I lean out of the window—
—and my room has to be on the top floor! While cussing, I climb down the stairs, rushing toward the room with a better view of the vacant lot.
Once I reach the room, I immediately look out the window.
There it is, undoubtably moving—zuuruzuuru…
As if pulled by an invisible rope, I warily draw closer to the window, keeping an eye on the ma.s.s.
Where are the guards? Shouldn"t they be on the lookout?
—right. Last night"s "Welcome Party". It"s obvious everyone is still hammered.
"Vice Captain,"
While keeping watch, I call the man behind me whose snores sounds like earth"s clamor. Gugogogogo…—is the sound.
"That ma.s.s…—the demon, is moving."
He"s waking up.
"I"m going to approach it. There are no soldiers on sight. Give me permission to examine it."
"Don"t, command your Saetta to do it instead."
"Of course—" I propel my staff outside the window. "—that"s the only natural course of action."
In mid-air, Saetta suddenly radiates a bright light as its shape begins to transform. Its tip and shaft grow into long and spherical wings as it takes the shape of a bird. It descends in a straight line and closes the distance with the rocky demon.
I begin having double vision, indicating I have successfully merged my sight with Saetta"s.
The landscape I"m currently seeing is no longer the one in front of me. Instead, it"s a bird"s eye view.
It"s dark—yeah, after all, it"s a rock.
By any means, it can be mistaken as a normal boulder due to its shape. Its size is a little bigger than Vice Captain, and like any normal monster, its starts wandering—imitating the way people walk.
Moreover, it smells.
This smell …soil?
The ground stepped on by the demon isn"t only sc.r.a.ped, but is covered in brand new soil—red soil.
Where are the guards? Are you seriously telling me n.o.body is keeping watch—wait…
I spot them.
Two, no, three people, lying unconscious on the ground.
However, there"s no traces of blood, nor any signs of trauma.
But how? …Is it because they drank too much? No way, right? If that"s true, then I"ll be the one who hammers them.
My vision sways due to my annoyance. It"s similar to dizziness.
"Should we launch an attack?"
During this spell, my consciousness is transferred to Saetta, thus leaving my own body vulnerable. Vice Captain knows this, hence, he doesn"t waste any second—
"—deal a single blow, and then retreat in haste."
"Understood." I reply, while at the same time, Saetta floats directly above the monster. With my consciousness, I summon forth a wave of energy towards Saetta—
—lightning bolt.
It falls straight, like a spear.
—A booming noise no human ear could withstand.
—Smoke rises from the ground.
OK, time to retreat.
My consciousness returns to my body. Saetta, too, returns to my grasp. With staff in hand, I stare at the view originally in front of me—
"…What are you doing?"
—which is his unshaven, rugged face.
I can see that his eyes are still hazy, and also his stubbles…
More importantly, his arms are holding me tight.
—how annoying! He reeks of liquor! To avoid the smell, I glance over my shoulder.
I like the color of his eyes, though…
I meet his gaze just as he lets go of me.
"…You were about to fall, so I supported you."
"I never realized that during emergencies, you"re also an opportunist, Vice Captain. How about being honest with yourself? I may be a young, 18 years old girl, but you forget that I can also detect Inki—which is currently leaking from your bearing-impure-things-head."
"Even in emergency, a man is a still man."
Don"t puff your chest out like that.
Furthermore …hmm, he only lets out a small amount of it.
"Sure, whatever you say. Still, thank you for your support."
"Un."
…I shouldn"t think too much about it.
I click my tongue as I ignore my loud-beating heart.
Averting my gaze from him, I let my eyes run through his room.
—then, my gaze fixates on his bed.
Ha, ha. There he is. My long lost brother, who said he immensely regrets leaving his sisters, dozing peacefully.
As expected, he"s nothing but an idiot.
"From now on, if you touch me again, I"ll report you to the Captain. Not to mention, before that, I"ll strike you down with my lightning."
"—but why?!"
"Don"t think you can just touch an 18 year old girl for free."
"I have no change on me!"
"I know. One more thing …what about the monster?"
"There"s no change on that, either."
His leisure remark makes me bolt straight towards the window.
The rock demon is still there, unmoving, but perfectly intact. It"s apparent that my spell did nothing to it—at this, I groan inwardly.
—wait, isn"t this bad?
Thus, I report the incident.
Important people gather around the rock-like demon; the Commander of Gordo, ten elite soldiers, Vice Captain Glen, and me.
By the way, the three soldiers from before lost consciousness, presumably because they saw the demon moving. They are now being taken care by Versana, this fort"s talented healer, and also, my elder cousin.
The demon started moving when the soldiers were asleep.
…yes, but what is with this relaxed atmosphere? I feel almost no tension!
Due to my lightning spell, its movements have stopped.
Truthfully, I can only a.s.sume so since I"m not allowed to approach it. I, too, am unsure what has become of it. Of course, the one who advised me against inspecting it was this fort"s commander—Captain Fergus.
Bless his proud mustache.
While patting his mustache, he groans.
"Well, yes, it moved, alright… but now I"m even more doubtful about what action should we take…"
"Yeah, what can we do about this…?"
"We"ve tried destroying it with magic and blessed weapon, only to no avail."
"There"s also a chance that it"ll reanimate again."
All of them stare at each other, smiling bitterly, struggling over what to do. Meanwhile, I let out a wry smile,
All of you reek of booze! It"s no wonder you are unsure of the next course of action— It"s the wonder of alcohol.
"Now that things have come to this, I guess we should just do that, yeah…?" A certain, huge, undependable man sloppily raises his hand. "We should report this directly to the Spiral Castle. I will do it. This"ll clear any doubts we have."
The Spiral Castle, which is at the center of the capital, is facilitated with a laboratory for demons. It"s the highest level inst.i.tution, where even the purest of the demons who decide to remain in this world are instated. They too, want to make a name for themselves as researchers.
Nonetheless, Captain Fergus shakes his head.
"Nah, after all, it"s already been put out. See? It no longer moves. That"s all the answer you"ll ever need."
"W-what? Are you sure?"
"Besides, based on the report, even if it moves, I think it"ll pose no threat whatsoever."
"Instead, we should tell those people to remove this thing as soon as they can."
"So why are we even gathering out here, then?"
When I coldly say that, Captain Regus snarls.
"Of course to keep watch—y"know, should anything happen!"
"And how are we supposed to do that when a majority of the soldiers are asleep?"
"Well, you guard it then, until the others remove it—quite a simple task, isn"t it?"
The urge to erase that smile from his face has never been this high.
That conversation happened this morning.
We are supposed to leave the fort in the afternoon.
Well, actually, I had planned to leave this morning, and I was ready too—so was Lucifan, and also my nephew.
This unexpected demon investigation seems to require Vice Captain Glen to personally select his party members.
—why me, then?
I"m fine by myself…
I glance sideways at the huge man who"s sleeping again next door, snoring loudly.
I"m having a meal in the dining room as a pre-departure preparation, but after a spoonful, I decide I have had enough. I ponder and ponder, wondering what I should do next.
"Vice Captain, if you want to continue your rest then go ahead. But, allow me to go home. I can depart alone."
"Hmm?"
"I"m worried about my sister, and this demon investigation has nothing to do with me."
Spiral Castle has decided to look into the matter. For me to investigate it—when Spiral Castle is more competent than me—is a waste of magic, no doubt.
Ooh, I get it. This is yet another plan of Captain Earwing"s to separate me from Saliroza.
…Saliroza, I wonder if she"s really doing alright…
"Well, you should wait until we meet with the Heavenly Ones, after that, it should be okay. How about that?" Glen says while rubbing his eyes. "It"s such a rare occasion, to be able to see them, don"t you think?"
"Yes, but my family is waiting at home."
Answering coldly, I suddenly remember that rocky demon again.
"Why does it move, I wonder…"
***T/N : I hope Vice Captain isn"t one of those generic pushy males…