on her feet.

When she arrived, the lookout post was emitting the stench of blood. Several expired subhumans were lying strewn about. In the middle of it all stood Shizu with her usual blank expression. Her right hand was clasped around a sharp-looking knife stained with blood. In her left hand was her Mana Gun.

“……Clear. We move on.”

“O-okay.”

“……I can’t disappear anymore today. We need to be careful.”

“Understood.”

Neia could tell Shizu didn’t feel like explaining, so she followed her without questions.

That’s a demon maid for you
, thought Neia.

She never would have made it this far without Shizu.

I owe this to His Majesty the King of Darkness for ordering her to help us.

Even when he was absent, her respect for him only grew.

The fact that he was undead was really such a trivial issue.

I really have to let everyone know how great he is!

The spire was made almost entirely out of stone and only had narrow windows, so it was even gloomier than the main castle. The corridor was fairly broad, so Neia and Shizu could walk side by side. It was built in a spiral that led up along the wall.

Their object, the zerun prince, was supposedly being kept somewhere near the top, so they only listened for sounds on the other sides of the doors they passed on their way higher and higher.

About two loops up, Shizu raised her hand in a signal to stop at about the same time that Neia heard the footsteps of a creature.

It appeared to be wearing armor, as the sound was metal clanking against stone.

“Just one, Miss Shizu.”

“……Yes, but……those footsteps are heavy.”

Neia wasn’t sure, but if Shizu said so, then it must have been true. She must have meant it was bigger than a human.

“What…should we do? Should we go back and hide inside one of the rooms we passed?”

“……We’ve come this far. We kill it.”

“Okay.”

Following Shizu’s lead, Neia readied her bow. She was prepared to shoot as soon as the creature showed itself. They had been told that the zerun prince was the size of a human child. And he wouldn’t be wearing metal armor.

As soon as the hulking form appeared around the bend, Neia and Shizu both attacked without hesitating.

The arrow and mana bullet appeared to sink into the giant body.

“Gahhhh!”

The large creature staggered and then began to retreat up the path. All it had to do was backtrack slightly to break Neia’s and Shizu’s lines of sight.

If this subhuman could take the pair’s attacks—especially Shizu’s—and still be alive, it had to be quite strong.

“Who are you people?!” A scream came from up the corridor.

“What should we do, Miss Shizu?”

“……Twiddling our thumbs here won’t do us any good… Let’s close in and attack before our opponent summons all the guards in this spire.”

“Got it.”

Neia and Shizu sprinted forward.

Since their opponent had been able to weather their surprise attack, Neia figured it was safe to assume it was the guard—the va-um—because all ogre types had not only excellent combat ability but impressive physical strength.

As they ran, Neia felt almost as if the amount of moisture in the air was increasing; it smelled like rain.

“Gooooahhh! What are humans doing here?!”

When they closed in, they had a full view of the huge subhuman.

He had an air of violence similar to an ogre but appeared to be much more intelligent.

His skin was a pale blue, but rather than looking unwell, it gave the being an evil impression.

His forehead had one horn sprouting out of it. In his hands was a mace larger than Neia.

With that appearance, he certainly resembled a va-um.

Even if he wasn’t quite on Buser’s level, he would be a difficult opponent. The magic bullet and arrow from their previous attack had been direct hits, yet he had no visible injuries. And Neia didn’t smell any blood, which meant he probably wasn’t concealing any with illusions.

How had he neutralized their attacks—especially Shizu’s?

“You came here to kill me?! Seems like even some humans are in the know!”

He seemed thrilled.

Then maybe it was best to let him think tha—

“……No,” Shizu said, firing her gun.

Something shot out with a
psht
of escaping air. Part of the va-um’s body dispersed, and the bullet flew right through it.

“……Mngh.”

“Hoo-ha-ha-ha-ha! Projectiles won’t work on me!”

Neia loosed an arrow at his brow, but sure enough, his head turned to mist, and the arrow stuck into the wall behind him.

“It’s futile! Futile, I say! Fear me, the mortal enemy of any sharpshooter, and die!”

“……So you have perfect resistance to all projectiles? At that strength?” Shizu grumbled to herself. “There must be something else going on.”

Neia looked to Shizu and shook her head. Unfortunately, the zerun didn’t know the details of the va-um’s powers.

“What are you blathering about?”

“Fall back!”

The va-um closed in. He was so much larger than a human that Neia felt like her sense of distance had been completely ruined.

She wouldn’t be able to take a single hit from this guy, so she accepted Shizu’s kindness and backed up.

The va-um swung the massive mace at Shizu, who remained in front. It was like a gale-force wind, but she evaded it with elegance.

To wield a weapon as big as Shizu with one hand, he had to be extraordinarily strong. When the mace hit the floor, cracks radiated from the point of impact, and chips of stone went flying. It almost felt as if the huge tower had shaken.

“Tch!”

Neia shot an arrow.

Though he was in close combat with Shizu, he was so much larger than her that if she aimed for his upper body, Neia could target him without hitting her.

The arrow sliced through the air, but just as before, he turned to mist and evaded it.

“It’s no good! It’s pointless! I’m telling you, arrows won’t work on me! You foolish— Uoagh!”

He was going to keep shouting at her, but Shizu interrupted.

Shizu’s prowess as a shooter far surpassed Neia’s, but she didn’t appear to be very skilled in hand-to-hand combat, and unfortunately, the va-um blocked her attack with his mace.

Neia drew her bow again.

Next, she aimed for the hand holding the mace. It was possible that he wouldn’t drop his weapon even when he turned to mist, but she had decided that if there was even a slight chance, it was worth trying.

And the result…

…was that his arm turned to mist, but he didn’t drop the mace.

“Give it up, human!” He thrust his free hand out at Neia. “Water Splash!”

A liquid missile flew at Neia.

It struck her right shoulder, knocking her back so hard, she went sprawling.

It hurt as much as if she had been punched with full force. Bones were possibly broken.

Carefully attempting to move her right arm, she found herself able to without any issues. But pain zapped from her shoulder through the rest of her body. When she put a hand to the wound, she felt sopping wetness. At first, she was worried it was a massive amount of blood, but a moment later, she realized it was just water.

“Hmph! Making me use a wimpy spell like that!” the va-um fairly spat, brandishing his mace.

The gust of death that would’ve broken Neia to pieces, Shizu nimbly dodged as she muttered, “……Why her? Why attack someone who posed no threat to you? It’s incomprehensible.”

“Hmph! You fool! Don’t get—”

“Are they actually effective? Is there a limit to how many times you can use that power?”

The va-um’s expression changed. In other words, that was the answer.

“Neia!!”

“Yep!”

Neia loosed an arrow. The va-um turned to mist and evaded. Then she shot another—and this time it hit him.

The va-um yelped in pain, and Shizu said, “……I see. So you can avoid projectiles seven times. Is that…in one day? Or in one hour? ……It doesn’t matter now. You will……die here.”

Realizing he wouldn’t be able to take Shizu out because of her brilliant evasion—seeing, in other words, that he would be one-sidedly attacked and killed—the va-um’s face stiffened.

“Wh-why, you! Fog Cloud!”

Fog billowed up.

It was even thicker than the fog Neia had seen in the Nation of Darkness; she couldn’t even tell where she was standing. She couldn’t see Shizu’s back ahead of her, yet she heard her Mana Gun going
psht, psht
.

When she thought about it, the situation was actually quite simple.

Even if he created fog in the middle of the corridor, he was still in the same place as a moment ago. She could just shoot at that area. Neia followed Shizu’s lead and loosed an arrow. She was a bit nervous, so she aimed higher up to make sure she didn’t hit Shizu.

The arrow disappeared into the fog immediately, and then she heard it strike the wall. Apparently, she had missed.

“He’s behind you now.”

The remark from Shizu made Neia think,
What?!

Considering the width of the corridor, the huge va-um wouldn’t have been able to get around them without them noticing. But having traveled with her this long, Neia knew that Shizu was a trustworthy demon. Or perhaps it was less that she trusted Shizu and more that she trusted the King of Darkness commanding her.

Neia spun around, and sure enough, the fog was thick there, too, but she took a shot.

The arrow hit the wall just like the previous time.

“Where…where is he?!”

“……Mm. He’s in the direction you’re facing. He must be trying to escape. Get down!”

Hearing what was a forceful voice for Shizu, Neia promptly got out of her way.

“……I’ll switch bullets and……Full Burst.”

There was a high-pitched ring, and then a
boom
, so loud Neia had to plug her ears, filled the corridor.

Neia heard a
blorgh
sound like vomiting and the crash of a large body crumpling. Then the fog dispersed, and the fallen va-um came into view up ahead in the curving corridor.

Parts of his body had been blasted away, and there were marks on the walls. How was it possible to wield such a power?

The subhuman tasked with guarding this place was supposed to be quite strong. And in reality, Neia hadn’t seen any way to defeat him. Meanwhile, Shizu had killed him the instant her weapon specialty became effective. She really was a difficulty level–150 demon maid.

“How…did you…? Well, I suppose with magic you can do anything.”

Neia moved the shoulder that had taken the attack spell. The heat of battle had caused her to forget about the pain, but it was starting to hurt more now.

“……Are you all right?”

“Yeah. But it hurts to draw my bow, so my aim won’t be very good.”

“……Do you have a healing potion?”

“No, but I have a healing item His Majesty lent to me.”

In the battle back then, she had been able to use it only once, but now
she felt like maybe she could use it a little more. Still, she couldn’t waste mana. It could end up that she would need to heal Shizu at some point.

“It’s okay. All that’s left is to rescue the hostage and escape.”

“……Mm. If you say so.”

Neia nodded and ran onward with Shizu. They had beaten the va-um who was supposed to have been so tough.

All that was left was to collect the prince and make it back to the pantry they had started in.

3

“……We’re here.”

“Yes.”

Upon reaching the top floor, Neia and Shizu exchanged glances. There was a single door. This had to be their destination. They nodded at each other and kicked it in.

They were no longer in the mood to enter quietly. This was after their battle with the va-um. But they did move to either side of the door to be ready in case an attack came lashing out.

But their caution was for nothing. So they rushed in, with Neia, her shoulder hurting, taking the left side and Shizu taking the right.

The first thing Neia saw when she entered the room was a bed with a canopy. What had surely been originally snow white was stained with age. There was also a simple dresser and a plain wooden wardrobe as tall as a human. All the furnishings befitting a noble were old and banged up; they seemed less like antiques and more like secondhand acquisitions.

At first glance, there didn’t seem to be a subhuman in the room.

When Shizu gestured with her jaw, Neia approached the wardrobe and opened the door. Of course, she stood off to one side so she would be safe whatever happened, and Shizu trained her Mana Gun on the inside.

“……There’s no one.”

Then they looked at the bed.

After peering underneath to make sure no one was hiding there, Neia went over to it.

There was a little lump.

When she looked to Shizu, they nodded at each other, and Neia pulled the sheets down.

There was a shiny, purple, almost attractive chunk of meat. No, perhaps it would be better described as a large maggot. It was about three feet long and had protrusions that couldn’t quite be called legs.

Shizu pointed her gun immediately, but Neia rushed to stop her.

“Wait! This is the zerun prince we’re here to rescue!”

“……This thing is?”

That’s what they had heard from the zerun messenger. But she could understand Shizu’s doubt. She had been pretty confused when she heard the description, too.

The zerun was a race of subhumans in which the royal family differed greatly in appearance from the others. Not only that, but perhaps there were also significant male and female differences?

“Um, can you speak, zerun prince?”

“Sure I can. You don’t seem to be my food…”

It was a boy’s voice. When she took a closer look to see how he was speaking, she saw a little maggot-like mouth flapping.

“That is correct. We were asked to come rescue you. First, we’ll get you out of this room.”

He may have looked like a maggot, but he was a prince. Neia had to treat him with the proper respect. They would also need his race’s assistance when searching for the King of Darkness. She needed to make them feel indebted, not offend them.

“By my fellow spawn? Who? Who asked you to do it?”

“It was a zerun called Beebeebee. Is that someone you know?’

“Beebeebee? Ah yes. Mm… But if I leave this place, Jalda— Er, Emperor Jaldabaoth will be upset. That would put many zerun and our king in danger.”

“I don’t know all the details, but the reason we were asked to break you out was that the king has died, and they want to at least save you.”

“No!”

It was absolutely impossible for Neia, a human, to read the emotions of this giant maggot prince. But she could hear the grief clearly in his voice.

“My one and only father… I see—that Jaldabaoth… In that case…is it possible to escape here safely?”

“Your aides have made arrangements, so please consider it doable.”

“I see… This is a rather shameless request to make of the human heroes who have come all this way to rescue me, but could we pretend that you dragged me out of here against my will?”

He must have meant if it came to that.

“Understood. That’s what we’ll say.”

“I appreciate it.”

The prince raised his head. He was like a maggot rearing up, but that must have been a gesture of thanks for his race.

Neia wrapped him in a sheet and put him on her back like one would a baby (although she had only done it a couple of times because the babies would cry without fail).

She tied the ends of the sheet fast in front of her so that even vigorous movement wouldn’t loosen the sling.

The weight on her shoulder hurt. Wiping the sweat that had oozed from her forehead, she cast a spell.

That instant, her wounds were completely healed. Now she would have no trouble running while carrying the prince.

“Do you feel all right? Please let me know straight away if anything hurts.”

“I feel fine, but… You sure smell good. I’m starving.”

The words spoken into the nape of her neck made Neia shiver.

“……What do zerun eat?”

Shizu asked the question Neia would rather she hadn’t.

“The bodily fluids of living things, alive or dead.”

A chill went up Neia’s spine.

“……I’ll be mad if you pull anything weird with my protégé.”

“Don’t worry. I’m not so hungry that I’d do something like that to a hero who came to rescue me. I haven’t been allowed outside even once since coming here, but they have been feeding me properly.”

Neia felt like if she heard what kind of food he’d been eating she might want to hurl him to the ground, so she plugged her ears. Luckily, Shizu didn’t ask any more questions.

“……All right, time to go.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Thanks.”

With that brief exchange, the two—three—of them were on their way. It wasn’t as if they had time to stand around chatting while they were on a stealth mission.

Fortunately, they made it back to the pantry with no trouble. Then Shizu raised a hand.

“……There’s someone in there.”

“Please take care of them.”

Shizu readied her Mana Gun and threw the door open.

Then she froze. She turned around.

“……I don’t know who they are, but there are zerun in there. A lot of them.”

Perhaps it was the recovery team? More specifically, the group that was supposed to guide them outside. If they were already there, it must have meant that Neia and Shizu were running late.

When they went inside, the five zerun turned to look at once. Neia couldn’t read the grotesques’ expressions even a bit, but when they all made the same motion in her direction, a wave of something that wasn’t quite fear or disgust came over her.

Neia undid the sheet and showed them the prince.

“Oh! Our prince!”

It was Beebeebee. Without hearing their voices, it was impossible to tell them apart. They looked so different from the prince that it was impossible to even tell they were the same race.

“My kindred. I heard my father has died. I’ve realized that Jaldabaoth doesn’t intend to keep his promise to us. But where can we run to if we betray him? He has taken over our territory completely, and one of his demons now governs it… Wouldn’t escaping from here merely be going down the path to destruction?”

“You’re quite right to be concerned, Your Highness. But he only sees zerun as slaves or livestock. Our valiant Boobeebee lost some shoulder flesh for being slightly late to a gathering once.”

“What?! He did that to Boobeebee?!”

Neia gathered from the prince’s shock that Boobeebee must have been quite the zerun.

“When this is all over, will there be a place for us under Jaldabaoth? We think not. Prince, there’s no time. Let’s disc—”

“—You fool. Could we do it after we flee? This is a borderline. Once we cross it, we’ll have no choice but to follow through on that plan. There’ll be no turning back. Tell me now. How are we going to return to our nest, to the hills, and survive?”

“Well…the land is vast. I think we can find somewhere to hide.”

“You think? You’re leading our entire race down a path of destruction based on such a fuzzy prospect? Come up with something more realistic and concrete!”

“W-well, not everyone is devoted to Jaldabaoth. We could create a rebel army and—”

“Idiot. It would just be annihilated by his aides. One ant might be overlooked, but an infestation can’t be missed.”

Rebutted at every turn by the prince, Beebeebee fell silent. Things were looking bad. They had come all this dangerous way to cooperate on this mission, but if the prince declared he didn’t want to go, their efforts would be for nothing.

Then Neia thought of a way to resolve the prince’s worries.

“Then what if all the zerun went to the Nation of Darkness?”

“The Nation of Darkness? What in the world is that?”

It wasn’t only the zerun who turned to look at her—Shizu did, too.

“The hero who repelled Jaldabaoth back in the Re-Estize Kingdom, Momon, is there.”

She had the feeling the zerun were staring at her, but she didn’t know what sort of emotion was contained in their gazes. There was no way for a human to tell what a zerun was feeling.

“Is that true?”

That one remark made her realize what the zerun’s silence was about. They must not have believed her. But that made sense. The more one learned about Jaldabaoth, the more impossible it seemed to drive him off.

“It is. I was told so by someone I trust. Actually, Miss Shizu?”

“……Yes. What Neia says is true.”

“And so…” This was the hard part. Neia psyched herself up. “If you all went to the Nation of Darkness, I’m sure they would accept you as refugees.”

“Refugees…?” There was a definite sourness in the prince’s tone.

“But if you brought them news of their ruler, His Majesty the King of Darkness, I’m sure no one would look down on you.”

“Wait, wait. News of their own king would make them happy? What’s that supposed to mean?”

“The king is… Well…he’s currently missing…”

“That won’t work, then. He could very well be dead.”

“Please wait. It’s impossible for the king to be dead. We have proof of that.”

When Neia explained how he might have fallen in the hills and they wanted the zerun’s help, the prince fell silent.
So that wasn’t good enough?
she thought, but she had already taken her best shot, so she didn’t say any more. It was in the prince’s court now.

Still, even if direct assistance was impossible, they would surely fulfill their promise of sharing knowledge.

“…I see. If we make them owe us…but will they accept subhumans? The Nation of Darkness is a human country, no?”

“No, it’s not. It’s ruled by an undead.”

“An undead?!” The prince yelped in shock, as did all the other zerun. “You would have us go somewhere so dangerous?!”

Every race had a strong aversion to undead. Neia had been no exception before she met the King of Darkness. Being confronted with herself from only a short while ago made her a bit emotional.

“Please wait. He may be an undead, but he’s a wonderful person, and I saw humans and subhumans living in his country in harmony.”

“An undead a wonderful person? What do you take—?”

“—Enough. Please bear with my rude retainer. But is this King of Darkness really as wonderful as you say?”

“Yes,” Neia answered confidently, standing proud.

“…We can’t understand human facial expressions at all. But you’re brave enough to infiltrate deep into enemy territory to rescue me, so if you say it with such steady conviction, then I can understand. I will believe in this undead king…in whom you place such trust. Let’s turn to him for help.”

An “Ohhh!” of happiness rose from the zerun.

“That’s settled, then. Please flee to the Kingdom of Darkness as fast as you can, Your Highness. One problem is that one of Jaldabaoth’s great demon aides has arrived. I thought he would be visiting a few days later… There will be trouble if he spots you. Hurry!”

Most zerun were female. Males were exceedingly rare. Really just the king and the prince. If all the males in a tribe were wiped out—though females sometimes changed sex—the tribe would basically go extinct.

They suggested the prince run first because they absolutely needed to get him somewhere safe—to the Kingdom of Darkness.

“One of Jaldabaoth’s aides? Here?” There was no way to overlook those words.

“Yes. You didn’t see him? He has three demon aides. It’s one of those.”

“……We’ll defeat him here.”

At Shizu’s sudden remark, the prince flip-flopped on the floor. “Don’t be ridiculous! If you two could save me, you must be quite strong. But that doesn’t mean you can beat this demon.”

The only strong one was Shizu, but Neia didn’t want to interrupt.

“……We heard that he teleports among different cities…… If he’s
here now, it’s a great chance. If we let it go by, the next one might not come so easily.”

“What you say is true…”

“Prince!”

“Let’s be sensible. If we kill one of Jaldabaoth’s aides, there will be a disturbance in the chain of command, so it would probably be difficult for them to detect us if we went straight from here to the Kingdom of Darkness… But is it really possible to defeat him?”

“……I don’t know. But this is our chance.”

“…Then I’ll make the wager—on your strength that killed the va-um!” said the prince, who had been astonished to see the corpse on their way over. “Okay, everyone? We’re going to cooperate with these two and kill Jaldabaoth’s aide!”

“Yes, Your Highness!”

“Two humans. Six of us. Eight who were enemies until a few days ago unite against a more powerful enemy. Sounds like a saga in the making.”

Huh?
thought Neia and counted the zerun in the room once more to make sure she wasn’t mistaken before hurriedly interjecting, “Hold on. Please wait. Don’t make the prince fight. We’re here to save him.”

And more importantly, even if he did participate, what could he do? Putting it as kindly as possible, he was still just a big maggot on the floor. If he meant to go along as a figurehead, she would rather he spared them the trouble.

“You consider your job done as long as I escape? Aha, I see. But! I think with my help it will be a bit easier to defeat Jaldabaoth’s aide. No—without me, it would be quite difficult, even for heroes who beat a va-um.”

It was Shizu who had beaten the va-um; Neia couldn’t claim any part in it, so it felt shameful to be counted as a hero.

“Uh, do you mean without all of you zerun?”

The prince emitted a strange cry. “No, no, hero. I may not look like it, but I can use tier-four psychic magic.”

“Tier four?”

Neia was amazed. Tier four was what a human with genius-level aptitude could just barely reach if they devoted everything they had to the
pursuit. In the Sacred Kingdom, only the high priest Kelart Custodio and Holy Lady Calca Bessarez were capable of it.

Neia turned, thinking to share her shock, but Shizu had her usual blank expression on. Perhaps, as might be expected from a difficulty level–150 demon maid, tier-four magic wasn’t very surprising.

“U-uh…are zerun all that powerful?”

With another strange cry, the prince flopped around again like a fish out of water. “I’m special!”

“Yes. That’s why he’s the prince.”

Ohhh.
Hearing the pride in his voice, Neia remembered something from a class she had taken long ago.
Right, some other races have royalty that are so different from the common people that they are practically a different race.

“But I have a weakness. I’m…er, not very quick.”

Yeah
, thought Neia. That was clear at a glance.

“If he closes in on me, I’ll die helplessly. So I hate to ask, but will you carry me? Then I can use magic on your signal.”

“I see. I understand what you’re asking, but couldn’t the other zerun—your guards—carry you?”

“Unlike the prince, we excel at close-quarters combat. You fight at range, correct?”

“That’s…true. I suppose Shizu or I should ca… Wait, we’re getting off topic. If we take His Highness into battle and he dies, that would be a huge problem.”

“……Neia. There’s a point to him being there…… That’s why he’s suggesting he go.”

“Heh-heh-heh. That’s right. Are you familiar with this aide of his? The demon like a dead tree decorated with trophy heads.”

“……There are several types of demons like that. In order of power: silk hat, crown, circlet, corolla.” She counted on four fingers. “……The aide has to be one of those. But…if it’s a silk hat, we should run for it. I can’t beat those.”

“You knew that?!”

Neia was surprised, and then anger began to smolder. She had said during their prep meetings that she didn’t know anything about the aide.

Was that a lie?

If she was purposely avoiding giving intelligence on Jaldabaoth to troops under the Sacred Kingdom, that would mean she was never under the King of Darkness’s control. Which also meant that Shizu’s mere presence would no longer be enough to calm her worries about His Majesty’s safety!

“…You went and gave me hope! But it was all just to make me feel better?!”

Together with her outburst, she grabbed Shizu’s shoulders. So hard. But it didn’t seem like the demon maid sensed any pain. Not because she was expressionless—because she actually didn’t feel any.

Neia felt so pathetic, she nearly began to cry.
What a fool I was, thinking we had managed to grow a little closer.
She couldn’t help but criticize herself.

Shizu remained expressionless as usual. Still, there was something subtle there that only Neia could detect.

Hesitation, thought, or perhaps regret.

“……I’m sorry.”

The words Shizu forced out after a long silence were those. It was an apology so lacking in explanation that it only fueled the anger of the person it was meant for. But Shizu seemed somehow uneasy in that moment, which helped calm Neia down a little.

“……I thought that if you knew how powerful his aides were, you would all decide not to take on this mission. But in order for Lord Ainz to achieve victory……this mission has to succeed. That’s why I lied.”

Carefully selecting each word in turn, she took great pains to express her thoughts. But she was also sincere, and her unshakable faith made her reliable.

Neia didn’t have a technique for seeing through lies. And when she was talking to a demon—or really any girl with such a blank face—there was no way she could know what was the truth.

But if Shizu really was a spy for Jaldabaoth or was secretly working to destroy the Sacred Kingdom military from the inside out, then her actions
up to this point didn’t make sense. She should have been able to integrate herself more skillfully.

And regardless of the logic, Neia wanted to believe Shizu. Not only was she pointing the way to the King of Darkness, but the strange affinity they had for each other felt like something one of a kind to Neia.

“…I see. I believe you. But don’t misjudge me again. I would brave any danger for His Majesty the King of Darkness.”

Shizu was visibly relieved.
She couldn’t possibly be a spy. She’s simply not cut out for it.
The thought brought a natural smile back to Neia’s face.

“Okay, so can I keep our earlier conversation going? If you know so much, then do you know about his powers, too?”

“These demons all have the same general type of powers, and they aren’t that strong to begin with. They become an issue when they acquire the head of someone intelligent…a caster’s head.”

According to Shizu, this branch of demons could accessorize with casters’ heads and use their powers. Silk hats could equip up to four; crowns, three; circlets, two; and corollas, one. If the heads they wore belonged to accomplished casters, the danger these demons posed ramped up very quickly.

“Corollas can only use up to tier-three spells no matter what kind of head they use. Silk hats can use up to tier ten, and—”

“Wait!”

“Hold on!”

It was the prince and Neia. Shizu fell silent at the sound of their voices.

Neia exchanged a glance with the bouncing prince. Though she couldn’t read his expression, she was sure they were both thinking the same thing.

“……Go ahead.”

“Ahem… What’s this ‘tier ten’ you mention? Isn’t five the highest?”

Exactly. Neia had heard that tier five was the upper limit. That was why she guessed that the King of Darkness could maybe use tier six.

Shizu shook her head as if she was about to sigh and say
here we go…
“……There are ten tiers of magic. The spell Jaldabaoth used to drop a meteor from the sky was from tier ten.”

“B-but there’s no way we can win against— Hmm? Huh? So if His Majesty was fighting on an equal level with Jaldabaoth, does that mean…?”

As Neia discovered something astounding, the prince shivered in amazement.

“Tier ten? Huh? Nah. That can’t be true, can it? Tier ten… Really…? And here I was proud of being able to use tier four…”

Tier four was plenty commendable; he could definitely be proud of that. Only a handful of casters ever became that accomplished.

“Shizu…I’m just wondering… But can His Majesty also use tier-ten spells?”

“……Duh.” Her tone was obviously annoyed at being asked something so basic. It was perhaps the clearest Shizu’s emotions had ever come through during all the time they had spent together so far.

The prince, as a caster himself, seemed to be jiggling in shock.

“Huh? What? The undead king of the country I’m about to flee to is that awe-inspiring? Tier ten… That means twice as strong as me?”

“……Hahhh,” Shizu sighed. “His Majesty.”

“Huh?”

“……You should call the king His Majesty.”

“Oh yes, of course. His Majesty the King of Darkness is so awe-inspiring…”

Shizu was being pretty pushy considering this was a prince of an entire race they were dealing with, but what she said was correct, and Neia approved wholeheartedly.

“That’s right, Your Highness. His Majesty the King of Darkness is indeed awe-inspiring.”

“Ah, yes.”

“……Prince, wouldn’t it be great if you could get someone so amazing to owe you?”

“Y-yes, you’re right! Okay! We pledge our full support in the search for His Majesty in the hills.”

Neia clasped her hands and squeezed. “Thank you so much, Your Highness. So, Shizu, can you explain the rest?”

“……About how amazing Lord Ainz is?”

“Right now, we need to hear about Jaldabaoth’s aide. Oh, but I want to hear about His Majesty, too, so will you tell me after we get back?”

“……Mm…… Demons who equip multiple heads can use all of them together to cast several spells at one time. But there are limitations. One is that the same head can’t cast two spells at once. The other is that there’s a max cumulative tier restriction. For example, silk hats can cast spells that add up to fifteen tiers—”

“Fifteen tiers?! Are there actually tier-fifteen spells?!”

“……No, obviously not. I said it’s cumulative.”

The prince wriggled in relief.

Neia was a bit freaked out by the way she had learned to read the prince’s emotions based on how he bounced around.

“……Moving on. The important thing is how many heads the demon has.”

“Two. One is subhuman. One is human like you two.”

Neia had a bad feeling. The body Jaldabaoth was carrying around… Its top half was missing. “…What was the human head like?”

“Sorry, but I’m no good at telling apart people from outside my race. The other one I know, though. It’s the queen of the pandexes, Grand Mother.”

The words
pandex
and
Grand Mother
piqued her curiosity, but there were other things she had to ask at the moment. “I’d like to inquire about the human head. What color is the hair?”

“Hair is the furry part at the top of a human head, right? It’s light black.”

“Black? So it’s not someone from the Sacred Kingdom?”

That provided her some slight relief. She had been worried for a moment that it would be the Holy Lady. Being able to rule that out put her mind at ease. She also realized it might be a hint for this puzzle.

She had heard that black hair was common of people in the south.
Aha
, thought Neia—because she presumed that was where Jaldabaoth had come from.

There were no human-majority countries south of the Sacred Kingdom. Less than half of the people were human, and even if there were humans, many of them were mixed with other races. She had heard that the only countries led by a purely human royal family were Sacred Kingdom Roebel, Baharuth Empire, and Re-Estize Kingdom. There were no royal families in the Theocracy or the city-state alliance.

Perhaps that was why news of Jaldabaoth hadn’t reached this majority human country.

“……Incidentally, demons that accessorize with heads can’t use the abilities of non-caster heads. Wearing a warrior’s head won’t give them warrior powers. There are different monsters who can do that.”

“Then that subhuman head… Your Highness, could you tell us about the Grand Mother?”

“Sure. That’s what I’m on your side for. Pandexes eat moss and look similar to us in both face and body.”

So like maggots.

Neia trembled for a second, thinking how creepy a demon would be to wear a head like that.

“…Was she a psychic caster?”

“Yes, while I can manipulate the five elements of yin, she could manipulate the five elements of yang. Yin and yang are in a bipolar relationship; they can neutralize and interfere with each other.”

“……I see.” Shizu nodded. “Having you with us will increase our chances of winning.”

“I’m glad you understand. I, too, find the demon using the Grand Mother in this way disgusting. Yes, because she was my first love.”

“Prince!”

“What?! You fell for a member of a different race?!”

“Oh, it was just a little crush in my youth! I’m different now!”

It must have been a bittersweet tale, but to Neia, the first crush of a maggot was just unpleasant.

“S-so if our opponent has two heads, we can guess that it’s a circlet. What’s the cumulative number of magic tiers it can cast?”

“……The max would be six. Incidentally, a crown can do ten.”

“So if I used a tier-four spell, they would have two tiers left to use. Of course, that assumes the demon is aiming to neutralize my powers, so we need to be careful…”

“……Then we need to think about that human head. We don’t have enough information. Neia?”

“Sorry. I wish I knew about people with black hair, but I don’t. I’m a bit surprised, though. I thought you might go to battle without worrying about it.”

“……Lord Ainz said collecting intelligence is important.”

“Oh! I’d expect nothing less from His Majesty. It’s a brilliant idea!”

In response, Shizu stretched out her hand. Neia took it unhesitatingly and shook up and down.

“……You really get it. I should have given you a cuter sticker. You should grow fluffy hair.”

“…Sticker? Oh, if you mean the thing you stuck on me from before, I don’t need another. Please give it to someone else you like.”

“……Mrf. You’re the first person who has ever disliked my stickers.”

“Huh?”

Hearing she was the first surprised Neia. But then she wondered how many humans this demon had really hung out with. And there was also the possibility that everyone hated them in secret but wouldn’t dare tell a demon. She wanted to point those things out, but she couldn’t be so cold to a fellow devotee of the Great One. In the end, she settled for just wincing.

“…If I remember correctly, humans, like zerun, don’t grow fur. That’s why they live in buildings like this. Digging a hole and living in it like we do isn’t bad, either!”

“Prince, we’re getting off topic. We don’t have much time. Everything needs to be finished by the point the humans come to attack the city.”

“……Mm. Conclusion: The prince should come with us.”

No one disagreed. Well, Neia had been the only dissenter in the first place.

“In terms of tactics, we’ll take the lead, but what should we do if a guard blocks our way? Leaving an opponent with casting abilities to roam freely would be quite dangerous…”

“……I’ll fight them at close quarters.”

No one asked if she could. One of the people who had defeated the va-um—though it had been all Shizu, really—was saying so. No one would doubt her.

“Okay. Let’s do that, then. Carry us in the barrels to near where the demon aide is located. If you say the demon ordered you to bring food, it’ll probably work out.”

“Us” meant the prince, Neia, and Shizu. As long as those three weren’t discovered—if they could proceed in secret, meaning that the zerun’s betrayal wasn’t found out—this would be doable.

Shizu and Neia went back into the barrels they had been carried to the castle in.

“…How lucky, Miss Shizu, right?”

Shizu poked her head out of her barrel. “……What is?”

“I mean, everything is going so well. Thanks to the zerun rebelling, we were able to come save the prince, and Jaldabaoth’s aide just happens to be here at the perfect time. If we defeat this demon, it’ll be a great accomplishment, you know? No one’ll be able to argue with us anymore. It’ll make it easy to form the search party for His Majesty.”

“That’s just a coincidence.”

Shizu’s unusually forceful tone of voice weighed on Neia.

“Huh? Uh, y-yeah. It’s a coincidence, which is why it’s lucky… Well, considering how powerful His Majesty the King of Darkness is and him making you belong to him, maybe it’s not a coincidence.”

“Belong to……Lord Ainz……?”

“Oops, did I make you sound like an object?”

“……It’s fine. Neia.”

“Huh?”

“……You’re my favorite…… You’re not cute, but I think you’re worth giving another sticker.”

It stings when you keep saying I’m not cute, though, ya know…
, Neia thought as she declined the stickers and disappeared into her barrel.

4

Though the zerun were stopped multiple times by other subhumans as they carried the barrels containing Neia, Shizu, and the prince, they managed to make it to a location near the great demon’s office without a single barrel being opened.

Neia and the others finally emerged from their barrels.

Neia had been watching from inside for a while, and there was no sign of tightened security. It didn’t seem like their infiltration and rescue of the prince had been discovered yet.

Neia put the prince on her back, and while she strapped him into place and made other preparations, one of the other zerun requested an audience with the great demon aide—for reconnaissance purposes.

Around the time everyone was ready to charge in, the zerun returned.

“He’s alone. No guards.”

Neia frowned.

With Jaldabaoth seriously injured, would one of his only three aides really not boost his security? Or had they lowered their guard because they thought the King of Darkness was dead?

She had a lot of ideas, but the prince’s next comment said it all.

“Then that makes it easier to kill him. Let’s go.”

Everyone took that as the signal to proceed.

When one of the zerun opened the door, Neia, who was standing right in the center of the group, could see clearly into the room.

The office had a high ceiling—at least fifteen feet—and was extremely spacious. Finely furnished, it was the classic image of a luxurious chamber.

Behind a dark, massive desk, a grotesque monster raised its voice.

“A human? Ze—?” He started to say something. But Neia and her squad had no intention of chitchatting.

The prince on Neia’s back immediately fired off a spell. “Yin Wu Xing: Raging Fireball!”

Just barely missing Neia, a small, feeble blaze shot into the room. On their way here, the prince had boasted about the power of tier-four attack spells. The fireball would explode on impact, so the idea was to get one off before they entered the room. But then—

“Yang Wu Xing: Raging Fireball!”

The fire disappeared in midair as if it had been blown out in the wind.

“As I thought…,” the prince murmured bitterly.

He didn’t attack again. The first had been a test. If it hadn’t been neutralized, he would have continued, but unfortunately that didn’t work out. In order to not waste mana, it was probably best to use his magic to attack in coordination with the others.

“…Is the one on the human’s back a zerun? It doesn’t look like you caught the humans and dragged them here… Khuh-ha-ha-ha! A rebellion, then? How fun.”

The demon who slowly stood looked like a human caricature straight out of a nightmare.

First, he wasn’t wearing any clothes, so his arms—long enough that they reached his knees—his legs, and his skin-and-bone body were all exposed.

His withered frame was so thin that even Neia felt like she would be able to snap him in two, no problem.

There wasn’t anything that seemed like a head that she could see. From his shoulders came another set of shoulders. No, there was an awfully thin—thinner than a woman’s wrist—neck that rose up like a branch and carried two fruits. Was that his head?

“Huh? Oh!” Neia yelped. The shock was so great, that was all she could say at first.

Shizu had mentioned that circlets had two heads.

One of them was grotesque, like a big maggot. It looked a lot like the
prince, just as described. That had to be the Grand Mother. The issue was the other one.

It was the head of a woman whose half-open eyes showed only the whites and whose mouth hung partially agape. But though her face was pale, not only had she not decomposed, but her blond hair had even maintained its luster. Red flesh peeked out from the stump of her neck, and it looked so fresh, Neia practically expected blood to start gushing out. The fact that it seemed to have been recently ripped from its body could only be described as strange, but it was also the reason Neia knew who it was immediately.

“Lady Kelart Custodio…”

She had only seen it from a distance, but there was no mistaking the highest-ranking priest in the Sacred Kingdom.

Doubts swirled in Neia’s mind.

What did it mean? Was the zerun lying, then? Did they think that Neia and Shizu would run away if they found out it was Kelart?

“I see, I see, I see. Well, zerun, are you saying you don’t care what happens to your king or the others living in your homeland? I’ll give you one last chance. If you apprehend those two, I’ll let you off with a light punishment.”

The heads hung there immobile, like two strange fruits. And eyeballs showing only whites were the same. It was as if they really were nothing more than decoration. Then where did his voice come from?

Having no answer for Neia’s silent questions, the prince shouted at the great demon.

“Hmph! It’s a bit late for that! Why would we believe your nonsense when you already killed the king?!”

“The king? Really?”

Neia could hear the uncertainty in his voice. Since this demon didn’t have his own head, he didn’t have facial expressions, which, yes, was a pain. They wouldn’t be able to tell from his face whether a blow was effective or not. In that sense, zerun were also tricky opponents for humans.

“My job is to rule this land, so that place isn’t my jurisdiction, but…hmm. So he was killed? That just means you had a fool for a king.”

“How dare you!”

“Tsk, tsk, tsk. You traitors didn’t come here to talk, did you? You came because you thought you could defeat me, right? So then what’s your trump card? That human?”

A nearly two-foot claw extending from the tip of the finger of his slender hand pointed at Neia.

“As if we would tell you!”

The demon replied calmly to the prince’s shout. “You don’t have to. Shadow Demons.”

The great demon’s shadow stretched.

Then it puffed up and went from two to three dimensions. What appeared was a pair of demons, typical in appearance except that they looked as if they’d been doused in black paint.

This must have been why he didn’t have any subhuman guards.

“You two, kill the zerun aside from the prince. I’m going to capture him… Human, if you turn on them, I’ll free a number of people important to you trapped in the camps equal to the number of fingers on your hands.”

The demon proposed the deal Shizu had anticipated he would.

Impressed with that foresight, Neia asked a question to put their opponent off guard. “Really?” She spoke timidly, testing his mood, and he sounded delighted.

“What! You’ll betray us?!” When the zerun shouted, all the demon’s attention fell on Neia.

“Shut up, shut up, shut up. I’m talking to her… I keep my promises. Count out who you’d like to protect and rescue. If you don’t have enough fingers, we can negotiate…”

Unprotected, as if he’d forgotten the words
on guard
, the great demon’s stance was full of openings.

Shizu, the ace up their sleeve, didn’t fail to notice that. Springing from the shadows, she aimed her Mana Gun.

When the gun spat fire, the great demon clasped a hand over his shoulder.

Shizu had been standing by outside, so this was a total sneak attack. And it was the attack that kicked off the fight.

The talk of negotiations that they had used to distract their enemy was over. The zerun attacked the shadow demons. At the same time, Shizu, who had burst into the room at tremendous speed, didn’t slow down for an instant as she employed lightning-quick footwork to bypass the forward fighters of both sides and close in on the great demon.

“What?! Aren’t y—?”

“……I don’t owe you an explanation.”

Shizu used a knife to make a wide slash, but the great demon brushed the attack away with his claws.

Neia knew there was no time for it now that the battle had begun, but she still complained to the zerun on her back. “What do you mean her hair is black? It’s blond!”

“Blond? What is? Clearly her hair’s light black.”

“What?”

He didn’t seem to be bluffing.
Could it be that zerun perceive colors differently from humans?

She had heard that some races who could see through any darkness were color-blind and only saw in black and white. Or that some could only distinguish colors in the light.

The lighting in the pantry had been like that, geared for multiple races—probably so they could distinguish the colors of the foods.

“We can talk later! Yin Wood: Lightning Claw!”

“Tch! Yang Wu Xing: Lightning Claw!”

Lightning coursed through the air like the swipe of a beast’s claws but disappeared midway.

There were also the spells Wu Xing: Gentle Metal to lower defensive power and Wu Xing: Metal Strength to increase attack power, and Wu Xing: Summon Lightning Storm, but there was always the possibility that instead of canceling them out, the great demon would use a powerful spell of his own.

To avoid that, the prince only cast attack spells that couldn’t be ignored. He narrowed it down further to lightning, which he surmised was the great demon’s weakness, and boosted its power with a wood element
skill. A normal Wu Xing spell might have been perfectly neutralized, but the prince’s strengthened version could deal a tiny bit of damage that would add up.

The Grand Mother should have had the same strengthening powers as the prince, but now she was an accessory for the great demon. He didn’t have skills to boost spells, so the power of the prince’s magic kept the pressure on.

Since Neia was leaving the vanguard to Shizu, she needed to make sure she pulled her weight as the rear guard. Against such a tough enemy, she couldn’t merely act as the prince’s feet. She took aim with Ultimate Shooting Star: Super and let an arrow fly.

Though her aim was extremely precise, the great demon had no trouble slapping the arrow away with one hand.

“What a pest. Shock Wave.”

Kelart’s face—her mouth—moved, and the tier-two spell flew at Shizu. The invisible shock wave took her slightly off her feet, but there was no sign she had taken any damage, such as sluggish movement. One would hardly expect less from a difficulty level–150 demon maid.

“Yin Wood: Lightning Claw!”

“Yang Wu Xing: Lightning Claw!”

They cast the same spells again, and a small amount of electricity coursed through the demon aide’s body.

“Open Wounds.”

The counterattack was a spell that worsened wounds. The target was, naturally, Shizu, who was the most exposed to the demon’s claws.

Neia could only see Shizu’s back, but she didn’t seem to be losing even a bit of her agility.

A drop of sweat ran down Neia’s spine.

Neia was the only one in the party who could heal. That meant she was also in charge of healing, but regardless of how well one could sense their own body, it was extremely difficult to tell how injured someone else was without a wealth of experience.

Especially with someone like Shizu, who didn’t show emotions on her
face, Neia was worried the maid would push past her limits before she realized it and collapse. That’s why she was keeping an eye on how both Shizu and the prince were moving, but it made her busy in the complicated way of someone ambidextrous.