Ankoku Kishi Monogatari ~Yuusha wo Taosu Tameni Maou ni Shoukansaremashita~

ACT 5 – Black Storm

Chapter 64.1 : Moonlight’s Goddess

Note : Your Long Awaited, New Act

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◆Dark Knight; Kuroki

Flying through the night sky, we finally arrived in the airspace atop the Labyrinth’s city, Labyrinthos. The master of this labyrinth, Evil God Labrys, was no longer in there. That Evil God had gone somewhere alone with that Serpent Queen. For that reason, the minotaurs that lived in this labyrinth had left this place as well.

I made Glorious land on the empty plaza of the labyrinth’s surface that had already lost its master. That plaza was barely large enough to house Glorious’ giant frame.

「Shall we get down, Kuna?」

Kuna nodded upon hearing my question.

「Okay, Kuroki.」

I held onto Kuna as I descended from Glorious’ back. Several shadows came out from the building around the plaza as I landed.

「We’ve been waiting for you, Master(Husband), and Kuna-sama.」

The shadow bowed to us.

The one who’d come out was Regena.

「Thanks Regena. Come here.」

Regena was my apostle. For that very reason, we could communicate with each other regardless of the distance.

I’d entrusted Regena to take care of Glorious during my date with Kuna around the Republic of Ariadya, which is why I asked her to come to this place.　I mean, this was the only suitable hiding place for Glorious after all.

Surrounding Regena were the lizardmen who’d chosen to follow her.

「It doesn’t matter, Master(husband), I’ll come to you no matter where you are as long as you call me.」

Regena spoke with a steady voice, her eyes sparkling.

I felt a pang of guilt upon seeing her looking at me like that.

At first I had no intentions of continuing contact with Regena after she’d left Nargol. But then, one thing led to another causing me to contact her when I was looking for a place to hide Glorious. I mean, it would be rude if I was to be back in the Republic of Ariadya without even contacting her.

For that reason, I contacted her, making a request of her to take care of us during our holiday in the Republic of Ariadya.

Though I felt troubled about asking her for help, she’d ended up readily accepting my request.

Besides, the real reason I’d asked her was because I knew that anyone without citizenship wouldn’t be able to rent a room at a proper inn. That’s why I’m really grateful towards Regena for her help.

「Thank you very much, Regena. I’ll leave Glorious in your care then.」

I bowed to the Lizardmen and Regena.

Though it had been decided already that the management of the labyrinth would be left to Heibos, its creator, it would be left under the hero’s care until Heibos was ready to take over.

Or to be exact, it was under the temporary management of Kyouka, the Hero of Light’s little sister. And in that order, Regena was appointed by Kyouka to manage this labyrinth for the time being.

That’s why, no one could enter this labyrinth without Regena’s permission. That was also why it was safe to hide Glorious in this place.

In addition, the Lizardmen would become Glorious’ faithful caretakers since the Dragons were literally their Gods.

「Understood, Master(husband). Please leave Glorious-sama’s well being to us. In addition, please take this…」

With a gesture from Regena, a Lizardman left for a short moment and came back with a basket in its hands. Regena opened the basket to reveal a set of beautiful clothes inside.

「This is?」

「Clothes for Master(husband) and Kuna-sama. I think this is necessary since Kuna-sama is really conspicuous.」

「I see… thanks, Regena. Since you’ve prepared everything, Kuna will wear it.」

I took the box and handed it carefully to Kuna who was standing by my side.

Kuna seems to be more composed compared to before. It’s as if her previous hostility towards Regena was a lie.

Though this was the best outcome for everyone, I couldn’t help but wonder what had caused such a change.

「What is this, Kuroki?」

「It’s a part of the clothes to hide your appearance. Since Kuna is beautiful, you’re bound to become the center of attention just by strolling in the city. It also to prevent any suspicious men from approaching you during our long awaited date in the Republic of Ariadya.」

Same as Rena, Kuna needs to cover her face when strolling through the Republic of Ariadya due to her transcendent beauty. That’s why I’d asked Regena to prepare this set of clothing for Kuna beforehand.

「Beautiful… I understand, Kuroki. Kuna will wear this clothes.」

Kuna, who seemed to be delighted at having me praise her beauty, then changed her clothes with Regena’s assistance.

After wearing the clothes, Kuna’s appearance was that of a beautiful and neat lady from the Goddess Faeria’s faith.

She wore a thin veil to cover her face.

「It’s… difficult to move if I wear this veil.」

Kuna complained about the veil with a pout.

「Sorry Kuna. Please be patient, I’ll lead you by hand.」

It’ll be bad if she accidentally reveals her face in the middle of our date. That’s why I’d specifically requested from Regena for a set of clothing that included a veil to cover her face during our date.

「Kuroki will lead me by hand? Then Kuna will have no complaints anymore.」

Kuna easily agreed at the compromise

「Great… Well, I’ll change my clothes too.」

I changed my clothes with the clothing that had already been prepared by Regena after I unfastened my Dark Knight armor.

My set of clothes were different from Kuna; it was a set of clothing befitting for a butler. Wearing this, it’ll look like we’re a butler and his lady walking side by side.

「Is it way too plain for your taste?」

Regena asked with an anxious look on her face.

「It’s perfect. I hate gaudy cloth afterall.」

I hate standing out in the midst of a crowd. That’s why the clothes prepared by Regena were perfect for me.

Regena was the one who’d managed my clothes back when she was still at Nargol. That’s why she was well aware of Kuroki’s clothing preferences.

「By the way, are they still in Ariadya, Regena?」

I asked Regena.

「Yes. THe Hero of Light and co are still in this country. I think they’ll at least staying in this city until tomorrow’s celebration…」

According to Regena, it was a celebration to praise the Hero of Light, Reiji, for saving the people who’d been held captive in the labyrinth. But that celebration had been delayed quite a while since they had to open the schedule for the big shots that wanted to attend the celebration. That’s why, Reiji and co were still in this country.

「I see… well, there’s no use to worry about every single thing… I don’t think they’ll aware either if I just acting normally and enjoy sightseeing in the Republic of Ariadya.」

The Republic of Ariadya was vast. It was literally impossible for us to run into them.

「I understand, Master(husband). Then let us return to the Republic of Ariadya. Allow me to guide you to Tormalkis’ secondary residence, I don’t think Shirone-sama will meet you by accident in that place.」

「Thanks, Regena.」

In this way, we headed back towards the Republic of Ariadya.

===

◆Dancer, Sienna

「Geez, where in the world is that drunkard running to!!」

I was currently having a night stroll through the city in search of Marchas.

Marchas for a fellow member of the 「Donkey’s Ear」 that we belonged to.

We’d gotten a job offer to dance in front of the Hero of Light tomorrow. And yet, that id*ot didn’t even show up for rehearsal. For that reason, our leader, Midas, had asked me to go look for Marchas.

「Sienna. Go and find Marchas.」

I recalled Midas’ words.

Though I felt bad for saying it, I think Midas’ decision to accept Marchas into our troupe was a mistake. But since the one who’d introduce Marchas to Midas was the person to whom I held the utmost respect for, Ainoe-neesan, he’d been allowed to join the troupe in the end. [TL : Midas gender is UNKNOWN!]

Marchas was a problematic man. He was a former thief. In addition to that, he was a gambling addict and an alcoholic. That’s why I think a bad seed like that needed to be expelled as soon as possible, but Midas didn’t agree with me. The reason being that our troupe was currently experiencing a shortage of manpower.

That was especially the case in our band and back chorus. We had a severe shortage for manpower in those two departments.

Marchas’ skills in playing the flute was simply unrivaled amongst our members. Even Marchas himself once boasted that his skills when it came to playing the flute had already surpassed the God Alphos.

Maybe due to the fear of being skinned alive, the person himself never said that again.

But surpassing the God Alphos aside, there was no mistaking his abilities when it came to playing the flute. That’s why Midas had been overlooking Marchas’ bad behaviour so far.

I heaved a heavy sigh.

Midas was well-known for their passion towards song and dance. The leader embraced Alphos-sama’s faith, the God of Song and Istar-sama’s faith, Goddess of Dance. Besides, for the leader, even someone with the problematic behaviour could join our troupe as long as they had the skills.

But at this rate, there’s a chance that our troupe will be banned from performing all together if Marchas caused any trouble.

Though I know that we’re currently shorthanded, I have no idea why the leader is so persistent about keeping Marchas in our troupe.

In addition, there’s also Ainoe-neesan. Just where in the world did Ainoe-neesan pick up a b*st*rd like that?

Before I realized it, I’d already arrived at my destination.

This place was quite deserted. It was a lawless area in which many illegal residents who’d come from outside resided.

Naturally, many of the people who were walking through that place also came from questionable backgrounds too.

There were numerous buildings with sign boards advertising liquor hanging in front of doors along the street. The liquor’s mark was the holy crest of the God of Liquor, Nectar.

This holy crest was mainly hanging outside of bars/inns and I should be able to find Marchas in one of these bars.

It seems that there were many travelers walking out on the street right now. The waitresses of the stores were calling out for these travelers to come inside. They were bar waitresses/h*rlots. They served customers as waitresses on the first floor and provided night service for their buyers in the inn rooms on the second floor.

Though prostitution was banned in this country, the current situation was a tacit consent between the man and the woman.