Apologies for the delay. I’ve been a bit stressed out about not having enough time in the day to relax. Busy with school projects, trying to get in shape and all that after work so been a bit busy. But, I’m sure you guys don’t want to hear about all of that so here is the next chapter. Enjoy.

Moonlit Night, Parade of Corpses 【7】

「Heddoh!?」

「………(Alicia, good job.)」

「(Nfufu. You welcome.)」

Bernadette had come attacking me but, her legs were pulled by chains in the middle of her drop and, upside down, she collided with the building wall face first, making a *Bita~n* (Bam) sound.
Like……It was like an iron ball that uses the pendulum principle.
By the way, the chains that were entwined with Bernadette"s legs were made of magic.

「Kuh……I never would have thought that Leezelion"s princess would have connections with a Mazoku!」

Who could get mad at me for unintentionally letting out the words 「That ain"t it, you nitwit Sister」

d.a.m.n it, is this girl hasty or is she just not thinking!?

「……Unfortunately for you, I am human. I"m not a Mazoku. That is just a mere rumor.」

「To be able to exterminate several hundred Dragon Zombies with just a sword, that isn"t human.」

That"s, well, it"s certainly true.

……Wait, I was made to agree with her!

「That"s far enough, Church"s Agent-san」

*Tah* (Step). Making a small footstep sound, Silber came down in front of us.

Riding on his back, Alicia uttered words of control while giving off an air that didn"t match her age.

At Bernadette, who was in a hanging upside down state.

「Leezelion and the 『Witch of Time』 can a.s.sure you of his existence. ……He is, 『Human』.」

「Mu……」

When Alicia said that while letting out a certain intimidating air, Bernadette faltered.

Of course she would.

It"s because although she said a.s.sure, she implicitly went with something like a 「Ah? If you"re going to say any more troubling things than that, 『Leezelion』 and the 『Witch of Time』 won"t stay silent, got that?」-like threat just now.

If it were just the whole country of Leezelion, something could probably still be manageable.

But, as far as picking a fight with the 『Witch of Time Norn』 was concerned, the story gets a bit complicated, and then it will typically turn into something violent.

Maybe because she understood that, Bernadette vexingly pouted……Jeez, it"s like you can"t be completely serious, can you.

「Ah~, ……Agent, be at ease. I"ll properly show you some evidence. Do you know of the structure of a Golem?」

「Y, yes. I do know of it, but what about it?」

「I see. In that case, it"s better to keep the conversation short.」

I picked up the two Magic Guns that were dropped at the time when Bernadette got tied up and crashed into the wall, and then pointed the muzzle toward Bernadette.

「! ……っ」

When I did, Bernadette bared hostility and glared at me.

As if to say "I won"t turn my eyes away from the enemy", her gaze wouldn"t separate from me.

Without turning my eyes away from that gaze, I pulled the trigger.

*Biku!* (Tremble!). Bernadette had continued to keep her eyes open while trembling but, then she tilted her head at how the Maryoku bullet would not fire out.

「There isn"t any Maryoku in me. That"s why I can"t use the Magic Guns, and why I can"t produce any Golems. ……So in other words. I"m not one of the 『Mazoku』 that are like lumps of Maryoku. I"m sure that new questions have been born but, for now, please think of me as not being a 『Mazoku』.」

Although she was surprised, Bernadette nodded. In a hanging upside down condition.

「If that"s the case, it certainly is mysterious. For argument"s sake, if you were a Mazoku, I think I"d agree with you being rumored to be the 『Eighth Duke cla.s.s』.」

「……Ah~, I wonder why. It really is mysterious~. Right, mysti~」

I also want to hear about the origin of that "Duke cla.s.s" rumor.

If I ever find the origin, I"d give them a carpet bombing of spears.

「Why did it become like that?」

「h.e.l.l if I know~ I"m the one that wants to ask that~! It"s probably that, isn"t it? Since my strength looks like that of a monster, and with monster equaling Mazoku, since I made Terakio withdraw, it was a strength of the Duke cla.s.s level so in other words it would be a kind of new theory where "wouldn"t it be the eighth Duke cla.s.s" or something, don"t make me say all that, it"s embarra.s.sing!」

「I"m terribly sorry……」

「This won"t be settled with just a "I"m terribly sorry", you defective, big breasted girl! I"ve already had my fill from just the second name of StormBringer! And yet, thanks to some idiot somewhere circulating that embarra.s.sing rumor, I was about to be killed, you know, you bear panties jerk!」

「Gyaaah~! Please put me down! Please put me down!!」

Finally realizing her own situation, Bernadette, while still in a hanging upside down state, pinned down her turned inside out skirt with her hands.
But, unable to go against gravity, the slit skirt didn"t hide Bernadette"s legs.

「(Yuu, we don"t have time to be concerned about the no good Sister. The atmosphere has greatly changed. It"s probably, coming.)」

The communication stone attached to my ear lightly shook, and Alicia"s voice was transmitted to me.

I"m sure it is. Visibly measuring it, it"s before dawn.

For the beings belonging to evil, their territory of action is naturally at night, not during the day.

And then, the time where they are the most active, when their abilities are the highest, is before dawn, the time period where it is the darkest.

「………It"s here!」

A magic formation. An unbelievably huge magic formation covered the town"s sky.

Enough Maryoku could be felt from the other side of the magic formation that even I, who didn"t possess Maryoku, knew about it.

「This magic formation……It couldn"t be, a transference formation!?」

This voice was probably Henrietta.

And then, maybe because Maryoku that was even greater than mine could be felt, it was a voice that was similar to a scream. And then, in the next instant, as if tearing through the magic formation, 『that』 appeared.

「……Oi oi, are you serious.」

What had appeared from there was, an Ancient Dragon that I should have defeated once before.

The way it"s written is Vafumunt (Dragon"s King)[1].

Would it be easier to understand if I said Bahamut instead?

Told to be of the same rank as those called the Dragons" Parents, the Elder Dragons, ruling all things in nature, he"s the summit in the natural world.

The strongest being in the category of Dragons.

Although the flesh and blood of that Dragon King is corroding, it had descended.

「（Four wings and golden wicked eyes, it"s corroding but, there"s no mistaking it. That is Vafumunt, Alicia!）」

「（Your joking, right!?）」

「（You"re too loud!）」

Hearing Alicia"s shout via the communication stone, I reflexively covered my ears. Though, there was completely no point to it.

「Wh, what an amazing size this thing has……!」

Seeing a big frame that boasted a size that was comparable to this academy"s clock tower, Mana muttered that while shaking.

「……If something like that went wild, the academy would become completely wrecked.」

Eri said that while looking at the thing.

Of course it would. It"s a dragon that boasts a size comparable to Tokyo Tower. Just it moving forward would be a huge disaster. It was a scale where even the kaijuu king would go pale.

「……Jeez, for him to be getting manipulated like that.」

In the middle of everyone not hiding their unrest, seeing the fate of an enemy that I had once confronted, I"m probably the only one that thought of him as pitiful.
Looking at the eyes of that guy that didn"t have a speck of vitality felt in him, I sighed.

「I can"t feel any intelligence from that guy right now. As long as it can"t use Drago Roar, it"s just a target. It"s not an opponent that we can"t defeat.」

I had once had a close fight with that guy.

A big reason for that was the Drago Roar magic. That magic, which is used with the prerequisite of having the enormous Maryoku that dragons boast of, bestows defense that is solid and offense that has enough power to split the ground.

Even in my state of using the Sacred Sword, it took me some time to go through his defensive Dragon Scale.
Well, if even that were taken away, all that"s left would be to destroy the heart and it would be finished.

「If we can gather all of our strength, the fight would probably be ten minutes.」

It isn"t enough to make me use the Sacred Sword. For a giant lug that has no other function other than to act violently, even the current "me" would be able to take him on.

「W, with just that, can we really defeat that gigantic dragon!?」

「Fortunately, there are many powerful people here. The town"s damage will probably become bigger but, it"s possible. At the worst, if we wait until morning, it will naturally be annihilated.」

「……So what you mean to say is, in order to minimize the damages, we can only quickly defeat it?」

「That"s how it is.」

I nodded in return to Eri"s question, and look at Bernadette.
She was in the middle of a hard struggle with her skirt.

「Ber, ……One called the church"s agent. Won"t you ally yourself with me?」

「Mo, more importantly, please quickly put me down!」

I don"t know if it was because she was hanging upside down or not but, Bernadette"s face was completely red as she asked that.
Well, I do understand the reason for it.

「（Alicia, could you.）」

I said that to Alicia through the communication stone but, the magic chains that entwined with Bernadette"s legs didn"t vanish.

「（……Alicia?）」

It was a magic that should have been able to be immediately be erased but, with it not vanishing at all, when I turn around thinking that it was strange, there was Alicia"s figure, her head being held back and suffering, quietly, as if to not be discovered.

About to shout out "Alicia", I kept my mouth shut.
Was it because my ident.i.ty would be found out if I did? Don"t be stupid. Though I do want to leisurely travel, with my comrade"s crisis right in front of me, as if I could worry about such a thing.

There was, a reason.

「………」

A black "something" was floating about the base of Alicia"s neck, and, at that Alicia"s back, with a finger erect at its mouth showing a "Quiet" sign, its body wrapped up in a tattered robe, that guy"s figure.

「（Fufufu. ……It certainly has been a while.）」

The robe becoming completely covered in shadow, that mouth hung in mid-air as if it were a tear.

「（Isn"t this the second time that I"ve directly met and seen you like this?）」

Through Alicia"s communication stone, that guy"s voice directly reached the inside of my head.

「（Umbra, you b.a.s.t.a.r.d!!）」

「（Fufufu. Let"s make a deal.）」

As he said that, "Alicia" raised the corners of her mouth.

「（Please don"t move. ……It probably goes without saying about what I"m going to suggest, right?）」

Alicia lightly hit her own chest with her hand as if she were knocking and smiled, greatly warping her pretty face.

「（……Now, place them on a scale.
Will it be the life of the little sister of your beloved women, or the lives of people that have absolutely no relation to you!
Fufufu…… Now, show me. The radiance that your soul displays!!）」

Translator’s Notes:
[1] Original: ヴァフムント