Butcher Demon

Titania followed behind me with her shiny sword Beltenan and two Spriggans at her side.

I don’t know how strong the Spriggan soldiers are, but I guess they can be used as guards, since we left the centipede, No. 5, at the castle. Their movements showed a good sense of unity, they looked like Spartans, after all.

We moved through the deep snow.

Eventually, the snow beneath our feet began to fade, and then it stopped.

We stopped there.

A light mist began to envelop our surroundings.

The trees became blurred and grayish, and our visibility decreased.

I pulled my butcher knife out from behind my back and heightened my guard.

–Now, now, will the devil or the snake appear?

As Titania and I waited, the lights gradually materialized from behind the fog.

The lights were hovering in lines on both sides.

It is floating, hovering ball-shaped. based on my impression it’s like a “Hitodama” the ones that float around the graves or something. Or a demon fire. Or will-o’-wisp from the ghost stories.

Making a faint powan…… powan…… sounds, the demon fires appeared one after another, making their way toward us, forming a path.

From the back of such a line of fire, a clang …… clang …… metallic sound approached.

A shadow emerged from behind the fog.

What emerged was a group of people I had not expected to see.

The leading one was “probably” Arshella.

I had never seen her in armor before. Holding a spear, she was leading the group like a ceremonial guardsman. It was quite regrettable but really cool.

Next to her is “probably” Tiriel.

She, too, is wearing a cool outfit. She’s wearing a flowing one-piece dress. The perfect image for an elf. The thing that’s been clanging is her scepter.

–And why “probably” you ask?

Because both of them were wearing fox masks and I couldn’t see their faces.

The masks were well-made, with red shading painted on the edges of the eyes and other fine patterns.

Still, there is no mistaking these two. She has bright red hair and two horns. The leathery wings and dragon’s tail. Definitely Arshella. So the flaxen hair next to her is definitely Tiriel.

Behind them, There was a small shrine.

The people carrying them are also wearing fox masks. They look like a crowd at a festival, but they are so out of place that their presence is eerie.

And the person being carried by them is —-.

“probably” Ferris.

She was not wearing a mask. Instead, she was wearing a thick gracious white dress (?). and a hood on her head (?), also white.

On her chest, I saw a ladybug, Namiten, buzzing and beating its wings. I wondered if the insects that lurked around them were not attacking her because Namiten was acting as a handmaiden.

So, the person sitting on top of the portable shrine is Ferris, no doubt.

Behind the palanquin are several carts. The carts are piled up with the kind of rolled-up grass.

–I don’t know what it is, but the sign of prey I sense is leaking from that cart. It seems to be hiding in the back.

“〆＆※ー□……■▽●！”

Arshella shouted loudly, and the line came to a halt.

In the midst of the silence …….we silently faced each other.

Though it was supposed to be a face-off, The mood was somehow relaxed. Arshella was scratching her head.

–What should I do?

I asked the person next to me for help.

Right there was Titania, with a dismayed look on her face.

I thought you went home. That’s what it says on her face.

Without even the slightest sign of caring about Titania’s disgusted look, the woman in question, Ferris, got down from the shrine.

Ferris glides soundlessly to the ground and comes forward, covers her mouth with the sleeve of her one hand, looks at me with shimmering eyes, and beckons me with a little bit of a smile.

-Why are your eyes red?

If I look closely, I see that her hair, which is visible behind her hood, is also white, and her tail, which is peeking out behind her, is also white, and the number is …… increasing?

Is she really Ferris? I’m starting to doubt myself …….

I looked at Titania again, seriously not knowing what to do anymore.

She sighed ….. huffed……..and pushed my back.

I was sent away and walked up to her in a sluggish manner.

There was no sign of any trickery. After all, the atmosphere over there was somewhat relaxed.

I stood in front of Ferris.

Seeing this, Tiriel pulled out a beautiful crystal from her pocket.

The stone that made a clattering sound and was unveiled was …… perhaps a Telepath magic stone. The one that I saw in Lydia’s room looks a lot like the one I see now. I wonder if they can give it to me?

Soon after, my meager hopes were literally shattered.

Because Tiriel threw the magic stone in her hand into her mouth through the gap in her mask.

Gulp — gulp —

She …. eat the stone……?

While I was stunned, she took out a few more magic stones and threw them into her mouth one after another, chomping on them.

Soon, Tiriel, both cheeks puffed out like a squirrel, raised her scepter with both hands as she continued to chew.

“–Eeei !!”

dong! The scepter hit the ground.

Almost simultaneously, a complex geometric pattern spread across the ground. It was a magic circle.

At the center of it, Tiriel’s hair spread out with a sparkling glow.

The scepter in her hand shone brightly.

Ferris put her hand on Tyriel’s shoulder.

“”――○＃●〆§△☆！””

Both of them raised their energetic voices at the same time.

Shortly after, the countless circles on the tip of the scepter scattered in the air, leaving a rattling sound …….

The circles came to rest on the heads of Tiriel, Arshella, the aliens on the other side, including Ferris, and me.

It hovered above our heads as if it were a ring of angels.

“Ku …”

Her voice was exhausted.

Tiriel collapsed to her knees and fell to the ground.

Arshella rushes over immediately.

She took out a bottle from her waist and began to give the liquid to the collapsed Tiriel. The liquid in the bottle, which I caught a glimpse of, has a very unpleasant color.

“Gooooooo …*cough*!! … geehoo! Goohaa!”

Tiriel was shaking her head in anguish, but Arshella poured the contents of the bottle down her throat mercilessly. “Ogoo” an erotic sound came from under the mask and my son jerked. I want her to drink mine too.

『Jibodan.』

–Oh.

I hear a voice. The girl in white in front of me is Ferris, after all.

A telepath. But why? I haven’t touched her.

『What’s going on?』

『Um, Well…….Tiriel ate the telepath magic stone and ……』

『She really ate it…..』

『Yeah. I know, it’s so impressive. I can’t believe my eyes.』

『…… I can hear you, Ferris…….,』Tiriel’s resentful voice said.

『The elves of the crystal desert are able to eat magic stones like that and temporarily its skills into their bodies. That’s why they can handle a wider variety of skills than other races. The reason is that they have adapted to the harsh environment where food is scarce……. But be careful, if you make fun of them by asking them to eat rocks lying around, they will get very angry.』

Of course, they would be angry.

Eating rocks is also considered bullying. That’s why aliens are so hard to deal with…….

『So, I had Tiriel channel the skills that she had temporarily acquired by eating various things through her skill.』

『Hmmm?』

She’s talking about something I don’t understand again…….

In the meantime, the ring on top of Ferris’ head was.

――*shun*……。

『Oh, it’s gone.』

『Don’t worry. This is normal. The channeling is working.』

It was Arshella’s voice.

After removing the masks, she laid the limp Tyriel on the shrine and began to care for her.

The aliens began to remove the fox masks one after another.

『Now we can talk to each other, including Jibodan, within a range of tens of meters around Tiriel.』

They can do that too. Alien mysterious technology is amazing …….

『Right. But it looks like Tiriel is kind of dying, is she okay?』

“U, u, u……” she lets out a groan of anguish from the back of her throat, and the way she reaches forward with her hands is just like a zombie. The dark circles in her eyes astonish me. Is she also a panda?

Arshella glanced sideways and answered.

『Oh, She’s just out of magic. Channeling is also considered enchantment. Now you already have a lot of enchantments on you. And she added channeling on top of that, so it’s a lot of work.』

『What do you mean?』

『Hey Ferris, explain it to him. By the looks of it, I’m going to have to give her another bottle』

『N-No, please. It’s okay now … I-I’m gonna puke… W-Why am I out of magic …』

Tiriel begged her to stop, but she was mercilessly forced to take another drink. “Gee!” followed by a scream. It looks like a torture scene. My son is swelling.

Ferris explained to me as I watched the two of them.

『The more you multiply the enchantment skills, the more difficult it becomes.』

『Hmmm.』

『If the first enchantment costs onefold, the second one costs two-fold, the third one cost four, the fourth one cost eight, and so on.』

『Mmm-hmm.』

『’Jibodan already has three enchanted …… so that means the next had to cost, uh, eight times as much magic. Plus, Tiriel was pushing herself to the limit with all the other things she was working on at the moment, so she was close to her limit. Now it looks like she finally ran out of magic.』

In other words, Tiriel is a very capable girl.

『Can I talk to Titania as well?』

『no』Arshella jumped down from the portable shrine and shook her head.

Tiriel, the talented girl, is still lying on the shrine, her whole body twitching.

『I excluded Titania.』

『Ehh, stingy.』

『Dantalion forbids me from helping you talk to Titania because if we use the telepathic magic stone as it is, there is a possibility that it will be taken away from us. In this case, I had to resort to this roundabout way. There are many other things they told us to follow when we came here.』

『Oi, Dantalion!』

『Tiriel didn’t have enough magic power to use channeling on Titania in the first place, She’s already on the edge, you know. channeling is already a high-cost spell and she’s doing it at eight times of mana consumption.』

When told, I saw Tiriel lying there in a daze.

Drooling and with dead eyes. I noticed that one of her eyes had turned silver and the other golden. It’s an odd eye. Originally both would have been greenish in color.

『But that’s strange…….』

『What do you mean strange?』

『Just barely, there should have been just enough people here for Tiriel’s magic, but how did it end up empty? Did I miscalculate?』

Arshella stroked her chin and a question mark appeared on her head.

–I guess that means you don’t know what’s in that cart.

『–Well, okay. As for Titania, we’ll mediate for you if you really need us to, so bear with it.』

『And where’s Lydia?』

『She’s under house arrest.』

Is she still under house arrest?

I want to give her a dildo, vibrator, and the latest and greatest toy on the market, the Womanamia[2].

『So what are you guys doing all the way out here?』

『The Destroyer is here, Jibodan.』

Ferris said.

『Destroyers……Those are the ones who are after Titania, right?』

『Yes. And, unfortunately, the strongest bunch has arrived, so we wanted to tell Jibodan about it. We also have a proposal for Titania.』

『I see?』

Ferris said that a unit called is going to attack us. Plateau Breeze huh, such a cute name for a unit.

『And that’s all.』

Arshella hefted her chest. She looks all stiff in her armor.

“They’ll accept you as our reinforcements, and we’ll work together to fight the subhuman.”

『Hm.』

『We asked Papameyan to postpone his attack on Titania until after we had taken down the subhuman stronghold, it would be more reasonable to use your power to attack the subhumans first』

『You mean Arshella and the others are going to attack 88 with me?』

『88?』

『It’s the name of that city』

『Oh, that’s what it’s called. This way we can wait for Highland Zephyr……. Actually, there are those in Zephyr who want to kill you. I wonder if they’ll listen to me.』

Hmmm…….

『Why?』

Arshella’s brow furrowed at the sight of me cocking my head.

『You killed Coronzon ……. Don’t tell me you don’t remember that?』

『Who?』

『In the Faymbaum battle, well, you know, I mean, uh…….’』

Arshella seemed a little reluctant to say it.

『――You two are going all out that time, right? It’s an armored knight with no body inside.』

『Oh, yeah, that one. I think I might have beat him』

『Jeez……』

She crossed her arms and raised her eyebrow.

『How in the world did you kill a Coronzon when you were a subhuman? He was a monster who made a name for himself in Miforsis along with Dupont at the time. Even if you sneak attack, you couldn’t beat him. Tell me how you did it.』

『I wonder how I did it. I don’t remember.』

『Don’t hide it. Tell me.』

So Arshella tells me that the alien who used to work for the Coronzon is now trying to get revenge on me.

I first thought, “They’re so persistent,” but I could understand how they felt. I would feel bad if I didn’t finish my work. I’m the type of person who has to finish a job that I’ve decided to do. I’m a professional after all.

『――By the way, did Titania understand what I said now?』

『Ferris is talking to her right now.』

I turned around to see Ferris saying something, and Titania clamping her mouth shut and clenching her fists.

–Oh, amazing. Ferris has the upper hand.

『What are they talking about?』

Then Arshella grunted and looked at me with blank eyes

『Hey …….are you screwing Titania?』

『Yes.』

『…Isn’t that the other way around?』

『Our positions reversed when we are in bed.』

『really you……I have no words』

Arshella sighs

『–Ferris …… is saying that ….. it’s going to be hard for her to have only one company for your nighttime activity, so she should accept us. I guess. What kind of negotiation is she doing? ……Why is she include me?』

『……』

『She threatens Titania that, if she get greedy she’s going to get destroyed sooner or later …… What was that, a lover’s bickering? Anyway, it’s absolutely unheard of negotiating tactic, but considering the look on that woman’s face, It’s kinda working……』

Arshella glanced at me and sighed again.

『I’m not sure how you’ve been taking her…….But Titania doesn’t seem to be able to refute that.』

『I’m sorry.』

『Ferris has changed. She’s been through a lot since she said she was planning to come here you know? She has overcome the opposition of Phoenicia, who was furious with her. Don’t think of her as the same old Ferris anymore. See? She’s about to beat Titania now.』

The discussion between Ferris and Titania certainly appeared to be going badly for Titania.