──Kill her.
A short declaration. Unable to breathe, Rose’s consciousness plunged into darkness.
The smiling faces of her deceased parents flashed in her mind.
Ah, I’m sorry. I couldn’t recover your keepsakes in the end.
Even that apology was swallowed by the darkness. Her life was about to be snuffed out──or so it should have been.
“……Guh!?”
Suddenly, the grip on her neck loosened, and her consciousness surged back.
“……Gah!! Cough!! Cough!!”
She gasped for air, coughing violently. Breathing took precedence over understanding what had just happened. Ignoring the choking stench of death, she took several deep breaths before finally looking forward.
“What…!?”
What she saw was the Necromancer’s head, now askew.
It slid sideways and then fell to the ground with a dull thud. But not a single drop of blood spilled. It felt like a bad joke, and Rose couldn’t believe it was real. To make matters worse, the detached head’s eyes rolled around, adding to the surrealness.
The severed head opened its mouth, as if to quickly chant a spell.
“[I──Guh!?”
It tried.
But before it could, three crimson blades pierced it.
One stitched its mouth shut, while the other two struck its eyes, all simultaneously.
A figure clad in vibrant red armor had suddenly appeared in the room, slamming the blades into the head. The suddenness of it all left Rose stunned. As a result, she didn’t notice the headless body of the Necromancer slowly moving behind her. It swiftly moved its hands, attempting to weave a spell──
“Kh!?”
But the fingers it moved were scattered across the ground in pieces. The torso was diagonally severed, and two more blades pierced its legs.
In an instant, the Necromancer was torn apart by the red knight, who then gently pulled Rose into a protective embrace.
And then,
“Well, well, did I make it in time?”
The golden hair gently brushed against Rose’s bruised cheek, swollen from the bandits’ blows.
“Hey Rose, you’re still alive. Thanks for buying me some time.”
“D-Diz, lady!?”
The detestable woman who had taken my parents’ memento, the heirloom of the Luckbird family, smiled at me with her usual beautiful yet infuriating face.
When my parents passed away, a vast amount of merchandise was lost along with them.
There was no time to grieve or despair, as an overwhelming debt had been incurred. If we didn’t somehow compensate for the losses, the store my parents loved would vanish like dew. I was thrust into such a dire situation.
Since we belonged to the Merchant Guild, some compensation was provided, but it was only enough to allow us to close the store without further trouble.
Rose hated it. Or rather, she couldn’t bear it.
If she lost her family and the store they were so proud of, she surely wouldn’t be able to go on living.
But no one was willing to lend us money.
Of course not. To me, my aunt Tully, and our employee Rubus, it was a precious treasure, but to others, it was just an old shop on the verge of collapse due to misfortune.
──”I can lend you the money. But in exchange, I want the relic your family has been safeguarding.”
Amidst all this, a golden-haired girl appeared out of nowhere, demanding the 【Relic】 that the first Luckbird had received from the fire spirit as collateral. She was undoubtedly our savior.
Even if her approach was like a beast preying on a dying animal, it was still a fact.
──”The deadline has passed. Ownership of the 【Flaming Sword】 now belongs to me. You can hate me if you want.”
Even though she had set an impossible deadline, effectively forcing us to hand over our heirloom, it was still a legitimate transaction. Rose, being clear-headed, understood that.
But she couldn’t accept it.
It was a simple matter. Rose hated that golden-haired girl.
“Alright, I’m going to tear your clothes now. Don’t move.”
“…………”
Diz, in this bizarre situation, continued her work with practiced ease. She deftly tore off the mud-stained dress that had been left in tatters after the bandits’ assault. After checking the injuries, she nodded and handed over a bottle of medicine.
“Here. I guarantee its quality. After all, it’s from your store.”
Looking at it, it was indeed a bottle from our shop.
The dull pain that had been lingering in my body suddenly eased. The pain vanished, and my mind cleared.
And then, the confusion about the current situation resurfaced.
“Akane, destroy the catalyst over there. The order is right, left, then middle.”
[Can’t I just destroy them all at once?]
“No, it’ll explode.”
[Got it.]
READ THE ORIGINAL TRANSLATION AT LOCALIZERMEERKAT.GITHUB.IO
Why is she here?
No, I know the reason. She just saved me. It might have been a coincidence, but she still came to my rescue. That’s why it’s even more confusing.
“Why did you save me?”
I couldn’t understand why she would help a troublesome woman who clung to a finished deal and made a scene. I couldn’t think of any reason for her to come to such a dangerous place.
“Huh? Well…”
As she shattered the necromancer’s ritual site, Diz turned around with a carefree expression. Then, as if it were nothing, she shrugged.
“Because I was asked to. And, well, I thought you might not die after all.”
What kind of answer is that?
Her usual nonchalance pushed Rose’s emotions to the boiling point.
“What’s that supposed to mean!? Why are you always so casual about everything!?”
She saved the store, shattered my dignity, and turned my life upside down. And yet, as if it were nothing, the golden-haired girl was about to leave me behind. Rose couldn’t stand it.
Rose hated her.
She hated how she was nothing more than a roadside stone to her.
She hated how she could do nothing but scream in frustration.
“You save me, take everything from me, and then act like this!?”
But even so, she couldn’t help but scream. Tears streaming down her face, completely oblivious to the situation, Rose cried out like a child, baring her bleeding heart.
“You just toy with people’s lives like it’s nothing, don’t you!? You───”
“Wait.”
Rose swung her fist weakly, trying to hit her.
But before she could, Diz stopped her. She grabbed Rose’s hand and forcefully turned her around. When Rose tried to ask why, Diz’s gaze wasn’t on her. Instead, she was looking at the corner of the room, at a bookshelf that had been left untouched for who knows how long.
Guge
Something’s there.
I hadn’t noticed it before, but it must have been there all along. In the corner of the room was something small. Smaller than Rose, who was already petite. It was about the size of a small animal.
But despite its size, why did my heart race just by looking at it? My breathing had also quickened without me realizing. A pressure I hadn’t even felt when facing that dreadful necromancer now enveloped my body.
What is it? What’s there?
Gugegege
The small thing squirmed. I couldn’t tell what it was doing. I couldn’t see it. But,
“Oops.”
The next moment, a slimy, eerily glowing, snake-like object pierced through Diz’s arm, which had somehow stretched out to shield me.
“…………What!?”
Something warm splattered on my face. It was her blood, spilling from the wound in her arm.
“Akane, you let your guard down. You should’ve protected us with your armor.”
[Ugh… sorry.]
The snake-like thing that had pierced Diz’s arm squirmed as it retreated. But Diz’s arm was obviously gouged, and a large amount of blood poured from the wound.
While Rose was left speechless, Diz kept her eyes fixed on the squirming thing.
“I thought it was some kind of summoning ritual, but I was wrong. What they wanted was to prepare a feeding ground.”
It jumped down from the bookshelf. It landed clumsily on the floor, then rose up with a squirming motion.
Its slimy skin, a large mouth that seemed to split its head in half, fangs extending from it, and a snake-like tongue that had just pierced Diz. Small wings, a bloated belly like that of an obese human, tiny limbs, and two large, dull-glowing eyes.
Rose knew what it was.
Not just Rose. Everyone living on the continent of Islaria knew.
A fear so ingrained in everyone’s hearts, a warning so clear, a threat so certain.
The worst threat to gods and spirits, the most malevolent demonic entity in this world, which appeared alongside the labyrinths that had emerged across the continent.
Its offspring.
[Gugegegegegegegegegegegegegegegegegegegegegegegegegegegegegegegegegegegegegegegegegegegegegegegegegegegegegegegegegegegegegegegegegege!!!!]
The infant dragon, Dragonpuppy, cackled madly.
Visit the request page If there’s a Japanese Light Novel (LN) or Web Novel (WN) you’d like me to translate
When the donation goal progress bar above hit 100% one novel will be chosen for translation
| Table of Contents | Next* |
Support the Author by Buying the Original Books!
